Hello, and these are my tidlybits.
.
.
.
Hahaha! I love that word! It just sounds so wrong, and it makes every conversation so right when you say it!
Well, nice tidlybits.
Oh, did you lose your tidlybits?
Ha!
Now, this is a special chapter. Why, you might ask, well i'll tell you why. This is where I'm throwing all the lose ends and jiggly bits that just don't fit. Each chapter within this chapter will have a note before it briefly explaining, that way I don't just leave you hanging there. Most of these are for my Missy dearest who is constantly bugging me about the loose ends that I sometimes leave for characters that the story doesn't really center on.
Well, here we go!
X
Note: Alright, this first one is about David (or Screech) and if he found his family. This is just a little something to tie it up, and I will not be visiting again.
But before we go I would like to say one thing about their names- I apologize for the non Japanese names since I know they irk so many of you, but The first chapter David appeared in was written without the internet so I used David as a filler name and got stuck with it in my head. The way I have decided to explain it is that they are simply from different cultures and countries, like China and France (pretty different, but still on the same land mass).
Enjoy!
"Daddy! Where are you going?"He heard a small voice cry out, the stumbling scamper of running feet chasing after him on the dirt road prompting him to stop. Turning around David sighed and then chuckled at the sight of his six year old daughter hurrying after him, still in her night gown with her black braid flowing out behind her.
Panting when she finally reached him she braced her hands on her knees and peered up at her father through her bangs with wide brown eyes that questioned him.
"Cecily," He groaned, putting a large, work hardened hand atop her head, "I'm just going to the market a town over to get your mother some things. Go back." He spotted his wife standing in the doorway of the kitchen, and over the distance separating them he couldn't tell if she was amused or upset.
"I'll just come with you then. I love going to the market."
"No."
"But Daddy-"
"No. I don't have the money to buy you anything and it'll go faster if you stay here. I'll be back by nightfall at the latest."
Crossing her arms over her chest Cecily pouted, her bare toes digging into the dirt. "Mam was supposed to cut my hair today though, and you promised to tell me whether it looked good."
"And I'm sorry, I really wanted to be here for it." She peeked up at him hopefully.
"Promise you come back?"
"Absolutely."
"Then I promise not to cut my hair until you get back." She stated, holding her hand out to seal the deal just like she saw her father do all the time.
David returned the gesture and then turned the girl back to her mother, swatting her behind so that she would hurry up so that he could leave. Raising his hand in farewell he walked away, calling out behind him that he would try to be back by supper. But just a few miles from town a group rushed him, covering his face with a sweet smelling cloth that dragged him into infinite years of darkness.
"Man... those scientist people really got around. We don't even have maps for this place, and I can guarantee that we're outside of the ninja territories." One of the ninja he was traveling with -Dai- said. The woman and pale man who stood beside the boy nodded and looked around slightly uneasily. They had never been so far outside of the boundaries of their lands and it was a bit unsettling.
David breathed in deeply, absorbing the familiar smells of farmland and toil -how he had missed those smells- and turned to his escorts.
"I know the way, so you can just go on back now. It isn't that far." He said, his memory telling him that it was a rough twenty miles until he got to the farmhouse that had once been his, and then God knows how many more if he found the place empty.
After a short and weak argument the group went their separate ways, and David raced the sun to get back. He had no idea of what was waiting for him but he knew that if it was even a clue to what had once been his family and their happiness he would be momentarily satisfied.
Eighteen years was so long. So cursedly long.
Having to stop and rest ate away the night -he cursed that he was still so weak- but by mid-afternoon the next day he was walking along a familiar dirt road, the fields of healthy and golden grains swaying and waving to him, the sight of a quaint little white building forcing his weak and weary legs to go faster.
As he started up the slight hill he spotted someone hanging up laundry on a line, and he dearly hoped that it was his someone. As he got closer all he could see was the back of the person -a woman- but there was a familiarity to her and as the tune she was humming his his ears he remembered it from the times his wife had sung as she did the house work. But he knew that it was not his wife. A thick black braid that was partly twisted atop her head and then left to coil down to her mid-back hinted at a different person than his fair haired Luce.
Sensing someone the girl paused, a white sheet in hand, and she turned, smiling nicely at the stranger with brown eyes that glittered with warmth. "Hello," She said kindly, "How may I..." She slowly led off, her eyes widening as she found familiarities in the face of the man before her. Too many familiarities to be coincidental.
"Daddy?" She choked out, disbelievingly, remembering the day so long ago that they had been told of a traveling man seeing her father being carried away to never be seen again so many years ago, and David smiled nervously at her.
"Hey, Celia. I'm home."
For a moment she stood in silence as the wind swept away the sheet from her limp fingers, and all she could see were the past years that her family had lay broken. The hard work and tears they had sown into the land to keep it alive and make a living off of, the grief she swore her mother had died from after her second husband had been taken from by pneumonia, living through the grief of being alone all over again. She remembered everything, all the trials they had been through and all the good times she had been all too aware of her father missing.
But he was there, right in front of her.
And as she ran to the wounded man, sobbing brokenly into his chest, the thin white sheet danced along the wind, starting towards the small grave site and the three tombstones -two marking a body and the other not- that the reunited pair would start towards once their tears and stories were shed.
X
Now Maria's story! This one was a special urging from Missy, since it seems that my friend garnered a sympathy for the character. This isn't much, but like I said, just tying things up (ooh, bondage. Kinky).
Maria was busy putting books into their proper places on the shelves when a familiar presence came up behind her and grabbed some books off of the shelves to start helping, though she knew that he knew she needed none.
"Nori, I am the one that is supposed to be shelving today. Aren't you supposed to be at the reference desk?"
"Yeah, but no one really references anything unless it's for school and it's summer time so I'm dying of boredom over there all by my lonesome, so when I saw a beautiful damsel in distress I knew that I had to do something." He said with a valiant sweep of his arm, his blue eyes gleaming behind his square framed glasses.
Maria rolled her eyes at him and shook her head, so used to his dorky flirting that she just passed it over, knowing for a fact that he did it with all of the female patrons who came across him at the library where he had been working for about half of a year now.
Deciding to just let him help until he got bored or they got done they worked in relative silence until he finally said that was partially joking but held an underlying tone of seriousness as well.
"You know, studies have shown that women are more receptive to men wearing blue when being asked on dates, but no matter how many blue shirts I wear you never give me an answer. So I decided to wear red today and was wondering if you'd like to go by that new little miso stand during lunch break today, and maybe out to dinner some other day."
Maria snorted, thinking that this was just another one of his little flirting games, and continued to shelve the books without answering him until he took action, getting in her way and taking the books from her hands to hold above his head so that she would finally look at him.
"I really have no idea why you think I'm joking, because I'm not. I am seriously asking for you, Maria, to go on a date with me or at least just say no."
Maria blinked at him dumbly for a minute before gaping.
"You mean you're actually serious?" She finally asked, watching as he sat the books aside just to throw his hands up, looking towards the ceiling for guidance.
"Yes. On the name of my mother, yes."
"Ah." She managed, trying to figure out just what she should do. She had gotten used to Nori's playful flirting, but she had no idea what to do now that she knew he was serious. The only long term relationship she had ever been in hadn't involved flirting at all –as if Shikamaru would participate in such a troublesome act- and she hadn't really recognized Nori's for what it was. "This is really a bit sudden."
"No, it's really not. This has been going on for months, Maria, and I really have no idea how you've been able to ignore it for so long."
"Well, excuse me for just thinking that you were just playing around and flirting with me just like every other woman that steps in here."
"Most of those women are into or past their late fifties! And why on earth would I keep at it for all these months if I was just 'playing around'?"
"Well-"
"Excuse me, but we're in a library. Please, keep it down." A passing woman hissed at them, making the pair realize that they had basically been shouting at each other in the middle of work. Quickly beginning to sort books once again so that it looked like they were actually working, the pair tried to calm down.
"Are you just trying to sleep with me because I sure that you'll have no problems-" She started, knowing for certain that while his cheery smiles and attitude wouldn't pull in the women who were looking for the 'dark, mysterious, and dangerous' types, he was very attractive and charming.
"Yes, Maria. I have continuously tried during these past five months to get it through to you that I want to have dinner with you because I am just that hot for you. Really, it's a surprise I'm not attempting to ravish you right here and now with how much pent up lust I have for you." He said drolly, making her blush in embarrassment and then in mortification as she noticed that one of the elderly patrons that came around for gossip was listening avidly.
"There's really no reason-"
"Maria, I just want to eat dinner with you, or lunch. Even brunch would be fine. All you have to do is just give me a yes or a no, for the love of all that is good and covered in chocolate just give me an answer."
Blushing slightly since the elderly woman was still listening Maria diligently continued to shelve books, biting her lip slightly as they both working in a contemplating silence.
"We're setting up for the children's summer reading day during lunch today." She reminded him simply, watching from the corner of her eye as he stared at her steadily. "So maybe a coffee after work, or lunch tomorrow." She suggested, watching as a toothy grin spread over his face.
"I'll think about it." He teased.
X
Now this one is all I am ever (please God) going to write about the grandkids I introduce in the chapter With Old Age, but I took a shower and I saw them in my mind's eye, so here. If you don't want to read this you don't have to, just skip on ahead.
Clothes flew about the room in a desperate and half mad search, arcing through the air before landing on the floor in an undignified heap as they were discarded by the frantic girl in the closet whose eyes and hands were quickly raking over hangers and scavenging through drawers for something –anything- that would work. With a growl of frustration she sat down in the middle of it all, not looking at the madness as she glared at the grain of the wood floor that showed through one of the few clear spots in the room.
"I have nothing to wear." She finally muttered, getting up with a huff so that she could start cleaning everything up and put it back in its proper place, unable to stand the mess for very long and hoping to find something that she had missed.
"Yes, all of the clothes flying about the room made it abundantly clear that poor deprived you has absolutely nothing. Really, I pity you." A husky voice drawled from on the bed, earning a glare from deep blue eyes. "Tohru, just pick something to wear. It isn't like the shirt you wear will have a drastic consequence on your future."
With a huff of breath that sounded close to a strangled scream Tohru threw the skirt she had in hand at her cousin, the other girl simply plucking it from the air to let it fall down to the floor with very little effort at all.
"That's the thing, it does! You know that I've been going to night school for the past two years to take more classes just so I could get this interview. You also know as well as I do that what a person wears shows a lot about them, and today I want my outfit to say that I'm ready and that I'm professional despite my age, that way I can get into the school. That way, Cora, I can maybe become an actual accredited lawyer at nineteen. Nineteen, can you believe it?"
"No, and no one else will either. You won't get any cases for a long while. They don't base things purely on skill like we do." The other girl drawled, her heavily lidded eyes watching the younger girl as she nervously walked around the room and to the closet, carefully cleaning the room. "Not to mention that it will be even harder with your face. Most people don't want an innocent little doe defending them against such dangers as legal threats, and then there's the whole fact of your hair.
Grumpily Tohru pulled a clump of her long hair up so she could stare at it for a moment, pouting at the abnormal teal color. "Weird hair just has to run in the family. I wish I could have gotten Hiro's, though. Maybe the gray would have added a few years to my face." Raking her eyes over her cousin she sighed. "Heck, I'd even settle for your hair." She said, looking at the naturally black tipped tangled tumble of white hair with jealous eyes.
"Well, you could be thankful that you at least don't have Aki's hair. As a rule now most ninjas have an almost natural fear or respect for people with pink hair thanks to Grandma, but the citizens absolutely hate it." She said, shifting slightly so that the younger girl could sit down beside her. Brown eyes studied a slightly slumping back for a moment, warming and filling with concern before once again emptying out to their usual bored and empty slates.
"Well-"
"Hey! What happened in here?" Called a brightly chipper voice as the youngest of the three Hatake girls rushed into the room, short and wild bubblegum pink curls bouncing with every overly energetic stride as she looked around the room, her blue eyes shining with a secret and teasing laughter.
"You're sister threw a fit because she can't find a shirt." Cora murmured, said sister growling as the pink haired girl threw her head back and guffawed, her delighted and loud full-out belly laughs filling the room.
"That's so stupid!" She said, continuing to laugh as Tohru crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the pink haired girl in what she thought to be a perfectly dignified and disinterested way.
"No it's not. I need something to wear to impress at my interview, and all I have are my ninja and regular civilian clothes. None of that will work, so I got a little upset, Aki."
"A little?" Aki cried before pealing with laughter again. "That's like when you said that you were little upset when you tossed all of Hiro's pants into the lake after he accidentally burned your favorite skirt and then made him fish them out in his underwear!"
"I don't see how that situation is relevant." Tohru scoffed, her younger sister smugly pointing upwards at the cardigan that was lazily spinning on one of the blades of the ceiling fan.
"You do throw things when you get mad." Cora observed as the thoroughly embarrassed girl quickly stopped the fan to get the garment. "Let's hope you don't throw something at the judge or opposing lawyer when they dismiss or beat you in a case."
The thought sent Aki into another round of rambunctious laughter. " 'As you can see in this evidence my client is not guilty and- Ah! She just threw her brief case at me! I object!' Hahahahaha!" Aki acted out the little skit, laughing so hard that she held her sides as tears came to her eyes. "Ha! That's just great." She cried, Cora chuckling right along with her.
"Yes, well, I'm glad my failure of a future is obviously so amusing to you two. I'm never going to find anything to wear and I'll be stuck in this house without a job or hope for the rest of my life."
Aki rolled her eyes at the older girl and walked over to her own jam-packed and chaotic closet, looking the explosive mess over for a moment with a sharp eye before she shoved her way in and pulled out something. "Will this work?" She asked, holding it out for the other two girls to see.
And the answer was a resounding and unanimous "No."
It was a bright and bubbly knee length dress, the skirt a gathered and layered puffy type that was the wonder of every princess dreaming girl. It glittered and sparkled from the sequins at the top of the bodice and there was a flower made of the same gauzy material as the skirt pinned onto it.
"Why do you have that?" Tohru asked, seeing no reason as to why her sister needed such a thing. She was a ninja in training, not a nitwit preteen girl going to some half-baked dance.
"I saw it in the window of a shop last week and decided that I wanted it." The girl said simply, her teal haired sister glaring at her after a moment.
"Is that what you used the money you borrowed from me on?" She gasped, the younger girl waving the comment away.
"What is in the past is in the past. Let's move on." She said serenely, and before Tohru could throw an angry retort at her Cora interrupted them.
"What about your mother's clothes?" She asked, sitting up to shake out her shaggily cut hair and languidly stretch out her long limbs.
Tohru thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Have you seen our mother? She's only an inch or so shorter than me but her curves go out into places that mine just won't go. Or haven't you noticed?" She said, making a sweeping motion that encompassed her rail thin body.
"Then we'll adjust it." Cora said, shrugging. Tohru rolled her eyes as Aki eagerly ran out of their room to go to their parents'.
"And when did you become a seamstress, oh wise one? And what would my mother say if we cut up one of her outfits?"
"She wouldn't say anything. She'd simply murder us wordlessly and painfully." Cora murmured as she straightened out her sleeves without a care in the world, the cut outs that ran down the length of the arms revealing peeks of her toned muscles.
Knowing that her older cousin was simply stating what she saw to be a fact and not rethinking their new strategy, Tohru sank down to her bed, sighing in defeat as Aki ran back in with a few items in her arms.
Thus began the hour long argument/fashion show that ended with Cora –the only person who hadn't even bothered with the argument, just wordlessly staring down the other two until they gave- as the victor with her choice of a simple gray dress that wasn't to her tastes but looked professional and not stuffy.
Tohru tried her hardest not to fidget as her cousin circled around her with pins in her hand and mouth, tucking and pinching everything together so that the parts that were usually filled with full curves weren't sagging and making it look likr she was wearing a shapeless sack.
Hiro was innocently passing the open doorway when he caught the sight of his eldest sister standing on a footstool in their mother's dress as their cousin intently circled her, his other sister laying on her belly on her bed and laughing occasionally as she munched on some candy she must have had hidden since if their mother would have known it wouldn't be there.
"Um…" He said, stepping in and tilting his head as he took in what they were doing to the dress. "Is this one of those weird new fashions you girls come up with every now and then that actually looks stupid but you think looks cool?"
"No." The white haired girl muttered, concentrating on her task.
"Why? Does it look bad?" Tohru asked, slightly panicked.
"Only the back, and we'll cover it up with a cardigan to hide the pins and make the whole thing look less stuffy." Cora informed her, speaking around the pins in her mouth. Hiro nodded and decided to stick around for a while, sitting down next to Aki and absentmindedly taking a handful of her candy and tossing it into his mouth.
Within the next second he was in the fetal position on the ground as he clutched his throat, gasping as tears filled his eyes and as Aki laughed loudly.
"Aki," He managed to rasp out, dark green eyes glaring up at her, "What was that?"
"Ah-hahahahaha! You should have seen your face! You were all like," She clutched her throat while sticking out her tongue and twisting her face in a dramatic fashion, "And then you just fell! Ah-haha! That was great!"
Tohru sighed and shook her head, remembering how the same thing had happened to her the other night. "They're hot spiced hard candy from Suna. Apparently her pen-pal mailed them to her –and I don't know when she got one of those- and she now has a secret stash under her bed. The scary thing is that she actually likes them."
"Yep!" Aki said cheerfully, looking down at the curling head of gray hair that was still on the floor. Really, it hadn't taken her this long to get up when she had first gotten a taste of them. "They have a really nice kick to them."
"Kick is an understatement." Hiro grumbled as he pulled himself up onto the bed opposite of his pink haired sister, wanting to set himself away from the demon candy at the moment. "It's more like they sucker-punched you in the throat before putting a couple of exploding tags in your stomach."
"I know! Aren't they great?"
The room decided that it was best not to respond.
Cora is my favorite, and I always saw her as having Levy's (from Fairy Tail) messy and uneven hair, just a little longer with the hair white and the tips black, and rocking this bad ass rocker clothes and a "I don't really care unless I care" vibe. I've also seen her as having Meg's voice from the Disney Hercules (I've always loved her voice and the character) just with a hint more of a rasp.
Well, moving on.
X
And this is an idea I got for Hanabi that I figured I'd add since it can't be just a regular little chapter.
Hanabi had always been told that she was better than her older sister. She was stronger, she was braver, she was more direct and most importantly she was more Hyuuga. And growing up Hanabi never hesitated to agree. Her sister was weak. Her sister was worthless. She wasn't even able to hold up her dignity as a Hyuuga to defeat her -a child younger than her by six years- or a mere main branch member.
Pathetic.
And Hanabi had grown up safe and secure in the knowledge that while her sister was weak she was strong, and while her sister was a burden she was the favored daughter. She was the next head of the Hyuuga who would follow in her father's footsteps and continue to hold the clan in the same esteem that it had been for generations.
Years had passed and not much had changed. She never bothered with her sister, she never cared or wanted to, and the few times she sent her a passing glance she saw the same weak creature that had always been there, though she supposed that they could be thankful for her sister's beauty. It would make her that much easier to sell off in some marriage to strengthen the clan.
And then everything changed with the attack of Pein.
Neither she nor or father had been there and they had come home from their trip to find a crater where the majority of their village should have been and their own compound and proud clan in shambles, the world on the brink of war. They hadn't seen Hinata anywhere those first few days and while they cursed her for being so utterly useless the whispers touched their ears.
Hinata -the weak child, the worthless sister- had gone against one of the Peins herself without any help and had fought to give a chance to the jinchuriki, nearly sacrificing herself in the process of fighting an enemy not even the elite of Konoha could stand against.
She was weak.
She was worthless.
They had been told that she had been it proud and fearless.
It had been the turning point for Hanabi as she realized that someone who was worth nothing could never do something so brave, and this was enforced during the war when Hinata had stood face to face with Madara himself.
And so Hanabi had begun to watch the older girl a little closer and wonder.
She had still had that irritating stutter and could barely look a person in the eye, and it was always worsened by the blonde boy who spent an increasing amount of time with her. She spotted her during her training once and was unimpressed, seeing that the girl was only at an average level that she should have surpassed years before then.
But as she watched, she slowly saw her sister transform. The stutter was rarely heard and she held her head high, growing more confident in herself. She became a dependable person, one who held herself with grace and pride, all because of the blonde boy who was too loud and too brash for her quiet and simple sister. Hanabi hadn't expected it to last, especially since the boy was the kyuubi, but when they were threatened Hinata had sat before every one who had ever judged her harshly and told them that she would not fall in with what they wanted and that she would not leave the person she loved just because they were scared of the amazing person he was and the changes he would bring.
She was weak.
She was worthless.
She had been fearless.
The years had inched by and their father –the man who had always had such infallible strength in her eyes- had grown ill and weak and had admitted that he was no longer fit to lead the clan. There had been some unease over who would become the next head, and Hanabi had known why.
She had always been the favored daughter. The strong one. But Hinata had grown and she had married the Hokage, and there was no way that the council would easily pass such a chance to become the strongest clan –the closest to the Hokage himself- by. And as she had eavesdropped on her father and sister, her worst fears had been confirmed. She was being passed over for her older sister but not for the power hungry reasons of the council. It was because their father had believed her to be better.
She was WEAK.
She was WORTHLESS.
She had defeated her.
Hanabi had raced back to her room to hide from the crippling truth as it all hit her like an avalanche. She wasn't ready to be the head of the clan, she wasn't worthy of it, and she never would be. It was better for Hinata to have gotten it, it was better for her to have won their father's respect and love because she obviously wasn't enough.
And it was with these doubts swarming through her mind that she numbly listened to her father inform her that it was her that would be the next head of the clan.
She had questioned her sister about it and had listened to her sister go through the stunning reasons of why she could never be head, and then had watched in shock as she had begged her to be her savior. To be the savior of the budding life that grew inside of her.
And she realized that her sister had never been weak.
Her sister had never been worthless.
There was so much strength in the steady gaze that held hers and begged her for a life that they all had only dreamed of that Hanabi had been left breathless. There was so much love and faith that Hanabi had nearly fallen to her knees and begged her to forgive her for all of the years of being wrong.
And so with the weight of those fates on her shoulders Hanabi had gathered what strength and resolve she had and had moved forward with a purpose.
There had been once when it had all gotten to be overwhelming that she had remembered her sisters assurances that she would always be there for her, and so she had went to the apartment Hinata shared with her husband and had been let in without question. She had been given an old T-shirt and shorts that no longer fit her pregnant sister and had fallen asleep on the couch, so exhausted that she slept nearly an entire day, and had awoke to a sight she had never seen nor ever expected to see.
Hinata was in the kitchen in an absurdly orange T-shirt that, while oversized, had fit snuggly around her protruding stomach. She had obviously been in the middle of making something if the batter on the counter was any clue but had stopped as her husband had come up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and placing his hands protectively and possessively on her stomach and the life she housed inside, nuzzling her neck sweetly. They had quietly murmured to each other words that she couldn't hear, but the tone and the perfectly blissful smile on her sister's face had told her all she needed to know.
Her sister was totally and irrevocably in love with the man who had wrapped himself adoringly around her and with the life that they had immersed themselves in.
And she had been heart wrenchingly jealous because she understood that she could never have that. The love. The bliss. The adoration. It had all been sacrificed so that her sister and the rest of their clan could have the chance for it.
Time passed and the inevitable happened. In the search for the merging of the two parts of the clan there was only one agreement that the council and the appointed branch members could come up with so that it could all be settled peaceably. She'd marry a member –not one of her own choice- of the branch house.
She assured her sister –whom she had gradually grown closer to- that it was fine. Hadn't their own parents been in an arranged marriage? They had been happy, and truly the only times anyone could see their father happy other than when he was with Kori was in pictures where he was beside their mother.
She had gone through the traditional ceremonies, unable to get a good look at her groom through the thick veil throughout the majority of it, though after it was lifted she was only allowed a cursory glance.
White eyes. Black hair. Clear face. Caged bird seal. Hyuuga.
It was only after it all had ended and they were locked into a room together –their room- that they finally faced each other, studying one another for a few moments before the man –her husband- held out a hand for hers in introduction.
"Daisuke. It's nice to meet you…"
"Hanabi." She supplied, numbly placing her own hand into his for a quick shake, wishing that her life would slow down for a moment so that she could catch up.
They hadn't even known each other's names.
They stood awkwardly for a moment before Daisuke cleared his throat. "Ah… You look a little… young."
"I'm seventeen." Hanabi bluntly informed him, watching as he blinked in shock, "And you?"
"T-Twenty. Seventeen?Really? Isn't that a bit too young?" He gasped out, looking around half desperately, as if the way out of the situation would just magically disappear.
"Yes. But this needed to be taken care of for the sake of the clan, and I doubt that you were completely willing for this to happen anyway." The man hesitated a moment before nodding his head.
"Yes. I am... one of the more skilled of the branch family, though not nearly as good as Neji-san, so I was chosen out of the men that were close to your age. Though it is still a bit too far apart for my liking." He looked away from her, his eyes landing on the bed -their bed- and he loudly swallowed, suddenly nervous. "I... I mean no disrespect, but there is someone else and-"
"Good." Hanabi said shortly, turning away from him to go to the closet and find something to sleep in, her clothes already having been put in it for her by one of the servants.
"Good?" He asked, his puzzled eyes trailing her, "What do you mean 'good'?"
"I mean that you should stay with her. I am seventeen, and this is the first conversation I have ever had with you. I am not going to demand that you just give up the person you love just because the council wished us to be married and we went along with it. I truly don't want anything from you except maybe friendship to make this entire thing more bearable for the both of us, and I certainly don't want sex." Seeing the relieved expression on his face, Hanabi held up a hand.
"But we'll need to do it eventually. To properly join the clan and get rid of the caged bird seal we will need an heir, and for that we will need to have sex. Not now, of course, but eventually. When I'm nineteen seems to be the safest decision, considering how the council and the branch council will be pressuring us."
"Can't you just sleep with someone else?" He nearly bellowed, trying to get over the shock of how easily the small girl in front of him was handling it all.
"No. I wouldn't put it past the council to do a blood test on the child to determine its parentage, and if I am proven unfaithful they can twist it so that I can easily be gotten rid of so that someone else would become the head, completely ruining the work that I have put into this. We must also share the bed, which if you think of it like a mission and focus on the fact that neither of us have feelings for each other, it should make it easier. I know the situation is not preferred, but I must ask you to bear with it."
Daisuke blinked at the girl who seemed far older than what she said she was and nodded, sighing as he looked back towards the bed. He supposed that one of the good things about marrying the head was the humongous bed you got.
"Alright, which side do you want?"
They fell into a safe and relaxing pattern over the next year, and he quickly became her closest friend -though since they shared a bed she supposed that it was only natural that they grew close. They woke up and had breakfast delivered to the room as they talked or did some work of some kind for the clan, Daisuke eagerly and happily helping. After eating they got ready for the day and Hanabi went about her duties as head while Daisuke did what was delegated to him, also spending time with his lover Michi -a girl in the branch family- since he and Hanabi always deviously planned it so that he could do so.
They tried to have dinner with each other at least once or twice a week, and trained with one another in their private garden about the same. They always went to bed together, getting their respective sides ready and easily chatting with one another.
Hanabi had never had a true friend before since she had mainly spent her time growing up training with her father and being kept in the structured compound away from all "negative" influences that could dare to wrongly influence the next head, so she cherished Daisuke and the way he calmed her hectic life so easily. She wasn't in love with him -thank God, since that would have made things awkward- but she wanted for him to be happy, and Michi made him happy so she ignored the tiny little glares the girl shot her and urged Daisuke on.
The thing about sharing a room together, they found, was that after a little while it grew tiring to run into the bathroom or hide every time they had to change, so eventually it ended up that they just changed in front of each other, neither of them really bothering to look or be embarrassed. And so it was due to this that Hanabi had found herself topless as Daisuke flipped through a book while laying back on the bed.
"Dai-kun!" A voice singsonged from the door that led out to the garden. "I came to see if you wanted to-" They both turned as the sweet faced girl practically skipped through the door, freezing at the rather intimate sight of Hanabi changing easily in front of her lover.
The sweet face was instantly morphed into one of bitter fury as she launched herself at Daisuke, scratching and biting and hissing at him, trying to do the same to Hanabi as the other girl took control of the situation and pulled her off, easily overpowering her.
A few minutes of cursing and struggling later Michi was straightening herself and glaring at the pair, ignoring Daisuke's tries at explaining.
"I always knew he was lying about you, though I at least thought that you were too much of a cold bitch to capture his interest. And you," She hissed, turning her glare to Daisuke and silencing him, "You should get some balls, you worthless excuse of a man. The only reason I stayed with you is because of the stuff you got me, especially since all of my other guys are way better at sex than you." She said scathingly, turning with her nose high and marching out of the room.
They stood there in silence for a moment before Hanabi cleared her throat, shifting from foot to foot in an effort to figure out what to say. She'd never really been put in this sort of situation before and she certainly didn't know how to handle it.
"I'm sorry for what she said." Daisuke dejectedly murmured, and Hanabi shook it off and decided that it was about time for her to finally get around to putting her shirt on. Apparently the demon woman had had nails like talons because one of them had caught her boob and she knew that it was going to smart tomorrow.
"I've heard worse from people who undoubtedly meant more, but are you okay? I know she meant a lot to you." And for just that reason alone she wasn't going to go after the bitch and destroy her, or send anyone else to do it.
There was a beat of silence that Hanabi didn't bother to interrupt as Daisuke stared at the wall for a moment before speaking bleakly.
"Hanabi," He said, catching her attention and staring at her intently, "I want a kid."
She stared at him for a silent moment and saw it for what it was. A rebound, something that really wouldn't mean anything when they woke up the next day. Something that would only be a momentary and desperate salve for the pain. And so seeing it for what it was and seeing the needing look in his eyes Hanabi wordlessly stripped her shirt off once again and took a calming breath.
Bonding was not something she would have ever said to have done with her sister, but sitting across from her and sipping at a warm cup of tea, Hanabi had to admit that the action was... nice. The blonde toddler fidgeted on her mother's lap, huffing every now and then but otherwise she seemed content to just sit. Hinata looked over her cup every now and then in concern, but kept silence, choosing instead to let the younger girl speak first.
"... The council has accepted the new seal, and it will officially go into use once it is placed on my child." Hanabi said quietly. "There will no longer be a caged bird seal, so you no longer have to worry about Kori."
The new seal would keep anyone from gaining the secrets of their eyes upon their deaths, but it would no longer give the main house power of the branch house, and in fact everyone would have it on the back of their neck, no longer a brand but a protection and a unification.
"They just accepted it?" Hinata asked dryly, and Hanabi sent her a look over the rim of her cup.
"I didn't say that they accepted it happily." Hanabi informed her, shifting slightly in place and wondering if the pressure on her bladder would ever go away. Hinata laughed lightly before setting her cup down, resting a hand on the back of her now napping daughter.
"Hanabi... has anything happened with Daisuke?" Hinata asked, already having been told it all by her distraught sister who had been worried that she had ruined her friendship with the older boy.
"He's finally seemed to have gotten over Michi, and he's really thrown himself into this whole dad thing. We've talked a bit about our relationship and have decided to take things slow though."
"Slow? Right when you are about to have a child?"
"I didn't say it made sense, I just said that it was what we had decided."
Hanabi was a ninja, and while she had been more protected than the majority because of being heir, she had gotten to know pain in the few years she had been in training and on duty before she was forced to fulfill her duties. She might not have been overly familiar with it, but she could at the very least state that she knew what typical pain was.
But this, this was a completely different pain. It wasn't mind numbing and it didn't tear screams from her like she had been warned but over exaggerating females, but it hurt like a mean son of a bitch and it just went on forever.
Daisuke was beside her feeding her ice chips and allowing her to kindly break all of the bones in his hand, trying to crack jokes about the baby's name and gender and trying to make her laugh, though she was to busy panting and moaning to bother.
And then with a final push and a cry it was over with, a high pitched wail filling the room and shocking it to silence. And she was holding her arms out and practically crying as they settled the little bundle into her arms, telling her that it was a boy though she didn't care because it was her baby and he was perfect.
Daisuke's arm tentatively came around her as he looked down on their son with the same look of wonder she knew that she had, and they just sat there basking in the glow of the most amazing "We did it. This is ours." That there was.
"Hello Hotaru." Her husband and the man she very well might have been developing feelings towards said, and Hanabi repeated the sentiment and wondered just how she had gotten lucky.
The end!
Big thank you for newbies Ladybug and adiosToreador, and I would also like to tearfully thank adiosToreador for being the first person to support me on the Mino/Kaya thing.
Thank you. You are beautiful.
Well, see you later!