A/N - Slowly getting somewhere with this.
DISCLAIMER - I do not own Naruto
I sipped on my beer, my mind wandering to places it shouldn't. Why I bothered caring about Kin half the time was beyond me, but I couldn't shake the guilt for leaving her in such a bad mood. Half of me wanted to text her; at the same time the smarter half thought better of it. She would only ignore me, there was no point in bumming myself out any more.
Besides, this Ino girl was trying her hardest to do all the work for me.
Every moment I wasn't looking, I felt her glare. And as hard as I tried to charm her- despite the fact that I didn't even know why I was attempting to get on her good side when she obviously hated my guts-she refused to allow me even gain the grace of her smile. Every conversation I struck with her was curt with nothing more of a grunt and a sip of beer by either me or her. It was ridiculous considering I didn't know what the hell she was so mad at me for; but fortunately it wasn't very awkward with Kakura around.
I had to admit, Kakura's smile lightened more than the atmosphere.
She was cute, in a very down to earth sort of way. When I made a joke, I couldn't help but notice the way she laughed genuinely; as if she honestly found me pretty amusing. And whenever I tossed a smile at her, she'd slip me this cute one that reached her eyes as she tucked her hair behind her ears.
Honestly the girl was gorgeous, but I was still trying to calculate if this bar tag along was her peaking in interest or just a friendly new meeting. Didn't think about it too much though, it was never really hard to convince a girl to broaden her horizon.
"We should probably get going soon," Kakura mentioned with a glance at her friend, "We want to be sober enough to get home."
I nodded, setting my bottle down. I didn't have very many, half because I want to spend too much and half because I appreciated smoking more than drinking in personal preference.
"Alright, I'm guessing your place is close?" I asked while digging out my wallet and placing down a couple of bills.
"Kind of," she answered slowly, watching me curiously.
"Then I'll walk you home," I offered while tossing my book bag over my shoulder and adjusting my beanie.
"You don't need to do that-" Kakura stumbled out, but Ino cut in, "We'll make it home fine, thanks."
My eyes glided to her, and with a small frown I seriously tried to figure out what the hell her problem was with me. Then, out of nowhere, a brilliant idea came into mind and a slow smile started to play at my lips, "But I insist. It's far too dark for you guys to be going home alone and how am I supposed to sleep at night wondering if you made it safely or not."
Instantly, the blonde narrowed her eyes. Kakura, on the other hand, gave me a flirting smile, "Wow, how long did it take you to come up with that one?"
"Not very long, seeing as it was used on me once before," I replied with a shrug and a smile of my own, carefully avoiding Ino's fuming gaze.
"Well maybe half way," Kakura mused to herself.
"No," Ino whispered rather loudly, "Really? Do you really trust her enough to know where you live?"
Kakura's eyes flicked to mine worriedly before she quickly looked away and snapped in short biting words, "It's only half way, you freak. Who cares?"
"We don't even know her!" Ino practically shouted in a hushed tone
"How is she possibly going to realize where I live by walking me half freaking way!" Kakura whisper yelled back.
"You guys are relatively loud at whispering," I commented, shrugging my book bag more comfortably and smiling when Ino's fiery gaze hit me with full heat. Kakura turned to apologized, but I waved her off, "Honestly, I'll be nervous knowing I left you guys walking alone not exactly sober. Quarter of the way would put me at ease."
"No," Ino cut in, giving Kakura a glare when she was given a look of absolute disbelief. Then, as if completely determined to beat me in some sort of unspoken game, she gave me a very steady look as she continued, "We'll make it fine. Ok?"
I held on to her stare with an amused smile curled at the corner of my lips. Then slowly blinking, I smiled even more and shrugged while dipping my head with my hands held up in surrender, "Alright, if you guys are absolutely sure, it's alright with me.
Kakura looked as if she wanted to protest, but I didn't bother waiting around for it. I doubted Ino would allow me to even hear Kakura's halfhearted argument and at this point I'm sure it was more trouble than it was worth to bother walking either of them home. Instead I headed towards the door, holding it open for them both.
"Thank you," Kakura mumbled a bit shyly, yet her smile was anything but.
Ino didn't bother even giving me a glance.
Sighing, I followed behind her and slowed to a standstill as we stood outside of the bar. Rubbing her arm, Kakura gave me a look and said slowly, "Well, we go this way."
Smiling, I gave a point towards the other direction, "Yeah, and I go this way."
"Thank god," Ino muttered to herself.
Kakura gave a wary glance towards her, but I didn't bother acknowledging it. Instead I smiled and said truthfully, "It was really nice meeting you, and the drinks were fun. Glad you didn't chicken out of the tattoo."
"Yeah," Kakura went along with a nod, laughing lightly, "But I was tough. At least I didn't need to hold your hand."
"Oh yeah, thank goodness for that," I teased with a slow smile. Then with my eyes wandering towards the hateful blonde, I added, "And it was nice to see you again- on better circumstances that is."
"Yeah," Was all she replied with her eyes slipping from mine as her arms crossed.
Shrugging apathetically, I turned back to Kakura and mentioned, "But since I can't walk you ladies home, at least give me a call to tell me you're home safe."
"And how am I supposed to do that without your number?" Kakura asked teasingly.
"Oh, is this you asking for my digits?" I asked in mock surprise, smiling while pulling out a pen, "Smooth move, I'll have to steal that from you."
"Oh whatever," she replied with a roll of her eyes. Still, she smiled softly as I handed her the piece of paper.
"Don't forget," I reminded while stuffing my pen back into my pocket, "I won't sleep without that phone call."
Ino was fuming, but Kakura seemed to enjoy my persistence. She nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but her blonde friend was now snatching her wrist and literally dragging her away, "Let's go, it's late."
Groaning, she rolled her eyes and turned to me while being led further down the street, "Bye!"
I held up my hand in a lazy wave before stuffing it into my pocket and twirling on one foot away. Just before I was about to drop my board to the ground, a nagging tug began pulling at the strings of my chest and mind. Frowning slightly, I glanced behind me and watched as the girls walked away. Before I could even control myself, I turned completely and called out, "Ay!"
Ino was the one to glance back first, Kakura very shortly afterwards. Dropping my board to the ground, I quickly hopped on and glided towards them. Leaning back, I braked to a noisy stop in front of them.
"Yeah?" Kakura asked with a curious little smirk.
My eyes instead landed on Ino, "That cat, the one with the yellow eyes. Where did you see him last?"
"What?" Ino asked with her face scrunching.
"The cat," I explained as I gathered the details from my memory, "The one that was small and you said it looked like it was starving."
"The kitten?" She corrected with an obvious frown.
I rolled my eyes, "If you ask me, that thing was too huge to be a kitten- but whatever. Yes the kitten, where did you see him last?"
"Why?" She questioned a bit defensively.
Giving a huge sigh, I asked, "What do you think I'm going to do, eat it?"
That was obviously a bad joke, because Ino gasped and Kakura quickly assured, "She was joking!"
What the hell was up with this girl? Eyebrows scrunching with my hands tossing up, I shook my head and said, "Of course I was joking! You honestly think I'm evil, don't you?"
She was about to answer but Kakura elbowed her not too lightly. Turning her blue angry eyes to Kakura, she gave a short glare before slipping her gaze back to me and snapping, "Doesn't matter what I think. Why do you need to know where the kitten is?"
"Because I want to find it and take it home," I answered truthfully, and that had officially shut her up. All night nothing could have stopped her from making every smart comment in the world, but I seemed to have finally stumped her. Completely surprised, she simply stared; but the truth was that I had surprised even myself. Not as smoothly as I would have liked, I explained in a bit of a stumble, "Maybe I clipped him with my board or something- hopefully I didn't but maybe I did. Idunno… If that's the case then it's my fault that he's hardly making it out there and the least I could do is keep it until it's healthy again. Or take it to the vet… but I heard vets were expensive…"
My words fell slowly as my eyes pulled away, wondering what exactly I planned on doing with a cat in the first place. I heard they were easy maintenance though, very chill creatures that just did their own thing most of the time. Having one shouldn't be too hard to take care of, right?
"The corner of Theodor and 22nd st," Ino finally spoke, this time with no venom or bite in her tone.
My eyes slipped up towards hers, and I noticed how all her features had changed. All I had managed to see of her was the annoyance and hatred for me, but it was like now she was a completely different person. She bit her lip in a nervously as her eyes trailed away, eyebrows scrunching like she was thinking about something in particular, but I couldn't have guessed what. Instead I was dazed on how someone could look completely difference just by the change of their attitude. That's all it took to remember the girl that I had met the first night, crazy and demanding that she walk me home. It was like I was recognizing her for the first time today.
And how cute she was.
"He was under a box and refused to come out when I came up to him, so I don't know if he'll come up to you," Ino went on explaining, shifting and giving me anxious eyes, "If you honestly plan on taking him home, you'll have to spend a lot of time and be really patient. If you bring food, don't bring anything too smelly that would attract other strays, then he should come up to you no matter how much he doesn't trust you because I'm sure he's starving. Something like milk could get him out. And if you reach out to pet him, don't go too fast or you'll scare him! Just… slow and underhanded- not over handed or he'll think you're going to hit him."
Overwhelmed with how much information I was getting, and how absolutely worried and serious she seemed, I huffed out, "That's a lot to take in."
"She tends to overload people," Kakura joked but Ino didn't care. She grabbed my hand and held out her other demanding, "Give me that pen."
Eyebrow rising, I didn't bother questioning her and dug out the pen she asked for. My eyes watched carefully as she wrote numbers down and stepped away, "Call me if you managed to get him home. Maybe we can find someone who will be willing to take him in after we get him better."
"Alright," I said slowly, pulling away my hand and giving the number a glance.
"If you end up bringing solid food to him, make sure you break it up small or he'll throw everything back up," Ino continued to inform me as she shoved the pen back in my hand, "And maybe you should bring a blanket, it would be easier to carry him home with. And keep him away from busy streets, the noise my cause him to jump out your hand and run away."
"Ino," Kakura called, as if trying to pull her back from whatever world she was on right now.
Ino waved her off, "And make sure you call me if you end up taking him home."
"I will, I promise," I assured, because she began to glare at me again as if threatening me if I didn't follow her absolute orders.
"Come on," Kakura huffed, this time grabbing Ino's hand and dragging her away, "Let's go home."
"Don't give him too much milk!" Ino continued inform as she was being taken away.
I smiled as I watched them go, not bothering with answering with anything. Instead I held out another hand in another lazy wave, and this time hopped on my board and rolled away without turning back.
Theodor and 22nd st, just as suspected that was too far from my place at all. This cat must be adventurous traveling so far.
Sounded like my type of dude to hang out with.
(1)- No song
Alright, I believe this is the last chapter of setting everything up and we can finally get somewhere. Its hard dealing with WANTING to write more of this story because of all the ideas I have in mind, and not being able to because Im far too lazy to set up the story. BUT like I said, I believe this is it and now we should start getting into some actual substance.
Sorry for the Story Title change again. Im sooooo all over the place. I hope you all are doing well kiddies! I'm starting the next chapter right now as you read.
Shycadet STRUGGLES. Loves. Out.
