Crimson Love

This one's muse of the day shall be her lovely (male) character, Aku!

Aku: (waves) Hello! (smile)

Blame him for anything you find saddening.

Aku/.O

O.ox This one got 24 reviews for the last chapter! Holy crap! (feels like she has been touched by god) This one is not worthy… And! They were all very nice, long reviews…. Everyone had something or someone to comment on, with the exception of, like, one review. But this one doesn't publicly ridicule! (Kenshin grin) (Unless you annoy this one) Thank you for all your reviews! This one hopes (prays) maybe she shall break her record and reach 300?

…This one shall stop dreaming for the impossible.

But anyway, thanks again! This one does go through and read every single review carefully, to get ideas. If you have suggested things you would like to see, this one is careful to consider options, but apologizes if you did not get your wish.

(Ritsu Moment) THIS ONE IS SOOOOOOOOO SORRRRRYYYYY! GOMEN NASAAAIIIII!

Aku: (falls on readers by way of greeting) ENJOY!

(He does that… it's his way of saying hello. CTO and Kage know…)

You know what… this one wants a staff for her manga… coloring in all that black in Aku's hair is really troublesome…

Aku: I'm sorry for having sexy hair/.Y


Chapter Seventeen: Broken Wings

Kimimaro waited in Shizuka's room for about an hour, eager to tell his beloved sister (and owner) about Ino's invitation to "hang out". He did not recall ever feeling this giddy, except once, on his tenth birthday, when Kidoumaru had gotten him a Shrinky Dink machine. But, as we all know, Shrinky Dinks are godly, so that didn't count. He couldn't wait to tell his sister about his new achievements, since she, especially, had a way of congratulating him that made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

As soon as he had told her, however, he would go tell the rest of the known world.

And so, when Shizuka got to her room, Kimimaro was ready and waiting for her at the door.

"Hi, Shizuka-chan, did you have a good time?" he asked, feeling he might as well do the thing properly.

Her reaction, however, was not one he would have ever suspected. Normally, if he greeted her thus, she would give him a huge hug that would make his spine pop, and gush for an hour or so about what she and Neji (and Gaara, usually) had done that day, not leaving anything out. Now, if Neji knew that his private life was being gushed like that, he probably would have been slightly annoyed. However, it was through this method of said gushing that Kimimaro knew whether or not Shizuka and Neji had had sex, and Neji ought to be grateful, since, if they had, Kimimaro would most likely cut the aforementioned boyfriend's testicles off.

Today, however, was different. Instead of giving him a bone-crushing hug, Shizuka backed away until she was against the wall across from her door, eyes wide, her body visibly trembling.

"…Shizuka-chan?"

She said nothing, sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the floor, knees drawn up to her chest and her forehead on her knees, still shaking.

Kimimaro's eyes widened. "Shizuka-chan, what's wrong?" he cried, rushing to her side. "Did something happen?"

She didn't answer, or make any sign that she had heard him. She was ashamed of herself. The first thought that had gone through her head when she saw him had been He's a man. He's going to hurt me. She was ashamed of herself that she would think that of Kimimaro, whom she had known her entire life, and who would never hurt her, even unintentionally. I'm disgusting, she thought, drawing her knees closer, ignoring his protests and pleadings for her to tell her what was wrong. I'm disgusting… I'm dirty… oh god, I feel so dirty…

She got up and ran into her bathroom, grabbing a wash cloth and turning the water in her sink on until it was scalding hot, running the wash cloth under it and pouring soup into the water. After she'd lathered up the wash cloth, she scrubbed her arms and legs furiously, ignoring the burning feeling. I can feel it, I can feel it, I can feel it, she thought in a mantra, scrubbing furiously at her skin. She couldn't help it; she could still feel Itachi's hands on her, his nails digging into her skin to hold her down. It was the most disgusting feeling she'd ever felt, but it wouldn't go away, no matter how much she scrubbed. Stop, dammit! she shouted inside, dunking her whole arm in the sink and scrubbing it. Make it go away!

"Shizuka-chan, you'll burn yourself!" Kimimaro cried, running into the bathroom after her. "Please stop it!" He grabbed her hand and shoulder in an attempt to make her stop before she scrubbed her skin off.

Her eyes widened when she felt him touch her, and, for a split second, she thought it was Itachi touching her. She screamed, wrenching herself away from him and running into the toilet stall, slamming the door shut and locking it.

Kimimaro stood very still for a long time; he could hear her sobbing raggedly in the stall, but he didn't know why. He didn't know what he'd done to make her act like that; she'd never acted like that towards him in his entire life. Something happened, he thought, going over to kneel next to the door to the toilet stall. "Shizuka-chan?"

She didn't respond, and kept sobbing.

"Shizuka-chan, please tell me what's wrong," he said softly, kneeling on the tiled floor. "Please? We always tell each other everything, don't we? We've always done everything together, right? Ever since we were little, we've always done everything together. We've always told each other when something was bothering us. Right? Please tell me what's wrong. I want to help, if I can. If I can't, I'll just listen. Ok?"

There was a long silence; he heard her sniffing slightly, but she wasn't sobbing anymore.

"I'm sorry, Shizuka-chan," he said softly, leaning against the wall next to the door to the stall. "I'm sorry for whatever happened. And I'm sorry for cornering you like this. I'm sorry if I did anything to upset you. I'm sorry if it's my fault. I'm sorry for frightening you, if I did. I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry."

Inside the stall, Shizuka listened to him, feeling totally wrenched. This was Kimimaro. This wasn't Itachi. This was her best friend. This was the person she'd known her entire life.

Kimimaro looked up when she opened the door. There were tear tracks on her cheeks, and her arms were red from where she'd scalded herself, but he looked past it as she crawled over to him and laid her head in his lap and sobbed.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, wrapping her arms around his waist as he stroked her hair gently. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm dirty… I'm sorry… I'm so disgusting…"

"No you're not," he said in a soothing voice, stroking her hair in a comforting way.

"It… it won't go away," she whispered softly. "I can't… I can't make the feeling go away…"

He didn't say anything at first, brushing a few strands of hair off her forehead. His eyes widened when he felt aforementioned forehead. "Shizuka-chan, you're burning up!" he cried, pressing his hand on her forehead.

"I walked home," she mumbled.

"Come on," he said in a gentler tone, helping her to her feet and taking her back in her room. He got her dressed in a pair of pajama pants and a big T-shirt that used to belong to him (Keep in mind, he's her brother, technically, so he doesn't care about dressing her), put her in her bed with ice packs on her arms to ease the burns, and tucked her up nicely. At one point, Kamikaze came in, so he put the cat in with her as a companion. Then, he put in her Greenday CD, gave her her headphones, and started to leave to get her a glass of water, but she stopped him, looking instantly terrified.

"I don't want to be alone," she said softly, looking ready to cry again.

"I'll be back," he promised. When she still looked scared, he went over and locked the window, duct-taped it shut, and even added a few nails to appease her (where he got the nails is a mystery to me, too). This seemed alright, since she sat back again, petting Kamikaze on the head.

Once Kimimaro was in the kitchen, he picked up the phone and dialed a number he knew very well by now.

"Hello?"

"What the hell did you do to Shizuka, Neji?" he demanded angrily, grabbing a glass out of the cabinet and going over to the fridge to get ice.

"…I… didn't…" He seemed genuinely confused. "I was just about to call you and see where she was."

"What're you talking about?" Kimimaro asked, still totally miffed as he held the glass under the ice machine thing.

"She went out about a half hour ago to look for something she was supposed to bring us, since she thought she dropped it in the driveway, and she didn't come back for a while, but when we went to see if she was still out there, she was gone, so I thought she might have gone home or something," Neji said in one breath.

"She said she walked home, but she didn't tell me why," Kimimaro answered, putting the glass under the little water thing (I have no idea what these things are called, but we have one on our fridge and I use them both all the time).

"Without her coat? There's snow outside."

"I know, she has a fever now," Kimimaro said, going to the fridge and opening it one-handed, getting a bag of grapes out. Setting the bag down on the counter, he got a box of deli toothpicks out of one of the cabinets and started putting the grapes on the toothpicks shishkabob-style. "Are you sure you didn't say anything to upset her?" he asked, cradling the phone between his ear and shoulder.

"Well, Gaara just doesn't talk," Neji mused. "And I can't think of anything I said that was bad enough to make her go home on her own."

"No, I'm sure it wasn't you," Kimimaro mused, putting the grape shishkabobs on a small plate.

"Is she too sick to come to school tomorrow?"

"Most likely," Kimimaro said, going and getting some cheese and crackers for himself. "I think she was delirious, or something. She tried to like, burn her skin off, or something, and screamed at me when I tried to stop her. Then she locked herself in her bathroom and didn't come out 'till I begged her. I think she's—"

"Who are you talking to?"

Kimimaro turned; Shizuka stood in the doorway, starring blankly at him. "Just Neji," he answered.

Her eyes widened. "No!" she shouted, running over and yanking the phone out of his hand and slamming it down on the receiver.

Kimimaro starred at her. "What's with you? It's just Neji." He glanced at the phone as it started ringing again. "See? He's calling back to see if something wrong."

Kimimaro moved to answer the phone, but she blocked him, shaking her head vigorously. "Don't… Don't tell him anything," she said in a begging voice. "If you do, he'll—he'll do something a-and he'll get hurt!"

Kimimaro starred at her as the phone continued to ring.

"Anyone gonna get that?" Kidoumaru asked, frowning, as he came in the kitchen to see what all the noise was about.

There was a long silence, as Kimimaro and Shizuka starred at each other, and Kidoumaru starred at both of them.

"…Anyone?" The six-armed wonder looked at them both.

Another silence.

"…Ok, fine, I'll answer," he said huffily, going over to the phone and picking it up, only to have it wrenched from his hand by Shizuka and turned off before he could even get a "hello" out.

Kidoumaru and Kimimaro both starred at Shizuka as she covered the phone with her body, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "Please don't talk to him," she said softly. "He'll hate me…"

Kidoumaru raised an eyebrow. "O-K, I'll let this one pass as one of her passing flings." Shrugging it off carelessly, he left the kitchen.

Kimimaro watched him go, and then starred at Shizuka again. "Why would Neji hate you?" he asked, totally and mortally confused.

When she didn't answer, Kimimaro frowned, going over and lifting her gently away from the phone. "Come on Shizuka-chan," he said gently, "you have a fever and it's making you delirious, or something. You should go to sleep, ok? I won't call Neji." Even though I'm most likely going to get chewed out tomorrow for hanging up when he was worried about her…

Now, granted, Kimimaro was just as curious as Neji sometimes (See Chapter Numero …um… 12), but he was decidedly better at controlling his curiosity.

…Sometimes.

However, this was one of those times, so there is no comic scene of Kimimaro in a detective robe and magnifying glass for you to picture and enjoy. Anyway: getting back to the original plot (whatever's left of it).

…Yeah, SNG just completely lost her train of thought on that.

(-oOo-)

Neji starred at the phone as he was hung up on, not once, but twice. Setting the phone down, he turned to Gaara. "Dude, they just hung up on me. Twice."

"…" Gaara thought for a moment. "Maybe she thinks you'll catch her germs?"

"Over the phone?"

"…Good point." Gaara thought some more. "Maybe she's breaking up with you?"

Neji: ULTIMATE DEPRESSION.

"…Or… not?"

Neji: Less-then Ultimate Depression.

"Ok, well, it's a start."

(-oOo-)

When Ukon woke up, an hour or so later, he was dead-tired and feeling kind of sore from his nasty little experience, even though Sakura had cut it off half-way through. It was, however, nothing a shower wouldn't fix, so, rolling off the bed with a thud, he dragged himself into the bathroom.

Sakura looked up as he opened the door; she was in the process of wrapping a towel around herself. She, apparently, had had the same idea as Ukon, that taking a shower would help the soreness.

Ukon: O.o

Sakura: o.O

"OH MY GOD YOU PERVERT!" she screamed, finishing wrapping herself in a heartbeat and throwing every available solid object at him.

"I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!" he yelped, running out of the bathroom with his good arm over his head. "Please don't throw stuff!"

After she slammed the bathroom door shut, Ukon went to his desk and got some napkins out of his first aid kit, rolling them up and using them to stop his nosebleed. Perversion sucks, he thought, exiting his room to go down the hall in the direction of the kitchen.

Sakkon looked up from where he was sitting at the kitchen table with a jar of peanut butter, a Physics textbook, a student directory, and napkins stuck up his nose. "You too?"

Ukon glared at him. "See, now, it's semi-alright for me to see her, since I'm the boyfriend. You, however, are just not entitled."

Sakkon rolled his eyes, going back to paging through the student directory.

"Looking for someone?" Ukon raised an eyebrow, sitting down and dipping his finger in the peanut butter.

"I can't remember Temari's cell phone number," Sakkon answered. "And I can't remember her last name, either."

Ukon starred at him. "Dude. We've known them for, like, twelve years, and you still don't know her last name?"

"Hey! My short-term memory only goes back to last week! Besides, you can't convince me you know her last name!"

"…I was never obligated to know it," Ukon said carelessly, licking his finger.

The twins looked up when Sakura came in, wearing a pair of Ukon's jeans and one of his black, button-down shirts with the sleeves rolled up five times. She glared at them before going over to the fridge and opening it.

Ukon turned and whispered to Sakkon, with his hand over his mouth so Sakura couldn't see or hear, "I can't decide if it would be fatal to mention she looks good in my clothes."

"Why don't you try it?" Sakkon whispered back.

"Why don't you?"

"Because she might actually hurt me!"

"And what makes you think she won't hurt me?"

"Because you already have a cast on!"

"You know I can hear everything you're saying, right?" Sakura called from where she was dumping some take-out onto a plate and going over to the microwave.

Twins: "Meep!"

Sakura took the food back out of the microwave and grabbed a pair of chopsticks from a drawer. She sat down at the opposite end of the table from the twins; and considering how many people actually lived in the house, it was a pretty big table. They watched her warily, in silence, as she slowly ate.

Sakkon started to stick his finger in the peanut butter again.

"It is rude to stick one's finger in a jar of peanut butter used by the entire house," Sakura said coolly.

"Sorry!" Sakkon squeaked, withdrawing the finger at once and sticking it in his mouth to hide the evidence.

"I'm sure you didn't… do that… before?" Sakura said slowly.

"Do what?" the younger twin squeaked.

"Stick your finger in your mouth… and then back in the peanut butter?"

"N-No!" he squeaked, wiping the offensive finger off on his shirt.

"…Oh yeah." She went back to her food. "That's really attractive."

I'm so humiliated! Sakkon sobbed inwardly, banging his head on the table.

It was worse last time, Ukon thought, patting Sakkon on the back. Last time, she got angry again and threw kitchenware…

(-oOo-)

"She can't be breaking up with me," Neji said for the fifteenth time, pacing his room with his hands behind his back. "I didn't do anything. I haven't made her mad in two weeks. She can't be breaking up with me. I didn't do anything. I haven't made her mad in two weeks. She can't be breaking up with me. I didn't do anything. I haven't made her mad in two weeks. She can't be breaking up with me. I didn't—"

"Will. You. Shut. Up. !" Gaara shouted, throwing the manga he had previously been reading, on the floor.

"I'm emotionally distraught!"

"You're driving me insane!"

"My girlfriend is ignoring me!"

"I'm going to lose what's left of my marbles!"

"AND YOU DON'T CARE!" Neji threw himself on his bed and proceeded to be even more depressed then he already was. "Oh my god, she's breaking up with me! Oh my god, I'm gonna die!"

"Please do," Gaara muttered, putting in his headphones.

Headphones, however, was a failed attempt as Neji suddenly appeared in front of him with Shojo-sad-eyes. Gaara groaned and took the headphones out. "What?"

"Am I codependent?" Neji whimpered, his lower-lip quivering.

"Yes."

"OH MY GOD, YOU'RE SO MEAN! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO ME WHEN I'M SO DEPRESSED?" Neji shrieked, beating Gaara.

"BECAUSE YOU'RE BEING INSANE!"

"SHE'S BREAKING UP WITH ME!"

"NO WONDER!"

"OH MY GOD I HATE YOU!" Neji wailed, even though he didn't mean it, and opened his door.

Hanabi starred up at him from where she was crouching next to his door with a glass against her ear.

Oh, no…

"NEJI-NII-SAN'S GIRLFRIEND HIS BREAKING WITH HIM AND GAARA'S LOSING HIS MARBLES AND NEJI-NII-SAN IS CODEPENDENT AND NEJI-NII-SAN HATES GAARA?"

THWHACK.

Hanabi: X.x

"We have to dispose of her or we'll never hear the end of this!"

And so it was that Hanabi was wrapped up like a fish cake and disposed of under her bed with the dusty bunnies of hell that have been building up there for the past fifteen years.

Gaara went home shortly after, saying he needed time to ration his conscious. Neji didn't know what 'rationing conscious' meant, but he didn't care. Instead, he went to the only guy in the county with enough knowledge of girls to assist him.

"PLEASE HELP ME, COACH, I'M BEING DUMPED!" Neji wailed, bowing with his forehead to the floor.

"I don't know whether to be insulted or humored," Genma muttered, chewing slowly on a sandwich.

(-oOo-)

Shizuka watched Kimimaro play video games, both of them in total silence. She was sitting against the wall, in the corner of her bed, with as much distance between them as possible. She couldn't help it. She couldn't feel comfortable being close to him, even if he was "just Kimimaro." When she thought of it, she couldn't help from think of Itachi; she'd let her guard down with him for a long time, because she never thought he'd actually do anything to her. And she'd never even bothered to keep her guard up with Kimimaro and the others, because she considered all of them like her brothers, and, because of that, didn't think they would "do" anything, either. But maybe she was wrong; maybe Kimimaro and the other guys weren't to be trusted, after all.

Kimimaro turned to look at her during a lapse in the action of his game. "Are you sure you're alright, Shizuka-chan?"

She nodded, chewing her lip into a smile. "Yeah… I'm fine."

He smiled brightly at her. "Ok." He returned to his game. "DIE, EVIL CELL-MINIONS!"

Normally, she would have laughed at his sudden outburst, but now, she couldn't. Damn you, Itachi, she thought darkly, leaning her forehead against the wall. You stole my relationship with my brother… now I'll never be as comfortable with him again…

(-oOo-)

If Sakura could have described Kimimaro and Neji's behavior the next day in school, she could have summed it up in one word: depressed. From what she could see, the older boy didn't participate in class like he normally did, didn't talk as much as he normally did, and actually packed an unhealthy lunch. When people saw Kimimaro following Sakura around like normal, it was like she was being haunted by a ghost or something.

When Kimimaro didn't react in the slightest to Ino hugging him, Sakura knew something was seriously up, but when she asked Ukon about it, he didn't have any real answers, per say.

"Shizuka-sama's sick, but he doesn't normally act this way when she is," Ukon explained, scratching the back of his head. "I don't get him, either, sometimes."

"Kimimaro?" Sakura poked Kimimaro on the arm.

He turned bleary, zombie-like eyes on her.

"Um… are you ok?" she asked uneasily.

"Yes… fine… everything is fine…" He went back to sitting with his forehead on his desk, arms hanging limp at his side.

"…How 'bout you, Neji?" Ukon poked Neji on the forehead with his good arm (the one not in the cast).

Neji turned Shojo-sad-eyes on Ukon. "Do you think she's breaking up with me…?"

"…Whatever, man." Ukon turned back to Sakura. "They seem fine to me."

"Well, yeah, they're perfectly fine," she said with an eye-roll, "if you're comparing them to a dead man."


Chappie Info:

Inspirational Songs:

Haunted, by Evanescence (on Shizuka's thoughts)

Ever Dream? By Nightwish (on Kimimaro's thoughts)

Authoress Responses! (Hell yeah!)

KingOfUndrWrld: Ok, you want responses? Here's my responses: Learn to spell, for the love of god! You are in tenth grade, WAY too old to be using 'dood' and 'teh'. That just pisses me off. Also, you used my name! Hello! Are you too much of a dumb ass to know NOT to use people's first or last names over the internet? Why don't you just give them my address and phone number and tell them to stalk me? Also: ANGST much? I did put you in the responses; I put you in the list of reviews I couldn't very well comment on because they had NOTHING to do with the story, practically. Just because you don't get your own lovely little thing like the wonderful people who DO leave reviews ABOUT the story about not about how I "didnt include meh in ur review stuff" does NOT mean I hate you. Also, I "gotta" put WHO in, now? I don't "gotta" do anything. I could kill Shikamaru off and not have any remorse. Well, there are my responses. Since you obviously wanted public ridicule, I gave it to you.

And now, onto this one's lovely buddies!

Mika: GASP! HELLO, LOVELY! (sob sob) It hath been too long since this one hath readth thine wonderful reviews! Ok, anyway. You can take the salad dressing and bread things away now, this one is done with him for now. (Kenshin grin)

Dragonman180: Dude, Itachi would already be dead before he even pulled in the driveway if this were Ninja world. This one kind of wish Neji had the Byakugan, too. Y.Yx The fact that they're not in Ninja world greatly limits their fighting technique. This one actually had to use GUNS, and this one thinks that guns are sissy's tools. This one has come to greatly enjoy Sakura now! This one did not like her at all in Catharsis, but then again, she was not in love with Ukon in Catharsis.

Kie-san: O.ox You left 2 reviews… Oh well. Adds to the numbers, ne? (Kenshin Grin) You're like, the only person who ever comments on how I write the lyrics in with the song… it's rather depressing, but good that someone notices, at the same time. O.ox What made you think he wouldn't go so far?

Aku/.o OH MY GOD YOUR SISTER HAS MY NAME!

Hinata's Biggest Fan Boy: This one is sorry for the short length of the chapter! Y.Yx This one wanted to put in a scene of Gaara and Neji watching TV during the time Shizuka was raped, but it didn't fit anywhere in the lyrics, really. Gomen! O.ox That was a rather long review. Oro… Oh, this chapter is 1164-ish more words then the last one… This one tried to lengthen it! Y.Yx

CrazyTreeOtaku: O.ox She talks about this one? Oro. Oh dear. Only good things, this one hopes… NO ITACHI MUST REST IN PIECES!

Aku: (pushes SNG out of the way) HIII, CTO-DONO! (falls on CTO)

RLN and IHN: If this were Ninja world, Itachi would already be dead, because Ukon would have killed him, and then he would come back to life with his l33t ninja skills, and then Neji would kill him, and he'd come back with his l33t ninja skills, and then Kimimaro would kill him and so on and so forth. THEN… Dun-dun-dun. Inner-Sakura would get him. Then he would just stay dead.

Meggido the Relic Hunter: O.o This one enjoyed your review greatly, that she did. (Kenshin grin) ITACHI MUST DIE!

Epuneyujah: Oh, don't worry. This one shall punish him… with fire… and brimstone… NO ONE DOES THAT TO THIS ONE'S O.C.S AND GETS AWAY WITH IT! This one liked him better in Apprentice but now, this one dislikes him with a passion.

DreamAnimeKitten: THIS ONE AGREES WITH YOU THAT KIMI IS THE MOST ADORABLE THING! ..Er… however, this one thinks he is the most adorable thing above Gaara… and even Neji… so… yeah. This one things you might look in the Sound Ninjas folder in Anime Galleries. That is were the others are listed. This one is annoyed that they do not have their own folders.

Andrea: Y.Yx This one was greatly saddened by the chapter, as well. H-R was greatly saddened by it, as well. When she read it, she asked this one "Why their world is falling apart." This one can not answer, for she has had this planned out for some time. Gomen!

A random student: (Kenshin grin!) You do not have to draw it for this lowly one! This one is sorry that you did not enjoy the rest of Apprentice…Gomen! Y.Yx This one was rather proud of the ending, though… This fic is a redemption of sorts for this one, so that she may redeem herself for the people who did not like Apprentice. (Kenshin grin) (stares at mail box anyway)

Riyo Shiban: Ah. This one shall know how to translate it now! (Kenshin grin)

xl-twisted-lx: (offers her Authoress Void of Random Weapons) This one shall let you use this for a time, if you are only murderlizing Itachi. (Kenshin grin)

AlphaC: Yes… you and H-R have both the same opinion… their lives are falling apart for the good of this one's cruel and unusual plot. Gomen! Y.Yx

Jazzy Uchiha: Again with short reviews… because the longer ones were in great numbers this time, this one does not mind as much… demo… Y.Yx

Meg Haze: O.ox ARE YOU AGREEING WITH ITACHI'S BEHAVIOR? (raises sword) ARE YOU? (lowers sword) Ah. Gomen! (Kenshin grin) This one hasn't figured anything out for Orochi yet… but he will be punished… somehow…

Rini Rika: This one likes violent things O.ox. As with this one's other responses: Itachi and Orochi WILL be punished… somehow…

Winnie7851: O.ox When this one first began to read your review, this one thought it was a flame and became worried! But it was not! (Kenshin smile) It was very nice! Thank you! This one is pleased you enjoy it and my other fics! (Kenshin smile)

NarutoFreak101: THIS ONE LOATHES ITACHI AS WELL! DIIIIIIIEEE! (steps on Itachi repeatedly) Ahem. (Kenshin grin) Anyway. Gaara does talk O.ox just only to Neji…

Ginka: There shall be much drama, no da… This wasn't meant to be a comedy, but oh well. This one can't help but put in comic scenes every now and then. (Kenshin grin) All rape IS horrible! O.ox

Isaac Says Booga: It's kind of odd, but this one based Ukon's screen name on your name a little bit. Just a widdle bit (Kenshin grin). Thank you for your criticism… what's a SSBM controller? This one put just "he stole from me" on purpose, because this one is going to keep adding onto that statement in later chapter about the things Shizuka's spirit is limited to now, i.e.: her interactions with Kimimaro. This one thanks you again! (gives Kimi plushie with removable bones) O.ox

Aku: PH34R M4 L33T MUS3 SK33LS!