Crimson Love
This chapter was inspired (heavenly music) by the wonderful, funky movie that I just watched ten minutes ago, How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days. I just twisted it and made it unnatural.
Basically, I'm saying I don't take credit for any of this crap.
P.S.: Thank you to everyone who has said that Shizuka is an awesome O.C.! I'm glad you think so!
Chapter Twenty: There's No Such Thing as Perfection
"Hinata-chan," Shizuka said with a smile, sidling over to her friend. "Aren't you going to go talk to Naruto, hm? Give him his present?"
Hinata blushed five shades of pink and glanced over at Naruto. The blond in question was currently busy ripping the wrapping paper off of every present placed before him, not really caring who the present was from, or what the present was, so she quickly looked away again. "I-If he w-wanted to talk t-to me, h-he would h-have—"
"Who frickin' cares? You have legs, you have a mouth, you go over and talk to him!" Shizuka insisted.
"B-But what if he d-doesn't like m-me?"
Shizuka starred at her for a few long minutes of agonizing silence. "Why the hell wouldn't he like you?" she said almost coldly, putting her hands on her hips. "You have a wonderful, adorable little personality, and not to mention the fact that you're adorable, too!"
"But I-I'm not you, Shizuka-chan…" Hinata mumbled, poking her fingers together.
Shizuka blinked. "How does that make a difference?"
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ino said, coming over with sodas for both the girls. "Hinata's the cute little girlie down the lane, and you're the hot, sexy, warrior babe who controls life for her guy."
"I do not control Neji!" Shizuka cried, looking mortified as she claimed her soda. Without thinking, she turned and informed Neji, who was across the room, "Neji, deep-fried stuff makes you fat. Don't eat it."
"Oh, ok," Neji said at once, putting down his deep-fried twinkie. (Yes, they do exist)
Ino cleared her throat loudly.
Shizuka's jaw dropped. "I don't control him!"
"Yeah, but he wouldn't dare break up with you," Ino pointed out, sipping her soda.
"He would if she acted insane," Sakura pointed out, coming over, as well.
"Well, any guy would break up with a girl if she acted insane."
"Ok, I'll make a bet with you," Ino said with a smile that read "death". "If you act totally crazy for the rest of the day, and he still doesn't break up with you, I'll give you a complete set of Full-metal Alchemist manga."
Shizuka's eyebrows rose. "And what if he does break up with me?"
"We'll tell him we manipulated and harassed you into it," Ino said unblushingly.
Shizuka seemed to be thinking about it for a minute. "Fine, I'll do it," she said, after a long silence. "But if he breaks up with me, I swear I'll put a hurt on you," she told Ino.
"Ok, fine," Ino put her hands up defensively. "But I have an idea." She smiled. "I'll call my mom and have her drive it over."
"You're not going to, like, make him wear a shirt with your face on it, are you?" Sakura asked, eyes wide, as Ino asked Kimimaro to direct her to the phone.
Shizuka's eyebrows went up. "That's a good idea, actually," she said thoughtfully, walking away, swishing her soda.
Sakura's jaw dropped, and she started to go after her, but Ukon came over and touched her arm. "Hey, Saku-chan, I got something to show you," he said with a grin.
She blinked. "What?" she asked curiously.
"Come on," he said, taking her hand and leading her out of the room, grabbing her coat off the hook as she passed. "It's outside," he said to her unasked question.
"It's not alive, is it?" she asked incredulously.
He gave her an odd, surprised look. "Of course not."
"Ok, then." For a second or two, she'd thought he'd gotten a dog or something, and she wasn't exactly partial to dogs. Besides, Ukon seemed like a cat-person.
Actually, considering he owned a cat, he probably most definitely was a cat-person.
"What is it?" she asked, her curiosity bubbling over.
"Close your eyes," he ordered as they left the house, a huge grin on his face, like an excited child about to show his new toys off.
"Ok," she said, closing them at once. She felt him go to stand behind her, his fingers going over her eyes. "I won't peek!"
"I refuse to believe that, you're sneaky." He guided her a little ways, making a few turns, until she left the cold sensation one feels when one is suddenly in a dark, cool place after being outside for a while. "Ok, stand there for a second and don't look!"
"Ok." She felt his fingers come away from her eyelids, and heard the dull clacks of his boots as he walked away. Then, the inside of her eyelids turned red as a light turned on.
"Ok, open them!" he called from some corner of wherever they were.
She opened her eyes as instructed, blinking a few times in the light. As soon as her eyes were adjusted, they popped open. "A motorcycle?"
"Not just any motorcycle," Ukon said with a grin, coming over from where he was standing next to the garage door. "It's a 2004 Harley Davidson XL883C Sportster Custom. The dimensions, in U.S. units length, is about 90 inches. The seat-height, laden by one person, is about 26 inches; the ground clearance is 4.4 inches. The rake steering head/trail is about 4.7 inches; the wheelbase is 60.4 inches. It's fuel capacity is 4.5 gallons and the oil capacity is 3.6 quarts. Its dry weight is 558 pounds. It runs on a POWERTRAIN Engine(3) Evolution®. It's displacement is inches to the third. It goes on eight miles per gallon, it's front laced, has a rear custom silver cast aluminum alloy,
electronic speedometer; odometer; resettable tripmeter; diagnostic readouts. It comes in a lot of colors, but I got it in sierra red and black. Its special features are it's silver powder-coated engine with polished covers, a significantly reduced clutch lever effort a 4.5-gallon fuel tank, forward foot control, laced front wheel, disc rear wheel, chrome pull-back riser and a one-piece, two-up seat. It's my Christmas present to me!" he ended, throwing his arms around the handlebars. "I'm so happy!"
Ok, yeah, I didn't understand a word he just said. Sakura shivered at the thought of so many unknown words in the human language.
"And you get to wear the goofy-looking helmet."
"…What?" She blinked, coming back to reality. Ukon was sitting on the motorcycle with his legs propping it up on either side, a black helmet on his head, and was holding out a white ball-like helmet to her. Surely he jests… He expects me to get on that thing?
"Come on, chickie, we're burnin' daylight, lets go!" he called loudly, waving the helmet at her.
…He's serious. She hid a sigh, taking the helmet from him and putting it on. Good thing I wore jeans today instead of a skirt like I was going to…
"You know what, I take that back," he said, examining the effect of the white helmet on her. "That looks pretty darn cute."
Sakura managed to make her smile look real as she climbed onto the back of the motorcycle behind him and put her arms securely around his waist. Her mother would quite literally kill her if she knew her daughter was on a motorcycle, or, as Ms. Haruno called them, a "murder machine".
However, as soon as they had taken off down the driveway and out onto the street, Sakura completely forgot all about her mother's nagging as her anxiety was replaced by thrills as the air pressure picked up the tips of her hair and coat, waving them out behind her like butterfly wings. Ukon's hair tickled her face as the ends waved out from under his helmet; she heard him laughing excitedly as they pulled a sharp turn, which pulled them almost parallel with the road.
(-oOo-)
"What are you concocting this time?" Kidoumaru asked Shizuka haughtily as he helped himself to a can of soda out of the fridge.
"A way to surgically remove your extra arms," Shizuka said at once, not missing a beat.
Kidoumaru spit out a mouthful of soda, then turned on her. "No you will not!"
"Then don't get in my way," she said coolly, chopping a cucumber into thin slices.
Kidoumaru instantly began backing out of the kitchen. He crossed paths with Neji as he did, and gave the younger boy a warning look as he did.
Neji disregarded it, however, and went over to hug Shizuka. "What'cha makin'?"
"Munchies," she answered innocently.
"…Should I be scared?"
"No!" she snapped, giving him a glare over her shoulder.
"Ok, ok…" he said in a pacifying voice, holding his hands up in defense. "Anyway…" He leaned against the counter, pocketing his hands. "You wanna come over tonight and have dinner with me and my family?"
She blinked, looking up at him. "Why?" she asked suspiciously.
"Because my mom wants to play the mother-role for you," he answered carelessly. "I told her your mother died and she went into frantic-mode and ordered me on pain of death to invite you over for dinner as often as possible. This is effort number 1."
"Sure, I'll come," she said casually, going back to the cucumber, smacking his hand away as he reached for a slice.
"Oh, and, Sakkon and Tayuya are ordering pizza and they want to know what you want."
"Um… pepperoni and sausage," she answered.
"Okie dokie." He turned on his heel and went out.
Shizuka snickered slightly, taking out the bread and putting the cucumber slices on the pieces carefully.
(-oOo-)
"Of come on, Kankurou, it's just a door, give it up! I'll ask Sakkon later."
"NO! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY A PIECE OF WOOD!"
"…A piece of wood reinforced with 300 tons of cement and iron plating. I also suspect he's put five sentry guns and three gatling guns i—"
"Ah, who asked you, ya shrimp?"
Life status on Kankurou: Dead
(Shizuka's Random Memo Pad)
Ways to piss Neji off:
When the pizza gets here, force him to eat cucumber sandwiches instead of icky pizza
Present him with a "love tulip" that signifies our relationship and after secretly feeding it chemicals to make it die
Using photoshop, construct a virtual album of what our children would look like
Whenever am offered food, scream "Oh so you think I'm FAT?"
Make His-and-her t-shirts
When arrive over his family's house, remodel his entire bathroom in pink
When I meet his family, talk all about embarrassing incidents at school
When offered dinner (chicken teriyaki; I note it's especially cooked by Neji) refuse and claim to be a vegetarian and hope he doesn't remember that I ordered meat on my pizza
Demand full access to all his personal documents, such as diaries, so that I can "further discover him"
Think of dumb, wishy-washy nicknames that no one in their right minds would call him, such as Neji-wedgie, Neji-boo-boo-boo, and Schnukums.
(End of Shizuka's Random Memo pad)
"I don't know what it is, but I just can't crack this guy, Hinata!" Shizuka informed Hinata when the two girls were alone in the bathroom, supposedly fixing their make-up (even though Hinata didn't wear make up). "But I think that just proves Ino's point that he wouldn't break up with me, right?"
Hinata nodded shyly. "I suppose…"
"So it just proves that guys really do have feelings, right?"
"Of course…"
"So therefore, you should take Naruto's feelings in mind and break his 14 years of girlfriendless existence." (Isn't that odd? Girlfriendless is a word…wait, girlfriendlessness isn't… nevermind, it's not odd anymore)
Hinata's eyes widened. "I-I don't think I could!" she cried, blushing furiously.
"Oh come on, yeah you can!" Shizuka cried, looking annoyed. "If all else fails, I'll ask him for you!"
Hinata looked up at her hopefully. "You will?"
"…I said, if all else fails."
"…You will?"
"…if all else fails."
"So you will?"
"Sigh. Yes."
"Thank you, Shizuka-kun!"
HUG!
"…" Once upon a time, I was spineless…
(-oOo-)
Sakura shivered slightly, putting her arms around herself to block the cold out. She was sitting with Ukon on one of the balconies sprouting out of the sides of Shizuka's house, and it was jolly cold, to say the least.
Ukon gave her a worried look. "Are you cold?"
"A little," she admitted. (Inner-Sakura: What, like you couldn't tell!)
"Do you want to go inside?"
"No, I'm ok."
"…Just a second." Ukon disappeared into the house for a few minutes, then came out with a dark purple, fleece blanket. "Here," he said, wrapping it around her shoulders like a cocoon.
"Th… thanks," she said, a little startled.
He just smiled.
She smiled back, before looking down, beyond the fence surrounding the balcony, into the rose gardens and sakura trees in the garden below them. There was a long stretch of deeply conflicting thoughts in Sakura's head before she finally spoke, breaking the silence.
"You're too nice."
Ukon looked up; he'd been leaning on the railing, deep in thought, before she'd spoken. "'Too' nice?"
She nodded firmly, determined to say what she wanted to say. "You're way too nice. No matter what I say, you're still nice. Even though you didn't want to meet my mom, you went anyway. And no how hysterical I got, you always tried to make me feel better. You're just too nice."
Ukon looked at her in silence for a few moments, then looked down again, resting his chin on the cross of his arms, which were rested on the railing. "I'm not as nice as you think..." he said quietly, so she could barely hear. "I lied to you… a while ago."
She turned to look at him. "When did you lie?" she asked, totally clueless.
"…You remember back when Shizuka-sama went out with Itachi, back in September?" he asked, in a somewhat dead voice.
She blinked, trying to think back. "…That night I fixed up at my house?"
He nodded. "Remember when I said that I never shot anyone, and I just gave them a warning?"
She nodded slowly. "Yeah…"
He looked away, his cheeks flushed slightly. "That was a lie."
"How was it a lie?" she asked, almost dreading the answer.
"I've killed a lot of people for Orochimaru-sama," Ukon answered slowly. "If people tried to take Shizuka-sama or Kimimaro, he told me to shoot the guys at once, without asking questions. When I was about ten, he told me to kill the first one. He had me practically bent to his will then, because I was younger, and more scared of him, but that wasn't why I did it. I could have just wounded the guy, like I told you I did, but I didn't. I shot him right between the eyes." He caught himself and turned, giving her an apologizing grin. "Sorry, I got into it so I gave you the gory details."
She hid a shiver, shaking her head. "It's fine; go on."
"Umm…" He thought for a moment, as if to try to regain his train of thought. "Oh yeah. It wasn't that Orochimaru-sama was controlling me, or anything, by the abuse. At the time, Shizuka and Kimimaro were just six. They were little kids, compared to me. They were scared. I mean, how would you feel if some guy just came up and grabbed you when you were four? I was defending them, kind of like I defend Sakkon. And you, too," he added, giving her a small smile and nudging her with his elbow.
Sakura grinned slightly, but was already lost in thought again, remembering whispers she'd heard a while ago, when she and Ukon were at the mall. A bunch of kids who looked like gangsters had hissed after them, saying in loud whispers, "There's the bastard!" "The one who—?" "Yeah, you heard me."
Ukon, however, had ignored them as if they did not exist, and continued walking. This, of course, had only infuriated the boys more, as one of them called out, "We're gonna get you one day, asshole! Just you fuckin' wait!"
But Ukon didn't even blink, and kept walking.
Sakura closed her eyes. Now she understood what the boys had been talking about. Had Ukon killed a member of their gang or something, and they wanted revenge? And he acted like he didn't even care?
"I don't regret what I've done," he said, as if reading her thoughts. "I care about Shizuka-sama and Kimimaro. I'm protecting them because it's my choice. If someone tries to take someone special from me, my feelings are—"
"Ukon!"
Ukon nearly jumped halfway out of his skin and whipped around. "O-Orochimaru-sama?"
Sakura turned, as well. Orochimaru was standing in the door to the balcony, blocking their exit. His eyes were livid.
"What are all these people doing in my house?" he demanded, seething angry breaths.
"It's a Christmas celebration, Orochimaru-sama," Ukon said slowly. "Shizuka-sama and Kim—"
"Don't give me that bullshit!" Orochimaru shouted, taking a step forward, urging a step back from Ukon. "I know you're behind this, you always are!" He turned to glare at Sakura, who didn't move. "Or was it you?" he demanded, his voice rising ever so slightly.
Sakura didn't respond, willing herself not to break eye contact with Orochimaru. This, however, was the wrong thing to do, as he took it for an act of defiance, and took several steps towards her, slowly closing the distance.
"You know," he said in a clipped voice, raising a shaking hand to point at her. "Ever since you started coming to this house, things have gone downhill! It's your fault Ukon has to be punished so much! You encourage him to disobey! You encourage him to defy me! Well, here's some news for you!" By now, he was standing barely an inch away from her, his finger poking hard at her shoulder with every clipped syllable. "You're not helping him at all! You're the one who's ruining his life! You're the one who's—"
"It's not me!" Sakura screamed, shoving his hand away. "You're the one who hits him! No one tells you to! You hit him just so you can have someone to hit! You just want him for your scapegoat! You want to be able to control his life, so you use his brother to make sure he does what you want! You're sick! You're twisted! You're a complete asshole! You're—"
SLAP!
"You… will never take them from me," Orochimaru snarled, his eyes filled with rage. "Their lives belong to me. Who took them in when no one else would? Me. Who fed them and clothed them and sent them to school? Me. Who taught them how to protect themselves against people? Me. And what have you done? Hmm?"
Sakura didn't answer, her head still flung to the side from the slap, the fleece blanket slowly slipping off her shoulders, but she didn't bother to retrieve it. Ukon stood frozen, eyes wide and darting between Orochimaru and Sakura, looking terrified.
"You have let them live a lie that they are worth something to anyone but me. They aren't worth anything to anyone but me!" Orochimaru growled, his voice rising ever so slightly. "What could they do in the world with what they know now? Be a security guard? Go to college? Feh! Don't make me laugh! You're giving them false hopes for something they can never achieve! I'm giving them something they can rely on: they work for me, I pay them, and I house them. But you've encouraged them to stand up to me! If you care at all about them, you'd leave them alone so they'll stay with me and be safe!"
"O-Orochimaru-sama…"
"Ukon," Orochimaru said in a completely different tone, turning to face Ukon, who visibly flinched. "Ukon, why do you torment me so?" he asked in a silky voice, taking a step towards Ukon, who didn't move. "Why must you do this to your poor master? Why?"
Sakura looked up as Orochimaru reached out and practically caressed Ukon's face, smiling wide as he did.
"You're such a bad boy lately, Ukon," Orochimaru continued, his pale hand caressing Ukon's face. "Why must you be so bad? Why don't you look me in the eye? You never speak to me unless I speak to you. Don't you care about your poor master? Even though I've been so generous lately? Why must you torment me so? Do I need to reeducate you?"
At the word reeducate, Ukon's eyes widened and beads of sweat trailed down his face.
"What is desired?" Orochimaru whispered, leaning forward so that his lips almost touched Ukon's ear. "What did you fantasize in that dark room of nightmares?"
Flashback
"Tayuya… Tayuya… ask Orochimaru-sama if Ukon can come out and play… ask Orochimaru-sama if I can come out and play…"
"Orochimaru-sama says bad boys like you shouldn't be with good kids like me."
"Oh… ok… ask Orochimaru-sama if Ukon can come out and play by himself…"
End Flashback
"Did you fantasize that you could see daylight again?"
Flashback
"Say it! SAY IT!"
"I'm bad! I'm a bad boy! I did it! I did!"
"Make me believe you!"
"I'm a bad boy! I'm a really bad boy!"
End Flashback
"Did you fantasize praise?"
Flashback
"What a sickening child you are… what a horrible shade of lavender… What a sickening smell… you sicken me… it's no wonder your mother wanted you gone… you're so disgusting."
End flashback
"Love?"
Flashback
"I can't be that bad… I don't understand… I have more happy face stickers then anyone else…"
"Your teacher lied to you! You're so starving for attention you don't deserve, and she gave it to you!"
End flashback
"Companionship?
Flashback
"I read in a book that a woman put her son on a stove to discipline him… I can't the stove in, but I think hot coals and a few lit sticks will give you a lesson, won't they?"
End flashback
"Did you fantasize that one day, you would have a friend?"
Flashback
"I can't take this anymore, Ukon! You keep putting yourself in danger! I don't need you anymore! Just leave me alone, I'm sick of looking at you!"
End flashback
"Did you think maybe you would be worth something?"
Flashback
"No! Please! Don't do it again! I'll be a good boy! I promise! No! Don't hit me! You're hurting me!"
End flashback
No… Ukon stared at the concrete floor of the balcony, his eyes wide with horror and fear and the sudden way of long-repressed memories. All that time… in that room… when all I could hear was the sound of my own voice and Orochimaru-sama's voice mocking me… every time he would come in to punish me… all I ever dreamed of… was that someone would need me… really need me…
"You didn't ask my permission if you could have another girlfriend," Orochimaru said silkily. "You didn't ask my permission of you could have your friends over. Give me a wonderful apology and I won't be angry with you, my poor, stupid little boy."
Ukon bowed, wary of exposing the back of his neck to Orochimaru. "I'm sorry, Orochimaru-sama. I've been bad. I'm very sorry."
Orochimaru smiled a creepy, wide smile. "You are a very bad boy," he said calmly, before turning on his heel. He stopped to smirk at Sakura, who had been starring at them in wide fear, before walking away. The way he carried himself just communicated to the world how much he had enjoyed what he'd just done.
"I'm sorry… Sakura," Ukon said slowly, still starring at the floor. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
But before she could protest that Orochimaru had been full of shit, Ukon ran into the house, his head ducked.
Sakura starred after him, not sure whether or not to follow him.
Flashback
"What is desired? What did you fantasize in that dark room of nightmares?"
End flashback
Review responses! O.o wow, so many…
…Due to the fact that I am very tired, I will only be responding to the first few… please know I did read all of them, and I enjoyed the, sorry if yours wasn't answered!
Mika: Killing is killing and killing is fun if you hate the person enough! It's all the same to me… READ AND BE REVIVED!
Dragonman180: Shizuka can't work miracles, but she's getting there… slowly. O.O He bit the heads off your lego figures? The fiend. Oh well. I used to chew lego pieces into deformity so I'm really no one to talk.
Meggido: Ooo One Piece? Did you see the anime on Toonami? Apparently, Sanji will sound like a thug! (BATTLE AURA) Zoro's voice is cool. O.o Fully fledged uber fic? (looks at number of chapters) YAY!
Dream Anime Kitten: Yes… go Shizuka, making Hinata flip Neji off… Hee hee!
Kage: The New Void is absolute! (especially since you killed the other one…) Aku was SEME! GO AKU!
RLN and IHN: Kimi could give her a rock and everyone would go Awwww…
Andrea: I loves Kakashi, too! (except that he picks favorites—COUGH COUGH, SASUKE)
