hey, look at us, we're doing that awesome thing where we write chapters like a bagillion weeks early. XD
disclaimer: lol, you're funny.
dedication: to NaNoWriMo and glitter and Wicked and home-made plushies and 30 seconds to mars. thank you. :)
now, "how to be a stripper" may commence.
(or, in better terms: "how to mindfuck the audience". as les has said "...only you, sara. only you." :D)
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Shisui's mother poked her head into the living room, and smiled a secret smile.
Shisui and Itachi were sitting very close together, in front of the roaring fire. Their fingers were touching, Shisui's head dropped onto Itachi's shoulder, and the only sounds were the pop and crackle of the fire, and the soft sound of two people breathing in tandem.
The woman smiled, and withdrew.
She had a phone call to make.
"Well," Shisui murmured, "at least my mother approves?"
Itachi blinked. "...She knows?"
Shisui laughed softly. "Ita, she was just in here, watching us. I know my mom."
"... I hadn't noticed she was watching."
"Thought as much. ...What are we going to tell everyone else?"
"We shall tell them nothing."
Shisui knew that Itachi liked his relationships kept private, but... "Nothing? So that means that any time we're not alone, we're not together?"
"...No, we just won't say anything to them. But it's okay to do things like this..." and he looped their pinkies together. "Or this..." and kissed the corner of her mouth.
"...Don't do that to me, I go cross-eyed."
"And we can't have that, can we?"
"No, thank you. ... I still think we need to tell the family something."
"That we're engaged or something?"
Shisui nudged him. "We are not engaged. Don't even go there, mister. We only just started dating. You didn't even ask right."
"You know I don't waste time asking questions that I already know the answers to. And I did ask - just not 'Do you want to be my girlfriend?' - I'm more subtle than that."
"Personal choice, Ita! What if I felt like saying 'no'?"
"... Would you even have considered saying no? Not just saying no- meaning it?"
"...No. Not ever."
He gave her the smuggest look in his arsenal. "Exactly."
"Still."
"Still what?"
"Still, I'd have liked to hear it out loud."
"Fine." He shifted just enough to look her straight in the face. "Shisui…"
"Yes, Ita?"
"Would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend? Make me the most blessed man on earth?"
Shisui stared at him. Not impressed, much?
"You are so insincere. I don't think I love you anymore."
"…Uh-huh."
"…You suck."
He smirked.
"Stop smirking at me!"
"Okay, then."
"You are incorrigible. I don't know why I put up with you."
"Because I'm insanely attractive? Because you are very tolerant of all my faults? Because you like me? A lot? Too much?"
"…Something like that."
"It's okay. Because I... may or may not feel... the exact same about you."
Shisui just smiled, and dropped her head to his shouder again. He was ridiculous, he really, really was. It didn't help that this had been a long time coming; Shisui was still metally adjusting all her carefully constructed world views, and who knew how much work she still had to do.
Boys were dumb.
But sometimes they were worth it.
Mikoto looked at her sister-in-law. Kiri was smiling, her normally benign features slightly manic (if there was something the two Uchiha wives had in common, it was the need for grandchildren; apparently it was a prerequisite for being an Uchiha matriarch).
That was never a good sign.
"Kiri, tell me that you're not plotting something awful that involves our children."
"Oh, Koto-chan, look at them! They've finally got past all those horrible things they were putting each other through! Go look, Koto-chan, go look!" Kiri shoved Mikoto in the general direction of the doorway into the family room,and Mikoto poked her head through the doorway, and blinked.
And blinked.
And blinked.
And blinked.
And then jumped away from the door, slammed it behind her, and let out a mad cackle of glee. "Oh, Kiri, look at them! I'M GOING TO HAVE GRANDCHILDREN! ALL IS NOT LOST!"
The two women giggled together.
Grandchildren?
Oh yes.
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.
.
Karin parked in the school parking lot. She brushed her messy hair out of her face, and threw it up into an equally-messy bun.
The school loomed over her in a very unpleasant fashion.
She really didn't want to go in there.
Really.
But there was nothing for it. Karin took a deep breath of air into her lungs, and headed towards the double doors. They were faded red, the paint chipping away, carved through with initials, and declarations of love, lust, revenge. She stared at them a moment, sad.
God, she wanted to get out of here.
She pushed through the doors, and headed to class.
Tenten lay her head on her desk. She heard Kakashi-sensei walk into the classroom, listened to him and Kurenai-sensei mumble things to each other before the latter left, and then gave a barely-there smile as she heard her somewhat-father give his lame excuses of being late.
But Tenten felt kind of empty - kind of drained of any kind of energy her body used to always have. Right now Tenten kind of wanted to... No, she didn't even know what she wanted, anymore.
She wanted peace, inside her mind.
She wanted to say the things she couldn't.
She wanted to be pretty.
Go, she wanted to get out of here.
She clenched her eyes shut and blocked everything out.
From behind his essential handy-dandy Icha Icha, Kakashi surveyed the class. Most of the class was there, dozing away their early morning blues.
But... Kakashi's only visible eye narrowed.
There was two-thirds of a certain group of girls who were currently playing hooky.
They were missing him.
Completely unacceptable.
"So this morning," he drawled, placing his literature on his desk, "we're going to start with something new."
"We," he paused as he picked up the seating chart, "are going to take attendance."
The entire class sat up, and shrieked.
"WHAT?"
"Attendance? Since when?"
"He's kidding. He's got to be."
"You're shitting me."
"No way. Just - no fuckin' way."
"Seriously? He hasn't taken attendance since like - ever! He didn't even take attendance the first day, just that we should shut up and read!"
Kakashi eye twitched. Over the babble that had broken, he sighed. Well, this was going to be fun. He ambled to his desk at the back of the class, picked up the thickest dictionary he could see, and ambled straight back to the front of the class. He stood there for a minute; the small group of students that sat at the front looked at him with wide eyes, and stuffed their fingers in their ears.
Kakashi waited a moment, and stared at the ceiling, dictionary in hand.
The dull roar didn't dim.
So Kakashi held the book out in front of him, and let it drop.
THUNK.
The entire class went silent.
Kakashi grinned to himself. "We're taking attendance."
From: Hina-chan
To: Candii
OMFG GET YOUR SKINNY BUTT TO CLASS, KAKASHI'S TAKING ATTENDANCE, THIS IS LIKE A RECORD-BREAKER OR SOMETHING I'M SURE.
Karin stared at her phone.
Kakashi.
Taking attendance.
She almost laughed.
Now, there were advantages and disadvantages to hiding in the bathroom. One of the advantages was the bathroom mirrors (Karin's favourite was on the third floor; it was you're beautiful scrawled across it in bubbly, happy script. She had a sneaking suspicion it had likely been Ino). Another advantage was that it was quiet, and gave her a little room to think, a little time to breathe.
One of the disadvantages was how much a coward it made her feel.
Karin took a deep, deep breath of air into her lungs (almost to fortify herself against the rest of the day), took one last glance in the mirror (to confirm that she looked awful - really, this day could not get worse), and slung her bag over her shoulder.
Grow some tits and get over yourself, Karin, she told herself, and stepped out of the bathroom.
She wandered in the general direction of her homeroom class; Kakashi had no right to talk about tardiness. As long as she eventually showed up, he wouldn't mark her late. He and the rest of the class had come to that truce a long time ago; as long as they brought him a coffee, they were off the hook.
So Karin stopped, grabbed a couple of coffees, and went to class.
Hinata watched Karin mosey in half an hour after Kakashi had "taken attendance".
"Yo," the red-head told their teacher, and shoved the cup of coffee into his hands.
He stared at her, dead-pan, and Hinata almost bit through her lip to keep herself from laughing. "Sit down, kid."
Karin waggled her fingers at their teacher, and threw herself down in the seat next to Hinata.
Hinata stared at her. "Are you okay?"
"No. I don't want to be here."
Hinata shook her head, indigo bangs falling into her eyes. "I don't - I don't blame you. I - I mean..."
Karin just shrugged, a little bit rueful. "It's okay. I'll be - okay. Is Tenten alive?"
They both shot a simultaneous glance at Tenten. Her head was down on her desk, and she looked miserable. It was like looking at a trainwreck; you wanted to look away, but you just couldn't because some part of you was sickly fascinated by the process of watching someone fall apart.
"...So no, huh."
"No?"
"No."
From: Candii
To: Piglette
fatty, are you coming to school today? i don't want to be all alone. AND KAKASHI TOOK ATTENDANCE. WE'RE AMAZED.
From: Piglette
To: Candii
Yes I am, mama. I'm on my way. I need to be surrounded by pretty people because I am so not feeling hot.
Ino was... What?
What was this feeling?
This feeling that was making her breathe hard, chest rising and falling heavily. This feeling that was making her limbs shake, made her want to outstretch her room - her house - and fit the world within it. She'd think it was claustrophobia, but it was not that. Feeling phobias was Tenten's job. And it wasn't a panic attack, because even if Ino had suffered with one, once, it never came back.
Actually, she just wanted to be surrounded by people.
Here the buzz of one hundred and ten million conversations happening at once. Feel the heat that hundreds of bodies brought into a room. Catch a happy couple smile at each other and give a look that only they could understand. Watch friends grin and laugh at jokes that were more than anything something like "You just had to be there".
She wanted that.
She wanted it so badly.
Ino flipped her hair, and just as she stood in her room - small t-shirt, baggy sweatpants and vans - she grabbed a bag and pulled Sakura to her feet.
"We're going to school. And we're going to be happy." She smiled softly. "Even if it's fake."
A very bedraggled Sakura glared at Ino. "Don't want."
Ino glared right back. "Let's go, Forehead. Now."
"No."
"Sakura-Forehead-Haruno. We're going to school! Kakashi-sensei took attendance. Let's go."
"...He what?"
"Exactly!"
"But In-oooooooo..." Sakura whined.
Ino stomped a foot. "Sakura, I don't want to... to... Throw my life away because of... of... this! How many times do I have to do it over? Let's go and live a little!"
"...I'm scared, Ino."
"I know. And I am, too. But... We have to try."
"...You better get me a latte, or I'm going to be even sadder."
Ino actually grinned. Well, that was progress. "I will! We'll walk in with sunglasses over our eyes and a frappe for moi, and a latte for you! We'll totally look gorgeous."
"Or, you'll look gorgeous, and I'll look like something the cat dragged in."
"...Don't start with me, Saku-whore. You're beautiful."
"Ino, you hit on everything that moves. Your definition of "beautiful" is skewed, so don't even."
"...Sakura, I'm going to slap you until you feel stunning."
All that Sakura was able to yell, even as Ino dragged her towards the bathroom was a very loud, very desperate cry for help. It went something along the lines of: "DOMESTIC ABUSE."
"THIS IS LOVE," Ino screeched back, and promptly ignored all other protests.
Yeah, because that is totally how best friendship works.
Totally.
Smiling, Ino blinked at her creation. A little hair straightening, a hairpin or two and a touch of concealor and Sakura looked marvalous. Not that she didn't before, because honestly, Ino stood by her philosophy that everyone was beautiful regardless of anything.
"Now," She said, dragging her friend right back out into her room, "Let's go get our coffees and actually go learn something. Or, something like that."
She heard Sakura grumble some incoherent things, but Ino only rolled her eyes.
This had to be done. They were not weak! They were strong. Like... Like... Karin. Or, Tenten - because even Karin had dark hours and moments where she just couldn't. But not Tenten, Ino thought. She and Sakura were strong like her. And they were about to prove it!
The two walked out to her convertible and quickly mounted it, dropping their bags on the backseats. Ino made the engine roar to life before she zoomed right on out of there and to the nearest Starbucks. Because going anywhere else - going to that place - was unacceptable.
Boys sucked.
Boys really, really, really sucked.
REALLY SUCKED, OKAY.
Sakura sighed, and winced only marginally as she had allowed Ino to attack her face with make-up and sparkles and cover-up. And now, sitting in the passenger seat of Ino's car, she stared out the window, and wondered if this was a good idea.
She kind of thought it wasn't.
She'd much rather be in Ino's kitchen with a steaming cup of tea. It was safe. Ino's kitchen was a No Boy Zone (mostly due to Ino's very over-protective father), and as such, it's sanctity was never breached. Ino's kitchen always had Ino in it; Sakura didn't have to be alone, when she was in Ino's kitchen.
School, on the other hand, was everything that Ino's kitchen wasn't.
And Sakura didn't like it.
She didn't like it at all.
Sakura sat back in her seat, pinched and prodded at society's image of beauty, and really kind of hated everything.
Oh, how Ino loved society's new getups.
Like drive-thru Starbucks huts. Oh, that was the most brilliant thing Mankind could have ever thought up - next to glitter and chocolate, of course, but that was different. Now, all they needed was a Pretty Boy Museum in which every male species would be stuffed into and put on display so a girl could flail for a certain amount of time and then leave once it's over. Because then there would be no heartbreak.
And Ino furiously stood by her words of "NO ONE FUCKING DESERVES THAT".
So, passing through the drive-thru, Ino ordered her venti caramel and mocha frappucino and ordered Sakura's venti latte and sort of allowed the world one last chance.
No, she was sure she wouldn't move past this boy, but if she had to turn lesbian to get the love she so righteously deserved, then so be it! But the point was she was going to give it one last go - not love - but living. She was going to live up and have fun; if it was fake or not was all on her heart.
She didn't want to be cooped up in her home anymore, feeling sorry for herself, lying through her teeth at her Daddy, getting teary-eyed at night.
Nah, that was enough.
Ino smiled as she handed the woman her credit card, passed the latte to the quiet Sakura and took a quick sip of her drink. Once the whole procedure was over ("Credit?" "Mhm!"), Ino drove off to class. And with her shades covering her eyes, glossy blond locks loose, and a cheeky smile on her lips she opened her arms and allowed that one last chance to commence.
"I loooooove you Sakura!"
Sakura sighed. "I love you, too, Piggy."
She took the latte from Ino's fingers, and brought it to her lips. It was steaming hot, and Sakura felt like she'd just burnt her tongue - ick. "Hey, Piggy... what do we do now?"
"We go and be pretty," Ino said, with a flip of blonde hair.
"...I'm not sure if I like that idea. I don't want to deal with men anymore," Sakura muttered into her cup, her eyebrows drawn together in a grumpy frown.
"Turn lesbian and marry me, instead!" Ino chirped.
...Seriously?
"You're already, like, engaged to Karin. I can't come between you, because that's not nice."
"Oh puh-lease. We can totally marry each other. A threesome is sexy."
"…No, Pig. Just. No."
"God, you're so uptight, Forehead! Liiiiiive a little."
"I'll go live in a hole. Where men do not exist."
"…I don't like this idea. Do I need to get hissy? I will!"
"…Just. Just take me to school. Hinata will sort this out."
"…Oh god."
"Exactly."
"No, not exactly. Just… Just listen to the music, Sakura."
Sakura grumbled ungratefully, and allowed Ino to blast the volume on the radio. Sometimes, it was honestly just so much better to let Ino alone, and to do what she wanted. If that meant really, really loud music, then that was what it meant.
The rest of the ride was quiet, save for the loud music blasting through Ino's speakers.
It wasn't Blink, tho'.
She hasn't listened to Blink since that day. What they were listening to, though, was The Beatles!
Oh, Ino loved The Beatles. They made her so happy. So, so, so happy.
That's why a grin was plastered on her face and her spirits were up, a bit. It wasn't something like moving on, quickly (or at all, really), because there was still that horribly dark part of her trying to consume her and make her go back to her home. But... it was a start.
Too soon, she was parking her car in the student parking lot. Once the deed was done, Ino grabbed her bag and her frappe. She flipped some of her blond hair over her shoulder and pushed her shades back up the bridge of her nose.
It was time.
Together, the two walked into the building, ignoring anyone that turned to look at them. Ino didn't have time for explanations and she didn't owe them anything; she owed an explanation to seven teachers and three friends, and that was it. So there.
Ino'd hear Sakura grumbling to herself, at her side, but she paid her friend no mind. Sakura had a different pace of coping and a different method. Ino wouldn't force her into anything, aside from forcing her out of the house.
Because that just had to be done.
Walking into Kakashi's opened-door class, Ino waved at the silver-haired man. "Kakashi-sensei! I'm here! I've missed you!"
Kakashi gave her a deadpan look and muttered a, "Go sit down, Ino."
So Ino grabbed Sakura by the wrist and dragged her to the far back where Karin, Hinata and Tenten were. Things did not look pretty.
Karin glanced up.
"Oh my. My lover. Where have you been?" Karin gasped.
"Omai! My wifey, I've missed you so much!" Ino half-shrieked.
The two girls threw themselves at each other. The rest of the class coughed awkwardly, and looked away. Hinata rolled her eyes at the both of them. "You two are ridiculous," she said. "Please sit down, before you embarrass the class to dissent."
Karin and Ino, arms wrapped around each other, just stared at her.
The resounding "No," that spilled forth was perfect and simultaneous.
Hinata resisted the urge to hit her head against the nearest wall.
(Karin, on the other hand, thought that maybe, if this kept up, they'd actually go back to normal. And normal... normal was good. Normal was what Karin wanted. Karin liked normal. Normal was good.)
With her arms still wrapped around Karin, Ino sat down in the desk closest to the redhead.
This was just a tiny bit more normal.
This was good.
Because Ino and Karin were always throwing themselves at each other, always flirting, always throwing innuendos, always flirting, always protecting each other. This... was normal. Almost, almost there.
So, with a solidified new hope, Ino turned to stare at her friends. Past the slight annoyance and slight embarrassment, Hinata looked fine. Kind of down on behalf of her friends, but fine. Karin, who was her lifeline - each other's lifeline - was clinging on to her. Which was not good, she supposed.
And Tenten... wait.
Tenten.
Ino darted her eyes to the quiet brunette. And that was just it - Tenten was never quiet! Tenten'd be grumbling about getting a room right about now. or demanding she'd get the middle. Or... or... something. This was not good. Ino stared at the brunette, watched as loose chestnut-colored strands of hair covered her face as she laid her head down on it.
...What was wrong?
This was not supposed to be happening - this was like a great big pause to the road back to normal.
"What's wrong with her?" she breathed out. Something almost told her it had to do with Hinata's cousin.
Hinata shot Tenten a miserable look.
"I don't - I'm not sure," she murmured, softly, and looked away. Hinata didn't know what to tell Ino, because Tenten wasn't talking. Of course, Hinata knew (er, had her suspicions. Same difference, really) that it was to do with Neji. But she had no comfirmation from Tenten, and that was what she needed.
Because what could she do? There was nothing.
Tenten had never liked it when people meddled in her personal life; even her closest friends her subject to Tenten's irrational rules about her close-lippedness.
Hinata sighed.
"Well - guys. The banquet's coming up. And, uh... it''recomingwhetheryoulikeitornot," Hinata said in a rush.
Ino blinked and stared at the small little thing that was Hinata.
"What," she spluttered.
Banquet?
What?
What?
Banquet...?
What?
Yeah, this did not compute. This did not compute.
Tenten vaguely heard something about a banquet; and her mind - or what was still sane in there - instantly clicked Hyuuga plus Banquet equals bad shit.
She shot her head up, honey-brown eyes blank. "Sorry, not going."
Because she was not going to face Neji. And she was not going to be a hypocrite and show up like if nothing. It was already bad enough that she was talking to Hinata when she clearly didn't deserve it. So... She won't go. Because Neji was a Hyuuga and he had to be there. Tenten... Well, Tenten was just a friend and she didn't matter.
Hinata's eyeball twitched and her voice went low and deadly as she said, "I'm sorry, you seem to be under the delusion that you have a choice."
"I do. I'm not going." Tenten did not back down. Not this time. I'm sorry, Hinata.
"Oh yes you are."
If her body had not been completely hidden under the oversized jacket, her shaking would have been obvious. But she wasn't shaking because she was angry; she was... She didn't know why she was shaking. She hid her hands in her pockets to hide their quake. "No, I'm fucking not."
"Yes, you fucking are, because you need to get out of your house, and I will recruit your mother on this one." Hinata folded her arms in front of her chest and glared. Glared.
"I don't care. I'm not going and no one is going to force me."
"Fine. Don't expect any help from me when my cousin throws himself off a cliff because you were too much of a coward to say something to him."
"...You need to shut up. Just... Shut up." Tenten stood up and threw her desk out of the way as she walked out of the classroom, eyes hidden under her bangs to avoid catching Kakashi's (or anyone's) eye.
Karin stared at Hinata, amazed, and slightly horrified. "Okay, if this is what Naruto does to you, I'm sorry, I can't let you date him anymore. You might actually end up offending someone!"
Hinata studied her nails. "Oh, this isn't Naruto-kun's fault. And I dare you to blame him, you'll last five minutes. You know Tenten hates being called a coward. Everyone knows that. It's like reverse psychology; I called her a coward and told her not to come. She'll come just to spite me. Isn't that just hideous of me?"
Sakura, Karin, and Ino all stared at the small, innocent-looking girl in front of them, horrified.
"You know, I'm - I think I'm actually scared of her," Karin muttered to Ino and Sakura.
Sakura nodded fervently.
There were some things that just should never have come into existence.
Hinata Hyuuga's spine was, apparently, one of them.
Hinata just smiled.
What a good little girl.
(Or something like that.)
.
.
.
The day went on.
There was screaming.
And anger.
And laughter.
(Even though Tenten seemed to have disappeared.)
Things were... almost normal.
The day went on.
(Karin went home, threw herself down on her bed, and forced herself not to cry.)
The day went on.
.
.
.
Day 12.
Karin woke up, eyes puffy and red.
Okay. That was enough.
No more tears.
He wasn't even worth it - not anymore. Nothing was worth crying for three days (and eleven nights, but who was counting?), and seeing absolutely no one, speaking to absolutely no one. It - he - was so just - not. And Karin wasn't about to put her whole life on hole because of some guy. It made her sick with herself, just a little.
She'd spent three days crying over him.
And that was enough.
Karin pushed the covers of her bed off her body, and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and just sat there, for a moment. Percy, curled up right next to where Karin had been lying not a moment previously, mewed, annoyed. Karin smiled down at her precious little cat. Percy had been the only one to sit with Karin for those awful three days, and make sure that she didn't kill herself, or something.
Pfffft, please.
As if Karin would ever kill herself over someone as insignificant as Suigetsu.
Karin stood up. She was going to get up, take a shower, make herself gorgeous, and then go out.
She was going to get her stuff back. She didn't care what it took; didn't care if he was there or not, didn't care if it hurt or not, because she didn't care. She wanted her skirts and her shirts and all the things she'd brought over to Suigetsu's when she'd sort-of moved in. Karin gritted her teeth, and steeled her spine. This was just going to be so fun, wasn't it?
Karin tossed her hair over her shoulder.
She was better then this.
And then she stalked out of her room, and headed towards the bathroom.
Suigetsu laid on his bed, on his stomach, limbs spread out, face stuffed on a pillow.
He hadn't really moved much for the past hours. This was one of those "don't get him wrong" things - he'd been thoroughly pissed for past... past... fuck, how long had it been since he'd been a walking sociopath? A week? He didn't fucking know. But right now he was trying to meditate - in his own way, of course. He was trying to calm himself down, if just a bit.
But let's face it - he couldn't.
Suigetsu was something more than a hot head.
He was... He sort of had anger issues; he wasn't sure if anyone had noticed. But it was true, he had a problem - anger management classes seemed like something that would be in his future.
But then again, Suigetsu didn't want to think about it - at all.
Going to class (because he wasn't going to be paying for nothing) has been hell; working at the lab has been torture; hanging out with what was left of his friends was pointless. His life has suddenly turned down fifteen notches, if not one hundred. What happened?
Everything had been going fine... And then...
Suigetsu's hands curled into fists and he grit his teeth.
He didn't want to think about it. Right.
So he just remained with his eyes closed and tried to pretend he was at least tired.
...
He gave her a key. A fuckin' key to his house.
If anyone fuckin' said that didn't mean shit, they didn't know a damn thing - a damn fuckin' thing. God! How could he have been so fuckin' stupid? How could he had let her in so fuckin' fast? So... So deep.
How could he had let her see that side of him he let no one else see? He was a fuckin' iiot.
He - there were no words to describe how fuckin' stupid he was. God, right now, Suigetsu really actually hated himself. He felt disgust.
His anger rose, but he remained a ragdoll (of some sort) on his bed.
Sparkles.
Karin liked sparkles. And cover-up. Karin definitely liked cover-up. She liked straighteners and long showers and sparkles and cover-up.
She swiped mascara (not even waterproof, because waterproof make-up was for girls who cried over their ex-boyfriends, and that just wasn't Karin's style) across her lashes, bubblegum lipgloss across her lips, and white sparkles across her lids. Long sheets of straightened scarlet hair put up in a loopy, pretty bun. Cover-up kind of everywhere.
She looked good, given that she'd not really eaten anything in three days.
(Oh, Kurenai was going to kill her...)
Karin stared at herself in the mirror for a moment. She hardly recognized the coldly beautiful girl staring tiredly back at her.
She sighed, and slipped out of the bathroom, closing the light on her way out. She headed downstairs, and slid black-stockinged feet into her favourite pair of heeled boots. The cream pencil skirt would do nothing cut the cold, but it was pretty. And that was all that mattered to Karin, at this point.
"I'll be right back, Percy," she told her cat softly, and stepped into the garage.
The cold was immediate. Karin shivered, and slipped into her car. She pushed the remote garage opener thing, and waited as the garage door screeched open. She slid the keys into the ignition, and smoothly pulled out backwards.
She took a breath, knuckles white.
Here we go, she thought.
And then she was gone, the garage door closing slowly behind her as she left.
Some hours possibly passed.
Suigetsu was still in the same position.
He was still impossibly pissed.
He still wanted to hurt something.
Someone.
Anyone.
His breathing turned ragged just at the thought. He couldn't... God, Suigetsu... He wasn't all that stable, was he?
He kind of blamed her voice inside his head.
She kept talking to him; her teasing, the words she'd murmur to him just after they...
Suigetsu sat up on the edge of his bed, rested his elbows on his thigh and held on to his head. His fingers wove themselves through his tangled hair and Suigetsu decided he was going crazy. God, he didn't know what to do with himself. Shaking, because his anger was reaching it's maximum, he grabbed his alarm clock - pulled it until it was forcefully unplugged...
...And then he threw it towards his mirror.
Breaking it into tiny little pieces that fell and littered the floor. They made it glint - if it were possible, the ground would be bleeding. Suigetsu wanted something to bleed...
Karin parked in front of the house that, for a while, she'd considered "home". She got out of the car, and looked up at it.
It looked empty. Sad.
She sighed, and headed for the front door.
She still had the housekey on her keychain. Karin laughed softly, tired, and slid the key into the lock, and turned. The locked clicked, and she pushed the door open. The familiar scent of - of - of something (home) assaulted her nose, and she slid her shoes off.
Suigetsu probably wasn't even home.
It would make it a hundred times easier, if he wasn't home.
Karin didn't know if she could legitimately face him. She didn't know how she'd react, didn't know how he'd react, didn't know - well, didn't know a lot of things. And until she did know those things, she wasn't going to be able to do anything - say anything - to him.
(i don't miss him really what are you talking about you clearly know nothing about me and the thoughts could only stream)
Karin stood in the foyer, for a minute, before taking another steadying breath, and starting to make her way upstairs. She had a lot of stuff.
This was going to take a while.
One thing entered Suigetsu's mind.
Someone was in his house.
And you know what the fucked up part about that was? He didn't give a fucking shit.
Let them take all his stuff; he didn't care. Not right now.
Why the hell was he so angry?
It wasn't even anger anymore! It was pure unadulterated rage. It was like the dam finally broke and all the pent up anger he'd been keeping inside for who knew how long was finally leaking out in violent torrents.
And suddenly he gave a bitter laugh.
Suigetsu finally realized why he was so... Why he was like this. The only woman that ever owned his heart was his mother - she was his everything; she meant heaven and earth to him. And suddenly she was taken from him so abruptly, that he was still bitter over it. And here comes a girl like Karin, someone that broke his ways of never letting a woman see his heart. And he gave it to her, blindly, not on a silver platter because he was never that sophisticated...
He tossed it to her... He didn't realize Karin was a butterfinger.
That's what the rage was.
He knew he should have left his heart inside a cage - never to let anyone else see it.
The door to his room opened.
Suigetsu remained a statue.
Karin peeked in. She couldn't see his bed, but she could see her hamper, and she could see that the blankets were pulled away to one side. Her favourite pillow was still on the bed. She wondered if it still smelled like her perfume - probably not.
Actually, she was amazed that her things were still intact.
She wouldn't have blamed him, even, if he'd destroyed them all.
How could she?
But he wasn't there (she hoped). So it didn't matter, she guessed.
Karin slipped into the room, head down, and quietly went about gathering her things.
A sparkle to her right caught her eye, and Karin glanced to her right.
And froze.
There were shards of glass on the ground. And there was another person in the room - the other person, the one she missed and hurt and kind of hated and maybe liked a little bit too much. Karin didn't - couldn't - look him in the eye.
She dropped the clothes in her arms to ground, and went about gathering up the shards of glass. He'd broken the mirror.
Stupid boy.
Karin fought not to cry.
He could feel her in the room and he hated how his heartbeat escalated erratically. Had he been one of those unfortunate souls that suffered from a heart disease, he'd been dead by now. But instead, here he was, listening to the pounding of his heart, hiding his face in his hands and sitting as stiff as a gargoyle in one of those gothic churches.
Honestly, Suigetsu didn't want to be there.
At all.
But what kind of coward would he be if he left his (their, fucking admit it, bro, it's yours and hers no matter how much you want to fight it) room? Suigetsu sighed tiredly and cracked his neck. If possible, he grew insanely still as he heard a short... kind of huffy little "Ow". Curiosity getting the best of him, he looked up, amethyst eyes staring as Karin glared at her brand new cut.
Suigetsu stared for a moment before, almost without even thinking or demanding it, he stood up and walked towards her. He came to a stop in front of her and once he crouched down, he snatched her wrist and stared at her finger for a second before he brought it to his lips. He took it inside his mouth and sucked at the blood for a minute or two.
He could feel her staring at him. He could feel the shock. But Suigetsu chose to keep his eyes closed, running the tip of his tongue along the small, delicate little split of her skin. When he was positive the blood had clogged up, he pulled her finger out and wiped it clean with his palm.
And the next thing he did signed his death sentence.
He pulled her close and smashed his lips against hers.
Karin let him kiss her for a full minute.
It was fireworks and stomach knotting and lots of other horrible-in-a-good-way things.
And desperation.
As if Karin didn't know that feeling.
It took more willpower then she knew she had to press her fists against his chest, and push him away. But she had to. Because they - no. They'd fucked up. They'd had their chance. Frankly, it was a miracle, that they had lasted as long as they had.
She turned her face away, and whispered, voice tiny "Let me go, Sui."
He buried his nose in her neck, and Karin wondered if that was him shaking, or if she was just imagining thing. "I hate you so much," he told her, gruff and angry and low.
"I know. I know." She prayed her voice didn't break.
"No, you don't," he growled.
His fists were clenching and unclenching, probably unconsciously. Karin had noticed he did that, when he was really fucked up over something. He probably didn't even realize that he did it. "No," she said, "I do know. That's why I'm going."
Don't cry don't cry don't cry do not cry, you're being weak!
"Then why are you still here?"
Karin smiled at him, right then. It was a sad smile, jagged around the edges, the preceedings of tears in her eyes; it kept slipping into the neutral line it always took on when she cried, wobbly little thing that it was. She sniffed. "I'm just getting my stuff. That's the only reason. Sorry. I miss you. But it's not - this isn't - we can't - I have to go."
That was all she managed to get out, before she pulled herself away from him completely, and picked up her favourite shirt. Karin kept her head down.
"I'll just - go. Bye, Sui. See you around. Or maybe not," she said, and threw him another wobbly smile, as she left the room, her laundry in her arms.
Suigetsu watched her leave. And he stayed there, crouched down, where he had been - where she had been. He stared at the door and swallowed thickly.
He didn't really know what he was feeling. But that wasn't new. Not at all - Suigetsu never knew what he was feeling, unless it was rage. Right now, he felt this horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach; a migraine was kicking in and he wanted to... to...
He got up and ran out of the room until he caught up with her. He grabbed her arm and spun her around; pulled her close until she was glued to his chest. He stared at her; at her pretty-pretty-pretty red eyes. And her pretty-pretty-pretty lips. And she was so pretty-pretty-
Beautiful.
"You're so stupid, Toots," he murmured before he kissed her. So softly, so gently, so slowly, so hesitantly, so... so... so... God, she drove him crazy. In all the wrong and right places.
And he'd be lying if he said he didn't like it.
His heart was pounding like crazy, again. And he wanted to kiss her senseless. Make them both so senseless, that it'd stop the pain they both were feeling.
Suigetsu wanted a lot of things, but he didn't get much, did he?
She pulled away, oxygen getting to her lungs as they breathed. Part of Karin (a very large part, in fact) was perfectly content to stay there, wound around this stupid boy for the rest of forever.
But.
"I spent three days crying over you. And I just - I can't. I can't. I can't," she murmured, and tried to contain the hiccoughs that were trying to work their way out of her throat. Karin shook her head, forehead pressed against Suigetsu's.
Ino.
Ino.
Ino.
"We can't. We can't, Sui. We just can't."
And she knew he was thinking of the same thing, only the reverse.
"Just... Leave. Karin. Leave. Just..." and he carefully let go of her, before turning around, and walking back into his (their) room, and letting the door shut.
Karin waited to hear the click of the lock. "Okay," she told the closed door. "Okay. Bye."
She picked up her laundry again, and this time, she left.
Suigetsu had to strain his hearing to hear the front door close.
He glared at the wall in front of him and then he punched it as hard as his being could allow him. In the end, there was another dent on the wall and his fist was bleeding. And what could he say? He had wanted for someone to bleed - he never said that someone couldn't be him.
He sighed deeply, his body shaking in anger as he stalked towards wherever the hell he had stashed his phone.
Suigetsu couldn't be in here.
He'd go crazier than he already was.
He'd hurt himself.
He'd break things.
He-
Just couldn't really be here anymore. Not right now.
From: 'Getsu
To: Barbie-bitch; Ramen Nerd
...i can't be here. meet me somewhere? please?
From: Barbie-bitch
To: 'Getsu
I do not understand why you insist on calling me that. Are you at home?
From: Ramen Nerd
To: 'Getsu
okay, okay, okay. are you at your house?
From: 'Getsu
To: Barbie-bitch; Ramen Nerd
yeah.
From: Barbie-bitch
To: 'Getsu
I will be there in three minutes. Do not do anything that a heart-broken Naruto would do.
From: Ramen-nerd
To: 'Getsu
i'll be there in, like, five. don't do anything stupid.
From: 'Getsu
To: Barbie-bitch; Ramen Nerd
too late. i broke my mirror. but, okay, just hurry the fuck up.
From: Barbie-bitch
To: 'Getsu
You idiotic gorilla. I am outside your house.
From: Ramen Nerd
To: 'Getsu
YOU FRICKEN NEANDERTHAL. OMFG, I SPELLED THAT RIGHT. OH, IPHONE, I LOVE YOU. I'LL CALL YOU TISH FROM NOW ON.
Something of a ghost of a smirk twitched onto Suigetsu's lips as he read his friends' messages.
Shaking his head, He pocketed his phone, grabbed his keys (tho', something told him he wasn't going to come home tonight) and headed out the room, and down the hallway. He specifically avoided the quarter of a space where he and Karin had stood not so long ago, but rather, forced his legs to walk faster and out of the damn house.
Just his luck.
Neji's car was double parked right in front of his walkway. The idiot was inside, facing the front, face impassive, shoulders hunched and Suigetsu had a vague idea that he had his hands pocketed in his coat. Just as he was about to make his way towards the car, Naruto's blue Mustang appeared; he went ahead and parked it behind Suigetsu's precious Corvette on his driveway, got out and walked with him towards Neji's car.
The blond clapped him on the back, "You cool?"
"Nah," Suigetsu shook his head, "This shit's bogus."
Naruto shook his head as he slipped into the backseat of Neji's car while Suigetsu got shotgun.
Sighing, he turned and gave Neji the standard male head-shake-salute. "'Sup, bro."
"Very little. Hinata is well. Naruto's mother misses you," Neji answered, eyes locked on the road after they'd backed out of Suigetsu's drive.
"'Course she does. It's me, I'm like her baby."
Neji debated for a moment, where to go with this - he could already hear Naruto grumbling in the backseat. Naruto was slightly territorial, when it came to the women in his life (including, much to Neji's great dissatisfaction, Hinata). "Someone is conceited."
"Pfft. It's not really being conceited when we know it's true."
Naruto, in the back, started yelling. ""SHUT UP. SHE'S MY MOM, STOP IT. GO TAKE SOMEONE ELSE'S MOM. LIKE THE DOG'S. OR THE TEME'S. MINE."
Yes, Neji thought, Naruto was possessive of the women in his life. However, if he ever made Hinata cry, he would find his intestines pulled out of his body through his huge blond mouth.
Neji enjoyed the mental image for a moment.
It was rather satisfying.
"Where to?"
Suigetsu shrugged, a teasing smirk on his lips as he listened to Naruto lower down his yelling to grumbles again. "I don't know man, the bar, I guess."
"Bar," Naruto perked up. "Dude, I haven't been there since..." His mood lowered. "Well, since Sasuke-teme... You know."
Vaguely, Suigetsu saw Neji twitch. "Please do not remind me of that."
The three shared a sigh and the ride went a bit quiet. A little too quiet for Suigetsu's taste. He didn't want quiet; he wanted noise - a distraction. He blinked and turned to stare at the road, leaning his weight against the locked car-door. "How is he, anyway? I haven't heard from that douche since that day."
He caught Naruto's shrug from the side-view mirror. "I'unno. He's not picking up his calls or answering texts or emails. But... Given that his mom hasn't freaked out, I guess he's... alright, at least."
Suigetsu nodded. And then an idea, of sorts, popped into his head. He always did love fucking around with Neji. "So, Hyuuga, how's your girl?"
Neji's hands were white-knuckled on the wheel. He'd managed to not think of that girl since he'd last seen her - he'd managed to not think of it, at all. And with a few words, Suigetsu, unknowingly, had brought it all back.
Neji winced. "She is not of my concern, as I am apparently not important to her. At all. Please do not speak of it."
"...Dude, not you too." Suigetsu turned to give Neji a looked that was a cross of horrification and sympathy. "This shit sucks ass."
Neji snapped his head down, in a jerk of a nod. "Correct."
He felt like a robot; too jerky, hinged, unable to move as he needed to. Alcohol. He needed alcohol; alcohol, or something else that would manage too cool his brain down. He needed something that would cool his system down, so that he didn't do something painfully rash.
Like call that girl.
Neji's hands tightened painfully on the wheel, again.
No, he would not call her. He would not.
He would not.
Naruto, from his seat in the back, watched his two friends with concealed sadness and some sort of irritation. He wasn't quite sure where the irritation was coming from; but the sadness, he was positive. He actually felt kind of... Kind of like a jerk at being okay with his girlfriend - being happy - while they were all... broken some way or another.
Suigetsu - he hadn't seen Suigetsu like this in a long time. And that was saying a lot, given that Suigetsu got angry rather easily (easier than Sasuke-teme did, by a long shot). But right now he looked like he was about ready to go off and burn down another building. Only that wouldn't do anyone good - not only would he go back to jail (not juvy, given he's already eighteen) but he'd also... Ah, Naruto didn't even want to think about it.
And now even Neji.
Neji the guy who didn't really seemed to have ever had any sort of... relationship with a girl. And the first one he ever got into, any kind of way it was, and she -
Naruto swallowed.
"I'll be DD."
Neji shot Naruto a quiet, thankful glance in the rearview mirror.
He hated being Desginated Driver, anyway. Neji parked, got out of the car, stiff as a board, and waited for his friends to get out. After they managed to drag themselves from the luxe interior of the car, Neji clicked his keys, and listened to the expensive car lock.
There was something secure in the sound, and Neji handed his keys over to Naruto.
Naruto pocketed them without a word, and in they went.
Suigetsu ordered a never ending round of shots (never ending, of course, until he was shitfaced and couldn't drink anymore). Though he might envy Neji for a long while; a James Bond-style martini. Did that not sound fucking good? Though, Suigetsu had snorted when he heard him say, "Shaken, not stirred."
But either way, they were drinking their stupid sorrow away.
And rage.
You can't really forget the rage.
Sighing, Suigetsu waited for the bartender to fill up his glass again.
Next to him, Naruto drummed his fingers on the table. "You wanna crash at my place?"
Suigetsu shrugged.
He turned his attention to the very still Neji. Suigetsu patted his shoulder, "You okay there, buddy?"
Neji nodded, smooth movement in the form of alcohol returned to him.
He just wanted to go home. Sleep for a while. Ignore every possibility of ever doing something as ridiculous as fall in love again. Ignore every phone in the house. Ignore every person in the house (he didn't need the scolding that Hinata would give him - she hated his [and for that matter, Naruto's, too. Neji winced. It never made do, to make Hinata unhappy] drinking habits). Ignore every single person in the house.
That was how Neji planned to get through the night.
It would have gone perfectly according to plan, especially after Naruto dropped his drunk ass off.
Had his phone not started ringing. Neji groaned, and, standing on the front porch, flicked it open. "'Lo...?"
"...Neji...?"
It was a girl's voice, husky, low. There was something vaguely like déjà vu there - her voice tingled through Neji's blood, the familiarity startling through the haze of alcohol.
"What - who is this?"
A quiet intake of breath on the other end of the line alerted Neji that whoever it was, was about to speak. "...You know who it is, don't you?"
"No," he said. Neji shook his head. Who was he to care if she couldn't see it?
"Well... I'm glad you've forgotten me... Let's... I'm... Are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Neji asked the painfully familiar voice (he couldn't place it, but he'd heard it before... and there was some unhappy memory attached to it, and Neji didn't want it, anyway).
"Just... wonderin'."
Neji said nothing.
"I think I'm sorry, you know..."
"...I have no idea what you're talking about," said Neji.
"So just take it. Take the apology. 'Coz I feel like I did something awful..."
"I don't even know who I'm talking to."
The crackle and pop of static reigned, for a moment. And then the girl sighed, and asked "You're drunk, aren't you?"
"Should I not be drunk?" Neji asked, rhetoric.
"But... It's cool. 'Coz I'm drunk, too... I... I wish we could be drunk together... Like last time..." She giggled, and something about the sound grated. That voice - it wasn't a giggling voice. Some deep part of Neji knew it. But- "It was fun... I kinda miss you... A lot..."
Neji squinted into the darkness. "...I have this inkling that this ought to mean something to me. But it simply does not."
"...Oh... Well..." She sighed, again, and- "I'm sorry for wasting your time."
The connection broke.
And Neji, drunk and confused, couldn't help feeling like he'd just seriously fucked something up.
Suigetsu burped and rubbed his stomach as he leaned back in his seat.
He'll admit one thing to himself, and that was that he was drunk off his ass.
A lazy, drunken smirk rested on his lips as he closed his eyes and tried not to snicker at the vibration of the car as it moved. But then an idea struck him and he slowly turned to stare at Naruto - it was a blond blob. Definitely Naruto.
"H-hey," he said before pursing his lips. "Bro... Drop me off... Uh... Drop me off at..."
"'Getsu, I'm not taking you to Karin's," Naruto muttered without sparing him a glance.
Suigetsu frowned. "Why... Not..."
Naruto turned to look at him. "I'm not sure. But if you were sober, you'd tell me not to."
Still frowning, Suigetsu huffed and pouted. "But... I'm... I'm drunk. So... Yeah..."
"Gah," Naruto ran an agitated hand through his blond spikes. "Don't put me through this shit, 'Getsu. Coz either way I'm at a bad end!"
"Then j-just take me over there..."
Naruto bit at the inside of his cheek, brow furrowed in frustration and indecision. When it came to Suigetsu - the youngest of the five - or any of his friends for that matter, Naruto could kind of grow very protective. After a long while, Naruto sighed dejectedly. "Fine, I'll take you. But you better not give me shit about this later."
Suigetsu hummed.
The rest of the ride was quiet, aside from Suigetsu's random burps and slurs. Thankfully, or not, the ride came to a quick stop when Naruto double parked in front of Karin's house. Almost hesitantly, he got out of the car and went around to the passenger's side. He opened the door and took a firm grip of Suigetsu's arm.
"Well, c'mon then, douche." He pulled him out and heaved him up, sliding an arm around the younger boy-man's waist and having him wrap an arm around his shoulder. "God, you're making an ass out of yourself."
Karin looked up from her computer, and blinked.
Someone had just parked on her driveway.
She glanced at the clock. It was almost two AM. Who the hell would be showing up at two AM?
...
Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.
Karin couldn't breathe.
.
.
.
.
Extra thoughts from us:
sonya is awesome because: she has a lot of homework. she spent her first REAL weekend in college doing 16 hours worth of homework. thank god for labor day weekend. but college is really nice after that. OH. my favorite thing to do: on the random occasion that i do go to a party, i don't get drunk & i do laugh at all of the people stumbling around. think about it. ;)
sara laughs and claps because: there's so much happiness in the world. waking up to txts from silly boys makes me smile. iloveyou. :) we're pretty happy, people. how about you?
les stumbles rather drunkenly because: i get drunk off of pretty words and there are only few who know the magic ones. ;)
WE LOVE YOU. WE LOVE YOU. WE LOVE YOU ALL. we're working on it, so review, please? they make our day, and we read every single one and flail like mad. and making us flail is usually a good thing - it's inspiring to us. SO PLEASE REVIEWWWW. :D