Chapter 12: Relief
If you haven't figured it out yet, IDON.
I ran into the flower shop. There, I chose a nice medley of flowers, weeds they were not, and ran up to the register, but I was stopped by the cashier.
"Genma, hi! Who are those flowers for?" Ino asked me, chin in hand.
"You don't know her…"
"That would six dollars please!"
" 'Kay." I groped around blindly in my pocket until I found the right amount, and handed it to her."
"Tell Anko I said hi!"
"Ahh-- w-what are you talking about?"
Ino made an expectant face. "Well, send her my regards."
"I…uh…I said, these are for someone else."
"Uh huh, okay, right, sure, whatever you say, Genma."
"Childish ignorance…" I scoffed and left the place. What nerve. Thinking that she knows I'm in love, oh please. No one will ever know.
One problem I completely forgot: I'm allergic to pollen. And, well, these flowers have so much I can see it in clumps. So, I was walking into the hospital sneezing like some deranged idiot. They asked me if I needed treatment…Between my little sneezes, I told the receptionist to get me Anko's room. She hesitated, looking at me, the sneeze-y loser with flowers. "Uh, sir, we don't think you should spread your disease--"
"I'm allergic to pollen, rel--" I quickly stopped a sneeze. "-relax."
"Alright, then."
On the way through the winding hallways, there were little sneezes pricking my nose, but I could not sneeze. It was freaking aggravating. My eyes were tearing up, and at some points my breath sped up. But no sneeze came. That was a problem.
"Okay, she'll be groggy--"
"Whatever."
I walked into the room and shut the door. I quickly turned, suppressing more sneezes. For some reason, I kind of dreaded looking to see if she was on the bed. My heart began to beat a bit faster than usual. I finally looked up and saw Anko, who was reclining comfortably on the bed, windows wide open, a stick of dango in one hand. She looked at me, and was about to smile, but stopped.
"Genma! What's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"Why are you crying?"
"What are you talking about?"
Anko motioned me over. She reached out and ran a hand along my cheek. I became crippled thanks to the Reindeers, who I think were enjoying gymnastics off the walls of my heart. I looked at her face. It was…the color was back, and it looked the way it did before any of this. She smiled tenderly.
"You're teary…"
I didn't reply, a tickle stole my words. Here it comes-- the ultimate attack, the finishing blow, the unexpected repercussions of pollen. I slowly put a hand over my mouth. I'm ticklish, and this is the ultimate tickle. I almost started to laugh, but took in air sharply and---
"AHHH-- CHOO!" The flowers flew from my hands, and I fell back slightly. The sneeze was that insanely forceful-- my life is so messed up. Awkward silence. I groaned loudly.
"Damn pollen…"
"Gesundheit!" Anko laughed. I looked up and saw that petals were flying around above. So delicate, so sweet, so pretty-- like Anko. Bad news for my pollen allergy, but I'll live. I got up sheepishly and laughed nervously. Anko smirked at me.
"And I thought you were crying…hahaha! I see you're allergic to pollen, yet you still bought the flowers for me."
"DUH!" Wow, I sounded retarded there.
"Well…" Anko took a deep breath. "So am I!" She blinked quickly. "Achoo!" Okay, so, I'm not a loser, but now I'm making her sneeze. This is so crazy. I sat on her bed and started to play with her hair, entertained. Yes, it has spread to me: now I'm messing with her hair. It really is a lot longer than I thought, it swept the middle of her back. But the main thing is that…Anko remembered me.
"Anko, how did they…un-possess you?" Anko craned her head to look at me better. She smiled painfully, and lifted some hair off her back. I saw, that on one shoulder, there was a thick bandage. I talking at least an inch thick, taped down to her skin.
"Oro put that curse mark on me a long time ago. Oh, and my head hurts really bad in one area…" Anko patted on a spot in the back of her head. Yeah, I'll kill the crazy bitch later…
"I'm guessing they cut that whole piece of curse mark, and took…" I stopped to shudder. "the skin out, to remove any traces of the mark rooting to your nerves because it could travel up to your mind and make you psychotic."
Anko nodded.
"Yeah. I seriously have no skin there. It'll heal though." I smiled back, though I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through. Anko looked down.
"Genma?"
"Hm?"
"Who came to save me?"
"Oh, well, everyone but me…I'm sorry…"
"No, I mean, who had the idea to come after me." she specified.
"Well, that was me. But I didn't do anything else, really--"
"And the person who first set out?"
"…me."
"And the person who was holding me, unconscious?"
"…me…" I sighed. "What are you trying to get out of me?" I asked. She had managed to faze me, somehow. Anko looked into my eyes pensively. They sparkled like diamonds, and her cheeks were touched with shy strawberries.
"You were the one who saved my life. Don't be humble like that."
"Oh, please, Anko, I didn't do--"
Anko put a hand over my mouth.
"I don't want to hear that." She bit her lip. "The doctors said that if it wasn't for you, I'd be dead." Looking at Anko, the graceful expression she had made… think of her with that same look in a casket. I blinked back tears that suddenly floated on the brims of my eyes. Damn it. Why is it that whatever happens to Anko that is bad, I get more emotional than I normally would? I'm going to need to go to some psycho doctor. She continued. "Because of you, I'm still here." I nodded. Anko scooted closer to me and leaned against me, her head was touching my chest. I put my arm around her and pulled her tighter to me. "Thank you, Genma. I owe my life to you."
"Don't be ridiculous, Anko." She doesn't owe me anything at all. Except for paying my medical bills…two hundred dollars for nothing…
"Fine." she gave up. "Whatever you say."
"Well, what have we here?" Anko and I gasped, I let go of her and she recoiled from me. We both looked at the door sternly. Shizune stood there, wiggling her eyebrows. "I knew it!" she squealed.
"Don't be homosexual." Anko said.
"Yeah, we--we…you're so bent on trying to find out if there is love between us, you hallucinated…"
"Well, whatev--AHHH!" Tsunade strode in and pushed Shizune outside, then slammed the door. HAHAHA! Shizune got served. Tsunade looked pissed--we're screwed. She came really close to us and leaned in. Tsunade looked really, really, evil like that.
"I know your secret." she said, narrowing her eyes.
"Pssh, what secret? There's no secret anywhere, right, Anko?" She's onto us. Crap. This is going to be tough.
"A-DUH." she agreed. Tsunade smirked.
"Resume position. I won't tell."
"Ah, what, what are you talking about, Tsunade?" I began to sweat. It's not like this is the third degree, but…
"Yeah, he was just sitting here--" started Anko.
"Holding you." finished Tsunade. Anko's mouth dropped and I quickly looked somewhere else. Nope, I don't like her. She was just some girl: I failed to hide that, apparently. Tsunade looked victorious.
I sat there, looking out the window. And, I suddenly realized, I can't hide this forever. People are bound to find out someday. But I won't say anything, at least to Tsunade. Even so, I put my arm around Anko once again, and accepting defeat, Anko leaned on me. I don't think I'll ever be left alone for this.
"Aha!" Tsunade grinned. "I knew it!"
"Shut up…" I mumbled.
"You two look so cute-- oh, and make me shut up," she answered pompously. "I won't tell anyone, though. But then again, it won't matter, everyone knows."
"Knows what? You're senile and crazy?" Anko said angrily. Tsunade sniffed.
"No, Anko. That you to are like this--" Tsunade's middle and index fingers intertwined.
"Oh, please." Anko muttered.
"I'm thinking boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"NO!" Then Anko's eyes met mine, and we both looked off somewhere…blushing like little kids. "Well…" I started to say something, but decided it wise to shut up. Tsunade sobered a bit.
"You two seriously look good together." she said, raising her eyebrows. I scoffed and Anko sniggered. "I'm not kidding. Maybe I can set up a date for you two…"
"Uh, don't think so!" I quickly intervened. Tsunade rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Anyway, Anko, how are you feeling?"
"Good." Anko replied simply.
"Very well, then. I'll be off to let you two discuss matters alone." Tsunade gave us a long look. "Notify me as soon as the wedding plans are made."
"Tsunade!"
"What?" with that and a sly smile, she left. Thank you, Lord. It's about time that crazy woman left. Anko and I were silent for a while.
"Hey, Genma…" she began.
"Yes?"
"Never mind!" she said with a wave of her hand.
"So…" That took a hope off of me.
"So, yeah…"
"How about the weather, eh? It's, uh, very weather-y."
"Yeah."
We sighed. A sudden impulse hit my mind. I think I'll ask Anko out. If anyone has a problem with it, too bad.
"Hey, Anko, when do you get out of the hospital?"
"Tomorrow. Why?" she replied.
"Well, I wanted to take you to dinner. Want to come with?" Now, I must say, that's smooth for a guy who gets crippled when hanging out with this girl. Not too straight up, and well, suave. For me, anyway. I can picture Asuma and Hayate asking out better. Particularly Asuma. He has a way with women, something I was not blessed with.
Anko looked at me for while, and then cracked a smile.
"Yeah. Sounds fun." she answered.
"Alright, I'll get you at seven, sound good?"
"Perfect. Oh, and Genma, I was thinking of what you did, and I wanted to give you a thank you…but in a different form, you see." Anko said. I watched expectantly for her to pull out something, a piece of paper as a thank you card or my "gift", but she did nothing except for smile sheepishly. I looked into her eyes for a sign of any sort of emotion. Nothing came, but I was the one that was shocked.
Anko threw her arms around me and pulled me closer to her, and pressed her lips against mine. Let me say, I haven't been so surprised in my life. This was like, totally uncalled for. So uncalled for, that when she let go, I fell off the bed in whole shock.
"Thanks a bunch!" she said playfully, laughing at me, and sneezed suddenly. When Anko got no reply, she looked over the side of the bed to check if I was alright. "Genma? Are you okay?" she asked, a hint of worry in her voice.
"Yeah, yeah…just let me recover here for a sec." Rudolph was not only doing gymnastics in my heart, but he was throwing a wild house party now. I was totally out of it. My common sense was blinded by…love, I suppose you could call it.
"Do you need medication?" she asked me.
"No, I'm FIIIIIIIIIINE." Oh, yeah, peachy with my heart problems and lack of knowledge about dealing with girls. I'm so sure Asuma wouldn't have even moved, much less fallen off the bed if Kurenai were to kiss him. I'm such a loser.
"Oh, wow, you were unprepared for that, weren't you?"
"It's all good! I'm fine, I was prepared…I totally expected that!" Yeah, right! I wish I expected that…
"Whatever. Does this normally happen to you?" Anko asked curiously.
"Hell, no! I don't get kissed randomly!"
"You did it to me!" Good point. But she's…she's Anko! Nothing fazes her, at least so other people can't tell. I'm that way too, but with romance…not so much, as I'm sure we've all noticed.
Once my senses pulled themselves together, I was able to stand up, but my knees were weak and I was a bit dizzy.
"Okay, Anko, I'll be at your house tomorrow at seven. Bye." I sauntered-- no, I'd say it was more of a float or a teeter-- out of the room and back to my house. On my way up the stairs to my apartment, I met up with Asuma, who was so blunt in pointing out something was wrong with me.
"Are you drunk?" he inquired.
"No, are you?" I replied.
"Actually, I'm high!" I looked at him and scooted away. Asuma made an annoyed face. "Just kidding, you little retard. So, what's made you so giggly and blush-y?"
"Nothing!" I answered.
"SURE." Asuma narrowed his eyes at me. "You got…KISSED. I can see it."
"Don't be gay, Asuma. That's ridiculous."
"Don't hide things that are so obvious blind people can see it!" he said in an unnecessarily high pitched voice.
"Speaking of drunk, where's your drunken girlfriend?" Asuma blinked and scowled.
"Uh…Oh! Kurenai! Yeah, she's at my house." he answered. It took that long…
"Hungover, I presume?" if Kurenai isn't hungover, I'm going to go shoot myself.
"Surprisingly, no. She's fine. A little tired but fine."
"Drinking what?" Okay…she's GOT to be drinking something…
"Nothing!" Asuma grinned. "Amazing, right?"
"Damn, it really is, Asuma, it really is." Asuma had to return to the topic I was trying to avoid.
"I'm going to go and take a guess…you were kissed by Anko. I can see it, you look so intoxicated."
"Well, so do you."
"Nuh-uh! I'm not drunk!"
"Yeah, I forgot, you're on crack!"
"You know what, likewise, okay, son, OKAY?"
"Don't talk to me that way!"
"Don't talk to me that way!"
"I own you! Shut up!"
"Hey mom, go to hell!"
"Want to repeat that, bastard?"
"Excuse me? You going around calling me a bastard? At least I have a girlfriend!"
"Yeah, a slutty one!"
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me!"
"I didn't hear nothing but the sound of your bones breaking!"
"That would be your bones snapping!"
"You know what? I don't have time for this. Fuck you!"
"Likewise! I have a life to get on with. Unlike you."
"Get back here!"
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"Look at those losers!" Kurenai said, looking down the stairwell.
"That's hilarious!" Yuugao agreed.
"Fighting over nothing…HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Yeah, I know! Men are retarded." Kurenai nodded.
"Hey, look, vodka…"
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Haha, losers they are. Sounds like the kids at my school. Well, thanks for reading, and review.