I was really tired writing this. The results... kind of weird at parts I suppose... Oops. Thanks for reading!
"Quiet Naruto!" Kiba hissed at the hyperactive blond, who was talking oh so loudly.
"Yeah, if they look over and see us all talking together, they'll know something's up. So just try to stay under the radar for now." Sasori pointed out, sneaking a look over at Konan and Yahiko just to make sure they didn't spot them all talking.
Kiba, Sasori, and the rest had relocated to a more discreet location, sitting behind a couch that had barely enough space between its back and the wall behind it. That being said, they all were smooshed together in that little space between the couch and the wall, not really caring seeing as it gave them more cover. Every few minutes or so, one of them would rise on their knees and peek over the couch past the crowd of teens to spy on Konan and Yahiko, making sure they hadn't moved recently.
But they hadn't. In fact, if anything happened, those two had moved closer together. So Kiba and co. were currently all jammed together behind the couch and brainstorming ideas to finally get Yahiko and Konan together. And it was turning out to be a lot harder than they had originally planned.
"Guys, every time I'm about to tell you my idea, you tell me to be quiet! How are you gonna hear it if you keep telling me to shut up?" Naruto complained, quite loudly again.
Deidara huffed out an aggravated breath, "Maybe that's because you're being so damn loud. There's so many people here and Konan and Yahiko still might look over because your voice attracts so much attention."
Naruto growled, "At least I'm not some dumb old Bomberman thing." Finally, he was being quieter.
"Now Naruto, if you have a good plan, say it using your inside voice," Nagato informed him smoothly.
Naruto nodded, "Alright, get this," he whispered, his voice finally at the volume they all wanted, "we can pimp up my Yahiko costume, and use it as a disguise. I could go over, and when she turns around or something, I can knock Yahiko out, and then take his place. She'll think I'm Yahiko, and I can admit my true love!" Naruto looked around to everyone else with wide and excited eyes, clearly believing that his plan could actually be effective.
"Naruto, that is the single most idiotic plan I have ever heard." Nagato sighed, shaking his head, his Batman mask shifting slightly up on his face from the movement.
"No it isn't! It'll work; believe it!" Naruto defended, his voice rising once again to its usual loud and obnoxious volume.
Ino bit her lip, sighing at what she was about to say, "Ugh, I know this sounds so lame, but it works in all of those cheesy romance movies and books… We could lock them in a closet and not let them out. If any cheesy low-budget movies were right, then they should have a heart-warming confession followed by a steamy kiss."
"Like that would actually happen in real life," Deidara glared at Ino, who glared right back.
"Actually, I kind of like Ino's idea. It could be fun, if you think about it," Tenten shrugged.
"Fun? This isn't supposed to be fun. This is war! We need to take this seriously!" Naruto squinted, his battle face ready. Everyone sweat-dropped at his over the top enthusiasm. Typical Naruto.
"Fine then, let's take this seriously by doing my plan, eh Naruto?" Ino smirked.
Naruto mumbled, but no one seemed to really pay mind to him. Everyone else agreed, Deidara a bit more reluctantly than the rest, and all that was left was the actual course of action they would take.
But after about ten minutes of strategizing behind the couch, they had all decided they were ready to execute the plan. Kiba came up with the idea that it would be best to use a closet that was attached to both his parents' room and a spare room. This plan required precision and accuracy. Messing up was not an option anymore. Each of them keeping their individual roles in mind, they set off with phase one.
Kiba and Nagato looked to each other and nodded, prepared to do their roles and start off the entire plan, confident in their strategizing.
"Yahiko!" Kiba called out, causing both Yahiko and Konan's faces to snap over from their conversation, and instead look at the approaching Kiba and Nagato.
"What?" Yahiko frowned, clearly a bit annoyed at the sudden intrusion.
"You have to see this. Naruto passed out upstairs in my parents' room! And he's covered in ramen!" Kiba exclaimed, waving his hands around as if to stress the severity of the situation.
Yahiko blinked.
"What the actual hell are you talking about?" Yahiko asked.
"No, dude, really! You have to come see this!" Without another word of warning, Nagato and Kiba each took one of Yahiko's arms and pulled him away, leaving Konan stunned and alone.
"Well that was…" she shook her head, not even wanting to know why Naruto was passed out in Kiba's parents' room, or why he was apparently covered in ramen.
"Konan, oh there you are!" Ino and Tenten walked over to the indigo-haired girl, hugging her tightly in a mass assault while squealing like little girls.
"Oh, hey?" Konan said, voice cracking a bit in confusion. Since when were they the squealing/huggy type?
"Konan, oh my goodness we have to tell you something suuppper secretive!" Tenten gushed, putting her hands on her friends arms and winking.
Alright, they are officially acting different, Konan decided.
"Oh yeah, come on, Konan! We have to tell you where no one is around!" Ino added, nodding fervently.
Konan looked around at the overwhelming amount of teenagers in costumes, "I dunno. Where in this house won't there be anyone?"
"Oh, I know!" Ino said as if the thought had just popped into her head, "There's a room upstairs where no one really goes. Come on, let's go. I mean this secret is juicy," Ino pressed. And just as Yahiko had been dragged away before, Ino and Tenten did the same to Konan, tugging on her arms and walking so quickly through the mass of people that Konan nearly tripped a few times.
They went up the stairs of the basement, into the living room. Then they dragged her into the foyer and up the stairs to the second floor. And as if that wasn't secluded enough, they took her to that one part of the Inuzuka mansion that had three floors, and on the top floor where absolutely no one was, they finally let go of her arms. Finally free to move of her own free will, Konan looked around.
"Secluded enough for you?" she asked, sarcasm evident.
"Not quite yet…" Tenten realized, and then dragged Konan into a random door in the hallway, shutting the door once all three girls were inside.
Konan didn't get why they were acting all weird, but decided against pressing the matter, "Alright, so what's the big secret you want to tell me?" May as well get them to tell her so she can leave as soon as possible. Something was up with these two, and she was a bit concerned.
"Uh…" Tenten gave Ino a panicked look which Ino returned. Eyes wide, the girls didn't say a thing.
"The secret? Oh yeah, there's a secret alright," Ino stalled, looking at the door as if she expected something to happen, "the secret is…"
"The secret is what exactly?" Konan asked, not even sure if she cared enough about it to be up here right now.
At just that moment, however, the door they had just come through burst open.
"I 'm so drunnnnnnk!" A kid, who Konan thought looked suspiciously like Sai in a backwards cap and saggy jeans, was at the door, arms wide and holding a bottle of some sort of whiskey in each hand. And it appeared he had two girls dressed in slutty costumes under each of his arms.
"Uh-" Konan was cut off by Ino.
"Oh no! It's a teenage boy who has consumed too much alcohol, whatever shall we do?" Ino pressed the back of her hand to her forehead dramatically, her words choppy.
Konan sighed, shaking her head. They were such bad actors.
"Greetings, my hoes. Would you like to partake in drinking this alcoholic beverage with me and get wasted and act irresponsibly?" The Sai look-alike (Konan was positive he was Sai at this point, though) asked, wiggling the bottle in his hand as if it were some form of temptation.
"Konan, what do we do?" Tenten gasped, running behind the indigo-haired girl and cowering behind her figure, "He is trying to use peer pressure to get us to act irresponsibly! We must hide before the horrors of alcohol abuse cause us to make mistakes that will hinder our mental stimulation!"
Konan almost laughed out loud at their terrible act. Either they were doing this on purpose and thought she'd find it funny, or they actually thought this would fool her.
"Alcohol!" Sai-lookalike-actual-Sai shouted, stumbling towards them.
"We must hide!" Ino shrieked, pushing Konan towards a closet that was on the side of the nearly empty spare room. Opening the closet door, the two girls pushed Konan in, preparing to close it behind her. But instead of going in with her, they just stayed in the spare room.
"Don't worry about us, Konan! Save yourself and don't give in to peer pressure!" Ino shouted in a mock sob.
Just as the door was being slammed closed, Konan could make out Tenten mumbling "Damn, we are the worst actors on the face of the planet," and an agreeing Sai saying, "I wholeheartedly agree."
Konan shook her head incredulously. Alright, so they wanted to get her into this closet for some reason. And they had used poor acting as the way to do it, as unnecessary as it was. Oh well, at least they knew they sucked. The only question left, however, was why they wanted her in this closet so badly that they went through all of that bullshit to get her in there.
Just as Konan was about to call through the door of the closet and into the room to ask why they shoved her in there, she heard her door locking.
"Um, guys? What are you doing?" Konan asked, starting to worry a bit.
But instead of hearing an answer, something made a sound from behind her. Whipping her head around, Konan saw another door to the closet open widely, and a surprised looking Yahiko was pushed in, the door closing behind him. Ah, so this is what they had all wanted. For Yahiko and Konan to be stuck in a closet.
But that still didn't answer the biggest question: why did they want to do that?
Yahiko looked at Konan, realizing he wasn't in the closet alone, "You too?"
"There... that oughta show him." Nagato brushed his hands off on his jeans, grinning like a madman at Naruto, who was still pretending to be unconscious in the bathtub full of ramen.
"Yo, Naruto! You can stop pretending now." Kiba walked over to the bathtub and shook Naruto by the shoulders until he popped his head up in alarm.
"Oh... are they both in the closet?" Naruto stood up, shaking the ramen off of himself and trying to removing all of the noodles that stuck to his face.
"Yep. Mission successful so far. The only problem is that it's nearly impossible to hear into the closet from outside of it, even with hearing as good as mine." Kiba explained, helping Naruto peel the ramen noodles off of himself.
Nagato tilted his head in confusion, "I thought you said we'd be able to hear them though..."
Kiba smirked, glad that Nagato asked, "That's where Deidara and Sasori come in."
Nagato still didn't get it.
Seeing both Nagato and Naruto's confused looks, Kiba sighed.
"As much as I don't like those two... never have really... they know how to work with technology and all that computer and breaking and entering crap and all that jazz."
"Wha-?"
"What I mean," Kiba cut Nagato off, "Is that they figured out a way to wire a microphone into the closet. This way we can hear despite the fact the walls are all soundproof."
Naruto picked up some noodles from the bathtub and shoved them in his mouth, causing Nagato and Kiba to shiver in disgust.
"That's great and all," Naruto started, his mouth full of practically uncooked ramen, "But two questions."
"Shoot," Kiba nodded his head, indicating for Naruto to continue.
"First," the blond began, "how do Sasori and Deidara know how to set up a spy-microphone-thingy?"
Kiba shrugged, "I don't care as long as it helps us now. Whatever illegal stuff those two do in their spare time isn't any of my business."
"Fair enough. Second, however, WHY THE HELL DID WE GO THROUGH ALL OF THIS RANDOM STUFF WHEN WE COULD HAVE JUST SHOVED YAHIKO AND KONAN IN THE CLOSET AND LOCKED IT?!"
Nagato cringed at the outburst but Kiba could only smirk. "Whatever do you mean, Naruto?"
The blond's eyes were popping out of his head and he threw his hands in the air in frustration.
"WHAT I MEAN IS THAT WE WENT THROUGH ALL OF THIS POINTLESS STUFF TO DO IT! Did Sai need to pose as some swag dude who wants to use peer pressure? Did I need to be passed out in a bathtub full of ramen? WAS IT ALL NECESSARY?"
Nagato was quiet a moment before pointing out, "Y'know, he kinda has a point."
Kiba snickered, "Sorry 'bout that. I just wanted to see if you'd actually do what I said even if it was that crazy."
Naruto looked like he was about to burst, his face flushed in anger, "SO I'M COVERED IN RAMEN FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL ENJOYMENT?"
"Precisely."
Before Naruto could run over and smack the Inuzuka, the door to Kiba's parents' bathroom opened abruptly.
"Alright, we set up the microphones, let's go to the other room and meet up with the others to listen," Deidara and Sasori were at the door, the latter speaking.
"Okay, awesome. See, Naruto? They didn't question my weird plan and unnecessary details!"
Naruto glared at Kiba, and while still shaking off little pieces of ramen noodles, followed Kiba out the door, Nagato behind him.
Once reaching the spare room, they pushed the door open and swarmed in.
"Oh god, why does Sai look like Justin Bieber?" Naruto wailed, slapping his hands on his face in exasperation.
"And who are these two?" Nagato asked, gesturing towards the two girls tucked in either of Sai's arms.
Kiba gulped, "Uh..."
"Hey, Kiba some girl won't leave me alone until I get you for-" Sasuke opened the door, looking around at the scene before him. And with what was surrounding him in this room, even Sasuke the cold-hearted bastard looked a little more than shocked.
Naruto was covered in ramen noodles, stuck in the crevices of his orange wig and clothes. Nagato and Kiba, dressed as Batman and a dog samurai respectively, were skeptically eyeing up Sai. And oh, Sai. He was dressed in a backwards hat and jeans low enough where his boxers were more than visible. However, he still wore his bunny nose from his earlier costume and had an arm around each of two girls dressed in slutty costumes, holding whiskey for some reason Sasuke couldn't fathom. Deidara and Sasori were holding a laptop and... microphone? And then Tenten was underneath Ino, who was using her as a chair to which no one seemed to notice.
At the moment Sauke trailed off, everyone in the room stared at him.
"Hiya Sasuke," Nagato awkwardly coughed out.
"What the hell is going on here?" the Uchiha asked, brows furrowed.
Everyone looked around to each other, expressions as if to say, 'how do we explain this one?'
"Wait up Sasuke! Have you seen Narut-" Sakura stopped short of Sasuke in the doorway, eyes wide at the seen before her. "What-"
"Hey Sakura," Naruto awkwardly chuckled and waved, stray noodles coming off of him as he did so.
"Sasuke and Sakura, just come in and shut the damn door!" Kiba hissed, pulling them into the room and moving to shut the door, hoping for no further intrusions.
"I think I saw my idiotic cousin go upstairs," Kiba heard a voice call as footsteps sounded up to the third floor they were on.
Kiba tried shutting the door before anyone else managed to come into the room and soil the plan, but an arm reached out quickly and grabbed the doorknob from the other side, effectively stopping the door from closing.
"Kiba, why did you run off from your party?" A voice asked, annoyance clear.
"Just go away!" Kiba hissed through the crack of the door.
"Kiba, you can have all the... freaky time with girls... you want. But for now, you have guests over and some of your friends came to me looking for you." The voice said, most likely a woman's voice.
"I'm not doing anything like that!" Kiba argued, and with the shock that came with the woman's statement, Kiba's grip on the door slackened and she pushed through, followed by a bunch of other people.
"Kiba! What the hell is this?!" The girl screeched.
"Nothing!" Kiba said, waving his arms around trying to shield the view but to no avail.
"I swear... you're the weirdest cousin I have!" The girl hissed.
"Wait... Yugito?" Nagato breathed out in surprise.
The girl, Kiba's cousin, looked over to Nagato, "Nagato?"
"Yugito-?" Kiba began questioning, but then Hinata, one of the many people gathered at the door, peeped over Yugito's shoulder.
"Naruto?"
"Hinata!" Naruto grinned, causing her to faint into Shikamaru's arms, who almost fell back from the impact.
"Hinata! Dammit, Naruto!"
"Shikamaru?" Ino said, surprised.
"Ino?"
"Ino!" Sakura said.
"Sakura!" Lee called, pushing past the group at the door and into the spare room.
"Lee!" Tenten hissed.
"Tenten?" Lee looked down at his friend, who was still squished underneath Ino and acting as a chair.
"Lee!" Hissed Neji, chasing his friend past the crowd to drag him away from whatever was causing so many people to gather. Lee plus the center of attention wasn't a good combination.
"Neji? Your cousin's down." Tenten called, muffled from underneath Ino's weight.
"Huh?" Neji looked down at Hinata, who was on the floor with Shikamaru fanning her with the sleeve of his dirty-looking jacket that was part of his zombie costume.
Neji glared at Naruto, "Naruto!"
"It's not my fault she fainted!" Naruto wailed.
"Yes it is." Everyone else in the room chorused.
"Wait... Where's Yahiko and Konan?" A voice asked.
"Choji, hey!" Naruto smiled.
"Choji?"
"Shikamaru-"
"SHIKAMARU!"
"Ino?"
"Ino?"
"Sakura."
"Pig."
"Forehead."
"Ino!"
"Tenten?"
"Ino."
"Ino!"
"Kiba!"
"Yugito?"
"Yugito..."
"Nagato!"
"Sasori..."
"Deidara."
"Deidara?"
"Sai."
"NARUTO?"
"Neji?
"Choji."
"Shikamaru."
"Sasuke."
"Sakura?"
"Sasuke!"
"Sakura stop."
"SASUKE!"
"Sakura seriously."
"SAKURA!"
"Naruto!"
"Naruto?"
"Nagato."
"Lee?"
"Kiba."
"Lee."
"Is Hinata dead?"
"Lee!"
"Neji?"
"Naruto!"
"Kiba!"
"... Shino."
Everyone looked over to the corner of the room at Shino, John Lennon costume and all. Did he seriously just say his own name?
"Shino, when did you even get here?" Naruto asked.
"CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?" Yugito yelled.
Suddenly the closet on the side of the room broke down, coming off of its hinges.
Yahiko and Konan came out, falling on their hands and knees.
"FREEDOM!" Yahiko yelled, making a victory fist in the air.
"I can't believe we broke down the door..." Konan whispered with a grin.
"Dudes..." Kiba looked over.
"Hehe," Yahiko rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "sorry about the door. I'll reimburse you for it later. I just like being dramatic."
Kiba shrugged, waving it off.
"But why did you lock us in the closet? And why is literally everyone here?" Konan asked, dusting her angel costume off and standing up.
"Uh..." Kiba coughed.
"Oh, it's you two!" Yugito called with realization.
"Is that... the waitress from last month?" Yahiko asked in shock.
"Wait, Kiba, Yugito is your cousin?" Nagato asked.
"Yeah, why? You know her?"
"Um..."
"We've been on a date or two." Yugito smiled, walking past the door frame and into the room.
"No way! That's a weird-ass coincidence," Kiba laughed.
"Wait! As much as I love my dear Nagato making progress with ladies, this doesn't answer anything. Why did you lock us in the closet?" Yahiko asked, walking over to Kiba.
"You locked them in a closet?" Shikamaru sighed, standing up as Hinata was finally waking from her Naruto-induced unconsciousness.
"Yeah... I guess it didn't work anyway. Not unless that thing records?" Kiba asked, nodding at Sasori and Deidara's equipment.
They shook their heads, "Nope. We lost our chance."
"Damn. Oh well, we tried." Tenten sighed, pushing Ino off of her.
"Ooph!" Ino fell to the ground with a thud.
"Wait, what's going on?" Konan asked.
"We'll tell you someday."
It was Nagato who said this, laughing a little as he walked over to Yugito, who was smirking as well.
"Wanna go down to the party?" He asked, smiling like a dork.
Yugito smiled, "Obviously."
The two, arm in arm, walked past the crowd at the door and down into the party.
"You know what?" Yahiko said calmly, "I don't even care that you locked us in a closet. I'm too happy to care." He pulled on a giggling Konan and dragged her out the door and down the stairs to the party as well.
Everyone was silent.
"Did... did they seem to be acting different to you?" Kiba asked, and Ino nodded in agreement.
Sasori tilted his head. "What happened in that closet?"
A bit earlier...
"Konan? Why are you here too?"
"I don't know..." Konan sighed, and Yahiko plopped down next to her, "they just shoved me in here after Sai came in looking all weird."
"Yeah, I just saw Naruto in a bathtub of ramen. I'm confused too."
"Maybe it's a prank? Like a Halloween one?" Konan shrugged.
"Oh! That makes sense! Trick or treat!"
She sighed, "This is going to get old though. Call Nagato and tell him to get us out of here."
Yahiko snickered, "About that... He kinda was one of the ones to shove me in here."
Konan's eyes widened, "He wouldn't! Ugh, traitor. Just call someone else then."
"Um, Konan? I don't have a signal."
"What?" She straightened up, pulling out her phone.
"Me either! What do we do?" She whimpered.
He sighed, "Sit tight until someone saves us or until those idiots who locked us in here decide to let us out."
Konan made a sound of defeat and fell back, laying down.
"Aw, don't be down, we can have fun!"
Konan glared at him, "How?"
"Knock knock."
"I'm not doing this."
Yahiko awkwardly laughed, and inched closer to Konan, fidgeting with her angel wings.
"They keep getting crooked," he explained, not noticing her shiver when she realized how close his voice was to her ear.
To Konan, it was all becoming painfully clear.
They were in a closet.
A smaller, dark closet.
Alone.
"T-thanks..." she choked out as he finished adjusting the costume.
"No problem," he grinned and damn him it was adorable.
"So, uh, it was a nice party until we were shoved into a closet, huh?" She smiled a bit, backing up a bit to maintain a safe distance between them. They were both laying down on the closet floor now, Konan with her legs crossed and bent at the knees.
"Yeah, it's a fun party. But I still can't believe Naruto and I had the same idea to dress up as each other for our costumes."
"I can. You two are practically the same person. But still, I think he may have done a bit better, with the wig and all." She rustled Yahiko's orange hair, laughing lightly as he shoved her hands away and tried fixing it.
"Don't worry Yahiko, I didn't make it any worse than it already was."
"My hair looks awesome, I don't know what you're talking about," he smirked, putting both of his arms behind his head to cushion it.
"You're so childish sometimes. I can't believe you're the same boy who saved Nagato and I when we were children all those years ago."
Yahiko smiled, recalling the times when they were kids, stealing and running around for food and a home. He always forgot that there was once a time they didn't have homes and lived in a treehouse. And then those foster homes, they weren't much better. In fact, sometimes it was even harder. They couldn't push as hard as they wanted to when there were adults in charge of them. Time was spent as their caretakers wished. It never really mattered though, all three of them pushed through because they knew that having homes in Fire got them closer to getting the power they needed to stop the Sound.
"Hey, Konan," Yahiko murmered, looking to his left at the girl who was staring up at the ceiling.
"Hm?" She hummed quietly.
"Do you believe me? When I say we'll stop the Sound, help make this world a bit more peaceful?"
"Of course I do," she answered immediately, nodding with a set look in her gray eyes, "I know not much is happening now, but I can tell. Something is going to happen soon that will give us the opportunity to make a difference. And whenever I sense something like this I'm almost always right."
He nodded, "I can tell, too. It's like that quiet before a storm. I just hope it's not the bad kind of storm, am I right?" He laughed.
She nodded, and a peaceful silence fell over them for a moment.
"Thank you."
Yahiko popped his head up, leaning on his shoulder, and looked over to Konan, "Huh? For what?"
"For saving me. And for keeping me alive, even now. I never thanked you for that time when we were seven, over ten years ago. You came in to my house on a whim, and saved me."
Yahiko smiled, "Actually, it wasn't a whim. I heard you crying. For people who say crying doesn't solve anything, they obviously haven't met us."
"I hate crying." She frowned, sitting up.
Yahiko shook his head at her words.
"It's not something you can refuse to do. When it happens, it happens. But you were always strong," Yahiko sat up, looking over at Konan as he spoke, "Even when you were so defenseless and small, and you knew dead bodies were all around you, you kept calm and pretended not to see. And that was what kept me calm and got us out of there. So thank you for that, too. I guess we help each other out, right? Me, you, and Nagato, we'll always be together. I mean, I know I constantly say that you two are my best friends, and that's obviously true, but there's so much more to it. Nagato isn't just some kid I took care of and now we talk, it's way more than that. He's a brother. He's the best brother anyone could ever have and we aren't even related! And Jiraiya, I know it hasn't been too long living with him, but he saved us when we were kids! He cared about us enough to save our lives and now he wants to be our father out of the goodness of his heart. And you... Konan, I don't even know where to begin. You aren't just a friend. Hell, you aren't even a sister. It's...it's weird and I've never felt like this before but I think of you like-"
Konan shut him up mid-rant, pressing her lips forcefully against his. His eyes were wide, staring straight at the girl he was just talking to, her shut eyes so close to his. For a moment, he even considered questioning if she was kissing him by accident, but then he realized that she was intentionally kissing him.
For so long now he'd been waiting and planning this big speech to tell her how he felt, expecting that he would be the one to initiate the kiss. He knew he wanted this for so long, and he hadn't even been sure if she felt the same way back.
But now, all of that didn't matter, because she wound her arms around his neck, pulling him impossibly close and smiling up against his lips. His arms were still sticking out at his sides in shock, and he was sure his eyes were comically wide. Before he could even calm down, she pulled back, looking at him with a smile.
His eyes were shocked, his mouth making an 'o' shape and looking quite akin to a fish. His arms, stuck and bracing the air, twitched a bit.
But he was looking right at her.
"Sorry," she said quietly, "I just thought you'd never do it if I didn't do it first."
He still looked as frozen as a statue.
"Unless," she quickly added with an embarrassed blush, "you didn't mean for that? Oh my god can we forget that ever happened? I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for-"
She was cut short by Yahiko, who kissed her the same way she had kissed him before. Relief flooded into her as she was finally aware that he wanted this just as much as she did.
He pulled her up against him and put his hands on her waist, circling them around until they rested on the small of her back.
In response, Konan moved a bit more forward, tilting her head more, trying anything she could to feel closer. For such an immature butt-head, he was a surprisingly good kisser. Not like she had anything to compare it to, though. She always wanted him to be her first kiss.
She moved her hands to his face, placing them on his cheeks and sighing with content and feeling happier than she ever recalled.
In all of those years of fear, living in homes she didn't belong, being yelled at by strict caretakers, nightmares of the day everyone in Ame died... this was the first time she felt completely safe, completely happy.
A bit of his hair tickled her forehead, and she smiled against his lips again. This was the only thing she ever really wanted. As he kissed her with such raw emotion, she felt her heart heat up and then become ice cold at the exact same moment. With all the physical and emotional things she was feeling in that moment, she wasn't sure how she didn't faint from happiness yet.
Pulling apart for air, Yahiko and Konan both wore expressions that were a mix between shock concerning what they just did, and excitement that they finally managed to have the nerve to do so. After all, this was big. They crossed a line, and they wouldn't be able to go back. But they had a lot of time to think about it beforehand, and knowing them, nothing would ever cause them to distance themselves from each other. It just wasn't possible.
"I can't believe it took us ten whole years to do that." Yahiko laughed, their faces still close, yet not quite against each other's.
"Tell me about it. Ever since last month, I've been expecting you to man up and finally do it. But I guess it was up to me."
"You didn't let me finish my speech! It was all planned out!" Yahiko whined, making his pouty face.
"You were taking too long. It's okay, I got the gist of it." Konan smiled as she retracted her arms from him, bringing them to her sides.
"So, uh... now what?"
Konan looked around.
"Well, there's not much else I really think we need to cover in the closet. Maybe we could actually try getting out of here?"
"Yeah, that's a good idea. How?" He asked, standing up and offering a hand to help Konan up as well. She took the hand and stood on her feet, walking over to the door.
"It's not too attached to the hinges. If we both push hard enough, we can probably bust the door open." She nodded at her own analysis, as if confirming it when she ran a hand over the spots where the door connected to the frame.
"Won't that break Kiba's door?" he asked.
"Hm..."
"You know what? I don't care. It's that idiot's fault we're in here, anyway. Let's just break down the door and be free, screw the rules!"
"Calm down, Yahiko." Konan sighed, stepping back a bit, "Ready?" She asked, gesturing towards the door.
"Ready... One. Two. Three!"
They both ran towards the door, slamming their weight into it. As weird of a thought as it was, Yahiko couldn't help but notice that the last time he broke out of a closet, he was young and scared, the day that Ame fell. That was so long ago, and now he was doing the same thing, but for completely different reasons. He wasn't in a closet to be safe, cowering away from the death and destruction going on outside. He was put in a closet as some sort of joke by his friends. This wasn't like it used to be, with actual fear of death and pain existing. This felt so much lighter, like life could actually be fun.
So this, he thought with a smile as the door fell down, and he and Konan found themselves on the ground in a spare room full of a mass of people, this is what having so many friends and having fun with them is like.
So even though he and Konan started questioning the mass of oddly-dressed people about why they locked Konan and him in a closet, and why Naruto had been in a bathtub of ramen, and why Sai looked like a gangster bunny, that's not what Yahiko really cared about. He was just so glad that he finally kissed Konan, and that this was his life now.
He was still going to bring justice to the Sound, and avenge the victims of the attack on Ame, but at least now he and Nagato and Konan had friends to support them in doing so.
It had been an hour since the whole closet fiasco, and Nagato was standing in foyer, leaning against the railing to the stairs as he talked to Yugito.
Last month after his birthday, Nagato had gotten intact with her. They went on a couple dates, nothing big. Just a movie or two and texted each other sometimes. But he had no clue that she was related to Kiba.
"Yeah, Kiba's such a dog lover. I dunno, though. I kind of lean more towards cats."
"Do you have any?" he asked.
"Just one. My kitten's name is Matatabi. Kind of a vicious little thing, if you ask me."
Nagato smiled, "I remember one of the orphanages we were at had two pet turtles and all the kids used to race them."
Yugito snorted out a laugh, "Oh my god, what happened?"
"They never really did anything. They just sat there until we all got annoyed and left."
"Well, they're turtles! What did you expect them to do, run at top speed and break the speed of sound?"
Nagato shrugged, "I think turtles can be unpredictable. Have you seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?"
She grinned, "You're adorable."
He blushed a bit, "Heh, thanks."
"So, um, I know we never really went on any serious dates but since you're friends with Kiba and all... maybe we could start seeing each other?"
"You're confident, asking a guy out like that." Nagato crossed his arms.
"Are you a sexist or something? This is the twenty-first century, I can ask a guy out if I want!" She scowled, crossing her arms in anger.
Nagato only chuckled, "I don't mind. As long as you bring me somewhere expensive and tell me I'm pretty."
"Jerk."
Nagato laughed at her mumbling. She was so confident and stubborn. He had to admit, being around Yahiko, he would have thought he'd get sick of loud and outspoken people, but this girl was different. She made it seem so appealing in the most charismatic way.
"But yeah, I'd definitely be into that. Next weekend? Friday maybe?" he asked.
She smirked, "You bet."
"That's it I quit." Kiba sighed as he finally reached the last step at the bottom of the stairwell. Everyone had left the spare room upstairs, realizing nothing would come of the weird situation. Kiba didn't feel like explaining what was going on, and after Konan and Yahiko left, the whole thing was pointless anyway.
"Hey, you don't know. Your stupid little plan may have worked out," Shikamaru shrugged, "In fact, I'm almost certain that it did."
"What are you talking about?" Kiba frowned at the zombie-dressed boy.
Shikamaru waved his hand off passively, "It's kind of obvious. You and a few others are desperately trying to hide what you were doing in a remote location in your home and then Yahiko and Konan bursting out of a locked closet asking why you put them in there. Seems to me like you all were trying to keep them in a confined space to see if their relationship would make any progress.
Kiba shook his head with an impressed smile, "Man, Nara, you really are a genius."
"However, I don't understand why Naruto was covered in ramen and that kid Sai looked like a drunk Easter bunny."
"Honestly? They were doing whatever I told them to for the plan at the time. I wanted to see if they would go that far despite how unnecessary it was."
"Kiba, that's evil." Shikamaru's lip turned up, "I'm very impressed."
"Why thank you."
"And not only because you got them all to do that weird stuff... But because Konan and Yahiko did make progress."
Kiba straightened up, "What do you mean?"
Shikamaru nodded over to where the foyer met the dining room, where Yahiko and Konan were standing and laughing about something or another.
"Can't you tell? When they came out of that closet it was so obvious."
"Shikamaru, I'm not a genius like you. I mean, Yahiko did seem a bit more chipper than usual. But that doesn't prove anything."
"But the way they looked and acted, I could just tell. They at the very least kissed. So even though your whole idea of recording them-"
"How did you know about us recording them?" Kiba interjected.
Shikamaru shot the most condescending look possible at Kiba, "Those kids Sasori and Deidara were holding microphones. And by the looks of it they were more like walkie-talkies. Something you hear from directly at the time, unable to record and tape. Would I be correct in saying so?"
"... yeah."
"Well even though everyone coming in interrupted your plans to spy, I think that you can rest easy knowing you guys and your dumb little plan actually worked. Congrats." Shikamaru lifted his index finger into the air and swirled it around as if to say 'woop-dee-doo'.
"Jeesh, Nara, no need to be so rude."
Shikamaru simply shrugged, "I should probably go find the blond devil."
And with that Shikamaru sauntered off, leaving Kiba to think about everything that had happened that night.
Kiba had to be honest, nearly everything exciting happened at his parties, and they always would.
"Lee, why didn't you dress up? I mean, I know that Neji and Sasuke feel like they're too cool to, but you?" Sakura frowned, tugging at Lee's tight green shirt. He was dressed as always, a tight green shirt with green skinny jeans; his hair done as always in a hideously unique bowl cut.
"I did dress up, dearest Sakura! I am my idol, Gai Sensai!" Lee put his hand on his hips and puffed out his chest in pride.
"Oh my god, Lee you already look like him! You always do!" Tenten whined, covering her face with her palms in frustration.
"It's bad enough when you dress like that everyday... but to call it a costume? Do you not see the impeccable irony?" Neji rolled his eyes.
"Like you have room to talk. You could have at least thrown on an old shirt and thrown on some fake blood and face paint and pulled off a half-assed zombie like Shikamaru," Ino flipped her hair, critically eyeing up Neji's costume, or lack thereof.
"I do not wish to partake in anything so juvenile and pointless."
"No need to be such a downer," Tenten playfully shoved him, and then even Neji in his usual coldness smiled.
"Get a roooommm," whispered Naruto, dragging out his hoarse voice.
Sakura clamped her hand over her blond friend's mouth, "Idiot, shut up!"
"He won't listen, there's no point in trying." Sasuke shrugged coolly, walking over a bit to lean against the wall in the living room, where the lot of them were gathered.
Naruto clutched Sakura's hand and pried it off of his mouth, "You can never silence me!"
"I hate you, idiot." Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes.
"I hate all of you." someone said in a monotone voice.
"Shino, where do you always come from? And why do you hate us?" Naruto pouted, petting the Aburame on the head soothingly. If that made Shino any angrier, he didn't show it.
"Maybe it's because I'm always here, and you just ignore me. Ever think of that?"
"We love you, Shino. Don't you ever forget that." Naruto hugged Shino, and everyone backed away silently, not wanting to take part in the awkward exchange.
After people started getting a bit drunk, and it was getting late, Yahiko made the command decision that they'd be going home. After all, he didn't want Jiraiya getting all worked up and waiting for them to get home late either.
Saying goodbye to Kiba, Yahiko noticed the dog-boy looking cockier than usual as he bid farewell to Yahiko. And when Konan was preoccupied with petting Akamaru goodbye, Kiba even looked to Konan and then back to Yahiko and winked suggestively.
Yahiko blushed, wondering if it were possible for Kiba to have found out what happened in the closet, but decided against it. There was no way for him to have known.
"Um, yeah thanks again, Kiba. I had a hell of a time." Yahiko patted Kiba on the back in the typical 'bro-hug' and then started out the door.
He stopped halfway, and glared over at Nagato, "Let's go, you player.""
Nagato, who was still talking and laughing with Yugitio, jumped up at the sudden sound of someone calling his name. He looked over to the door and remembered that Yahiko told him to finish up talking about five minutes ago.
"So, uh... I'll call you, right?"
"Next Friday. Dress to impress, Nagato." Yugito winked, and kissed him on the cheek before walking off into another section of the party.
"I think it's unfair that every damn time he sees that woman she kisses him. He isn't even smooth!" Yahiko pouted.
Konan shrugged, "Some people have it. Others don't."
Yahiko wriggled his eyebrows, "You of all people shouldn't be telling me that."
Konan's face heated up and she shoved him out of the door, giving a menacing glare to Nagato, ordering him to follow.
Soon enough, they got home. Jiraiya was on the couch writing, looking up and greeting them as they came in.
"12:45? You kids are lame. In my day, I passed out drunk in the bathtubs and stayed over night at parties."
"Thanks Jiraiya, you're a real role model," Yahiko drolled, sarcasm oozing from his voice.
"You know, kids, I may end up being a better role model than you think," the white-haired man smiled and stood up, "I'm going to bed. I just wanted to see if you got home safe. Good night."
"Good night," the three teens echoed as Jiraiya walked past them and into the foyer and up the stairs.
"So, uh, I guess I'll go to bed too." Nagato informed the other two, starting to walk over in the same direction Jiraiya just had.
"Off to go cuddle with your pillow and name it Yugito junior?" Yahiko teased, snickering like a little girl.
"Screw you," Nagato laughed as he walked up the stairs.
Konan looked over to Yahiko and shrugged.
"I guess we should go to bed, too."
He nodded, and followed her up the stairs. However, when he reached for the handle to open the door to his room, she stopped him. She pulled his head down and gave him a quick kiss, so quick he barely registered it happening. When she pulled back, she smiled sheepishly, "Good night, Yahiko."
Konan then proceeded to dart off into her room leaving Yahiko standing in front of his room grinning like a complete and total idiot. And he absolutely loved it.