Hello my amazing readers:
Some people have decided the kiss was not as amazing as the build-up promises. And, I thought, if these people think I can do better (and I'm pretty sure I can) then why let them have the unsatisfying kiss? Therefore, now I have decided the following.
I will give you two options. 1 – You can wait a bit for me to upload another chapter after this is decided. 2 – You can wait a bit for me to rewrite the last chapter. Whichever the majority chooses, I will follow. So… Pick one. Leave me a message, review, or whatever. If you are going to review, be an amazing person and review on the 2nd chapter. It is the only one without a review and kind of bothers me. So…here you go!
-M
PS – I was not listening to music when I wrote this. :]
You can ignore the above now. You have already decided. Nine to nothing, we go on with the story! I'm listening to Tokio Hotel's entire CD 'Scream.' Yes, it is worth checking out. They're cool even in German, even if I can't understand it! This chapter is dedicated to AlbertKreuger! Thanks to all of my reviewers, fans, you know who you are. Enjoy! Oh yeah, I'm a poor white person who owns no characters from the original Naruto.
Once, about two weeks after I'd come to Kohana, Mori insisted she come over for the entire weekend. That was the second time I'd ever had her stay over that long. The first night we just hung out at the movies, laughing at Naruto making Hinata blush and guys who approached us with lame pick-up lines. The worst was from that Sai kid. I think he did just to be able to say he did. Whatever the reason, his attempt ("If I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?") mixed with even Rock Lee's giggles, nearly killed us. I don't even remember what movie Mori picked out.
The next week, I was moping around my apartment due to the after-feelings of a break-up you didn't want to deal with. (The kind of life's-not-fair and I-hate-all-of-the-world-except-my-Mountain-Dew feelings you couldn't get yourself out of.) Temari and Mori began plotting as soon as I refused to go to a special debut of a local band at Hot Topic. I didn't know until later, but they planned the entire night two days before it happened. So I expected nothing when they begged me to go skating. Let me make one thing clear to the world. I cannot skate. That was the first time I'd ever tried and due to those experiences, I will never go again. My mind refused to wrap around the concept of how Mori, Sakura, Hinata, all of my friends, were able to glide perfectly around the stupid place. When I tried to skate, it ended with me holding the hand of Mori, the arm of Temari, looping my wrist around Temari's arm to reach Tenten… Yeah… I could kill myself walking on flat land. Putting me on wheels is just an accidental murder case waiting to happen. I laughed so hysterically that night, even when I got home to see the bruised knees. I was laughing when I woke up at Mori's from two hours of sleep. Well, until I realized how sore I was. Then I retreated to Mori's inviting bed to watch Spirited Away, Titanic, and House on Haunted Hill. I spent the day gladly swooning over Jack with my fire-truck-of-a-friend and giggling at soot balls.
Another time, maybe four days later, Kankuro found out I was afraid of spiders from Tenten. So (after Kankuro being forced to apologize by a very threatening silent boy) I decided that maybe a certain girl who always had her hair in buns and secretly crushed on an impassive, fate-obsessed jerk needed a shock. I will never know where I got the idea to pull this one, but Naruto was eager to help me. Taking a picture of Neji was hard to do when he was camera shy. I finally managed to get it, and once Naru had taken some creepy magazine from his friend's house (thankfully I never met this guy, even though I hear his hair is shaped like a chicken's ass and that would be pretty funny to see) we could move on with this. Temari didn't ask questions when I told her I needed someone's locker combination – oh, the joy of being an office worker's friend – so our plan was set. The next day, Tenten's screams could be heard throughout the building. In addition, the slap she delivered to Neji could be heard that far as well.
Then, two weeks after that, I convinced Kankuro and Naruto that Taco Bell had a secret gay-men-prostitution ring* going on. Thanks to whatever deity there was, those phone calls were made from a pay phone and I knew the number to a cab service.
I never meant for Neji to get hurt, but it was hysterical nonetheless.
Then there was that time Naru got a hold of Itachi's man-bag – cough purse cough – and we were all mentally scared. Not to mention when Kankuro thought I worked at Taco Bell and would seriously hide in his bushes.
Point being, a lot of my time in Kohana so far had been full of laughing and pranks and friends I loved. The morning following my shaming act was not one of those days. Yes, I fell asleep cuddled up next to Gaara – who hadn't freaked out or hated me but simply looked shocked – only to wake the same way. Yes, I also woke up to Kane cooking the only thing he was capable of: delicious French toast. My brother was even awake early; that was a miracle on its own. He wasn't the only one, so that's pretty much why I hated my life less than ten minutes after waking up.
My sister, in all of her naturally beautiful glory – had decided to drop in at six in the morning. I was murderous.
When she knocked, I ignored it because I thought it was Kane trying to get me to be a morning person – again. For once, I discovered I could be wrong. I was totally unprepared to see my sister throw open my door, only to gape at me. Also for once, I was totally unprepared to not blame her for her reaction. If I would've walked in on my I-don't-like-relationships-that-much sister (not that I had one) all but wrapped around a hot guy in her bed, my mouth would be hanging open too.
Gaara untangled himself from me and attempted to make me realize what exactly was going on. My own mouth dropped open whenever I saw her, seeing us. Ever the impassive one, Gaara just stood up. I could see the faint pinkness spreading over his features as he made his way past my gaping sister. She didn't even turn to give him a good once-over, she was so shocked.
"What-the-fuck are you doing here at whatever-time-in-the-morning-it-is? You're not supposed to enter until-allowed, by-the-by**!" I was so flustered and talking so fast, a lot of my words decided to mix themselves together… All I could think was something along the lines of: Damn, this better be a dream or –insert long string of cuss words here–!
"I – I was here to see you…and Akio. Out parents had…" She finally decided to ask what I figured she would, ignoring the question any further. "Were you just in bed with that guy?"
"What if I was?" I knew exactly what she was implying by that.
For the first time I could ever remember, Akiko looked at me without saying a single word. Her face was frozen, full of astonishment I'd never seen. It made me smile.
When she was about to say something, Kane broke through the doorway, along with my sister, to look at me with pleading eyes. He dropped to his knees, begging me not to smother him with a pillow in his sleep. "I didn't mean to let her in, Papaya-chan, she just… Please don't be angry! I swear I never would have let her in the house if I knew who was knocking. Akiko insisted she had to see you; after that, she pushed me out the way. Then the French toast started to smoke… I'm sorry!"
I don't know if it was the devastated look on his face or all the weird things that had already happened, but I threw my head back and laughed loudly. Kane's face softened, knowing I wasn't mad if I was laughing. Akiko looked shell-shocked at both of us.
"Candy, I'm not mad at you." I glared pointedly at my sister. "Just make sure the food doesn't burn 'cause I love your French toast. I'll be out in a bit, so tell Gaara-kun he's a pansy. If he argues, tell him what everyone else knows – my word is final."
Kane, with his gold-flecked moss eyes and shaggy black hair, looked just like a puppy to me when he grinned with relief. I wouldn't have hurt him if I'd been mad – just ignored him for a while. After he skipped back to the living room, I reluctantly got up, motioning for Akiko to come with me.
I entered the living room to see a nervous Akio sitting next to an equally nervous Gaara. I smiled at the redhead and my brother. My sister settled for giving my silent boy the once-over he hadn't received earlier. Once again, my fist itched to hit her. I didn't (yet).
Padding to the kitchen, I grinned at Kane. He grinned right back, handing me a plate with two pieces of French toast. I thanked him with a bigger smile. Luckily, it didn't take long to find the syrup. Right next to it, the orange juice half-hid itself behind a bag from the bakery. Having Kane stay at your house was like living in a pastry shop that merged with Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. I wasn't complaining too much.
"Kio-sama, are you going to eat? You too, Gaara-kun, get in here!" The boys walked in the kitchen, still nervous of the ticking time bomb. I ignored Akiko, who leaned against the door and absently fiddled with her lovely hair.
Kane sat on my right, at one end of the table. His plate was piled high. I giggled at his courteous gesture to pour the juice into both of our glasses. When he was finished, we clinked them together and sipped haughtily. Gaara sat on my left, next to me, and gave us 'do-I-really-hang-out-with-you-weird-people' looks? It was great.
Of course, Akiko ruined it by snatching the seat on the other side of my silent boy. She sat with grace, and sipped at a water bottle she'd pulled out of my refrigerator. The bitch had violated my poor house. As I hoped, Gaara took no interest in speaking with her. Instead, he informed me – low enough for just me to hear – that I talk in my sleep…a lot. My face burned and I stifled a laugh. There was no telling what he heard. Whenever Gaara-kun did tell me, I didn't want to throw myself in a lake; it made me laugh.
"Seriously? I was talking about Maroon 5 and waffles in the same sentence...," I mused with another round of chuckling. "I have weirder dreams than I thought!"
Kane laughed, even though he had no clue what I was talking about. My brother shot me strange looks from the head of the table. I shrugged indifferently – weird looks were normal to me. Especially when they were from my brother.
Breakfast continued with Akiko flirting with Gaara. She turned every charm she had on him, brushing her fingers along his chest, giggling lightly at whatever he said that could be remotely considered a joke, the works. I resisted the urge to harm her with anything besides a nasty comment (which I made enough of as it is), much to my amazement. My silent boy ignored everything Akiko did. That made her even more determined. In the end, she was practically sitting in his lap. He all but shoved her off him when I stood up.
Gaara followed me closely, telling me in a whisper that Akiko creeped him out.
I laughed harder than I knew I could.
Just as I put my plate in the sink, Bast and Ami padded up to me, mewing loudly. I laughed at the two kittens. One gray body plopped on my foot while the sand-colored kitty nipped at my sock. Ignoring the comical moment, I gazed up into Gaara's amazing eyes. My grin widened at him, as I wished many things I probably shouldn't have about him. Instead of saying any of that, I whispered, "Can you get the milk out the fridge?"
His lips quirked into a little grin. Without answering, he did as I asked. Still gazing wistfully at my silent boy, I thanked him.
"No problem, Aya-chan."
I poured the mewling kittens a little bowl of milk. Leaving them to lap it up, I went to sit in the living room. Akiko followed dutifully, sitting on the futon between Gaara and me. I wanted to hit her again.
"So, your name is Gaara?" As she asked him the painfully obvious question, my sister trailed her fingertips lightly over his arm. He basically flinched away from her touch. I giggled.
"Yeah," he mumbled.
"That's an interesting name."
"That's what I thought about Aya's name. I'd never heard it before."
"What do you think about Akiko?"
"It's what my friend's grandmother named her twenty-pound cat."
Kane spit his soda out, and started choking. Kio-sama slapped his back while containing his own laugh. I remembered the story Naru had told us, and how the occurrence there made me laugh less than it did now.
She sniffed, with little dignity. If she wasn't such a whore, I'd probably feel bad. Ah, well, it can't be helped I guess.
"This is so boring. We should go hang out," Akiko purred.
"I'm good," Kane replied with a glint in his goofy eyes.
"I wasn't talking to you." Her voice was sharp and annoyed, which only made Kane grin light-heartedly at my sister. Kio-sama and I shared an amused look. If this was going to end badly, I may as well laugh on the way down.
Five minutes later, when she was giggling and resting her hand on an uncomfortable silent boy's thigh, I decided to give the guy a break. Well, that's what I told myself; I was actually stopping my violent nature from getting out of hand. They didn't necessarily have to know that though, right?
"People, I'll be back. I can't stay in pajamas all day. Damn," I muttered.
They all shot me panicked looks, but calmed when my sister stood up with her smug grin. I knew she couldn't resist seeing what I would wear. Akiko followed me dutifully to my bedroom, as if she was going to help me pick out what to wear for a night on the town. Ha, as if. She wouldn't go anywhere near my clothing if someone was going out.
I set on my bed for a second, looking around at the room. All of my wall hangings – from the silk L to the battered Queen of Hearts tapestry – decorated the plaster and made me smile in recognition of it. Home – just the feeling of being somewhere like this made me smile. So why did Akiko have to ruin it again? She sat down, inviting herself.
Today, she wore a pair of hunter green cargo pants with a white baby tee she might have to have surgically removed from her upper body. Her plain white jacket with some logo I didn't recognize was barely zipped. I had a feeling it was meant to be that way. Akiko's long, auburn hair was put into two high pigtails with a black ribbon in each one. My wild bed head and rumpled clothes, compared to her spotless perfection. Akiko's sleek, shielded golden eyes apposed to my own green, window orbs. Those comparisons made me feel pretty-damn-horrible. I still had the upper hand with Gaara though.
With a sigh, I grabbed my panda socks next to my dresser and stood. The older, auburn-haired girl sitting on my bed looked around my room. She stood as well, moving towards my bookshelf. When she picked up a blue hard-back with no title, I all but pounced on her. Everyone in my family knew what that book was. Suddenly my sister gets the itching to pick it up and read through it. After she had laughed at the poetry, saying that no self-respecting girl would ever try to get that published, she decides to read my work? I think not.
Struggling to be civil as I searched for fresh clothing, I spoke up. "Akiko, what's with the new interest in what I write?"
"You were always good with poetry, Aya. I just never bothered to care before."
"Are you bothering to care now?"
"Pretty much."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"Maybe because I don't need or want you to?"
"Every little sister wants to be approved by her older siblings. I still want Kio-sama to think I'm pride-worthy."
I snorted in a very un-good-sisterly manner. She deserved that. Even if it felt a little bad for doing it, I wouldn't take it back. My sister was a pretty, perfect, picture-worthy bitch. I was starting to think even she knew that.
Akiko's face dropped; she turned to look at me intently. I glared back at her, holding a Tokio Hotel tee shirt. "Aya, I know you're pissed off, but can't you give me a bit of sympathy? Just this one time?"
Now, I really wanted to deck her like Gaara had Kankuro. "Sympathy? Were you giving me sympathy when you slept with my boyfriend? Did I get any sympathy when our parents ignored me, even after I was a published poet? Were you there, giving me your sympathy, when I got so tired of everything that I just left home?" Akiko stood, silent as a statue. "I didn't think so. So why the hell should I give you sympathy instead of punching your pretty-ass face in? 'Cause the second choice is looking good to me. Especially after you try to go after yet another one of the guys I like! You have no clue what kind of person Gaara is, and you were ready to jump in his pants at any moment because I like him." By now, I was screaming at her, and I couldn't have cared less.
"Why do you try to take everything I have, when you can get whatever you want, Akiko? The last time I checked, big sisters hated the kind of people who did that to their little sisters. What part of that is hard for you to understand? Do you really hate me that much, to just take whoever decides I could be a good person to like?"
When Akiko didn't answer me, I threw the shirt on my futon. It hit my CD player's remote with a click.
"I hate everything about you,
Why do I love you?"
Three Days Grace had eerie timing, I thought.
"Aya, I don't hate you. You wouldn't understand."
"I wouldn't understand what? That you wanted to screw your little sister's boyfriend, and because you get everything you want – you did? Damn straight, I don't understand that!"
"It wasn't because I wanted to take him away from you, or because he looked good to me. Why can't you just take my word for it? I told you that you wouldn't understand. Believe it or not, I had good intentions."
My voice oozed sarcasm. "Yeah, and I had perfectly good intentions when I threw seven firecrackers at the little bitch down the road when I was nine. And you wonder why I can't just take your word for this? What happened when I trusted you but thought you were dramatic and somewhat easy? So there's no way in hell I'll take your word for it when I think you're a bitch and really sleazy."
Her smile was rueful, her eyes sad. What the hell was Akiko getting at? "I told you – you can rhyme."
"I already knew I could rhyme. Published poet and all. So why should I trust you, of all the people in the world?"
"Simple: I'm the only one willing to tell you the truth."
"What's that? You enjoy breaking other people's hearts for fun?"
"This isn't about me, Aya. It's about you.
"Ever wonder why you're Grandmother's favorite?"
"Because I don't sleep around?"
"Because she feels bad."
"She feels bad I don't sleep around!"
"No, you idiot! She feels bad for not telling you about what she did."
I flipped. "Nana slept around?"
"Are you retarded?"
"No, no I'm not."
"Then listen to me Aya. I'm being serious."
"I was serious whenever I told you I don't trust whores like-"
"Shut the hell up! I'm trying to help you, moron! Your precious 'Nana' chose you as her favorite because she feels bad she made a deal that involves your future." Akiko gave me a pitying look. I resisted another urge to slap her. "She signed your name away for marriage. The third child born by her third child will marry the son or daughter of a very powerful family. That's you, Aya."
Shocked beyond anything I could ever imagine, my eyes widened at her but didn't see my sister. I saw my Nana, reading me faerie tales and laughing at my jokes. I saw her scolding me with a whisper of a grin, buying me my first Evanescence CD, reading my private poetry. I couldn't believe that after everything – this couldn't be true.
"Akiko, I already want to hit you. If you're lying about this Mori and I will make plans to jump you. If I have to, I will bring a baseball bat. What you've done before is low, and if this is a lie, I hope you die painfully and burn in Hell. So is this true?"
When I saw her pretty, golden eyes soften, cloud with tears – I knew it was true. My life was decided before I could do anything about it.
"What family is it, then?" I demanded.
Before she could answer, my phone rang.
This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the whole world…
That was Mori's ringtone. I gulped, picking up the phone.
"Aya-chan, if there is anything you know about this shit on the news – fucking tell me now." I'd never heard her sound so desperate, almost like she'd been crying. It was crazy.
"What's on the news?"
"You wouldn't lie to me, would you?"
"No! What's the news saying, Mori-san?"
"Check for yourself, Hun. Your parents are all over it." I knew this was horrible. If my parents were on the news nothing good would come out of it.
So, flicking on my underused bedroom TV, I waited to see it fill with life. When it did, I wished my life wasn't as filled as it was now. I wish it were gone, wiped out. I really wanted to die at that moment in time.
"And now, our feature story. After an interview with two major co-owners of the Hishiro Cooperation, we find out marriage plans for the youngest daughter! In just two short months, Aya Miako is to wed a very important executive's son. Heir of the famed Sabaku Inc. will marry the second daughter of Takami and Ryuzaki Hishiro! A deal made a long time ago works out very well when the two teenagers wind up as friends before knowing…"
I stopped listening. I stopped caring, hoping, breathing. If only I would have stopped living, too.
My beloved Nana – whom I trusted like no other member of my retched family – had given me away to the wrong boy. She should know I have no plans of marrying Kankuro any time soon.
Even if I'd heard Taco Bell's fake secret was true, I would not have grinned. I would have told someone to fuck off. Being lied to is not my favorite thing.
Ooooh. Enjoy, people. :]
*My uncle and I actually have a joke about that. He's crazy… So anyways, he inspired me to do the whole Taco Bell secretly sells gay men, and yada yada yada.
**'By the by' was also inspired by someone else – angelofdarknessvampriss666. AKA my biggest fan. Thank you. :]