A/N: hey guys, chapter 12 is here as promised! So compare to the last chapter, this one is lighter, much lighter. My beta said that I couldn't write a single chapter without putting negative emotions in it, which is probably true. So this is like an experimental chapter where surprisingly, nobody died or got severely injured. So I hope you enjoy the happier mood in contrast to the previous few chapters.
For those guest reviewers (Guest, Guest1437, Gadget Boy), thank you so much for all your long detailed reviews! I really appreciate them! Even if I can't respond to you all privately, I hear you all loud and clear!
Beta's by [insert some adjective that is the synonym of awesome] Alice J. ^_^
Chapter 12 - I Am Not Crazy
"Team Ro, reporting for the mission" Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, found his elite Anbu team arriving at his office, five days after they were sent on an emergency A-rank mission.
"Speak to me, Hound." Hokage ordered from behind his office desk. It was too late at night for the mystery and he was tired of running the office. He might be called "the God" in the shinobi world, but he was still an old man who only wanted a peaceful retirement.
"Operation: Puppeteer. Objective one, eliminating the A-rank puppet user near the Konoha outskirt and his puppet army. Accomplished. Objective two, recover the captured Konoha Chunin or Chunins. Accomplished. We recovered one survivor of the team sent for the mission and brought her back for treatment." Hound summarized. This was definitely an A-rank mission, only due to the lack of information would the mission be wrongly classified as B-rank, thus resulting in the loss of two senior Chunin.
"Describe the mission in detail." He ordered. His Jōnin Commander, Nara Shikaku, stood by his side and listened as well.
"Team Ro was sent out five days ago, under the issue of an Emergency A-rank mission. We arrived at the Outpost near the village in two days. Then we found one survivor of the team originally sent out to deal with the problem, Medical Chunin Ito Takuma. He described the enemy, who called himself Chiashi, as a puppeteer imitating Sasori of the Red Sand, having the force of at least fifty human puppets and five high-rank Shinobi puppet. He claimed that two of his teammates, Chunin Yoshida Kazuo and Chunin Maki Kichirou were killed in action, and his other teammate, Chunin Uchiha Maiko sacrificed herself to be captured to ensure his survival. We then spent a day tracking down the puppeteer, along with a temporary tracking force assembled from the outpost including Ito Takuma." Hound reported the mission in detail. Hokage's heart chilled at the prospect of another human puppeteer. How could he not have received any reports of missing human prior to this, or any warning from Suna, warning the neighbouring country of the potential danger.
"We confronted the enemy outside of a cave that served as his hiding place. We were in a stalemate with his human puppeteer forces until Chiashi brought out the two dead Konoha Chunins as his puppets." Shikaku looked sick at the mention of this, and the Hokage agree wholeheartedly.
"Chiashi also brought out the prisoner Chunin Uchiha Maiko, who is still alive at that time, in an attempt to raise emotional turmoil. However, Uchiha Maiko, unresponsive at first, killed Chiashi at the last moment before the battle ensued, thus disabling all the enemy puppets." Hokage raised his eyebrows and his advisor Shikaku widened his eyes. They obviously weren't expecting such a turn of events.
"After we checked for any remaining dangers, we brought the bodies of the two KIA Konoha chunins back and Ito Takuma treated Uchiha Maiko on the way back, who was unconscious and unresponsive the whole way." the Hound finished reporting, and for the starter, Hokage was very glad that he listened to the emergency SOS signal Jonin Shinbara brought. Otherwise, Konoha would have lost another talented shinobi.
"What happened to the human puppets left?" Shikaku asked.
"They were cleaned and brought back to the Research and Development Division for further analysis. Commander Nara" The Hound answered. Sarutobi sighed, he wasn't sure what he would do with those. He would imagine that at least half of those human puppets were from the outskirt village, but how was he suppose to return the bodies now in this shape, let alone the political storm that's going to hit, from their possession of five Suna Jōnins' bodies.
Before he could quench his headache and say any wise-sounding words, he heard a knock on the door. "Come in" he answered and the door opened to reveal a man with long blond hair tied in a high ponytail.
"Ah, Inoichi-san, what do you have for me?" Hokage asked, wondering how much more bad news he was going to get tonight
"It's about the rescued prisoner, Hokage-sama." Inoichi answered, holding a file in his hand which he gave to Shikaku.
"Yes, Maiko-chan, how is she?" Hokage asked with concern.
"She is...battered, but she is out of critical conditions now." Inoichi said slowly, obviously noticing the team of Anbu in the office. Sarutobi quickly realized, he knew every Anbu agent, it's part of the job, and he definitely remembered a certain Uchiha prodigy he placed on Team Ro two years ago.
"Team Ro, you are all dismissed. Thank you for your good work, and you all get the next day off. Go do what you want, or go visit some people." he ordered not so subtly. But that hardly mattered as Team Ro disappeared in flashes.
"Please, continue, Inoichi-san." Sarutobi signalled the head of Intelligence Division to continue.
"I just visited her in the hospital ward. She was still unconscious under the sedative, and I did a mind scan to find out what happened on the mission. I fear that doing this when she was awake could result in more trauma… considering what she went through." Inoichi explained.
"And what did she go through?" the Hokage asked dangerously. What a sick thing to do to children, but alas, this was not the most peaceful time.
"It seemed that she went through three days of torture designed to instigate extreme pain, including repeated stabbing to pain pressure points, denailing, and some others. From her memories and thoughts, she seemed to understand the goal of her capture was not to kill her or ask for information but to break her mind psychologically. So compared to physical damage, I'm more worried about psychological trauma, and I would recommend her having therapy sessions with me." Inoichi continued and Sarutobi's brows frowned, his face was covered in anger. This was his people, this was one of his shinobi force.
"Do what you suggested Inoichi-san. What else did you recover from her memory about the mission." the Hokage questioned.
"It was just like what Ito-kun had described, the team followed standard instructions, found out about the enemy hideout and decided to ask for help, fearing the enemy to be at least A-rank. However, before they could do that they were ambushed twice, resulting in Yoshida-san and Maki-san's death and Uchiha-kun's capture. During her time being imprisoned, she had a lot of blackouts, some of which are very deep that I couldn't get anything from, so what Chiashi was doing during that period was unknown. However, strangely, Uchiha-kun was very resilient during her time, she seemed to be consciously analyzing the situation despite the pains she endured and decided that she would put on an act and wait for help. Although what concerned me, is that at the end, she seemed to show distaste to the possibility that Anbu will sacrifice her in order to eliminate the enemy, and I believe that's why she acted recklessly and killed Chiashi despite the better option of waiting." Inoichi finished, at the same time, Shikaku seemed to also finish the written version of the report and now both of them were looking at the Hokage for some kind of sign.
"Reasonable, I would be surprised if she didn't feel any negative emotions. What a strong girl. Give her a psych evaluation after she wakes up and help her to the best of your abilities in the therapy sessions, I don't want such a young talent to be crippled." he sighed, and Inoichi respectfully left the room.
"What do we do now, Shikaku, and what happened to the body of this 'Chiashi'?" Hokage asked his advisor. He felt too old to be doing this, but hey, that's why Shikaku was here.
"The body was recovered, although that little girl did quite a damage to it. She pierced through the heart with lightning chakra, it's almost unrecognizable. But now, Hokage-sama, we need to worry about the diplomatic relation with Sunagakure." Shikaku summarized, and Sarutobi brought his hands to his forehead. Sunagakure again, dealing with them was a pain in the ass, and now, this happened. Granted, their relation had never been that great, but this would definitely make it worse.
"Fine, contact the Suna, we need to take initiative. It's their missing-nin that did a number on the Fire Country. If they want the bodies of Chiashi and the Suna-nins back, gave it to them, but only after our department had examined them thoroughly. We deserve an answer." the Hokage finally decided, and his advisor nodded at his decision.
"I suppose that you are dumping all this Suna foreign relation stuff on me to deal with?" Shikaku asked in an annoying voice, but the Hokage just laughed.
"That's why you are here, Shikaku, I would have never have taken this job without having the assurance you are here."
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~
I wasn't having a nightmare, I swear I wasn't having a nightmare. Because in order for it to be a nightmare, I had to be sure it was a dream, an illusion. No, the numbness definitely felt real, and it injected a whole ton of fear in me.
I couldn't move my hands, my legs or anything. I opened my eyes, panicking, wondering if I was turned into a puppet. God damn It! I couldn't move at all!
My mind was racing a mile a second, but before I could drive myself insane, I almost laughed in joy realizing I could still feel the soft bed sheet under me; I could still smell the antiseptic lingering in the air. I was at a hospital, heavily sedated so I couldn't feel any lingering pain.
I moved my dizzy head slowly towards my left hand. I couldn't feel anything on that hands from elbow and down, and I hope it wasn't gone or anything. I eyed it annoyingly, seeing as my left hand was wrapped in thick bandages.
I guess I really only had myself to blame for that. I got mad, I got scared, so I went ahead and recklessly punched a hole in his chest. Now along with the fact that I had no fingernails on this hand, my hand was probably ruined from the lightning release, which is totally a cheap failed copy of Kakashi's Chidori.
I closed my eyes and stayed silent. I didn't feel the pain anymore, not physically at least. But I still remembered the sensation of everything burning inside of me. Trauma: a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event. Right, we were back to that. The same method, the same coping strategy, so it will definitely work, right?
"Artemis", I murmured, so those memories saved me. Why? Why was I still holding on to that? Kami knows why. I wanted to roll over and bury my face into the soft pillow, but I couldn't move. My right arm was placed in a cast, and I only had myself to blame at that as well. I dislocated my own shoulder after all.
My body tensed in fear as I felt a new presence in my room. I was afraid, I was really afraid, afraid of the unknown. As if feeling the change in my emotion, the figure walked out of the shadow and showed himself.
Itachi, my beloved brother, was standing by the window, dressed in his Anbu clothes. His dark eyes were staring at my left arm. He looked fresh out of a mission, and I could pretty much guess what mission he was in when he arrived in my hospital room so quickly. It's the middle of the night, even Shun, who lived with me, wouldn't be getting the information until tomorrow.
"I miss you." Dumbest thing I've ever said, "I haven't seen you since forever." I haven't talked to him ever since two years ago. It's not that I didn't want to see him, but I couldn't find him.
"Sorry, I was on missions." he said quietly. The tension in the room was strained, if it got any thicker, it might suffocate me.
"You are avoiding me." There we go. Cat's out of the bag, emotions leaked out. Yeah, he left me, and I felt lonely. I was alone for three days, but it felt like forever. I was alone.
"I'm not avoiding you, the missions are busy…" he quickly went on to explain, but I cut him off.
"You are avoiding me. Why?" I hated the fact that I was being pushy, I was being melodramatic. He's Itachi, he was busy, and he was in Anbu because of me. So what am I angry about?
"I… I thought you wouldn't want to see me, after…" he started with a calm voice, but then his voice faltered until I couldn't hear him anymore.
"So what, you 'thought'? Do I have to go to ICU for you to come and see me for five minutes." I said with a tiny bit of rage in my voice. I was being unfair, I was being immature and I was being emotional.
"No, that's not what I meant, Mai, I...I just wanted you to be free from the Uchihas. I imagined you don't want to see me anymore, after what I said to you, after what I did." He said in a gentle voice, and he sounded guilty even though he didn't do anything wrong.
"But you left me alone! I was scared, Itachi! I was scared that no one will ever come! And then I would really break in that place, alone!" I wasn't screaming, I really wasn't screaming. Was this… an emotional breakdown? It had been too long since I talked to him, and I didn't even realize this before, but he was my emotional support, he was my pillar. Growing up again in this world changed me. I would have never said I fear loneliness back in my previous life. How do you fear something you'd known for the entirety of your life?
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. If I'd known…" He must be mumbling in guilt again, and now I was feeling guilty as well.
"Damn it! Stop saying sorry! I don't want your sorry, I just want to see you. I never blamed you for anything. You just have to be there, not running away whenever I tried to talk to you." I said in a frustrating voice, resisting the urge to smack his head using… nevermind, I couldn't do anything.
"Yes, whatever you say, Mai. I didn't realize that before and I thought you'd probably be better off without me around. Now, I'll come and see you more often. Well, as often as I can in between missions." he walked closer, and eventually he sat by my bed.
"Whatever I say?" I asked teasingly. I was totally exploiting my brother like a little sister should be. What the hell? This was an evolutionary throwback, this should have happened when I was five, not eleven. What was I doing at five? Right, trying my hardest to break his bones.
"Whatever you say." He confirmed and gave me a smile.
"Then, stay with me for a while, I don't want to be alone, seeing I probably won't go to sleep for the night again. Of course, only if you are not busy!" I made the childish claim and Itachi nodded. I relaxed my head back onto the pillow as I felt him settle down on the hospital bed.
This feels nice, to have someone with me, knowing that I can place my faith on someone, knowing that I'm not alone.
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~
"I am not psychologically traumatized." I said for the fifth time in the hour, sitting uncomfortably on one of the fluffy couches Yamanaka Inoichi had in his treatment room.
"That's for me to say, Maiko-chan. You went through a very distressful experience, and I think you don't have to restrain yourself so hard." Inoichi-san, who insisted me to call him that instead of Yamanaka-san, tried to explain to me.
"But I'm not restraining myself. Yes, it was painful, and I'm still going through physical therapy for my arm, but I am not going to go insane because of it." I said with exasperation, trying to convince him to let me go. He did a psych evaluation on me the day after I woke up, and I was cleared for insanity. However, he still insisted I come in for therapy sessions, he said it was standard stuff for shinobi who had a mission gone bad.
"Do you experience any extreme negative emotions now when you think about the event?" He asked, writing something down on his notepad, which I hoped wasn't notes about me being in self-denial.
"No, I'm recovered. I told you I no longer have nightmares now, and I don't have fits whenever you ask me to reminiscent about the event." I tried to convince him to stop the sessions, and what I said had been true. I had it under control, I used my old strategy, the trauma was managed, and the emotions are pushed out, buried and sealed. I stopped getting the nightmares and phantom pains after one month in the hospital. Now two months had passed, and I was finally discharged from the hospital this morning, with all my motor functions and chakra functions recovered.
"It's not about fits or nightmares, Maiko-chan, untreated emotions can be buried temporarily and you may not realize it, but it can't be forever." He said again, realizing he's not going to get anywhere with me.
"I understand that. But I am fully functional right now like I've always been. Thank you for your help and kindness really, but I don't think I need the therapy lessons." I tried again, and this time, Inoichi-san sighed, and he let me return home.
I gathered my stuff from the hospital before I went back to the apartment, apparently, they found my swords and weapon pouch intact. I hugged the twin swords in front of my chest, feeling the familiar sense of security. My left hand was still recovering, the lightning chakra almost fried my hands open, but that's mostly healed and there's no paralyzing effect or any of the nerve damage lightning chakra usually brought. However, my fingernails were still in the process of regrowing, the doctors said that it will be another month before it can be regrown. So now, I had bandages around the hand to keep it covered.
I stared at the bandage wrapped hand, and suddenly an image of my nailless bloodied hand stared back at me. I almost flinched, but I didn't, I stared at the unpleasant image until it faded away. It was getting better, at least I didn't feel the pain along with the image anymore.
When I walked down the familiar alley and opened my apartment door, I saw Shun sitting by the table, with his eyebrows scrunched together, looking like he was in deep thoughts.
"What are you trying to accomplish, destroying your brain cell like that." I said to him sarcastically.
"Trying to decide what to do with your room, rent it out or change it into an interrogation room. Inoichi-shishou said I need practice." He said with a completely serious face.
"Not funny. Okay, I know that I wasn't paying the rent for two months, but hey, that mission was officially been upgraded to A-rank, and since technically I killed Chiashi, I received a paycheck for the mission. So now, I have enough to pay you back." I said to him as I put my stuff down on the table, and poured myself a cup of tea.
"Kidding, Maiko, I'm hurt you think this low of me. Akira-sensei already paid for your share when you were in the hospital, so you can go pay him back." Shun feigned an injured expression, like hell I would fall for that.
"Got it. I'm going to crash in my bed. I need to start the training again, or my skills will be slacking." I said and I finished the tea.
"Why are you so excited about training, Akira-sensei will probably give you the special training because you've been slacking for two months. Also, Hatake-san will probably make you wait forever because you tried and failed to copy his Chidori when he told you not to." Shun said to me in a dreadful voice, and I winced at the prospect of that. Akira-shishou's special training was like a kenjutsu buffet from hell.
"In my defense, that wasn't Chidori, it was only some lightning chakra ran wild. Wait, how did Kakashi-sensei know I tried to use lightning chakra to cut someone's heart open?" I asked Shun curiously, and he just raised his eyebrow, asking me silently 'really?'.
"What do you think, he's an Anbu Captain, he led the mission." Shun explained briefly and I nodded in understanding. After I finished processing the information, I was about to go to my room, but Shun spoke up behind me.
"By the way, Inoichi-shishou asked me to talk to you about continuing the therapy."
"And are you going to?" I asked without turning back.
"No, I don't meddle in your affairs. But just you know, I'm always open if you want to talk about anything, well anything except for the girl stuff." Shun answered in his usual sleek remarks. But I smiled and shook my head a little before walking away.
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ fuwa~fuwa~desu~~~
I placed my head into my hands as I stared at the yakiniku in front of me. This is embarrassing, I thought, I haven't had a birthday celebration since...since somewhere in my childhood.
"Please tell me you are not going to stare at the meat the whole time." Shisui teased me from the seat across the table. Itachi was sitting next to him. The weirdest thing was, Freaking Kakashi of the Sharingan was sitting in the booth's corner, and I wasn't sure why.
"I'm sorry, but are you sure you can be here, Kakashi-sensei," I asked quietly, not sure how to approach this question.
"So, am I not welcome here?" Kakashi-sensei asked, although I couldn't tell his real emotion with the mask on.
"No, of course not, it's just, I mean, you seemed to be busy all the time, and we only see each other like once a week, and we never see each other for more than thirty minutes. Hell, a few months ago, you were mad at me for trying out your Chidori, which I repeat again, it's not a pathetic failed attempt of Chidori, it's honestly the most destructive thing I could do at that moment. But still, you left me waiting for five hours every time we had a training session in a month, which is a new record. So why are you agreeing to celebrate my birthday with me, in a restaurant?" I asked, telling him all my thoughts. It was the way we communicated the best right from the start, the mystery thing just didn't serve well for us.
"Well, I might have been a bit harsh on you for that. So I thought, how would you like to learn something interesting next time. Something that won't make you fry your arm when you are using it." Kakashi suggested ambiguously, but I quickly caught up to the meaning behind his words.
"You are going to teach me Chidori." I awed, and Kakashi nodded, "Are you serious?" I asked again, just to make sure, and he nodded again. "Even though you totally just avoided my question, but I'm going to let it pass because that's the best birthday gift ever. Thank you so much!" If there was something I like no matter what, it was strong fighting techniques.
"Hey, don't you jump to conclusion, you haven't seen Itachi's or my gift yet." Shisui said to me from the other side of the table, and I stared at him teasingly.
"If you are teaching me an A-rank jutsu, then we can talk about it." I said with an innocent smile.
"Excuse me, who taught you body flicker, if not for that, then the amount of bone breaking you can do will decrease by half at least." Shisui objected, and I simply rolled my eyes.
"By the way, who else is coming, Hime? Cause the yakiniku is about ready." Shisui asked curiously as he changed the topic casually.
"Hmm, Akira-sensei is on a mission, but he will be back later for Kenjutsu lesson. Shun is also on a mission, and he won't be back for another three days at least. I think Sasuke should be here any minute if he managed to convince father that he was going to a friend's house." Just as I was counting, wondering if he sneaked past father yet, Sasuke arrived. To be fair, I heard him before I saw him.
"Mai-nee-chan!" I snapped my head just in time to see the small figure crashing into me. Sasuke jumped into my arm and proceeded to stay there as I adjusted my balance.
"Hey, Sasuke, how are you?" I asked him with a laughter as I put him on on the seat beside me.
"Not much, Nee-chan. Well, look what I've got." Sasuke said in his particular child-like voice as he pulled off something on his back. I had to bend my body a bit to dodge the four blades swung at me when Sasuke released that monstrosity.
"What is this… is that a shuriken?" I looked at the extra-large size Shuriken, not sure what to think of it.
"Yeah, it's Fuma Shuriken! I got it in weapon training, isn't this cool!" Sasuke pushed the shuriken closer to my head, and I moved a bit to the inside of the booth to avoid being sliced open.
"Very cool, Sasuke, but let's put that away, for now, I don't want to be sliced open on my birthday." Sasuke muttered an "oops" quietly before folding the four blades away and placing it in the seat.
"Only you, Maiko. Come on, the Fuma shuriken is like every shinobi child's dream, except for you." Shisui laughed and teased, and I was tempted to throw something at him, maybe that Fuma Shuriken.
"Just… eat your meat, Shisui-senpai." I exclaimed with frustration. Sasuke looked happy eating the yakiniku, Itachi still looked stoic and detached, but that's just his usual face. As Shisui and I were chatting, throwing comments at each other, I saw Kakashi-sensei pulled out a book, the ones he usually read when we were training.
"Still reading that book, Kakashi-sensei? I thought you finished that one a week ago." I asked Kakashi, who momentarily looked up to answer my question.
"Oh, I did finish that book, this is the next one in the series." he answered briefly before returning his attention to the book again. I nodded and stopped taking notice. It's a common occurrence, and I really didn't care that much. However, I noticed Itachi staring at Kakashi's book and narrowed his eyes.
"Kakashi-senpai, please tell me you are not trying to corrupt my little sister and little brother with that kind of book, are you?" Itachi asked with disapproval and I turned my attention to him again.
"What do you mean 'corrupt' and 'that kind of book'. He told me it's romantic comedy." I asked with suspicion. I noticed Itachi glaring at Kakashi again, while Shisui was trying to hold his laughter.
"Umm, Hime, it's close to romantic comedy, but with a little bit more provocative adult contents." Shisui hinted while trying not to burst out laughing. I squinted my eyes, trying to think of what he meant.
"You mean… Oh… OH." I blinked twice and then I proceeded to glare at Kakashi, who promptly ignored me. I sighed, "You know, never mind, I don't really care about what you read, but please, not now sensei, Sasuke is here, and he is only six." Kakashi sighed as well, but he still closed the book and put it back to wherever it came from.
"What do you mean by that? Nee-chan, Nii-chan?" I almost facepalmed at Sasuke's question, oh boy, he was too innocent for that. Itachi looked nervous and in a panic, obviously not sure of what to say to save his brother's innocence. Shisui was laughing openly now and that garnered him annoying looks from Itachi.
"Okay, well, he meant… Drinking." I said the first word that came into the mind. "Drinking?", "Drinking", I confirmed. I heard Shisui muttered under his breath "They definitely do it after drinking alright." Immediately I threw my chopsticks at him. Thankfully, Sasuke quickly lost interest in this topic and went back to devouring the grilled meat.
"Stop being depressed, Itachi, you are already getting the creases under your eyes." I teased my brother, who looked as solemn as ever. Only with a selected few, I could joke around. Itachi, Shisui, Shun, Sasuke, they were my anchors to this world, and I had finally realized that. After any kind of deprivation, if one was exposed to the thing they were deprived of, then they would cling to it and thirst over it. I saw the fault in that, I clung to the feeling of family and being loved, but if one day my anchors, the things I've gained were to be taken away from me, then everything would fall apart. But I was too far gone, caught too deep in the web, and for now, I was willing to let myself sink.
"I know right, little 'Tachi here had been really hard working. I think he is going to be promoted to Captain soon." Shisui wrapped his arm around Itachi while my brother gave him an annoyed look.
"Shisui! That's supposed to be classified information!" Itachi muttered under the breath. I eyed Sasuke who was completely oblivious to the conversation; then I eyed Kakashi who was still reading his book, he seemed to understand my silent question and he said quietly "I didn't hear anything."
"Relax, Itachi-nii, that's why you are getting the creases. Although I think it's a genetic trait, seeing Father had the same crease, and Shisui-senpai had that ever since I've met him at five." I joked, ignoring the death glares Shisui sent at me.
After a while, Kakashi-sensei left without me noticing. Strangely, or not so strangely, I never saw him eating with the mask off, but his portion of the food simply disappeared. Shisui brought up the topic from the beginning of the 'party', "Hey, Hime, want to look at our gift. Itachi and I combined our effort and got it for you. Trust me, it's definitely quality over quantity." He pulled out a small pouch from Itachi's bag and handed it to me.
I opened the pouch and pulled out something. It was a small necklace, or rather, it's something akin to a choker. The black band was made of elastic fabrics and it had adjustable clasps at the end. There was a small white pearl dangling from the band. The pearl was polished but not really that shiny, rather, it felt uniquely comfortable.
While I was admiring the work. Shisui explained the gift. "The pearl is from Itachi, he brought it back from a mission in the Land of Waves. He was thinking of making it a ring or something, but I told him that any accessory on fingers is not a good idea for kenjutsu specialist, so I made the necklace for ya."
I was about to say something, but I didn't know what to say without it sounds cheesy. Thankfully, they didn't need me to say it, I could understand from their lighthearted smile that they knew my gratitude.
"Want me to put it on for you?" Shisui asked cheerfully and I raised my hand for a 'be my guest' gesture.
Shisui moved to my side of the booth, moving Sasuke to Itachi's side. As Shisui carefully lifted my hair and placed the necklace on my neck, Sasuke pouted and whined: "Shisui-nii, not fair, you always take Itachi-nii to train, and now you are taking up Mai-nee's space."
I chuckled at the childish complaint, it seemed that Sasuke still hadn't forgotten all the time Itachi and I had to blow off his play date for training. I teased: "Looks like you got a rival, Shisui-senpai."
Shisui laughed as he finished tying one of the clasps and let the necklace choker rest against my neck. The fabric was soft and elastic, so it felt just right around my neck, not too big and not too small, and the pearl pendant left a cooling touch on my neck. Strangely enough, Shisui did not immediately retract his hand, instead, he hugged his arm around me and rested his head on my shoulder. My eyebrows flinched for second, feeling the uncomfortable foreign touch. It was so tempting to grab his arm and fling him off, my body was screaming to defend myself against a foreign touch. But, I just let him be, this time only.
"You should choose me, I can be your knight in shining armour." Shisui joked lightly.
"Not really my type."
"Then tell me, what is your type?"
"I don't have a type, but if I do, the knight in shining armour will definitely be the last one the list."
... It was a good party, probably the warmest party I've ever had in my thirty years of existence.
A/N: So there is my happier chapter (ah... I kinda suck at it). So please review and comment with any criticism, since I don't really know how to write them.
This chapter is kinda short, 5600 words (which is why I feel like I didn't get to my self-determined quota of 6000). But considering last week I updated 7000 words, I thought you may give me a pass.
Arc one is almost done, just two more chapter and one more very important event to address. So stay tuned next week for that very important event, which some of you might have some ideas to what it is already.
Thank you for reading!