Chapter 9
It was twenty to seven and Yume was in her bedroom sorting out what outfit to wear to the party. She wanted something that would hide her faded but not entirely gone bruises, but most of the clothes she owned were short, low cut or showed her arms off. For half an hour she had avoided the inevitable. There was one dress modest enough to cover all the bruising except for her face. She pulled it out, sighed and tried it on.
'It'll have to do.'
She brushed lint from the bottom of her dark blue, Victorian dress, then pulled down on the bottom of the bell-sleeves to make sure at a glance nothing could be seen. She had quite a feeble frame so the ruffled shoulder pads helped give the impression she had quite broad shoulders and the dress itself was short; the petticoated skirt stopping about mid-thigh. The corset of the dress was laced up at front with ribbon - though Yume would never EVER lace it properly again; not after last time when Amaya had laced her up so tight that she passed out. There were assortments of lace and ruffles along the arms of the dress, finished with sleeves that billowed out at the ends. At the top of the dress there was a panel of white material for modesty, neatly drawn together with a small dark blue bow around her neck as a collar.
Yume hobbled over to her chest of drawers and pulled out a pair of long white socks. She dropped down to the floor and put them on, pulling the fabric up over her knees. When they were in place she rose up unsteadily and walked to her wardrobe to pull out a pair of dark blue platform sandals. She wore them mainly, not for the practicality, but for the extra height. She was short.
Taking a few more minutes to get ready, as she searched for discarded bits of make-up around her room, she noticed the necklace Hidan had given her lying on her bedside table. Though she paused for a moment, wondering if it would be okay, she decided to put it on then scooped up her make-up, covered her face in foundation and concealer particularly over the bruises then brushed her cheeks with blusher and circled her eyes with the eyeliner pen. No one could tell she had been in a fight now. Not unless they were looking for it.
Outside the room and down the staircase, Amaya was busy in the kitchen. She was preparing the food for the party. By anyone's standards other than her own, there was too much food. But when Amaya hosted, Amaya hosted. She wanted to be a chef once she had left school and parties were a great excuse for some practice.
She put the homemade pizza into the oven then decided to check on the other fifteen meals cooking, boiling or freezing around the kitchen. This may have seemed like a lot of work and that Yume was selfish for not helping. However when she had tried earlier to pick up a dessert dish to put in the fridge, Amaya had nearly battered her hands off with a spatula. Yume was never allowed to help in the kitchen. Amaya made that very clear.
Yume walked down the stairs, into the kitchen where she saw Amaya in her chef-mode. Hoping she had not been seen, she crept back into the living room holding her hands back protectively. She sat down on the sofa and looked about, noticing that Amaya had added extra chairs and a few more tables to the room. She curled her legs up underneath her and began to think about what was going to be happening at the party.
She made a checklist of who was coming; Akatsuki, Suigetsu, Haku and Kimimaro, most likely Sakura and Temari, Shikamaru and possibly Gaara if Amaya had plucked up the courage to ask him. Although he was an antisocial boy, Yume had been friends with him since infant school and even now they worked together in their music lessons whenever they had the chance. She might have asked others; heck, for all she knew, half the school was going to show up. One thing was for certain, the house was going to be a state tomorrow.
It was twenty minutes later when Amaya sat down next to Yume wearing a comfortable short black dress, red dolly shoes and a red bow in her hair - a bow so big that it took up half of her head. The entire house was full with the aromas of freshly baked, cooked and uncovered food, sitting on the tables at the back of the room. Yume looked at her for a second then laughed. Amaya glared.
"What?"
"You've still got flour on your face."
Amaya wiped at her cheek. "Did I get it?"
"No."
"Where is it?"
"There." She poked Amaya on the nose. The raven-haired girl laughed and wiped it off. Next there was a knock at the door, sending both girls into an excited frenzy.
"Let us in, Amaya! Believe it!" called a muffled voice from the other side of the door. Yume passed Amaya a look and laughed.
"You invited Naruto? You hate Naruto!"
Amaya scratched the back of her head sheepishly, pushing herself up from the sofa. "I don't hate him. It's a friendly rivalry!"
Yume's face scrunched up as she laughed even harder. Only a couple of days ago had she left her Citizenship lesson to the sounds of Amaya and Naruto swearing murder on each other. "I'd hate to see what you do to your enemies then…"
"Come on, woman! We fight all the time."
That was true. In the past few days alone they had been arguing about sleeping arrangements at every available moment. Yume really wanted her bed back but Amaya refused to sleep on the sofa. They were going to compromise and take turns in Yume's bed with the other sleeping on a blow up mattress on the floor of her room. But to get to that point, there had been no end of arguments. Yume conceded and nodded.
"Yeah!" said Amaya triumphantly standing next to the sofa, briefly forgetting that she was leaving people in the cold outside. "See? Friends!"
She continued to stand by the sofa and look at Yume until there was another knock at the door and Amaya realised she was being a terrible host. She ran through to the front door and opened it wide, almost being trampled on as Naruto dived through the door to escape the rain that had just started to fall. Behind him Sakura, Temari, Hinata, Shikamaru, Gaara and Kankuro entered in. Amaya jumped on Naruto, attempting to beat him to death for nearly dirtying up her dress. As this happened, Yume stood up from the sofa and called through happily, relieved to see her friends and no strangers, "Hi guys!"
Sakura and Temari were the first to react, running into the living-room on high heels rather too expertly, throwing their arms around Yume. Sakura squealed.
"I'm so glad you're okay!"
"You're such an idiot," Temari added, "but you're our idiot and we're glad you're safe." They both let go of her and pulled away. Sakura did a twirl in her red off the shoulder dress, saying,
"What do you think? I got it on sale yesterday."
Temari tutted at her then turned Yume around so she could not get a proper look, winking back at Sakura. "You couldn't wait five minutes to brag, could you?"
Sakura shuffled round so that she was back in front of Yume. "It was a steal!"
As Yume got a look at the dress, Temari said, "If it had been in my size. You're too lucky."
"I don't go eating everyone's leftovers," Sakura joked, holding her dress at the bottom, twirling around on the toe of her stiletto. Temari stared open mouthed then frowned and shoved Sakura back onto the sofa. Yume rather liked Sakura's new dress, and seeing it was about to get ruined by Sakura and Temari's play-fighting, said hurriedly,
"Hey, did Amaya tell you who else was coming tonight?"
Temari, her hands on Sakura's shoulders, ready to shake her head about until her hair fell out of its neat bun, paused. "There's more people coming?"
The others looked between one another, wondering who else they were friends with. That was when Amaya grinned, her foot on top of Naruto's head. "You managed to get them to come then?"
"They said they would," said Yume, shuffling through to the hallway to say hello to her other friends, starting by hugging Hinata. "And a few others too."
Rather more interested in who else was coming than pummelling Naruto, Amaya sprang up and got as close to Yume as she could without actually touching her, wrapping herself around an unsuspecting Kankuro's arm like a monkey on a vine. "Who?"
He looked down and tried to wiggle her off but she did not budge. Yume smiled, wanting to see the faces her friends pulled when she told them. "Alright, well you know I did that concert the other day?" Everyone nodded, most having been at the concert, "Well. I've kept in touch with the guys from Akatsuki and they're coming here tonight."
Like she had expected, most of her friends erupted. Temari and Sakura looked at one another, screamed and hugged each other. Hinata blushed furiously, Kankuro punched the air, Gaara gave a rare toothy smirk, Naruto jumped up and down shouting 'believe it' and Amaya screamed, "let me find my camera!" before dashing into the living room to retrieve it. Shikamaru was the only one who kept a cool head – it was not his kind of music. Though, he was quite interested to see what all the fuss was about. Every girl he was friends with swooned when the word Akatsuki got mentioned and he was going to find out why.
Yume called to Amaya, who was rummaging in the chest of drawers below the TV, "And the other people coming? You'll never guess."
She stopped rummaging and stared at Yume, suddenly grinning. "Who? Ooh! Some other famous band?" Her eyes sparkled, "Killer Bee? He's the best damn rapper in the world!"
Yume laughed, half wishing it was him just to keep Amaya happy. "No, it's my new bandmates."
Amaya's jaw dropped open. Sakura and Temari stopped bouncing. The others eyed her curiously.
"New band?" asked Gaara in his husky voice, wondering if it was anyone from their music class. Yume nodded.
"They're from the academy. They seem like nice guys, though Suigetsu seems a bit—"
"Wait!" shouted Amaya, now brandishing her camera. "When did this happen!?"
It made sense that Amaya had ignored Yume earlier when she had come in to talk about it; too busy baking a cake. Her only other concern at the time had been getting Yume back out of the kitchen.
As everyone filed into the living room, finding places to sit, Yume continued,
"Today. The guys-" her cheeks turned pink when she realised she was calling the members of her favourite rock band of all time 'the guys' like they were her best friends, "- picked me up after you left this morning and I met up with Haku, Kimimaro and Haku then."
Yume saw Amaya, Temari and Sakura open their mouths and she knew they were about to start firing questions at her along the lines of "Are they all guys, and are they all hot?" but before they could get the words out, there was a knock at the front door.
Time seemed to slow. All heads turned to the door. Temari and Sakura launched themselves out of the room into the hallway closely followed by Amaya, sending Kankuro flying backwards over the sofa when he dared to accidentally get in her way. Sakura, being at the front, dove for the door but before she could wrap her fingers around the handle, Temari grabbed her by the waist but got caught by Sakura's foot so the pair fell to the ground. Amaya jumped the two bodies as they dropped, wrapped her hand around the doorknob and pulled the door open.
She gave a warm smile, shoved her two friends out of the way with her foot then said to the people outside, her voice as gooey as a marshmallow, "You made it. Hi. I love—hey," she said rather more brashly, "Who are you three? Oh! Wait!" Amaya turned her head and shouted in to Yume, "Yume, Akatsuki and your guys are here!"
" 'kay!" She replied, blushing at the phrase your guys. Amaya moved out of the way and let Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Tobi, Kimimaro, Suigetsu and Haku into the house. Those who had already seen the inside of Yume's home walked into the living-room and made themselves comfortable, ignoring the fan-based ogling and made small talk to try and break the idol/fan barrier. The others glanced about the hallway, curiously trying to decipher what Yume's home life was like. For the majority part of the year they lived on the academy campus so it was nice to actually be inside someone's home for a change.
Amaya walked into the living room and clapped her hands together, ready to get the night of antics underway.
"Okay people! Food's in the kitchen, music's in here! Let's smartie party!"
oOo
A while later and the house was buzzing with the sound of a good night. Everyone was enjoying themselves, even Itachi. Yume was enjoying herself more so than she had expected. She was currently sat with Haku, gossiping about Akatsuki. Though Haku loved Akatsuki and had the utmost respect for them as a band, he practically lived with them and had many a tale to tell about them and Yume wanted to know it all.
Others were also talking with each other, even the usually silent ones. That was the thing about Amaya's parties; she could get everyone talking even if she had to force them into it with violent threats.
Speaking of who, Amaya was in the kitchen talking with Gaara. He had asked what Amaya thought of Yume's new bandmates. Amaya, already drifting into the realm of intoxication, took this the wrong way and said, waving a bottle at him,
"Don't get any ideas sunshine, Yume is not on offer!"
"I'm not asking that." He said defensively. Saying that, he was one of Yume's oldest friends, along with his two siblings. He had never heard of Yume having a boyfriend and wondered if she had found someone, being 'not on offer' as Amaya had so politely put it. "Is she dating one of her new bandmates?"
"No, no, no, no. She just doesn't really want a boyfriend. I'm her new bodyguard... so back off sand-man!" She said, trying to get into a ninja stance, swaying heavily. Gaara sighed, took the bottle from her and walked off with it. Amaya barked after him, "Get back here with my drink-… Hey! Tobi! Gimme that muffin! "
Amaya was not known for her attention-span. Gaara walked into the living-room and handed the drink to the first legally-aged person he walked past – Hidan – then made his way over to his siblings, who were talking with Suigetsu. As he approached, he saw Suigetsu lean over to Kankuro to whisper in his ear. Temari looked worried.
"Well that's never good," she said, picking herself up to find someone else to talk to. Kimimaro seemed unoccupied. She made her way over to him. Gaara was more interested in what Suigetsu was saying to Kankuro, seeing him talking with a wide grin on his face that, worryingly, after a while, also broke out onto Kankuro's face. The two boys stood up and walked over to the speakers then when Suigetsu had switched the music off, Kankuro called out to the room,
"All right, hands up! Who wants to play Seven Minutes in Heaven? It's valentines after all!" The majority of the room raised their hands. Yume did not. A drunk Amaya raised it for her. Whispering and slurring into her ear, she said,
"Come on. You can't keep beating yourself up about it. Time to start enjoying valentines, okay?"
Yume pulled her hand from Amaya's grip, but in the end she raised it herself. She couldn't deny it. Like the rest of the girls, she wanted a chance to spend some time in an enclosed space with one of the boys from Akatsuki… not Tobi. Yume was sure the rest of her female friends were completely unaware of Tobi's hyperactivity but personally she did not plan to spend any more than a minute in an enclosed space with him.
Kankuro grinned, took a swig from his beer can then said, "All right. Write or draw something on the piece of paper then stick it in this camera bag." He said, grabbing Amaya's empty camera bag from the coffee table. Suigetsu ripped up a piece of paper – unbeknown to the group that it was Amaya's Catering homework - and handed it out to anyone who wanted to play, then with the help of Kankuro, collected the pieces of paper in again. They put them into the camera bag and shuffled them up.
Kankuro walked into the middle of the room and span himself around with his eyes closed. When he stopped and opened his eyes again, he was looking at Naruto. "You're first, Naruto."
"Yeah! Believe it!" The blonde stood up and ran to Kankuro, plunging his hand in to the bag. He pulled out a piece of paper and gave his usual goofy grin, opening it. When he had seen what was on the paper, he called out, "Who drew the che-"
Kankuro took it off him and Suigetsu walked up to the boy, put a blindfold on him, dragged him by his collar, threw him into the kitchen pantry and closed the door. Naruto started yelling but Suigetsu told him, "Don't worry. They'll be in with you in a minute." Then he had a sudden bright idea and added, "It doesn't matter if you take the blindfold off because," He flicked a small switch by the pantry door, "You won't be able to see anyway!"
Back in the living room, Kankuro held up the piece of paper with a laugh and shouted, "Not like I can't guess, but who drew the cherry blossom?"
All eyes turned to Sakura. She raised her hand in defence. "Hell no! I didn't draw that."
There was a cough from the other side of the room.
"I did." Shikamaru said, raising his hand. Many of the others burst out laughing, realising Shikamaru's fate. He stood up, walked into the kitchen and over to Suigetsu, who opened the door and pushed him in, closing it quickly enough for Naruto not to see who his partner was. He set the timer on the oven and leaned against the door.
When some of the others disappeared into the kitchen to listen, the first thing they heard was Naruto's creepy, what-he-thought-was-flirting voice.
"Oh Sakura, I'm so glad I get to spend some alone time with you."
This was followed by a shout from Shikamaru. "Augh! Naruto! Get off me, I'm not Sakura!"
Suigetsu and Kankuro burst into fits of laughter, even more so when they heard Shikamaru banging against the door, trying to escape. When the timer chimed and Suigetsu opened the door, Shikamaru fell out onto the floor holding Naruto off him with all his strength. When the blonde realised that it had not been Sakura in the pantry with him and it was Shikamaru he was trying to kiss now, he quickly jumped off him and ran over to the sink, retching. Suigetsu offered Shikamaru his hand, pulled the brunette up and patted him on the shoulder.
"Hope you had fun." He said with a smirk. Shikamaru sighed, annoyed and very tired. Naruto was very persistent and strong.
Once everyone was back in the living room, Kankuro span around again and opened his eyes, "Hidan! You're go!"
oOo
For the next hour the group played Seven Minutes in Heaven together. Most of the time people would end up laughing at what was happening in the pantry, but other times when nothing happened, the onlookers shouted no fair, feeling cheated of their entertainment.
For the goodness-only-knows-time, Kankuro stood in the middle and span round, failing to stay steady due to his rising alcohol levels. He stumbled and opened his eyes.
"Kisame! Go, go, go!"
Kisame laughed and stumbled off into the kitchen, grabbing a six-pack of beer as he passed by the table. Kankuro shouted, "Idiot! You forgot to pick someone!" But there was no reply. Kankuro put his hand into the bag and pulled out a piece of paper. "Ooh, haven't had this one yet." He turned to the room. "Who drew the muffin?"
"Ooh! Ooh! That's me!" Amaya said, jumping up. She sped into the kitchen, eager to get going. Suigetsu opened the door and was not given chance to push her in because she launched herself into the darkness head first.
Yume, who had been patting Haku on the head, telling him everything was okay (He had been put in the closet with Tobi), giggled at her drunken friend.
Inside the pantry Amaya picked herself up off the floor and look around, trying to find Kisame. She laughed. "Fish-sticks! Where are you?"
"Oh -hiccup- great! Heya, Amaya!" He laughed, "Ha! It rhymed!"
"Oh my god, it did!" Amaya fell on the floor, laughing more. She found everything funny. Six cans of beer and a bottle of something strange did that to her. Kisame smiled and took one of the beer cans. He held it out.
"Want one?"
Amaya sat up. "Yup!" She took the can and opened it. As her eyes adjusted to the light, Amaya saw the outline of Kisame, so she crawled over to him and put her arm around his shoulders. "Buddy," She took a swig of her drink, "I can tell this is the start of a B-E-A-utiful friendship."
Outside the pantry, people were listening in. Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "No fair! They're not doing anything."
Then came Amaya's voice from inside, "Wow! That's huge!"
"...I stand corrected." Naruto and the others glued their ears to the door. They heard Amaya ask excitedly,
"Can I touch it?"
Kisame's voice replied, "Sure."
There was a moment of silence then Amaya said, sounding in awe, "It's so hard!"
Suigetsu ran to the sink, holding his bleeding nose. No one could believe what was happening. Even Yume had come over to listen in and she was shocked.
Now, what was actually going on in the pantry was:
Amaya held a large, metal pee-shooter between her fingers. Kisame's large, metal pee-shooter to be precise. He carried it around with him to protect Akatsuki. Using fully functioning weapons on fans was prohibited. Amaya had always wanted one, figuring she could do enough damage if it was loaded with the right stuff, and now was the perfect time to try. She held it up to her mouth then asked Kisame,
"Can I blow it?"
Kisame laughed. "Yeah, sure."
Amaya was about to blow down it when she heard lots of footsteps outside the door, running away as if heading to the sink. She giggled.
"Wonder what's up with them." And with that, she dropped a tiny piece of paper in the end and shot it out. The paper smacked Kisame in the face and he flinched, yelled, then when Amaya tried to fire another one at him he dived on her and tried to get the pee-shooter away from her. She started laughing and screaming. "Let go!"
Suddenly the door opened and light filled the room. The pair looked up to see Yume and Gaara staring down at them. Yume, seeing the pee-shooter, gave a sigh of relief. She called out to the room,
"Told you! They've just been fighting over a pee-shooter." This was followed by a chorus of disappointed groans. Yume walked in to the closet and helped Amaya up from under Kisame, then when she had passed Amaya to Gaara, she helped Kisame up and took the remaining few beer cans out of the pantry. She put the empty ones in the bin and left the other ones on the table.
She walked in to the living-room again and sat down. Kankuro span himself around and fell over, ending up pointing at the ceiling. Suigetsu ran in and picked him up, then threw him into a seat. Taking the drunkards place, he stepped into the centre of the room and span around with his eyes shut. He opened his eyes to see Yume.
"Okay, Bandy. Your go." He walked over to the blonde and held the bag to her. She pulled out a piece of paper, then handed it to Suigetsu. He took her by the shoulders and wrapped the blindfold around her eyes.
"Can you see?"
"Nope."
"Alright." Suigetsu passed her to Itachi, who walked her through to the kitchen and in to the pantry. He closed the door and flicked off the light switch, then walked back to the front room and leaned against the wall. Suigetsu opened the piece of paper and smirked.
"Well, well,"
If Suigetsu had looked up from the piece of paper, he would have seen a number of eyes staring at him - waiting anxiously to see who was going in to the closet with Yume; two of which being Deidara and Hidan, another Amaya, her knuckles clenched. Suigetsu called out,
"Get going bone-boy."
Everyone looked round to see Kimimaro stand up. He walked over to his friend and took the piece of paper. Suigetsu smirked.
"What? Don't you trust me or something, Kimimaro?"
"Well," Kimimaro, seeing the bone on the paper, walked off into the kitchen and over to the pantry. He opened the door to see Yume sat on the floor, blindfolded and looking rather defenceless - had it been Suigetsu she was with, she would most definitely be screwed. Luckily for her, he was more of a gentleman than Suigetsu.
Kimimaro moved forward into the pantry and closed the door behind him. Yume tensed, hearing that a person was now in the room with her. She said softly,
"Who's there?"
Kimimaro bent down to her level so Yume put her hands out to feel for someone, bumping into his face as he leant forward to undo her blindfold. She placed her hand on his cheek and felt across his face. "You're not much of a talker so you can't be Tobi or Amaya."
As he undid the knot, Yume's finger almost pressed into his eye as she felt about, trying to decipher who she was with. She felt across and tugged on his hair. "Long hair!" She said determinedly, "Hinata, is that you?"
The blindfold fell away. In the dull light from in the kitchen, Yume could make out the frame of the person and knew it was by no means Hinata. Their build was too big – like a boy who went to the gym every day. She retracted her hands, laughing awkwardly because she was not usually one for feeling up guys faces. Her female friends were another matter. She tried to think who of her friends had long hair but refused to talk.
"Itachi?"
Kimimaro, deciding it had gone on long enough, said, "Kimimaro."
"…Hi." Oh God. She got the one person she knew the least about. He was tall, mysterious and pretty good looking if she had to be honest. He did have the build of someone who hit the gym every day… and she had almost poked his eye out. That would have been horrendous. "You should have said sooner."
"You sound shocked."
"I-" Yume was very glad that the room was dark, or Kimimaro would have definitely seen her blush. "No. But the suspense was killing me."
There was a short pause, then, "Are you satisfied?"
"Oh," Satisfied? Sure. Was she panicking that she knew nothing about him and did not know what to talk about? Absolutely! "I'm just glad it's not some pervert or some molester." By this she meant Suigetsu. He seemed an odd one. Possibly Hidan too.
"Oh," In what little light there was, Yume saw Kimimaro place his hand on the wall beside her head. He leaned in and brushed his body against hers and in turn she crawled backwards until she was flush against the wall. He took hold of her chin and tilted her head then leaned his face in so his lips were but centimetres away from her own quivering ones. He whispered, "And what makes you think that I'm not?"
Yume's voice caught in her throat. "I-I-...umm..."
Kimimaro chuckled and pulled away. "Don't worry though, I'm not."
Had Yume known him better, she would have unleashed hell (verbal hell, of course. She did not hit) on him. What a way to introduce yourself properly. Still able to feel her heart banging against her ribcage she took deep breaths to calm herself. "Please don't do that again."
Kimimaro sat down and leaned back against edge of the shelves. "I wasn't planning to."
Yume gave a small smile. When Kimimaro did not speak again, and after her brain had gone into meltdown trying to think of something to talk about, she leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes, listening to the noises from outside; mostly Amaya and Naruto. It was late now and Yume was not one to go to too many parties so she started feeling sleepy. Her head started to droop, but then she caught herself and jolted it up. Her eyes had completely settled into the light. She could see the things around her quite clearly. She looked over at Kimimaro and smiled to herself.
'He seems like an alright guy. I wish I knew what to say to him.'
When Yume continued to stare, Kimimaro looked back at her and she realised what she was doing and looked at the floor, blushing. Ah, she was crap with new people. Especially the quiet ones who did not start the conversation first. People like Hinata were fine. When they had first met, Sakura had always been about to keep them both talking but now they knew each other better they could chat when they wanted but found they were pleasantly content being quiet, staying in each other's company.
Yume began to play with the hem of her dress, chuckling nervously at her lack of social skills. She looked up at the door and saw the shadows moving around in the kitchen, wondering what horrors could be happening. Suddenly Yume saw the lights go out. There was a sudden girlish scream. Yume shot up and went to the door but she felt two arms wrap around her own. It was now too dark to see.
"What are you doing?" she whispered.
"If there's a scream, do you think it's the best idea just to charge in?"
"W-well..." Yume sighed, "No."
Kimimaro rubbed her arms and gave her his rare smile that neither she nor anyone else would ever see if he had anything to do with it. Thank goodness it was dark. He was well known as an emotionless person, not to be reckoned with, and was not about to let that go.
He pulled Yume away from the door and sat her against the back wall, sitting down next to her. There were noises coming from the living-room.
-(Outside the pantry, moments ago)-
Suigetsu had his ear pressed against the door, listening to his friend inside the pantry. As a rather tipsy (and rather loud) Kankuro walked past, Suigetsu stuck his leg out and tripped him up, sending him crashing to the floor, unconscious.
As Suigetsu listened on, there was a noise from the front of the house then all of the lights went out. Naruto screamed then someone hit him over the head and he fell silent. There were more noises including shattering glass, people scrambling around, then the front door creaking open. Everyone wentveryquiet. Gaara called in his low, deadly tone,
"Who's there?"
There was no answer but for the sound of something cracking. The people closer to the hallway began to cough and splutter. Sakura called, "Stink-bomb!" to warn the others closer to the back. Shikamaru managed to get to the window and open it, but just afterwards he was knocked with something and fell to the ground clutching his head. All but one person was blind in the darkness. That same person made their way casually to the hallway and walked over to the main power supply for the house. With the door on the box wide open they flicked the switch back on.
The house flickered with light and those in the living room had a chance to take in the scene. There was a large, angry chorus of, "YOU!"
Itachi shut the main power-box and walked back in to the room, placing a hand on the two trespassers' shoulders.
"Foolish little brother. Why would you dare come here?"
Sasuke did not reply. He huffed and crossed his arms. From the far side of the living room, Amaya said oh-so-delicately,
"Hey! Sas-gay! Back for some more are -hiccup- we?"
The raven-haired boy took the slightest step back, realising that it was Amaya. He held a hand up to his black eye protectively. She rose unsteadily to her feet and gave Sasuke a death glare, cracking her knuckles. This signalled Kisame and Hidan to rise up unsteadily, both wishing they had not challenged each other to a drinking contest. The three took a few steps towards Sasuke, until his accomplice stepped out and shielded him. "Don't even think about it," said Ino, head to toe in black.
Amaya stopped just long enough to say a very slurred, "Get 'er, Sakura!" then continued to run at Sasuke. Sakura jumped up and threw herself at Ino, tackling her out of the way to give the others a clear shot at the raven-haired intruder.
Back inside the closet, Yume was squirming underneath Kimimaro. He was sat on top of her, keeping her from running outside into goodness only knew what. There was shouting and yelling and screaming. He said softly, "It's for your own good."
She tried to protest but he insisted that the rest of them would be fine. Flailing about beneath him, she felt partially responsible for what was going on outside. Someone was in the house and she had been warned it was going to happen yesterday by Kakuzu but had not thought to tell anyone. Though, even if she had, she doubted Amaya would have listened.
"But if they'll be fine, why won't I?"
"I'm not letting you take that chance."
"But there's probably nothing going on!"
Kimimaro sighed. He seemed to be getting nowhere with her logic but decided to play on it, "then why do you want to go outside so badly?"
"I-..." she realised her mistake, "Ugh! Fine!" Yume stopped struggling and lay still on the floor. It was only then that she truly realised the weight on top of her. "I... can't… breathe."
Kimimaro heard Yume gasping and wheezing and shuffled off of her then helped her off the floor. She got up but as the blood rushed up to her head she felt dizzy, swayed on the spot then fell down with a bump. Kimimaro gave a small smirk.
"Are you alright?"
Yume laughed sheepishly, rubbing the small of her back, "Umm... yeah. Ouch."
As Kimimaro leant down to offer her his hand, she took her chance, darted backwards and launched herself at the door. Kimimaro, much faster than she had anticipated managed to grab hold of her around the waist and pulled her back.
"Yume, I thought we had a dea-"
There was a sudden yell from outside, then a crashing sound, then another yell and then something fell against the door, making Yume jump back into Kimimaro and knocked him into the shelf of tinned fruit and veg. "Oh god, I'm so sorry," she said, turning in his arms to check if she had broken him.
Though she could tell he was wincing, he said, "I'm okay, don't worry."
Outside there was a distant scream, then the sound of a door slamming, then everything went silent. Yume stopped moving, listening out for any sound. Kimimaro let go of her and made his way to the door, taking hold of the handle. He twisted it and pushed but it did not open. He tried again. It rattled on its hinges and the latch pulled in so by all logic he should have been able to get the door open but still it did not move. He tried for a third time, but this time he slammed himself against the door. Nothing. He opened his mouth, readying himself to shout loud enough to deafen Yume, but as he did the music started up again, drowning out even his loudest thoughts.
Yume leaned back on the wall. "We're stuck, then?"
"Until someone decides to get us out, then yes."
"Oh." She sank down to the floor and crossed her legs. "I guess that's us 'til morning then." She had no delusion that Amaya or any of the others would be sober enough to remember about them. She began to play with the hem of her dress.
O
It was now three in the morning. Everyone was still dancing but only half-heartedly, and even Amaya and Naruto were quieter now. Shikamaru, being one of the only ones just sober enough to know what they were doing, walked over to the music-player and turned it off. He called out, "Everyone, get to sleep. We've got school in the morning."
Most went willingly, and those that tried to refuse were simply dragged off to get their sleeping stuff by their friends. Shikamaru was the last one out, heading upstairs to collect his sleeping stuff, leaving the living room silent.
Inside the closet, Yume and Kimimaro were sat opposite each other, their legs stretched out in front of them, when they heard the silence. It was haunting after an entire night of noise.
"I can't hear anything," said Yume nervously. In her half asleep state and her mind the way it was, she jumped to the worst possible conclusion. "Something's happened to them!"
Kimimaro could hear the panic in her voice. As people went, she was definitely too emotional and anxious; she was his opposite. Though that was what intrigued him. She was like a fiery ball that told the world what she was feeling and others seemed to get on with her because of it. They did not have to second guess her and it seemed a lot less hassle.
"How did you get that idea?" He mused, figuring that they had gone to bed.
"I bet the person from before came back and got them all!" In her tired state, small tears began to well up in her eyes. "I never got to tell Amaya how grateful I am for her being here. If she wasn't... I would have starved to death-" She put on a serious face, "Seriously, I can't cook-"
Kimimaro leaned forward and took Yume in a hug. "Don't worry. They're okay."
Yume would have retorted, but she was too busy stopping herself from fainting out of shock. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she felt uncomfortable as his long hair tickled her nose but after taking deep breaths she accepted the hug, her face tinted pink. Well, he did smell like freshly cut grass and she was a fan of summer.
Kimimaro shifted their positions so that he was resting against the back wall of the pantry and Yume was leaning against his shoulder, their legs out in front of them. He decided to distract Yume's attention so that she would not worry as much,
"What do you think of your new band members then?"
"Umm... you're okay."
"Good." At least he had not made a terrible impression. "I think you'll get along with Haku the best, he's more... let's say feminine… than Suigetsu or me." Yume could not help but giggle quietly at this. She had noticed that about Haku herself but had felt rude for thinking it up until now. Kimimaro continued, "Suigetsu isn't as bad as he seems, so just try to get past the... pervertedness."
Yume nodded, her head becoming heavy against his shoulder as she started to relax about what was going on outside and that Kimimaro was touching her, "Okay." She looked up at him, "When is the first band practice?"
"We could make it tomorrow if you want-" Kimimaro corrected himself, "-Today, that is."
Yume nodded her head half-heartedly; sleep overtaking her rapidly. Kimimaro added, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to prevent her drooping entirely, "We have a concert happening soon so if you learn the songs, you can do it with us. It's only in the academy so you don't have to worry about there being a lot of people-"
Yume's head drooped onto Kimimaro's chest. Her breathing was heavier and her body had gone limp.
Kimimaro readjusted her so that her head was in his lap and her body was to the right of him. She immediately curled herself up into a loose ball and snuggled into him. He looked down, a little wary for a moment – this was far from his forte - then slowly moved his hand so that it was resting on the top of her head. When she did not stir he started to stroke her hair gently.
As he sat there with Yume curled into him like a housecat, he did have to wonder if Suigetsu had set the whole thing up. He was always trying to pair Kimimaro off with some girl or another and this seemed simple enough for it to be one of his schemes.
On the other hand, Kimimaro was having fun – though he would never admit that to Suigetsu if it was his doing. It had been a while since he had met someone so full of emotion and innocence. It was definitely a refreshing change from Suigetsu and others at the academy.
Kimimaro stayed stroking Yume's blonde hair for ten more minutes or so before his eyes slowly began to feel heavy. He heard the faint noises from outside as the others began to find space in the living room to go to sleep. It was not long before Kimimaro's eyelids closed completely and he too fell asleep, his hand still atop of Yume's head.
