It usually doesn't take me this long to update. D: I'm not sure why it did this time. I'm so, so, so sorry! I blame video games.
Enjoy and review, please! ^^
"The scars you can't see are the hardest to heal." - Astrid Alauda
I knew people stared at me as I stormed out of the Hokage building, but I didn't care. Part of me expected Gaara to be right behind me, but when I turned my head, I saw that he wasn't.
My breathing was heavy in my ears as I walked (well, more like ran) to my family's restaurant. I wanted Serisu to be there with Kankuro. I wanted them both to see me without my face covered. I wanted the entire village to know what kind of person she was.
No, person would've been an understatement for her. No person would cheat on their boyfriend, then flirt with their boyfriend's younger brother behind his back once she had the guy back.
Serisu wasn't a person. She was a heartless hussy who would spread her legs for anything with a penis.
My body suddenly stopped moving. Although my muscles struggled to keep my pace, the rest of my body refused. Looking down at the ground, I saw a long shadow attached to my body.
"Shikamaru!" I screeched. "Let me go right now!"
"You need to calm down, Haketa," Shikamaru told me calmly, approaching me like he would a wild animal. I noticed his pointer finger was in a splint and his eyes were red, like he'd been crying.
"You don't even know what's going on!"
"Yes, I do. Temari told me all about you and Kankuro. By the looks of your face and how fast you were walking, I could tell you were on some kind of girl-killing mission. Ino gets that look sometimes."
"You don't understand!" I snapped. "She's been flirting with Gaara this whole time! Damn it, that's not right!"
"Its not your place anymore," he muttered. I gave him an odd look. His words swirled in my head until he repeated them. "Its not your place to go after Serisu. Kankuro doesn't belong to you anymore, just like you don't belong to him. Let it go. Its their relationship."
My gaze slowly dropped to our feet and his shadow released mine. My body relaxed instantly.
Shikamaru was right, as much as I didn't want to accept it. For six months, Kankuro hadn't been anything to me except a bitter memory. I didn't have the right to tell off Serisu. It was a problem between Serisu, Kankuro, and Gaara. It didn't involve me.
()()()
I felt somewhat better after a shower, an actual meal, and a clean change of clothes. As I brushed my hair out over my shoulder, I tried to focus on the good over the bad.
The good? Well, there was a lot of that. Neji, Kiba, Akamaru, Naruto (who had been seriously injured in his fight against the runaway Sasuke), and Choji were on fast tracks to recovering. Lee, who had recently received vital surgery, made it out with flying colors. He had even assisted Gaara in a battle against one of Orochimaru's henchmen, believe it or not.
The bad? Honestly, there was a lot of that, too. Sasuke had gotten away to join Orochimaru, which left a blow to the village. Beside the young Uchiha's great talent in the Shinobi Arts, he knew withheld information that could easily be used against us. Sakura was still devastated.
There was also the problem of Serisu.
Yes, I was still furious by the time 8 o'clock that night rolled around. I constantly told myself that Shikamaru was right and I needed to stay out of it, but my stomach still twisted over it.
A soft knock at my open door brought me back to reality. I glanced at my mirror, watching Temari enter my room with a faltering smile on her face. Placing my hairbrush on my desk, I stood up to hug her.
"I told you I'd drop by," she mumbled in my ear.
Actually, I was glad to see her. As it currently stood, she was the only connection I had left to Kankuro. Well, Gaara was kind of a connection, but he and I weren't quite on best friend-terms yet.
"I'm happy you're here," I told her.
"Um, Haketa, I brought someone. You two need to talk." She raised her hand to someone standing outside my door and motioned her fingers for them to come in.
Kankuro strolled in, a somber expression obvious on his face. He wasn't sporting his kabuki paint or black puppeteer suit. Instead, he wore a dark blue tank top and black pants.
My breath caught in my throat and I took an involuntary step away from him. "Why are you here?" I hissed, trying to remember where my weapons were. Oh, that's right. One was probably still in Temari's fan and the rest were spread around the forest.
"I wanted to talk with you," he said persistently as Temari snuck out, closing the door behind her. I faintly heard Gaara and Kyan's voices behind the wood.
"You think I give a damn about what you want?" I huffed and returned to my seat in front of my mirror, obsessively brushing my hair again. "Go away."
"No," he replied. I glared at him through the mirror. "No, I won't go away. Not until we talk."
"There's nothing to talk about, Kankuro. Just go back to your…girlfriend-thing. I'm sure she misses you," I muttered sarcastically.
He returned the glare. It was apparent that I hurt his feelings or offended him, but who cares?
"Serisu is on her way back to Suna to report our mission to the village elders," he told me matter-of-factly. "And she isn't my girlfriend…" He sighed heavily, then added, "anymore."
I brought my brush down to my lap, my head overflowing with confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked, turning around in my chair.
Kankuro crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "When I was talking about her to what I thought was just a regular Courier-Nin, I realized I was with Serisu only because I needed someone to take your place. After Tsunade gave you away and I realized you're still alive, I left Serisu."
Not knowing quite what to say, I blurted, "You know, she's been flirting with-"
"-Gaara, I know. She isn't the most subtle person in the world and sometimes he isn't either. I noticed he hated being around her when we started dating again. I even caught her leaning over the table at him, trying to show off her cleavage. Gaara isn't interested in girls yet, I don't think."
I closed my eyes tightly and ran an exhausted hand over my face. I was somewhat flattered that he left her because he found out I was alive, but it still didn't make up for the fact that he'd betrayed me.
"Just leave," I sternly told him, focusing my attention on a stuffed animal on my bed that had fallen to it's side. As I fixed it, I forced my hair to shield my watering eyes.
"Why?" he demanded to know. "Why do you want me to leave so damn badly, Haketa?"
Hearing my voice come from his mouth was too much. My chest tightened painfully and I doubled my hands into fists, shaking as I tried my hardest to stop my crying.
"Because you broke my trust!" I cried out, whipping my body back around to look at him. "I trusted you with my life, and you turned against me!" Even though I wasn't sure why, I took a step closer. "What did I do to you that was so horrible that…that you couldn't tell me what your plans were? Don't you think I deserved that much?"
"It was an order from the Kazekage!" he retorted. "How was I supposed to know Orochimaru had disguised himself as my father?"
"Did you not trust me enough to tell me the stupid plans? I could've saved my grandfather's life!"
Kankuro seemed at a loss for words as he stared at me. I bit down on my lower lip and tilted my head down, not wanting him to see me cry anymore. Instead of just ignoring me like I expected, he moved closer and wrapped his arms tightly around me, burying my face in his chest. His familiar, delicious scent just made my heart hurt more.
"I hate you! I hate you! I HATE YOU!" I yelled, pounding roughly on his chest with my fist with every "hate." I delivered one more, weaker punch, whispering, "I hate you."
He allowed me to cry on him for…I'm not sure how long. At one point, my legs felt as if they were about to give out, so I broke away from him to sit on my bed. Kankuro sat next to me and we fell into a silence aside from my sniffling.
Sitting next to him felt weird, as if it wasn't actually happening. Even though we didn't speak again for the longest time, I caught myself stealing hidden glances at him.
My gaze traced his body, my imagination torturing me. Serisu's hands had, once again, touched him. I didn't want to know quite where she touched him, but I had a pretty good idea. Just when I thought I'd cried all the tears out, more came.
It wasn't fair to Kankuro. Even though I still felt betrayed by him, I still didn't think what Serisu had been doing was right. Even though I'd only spent a few hours with the girl, I somewhat knew how she thought.
She liked being in control and having people wrapped around her finger. Having the two brothers (or so she thought) at the same time must've felt like heaven to her. I just didn't understand how a girl could act like that.
"I'm sorry, Haketa," Kankuro finally said. My heavy eyes settled again on his figure. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about the attack. I'm sorry for bringing Serisu here. You know, I'm just sorry."
Ideas raced through my head. "How long are you guys here for?" I asked him.
"Until we get word back from the elders of our village. Serisu is going to come back and serve as an escort, but Lady Hokage is combining a mission she's giving to a Konoha Shinobi with one of ours."
I smiled a little to myself. The trip from Konoha to Suna took about a day and a half without breaks. "Can you come here at around noon tomorrow?" I questioned. "I want to take you somewhere."
My question put him off. He gave me an odd look, but eventually replied, "Uh, yeah. Sure."
I stood up from my bed and opened the door for him. "You can go now."
I kept my head down as he walked past me. A breath caught in my throat as I watched his feet stop for a second, then continue walking.
My body and mind felt strange as I curled up on my bed, shutting my eyes tightly. I tried my hardest to put everything together in my head. Kankuro was back, he had broken up with his cheating girlfriend because he found out I was still alive, and I had made plans with him, even though he had tried to kill me half a year ago.
Damn, what was I thinking?