Chapter 7!

I sat beside unconscious Kimimaro, occasionally touching his hand, or fidgeting with his pillow or blankets. "So, I tried to make a cake this morning." I smiled. "Turns out Tsuyuki was right, I can't cook at all." There was an uncomfortable silence and I cleared my throat. "Her birthday party was yesterday. You won't believe who was there. Remember Deidara? We had a chance to catch up. He's doing well." I sat there and listened to his labored breathing, unable to stop myself from looking at hopefully when he moaned in his sleep. "Are you done yet?" The impatient voice of Tayuya said from the doorway. I shot her a glare. "No. I'm not done talking with your brother" I made sure to put emphasis on the last word. "I'll stay and talk as long as I want. What is your problem anyway?" I asked, crossing my legs. "My problem is a girl I don't like is sitting in the room with my sick brother." She snapped. "Tayuya. Do you ever sing to him?" She looked at me shocked from the lack of rude retort. "Well…no but." "Maybe one of your songs would bring him back." "What do you mean bring him back? He's not gone yet. He's not dead." She said, an edge in her voice. "That's not what I meant! I was just-" Kimimaro moved a little, making a soft rustling noise from his sheets. Tayuya and I were at his side instantly. I gently touched his forehead, concentrating on reducing his fever. It was the least I could do to help, even though it wouldn't do much. He muttered something, barely opening his mouth. I leaned closer. "He's saying something." Tayuya pointed out. "Thank you Captain Obvious" I rolled my eyes, turning my attention back to the sick teen. "Kan A..." I looked at Tayuya, eyes wide. "My name! He's trying to say my name. "Whatever. It's just coincidence." Her voice was coated with denial. "I heard it though." I leaned over Kimimaro. "Can you hear me? Kimimaro I'm right here." I took his hand in mine. "Please hear me. Please." My eyes scanned his face for some sign of movement or consciousness, but found nothing. "I guess he doesn't." Tayuya said smugly. I rose; I had to leave before I snapped again. "Leaving so soon?" The musician asked innocently. All I did was glare, stress holding back my ability to make a snappy comeback. I walked out the room, only closing the door halfway. As I walked down the hall, a soft song filled the air, Tayuya gently singing one of her songs.

"Hey. You're back early. Thought you were staying with your dying boyfriend." Hiroki said from the couch, Dain beside him playing Grand Theft Auto. "I was, but I decided to leave. What do we have to eat?" I asked, quickly changing the subject. "Waffles and maybe some sandwiches. Rino went out for groceries." Dain called, as he jerked a man out of his truck and drove away in it. "I don't want waffles for lunch." "Then I guess you're eating a sandwhich." Hiroki mocked. I huffed as I noisily made a peanut butter and jelly. Kimimaro had definitely said my name earlier, and that had to mean something right? Maybe I'd call Tsuyuki. She's have some advice. But she was probably busy with Gaara, it being the day after her birthday and all. I sat on the couch beside my brothers and took a controller out of Hiroki's hand. He took it right back. "Ah ah ah. There will be no stealing of controllers in the middle of the tournament." "Tournament?" "Yea. We been going since we woke up." Dain replied, not taking his eyes off the screen. I took a bite of my sandwhich then leaned back. "Whatever you say. When's Rino gonna be back?" "Who knows" Hiroki shrugged. Someone knocked on the door. "Come in!" Dain called casually. "Dain, you can't just tell people to come in the house. What if it's like a robber or something?' I asked, standing to get the door. "Two fire users and a storm-wielder. I think we can take some old robber." I opened the door and was greeted my Tsuyuki. "Hey guys!" She called. "Hey beautiful." Hiroki answered. Tsuyuki looked at me with her big blue eyes. "That never ceases to be creepy." I laughed. "I bet." She hugged Dain then sat in a chair at the table. "What's up?" "O nothing. I was bored and decided I'd visit." I looked at her suspiciously. "Shouldn't you be hanging out with Gaara?" "He went to help Matsuri with something." She did her best to say it nonchalantly, but there was a small hint of something in her words. Bingo, found the problem. "Want me to go get him? I can straiten this out easily." I offered. "Man, fuck that. Let's beat the guy up. No one's allowed to make Tsuyuki sad. Except maybe a puppy. Or that said movie where the deer's mom dies." "Bambi?" Dain guessed the movie Hiroki was referring to." "No guys. It's no big deal really. They were childhood friends. There's nothing wrong with them hanging out." But nothing the ice girl said could hide the tiny speck of doubt in her eyes. I understood a little about how she felt. "Wanna go do something?" I asked. "Like what?" "I don't know. What do you do when you're upset?" "Read?" "O…well let me grab my hoodie and we'll go get some people together and do something fun." "I said I liked to read though." "Well, no offense, but that seemed kind of lame. So we'll do something fun, and maybe you can read the signs on the way." I teased, running up the stairs, Tsuyuki following behind me.

"See! I told you I couldn't catch." Tsuyuki laughed as the football Kiba threw went right over her head. "It wasn't that bad." I tried to hold back my own laughter. I bent down to pick up the football, and that's when I saw it, those 8 beady eyes staring at me from the corner of the ball. A spider the size of my hand moved onto Kiba's football, one long leg slowly following the other. My blood went cold and my world seemed to get fuzzy as I let out and ear splitting scream. "Akane! What is it-Holy shit that's a big spider." Kiba put his arms around me and moved me back. I could tell I was shaking, but I was still to frightened to speak. I wanted to look away form the eight-legged demon, but my brain wouldn't let me take my eyes off it. I was afraid I'd loose track of it and the last thing I wanted was that thing crawling on my arms or legs. "Watch her Tsuyuki, I'm going to go get the ball." He instructed, putting me beside her. "Hey, there you are Kumo!" The relieved voice of Kidomaru, one of Kimimaro's adopted siblings, sounded. He turned to Kiba. "Thanks for finding my tarantula. I've been looking all over for this guy. "You just let your pet spider go in the park?" Kiba asked. "He usually doesn't go far. What's it to you anyway? It's not like he hurt anyone." Kiba looked back at me, and I felt embarrassed I couldn't get my shaking under control. "She has arachnophobia." He explained. "Well then she shouldn't be in the park where there are millions of spiders in all sizes and shapes everywhere. Trees, grass, even in the wind. Its life" He smirked, stepping to me. "Plus, they're not that scary . See, Kumo's pretty cool. Huge for his species, and check out those fangs." He put the spider in my face and my panic attack went into high gear. I screamed as loud as I could, pushing Kidomaru away from me, causing the spider to go to the ground again, this time dangerously close to my foot. The grass around me went into flames, hoping to burn the spider to hell. "Akane, just calm down." I felt Kiba's hand touch my arm, but my confused brain saw it as another spider. I jumped, unable to breathe right, and ran as far as I could, stopping behind a tall tree. I sat against its trunk, putting my hands over my head. I hated this so much, never having an episode that bad before. I was talking to myself to calm down, reminding myself to control my breathing. The more oxygen my brain got now right, the better. My world returned to normal, and I could sense the flames that I'd started dying down. I stood up shakily. "You okay?" Tsuyuki asked when she saw me return. I just nodded. Kiba was saying something to Kidomaru, who yelled a few curse words then walked away. "What happened when I….you know, panicked?" I asked. "Kiba killed the spider. Stepped right on the thing." Tsuyuki said. "He what?" Believe me, I was incredibly happy that the thing was dead, but why would he do that? 'It was an accident" The brown haired teen muttered, walking up to us. I could tell by the way he said 'Accident' that it was anything but. He put his hand on my shoulder. "You okay? I haven't seen you act that bad since that time in 4th grade with the Grand daddy on the chalkboard." I shook my head yes. "Thanks." "You're welcome." I looked up at the dog boy admirably. It seemed like I was thanking him more and more these days. He held up the football. "Here, it's your throw."

I stared at my friends eating ice cream, a food that was sadly forbidden to me. Since the park incident, Naruto, Rock Lee, and Neji had joined us and we were all sitting at an outside table at Ichiraku Ice Cream Shoppe, which luck for me, also sold other treats. "Well, at least you're okay." Rock Lee said after hearing about the spider. "Yea, I guess." I didn't hang out with him or Neji much, so I had to practically stare at them to remember their Talents. I knew Lee had something to Super Speed, but Neji's eluded me entirely. Finally I gave up and asked him. He gave me a weird look with his lavender eyes. "There's not a name for it. It's just like Hinata's. Just think of it as seeing energies and auras. We can also control them sometimes." "Awesome" "Like right now. I can see you have a small dark aura hidden under the happy one you have now. Is it because of Kimimaro?" "How did you know?" "I'm also a genius." He added matter-of-factly. "He heard it from Kiba. He tells us that you visit the guy almost everyday. I admire your commitment to the very end." Rock Lee gave me a thumbs up. Everyone was right; this guy was a definite nutcase. "Umm...Thanks I guess." Kiba gave a quiet laugh and I suddenly wanted to know what was so funny. "Hey guys, I'm going to get some more pink lemonade. I'll be right back." Tsuyuki said, going inside. Kiba took one of the gummy bears off the top of her vanilla ice cream and held it up to me. "Awww come on Ms. Frowny Face. Smile a little. I'm sure everything will turn out fine." He said in a strange high pitch squeaky voice. I took it out his hand and bit the head off. "Ahhh you fiend. The pain! Whyyy! Whyyy? I have a gummy wife and two gummy kids at home!" I busted out laughing along with Rock Lee, while Neji just stared at us like we were idiots. An unfamiliar laugh joined with ours and I looked behind Lee to see Gaara and Matsuri walking arm and arm. Matsuri was wearing a familiar dark purple shirt. "Didn't he say he bought that for Tsuyuki when we saw him?" Kiba whispered. "Yep. And last time I checked, two childhood friends don't walk that close together." "So, Gaara's cheating on Tsuyuki? First Shikamaru, now this?" I stood up, blocking their path. "Hey. Hey." I shouted, but they were too wrapped up in their own world to see me. Kiba cupped both hands over his mouth and gave a loud "WOOF!" The perfect imitation of an angry Rottweiler. I smiled at him, happy his talent did more good than just scaring his sister. Both Matsuri and Gaara jumped five feet in the air. I crossed my arms. "Well, well, look who we have here?" Matsuri quickly moved away from Gaara. "I...uhhh." "You. Can it." I gave her a death glare. "And You, Gaara, start talking." "We were-" I could tell he was about to lie. "DON'T. Do it" I sneered. "What?" "Don't even think about trying to lie. I want strait up answers now, or strait up answers after I punch little missy's face in" I cracked my knuckles to make my point. "I was going to tell Tsuyuki, but it was her birthday. So I got her the puppy so-" "So I'd forgive you?" Tsuyuki's harsh voice spat from behind us. "Tsuyuki?" She put her hands on her hips. I always admired her for being able to hide her emotions, this being a clear example why. The tension in the air could've been cut with a butter knife. "Tsuyuki. I'm sorry for-" I shot Matsuri a warning look. "No one gave you permission to speak." "Tsuyuki, Call your guard dog off and let's just talk." Gaara said. Tsuyuki looked at me and I nodded and sat down beside Kiba. "My only question." The ice girl started. "Is why go through all this trouble, instead of just telling me you liked her?" "So. You're not mad?" Gaara asked surprised. "O. Don't get me wrong. I'm pissed." Ice froze his feet to the ground. "But not at her, at you and your stupidity." She picked up her ice cream and took a bite. "I'm heading home. See you guys in school." She called, then walked away. "Guess we should leave to Kiba." I said, standing back up. Gaara gave me a questioning look. "HA! As if I'd help you." Have fun. Bye Neji. See ya, Lee." "Good-Bye!" Lee shouted back. Yea, he was a first class nutcase.