Love and the Time Travel Paradox

01:45PM

She'd just returned from the bathroom to find the younger man holding something. There was a brief flash of light, and he lowered his hands, his face concentrated on the object he was fiddling with. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"...Did you just take a picture of yourself?"

He averted his eyes, embarrassed at having been caught red-handed.

In his hands was a digital camera. Where he managed too get such a thing while she was at the ladies room, she had no clue.

"A souvenir photo, to remember this special day."

"Oh, well I can understand that."

She understood, but she never expected him to be that kind of person.

He was still quite bashful about it, but his eyes were alight with excitement as well. Yet another side to him that she was pleased to see. How many more sides was he planning on showing her today, she wondered.

"I usually don't take pictures. I'm not interested. I only take them when I feel like it."

"Like now?"

"Yes. If I feel that it is out of the ordinary, I commemorate it with a photograph. This way, I am adding more meaning into it."

He held up the camera, as if struck by a sudden idea.

"Let's take a picture together."

"Oh, sure thi- wait, what?"

She stuttered and shook her head, but he was persistent.

"Please?"

"I don't look good in pictures!"

"So do I. But I still would like to take one with you."

And after a bit more coaxing, she hesitantly leaned into him just as he requested, placing her hands on his shoulders. He held up the digital camera high in the air. There was a small flash of light and a clicking noise, and just like that it was over. He lowered his arm and checked the preview screen.

"Ah. It doesn't look bad at all."

"L-let me see..."

She took one glance at the screen. And made a mad grab for the digital camera. He held it out of her reach.

"Please, please, please delete it! It's so... bad! How can you not think it's bad?!"

"Why? What's wrong with the picture?"

He was honestly confused. She was desperate and ashamed.

Another wild grab for the camera. And another. She wasn't very lucky.

"I look like I'm cross-eyed! My hair is a mess! My face looks stupid! It's so awful!"

"I don't think so."

"This picture looks like a random stranger taking a picture with a cool celebrity! Please, just delete it!"

"Please calm down. I won't be showing this to anyone else. I just wanted to take a picture with you, that's all."

It was hard to stay firm in the face of his pleading expression.

When did he pick up on the fact that she was weak to this kind of persuasion...

"And besides... I don't think you look strange in this photo at all. You're quite lovely, in fact."

"R-really?"

It wasn't proper for an adult woman of her age to blush like this. Just because she was paid a compliment about her appearance.

But she couldn't help it.

Especially when he stared into her eyes like that. He wasn't playing fair.

Suddenly, his smile fell away.

"I wish I could have had a picture together with you when we were younger."

02:05PM

It was certainly unexpected to see her blond ex-student wandering these parts. Or perhaps maybe it wasn't so surprising. His favorite ramen bar was just down the road, their store sign clearly visible.

To his credit, the whiskered man greeted her like any other time, and exuberantly exchanged pleasantries with the redhead beside her too.

She wasn't sure what shocked her the most: that the two younger men were already acquainted with each other somewhat, or that the stoic man would deign to speak with somebody whom he was only passingly familiar with from several diplomatic meetings.

Inside, she was still feeling unbalanced from his earlier admission about how he felt towards the citizens of Suna. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Her student predictably asked her why the two of them were walking together like this, her arm looped possessively in the redhead's.

She was aware of how her childhood friend was staring at her with his piercing teal eyes and listening to her reply carefully. But he didn't need to worry. She was past the age where she felt that hiding things like this was more important than preventing misunderstandings.

The words that tumbled out of her mouth were the blunt truth.

"We're on a date."

Nobody reacted immediately after the declaration. It felt like an ultimatum.

Suddenly, the blond boy asked to borrow his fellow ambassador for a private talk.

Without waiting for a response, they went off to a different street that was still close by. She had a feeling that this was one of those man-to-man conversations that girls would never comprehend. It was most likely about her, too. It was worrying, but she supposed that they could handle themselves.

In the meantime, she was bored.

So she decided to visit the daughter of the owner of the ramen shop, a female that she was friends with after years of eating noodles with various people.

In the past, the pink hired medic wouldn't have dared to seek the other woman out, but time was funny like that when it came to change.

02:15PM

He asked her about her relationship with the blue-eyed man after he returned to her side and they began walking the private roads again.

The smile on her face was very nostalgic and exasperated. Like an indulgent older sister.

"He's an old student of mine."

"He seems quite loyal to you. Loudly so."

"Yes, he can be very loud. But he's also an important friend and comrade that I trust."

She gently squeezed his arm.

"What about the two of you? What's your relationship with each other?"

His smile was very complicated.

"We met during the Fourth Secret War. Despite our... similarities, we did not get along at first. The two of us decided to compromise in the end. But I am surprised by how well you mesh with him."

"It wasn't like that at first, trust me."

"Is that so?"

"Back then he was still really hyper and boastful in an annoying way. He had his own reasons for his behavior, but actually dealing with him in person is a very different thing from sympathizing with him. But after years passed, he had grown on me. And now I can't imagine what my life would be like without him in it."

They were getting closer to her apartment complex, but she wasn't done talking yet.

"I think it's unique with different people. Sometimes you stick with your first impression of them for the rest of your life, while other times you slowly grow to like them as you spend time with them."

"...Then, what about me? Does it apply to me? Has your impression of me changed or improved at all in these past weeks?"

"Huh?"

They stopped right at the entrance to the apartment. He was gazing at her with such honest anticipation that she was almost lost as to what to say.

"W-well... I always thought that you're cool... and an intellectual. And I really admire you for how far you've come since you were a kid."

She swallowed, nervousness creeping up on her.

"You're definitely... not a kid anymore."

02:30PM

Without warning he pulled her into the circle of his embrace again.

All of her efforts to convince herself that it was a purely innocent and friendly hug were shattered the moment she felt his hard thigh touching hers. The clean, warm scent of him was filling her senses. She clamped down on the excitement building up within her and told herself that she was stronger than this.

"I think that I like you even more than I did before."

She raised her eyes to his. The heat of his gaze went right through her.

"After all these years, I've finally caught up with you."

He bent near her ear and his voice became a low murmur.

"I'm not a child anymore."

Her body quivered. It was this moment that she became painfully aware just how much she wanted him. The chemistry between them was undeniable.

And gods above, he unequivocally wanted her. She did not resist resting her head on his shoulder as his arms grew tighter still.

At first it was electrifying, after some time it became comforting. And she thought to herself that, would it be such a bad thing to stay within these arms?

She heard her name being called.

The arms around her reluctantly loosened themselves, but they did not release her.

Emerald eyes widened.

Standing there, not over seven feet away, was her ex-husband.

TBC...