AN: Yay, 5,000 views!!! I love you guys!! Alright, I'm really sorry for the delay, but I hope you guys still love me. And guess what the grand total page count is for this chapter … 19 pages!!!! I know, you guys are just like O.O, "Really? How on Earth did she have the patience to type that up?" To tell the truth, I didn't, and many of my friends can tell you that I was pretty much ready to spill the entire story because I was bursting at the seams to tell anyone other than my sister, but I held back all the temptations, and instead opted for a very LONG and IMPORTANT chapter. BTW, this is the longest chapter I have ever written and guess what, this story has passed the 250 page mark. Actually, the next chapter starts on 260. . I digress, sorry. I hope you love it, and please please please review!!!
And to GrimSpeck18, 1. You know I was thinking the same thing! 2. Of course he's back! And 3. I'm not hugging Sasuke. ^.^
And to Thomas Drovin, Oh, Just wait, they'll be back in no time. This chapter is long enough though. .
And to PrincessSayaka, You always love love love love love. ^.^
And to Dantesfreezer, I don't think you've earned a reply, considering I had to knuckle you into giving me a review. .# GGGRRRRRRR!!!!!
And to Perminantly Lost In Thought, Hidan's going to be the only one??? ^.~
And to Gaaras1Girl, Oh, it's worse than that on Kirigi's end. Just read, you'll see why.
And to Azura Soul Reaver, glad you thought so.
And to Rezzalia, Thanks. I'm glad you like it so much!
I wanna thank the newbie favoriters/alerters. Kaore Ryu and Mr. Jay Black, thanks and welcome to the family!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters etc. You know the drill. Oh, and Kirigi, Saito, belong to Thomas Drovin, which I'm very grateful he's letting me use. Although, I did take some creative liberties with Saito, Thomas. Thanks a bunch!!!
Chapter Eight: Why Spy?
Shikamaru was in a daze. He hardly registered that Rox had walked him back to his house, to his room, to his bed, helping him to sit down. It was obvious she had ignored his parents as she walked him through his house. His mother was glaring at them and his father was shooting worried glances between Rox and Shikamaru. He vaguely recalled his father asking what had happened, and when he wasn't answered he followed them.
"Lemme get you some water," Rox suggested lightly. Shikamaru just gave a small nod, not really paying attention to anything. How could his mind register anything. He was in shock.
Rox left his side momentarily, lightly ushering his parents out of the doorway of his room, and shutting Shikamaru's door behind her. He could still hear his father through the false sense of privacy that the closed door gave.
"What happened?" Shikaku asked, more urgently. He could practically hear how his father was standing through his tone; arms crossed, shoulders hunched, and a scowl on his face. His mother was silent, but he knew that was only because she knew Shikaku wanted answers, and he was going to get them if she was screeching over the only girl who had them.
"Hidan's back," Shikamaru heard Rox sigh.
As soon as she said this, memories fired through his brain. "Take care of Kuranai for me," Asuma gasped. Shikamaru blinked. Asuma laid before him, coughing, choking on the blood in his throat, some of his blood landing on Shikamaru's face. Shikamaru blinked again. Trying to push back the painful memory, but like a set of dominoes, it triggered one memory after another. Hidan had fallen for Shikamaru's plan, ingesting some of his partner's blood. Now it was just up to Shikamaru to be able to pull off his role of a frightened mouse watching the trap it had accidentally sprung jump into action. Shikamaru closed his eyes, trying to focus on what was happening now. Hidan hung before him, body covered in paper bombs, screaming at him. Shikamaru not listening, instead watching the lighter Asuma had left him whirl through the air till it hit the paper bombs, blowing Hidan's body to pieces. Shikamaru propped his elbows on his knees and place his forehead in his palms slowly.
After seeing the newly dug ground, Shikamaru sprung out. His mind only repeated one thing. Hidan was back. Suddenly he stopped, seeing Roxanne in his path, looking at him as if he had lost his mind. "Get out of my way," he growled.
"What are you doing?" Roxanne asked, completely ignoring his order.
"I have to kill Hidan," Shikamaru stated. Shikamaru barely realized it, but it was like his mind had been immediately shoved back six years. Back to when Asuma died.
"You can't, not yet," Rox stated. Shikamaru didn't back down. He was obviously raging, and Rox could also see that somewhere in him, he was lost. "Considering now we know the Akatsuki is back, and they are most likely the only ones who would want Hidan, it's safe to say that Madara is with him. You can't face Madara yourself, and guaranteed he is not by himself. You would die before ever touching a hair on Hidan." Shikamaru's confusion started to contort his features. He looked around, trying to figure everything out, shaking his head slowly. Rox's heart sank watching him. "Shikamaru, snap out of it," Rox rasped, worry taking over her body. She placed a calming hand on his cheek. Suddenly he slackened, looking completely lost. Rox knew it was a horrible way of describing him at the moment, but the way he looked was definitely the lights were on, but no one was home. She gave a resigned sigh, pulling him away from the dig site, back towards Konoha.
She had no idea that there were only two words running though his head. Two word's that had him silent and absent. "I failed."
That testament rang through his mind. I failed. I failed to avenge Asuma. One tear slid down his cheek, then another, and another, until it felt as if he would drown in them. Suddenly it took too much strength to sit, and he just laid down and curled into a ball, tears flowing like rapid rivers over his face.
Meanwhile, Rox was in the kitchen, a drinking glass in hand, walking over to the kitchen sink. "What do you mean 'Hidan's back?'" Shikaku asked, very cross.
"It means he's alive," Rox answered in a very clipped tone as she turned on the faucet and put the glass underneath the flow of water.
Shikaku stayed silent. But his wife shook her head, a small disbelieving laugh escaping her lips before she said, "Shikamaru killed him."
Rox bit the inside of her cheek and turned off the water before it flowed over the cup. His mother had no idea. She couldn't take this horrible news and go comfort her son? She had to challenge it? Rox gently set down the glass and moved away from it, so she wouldn't knock it off its perch. She started, quietly, but venom was obviously in her voice. "He didn't. He took care of him yes, but Hidan is immortal, making it impossible for anyone to kill him." Shikamaru's mother looked taken aback at Rox's tone. Suddenly, Rox felt badly for her outburst and muttered, "Sorry."
Mrs. Nara glared at her and stated, "This is exactly why I told Shikamaru to stay away from you. You give him a false sense of security! And as soon as he's down, you refuse anything good he's done!" Shikaku pursed his lips and stayed silent. He wasn't one to jump in a fight unnecessarily, especially if his wife was in it. He loved her, but she was scarier than his own mother, which was saying something.
Rox was shocked by Mrs. Nara's cruelty. Shikamaru had told her that his mother would most likely hate her, but really? She hated her that much? "I'm not saying that Shikamaru didn't get rid of Hidan for six years! He did, and rather amazingly I might add! I'm just astounded that you would rather challenge information than comfort your son, who is obviously in shock!" Rox nearly yelled. Her eyes were wide with disbelief and a slight hint of rage. She quickly snatched up the glass of water, and quickly walked back to Shikamaru's room, dodging Mrs. Nara on her way out of the kitchen.
Mrs. Nara was obviously livid. They stood there silently for a minute or so. Shikaku opened his mouth to say something, only to get a glare from his wife. "Don't say a word," she snarled, turning on her heel and walking down the hallway.
When Rox opened Shikamaru's door, she saw him balled up on the bed, sobs shaking his body. She quickly rushed over to him, setting the glass of water on the bedside table. "Shikamaru?" Rox asked, sitting on the bed next to him. She put a calming hand on his shoulder. Tears welled in her eyes when he shrugged her hand off. "Shikamaru … I'm sorry," Roxanne whispered. Suddenly, his sobbing stopped, and he sat up and looked at her, tears still falling from his eyes. "I'm so, so sorry," she sobbed silently, tears falling slowly along her face, her lower lip trembling as if it held some great weight. He gave her a confused look through his glassy eyes. "I can't bear to see you in such pain," she stated, tears flowing freely down her face, pain for him etched on her face. A small giggle escaped her lips and she added, "even when you were just a cartoon character."
Slight surprise took over his tear stained face as he just looked at the woman before him. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Something started tugging on his heart as he watched her cry. It was … painful. Not agonizing, but just enough to notice. He then realized that he couldn't bear to see her in pain either. He loved her too much. He loved her. Then it hit him. I love her. Not wanting to show his surprise at his own revelation, he nodded slightly, pulling her into a loose embrace, placing his forehead against hers. Their eyes were closed and they just sat like that. Time seemed to freeze and zoom past them at the same time. Their world was small, containing only themselves, never wanting to let go of the other.
"I think it's time you left," Mrs. Nara stated, the venom of her tone not even tactfully hidden.
They didn't know when she showed up, but they didn't really care either. "The Wicked Witch of the West wants me to go," Rox sighed. Shikamaru sighed, having no idea what she was referencing, and not really caring either. He brought a hand up to her cheek, and leaned in brushing his lips against hers, his warm lips making light contact with her dark pink ones. She pressed her lips back, accepting his small kiss, grabbing his free hand and giving it a small squeeze. Both of them smiled a little into their kiss, before parting. She put her forehead against his again. "I'll tell Naruto," she whispered, rubbing her thumb over his hand, then getting up to leave. He frowned, feeling his heart pull again as she walked out of her room and down the hall. Both of them ignored Mrs. Nara's angry glare following Rox out Shikamaru's room and out of the Nara household.
"The nerve of that girl," Mrs. Nara growled, stomping away. Shikaku stayed silent, pressing his lips firmly tight. He gave Shikamaru a knowing look and nodded his acceptance of Rox, making Shikamaru smile a little.
Kirigi and Saito had made it halfway to Konoha, giving a huge birth to the Nara forest. Kirigi really didn't want to run into Madara, who was on his way back from digging up Hidan. They didn't have a lot of time, and they couldn't risk stopping. If they did, when Madara got back, he would surely send out his new assassin, and they would be sitting ducks. If they kept moving, they'd still have time because he wouldn't quite be able to catch up.
The young man next to him was practically gasping for air. Kirigi quickly handed him a small flask of water, letting Saito quench his thirst a bit. Saito greedily took it and had to have gulped half of the flask. As soon as he finished downing what little liquid was left in the flask, he gasped, trying to calm his breath, and shoved the now empty flask back to the old man beside him.
Kirigi took it from his young friend, and shook it, only to find it was completely empty. He sighed, giving an annoyed look to Saito. "Come on, we've got to continue," Kirigi sighed, helping Saito up. Saito nodded and continued running with what seemed to be a guy who ran like the energizer bunny.
Naruto silently shut his office door behind him, and sighed. After the funeral, things seemed to go from great to crappy. As soon as he and Hinata got home to change, Hinata seemed to be instantly hit with some weird stomach flu. He made sure she was situated at home before leaving. Even though he loved his wife and wanted to make sure she was ok, he had a bunch of paperwork due. He had never foreseen that Hokage duties would be so demanding. He understood the Hokage was supposed to protect the village, but the unending pile of paperwork provided in order to get that job done was ridiculous.
He slowly walked over to his desk and looked at the towering pile before him. He suddenly knew that none of it would be done by a reasonable hour that night. Well, might as well get started, he thought. He paused for a moment, looking around his desk, realizing that the desk had no pencil or pen on its surface what-so-ever. He cursed his disorganized nature, and started opening drawers, only finding a pack of gum and a ball of rubber bands. He gave an exasperated sigh, and opened his last drawer, hoping to god that he could find at least a crayon or something and not have to go down the hall and borrow a pen again. Instead of finding a pencil, pen, or even a crayon, there was a VHS labeled "NARUTO." He furrowed his brows and immediately became curious as to what it could be. He felt something akin to what he felt as a kid whenever he played a prank, like painting the Hokage's faces, as he pulled the video out of the drawer and snuck over to his TV and chair in the corner. He put the video into the VHS player secretively, and turned on the TV.
The TV fuzzed a little before a picture of Tsunade flicked onto the screen. Her face was completely serious, and it looked as if it was nightfall in the background. "Naruto," she said. "If you are watching this, then I would bet a winning lottery ticket that I'm dead." Naruto watched the screen shocked. She knew she was going to die? He thought. "I know what you're thinking, but please pay attention to what I have to tell you. If me telling you important news falls on deaf ears because of your ADD, then I will come back from my grave and haunt you." Naruto quit contemplating about her knowledge of her death and focused on her. Even though he pretended to not believe in superstitious stuff like ghosts, ever since his mission in that haunted house with Hinata and Kiba, he had been terrified of them. Tsunade paused a moment, seeming to look through Naruto's soul to make sure he was paying attention, making him gulp nervously. "Good. The man who killed me was a man by the name of Kirigi. When I found the prophecy three years ago, I knew I was going to need to be more careful with everything. Knowing Madara was still on the loose, I felt I should have someone following his movement. Kirigi was a martial arts teacher several years ago, but went blind and lost all of his customers. But because of his blindness, he was not subject to any visual genjutsu, including the ones produced by Sharingans.
"Because of this usefulness, I asked him to find Madara, and join him. That way I could keep tabs on him. Kirigi was always faithful and gave great information. Before the attack, he gave me a heads up that he and his partner were to be sneaking into Konoha to get the prophecy. I gave them a false one. Because he would give Madara a false prophecy, his time should be almost up for spying on Akatsuki. Don't be surprised if you see him come back to Konoha. And when he does, don't treat him badly for killing me. He only did so because I told him to in order to sell his role as a true Akatsuki member to his partner, and to keep his partner away from creating a massacre. He really is a hero and not a murderer as you probably thought he was before you watched this. Please, if you have men on watch for them, call them off. There is no reason he should be killed for saving the village and being such a valuable asset.
"This is all I had to inform you of. Take care of Konoha. I don't want to see you any time soon. Good luck," Tsunade smiled and waved. Then the screen went fuzzy again, leaving Naruto looking at it dumbfounded.
Ts-Tsunade was a sacrifice? He asked himself. Suddenly, it made a little sense to him. There was no way Tsunade could have been beaten so easily. The static from the television set was starting to annoy him, so he quickly turned off the player and TV, and started to make his way back to his desk.
Suddenly, a knock on the door made him stop. "Come in," he called to whoever was behind the door. It squeaked a little on its hinges as it opened. Roxanne walked through it, a somber look adorning her features. "Yes, what is it?" he asked her, making his way back to his chair, only to find as he sat down the pile of papers in front of him completely obstructed his vision. He quickly shoved them aside, shaking his head lightly at the utter silliness of the moment. He straightened himself out, and looked at her completely serious.
"Hidan's back," Roxanne replied.
Naruto's face didn't alter at all, except he blinked a bit.
Kankuro was walking around the Subaku suite silently. Yukina was currently taking a nap, letting Kankuro finally get some time to think about everything. Too bad whenever he was alone with his thoughts, he was reminded of Matsuri. A glimpse of his own daughter was sometimes difficult to bear because she reminded him so much of her. Even when he was alone, his mind instantly replayed her death in his head, his daughter basically being shoved into his hands before the nurses rushed back to help the doctors.
"Hey, Gaara," Cordi whispered, sitting next to Gaara on his bed. He silently raised his brows as if to ask what? "Is it just me, or does Kankuro seem really depressed?"
"He's been like that ever since Matsuri died," Gaara stated, no real emotion in his voice, except resigned worry.
Cordi was silent for a little bit, watching Kankuro do nothing in particular in the lounge area. "Well," Cordi sighed, "he needs to get back on the horse." Gaara gave her a confused look as if to tell her to explain. "He should start dating again. How long has it been since he went out on one date?" He stayed silent, not really remembering when his brother went out on a date. It had been a couple years since Kankuro had even mentioned a girl. "Exactly," Cordi stated. "He needs to get back out there. He might say he's not ready, but he needs it."
"How do you propose we get him to go on a date?" Gaara asked incredulously.
"Blind double," she suggested. He gave her another confused look. "You tell him he's going to go on a date with you and me. Don't tell him we won't actually be going, though."
"Alright," Gaara nodded, "but who can we find to date him?"
That was the question. She ran through the list of girls she knew from the show, but they were either taken or related. Hinata was married to Naruto. Ino was dating Chouji, she found out a couple days ago. And Sakura was starting to get serious with Lee. Tenten flashed through her mind, but she remembered Kankuro saying something about her being really annoying, which Cordi agreed somewhat with. And she could also vaguely remember something about her getting engaged to some baker. Matsuri was obviously dead, and Temari was definitely out of the picture. Shizune, she'd be too stuck up. Anko, a little too hyper. Konohamaru's friend, WAY too young.
So, Cordi started to contemplate her own friends. Rox had Shikamaru, and had that established ever since she saw him in real life. Ronni and Kiba were pretty serious. Ever since he got back, they had been joined at the hip. When Cordi saw Lynne at the funeral, she and Sasuke had been abnormally buddy-buddy. Cordi shivered in disgust when a thought popped up in her mind about what Lynne and Sasuke were doing in their spare time alone. Then Fred. Cordi stopped at her.
Fred was an awesome person who was really easy to talk to. She had a gift for always knowing what to say to make someone feel better, and was great with advice. Both Fred and Kankuro were artists. And Fred had been complaining the last couple years about how everyone was paired off, except her. Fred tended to like guys like Kankuro, which was strange, because most people don't. She was the kind of girl that when they were kids watching Yu Yu Hakusho, her favorite character was Kuwabara. Kankuro was very similar; kind of creepy and annoying when you meet him, but once you get to know him, he turns out to be a really cool guy. She also vaguely remembered back to when they met, Kankuro had eyed her a bit, so there was some attraction there. Why not?
"I think I got someone. She'll be pretty easy to convince, too," Cordi smiled. "Make the date tonight, at let's say 7:00?"
"Sure, but it's 2:30 now. You better get going to talk to the date. And I need to find Temari to babysit Yukina," Gaara stated. Cordi nodded and smiled at him.
"Well, then I guess I'll get going," Cordi laughed, leaning towards him and brushing her lips lightly against his. She was going to leave him with just that, when he grabbed her head and pushed his lips against hers, inhaling her sent. He opened his lips slightly and bit her lower lip as gently, but sensually, as possible. She smiled into his lips, and opened her mouth slightly, letting his tongue slip in and massage hers gently. She placed a hand at the nape of his neck, her fingers slowly traveling into his crimson red hair. She felt his free arm wrap itself around her waist as he broke away, trailing small kisses across her cheek, to her jaw line, and trace the line back to her mouth. Her other hand had found its way into his hair, racing through his red forest. He almost urged her to lay down with him and continue their little make-out session, when she tightened her grasp on his hair and forced him to pull away. He did, but he didn't look pleased about it, and he voiced his opinion on it with a dissatisfied growl or grunt. "I've got to go," Cordi reminded him, giving him a small peck on the lips, before puzzling her way out of his embrace. His eyes followed her, knowing that tonight he was going to finish what had just started.
Fred had decided to hang out with Cherokee until night began to fall. Somehow she had convinced Cherokee to stay still to let her draw her. "Are you almost done?" Cherokee growled.
"Hush," Fred ordered. She looked at the picture she had so far, it definitely caught her dragon's elegance in it. But it was just a line drawing with some of the shading in her tail and neck done. "I'm just doing the shading right now, which shouldn't take long," she added, going back to her sketch.
Well, apparently Saryu wanted to talk about something, and you know how he is with patience, Cherokee groused through their mental bond. Fred stopped, resting her hand on the paper. Everyone had ditched her after the funeral. Roxanne was nowhere to be seen, probably still with Shikamaru considering the way his mother looked afterwards. It was no secret that Mrs. Nara loathed the eldest Turner. And Lynne was off with Sasuke, and knowing how Lynne was about Sasuke beforehand, she was pretty sure she knew what they were up to. Her own sister was off with Kiba, somewhat understandably. Over the past two years, Ronni had thought of nothing other than the dog boy. And Ronni had never stayed away from a guy she liked that long before. Why wouldn't she want to catch up? And Cordi. Fred had no idea what Cordi was up to. She figured it had something to do with Gaara, only because ever since they got back, both of them had been all lovey-dovey, or as she sometimes called "We" people. Now her own dragon wanted to leave because she needed to talk to Saryu.
Fred pinched the bridge of her nose, and clenched her eyes shut. "Fine, go," she sighed, not looking at Cherokee. "I can shade without you." Cherokee nodded, and took off into the sky. Fred sighed, looking at the empty forest opening she sat in. She was completely alone. "Great," she muttered to herself.
"Aw, cheer up," she heard Cordi drawl behind her. She whipped around to see her leaning on a nearby tree. "I've been looking for you for a while," she stated, walking forward.
"Why?" Fred asked cautiously.
"Because," Cordi laughed, "you have a date at 7:00."
Fred shot her a confused look. "You … are setting me on a blind date?" Fred asked, the disbelief from what just came out of her mouth obvious in her tone.
"Yeah," Cordi laughed. "It's completely backwards, isn't it?" Fred just nodded. Normally Cordi and Roxanne had issues landing guys, so they rarely went on dates. Fred and Ronni usually had to set them up. It didn't always work out, but that was the usual order of their world. Now Cordi was setting Fred up. It just seemed so backwards.
"What's his name?" Fred asked.
"That would be telling. I will say he is a native of this world, though," Cordi baited.
"Well, no shit, Sherlock," Fred groused, glaring at the younger Turner. Cordi chuckled at her. "What guy in this world isn't from it?"
"Good point," Cordi conceded. "It's just, you've been complaining the last couple years about how you don't know anyone here, and you don't have a guy, because you didn't watch the show or read the comic. Now, I'm lending you a branch."
Fred frowned at her. "Well is he a major character or a minor?" she asked, still frowning.
"Middle character," Cordi stated. "He's on and off depending on the arc." Then Cordi's face showed that she realized Fred was just stalling and she frowned. "Come on, we got to get you ready. Believe it or not, he needs the date more than you." Fred grimaced at that. Oh dear. She set me up with a desperate guy. Fuck my life. Fred thought regretfully. But she followed her friend back to her apartment to get some nice clothes on for her date.
Kirigi and Saito stopped once more to catch their breath. They had been running for hours and hours on end. They had been out of water since Saito drank the last of it around noon. It was now rounding on six, and they were parched from the exercise. They were going to be at Konoha in a couple hours, but their bodies were starting to feel neglected from the lack of hydration. They needed to find a stream quickly and keep moving.
Kirigi focused on his hearing, trying to see if he could locate a body of clean water anywhere. Faintly, he could hear the tinkling of flowing water several meters away. "Come on," Kirigi urged. Saito didn't reply, just panted. The entire run to Konoha, the riveting conversation between them had consisted of silence. Saito wasn't one for talking too much. He was more the intellectual type, which Kirigi rarely found in today's time. It was refreshing, but sometimes Kirigi really wished Saito would say something profound, which was usual whenever he did say something. Kirigi sighed, and grabbed Saito's arm, dragging him to the creek he had located. As they reached it, he lightly dropped Saito, letting him grab a drink. He heard Saito cup his hands, collect water in them, and slurp it up several times. Kirigi did the same, and decided to fill their flask quickly before running off. Who knew when they would need it again.
"Are we there yet?" Saito asked, the first words he said the entire trip. Kirigi was slightly taken aback by them.
Kirigi gave a breathy laugh and replied, "I'm sorry, but no. I give us another two or three hours. But we really need to get moving. We don't Madara catching up to us." He could hear Saito nod by the rustling of his clothes and hair. Then he heard Saito stand up and stretch his limbs a little, keeping the blood flowing and the muscles relaxed.
"Then we'd better get going," Saito sighed. Kirigi smiled and nodded, standing up next to his young comrade. They then started up their run for refuge in Konoha.
"What about this one?" Fred asked, holding up a light pink dress reaching her knee. Cordi looked at it and pursed her lips. "Ok, no, then," Fred sighed, tossing the dress in the steadily growing pile of rejections on the bed.
"We have an hour to get you there. Wear … why not wear what you wore to Ronni's and my graduation?" Cordi asked, shrugging at the option. "Do you have it with you?"
"Yes," Fred stated, rummaging through her closet. "Ah-hah! Found you!" She laughed victoriously holding up a lacy brown top and dark brown bohemian skirt. She quickly changed out of her jeans and t-shirt, and rummaged through her drawers for a white camisole. Once she found one, she put it on hastily, then slipped the lacy brown top over it. As soon as she put her skirt on, she went over to the bathroom and finished her hair and make-up in about fifteen minutes. While she was in there, she called over to Cordi "Hey, can you grab my brown heals? They should be on the closet floor somewhere."
"Sure," Cordi muttered, walking over to the closet and kneeling to look through the mass of shoes. Eventually, she found the ones Fred had asked for, and walked them over to her friend. Fred smiled as she put the last touches on her make-up and slipped on her shoes. The smile gracing her face turned from innocent to evil in an instant.
"Your turn," She stated. They still had forty-five minutes to get to the date. Why not?
"What? No," Cordi began to protest, but Fred already had her in her grasp, along with make-up.
"If I'm going on a date, you are too," Fred explained, putting the base on Cordi's face. Cordi scowled at her. "You know, if you don't neutralize your face for me, you're going to turn out uglier than necessary." Cordi gawked at her friends harsh words. "There we go," Fred smiled, grabbing her jaw in a tight grip, holding Cordi's head in place and contorting Cordi's face slightly by pushing each of her lip's corners together.
"You know," Cordi sighed through Fred's grip, "this is a little ridiculous."
"Shut up," Fred ordered, pulling out the blush. "You should know, every artist needs their canvas. You volunteered when you set me up on a blind date without asking first," She stated as she glided the brush along Cordi's cheek bones, putting some color on the otherwise pale face. Cordi sighed. She hated anyone doing her make-up.
As soon as Fred finished with the blush, she moved onto the eyes. She whipped out her eye-shadows, mascara, and eye-liner. Cordi inwardly groaned at this. Fred knew very well that Cordi hated having make-up done for her for this precise reason. Fred was the first one who ever tried putting eye-make-up on Cordi so many years ago, and it was more difficult and frustrating than playing Budokai with Rox, who always played Vegeta and produced almost instantaneously a Galick-Gun every time Fred got out a decent Wolf-Fang Fist. But that was beside the point. The point was Cordi and eye-make-up never went hand in hand.
She readied her eye-shadow brush, and started to brush along Cordi's eye-lid. Subconsciously, Cordi squeezed her eyes shut, making Fred stop. "Unclench," Fred ordered. Cordi complied, but could only do so much. Fred let out a disgruntled sigh and growled, "Could you stop flinching and fidgeting your eyebrows?"
"Sorry, habit," Cordi sighed, trying as hard as possible to relax her eye-lids.
As soon as the eye-shadow was done, Cordi opened her eyes and blinked several times. Then she saw the next third of the torture, Cordi's worst enemy, the eye-liner pencil. Cordi looked on in fear as Fred brought the pencil closer and closer to her eyes. "Look up," Fred ordered. Cordi did, but the blinking started up. "Quit it," Fred ordered again.
"I'm sorry, but in case you've forgotten from the thousands of times I've told you whenever you've tried this, someone other than myself applying eye-liner to my eyes tends to tickle." Cordi snapped, which was rather funny, considering her face was still in a vice-grip.
But Fred was able to keep her composure and focus on the eye-liner, but didn't fail to add, "And you know that I think that this tickling you is abnormally weird, but then again, I have to remind myself that it's you, and the world is right again. Bite your lip or something."
"I would," Cordi growled, "if you didn't have them puckered like this."
Fred pursed her lips then added, "Maybe I just don't want you squelching on your payment for my blind date." Cordi sighed in annoyance again. Fred tried again with the eye-liner, but Cordi began to flinch and fidget again as soon as Fred began to glide the pencil along her eyelash line. Cordi sighed again several times; trying to keep the horrible sensation tickling gave her down. "Would you quit it?" Fred growled. Cordi just scowled, not dignifying her with a response.
Fred finished with the eye-liner, ignoring Cordi's scowl. "Now, time for mascara," Fred smiled, holding the tube in her palm, and unscrewing the top with her thumb and index finger. As soon as she got the brush free, she pulled Cordi's face closer, making Cordi jerk away. With lightning speed, Fred applied the black ink to Cordi's upper lashes, just holding it still and letting Cordi do all the work by flinching and blinking. Using that method was way quicker than trying to brush against Cordi's incessant flinching. With both eyes done, she put the mascara away and rummaged through her bag, still holding Cordi's face in place. "Aha!" she exclaimed, finally finding what she was looking for. A tube of lipstick that was a dark rose color. "Pucker," she ordered as she pulled the lid off the tube.
"You're already puckering them," Cordi stated, glaring at the brunette holding her jaw. Fred rolled her eyes, and twisted the red stick up until it reach just past the opening. She then brushed the stick lightly against Cordi's lips, staining them a dark pink color.
"Now, mush them together," Fred ordered, twisting the stick back into place and placing the lid over it.
"You know, that would be so much easier if you let go of my face," Cordi argued. Fred consented, letting Cordi press her lips together to evenly distribute the color and massager her jaw and cheeks back to feeling. But Fred didn't give her long before grabbing her hair and the curling iron. "What the hell Fred?" Cordi snapped, but didn't run off, not wanting her hair pulled out of her scalp, or worse, her scalp to be burned.
"Yet again, if I'm going on a date, so are you," Fred stated, curling a lock of Cordi's burnt-gold hair.
"Well, duh. I told Gaara that we would join you guys," Cordi lied. Originally, she had no intention to join in on the blind date. But now it seemed that there was no way out of it.
"Well, since you are going on a date too, you need to get ready," Fred explained. "Close your eyes," she ordered, shaking her hairspray can. Cordi sighed, and conceded to the rest of Fred's orders, just wanting her done. As soon as Fred finished, Cordi finally got a good look at herself in the bathroom mirror, which Fred had her facing the other way the entire time.
What she saw made her face fall. "I look like a prostitute," Cordi stated, gaping at her reflection in the mirror. Fred had put dark eye-liner and shadow on Cordi's eye-lids. Also her blush was rather loud against her pale cheeks. And Cordi's natural pouting lips weren't helped at all with the dark lipstick.
"Yup, payback's a bitch, ain't it?" Fred laughed, smiling over Cordi's shoulder. "Oh, we have less than thirty minutes to get there! We got to get going," Fred smiled evilly, yanking Cordi out of the bathroom towards the front door of her apartment.
They had been waiting for the guys to show up for about ten minutes. They had already waited at the restaurant and gotten a table, menus, and drinks. Cordi sighed, beginning to think that she would be stuck in this faux double date. "So," Cordi sighed, "how's everything going with Ronni and Kiba?"
"Pretty good apparently," Fred replied. "She told me he's taking her to a schnazzy restaurant tomorrow night, so yeah, pretty good."
Cordi's brows furrowed in confusion. "I'm sorry, but Kiba and 'schnazzy' don't go together. I mean, I have issues mentally picturing him in a suit, and I saw him in one for Kankuro's wedding. Kiba just doesn't seem the suave, gentlemanly type," Cordi stated.
Fred paused then said, "Then they're doing really, really good."
Cordi contemplated the situation for a minute. "Do you think … ?" Cordi started, but then shook her head and added, "No."
"What?" Fred asked impatiently.
"Well … do you think that … that Kiba's planning to propose?" Cordi asked.
Fred just blinked at Cordi, digesting what Cordi guessed. "It's possible," Fred stated. "Oh my God, he's going to ask my little sister to marry him!"
"We don't know that yet," Cordi reassured.
"No. We do. Kiba going to a nice restaurant with my sister means a proposal," Fred fretted.
"No, it could just be a celebratory dinner that he's back," Cordi offered. Fred looked at her pondering the possibility. "Just calm down," Cordi laughed, hoping to ease her friend. Thankfully, it did so Fred didn't look like a frantic, hopeless puddle of nerves in their booth when the guys finally came by. Cordi quickly looked over Fred's shoulder to see Gaara and Kankuro had finally gotten there and were waiting with the hostess, Gaara scanning the area. Cordi raised her hand and gave them a wave giving away hers and Fred's location. They walked over to their table, Kankuro paused though to tell the hostess that he and Gaara had found the rest of their party, and then joined them at the table.
Kankuro was didn't notice Fred because the first question that popped into his head just came tumbling out of his mouth without any filter, which was, "Cordi, what attacked your face?" Gaara was somehow able to keep a stoic face, but a twitch of the corner of his mouth let Cordi know that he was smirking inwardly.
Cordi looked at Kankuro, not saying anything, looking as if she were regarding what cruel punishment she could give him, before silently pointing to Fred across the table, slowly blinking at the puppet master. Kankuro looked down, and suddenly a smile blossomed onto his face. "Oh, hey, Fred," he said casually.
"Hey," Fred smiled. She now understood what Cordi had meant what she said "This guy needs the date more than you." He wasn't desperate, his family was. But when your family's Gaara, from what she'd gathered from her younger sister's and best friends' incessant chattering about the subject back at home, then if they were desperate to get him out of the house, things must have been bad. Kankuro just never noticed what it was doing to himself.
Cordi scooted out of the booth, so Kankuro could sit across from Fred, planning to jump back in the booth because her idea of leaving them alone on their date had fallen through. But as soon as she was about to sit back down, the hostess walked up to Gaara and handed him a folded piece of paper saying, "A message just came for you, Lord Kazekage." Gaara grasped the paper, and nodded, dismissing her back to her post. Quickly, he opened the message, a slight scowl playing on his features.
"What is it Gaara?" Cordi asked, eyeing him curiously.
"Naruto wants to discuss something with you and me," he answered, speaking directly to Cordi, although not looking at her directly. "It's probably nothing, but we should go see what it is." He pocketed the paper quickly, adding "Sorry, but we'll have to do this another time." With that, he quickly turned and started to walk out.
Cordi shot both Fred and Kankuro a confused and apologetic look and said, "Sorry. Don't wait up. I have a feeling this might take longer than Gaara thinks." With that, Cordi gave them a wave and jogged up Gaara, trying to catch up and fall into pace with him. "What did Naruto say exactly?" Cordi asked worried. Gaara dug his hand back into his pocket and fished out the paper, handing it to Cordi without even looking at her. She quickly un-folded it to find it said …. nothing. The piece of paper was completely blank. Cordi flipped it over to see if she was looking at the wrong side, but the other was blank too. This stopped her immediately in her tracks.
Gaara rounded on her, a victorious smirk playing on his lips. "You don't think you can just leave me hanging like that, do you?" he asked, an evil glint playing in his light blue eyes, placing a hand at the nape of her neck. Quickly, he leaned in, pulling her to him a little, and brushed his lips lightly with hers, letting the sensations make her shudder in his grasp. He lightly licked her upper lip, barely letting his tongue taste her red lips, before descending onto her again, inhaling her scent. He could feel Cordi's fingers snake their way over his scalp through his unruly wine red hair. He wound his other arm around her waist as he pressed his lips against hers harder, brushing his tongue against hers, trying to lure it into him. She was following his directions until her stomach growled loudly. They broke away, Cordi laughing.
"What a way to kill the moment," she giggled, embarrassment obvious from the blood rushing to her cheeks. Gaara just gave her an expression she couldn't register. It was somewhere between confusion and adoration.
He looked up, a small chuckle escaping his lips before he said, "Come on. I've got a surprise." Cordi frowned at him, pretty sure he knew her view on surprises, but she let it go, and followed him. They reached a tall building, where Gaara gathered his sand and hovered them to the top, where there was a small thing of food set up on a bench. Cordi instantly recognized it from the comics and the show as Shikamaru's childhood cloud watching spot.
"Uhm, Gaara?" Cordi asked uneasily, as he hopped off his little sand cloud onto the roof top. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Cordi asked before hastily adding, "I mean, considering the last time."
Gaara pursed his lips and then stated, "Neither of us is inebriated this time. I think we should be fine." Cordi shrugged, smiling at the redhead. The smell of the food lulled her closer to the bench, where Gaara sat, hunger taking over her mind. She sat down, letting the scents of the foods prepared infiltrate her senses. There was a small basket of warm rolls, mingling with the scent of the two plates steaks. And for desert, chocolate covered strawberries. Cordi was already practically salivating. Gaara smiled at Cordi's reaction of his idea. He had never been able to really cook, so Temari was nice enough to prepare the meal and deliver it early. That's why Gaara and Kankuro were running a bit late. Gaara wanted to check out the set up for their date beforehand.
Remembering the last time they had been on a roof together, he handed Cordi a bottle of water, which she took, chuckling. The dinner would have most likely been more elegant with wine, but neither of them trusted themselves enough not to get in the same situation given the chance. Cordi noticed that Gaara had also brought forks and knives for the steaks, which made her wonder why they still used chopsticks, but she pushed the thought aside, cutting into the tender, juicy meat. The steak tasted phenomenal, which Cordi voiced with as surprised, "Wow." Gaara nodded his agreement with her short statement.
"Temari should make this more often," Gaara stated, eyeing his steak. Cordi nodded, cutting another piece.
The dinner was rather silent since Gaara and Cordi left. Neither Fred nor Kankuro knew exactly what to say to start a conversation with the other. "… So …" Fred drawled, trying to think of a good question to ask. "How's life?" was the only one that popped in her head that seemed worthy to ask.
"Good," he replied, nodding as if to reaffirm what he said. "You?"
"I'm good, too," Fred replied. And then back to the silence. Oh, this is pitiful. Fred thought.
Why don't you try talking about something you're interested in and see if he bites? Cherokee asked.
Fred inwardly scowled and replied, Fine time for you to finally be listening in.
Hey, I told you I had a meeting with Saryu, Cherokee growled.
Yeah, how did it go? Fred asked.
One. It's none of your business. And Two. You're on a date. Shouldn't you be talking to … oh I don't know, your date? Cherokee stated. Fred inwardly sighed, her dragon was right. She felt bad that she was basically ignoring Kankuro to discuss Cherokee and Saryu. What was wrong with her.
Fine, I'll see if he bites, Fred replied, silencing the connection to focus on her date.
"Recently, I've been trying to draw. I'm a little out of practice because of the training, but it's coming back to me," Fred said, hoping Kankuro could find something in there to talk about.
"You draw?" Kankuro asked.
Score! Fred cheered in her mind. She smiled and nodded. "More than that. I was and art major before we got here. I'm really good at painting and sculpting too. Back home, I made a clay mime that people wanted to buy off me. But I liked it too much, so it's probably still in my old room," Fred stated.
"Well, I'm not really good, but I've been known to doodle from time to time," Kankuro said, a hint of hopefulness in his voice. Probably hoping that doodling was good enough in her book.
"Well, I see you also paint," Fred smiled. "I almost always see you with some sort of purple pattern on your face." Yes, things were starting to pick up. It wasn't just the awkward silence broken from time to time with a question of courtesy and a small "Yeah," as the reply. They were actually talking. Throughout the dinner talked about art, and when that subject had dried up, they moved onto what Fred's world was like, what her home was like. She told him about all the cows on their old farm, along with fun little anecdotes, like the one time Fred, Ronni, Rox, and Cordi were almost trampled to death by them because they had gotten a bunch of apples from their little orchard behind the barn. Kankuro seemed to find that story amusing and told her that a similar thing had happened to Naruto during the Chuunin exams, but no one really knew why he was being chased. Fred inquired about Suna. She had never been to a desert, and everything he said about his home was so interesting and different than what she was used to. They ordered a slice of pie for desert, sharing it because they were both almost full.
It was only after fifteen minutes waiting for their check did Gaara and Cordi get back to the table. Fred's and Kankuro's eyes instantly narrowed at the sight of the younger couple. Gaara's hair was if possible, more unruly than it was when they had left, as was Cordi's. Both of their lips had stains from Cordi's lipstick smudged along their lips. And their clothes were slightly disheveled.
"Fair to say Naruto didn't want to talk to you, did he?" Fred stated, looking at the both of them.
Cordi blushed, but pointed at Gaara and lip-synced, "His idea." That didn't go unnoticed by Gaara, who shot Cordi a raised eyebrow. She just grinned at him innocently. Kankuro just scowled at the both of them, trying hard to not let out a satisfied smirk. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that they were never on their way to see the Hokage.
Kirigi and Saito finally made it to the Konoha around ten thirty at night, and talked to Naruto about what had happened. Kirigi explained Saito's situation, which Naruto took under consideration, but said he'd have it looked at in the morning. Naruto trusted Kirigi somewhat now that Tsunade told him what happened, but he still wanted to have his bases covered. He sent them to a place they could stay the night, and asked a couple ANBU to watch them incase anything happened after Kirigi and Saito had left.
The next morning, they woke up early enough to get ready for their meeting. Kirigi and Saito walked down to Naruto's office, but Kirigi didn't stay long. As soon as they got there, he excused himself and walked down, leaving Naruto and Saito looking after him oddly. Kirigi didn't notice. He silently trudged out of the building and down the road to the cemetery. It didn't take him too long to find what he was looking for. As soon as he found it, he knelt, placing a hand on the gravestone. His thumb trailed lightly over the name "Tsunade" gently and lovingly.
"It wasn't supposed to turn out this way," he muttered, grimacing at the headstone. A silent tear found its way down his cheek. Just one was all he'd let out, though.
Lynne had walked in behind him, listening to all his memories of him and Tsunade. When Naruto had woken her last night and explained things to her about Kirigi and Saito, she was surprised at first, but now seeing him hunched over her grave, she understood.
"Did you love her?" Lynne asked quietly, unsure if she'd scare him away.
Kirigi didn't say anything, but slowly nodded, his hand curling into a fist. She realized he was having issues forgiving himself, so she walked over to him and placed a calming hand on his shoulder. She hoped someday he could forgive himself, but she seriously doubted that it would happen any time soon.