LLS: Confession
15
Revision update: 01.08.2022 - fixing some mistakes :)
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Chapter: „Gomen!"
Tenten heard the click of the lock and stood alert. She grabbed three shurikens in her hand, put her legs under her body and got ready to move. Who the…hell, she tried to ask herself but her arm, holding the shurikens, let them fly as if on its own. Then she remembered Who he should be and Why he should be here. It was a bit late, in fact, so the only thing she could do was warn him, hoping he would be able to avoid them.
"Damn it, duck!" She shouted, instantly feeling guilty she…forgot. How is it even possible to forget such a thing?, she wondered.
Kankuro pressed his right hand over the newly obtained wound and clenched his jaw. His anger was written all over his face, even with the makeup on. He looked up at the girl with an angry flame in his very dark eyes.
He stepped intimidatingly towards her. "Who are you?"
"Gomen (1), gomen…!" She raised her hands defensively and while stepping back. "I am Tenten."
The blood was dripping over his arm between his fingers.
"I didn't ask about your name, but Who you are!" he growled at her.
"Watch your tone, if you please!" she scolded him with a sharp tone, squinting her eyes. "Even if you don't like it, you should watch it!" She made a bold step toward him saying, "Who am I…? I am the one who shares this mission with you at this very moment, unfortunately for both of us."
Her eyes, he backed up a bit, That firmness I could see in Temari's eyes. What's the…?! He was suddenly too aware of the way he was thinking about his sister. In fact he was thinking of Temari as if she was only a part of the past. The man felt really angry with himself and, not knowing what to do with all of that anger, he poured it all on Tenten, yelling, "What are you doing Here, you"— he looked at her critically from head to toe —"girl?"
"I live here, Arrogance!" She was not about to back off and surrender so easily, leaving him in control. This was her territory, and the Master here was only one — and it was her. "Don't you let yourself make crooked faces to me! I don't like this mission, but the orders are just that — orders! I was picked as the most suitable one, the choice wasn't really mine!" She breathed in and out, clenching her fists. "I am sorry you will have to put up with me," she offered, slightly calmer.
Kankuro stared at her in mild shock. How would he live with this wild creature for a year? And to pretend to be… in love with her?! He was bluntly terrified as he didn't even like her. Probably it would be way harder than he thought.
A little blinking light in the back of his head reminded him he also wasn't really given a choice. Gaara just assumed he would go and he did. But Gaara was right. He sighed and tried to calm, repeating himself this is just a mission and nothing more for her. For him, it was maybe the only way to save his sister's life. It was a different perspective.
"Let me see your arm." Tenten said, sighing, while trying hard to calm herself further.
Her gaze followed his blood that was currently dripping over her carpet. It was so hard to clean a blood stain from a carpet… But she was the one wounding him, so she didn't really have the right to scold him about that one. Or complain.
The man glanced at her untrustworthy and something ethereal penetrated his chest — Temari was giving him the same look when he was hurt and she had to take care of him. Probably she would have looked at Gaara the same way, if he ever needed a wound taken care of. What was the name of the feeling behind that look? Was it "worry"? That should be the correct one. At this moment Kankuro felt hate penetrating his chest. He hated Tenten because she wasn't his sister, but she so much reminded him of Temari, it hurt.
But the similarity might be the reason he surrendered easily and with no arguing let the dark-haired girl tend his wound. He took off his hood and turned his head aside.
Tenten had seen him with no hood two years ago, when they all went on a mission to save Gaara. His hair, short and spiky then, was now falling down his shoulders. She remembered Naruto and him taking turns carrying the Kazekage along the whole way back, as they didn't pay attention to anything in their surroundings. Probably that's why he has no memory of me, she sighed while stepping towards him. She felt a bit affected, though not so much, because he didn't remember. After all, she might have fought for the Kazekage, his brother then, but it was Gaara who was the most important at the time.
She let herself look up into his eyes, which were currently trying to dig a hole into the wall. So angry, so sad, so dim, wild eyes, she thought biting her lips. Then she reached for his arm.
Kankuro turned his head to her, expecting she would pull him or make him feel more pain… But Tenten put her hands gently on both sides of the wound. She carefully parted the edges on his torn cloth and examined the wounded surface of his skin.
"Come," she said calmly. "I must clean it. You are a shinobi, you know that. It is not something new for you."
Kankuro opened his mouth to say something, but she interrupted him, "I hurt you by accident and I am really, deeply sorry for what I did. Let me at least fix your wound, please." Her tone was no longer commanding, but pleading instead. He couldn't help, making yet another comparison between this girl and his beloved sister. For a difference, Temari didn't seem to have any control over that kind of tone at all, at least up to his knowledge.
The young man was silent for a while, studying her face; shortly after, he nodded and let her lead him into the bathroom. He entered after her and looked around.
"Where is my costume?" he asked and felt annoyance rising from within his chest.
"I am sorry, what? Tenten didn't understand what he was asking. She was setting the little stool near the sink since the bandages were under it, and it would be way easier to be close to them.
"My costume," he repeated while she was getting what she needed. "I have left it there, in the corner."
"Ah,"— she got up and glanced at him —"you mean the stinky black cloth, fetched like trash on the floor?"
He felt embarrassed when he heard it presented that way. His cheeks were covering slowly with a slight blush, fortunately the makeup was hiding it well enough..
"Well, yeah… I travelled with no rest… I was soaking in sweat—" His voice was slowly trailing off before she started to speak.
"I washed it." she said, interrupting his explanation.
He opened his mouth. It remained open for a few seconds before he realised what she had just said. He inquired anyway, "What have you done?"
"I washed it. Don't worry, it is all fine." She waved her hand dismissively. "After I bandage your arm, I will take out the laundry and put it out to dry. Up until tomorrow it will be ready to use. But you must know I do not iron clothes, at all."
"You don't iron?" He needed some time to actually understand what she was saying.
Kankuro suddenly felt so tired, as her voice started to come slowly and from afar. Even some words were coming out as if said in foreign language.
"No." Tenten narrowed her eyes, briefly wondering what was wrong with him. She quickly came to the conclusion he must be tired; he actually looked deadly tired, as if he was going to collapse any second now. So she thought she would just put aside the conversations for tomorrow. "Kankuro-san…"
He snapped out of his flooding blurry thoughts. "Erm, yea?"
"Would you take your top off, so I can clean and bandage your scratch? Then you can feel free to go to bed. You look like you can use some sleep."
He looked distractedly at his bloody sleeve and carefully took off his black top. He had a feeling his limbs were way heavier than they usually should have been, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it right now. He dropped his top on the floor. Tenten shoved her bare foot under it, lifted it and picked it up with her hand.
"I am going to wash that with the next washing machine load and I will fix the hole after that, ok?" She was talking deliberately slow.
Kankuro gave her a look — partly amused, partly exasperated. "I can do that myself."
Tenten attempted to argue with him, but quitted, reminding herself it would be best if they talked tomorrow.
"As you wish," she said with a coy smile and started dealing with the wound.
He hissed and stiffed as Tenten doused his wound with iodine. Turning his head away, he tried to drift his mind to something else. But the tiredness… the tiredness wouldn't let him think at all, sharpening the sensation of that nasty pain.
The girl kept quiet. It was enough she saw his muscles tensing under the moderately tanned skin, so she knew it was not out of fun. He lives in the desert after all, she said to herself looking twice at the colour of his skin, the true colour, since his face and neck were thoroughly painted white.
She quickly finished the cleaning procedure and got to the bandaging. Skillfully wrapping the band over the scratch, she was soon done and smiling. "All done."
Kankuro took a distracted look at his arm and nodded slowly. "Arrigatto(2)."
A smile blossomed on the girl's lips. "You can wash yourself, if you'd like to. I am just going to prepare the sofa for you, so you can rest."
The young man just realised, or remembered, the fact he was going to live together with her. At the moment he wasn't quite certain if he knew that already. Naturally, he was going to sleep on the sofa, of course… He sighed and nodded.
Tenten quickly picked all the discarded stuff from the floor. Then she left the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She got clean sheets and a blanket, spread them over the sofa, and went to the bathroom door shortly after. Knocking on it, she waited for an answer politely long. She didn't get any. Tenten leaned her head to the door, placing her ear on the wooden surface. She tried to catch a sound, any sound…like running water, or basically anything. There was none.
She felt a bit uneasy because of the lack of any signs of life, so she pressed the door handle and peeked inside. And she smiled — Kankuro had dozed off on the wooden stool, leaning on the sink's edge. Approaching carefully, she slowly put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't flinch as she, for some reason, expected; he was shinobi and even almost asleep, his senses were working well. They had told him she was not a threat. So his visible reaction was only disgruntled growl.
"Kankuro-san… The sofa is a bit more comfortable than the stool," she said, shaking his shoulder lightly. "I guarantee you would rest better there."
Tenten unwittingly bit her lip. She couldn't help but notice his skin was actually soft and pleasant to the touch. She flinched at the uninvited thought and pulled her hand right away as if it was burning.
"Right, ok…" He got up and headed like a drunk man towards the living room, though he didn't have any alcohol at all.
He leaned on the door frame for a bit. Kankuro knew why this was happening: the adrenaline that put him through the time Temari got hurt until the current moment had run out, leaving him with all the consequences. Somehow he succeeded to reach the sofa and lay down. The sheets had a spring flower fragrance, which made him dizzy. He took one deep breath, and couldn't even bring himself to wrap in a blanket. He instantly fell asleep.
Tenten took out the laundry and put it out to dry, as she said she's going to do. Then she decided it was time to go to sleep. She closed the door to the living room and changed her clothes with her pyjamas, loose shorts and sleeveless top. She sat down on the bed but… Something in Kankuro's behaviour troubled her. I'm just going to check up on him, she thought and got up on her feet. Entering quietly in the next room, she saw him sleeping flat on his stomach, his legs dangling from the side of the sofa. Tenten approached carefully, as she didn't exclude the possibility of being attacked. Again, he was shinobi after all. But no attacks were launched at her. She cautiously pushed his legs on the sofa, smiling under her breath. With her arms on her waist, she slid her gaze over him, then wrapped the blanket over his sleeping body, still careful to not touch his skin. The feeling was strangely nice, and that honestly freaked her out.
"Gomen…" she whispered while stepping backwards to her room. "And good night."
Tenten sighed quietly, let her hair loose and went to her bed.
"I am sorry."; "I apologise."
"Thank you."
