A/N: Oh how fun it is to rant. I don't think Kakuzu is all too happy about not knowing so many things. It's kind of interesting to try and explain things to someone who has no idea what indoor plumbing, Xboxes, cars, and jumbo jets even are. Though I am pretty sure the actual Naruto world has radios, refrigerators, TV, and a couple of other little things.
Oh, and if you haven't noticed yet… my disclaimer is the same. I'm just going to keep copying and pasting it to all my chapters, it's just easier that way.
Disclaimer: I own everything but Kakuzu in this story *Cries* (Well maybe not my friends. They actually help me with their own character in the story, so they should get some credit.) *Claps* If I did so happen to own Naruto and the associated characters, I am sure there would be some people that I would like to bet some sense into. And others that I would give more screen time and avoid their deaths. I understand why Masashi Kishimoto did it, I just kind of wish he hadn't. (Mumbling about writers who kill off the good characters way too quickly)
Seven minutes after eleven we pulled into the driveway. I turned the engine off and unbuckled my seatbelt.
"Kakuzu. Can I trust you to stay here for a little bit? I think it would be easier to talk to mom and dad if you weren't standing there intimidating them into an answer. I'd be afraid they would say no that way…"
"Sure." Kakuzu scoffed.
I got out of the car and shut the door quietly behind me. Milyssa and Ian got out and walked up to the house but I just stood there looking into the car at Kakuzu. Please dear Lord. Please let him still be there when we get back…. I beg of you. And with that I sighed and turned toward Milyssa and Ian.
"Alright. Let's get this over with..." I uttered.
Our shoes lightly hit the wooden steps as we tiptoed up. When we got to the door I took one last longing look toward the car. What I'd give to just sit and talk to Kakuzu while Milyssa and Ian talked to Lyssa and Mike…
I looked at Milyssa and Ian and saw a reflection of my own fear in their eyes. "Milyssa you do most the talking. I'll chime in for emphasis and Ian you stand there and nod." I pull down the sleeves of the jacket and hold the ends in the palms of my hands to hide the bruises and hopefully help calm my nerves.
The two of them agree with a nod. The TV was blasting in the other room to some YouTube anime dubstep AMV. Perfect setting.
I look each of them in the face one last time. "We can do this." I encouraged as I opened the double doors that lead into the den.
"Mom…. Dad…. We have something we want to umm… Ask you?" Milyssa squeaked.
"Could you cut that off?" Ian added as I sat down on the edge of the couch, furthest away from mom and dad. Milyssa sat in-between us and Ian sat to the other side of them while dad turned on the Xbox controller to pause the video.
"What's going on?" Mom said in her special little tone that sounds like a mixture between annoyance and disappointment. I shudder. Why do moms have to say things in that tone!
"Mom this is really weird. We found someone. Someone that popped out of an anime and now is a living breathing thing now. And were wondering if we can keep him on our couch for a few days." Milyssa blurted out all at once. I'm not sure if dad caught it because he was just looking at the screen, arms crossed and feet on the coffee table.
"Yeah, can we keep him?" I sweetly begged and directed toward mom who was giving Milyssa a weird stare.
"Whad' ja say?" Dad lazily said.
"You want someone to sleep on our couch?" Mom questioned sounding quite confused. I got a feeling that she has no idea what she's in for.
"Yes. Mom. We found an anime character and we'd like you to let him to sleep on our couch for a little while. I can feed him and water him, I will take care of him."
"We." I pipe in.
"Yeah, we." Milyssa giggles nervously.
"When is he staying over and for how long? Do I know this guy? Does his mother know he's staying over?" Mom asked.
I look at Milyssa and she looks at me and I whisper, "Does he have a mother?" in her ear.
"Now. For a couple of days. Noooo and no. I-I don't think so." Milyssa answered shakily.
"Anime character? Does he cosplay or something?" dad asked flatly.
"Uhhh. I guess you could say that..." I said nervously while playing with my hair. And at the same time Milyssa responded with "Not quite."
"This isn't going anywhere. Sissy, just go get him."
"Okay." I say as I jump up and dash for the door. At the same time I hear mom say, "He's here already, Milyssa? I would have liked more notice than that, the house is a mess…" I'm sure there was more but I was already closing the door behind me.
The moment I step outside I gulp in deep breaths of fresh air. My head is spinning so bad it feels as though it's about to pop right off and roll away.
I stand there for a moment just trying to calm myself down, but I just couldn't. This is far from over. It's only just beginning.
I run down the stairs and to the red Honda and swing open the door. "Kakuzu, you're going to meet Milyssa's parent's n-" My breath caught in my throat and my heart lurched.
No.
Please, please don't be gone.
I hop in the car and check the front seats and check the trunk. Nothing. I fall into the seat dazed.
"How… how could he be gone." I whisper to myself as I gingerly start to lift away the sleeve covering my wrist.
If they're gone… if…. I don't know what I'll do…. A mental break down would be in order… and consuming every chocolate thing in the world till I'm 700 pounds.
"Looking for something?"
It felt like I was in a roller coaster that had just hit the climax and was rushing back toward earth.
"K-Kakuzu." I turned my head slowly and drank him in.
"What, brat."
"I- I thought… that….."
"You never said I had to stay in this damn machine." Kakuzu snapped.
A huge grin lit up my face and I shook my head. "No. No, I didn't." I fought a hundred thoughts of jumping into his arms and listened to the one that was telling me there was a task I had to handle first.
Task first, hug later. Check.
"Come on you grumpy old man." I chuckled as I stepped out of the car and started walking up the sidewalk.
"Kakuzu." I stopped and turned to look at him. "Milyssa's parents are some of the coolest people I know. They'd be cool with any situation like this. That's just… That's just who they are. I don't think you could find someone better to go to with a problem than them in all of the east coast." Kakuzu glared a bit harder. "I'll explain later, with maps. But what I'm trying to get at is…. You have the best opportunity right in front of you. This world is filled to the brim with horrible people that would rather kick you down than help you up. And in two short hours you have miraculously come across five people that want to help you. That want to understand it all….. So please. Don't mess it up." I said softly, tears gathering in my eyes.
If I were a betting girl, I would have put money down that his gaze softened when he heard my speech. But I guess we'll never know, the moment I blinked, his hard gaze was back in place.
"The woman is Lyssa. And the man is Mike. Oh my god…." Realization hit me like a train. "No wonder you're so uneasy. I haven't even introduced myself! I'm Jennifer. Milyssa is the girl and Ian is the boy. I guess the whole situation just really caught me way off guard. We know so much about you that I guess we just forgot that it was a one way thing."
"Are we going in or not?" Rain was still sprinkling down but I hadn't even noticed. What's a little more water when you're already drenched? I used the sleeve of my jacket to try and wipe away the blood droplets and thankfully the majority quickly soaked into the drier fabric.
I led Kakuzu up to the Hilko's house and through the front door. I took a deep breath and closed the door behind me. I looked at Kakuzu one last time, searching his face for any indications that he was going to fuck this up. He just looked angry.
I walked up to the doorway that separated the front room from the den. "Mom, Dad. This is Kakuzu."
Milyssa and Ian didn't say a word. I think Ian actually looks sick now. I was so scared to look at mom's and dad's faces but when I finally did I immediately regretted it. The painstakingly familiar emotion as of late: fear and confusion was displayed on their faces.
"Please don't freak out or get mad. Or laugh it off and think it's a joke. He's real." I said as I tugged on his cloak. "I dragged Milyssa, Ian, Humberto, and Virginia into the woods and I ran into him. We had a little fight after I beat him with a stick. He tried to hold me back from beating him in the head so I bit him. Hard…. Anyways. I don't even remotely know how this is possible but he stepped out of the anime and into our world. The timing is off, he never recalled fighting Asuma, the smoker ninja," I put in in hopes that they would recognize who I was talking about. "So he must have been sent here before all of that whole 'dying' fiasco." I finished nervously.
"I-I don't even know what to say. But… why would you bring him here?"
"Mrs. Hilko. If you ran across something as mind blowing as this, would you just turn and walk away? Pretending like you never saw it and regretting not doing something for the rest of your life? I…. I just can't do that. When something dangerous and exciting appears in front of me, I face it…. I can't just ignore it. It's just… not in my DNA." I spoke slowly while keeping eye contact with her the whole time.
"Were not asking you to testify for him or anything. He just need a place to crash until we get a better idea of what's going on."
"I've watched enough movies and seen enough crazy things in my life so I can't say I don't believe you. But that doesn't mean that I'm happy with this. Isn't the Akatsuki bad?" she recalled.
"He doesn't have his chakra. Something about our world prevents him from accessing it." Informed Milyssa. Didn't really answer that question... Hope she doesn't notice.
"Kakuzu usually has stitches all over his body from a jutsu called Earth Grudge Fear. But his skin is flawless." Flawless? Really Jenny Lynn…. Did you really just go there? I broke away from the pause and carried on talking. "He knows nothing about this world. You can watch just one episode of the anime and you could see that. If there's a way to send him back, to get him back where he belongs… I want to see it, I need to. And if he can't ever go back… then he'll need someone to show him the ropes." Oh. And did I mention I'm head over heels for him? Yeah just thought I should let you know.
"Okay."
"Okay what?" Milyssa asked fearfully.
"He can stay." My mouth dropped open. "But. He stays on the couch. And you girls stay upstairs. I'm a cool mom. I'm curious to see what happens too."
Dad was just staring at Kakuzu like he was trying to decide what kind of weapon he would use to gut him.
Frightening.
"Ian, Milyssa, and Jenny Lynn. Go upstairs."
I honestly couldn't tell at all what she was feeling. Hell I couldn't even tell what I was feeling. But she stood there with her arms crossed just waiting on us to get a move on. The three of us got up and slowly made our way to the stairs each of us looking back every step still in disbelieve that an Akatsuki member was here in our house.
We walked into Milyssa's room and all sank down to the floor too stunned to talk. But the best part about it, we could hear muffled voices of mom, dad… and Kakuzu. She was showing him where he could sleep and giving him blankets.
What is she doing sending me upstairs like this! I'm not a damn child. I fought with him for Christ's sake…. I just want to be near him….
"Let's just go to bed guys. Well deal with this in the morning." Milyssa sounded absolutely exhausted. "Ian go to your room."
For once Ian actually listened and he left with a "goodbye" and shut the door.
I wasn't tired. I was wide awake and I wanted to talk to him. I looked over at Milyssa who was picking out something to wear to bed, my blonde hair obscuring half my vision. Ughhh. I'm an absolute mess. I tried to finger comb my hair but my fingers quickly got stuck. I snatched a hairbrush from my suitcase and started brushing the tangled mess.
During this time Milyssa had come back from the bathroom. I grumbled about twigs in my hair as I gathered all the hair on top of my head and into a high ponytail. I riffled through my suitcase and pulled out my favorite black tank top, matching black sweatpants, and pink leopard print underwear.
I shrugged off the camouflage jacket and picked up my clean clothes.
"Jenny Lynn."
"What." I snapped.
"Your wrists."
"Oh. Thanks sissy. I forgot…." I was planning to say so much more, I was ready to bombard her with questions and theories but she was already pulling up the covers.
I slipped my phone out of a pocket and plugged it up into its charger. The screen light up brightly making my eyes hurt. 12:03. No wonder she was tired. It has been an emotionally strenuous day and it was late. By this time we would have already cracked open a monster to keep us up.
I grabbed my pink jacket that was laying on a box next to the bed. I carefully opened the door and cringed when it made a loud noise. Why does her damn door have to stick! I roll my eyes and walk down the hallway to the bathroom Milyssa shared with her brother.
It took just one look in the mirror and it was like all my emotions came rushing at me at the pace of a cheetah. I crumpled to the floor and buried my face into my arms and just cried. Cried about how scary it was in the woods. About not knowing what I was facing up against in the dark. About meeting Kakuzu. Figuring out how to tell my friends about this. About how I snapped on that old lady. The overwhelming sensation I tried so hard to ignore whenever I was around him. How difficult and scary it was to tell Milyssa's parents.
I used to know where I wanted to go in life. But one encounter scrambled it all.
It was like my brain just gave up. It threw the towel in and just let my emotions consume me. I don't even know why I was crying anymore…