Chapter 13: The Date That Determines Fate
Just because I don't own Naruto, doesn't mean you fools have to rub it in.
The next day, I found myself with a lot of energy-- yes, even in the morning, which made me wonder if my fall yesterday had an effect on me. I was totally awake, and it was evident when I ran into Tsunade's office. She noticed immediately, too.
"Okay, you're happy and energetic. What happened, or what are you so excited to about that has made you like this?" she asked.
"I'm fine." I replied quickly.
"Are you on crack?"
"NO!" I think she's the one on crack. "Just…excited."
Tsunade looked at me for like, five minutes. "Ooh!" she cried. "You're going on a date!"
"HELL NO!" Damn it. Damn her. Damn myself…wait, what? "What kind of crazy hypothesis is that?"
"It's not a hypothesis, it's a conclusion! I know your secret!"
"You will never know! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
What has gotten into me? I'm a whacked out freak now. Better question: what did I eat this morning to make me so KRAZY? Let's see, coffee, the usual. Maybe I sugared it down too much. Oh, well, whatever. I went right through Tsunade's tasks, one after the other. I was on a roll!
Hayate was afraid of me, though. Since Anko got to have the day off, I was partnered with him. And, quite frankly, he was avoiding me. Not quite avoiding, but scooted away from me when I did something requiring will and energy.
"Amazing!" Hayate exclaimed. "You just did paperwork without complaining!"
I shrugged. "Yeah, well, it didn't seem so bad today."
"O-kay…"
"So when are you and Yuugao getting married?"
Hayate smiled.
"November nineteenth. I can't wait at all!"
"Hey, there's only about…" it's the thirtieth, so… "three weeks, or so! Not too long."
"Are we still having the alco-- Halloween party?" Hayate asked.
"I don't know. I'll ask Anko tonight, when--" I put a hand over my mouth. Oh shit.
Hayate looked up at me, curious.
" 'Tonight'? Hmm…" he smiled deviously.
"Uh, um, I meant tomorrow! See, I have, uh, a very important-- VERY IMPORTANT-- issue I have to pay attention to tonight. And I was thinking of it, so…"
"Oh, really?" scoffed Hayate. "Like…a date?"
"No, of course not!" I really think that if I died right now I'd end up in hell. Seriously. Not lying is on the ten commandments, right?
"I do. I'm dating Yuugao as our last date as fiancé and fiancée. The next three weeks will be spent packing and all that crap." Hayate said.
"Fun." I might as well shut my fucking mouth right now before anything else gets out and I end up in the DEPTHS of hell.
It was six o'clock sharp. An hour until Anko and I go to eat. Surprisingly…I'm not the least bit nervous. Aw, who am I kidding. I wish I wasn't the least bit nervous.
…I'M FREAKING FLIPPING OUT!
I keep looking at the clock, and the thought of Anko invites the Reindeers into my shaky heart. I wonder if she feels the same way…probably not. Sane people don't feel that way, I'm sure. Only the crazy retards like me, who can't think about a girl without getting all antsy. I'm sure Hayate can think about girls with out suffering! …wait…he's engaged, so that doesn't count! Yeah, Asuma. I'm so sure he's thinking about Kurenai all the time, and do I ever see him even with even a tinge of pink to his cheeks? Or making weird convulsive movements? Hell, no!
But here I am, doing just that.
I'm dressed and ready, but mentally I don't think I ever will. I looked at my cell phone and I got a certain notion…I could simply call her and say I'm sick…of course. Simple.
I almost, almost did it. But Rudolph kind of spazzed and I had to relax for a second. UGH, this is hell. I try to do a good thing, and I get tortured. Why? WHY does this happen to me and no one else? I waited around until I couldn't take it any longer. I left my house and headed for hers.
The weather was…decent. Breezy, yet comfortably cool. Watch the weather turn icy tomorrow. …okay, maybe if I cared enough to watch the weather report, I'd be more aware. ANYWAY…the walking didn't take my mind off of Anko. It actually made me think about her more. Now I'm paranoid. Hooray.
I was standing in front of the torii. Yes, I was nervous as hell. The light above me, which had stopped blinking was enough to illuminate the path ahead for only a few feet, but in the distance, I saw light from behind the doors of Anko's house. I should just wait for her here…and no, it's not because I'm too scared. I looked at the floor until I heard the door open. It closed quickly, and I could see Anko's shape approaching. Was she wearing a DRESS? I couldn't tell until the light hit her, and even then I nearly fainted.
"Hey, Genma,"
I couldn't really reply. You know how she's got spastic hair? I don't know what she did to it, but it fell full length and perfectly curled. I think she was wearing eye shadow, and I was sure she was wearing lipstick. Anko was indeed wearing a dress, it was a deep red, and hit her knees, and over it she had a sort of vest that was black. She had on black tights and black boots that looked Russian. HOT or SEXY? Hmm…
"Genma? Hello?" she waved a hand in front of my face.
"Uh, oh! Sorry, sorry…you look really, really, good." I almost added the fact she looked really, REALLY sexy, but I decide to hold my tongue.
"Thanks." she said. "Now, where should we go?"
Dressed fancy as she was, I was going to take to somewhere…FANCY. Let's see…fancy, crazy high priced restaurants…AH! Hatsuye! Sure, it'll rid me of my pay completely, but oh well. This is something I'll never get back. My money, however, I will.
"Do you like Hatsuye?"
Anko brightened and clasped her hands energetically. She reminded me of the teens for a sec.
"I love it!"
"Let's go, then!"
Things I have done wrong: NONE! So far, anyway. I took her hand and we broke into a quick little walk. Did I just…take her hand? The thought made me want to recoil, but the way she clung on to me made me want to never let go.
The town was, for some reason, gussied up. Fancy lanterns were hanging above our heads, and there was dreamy air hanging around, thick with enticing scents of food and a tinge of sweets…that was one scent Anko caught.
"Oh, man, it smells like dango!" she exclaimed. Oh, right. She's ADDICTED to dango. It's her life, I swear. I'm not one for sweets, but dango is a different story. That's good stuff.
"I'm catching veggies and tempura."
"I hate tempura." Anko said, making a face.
"I love it!"
Anko laughed softly.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just that we've been walking like this all the way from my house to town with Kurenai and Asuma behind us."
"…what…?" I hope I heard that wrong. If I didn't, well, things were going to get violent. I glanced behind us partially, and Anko was right. The couple was holding back laughs. Crazy Bitch and…Stupid Smoker. I'll kill them ALL! HAHAHA!
"And why didn't you tell me?" I whispered to Anko. Anko shrugged.
" 'Cause. It doesn't matter, does it?" she replied with a wave of her hand. What is she, CRAZY? Of course it matters! Everyone's going to find out if--
"Smile!"
A flash erupted in front of me. Kiba held a camera, grinning.
"Thanks! Perfect for the yearbook, my myspace, facebook, deviantart, MSNBC, the paper, and for memories to harass you about!"
"You're welcome!" Anko called after him, waving. Then it hit me. Well, Kiba found out, so I'm screwed, but that's not the point. Who cares if everyone finds out I love her? It's called ROMANCE, people! If it weren't for that, we'd all either be dead or never born! It's step one to the cycle of life! DUH. How could I have been so retarded? Well, what can we say, that's me. Oh, yeah, I think Raidou has a girlfriend now…he was even happier than usual and didn't, wouldn't shut up about some girl. Tsubaki, I think her name was. Then Hayate joined in with chatting about Yuugao, and I was quiet…obviously. A hand hit my shoulder.
"I knew it! I SO FREAKING KNEW IT!" laughed Asuma.
"Yeah, well, whatever." I returned. I couldn't hide a smile, though. Kurenai burst out laughing, and that suddenly ticked me off.
"What are you laughing at, huh? You and Asuma are going out, too!"
The two looked at each other and shrugged.
"So?"
"…and you don't care if we humiliate you about it?"
Asuma scoffed.
"Son, we don't give a damn for what you fools have to say."
"Everyone, I mean EVERYONE knows we're a couple. Hello? Up in Suna we're famous!" added Kurenai. Is she still drunk? "Oh, yeah, love the outfit Anko!"
"Oh, thanks! It's, like, so nice…"
"Women…" mumbled Asuma.
"Yeah. OKAY! Enough fashion! C'mon, Anko…" I dragged her away. She waved at them and smiled at me.
"When was the last time you were on date?" Anko asked. I sucked in my breath. When was the last time I dated someone? Uhh…the last person I went out with was Shizune, in my junior year of high school. I remember I said something about her outfit, and then she got pissed and dumped me. She looked like a fucking slut! Her outfit was basically clumps of cloth strewn about! As my girlfriend, I was not going to let her wear that. This is how it went:
"Shizune, for the sake of life, take off-- no, PUT ON some fucking clothes. You look like a damned slut, my god! Even strippers look more decent than you!"
"EXCUSE ME? Fuck you!" and then she turned and left.
Pssh, what's so offensive about what I said? It was true, anyway. Women are so…incoherent.
By now, we were in front in the restaurant. I could already smell my food. We walked in, and Anko let out a squeal of delight .
"I love this place!"
"So do I."
I had been here so many times before. Why? Well, I'm from a rich family. They're really artistic, parents who are both virtuosos my mom in art and dad in music, and my brother's the famous sculptor. My sister is signing a record deal. But I have something they don't! I've got the physical advantage. Nobody would really think it from my attitude and my appearance, but I'm athletic. I can down a mile in less than five minute. Don't believe me? Yeah, Asuma didn't either, but I proved it him, he got DOMINATED by me. I'm also special 'cause I can't do any of those things they can do! And on the contrary, they suck at things that are "physically challenging". Whatever. My only problem is that I'm lazy.
We were seated in a fancy, closed off room with the pretty paper doors along with other quiet groups of people…couples. I suddenly remembered the fiasco we had at Anko's house. It was like déjà vu, we were seated a low table with our shoes off. But of course, I won't laugh if she makes any retarded comments-- okay, I will, but I won't be there for fifteen minutes in a hysteria…if I can help it. Anko and I didn't really shut up.
By the time the food we ordered came we were talking about pillows. PILLOWS. Before that, we were talking about recycling…what the hell, right?
"Oh, my pillow is like, fifty years old…"
"I got a new one yesterday!"
The waiter was kind of spooked, so he just set the food down and ran off. Anko I burst into a fit of giggles after that.
"Did you see the look on his face?" she giggled.
"Yeah! He thought we were either on drugs or possessed."
"What a loser!" she muttered.
"YES!" I agreed.
I found it took us forever to eat our food. We just couldn't shut our mouths! After every bite it seemed like a whole new conversation, a long one, had started. We stayed for longer than I thought, though…
"Excuse me, but we were supposed to close TWO HOURS ago." This time it was the manager staring at us-- glaring, I should say. "So please…"
"Oh, yeah, the bill--"
He leaned closer to us and growled, "We don't give for the damn money, we want you to LEAVE!" Hm, stroke of luck. The meal would've been something like one hundred and fifty dollars, and I was not ready to face those numbers.
"Okay! Let's go!"
Anko and I quickly out on our shoes and ran out.
Guess what? It was COLD. Bipolar weather, see? The dress Anko was wearing was low cut, so it must've been pretty drafty up there…the weather had dropped from sixty degrees to thirty or so. Damn, I feel like moving to Suna. They have a stable climate! Windy, but stable, and not bipolar. And what do you do when you're cold? You huddle up to people. So Anko and I walked to my place glued together. Our teeth were chattering and I was shaking like I was caught in an earthquake.
"W-what the hell happened for the t-temperature to drop?" she inquired.
"I have no f-freaking idea. I just know this d-d-damn country has bipolar weather." I answered. Best I could come up with.
"I'm l-losing the feeling in my thighs." Anko said.
"Oh, c-crap! You know what, screw the weather, you're s-staying with me." Anko looked at me, with a slight scowl.
"You sure?"
"Y-Yes!" I replied. "Oh, um, w-we're probably going to be sick tomorrow. Particularly you, with that dress."
"Oh, if t-that h-happens that means no alcohol p-party…" Anko murmured. "Or Halloween hell."
"Y-yeah."
We slid into my room, and I made a beeline to turn on the heater to seventy five degrees and Anko made a beeline for my bed, which she ripped the covers off of. I stuffed my hands in my armpits and collapsed onto my couch. Anko sat next to me and we pulled the covers around each other. Anko suddenly coughed and I felt a tickle in my lungs. Well, so much for partying. I'm already beginning to get a touch of that crummy feeling.
"I'll bring a jacket next time. Damn it, I am so dumb!" she said rather loudly.
"It wasn't your fault! No one had any idea the weather would be so messed up." Anko sighed and grimaced.
"True." she agreed, and then coughed again. She snuggled against me and I scooted next to her. The heater was hitting us from above, and it felt like someone were breathing down my back, but in a good way, not the stalker way. Well, it sort of did. I've been stalked enough today. I forgot about that though. I know I fell asleep curled up in a little ball. And when I woke up, I resented the weather, and Kiba so much.
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