Author's note:
Heyyyyy. Its been like months... whoops?
Seriously guys, I'm so sorry. Life has just been kinda insane and honestly it's been hard to just get out of bed some mornings, let alone create stuff you know? But I'm here with a chapter. Hopefully there are still people who want to read this and will enjoy. I promise I'll try to post more regularly.
Happy reading.
Chapter 10: A Complicated Morning
Chrysanthemum coughed into her elbow as she made her way down the stairs to get ready for the day. There was a tickle in the back of her throat that she couldn't quite get rid of. The mid-morning light poured into the hallway, warming her as she considered what to do on her day off. Rose had already been out of bed when Chrissy had woken up, so her first priority was to see where her friend had gone. Then maybe she would check in with Pein and see if he had any tasks for her. Lately, she had been enjoying the research. She found the quiet hours sitting next to Itachi as they both read manga quite refreshing. And sometimes Pein would ask her questions about their world and praise her knowledge, which would make her glow with pride. She found herself being drawn to the Akatsuki leader, eager to please and ready for any task he had for her, no matter how menial. Pein also seemed to appreciate her willingness. Once, he said that if had known her in the shinobi world, he would have considered hiring her. That off handed comment had put a smile on Chrissy's face for the entire day.
Chrysanthemum coughed again, this one a bit more intense. She silently prayed that she wasn't getting sick, mind going to all the cooking and cleaning she had to do, as well as go to work the following day. She reached the bathroom and pushed open the door.
For a brief moment, Chrysanthemum thought it was Halloween, before vaguely remembering that it was next week. The tiles of the bathroom were coated in bloody symbols, there was an unidentifiable mass of flesh in the sink, and Hidan's impaled body was laying lifelessly in the tub. The woman let out an inhuman shriek that ravaged her already sore throat. She stumbled backwards in horror and crashed into someone behind her. She spun around, terrified tears stinging at her eyes and found that she collided with Kazkuzu, who was looking unimpressed at the scene in the bathroom. Her scream had brought several of the Akatsuki members rushing to the scene, worried that there was some kind of danger. Konan analyzed the scene, then reached out to draw Chrissy away from Kakuzu. She ran a hand through the young woman's short hair as Chrissy took a shuddering breath to try to stabilize her frantically beating heart. Deidara peered into the bathroom and scoffed derisively.
"Idiot," he sneered, then looked to Chrysanthemum. "Chrissy, the TV isn't working, un. Come fix it."
"She'll do it later," Konan said, when the brown haired girl didn't reply. "Let her recover first."
"It's just Hidan's stupid ritual, un. He was talking about it last night, I think he caught a racoon or something."
Konan must have seen the nauseous look on Chrissy's face. She placed a hand on the girl's back and murmured, "Go to the room. Leader-sama wants to talk to you."
Knees weak, Chrysanthemum wobbled away from the bathroom and down the hall to the master bedroom. A she left, she heard Deidara complain again about the TV and that he was bored. Kazuzu replied in his deep grumble, but she couldn't make out what he said. Before she could make it to Pein, a bright blur of orange blocked her way.
"Chrissy-chan!" Tobi yelled.
Chrysanthemum winced and tried to avoid him, but the hyper man blocked her way.
"Chrissy-chaaaan, will you play video games with meeee?" Tobi whined.
"Sorry Tobi," she replied, her already tense body becoming even more defensive. "I'm busy today."
"Awwwww, but you never hang out Tobi!" The man slouched dramatically, like a rag doll. Chrysanthemum eyed him and walked past. She didn't know what was going through Madara's mind and ever since the night on the stairs, she did her best to never be alone with him.
"Maybe later, Tobi," she lied. "I need to go talk to Pein-sama now."
"You know, you talk to Pein-sama an awful lot," Tobi mused, straightening up. "Are you keeping secrets Chrissy-chan?" His voice was still cheery, but he turned his masked face to her and she could have sworn she saw glowing red eye.
The girl stared at him. Suddenly a shrieking alarm tore through the house that almost made her heart stop. The door at the end of the hallway opened and Pein stepped out of the master bedroom, looking irritated and alert.
"Chrysanthemum what is that?" he demanded, but the woman was already racing down the hall. She passed the bathroom, vaguely noticing that all the ninjas had left the bathroom, including Hidan. She raced down the stairs and began panicking as she saw dark smoke flowing from the bottom floor. She burst into the kitchen with Pein and Tobi right on her heels. Rose was standing at the stove, waving a plate frantically at a smoking pan that was sitting on the oven. Kisame was slamming his hand on the counter in wild laughter as the redhead woman yelled at him to shut up. Itachi stood at the back door fanning it open to let out the acrid smoke while Deidara and Hidan, still covered in blood, were also laughing at Rose's misfortune. The more mature ones of the group were shaking their heads at the noisy kitchen. Kakuzu growled about the idiots he was surrounded by and left, Sasori following close behind.
"Chrissy!" Rose cried, finally noticing her friend. "I'm so sorry, I was just trying to make you breakfast, but you know I'm garbage in the kitchen."
"Then why'd you do it?" Kisame managed to choke out between his laughter and inhaling the smoke.
"You were supposed to help me you useless, blue jerk!"
"I didn't know you were such a pyro, un!"
"Blondie wishes he could have freaking been here to blow this whole freaking place up!"
"Let's do it, yeah!"
"Absolutely not!"
The alarm finally turned off, but the noise didn't go away as all the occupants of the kitchen began yelling and talking at once, Konan and Itachi scolding the others while they took no notice. The fading smoke began to get to Chrissy and she turned away as a set of coughs began racking her body. She moved out of the kitchen, passing Pein on her way out and barely noticing that at some point Tobi had left. Pein followed her into the slightly quieter foyer. He watched her as she coughed and waited for the fit to subside.
"Are you unwell?" he asked, once she had finally quieted.
Before she could answer, the doorbell rang. Completely frazzled, Chrysanthemum had only a brief moment of relief as the entire house went silent, before panic swept over her at who could be at the door. The room began to spin as she shakily turned to the door, not really seeing it. The chaos of the morning was setting in to one large crescendo as Chrissy struggled to find her breath.
Pein watched her in silence as she stared at the door, noting her clammy complexion and short breaths.
"You are hyperventilating," he said plainly. "Breathe."
The simple command forced Chrissy to lean on the wall and take a deep shuddering breath. She tried fiercely to quell the anxiety within her and silence the panic. But as the doorbell rang again, the best she could do was step forward and open the door.
David stood outside, looking mildly annoyed at being kept waiting. But the look of annoyance dropped off of his face immediately when he saw Chrysanthemum and was replaced with a look of shock.
"Chrissy, your hair!" he gasped, flabbergasted.
It was such an unexpected comment that Chrysanthemum almost laughed. David's simplicity and the fresh air cut through her like a knife. Suddenly, all the mayhem of the Akatsuki and Rose and the house faded to a muted blur behind her. The woman stepped forward out of the house and embraced David, burying her face in his chest, longing for any sense of security. David was frozen stiff for a moment, before slowly lifting his arms to wrap around his girlfriend.
"Are… Are you okay?" he asked hesitantly.
Chrissy didn't reply. She only sighed and held him tighter. In that moment, she wanted nothing more that to go back to their apartment, to cuddle on the couch while they watched TV, to bake a cake while he teased her and she teased him back, to do anything that was like how things were before.
David reached up and ran a hand through her short cropped hair. "I can't believe you actually cut it," he said.
Chrissy drew back, her arms still wrapped around him. "Do you like it?" she asked hesitantly, suddenly very conscious that she wanted his approval.
David didn't say anything for a moment. He continued to stroke her hair and didn't meet her eyes. Finally, he stopped and let his hand drop back to her waist as he looked down at her.
"It's… different," he said grudgingly. "It'll take some getting used to and I wish you had asked me first… but you look nice."
It was enough for Chrysanthemum. She smiled at him and stood on her tiptoes to give the man a small kiss on the lips. David grinned at the shy kiss and leaned in for another, but she pulled away after remembering that Pein was just inside the door.
"Did you come by for something?" she asked, taking a step back and tucking her hair behind her ear.
David looked put out at the rejection. "Well yeah," he said, a note of irritation in his voice. "I came for you. You've been here for like two months, you need to come home."
"It hasn't been two months," Chrissy protested. But as she thought about it, it wasn't much of an exaggeration.
Have they really been here that long?, she thought. Chrysanthemum wasn't sure when she had expected the Akatsuki to leave, but it made her wonder how much longer she could handle having them around. Mornings like this one tested her sanity and the longer they were here, the less excuses she could make for missing work and avoiding David. But at the same time, she was really starting to look forward to her weekly grocery shopping with Hidan. He had been volunteering to go recently and they now had a tradition of getting bubble tea on their way home. And ever since she had started cooking meals for the ninjas, she had gained a lot more skills in the kitchen and it was now her personal goal to get Kakuzu to compliment her food. She also had plans for a video game tournament with Deidara and really wanted to take Itachi to a bookstore where he could read anything he wanted and Konan had promised to paint her nails and—
"Are you even listening to me?!" David yelled angrily.
Chrysanthemum jumped at his raised voice and instantly began babbling apologies. David sneered and turned away, growling under his breath that this was a waste of time. Frantically, Chrissy reached out to grab his hand.
"David please," she cried. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I was just really distracted and—"
"Yeah, you've been distracted for a while," he snapped, rounding on her. "What's your problem? You won't come home, you never reply to my texts, you're acting so weird and different. It's like I don't even have a girlfriend anymore!"
Chrissy's mind was racing and tears threatened their way to her eyes. What could she do? How could she fix this? Her question was answered when the door behind them opened and Pein stepped out. Chrysanthemum felt her world crash around her as Pein stared at them and David yelled, "Who the hell are you!?"
Chrissy felt numb as she stared at the Akatsuki leader as he turned to look at David. Utterly convinced that Pein was about to kill David, she stood there unable to do anything as David advanced threateningly, demanding to know why some pierced up weirdo was in a house with his girlfriend.
To Chrysanthemum's shock, Pein gave David a wry smile and held up his hands in surrender.
"I think there's been some misunderstanding," he said calmly. "My name is Michael, I'm Rose's rehab counsellor."
Chrissy and David stared at him. "Rehab counsellor?" David repeated suspiciously.
Michael?, Chrissy thought blankly.
Pein nodded casually, dropping his hands. "Chrysanthemum didn't tell you?" he mused. "We've been having group counseling sessions with Rose and a few other going through drug rehabilitation. She's been a gracious host and Chrysanthemum has helped a lot by catering for the meetings. I keep telling her to stop working so hard, but she doesn't listen to me."
Pein laughed and it sounded incredibly unnatural to Chrissy, but David must have bought it because his shoulders loosened significantly.
"Oh okay," the blond said, though still a little disgruntled. "I wish she would have told me that."
Chrissy winced at the edge in his voice, ducking her head and mumbling sorry.
"I actually came to take her on a date," David continued, reaching out to grab his girlfriend by the arm. "She doesn't need to help today right?" It was a question, but it didn't really sound like he was asking.
"David I don't think—"
"Of course not," Pein interrupted. Chrysanthemum gaped at him open mouthed. The Akatsuki leader turned to look at her and said quite plainly, "She could use a break."
With that, Pein turned and went back into the house, closing the door behind him. Completely perplexed by what just happened, Chrissy found that she couldn't do or say anything. The encounter did not end how she had expected and she suddenly felt the full burden of Pein's trust in her come crashing down.
"What a weirdo," David grumbled. "I don't like that guy being around you. Tell Rose to have her meetings somewhere else."
Chrissy only nodded.
"Well… how about we go on that date? We can about you coming home later."
"…Okay."