A/N: Thanks again for reviewing. So now that Kikyo has told Naraku about the dirt that his lover has been doing, what will he do about it?...
Naraku's POV
After the talk with Kikyo, I really didn't know what to make of my relationships with Tsubaki and Naima. I already knew that I couldn't ever figure out why I did those horrible things to Naima, but was Tsubaki really the cause behind it all? I mean, the woman was so sweet and kind and had always been a close friend to me. Would she really stoop as low as to curse my relationship with Naima, just so she could be with me? It had been about a week now and I was still trying to figure things out.
"Naraku, how do you spell 'colloquialism'?" Naima asked me one Friday afternoon on another wonderful March day. We were currently in her bedroom at her and the other girl's apartment. I was sitting on her bed, studying for my sorcery exam and she was at her desk, typing some paper on her laptop.
"C-o-l-l-o-q-u-i-a-l-i-s-m," I replied to her, looking up from my text book.
"Ah! Thank you so much. You're so smart," she said with a big smile as she typed in the word. I paused from my studying a bit to just look at her. She was so beautiful, so bright even though she slacked off a lot, and she was so sweet and infectuous. Loyal to the core. Still, as I thought this, I couldn't help but wonder if all of that would be taken away from me. And I wasn't even talking about Sesshoumaru. Kikyo told me that if the necklace I had just given her breaks, then our friendship will break too. Did she still love me? Did she still want to be my friend?
"Naima," I began to ask. She stopped typing and turned around to look at me.
"Yes?"
"What...what do you think about me?" She gave me a confused look.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, as a person. What do you think of my character?" She still looked confused, but a smile formed on her face.
"What do you mean what do I think? You totally rock Naraku. You're sweet, hardworking, gentle, you have swagger and are sometimes a little arrogant but in a cute way, and you're a good friend." I smiled at her a little, relieved that she was still fond of me. But still...
"Thank you Naima, that's all I wanted to know." She gave me another confused look, and began to chuckle.
"You know," she began as she got out of the chair and walked over to sit on her bed beside me, "you've been acting a little strangely for the past week. You should know that you don't need to ask me what I think about you. You're my best friend for Kami sake. Is something wrong, Naraku?" I held my tongue as I stared into her questioning hazel eyes. Should I tell her what Kikyo told me? No no. She'll only think that I'm trying to come between her and Sesshoumaru again. I gave her a reassuring smile.
"Nothing's wrong my dear," I lied, "can't a brother get an ego boost from time to time?" She began to giggle a little.
"You know, you sounded just like my daddy right then," she smiled at me. I began to laugh too.
"Oh yeah. That does sound like something that Rashid-San would say. You know, I still miss him. I still can't believe he's gone. He was my role model and the only man that was like a real father to me."
"I know. I miss him too. My daddy was the coolest." I nodded my head in agreement. I leaned my head back against the headboard, as I remembered what a great man Rashid-San was. Then I began to laugh a little, remembering one particular memory that I had about Naima's father. She turned to me and gave me a questioning look.
"What is it?"
"Do you remember that day when your father gave us 'The Talk'?" Her face instantly lit up and she began to laugh too.
"Ha ha. Oh yes, I remember that painfully."
Flashback
"Li! Li! Get your behind back in this house right now!" my father yelled out the front door of our medium sized Brooklyn home one summer day in 1998. Naraku was only ten years old and I was nine, about to turn ten on July 2 which was in about a week. Naraku and I were sitting in the livingroom playing Super Mario as my fumed panther demon father called out for his oldest daughter.
"Li I'm not going to tell you another time! Get! In! Here!"
"Awww Daddy, why are you embarassing meeee?" I heard Li whine as she obeyed our father and slowly walked to the front porch and inside of the house. My beautiful older sister was only fourteen at the time.
"What did I tell you about messing with that knuckle head boy from The Bronx?" he sternly asked her, hazel eyes filled with anger.
"We were only talking Daddy. I promise."
"Don't lie to me girl. I know what you've been doing. Don't you dare bring that punk ass ruffneck into my house again or I swear that I'm going to jail."
"Why did you have to embarass me like that Daddyyyyy?"
"For your own protection. You might think you're grown but you're not. Now go to your room before I have to take off my belt."
"Daaaadyyyy."
"Don't push me girl. You're not too old for me to wear that ass out. Now go!" Li crossed her arms and pouted before storming upstairs and slamming her door shut, which cause my dad to become even more angry. "Don't slam doors in my house, Li!" Naraku and I gave each other confused and frightened looks as we watched my father collapse into his Lazy Boy recliner, trying to calm down his boiling temper. I already knew that he was mad at Li for talking to a boy, but why I didn't know. I mean, he never yelled at me for talking to Naraku or Bankotsu. So why did Li get into trouble? "Boy I swear that girl is going to give me a case. She is just growing up too fast," my father muttered to himself as he ran his hands over his long, wavy black hair.
"Daddy? What's the matter?" I asked with big eyes as I watched him try to calm himself. He looked over at me and smiled.
"Nothing baby girl. You're too young to understand. You and Naraku go back to your game now." Usually I would have obeyed him, but that whole scene had really peaked my curiousity.
"Pleeeease Daddy?" He looked at me silently and sighed deeply.
"Well, you'll hit double digits next week, so I guess the time is about right. Come here Naima. You too Naraku." We both obeyed as we walked over to my father. He picked me up and sat me on his knee, while Naraku sat cross legged on the floor in front of him. He sighed deeply before he began to speak.
"Boy how I wish that Felicia was still here to explain this to you kids. Naraku, Naima. There comes a time in everybody's life when you start to go through...changes. You start to grow taller and grow...out."
"What do you mean daddy?" He sighed deeply again. I could tell that whatever this was that he had to tell us, he was having trouble explaining it.
"Baby girl, you see...boys and girls are different. They're made differently. You see, boys like me and Naraku have...things that you don't have. Just like girls like you and your sisters have and will have something that we don't have."
"Like what, Rashid-San?" Naraku asked, equally curious. My father cleared his throat
"Well son. In between...oh hell...in between a girl's legs, there is something called a va...a va...okay let's just do it this way. You know about cookie jars right?" Naraku nodded his head. "Well, say that a girl had a cookie jar and you wanted a cookie out of it, but she told you that you couldn't have one. Well, once she said no, you shouldn't ask for another cookie. Do you understand son?" Naraku nodded again. "So say that another little girl has a cookie jar too, but she says that you can have some of her cookies, you shouldn't take those either."
"But I like cookies," Naraku whined.
"No son, I don't mean real cookies. Okay, I see that this isn't working at all." He turned to me to see if I could get the concept of this. "Baby girl, you like hot dogs right?" I nodded my head. "Okay, so you know how a hot dog looks? It's long and round right?" I nodded again. "Well, boys have something like that...down there," he pointed to his pants. My eyes widened in amazement.
"You have a hot dog in your pants?!" I asked, very suprised. My father gave me a flustered look.
"No, no baby girl I..."
"Can I see it, Daddy?"
"No!"
"Lemme see yours, Naraku."
"NO! NO!" My father sighed deeply, realizing that the food approach wasn't coming across in the right way. "Okay. Boys and girls each have something in between their legs that's very private. It's kind of like a diary. You're supposed to keep your diary locked because you don't want anybody to read it right?" We both nodded. My father smiled, seeing that this method was working. "So say that somebody wants to read your diary and asks for the key. Would you give it to them?"
"No," Naraku and I both said.
"Good. So say that one day you find a boy, Naima and Naraku finds a girl that you really love and they love you. You trust them very much and trust that they will never tell your sercets."
"Or steal my bubblegum?" I asked. My father chuckled a bit.
"No baby, they won't steal your bubblegum either. But most of all, this person has a good heart and will stick by your side no matter what. Then it's perfectly fine to let them have a key to your diary, because they won't tell the secrets that you wrote in it. The same thing goes for your bodies too. Naraku. Naima. Your bodies are as precious as a diary filled with secrets and you should never let anybody in unless they truly love you. No matter how charming they may seem or how goodlooking they may be, don't let them into your diary until you know without a doubt that they love you as much as you love them. That's why I get on to Li so much because she's letting the wrong kind of people read her diary. That's why I always tell you girls to stay away from punk ass ruffnecks and Naraku to stay away from the fast girls. Because those are the ones who will tell everything you wrote in your diary and might even break the lock. But when you find that right woman Naraku and you find that right man Naima, you'll be happy to give them the key to your diary and they'll give you the key to theirs."
"Will they be as handsome as you Daddy?" I asked. I had always thought that my father looked like a prince. He had long, wavy black hair that stopped at his mid back, hazel eyes like mine, great big muscles, cocoa brown skin, a tall figure, and a very handsome smile. He was so big, handsome, and strong, just like a prince should be. My father laughed a little.
"Maybe sweetheart, but he'll definitely love you like I love you. And you'll get along with him just like you get along with Naraku. In fact, I want you two guys to look after each other as you grow up, okay? Because there will be many people to come and go in your lives, but as long as you two stick together, you can be like Batman and Robin."
"I like Superman," Naraku informed. My father chuckled as he patted Naraku on his head.
"Alright you two, go back to your game," he said as I hopped off his knee, "and remember what I said about keeping your diaries private. Because if I find out that either one of you have been unlocking them, I swear I'll go to jail."
Naima's POV
"To this day, I still look at hot dogs funny," I declared. Naraku smiled softly.
"Did Rashid-San ever have to go to jail because of Li?" he joked.
"No, she finally started locking her diary. Now he probably would have went if he found out that we unlocked ours at such a young age." Naraku smiled again as he turned to look at me in the eyes.
"You know what? I'm not so sure if that's true," he softly said. I could feel myself getting butterflies as he said that. I still was having mixed feelings for Naraku. I hadn't told him that I was still in love with him a little, because my committment was with Sesshoumaru and I loved him very much. But something told me that he was right. I really didn't think that my father would have been mad that Naraku was the one I unlocked my diary for. I think that my father always felt that I would be safe as long as Naraku was around. Like he was my temporary protector whenever he wasn't there, and I knew that my mother, Felicia, would have loved him just as much if she had lived to see him. 'Oh my Naima, you're getting deep aren't you?' I thought to myself. I abruptly turned my head to the clock on the wall, to knock myself out of these thoughts.
"Oh man, it's almost time for track practice," I said, "are you coming to watch me today?"
"Well..." he began to answer, but was cut off by his cell vibrating. "Hey baby," he answered, so I knew that it was Tsubaki. "No...well, I was going to watch Naima practice today...alright...at your place?...okay...okay...bye bye." He hung up the phone and sighed. "Well, I was going to go watch you run around in circles, but Tsubaki needs me to fix her car for her."
"Oh," I said, a little disappointed, "well, there's always next time."
"Yeah, I guess so," Naraku said with a groan as he got off of my bed. I got off too and went to my closet to get the things I needed for practice. Naraku put on his backpack and got his keys off my desk. "I'll see you later on my dear."
"Okay. Bye Naraku."
"Alright girls, I want you all to run hard today because our meet against Tama College is in a few days," Coach Takemaru told us as we all stretched our limbs for practice. We were going to practice for the 400m sprint today, my best event.
"Don't show us up like you usually do Naima," Sai, who was now dating Bankotsu, said to me as she helped me stretch my calf muscles. I smiled back at her.
"I'll try not to, but I can't make any promises," I replied, loving the ego boost.
"Alright girls, get into position," Coach Takemaru instructed. We all obeyed and got into position. I was between Yura and Sai. Sai was beside Ayame. My jersey number was two because that's the date I was born. "On your mark, get set, go!" He blew the whistle, signaling for us to go. I took off running down the track, keeping my stamina as I passed each girl, eventually leaving them in the dust. Coach Takemaru told me that I was the second fastest on both the girl's and boy's track team, with Koga the only one beating me. After 49.00 flat, I was the winner of that event with Sai, Ayame, and Yura finishing behind me in that order. "Excellent Naima!" Coach Takemaru declared, "I'm very hopeful for next Tuesday indeed."
After practice was over I went to take another shower in the lockeroom to wash off all of the sweat I had worked up after training very hard. I was currently one of the only ones left in the lockeroom, the only other people in there being Yura and Ayame. I made sure to keep my necklace on this time as I washed, so I wouldn't be so quick to lose it like I almost did a few weeks ago. After a few more minutes, Ayame left and only Yura and I were left. As I finished washing the last of my body off, I suddenly felt something tight around my wrists and legs. Then I felt it around my neck. It felt like string and like somebody was pulling them. "What the hell?" I gasped as I looked down at my body, but didn't see anything there. All of a sudden, the string like feeling began to tighten and I was thrown against a wall of the shower. I tried my best to free myself of the invisible shackles, but they were too strong.
"My my Naima. You mustn't move around so much. You'll tangle your lovely, black hair," I heard Yura's voice all of a sudden say.
"Wha...what?!" I snapped, very confused now. As soon as I said it, the shower curtain snatched back to reveal Yura with a very sadistic smile on her face. Oh god, was this bitch trying to rape me?! "Yura?! What the hell?!" I roared as she began to move even closer to me. She giggled as she took some of my hair into her hands.
"Such beautiful silky hair. Curly and thick, with such a unique texture. I see why Naraku would want to run his fingers through it." Okay I was really confused now.
"Naraku? What are you talking about?!"
"Awww don't play innocent sweetie. We all know that Naraku wants to knock your boots, but he's Tsubaki's man now. And I don't think that my friend likes it when another woman trys to seduce her boyfriend. Especially one that's more voluptuous than her." She trailed her eyes over my naked form. I growled at her, very sick of her right now.
"Let me go Yura! I don't want Naraku because I'm Sesshoumaru's girlfriend, so let me go!" I demanded.
"Ah ahhhh. You deserved to be punished for trying to seduce Tsubaki's man. Ah! I know. Maybe that gold necklace should be your punishment." She reached up and grabbed the friendship necklace that Naraku gave me. I struggled even more against what I now knew was hair, but it just wouldn't break.
"No Yura! Don't!" I cried out at her, but she didn't listen. She yanked the necklace from around my neck, causing me to wince in pain a little.
"Such a pretty necklace for such a dirty slut," she declared. And with that said, she broke my chain in two. I watched with wide eyes as I watch her destroy the necklace that Naraku had given me with his hard earned cash.
"You bitch," I snapped, trying to hold back tears. I was so pissed right now.
"Oh? Crying over a necklace that Naraku gave you? Hmph, that proves it. You still love Naraku. Oh well. All the more reason why you can't have this necklace." She giggled one last time before turning and walking out of the lockeroom. When she knew that she was safe from my wrath, the hair holding me to the wall went slack and I was able to break loose. I instantly sank to the shower floor, feeling violated. I was going to whoop Yura's ass the next time I saw her, but for right now all I could do was cry.
A/N: Note to self: 'Don't use food when I give my kids 'The Talk'' lol
