A/N: Hooray! A new chapter! The reason for this update is my friend, micarocks101. We go to the same school, so one day we both got impatient, waiting for the other to update. So we made an agreement that whenever I updated, so would she and vice versa. I have updated four times since we have made that agreement. She has so far only updated once. So, yeah. I am paranoid, so I'm updating to get even more ahead of her. You can thank micarocks101 for this chapter.
Hana's POV
I exhaled slowly as if I had been holding in my breath the entire time. Somehow, miraculously, I had managed to survive the six and a half hours of school with minimal verbal harassment and zero physical bullying. I was happy. It was better than I had hoped for.
Feeling lighter than I had in years, I was just starting to walk home (home meaning Temari's house) when I was hailed by a couple of boys.
One I recognized as the one I had met that morning. What was his name? Oh, yes, Nanpa.
His friend was a boy that I had glimpsed several times in some of my classes. He was one of those kids that walked around with two girls on his arms that squealed over everything he did and complimented him on everything.
Oh, please. Get a life.
Anyway, Nanpa's companion had arrived, thankfully, without his entourage, and I noticed that, up close, he was pleasantly tan with raven-colored hair and the most beautiful dark eyes I had ever seen. Coffee colored, and it brought back a small little memory, one in which my mother had described a creature called a doe, a female deer. If I had to choose, then this is what a doe's eyes would look like.
"Hana!" Called out Nanpa. He gave me a swift, sly smile. "Trying to get away from us?"
I could feel my face coloring as I stammered. "Of course not. I had no idea that you were looking for me."
He waved a hand. "We're teasing you, sweetheart. No need to take it so seriously."
I blushed again.
"Anyway, I want you to meet my friend, Kurai. Kurai, this is Okami Hana."
"Pleased to meet you." Kurai murmured. His voice was soft and sweet. He held out a hand for me to shake, and I mirrored his movements.
Like Nanpa, he brought it to his lips and breathed a kiss on the back of my hand. I caught my breath.
"The pleasure is all mine." I replied, withdrawing my hand. My insides were fluttering nervously, although I had no idea why.
"So, Hana, do you have any time to... I don't know, hang out right now?" Kurai smiled suddenly, a winning smile. His teeth were very straight and even.
I didn't want to be rude, and although Kurai and Nanpa were very gentlemanly and good-looking and pleasant, there was something about them that made me feel a little uneasy.
I opened my mouth, searching my mind for an excuse ("I have homework, my mom is expecting me back, maybe tomorrow...") when I heard a familiar voice behind me.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
I turned, astonished, to see Kankuro standing behind me, looking highly amused.
So all three of them could sneak up and scare the crap out of me. Great.
"Hana, Hana, what are you doing?" Kankuro sounded as if he was scolding a small child. He strode forward and slung an arm around my neck, pulling me flush against him. My face was burning. I was just that helpless little child again, unable to speak or do anything at all. "I was starting to get worried about you!"
Annoyance flittered across Kurai's face as he scowled. "Hey, face-paint, I was talking to her first."
"Yeah, I noticed. And did you notice that she did not want to talk to you at all?" Kankuro lashed out, suddenly all venom. I was surprised at his sudden change it temperament. He was usually so... sarcastic and sly. Not sadistic.
Kurai just scowled. "How do you know? You can't see inside her head, can you, Kankuro?"
"Maybe." Kankuro grinned now.
"Whatever." They both turned to me now. "So, what do you say, flower? Care to take a small break?"
I opened my mouth to reply and was yet again cut off my the puppetmaster. "Whoa, boys, back off. She's married."
And with that dramatic statement, he turned, with me still held against him. I yelped as he pulled me away.
As we walked out of the Kurai's and Nanpa's sightlines, I pulled away, frowning. Narrowing my eyes, I said scathingly, "I'm pretty sure I could get you in trouble for what you did there."
"What, rescuing you?" Now that we were away from my school, Kankuro's cocky attitude was back in check. He grinned slyly. "So, the flower does have some wolf in her underneath that pretty face. I'm impressed that you managed to keep it in all this time."
"I am a master of self-control."
"Obviously."
"What were you doing here, anyway?"
"I came to pick you up. Temari and Gaara thought that you wouldn't be safe." He rolled his dark eyes. "If they wanted you to be safe, then they shouldn't have sent you to a private high school. More like... a daycare."
I scowled. "I can take care of myself."
"Sure. You probably would've wowed those perverts with your awe-inspiring inner wellspring of withering sarcasm."
I blinked. "I'm not sure if that was an insult or a compliment, but I'll take it as a compliment."
My inner lady was waging war with my teenage self and the latter was winning. I had an attitude, but I usually didn't show it, either because I was too shy or was worried that I'd be impolite. Right now, I didn't really care. And Kankuro seemed to like this side of me better than the polite version of me. We were, after all, close in age. He was only a year or two older than I was.
Kankuro smiled and offered an elbow to her- a sweet, old-fashioned gesture. "So, shall we go, m'lady?"
Okay, I had to do at least one chapter in which Kankuro was the hero. Temari and Gaara got their moments; it's his turn.
Expect some drama in the next chapter!
