THURSDAY | 01/09/2020

Eve wasn't expecting to be in the back seat of Konan's small, worn-out car with Kakuzu right next to her, the only thing separating them being the emptiness of the middle seat. Konan was driving, and Yahiko was in the passenger seat. Life was full of surprises, it seemed.

Eve gave her the address to her apartment, apologizing repeatedly for troubling her. Kakuzu frowned, looking out the window. She lived near him. About two blocks away, in fact.

Most of the drive was Konan and Yahiko talking to each other, Konan complaining about his music, him pathetically trying to defend himself followed by laughter. Kakuzu was silent as usual, Eve smiling slightly. She held her bags on her lap instead of placing them in the middle. The quiet man was observing everything around him while also thinking of ways to reprimand his brother for being the mental failure of the family. Driving in a blizzard, what was he thinking? He could've...

Kakuzu clenched his jaw. He was safe, he already knew that, but he was still unsettled by what caused him to even do it in the first place. He'd gotten no texts from his parents; no calls, nothing. His knuckles were white with how hard he was clenching them. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Eve bleakly staring at his shut hands, seeming zoned out, to which he breathed out softly and tried calming down. Her cheeks reddened and she quickly turned her gaze away, feeling like an idiot.

"Here you go! Bye-bye." Konan waved, Yahiko smiling. She got out of the car, somewhat clumsily, and shut the door behind her.

Eve shyly waved back before turning around to walk to the dingy apartment complex.

The silence after they left was overwhelming to the three. Yahiko was the first to speak up.

"Um..."

"Not gonna lie, I was expecting to cruise through some rich neighborhood, but I guess everyone's different, huh..." Konan stretched, pulling out of the apartment's parking lot afterward. "Don't multiple crimes happen here a month?"

"Break-ins, yeah," Yahiko replied, yawning. "She'll probably be fine, normally only the apartments with a single person are targetted."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Hey, want McDonalds?"

"No. I think you're forgetting someone."

"Huh? Oh!" Kakuzu rolled his eyes and looked back out the window. "Say, Kakuzu, have you said sorry to her yet?"

His eye almost twitched. He was already stressed enough, he didn't need someone nagging him to get his to-do list done.

"It's not my top priority. I also have yet to figure out if she even deserves it."

"Really? Pull the stick out of your ass, man," Yahiko frowned. "No wonder your only friend is your brother."

Konan felt the air thicken with tension. "Yahiko." she hissed. Kakuzu glared daggers into nothing in particular, though they were definitely meant to be directed at a certain ginger.

"It doesn't matter. Let me out here, I'm tired of this."

"Kakuzu..." Konan sighed. She hesitantly slowed to a stop, letting him out on the nearby sidewalk, and she quickly drove away as to not slow the people behind her down. He took a deep breath, exhaling his anger away the best he could. He looked back over to the nearby apartment building, rolling his eyes once again and walking to his own place.

Walking past the dirty dishes, the unpacked boxes and piles of trash bags, Eve fell into her mattress that sat on the floor without a frame and napped until the middle of the night without a second thought.

When she awoke and noticed it was two in the morning, all she could do was sigh. The light from her phone illuminated her face as she stared at her bank account. Another five-hundred was added. Shutting off her phone, she stretched and yawned, letting out a squeak. She stared at the boxes again, wondering if she should unpack her room at the very least. It's been too long.

Alas, she decided to wait again. Too much of a hassle.

All she needed were her basic necessities.

That being said, she ignored her growling stomach and went into the bathroom to shower.

Kakuzu sat at the desk in his room in front of his laptop, a headache blocking any progress on his paper due to its intensity. He just wanted to sleep, really. Stress, school and more stress was weighing him down. A door slammed, more screaming.

His mother and father were always fighting about money, ever since he and Hidan were only children. It was a miracle the couple was still together.

Kakuzu decided to ignore the throbbing pain in his head to continue typing. The light from his laptop was making it worse, but he was nearly done. The yelling in the background wasn't exactly helping either. When he looked at the time, the clock reading two in the morning seemed to punch him right in the face. He let a loud breath out through his nose, leaning back in his chair. He'd finish it in the morning on his phone.

He was still bothered. His mother had relayed information to Hidan but not him. He wasn't exactly close to either of his parents, but it still stung for some reason.

Speaking of which...

Hidan sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He looked down at Kakuzu, who seemed out of it.

"Go to fucking bed..." he muttered, falling back onto his pillow. "Tomorrow's Friday...you goin' on that college tour next week?"

"Are you not?"

"Nah...sounds like a waste of time."

Kakuzu frowned. "What did mom tell you?"

Hidan went silent.

Kakuzu shut his laptop a little too hard, turning off the lamp in their room. He plopped right into bed, ignoring his covers and falling asleep almost instantly.

Hidan stared up at the ceiling of their shared room, letting his thoughts wander. He didn't want to stress Kakuzu out even more.

His brother was always the less social of the two. He wouldn't even have any friends if they weren't close enough to share a friend group.

Less social...more like unnecessarily rude. He still wondered how he and Konan even managed to date when they were in their junior year. Surely he had some positive qualities buried deep down in there? He could only hope.

Before Eve showed up, Kakuzu was borderline emotionless. He'd get annoyed with Yahiko and that was about it. The anger he'd been showing recently though...why was that girl bringing it out of him? Everyone was wondering why he pointed all his malice to her, a new student with a blank slate. None of them knew what she was like before, and they were fine with that, but Kakuzu seemed to have a feeling she was a horrible person. Hidan just didn't get it. She was a quiet, nice girl with a temper. There were a few of those at their school, so she wasn't outstanding in any way.

The albino turned to stare at his wall instead, sleep beginning to take him again.

She had kind eyes as well, even a sweet smile. She smelled like fresh bed sheets. His eyes shot open. No. What was wrong with him?

Honestly...if she could make even Kakuzu seem a little more human, maybe she could do much more than that. He knew that his brother wanted to apologize to her, so there was hope. Kakuzu needs a friend more than he needs a dumb crush.

Right before falling asleep, he vowed he'd try to get them to talk more.