Sunday, February 9th, 2014.
Sorry I'm late again, guys! I'm trying to catch up on my schedule, but obviously I'm not doing too well. And this part of the story is hardest to write chapters for, too. XP
News/Fun Fact: The "A" (a grade) I had in math at the end of my 1st semester (I'm in my 2nd now) was the first I've had in like, 4 years. Aside from the A's everyone has at the beginning of each semester, with the grades re-setting. Usually, I had a B or C. At times, even a D.
I also got those metaphor things back, so eventually, I'll be turning them into one-shots of different fandoms (likely Naruto, though) and upload them here.
Rec: This chapter is 6.4k+ words long. I think it's long enough already.
Dedication: You all, because you still read this even with me being terribly about my updating schedule.
Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Naruto.
GRR:
Chloe: Thank you and thanks again. :) I will continue to update this, no matter how long it takes to do so.
Saki haruno 1236: I think I understood. I have the story on favorites, but I still don't know when I'm going to get around to reading it. I plan to, but I'm sorry about the wait it will take for me to finally do so. XP
Chapter Info:
Content: Temari & Shikamaru, post meeting.
Warnings: Kissing, if you have a problem with that.
Romance: This chapter is basically 100% ShikaTema fluff. I hope that makes up for my lateness.
Length:
No AN: ~6.4k+.
AN: exactly 6.87k.
Read and enjoy, my lovelies!
Chapter 46: Love of a Family and of a Woman
Shikamaru POV
"Better now?" I asked, looking down at the dirty blonde crown lying on my chest.
I simply got a, "hmph", in reply.
We laid on the covers of Temari's bed, alone in the house.
Gaara had taken Matsuri out to train –he seemed kind of course with her; maybe he told her what we knew– and Kankuro was out and in the wood shop in the older part of town. He seems to be one of the few people that appreciate the place and the crazy, old coot that runs it. Seeing that, the old man quickly took him as a sort of apprentice, though he himself had limited experience in puppet-making.
Baki went back to Suna a long time ago, too, so it was just Temari and I.
She called me over –demanding I bring her a Tazo Chai Frappucino(1) with blended crème from Starbucks, while I picked up a Tazo Green Tea Frap for myself– to cure her boredom.
I arrived in time to catch Gaara and Matsuri leaving, and they had let me in before locking the home and leaving to training or whatever it was they were doing.
I made my way up to Temari's room to find her crying and listening to an Eminem song.
When I opened the door, her head snapped up and she wiped her eyes furiously.
"Shit! I forgot I called you,"she cursed.
She got up to head towards bedstand to pause the music from her iPhone and and mini-speakers she had attached to it.
"Wait, stop," I said.
I quickly put the drinks I had on the desk near the door and stopped her from pausing the song, trying to to listen for what it was that made her cry.
I was able to make out that it was a sort of tribute Eminem made to his daughters; I remembered what Kiba used to say about him and his daughters and ex-wife in his songs when we used to ditch in the Academy. I was never a rap or hip-hop kind of person, but Kiba definitely was. If there was anything you wanted to know about either genre and artists that made that kind of music, he was your go-to guy.
If only he applied that kind of hardcore knowledge and understanding to other things… like academics.
Anyway, I took Temari's arm and led her back to the bed, telling her to sit.
She tried to hide her face from me and push me away, but she wasn't using as much strength as she could have and I wasn't about to let her get away from me.
As I struggled to get her to face me, I thought about the song and why it could have made her cry, listening closely to the lyrics.
"Now hush little baby, don't you cry,
everything's gonna be alright.
Stiffen that upper lip up, little lady, I told ya
Daddy's here to hold ya through the night.
I know Mommy's not here right now and we don't know why,
we feel how we feel inside.
It may seem a little crazy, pretty baby,
but I promise Mama's gon' be alright"
Tribute to his daughters… of course! While Temari's mother is dead, she had an estranged father… maybe she wishes her father cared this much…
When the next verse began, I heard Temari's breath hitch, and I sighed. She was holding her sobs back fiercely..
"You're a stubborn one," I said, pulling us up the bed to lean against the pillows. She didn't protest, and I pulled her against my chest again, under my chin. I couldn't resist the opportunity to hold her.
"You can cry, you know. It's okay sometimes." I played with her loose hair, noting for the first time that it wasn't in her normal pigtails.
"It's just me here," I whispered into her ear. "Just me. I won't judge."
And the dam finally fell.
"It's funny -
I remember back one year when Daddy had no money,
Mommy wrapped the Christmas presents up
and stuck 'em under the tree and said some of 'em were from me,
'Cause Daddy couldn't buy 'em.
I'll never forget that Christmas I sat up the whole night crying;
'Cause Daddy felt like a bum, see Daddy had a job,
but his job was to keep the food on the table for you and Mom…"
The more I listened to the song, the more I realized how much Temari might have envied Eminem's kids:
He may have not been there, with his career and all; and he may have no been the best person -Kiba's ranted to me several times about how Eminem owns up to the fact that he let fame get to his head years ago, a time when Kiba WOULD. NOT. SHUT. UP about the rapper-, but he's trying;and his relationship with one of their mother's may not have been ideal, but it was obvious he loved his children dearly.
That was more than she could say for her own father.
He tried, several times, to murder his own son, used his own brother-in-law to try and do it when the boy was only six years old, and neglected his other children.
When the song ended, Temari's sobs began to die down. But I didn't let go of her, whispering things softly into her ear that I would never have even thought of months before; before I fell in love her.
Things that I neither Chouji, Ino, Asuma, nor my parents would ever expect to hear me say.
Now, she was left with the irritating hiccup people get after a long crying session.
This is where we were now.
After she harrumphed at me in response to my earlier question, I rolled my eyes and reluctantly lifted her off of me to get off the bed and get our drinks. I took a nice-sized gulp of hers before handing it to her and drinking mine.
"Not bad," I said, settling against the pillows once again and pulling her against me again.
She pinched my stomach harshly, and I jumped and yelped from the pain. "Hey!"
She stole my cup and took a huge gulp of her own from it.
"That was payback," she said. "And of course you'd get green tea flavor."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That you act like old man sometimes; old-fashioned, real traditional, slow-moving, you constantly play an old, strategic board game; you take mid-day naps nearly anywhere; and your wardrobe only seems to consist of shades of brown, black, white, and green. How boring. Not to mention, you're a perv, too – don't think I haven't seen you staring. Green tea is the embodiment of traditional Japanese-ness, old man."
I rolled my eyes again, trying in vain to hide the blush that burned my cheeks. "For the record: you play Shogi with me all the time; I move quickly when I need to, but otherwise prefer to have a sharp mind; and I do indeed have other colors in my closet. Those are just my clan colors, Ms. Fashion Critic. And to the perv thing – Naruto's a pervert. Not me. I'm just a healthy young man with working hormones."
"I believe you mean young boy." Says the one who was just calling me an old man.
I scowled at her, knowing we'd get nowhere if we started that argument.
Again.
She often treats me as a child, and calls me one as well.
Her blatant denial that I am indeed a young man, with a mature and sharp mind, if I do say so myself, –and this isn't just pride talking; these are facts... for the most part– is so adamant that it seems suspicious.
And odd; like she's in denial.
Which she is. Obviously.
I know she likes me romantically on some level, and maybe convincing herself I'm a child is one way of not accepting me as, well, a guy; a way of denying feelings for me… sounds like something she'd do. She's so tsundere.
As I thought that, and as I noticed a new song playing in the background for the first time, I realized something. A small smirk found its way on my face.
She scowled. "What're you smirking about?"
"You've cheered up."
She froze for a second, then averted her eyes from me and turned her head away, harrumphing again.
She turned on her right side, away from me.
After pausing the music, I turned on my side as well and wrapped an arm around her from behind, like we were spooning.
"I know what the song was about, 'Mari," I said into her ear softly, feeling the shiver that made its way through her body. I held back a smirk, knowing that it was because of me.
"I think it was pretty straight-forward." Her voice was soft, but it still held her usual snark and bite. "Eminem doesn't beat around the bush."
"So it seems." I twirled a lock of her hair. "Did you… think… of your father? While listening to the song?"
Silence; her only reaction was her body becoming tense.
"And about your own family?"
More silence.
But I didn't mind – we had all the time we needed: Gaara said something about coming home late, and Kankuro had, more than once, ended up sleeping at the wood shop.
And I wasn't about to rush Temari.
I turned on my back, scooting myself up on the bed so I was in a half-sitting position beside her.
We sat there silently for several minutes – I was playing with her hair idly while taking occasional sips of my drink, and she laid taught, not even touching her own.
She eventually moved up the bed as well so she was partially sitting up, but she still remained facing her right.
I wrapped my arm around her waist again and made her lean back against my chest, sighing when I caught her scent.
At first, I was bothered by how much I touched her when I was with her, constantly craving her presence and touch and having little resistance to satisfy those urges. I didn't even want to resist, and that frightens me.
Lazy Genius Nara Shikamaru being a lovey-dovey cuddle whore? Wow. Never saw that one coming.
My teammates would never let me live that down.
But after a while, since I couldn't do much of anything about it, I accepted my constant want for her and just let myself be the cuddle-whore I was as long as she let me. And she did – more proof that she had feelings for me.
Why else would she let me touch her so much? She'd beat the crap out of anyone else that did that. And even Matsuri isn't this… intimate, with her.
Well, she is, but since she sees her more, the instances where she's always all huggy with Temari are more spread out while it's nearly any second I'm with Temari.
And she's a girl – I'm a guy. That's different: accepting and letting a girl always hug you and hang on you and all that is one thing if you're already a girl, but if you're a guy, you better be dating them. Or related. Or so-close-you-might-as-well-be related. You don't just let people do that.
Yet Temari let me, whom she more or less rejected, do those same things almost whenever I wanted. Clearly, she likes it. And me.
Even after the meeting with the guys, the feelings of thirsting for her have only increased – like I'm even more afraid of her leaving me, and have to get as much of her as I could before she goes, for whatever reason.
The fact that she's from a different country only makes things worse; eventually, she'll have to go back. Maybe I'm so afraid of her leaving that being close to her is my own, angsty, psychological way of coping with -or not coping with; denying, possibly- with her eventual absence?
… Sounds about right.
Sigh.
I guess being in love comes with a personality change. And extreme sappiness. Ugh.
Suddenly, however, Temari spoke, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Why are you being so nice to me? Acting like such a lovesick puppy? Even after telling me what you talked with the guys about? Don't you distrust me?"
"Changing the subject, are we?" I replied simply, not even opening my eyes. I don't know when I closed them; probably when I was thinking about her. Again.
"Why do you care so much?" The question irritated me. She can't be serious. Tell me she's joking! Oh my God! For a smart person, why is something this simple is still so hard for her to understand?!
"You're joking, right?" My voice had more anger and irritation than I had wanted it to, which was none. "I already told you why."
"Because you're apparently in love with me?" I could feel her rolling her eyes.
"No, because I'm your fairy godmother and I have to care. I already signed the contract." I groaned, exasperated.
"Seriously, Temari. What's so hard to understand? I walked into the room of the girl I-… you know, and found her crying while listening to a song that more likely than not made her think of her strained relationship with her father." I scoffed. "What'd you expect me to do? Laugh? Ridicule you? Demean you?"
"…"
"You did!" Excuse me? Come on, Temari! I'm better than that!
Affronted, I sat up and shifted so I was leaning over Temari, a slight glare on my features. My change in position was abrupt and her eyes were wide with surprise at suddenly seeing me above her.
"You actually thought I'd laugh or say something mean to you when you're crying?"
"…" She averted her eyes.
I groaned. "Why?"
"Normal people would…" she muttered. "Crying is a sign of weakeness, and I've got a rep to hold, you know? So…"
"So you assumed I'd be one of those people."
I flopped on my back next to her again, sighing, understanding. "I get it." She's surprisingly insecure sometimes.
"That better?" She asked, turning over to face me.
"Sort of, but now I'm offended that you'd lump me with those kinds of people. And here I thought I was special."
"Don't worry – you're not."
"Keep telling yourself that. Eventually, I'm gonna prove it wrong."
"'Eventually'? Really?" She laughed.
I gave her a lopsided smirk/grin/thing. "Did you forget who I was? This love shit may have made me a sap, but I'm still the same, ol' lazy genius."
"Lazy? For sure. Genius? That's still up to debate," she teased, back to her usual self.
"Please, 'Mari. I am most definitely a genius. After all – who else could kick your ass in every single competition -usually strategy-related- but me? Someone no less than a genius."
She laughed again. "I'm not even sure if that's a compliment or not!"
"Take it as you will."
She laughed some more, before calming and resting against my chest.
I smiled, and put an arm around her waist.
We laid there in silence for a few minutes, occasionally taking a sip out of our own (or stealing the others') drink.
"I was thinking of my dad," Temari said suddenly.
She looked toward the right again, at the wall, not looking me at all. Her expression was composed, but her eyes were distant, and her fists clenched.
I laid one of my own hands on hers, just letting it rest there.
I felt a little bit of tension leave her.
"It's one of my favorite songs – it really is good, I think. Besides; how can you hate a song that expresses someone's love for their children and that they're sorry that things couldn't have been better? The only thing someone with a heart could have hated about it was that it was portrayed through rap; understandably, not everyone likes it. If it was sung like pop music, maybe other people would like it more. But anyway, I actually appreciate the song for what it is, not just how it makes me feel. God, I'm ranting."
She huffed frustratingly, blowing her bangs up in a display that made me chuckle.
She slapped my leg with her arm. "Shut up, I'm trying to explain something and you're ruining it." She was half-serious, joking, which me she was just really nervous and I wasn't making it any easier.
I tried to fight the stupid grin on my face, but I failed miserably. Good thing she couldn't see it.
"I'll try to keep it down, sorry."
But I wasn't sorry at all.
"Anyway, yeah, I was thinking about my dad. You know the story – made Gaara a Jinchuuriki, tried to kill him when he got too powerful, often neglected Kankuro and I, yada yada yada, the whole shebang." She took a deep breath. "But I know something… that my brothers don't, about our dad."
The air around us sobered, and so did I.
"I know something about him that… they don't."
I rose a brow, but I said nothing.
Suddenly, Temari took one of the hands of mine that were on top of hers and laced it with her own, gripping it tightly. I gasped, but refrained from saying anything. She needs a little support right now… anything else can wait.
"For years, we – we being my brothers and I – had hated our father. Me especially, being the oldest and remembering the most. Gaara for the most part, though, doesn't hate him too much. He simply cares so little about him that hating him is too good for him. That would require energy and thought, which is more than he deserves. Not to mention, he doesn't remember too much of him from before he was six. So far as Gaara is concerned, he has no 'father'. Just another man who happens to have authority and wants to kill him.
"Kankuro has a fair amount of hate, too, increased by the fact that he ended up looking the most like him. And they really do look alike – Kankuro's hair is just browner, their skin tones are a bit different, and Kankuro's younger. That's about where the differences end. It's why he wears that makeup – because he doesn't want to look like his dad. I was glad I didn't end up looking like him – I have of both parents in my appearance, but it's not easy to notice. Anyway, I hated our dad. I still do, actually, but… not nearly as much."
She sighed, taking a deep breath.
"I found out, a while back, about why our father did what he did. Sacrificed his own wife, brother-in-law, and turned his own son into a killing machine that he himself tried to kill, only to end in vain. Didn't he love any of us at all?"
She gulped, her hand beginning to shake. I gave it a squeeze, encouraging her to go on if she could.
"And… it turns out he did. He really did care for us at some point. But it wasn't enough." Her voice gained a bit of anger. Not much, but a pinch. "Years ago, the village seemed like it was in danger of 'extinction', due to the daimyo's budget cut on the Sand. So he tried to focus on increasing ninja quality there, and power. That's why he decided to get one of the Bijuu, Shukaku, and had him sealed in Gaara. He didn't know Mom would be killed in the process. He was desperate to save her, but there was nothing anyone could have done. Her last request was to see the son she had birthed. And she did, she held her tiny boy in her hands as she died."
I noticed tears were freely running down her face, but she hadn't seemed to realize them.
"I don't know if that caused him to snap or something, losing Mom, but he slowly developed into the cruel man we've known since. He ostracized Kankuro and I from Gaara and often forgot us in favor of the village. He also started to view Gaara as a failed experiment instead of a son, though his earlier fatherly feelings took a while to completely diminish. It was when he ordered Yashamaru to kill Gaara that he had finally and completely chosen the village over his family."
Temari had told all but Gaara about the truth of Yashamaru before, and I could only imagine how it had felt doing that to your own, beloved nephew, whom you had raised as your own son.
"It didn't help at all that the council of the village just so happened to be a bunch of power-mongering, greedy old coots that were apathetic to the suffering of their own village, too. Strong utilitarians,(2) which in itself isn't bad, but they were willing to sacrifice us without a thought if it meant the betterment of the village and their status and pockets. Our father also had a habit of putting value on things. It seems we weren't worth enough for him."
She sighed, seemingly calming down. Her grip on my hand loosened, but I did not let go. "So listening to Mockingbird –the name of the song, if you didn't know– I do think about our dad and family sometimes; this last time, I found myself wishing that he loved us as much as Eminem did his daughters, and that he had found a balance between family and duty. There doesn't have to be a choice – you can have both. But obviously, the village councilmen and my father didn't see it that way. Therefore, we were left behind."
She sighed again, this time, as if pleased. "Well, what do you know? Telling you all that actually made me feel a bit better."
"Mm," I hummed.
"Thanks…" she murmured, embarrassed.
I small smile came to my lips. "Thank you for telling me."
I could tell she was getting embarrassed from being so open and me being so nice to her because she suddenly stole my drink, finishing the very last of it, effectively ruining the moment.
In retaliation, I took hers and drank some of it, but she grabbed it back and chugged the rest down before I could finish it for her.
I scowled at her, and she grinned at me, laughing. "I win!"
I rolled my eyes at her.
"Apparently so."
She got up to throw the cups away in a trash can she had in a corner of her room, and when she came back, her expression was a bit confused.
"What?" I asked.
She sat down on the bed, legs crossed and facing me this time.
"Again, why are you treating me this way when you know I'm hiding something from you? You're treating me like a friend." Her lips twisted into a scowl. "What, are you actually doing the whole, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' sort of thing? Get me to trust you enough to tell you what I'm hiding?"
I shrugged. "Kinda. Part of it's because of that. Another part is because whatever you and the girls are hiding, we have agreed that it's not aimed to put us in any danger, so you're still our friends and we don't want to hurt you."
"And…? What else?"
"And of course, I'm kinda in love with you so I want to be close to you anyway. Oh, and natural human curiosity comes into play as well."
She scoffed and rolled her eyes, but I saw a blush on her cheeks that she was failing at hiding. I repressed a smirk. She's so in-denial.
"So, Sherlock," she started. "Started gathering any more pieces of evidence of my secret goal other than what you showed me in your notebook?"
I nodded, getting up. "I do, actually. Let me get it."
I went toward her desk where I had placed a small pack. In it, I removed something thin and square shaped.
I brought it back over to the bed and held it out to her. "This."
She appeared to be confused, but I could tell in her eyes that she was shocked and frustrated; she knew what it was, and she was surprised that I had gotten a hold of it.
"A blank CD?"
"A burned copy of a song. Wanna listen? We can use your laptop." I was tempting her. She knew exactly what song it was, and she couldn't play dumb any longer. She could either confess that she knew what it was right now, or let her face tell it all when I started playing it.
Seemingly giving up, she huffed angrily. She knew she couldn't bullshit me for long; might as well not even try. "Alright, I know what song it is. How'd you get a hold of it?"
I was tempted to tease her, but the irritation in her voice told me that if I dared, I wouldn't be leaving this place without physical damage.
"I have my ways."
"Kankuro and Gaara found it and burned it for you, huh?"
"I never said that."
"Didn't have to."
"Anyway," I said, wanting to move on to the important part. "Why are older versions of our voices singing a freaking song? As a duet of all things?"
It honestly made no sense to me; even if Lee's time-travel idea was right –which seems more and more acceptable as time passes, unfortunately for me and my logic-based mind– and that the girls and this CD was from their time, why in the world would I be fucking singing? Huh? And Temari? Why would she do it?!
And it's not like we sounded boring and completely bored out of our minds – we sounded like we were having fun, enthused, happy even! (3)
What the hell were we doing?!
It's safe to assume it was a mission, but what Kage in their right mind would assign a mission like that?!
Well… Tsunade just might, but still.
She looked away from me, pouting angrily but a blush was clearly on her face.
"… We were on a mission."
"Oh?" I rose a brow. I didn't actually expect her to say anything.
"I don't remember any such mission," I continued. "Trust me, if we went on it, there's no way I'd forget it. So why do I sound older?" I asked.
"It was a stupid client," she went, ignoring me. "We had to sing that song or he'd cut trade routes that he had control over that Konoha needed."
"You sound like you hated doing it." I stated. She nodded tentatively. "So then why'd you keep a copy for yourself?"
Her face reddened and she turned around completely. "N-no reason! I j-just wanted to keep it because it was interesting a-and yeah… m-maybe to entertain m-myself w-with later!"
I chuckled, and she jumped, turning around for a moment to glare at me fiercely before turning back.
She was about to get off the bed, but I pushed forward and wrapped my arms around her waist, putting my chin on her shoulder and letting us fall sideways and unto the pillows.
"You're so tsundere. Don't tell anyone I said this, but it's actually pretty cute, you know."
She struggled, but I held her tighter. "I am not cute!"
"You are sometimes, like now."
She could have fought more if she really wanted, but she gave up instead and huffed angrily.
I laughed. "Normally, you would have fought me more, but you like me holding you, don't you?"
Her face reddened. She opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted her.
"And you try to disguise your liking it and your embarrassment by getting angry. You pretend your embarrassed blush is your angry one. Though it's really a mix of both – and more the latter than the former."
I tangled our legs together when she began kicking me to restrict her movement.
"You kept the CD because you had fun recording it – though it may have not been fun at first. You enjoyed that time with me and kept it to remember our time together. Isn't that right?" Her face was a tomato now, and she turn her head as much as she could into the pillow.
"See? You're cute when you're embarrassed."
"Stop acting so out of character!" She snapped at me. "You're so nice, and sweet and affectionate and it's weird!"
"Love does things to you dear, and this is what it does to me. Now shut up and let me continue embarrassing you – it's fun."
I opened my mouth to explain more of what I had gotten from psycho-analyzing her behavior –and for someone that's tsundere, there's a lot– when she twisted around in my arms and kissed me.
I was shocked for a second but kissed back immediately.
It was rougher than we've kissed before, and it was passionate and almost getting heated. We should kiss more when she's angry… this is awesome.
As you can see, my hormones are working just fine.
I almost sighed into the kiss, but I didn't because that would be so girly and I think I've already thrown away enough of my masculine pride and dignity today.
So, I kissed back harder so she would be the one who sighed. Or moaned. Or groaned; I really don't freaking care which one it was. Any of them work for me. My male pride needs a boost, and what better way than have the girl I'm locking lips with "sigh in bliss" from my amazing kissing skills?
I soon found my arms holding her tightly against me, and her hands roughly pulling on my hair, which was now out of its tie.
I sucked gently on her bottom lip, and she groaned softly, but before the kiss could get any deeper, she pulled away.
"Uh uh, no French for you, mister," she said, her breathing slightly labored.
She pulled farther away from me and wiped excess saliva from her mouth.
Our kissing's still a bit messy… we'll have to work on that.
I almost smirked at that thought –am I becoming a pervert? Or is this healthy for any teen in my situation?– but then frowned when I realized what she had just said.
"What? Why!" Understandably, I was upset. I had discovered the wonders of the tongue in kissing, and being deprived of that opportunity was not high on my list of things I wanted to do.
"You made me angry today. Why the hell should I reward you by making out with you?"
I rolled my eyes.
"You do realize that you're the one that kissed me first, right?"
"To shut you up!"
"And to have an excuse to kiss me."
"Yeah, right!" She scoffed and sat up, and I did as well. "You wish."
I smirked. "I don't wish, I know."
She glared and growled lowly at me, but I, unafraid, only leaned in closer, a smirk ever on my face, which would definitely piss her off even more.
"And I also know that you like me, only that you refuse to admit and accept it." Her face reddened, but it was with both anger and embarrassment. "You know I want you to be with me 'Mari, and I know that you want me back, so why must you refuse so adamantly? Why-"
I was cut off when she punched me off the bed.
"Shut up, idiot!"
I landed in a heap on the floor, facing a wall beside the bed but my face was turned toward the TV, some feet in front of the foot of the bed.
"Ugh…" I groaned, getting into a sitting position. "I should have seen that one coming."
I was rubbing the cheek that she had punched, guessing that I now had a bump on my head from hitting the wall, when I noticed a familiar logo in her TV's cabinet shelf thing.
"'Psycho-Pass'?" I read, crawling toward the TV set, reading the other logos of TV shows, movies, and anime that she had in the cabinet.
"You watched it?" I asked, taking the anime DVD out and holding it out to her.
"Well, duh, it's not in there for nothing you know." She rolled her eyes. "But yeah, I did. It was a good one. Wanna watch it now?"
I nodded eagerly, stopping when the throbbing in my head increased.
I slipped it into the DVD player as she turned the TV on with her remote, changing the settings to DVD mode.
She changed her position to lean against the headboard and I climbed in closely beside her.
"It's a favorite of mine," she commented. "You can't go wrong with a dark, psychological story, in my opinion. The main characters being part of a police force make it that much more open to dark story lines. Awesome."
I nodded. "And the characters are really good, too. The mysteries were some of the best parts of watching it."
Then, something occurred to me. "Hey, 'Mari?"
She looked back at me. "Yeah?"
"How much of it do you want to watch? We can't watch it all, obviously. That would take several straight hours."
She thought for a second. "Let's just watch some of it 'till it gets late and then you can come over another day to watch more. That alright?"
I nodded. "Sure, now start it."
We turned off the lights and climbed under the covers, watching the TV aptly for the next several hours.
But sometime during the mini-marathon, Temari had scooted close enough to me to rest her head against my chest comfortably, and she held my hand.
I smirked.
"You sure do like touching me a lot, don't you?" I whispered into her ear.
She shushed me and elbowed my stomach, nodding her head over at the screen where Shinya, one of the main characters, was training with a punching bag in a gym, shirtless. Not only was he her favorite character in the whole series –and one of mine – but he was also, and I quote, "the sexiest 28-year-old I [Temari] have ever seen. And he's a complete bad-ass to boot."
I had teased her when she told me that, saying that Shinya would be bopped down to second place once she saw Kakashi's face, who was the same age (if not, he should be 29)(4) as Shinya and was rumored to be extremely handsome under the mask. We've just never been able to take it off.
I only chuckled softly at her shushing me, watching as Shinya returned to his room and looked angrily at the picture of his best friend's killer. Now that I think about it, Shinya actually reminds me of Sasuke. But more-levelheaded. Oh, now I wonder about Shogo and Itachi… I wonder if they're alike…
I uncrossed Temari's arms (which had crossed after she elbowed me) and wrapped my own around her again, sighing contently.
"I'll get you to admit your feelings for me one day," I whispered. "Just you wait."
"Whatever," she replied, but her voice was soft and she rested her head back against my chest.
We remained like that, comfortable against and with each other until it was time for me to leave.
When I did, she kissed my cheek –the one she punched– and pushed me out the front door, slamming it immediately.
I stumbled, a hand on my cheek and a shocked look at my face.
But then I smiled and walked home, content. That Temari…
It was a pretty good day, made just a little better when my parents didn't question what I was doing that took so long.
They knew who I was with, and that I'd spend as much time as I could with her; because I loved her.
I only wish she could one day tell me everything and know I'll help her when she needs it, and even when she doesn't. To trust me with that burden she and the other girls are keeping away from us.
I knew it a heavy one, and I wanted to be the one that helped her carry it and any other burdens she had, if not take them off her shoulders completely.
She wasn't alone; I was here for her.
(1): I don't own that drink nor do I own the other one; Starbucks does.
(2): Utilitarianism: Merriam-Webster Dictionary def: "A theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest happiness of the greatest number."
That in itself is actually a pretty good doctrine. Though it's common to find someone that took that to the extreme - the slightly twisted version of such a person is called a "Well-Intentioned Extremist". (WIE) They really do mean well; they're just extreme. Rossiu from Gurren Lagann is an example of a WIE from the top of my head.
For the record, they really are utilitarians - got that straight from the Fourth Hokage's wiki. (Who's apparently voiced by Crispin Freeman [Itachi]. Wow.)
(3): Link to lyrics on youtube: watch?v=OqYNmkfuU4M
(4): Kakashi, in this story as everyone is a year older, is indeed 29. And Shinya's a definite, hot, bad-ass.
Sorry for updating so late! I'm trying to write more chapters faster so I can get back to my update schedule, but I chose the wrong part of the story to be behind on - I come up with what's next on the spot! I don't really know what to do next! I mean, I have a general plan, but how to get there hasn't been planned yet.
GAH!
QotW: #1: Christmas present ideas.
#2: Valentine's Day plans? If you don't have Valentine's Day in your country, does your country have a day dedicated to love and romance like Valentines Day? Anyone in any relationships? ;D
Sending sincere apologies full of love,
-Cherry.
PS: Don't forget to review!
