Chapter 48: Kagami's Heart Arc - Shattered Mirror
I have not written enough drama for the story, so here we go. This arc has finally reached its climax, and will very likely conclude in Chapter Fifty or Fifty-One. Hope you enjoy, Kagami fans!
I also felt like Kagami was getting pretty Mary-Sue-ish, so I wanted to try to expand on her a little bit. Her backstory will come in the next chapter, however.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the story except for my OCs and the storyline.
Warning: Violence and murder begin here. Viewer discretion is advised, but I'm not showing any gore.
That morning, I absolutely did not plan to head on over to a street market with my "best friend".
Originally, I had wanted to think of a way to revise the plan that I had in mind that involved the Akatsuki, since the Christmas vacation seemed to have changed them quite a lot.
Pein wanted to be referred to by his original name, as he had been called Nagato many years ago. However, his name wasn't the only thing about him that had changed: Nagato talked a little bit more than everybody, and didn't bark out orders to anybody anymore. Even more, every now and then, he actually smiled.
All because of that one necklace, based on my observations. It wasn't even the whole necklace...just one little shard!
Why does he care about it so much? I had wondered to myself. He could have easily sold it long ago to get a large profit, but no! He keeps that thing around his neck as if it was his child or something!
Even more, Hidan and Yukio had somehow managed to make up with each other, though they still did fight, But ever since Christmas morning, Yukio had not kicked Hidan in the crotch, not even after they had argued about Pokémon.
It was actually quite beyond me why they would argue about which girl the main boy was going to end up with.
The important point was that their hatred for each other had simply downgraded into an unfriendly rivalry or something. Nowadays, all that boy talked about was Ricky the skateboard, and Hidan was still trying to arrange rituals for Jashin. Everybody else had undergone a change of some sort ever since we had landed here, and we all just seemed so...friendly.
Unacceptable.
This isn't a group of friends, I thought to myself, crunching my eyebrows down, this is a group of criminals! Have they already forgotten what deeds they have done in the Akatsuki after spending four months with these little children?
But then again, who was I to talk? Even I had been turned more gentle by the youngest member of the Hoshiyume family. As much as I currently despised her at that moment for being one of the main factors of the dissipating evil intent in the Akatsuki, there was no reason to harbor a feeling of dislike or hate for Kagami.
Even I had to admit that while I did not appreciate how she was making everybody recognize the evil that they had done, I still liked her. I still wasn't sure if it because she looked like Rin or reminded me of my childhood in general, but it was definitely something.
Now, I wasn't sure whether to embrace the benign part of me once again or focus more on Project Tsuki no Me. After all, looking at Kagami did remind me of why I had decided to go along with the plan in the first place. However, the more I spent time with her, the less I actually thought of the plan itself and the more I thought about being my normal self again.
But before I had a formal time to think and lament about the situation, Kagami flew into the room — her room, as I had forgotten that I had shared it with her — and began tugging on my arm.
"Come on, Obito!" she squealed, yanking my arm and dragging me out the door. "Let's go!"
Reluctantly, I sighed, allowing her to tug me out of the room. But once we were out of the room, I pulled my Tobi façade back out, remembering that once I was no longer in the room, I had to keep my disguise up. The only person that I could let my guard down nearby was Kagami, who had figured out most of my ruse by herself.
I bounced down the stairs, copying her actions as we passed by an annoyed-looking Deidara and Hidan. Just like Tobi tended to, I completely ignored them, following Kagami down the stairs and out the door.
Once we had left the building and had walked a good distance away from the house, I reverted back to my own personality and narrowed my eyes at the girl, crossing my arms skeptically.
"Let's go over the list first," I suggested, whipping out an invisible and nonexistent paper and pencil. "Did Kaiya-chan let you leave the house with me?"
"Yes," she replied, crossing her arms impatiently. I could tell from her expression that she simply wanted to go and did not really appreciate my hesitance.
"Is she well aware about the location we're going to and deemed it safe for both of us?"
"Yes."
"Are there any anime conventions?"
She shook her head. "No, but transform into an older version of my brother, anyway. I don't feel like taking any chances out here, especially since it's the middle of the day. Think of going to the street market as a more serious version of the amusement park. Although I plan to enjoy myself there, the most important point is that we get supplies for onee-chan in time for New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, and my birthday."
My single eye widened at her last statement. "Your birthday? When is it?"
"January First," she answered, adjusting the white ribbons that she had tied in her hair. "In just four days, I'll be turning eight years old. Onee-chan promised to give me a Chinese New Year-style fireworks show, even though it's not on a Sunday. But in return, I have to choose what kind of fireworks I want for the show. Now that I'm turning a year older, I've got to be more responsible and mature for what I do and want."
"You certainly sound more mature," I remarked, trying to compliment her and make her sound a little bit more cheerful. "But why aren't you as excited about it? You don't really seem like your cheerful self today."
It was true. The only time she had been excited at all that day was when she had dragged me out of my room. However, as soon as we had left the house, she had turned sorrowful all of a sudden.
She shook her head, though I could detect the pain in her eyes as she said that. "It's nothing," she replied, though I didn't feel completely convinced.
Something was up with her. And I decided that it was my mission to find out what in the world was bothering her, especially since her birthday was coming up. As I recalled, birthdays were supposed to be happy occasions.
So why is Kagami so upset about it, especially since it's only been three days since Christmas Day?
"Anyway," she started, breaking my train of thoughts, "let's just go. I do feel like getting back into my cheerful mood, and I believe that. The quickest way to do that is to get everything for onee-chan and make sure that everything that she needs has been purchased."
With that, we strolled on, allowing Kagami to lead the way. However, the way she had talked about everything so non-animatedly made me feel rather uneasy, even though I had been largely unaffected by other feelings given off by other people.
Eventually, we ended up at the street market: a bustling, small area that looked very much like a campsite. Strangely enough, it wasn't even on a street. Instead, it was on a big, grassy area in front of a couple of giant office buildings, where a few alleys surround the area.
Kagami whipped a few dollars out of her pocket, then proceeded to drag me along with her. "Let's go."
Hesitantly, I complied, not really finding the right words to say at the moment. Currently, all I felt like doing was seeing Kagami become happy again, oddly enough. Whether it was something about that smile that reminded me of Rin or not seeing the pain in her gaze anymore, I felt compelled to help her, for those reasons that I could not explain.
Our first stop was the nearest firework stand, where Kagami instantly grabbed the attention of the worker by slamming a ten-dollar-bill on the table and saying, "Blue, green, and yellow, please."
Surely enough, all three colors of fireworks were present, along with a bunch of red fireworks. Silently, I noted that she had bought a few of the three types that she had chosen, but refused to buy any red ones.
At first, I had the urge to ask her why she had done so, but in the end, I decided against it as the worker handed Kagami the bag full of fireworks and began helping the person who had been standing behind us.
I followed her to the next stand, which contained more fireworks. This time, the worker had fireworks in every color of the rainbow, from red to purple. But once again, Kagami refrained from buying any of the red ones and simply bought all of the other colors instead. After thanking the worker, she moved on without another word, no smile on her face.
It was as if she had been suddenly transformed into a completely different person overnight.
But still, I assumed that there were already enough red fireworks back at the house and continued to follow the girl around the street market as she bought more and more fireworks.
Finally, at the fifth stand, I forced myself to ask her one question using my happy-go-lucky Tobi persona: "What's Kagami-chan's favorite and least favorite color?"
She answered simply, almost emotionlessly. However, once again, I could detect the pain that was clouding her gaze. "I have no favorite color," she said, answering the first question. "However, I have a strong distaste for red."
So that's why.
I did not say anything else, not even asking her for a clarification why she disliked that color so much. At that point, I didn't even care about the fact that she was spending a lot of money on that bulky bag of fireworks.
We went around the stands for a while, buying fireworks and random party favors of all different sorts...except for the red kinds, of course. Everything was in different colors, and it seemed as if she was making an effort to keep them all in different colors and shades.
Eventually, a smile began to return to her face, but still, she did not laugh or bounce around like she tended to do. Her expression remained calm and undeterred by her surroundings as she simply walked on.
Suddenly, she stopped, her gaze falling upon a small stand, where a lady was handing out plastic toy lanterns, like the kind parents gave to kids to play with during festivals, since real lanterns were a bit too dangerous for young children. For a moment, she stared at the stand, until out of the blue, she beamed.
"Come on!" she shrieked abruptly, tugging me along with her, much to my surprise. "Can we get a lantern? Please?"
"O-okay," I stammered, quite confused by her sudden mood change. But deciding to accept the fact that the lanterns had made her happy again, I followed her to the stand as she grabbed a white one and held it up to my face. It had pink polka dots, though if it was my birthday party, I would have deemed it to be too girly for me.
"Do you think that this is a good one?" she asked me, as if she was trying to be playful.
Remembering that she liked odd patterns and variety, I nodded, then gave Kagami a look when she simply stood there afterward. She seemed to get the message, but I held out a hand to her in order to have her pay for the lantern.
"I ran out of money," she sheepishly admitted, sweatdropping slightly. "I think I may have bought too many fireworks, nii-chan…"
Sighing — then quickly covering it up with a cough — I took out a few dollar bills out of my pocket and handing it to the lady, who quickly took it and handed me the proper amount of change, as well as the lantern that Kagami had wanted.
But when I spun around to hand the seven-year-old the toy lantern, she was gone.
"Huh?" I called, scanning the area around me while the lady shot me a confused look. "Kagami-chan! Where did Kagami-chan go? Tobi got the lantern and paid for it! It's bright white with polka dots, like Kagami-chan wanted! Hello?"
That's when I spotted the flash of one of her white ribbons disappearing into an alley, the arm of an unidentifiable person swiftly pulling it away. A second after she disappeared from my line of view, I heard her scream for help before turning into a bunch of muffled noises.
And just like that, I snapped, deserting both the lantern and the stand as I sprinted after her, my Sharingan whirring to life as the entire world around me turned red.
Of course, my only thought that came to my head by the time the man had grabbed me was to scream as loud as I could.
The only problem was that I hadn't realized that he was yanking me by the collar of my t-shirt and my white ribbons until he had pulled me into the alley. Before I had screamed, all I had seen was the street market suddenly growing further away while all of the shoppers and workers were turned in different directions.
For certain, the only person that I knew had seen me get pulled into the alley was Obito. Not even the lady at the lantern stand had seen the guy suddenly grab me and rush into the darkness.
And once I had begun screaming, I completely expected that man to slap a piece of duct tape over my mouth, just millimeters underneath my nose. Had he placed it any higher, then I would have suffocated in minutes.
Since I could no longer scream, I tried to wiggle and wriggle free of his grasp, twisting my body in all different directions so that I could loosen myself. However, the more that I struggled, the tighter his grip became, wrapping around me like a giant boa constrictor would do to a rat.
It didn't help one bit that I had been born in the year of the rat.
No matter how much his grip tightened or how painful the bit of duct tape felt around my mouth, I continued to wiggle and attempt to scream, kicking and punching whenever I could. The man growled at me, swinging me over his shoulder like a heavy sack of potatoes.
Let go of me! I attempted to say multiple times. Put me down! Why are you doing this?
To be honest, I was quite surprised that he had not dragged me off into a car or tried to attack me yet. Instead, he kept on dashing through different alleys at a high speed, avoiding the eyes of many pedestrians and passerby.
But when we swerved right past a parked Mercedes-Benz, that was when I finally caught a whiff of what was on his breath, and my eyes flew wide open at the sudden discovery.
This guy has no idea what he's doing! I mentally exclaimed, not struggling for just a little bit. That's a lot of alcohol on his breath right there! I'm surprised he hasn't ran into anything or yelled at me yet!
Alcohol was definitely something most seven-year-old were unfamiliar with, but I knew well what it was, what it smelled like, and what it could do. After all, it was all over the streets when I had to live homeless for a while after my family had died and before the orphanage had found me and taken me in. In addition, since I had become so familiar with the scent and how people seemed to act around it, I had decided to conduct occasional research about it when not a single person was around or looking.
I was never sure why people took it if it did not provide anything beneficial to the body other than a false sense of pleasure. If anything, the results did not look the least bit pleasant at all. It only led to more bad things.
But that moment was not the right moment to be innerly talking about alcohol. Quickly, I regained my senses and tried to twist free of his tight grasp again, trying my best not to give into desperate measures and actually attack the man.
As effective as that would have been, I still wanted to avoid violent measures as much as possible. I did not want a repeat of almost exactly three years ago, on the day before my fifth birthday. Sometimes, I had considered myself to be five, but most of the time, I had called myself four.
Despite that, I think my fifth birthday was the same day my mind had also turned eighteen. But that's a different story that I did not wish to think or talk about. However, as my birthday — the day after the incident — neared, it had made me smile less and my feelings less genuine. Around that time, I often tried to stay away from others in order to hide my past from them or just throw out tons of fake smiles and laughter.
Because after my fifth birthday, they were no longer considered to be "happy". Just a birthday, and nothing more.
Finally, after a lot of struggling, I managed to free one of my arms for a moment and rip the piece of tape off of my mouth before the man readjusted his grasp on me. However, sensing an opening, I pushed myself away just as he began to readjust, freeing myself from his strong arms. My lips were on fire and were probably bleeding, but I didn't care. Although I was afraid of the blood of other people, I had never been all that afraid to see my own.
Still not wishing to attack, I simply turned tail and ran back the way we had come from, down the long, dark alley that we had just gone through. The footsteps behind me grew loud and heavy as the man gave chase.
Did nobody really see what was going on? I thought to myself in a panic, wondering why there wasn't an entire mob of people behind me coming after my kidnapper. I could have sworn a couple of pedestrians laid their eyes on me as we ran through the streets…
But remembering that there was no longer a piece of duct tape over my mouth, I continued screaming as loud as I could. It hurt to do so, but I continued anyway, wanting somebody to come and help me get away.
And then, a swift, shadowy figure zoomed right past me, causing me to feel slightly dizzy from their speed.
"Whoa…" I said, spinning around before finally managing to stop myself by firmly planting my feet into the ground. However, once I was able to stop myself from turning around and round, I couldn't see anything clearly. Even my ears couldn't function properly, since I kept on hearing random screams and shouts, as well as distant slashing noises.
Wait a minute.
Slashing noises?
Initially, I had decided against it and had been prompted to run back towards the direction of the street market to reunite with Obito. But I quickly changed my mind and decided to investigate, an uneasy feeling swirling around inside of my stomach.
A part of me turned even sicker as soon as some distant shout was abruptly cut short. I was even tempted to scream as I continued to run down the dark alley, the only thing preventing me from crashing into the walls or any obstacles being the sun's dim light.
And then, a familiar voice in front of me began to speak calmly.
"You don't have to be scared anymore, Kagami-chan," said Obito, appearing in front of me. "It's alright now."
I stared at him, completely shocked on how he had arrived at my location so quickly, even though I was pretty sure that all he had caught of me disappearing into the alley was a mere glimpse. But then again, he was a shinobi that had been training for years in the Akatsuki, so there were a lot of plausible explanations.
He held out his arms to comfort me in an embrace, and I was about to run into them so that I could thank him for finding me...until my eyes saw the horrifying object lying there beside him.
At first, I couldn't get a clear image of what it was, but eventually, I determined what it was as I approached Obito. And I largely regretted even running down the dark alley as soon as it became clear to me what had happened.
The man who had tried to kidnap me was lying still, in a crimson pool of what appeared to be his own blood. He laid on his side, his eyes shut tightly as if he was in pain. There were nasty slashes and cuts all over his body, and from all the blood that had already been spilled and how he wasn't moving anymore, I could instantly tell that he was dead.
Ninety-nine percent of me wanted to vomit right there, unable to handle all of the queasiness that was building up inside me. I stopped about a foot in front of Obito, who was still waiting for me. Realizing that I had frozen, he dropped his arms, and ran over to me.
"Don't worry," he tried to whisper reassuringly, causing me to take a couple of steps back in complete fear and horror. "I'm here, Kagami-chan. There's nothing to be afraid of—"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
I hadn't realized that I had started bawling at full volume, and before I knew it, the tears were falling at an extremely rapid rate as I vainly tried to clear the image in front of me. Even after the body had slipped out of my line of view, I did not stop.
Obito seemed to shoot me a pitiful look, but with his mask on, I couldn't really tell. But even if I did see it, I did not want any pity. There were no rusty red stains on his clothes or the bag of fireworks that he had somehow managed to haul all the way into the alley, but I knew that he had done it.
There was nobody else, and neither the sun nor the wind could have done something like that. It was obvious that those wounds to the man had been made deliberately, and I did not attack people. I wasn't even near the man when he had been murdered.
"Why…" I whispered, being plunged back into a horrific memory that had resurfaced again. "Why….why?"
"It's alright now," Obito said, trying to comfort me by putting an arm around my shoulder. But no longer wanting to touch or even be near the man that had just done that to another, my teeth chattered as I took large steps away from my friend.
Obito continued to walk towards me, but I simply continued to back away. "Wait...why are you scared of me? You don't need to worry about that guy being alive now...I made sure that he would—"
"He was drunk," I blurted out, which seemed to surprise Obito slightly. "That man...he didn't know what he was doing...he was probably trying to get something for a friend at the market...before the alcohol took over his mind…"
"What are you saying?" he continued to press me, but I ignored him and continued speaking, my tears littering the alleyway.
"Maybe...he had a daughter that he wanted to buy a lantern for, too," I said, my voice growing louder which each sentence segment. "Maybe he had a wife back at home that he really cared for… Maybe he had siblings that are still waiting for him back at home…. Maybe he was trying to impress his uncle that was never satisfied with him or his relatives… Maybe he just wanted to do what he wanted to do!"
"Kagami-chan," Obito responded, "how would you know if—"
"I do know!" I growled at him, unable to contain my feelings any longer. "How could you possibly say something like that, Obito? How could you? All those groups of shinobi that you've shamelessly massacred throughout your evil years...have you ever decided to pause and think about what these shinobi were feeling as you struck them down? Have you ever considered that they had a family back at their village, waiting for somebody who would never come home? Have you?"
He went silent for a moment, then spoke again. "They were all needed...for a greater cause—"
"What greater cause?" I roared, furious at him for acting so nonchalant and casual about a murder that shouldn't even have happened. "How can killing and slaughtering innocent people do anything to change to world for the better? Doesn't it make it worse?"
"You'll see in time," he replied coolly, making me gawk at the man in horror. "Besides, the more I spend time here, the more I realize that I have something else to fight for. You."
At that, I exploded. "Me? Why would I be a cause, of all things? So the whole time, our friendship was nothing but a ruse to go on with your plan? Was that it all along? Was that the only reason why you protected me?" In a fury, I opened the bracelet that matched the one that I had gotten him for Christmas and threw it on the ground, watching it ricochet off of the pavement. "Did that bracelet mean nothing to you?"
"No!" he protested, waving his arms. "That's not it! I really enjoy our friendship, Kagami-chan! Especially since looking at you reminds me of—"
"Rin, right?" I finished for him, feeling the rage taking over me. "That's it, isn't it? That's the only reason why you ever befriended me and my family! You don't care if any one of us live or die, you only care about a new world that isn't even real, in the slightest! How do you think the real Rin would feel about that? And with the shinobi that you put in that eternal dream state...they die, don't they? Huh? Answer me!"
"Even if they do," he countered, still acting casual, "it'll go towards turning reality into something better for everybody. But if you wish, I'll be very careful. After all, I have my ways—"
"It's always that you have your ways!" I thundered, pointing a finger at him. At that point, I wasn't sure if it was safe to say that I would have flipped him off, had I not have been confused about which finger it was that triggered the signal. "That's your lame excuse every time you do something that is just...inhuman! So you don't even care about their feelings to comply? Do you think that they're just as disillusioned as you are about reality?"
He fumed. "That's not the point! What would you understand about the good Project Tsuki no Me will bring to the world, if you keep acting like this? What matters is how they're—"
"Be quiet!" I roared, stomping my foot on the ground to show emphasis on how upset I was. "Obito, I hate you!"
Suddenly, both of us froze, silence quickly filling the air around us as I realized what I had just said. As quickly as it had came, all of my anger instantly dissipated, as tears began to well up in my eyes again.
Did...did I just say it?
There was no doubt about it. I had yelled the taboo words — to my best friend — loud and clear, and at that moment, I was pretty sure that there was no taking it back,
I opened my mouth to speak, but Obito beat me to it, much to my inner's dismay.
"Kagami-chan…" he began weakly, but not wishing to speak anymore, I shook my head and continued to back away from the man who had murdered the innocent civilian. "I'm...sorry…"
"Leave me alone!" I thundered, turning around and running out of the alley, as if the man who had kidnapped me was still alive and chasing after me. I wasn't even sure anymore if I would have preferred that to seeing him die such a painful death when he had been simply out of his mind.
Inside me, I felt a great void opening, where my heart had just been. Not a single part of me wanted to think about how it was lying there inside of me, broken in pieces that were too numerous to count, but I kept on thinking about it, anyway.
I didn't want to speak to Obito anymore: I just wanted to go home, where all of my problems usually slipped away. No matter how much I desired to get that day's events out of my head, the images seemed to by eternally burned into my skull. Silently, I hoped that everything would be much better as soon as I talked to my older sister.
Kaiya would know what to do, I thought as I raced past the street market, ignoring all the puzzled looks I received from the people shopping at the market. I know that she'll understand...she's the one who came up with the idea to adopt me, after all.
I ran out of breath a few times, trying to speed home as quickly as possible. Occasionally, I whipped my head back around to check to see if Obito was behind me in hot pursuit, but he was not following me at all. Assuming that he was going to come home later, I picked up the pace again and kept on running.
Nobody could put into words — not even William Shakespeare — how relieved I was when our house finally turned up in our line of sight. But even then, my smile did not return, not even as I approached the door and knocked on ot silently.
However, I felt even more worried when none of my siblings answered the door, not even Yukio. It wasn't his fault, but I became extremely puzzled when Zetsu of all people opened the door for me.
"Zetsu-san?" I questioned the plant-man that stood in the doorway. "Where is everybody."
"In the kitchen," his dark side answered emotionlessly. In contrast, his light side's eye flew wide open, and worriedly pointed towards the kitchen. "We think...that they are quarreling over something."
"Quarreling?" I panicked, rushing over the kitchen immediately after he had said that. That word didn't belong in the Hoshiyume household at all!
As I dashed into the kitchen and ducked behind a cabinet in order to listen to the conversation going on, I silently prayed that Zetsu was only joking. However, the sight that I walked in on was not pretty.
"A fifty-two percent?" Kaiya was saying, holding up a test in front of Yukio. "This came home in the mail today, otouto! Care to explain?"
"It was a surprise quiz, okay?" Yukio retorted, crossing his arms. "None of us knew that it was coming!"
My sister was not convinced in the slightest. "So what? It doesn't mean that you come to class carefree and unprepared! Besides, haven't you been doing this unit in Science for a week, if we don't count winter break?"
"It's not my fault that they make the circulatory system and the digestive system so hard!" Yukio protested, narrowing his eyes at my sister. "Besides, why do we even need to learn that lame stuff, anyway? I don't want to become a doctor!"
Naoki, who had been watching the squabble for a while, decided to step in at that very moment. "Yukio-chan has a point, onee-chan. Why must we know so much about things that will very likely not be useful in our future careers?"
"That doesn't matter!" screeched Kaiya, causing Deidara — who stood right behind her — to jump back. "What if you don't end up getting the career you want? That is no excuse to be doing so poorly in school! And besides, that's not the only thing…"
Kaiya dug through a pile that I assumed to be what she had found in the mailbox, then pulled out a small slip: a notice. She glared at her brother angrily as she held it out in front of him, and Yukio nervously gulped.
"A whoopee cushion?" fumed Kaiya, tapping the notice with her finger. "And a firework in the lavatory? Why would you even bring one of those things to school?"
"I was bored, okay?" Yukio grumbled. "And besides, you would never let me do stuff like that at home, onee-chan! Can't we get the freedom to choose what we want to do sometimes?"
"It's for your own safety!" Kaiya countered, causing me to sink further behind the cabinet as I watched her face turn red. "I just don't want either of you to end up like oka—"
"What if I don't want to be protected anymore?" he growled, placing his hands on his hips. "Sometimes, I just wish that you'd let me do what I want instead of what you want me to do!"
Kaiya froze, her gaze softening. However, it turned back into an angry glare seconds later. "Like I said before, it's for your own safety! I don't want the same thing that happened to our parents to happen to you!"
"What if the same thing doesn't happen?" Yukio countered again. "I just want to have fun!"
"Stop!" I screamed, bursting into tears again. All at once, my entire family stopped arguing, then turned to look at me sorrowfully as they finally acknowledged my presence. I wasn't sure if they were really apologizing, since neither one of them were saying that they were sorry.
Finally, Yukio spoke. "I'm sorry, imouto—"
"Don't say that you're sorry to me!" I growled, taking everybody aback. "Tell your sister and everybody you picked a fight with!"
Streams running down my face like waterfalls, I left the area just as soon as Yukio tried to speak again, not being able to handle it anymore. It was as if they were beginning to turn into...my biological family. And not in a good way.
But unlike them, none of my new siblings looked as if they were about to murder each other.
Before I even reached the stairs, I crashed into somebody. Still crying, I turned around to see who it was, only to meet the angry eyes of a ticked off Hidan.
"What the f***, you b****?" he yelled at me, raising a fist in front of my face. "Can't I walk around in peace without bumping into a little s*** around here, for once?"
That did it. Now, I bawled at full volume, greatly affected by his words that he had used, still trying to comprehend how he had always been so casual about saying them. From behind me, I heard Yukio's foot make its mark, but that only made me cry even more.
I wailed all the way up the stairs and when I dashed into my room, where I continued hugging Usagi and cried some more into the rabbit's fur. But even Usagi couldn't help me, staring at me with sightless button eyes as more and more tears fell out of my own.
Suddenly, a familiar being appeared in my mind, making me even more upset. It wasn't her fault, but her presence reminded me of what happened with Obito in the alley again.
Calm down, Kagami-chan, came the voice of Rin, and I desperately struggled to cover my ears and wail to drown out her voice. I don't think either of them meant it. Look on the bright side—"
What bright side? I mentally roared at her, and I heard her gasp and flinch inside of my head. How could there be any bright side to this? I can't take this anymore, Rin-chan! I thought that the Hoshiyume family couldn't hate!
They don't hate, she responded, but I shook my head.
That's what I want to believe, I inwardly growled. But they hate each other right now! Onee-chan and Yukio-chan got into a quarrel! None of the Akatsuki bothered to help! Obito killed an innocent civilian to save my life, when it wasn't even necessary!
It's normal for them, she pleaded with me, her tone desperate. They're just overprotective, trying to be your family—
I have no family! They're all dead!
My eyes widened about what I had just blurted out to her: one of my deepest, darkest secrets that I had worked so hard to never tell anybody so that I wouldn't have to think about it. But here it was, having resurfaced after all of that drama.
What about the Hoshiyume siblings? Rin continued after a very long silence. They still love and care about you.
Get out of my head! I yelled at her as the horrid memories came flowing back, causing me to place both of my hands on the sides of my head in agony. I don't want to talk about this anymore!
Immediately after I had mentally said that, I deeply regretted it. I didn't need to physically see her to know that Rin had been hurt by my words, and even though I tried to get her back, the girl had already left my mind.
Sinking to my knees, I pulled Usagi closer to me as I continued crying in despair, every ounce of hope and happiness fading from my body. At that point, I didn't care about my birthday anymore. If anything, I felt like I had just turned twenty-one.
And like a bullet, the idea came into my head, and I turned to Usagi with a stern gaze in my eyes. Unfolding one of the rabbit's ears, I whispered the one word that signaled what I wanted to do to erase the memories that had just resurfaced.
"Tonight."
The hours passed by like swarms of fruit flies, and I spent each one doing absolutely nothing. The only thing I really did was change into a warm pair of clothes, place a flower crown on my head, and stuff Usagi into a small backpack that I had been given when I had lived in Little Alder Orphanage.
Occasionally, somebody came to check up on me, but I didn't want anybody to know what I was planning to do, not even an Akatsuki member or Kisame. Instead, I kept the door tightly locked, even going as far as to push my desk in front of it to make sure that nobody got through the door.
Even though I was not starving, I forced myself to eat at least a little bit of the candy stash that I had stored under my bed, for extra energy until the moon rose, allowing me to place my plan into action.
Of course, I ended napping for a few hours, since I couldn't really sit there and do absolutely nothing for that long before falling asleep. Besides, since the door was locked, nothing could possibly disturb me except for any toys that were in my room, and maybe Obito, if he had not received the message to stay away from me after what had gone down in the alley.
I was simply lying down lazily and watching the mix of random colors flow together and twist around on my bedroom walls when the alarm I had set for myself rang.
That was the signal.
"It's eleven o'clock," I said to Usagi as I strung my backpack over my shoulders. "Time to leave now."
Yawning, I stretched and nabbed my jacket that I had left on the chair, putting that on as well. Silently, I pushed the desk away from the door, making sure that nobody could hear the sound of my footsteps in the dead of the night. It was a good thing that Kaiya had announced when the curfew for the next day would be the night before, since that let me know when everybody would be wandering around the house and when they wouldn't be.
Quietly, I pushed open the door, suppressing the creaking noise with my foot as I gently peeked out into the hallway. Once I was certain the nobody was there, I flicked off the lights in my room and stepped out into the hall, standing on my toes all the way.
Slowly, I tiptoed my way towards the stairs, one foot after the other, like a mouse trying to escape a hungry cat. Lightly, I walked down each step, making sure that nobody else around me was up at all. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Zetsu sleeping in the wall, while Kakuzu slept soundly on the couch. Hidan still had a scowl on his face, but he seemed to be sleeping peacefully on the floor.
Making no sound, I sidestepped past them as I finished making my way down the stairs, heading towards the door to the garage. Taking one last look at the house and the contents of the living room, I silently opened the door, then closed it behind me with a swift rotation of my fingers.
The lights in the garage were already on, thanks to their daylight-sensing mechanisms that even I didn't understand yet. Kaiya's yellow Lexus sat there, but I walked right on by, knowing that I wouldn't be able to use it. Not only was it too noisy, but I was way too short to reach the gas pedal and the steering wheel at the same time.
Remembering something that had been lying in the corner of the garage for a while, I shuffled my way around the random cardboard boxes that were stacked around the car. After tossing a few empty boxes aside, I finally found what I had been looking for.
Yukio's old bicycle was still where it was the last time I had seen it, everything about it still intact. Softly, I grabbed it, yanking it out from underneath the boxes that it laid under. Placing it on the pavement in front of me, I got on, quickly recalling how to ride a bike from the time I had used to at the orphanage.
I'm sorry, everybody, I thought sadly as I pedaled towards the garage door and began to lift it up. But I have to do this. I want to...go there for a while, and maybe try to clear my mind.
The door was definitely heavy, but I finally managed to lift it up just enough so that I could duck and ride out through the bottom. As I pedaled on out, I debated inwardly whether to leave the garage door open or not, but in the end, I decided to keep it open.
Because in the morning, I wanted them to know that I had escaped by my own will. The dead of the night just wasn't the correct time to tell any of them that I would be leaving for a while.
As the crickets chirped around me, I pedaled on, taking one last look at the house that I had lived in for many months before speeding off into the streets, the bike's flashlight lighting up the way.
Goodbye…
I didn't even bother to look at the time on my alarm clock when Tobi barged into my room, shaking my shoulders so violently that I felt like my skull was about to pop right off.
"Ugh…" I groaned, narrowing my eyes at the guy. "What is it?"
Suddenly, my eyes flew wide open when I realized that he was panicking, and that my little sister wasn't at his side. I was unsure of what time he had returned home from the street market, but he had gotten home pretty late.
Perhaps he had a nightmare, I silently hoped. But of course, that was not the case.
Mere words could not describe how worried and frightened I had felt after he whispered the details of the situation into my ear.
"Kagami's gone..."
A/N: Ladies and gentlemen, Kagami-chan has run away from home, the memories and emotions too much for her to handle. If you're curious about the chapter title, it refers to her broken heart, since Kagami's name means "mirror".
Question: Do you like Tobi as Obito, Madara, or just as...Tobi?
I'll see you next time, everybody! Remember to leave a review if you enjoyed the chapter!
Toodles!
— Tenshi —
