Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto land. Reviews are appreciated.
"I'm so sorry, I must've completely ruined your good mood…"
"No, no, it's alright.. Miraiko-chan…Is it alright if I call you Miraiko-chan?"
"Yeah it's fine.. I'm just…such a moron for not thinking this through sooner.."
I clenched my teeth, lifting my hands to wipe my red puffy eyes dry.
Kurenai was with me in her living room, collecting the many wet tissues that I'd chucked on the table. It'd been about five minutes since I broke down in tears and I'd already managed to use up half of the tissue box she had given me.
"Why haven't you?" The woman with the piercing red eyes asked me after I lowered my arms.
I kept my eyes focused on the moss green carpet beneath my feet as it vaguely reminded me of the unusual colour of my hair, while I reached for a fresh tissue.
"I guess I never…I never had the time to really figure out how I got here. I mean, sure I've thought about it a few times, but I never seriously talked to anyone." I paused to blow my nose.
"I was too busy with adapting to this world instead of finding out how I would get back to my own world. And with Naruto and other people constantly bugging me about what I knew about the future, I stopped talking about myself, because I got fed up with all the questions."
Kurenai seemed to be lost in her own thoughts when I turned my head to look at her. I stared at her, disappointed.
She must really think I'm a fool now--
Just when I was starting to believe that my words had been nothing but transparent air to her, she blinked and readjusted her gaze to me.
"I understand. So basically ever since you got here, you never had the chance to really think of yourself. It must've been hard to be struggling with this for so long.."
I blinked at her, feeling my eyes watering again. I shook my head with a wry smile. "You make it sound like it isn't my fault, but I know I'm stupid for not talking about this sooner. I must really be an idiot…"
She laughed heartily, giving me a look that reminded me of one of those looks your mother gives you when she thinks you're being silly or cute.
"You're not an idiot, you're just dealing with too much at the same time. Trouble with Kakashi-san, trouble with Tsunade-sama, trouble with life in general and now this."
"Yeah…" I mumbled tiredly.
"You should talk about this with Kakashi-san or Tsunade-sama soon. But first…"
I looked at her curiously when she trailed off and got up from her seat to walk out of the room, only to return with two small pieces of green paper in her hand which she held out for me.
I took them with raised eyebrows, studying them. "Free tickets for the hot springs…?"
She nodded with a lighthearted grin. "You could use some relaxation, don't you agree? We can go together and spend a day there. It'll be much more fun than doing chores."
I blinked at her again, unable to understand why this woman was so determined to cheer me up. Not to mention that she probably bought these tickets for her and someone else.
"But are you sure you want to go with me? I mean, you really don't have to give one to me if you're already going with someone." I offered politely, not wanting to force her into this just because she was concerned about me.
"Oh no, I happened to win these at one of those little lotteries at a small shop. Originally I did plan to take Asuma with me, but he's been too busy with missions lately so it'll be fine. And it's been a while since I spent time with a female friend." She waved it off airily, smiling.
I gave her an 'are-you-some-kind-of-angel?' look, succeeding in making her laugh a little until she shrugged lightly and took the tickets from me.
"I'll take you there tomorrow. Consider it a way to take your mind off of things for a little while so you can start out fresh again later." She said as she began to walk away to return the tickets to their original space.
"Thanks!" I called after her, feeling a real smile tugging my lips upwards.
Sweep. Sweep.
I hummed smilingly as I mopped the living room (after convincing Kurenai that I really wanted to do some chores today even though I practically had mental breakdown earlier).
It never really occurred to me before because I'd never really paid attention to her character in the 'real' world before, but she was a very nice person to be around.
And though the actual reason that I came to visit her was to help her with boring chores, I was starting to like her company a lot.
Knock. Knock.
The sound of someone pounding on the front door caught my attention and for a moment I felt the urge to warn Kurenai, but I knew she was upstairs to rest a little, so I put away my mop and went to answer the door by myself instead.
It must've been the worst mistake of my entire life.
I stopped in front of the door.
I reached for the door handle.
I turned it to open the door.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"
I felt like screaming my head off when all of a sudden the air literally got knocked out of me and something tackled me to the floor.
It was huge.
It was heavy.
It was hairy.
And it was trying to kiss me.
Since when do sexual harassers stop by to visit pregnant women's houses?! …KURENAI WHO THE HELL DO YOU HANG OUT WITH?!
My mind screamed in enragement as I was pressed against the hard floor helplessly. I yelped and flailed frantically, hoping to find something big and sharp or anything that could get this…this…thing off of me.
The thing made some weird kind of chuckling noise before my wrists were stolen and pinned to the floor as lips edged down dangerously close. That's when I saw it.
I nearly had a heart attack when I realized that the thing had a horrifyingly familiar face as it hovered above mine. Dark eyes stared down at me with slight confusion and the small black hairs of the thing's beard tickled my nose.
The entire house must've shook with an explosion of teenage horror when I exclaimed it's name.
"ASUMA?!"
Then everything was quiet. Terribly quiet.
It was the kind of silence you'd never want to experience in your entire life.
Not now. Not EVER.
"…You…You're not Kurenai." And then the source of the nightmares I'd be having for the next ten years realized his mistake.
Abruptly he shot up, nearly tripping over my legs as he backed away with an embarrassed colour of flame red claiming his face. "Who are you?! What have you done to her? Why did you try to seduce me?!"
Every nerve in my body twitched in disgust at his ridiculous accusation. "Seduce you?! What the hell?" I glared at him, fuming with anger.
"You attacked me, you…you…CHILD MOLESTER!!"
"I did no such thing! I thought you were Kurenai!"
"That's even worse! You're going to freaking tackle your pregnant girlfriend?! You want your baby to die or something?!"
"Wha-- I was...What?" He gaped at me, obviously at a loss of words.
"What's going on here?" A third voice interjected, followed by a soft yawn.
Both the child molester and I looked up to see Kurenai standing at the stairway, sending us a somewhat entertained look.
"Kurenai! It's not what it looks like! This…This trespasser seduced me!" Asuma pointed at me accusingly, causing me to intensify the glare I was directing at him.
"YOU LYING CHILD MOLESTER! I FEEL SORRY FOR THE BABY ALREADY!"
"YOU LYING TRESSPASSSER! WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!"
"IT MEANS THAT I HOPE HE OR SHE WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT A HORNY DAD SHE OR HE HAD, YOU PREGNANT WOMEN-TACKLING JERK!!"
"…May I suggest to sort this out in a more civilised manner?"
"Hahaha! I see, I see. So Miraiko-chan has been helping you out with the daily chores. That's good." Asuma laughed light-heartedly, smiling at me and his girlfriend.
"I would prefer it if you called me Miraiko-SAN, instead of -CHAN…" I retorted darkly, shooting imaginary daggers at him despite the fact that Kurenai made me forgive him for getting a little carried away.
If that was getting a little carried away, I don't want to be around when he goes all out.
"Ha…ha…Alright." The jounin's smile wavered after he took notice of my gloomy expression.
It was silent then, until Kurenai spoke.
"Maa na, at least now we know that Kakashi-san was completely wrong about you being unattractive, ne Miraiko-chan?" She smiled sweetly, making it appear like a friendly statement, but I knew she was trying to get a rise out of me.
I smiled back in the same manner. "Well don't blame me if your boyfriend jumps at me a second time."
Asuma remained nervously silent, sensing an upcoming argument, but his expression became amusingly dumbfounded when instead Kurenai and I burst out in laughter.
I almost had to cry from laughter and I noticed she did too while the only male in the room gawked at us as if we'd just lost our minds.
When we finally regained ourselves, I smiled at her sincerely. 'Thanks. I needed that.'
She smiled back, nodding. 'I know.'
After I finished doing my chores at Kurenai's house, I returned back home.
It didn't surprise me that Kakashi wasn't there, after all he was still training with Naruto and it would take a while for them to create that new jutsu of the blonde...
I went to the kitchen to get a drink, strawberry lemonade. Then I walked back to the living room and stared out of the window while my thoughts drifted off to ponder about what Kurenai had advised me to do.
Talk to someone about my problems.
Talk to Kakashi about it.
But did I really want to talk to him about it? Sure he was my supervisor and he's supposed to talk to me about this kind of thing, but still…
He didn't exactly make me feel like he was someone I could rely on, now did he?
"Someone I can rely on…Someone who does accept me…Someone who-- Ah?" I stopped musing to myself when I caught sight of someone familiar outside.
"Iruka…" I mumbled, staring at his walking figure as it disappeared behind the corner of a grocery shop.
That's it! Although we've argued a lot…He's someone I can rely on, right? He's the perfect person to talk to! I thought happily as I quickly swallowed the last bit of my drink and dashed out of the house to fetch the chuunin.
It didn't take me long before I was starting to catch up with him and I decided to shout his name to draw his attention to me.
"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei, wait up!"
In the distance I could see him pause his walk for a moment, looking around like he'd just heard something, until he resumed his walk again instead of turning around.
What? He can't be that deaf, can he?
I knotted my eyebrows together, increasing my running pace. It didn't really help, because there were more people walking in front of me and I couldn't just push them aside without being rude so I was forced to walk slower.
"Iruka-sensei!" I tried to shout a little harder. He didn't hear it.
It seemed like the thick sea of people that surrounded him only got bigger and bigger, because just as soon as I'd seen Iruka, his body faded in the crowd.
Eventually I reached a small alley where I thought he'd walked into, but when there was no one there, I realized that it must've been my imagination. I finally gave up and turned to head back home again, feeling disappointed.
But I didn't know that I, in fact, had seen him walking into that alley.
Iruka watched as the green haired teenage girl walked into the alley, looking around confusedly. Good. So she hadn't seen him jumping on top of the building.
He was looking down at her now, safely, from high above her.
Guilt was gnawing at him, but his pride was stronger and it kept him in his hiding place.
He didn't understand why she'd come looking for him when she obviously had Kakashi.
She didn't need Umino Iruka and he didn't need her.
Or that's what he kept telling himself while he fought the urge to jump down and grab her as he watched her walking out of the alley, with a sad look on her face.