Crimson Stained

Chapter 10

Sleeping Problems

A shrill ringing noise woke Nikushimi. She groggily opened her eyes and groaned, she had not gotten much sleep. She rolled over; slightly undoing the cocoon she had been trapped in, and looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table. It was still ringing, and it was making the table shake from the force of it.

"Gahhhhh." Nikushimi groaned, her hand snaking out and hitting the snooze button. She rolled over again and stared at the red wall of her bedroom that her bed was against, her eyes closing slightly. Moments later though, she sat up and looked at the clock again.

"Mm… too early…" she murmured as she slid from her bed, placing her un-bandaged feet on the floor. The cool, hard wood made Nikushimi recoil her feet and frown at it, "Too cold too…"

Nikushimi slid off her bed, taking a blanket with her and pulling it around her. She left her room and went into the kitchen where she put the kettle on the stove. As it boiled, she took a quick shower and then grabbed the kettle as it whistled. She made herself some tea, adding outrageous amounts of sugar and quite a bit of milk, and then she walked over to the couch. From the coffee table she grabbed a few rolls of bandages and started to roll them around her. This took her ten minutes.

Then she pulled her tank top and shorts on, her ninja pouches came next and she downed her tea after she was dressed. Then she walked back into her room and rearranged her bed in a somewhat clean way. She put her cup in the sink and then ran out the door to meet with Obito for their usual training which was back on track now that she was no longer in the hospital.

She climbed the tree and lazily hung from it until Obito arrived. By the time he had gotten there she had been half asleep though.

"Nikushimi?" he called, looking up at his small friend. Receiving no response he used his chakra to walk up the tree. He sat next to her on the branch and shook her slightly, receiving a hand hitting his face gently, as if he were the alarm clock.

"Nikushimi… I'm not your clock." he stated, trying not to laugh.

"Mm…. too early…" she muttered, lifting her head. Her hair was thrown back and she opened her eyes to look at Obito with disinterest.

'Nikushimi's expression when she's half asleep,' Obito decided, 'Makes her look like a sleepy kitten.' Nikushimi's slightly sharp teeth, her slightly pointed ears and her slit pupils gave her a general catlike appearance; her looking tired just completed the look.

"Eh? Obito…. oh guess I fell asleep…." she yawned before sitting up and leaning her head on Obito's shoulder.

"You didn't get much sleep did you?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi slowly shook her head as she buried her face into his shoulder.

"Did you have a nightmare?" questioned Obito, thinking of how he had been when he had first killed someone, he had nightmares for a week after, and eventually someone had talked it through with him. He had actually been surprised that Nikushimi hadn't had any nightmares even though he talked it out with her as soon as he was able to, which had been his first visit to her upon her awakening.

"Mm…" Nikushimi nodded slowly.

"Was it about that ninja you killed?" he inquired softly, he was surprised when Nikushimi shook her head.

"What was it about?" he pushed gently.

"Mm… what was your first meeting with your team like, Obito?" Nikushimi mumbled into his shoulder.

"Well, I was happy to be on a team with Rin, since I knew her in the academy, although I wasn't so happy being on a team with Kakashi since he was such a jerk, and Rin liked him, she still does." Obito answered her quietly.

'Rin likes Kakashi?' Nikushimi thought curiously, filing away that information for her to remember for later.

"Was your nightmare about meeting your team?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi nodded wordlessly.

"What happened in your nightmare?" he asked. Nikushimi sighed and pulled her face back so that just her forehead was on his shoulder.

"In my nightmare… my team didn't like me… not one bit… so they kept leaving me behind… and ignoring me… and I want to be involved with my team, Obito, for them to trust me and for them to like me! I wouldn't be able to stand having teammates who don't like me." Nikushimi cried, tears slipping from the corners of her eyes. Obito watched the crimson colored tears drip down her face, the one from her right eye trailed along down the side of the scar on her face.

"Don't cry Nikushimi," Obito wiped the tears away with his thumb, staining his thumb red, "I'm sure they'll like you." Nikushimi sniffled a bit.

"No they won't!" she yelled suddenly, almost making Obito fall from his spot next to her on the branch, "No one's ever liked me! No one! I was always that creepy smart girl who was so smart, but then couldn't even make a decent henge or clone!" Obito steadied himself and looked at Nikushimi, whose eyes were beginning to tear up. Obito sighed and pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket. He held it out to her, when she didn't take it he used it to wipe the tears that were forming away; they stained the white fabric red.

"Then I guess I'm a no one," Obito stated suddenly, "Because I like you, you're my best friend." Nikushimi stared, wide eyed at Obito, then she smiled slightly. Obito stared into her eyes, searching them. Her left eye gave away so much expression, and looking into the glossy eye he could see his reflection as well. However, her right eye, the one the scar went over, was dull. They didn't have the same light as her other eye.

'Is something wrong with her right eye?' wondered Obito, but he didn't say anything, for fear of upsetting her again.

"I always forget, Obito," Nikushimi sniffled, "That you're my best friend."

"How so?" questioned Obito. Nikushimi shook her head.

"Because no one's ever been my friend for long before you… and whenever I wake up I think that you're just my imagination and that you'll disappear before my eyes, but then I see you, and you're tangible and real." admitted Nikushimi, looking up at the sky.

"Well, yes I'm real. And I'm never leaving you; I won't just disappear on you." Obito promised, putting a hand on her shoulder. Nikushimi grinned at him, and she felt her heart warm.

'That's right, Obito won't leave me.' Nikushimi realized. And she smiled at him.

"Right, now, let's get back to training, ne?" Nikushimi dropped from the tree and landed silently, Obito following her.

'Never, we'll be friends forever.' Nikushimi decided, grinning as she got things ready for training.

^Next Day^

The alarm clock made Nikushimi curse, she glared at the evil demon spawn before she rolled over and hit the snooze. She sat there for a minute, until she unraveled herself from her cocoon and slid from the bed with one blanket loosely hanging from around her small, scrawny frame. She shuffled to the kitchen tiredly, grumbling about alarm clocks and how evil they were.

She made herself some coffee, loading it with sugar and milk. She sipped it as she walked into the bathroom and took a quick shower. She pulled her bandages on afterwards, then another pair of her usual dark tank top and shorts. She paused as she passed her dresser, her eyes landing on the black fabric that had the Leaf symbol etched into the metal piece on it.

'…Should I?' Nikushimi wondered, after a moment she shook her head and left to go meet up with Obito, that night's nightmare fresh in her mind.

When she arrived she realized she had arrived late, for Obito was leaning against the tree waiting. He eyed her as she slowly shuffled over to him. She tried to stifle a yawn, but it slipped through. He walked over to her and parted her bangs, staring her in the eyes as she closed her mouth from her large yawn.

"You didn't sleep." he stated, then nodded to himself. He stopped bending over and allowed Nikushimi's hair to fall back in front of her face. Then he grabbed her hand and started to pull her along as he jogged. She stumbled along behind him, wondering why he was dragging her.

'I really hope he doesn't want to beat energy into me…' Nikushimi hoped, thinking of how he had dragged her to the training grounds last time. Instead, Obito pulled her along to the Uchiha district. They ran through the streets hurriedly.

"Everyone's on missions, so it's pretty empty, even my parents are on missions." Obito explained as Nikushimi wondered why the area was so empty.

"Oh." was Nikushimi's only response.

They came to a stop in front of one of the somewhat smallish houses. However they had more yard in front of them than the houses they had passed in the beginning of the district. Obito walked up and unlocked the door before pulling Nikushimi inside. They slid out of their shoes and lined them up in the right places before Obito pulled her up the stairs instead of down the hallway. Obito led her into the room right by the stairs, there were three doorways.

"Our house isn't that big," Obito informed Nikushimi, "Since it's just me, my mom and my dad we live in this house, there are two bedrooms up here, a bathroom, then downstairs a dining room, family room, and kitchen. But because our house is small, we have a good sized yard in the back of our house, and there is more yard in front of our house too, as you saw." Nikushimi nodded slowly.

"Ah, I see, my apartment isn't that big either… your house is much bigger…" she murmured. Obito grinned and gestured for hr to o sit on the bed. Nikushimi sat down and peered around the room as Obito hurried around, trying to clean up slightly.

"This is obviously my room, sorry about the mess!" Obito said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. Nikushimi continued looking around. Obito's room wasn't all that big; his bed was pushed against the wall, although it was quite large, he had a desk in the corner that Nikushimi had almost hit when Obito had pulled her in. The desk was overflowing with random things and his bookshelf was packed. He had a small shelf that hung next to the bookshelf, which was under the window in his room.

"Is this your team photo?" Nikushimi questioned, peering down at a picture of Minato, Kakashi, Rin and Obito. Obito looked over her shoulder easily, since he was much taller than her, and he nodded.

"Yeah, doesn't Kakashi look so grumpy in that picture?" Obito laughed. Nikushimi giggled slightly, peering at Kakashi's whose eyes clearly stated that he didn't want to be there, and that he wanted Minato to remove his hand from his head. Although, Kakashi was the only grumpy one, Rin was smiling and looked ecstatic, while Obito was grinning. Minato had a hand on Kakashi and Obito's heads and he was smiling at the camera. Kakashi was the only grump really.

"Yeah, you, Rin and Minato look really happy…" trailed Nikushimi Obito pulled her back over to the bed and he sat cross-legged facing her.

"What was your nightmare about this time?" he asked quietly. Nikushimi sniffled.

"I dreamed that my sensei didn't like me and left me behind and that I stayed weak and unable to use chakra forever!" wailed Nikushimi. Obito sighed and shook his head.

"One, you're not weak, we've been over this." Obito pointed out, "And two, no sensei would leave their student behind."Nikushimi sniffed.

"They would." she protested, "Why else are there so many low ranking Chunin that are old?" Obito laughed at her reasoning.

"Well, you won't be left behind; even if your sensei doesn't do anything, then I'll train you!" Obito announced. Nikushimi smiled slightly.

"Thanks Obito, I suppose that cheered me up a little…" she trailed.

"Good, so why don't we take a break from training? I bet one of my little cousins is around, I'll take you to meet one of them." Obito grabbed Nikushimi's hand and pulled her from his room and down the stairs. He locked his house behind him and they ran down a few streets until they reached one of the larger houses.

"Oi! Itachi!" Obito called as he entered the property. Nikushimi followed more slowly, and she watched as the door opened and a smaller boy around three years old walked out.

"Obito?" The small boy questioned, looking at Obito.

'They look similar, same hair, same eyes; same skin tone… all Uchiha's must look similar…' Nikushimi decided.

"Hey Itachi, can you ask your mom if you can come out with my friend and me?" questioned Obito. Itachi nodded and ran inside, looking quite excited.

"That's my little cousin Itachi, he's only three but he's actually really smart, he already acts a lot older than he really is. Everyone says he's going to be an amazing ninja." Obito informed Nikushimi.

"Oh… so is he a prodigy?" she questioned. Obito nodded.

"Everyone thinks he's going to be a complete prodigy, his father is very happy about that too." Obito affirmed.

"I see, he sounds like he has high expectations to live up to." Nikushimi murmured, pausing to look at the door as it slid open again and Itachi walked out.

"I can come." Itachi stated when Nikushimi and Obito's gazes fell on him.

"Awesome! So, Itachi, this is my best friend Nikushimi, and Nikushimi you know that this is Itachi!" Obito introduced them. Nikushimi grinned at Itachi.

"Nice to meet you!" she chirped.

"You too." Itachi replied with a nod before he turned to Obito, "What are we doing?" Obito made a face.

"I was thinking of playing the paw print game." Obito confessed.

"Paw print game?" asked Nikushimi. Itachi turned to her.

"It's a game where we collect paw prints from cats, I came up with it." Itachi told her proudly.

"So…. we have to collect paw prints from cats? That sounds rather easy…" Nikushimi muttered. Obito laughed.

"You say that now, but it's actually challenging, especially since our main target is Koneko." Obito replied wisely.

"Koneko?" questioned Nikushimi.

"Koneko, she's the Land of Fire's Daimyo's cat, but whenever he visits, which is often, Koneko escapes and it's usually a Genin teams job to catch her. And she's vicious!" Obito explained, before making a hissing noise and making clawing motions with his hands.

"So basically, we get to go after this vicious cat, which has claws, and we try and get its paw print." deadpanned Nikushimi.

"Yeah, it's actually really fun because Koneko prefers running to fighting." Obito chirped as he pulled a book from his pouch, "I actually have my book on me, we have a lot of paw prints, we're still missing Koneko's though. She's a bit tough to catch."

"So, what are we waiting for then?" questioned Nikushimi and Obito grinned at her. Then, they took off.

About an hour later they found themselves running after a very fast gray cat with a red ribbon around its neck. The cat had already tried to maul Nikushimi, who had grabbed the cat

"Get back here you damn cat!" yelled Nikushimi, running through an alley with Obito right behind her and Itachi matching his strides.

"Wait there's a wall that way!" called Obito as Nikushimi made a left. He skidded to a stop and watched Nikushimi run down the alley.

"Oh no you don't!" screeched Nikushimi as Koneko squeezed through a hole in the fence. Nikushimi, not pausing for a second, jumped up onto a garbage can and made a flying leap over the fence. Obito and Itachi then followed after her, Obito carrying Itachi as he ran along the walls.

Nikushimi had landed gracefully on the other side of the fence and sped after the cat again, not giving Obito or Itachi a moment to catch up. Using his chakra, Obito eventually managed to catch up, but it was when they had run almost across the entire village. Also, Koneko had escaped into the mixed bathing side of the bathhouse. The three shared a look.

"Who's going in?" questioned Nikushimi.

"Not me." Itachi stated immediately, giving them a dead stare.

"Don't you need to change in the changing room before you're allowed in? So does that mean that if I go in I have to… take my clothes off in front of people?" Nikushimi asked in horror. Nikushimi had never been to a bathhouse before, she didn't like changing in front of people and would do anything to prevent people from seeing her without her bandages.

"No, besides, you have bandages on… And I'm not going in to the mixed bathing area!" Obito shook his head.

"Why don't we play rock paper scissors to decide?" suggested Nikushimi.

"Fine." agreed Obito. They held their hands out and quickly shook their fists while saying "Rock papers scissors!". Then, they both made rock. Nikushimi and Obito frowned at each other, and went again, only to come out in a tie with paper. A third time came out with the results as a tie with scissors.

"Pick something different!" huffed Nikushimi as they started again.

"No, you! You're copying me!" Once again, they both tied with papers.

"Gah!" Nikushimi shook her head, "We should both just run in, get the stupid cat and run out without changing!"

"That's probably a better idea," agreed Obito, "On three!"

They both tensed and then, Obito counted to three. When he hit three, they both ran in, scaring a few women who were standing in the doorway. They ran out into the spring area, their eyes scanning for the grey cat. They found her, sitting on top of the fence that led into the women's private bathing area.

"Don't you dare!" Obito hissed. The cat dared, and jumped down. Nikushimi and Obito both ran forward and Obito helped Nikushimi up first before he used chakra to run over it. All the women screamed as the two ran through the bathing area, Obito carrying Nikushimi who was unable to walk on water like Obito.

Koneko jumped over the fence into the next area, which was the men's area. Obito hoped the fence and they ran through, this spring was thankfully empty. They followed Koneko over the next fence, which led out of the public baths.

Obito put Nikushimi down and they both sped after Koneko who ran into the woods. Itachi rejoined them and the three of them chased after the cat as it made twists and turns through bushes and climbed trees. Then, after another hour of chasing, the cat lost them when they all grew tired of chasing after it.

Nikushimi landed on the ground panting, Obito and Itachi both taking seats next to her. She continued to take deep breaths until she stilled. Worried, Obito poked her, but then found that she had fallen asleep. He grinned.

"Success!" he cheered, making Itachi look at him curiously.

"Nikushimi has been sleeping badly lately, so I had us run around so that she would fall asleep from all the running around!" Obito explained excitedly as he picked Nikushimi up and maneuvered her so she was on his back.

"That was smart." Itachi observed with a nod. The two walked back to the Uchiha compound in silence.

"Obito, you said she's your best friend…" Itachi said as they entered the compound.

"Yeah, why?" questioned Obito.

"But isn't she a girl? Aren't best friends supposed to be the same? Like, boy and boy, and girl and girl?" Itachi inquired. Obito laughed.

"Where'd you learn that? No, best friends can be anyone, my best friend is Nikushimi, so what if I'm a boy and she's a girl?" Obito answered cheerfully. Itachi frowned.

"But when I was listening to some older kids, they said that there's a difference, that if you have a girl as a friend that she's your girlfriend." Itachi protested.

'Why do people always think that? First Yuki, now Itachi? Granted, Itachi doesn't know the difference yet…' Obito wondered.

"Well, there's a difference. A girlfriend is different than just a friend or a best friend… like…" Obito trailed, trying to think of a way to word it for a three year old, "Actually you should have your mom explain it because she was your dads girlfriend once." Itachi nodded.

"Alright." Itachi agreed as they passed his house. Itachi waved to Obito as he ran into the house, Obito waited until he saw Mikoto peer out and wave to him. Obito waved back and continued on down the street.

He quietly made his way into his house and up the stairs after locking the door. He went into his room and turned the light on before lying Nikushimi on his bed. He looked at the time, it was around dinner time.

Leaving Nikushimi in his room he went downstairs and heated some leftovers up for dinner his mother had left him before she and his father had left on their mission. They would be back in two days.

'I hope Nikushimi's parents don't look for her while she's here, I doubt she'll wake up.' Obito thought as he climbed the stairs, balancing food in his hands.

'Thinking of her parents, she doesn't talk much about them, I wonder if she doesn't like her parents?' Obito set the food down on his desk and took his bowl, leaving one bowl in case Nikushimi got up. Obito slid his closet open and pulled out two extra blankets and two extra pillows. He set them on the floor and sat down on them.

He finished his food after ten minutes of listening to Nikushimi's soft breathing. Then he moved the things around on the floor to make himself a makeshift bed. He changed in the bathroom and then turned the lights out. As he slid under one of the blankets on the floor he stared at the ceiling.

'Why is Nikushimi getting so many nightmares?' he wondered, but he fell asleep before he could think more.

AN

I actually don't like this chapter very much…

I drew a picture of Obito and Nikushimi hugging, it's on my Deviantart.

Bye.