County Fair
By Magerwriter
Chapter 3: Group Activities
Disclaimer: all characters and places are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, to use and/or abuse as he pleases.
Right now, I'm trying not to make my chapter titles too long because DeviantART only allows 30 characters in a label. Go to my journal on DevART to find out why I'm happy, excited, and ecstatic today. It might not be up, this morning, though…
I credit this chapter to my mom because she came up with the basic idea.
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Spending two hours getting home wasn't too bad. Or course, that's during the daytime. This was from 12 to 2. In the morning. So, Ritonno slept in the next day. She woke up at about 9.
"Hey, Dei-chan, hey Sei-chan, hey, To-chan, hey everybody."
She got a slightly varied response from everybody in the room. It seemed that she had woken up at the same time as everybody else.
"So, what do we plan to do today."
"We're going to work on our scrapbooks." Leader was standing directly behind her.
"I… never expected that."
"I'm not in a good mood today. Actually, the bruises I got from that demon-woman still hurt. So, I feel like being mean to the Akatsuki."
"Could you please do something that won't hurt our eyes later? Please?"
"I've already decided this. You can't sway it." Leader turned around and left. He returned holding a large box. How he managed to carry something that size and not look awkward was far beyond Ritonno.
He took out the eleven scrapbooks and laid them out on the table. Itachi glared at him. "They're pink."
"They were the nicest ones I could find. If you'd like to look for masculine-looking scrapbooks that don't look completely stupid, please be my guest. I have leftover fabric from people's cloaks anyway."
The scrapbooks were covered in a muted pink cloth with a bit of stuffing under it. They had a very soft, pleasant look, but they were definitely feminine.
"Pink is a type of red, okay, Itachi?"
"Now, Deidara, would you please upload some of your pictures?"
"Sure, yeah!" Deidara ran into his room and returned a few minutes later with eleven copies of all of the pictures he had taken before.
"Why don't I get one?" Dark Zetsu asked.
"You are considered to be one unit, except conversationally. You fight as one unit and you do physical activities as one unit, and if you tried to scrapbook as two people, it wouldn't turn out very well. Just do your best with what you have, okay?"
"I get odd numbers," dark Zetsu growled, referring to page numbers. "You are odd." "Why, you little –" Zetsu then engaged in a fistfight, which looked extremely awkward because they shared the same body. Ritonno started laughing. "Why are you laughing? This is completely serious!" "Little (expletive), she should have learned some manners before she came here!" "Ritonno, is this a challenge? Do you want us to spar you?" "…Because we will." "And then you'll be sorry that you crossed us!" "What are you going to do, Ritonno-dobe?"
Ritonno's head perked up at the use of the word "dobe." It was a rude word, and she couldn't respect anyone who used it so lightly. "Oh, it's on!"
They went outside. Leader would act as moderator. "Okay. No coming up directly under her and no punching holes through their plant parts. Okay?"
"Understood." "Yeah!"
"Yes."
"Are all parties ready?"
"Yes." "Of course."
"Yeah!"
"Begin."
Their fight lasted a long time. Ritonno determined that turning invisible wouldn't help unless they were on the deck because Zetsu could communicate with plant life. It being almost summer and them not having a watering system, all the plant life were dead; however, Ritonno wasn't going to take chances.
Finally, Ritonno won. The Akatsuki actually hadn't looked forward to the end of the fight because, to them, it meant that they had to work on their scrapbooks.
Ritonno made Itachi carry Zetsu inside and lay him on his futon and they passed Tobi on the way upstairs. "To-chan? Why are you going downstairs?"
"I have to take care of Zetsu-san!"
Tobi, Zetsu are fine. Okay? Once they wake up, they might need some help, but so far there isn't anything you can do that would affect anything."
"Can I stay down here anyway?"
"Oh. Don't worry, Tobi; your reputation won't be damaged if you make a scrapbook."
"Okay…"
They went upstairs. Kakuzu was complaining loudly. "I hate this! Why do we have to make scrapbooks? This is stupid and boring!"
"Shut up and pass me that lavender ribbon or you'll find yourself scrapbooking for the next 72 hours."
Kakuzu made an intimidated noise and handed Itachi the light purple ribbon. Itachi focused all of his consciousness on his scrapbook. Or so it seemed. When Kisame snickered at him, the shark-man found a swift kunai aimed at his throat.
"(expletive), Kisame, you made me get this thing out of alignment."
"Well, sorry!"
"You should be."
Ritonno didn't feel like making a scrapbook, so she excused herself to go read, saying she had a headache.
.-..-..-.
She was absorbed in her book, but not so much that she was unaware of her surroundings. When she heard Leader coming to her room, she closed her book and put it on her bedside table, pretending that she really did have a headache.
"So, whatever happened to the headache medicine you used on Sasori so long ago?"
"I don't use it for little headaches. Then I would get desensitized to it and that really would be a problem." She kept her eyes closed, which she normally did when she had a headache.
"So, the book I heard you put down was…?"
"I wasn't reading. I told you, I have a headache."
"Really? Wasn't there a bookmark in it earlier?"
"I don't use bookmarks. You're thinking of Sasori."
"Then what's this – are those guys kissing on a bookmark?"
"Is it so wrong to like bookmarks? A lot of them are really nice. That doesn't mean I use them. Open that drawer."
She heard the drawer of her bedside table. "Now, next to all the yaoi and romance books, there's a large collection of bookmarks. And they're nice bookmarks. Some of them have a cute phrase, or a cute guy, or two cute guys…"
"I can see that…"
"Don't rifle through my bookmarks. It's like rifling through my manga: you'll only get disturbed."
"Um, yeah. Does Seiya like this sort of thing, too?"
"Yeah. It's really big with teenaged girls right now. There are two cute guys and a perilous love story. What more do you need?"
"A plot, perhaps?"
"Most of the time. Girls are crazy, though. They'll pair together random guys who don't even work just because they're cute… Then there are randomly inspired pictures… Do you like lesbian romance?"
"No!"
"Why not? I mean, it's not something I watch, but I don't really mind it... It annoys me when girls like yaoi but hate yuri. It just… it doesn't work. Now, will you please leave me alone? My head is killing me…"
"I really think you should take something for it, if it's lasted this long."
"I'll be fine… Go back upstairs and do some scrapbooking."
"You think I care? What if I just stayed down here? Would it be comforting to know that there was someone with you?"
"No, not really."
She could feel him smile at her. "Okay. I'll go back upstairs, then."
He exited her room. When he was up the stairs, she took out her book again.
She didn't hear him coming down the stairs again, so she jumped when he opened her door. "I was right, you know."
"About what?"
"When I said you didn't have a headache. I was suspicious from the beginning… Is scrapbooking really that bad?"
"No, I just don't feel like it right now. Being in a group of guys who aren't color-coordinated… I'm lucky I'm stronger than them, or they'd all be making passes at me, you know it."
"Some men do tend to act unintelligently."
There was something in his face that seemed… questioning. She remembered his attempt at romance and smiled. "I like you, though – I always feel like you respect me. It's amazing considering that everyone we live with is an idiot in at least one way."
"Even Tobi?"
"I'm told that his chronological age is about 25. He acts like a little kid. It's cute, but it's not particularly intelligent."
"…And you're saying that we're not idiots?"
"Of course we are. You're in love, which makes you an idiot by default since love isn't particularly controllable, and I'm going along with it, which makes me perhaps even more idiotic."
"Quite true."
"I was thinking about it last night."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Suddenly, I recall you standing behind the stand where I bought my sno cone."
"That's going to haunt me for the rest of my life, isn't it?"
"Definitely. It's not like I'm going to tell anyone, though."
"Good."
"What, do you think I'm stupid? If I were the sort of person who needed to plan that stuff, I would kill whoever told other people about it!"
"You don't need to plan that sort of thing?" His voice – and his gaze, for that matter – was incredibly dry.
"Well, yeah, but usually I give myself more time."
"Why must you be so perplexing?"
"Because it's fun. Because I don't feel the same way as you, so I don't feel any need to be unnecessarily cordial. Because, at this point, we're closer to really good friends than boyfriend/girlfriend, so it's sort of acceptable."
"…And because I'm your superior and it's a type of rebellion?"
"I guess so, yeah."
"Great."
"I'll do my best, though – really!"
"To do what?"
"To be nice. Because, as long as you respect me, I want you to feel respected."
"I'm glad." He said it… gently. He walked slowly across the room, sat down next to her futon, and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face that she hadn't even realized had been lying across it. "I always want you to feel safe."
She was beginning to feel sort of nervous. It was an edgy feeling that she couldn't describe. "Well, in our line of work, we'll never be completely safe. There's always a stronger ninja." She sat up. "It's a sweet thought, though."
"Um… thank you."
She smiled at him. "Would you like to do something tonight? Like, watch a movie or something?"
"Sure. What would you like to watch?"
"I don't care. Do you want to invite Deidara and Seiya, too?"
He looked reluctant.
"Okay, then. Never mind. I was just thinking… since after this we're going to be permanently 'together'…"
"Yeah… I guess it's okay, as long as they stay on their own couch."
"What should we do to keep everyone else away from the TV?"
"We could run them through exercises all day."
"That wouldn't be fair to Dei-chan, though. You, Seiya, and I would be the only three to stay awake at all, and I tend to fall asleep during movies."
"Oh… Should we watch it in the afternoon, then?"
"Well, sure, if you want everyone to make fun of us and you want to eat Kisame's cooking."
"Oh. I can see the difficulty."
"Yeah."
"Isn't there anyone in this infernal organization who can cook?"
"Of course! There's me, Deidara, Kisame, and… um… Well, Sasori never makes anything poisonous."
"That doesn't mean it's edible."
"I could make something that keeps. Or we could just kick everyone out of the room…"
"I think I'd prefer that option, actually."
"Okay. Should I make mochi? It's nice to have sweets when you're watching a movie."
"That would be very nice, thank you."
She stood up and went upstairs then set the rice on to cook. She got some glares and comments from the rest of the Akatsuki, but managed to remain in good spirits as she searched out the wooden bowl and mallet used for making mochi, the sweet pounded-rice treat.
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It's a sucky chapter ending, I know, but I needed to end it soon.
Heh. I have, like, five pages without margins.
Nothing really to write. And yet, I have so much more…