Chapter four: Forbidden

"We have to go home."

"WHAT!"

All of the Elementé children were at a meeting in a random cave. Everyone else was locked out, all the exits guarded by Sagittarius's shadow clones. Virgo was standing on a stone table, overlooking her siblings lounging around on the rocks. Scorpio slammed a fist into the table. "We can't go home! We can kill this guy easy!"

"It's not the guy I'm worried about." Virgo replied. "It's not our lives, either. We're all so talented it's just funny. It's these people we have to work with! I can't work with the Hidden Leaf Chuunin. I'd get attached. And I don't want to have to move back into the village. It's a miracle the ANBU haven't come to take us back yet!"

"It's not like we know many secrets," Taurus put in. "We're all too young to know such advanced jutsu as the Hidden Leaf secret ones."

"You know that's a lie." Gemini glared at her brother. "Like Virgo said, we're so talented it's funny. We know so many secrets we should all feel like mailboxes."

"Gemini's right." Aries said. "The ANBU will come for us soon, and we'll all have to move back. Why don't we go back with Edward to his country?"

"Too far from home," Pisces shook her head. "We'd have to stay pretty close by. But I don't want to move, period."

"Why don't we move to another village then?" Capricorn suggested.

"No, no, won't work. The ANBU would KILL us. Or the leader of the village." Virgo replied. "We have to stand our ground. Stay home."

"No way!" Scorpio replied. "We have to stay and help our friends!"

"Are they really FRIENDS, Scorpio? Or do they just want our powers?" Virgo looked sad as she said it, as if she wanted to take it back, but did not.

Scorpio glared at her sister. "How could you even think that? These people like us! For who we are, not how strong we are, or how we look!"

Scorpio HAD to put in that she thought she and her sisters were beautiful.

"I'm sorry, Scorpio. I know you like Shikamaru and Sasuke, but it won't work…" Virgo sighed.

"MACADAMIA NUTS!" Cancer shouted. Nobody paid attention.

"And you're going to have to drop Kiba, Pisces. I don't want interaction of any kind with Hidden Leaf shinobi from now on. I'm sorry, everyone. Maybe when we perfect our abilities we can move back."

"NO! I'm NOT going to drop Kiba!" Pisces sprang up with Sundance. "You can't make me, Virgo! Just because you're the oldest doesn't put you in charge. You, Scorpio and I are ALL in charge together, so stop acting like you're the smartest and most mature of us all!"

She ran off. Cancer stared at her and called, "A TOLD B AND B TOLD C, I'LL MEET YOU AT THE TOP OF THE COCONUT TREE!"

"Pisces…" Virgo sighed. She turned her eyes to her siblings, who were glaring at her with disgust.

"Pisces is right," Taurus said. "Why do we have to listen to Virgo? We should be able to make our own decisions!"

"But that would put me out of charge, too!"

"Right, right, sorry, Scorpio. I elect Scorpio to be our new leader!"

"YEAH!" Everyone (except Cancer) chorused. They all tumbled out of the cave after their new leader. "LET'S GO TELL THE HIDDEN LEAF SHINOBI THE GOOD NEWS!"

Virgo was left alone. She stared after her siblings and just shrugged. Long ago, when her parents died, she had cried herself out. Tears were alien to her. Nevertheless, she sat down and curled her legs to her chest, hugging them and staring at the ground. So her siblings left. It wasn't the end of the world…

Right?

Sagittarius's clones parted to let Pisces run through the door, crying. Sundance flung herself along behind her, barking and whining sadly. She darted through the bushes, but her wails were carried back on the wind.

"PISCES!" Kiba gasped, and took off after her. "Damn, damn, dammit…"

Pisces ran until she could run no more… then she tripped. Naturally. And finally, Kiba ran up, panting. "What… the Hell… was that... About?"

"NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS, KIBA!" Pisces screamed.

Kiba flinched. Pisces yelled at him? Wow, that sucked. "Pisces? Hello, you ran off crying. Something is wrong."

Pisces paused and curled her legs beneath her. "Virgo doesn't want us to help you. She says we can't interact with Hidden Leaf shinobi because we'd get attached and have to move back into the village."

"WHAT!"

"That's exactly what Scorpio said." Replied Pisces.

"WHAT!"

"Okay, it's getting old."

Kiba sat down next to her. "You really seem pissed…"

"NO FREAKING DUH!"

"…So what happened?"

Pisces began to relay the whole story of the meeting. How Virgo said they had to go home, and how Scorpio immediately rejected the idea. Blah, blah, blah, you know if you read the chapter.

"Why does Virgo care if she moved back into the village anyway?" Kiba asked.

"I dunno… I guess I sorta care, too. I like living in isolation where people can't piss me off. And my siblings, I don't want them to be in danger by the other shinobi."

"You, you, you…" Kiba muttered.

"What was that?"

"It's all about you, isn't it? Your siblings, your life, your power… Aren't you interested in other people?"

"Of course! The safety of my siblings, the Hidden Leaf village, you…"

"But it just seems you don't have attention for other people. You seem to think only about yourself and your family."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "I sound practically racist, don't I?"

He heard Pisces shift. "Pisces?"

He opened his eyes. Pisces had moved in front of him and gently bumped foreheads with him. "What are you doing?"

"Giving you attention!" Pisces giggled. She angled her head to touch noses with Kiba. "It's what you want, right?"

"I guess…"

She kissed him softly. "'I guess' is all you can say?"

Kiba turned red. "I guess…"

"HEY, dumbass!"

Virgo blinked. What. Oh no. Here? Now? I thought I got rid of her! She thought furiously. I do NOT want to deal with her right freaking now!

But she already felt the foot jabbing her leg. "You alive, dumbass?"

Virgo glared up. The girl was tall and odd, with greenish colored hair grinned devilishly down at her. She was clad in a simple green dress and black boots to her knees, with startlingly white eyes. "Oh! So you ARE alive, dumbass!"

"What are you doing here?" Virgo hissed. "You don't exist! You're imaginary!"

"Imaginary, Shishmashinary!" The girl grinned stupidly. She pointed at Virgo. "YOU'RE sad, so I'M here to cheer you up! That's what imaginary people do!"

"Castor…"

"I'm not Castor anymore, I'm Pollex!"

"Okay, Pollex…"

"I'm Castor, dumbass!"

"But you just said…"

"I CHANGED MY MIND!"

Castor helped Virgo stand up. "Come on, girlie! Let's go make you happy!"

Castor looked at her evilly. Virgo stepped back. "Oh, NO WAY, Castor! I won't LET you…"

"TOO LATE!" Castor dove at Virgo and disappeared as she did. Virgo twitched and spun around, laughing maniacally. "HAHA! Virgo, you dumbass! Thanks for your body! I'm gonna make you happy NO MATTER WHAT!"

"So Virgo's not coming with us?"

"No." Scorpio replied. She was as close to Sasuke as possible, making him so uncomfortable he shifted from foot to foot, trying to inch away. "Virgo says that we can't get too attached. I, however, feel that moving back to the village would be nice. Virgo can keep the house, we can build a new life with the Hidden Leaf!"

"What about our stuff, Scorpio?" Taurus asked.

"Oh. Yeah. We'll get our stuff before we move, duh, Taurus."

"HEY EVERYBODY!"

Virgo—Er, Castor—cartwheeled out of the cave, grinning. "I thought it over, and I totally agree! Sure, I'll go after this fugitive with you!"

Scorpio and Taurus (Who was now third in command) exchanged puzzled glances.

"That's great, Virgo!" Gemini squealed. "This whole stupid mission will be effortless with you coming along!"

"CASTOR!" Cancer yelled. Of course, no one paid attention, except Castor, who twitched.

Edward looked at her. "You don't seem like the Virgo I knew before."

"What are you talking about? DUH I'm Virgo, cutie!"

Edward blushed. Cutie? Only PINAKO ever called him that. His head was forced to look up when Castor delicately took his chin.

"I have to say, you'd be even cuter in uniform, military man."

Edward opened his mouth, but closed it. I thought girls hated short guys…He thought. Wait… No… I'M NOT SHORT!

"Virgo, are you feeling okay?" Aries rolled back her sleeve and felt her sister's forehead. "Or have you finally lost it?"

"I'm fine, Aries. Can't I act different every once and a while?"

"No, no, you can't. That's the excuse Castor always used when she tried to make you happy." Scorpio furrowed her brow. "Your little imaginary friend Castor."

"I AM NOT IMAGINARY!" Castor growled at her, spinning around. "I'm very real, I'll have you know. I can prove it!"

"Oh, fine. Just come out and prove it!" Scorpio smirked.

"I WILL!" Castor growled. "After I do this…" She turned and grabbed Edward by the jacket, pressing her lips to his without hesitation. Even though no one could see it, Castor tumbled out of Virgo, laughing insanely.

Virgo's eyes snapped open, and she pulled back aggressively. "CASTOR! I'LL KILL YOU!"

"You can't kill what you can't catch!" Castor giggled. She pulled the skin below her eye down and stuck out her tongue, then disappeared as quickly as she appeared earlier.

Virgo sank down at the base of a tree. "I HATE THAT…"

"BLEEP!" Cancer shouted.

Edward looked at her, then her siblings. Then back at Virgo. His eyes trailed her from head to foot, then were stopped abruptly.

"What's that?"

He walked over and ran his fingers over the tree trunk. There was a deep, almost inhuman gash embedded in the soft bark. And above it, a bite was taken out of the trunk.

"BLEEP!" Cancer shouted.

"…it," Edward finished. "The homunculi are with Scar…"