Seishirou awoke as it felt like he was being hung upside-down. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the fact that his vision was the back of someone's shirt. "Hey--?"
"Put us down! We're not children!" Tomozou was awake too, then. Seishirou figured out that he'd been picked up and thrown over someone's shoulder; judging by the black hair, probably Kakuzu.
"You two sure act like it. Falling asleep in the middle of your 'work'? Very immature," Kakuzu replied, a hint of amusement in his voice. Just a hint, though; he sounded mostly grumpy. "Usually genin don't even manage that feat. How old did you two say you were?"
"Put us down, now," Seishirou commanded, pushing himself off of the man's back. He only succeeded in raising his head high enough to hit it on the doorframe as they exited the library. He immediately ducked back down, rubbing his head. "You did that on purpose!"
"Me? Never. Wouldn't dream of doing such a thing." Even Tomozou had a snicker at Seishirou's expense. The ginger-haired boy huffed and crossed his arms--or attempted to, since being carried like that made most of his arm gestures pretty useless.
"Where are we going?"
"I'm going to go up to the top floor and throw you both from the roof."
"Then why are you going downstairs?" Tomozou asked. Kakuzu responded by dropping him on said stairs, watching as he tumbled gracelessly the rest of the way. Seishirou only had that much of a warning before he, too, was dropped. Luckily, that was all he had needed. He landed on his feet, to some degree, but at least managed to stay upright.
"You're a jerk," he told him, jumping out of the way when Kakuzu reached over to push him down the stairs, too.
"Asshole!" Tomozou chimed in from the bottom.
"Bastard," Seishirou added.
"Motherfu--"
"Are you two channeling Hidan or are you normally this foulmouthed?" Kakuzu interrupted, annoyed. "Get back to bed before I throttle both of you."
"You wouldn't!" Seishirou scoffed, once again dodging as the Akatsuki member made a grab for him. He jumped down the stairs, landing lightly beside Tomozou, who was just then getting up. "Everyone would get pissed at you for killing us."
"Who is this 'everyone'? Your parents, who are too busy getting used by the Bijuu to worry about you?"
"Obviously Kakuzu-san wouldn't kill us. He wouldn't dare touch the son of the Leader, right, Sei?" Tomozou asked with an exaggerated air of indifference.
"Oh, of course not. I must remind him too much of my dad," Seishirou agreed arrogantly, even going as far as to flip his ponytail over his shoulder.
"He's just another inbred Akatsuki pet--"
"I am going to kill the both of you!" Kakuzu snarled, feigning a lunge. Predictably, the boys ran for it, laughing nervously as they fled. Kakuzu regained his composure and straightened his uniform, snorting. "Conceited little brats," he muttered. "I liked them better when they were ignorant."
-.-.-
As the sun rose in the eastern sky and the rain started to lessen slightly, Tomozou figured out that all of the adults were still sleeping. They were going to continue sleeping, too, he concluded, because, "They must have been up all night. Doing stuff. They probably won't wake up for another few hours, if at all."
"How do you know?" Seishirou asked, crossing his arms in disbelief.
Tomozou grinned and held up three fingers. "I have three extra senses, in addition to the regulars like sight and hearing. Firstly, I am a shinobi, and in that, I know when there's danger about." He put down one finger. "Secondly, I know when there's something that's spicy around."
"Oh yeah. I keep meaning to ask you about that…"
"It's a secret. Thirdly!" Tomozou continued quickly, holding up his last finger, "I know whenever my guardians are going to be not-guarding-me. You could call it a 'trouble sense'. I know exactly when the opportune time is."
"Opportune time for what?"
"Do you do nothing but question my authority?" Tomozou finally snapped, reaching over to pull Seishirou's hair. The older of the two ducked out of his grasp, though.
"Your authority? Who is the son of the Leader of the Akatsuki, huh?"
"So what? I don't care about the Akatsuki."
"I'm also older."
"Yeah, well, I can kick your ass any day of the week, so I'm in charge."
"No you can't," Seishirou growled, narrowing his eyes. "That was a lucky chance, that first time."
"No it wasn't!" Tomozou sang, placing his hands on his hips. "You were already on guard, and I won."
This, naturally, degraded into a scuffle soon enough. Although it was a closer match between the two than their first meeting, Tomozou still ended up on top--literally. He sat on Seishirou's back, pinning his hands to the ground with his feet.
"Get off of me. Let's go get Hitomi-chan."
"Why do we need to get her?"
"…She's part of our team, for one," Seishirou replied, suspicious. "Why don't you want to fetch her?"
"She's just… I don't know. Don't you get tired of babysitting her all the time?" Tomozou asked. Part of it was genuine curiosity. He didn't have any siblings, even adopted, and while it wasn't like he disliked Hitomi, he wondered why Seishirou liked her so much. She wasn't a strong ninja--she wasn't even a ninja!--and she usually slowed them down, more often than not.
"No, not really. Come on, let's go get her. Then we can go out."
"Out where?"
"Exploring Amegakure, where else? We don't have any escorts this time."
"Right." Tomozou was okay with that idea, though he still wasn't sure about Hitomi. She just seemed so… fragile. Frail. Not at all suitable for exploring potentially dangerous places on their own.
They checked Hitomi's room, but it was empty. Her stuffed chicken was gone, however, signaling that she was probably safe. "Where is she?"
"Maybe she's with Yukina-chan," Tomozou suggested slyly. Seishirou set his mouth in a thin line, trying valiantly not to blush.
"I'm not sneaking into her room if she is."
"Why not? You could test your ninja skills--and who knows? Maybe Yukina-chan sleeps in lingerie."
"If Hitomi-chan's in there, why would she be dressed like that?!"
"You're blushing, you're blushing!" Tomozou cackled. The other boy hit him in the shoulder, scowling. "Okay, maybe I'm kidding. Yukina-chan and Aoko-chan probably spirited her away somewhere."
"How are we going to find them, then?" Seishirou asked flatly.
"I guess we won't. We'll have to strike out on our own without Hitomi-san." He laced his fingers behind his head, already heading out the door.
"Hold it. Why are you so insistent on going without Hitomi-chan?"
"I think she's mad at me. I want to avoid a conflict," he answered diplomatically, eyes closed.
"Why the hell would she be mad at you?!"
"Are you going to baby-sit her for the rest of your life? Or her life?" Tomozou asked instead. "You can't keep sticking your nose in her business." There, that ought to keep him out of this, he thought, pleased with himself.
But he had underestimated Seishirou's protectiveness. "Tell me what the hell you did to her." His voice was low, hardly more than a growl.
"Nothing. I just parted with her on less than favorable terms. And seeing how she holds a grudge against anyone who doesn't follow her rules, she's probably mad at me for it. That's all." Tomozou turned on one foot, holding his gloved hands up in his defense. Predictably, Seishirou was glaring at him. He grinned in response. "That's all. Now get your nose out of my business. And hers."
He marched off, not caring whether or not Seishirou followed him. Sure, he was fun to hang around with, but Tomozou's mischief didn't depend on his presence. Tomozou usually functioned better on his own, anyway. It was he, himself, who figured out Seishirou's parents first, right?
After just a few steps, he heard Seishirou start following.
It was on the first floor that they ran into Hitomi. She was shutting a door quietly behind her, and turned just in time to nearly run into Tomozou. She squeaked and backed up again immediately, pressing herself against the door, face red. She was glaring at him, he noticed. That calmed into a faint frown, however, when she caught sight of Seishirou behind him.
"Where are you two going?" she asked in a whisper. Her words were directed entirely to her adoptive brother.
"We were looking for you. Why are we whispering?"
"Aoko is asleep. I snuck out," she responded blithely, placing her hand on the doorknob.
"The rest of the adults are asleep, too," Tomozou chimed in. Hitomi spared him a flat, discouraging look, and then turned back to Seishirou, completely ignoring his input. He scowled, crossing his arms. Sure, he had known she'd been mad, but now she was just being childish.
"What will we do today?" she asked Seishirou.
He shrugged, sighing. "I don't know… Explore Ame? We haven't seen much of the city itself, after all--"
"I like that idea," she decided firmly, only because it had been the ginger-haired boy who had suggested it.
They raided a coat closet for some raincoats, pulled on their shoes, and traipsed out into the rain. Tomozou let Seishirou lead the way, since Hitomi would probably throw a fit and leave if she was forced to follow Tomozou instead. He just wanted to avoid a scene, or so he told himself. Her attitude towards him was really beginning to piss him off, though…
"Where are we going?"
"City limits. I want to see some of the countryside," Seishirou replied, tugging his hood down lower. That answer didn't satisfy him, however. Tomozou had wanted to explore the city itself, too, but he couldn't voice his opinion without Hitomi jumping down his throat. That really pissed him off; she wasn't even doing anything yet she was still blocking him pretty effortlessly.
He stewed all the way to where Seishirou was leading them. As they had crossed most of the city and passed through a small ring of forest, this took nearly an hour. Despite their raincoats, all three were pretty much soaked; not completely, at least not yet, but approaching soaked rapidly. This did nothing to help Tomozou's mood. He liked water, yes, but only on his own terms.
Fortunately, the rain lessened the further they got from Amegakure. It was merely sprinkling when Seishirou announced that they would stop. They were on the shore of a great, black lake, out of the trees and cover.
"What are we going to do here?" Tomozou asked, ignoring Hitomi's snort of disapproval at his speaking.
"Hitomi-chan needs to practice her water-walking, and I was thinking we could look around. Kirigakure never had lakes this big… I wonder what would be in it…" Seishirou trailed off, looking down at the dark water.
Tomozou shook his head. "You can't possibly be thinking of going swimming in that. It's not that warm out."
"No, I wasn't!" he snapped irritably, jerking his head back to glare at him. "I just wanted to walk out there and see if I could see any fish. You may have been here before, but we haven't. I don't want any more foreign animal surprises like that mountain goat in Iwa."
"There's no giant fish in Ame," Tomozou deadpanned.
"Look!" Hitomi broke in, pointing out across the lake. Both boys turned, temporarily forgetting their argument. Towards the middle, there was something light in color. It was hardly more than a dot against the black of the water, blurred from the rain and distance.
"What is that?"
"It's not a giant fish."
"I know that!"
-.-.-
As the boys argued, Hitomi clambered down to the shore. The water was completely calm, save for the raindrops. She tested it with her foot--it had been awhile since she had walked on water, and hadn't tried it at all after her accident--and was relieved to find that it was very easy to walk on. Even up close, the water was dark and murky. Just a few feet out from the shore, and she couldn't see the bottom of the lake anymore.
The other two hastily caught up with her once they realized she was missing. Hitomi sniffed at their lack of awareness (particularly Tomozou's). The lake seemed much larger once they got out over it, and it got significantly colder as well. She pulled her coat closer around her.
"I think… I think it is some sort of bird," Hitomi called back to her escorts. The creature occasionally would duck down under the water, presumably fishing. Which meant that there were fish in the lake… just maybe not giant ones.
"It could be a heron. They like to feed around lakes," Tomozou suggested.
"Those are storks, not herons," Seishirou replied flatly.
"They're the same thing, idiot!"
"No they're not! Storks have curved beaks, and herons have straight beaks."
"Otherwise they're the same--!"
"Not-uh! I'm not going to get into an argument about the classification of birds with you, though."
"You're just saying that because you're wrong."
"No I'm not!"
Hitomi sighed, trying to block them out. She instead concentrated on the bird; Seishirou was right in the fact that they didn't want any more surprises like the Iwa animals. Plus, who knew? Maybe the heron-stork would be interesting, or intelligent.
Or maybe we could eat it, Hitomi thought as her stomach growled loudly. Hopefully no one else heard it over the rain. She hadn't gotten the chance to eat breakfast. Actually, she hadn't eaten much of anything since they arrived in Ame. The food was too weird.
Since the boys were arguing, they didn't notice it. Hitomi did, though, and when she did, she stopped for a few moments. They were nearly to the middle of the lake, and the bird hadn't grown any closer. At first, she suspected genjutsu, but told herself that there was no one around to cast it. Even if there was, what purpose would it serve?
Her second guess was correct: the bird was actually on the far side of the lake, and was just larger than they had initially thought.
Hitomi resumed walking, albeit at a slower, more cautious pace. A giant bird wouldn't be fun to get into a fight with. Neither Seishirou nor Tomozou noticed her pause, since they were still too busy arguing about technicalities.
Soon, however, even they noticed it. "That's… a big bird, isn't it?" Seishirou asked haltingly, eyes wide. Hitomi just nodded.
Then, they were close enough to make out several details. The first was that the bird was well over twice any of their height. It was white in color, though it had a black belly and legs. The bird craned its long neck down, dipping its dark beak into the water. It fished around for a few moments, and then came up with a very fat frog. The hapless prey gave a single croak before it was swallowed whole. The frog had been knee-high to any of the kids.
They skirted around the bird, crouching down over the water. The bird either didn't notice them or didn't care. "What kind of bird is that?" Seishirou whispered.
"How should I know?" Tomozou whispered back, glaring at him.
"You're the one who's been to Ame before!" Soon, the argument was back in full swing.
Hitomi slowly crawled away from them, half-scared that they'd get themselves discovered, half-curious about the bird. The largest bird she'd ever seen was a hawk someone had summoned in Kiri to show her class, and she had been amazed when it was about shoulder-high to the man. This bird was huge, taller than any person alive. Kakuzu might've come up to the bird's wing, she decided after much study.
That could easily pick me up and carry me off, she noted, and backed up a few paces to give it more room. There was a comfortable ten meters between the bird and her, and she was closer to the shore than open water. That was good, since she was fairly sure that if she was chased by the giant heron-stork, she'd panic and wouldn't be able to run on water.
The bird took a step out towards the lake, carefully picking its way through whatever lay underneath the water. It dipped its head under the water fully this time, and came up with a rather large fish. It wasn't quite a giant one, but it was still fairly large: Seishirou was half-right.
Then the bird turned, fish in its beak, and caught Hitomi's eye. She shrunk back in alarm; there was a definite intelligence in its gaze. It cocked its head to one side, and then took one large step towards her, completely closing the gap between them. It craned its head down at an angle until it was nearly eye-level with her, its sharp beak resting lightly on the top of her head.
A kunai suddenly clicked against its beak, bouncing off after leaving a scratch. The bird (and Hitomi) shrieked, raising its wings and flapping downward. The downdraft nearly sent Hitomi under the water. The bird leapt over to the shore, dropping its fish, and then turned to glare at the boys. Hitomi scrambled over to them, hiding behind Seishirou.
The bird eyed them warily for several moments before it straightened its head. Then, with what was probably the bird equivalent of a snort of disdain, it walked regally off.
"Are you okay?" Seishirou asked worriedly, turning around to inspect his sister. Hitomi felt shaken, but otherwise fine.
"Why did it attack you?"
"It did not--I do not think it meant to attack me." She composed herself before addressing Tomozou again. It was one thing to act scared in front of Seishirou, but quite another to act it in front of him. "It noticed me, and the kunai startled it. That was all."
She was going to say more when she noticed that there was hair in her eyes. Since it was normally held back by her barrettes, she grumpily assumed that the bird had messed it up as it flapped its wings. Hitomi began taking out her barrettes and combing through her hair, frowning, watching the boys lapse into their own discussion again. That had been happening more and more often.
…Seishirou has never been this talkative with Tomozou before. Did something happen? she thought, sticking her barrettes in her mouth to hold them. Yesterday, Seishirou was acting ill, and now he seems fine. Tomozou was also acting odd yesterday. She felt her face heat up just thinking about it. Their behavior was certainly linked, though.
Hitomi decided she was satisfied with her hair; nothing felt unduly out of place, and her barrettes held it all out of her eyes once more. Her hair was the least of her worries, though, when she saw that her hands came away with blood.
"Um, Seishirou?" she called in a high voice, breaking her brother out of his hissed argument with Tomozou. "C-Can you come look at my head?"
"Sure." She obediently bent her head so that he could inspect it. Almost immediately, Seishirou swore and placed a hand on either side of her head, raising her eyes until he could look at her. "You don't look like you have a concussion. Do you have blurry vision?"
"Your medical prowess astounds me," Tomozou said dryly as Hitomi shook her head.
"At least he is trying to help. You are not doing anything except getting in the way," she snapped, trying to turn her head to glare at him. Seishirou held her still, however.
"You'll have to forgive me if I'm not just another mother hen for you."
"Tomozou, just shut up. What is with you lately?" Seishirou asked harshly, interrupting. Hitomi rolled her eyes; so he could argue all he wanted with Tomozou, but she couldn't? How mean. When he didn't get a response, Seishirou returned his attention to her. "…Doesn't look like there's any damage aside from the wound itself… And maybe some irritability. We better head back to Ame, though. Head wounds bleed a lot, and now you're getting soaked, too."
"Hey, look." Seishirou finally let go of her head, and both turned to look at what Tomozou was pointing at. It was a fish--no, the fish that the bird had had in its beak and dropped. It was floating on its side, bleeding freely from a wound from the bird. It was still breathing, opening and closing its mouth as it struggled to flee from Tomozou. He poked it with his foot, then turned and grinned at them.
Hitomi felt repulsed by it. Not only was it rather a mess, but its eyes weren't blinking, and it was bleeding out of the gills, too. "Just… kill it already. Put it out of its misery," she said weakly. The bird did that. That could have been me, she couldn't help but think.
"Why? It's going to die, anyway. Why do they float when they're dead?" Tomozou asked, nudging it again.
"Kill it already!" Hitomi insisted, turning away. Seishirou started walking towards it, though, and she reached out to grab his hand. He just pulled her along with him, though, much to her annoyance. By the time he succeeded in dragging her closer, the fish was nearly dead.
"What's your problem?" Tomozou asked, tilting his head to one side.
"What's yours?!" Seishirou snapped in reply. "You've had your fun poking the flipping fish, now kill it!"
"It's going to die anyway. Why get my gloves dirty?" Now he seemed to want to argue for the sake of it. He crouched down beside the fish, pulling his sword out and poking it with that. "It's just a fish. Why're you two getting so worked up over it?"
"You're upsetting my sister," Seishirou said in a low voice.
"She's not--" Tomozou didn't get the opportunity to finish, because at that moment, Hitomi ran up to him and pushed him into the water. He flailed for a brief moment before going under; she, during that, had taken the sword from his hand and plunged it through the fish's eye. It died immediately.
"You two have issues, you know that?" Seishirou said, either angry or surprised. She wasn't sure which. Hitomi just ran her wrist over her eyes. "I'm serious! Hitomi-chan, you didn't have to push him in--"
"He was being cruel! It was in pain!" she snapped, pulling the sword out of the dead fish.
"Hitomi-chan… It was just a fish…" He seemed to deflate at her words, and instead looked around for Tomozou. He hadn't surfaced yet. "…What happened yesterday between you two? You wouldn't have pushed him if you weren't mad at him."
"He was acting cruel, just like now."
"Are you comparing yourself to a dead fish?"
"No!"
"Then I don't get how he can be cruel to you. At least not in any way that you couldn't fight back against. Where is he? He should have come up by now."
"I do not care where he is. I hope he drowns," she said primly, half sincere. While she would be happy if he just disappeared, she wasn't sure she actually wished for him to die. Death was permanent, after all, and if he merely disappeared, there'd always be the slight chance that he could come back if she changed her mind about him.
"I'm serious. Hitomi-chan, what if he does die?" Seishirou turned to her, alarm written in his grey eyes.
Hitomi fidgeted nervously with Tomozou's sword. "…He would not die so easily," she mumbled, still rebellious. If he was doing this just to get her worried, she swore that she'd take the blade and drive it through his skull. "The average jounin can hold his breath for--"
"Tomozou is not a jounin! He's probably not even a chuunin. I'm going in after him." Before Seishirou could act, however, with a splash, Tomozou resurfaced by Hitomi's feet. She gave a squeal and jumped away from him, clinging to her brother.
"There are giant fish in Ame!" Tomozou said excitedly, grinning broadly.
-.-.-
The kids returned to Ame, carrying two giant fish. Hitomi wouldn't touch the one the bird killed, so they ignored that one and the boys each caught their own. Seishirou had gotten the idea of cooking the fish into his head, and dragged the other two along with him. "Hitomi-chan, you have practice cooking, don't you? We could filet one, or make some sort of stew, or--"
"Where are we going to find a kitchen large enough to cook something like these?" she asked flatly, walking between the boys. Seishirou had sacrificed his raincoat to carry the fish in, and it took both of them to make sure it didn't drag. Even so, it was hard, and more than once they dropped them.
"What kind of fish are these, anyway?" Tomozou asked curiously.
"Big ones," Seishirou replied. "I hope they're good."
"I hope they are not poisonous…" Hitomi mumbled darkly. "…I think soup or stew would be the best thing to do. Then we will need only one, albeit large, pot to cook with."
"Stew it is!" Seishirou said happily.
"Where are we going to find seasonings and other ingredients?" she asked, keeping him tethered to reality.
"We could look in Dai-sama's tower. There has to be a kitchen there somewhere, with plenty of stuff like that," Tomozou answered, earning himself a scowl. He winced, trying not to snap at her. He didn't want to ruin their fish meal, or get into a fight with her.
"Agreed," Seishirou said obliviously, still grinning.
It took a bit longer for them to carry the fish back to the tower. Hitomi went on ahead to scout out the area and head off any adults, but her job soon proved itself to be useless; everyone was still asleep, apparently. They managed to sneak into the kitchens without getting caught, and Hitomi soon produced a large pot in which they could cook the fish. "Maybe they cook fish this large often?" she suggested as they took a few minutes to stare at the huge pot. "…Help me fill it with water."
"How are we going to do that?" In unison, the three of them turned to the sinks. The faucets were at waist-level. The pot's rim was over their heads.
Eventually, they figured out how to accomplish such a feat. If they turned on the water, the boys knew enough water jutsus in order to move it from point A to point B. Their second problem came when it was time to put the fish in the water. "…We should have put them in first," Hitomi sighed, defeated. So they emptied out the pot, set it on its side, and then rolled the fish in.
It took a bit of time, but after repeating that process a third time in order to move the pot to a large, open fireplace, they were already tired of trying to cook. Seishirou lit a fire while Tomozou and Hitomi tried to catch their breaths after moving the fish again. "…This isn't fun anymore," he complained, shaking hair out of his eyes.
"We only need to stir it and wait for it to cook now, though," Seishirou pleaded. He had invested too much in this meal of theirs to just give up. "And add in some seasonings! Come on, what do you guys want it to taste like?"
"Spicy," Tomozou answered at once, with a contented sigh.
"I do not want it overly spicy," Hitomi replied with a glance in his direction.
"It won't be overly spicy. I didn't say overly spicy."
"It does not need to be spicy at all."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" she asked quietly, a dangerous glint in her white eyes. Tomozou attempted to stare her down, but only for a brief moment.
He looked away, and ground out, "Nevermind."
"We will need carrots," she said triumphantly, turning back to Seishirou. "…Hmm, and potatoes. I miss potatoes. No eggs." She stuck out her tongue at the thought of that so-called stir fry. "I will also require onions, peppers," Tomozou looked up hopefully at the word, but she ignored that, "Tomatoes, parsley, salt and pepper…"
"What recipe are you going to use?" Seishirou asked excitedly, already rummaging around in a few of the cupboards for any of the ingredients.
"Mother's…" Hitomi admitted.
Tomozou watched in bewilderment as the mood went from high to low in a flash. "W-Well, let's get those ingredients," he said briskly, giving Seishirou a shove to get him back into action. It seemed to do the trick, though he noticed that Hitomi was still looking rather melancholic, standing there by the pot. He was still a little annoyed with her, though, so he figured she could handle herself.
They ended up giving her a stool and a large spoon to stir with, while they ended up being her servants and bringing her whatever she requested from atop her pedestal. "Cream, and olive oil," she asked of Tomozou, while sweetly saying, "Would you please chop those carrots?" to her brother. Tomozou was the one sent to find things and generally run around the entire kitchen a few times looking for them, while Seishirou had the easy job of cutting things or bringing them to her from the cutting board. Needless to say, it didn't take very long for him to figure out that she was purposely giving him the harder jobs.
By the time the soup was just about done, Tomozou was fuming, Hitomi was smirking to herself, and Seishirou was making sure to stay on the opposite side of the room. War probably would've erupted, had Aoko not wandered down into the kitchen to see what was going on. She rubbed her green eyes tiredly, taking in the scene with a practiced precision. "…Soup?" she asked in lieu of anything more aggressive.
"Kiri fish soup," Hitomi replied happily. "Would you like some? It is almost done."
"Sure." Aoko retrieved Seishirou from the far end of the room and dragged him over to one of the counters. "What kind of fish did you guys use? I can't remember what we had in here…" She beamed at Tomozou and Hitomi, obviously trying to lighten the mood. When that had no effect, she stopped smiling and instead busied herself with retrieving bowls and spoons. She pulled Seishirou along behind her, and while Hitomi chattered on about how she wished she could have used an actual Kiri fish, Aoko hissed, "What's up with them?"
"They're fighting," he replied vaguely, and that was all the answer Aoko needed. "Why is everyone sleeping in so late? It's nearly evening."
Hitomi visibly stiffened, pausing in her stirring for a few seconds. Aoko laughed nervously and offered, "W-Well, you know what? Yukina-chan and I were up really late last night planning out… what we're going to do when we find the Bijuu! Yeah! I-I don't know about your father and those Akatsuki-nin, though. You know how they keep to themselves…"
The boys looked at one another, wondering what the cover-up was for.
"The food is done!" Hitomi called in a high voice. No one missed Aoko's sigh of relief. The soup-stew--no one was quite sure what it was supposed to be by the end of it, and while Seishirou had the utmost faith in his sister's cooking, he knew it looked nothing like what their mother used to make--was ladled out and everyone sat around the counter for a few moments, waiting for someone else to be the first to try it.
"…What's going on in here?" Kakuzu, also drawn by the scent and the racket, showed up at the most opportune time.
"Dinner! Want some? Good. It's really delicious," Aoko said at once, handing over her untouched bowl. Hitomi huffed and crossed her arms. Kakuzu stared down at it, then walked over and dumped it down the sink.
"Not on your life," he said dryly. "I have no idea what the hell was in that, and for all I knew, you could be trying to poison me."
Aoko tried to look indignant (whereas Hitomi really was). "Why would any of us try to poison you?"
"Hey, Tomozou." As the girls pestered Kakuzu to try it, Seishirou leaned over conspiratorially to his partner in crime. The pink-haired boy looked up dully, still fishing around with his spoon in the soup-stew. "If you want to get back into Hitomi-chan's good books, try the soup first and tell her how delicious it is."
"What? No! I'd like to live to see my teenage years, you know," he snapped at once.
"Come on. You know it's not poisoned, and we all helped with it. It might look a little… foul, but it smells really good, doesn't it?" Seishirou put on his best angry face and leaned in closer. "Otherwise, Hitomi-chan's gonna be angry at you forever. Do you want that?"
"At least I'll live longer that way." Now bent on not tasting it, Tomozou set his spoon in the bowl and pushed them both away from him.
"Try it."
"No."
"Now."
"No!"
Seishirou's patience finally snapped and he grabbed Tomozou's spoon. "This is going up your nose or in your mouth. Your choice." The other responded by closing his mouth in a firm line and turning away. "You made your choice." Instead of attempting to shove the spoon up his nose--luckily for him--Seishirou reached over and pinched his nose, and then put it in his mouth when he opened it to breathe. "Swallow or suffocate," he said with a bright smile.
Meanwhile, Kakuzu was still arguing with the girls about whether or not he should try it. "I don't know what is in it. Fish stew? What kind of fish, hm?"
"Ame fish," Hitomi hedged, looking down at her lap. "Two of them, very large. There was a bird eating them, so they could not have been poisonous--" She was interrupted by coughing and spluttering. Tomozou had punched Seishirou in the stomach, making him release the spoon, and nearly choked on the soup in the process. Now both boys were trying to regain their breath, eyes watery.
"…Uh-huh. I'm not eating that shit," Kakuzu declared flatly, with a note of finality.
-.-.-
"Come on, Hitomi-chan. We're sorry. Aren't we, Tomozou?"
"Eh."
"I am not forgiving you two. Kakuzu called it shit."
"Don't swear."
"I was quoting! He called it that!" Hitomi snarled, nearly in tears. The three of them were sitting on the roof. She had tried to escape from them, but of course they followed, and she had quickly run out of stairs to flee to. Now, they were situated just a couple of yards away: the closest they could get without making her move. They didn't want her to walk any more on the slick roof, so they kept still.
"Yeah, well, Kakuzu-san is foul-mouthed anyway, so--"
"Seishirou, if he thinks we were trying to poison him, is he going to teach us ninjutsu?" Hitomi deadpanned, turning to him. She wiped a lock of wet hair angrily out of her eyes. "Stupid rain…"
Seishirou knew it was meant to be an innocent, if mad, remark, but he still couldn't help but get annoyed at it. "Hey, this rain is one of the last things the Akatsuki left behind for Ame."
"So? The Akatsuki has been reduced to a sparse few shinobi, and they are all jerks." She sat down and pulled her knees up to her chest, remembered she was wearing a skirt, and then let her feet dangle over the edge of the roof instead. "This city is full of jerks."
"We're all jerks, huh?" Seishirou asked, taking the chance to take a few steps closer. Tomozou he pulled along behind him. He was the cause of most of this, so if they were going to apologize, then he was going to be there, too. "If we were jerks we wouldn't have made that soup with you."
"You probably sabotaged it," she muttered mutinously, her voice nearly lost in the rain.
"Yeah, that's totally it. We had nothing better to do but ruin your day. Because we live to please you, right, Hitomi-san?" Tomozou asked critically. Seishirou turned back and shushed him, but the younger boy would have none of it. "I have put up with your shit all day, but now you're just being downright bitchy. Look, I'm sorry for kissing you, but that's all I'm sorry for, got it? So if you're still mad at me after that, I'm giving you fair warning: I'm going to fight back."
Hitomi stared at him, eyes large. Seishirou, too, stared, though probably more because he called her bitchy than anything else. Tomozou, for his part, just crossed his arms and glared at them both. He was fed up with the both of them. Seishirou was always just trying to please everyone (but primarily Hitomi), and Hitomi seemed to be perfectly intent on being as bratty as humanly possible.
For a long, awkward silence, it was unusually loud. The rain on the shingles drummed merrily, at odds with the tension in the situation. When it became apparent that no one was going to say anything, Tomozou turned and left. He had done his part. If he would get hell for it, then so be it.
-.-.-
Next Chapter: We check in with the Jinchuuriki fodder and see how they're doing. What's this? More Bijuu problems? At least it seems they've come up with a feasible escape attempt...