Kuroha looked up at the sky. He was on his back in the grass, hands behind his head. Pointless white clouds drifted lazily across the sky. A shadow cast down over his face as one of the clouds covered the sun.
The cloud covering the sun made him think of the Egyptian god Apophis. Mythology said that the snake god ended up swallowing the sun at some point and casting the entire world into darkness. He smirked and summoned one of the black snakes he held onto. It slithered out from inside his sleeve and twirled itself through his fingers.
"I wonder if you could swallow the sun as well." he mused to the snake.
"Hey! Hey you!" Kuroha blinked in surprise as he heard a girl's voice. The snake in his hand slithered back into his sleeve as he sat up. "Yo mister, do you have any idea where I am?"
A small twelve year old girl stood in front of him. She had raven colored hair tied back in twin tails and wore a black and dark pink dress. Her arms were crossed and she leaned on her right hip as she glared expectantly at him. Then seeing his face she seemed momentarily surprised.
"Konoha? Is that you?" she asked.
He gave her a smirk, "Sorry kid, but I'm not who you're looking for."
"Oh that's a relief," she said, "Besides he's much better looking than you."
Kuroha sneered, "Why you little. . ."
"Anyway about my earlier question; where are we?" she asked again.
He stood up and towered over her. "Y'know you have some nerve. Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"
"Personally no. do you know who you're talking to."
Okay, this girl was starting to tick him off. Before she could say anything else, he pulled out a switch blade and swiped it across her throat. The girl's eyes widened and she held her throat as blood spilled from the cut. She chocked and gasped and soon fell to the ground coughing up blood. "That should shut you up." He wiped the blood on his sleeve and turned to walk away.
"You. . . You- you tried to kill me. . ." he heard the girl choke hoarsely. He turned back around to see her picking herself up from the bloodied grass.
"What the hell?"
"You really tried to kill me? What is wrong with you?!" she screamed having to stand on her tippy toes to get in his face, "How could you just go and kill a child like that? Well, at least you confirmed my suspicion."
"Just what are you? And why aren't you dead?" he asked.
"Duh, you can't kill someone who's already dead." the girl said matter-of-factly and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Dead. . ."
"Yup. Are you dead too?"
He frowned down at her, "No."
"Then why are you here? This is where dead people go right?"
"No. this is a never ending world. And it looks to me like you're stuck here."
"Never ending. Stuck." the girl said in shock. Tears started pooling in her eyes and she whimpered.
"Hey, what are you-?"
"WAAAAAAHH!" she let out a piercing sob and began crying huge tears.
"Hey. Hey! Knock it off!" but the girl ignored him and continued crying. "I said cut it out you little brat!" Kuroha screamed and conked her on the head. She stopped mid wail when his fist came into contact with her head. The she looked up at him with her tear stained face.
"How dare you just hit a girl like that!" She cried and her small fist connected with his left cheek. Even with her small stature the punch hurt like hell.
He grabbed her wrist and pushed her away from him. "Don't ever do that again." he warned.
"Or what? You'll kill me?" she asked smugly, the challenge written all over her face.
At that point there was nothing Kuroha would have like better, but sadly even if he did she would just come back to criticize him. "You are a real little bitch aren't ya?"
She gasped, "Such profanity in front of a child! You really have no moral values do you?"
"Shut up. Who needs morals." He'd had enough of this girl. Right now she was a giant pain. He'd had enough.
"Hey, where you going?" she chirped behind him.
"Go away, you're annoying." he said to her.
"But I'm bored," she whined, then her stomach grumbled, "and hungry. Do you have any food?"
He whipped around to face her. "Do I look like I have any food?"
"I don't know. You have two gigantic pockets, who knows what you're hiding in them."
~0~
"Mm. This is yummy." the girl said.
"Yeah. Whatever. You're just lucky they actually have ice cream in this world."
"Mm-hmm. But if I'm dead do I really need to eat? Do you need to eat?"
"Do you always ask this many questions?"
"Not usually, but I'm curious as to who you are."
He smirked, "And why exactly would you want to know about me?"
"Hmm. Now that is an excellent question. Let's just say I had a friend and he looked a lot like you. I actually thought you were him when I first saw you."
"Ah, now it all makes sense."
"Yeah. So how did you get here?"
"To tell the truth I don't remember." he said, but it was a total lie.
"Oh. I had this other friend. He was kind of annoying actually. He liked me though, and even though he never said anything it was so painfully obvious. I didn't hold any interest, but I used his love to my advantage. That boy pretty much worshipped the ground I walked on."
"Whoa, whoa. Listen Princess, I didn't ask for your whole life's story."
"First of all my name isn't 'Princess', it's Hiyori."
"I didn't ask.
"Hmph well fine." There was silence. It was the longest time she'd ever shut her mouth for and it caused Kuroha to look over at her. Her head was down and her bangs covering her face.
"Are you. . . Are you crying?" he asked.
There was a big sniff that confirmed his suspicion. "N-n no. . . yes. Pathetic huh?"
Kuroha rolled his eyes, but smiled, "Don't cry. . . It's annoying."