Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 7 - The purple side
'In the beginning...'
"Kaoru-chan! Look what I got!"
"What Kuro-kun?"
The little boy grinned and showed Kaoru a small box. He opened the box, and the small girl gasped in surprise and joy, after seeing what was inside.
'It was all so simple...'
"Who gave you that?" she asked with her eyes wide open.
"My dad."
"Can we use it?" she asked bouncing back and forth in her own feet.
"Yeah, what animal do you want to be? It can only be white and black, I don't have anymore colors."
"Hmm...a panda!" she happily jumped.
"I wanna be a black panther!"
"No! You can't choose black panther, you will be all black. That's not fun!"
"Then what should I be?"
"A zebra!"
"What? No way! I want a feline!"
"No! Zebra is funnier to paint." the girl sat next to the boy on the floor. She put her index finger inside the box. The box was full of black and white paint. She giggled and started to paint the boy's face zebra patterns.
'There were no worries...
No responsibilities...
No shame...'
The boy also painted the girl's face. Black eyes, black nose and black mouth, everything else white.
"Next paint I will ask my father, will be the color of your hair."
"Why? The others will make fun of you." she asked concerned.
"I don't care. They already make fun of me."
'We were naive...'
"They think I don't know how to fight, but I do," the boy said frustrated.
"No, you don't!"
"Yes, I do!"
"Then fight me!" the girl shout.
The two children wrestled in the sandy park. They tickled each other, and they laughed rolling in the floor.
'We knew hate...'
"Look Kankuro is fighting a girl!"
"You're so gay!"
"FAG!"
"Don't call me that!" the painted boy yelled.
"What's a fag?" Kaoru asked.
"It's a boy who likes other boys," replied one of the bullies.
"I'M NOT A FAG!" Kankuro yelled again.
"Yes you are! You can't fight, and you like to play with makeup!"
"It's face pain!" the girl defended. "And he's not a fag!"
"Prove it!"
'... and love...'
"He likes me! And I like him!" the girl burst. The boys laughed at them.
"So you are his girlfriend?" one of them asked.
"Yes!" she replied. The boys kept laughing. Furious, Kaoru grabbed the zebra painted face boy and she kissed him. The others laughed and left, without saying anything else.
"What was that?" Kankuro asked, touching his lips.
"That's what my mom said boyfriends and girlfriends do," she answered.
'We were honest...
with nothing to hide...'
"Are you my girlfriend?"
"I dunno, but I can be."
"Ok... wanna play animals?" the boy grinned. The girl grinned too.
'We trusted each other with our hearts...
'I only need you...we silentely said...'
Soon, it was almost night. They both said goodbyes.
"I'm gonna show my mom, my panda face! BYE!"
"Bye!" the boy ran home. It was pretty late, when he arrived men with masks were talking to his father. The ANBU left the moment they saw the child.
"Where have you been?" the Kazekage asked.
"Dad I was playing animals with Kaoru-chan," he replied rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"The Kurokaze girl?" his father asked frowning. He wasn't angry, he was suspicious.
"Yeah..."
'I can feel your pain, and I want to heal it...'
The Kazekage ruffled his son's hair. Kankuro knew he only did that when something bad happened.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Your friend's mother is dead," his father's words didn't seem real.
'No matter how alone I am, I will always be there waiting...'
Everyday Kankuro went to the park and waited for Kaoru. But she never came. He went to her house, but no one answered.
'Death was so complicated back then...
How can it change so much a person?'
In the academy, he saw her. That wonderful purple hair flying behind her back. He ran towards her.
"Kaoru-chan!"
The girl turned and looked at the boy, the sparkle in her eyes was gone. They were empty. She turned her head and left the boy speechless.
'I never understood what happened that day...
What I saw...
But what I felt... was beyond sadness, beyond pain...
My heart broke in a thousand pieces, in a thousand different ways...
Kaoru was gone...
I only need you, we said...'
0000000000
'That feeling beyond sadness, beyond pain...
in the end it was all in vain...
"Kaoru-chan? Can I kiss you?" Kiba asked
"Kiss me," she answered.
'In the beginning it was all so simple,
As I sit here, I can see that now.
I can see how I wasted my life.
Kaoru died that day, those empty eyes...
She was gone, my Kaoru...
I lost you and now you were found by another...
That day we were both broken...
I always thought we were still broken...
Am I alone now? Am I the only one who's broken?'
"Am I the only one broken?" Kankuro whispered. He glanced at the kissing couple and moved through the hallway, to the bathroom. He knelt down at the toilet and threw up.
Kankuro wasn't someone who showed weakness. He would bury his feelings inside so deep, he would eventually forget them. At least it's what he expected.
He washed his face and his face paint smudged his hands. That purple color...
He sighed in defeat, he was doomed. They would always be there, his feelings... They would always be showed in his face, in those purple lines. Yes, those feelings would never go way. He just had to deal with them.
After taking a shower and cleaning himself, Kankuro got out of the bathroom. He saw Kaoru and Kiba coming from downstairs, so he quickly hid in Kiba's room. He couldn't face them in that state. The horrible thought of Kiba spending the night in her room came to his mind, but soon ended when Kiba returned to the room.
"You're awake?" Kiba asked rhetorically, since Kankuro was standing up.
"Yeah, I had to take a bath. I'm gonna sleep now," the puppet master said quickly, he didn't want to give the opportunity to Kiba to talk about the kiss he shared with Kaoru. He laid on his bed and covered his body and face with his blanket.
Kiba took off his clothes and turned off the lights, and laid on his own bed.
"Kankuro? I think I'm falling for Kaoru..."
The puppet master remained silent, pretending to be asleep...
To be continued...