Chidori
Chapter 7 – Relationship mingle
For the drive to Kyoto, the four members of the Black Souls, as well as Kiba, Suigetsu, and Kabuto were sharing a van, and Kabuto was driving as usual. Unfortunately for Kiba, he was sharing the backseat with Suigetsu and Hiroshi, and it appeared they no longer needed to breathe because they were constantly making out.
Kiba'd had an awesome time with that girl Yoshi had introduced him to, Sarah. They'd even exchanged phone numbers and promised to keep in touch. But now he felt guilty because he'd cheated on Karin. But at the same time, it had been so long since they'd had sex! They barely ever kissed anymore, and they didn't even share hotel rooms.
He felt as if she didn't want to be with him anymore, but didn't want to say it. Kiba had made efforts; he'd tried to be a good boyfriend, to take care of her… But it just wasn't working.
And when he glanced at the two boys making out beside him, even though he mostly found it weird, he couldn't help but miss that. He missed the passion that came so easily with someone you'd just met. It had been like that with Sarah, of course. Even though she was a fan and he'd kind of used his fame to get laid, it had felt so good and she'd enjoyed it too, so what was the big deal?
Except now he had to tell Karin. And he needed to break up with her, because he really couldn't do this anymore.
For a moment he was lost in his thoughts. In the car, the two horny guys were still making out beside him, Takumi was writing in his notebook frantically, Kimiko was sleeping and Yoshi and Kabuto were talking about music in general apparently, but Kiba couldn't hear them properly.
Suddenly his cell phone buzzed, bringing him out of his thoughts. It was a text from Naruto.
"Are you gonna tell her?"
Kiba just stared at the little screen for a moment, wondering how Naruto knew… So he texted him back that very question.
"I saw you this morning with that girl. Was it worth it at least?"
Kiba sighed and closed his phone. He didn't want to explain these things by texts anyway…
- Chidori -
Sasuke was feeling much better, and it was all thanks to Naruto. He was so glad that Naruto had forgiven him; he didn't even know how to express it. He wondered what he would become without Naruto by his side. He had always been someone with the tendency to become depressed easily. He didn't see much meaning in life, and, being bitter and cynical most of the time, he sought comfort in alcohol because it made him feel good and careless. Drugs – well, the ones he'd tried so far – were even more intense, and it was easy to get addicted to it fast.
But his life did have meaning. They were currently sitting together and listening to Sasuke's IPod with an ear bud for each, and Naruto was sometimes glancing sideways at him and smiling, or squeezing his hand. This, what he and Naruto shared, was important and meaningful, and Sasuke never wanted to risk losing that again.
He reached with his hand to stroke Naruto's hair softly. His long pale fingers entangled into the soft mid-length blond hair, now with reddish highlights in them. Sasuke really liked it; it was as if his blue eyes stood out even more now, if possible.
"I don't think I told you," he said, "but I really like your hair. It's cute."
"Thanks," Naruto grinned.
"All thanks to me!" Ino smiled, glancing at them from the passenger's seat.
"You're the best stylist in the whole world," Naruto said half-teasing.
"Thank you Naruto!" she exclaimed, playing along, "And you're the best guitarist in the world! And the best boyfriend of course! I just love you so much!" she added more dramatically.
Sasuke and Naruto laughed, and even Karin smiled. Naruto had told the girls about Haku and his master plan with the newspaper. Apparently he enjoyed making fun of Haku's antics – not that Sasuke had a problem with that.
After that Naruto started texting Kiba. He had also told this story – but only to Sasuke of course. They didn't have any secrets for each other.
Karin wasn't stupid though, and everyone knew Kiba had been partying with the others anyway. So she was a bit tensed, and clearly expecting a confrontation soon.
So when they stopped at a restaurant because the girls needed to use the bathroom, she just waited by the car with Naruto and Sasuke, and Ino went to the bathroom with Kimiko.
Kiba looked sad and uneasy as he walked towards them.
"Hey…"
"Hey," Karin said nervously.
"Do you wanna go talk or something?"
"Sure," she walked further in the parking so that no one could hear their conversation, and Kiba followed her.
Suigetsu and Hiroshi were kissing, leaning on the parked van, Kabuto was on the phone – again – and Takumi was writing in his notebook; he hadn't even gotten out of the car yet. As for Yoshikazu, he stretched lazily and then walked in their direction.
"Naruto! What's up?"
"Hum, not much you?" Naruto chuckled, glancing at Sasuke with a why-the-hell-is-he-talking-to-me look.
Sasuke shrugged and proceeded to change the song playing in his IPod, pretending not to listen, but of course he was listening.
"Not much, not much… So these rumours of you and Ino, they're not true, right?"
Naruto laughed, "Err no they're not…" he lifted Sasuke and his joined hands to show him, "If you hadn't noticed yet, I'm with Sasuke."
"Right, right, my bad, so do you know if she's single?"
"Yes…"
Yoshikazu nodded, replacing his sunglasses and clearing his throat, "And is she looking for a relationship or…?"
"I don't know, you'd have to ask her," Naruto frowned, "but I thought you weren't looking for a relationship. No offense, but you seem… kind of a player."
"None taken," he laughed, "but I date sometimes. I used to date Kimi!"
"Really?" Naruto asked, surprised.
"Well yeah it was a while ago but it was great. And these days I'm kinda getting tired of these stupid whores… Like the one last night, she was such a tease the whole time and then… she didn't even want to do anything! So I fell asleep without even getting laid!"
"How sad," Sasuke mocked him, but then he realized the 'girl' he was talking about was probably Haku, and he burst out laughing.
Naruto was laughing too, "You were with Haku, right?"
"Yeah… hey is it true she's your ex?" he glanced at Sasuke, "she wouldn't shut up about you. Hey what's so funny guys?"
"Well yeah, he is my ex," he said and Naruto almost fell on the ground laughing at the expression on Yoshi's face.
"You don't mean…"
"Yup," Sasuke said, "Haku's a guy."
Hiroshi and Suigetsu interrupted their making out to join their little conversation.
"You told him?" Hiroshi laughed.
"That's cruel guys, now he's gonna be scarred for life," Suigetsu added.
Yoshi remained silent for a few seconds, and then glared at them.
"You guys knew and didn't tell me?"
"Sorry," Suigetsu shrugged.
"Well you see, I was kind of busy," Hiroshi smirked; his body still glued to Suigetsu making it no difficult to see what he was talking about.
"I hate you guys!" Yoshi exclaimed, his face slightly paler, "Ugh, that's so not cool… Some fucked up shit…" he removed his sunglasses and hat and ran a shaky hand through his blue hair.
He walked away at the same time that Ino and Kimiko came back from the restroom.
"What's wrong with him?" the blonde girl asked them.
"I don't know, but you should go talk to him, it will cheer him up, trust me," Kimiko winked at her.
The two girls seemed to get along quite well, even though their styles couldn't be more different. Ino was wearing a little purple dress, and had her long blonde hair loose and sleek; and Kimiko was wearing ripped blue skinny jeans and a wide neck black shirt with her long caramel hair pulled up in a messy ponytail.
Ino was blushing slightly, "What? No, I barely know him…"
"Just go!" Kimi pushed her towards him.
Sasuke rolled his eyes at Kimi's not so subtle attempt at playing match makers, and then Kabuto appeared beside him and handed him his cell.
"Orochimaru-sama wants to talk to you."
"All right," Sasuke took it and walked passed the others towards the restaurant, "Hello?"
"Hi Sasuke-kun, how are you?"
"I'm good, thanks, you?"
"I'm very good! I'm hearing only praise so far for your tour, so I wanted to personally congratulate you."
"Thank you, I appreciate," Sasuke said politely.
"Also, Takumi-kun called me earlier today. He's a very secret guy and I guess he hasn't told you anything yet, but you inspired him a lot and he's been writing songs for you and Kimi-chan to sing in duets. He wanted to know if I'd be interested in producing such a record."
"No he didn't tell me… So what was your answer?" Sasuke asked. He actually found the idea interesting himself.
"I didn't answer him yet. I wanted to talk to you directly. I'd like you to work with Takumi on the songs, and only if you want, give it a try in the shows. You'd sing with the Black Souls at the end of their first part, and then you'd sing with Chidori of course. We'll see the fans' reactions, and I'll decide what to do from there."
"I understand Orochimaru, thank you for taking the time to talk to me."
"It's always a pleasure! Could you give the phone back to Kabuto, please?"
Sasuke did as he was told, and glancing at the others he saw that Ino and Yoshi were sitting on a bench, talking together, and further in the parking Karin and Kiba were… hugging. But it didn't look like they'd made up. They both looked really sad, from what Sasuke could see, anyway.
"What did he want?" Naruto asked him.
"He wants me to sing some duets with Kimi," he said simply, before glancing at Takumi, who had finally gotten out of the car.
"Oh, I was waiting for his answer before telling you," he said simply.
"That would be awesome!" Kimiko exclaimed enthusiastically. "Please say yes, please say yes, Sasuke, please, please, please!"
"Well, I'll take a look at the songs first, but yeah, I mean I think it's a great idea."
"Yatta!" Kimiko threw herself in Sasuke's arms. "I can't wait!"
While they were talking Karin had gotten back to the driver seat of their car, and Kiba to the back seat of the other one.
"All right, time to go!" Kabuto told everyone.
"You should ride with us and show me what you got so far," Sasuke told Takumi.
He made a little smile, "Sure."
They took place in the back seat, while Kimiko and Naruto sat in the middle and Ino at the front.
"Are you okay to drive?" the blonde girl asked Karin worriedly.
"Yes, it's better; keeps me from thinking too much," she sighed as she started the car and followed the other van towards the highway.
From listening to small parts of their conversations, Sasuke gathered that Karin and Kiba had broken up on a mutual decision, and that Ino had a date with Yoshikazu later in the evening.
It seemed all everybody could talk about was relationships. So Sasuke was glad to focus on music with Takumi instead.
"This is really good!" he said sincerely.
They worked together and made some adjustments. Sasuke was particularly interested in one of the songs Takumi had written, so they worked on making it perfect.
"Oi, Karin?" he said at some point, interrupting the other conversations.
"Yes, Sasuke?" she glanced at him in the rear view mirror.
"What do we have scheduled tomorrow?"
"Interviews and sound check, why?"
"I'd like the rest of the band to go to the interviews without me, and to have more sound check time – actually the whole day, if possible – to practice with Kimiko and the band."
They were Tuesday, and the show was on Thursday evening. Sasuke was really excited about Takumi's songs, and he wanted to play at least one of them at the Kyoto show. If they worked really hard, it could be done.
"Oh my God!" Kimiko screamed, "Please, Karin-san, please, please, please!"
"Fine just stop screaming!" Karin sighed, "I'll do what I can, Sasuke."
"Thanks"
"Awesome!" Kimi exclaimed, grinning, as she glanced back and blew a kiss at Sasuke with her hand.
- Chidori -
"So, how was it?" Naruto asked Ino.
She had just gotten back from her date with Yoshikazu. Sasuke, Takumi and Kimiko were sitting on one of the beds talking about the song they would practice the next day, and Naruto had been playing a game on Sasuke's laptop on the meantime, but he was kind of bored. So when Ino had sent him a text to ask if she could stop by his room to talk a little bit, he'd said yes enthusiastically.
This time Hiroshi was sharing the same room as Suigetsu, Yoshikazu and Kiba, and Ino couldn't exactly go back to her own room to talk to Karin since she wasn't feeling well because of her breakup, and Kabuto well, it was out of the question. Actually, no one in their group was really friends with Kabuto.
"It was great," Ino smiled, dropping her small purse on the floor beside her sandals and sitting on the bed next to Naruto.
"Hey Ino!" Kimiko exclaimed, jumping from her spot between the two raven-haired guys to join them instead.
"Hey Kimi," Ino chuckled.
"But come on I want more details than just 'It was great'," Naruto laughed.
"It was romantic, you know? We went to a nice little restaurant, and then we walked by the Katsura river… We talked a lot…"
"About what?" Kimiko asked excitedly.
"He kept telling me how beautiful I was," Ino chuckled, "and well we talked about so many things. He's a pretty interesting guy."
"You sound surprised," Kimi replied, amused.
"Well, I just hadn't him pinned down as… I mean I was surprised, yes, but in a good way."
"I have to agree with Ino I mean, if I was a girl I wouldn't see him as a potential boyfriend, like at all," Naruto said.
"He likes to party a lot when he's single," Kimiko said thoughtfully, "but when we were together he was a great boyfriend. And we were together like, two years."
"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed, impressed.
"Yeah he told me a lot about you, actually," Ino smiled.
Kimiko gasped and brought her hands to her face, "Oh no! I'm sure he said all sorts of embarrassing things!"
"No don't worry!" she laughed, flipping back her blonde hair behind her shoulders, "he told me about your music - your singing and his playing guitar - in the subway stations and then little gigs in bars. He told me how you rebelled and ran away from your parents to go live with him. Kimi, honestly, I think you are so courageous. Not many people would've done it, and you were so young!"
"Thank you, Ino," Kimi smiled sincerely. "It was hard of course, but I needed to get away from my parents…"
"How old were you?" Naruto asked, intrigued.
"15… And Yoshi had just turned 17. My parents wanted me to stop seeing him, and they had me locked up in my room…"
"That sucks," Naruto said sadly, "do you still talk to them or…?"
She shook her head, "No… I have many siblings and I've always been the rebellious one, the one they couldn't keep under control. Even if I'd try to write them, or call them, I don't even think they'd want to answer me."
"At least you had Yoshi's parents, right? He told me his parents were very fond of you," Ino smiled.
"Yes, they were so depressed when we broke up," Kimiko chuckled. "But did Yoshi let you talk at least? He talks too much about himself sometimes and gets carried away."
She shrugged, "Well he was talking a little bit more, but that's okay I mean I was asking questions, it was interesting and I wanted to know. But I also talked a bit."
"I'm so glad it went well!" Kimiko's smile widened and she leaned forward to hug Ino, "Now we're gonna be sisters!"
"What?" Naruto exclaimed, laughing.
"When Yoshi and I broke up," Kimiko pulled away to look at Naruto, "we decided we had more of a brother and sister relationship."
"I'm not his girlfriend yet," Ino chuckled and blushed slightly when she realized she'd added the word yet.
Glancing at Sasuke and Takumi, Naruto saw that they were still working. Such workaholics, Naruto mused. Well, even if it was teamwork with Takumi, at least Sasuke was writing, in a way. Maybe it'd cheer him up. Sasuke looked up from Takumi's notebook and their eyes met, and they exchanged a smile.
"But you like him!" Kimiko suddenly exclaimed triumphantly, and Naruto glanced back at the two girls.
"I have to admit he's really handsome and charming. He changed his outfit for our date and I thought it was really cute."
"You mean no sunglasses, cap and douche bag shirts?" Naruto laughed.
"No! It was just simple, nice clothes, and for once I could see his face. Oh, and he showed me his tattoo, he has like, wings on his back, it's so beautiful! Now I feel like getting a tattoo."
"We should go together!" Naruto exclaimed, "I've also been thinking about getting one."
"Okay," she nodded, smiling.
"Do you wanna see mine?" Kimiko asked excitedly.
"You have a tattoo? Where? I didn't even notice!" Naruto exclaimed.
"That's normal they're really small," she said, amused, as she lifted her thick hair with her hand, showing them her exposed nape. There was a small blue rose tattoo there. They'd barely had time to see it that she let her hair fall and turned around completely, lifting up her shirt and lowering her pants. "There's another one here," she said and they could see on her left butt cheek there were tiny black stars and music notes.
"They're really nice, both of them!" Ino exclaimed.
"Thank you!" she smiled.
Ino looked at Naruto with excitement in her pale turquoise eyes, "We should go tomorrow!"
"What! Get a tattoo, you mean?"
"Yeah! It's crazy, I know, but let's do it!"
"Cool! I'm gonna get Sasuke's name on my ass!"
His boyfriend glared at him, "Don't do that you freakin' moron."
"I was kidding!" Naruto laughed, throwing a pillow at him.
Sasuke threw it back, "What do you want to get, then? You have to tell me first."
"Why? Cause my body belongs to you?"
"Exactly," Sasuke smirked, making the others laugh.
Takumi closed his notebook and got up, yawning, "It's getting late…"
"Yeah you're right, I think we should go to bed," Kimiko said sleepily.
"So Ino," Naruto started, "I like your idea, but maybe not tomorrow. You know; interviews and stuff. And Thursday it's the show. So… maybe Friday?"
"Yeah okay! Friday it is! Don't chicken out on me, all right?" Ino chuckled, standing.
"You know I wouldn't do that! Oh hey," he added before she left, "I'm glad you had fun on your date tonight. I can already see it in the magazines; Uzumaki's mysterious girlfriend cheating with the bassist from the Black Souls!"
She burst out laughing, "Get ready for the interviews tomorrow!"
"Oh God," Naruto face palmed.
"Good night guys," Ino told them.
"Good night sis!" Kimiko exclaimed teasingly.
Ino rolled her eyes, smiling, and closed the door to let them sleep.
TBC
