I didn't want to keep you guys waiting too long again!
Thanks to Kiravu, my beta!
Chapter Six: One-Up
Gaara had been warned about the Fire Country's heat wave. Of course, growing up in the desserts of Suna, he believed it was nothing he couldn't handle.
Back home, temperatures could reach a hundred and twenty. So a heat wave was nothing he would fear.
But this... Was torture.
While Gaara was sure it wasn't near a hundred and twenty degrees, he felt like he was in an oven.
It was the humidity he hadn't thought of. By noon the thick moisture in the air swelled with heat around him and clung to his skin disgustingly. He had to shed his sand armor because moving around with heavy, sticky sand on you was a sure handicap in a fight.
A fight which he was losing almost pathetically against the blonde idiot at his side. Being much more accustomed to the hot and wet air, he seemed hardly bothered, albeit he had stripped most of his clothing.
"What's wrong, Gaara?" Naruto called from a tree somewhere. "Giving up already?"
"You knew it was going to be like this." Gaara sighed wiping the sweat from his forehead and hurling sand in the Kyuubi boy's direction.
Naruto chuckled, now in a different tree. "I wouldn't be a very good ninja if I didn't use my opponents weakness as an advantage."
Distracting him with a new sand clone, Gaara jumped into the tree he guessed Naruto was aiming to jump in next. He was right, and sent a sand ball with enough force to knock him out of it. It hit, but instead of sending him flying, Naruto used the momentum to swing himself under the branch and aim a kick at Gaara's chest that sand wielder narrowly dodged.
But Naruto was full of energy and came right back at him. Gaara has improved vastly in his hand to hand combat, but his moves were slowed and sloppy in this humid heat. The only thing saving him from a few nasty blows was the sand's love of defending him.
Eventually they both tired themselves out and sat on the ground breathing heavily.
"You're a lot quicker than I remember." Naruto panted. "I thought that was going to be a lot easier."
"You're not the only one who's been training and I think I have sunburn." Gaara grimaced as he observed the angry red hue surfacing on the upper part of his bare arms. He had abandoned his long sleeved shirt that was part of the Sand Jounin uniform for just the nylon tank top he had on underneath.
Naruto laughed, "That's what you get for never letting your bare skin spend a day in the sun!" poking Gaara's shoulder and watched as it turned from fish-belly white back to angry red.
Gaara slapped his hand away. Naruto laughed some more.
"Damn! What the hell happened to you?"
Emiko sighed miserably as she leaned back against the blonde's doorway. "Kakashi ambushed me." Was all she said before she wiped her mouth clean of blood.
All Emiko wanted was to get in a little morning meditation before she went off to find her team and train. But that didn't happen.
He was only able to sneak up on her because at that moment, the Byakugan was off to rest it from having it activated for over three hours. How he timed that, she'd never know.
She barely had any time to react when the ground exploded from under her and he came at her.
Then Kakashi said he wasn't going to go easy on her, and he meant it.
The rules were simple. No Jutsu. No Byakugan, no Sharingan. Kakashi wanted to see what she was capable of in a strictly hand to hand combat sense. She didn't disappoint, oh no, there were some very satisfying blows she landed on him. But Kakashi was much stronger than Emiko. And faster. And it was hard to hit a person who's limbs were much longer. Getting close enough to hit him meant putting herself in reach.
Thus, she was bleeding in several places, had a black eye, possibly a sprained wrist, and bruises everywhere.
"I guess you want me to heal you, huh?" Ino guessed dully.
Emiko shrugged, "I do have a date later." And of course Ino wouldn't let her go out with the Kazekage looking like this. The word 'date' was all it took to practically get dragged into the house.
"You're lucky it's the Kazekage, or else I'd let you bleed all over him."
"Thanks."
Ino wasn't the best healer in the village, but she wasn't far behind Sakura, who wasn't far behind Shizune, who wasn't ar behind the best in the bisuness. So as far as medic-nin went, you could do a lot worse than the Yamanaka.
"So, where's he taking you?" Ino asked as she examined Emiko's hurt wrist and let her chakra soothe.
Emiko winced. "Not sure yet, he just said he'd find me sometime today."
"Hm." Ino hummed thoughtfully after a few minutes. "It's hardly a sprain, stop squirming." She began wrapping it in gauze. "I'll check on it again tomorrow to make sure there isn't too much swelling. Do you even have proper date clothes?"
"I guess." Emiko responded without really thinking about the sudden change in topic.
Ino scoffed, "You guess? Please don't tell me your wardrobe is as pathetic as I think it is. Look ahead." Emiko did as she was told while Ino rested her chakra charged hand over her throbbing eye.
"Probably." She shrugged.
Ino sighed loudly. "Emiko, how do you plan on keeping the Kazekage, of all people, when you don't even have a decent wardrobe?!"
Maybe because he wasn't going anywhere?
"No idea..."
"Tell you what," Ino started as she moved to another bruise across Emiko's cheek she didn't even know about. "I was about to go shopping, come with me. We'll get you some decent clothes."
Emiko made a face, "as fun as that sounds, I'll have to pass." She hated shopping. Everything was always too big, or too small and she usually ended up in the kids department: embarrassing. Not to mention she was tired from the earlier spar.
"Oh, come on, it's the least you can do for me since I'm healing you. How do you think it's going to look if I'm friends with the girl who got dumped by the Kazekage?"
"Isn't it enough that I got a date with him at all?" Emiko asked hopefully.
"No." A healing hand was now on her split lip.
"Fine." Emiko mumbled awkwardly with half her mouth.
"Yay, after we get you all cleaned up, let's go blow up that Jounin paycheck of yours!"
Joy.
Arriving at the mall, Emiko felt it actually wasn't that bad shopping with Ino. The girl knew her stuff, she had to admit. Ino gave great advice about what colors looked good, which patterns to stay away from, where, and they actually found a lot of, dare she say it, cute stuff.
They didn't even have to go to the kids section.
"I really wish you wouldn't bind your chest all the time," Ino sighed between stores. "Your boobs really aren't that flat."
"Um... Thanks." Emiko said distractedly while she tried to fit as many bags as possible into the biggest one so she wouldn't have to keep track of so many.
"Which is why we just have to make a stop in here!"
"What?" Emiko called looking up at the sign, "Ino, wait, no-!" But the girl was already dragging her inside.
"Oh hush, I've seen your underwear, Emiko. This is necessary." Ino smirked darkly as she picked up a few multi-colored thongs she better have wanted for herself.
"Gaara isn't going to be seeing my underwear." Emiko said sternly while she sent the barely clad manikins nervous glances. She was more than a little uncomfortable.
Ino just shook her head. "You can't know that."
"Trust me, I do."
Ino waved her off, "you can't know that." She insisted. "He may be a little cold... But I'm sure even he has hormones. And I'm sure you do to. If the two of you keep this relationship going forward, something is going to come off, somewhere, eventually. Better to be prepared."
Emiko supposed she was right. If they were going to keep up this pretense, she was going to have to play along. After seeing that couple in the alley... Emiko couldn't rule out the possibility of clothes coming off or she put their cover in jeopardy.
Sighing in defeat, Emiko looked through some racy looking sports bras. Binding her chest was getting a little uncomfortable, especially in this heat...
The shopping seemed to go down hill from there.
When at first Emiko was actually looking forward to wearing some of her new purchases, Ino all but forced her to buy some less than tasteful outfits she deemed necessary. They were revealing and very brightly colored.
Then there were the shoes. Because of her height, Ino convinced her to buy some of the highest heels she'd ever seen. The wedges weren't that bad, but the stilettos... Of course, with her ninja grace they wouldn't be too difficult to walk in (she trained on stilts sometimes) but that didn't mean they were at all comfortable.
Next came make-up. It would make her look older, Ino explained. At first, Emiko was against wearing any kind of foundation because she was so sure it would make her break out, to which Ino rebuked it would cover up the pimple on her cheek. Emiko grudgingly bought some.
Now all Ino had to do was show her how to put in on right.
After parting ways with Naruto, Gaara decided to head home for a much needed shower and then he would probably go do some actual work before finding Emiko.
He still hadn't figured out where he was going to take her, but he was sure she would have some ideas.
Gaara was surprised by all the people happily going on about their day despite the unfriendly weather. Most people in Suna did most of their village prowling in the morning and the evening between the temperature changes. And while it was late afternoon, he felt the sun was still much too high in the sky for all this activity.
It wasn't long before his journey was cut short by three girls who approached him from the other side of the street. One was blonde, one was a redhead, and the other, was a brunette. They stood in front of him and purposefully blocked his path.
The shortest one, the redhead, shyly stepped forward and gave a smile. Her blue eyes sparkled when he stopped and nodded to her, trying to be polite.
"Hi," she spoke while tucking a lock of crimson behind her ear. "I'm Kye."
Gaara just nodded. He was sure she knew who he was.
"I was wondering... If maybe..." She was slowly becoming red in the face. "You wanted to...-"
"A-hem."
All four heads turned and looked behind Gaara to see Emiko and Ino. Gaara recognized her blonde hair, blue eyes and lack of clothing. The cough had come from her.
"In case you girls haven't heard yet, he has a girlfriend." Ino glared at the redheaded girl who glared right back. That was probably his que...
"Emiko-chan," Gaara acknowledge, gratefully separating himself from the girls and closing the distance between himself and his pretend girlfriend while taking her bags. There were only two but by the weight of them, there appeared to be several stuffed into them.
"Thank you, Gaara-kun." Emiko said with forced kindness before starring at the three girls before they were forced to scoff and walk away.
Worked like a charm.
"This is Ino." She motioned with a wave of her hand. Ino waved back and gave a bright smile.
He nodded, "You were one of the ninja that helped me rescue my student some years ago."
Ino grinned harder at being remembered, "nice to see you again, Kazekage-sama."
Gaara raised his hand, "just Gaara."
Ino nodded. "I'll leave you two alone, see ya!" She waved and walked off with bags of her own swinging.
There was a short, awkward moment when neither of them knew what to say.
Gaara broke it. "I was kind of on my way to take a shower..."
"That's fine, you need it."
Gaara glared and gave her bags back. "Where do you want to go later?"
Emiko shrugged, "just meet me back here at seven." Then she promptly walked away without so much as a goodbye.
The once Ichibi stood glaring at her back for a beat before turning around to finish his walk home. All he wanted to do was shower and get out of this humidity.
Gaara was not pleased at all by the fact that it was pretty much just as hot and sticky as it had been three hours ago. He'd only been outside for ten minutes and he was already feeling like he needed another shower.
Suna weather was never like this. If it was a hundred degrees at noon, then it would be seventy by six and certainly forty by eight.
And of course he put on another long-sleeved uniform that stuck to sandless skin.
And of course Emiko was late.
Sighing and sitting down on a near by bench, Gaara leaned his head against the building and enjoyed the little shade his face got under the onset.
He sighed, "when is this heatwave going to end?"
"Maybe a week, give or take a few days."
Raising his head up he was greeted by Emiko, who he had to make sure really wasEmiko.
She had actually made an effort this time...
She was wearing a dark green sundress that was tight around her bust (a bust he didn't even know she owned) and had loose, short sleeves. There were five white buttons and the first one was undone, leaving a few inches below her neck exposed and flared out past her hips, hanging loosely till just above her knees.
It was the first time he's seen her wear an actual color. Green looked good on her he decided.
The soft white, wedged heels Emiko was wearing made her at least four inches taller. Her hair hung in a high pony tail with bangs down as always. And she appeared to be wearing some type of eye popping make-up...
She also appeared to be glaring.
Standing up, Gaara appraised her with a head nod. "You look nice." And he meant it this time.
Emiko crossed her arms defensively and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, you can thank Ino."
He might.
"Have you figured out where you want go?" Gaara asked, trying to match the girl in front of him with the one he saw earlier. Unlike the water-soaked air around them, she made a complete change. Except for the attitude, that is.
Emiko shrugged, "I guess I'm kinda hungry."
"Any restaurants around here?" Gaara tore his eyes away from her long enough to attempt to look around for some air conditioning.
"Eh. I'm tired of the whole restaurant scene. Besides, it's wonderful out here," she added, failing to conceal a smirk spreading across her lip-gloss covered lips. "We should go for a walk."
Gaara gave her a blank stare, knowing she only wanted to make him sweat, literally.
Plastering on a smile since he wasn't going to argue back, Emiko grabbed his hand and began pulling. "Hey, you're not wearing your sand armor." She called over her shoulder at the touch of his skin.
"It's too uncomfortable in this humidity."
"How will you protect yourself? You don't have your gourd, either."
"I do have other means of protecting myself besides sand, thank you." Even still, he had all the sand he needed to feel at ease, on his hip in a pouch.
"Okay sandy-pants." The Hyuuga assured him as she brought him into a food stall that smelled delicious. He was hungrier than he had originally thought.
"Naruto called me the same thing earlier."
Shifting her eyes away from the menu over the cook's head Emiko asked, "you've seen Naruto?"
Gaara just nodded, deciding to roll up his sleeves, he was very aware how it was even hotter in the small, crowded room than it was outside.
"Does he know about us?" She asked a little quietly.
Gaara nodded, "he was a bit upset you didn't tell him. But I just told him it was because you haven't seen him."
"I have been avoiding him a little..." Emiko confessed. "He's told me about you, I know you guys are close. I don't like lying to him, but Naruto isn't the best at keeping secrets." The last part she whispered, as they were now in line with a hand full of other people.
"Hn." He understood.
After their food was ordered and made, they took their toasted, loaded, six-inch sandwiches back into the street where they sat on a bench and started eating.
"How could you get all those peppers in this heat?" Gaara asked, able to smell her spicy sandwich from his comfortable distance away.
"Stop whining about the heat, it's really not that bad out here, it's only going to get hotter as the week progresses so you better enjoy this while you have it." She scolded, taking a hefty bite.
That didn't settle his nerves at all, but he was a little fasinated seeing her cheeks, that were full like a chipmunk's, flush at the burning sensation.
They ate in pretty much silence, and Gaara could tell Emiko was having quite a fun time glaring at any girl who made eyes at him. She was a scare-girl naturally. Perhaps he hadn't chosen too badly.
When they were done, Emiko suggested they go get some ice cream and Gaara was hot enough to agree.
Picking up her pace a little to beat him in line, Gaara couldn't help but notice how her hips swayed a little more in the heals. And that her legs were more shapely then he originally thought.
"What flavor do you want?" Emiko asked.
"Vanilla."
He must have said it weird, because she looked back to regard him for a moment before snorting. "How boring."
"Hn."
"Boring." She nodded. "Two black cherries, please." Then flashed a cheeky smirk before shifting to the side where the it was going to be handed to her while he paid.
Something was different with her today, he noticed.
Emiko was being much more mischievous and easy going. He'd never known her to be so... Tolerable. Then again, he'd only known her for four days. Who's to say she wasn't usually this easy to get along with with?
Looking wearily at the purplish-or pinkish-ice cream with black chucks of cherries in it, Gaara glanced at Emiko who was happily soothing her pepper abused tongue with her own cold treat. "This looks gross."
"It's good, promise."
Sighing and taking her word for it, Gaara gave a nervous taste and decided it really wasn't all that bad.
Satisfied that he was satisfied, Emiko began walking again and he followed. They kept a slow pace while they walked, turning heads from most people who passed them. And while most of them where the girls blushing every time Gaara licked his ice cream, there were also a few men shooting Emiko a few stares.
He supposed he couldn't blame them, he had a hard time recognizing her himself when he first saw her for their date, too.
Hearing a crunch, Gaara noticed Emiko had already finished most of her ice cream and was now starting on the cone. Understandable considering how spicy her sandwich was. He finished his much slower though, enjoying the new taste and savouring it, he normally didn't eat ice cream.
Emiko came to a stop over a small bridge and leaned over the railing, all traces of her cone gone now, and sighed.
"Hm?" Gaara hummed, stopping next to her and just starting on his own cone.
"I think this is the funnest date I've ever been on." She said with a humorless laugh.
"Really?"
Emiko gave one nod, "yeah, I hate restaurants. Yet, that's all my dates ever take too. And they're always so boring, I usually don't stick around long. But this was different. Refreshing." She sighed again. "What's the funnest date you've ever been on?"
"I don't know." Finishing the last of his cone, Gaara leaned his back against the railing and crossed his arms.
Ignoring his stand-offishness, Emiko looked up at him. The heels made her eye level with his neck. "You have to know." She argued, "the girlfriends you've had before, what was the funnest thing you ever did together?"
Gaara just shrugged. He didn't like talking about past things, especially them.
Now that the sun had mostly set, it went from stifling oven to a little less of a stifling oven. The ice cream also helped. He felt a little better. But if what Emiko said was true about it only getting hotter... He'd happily spend the next week in his cool office or home.
"What happened to your hand?" Gaara asked, he noticed it earlier when they were eating.
Emiko dismissed it with a wave of said injured hand. "Training."
"Hn."
Straightening, Emiko took his hand with the injurged one. "Come on, I have a whole village to show you off to." In other words, she had a whole village of girls to make jealous.
Gaara was beginning to think she was liking this whole arrangement a bit too much.
Using the excuse of giving Gaara a real tour of the village, Emiko dragged him everywhere and anywhere she knew people would be. After seeing the attempts of certain girls this afternoon, it was apparent that there were still people who didn't know about their relationship, or didn't believe it. She'd have to change that.
And just as she suspected, there were followers.
Some were ninja that hid in trees and on buildings, others were common village girls who ducked behind corners and pretended to be disinterested when they turned to face them. It would have been funny if it weren't so annoying.
It was was completely dark now, save a few street lights, and it gave Emiko an idea.
Pausing in the street, she pulled on Gaara'a hand and motioned for him to come closer. That's when she whispered, "follow me." And pulled him into a dark alley.
"You're not going to try to assassinate me, are you?" Gaara asked, even though she was sure he already had a hunch about what Emiko was going to do.
"Don't you trust me?" Emiko enquired, a wicked smile coming across her lips despite the weird feeling that was now settled in her stomach, probably from the peppers and cherries...
"I'd be stupid to." He quietly admitted when she reversed their positions and forcibly shoved him against the wall. Gaara grunted from force, Emiko laughed.
Several gasps were heard in the wind.
"I thought you were a good girl?" His voice was darker than it was a few minutes ago and it made her feel even weirder while she was putting his hands around her waist.
Emiko shook her head, "I just don't kiss on the first date." Her own hands slid up his chest and behind his neck.
"Or the second."
"Guess third's the charm..." She whispered before he lowered his head to kiss her.
His lips felt much softer against hers. And being this close, she could smell him. Very earthy and even though he wasn't wearing his sand, she could still smell it on him. But it wasn't bad, she actually found it kind of relaxing. He smelt clean. Like the forest after it rained. Probably because he had just taken a shower before hand.
The shadows erupted with whispers.
"Did you see that...!?"
"How dare she!"
"Wha... Gaara-kun, nooo!"
"How can he kiss her?! She has to have cheesy-jalapeño breath."
They were becoming hard to believably ignore, so the two pulled away and Emiko glared behind her and activated her Byakugan. "Do you mind?" She hissed. "I can see you all and can find out where you live, go away!"
They scattered like cockroaches.
Giving what she hoped was a breathy laugh, Emiko untangled herself from Gaara and pulled him back out the alley where they continued the walk back to the Hyuuga compound in comfortable silence.
"What are you doing tomorrow?" Emiko asked while sending glares over her shoulder.
It didn't take very long for the brave ones to regroup.
"I have a meeting tomorrow with the council in the morning." Gaara answered, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Ignore them, or you'll only provoke them." He reminded her for the forth time that day, loudly enough for the close ones to hear.
Emiko hummed distractedly, "you have a meeting with all the council members?"
"Yes." Garaa answered looking at her from the corner of his eye. "Why?"
That meant he was going to see Danzou, the very same Danzou who made it quite clear he was against this relationship they had and would probably stop at nothing to make sure they didn't have any babies.
Should she warn him? But then again, what would she be warning him about? To watch out for the old guy who's on to us?
"No reason... I have training with both Kakashi then my team, I'll probably be free by four."
Lowering his head, Gaara whispered in her ear. "I thought you didn't want this to be an everyday thing?" And for no reason at all, Emiko felt a blush creep up her neck and a shiver down her spine. She pulled away as if she were burned.
Gaara just stared at her with a confused look on his face, rasing what she guessed was an eyebrow.
But like the brilliant faker she was, Emiko just gave a very convincing sneeze and a sniffle. "Sorry," she gave a shy smile. "Pollen."
...And it worked!
Gaara nodded and she went back to him as they were, only a little bit more weary about what just happened. All he did was whisper in her ear and that happened. It was probably because she just wasn't prepared, he had caught her off guard and she still had a weird feeling in her stomach ever since the ally.
Thankfully Gaara just dropped it. She really didn't have an answer for why she wanted to see him again tomorrow.
Slowing to a stop in front of the road that lead to the Hyuuga compound, Emiko let go of Gaara. "This is far enough, thanks." She figured she'd made him sweat enough for one date, a half mile walk would only make him whine more.
Gaara nodded, "Hm. Good night, Emiko." He leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her lips so she wouldn't have to strain her neck too bad trying to meet him.
"'Night, Gaara."
Emiko smiled to herself as she turned around and began walking the long, quiet road home. Today had been a huge success. No one could say they weren't serious now that they've been seen making out in dark alleys.
'First base' as some put it, had been achieved.
But after getting the crap kindly kicked out of her this morning by Kakashi, shopping till she felt like dropping this afternoon with Ino, and parading her "boyfriend" around for the world to see tonight, all Emiko wanted to achieve now was a good night's sleep.
But it seemed like some people had other plans for her.
Three figures jumped down from the trees around her, trying to intimidate Emiko by surrounding her. Emiko just sighed.
Seriously?
"I don't know who you think you are, showing off Kazekage-sama all over town like some kind of trophy, but don't think for minute he actually likes you." A girl with brown hair and green eyes sneered. "He's a man and he has needs, he's only using you."
Emiko yawned."That's nice, when's he done with me, would you like it if I recommended he give you a try next?"
The brunette smiled and shook her head. "He'll come to me on his own, and it won't be just for sex. He just thinks you're a cheap fuck." Her two friends snickered and nodded in agreement.
Emiko gave her a flat look. The only thing she felt offended by in particular was her language.
"If I'm a cheap fuck," Emiko offered. "And he approached me, what does that make the rest of you desperate whores throwing yourselves at him?"
One of the girls scoffed indignantly, but the ring leader just shrugged. "Men like a chase. Once he gets what he wants from you, he'll realize his mistake."
"Then I guess I better give it to him quick so you all can lick up my leftovers, huh?"
"How dare you talk about Gaara-sama that way!" The girl on her right raged. "You'llbe his left overs, not the other way around!"
"Okay, whatever." Emiko crossed her arms and tapped her heeled foot. "Are you going to fight me or are you just here to talk? Because it's late, I'm tired, and we're talking in circles. Stop wasting my time."
One of the girls moved at that, moving fast, but not as fast as Emiko. Ducking the punch and getting on the ground, Emiko kicked the girl's leg out from under her then pushed her. The girl fell with a very undignified yelp and Emiko stood over her while straightening her heel.
"Mikoro!" The blonde peeled away to check on her friend.
"We didn't come here to fight." The brunette called at her fallen friend with a bemused look on her face. Perhaps she realized that just because they had the pale-eyed girl out numbered, did not mean she was at all out matched.
"A wise choice." Emiko nodded as she began walking past them. "But if you have nothing better to do than annoy me, I'm not going to humor you any longer."
"You'll get what's coming to you, you bitch!" The girl on the ground cried defiantly.
Emiko chose not to dignify them with anymore responses. Gaara was right, she was only encouraging their behaviour.
Finishing the walk back home, she walked the dark streets of the compound, nodding to the few night owls who were still up and about. It was past ten o'clock, most people have already turned in. Entering her house, she found Neji still up, on the couch watching an infomercial. Chibi was lounging on the back, purring and hardly noticed her other master come in.
"Hey, how was your date?" He asked without glancing up.
"Fine, but those fangirls are getting bolder. A few of them even tried to jump me on my way home." She looked at the television, it appeared they were advertising shoes that were sticky enough to give the effect of walking up walls and trees without the use of chakra for wannabe ninjas. Looked great except for when you were walking horizontally.
Neji nodded, "Bold indeed. You don't have a scratch on you."
Emiko shrugged. "They gave up after I took the first girl down in less than a second."
"Aren't you concerned this will start an uproar among them?"
"I'm sure there's nothing those girls can throw at me I can't handle." She walked over to pick up Toast who walked in from the kitchen and nuzzled his thick-black fur.
"Hn. You look nice, is that make up?" Neji asked, glancing up at her.
"Yup." Emiko shrugged. "Ino gave me a make-over for Gaara. Never hurts to look like I'm going all out for him, right?"
"Better not let Gai-sensei see you." He chuckled.
Emiko gave a laugh while setting the cat down to pet his sister, Chibi who's fur was just as black, only she was much thinner. "I could only imagine the speech I would get about my youth finally blossoming."
"You want to come training with us sometime this week?"
"Okay!"
After saying good night and washing the make up off her face so it couldn't hurt her skin anymore, Emiko brushed her teeth and got in her bed. Careful not to kick the cat who had claimed his spot by her feet and was out in an instant.
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