Hello~
Hope everyone's doing well!
Have y'all done your Christmas Shopping?
I sure haven't ;;;
Anyways, here's the next one, hope you enjoy~
~.~
Last Time:
"We're gonna go out to Ichiraku's Ramen, we'll be back later," I told Kakashi.
"Okay, don't be back too late," Kakashi told me.
"Okay," I nodded before leaving the house.
"Thanks for letting me stay over," Shikamaru mentioned before following after.
"Hmm..."Kakashi thought for a moment, "I think I'll pay Iruka a visit,"He said, leaving the house moments after the two had left.
~.~
As we made our way to Ichiraku's Ramen, Shikamaru had a question that he had to ask.
"You...didn't stutter when you were talking to him," Shikamaru said, "Why?"
"I don't choose w-when it happens," I told him.
'It's cause she's more comfortable with him,' Shikamaru thought.
Once at the resturant, we sat ourselves at the counter. The owner of the restaurant, Ichiraku came over to take our orders. Shikamaru gave his order, Ichiraku faced me.
"Oh, Kyoko! I wouldn't think you'd come here with someone! The regular small beef ramen, right?" He asked.
I nodded in confirmation.
Shikamaru blinked, "She comes here often?" he asked.
"Oh no, she comes, but not as much that I would call her a regular. As you probably know, she doesn't talk much, but every time she comes here she orders the same thing every time, so I just keep it in mind," Ichiraku told him.
"Oh I see," Shikamaru sighed.
Ichiraku went to make the orders. I started playing with my chopsticks, Shikamaru just stared off into space.
~.~
Kakashi went towards the academy, jumping off the roofs of houses.
'Iruka's always working late at night,' Kakashi thought to himself.
He arrived to the academy and entered through the window of Iruka's classroom. Sure enough, Iruka was there marking papers.
"Oh, Kakashi, what a surprise," Iruka said looking up, "How are you? Still reading that erotic book?"
"Hey, it's a good book, and I came here to talk about Kyoko," Kakashi said in a serious tone, walking towards Iruka's desk.
"Oh, you heard?" Iruka asked.
"Heard about what?" Kakashi asked,'What happened?'
Iruka sighed, "Ino pissed her off, I caught Kyoko behind Ino with a kunai held at Ino's neck."
Kakashi's eyes widened, well, the one eye not hidden behind his mask.
"I don't think she was going to do anything," Iruka said, "It was more of a threat towards Ino."
"I understand she has a bit of social anxiety. But some of the students don't, and Ino had pressured Kyoko into saying something. Kyoko did not react well to it," Iruka shook his head, "Kyoko's strong, smart, but I fear her communication skills might get in the way of her being a good ninja. I tried telling her about communication and teamwork, being a ninja, relying on others while they rely on you, but she counters them with her own explanations," Iruka explained.
"Well, at least she's communicating," Kakashi joked.
"This is no time to be joking around," Iruka sighed, "You're worried about her too, aren't you?"
"I can try talking to her," Kakashi sighed, "But since she's stuck to Shikamaru for the project, I don't wanna lecture her with someone else around. Especially since it's a personal issue."
"Shikamaru...maybe this project is what she needs," Iruka thought out loud.
"You think Shikamaru could get her to open up?" Kakashi asked.
"I'm not sure, but possibly," Iruka sighed.
Kakashi sighed, and headed for the window, "We'll just have to wait and see, I'll see you around, Iruka."
With that, Kakashi left, leaving Iruka to finish his work.
~.~
"Here's your orders!" Ichiraku served me and Shikamaru our food.
"Thank you for the food," I said, to be polite, before eating.
"Thank you for the food," Shikamaru said before he started eating.
We ate in silence.
'It's a little...awkward...' I thought to myself while eating.
But the silence ended when a certain yellow headed entered the restaurant.
"GIVE ME A BIG BOWL OF RAMEN, ICHIRAKU!" Naruto shouted as he entered the restaurant.
"Naruto, shut up! You're so loud!" Sakura said, being dragged into the restaurant by Naruto.
"I'll have a small bowl of ramen," Sakura said politely.
"Alright, your orders will be served soon!" Ichiraku gave a thumbs up and went to make his order.
"Shikamaru? You're here? Kyoko too?" Naruto asked, taking the seat on Shikamaru's left.
I stayed silent.
"Yeah, we decided to eat out," Shikamaru told Naruto lazily.
"We should all hang out together later!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Um, if you guys are fine with it, that is," The pinkette muttered.
I looked over to the Nara.
"Uh, maybe not tonight," Shikamaru said.
"Aw, why not!" Naruto whined.
"..." I stuck my nose into the bowl, avoiding eye contact.
"We're pretty tired, Naruto," Shikamaru answered, "Maybe next time?"
"But-"
"Naruto, they said no," Sakura scolded.
"Alright..." Naruto slumped.
"Here's your food!" Ichirku announced, giving Sakura and Naruto their food.
"Thanks for the food!" Naruto exclaimed happily, immediately digging in.
"...thanks for the food," Sakura sighed.
"Another one!" Naruto smiled, slamming the empty bowl down.
'...and I thought that Choji boy can eat,' I thought, thinking about the Akimichi who always ate in class, even though he was told not to millions of times.
"Jeez, Naruto. You got food everywhere," Sakura sighed.
"So, where are you guys staying?" Shikamaru asked, making conversation.
"At Sakura's," Naruto answered.
"My parents wouldn't want me to stay at Naruto's house, alone," Sakura said, "I wouldn't want to either."
"Ahaha, probably for the best, my place is really messy at the moment," Naruto chuckled nervously.
"I'm not surprised..." Sakura sighed, looking at the noodles and drops of soup around Naruto.
"Done," I said, putting my empty bowl aside.
"Wow, must've been really good this time if you already finished!" Ichiraku told me with a grin, taking away my dishes.
"Finished too," Shikamaru said, "Thanks for the meal," He said to Ichiraku, paying for the meal.
"I was gonna pay," I told him.
"You can pay next time," Shikamaru told me, patting my head, "Let's go."
"Uh, okay," I said, getting up from my seat.
"See you guys tomorrow," Shikamaru said, waving bye to Sakura and Naruto.
"Bye!" Naruto shouted while Sakura waved.
~.~
It wasn't long til we made it back home. Kakashi greeted us from the living room. I walked over to Kakashi.
"Did you eat anything yet?" I asked.
"Yeah, don't worry about me," He told me, "You should sleep more."
"You know I study every night," I told him.
"You can study better when you're not sleep deprived," He argued.
"I'm not sleep deprived," I told him.
Kakashi grabbed my face, "Those raccoon circles tell a different story."
"Kakashi!" I exclaimed, escaping from his grasp.
Shikamaru stifled his laughter, "Um, we should be near the handcuffs, yeah? It's almost 10."
"Oh, okay," I said, "Night, Kakashi."
"Good night you two," He said as me and Shikamaru walked upstairs.
~.~
At 10, the cuffs locked up together once again.
"Gonna study," I said, sitting myself at the desk.
"What? It's 10," Shikamaru told me.
"And?" I questioned back.
"Kakashi did mention that you should sleep early," Shikamaru said.
"So?"
Before Shikamaru could say anything, there was a knock on my door.
"Come in," I said.
Kakashi opened the door and poked his head into the room.
"You better go to bed, Shikamaru's here so now I'll know if you're sleeping or not~" Kakashi told me.
"Okay, okay," I sighed before he left.
"..."
"Guess you gotta go to bed," Shikamaru told me.
I stood up and walked over to my bed. I laid down next to the window.
"...so when Kakashi says to sleep, you listen?" Shikamaru sighed as he laid in bed.
The chain was long enough to give us some space in between. But I still had myself pressed against the wall. Shikamaru did the courtesy of pulling the blankets over us.
He faced away from me.
There was a silence between us.
"...Kyoko," Shikamaru started, "I know you don't really like interactions but, is there a reason for that?"
"Best you don't stick your nose into there," I told him.
"Right, sorry, my bad," He immediately apologized.
'Geez, I shouldn't have hit her with that question so fast, of course she wouldn't wanna tell me anything,' He sighed, 'Troublesome.'
"I shouldn't have ask that, please forget I said that," Shikamaru told me, "Um...by any chance did you consider my offer from before?"
"...what offer?" I asked.
"Helping you get more comfortable with communicating with others," He told me, "Help you get over your social anxiety."
"I don't have social anxiety," I argued.
"I..." Shikamaru started, "I won't ask anymore. You don't have to give an answer now, or ever. I'll take your silence as a no, unless you say otherwise," He told me, "It would just make, not only this project, easier, but future missions and stuff."
"...night," I told him before turning to face the wall.
"Goodnight, Kyoko," He said before closing his eyes, 'This girl is really gonna be troublesome.'
~.~
I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by darkness. I looked around for a source of light. I turned around and saw myself. I reached my hand out, it mirrored my movements. I was looking into a mirror. I looked at my face, the same normal plain face I always had. I looked at my features. My black hair spread out and floating in the air. My eyes, normally a bright blue, a little dull in the dark. My lips were a little opened, relaxed.
"Hmm," I hummed in thought, til my lips in the reflection had curved into a smirk.
'I'm not doing that...' I thought.
"You're not, but I am," My image spoke.
My features in the mirror changed. It had a chaotic smirk on its face, it's face was shaded. You could see it's left eye glow a bright blue, and it's right eye glow yellow. It was now a silhouette of me, but you could see the shaded face and hair. I took a step back.
"Who...what are you?" I asked in a stern voice.
"I'm a spirit that's inhabiting you're mind," it told me.
"...so falling usually wakes people up, yeah?" I said out loud, making it laugh.
"Usually, you'd want straight forward answers, but maybe this was too straight forward," It said, "I'm a spirit that was put into your body, to help contain your chakra. You probably didn't know this, but you were born with a bit more chakra than others. And as a child, you wouldn't really know how to contain it. And since no one you were around knew how to seal it, to help control it, I was the next best thing!"
"...what? That doesn't make any sense," I said.
"It doesn't?" It asked me, "Wow, you must be dumb."
"Wha, no I understand what you said," I clarified, "I just don't understand why they resorted to...this?"
"I don't know if I should be insulted," It sighed.
"Wait...when I was born?" I questioned, "My biological parents did this?!"
"Oh, actually I don't know who put me in here," It shrugged, "But I'm here, and-"
"What do you mean I had a little more chakra than others?!" I questioned.
"Little miss cold shoulder does have emotions!" It laughed.
"You're not answering my question!" I told it.
"Look, I don't know anything beside I was put here to not only help control your chakra, but to also help you with that eye there," It pointed to it's glowing yellow eye, before pointing to mine.
"Wait, back up," I told it, "...how long have you been hanging in my mind?"
"Since you were a baby," It told me.
"Why is it now, you're talking to me?" I asked.
"Cause, your life began to look more...fun," It told me, "And I thought it might as well be a good time to start teaching you about your Kekkei Genkai."
"What do you mean...fun?" I questioned, "Wait, Kekkei Genkai?"
"Oh, you've been training and studying almost all the time, it was soooo boring," It said, pretending to yawn, "What I noticed, was you were a rebellious child. You did what you thought was right, you did what you wanted to do...although you were always in line. I'm guessing to not cause problems for your precious older brother."
"...but...?" I waited.
"But, you never used a threat like today. All that pent up anger released...but not fully," It told me, "That Yanamaka girl. That kunai against her neck. It was...exciting."
"You get off on those threats, nice..." I sighed.
"I mean, weren't you having fun as well? Seeing that girl frozen in fear, the fright in her eyes," It asked me, "If you went through with it, that pent up anger would've been extinguished, all would be relieved."
"Uh...no," I said, "She's not an enemy attacking the village or anything,"
"But won't that make things easier?" It asked, giving me a wicked grin.
"No, it's...it's not right," I looked away.
The image went around me.
"Hmm, I thought you didn't care for anyone here," The shadow told me, "Seems like you value them."
"Not really," I said, "Once I graduate from the academy, I'm gonna have to be on a team. As long as they drag their own weight, we'll be fine."
"Hmm," It thought, "So, what's the reason for hardly talking to people?"
"If you've been with me my whole life, you would know!" I shouted.
"Ah, right...that," It chuckled, "I guess that's fair. But you're pretty weak."
"Excuse me?" I questioned.
"You're excused," It smirked, "You're letting that get to you? Yeah, it's traumatizing. But you're letting it control how to live life? Defeat it! You've lived through it, and look where you are now! A strong ninja, soon to graduate. But letting that experience drag you down and..." It came close to my face, "I'll admit you aren't completely incompetent at talking. But I can't help but imagine, you, finishing an important mission, or during a mission, having to give a report, and you becoming a s-s-s-stutter-ring m-m-mess."
I almost blushed from embarrassment.
"Incredibly unprofessional," It told me, "Honestly, you don't even know how to use your Kekkei Genkai!"
"You mean that clock thing in my eye?" I asked, "I just use it to pick up speed."
"Your right eye, it has a very special Kekkei Genkai called The Eye Of Time. You have the power of manipulating time. Parts of it, at least," It explained.
"I...can manipulate time?" I questioned.
"Yes, what's wrong with your listening?" It sighed, "It's my job to teach you about it and how to use it. But..."
I looked at it eagerly.
"Maybe we can strike a deal?" It suggested, "You, learn to fucking communicate, so you can stop stuttering like an idiot. And I'll teach you about it."
"That's a dumb deal," I told it, "You know how long it'll take for me to get over it?"
"No, no. You make an effort, and a goal to get to that point. I'll know whether or not you're gonna strive to go for it. If you decide to, then I'll teach you," It said, "It'll show me you'll make an effort learning."
"Didn't you also say it was your job to teach me?" I asked.
"Doesn't mean I have to," It shrugged.
"Hmm, what Shikamaru said did make sense...but really, I can easily communicate during the mission to get through it, right?" I muttered to myself.
"A-and st-tutter like a-a-an idiot!" It told me, "You want to be respected once you're officially a ninja, right? You want to make to ANBU right? How are you gonna be respected when you stutter like that?"
"...I don't even know if you're real, but unfortunately you're right," I sighed, "It's...it's a deal."
"Perfect," It smirked, "We'll start as soon as you put some effort into that goal."
"...ugh."
~.~
Shikamaru couldn't sleep, for once. He couldn't help but feel worried for someone he hardly knew. He looked over to Kyoko.
'You're such a mystery,' Shikamaru thought.
Kyoko slowly turned to Shikamaru.
He froze.
She was still asleep.
Shikamaru sighed in relief and looked at the ceiling, closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
He felt her shift and soon right against him. He opened his eyes to see Kyoko almost snuggled up against him.
'Troublesome, what is this girl doing? Do I try to move her? Or do I just leave her like this?' Shikamaru thought for a while and decided to leave her like this, if he tried to push her back, she might snuggle back against him. Or worse, wake up. He thought for a moment before placing his hand on her head. She didn't react, just sleeping soundly. He noticed how smooth her hair was and gently played with her hair.
'She's a little different at home,' He thought, 'She looks almost innocent asleep.'
He yawned and finally closed his eyes to sleep.
~.~
I hope everyone is staying safe~
I'll try to get the next one up sooner
Signing off,
Bluebirb