AN/ (Sniff) Oh thank you all so much for all the lovely reviews you sent me for the last chapter. Now I remember why this was so easy to write. The feedback you guys gave me was awesome!I had fun and enjoyed every minuet of reading what you guys gad to say. I'm not going to say anything yet about the next (and last) pair to come out of the book, but I would like you all to know that your reviews have made in impact on the future plot line of this story. I'm going to have too much fun in this next chapter I hope you all enjoy!
Warning/ lots and lots of OOC-ness and gut rolling humor. No one is going to be in character in this story...aside from Naruto...maybe. You have been warned!
Disclaimer/ I do not own Naruto but you should know that I do own this story and it's plot line so please don't steal it! (© Copyright 2007 Vesper chan (FictionPress ID:562926). All rights reserved. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of Vesper chan.) See! Now, it is legal! Don't bug me about it.
Chapter Eleven
Aquarium
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Recap
Sakura sighed in irritation as she listened to her boys continue to fight over her.
"God, help me sleep tonight."
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Sasuke mumbled something incoherent in his sleep, rolling over to his left, so that he could be closer to her. When she was awake, she would have punched him for such an action, but now she was in a peaceful slumber that did not allow a fiber of her body to stir.
Oh yes, Sasuke was one of the two lucky guys that was allowed to sleep next to Sakura on the floor after she had finished setting up enough rolls in the living room. He couldn't remember who got her room and her parent's room, nor did he want to. All he knew that his presious Sakura chan was slumbering next to him.
Crawling closer to reality and escaping the realm of sleep, Sasuke heard Sakura breath loudly, before rolling over closer to him in the dark. Oh yes,yes, this was fate if ever there was one!
'Take that Neji! Sakura, in her unconscious state, is longing for me, desiring to be closer to me! Not you, but me! Me! The red string of fate connects Sakura to me if ever there was one!'
Too shy in his joy-filled state, Sasuke let one of his arms fall behind his back, his hand reaching out for her own. She probably needed someone to hold onto during a night as dark and traumatizing as this one. His brother did have that effect on people.
Sasuke felt a jolt in his chest as slender, cold fingers found his own. That jolt came again as she slipped her fingers in between his and curled tightly around his hand. Sasuke was having a field day.
'Sakura chan is holding my hand, I can't believe this- I mean I can because I'm so awesome and drop dead freaking hott with all my blessed Uchiha smexyness, but she's really holding my hand, like for real! Oh her hand is so soft and delicate. I think I've fallen even more in love with my darling bride to be if that is even possible. She's really holding my hand. Oh my God, I don't think I can breath.'
Sasuke blushed a deep shade of crimson as he felt the sought after girl behind him stir in her sleep and move closer to him. Since she was already pretty close to begin with, she was nearly on top of Sasuke when she rolled over towards him.
Things just keep getting better and better for that guy, eh?
The tired girl moaned something he couldn't make out, causing a heavy breath to pass over his heated neck, sending chills down the spin of the youngest Uchiha male.
He was wide awake, making sure he didn't miss anything.
Her breathing was hot against his neck as she inched closer and closer. Sasuke couldn't help it as he felt his body go numb at the feeling of Sakura clawing over him in such a way.
He would have to apologize for the nosebleed on her pillow later.
'Sakura chan really is here like this. I'm just about ready to die if she does anything more, I don't think my body or my mind can take much more. But, oh, she almost on top of me now, I can't take this. Sakura chan really must want me bad. Not that I can blame her. I was the most desired male in Leaf before I ran away. The ladies would kill for a spot at my side. A few of those out laws did. Of course Sakura chan would wa nt me, it's only natural. I am irresistibly hot and down rite smoking sexy!'
Gaining a bit of confidence from his inner pep talk, Sasuke turned over a bit to look up at Sakura. It was dark so he couldn't really see anything, but her outline was faintly visible, and being a ninja he was a bit more aware of his surroundings than most.
Reaching up to where her face would be, Sasuke used the back of his fingers to brush against her cheek. She seemed to like that as she leaned into his touch.
Maybe she was more awake that Sasuke originally though she was.
Little by little, the girls silky smooth face came inching down, drawing closer to Sasuke's own. He imagined this was because she wanted a kiss from the most handsome man in the house. Who wouldn't...(girls, not guys...though there was that.1)
Closer and closer, soon Sasuke's dream would become reality.
Just when she was about to press her lips against his own, he murmured her name alone in the softest, most tantalizing tone he could use to utter any form of words.
"Sakura chan..."
Just before the kiss, there was what looked to be a flash of lightning that lit up the room, followed by a dull click and a few muffled snickers in the background.
"What the hell?"
The lights were flipped on and Sasuke found himself pinned under by not Sakura, but rather a very confused and ticked off Neji.
"What the hell are you doing on top of me you girlie faggot?" Sasuke screamed, pushing Neji off, his face beat red by embarrassment.
"Me, what are you doing in Sakura's place? I got to sleep on her right!" cried Neji is just as much disgust and embarrassment.
"Well I got to sleep on her left, you must have rolled over her or something during your sleep!"
"As if, that's what you must have done!"
"Shut the hell up!"
There was a cough behind them.
Neji and Sasuke both turned to see all the males, present in a small crowd with Naruto at the front, holding onto a small digital camera Sakura had taught him to use.
"If you two are done with you're little lover's spat, would you mind helping with breakfast?" Naruto asked with a cheeky grin.
"As if, dobe. Why would I want to help you with anything?"
"Cause I'm pretty sure Sakura's not into homo guys making out in her living room at night," Gaara answered for his friend, pointing to the small red digital camera.
Sasuke and Neji both gasped in horror, realizing what the lightning was.
"You didn't,"Sasuke breathed.
"You wouldn't," Neji added.
"If it helps us with out chances of getting closer to Sakura chan, hell yeah!" Deidara cried, pumping a fist into the air.
"Most certianally. This is a extremely valuable toll to reaching Sakura chan's highly desired affection," Sasori added with a devilish glint in his crimson stained orbs.
"I know for a fact that she does not like homos as boyfriends," Itachi snickered.
"That's not fair! I though he was Sakura chan!" Neji cried out in protest.
"Don't care, yeah."
Naruto nodded with a wide grin. "That's why you're going to make us breakfast and tell Skakura chan it was us who did all the work."
Sasuke didn't take to kindly to this treatment.
"Hello no! You can't do that!"
"Homo, homo, homo..."
"Fine, I'll do it, just keep that picture of me and Sasuke away from Sakura!" Neji cried, pushing a seething Sasuke behind him. The youngest Uchiha looked like he was about to kill more than one male in the room.
Itachi smiled, running a hand through his long raven colored hair. "That's a good boy, Neji kun. Hey...where did Kisame go? Sasori, did you see where Kisame went?"
"He said he was going to use the bathroom, or something of that nature."
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The moment Kisame stepped into the small full bathroom, he knew there was something wrong. Call it a sixth sense if you will, but he was sure there was something wrong with the atmosphere in the room.
His eyes narrowed when he felt the air in the room pool towards a certain area, like someone was breathing it in. It was a very useful ninja skill that you couldn't avoid unless you were really far away.
"Who's there?" he called out looking around the small room.
No reply.
It wasn't a overly huge room, so there weren't that many places a person could hide. Just the closet, the cabinet under the sink and behind the shower curtain in the tub.
The closet was open, and mostly empty with a few towels missing and the high quality hair shampoo bottles messily knocked over. The same could be said for the sink, aside from the fact that it was filled mostly with toiletries instead of towels and hair shampoo.
So that just left behind the curtain in the bathtub.
Inhaling deeply, the tall dark eyed male leaned forward, taking a fistful of the shower curtain in his hand, and pulled back with a sudden jerk. The metal rings made a scraping sound as they were pulled across the metal, stopping short with his breath.
There, curled up in a shivering ball with her trusted pillow and bed sheet, was Sakura chan. She still appeared to be sleeping soundly,since she didn't move any more than and inch every second to let her heart beat, but that didn't take away any of the beauty Kisame first saw in the pink haired girl when he arrived out of the book.
With the shower curtain pulled back, there was more light in the little bathing area than there was before, causing Sakura to groan and turn in her sleep, pulling her thin bed sheet with her.
Kisame blushed a dark shade of pink as he watched the sleeve of her tee shirt fall over her shoulder, exposing her creamy, pale peach colored skin to his viewing pleasure.
"Sa-Sa-Saa-Sakura?" he stuttered in utter surprise, not expecting to see her curled up in the bathtub in such a...how should he put it...lewd position.
Really, to be able to fit into such a small area she had to pull her knees up to her chest, pushing her shirt up to expose her panties and all the glory of her long creemy legs. And then there was that whole issue of her shirt falling over her shoulder in such a seductive way. And to make matters worse, her hair was a mess of heavenly waves framing her pretty little face.
Kisame could feel a nosebleed coming along, much to his dismay. Didn't stuff like this only happen in those girlishly shojo beat manga? ...Not that he read those kind of manga...or any manga at all mind you!
"Mmmh..." she breathed stretching her neck, showing signs of waking up.
'Oh crap! What am I going to do I do? No- what is she going to do when she wakes up. I don't think I should be in here! She's going to kill me for sure or at least throw me into a wall and try to kill me like she did with Itachi. Oh God she's really going to try and kill me! I don't want to die! I'm the only male in this whole house that hasn't confessed him undying love to Sakura chan! I can't die before she knows how I feel about her! That would tottally mess of the plot of this story and make the author really mad! Then I'd have two angry women killing me! OH God, Oh God I'm never going to get out of this alive am I? This is the end of my short apperance in this story isn't it? Oh Woe is me! I can't let Sakura find me and get mad when she wakes up! What do I do, what do I do, what do I do...?'
"Kisame?" she gurgled with half lidded eyes, killing his raging thoughts in an instant.
'I'm dead'
"What...you...doing here."
The tall young lad blushed at how cute she sounded with her broken words, almost like a waking infant.However, there was still the fact that he was in her sleeping quarters when she made it clear she did not like being disturbed. "N-nothing, Sakura chan."
Sakura stared up at his was glazed over eyes, half seeing the man in front of her. "Oooh, okay..." With that said Sakura turned around and snuggled deeper into her lumpy pillow, holding the edge of her sheet in a tightly fisted hand.
Kisame was a bit stunned at how calmly she acted towards his intrusion. Wasn't she going to go all PMSing on him and throw him out a window and eat a tub and a half of ice cream before the fire of her aura melted it all away?
"...Mmmm cookie dough..." she mumbled in her semi state of sleep.
Gulping in worry, the pale fish lover decided not to risk finding out. He took a steep backwards, crossing nearly half of the room in one of his long strides and was stopped but a pained whimper Sakura made in her sleep. It sounded like she was hurt.
"Sakura chan?"
He bent down to to brush the back of his hand against his shoulder, but was startled when her opposite hand let go of her sheet to reach up and grab his own. Pale baby skin met rough calloused ones.
"Otousan..."
Kisame blushed realizing that she had mistaken him for her father. He remembered seeing a photo of her mother and father in the master bedroom last night. Her mother looked a lot like Sakura with darker red hair and dark blue eyes that looked like a clear night sky.
Her father was a tall, robust man that looked like he could take on Arnold Schwarzenegger at a pep rally. He was light skinned with should length silver hair and dull gray eyes that looked almost clear.
No wonder she mistook him for her father. Kisame was the tallest out of the group and the one with the most muscles, ofen called the brawny one. If he stood next to Sakura's father, the would have been the same height, same built, same pale complexion. The only difference would be the blue hair and black eyes Kisame possessed.
"Sakura chan...I have to go, you can't keep holding onto me like this," he answered half heartedly, not really wanting to let go of her hand, but fearing her anger when she woke once again.
Sakura whimpered once again, frowning in her sleep. She didn't respond at first, but eventually responded with a quite childlike voice that sounded so unlike the tone she always used. "Don't leave me again."
That's right, her parents were away a lot. He heard from one of the guys that they were away in a place called Egypt, poking around for lost tombs that a bunch of famous dead guys were rotting away in. Why anyone would want to do that rather than stay with this pink haired angel, he would never know.
It must have been Itachi that told him Sakura was alone a lot. Her parents rarely spent more than a month with her, despite their obvious affection for their only child. Thus, Sakura grew up quickly and by herself. She used to be a very open person, but people started leaving her and soon she stopped caring. It was too painful to make friends only to see them leave.
'Sakura must be feeling lonesome without her parents around. For someone who was with them ever waking moment of her childhood, having to loose such close friends and parents must have been a painful experience. I never had parents to know what it was like, but if I did I bet I would have hated to see the leave me like this.'
Kisame sighed sitting down next to the edge of the small porcine tub that acted like a cradle to his not so secret crush. "Okay, Sakura chan, you win. I'll stay with you," he whispered, not having the heart to hurt her when she was so vulnerable.
Feeling his words more than hearing them the young girl settled down, falling back into a relaxed position, not daring to let go of the large calloused hand that held her own with enough care to please a infant.
'I wonder what the guys are doing right now. Surly they haven't noticed my absence by now. I only just got here so they wouldn't be so used to me. But Sakura...' he looked down at the young girl sleeping in the tub and blushed a light shade of pink that looked cherry on his pale face. 'But Sakura, to those boys, is a different story.'
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"We said we were sorry, yeah" Deidara whined rubbing the back of his head where he had been 'touched' by an infuriated Amazon warrior princess in the wee hours of the morning. At least that's how it looked like to an artist with an imagination as big as Disneyland.
"Think before you run your trap off in the morning, will ya? I hate having to be woken up, especially after what I had to deal with last night," Sakura replied, her voice even and cold. The baby in the tub was gone replaced by this matured young woman who had no qualms about killing any of her unwelcome guests.
After being awoken from the racket that was caused by seven deprived men, Sakura and Kisame had agreed not to let anyone know about her calling out to her father in her sleep. Kisame was actually quite please how well Sakura handled the situation after he told her what had happened in her sleep.
Itachi shivered under the glare that was thrown at him from all angles. "It really wasn't my fault! I was a freaking animal!"
"A freaking perverted animal," Gaara mumbled.
"A freaking male animal," Itachi corrected.
"Gaara was right Itachi," Sakura hissed, looking over her shoulder as she led her group of boys down the street. Most everyone else stopped to stare at the large group of model like males surrounding one less than perfect female.
"Sakura chan, you can't really blame me after being your best and only friend for three long years! Okay, I'm sorry. I hurt you and that was never my intention nor my wish when I was a poor fuzzy ferrite."
Itachi waltzed to the front of the precession stopping in front of Sakura. Taking her hand in his own, he pressed his lips to her pale skin and smiled in a dreamy prince like manner that would have any number of girls falling over him. "There is no ground for forgiveness of such dark sins. I can only hope in the deepest parts of my heart that you could somehow look at me as you once did. Please, if forgiveness is too much, forget my earlier actions and look at me anew.I could not bare it if the girl that saved my life and heart that dreary rainy day, were to have nothing to do with me. Sakura chan, darling, you know my life is in your hands, now and forever. What you choose to do is your own decision, but please take into account that I truly love you."
Sakura growled, flushing a light shade of pink at how dreamy he sounded. She knew that he knew this was her weakness: A modern day prince professing true love and loyalty to her with looks that could kill.
"Damn you Itachi, stop it. You're going to annoy my Sakura chan," Sasuke protested. Itachi made a motion behind his back and Sasuke paled. He was dead silent once Itachi held up that dreaded photo from the pits of hell, behind his back.
"Sasuke is right, Itachi. People are staring and I want to get to the aquarium as soon as possible," Sakura answered, glad that Sasuke was there to break the spell for her.
"Hey, hey, hey, Sakura chan!"
Sakura turned to look at an energized Naruto, smiling brightly. "What, Naruto?"
"Why did you decide to take us to the Aquarium today?"
"I got one of their flyers in the mail yesterday and decided to drag you guys along since it was a free show today. and aside from that..." Sakura looked down at her hands, not wanting to show her eyes. "I wanted to see the baby seals. They were just born a few weeks ago so they're not that big."
"Aw, thats so cute, from a darling little doll such as yourself, my dear," Sasori chuckled, slipping a hand over her shoulder, holding her small frame against his own.
Being so used to it, Sakura didn't bat an eye after brushing his hand off her shoulder.
Neji was the first to spot the Aquarium with his sharp eyes, and didn't spare any time in pointing it out to Sakura who sweetly thanked him for the heads up, much to the annoyance of every other male.
Deidara and Naruto were the first in, oh-ing and Awe-ing at the many colorful fish swing over their heads in the underwater tunnel. Sakura figured it must be a blond thing.
Neji and Sasuke took to the opposites side, taking in the colorful underwater landscape, leaving Gaara and Sasori to watch the sand crabs. Strange how fascinated they appeared to be.
Itachi chose to remain by Sakura as she wandered the halls, taking in the wonder and colors that passed before her eyes.
Looking behind her, Sakura smiled seeing how obviously, at home Kisame felt to be surrounded by water. He stayed behind her, staying just as close at Itachi, but you could see his mind had taken him away.
"Hey come on, they're going to have a show with the dolphins real soon!" Naruto cried, waving the whole group over to the opened room with a large pool at the bottom. He didn't have to try very hard to convince everyone to follow him after they saw Sakura run for the entrance with a delighted smile on her lips.
"Come on Kisame!" Sakura called, dragging the blue haired youth by the hand.
Itachi whimpered, not being the one dragged along by his beloved.
The group, as large as it was, had to settle for a spot in the back so that they all could stick together. Sakura wasn't all too happy with this since she was the shortest by far, hoping for a seat up front. And on top of that the group in front of her was filled with abnormally tall people. To sum it all up...She couldn't see anything.
So there she sat, radiating death glares at the back of the man in front of her, in hopes of scaring him away. It didn't work. He needed to be turned around for her demon eyes to take any effect.
She felt someone bump her should and turned to see Kisame looking at her, rather than the event.
"Hai?"
"Can you see anything?"
Sakura frowned looking behind her. Just like she though, they were seated on the very last bunch, up against the wall with the worst view. Of course she couldn't see. "Not really..."
Before she had to say anything else, Kisame lifted her up and seated her on his shoulders, giving her an extraordinary view. She had forgotten how tall he was.
"Are you enjoying yourself now Sakura?" Kisame asked.
"Yes, very much, thank you."
Kisame paused, watching the show of acrobatic tricks with mild interest, his thoughts fixated on the petite angel on his shoulders. "Hey, Sakura, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what?"
"You like it here, right?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Sakura smiled resting her chin on the top of his head, thinking it over in her mind. "The water reminds me of one of my favorite stories. It's one my mom used to tell me. You know, the main character reminds me a bit of you."
"Really? What's his name?"
"Samebito."
The name sparked something in the back of his memory.
"Samebito is a creature that appears in "The Gratitude of the Samebito", a short story by Lafcadio Hearn. It is described as a humanoid with inky black skin, emerald green eyes, a face like a demon's, and a beard like a dragon's."
"That doesn't sound anything like me."
With a grin Sakura continued."In the story, a man named Tōtarō meets the Samebito one day on a bridge. Although frightening, the creature turns out to be a gentle being who, as punishment petty fault, has been expelled from the sea by his former employer, one of the eight great Dragon Kings of the ocean. Tōtarō takes pity on the creature and allows it to live in a deep pond in his garden."
Kisame chuckles, interrupting her story telling. Sakura playfully bops his head and tells him to shut up and listen.
"Meanwhile, Tōtarō has been seeking a bride, and eventually falls in love with a beautiful woman he sees at a female pilgrimage at Mii-dera. He becomes deathly sick with grief, however, on learning that her family requires a betrothal gift of ten thousand jewels for her hand in marriage. When the Samebito learns that his master is on his deathbed, he begins to cry tears of blood which become precious rubies when they hit the ground. Through the Samebito's tears, Tōtarō eventually wins the hand of the woman with whom he is infatuated. When he has finished weeping, the Samebito is also pardoned by the dragons, and the story ends happily."
"That's good. I like happy endings."
"Me too."
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"Waa, it's so late already, but it feels like we just got here," Naruto complained, ignoring the drolling employee with hearts in her eyes as she watched the procession of god like models walk by.
She, of course, was not the only one fawning over the males. All throughout the day, they noticed several teenage girls pointing hand size, rectangle objects that clicked and flashed when pointed at them. They of course, didn't do anything to stop their antics, not knowing they would regret it once Sakura went back to school.
Itachi seemed to be the only one who knew what a camera was, but he didn't mind having his picture taken, he even posed for most of them, trying to look as dramatic as possible.
"Thank you for coming, please come again!" the love stuck employee sang, as the boys walked out. Itachi was the only one who waved and said that they would.
"Is Sakura chan awake yet?" Sasuke asked, looking over at the slumbering girl who was still clinging to Kisame's back. He wished she would wake up and walk beside him.
"Doesn't look like it, yeah."
After the show with the dolphins had ended, the young pink haired female continued to be carried around by Kisame, claiming it was so crowded she couldn't see over most of the crowds. Kisame, of course, didn't mind in the least, offering to carry the slender girl all over the place. The rest of the guys were not too happy with this turn of events.
"I could have carried her home. I'm almost as tall as you, Kisame, yeah," Deidara complained with a huff.
"You may be the second tallest next to Itachi, but you don't have a good enough build to support my cherry blossom. You would have toppled over in a matter of moments, even if she was a two year old. I would have been the more logical choice after Kisame," Sasori answered with a deep frown, disappointed with the lack of contact he shared with his treasure doll during their outing.
"Excuse me, Sasori, but I believe I'm a few inches taller than you and just as buff," Itachi scoffed, entering the conversation.
"That may be true, nii san, however, Sakura still hates your guts," Sasuke added with a hidden smirk as he watched the grin on his brother's face fall away.
"I said I was sorry!"
Neji simply turned to glare at Itachi over his shoulder. He was content to hold the limp hand of his princess as she continued to cling to Kisame in her sleep using only one arm. Ever since the photo incident this morning, he has had to watch his words and actions more than usual.
"If it was for Sakura chan, I would have carried her," Gaara muttered, knowing he was only a few inches taller than Sakura.
"But Gaara, you're shorter than me and physically weaker. I would have had a lot more success if it were me carrying Sakura home," Naruto replied, not meaning to rub salt in the wound.
"Shut up, Naruto," Gaara hissed under his breath.
Neji looked over and saw that the tall blue haired man looked worried about something as he watched the sun set behind the clouds. "Kisame san, is there something troubling you."
"If it's Sakura chan I'll carry her yeah! Ow- that hurt Sasori!"
"No," Kisame answered frowing. "I was just thinking...what happened to The Book after Itachi and I cam through it?"
Itachi chuckled in a carefree manner, brushing his bangs away from his face. "Sakura chan put it away, of course."
"But, did you actually see her close it and put it away?" Sasori asked, growing concerned as well. He had enough unwanted compatition for Sakura heart as it is. He didn't want another heart throb ninja coming out of the pages of that book, pining after his doll.
"Not really, but Sakura neat like that. That's how she's always been," Itachi replied.
"Think you guys, when was the last any of us saw it?" Sasuke interrupted, causing a brief silence to come over the party as they all stopped walking to think on the matter, the sun falling farther and farther behind the bleeding red clouds.
Sasori spoke up first. "She put it on the coffee table..."
"Leaning up against the wall..." Neji added.
"Face up..." Gaara continued, his voice growing concerned as the mental image of the book came into his mind.
"And opened..." Kisame finished with a dark tone to his voice.
The group of males all shared a shocked/frightened expression before they tore off, racing down the sidewalk, running like the devil himself was biting at their heels. There was already enough competition for Sakura's heart as it was. Any more would not be excepted!
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In case you didn't pick up on it, this was mostly a Kisame chapter. Yeah, I have recently falling in love with this guy. So I gave him the spotlight in this chapter, but I think everyon had their moments, however small they were. Though, I don't think Neji and Sasuke liked the attention in the beginning of the chapter. Bwahaha. I wonder if Sakura should find out, and if she does, what will she do.
Rest of the boys: Kick the homos out!
Sasuke and Neji: we're not homos!"
For a while I was wondering if having so many males liking her was a bad idea since it sounds so unrealistic, but this is fiction and it's under humor, so I can do whatever I want! Haha, bring on the boys! I'm having so much fun rewriting this once I get the time to sit down and think about what's going to happen next. Thank you all so much for your support with reading and reviewing this fic. It really means a lot to see this story loved so much. I can't thank you guys enough! (I know, I know, I'll try to update soon)
As always, please review!
Ja ne
Vesper chan