Tropical Paradise

Chapter Seven – All You Need Are Mistakes

"So, first day of grade one, are you excited?" I asked, it's amazing how much smaller elementary school seems when you come back once you're older. Even if I'm not that tall, I still feel like a giant in here.

Karu's hand tighten around my finger, staring down at the tiled floor without replying.

"Com'on," I coaxed, trying desperately to think of a way to cheer him up. I have got to be the worst babysitter in existence. "It won't be all that bad, I mean sure there isn't a sandbox in your class anymore... but it means you're one step closer to high school..." Karu looked at me, confused. Well, at least he is looking at something other than the floor.

"You know, high school... when girls start to be interesting and school sucks a little less." Or a little more, depending.

"Where's my sister?" He asked finally, completely ignoring my usual ramblings. At least he will talk to me, he's always been really quiet.

"She's at a new job interview." I replied, relaying the same thing she had told him while ushering us out the door. Karu looked up at the door looming in front of him, a welcome sign tacked on the old oak.

"Is she mad at me? I didn't mean to break the plate." Oh geez, I am not cut out for the cheer up talk. He doesn't even get my humour at all, maybe in ten years, but not now. What do I say? That his mom is a cold bitch? Which is why Tenten has to get a second job, it's not her fault that she can't be here. Work is hard to come by, you can't be picky if you're given a chance with a new job.

She really wanted to be here, but her interviewer made it pretty fuckin' clear if she couldn't make it this morning, he could easily find someone else. I'm pretty sure she's more upset about this than he is, speaking of which, I promised to take pictures for her memory book.

"No, she's not mad at you, but she will be at me if I don't start taking pictures." I replied, fishing around in my cargo's for the disposable camera I was given.

"Promise she isn't mad?" He asked, taking up a death-grip on my finger.

"Yes, I promise. That plate was ugly anyways, I've been trying to convince her to buy the ninja turtle ones we saw at Wal-Mart." Karu smiled. "Alright, now just hold that smile..." I ran my fingers over the cardboard housed camera, finally finding the button I was looking for.

"Alright, say Ninja Turtle plates!"

"So, who do I remind you of?" Konohamaru asked for the fifth time, sitting on one of the many logs I had dragged back to camp. I wiped my nose with the back of my hand, irritated that Sakura would figure something out because of a runny nose.

A runny nose for fucks sake! But if I snap at Konohamaru she will be right about my mood swings, and I refuse to let her win. It's not even about her winning anymore, it's about Tenten being right. That I've become incapable of living peacefully with someone and that I've become a 'miserable shrewd'.

"A friend of mine, back in New York." I replied, forcing my voice to stay even. Konohamaru leaned forward, spewing out questions a mile a minute. I could feel my irritation rising, trying to ignore the brat on the bench while I rooted through one of the duffles we had sorted. This one is suppose to have stuff like glasses, deodorant, make up, hair brushes and so on; stuff that won't be much help to us here. But hey, if for some reason another plane crashes and there are people slightly less infuriating on it, and my opinion about long walks on a beach changes, then I will be ready.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Showing the doctor she isn't the only one with a bright idea or two." There they are, I knew there was a pair of glasses in here that survived the crash. Opening the case with a snap, I gingerly unfolded the instrument and experimentally held them up to see how they would reflect the sunlight. A small white dot appeared on the paper I had set in the middle of a pile of sticks and logs. Huston, we have lift off!

"Oi, short one, go find some rocks." I barked, ignoring the grumbled protests.

While Konohamaru went off in search of rocks to encircle my makeshift fire pit. I held the glasses up, trying to hold my hand as steady as possible but finding it increasingly impossible. I moved around, resting my arm on my leg, holding it straight, holding it with my other arm. Nothing worked.

"Stupid fuckin' thing, hold still!" I snarled, concentrating on my shaking hand. "With the power of the force, I command you to stop moving!" Lowering my voice, I did my best jedi knight impression while still cursing my inability to stop my hand from it's rebellious ways.

"That would be part of the exhaustion I mentioned." Sakura said, standing directly behind me. Startled, I jumped on spot, dropping the glasses into the sand. "Or it could be nerve damage, I don't know what exactly you took or experimented with."

She sat down next to me, fishing up the glasses and setting them gently back in my hand, folding my fingers around the instrument. "Try relaxing your arm against your leg, if you have less pressure on your elbow it will be easier for you."

"I'm fine." I shot back, shrugging off her touch and going back to what I was doing. I watched the spot of sunlight dance around the paper and ground my teeth in frustration.

"It's never going to get hot enough to start a fire if you keep moving it around." She did her best to hide a smile, inspecting a broken nail instead.

"Shut up!" Sakura shrugged, lying back against the warm sand and draping an arm over her eyes. I hate her! Stupid bitch, 'I don't know what you experimented with', I mimicked. She just thinks I'm a retarded junkie. I'm not!

Shaking my head from thoughts I didn't want to think about, I tossed the glasses onto Sakura's stomach.

"You do it then." I grouched, awkwardly getting to my feet. Sand showered down from my legs as I swatted the annoying cling-on's off my skin.

"Who did you lose?" Sakura asked, setting the glasses aside. Tenten...

"No one." I retaliated.

"I had a friend once." She continued, I snorted at the easy set up.

"Really? You? A friend? I never would have thought it possible." Ignoring my jibe, she continued.

"He was in love with this boy, but... it was unrequited. The guy he was in love with only cared about finding, and killing his brother for a crime. He believed with all his heart that his brother had killed their mother and father, and simply couldn't leave it to the police." She paused, licking chapped lips and checking to make sure I was listening. "He ended up killing his brother, and was sent to jail for life because of it."

"What does this have to do with me?" I asked, failing to draw the connection.

"My friend became depressed and started to drink... excessively. He cut off ties with his friends, family. He lost his job and eventually he died from alcohol poisoning, I'm still not convinced it was an accident." Sakura let out a deep sigh, running her finger along the frame of the glasses still posed in the sand.

"Look, what I'm trying to say is addiction is very dangerous, and can ruin your life. People become addicted for many different reasons, trying to fit in, uncontrolled anger, grief," she paused looking at me as if she expected something. "Because you feel cornered and have no other way out." I flinched at her guess.

"I didn't have a choice, Tenten!" I screamed, tears rolling down my cheeks as I waved my hand repeatably towards the wet and unfinished pieces surrounding me. "What was I suppose to do? I can't lose this place!"

"You always have a choice!" She retorted, "there's always another way! You could move in with Karu and I, or get another job!"

"Her name was Tenten, right?" Sakura asked, dragging me out the echoes in my mind. "I'm sorry, I've heard you say her name a few times." Hearing her name out loud stung, a lot more than I thought it would. Staring at the waves, I wondered if it would be easier to simply leave, if she would drop it. I doubt it, she acts more like a fuckin' pit-bull who has it's jaws wrapped around a ham bone.

"I'm not ready to talk about her." I replied honestly.

"I'm not going to push, I just wanted you to know that you aren't alone. If you ever want to talk, well... it wouldn't be hard to find me." She turned towards Konoharmaru as he approached towing along an arm full of rocks.

"I got the rocks!" He beamed, fumbling with the pile and tilting on his feet to try and worm out one in-particular. "Look," he bit his tongue, sticking it out of the corner of his mouth; fingers running over the rough stone. "At this one, it has a sea shell in it."

"That's awesome, buddy." I ruffled his hair, jamming my hands in my pockets as I walked away.

"Where are you going?" Konohamaru asked.

"She's going to look around for a bit, see if there's anything else we can use." Sakura replied before I could. Konohamaru turned to her, dropping the subject without asking if he could come along.

Thank you, I guess.

~o~

Our island is actually pretty big for an island, I guess; I don't really know much about islands but I'm assuming it's pretty fucking big for a patch of land in the middle of the ocean. Getting past the area we've already explored didn't take long, just the cave, the plane wreck further down the beach, the path in the sea grass and our two banana trees.

I decided to go far enough inland that I wasn't stumbling along on sand, but still close enough to the beach that I could see the sand and the water.

Every time I took a step is seemed like I disturbed some sort of bird. There were little tiny ones that were blue, red, yellow and every mixture of the three. I even swear I saw a tiny green one. Larger ones that were grey and brown, even a couple parrots and one with a really long tail.

The trees are nothing like the scarce few you can find in the city. They are massive, and old. A couple of them had twisted trucks that looked like four or five trees twisted together into one, the bottom lifted off the ground. I walked inside and it felt like walking into a tent, the inner part of the trucks were dark and moist. Tiny mushrooms growing around the base.

Vines dangled from the tree tops, wrapping around the trunks and tickling the top of my head as I walked by.

Everything is green, lush and healthy green. The grass is tall and thick, hiding the roots, rocks and fallen branches making it hard to walk. Almost every tree trunk is covered in a layer of moss.

The farther I walked, the more I found myself wandering deeper into the wilderness. A flock of birds burst out of a bush in front of me, and I stumbled as their colourful features disappeared into the tree tops.

"Shit!" I cursed, looking around as I got back up on my feet. I blinked, squinting to see what was barely visible ahead between two trees. What is that?

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Sorry it took so long to get this one out, been really on a roll with MPP. Hope you enjoy the chapter! -Kiravu

Ps, in case anyone was wondering all the titles for these chapters are song names :3