HELLO, MY LITTLE SNOWFLAKES!
Now I know what you're all thinking:
"SANTURRR! WUR HAV U BNN!?"
...What? I insulted you by portraying you with bad grammar?
wel i gus mibi i wus jus mkin u guis bsd of ov ho i rite.
...
If you understood that. Congratulations. Because I typed that and I still didn't understand it. LOL.
Anyway. I guess you could say Christmas ran a little over for Santa. :D *Sweaaaaatdrop* NOW LEMME LET CHRISTMAS RUN OVER FOR YOU!
MERRY CHRISTMAS IN MARCH! NOW READ THE CHAPTER :D!
"Seriously...?" She was peering at her imaginary watch while tapping the ground with her toe in a certain impatient rhythm. Surely for one that always talked up the idea of punctuality and all of its importance, he wouldn't actually be keeping them waiting this long, right?
With the continuous feeling of restlessness shifting her body in various jolts and twits, she couldn't possibly wait much longer. Twenty minutes had suddenly become hours, hours to more hours that consistently piled atop one another, becoming a mighty weight that pressured against her shoulders, crippling her spine and buckling her knees until she couldn't help but start to ease towards the ground in a twisted mess under the weight of time and gravity itself until she finally-
"I can't WAIT anymore!"
"it's only been about ten minutes..."
"That's not the point!" Her hands were thrown up, but quickly lowered down against her hair to the tune of her heaving a heavy sigh. She was impatient. She always had been. There were a billion and one places that she could be, a million people that she could be meeting, and a thousand other things that she could be doing. Why waste it in one spot? The whole idea of it made her feel antsy and unsettled.
The green haired male that she spoke to glanced down at her -being she was far shorter than him-, and he merely offered her a sincerely sympathetic, yet mildly taken aback expression. He should have been used to this craziness from her, after all, they had practically spent the past three years together since the...incident. What he learned? To just let her go on her rants and tire herself out from complaining while he just sat by in silence.
"Please..." Came a voice, teeming with a sense of annoyance and distaste as the door began to open up, "I could hear you from upstairs in my room..."
"Well, Mister Punctual, maybe if you were down here instead of in your room, you wouldn't have had to hear my mouth!"
"..." He rolled his eyes briskly, locking up while pulling his bag up unto his shoulder, "I was needed by my parents. You know the issue with that. Had I come to them with an excuse, I would have been in a load of unnecessary trouble."
"Always with the excuses, Tashi," She merely scoffed at the reasoning, though the male at her left urged her shoulder in a subtle pat.
"Motsuki... Maybe we should let him off, y'know..? We're lucky he's able to come out at all."
"You call him tagging along lucky?" Drawing her fingers through her hair, she dragged her digits to the ends, then flipped the ebony locks whilst turning swiftly away. They proceeded to brush against the tops of her shoulder blades.
"Said the one that 'wasted her day' waiting for me..."
"What was that?" She peered sharply over her shoulder, only to be greeted with a severely bemused expression.
Neither of the males seemed to be particularly conditioned to her attitude, although they tried at least. Tashi had opened his mouth to rebut her sassy remark, but he came to notice that her attention was no longer on him. Following her line of sight, he and Banko came to see exactly what she was looking at.
"Looks like the idiot's back..." Though disinterest was clear, there was a sound of fondness behind her words. She'd never spoke much to the guy, but Kiyowa seemed to be pretty fond. Not just her, but even her uncle's team had been speaking highly of him before too long. She wasn't sure how much he had to offer, and quite frankly, he seemed like an overbearing knucklehead. Her lips twitched up in thought.
Either way; there he was in the flesh, standing beside some taller white haired male that struck her as overall unfamiliar. He hadn't seemed as though he'd made much of a change. She hadn't known him much before, but there was something about him that still seemed to silently press her buttons. She could, however, attest to the fact that physically, he seemed much more matured than he once had.
"You... plan on going to talk to him or something..?" The way she was staring was a little strange, and being as he was, Banko urged himself on to beg the question, rather than just letting them linger on in the slightly awkward silence that wafted.
"Nah..." Her eyes shut, the thoughtful look on her face falling through to a more casual and dismissive tone. Her hands lodged themselves down into her pockets, and with a swivel of her foot against the road below, she was off to walking in the other direction. The three, as they did almost every day now, were off to find some leisurely activity or hare-brained scheme to mix themselves up with -albeit it was most-often the latter. And normally, without surprise, Motsuki was the one that led the group in their daily misadventures. This time, however, while walking away, she remained unaware of the two usual followers that stayed in their places.
"Motsuki..." Banko slowly pointed out, after a wordless exchange of glances between he and Tash, "You're going the wrong way."
"Eh?" The ebony haired female paused.
Where she was going, was nowhere near the eventful part of town to which they always traveled. She was headed toward a very small residential section; one that she hadn't passed by in an awful long time.
What had spurred that sudden change in mind? That sudden shifting of routine direction?
'Yeah I know...' She thought quietly to herself, focusing her brown eyes off to the side with a newly formed air of stoicism that came over her. It was almost a depressive energy that had been suppressed on the inside for such a long amount of time; it was waiting for just this opportune moment to capitalize on an escape to freedom. 'It's where she lived, right?'
Taking a moment of the silence offered to her by her partners in company, she managed to urge a mask onto her face; a smile. She turned around briskly, raising her hand in a most declarative way as she spoke in her assured tone, "I know where I'm going! I was just checking up on something!"
"It sure didn't take but a moment of well-placed correction to check it." As expected, that wise quip came from a more than bemused Tashi. His arms were folded -as per usual- and his brow was quirked in a challenging way. He was more than aware of how a comment on that level would affect her -
"Shut up! Who asked ya, smartass?!"
And that was it.
She took her rightful place at the front of the group, head held high and her strides long and powerful. Clearly she hadn't a care in the world, nor any qualms with taking the leadership role. Not to mention the fact that her recent hair growth had left her with this instilled habit of flipping her hair. Attitude. It seemed like the years that had flown by had only greeted her with just that; Attitude... on top of attitude... Topped with wit. And more attitude.
Still, despite the bickering they shared, the quieter of the two males seemed not to worry about the malice they would tend to bear against one another. In his eyes, it was merely routine. The three of them had woven a tight web of unlikely companionship over the years, and they bonded over a shared problem. His head tipped up towards the sky; thoughts began to sweep into his mind, watering the seeds of old wounds that had seemed to be buried so long ago.
When Kiyowa passed away, he remained stoic. He'd known her only briefly, and hadn't the chance to learn of her, to pick her apart to find her centers of interest, nor to identify with her strife. It was also fair to say, however... That he never really wanted to. The girl had improved, from what he had seen. He'd studied her before, sized her up as competition, and as a result, paid quite close attention to the match between she and Banko.
She was less than impressive. He'd immediately written her off as a threat, seeing as Motsuki seemed to be the only one really capable of producing any damaging blows or notable uses of jutsu back then. Yet in such a short amount of time, she'd managed to surprise him. It was a feat yes; and her efforts hadn't gone unrecognized. But the fact remained... There was no pain to be felt. He had actually only attended the service with his parents so that they could keep their face amongst the people of the village. He was forced to; not out of sympathy or empathy, but for exultation in the public eye. He thought little of it then.
He thought little of the funeral in its entirety, really... There was a tiny group. Other shinobi, her teammates, naturally, and a few other villagers from around. It wasn't until he really took a moment to look around the place. The mood was inexplicably heavy; the place brimming with tears and sobs of such magnitudes that should have been incapable for such an insignificant number that had gathered.
He didn't understand it. They all so grievously hung their heads and offered one another support, sharing in this common pain as though it had been a stab right through the heart. Banko even shared tears, though he refrained from thinking too highly of that, being he was so sensitive to begin with.
It wasn't until long after that, that he came to notice the gloom that lingered for days after. The bits of flowers and other memorial items that were laid against the step of her home.
He'd even once stopped, observing. A letter all the way from the Land of Waves.
He felt, suddenly, so stupid and unable. How could he not comprehend the impact that she had? Everyone else seemed to understand it perfectly, so why did nothing out of the ordinary seem to stand out to him? Maybe... he thought it selfish, but he wondered. What of the impact that he would leave behind? Of those he had met and passed by... Who would remember him? That thought had plagued him for so long... and finally... after so much thought, it had wedged a rift right through the armor-like shell he kept himself hidden behind.
Suddenly keeping face was the least of his worries. Having people idolize he and his family became a second though to the inquiry of 'Who will remember me?'. Surely, people remember at idol. But what is a idol in memory, that hasn't touched a soul? What is a hero that has saved no one?
Bearing these thoughts tight against his mind at all times, softening his outlook on the people that could soon call him 'friend', he finally reached out... and he finally touched the waiting hand of one that needed him. No, not physically, but with a phrase that, while so simple, easily meant the world;
"Are you alright?"
She was broken seemingly beyond compare. Her fire had gone out, and though she mustered up a false one in its place; the brightness it had was only a candle in comparison. She was vulnerable. And against his nature... The way she appeared; in turn, squeezed sympathy out of him, rather than pity.
"I'm fine!"
He hadn't realized he'd spoken aloud. He turned his head to the female that spoke, her brow raising in a curious manner.
"I wasn't asking you. I really don't care how you feel." He stubbornly folded his arms, turning his head away in the haughty fashion that he had become infamous for amongst the trio, "I was merely thinking aloud."
"Yuh-huh, sure." The lightning-like tension between them kept revving up, much to the dismay of the disappointed Banko that was left to spectate their ever-ongoing 'debates'. Motsuki turned her head back to face front, hands resting proudly against her hips as she continued her strides.
Whence her gaze was averted, his crude expression softened.
It was merely a tiny bonfire compared to the wildfire that once raged on within her... But it was growing; and she was living and trying. It was a relief; that he had something to do with tenderly revitalized the coals of the one he now had the pleasure of calling his 'friend'.
A/N: HEY! I know this wasn't too long... But as much as I wanted to add more? I LITERALLY Couldn't. Not because of word length or any of that crap... But because I LITERALLY could not thing of a better way that this could end than the tiny string of sentences that DID end it. HOPE YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND LOL.
Now believe it not,Snowflakes. This chapter almost didn't happen. I was JUST finishing up when my computer LITERALLY turned off out of nowhere. My face just got stuck at :O... And I slowly -tensely and in a raging flurry of wrath, snow and rainbows- and calmly got up...Got my charger... turned it back on. AND LUCKILY... BY THE POWER OF INSTINCT.. I'D SAVED RIGHT BEFORE! THANK GOD. AMIRIGHT?
By the way I think I'm gonnd be putting up a new poll soon. SO there's that.
Tell me what you think! :3 And let's not forget...
...No matter how far away I seem...
...No matter how long I've been gone...
...No matter how late my updates are...
...No matter how much I've seemed to disappear...
Santa Still Loves Her Little Snowflakes.