Hey, everybody! Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a good time with your families and enjoyed the food. We have so many leftovers. XD I LOVE THANKSGIVING FOOD!!! Kabuto makes it the best!! I ADORE STUFFING!!! (dies)
Ahaha, anyways, here's another UtSR (short for Under the Same Roof) chapter for all of you. I was stuck on what to write about next, and Shadow helped me out yesterday. So….yay. I'll try and make up for the last crappy chapter. I'm really in the mood to write. Just so you guys know, this chapter's more…err….serious. XD
……I hear Christmas music……aye. It's growing on me….
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DRABBLE FOURTEEN: Revenge by Katana
It's not a usual sight to be sitting across from someone sharpening a katana. Even for Anna, who was now used to the most random occurrences happening daily. This wasn't necessarily random--it was siding more with the term disturbing. The fact that Shadow had possession of a katana was quite normal, but now since she was putting it to use, Anna was ill at ease.
The teenager grew intrigued and watched her cousin as she was hunched down in her tedious work, slowly and carefully sharpening and polishing the katana with a fine looking grinding stone. Anna's eyes followed Shadow's movements as her hands polished the flat of the long, katana blade in even, cautious strokes. Shadow then switched tools and picked up a small knife blade, now getting to work on the katana's sides. The living room echoed with clinking sounds of the sword.
Anna had never seen Shadow so determined looking in her life. She really knew what she was doing, and was doing her best at it. This wasn't necessarily a good thing, for it WAS sharpening a katana after all. It creeped Anna out even more that Shadow had good knowledge on how to properly take care of katanas. The girl couldn't get the fact that something bad was going to happen soon out of her mind.
Without warning, the katana blade was thrust into the air and towards the light, making Anna squeal, afraid the blade was being pointed at her, and sink into the couch. Shadow wiped beads of sweat off her face and inspected her progress on the katana. The demon smiled wickedly, clearly being satisfied with her work, and brought the katana back down into her hands. She moved her right hand across the blade, the wicked smile growing.
Shadow's ruby red eyes abruptly averted themselves away from the katana and locked onto Anna's light blue ones. The demon frowned at seeing her cousin's uneasy stare.
"What's wrong? Never seen someone work with swords before?"
Anna blinked a few times before laughing and rubbing her neck sheepishly. "I haven't, actually. It, err, looks like hard work," she said.
This comment made Shadow huff and roll her eyes. "You bet your ass it's hard work." She lifted up her katana into the light again, making Anna cover her eyes because of the glare it gave off. "This bad boy took a long while to perfect all on my own. I'm finally glad it's done."
"That's good," Anna replied happily. "Umm…I'm glad for ya!" she lied. She was really sick to her stomach about the whole idea. Shadow with a deadly weapon such as a katana wasn't ever a good thing….
Shadow gave the other girl a weak shrug before muttering a low "thanks". She turned away from her cousin. The glint of madness in her eyes was then present, along with the creepy smile from before. She placed her hand on the blade again and running it down the whole blade. "Now I can finally put it to good use."
Anna's eyes went wide in fear. She knew that Shadow was up to no good! In fact, Anna had a sickening feeling Shadow was murderous. And now Shadow's "enemy" will probably get seriously hurt…or worse. Yes, the "worse" probably being the outcome. When Anna looked down at her arms, they were nearly as pale as Orochimaru's.
"Anna?"
Said girl whipped her head up and stared straight at her demented cousin, fear still lingering in her eyes. She shook her body in order to fight away the shivering feeling she felt at that moment.
"Y-Yeah?" she replied, trying to calm the shakiness in her voice.
Shadow stared at the other girl in the most peculiar, scariest way--it would've made the bravest person tremble. Her eyes were a shade lighter. "You didn't see or hear anything I just said to you. Got it?"
Anna couldn't bare to look at her cousin any longer. She squeaked out a "yes maam" and cast her eyes to the floor.
Almost as if it were on cue, the front door's handle began to jiggle. The sound of groceries being placed on the porch and fiddling of keys was then heard. When Anna looked up again, Shadow was gone.
Anna jumped a bit as the front door was swung open and an annoyed looking Kabuto stumbled in, arms loaded with brown grocery bags. "We're home," he muttered, staggering into the kitchen. Orochimaru trailed behind with no groceries, but stopped as he saw Anna who stood frozen in place. "Are you going to assist us?" he asked, though it sounded more like an order than a question.
"Wha?" Anna answered, not realizing the snake Sanin was speaking to her.
Kabuto briskly walked out of the kitchen and added, "What he meant was if you were going to assist ME with the groceries."
"Watch your tongue, Kabuto."
The medical nin quickened his pace and disappeared out the front door.
Orochimaru rolled his slit eyes. Sometimes his right hand man could be a tad lippy.
"Well? Go out there and help him!" Orochimaru ordered, pointing at the blue-haired teenager and then pointing out the door.
" Oh…..oh! Right!" Anna replied with an embarrassed laugh. She gave Orochimaru a mock salute and scurried past him and out the front door. Shadow wasn't the only one who had a tendency to creep Anna out.
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"Anna? Could you pass the box of noodles, please?"
"Huh wha?" the girl said in reply, looking up from the box of recipes she was staring at for the past fifteen minutes. She turned toward her older friend, who was intently watching the boiling pot of water. Kabuto turned to look at her as well. "Could you pass the box of noodles?" he repeated, this time with the hint of impatience in his voice. He outstretched his hand and waited.
"Oh…yeah, sure," Anna answered, blindly taking a box of baking soda off the counter and passed it over to Kabuto, who looked at her as if she were crazy. He took the box of baking soda and clonked the girl over the head with it.
"NOODLES, Anna." Kabuto reached over her and picked up the box of noodles himself. "THANK YOU," he sarcastically said, opening the package and adding the uncooked noodles in. He looked over at Anna again, who strangely gave no sign of annoyance or any affect at all towards him. Usually she'd hit him over the head back with something as well, but this time she did not. Instead she looked nervous and troubled.
"Anna…are you alright?" Kabuto asked, concerned, even though he could clearly see she wasn't.
Anna weakly lifted her head up and stared at the wall ahead of her for a moment. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't tell Kabuto that Shadow was out to kill someone….Shadow would kill her, too, no doubt. Instead she commanded herself to keep quiet about the whole katana scenario, even though that little voice in her head screamed at her to tell.
"Y-Yeah, Kabuto, I-I'm fine….." she trailed off.
"Don't give me that. You're pale as a ghost and look like you could fall over." Kabuto looked at the girl more carefully before his doctor instincts kicked in. He lifted up his hand and placed it on the girl's forehead, which was slightly warm to the touch. "Hmm….I think you should go lie down for a while," he instructed, staring at the girl with caring eyes. "Alright?"
"Uhh….o-okay….." Anna answered weakly, trudging towards the doorway.
Kabuto watched her the whole time. "I'll check up on you later, okay?"
"Sure," Anna weakly said without turning back to face the medic nin. She exited the kitchen and disappeared down the hallway. Kabuto stared at the kitchen doorway for a few more seconds before resuming back to the stove, where the noodles were waiting to be stirred.
As soon as the sickly girl left, Orochimaru slid into the kitchen, entranced by the room's lovely smell. "Hrrm…I smell pasta."
"Yeah, it's dinner, " Kabuto answered, stirring the noodles with a large fork. "It should be ready soon."
Orochimaru nodded in understanding before looking about the kitchen. "Where's the girl?"
"Who? Anna?"
"Yes. The girl that makes dinner with you EVERY night."
Kabuto saddened at the thought of Anna's current state of health. "I sent her to bed. She wasn't feeling well."
"Ah. I see. I knew she seemed off today."
"You think so?"
"Yes. I can sense these kinds of things."
Kabuto shuddered at that as he took the pot off the stove. He emptied the contents of it in a yellow colander, Orochimaru watching him with a bored expression.
"Speaking of the girls, have you seen Shadow lately?" the snake Sanin asked, searching for a topic of conversation.
Kabuto stopped in his movements at the mention of Shadow. In truth, he hadn't seen the hell-raiser in a while (not that he really cared), but it did make him slightly wonder of her whereabouts. He answered his master with a shake of his head, which made Orochimaru scowl.
"She's been gone for hours. Where the hell is she?"
Unknown to Orochimaru and Kabuto, the hell-raiser called Shadow resided on the kitchen ceiling, katana in hand. Her eyes were as red as blood--they focused on her sensei with murderous intent. She turned the blade of her katana so the snake Sanin reflected in it.
"Orochimaru shall DIE……."
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Dinner seemed like it would last forever. The atmosphere was tense, Kabuto noticed, and Anna looked more of a wreck than ever, even after her long nap. She kept on twiddling with her napkin and bouncing her leg up and down against the table. Her eyes darted every second from her plate of half-eaten pasta to Shadow, who abruptly showed up a couple minutes prior.
Anna wasn't the only one acting strange that evening--Shadow looked not quite herself either. In fact, Kabuto had to look away from her every time he caught his gaze shifting towards her. There was just something….wrong about her that put himself on edge.
Shadow wasn't eating. No food was on her plate nor eating utensils were picked up. She was just staring at Orochimaru. She stared at him in a way that looked like she wanted to kill him right there on the spot. If looks could kill, Shadow's would've easily done so. Shadow reminded Kabuto of a wild animal ready to strike its prey.
"Hmm…maybe Shadow's the one that's making Anna so nervous," Kabuto thought. "I don't blame her, but this is just way too extreme. Anna's never acted like this…..and what's with Shadow staring at Lord Orochimaru so….oddly? It's unnerving….."
"Kabuto, pass the salt."
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru," Kabuto said absentmindedly, taking the salt shaker in his hand and passing it to his master without his eyes leaving the demon's form. The medic nin noticed Shadow began to twitch a little at seeing Orochimaru take the salt into his hands. Kabuto and Anna watched Shadow, then Orochimaru, Shadow, then Orochimaru…..
The two didn't seem to notice.
Shadow was too immersed in watching Orochimaru….and Orochimaru didn't notice that, either. He was too busy happily scarfing down his pasta to even take note of his pupils' stares.
"Why do I get the feeling…." Kabuto thought, "that something bad's going to happen?"
Right at that moment Orochimaru yelped loudly, shooting up out of his chair and knocking it over onto the floor. Anna squealed in fright as Orochimaru gripped his knee tightly, seething in pain. At that instant, Kabuto quickly rose up from his chair and went over to his master's side.
"Lord Orochimaru-sama! What's wrong? Your knee….."
The snake Sanin hissed in pain before slowly releasing his now bloody hands that covered the wound. A large, deep slash had been roughly carved on his white skin. It began at his knee and worked his way down to his ankle, red streaks of blood rapidly trickling down Orochimaru's leg.
"Guhh…..what could've…..who could've…..?" Orochimaru trailed off, but then looked up to glare at his guilty student, who was no longer in view.
"Where'd Shadow go?" he demanded. "WHERE IS SHE?"
"GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The two men looked up and gasped as they saw Shadow lunge off of the counter and fly straight at Orochimaru, katana slashing wildly in her grasp. She truly looked deranged and more than ready to kill. Kabuto loyally put himself in front of his injured master, ready to take on any blow Shadow would offer.
But he never had to.
A large frying pan met the back of Shadow's head, creating a dull, metallic sound that silenced the whole kitchen. A moment after the frying pan made contact, Shadow's eyes rolled in the back of her head. The katana dropped from her hands as she hit the floor with a loud thud.
Confused (yet relieved), Orochimaru and Kabuto looked at Shadow's unconscious form. Kabuto then looked up and saw Anna with the frying pan in her hands, shocked at what she'd done. She looked back at him as soon as she realized he was staring at her, and shyly smiled and waved.
"Ahaha….hey! I saved you guys!"
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"Sooo….she said she wanted to "put it to good use"?" Orochimaru asked, taking a long sip of his green tea and stared at Anna, who sat opposite him, with great interest.
"Yeah. Ahaha, it really scared me at first," the girl shyly explained, bringing her legs up and resting her chin on them.
"Hmm….. revenge, no doubt," he murmured, glaring at the tied-up unconscious Shadow at his feet.
"Indeed. Wait…what did you do?" Kabuto asked, turning to his master who sat beside him and looked at him through his thin-rimmed glasses. Anna did the same as well.
Orochimaru blinked his eyes at them, slightly startled at being the topic of conversation. He then looked back at them, irritation etched in his face. "Not much. She wanted to, err…cosplay as me, but I wouldn't let her borrow my clothes…or my Kusanagi. She threw a massive hissy fit and stormed off on me."
Kabuto rolled his eyes. Of course it was over something trivial.
"It's funny how she tried to kill me over it….ah well," Orochimaru said lightheartedly, taking another sip of his tea. "I'll deal with her later." At this, the snake Sanin took the katana into his hands and snapped it in two.
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(is looking at Word Count) HOLY FREAKING CRAP!! THIS CHAPTER'S OVER 2,000 WORDS!!!!! That's a first. XD This DEFINITELY makes up for last chapter, eh? (high fives myself).
Okay, well, I hope you all enjoyed this little installment of Under the Same Roof. Be sure to tune in for another exciting adventure with yours truly! Oh oh oh!! In case you didn't know, I changed my hair color from white to blue. (sighs) I really wish I had blue hair....
Hmm....I wonder why Orochimaru didn't sense that Shadow was going to try and kill him.....clueless......