Chapter 51: Light of the Fireflies Arc - To be Honest
Hey, sorry that it's been a long time...almost two weeks, to be exact. It's just...I've been extremely stressed out by my Algebra finals recently, and even though they ended yesterday, I'm horribly burned out. However, I got inspired by Owl City's song Fireflies and was therefore able to come up with more ideas for this arc. If you have time, I think that you should really listen to it.
But then again, I'm not sure if you guys read my notes or not. I'm aware that there are readers that tend to skip over them. That's perfectly fine, though I may include some important information in there.
I got interested in Fairy Tail and D.N. Angel over the past couple of weeks, so that's also why this chapter is so late. But don't worry, I'm still interested in Naruto enough to write this. Perhaps I need to take a break and finally watch Shippuden.
Also, on second thought, I'm putting the POVs back in. I think it may have confused you guys a little bit, and it even confused my friend.
Anyway, on with the story. Remember to leave a review if you enjoyed the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything else in the story. I only own the OCs and the storyline itself. Enjoy!
Obito's POV
My eyes fluttered open, wondering where in the world I was.
At first, I began to feel skeptical once I saw all the walls and white colors around me, but once I saw Kagami asleep in the bed with fewer needles attached to her body and my mask back on my face, the memories came flowing back to me.
Stretching, I stood up from the chair that I had probably fallen asleep on, gazing at the window as the beams of sunlight poured faintly through the curtains. I didn't remember vaguely how I had somehow managed to fall asleep on the chair, but at least I didn't accidentally fall asleep on top of Kagami. If I had, then my weight might have crushed the tubes and her broken limbs even more.
Taking note of all the changes in the room — such as the changing of needles and the moving of the heart monitor to the other side — I quickly deduced that nurses and doctors had come in to check on her overnight. However, to my surprise, none of them seemed to have considered throwing me out of the room.
I was about to step out of the room when Kagami began stirring, making faint groaning sounds. Instinctively, I turned around, wanting to know if my sister was okay.
Well...I guess that it was pretty awkward, to be honest. I didn't exactly know too much about sibling relationships, even though I had witnessed many for the past few months. Okay, perhaps I did know, but even so, it was a little hard for me to grasp.
Deciding to act like my protective, best friend self — minus the murderous and merciless side of me — I rushed over to the side of the bed, wondering if she was about to open her eyes.
And just as I had said that, they opened, revealing two curious brown irises that I had grown to admire throughout the course of my life.
Then again, I had to quickly remind myself that Kagami was not Rin. According to Kagami's diary, they conversed with each other in the Pure Land over topics such as the scintillating orb and the Neko Asuka Noroi no Jutsu, and sometimes me as well. Still, I didn't like Kagami only because she looked almost exactly like the younger version of Rin. There was way more, as I had established, to her than just that.
But just as soon as they had opened, her eyes fluttered shut again, and she continued to stir uncomfortably. She didn't open her eyes at all during that time, but she kept on adjusting herself into uncomfortable positions.
Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. Okay, a very stupid idea popped into my head, but it sounded quite effective nonetheless. So without further ado, I placed it into action, recalling the words from our time at the second amusement park, after she had gotten us cotton candy.
"Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows, everything that's wonderful is what I feel when we're together," I sang, not caring at all how bad my voice was due to me never practicing. But all in all, the lyrics did seem to fit me, oddly enough. Honestly, it was true: around Kagami, I did feel quite happy. I didn't know about sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows happy, but I definitely felt joyous.
"Brighter than a lucky penny, when you're near the rain just disappears, dear and I feel so fine...just to know that you are mine..."
I could now see why Kagami had been given that name after the Hoshiyume siblings had adopted her. In a way, she really was like a mirror: when she was sad, many others were sad. When she was happy, so was everybody else. And vice versa, depending on the situation around her.
She could easily bring sadness out of a person's heart or memory, even whilst cloaked in her own sadness over the death of her family. It was as if even sorrow bowed down before her or something, but then again, sometimes she couldn't entirely rid one of their sadness. Nevertheless, I could see her efforts in trying to stay optimistic, even though she had faced the harsh realities of the world at a young age.
Just like me.
"My life is sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows, that's how this refrain goes, come on, join in, everybody…"
Alright, that line wasn't really the truest, especially during the past eighteen years. If anything, my life was anything but sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows, when I looked at it from a regular angle, almost like looking at an apple pie from an aerial view.
Kagami, however, had managed to bring a little bit of it back into my life. Just that little bit had been enough to encourage me to stay in that seat until the nurses had finally decided to let me in, knowing that I was not a stalker.
"Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows, everything that's wonderful is sure to come your way...when you're in love to stay," I finished, noting how Kagami did not seem to be moving uncomfortably anymore: just lying in one position with her broken arm and legs elevated to a higher height, probably to stop the bleeding.
It took about ten seconds for the girl to stir again, but she did not try to whirl around as violently as before. Slowly but surely, her eyes began to flutter open again, the sunlight bouncing lightly off of them.
"Thank...you…" she uttered tiredly, and I placed a hand on her head to prevent her from saying anything more when she didn't need to. Her eyes half-open again, she stared up at me, her gaze filled with guilt...or at least, that was what it seemed to be. "I'm...so...sorry…"
"It's fine," I reassured her, draping the sheet back over her body. For the first time, I realized that the doctors had replaced her clothes with a hospital gown, most likely to wash them and clean out the blood. I was surprised that they hadn't done the same to Naoki, since he had been blood-soaked from carrying her as well. Then again, maybe they had, but I hadn't been there to see it.
"No…" she whispered, reaching for my hand, which I had unconsciously placed next to her. "This is my fault, Obito-nii. I made you all worry so late at night, and over the need to calm my past memories. I can't believe...now I can no longer fathom why I had kept secrets from everybody for so long."
"You told me this last night, remember?" I consoled her, squeezing her hand gently. "And you did what you needed to do. Oddly enough, I understand. Maybe it's because our pasts are somewhat similar to one another...except in my case, I never knew my parents when they had passed away."
"Rin-chan was worried about your reaction," she continued. "She wasn't sure if you would go on a rampage or just completely insane. No offense, but she was pretty horrified about the murder as well, though she couldn't do anything about it since she is a spirit. I don't understand too much about why she can't contact you, but maybe it was by chance from using the forbidden jutsu that she acquired."
My eyes widened in shock. "Did you say...forbidden jutsu?" I had never believed that she would ever do such a thing, even if it had been a life or death situation. Rin had been way too kind and caring about her village, and she had proved this with her death.
She nodded weakly, then winced as a jolt of pain seemed to course through her body. "Yes. I don't remember what she called it or how she had managed to lay her hands on it in the first place, but that's what she said."
"Anyway," I said, jumping to a new topic, "what are you going to do? Do you know how long you're going to stay here in the hospital?"
"One more week, I think," Kagami answered, "but it will take at least two or more months to completely heal. I broke my right leg and left arm after that fall, but it's a good thing that it wasn't my dominant arm. I can still write and hold things with it properly."
I breathed a sigh of relief when I had heard that duration. "Good. At least you'll heal soon, Kagami-chan. So, about Lakeshore Avenue…"
Her frown reappeared, and she laid back down on her pillow with a sullen sigh. "Is it alright if we don't talk about it right now? I really don't think that I have the energy to think about it right this minute…"
Although I was overwhelmingly curious about what had gone on before we had managed to reach her as well as what had gone through her head, I respected her wishes enough I stay silent. However, I had a bothersome hunch that the abandoned street had something to do with her past, which seemed to be tragic.
"Very well," I responded, "I won't force you to answer that. But how exactly do you feel right now? Does it hurt anywhere at all?"
Thankfully, Kagami shook her head. "Just barely. Sure, maybe it hurt a little when they were cleaning my wounds, but that's only because I was kind of awake and watching it all happen. The doctors put me to sleep and numbed my broken bones quite well, though I can't recount what happened after that. But I'm assuming that they took some scans and x-rays while applying stitches or something, judging by these casts. So that's why I don't remember too much...I slept quite a lot."
"Were you scared?" I blurted out, before mentally facepalming. That was not really something to ask a little girl in the hospital who also happened to be more mature and intelligent than she actually looked. Nevertheless, she answered the question.
"Not exactly," she said, as I draped the sheet back over her again. "I've been a patient at a couple of hospitals before, but I've never actually been inside the ER. Still, it wasn't too scary at all. The only thing that came close to frightening me was the fact that you were there as I fell unconscious."
My expression softened as her smile returned to her face, demonstrating that there was nothing for me to worry about anymore. Placing her working hand in mine, I watched as her eyes glowed, though it might have been the effects of the sunlight gleaming through the window. Finally realizing that it was broad daylight and that medical staff members could come in at any time, I was about to put my mask back on before Kagami squeezed my hand to stop me.
"Something wrong?" I asked, and her hand left mine to point at the mask in a slightly demeaning manner.
"You know," she said, smiling, "I like it better when you have it off, Obito-nii. Why must you keep it on?"
I sighed uncomfortably. "It's to protect my identity, remember? I don't know how your siblings and the other Akatsuki members will react when they see me like this, but it'll be quite ugly, that's for sure. Besides, you're the only person I trust with information about my actual identity...other than maybe Zetsu. Still, I trust you more. But why do you like me better with this mask off? Don't you like my Tobi persona better than this one?"
She giggled, causing all of my unease to instantly slip away. "It's true that I really liked you as Tobi, but in all honesty, I prefer you as just Obito-nii, your real self. Even if it makes our friendship a bit rough and rocky, I've always held a deep respect for people who are willing to show their true colors, no matter how harsh or scary it may be. Besides, you smile much brighter like this."
"I...do?" I inquired, slightly stunned by what she had said. Originally, I had assumed that she would totally hate the real me, but then again, this was Kagami. A sweet little girl who couldn't bring herself to hate, no matter how hard she tried.
"Real smiles are always the best!" she exclaimed, grinning at me. "It reflects the bond and trust people have in one another when they display their true feelings using these smiles, no? Smiling like this doesn't take much energy, but it definitely shows a lot of courage, too!"
Just like that, I smiled, without even realizing it. My face muscles did not crack again, since it hadn't been years since I had last smiled, after all. However, it had been at least a decade since I had smiled genuinely, so I guess it made sense.
"By the way," I said, changing the subject, "Usagi was missing from your bed when I checked your room. Did you take the bunny with you?"
Her eyes shot wide open, confirming my theory, before returning back to normal. Suddenly, she squeezed them shut as if in anticipation, and before I could comprehend what in the world was happening, she began counting down slowly in a monotone voice.
"Let's see..." she mumbled, effectively puzzling me by her strange and sudden actions. "Five...four...three...two...one…boom."
As if on cue, the door to the room suddenly opened, revealing the same nurse from last night pushing a cart. On top of it was the backpack that she had been carrying when she had run away, all fresh and clean again. Kagami's clothes also seemed to be stitched up, washed, and neatly folded beside it. A platter full of cut strawberries sat right next to it, which Kagami seemed to be ogling at until the nurse pulled something out of the backpack, making Kagami squeal with delight.
"Usagi-chan!" she cried happily as the nurse set the stuffed bunny right beside her, good as new. "Thank you!"
I blinked rapidly in complete surprise as the nurse proceeded to push the cart with the strawberry platter over to Kagami. Neither one of us bothered to restrain the girl from snatching a handful of strawberries as well as her beloved bunny.
"How…" I stammered, my gaze averting from Usagi and back to Kagami again. "How did you just...do that?"
Her lips curling into a smug grin as she gave the priceless stuffed animal a one-armed hug and popped a strawberry slice into her mouth, she gave me her simple, yet ambiguous answer.
"I have my ways."
Deidara's POV
I sighed as I exited the Lexus, staring skeptically at the open field in front of us. Although a few people were excited about what we were doing — namely Nagato, Kisame, Kaiya, Yukio, and possibly Naoki — I wasn't all too thrilled in the slightest, especially with how exhausted I was.
"Stand up, Deidei-chan," grumbled Kaiya, standing behind me with crossed arms. "Quit slouching about...we're already at the open field."
Huffing defiantly, I turned away from her. "Why do I need to be involved with this business, un? Can't we just buy them from a pet store or something?"
Instantly, I felt her glare penetrating my skin, if that was possible. "Have you already forgotten why I even bothered to suggest this in the first place? This isn't about any of us, really. I just thought that it might be something that Kagami-chan would love, as long as she doesn't see that we're capturing them."
"Oh yeah," I responded, making her facepalm silently. It had been a while since Kagami had been hospitalized, and Tobi had still not returned home. The annoying brat had probably vowed to sit there and hold his breath until the doctors let him inside Room 487, if anything. It was as if when he had first met Kagami, one of us had accidentally stepped on a glue bottle, causing it to squirt all over them. Because the way I had seen it, the two had been inseparable, despite their friendship seeming to take odd turns during the past few weeks.
Passing me a large jar and a net with the tiniest holes, she began running off after Yukio and Kisame, who had gone ahead and were swinging their own nets wildly. "That jar better be full of them when I check on you again," she teased, the only way for me to tell that she was playing around being the sassy grin on her face. "Otherwise, I'll shove you in there as well."
"Pfft!" I huffed, crossing my arms and storming off in a different direction. "As if you're capable of doing that, princess."
"Try me," she growled, her glare intensifying. "Also, what did I tell you about calling me that?"
"Why should I care?" I scoffed back at her, deciding to return her glare. "You call me Deidei-chan all the time, so I might as well dub you with something that annoys you to hell and back."
She paused, before continuing to head over to a small clump of daisies. "Whatever, Deidei-chan. Just talking about something like this to you is already annoying enough as is. But like I said before, this thing isn't about anybody except for my imouto. Just gather as many fireflies as you can in that jar before the sun sets, okay?"
Without further ado, she strolled off, leaving me to vent out the rest of my anger on the net that I was holding. Well...if you could consider glaring at the thing while Sasori just stared at me with a bored expression on his face venting out my anger.
"Give it a rest," he grumbled, holding up his net and jar. To my surprise, a faint glow was emitted from inside of the jar, notifying me that he had already managed to catch one. "If you keep arguing with her, then you'll just increase your chance of getting rejected, whenever you even decide to tell her how you feel."
"Agreed," sighed Kisame and Zetsu in unison, appearing beside the puppet-boy. I twitched uneasily, though I did not vent out my anger and kept silent. When they noticed, Zetsu spoke again. "This isn't like you, Deidara. But I guess it kind of makes sense why you're hesitating, since she'll reject you anyway because she still likes Daichi."
"Well?" grumbled Kakuzu, nearly making me jump as he materialized behind me. "When are you going to freaking tell her? Hidan's already placed a bet that you'll kiss her before this month ends, so don't make me lose more money."
Waving him off, I crossed my arms and sighed again. "How fast did this fly around, exactly? And I thought I was being discreet by telling only Kagami, Akane, and Sasori-danna…"
"Like an airplane, brat," deadpanned Sasori, still looking quite bored as the firefly in his jar flitted around in circles. "And I'm quite surprised, honestly. Why did you even trust the loudest and youngest of the siblings to keep secrets?"
Kisame defended me before I had a chance to speak. "Actually, Kagami-chan found out by herself, according to what she told me. She may be little, but she's definitely smarter and more observant than some of us here."
"What is that supposed to mean, un?" I fumed at the shark-man. "I thought that you were taking my side, Love Whisperer!"
He chuckled in response, and though I knew that he was just trying to get a reaction out of me, I decided to play along and glare him down until he spoke up again. "Please, I wasn't talking about you. If you think hard enough, then you should know exactly who I'm referring to, ya know."
A moment of silence passed, until an enraged shout came from the other side of the large field of grass. If a normal person who had never met the cursing man had heard him roar, they would have instantly turned deaf.
"What the f***, fishsticks?"
We all had a good bout of laughter after that, until we realized that Hidan had seemingly caused a ruckus in the grass. Faint lights rose out of the blades and leaves, as if they were actually the remnants of Hidan's sound wave.
"All right!" Kisame cheered, waving his net around excitedly. "Exactly what I wanted!"
My glare intensified. "Wait, you planned all of this? That isn't something that I want to joke around about, okay?"
He shook his head quickly. "Me? Joke about love? Pfft! I didn't even think of that plan until we were talking about how smart Kagami-chan was. I thought you'd know me better than that...Deidei-chan."
"Oh, shut up!"
Sighing, I held my net at ready and carefully approached a small swarm of fireflies that were rising out of the grass. I made sure to keep my steps light and cautious enough as to make sure that I didn't accidentally step on them. I didn't feel like destroying life anymore, even if they were mere insects.
Kaiya would have clawed me to shreds if I had deliberately trampled even one. And I was the one who could turn into a cat here.
Carefully, I unscrewed the cap of the jar, setting it down on the ground as I stood as ready, the wisp of fireflies buzzing in front of me. Then, I swung the net lightly, before slamming it over the open jar. Placing my hand over the net to ward the glowing insects out of it and into the jar, I watched as all of the fireflies that I had caught with that one swing flew inside the glass container. Just as quickly as I had taken it off, I placed the cap back on the jar to ensure that the fireflies did not escape.
Staring through the glass of the jar, I attempted to count the fireflies. However, this proved to be quite a challenge, since the bugs buzzed erratically and zoomed from one corner to the other as if somebody had dumped a bottle of sake on them. Eventually, I gave up counting them after I had counted seven bugs...or was it twelve?
"Catch anything?" I questioned Itachi, who stood by me silently. To answer my question, he held up his own jar, which contained almost twice as many fireflies that were in mine...or at least, according to my vision. But then again, there was nothing less to expect from the Uchiha.
I couldn't help but grit my teeth as he stood next to me, recalling how I had succumbed to a shameful defeat at his hands six years ago. The memory was still dreadfully embarrassing, but even I had to acknowledge the fact that I was still weaker than Itachi by far. Whether it be a fierce battle to the death or something as simple as catching fireflies for a hospitalized little girl, he could beat me in anything.
Not that I always cared. But whether he noticed my expression or not was something that remained ambiguous, as he began to head towards where Kaiya was trying to instruct Kakuzu to use the jar and the net properly.
"Don't try to catch them by using your tendrils," she told him firmly, pointing to the net. "I think that you might be able to catch a lot more by using them, but using chakra in our world is dangerous unless you're transforming."
The old man sighed. "Look, Hidan and I already made a bet prior to this happening. If I don't come back with more fireflies than him, then—"
"Can't you just forget about your dumb bets with him right now?" she retorted, placing her hands on her hips. As she did so, several fireflies surrounded her, illuminating the sakura patterns on her kimono. "This isn't about money, Kakuzu. Like I already told Deidara, this is about my imouto and trying to get her to feel better."
"I don't really care," mumbled Kakuzu. "All I've ever really cared about is money, and that's all I'll ever care about. Does it look like I know what it's like to have a sister like you, let alone two brothers? What's Kagami to me?"
Kaiya fumed. "Don't say things like that! Kakuzu, don't you already have a family: the Akatsuki? They've taken you in for Kami-knows-how-long, so shouldn't they mean something to you? And what about Kagami-chan, too? We're all part of the Akatsuki, now that I think about it! We may not be criminals, but after seeing how strong the bond between people like Tobi and my imouto are, maybe there's more to it!"
He paused for a moment, then went on to state his counterargument. "Hidan's nothing but a useless pile of sticks to me, and does it look like anybody else matters at all? I've killed all of my other partners because they simply got in my way. The only reason why Hidan is still here is because I can't kill him, no matter how hard I try!"
She shook her head in disagreement. "Look, as much as you try to hide it, I know that part of you does care for Hidan, right? If you ultimately didn't care, then you could easily tear his body to shreds and abandon him somewhere in the dumpster or some other place. In this world, nobody would truly know. Why didn't you?"
"Well," he began, but I gasped as his eyes widened, then began to glare at her. "Hold on...shut up! For the last time, I don't care about Hidan or most of the Akatsuki! I only want to make sure that their plans get carried out and that we have tons of money!"
"Then you do care about them," she commented, crossing her arms. At her sides, the fireflies seemed to nod in agreement. "If you didn't then you would keep all the money to yourself, knowing you. You would have run away with all the money long ago. Sometimes, money isn't just wealth...it's love, too. When a person loves something too much, they may succumb to the darkness and become obsessed and greedy about their vanity or wealth. As much as you would like to deny it, there's light in you somewhere, like Kagami-chan would say. Didn't she give you ten dollars at some point just to hug you? Did that not mean anything?"
"I…" he started, but the truth seemed to rain upon him, corrupting his gaze. Finally, he crossed his arms and allowed his gray tendrils to retreat into his body. "Alright, I do freaking care about them, but just a little! Now will you leave me alone so that I can win this bet?"
Kaiya's smile reformed slightly as she shook her head. "Well, at least you were being honest…"
Suddenly, a warm, familiar glow appeared in front of them, and possibly mistaking it for a firefly, Kaiya captured it with her net in one fell swoop. Seconds later, she gasped, then opened her palm to the miser.
"Two more shards," I heard her whisper as she turned to Kakuzu with a grateful expression. "See? Honesty pays off sometimes, and so does care."
He immediately stormed off in a different direction to capture more fireflies, not wanting to be around her any longer. "Oh, be freaking quiet! Nobody saw this happen!"
But I did, I thought to myself, smirking. However, I dropped the expression once I finally took notice of the blush that had been creeping up my face throughout the conversation that I had just witnessed.
"She's amazing," I breathed dreamily, almost exactly like one of my old fangirls. Even if I wanted to, I could never convince somebody like Kakuzu to be so openly honest, especially about something as mundane as firefly catching.
Abruptly, she turned in my direction, quickly running towards me. A glare had formed in her eyes, though she was still smirking.
"Okay, Deidara," she sneered, heaving a sigh, "I guess it really can't be helped, can it?"
My face went bright red, and I mentally thanked the heavens that there were no fireflies around me to illuminate my burning cheeks. "How did you know that I was sitting here, un?"
She waved a taunting finger in front of me. "Please. Like I don't know that you always somehow manage to spray a ton of perfume on yourself...geez, I could smell the lavender from twice as far! Plus, I saw your ponytail. That thing sticks out of the tall grass like a sore thumb!"
"Well, too bad!" I growled at her. "Can I freaking help it if my hair is that color? Besides, ponytails are cool, as long as people don't keep on calling me a girl!"
Kaiya huffed, swiftly turning her head in the other direction. "Says the ninja who just so happened to gain infamy as a member of the Akatsuki! Can we please rewind and figure out how in the world we ended up here?"
"Shut the hell up!"
We bickered on and on for quite a while, that is, until she finally noticed the jar of fireflies that I had collected for Kagami. Picking up the jar, she examined it closely, placing it so close to her face that from where I was sitting, it looked as if she was gently kissing it.
"Wow," she breathed, handing it back to me, "you've caught a lot. A lot more than me, actually."
"Pfft!" I mumbled, crossing my arms and sulking slightly. "Tell that to Itachi, who caught twice as many!"
At that, her eyes narrowed back into that dangerous glare from before. "Didn't we just go over this, Deidei-chan? It's not how many fireflies that matters, okay? It's the fact that you were somewhat happy about doing something nice for somebody that isn't you! When you caught those fireflies, did you feel anything?"
I had the urge to scowl, but instead, I paused, pondering about Kaiya's question. "Well...yeah, I did feel quite satisfied when I was able to capture them all with one scoop."
Her glare disappeared, replaced by a thin smile. "That didn't hurt at all, did it? Sometimes, it's just karma's way of giving thanks, even though it can also be quite the scoundrel. When you strive to make other people feel happy, you feel happy as well, right?"
"Yeah," I agreed. Suddenly, I gasped, realizing what had happened to the sky when we had continued to converse. "Should we head back now? The moon's rising."
She responded with a nod, then ran off to call everybody back to the car so that we could head back home again.
"Already?" complained Zetsu, holding up his jar that contained just a little less than what I had caught. "We haven't caught that many yet! That's because you keep trying to eat them. No, that's you!"
The two sides of Zetsu continued arguing until Yukio finally silenced him by tickling his nose with a duster that he had brought. Realizing that this meant me as well, I sighed, but allowed myself to turn back for the sake of Kaiya and her driving problems.
The drive home was silent, with us mainly watching the fireflies flutter around in the jar peacefully. Upon closer inspection, it was as if they were blissfully unaware about what had befallen upon them, even though some of them had been so nervously erratic just before.
Kakuzu kept on staring at them intently, probably as a result of talking to Kaiya about them earlier. On the contrary, he avoided all of us, sitting alone in the corner while all of us crowded around Yukio's lap.
When we reached home, the siblings immediately turned us back, probably used to the fact that the majority of us did not enjoy being defenseless kittens. Well, we weren't exactly defenseless, but it hurt to use chakra now, and every day, the pain of using it seemed to worsen. Even worse, the power of our jutsus had gone done significantly. Nagato constantly practiced his Shinra Tensei outside with Konan, but he was still unable to restore it to its original strength. In addition, even Itachi was having problems: his Amaterasu no longer worked, even if he made the correct seals as a human. Konan could still control paper and use it to fly, but I could see how much physical pain it threw on her just to control one sheet.
"I'm going to bed early," Kaiya announced, yawning and stretching her arms. "We've got school in two days, so we might as well practice getting back to our original routine."
My jaw dropped. "Wait, we have to go back, un?"
"Yes," said Naoki, who had been mostly silent throughout the whole trip. "School goes on for six more months, even if we have breaks like this. We're bleaching your hair tomorrow, unless you believe that you can hold the Henge for that long without displaying obvious signs of fatigue or pain."
"Can't we just say that we dyed our hair different colors over the break?" I huffed, crossing my arms in protest.
"That's an obvious no," he grumbled. "The whole point of us bleaching your hair was to keep people from finding out who you are. If we didn't need to do this, then why would we have bleached your hair in the very beginning? If you have a brain, then think...oh wait, do you even have one?"
I clenched my fist and glared at the boy. "Now you listen here—"
"Stop," commanded Kaiya tiredly. "Say that you're sorry, you two. I'm going to sleep, but you can stay up if you want. Just sleep early tomorrow, okay?"
We nodded obediently, and as our way of apologizing, Naoki and I just dipped our heads to each other and turned our backs to one another in a childish manner.
It wasn't until about an hour later, after horsing around with the other members of the Akatsuki, that the thought to go check on Kaiya hit me.
She's alone, my mind scolded. Go and tell her that you like her. Nobody will notice that you've disappeared with all of this noisy clamor down here.
Deciding to obey my mind on that one, I crept my way upstairs, nobody catching me on the way. I wasn't sure whether to take it as a bad thing about us beginning to lose our ninja senses, but for the time being, I took it as a good thing and dashed towards Kaiya's room.
Sure enough, she was asleep on her bed, her head resting against a pillow with an arm wrapped around her stuffed fennec fox. She was still wearing her kimono, but with a smile on her face to go along with it. Unlike the last time, her feet were not in the air, and she laid comfortably, still as a log.
"I should just be honest about my feelings for you," I whispered to her, "but for some reason, I can't. Is it because you make it such a pastime to argue with me about every single little thing? Or is it because you aren't from my world and I still have no idea how I managed to end up like this?"
True enough, some parts of me could not comprehend why I had fallen for her back in October. Maybe it was because she had taught me how to appreciate life and all of its aspects more, like the wonders of places such as Prism Grove. But it could also have been the fact that she was the first person to take my art and style so seriously for a long time, and did not find my destructive and — as much as I hated to admit it — somewhat reckless nature to be a pain. Well, she did get annoyed by it, but it wasn't to the extremities of her dubbing me as a freak.
I continued staring at her sleeping form, as if I was rewinding back to the day when I had last done so. It had been a month after I had started to like her, when I had bought her daffodils after she had confessed to killing her own parents...though she really didn't.
Subconsciously, I let out a small bout of chuckles.
It's so odd, I thought to myself as I laughed quietly. Kaiya sleeps so peacefully as if nothing had happened to her family. She even wears that smile to bed, as if it was a part of her pajamas. How can this girl, who looks like one of those oblivious fireflies in the jar, be the one who constantly yells at me, forces me to wear a girl's outfit to school, and rebukes me for everything that I do, big or small?
My arm unconsciously reached out to stroke her face. But once my finger barely grazed her cheek, I gasped, then immediately pulled away. Instinctively, I backed towards the door, waiting for her to wake up and scream at me, but she remained still, probably in her own dream world or something.
Either way, I blushed intensely, like an invisible heat source was trying to cremate my face. Why did I just do that? I thought to myself, staring at the hand that had just pulled that stunt. Is this thing being possessed or something? Honestly, I must be going ballistic right now…
But ballistic or not, here I was, continuing to watch her sleep so peacefully. Slowly, my hand stretched out to go for a second try, but even though I was fully aware of what I was doing this time, I did not try to resist.
My fingers gently stroked her cheek, as if I was trying to pet a cat or something. I made sure to do it gently as to keep her from waking up, and with every caress, I felt my face boil.
Why the hell am I doing this?
And just like that, the thought hit me like an enemy ninja's jutsu.
Should I...should I kiss her?
The mere thought of it caused my face to rival the color of Sasori's hair. At that moment, I was glad that both Konan and Nagato were still planning with the other Akatsuki members downstairs, and therefore would not end up walking in on the current situation. But then again, Kaiya was asleep: chances were, she would not wake up and deliver a painful slap to my face for trying it.
There wasn't any reason not to, was there? After all, I did like her in that way. And according to the cliché romance novels that I had read long ago to pass the time away, the best way to tell somebody that you really cared about them in that way without saying anything was a simple kiss on the lips.
Besides, I thought, Kaiya, you still owe me the one that you bailed out from on Christmas Eve.
Before I knew it, I was subconsciously leaning in, with her face getting closer and closer. My heart pounded rapidly, as if somebody was banging a drum inside of the room at that moment...thank Kami that they weren't. She continued sleeping soundly as I closed my eyes and inched closer, closer...and closer.
But at the last second, as our lips were about to touch, my eyes shot wide open, and I backed away a little. Something didn't feel right about the kiss: it felt rather...forced, in a way. Also, it didn't truly count as a kiss if one of the members was asleep.
Plus, I recalled the words that Naoki had used to scold me back on the ski trip about my feelings for his sister. As harsh as it was, he was definitely pouring out the truth in those words, even if he wasn't as knowledgeable as his older sister.
I just don't want you to damage onee-chan more than she already is, alright? It's for the best that she finally stops worrying about everything that goes on in her life.
Yeah. It really was.
In addition, Kaiya had mentioned before that she detested affection and kisses. Maybe it was for the best that she made the decision on her own accord, rather than unwillingly accepting the fact that someone had stolen her first kiss without her permission.
And as much as I hated to admit it, I didn't want to be that person. I only wanted her to be happy.
But since I already that close to her face while she showed absolutely no signs of waking up, I decided on an alternative for what I was going to do. Gently, I felt the direction of my face shift more towards the right. I leaned in softly, closed my eyes again, and kissed her cheek.
Well, it was better than nothing.
Suddenly, sensing a different presence from behind me, I abruptly pulled away, backing away from Kaiya as I slowly turned my head around. Just like that, the door to the room — which I had never locked — swung shut, and I only caught a glimpse of what had peered through the cracks and caught the entire scene.
One pair of upset-looking brown eyes that swiftly disappeared, along with a relatively silent trail of footsteps running in the opposite direction.
A/N: He finally did it, just not in the right place or with her knowledge. It'll come, my lovelies, if you want one. Remember that love is something that takes time, even if it's in fanfiction worlds like this.
Also, I decided to give Kakuzu a moment with the fireflies and a lesson from Kaiya. I'm not too fond of his character, which is why I don't really write him as much like Itachi, but I actually forgot about him this time around. Itachi, as I've decided, will get his own big role alongside the two overshadowed brothers, Naoki and Yukio, in the sequel.
Question: Who do you think caught Deidara in the act? Kudos to whoever figures it out, though it's kind of obvious...to me, at least.
Until next time, dearest readers. Thank you for bearing with such a silly author like me.
— Tenshi —
