Chapter 4: Tegata - Interlude
"Happy now?" Tegata yelled. Obviously, the memorial stone did not reply.
"Well, you should be! You were right! I can't do anything. I'm a goddamn…"
Tegata closed his eyes and felt the alcohol buzz. It was raining now, gently. He lost his balance, and not even attempting to regain it, let himself fall to the grass. No stars tonight, just blackness. He closed his eyes. There was no difference.
Maybe he fell asleep and maybe he didn't, but when he opened his eyes again, a kid was standing over him. It was the creepy one with the bottle on his back and what looked like eyeliner. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was silently looking at Tegata.
"Can I help you?" Tegata slurred.
"I want to speak with you." The kid said. He had a desert accent. Of course he did, Tegata thought, he was that blonde's little brother. Shikaku's kid had just told him the night before. His short term memory was really going to hell nowadays.
"Speak away, kiddo."
"I want you to stand up first."
"And why is that?"
"If you are too drunk to stand up, you're too drunk to talk to."
Tegata looked up at the expressionless face. He couldn't be sure, but he didn't think the kid had blinked once since he arrived.
"Fair enough…" With some trouble, he got to his feet. "Shoot".
"You advised Nara Shikamaru on how to seduce my sister."
Shit. Tegata, secretly bracing himself for a beating, looked calmly and drunkenly into the eyes of the kid.
"I advised who to do what, now?"
"You're a very good liar, but I know. You two weren't very hard to shadow, the state you were in."
"You followed us?"
"Yes."
"Why the hell would you do that?"
"I get bored at nights."
Tegata looked up and down the young man. What he saw was pretty disturbing. The kid's eyes were the eyes of a killer so accomplished that he'd lost count of his victims long ago. The kid's hands, however, were aristocrat hands, without scars or imperfections. Hands that had never done an honest days work. He didn't like that combination.
"Ok. You got me. Now what, you kick my ass?"
"No."
"Oh. Good. Thank you."
"My brother gets overprotective, sometimes. I don't. My sister is the oldest of us, and I figure she can take care of herself. If my brother ever were to find out, though, he might be inclined…"
"Ok, kid, I get it. What do you want from me? I haven't got anything."
The sand-nin reached into his pocket and produced an old photograph. It looked like a chuunin graduation photo. The girl on it obviously didn't feel comfortable getting her picture taken. She had short black hair, and white eyes.
Authors comments: I fixed up some really annoying typos and other stuff. Hopefully it's fine now. Needless to say, reviews make my day (no rhyme intended).