Crimson Love


I have a new band to add to my favorites! Rammstein! They're so awesome! I have no idea what they're saying, but they're awesome! All the lyrics are in German, or Russian or whatever, and they're like, the death metal band of Europe, or something. I got an AMV for their song 'Sonne' for Haku, and it was called 'Haku, the Greatest Tool' or something like that, and it sounded so cool!

Anyway, now I'm on a German kick, so the title of this chapter is in German, but it kind of fits. You'll see why. At the moment, I'm downloading a song for Gaara for Rammstein's song, 'Mein Herz Brennt.' Should be good; it's taking a short forever.

(Jumps on comp and bites it) WHY WON'T YOU HURRY UP!

Oh... ok, it's done.

(Watches) 0.0

THAT WAS AWESOME!

Ok, anyway, back to my duties as a writer. Even though I send out pictures to those who request them, some are rather unclear about Shizuka's exact hair length, mainly because the pictures are all either centered around her eyes or face. So let me clarify... Shizuka's hair is about six inches past her waist. So if you would stand up right now and put your hand about six inches past your waist (now your butt, your waist, idiot), that's how long her hair is. Pretty scary, ne? Thought so.

You know what I hate and yet am seeing on a regular basis nowadays? Neji-Lee pairings. GAH! Ok, first of all: Neji is so not gay. Why? He's just not. And Lee is so not gay, too. Yes, he wears spandex, but be serious: surfers wear spandex, too! Plus he's so in love with Sakura, it's not even funny.

Actually... let me clarify: I hate Neji yaoi. I like cute little Neji shonen-ai, like what H-R has in Suna's Kekkai Genkai, but when people make yaoi for him, it annoys me. Yaoi for Sasuke isn't as weird... No one's really sure about his sexuality. I mean, seriously, if you were in his shoes, as a guy with every girl in the class after you, wouldn't you at least skip a little? I know I probably would. But that's just because I like attention. Doesn't matter who gives it to me, so long as I get it.

I guess I'm kinda like Naruto, ne?

Oh, yeah, to those interested, I'm having my step-dad scan a fan art I did for this ficcie! FLUFFY UKON/SAKURA PICS ROCK!

But that doesn't mean Sasuke's out of the picture, ne?

So anyway, lemme know if you want it, and if you do, sign in with your e-mail, ok, so I don't have to go searchin'.

(Note continued at the end)


Chapter Six: Das Einsame und das Vaterlose

Shizuka actually gulped as Neji went over to the car door and rapped his knuckles on the glass. He looked murder.

However, being Shizuka, she had to roll down the window. "Um... Hi, Neji."

"Can I talk to you?" he asked in a low, deadly calm voice. "Alone," he added, his pale eyes flicking over Itachi with a look of disgust.

Shizuka gulped again; in no way, shape or form was she going to be getting out of the car when he had that deadly look in his eye. "Um... You know what, I'm good."

"Get out of the car, please, Shizuka," he ordered, his voice getting colder by the minute.

"I don't think she wants to, little man-thing," Itachi called jeeringly, rolled up her window with the button on his side of the car. "Buh-bye."

Neji scowled, whatever was left of his cool exterior now evaporated as he turned on his heel and went back to the gate, looking at the ground like he'd dropped something.

"Is he pissed?" Itachi asked, grinning slightly.

"I dunno, I guess." Shizuka shrugged nervously; she didn't know him well enough to know when he was pissed. She glanced back at Neji when he turned around; her eyes widened: in his hand was a rock the size of his fist. "Oh shit."

Itachi, still smirking slightly, looked up, as well in time to see Neji storm back over to the passenger's side and smash the window with the rock. Broken glass fell everywhere, in Shizuka's lap, in the floor of the car, on the ground, and even a little over Itachi, whose eyes had gotten unnaturally wide in the last five milliseconds.

Reaching into the car with his free hand, Neji unlocked the door and yanked it open, glaring at her as he pulled her out of the car. "We need to talk," he said coldly, dragging her towards the gates.

Regaining his ability to move, Itachi opened the car door and charged over to the black haired Hyuuga, grabbing him by the front of his dark red hoodie. "What the fuck is your problem, asshole!" he shouted, veins popping in his forehead. "You just broke my fuckin' window!"

Neji looked down at the hand on his hoodie with a testy look, then glared up at Itachi. "Back off."

"Don't fuckin' tell me to back off, asshole, you just broke my damn window!" Itachi growled, drawing back a fist. Shizuka's eyes widened as the fist connected with the side of Neji's face, throwing his head to one side. His head was the only part of him that moved, however, as the rest of Neji's body remained rigid, his grip on Shizuka's wrist unloosened.

Neji turned back to Itachi, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Back off," he growled in a more menacing tone.

"Come on, guys, stop it," Shizuka urged nervously, still in Neji's grip.

"Yeah, I will," Itachi growled, "just as soon as this bastard agrees to–"

"I'm sorry," Neji interrupted in a low voice, his eyes shadowed by his dark hair, which wasn't tied back with his bandana, thus letting it go wild. "What did you call me?"

"Hm?" Itachi faltered, then sneered, "I called you a fuckin' bastard!"

At the repetition of these words, something in Neji snapped.

(Meanwhile)

"But you don't know if they're saying bad stuff," Sakura protested.

"How do you know I don't know?" Ukon countered, smirking, slowing down to meet a red light. "I might really be able to speak German. Besides, it's metal music: they all have something bad to say."

"Come on, though, seriously," Sakura said, looking for the 'CD Eject' button.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Ukon batted her hand away. "No touchie the doo-hickies!"

"The... What?" She stopped to stare at him. "Doo-hickies?"

"Yeah, doo-hickies." Satisfied that his CD player was safe for the moment, Ukon went back to glaring at the red light.

"...What the heck's a doo-hickie? Isn't that something on your neck?"

He grinned, laughing a little. "No, that's a hickie. It comes from sucking on skin so the blood vessels break. No, a doo-hickie is the name we give stuff when we can't think of the actual name off the top of our head in time to say it." He grimaced slightly. "Hickies are painful."

"How would you know?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

He gave her a look. "How do you think I know?"

Sakura blushed and quickly looked out the window. She'd never gotten a hickie, and it had never occurred to her that he would have, but it made sense, since he was older then her, thus having been on the planet longer then her, giving him more experience in hickies and that kind of thing. Plus, she thought to herself, watching the white lines on the street flick past as they drove down said street, if you look past the fact that he's so moody, he's not so bad... She stole a glance at him where he was singing along quietly to the lyrics of 'Sonne' by Rammstein. ...He's really cool, and nice, and h-hot...? Sakura's eyes popped open. 'Hot' was definitely not one of the words that described Ukon!

Ukon, seeing the look on her face, asked, "What? Have I got something on my face?"

She shook her head quickly, looking out the front window. Sakura tried her hardest not to be angry at Shizuka for staying out at all hours, thus getting Ukon in trouble. After all, Shizuka probably didn't even know she was getting him in trouble. But still... Sakura hated seeing that look in his eyes when he was hurt...

There was a few long, silent moments before he spoke again. "Um... Sakura?"

"Yeah?" Sakura jerked herself out of her thoughts.

"...What's your mom like?"

Sakura faltered slightly. "My mom?"

He nodded, starring at the road as if only it existed.

"Um... I dunno, what do you want to know?"

He shrugged. "What's she look like? Is she pretty? Does she have a job? How old is she? That kind of thing." (Stalk much?)

"Oh... um..." Sakura thought for a moment; she'd never really ever thought about her mom before. "Well... she's retaking a college course in medicine now, and she's 34..."

"She was pretty young when she had you, ne?"

Sakura blushed slightly. "I... never thought about it."

"Aa."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was starring at the road with a look like he was determined not to look at her. Weird. "Um... what about your mom?"

"Heh?" He glanced at her, then quickly looked away. "I don't remember a thing about her."

Sakura starred at him. No... that's not right...

Flashback

"Besides..." Ukon looked away. "I'm the older twin, and I promised her I would take care of him."

I was right, they are twins. "You promised who?"

"My ...mother... before she died..."

End flashback

"What's your mom look like?" Ukon asked, dragging her out of her thoughts again.

Sakura was a little confused about the sudden change of subject. "Um... She looks like me a little so I don't know if she's pretty..."

"Does she have green eyes like you?"

Sakura nodded, thinking of how she had been so proud as a child that she and her mom had the same color eyes.

"Then she probably is pretty," he said casually, turning down a street as his pager beeped. Ignoring Sakura's blush at the slightly obvious compliment, he sighed hugely and took the device off his belt and looked at it. "Orochimaru-sama wants us all to come home now. He probably found her." Replacing the pager, he turned and asked, "Do you want me to take you home first, or...?"

"No, that's fine, I don't want you to get in trouble for being late or anything," she said casually. "Plus, I want to yell at her." She smirked, cracking her knuckles.

Ukon gave her a wary look out of the corner of his eye as he turned down another street that would take them to the manor.

(Meanwhile)

Shizuka's jaw dropped as Itachi was suddenly knocked over with a foot in his gut.

"Say that again," Neji growled down at him. "I fuckin' dare you."

He was about to make another move, but faltered when Shizuka ran over to Itachi and helped him to a sitting position. After making sure he was semi-alright, she turned on Neji. "What is your problem!"

"My problem!" he cried. "He's the one being a total shit-face!"

"You didn't have to kick him! You could have actually hurt him!"

"That was the idea!" He started to say something else, but was cut off when a car's headlights flashed over his eyes, making him see black spots.

"Holy shit, dude!" Sakkon cried, getting out of the car. (SNG: I ran out of ideas and inspiration for that, ok? Get off my back) Ignoring Itachi on the ground, he and Jiroubou ran over to Shizuka, not bothering to turn off the headlights (which was good, because they were about all that was keeping Neji sated, him being temporarily blinded by them and all). "Shizuka-sama, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but–"

"GOOD! CUZ I'M GONNA KILL YA!" Sakkon half-shrieked, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her towards the gates.

"Stop it, you fucker!" she snapped, digging her heels into the ground in an attempt to stop him. "Itachi is–"

"I'm fine, don't worry about it," Itachi cut her off, rubbing his gut where Neji had kicked him. "God dammit..."

"Fuck off if you know what's good for you, Uchiha," Sakkon growled, reaching in his jacket and pulling out a hand gun.

Itachi smirked, also reaching in his jacket, then stopped and groaned. "Damn, that's the last time I come on a date unarmed."

(Meanwhile... In Ukon's car...)

"Ukon, be gentle, please!"

"Call me Ukon-sama, bitch!"

(Just kidding)

"Oh my god, what's going on?" Sakura cried as Ukon pulled into the street before the gates.

"Shit." Ukon grimaced, seeing the gun in Sakkon's hand, and Itachi on the ground. "Stay here, Sakura," he ordered, putting it in park and getting out. "I'll be right back."

"Huh? But–"

"I'll be right back," he repeated firmly, closing the door and flicking the auto-lock on. "Sakkon, what the hell's going on?" he snapped, crossing the street to where his brother was standing.

"Uchiha's here, that's what's going on," Sakkon said coldly.

Ukon glanced at Itachi, then turned back to his brother. "Gimme the gun, Sakkon," he ordered, holding his hand out.

"Fuck no!"

"Sakkon," Ukon repeated in a low, commanding voice. "Give me the gun. And go turn your head lights off."

Sakkon glanced over at his car, then scowled and dropped the gun in Ukon's outstretched hand. "Fine," he muttered, going back over to his car and opening the door. He stole a glance at Sakura, glaring at her as she backed away into the seat in the car behind his. Turning off his headlights, Sakkon turned back to his twin. "Shoot him, Ukon."

Ukon gave him a look, then glared at Itachi again. Sakura's eyes widened as Ukon lifted his arm holding the gun so it was pointed directly at Itachi. Oh my god!

Shizuka's eyes widened, as well. "Don't shoot him, Ukon!"

"Shoot him, Ukon," Sakkon repeated, smirking. "You know what Orochimaru-sama said."

Shizuka starred. "What'd Daddy say?"

Ukon glared at Sakkon. "Shut up, Sakkon. I know what he said."

There was a long silence (Neji hasn't said anything in a while), during which Ukon glared at Itachi, and Itachi glared back, and Shizuka starred at them both, and Sakkon waited impatiently. Sakura's eyes widened when Ukon's finger tightened on the trigger.

"Ukon!"

A shot rang out. For a split second, everything was still. No one spoke; everyone was in shock.

Itachi winced, holding his shoulder where the bullet had grazed his arm. "Shit!"

"Screw off, Uchiha, before I get Medieval on your ass," Ukon ordered, lowering the arm holding the gun. "Next time you show your sorry ass around here, you'll be fuckin' sorry, got it?"

Itachi tossed him a scowl, seemingly "forgetting" that Ukon hadn't actually shot him, and got to his feet, stalking over to his car. Shizuka started to follow, but was pulled to a stop by Sakkon, who gave her a glare before dragging her over to the gates.

"I'll take care of this one," he told Ukon before turning to the little speaker-thingie.

Ukon shrugged, going over to his own car and unlocking it. He gave Sakura a small smirk. "Good girl, you stayed in the car like I said."

"You were going to shoot him!" she cried in disbelief as he opened her door.

"No, I wasn't," Ukon corrected, stepping back so she could get out of the car. "I never shoot anyone. I just give 'em a scratch and tell 'em to get lost."

"What if you miss!" she snapped, hopping down and closing the car door.

"I never miss."

"No one's perfect!" Sakura reminded him, a little skittish, owing to the fact that he hadn't yet put down the gun.

"I didn't say I was, I just said my aim was," he said calmly.

"You had a gun in class today, too, didn't you!"

"...And?"

"You're not supposed to have guns in school!"

"So?"

"You could get expelled!"

"But I won't, because I'm not telling anyone I have a gun on me 24/7, and you're not telling anyone I have a gun on me 24/7, either, are you?" He gave her a pointed look.

"Maybe I will!"

"Maybe I'll shoot you."

"And if I die, what then!"

"Then I will have rid myself of the cause of many head aches," he said simply, following Sakkon and Shizuka (and Jiroubou and Neji... They don't talk much, do they?) through the gates.

Sakura turned red and looked away angrily. (Cause of head aches!)

Shizuka's father was waiting for them when they got in the door. Sakura couldn't help but give his back a glare as she knelt down to take her shoes off after the normal frisking.

"Shizuka-kun, where were you!" Orochimaru asked in a would-be scolding voice. (SNG suddenly has funny mental picture of chibi Orochi wagging his finger at Shizuka)

Sakkon, Ukon and Shizuka all looked at each other. Neji, seeing the look, answered, "She was at my house studying."

Sakura and turned to look at him while the others all nodded readily, seemingly liking this lie better then the truth. Neji...?

Orochimaru seemed to find this acceptable, and probably would have nagged on her for not calling, but Shizuka tossed her shoes to the side and said, "We're going to my room to hang out, ok? Don't bug us."

Sakura's eyebrows sky-rocketed when this order actually worked, and Orochimaru went down the hall without any questions. Damn... she's got the jerk of the century wrapped around her little finger (H-R: and tucked in her back pocket)

Shizuka's room seemed to be on the other side of the huge house (A/N: This is a traditional Japanese manor, sort of like the Hyuuga house in the anime, so all the rooms are on a first-floor basis); it took then a good ten minutes to get to it. The sliding door had several signs nailed to the wooden supports (A/N: See a picture of traditional rice-paper sliding doors), including, but not limited to, a "KEEP OUT" sign, a STOP sign, and a "NO SOLICITORS" sign. When Shizuka opened said door, Sakura saw that the walls inside had had plywood nailed to them, covering the rice paper so no one could see the shadows of the happenings inside. It was a pretty big room, about the size of Sakura's living room.

In one corner was a queen-size bed with a havoc of red blankets, black sheets and pillows. Above the headboard, there were hundred upon thousands of pictures pinned to the plywood. Against the wall parallel to the bed there was a 48" TV with a video game set in front of it; Kimimaro was sitting in front of it, playing Naruto 2 (H-R's idea. It looks oddly familiar to them), and didn't seem to notice when they came in, even though it wasn't his room. In the corner near the TV was a large, leather Lay-Z-Boy chair with a stack of manga next to it. On the wall above the TV were several posters and magazine clippings. Next to the door to the room was another door, leading to a bath room. Next to that door was a walk-in closet. It wasn't an overly-furnished room; it was just big.

Sakkon quickly claimed the chair, pulling out the foot-rest and picking up one of the manga. Ukon sat down next to Kimimaro, who handed him a controller and restarted the game for two people. Shizuka went to sit against the bed on the floor so she could watch them play. Neji just sat on the floor looking grumpy. Sakura went to sit on the bed to satisfy her fetish with looking at pictures.

The pictures were actually pretty cute, despite the total un-cute nature of the person who occupied the room. (Actually, I've had people say that Shizuka has a very cute little personality that is easy to get attached to... I have to disagree, since she's like me, but oh well) The pictures nearest the head board, obviously the first ones put up, showed Shizuka and Kimimaro... but a much younger Kimimaro and Shizuka; they couldn't have been more then three or four. They were sitting in a muddle of mud, covered from head to toe in said mud, looking over their shoulders at the camera with total innocence. In fact, nearly every single picture that had Shizuka, had Kimimaro in it, as well. Sakura had only seen the two talk once or twice, but it just seemed natural for Kimimaro to be around Shizuka; he was just always there.

Sakura scanned the other pictures towards the bottom; they were all of Kimimaro and Shizuka as children, with the occasional Tayuya, Kidoumaru or Jiroubou. She glanced towards the top and gasped loudly, jumping up on the bed to get a better look at the picture that had gotten her attention.

Everyone turned to look at her. "What?" Shizuka asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sakura ignored her, starring at the picture in question. It showed two little kids, around the ages of two or three, both with short, spiky, lavender hair, both with big, black-blue eyes, both with huge grins, and both with their arms around the other, mushing their faces together.

"Who is this?" she asked, pointing at the picture.

They looked.

"Oh god, no." Ukon groaned.

Well, that answered that question.

"Ha ha, I forgot that was up there!" Sakkon said amiably before going back to his manga.

"I forget why it's still up there," Ukon grumbled.

"Aw, but it's so cute!" Sakura cried, suddenly glomping him with speed perfected from many years of trying to glomp the swift-on-his-feet Sasuke.

"Meh, I'm tryin' to play here, woman!" he cried, trying to free his arms from her glomp so he could operate the controller.

Shizuka smirked slightly, watching the two bicker. In-ter-esting...

"Oh, crap, what time is it?" Sakura asked suddenly, letting go of Ukon to look around for a wall clock or some sort of time mechanism.

"Around ten," Sakkon answered, looking at his watch.

"Crap, crap, crap!" Sakura cried, going into traditional freak-out mode. "I have to call my mom!"

Ukon snorted at this, but handed her his cell phone, not taking his eyes off the TV. "You're number's on speed-dial on 8."

"...You have her on speed-dial?" Sakkon asked, looking up from his manga with a raised eyebrow, making Sakura blush. "You don't even have me on speed dial!"

"You don't know your number well enough to tell it to me so I can put you on speed-dial!"

"You never asked!"

"Because I know you don't know it!"

"Can we not do this now!" Shizuka snapped, breaking up the little quarrel the twins were having.

"...Fine," they said together, Ukon going back to his game and Sakkon to his manga.

Sakura rolled her eyes at their immaturity, pressing the speed-dial and the 8-button. She waited while the other line rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi, mom–"

"Where are you, young lady!"

"I left you a note!" Sakura cried in her defense. ("Looks like I'm not the only one who's in trouble for staying out with boys," Shizuka said to Kimimaro. Ukon glared at her.)

"That note expired an hour and a half ago, young lady!"

"Ask her if you can spend the night," Shizuka ordered, having heard Sakura's mom's shrieking.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at her, then grinned and was about to ask her mother, when said mother asked, "Where are you, exactly!"

"Um... I'm over Shizuka's house..."

"Why are you over a boy's house!"

"Um... Shizuka's a girl mom," Sakura said amoungst Ukon and Sakkon's snorts of laughter.

"Then why is there a boy's jacket on the sofa!"

Ukon and Sakura looked at each other. "Shit," he said under his breath. He'd left his jacket on her coach when she was bandaging him.

"It's Ino's," Sakura answered, thinking of a lie nice and quick. "She left it over there."

"Why's it all ripped up?"

"Because Ino's really clumsy," Sakura answered, glad no one but her could hear the "ripped up" part. "Anyway, since it's so late, can I just stay over for the night?"

This, obviously, brought on more shouting.

"I want to speak to this Shizuka's parents!"

"Er–" Sakura gave them all a look.

Kimimaro rolled his eyes and held out his hand for the phone. Sakura was slightly optimistic but, remembering how unnaturally deep his voice was, and how it could probably sound like an adult's, she gave him the phone.

"Hello, this is Shizuka's father," Kimimaro said in his deep voice, causing Sakkon to have to clap his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. "...Well, yes, there are a few boys... No, they're too lame to rape your daughter... Heavens, no! What kind of household do you think I run? ...She and Shizuka are about the same size, she can borrow some of hers... Alright, then. Good bye." He hung up and gave the phone to Ukon.

"'Too lame to rape her'!" the twins shouted together. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think?" Kimimaro asked in his monotone. Turning to Sakura, he said, "Your mom wants you to come home before school tomorrow so you can get a clean uniform. We'll leave at six a.m., so don't stay up talking," before leaving.

Sakura sighed, slumping a little. "She's going to yell at me again..."

"Tell her to mind her own business!"

"What works for you doesn't work for everyone, Shizuka-sama," Ukon pointed out, his thumbs going crazy over the controller. "Just nod and agree, Sakura. She'll shut up after a while."

"Fuck you, Ukon, that never works and you know it!" Shizuka cried, bopping him across the head.

Sakura felt a chill go down her spine when Ukon flinched just before Shizuka's hand made contact with his head, but she didn't say anything; he'd only glare at her.

Neji suddenly stood up from where he had been sitting, quite silent, on the floor. "I'm going home," he told them bluntly before going to the door and stepping out, closing it behind him.

"Um, ok?" was all Shizuka had to say.

"Dude, you owe him big-time, Shizuka-sama," Ukon said in a rebuking tone. "Without him, we'd all be in deep shit."

"Yeah, yeah," Shizuka snapped, glaring. "I'll thank him eventually."

"No, seriously, Shizuka, you should got thank him now, before he goes," Sakura urged.

"He's probably already gone by now," Shizuka said, by way of excuse.

"Nah, it's impossible to get anywhere in this house very fast on your first try." Sakkon waved it off.

"Just go thank him!" Ukon ordered, putting the game on pause and got up, tucking her under one arm, kicking and screaming and shoving her out of the room and slamming the door. "I'm not letting you back in until you do."

She did a bit of shouting, and kicking at the door (which ended very quickly), then did some whining, but Ukon was absolute, so she groaned loudly and stormed down the hall, muttering something along the lines of murder.

I'm not going because I want to, she told herself angrily, shoving her hands in her pockets–but, of course, her school uniform didn't have pockets, so she crossed her arms instead. I'm going because I need to get back in my room so I can kick Ukon's ass!

She stopped, raising an eyebrow; Neji was standing in the middle of the hall, looking both annoyed and pissed (isn't that the same thing, though?). His back was to her, though, so he hadn't seen her yet. He was muttering angrily to himself, as well.

"God damn fuckin' house is too damn big and full of shit doors," he grumbled, looking around. "Which fuckin' way is out!"

"Man, your memory sucks," Shizuka said loudly, announcing her presence. He turned to glare at her, but she was unphased. "Don't you remember how we got to my room? This whole house is just one big hallway. If you had some patience and followed it the whole way, you'd get out."

He scowled at her and started down the hall way again.

"So, you're just going to storm off like a two-year-old throwing a fit?" she called after him.

He turned and glared again. "Did you want something?"

She groaned, dropping her arms at her sides. "Look, I'm only going to say this once, so pay attention!"

He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting.

There was a long silence.

"Thanks," she mumbled out of the corner of her mouth.

"For what?" he snapped.

"For telling my dad that I was over your house!" she snapped back.

He starred at her, looking dumbfounded. "...That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it!"

"...That's all?"

"What else have I got to thank you for!" she snapped.

Neji faltered slightly; like I said before, if he were one to fall over anime-style, he would have... several times. Then he starred at her some more. She... she really doesn't get it!

Flashback

Shizuka ran over to Itachi and helped him to a sitting position. After making sure he was semi-alright, she turned on Neji. "What is your problem!"

"My problem!" he cried. "He's the one being a total shit-face!"

"You didn't have to kick him! You could have actually hurt him!"

End flashback

...Why is that bothering me? Neji thought angrily before turning on his heel and going down the hall.

"You know, you shouldn't blow up every time someone insults you," she called after him. "It's totally immature."

Neji stopped; it seemed like he wanted to say something... but he just kept walking.

Shizuka sighed, grumbling loudly as she turned on her heel and went in the opposite direction back to her room. What was that all about...?

"Let me in, you fucker!" Shizuka snapped, rapping her knuckles on her door. "I thanked him, so let me in!"

Sakkon opened the door, grinning. "See, now was that so hard?"

"Yes! The boy's a total asshole!" she snapped, shouldering past him. Sakura and Ukon were playing Naruto 2, making snide comments at each other the whole time. Apparently, Ukon was kicking Sakura's butt.

After a 15-0 streak favoring Ukon, he decided he was done being king of video games and stood up. "Come on, Sakkon, it's late."

"Aw, but I wanna stay for the girly little sleep over!" Sakkon whined teasingly.

Ukon sweat-dropped. "No, Sakkon."

"Come on, girls," Sakkon said, ignoring his brother. "We can do each others hair and paint our nails and share our feelings!" He batted his eyelashes at them mockingly.

Shizuka glared. "Out!" she snapped, pointing at the door.

(Later that night)

"He gets so worked up over every damn thing," Shizuka grumbled to Sakura long after the twins had gone to bed (no, they didn't listen to Kimimaro when he said 'don't stay up talking'). "All Itachi did was insult him, and Neji went crazy!"

"What'd Itachi-san call him?" Sakura asked curiously. They two were sharing the bed, since it was so big, and were talking low enough so that only they could hear each other.

"He called him an asshole and a bastard and a whole lot of other colorful little–"

"He called Neji a bastard?" Sakura interrupted.

"Yeah, so?" Shizuka raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you what 'bastard' meant?"

"Nope, I just know it's an insult, so I use it." She shrugged.

Sakura sighed. "A bastard is, technically, a fatherless child."

"So why would Neji go bananas over being called that?" Shizuka asked curiously.

"Well... I don't know the details, but..." Sakura sighed. "Hinata told me last year when Neji moved in with them that Neji doesn't exactly have a dad."

"...Eh?" Shizuka raised an eyebrow. "How can you not exactly have a dad?"

"It's kind of complicated..." She sighed again. "See, when Neji was four or so, his dad just sort of disappeared, and no one knows where he went. There were a lot of search parties and everything, but nothing turned up. I guess it's kind of a soft spot for him."

"Damn," Shizuka said through a yawn. She was feeling pretty damn tired after tonight's 'adventures.' As she slowly drifted off to sleep, she thought absently, I can't imagine living without my dad for that long... Shit, Neji...


Okies, that seemed like a good place to end it.

Teeth: Ping!

You wanna know true aggravation?

True aggravation is when your computer only allows you to download 2 AMV's at a time, and you're downloading 2 Itachi AMV's, but you see 2 Sesshomaru AMV's that you like, and your Itachi AMV's are already halfway finished.

THAT, my friends, is true aggravation.

Ok, so, anyway, I was sitting at my comp the other day at about seven a.m, and I was rereading Bozenjishitsu (I was bored to pieces) and this fic called Little Green Leaves, and unfortunately, my Kankurou fetish has returned somewhat.

Anyway, I was thinkin' about it, and I was like, "Everyone thinks Kan-kun is butt-ugly!" Well you know what, I beg to differ! I got a whole bunch of Kankurou pictures and I took off all the make up and you know what? HIS FACE IS NORMAL! The hair is still a mystery, though... I think he has like, Kiba-style hair, but auburn. (Goes off babbling about Kankurou like she did in her Kankurou fics)

Kyuubi: (bop) Get back to your senses! Whatever's left of them...

T.T I am so unloved.

Ok, let's see... Reviews... HOLY CRAP! DUDE! 51-ISH ALL TOGETHER! (falls off chair) Ok this is gonna take a while so be patient, onegai?

Sigh.

But I love y'all so!

RedLotusNin and IceHunterNin: Lol, I love doing Sakkon-comedy like that. Hardly anyone but me (and about five other people) actually write stuff for the guy, so I try to max him out a bit. Your fic idea sounds cool! I will so read it! NaruHina is like, not even questionable for me: they just have to be together. I like the ShikaTem pairing because... well, just because they're so cute! That's the only pairing I'd do with Shika. As for Shino, go for it! He's cool! BUG PEOPLE 4EVA, YO!

HinatasBiggestFanBoy: I can't do that much comedy in drastically serious scenes... it's just not done. Lol. You can tell when I'm being serious about a serious scene when I don't put any comedy. I hope you like these, tho!

Dragonman180: If Orochi could ever actually bring himself to ground her, yeah, he probably would. Lol. Hey! I know lots of sophomores who could kick senior asses! (I happen to be one of them, thank very much!) But anyway, sorry there wasn't that much of a fight... I'm not good with doing fight scenes without Jutsu...

xl-twisted-lx: Yay! More trophies! (Huggles trophies) The pairings are still a little unclear for everyone but... Oh well, you never know!

Mika: I still haven't really decided on how the pairings will end up... I'm totally unclear! Sob! But it'll be nice and fluffy-wuffy... I dunno about sex scenes, but you know what? It's R, why not? Lol. But I get uber sigh putting sex scenes in... It's too early in the fic to be deciding that, tho!

Lily the best: Ok I'll try! Ty!

Kie-san: FUZZY! Lol. I love doing fuzzy, it's so much more fun then lemons. (Plus lemons make me shy...) They are cute, aren't they? Lol. I AM QUEEN OF LOVE-TRIANGLES, HELL YEAH! I got two triangles goin' and I am damn proud of it! Itachi is bein' kinda weird... It's hard putting a character like that in a high school setting and keeping him in character, tho... Ok, as for the questions: Neji and Hinata both have just really pale eyes (like when they don't have Byakugan). They wouldn't be Hinata and Neji without them! Kakashi... Um... I'm thinking, ok? And Jiraiya has... Yeah, everyone looks the same ok? But no Sharingen (so Kakashi has two normal eyes) and no Byakugan so... I'M CONFUSING MYSELF! DAMMIT! (Bangs head on wall) Oh and, I don't know what any of the album names are for Rammstein or anything, but... Yeah, I recommend the one... hang on, lemme check... The one called 'Mutter' because it has the three songs that I like on it! Dude this is a long response! Oh well, long review, ne?

Ginka: Ty! I'm glad you like the little 'thing' they have going! I like it, too! Enjoy and ty!

Jazzywolf: Please don't scare me like that and take so long to review... Unless yer comp's bein' a bitch, then I understand. Lol. I was freakin' out earlier.

Rose: (SNG slowly backs away) Let's chill, ok, let's just chi-i-i-i-ill... But anyway, here's the update! No more scaring the authoress, ne?

Tennyo: Ok, here you go! Sorry if you thought it took a while... It was kind of a hard chapter..

RM: Ok, yeah, you and Rose both need to lay off the copy-paste button... Lol, j/k. ty for review!

(SNG takes a deep breath) Wow! That took a whole page! Now I'm hungry!

WAFFLES!

Neji: Mine!

Mumble grumble...