Alright, so I got a review for "The Kibō Clan" and was asked to write more of them- and how could I refuse when I have so MUCH FUN writing these characters?! X3 this is a sequel to "Mama"- which I suggest you go read now before this if you haven't already. This will make a crap ton more sense if you do. In fact, there's "The Kibō Clan", "Kaze Hikari", and "Mama" all about the characters in this story and Kasumi's reactions to them. I highly suggest you go and read them if only to make all of this make WAY MORE SENSE. LMAO! XD
I am a RyuxKasumi shipper and you see some evidence of that at the end of this chapter. Please, read on and review. Thank you so much for your time! ^_^
P.S: This has not been checked for misspellings or errors whatsoever besides my checking it as I wrote it. If you find something amiss please let me know. xD
^/^ ^/^ ^/^ ^/^
^/^
Kasumi visibly twitched her eyebrow as she sat calmly. She knew that her calm demeanor was a façade.
Ryu, Ayane, and Hayate were visiting the Kibō Clan, there because Riku's parents apparently had something valuable to the Mugen Tenshin Clan. What it WAS exactly that was valuable, Kasumi had no idea and Riku refused to disclose any information. He said it was "For Kibō Clan leaders only", but Kasumi knew that all that meant was that Riku himself knew nothing of the supposed Mugen Tenshin Clan artifact or whatever the hell it was and he was sore because his parents wouldn't tell him.
Never in a million years did she think she would end up here.
It was a stretch for her imagination to end up in a group as senseless as the Kibō Clan's stoutest team, but it was even more of a stretch for her imagination for her family and friend (first love) to meet this impractical group she had wound up in the hands of.
Akemi reached her chop-sticks to pick up a California Roll, just at the same time Chiyo did.
There were three left and the two started to fight over who got the one they both touched with their chop-sticks.
Meanwhile, Haruna reached over, simply dumped the three remaining pieces onto her plate, and positioned the plate back where it once was. Chiyo and Akemi remained oblivious to the change in food rations and continued their argument.
Once they realized that the sushi was gone, Kasumi thought, they'd quickly find something else to argue about.
Ayumu resisted siding with Chiyo just to fight with his sister, for once, in worry that he would make a bad first impression on the leaders of the two visiting clans. Kasumi mentally smiled at this, knowing it was unlike Ayumu to hold back from a fight with his sister. Besides the fights with his sister he was actually quite passive of a human being. Not as passive as she was, because he still loved a good fight with an enemy, but still passive in the way he refused to argue or fight with anybody other than his sister. Akemi was a very aggressive girl, though, but very scared and timid on the battlefield. This was a big reason as to why Ayumu was always with her. The two worked together; when she wanted to start a fight off the battlefield he would talk her out of it (or try to, which would result in a fight between the two), but when she was too afraid to fight on a mission he would raise her up and knock that fear right out of her.
She recalled that she and Hayate had been that close at one time…
Kasumi inwardly sighed, not wanting to dwell on those thoughts any longer.
Once you got over the corner of the table Kasumi was at Ryu's right, while Ryu was at the right of Hayate, who was at the right of Ayane. The Kibō Clan had offered them a place to stay for the night, and Kasumi had the nagging feeling they were doing this to make her squirm after she and Chiyo messed up a plate of cookies. Granted, she had nothing to worry about life-wise. Ayane and Hayate had promised there would be peace between themselves and Kasumi the duration of their stay. Kasumi was thankful for this. It meant that if just for a little while they could interact without weapons or knives and they could catch up. Although Ayane had been hesitant to speak to a runaway shinobi, Riku had informed her that legally speaking Kasumi is no longer a runaway because she now belonged to an official clan, thus the past was the past and she could hold all the bad feelings she wanted but she was not to treat Kasumi as if she was still dishonorable.
"Neh, Kasu-chan? Pass me the salt?" Kasumi responded to Haruna's call and passed her the condiment.
"KASU-CHAAAAN!"
Kasumi was about ready to write FML on the walls.
Katashi roughly slammed the doors open to guest dining room, eyes almost in hearts.
"Kasu-chan I just got word that you and Riku were back from that mission!" The twelve-year-old boy ran up to the red-headed ninja, clasping her hands in his own. "Kasu-chan you missed me, didn't you? Because the entire CLAN missed YOU!"
Kasumi nodded slowly.
I don't think I even want to SEE the looks on their faces… especially after Al-chan's little "joke" about being my love-child!
Speaking of Alpha, the clone had decided that it would be best to retire to her own room for the night, not wanting to answer any possible questions the guests may have had about her sudden change in personality and morals.
"Um… yes… listen, Katashi-kun I-"
"GET YOUR DAMNED HANDS OFF OF HER YOU SICK LITTLE PRICK!"
Katashi's warm hands were taken away from the blushing Kasumi's as she looked away. The shinobi couldn't tell if this heat was radiating in her cheeks because Katashi was holding her hands, because Riku had stepped in as loud as he did, or because Ryu AND Ayane and Hayate were watching. Either way, she knew that this feeling was nothing but embarrassment or possibly shame- shame for letting this get so far.
CLANG!
Kasumi took a guess and decided that sound was most likely from Katashi or Riku slamming their foot robustly down onto the table.
Their argument hardly reached her ears as she turned back to her food and tried her best to ignore the nagging feeling that told her she should get up and leave.
Ayane could have sworn she felt her mind ticking like a bomb as the group in front of her started into a full out war, blowing her mind in the process.
How the hell were THESE simpletons the Kibō Clan's strongest team? It made no sense! There was no sign of discipline or of any sanity save for her half-sister and the young boy, who both sat quietly as they either ignored or stayed out of the fight.
She could feel Hayate's body tense beside her and she knew that he was thinking the same things.
Haruna was then up on the table with the two boys screaming and hollering and threatening traumatic torture. Akemi and Chiyo were physically competing to grab one of the last four riceballs, the sauce in between them and the said riceballs flinging everywhere and spilling. Kasumi quickly held her empty plate in front of Ryu's face just as an array of sauces were to hit him. She knew fully well he was competent enough to move out of the way on his own, but she didn't want him to go through the trouble. She then stepped up onto the table herself, careful not to mess with the plates of her family or friend, and quickly moved to hit the pressure points on Katashi, Riku, Akemi and Chiyo. She made no effort to try it on Haruna, knowing that the woman was as skilled as Ryu and could take her down with very little effort for trying such a thing. The four wait motionlessly for a few moments before completely falling over in a deep sleep, Riku and Katashi over one another on the table. Akemi had fallen asleep on her brother's shoulder.
Ayumu took one side glance at his sister, looked forward again, and shrugged her off so she fell to the floor. Chiyo was fast asleep; her head placed almost strategically on Riku's lower half. Deciding that that was enough, Kasumi stepped down from the table, merely sitting back down and looking slowly over at the three guests with this… this GLARE on her face they'd never seen her wear.
"Please forgive us for this eccentric dinner. A lot of tension is built up while we are on missions and it seems as though we have found an outlet at the wrong time." The venom in her voice was directed mainly at the four knocked out ninjas as they slept over one another. Ayane and Hayate slowly nodded as Ryu raised an eyebrow from under his mask. "Kasumi…"
"Hm?"
Ayane wiped her mouth with a napkin before looking over at her half-sister. "Is this how they usually act?"
"Mm hm."
"… Why the hell are you here?"
"I really couldn't answer that. I have absolutely no idea."
"So what did you think of them?" Kasumi asked hesitantly. Ryu moved around behind her, tying his hair back as he usually did and readying himself to sleep. Kasumi sat outside his door, and if she turned around she could make out his figure in the shadows of the light. "You do not belong here, Kasumi. You were taught to be more respectful."
Kasumi nodded. She understood why he said that. She knew that he was pleased that she had found a new home and people to rely on, but she knew she felt something off. She nodded her head and hummed a response that he could hear. "What did you think of them, though?"
And Ryu was silent.
He was quiet for a while, actually.
Kasumi had never left him speechless before, and it surprised her when no response came. It had started raining just a while before everybody had finished with dinner and retired back to their rooms for the night. Ryu had asked Kasumi to follow him. A million thoughts had run through Kasumi's head as to what he could have called her back with him for.
To ask where the bathroom is? No, no he could just ask.
Relationship advice? Ryu knows very well I've never had a lover- and for a while there I thought that he had never had one, either.
Did he get jealous of the way Katashi-kun was acting towards me? Her heart raced in her chest at the thought and she could feel her cheeks change in color multiple times, all to a shade of red. No, Kasumi! He's a married man CUT THAT SHIT OUT!
Oh… the Kibō Clan was rubbing off on her a bit more than she thought.
She smiled to herself. Even if she hadn't belonged before she certainly belonged there now. They had taken her insanity that she held in the darkness and turned it into the fun kind of insanity- the kind that made her fit right in with the rest of this clan.
"Kasumi…"
Ryu's voice cut through her thoughts and she turned around at the sudden interruption.
"There's always an open home with Irene and I. You don't have to stay here."
"Yes, but I want to." The words left her mouth before she could stop them. "I've changed in the tiniest ways, and those changes render me unfit for a life in the Hayabusa Clan. I'm far too unstable; I talk to myself when I wake up every morning. I'm far too aggressive; I'm ready to kill anything that moves for them. I'm far too used to them; I can walk in on Riku stark naked and not bat an eye." She stood up, walking right out into the rain as opposed to circling around to get to her room, which was across the way from Ryu's. "Thank you for the offer, Ryu. But I belong in an asylum and this is the closest I'm getting to it."