Chapter 27
AN: Kishimoto owns all except my characters-Kiminari, and Kimiko, and later characters. Also I'm probably not going to follow any of the story line except a few small things. I may take the characters outside their natural personalities, but that's because it's my story, and it'll add to it. Another thing: since I'm not following the story line of the series- All main (good) characters will start out the same age as they should be, but even though the Akatsuki will be around, the war will not happen until later; if it does at all. Again this is because I'm making up my own story line; it gets kinda boring when nothing has changed and, you readers would be able to guess what was going to happen all the time. So, enjoy, and please comment, review, rate, whatever you wanna do. :D
P.S. I don't like to go into detail to tell you things most of you already know, and if you don't already know them, then it's best I don't tell you.
PPS Kazuma and Haru will be based on friends from school. Others will be mentioned later. :D
PPPS I'll try to keep Tobi's dialogue structure as close to the original as possible. And I'm not going to put any suffixes after Deidara's either; it's really not that noticeable in the anime, and it takes a lot of time.
PPPPS From an earlier chapter, I have learned from Smoker Taichou, who was kind enough to review to tell me, that Uzushiogakure did not have a kage. Although, I will keep it the same for the purpose of the story, I would still like to thank Smoker Taichou again for pointing this out. I also hope all of you readers will continue to read, review, and give tips. :D love you all!
After dinner, we hung out in the common room and played cards. It was beginning to feel like I was being accepted by my two new friends. We shared our likes, dislikes, and hobbies. Kazuma was hardly interesting at all, accept for his nice, fit, build, but Haru, was quite friendly –and he was built nicely too, albeit a bit smaller and leaner than Kazuma. When I told them that I loved to dance, Kazuma was slightly interested, but Haru talked about how he would have to take me to some nearby village sometime during a festival, so I could teach him how to dance.
"I'm really not that good." I said. "I just enjoy it, that's all."
"Oh, I'm sure you're better than you think." He replied. Is it just me, or does he seem a little flirty?
"So, what about you, Kazuma?" I asked turning my attention to him. "Would you like to go to a festival sometime?" I joked.
"Honestly, I think I would only bore you. Besides," He leaned in to whisper in my ear. "I think Haru would be jealous." He moved away, laughing while I giggled.
Later, when we went to our rooms, Kazuma followed me to mine.
"Yes?" I asked as I opened my door.
"I just need to talk to you for a moment, if that's OK."
"Sure." I said walking into the room and flipping on the lights.
"When your father told me of his plans, two weeks ago, I was really upset, you know."
"Wait, two weeks ago? But you said you'd known about this for years." I said confused.
"I only said that so you wouldn't know how awkward this all was for me; I didn't want you to be too uncomfortable."
"Oh, well thank you." I said quietly. "Why were you upset, though?"
"Because, I already like someone." He said blushing a little and looking away slightly. "I didn't want our fathers to know, so I went ahead as planned." He said shame tinting his voice.
"Well, if you already have someone, don't worry about me; Dad has a whole list of people I can look at." I said rolling my eyes. "Besides, it makes more sense to marry other people anyway, because that's two new families for our clan." I smiled. "Go for her." I giggled as he blushed again. "That way I'll be a sister and an aunt." Now I was nearing hysterics, his blush had gone so deep.
"That's one of the reasons I brought Haru along with us today." He told me. "Since he has a lot of talent, but no kekei genkei, he'd be perfect." Now it was my turn to blush. "You know, I think he must like you; I've never seen him look at another girl like that." I could feel my face burning, so I punched his shoulder.
"Shut up." I said jokingly.
He smiled back. "Night. See you tomorrow." He waved over his shoulder as he left.
"Night." Was my quick reply. I couldn't tell my father about his girlfriend, but he'd understand that I didn't like him like that. Now the real question was how do I break it to Haru easily that my father wasn't really Tobi, but Madara.
After twenty minutes or so of thought, I was interrupted by a soft knock on my door. I stood and crossed the room to answer it, sensing my father just outside.
"How was it?" He asked before the door was even closed behind him.
"It was OK." I answered. "Kazuma's OK, but I honestly think I like Haru better. I just don't know what I'm going to do about my name." I said looking down.
"Well, I was really hoping it wouldn't happen like this." He said slightly irritated.
"You know, I was thinking anyway; if Kazuma and I each married someone else, that would be two families restarting the clan. Wouldn't that be better in the long run?" I asked.
He looked at me and beamed. "I had come to the same conclusion, but I had hoped for the clans blood to be strengthened some before marrying outside it again; you and Kazuma are only half blood after all." He said thoughtfully. "However, I think this may be the perfect opportunity to breed out the clans curse, if that's possible." He said smirking at me. I nodded in agreement, remembering what Kakashi had told me about the curse of hatred.
We discussed different plans of how I could tell Haru about my true identity, and finally decided. My father would most likely be able to reintroduce himself to the rest of the ninja world within the next couple of years, so I would give Haru a heads up the night before he introduced himself to the Akatsuki. Well, that's easier. I have almost two years to really get to know him.
After he left, I took a quick shower and then went to bed, missing my old friends back in Konoha and Suna, but also thinking of the two new friends I had made today.
Two weeks after I had arrived at the hideout, Kazuma and I had become good friends –almost as close as brother and sister- and Haru and I were in the awkward 'just started dating for the first time' phase. My father had told Obito about my decision, and he had laughed saying we were too different anyway; opposite enough to get along like siblings, but too much so to live together forever.
Today Kazuma, Haru, and I had trained for a while before joining the few members that remained at the hideout, in the common room. While Kakuzu was most likely in his room balancing some account, his partner, Hidan, was watching one of his numerous horror movies on the huge flat screen. Sasori was in the kitchen using the cookware to mix one of his potions –even though we'd all asked him not to-, so I hadn't been able to cook a good dinner. This lead to Deidara, Kazuma, Haru and me, sitting around the coffee table eating microwaved ramen –yum :P.
Deidara and I had gotten to know each other a little better, and I was really getting worried about how he would react when they found out I was an Uchiha. From my mentioning hearing things about them, he seemed to only have genuine hate for Itachi, while only a mild dislike for the clan itself. Haru, on the other hand, seemed pretty at ease around Itachi, and seemed to have nothing against the clan at all, so I decided to talk about it with my father tonight.
We all looked up as we heard a loud scream come from the TV. The woman in the film had rounded the corner and had been frightened by her own reflection in a mirror. We all chuckled at this, but then her attacker appeared behind her and slit her throat.
I had always preferred to injure rather than kill my opponents; however, I had seen many enemies be killed by others on missions. It had never bothered me before, but seeing this innocent, defenseless, woman being murdered, really disturbed me. It didn't really scare me, so much as shock me; either way I turned white as a ghost –not that hard for me- and started shaking.
"Maiko, are you alright?" asked Haru, worriedly.
"These movies have never scared you before. What's wrong?" Kazuma asked, apparently worried as well.
I shook my head trying to forget the image I'd just seen. "I've just never seen an innocent person be killed like that." I said, my voice shaking.
Haru, who had been sitting right next to me, wrapped his left arm around my shoulder and his right arm hooked under my knees, lifting me off the floor. Kazuma stood and followed him to the door, holding it open for us as we exited into the hallway. I had turned my head to rest it in his neck as he walked, so I was surprised when we arrived in my room. He sat on the bed, keeping me in his lap and asked Kazuma to go get an extra blanket from my closet. When he returned, Haru gently wrapped the blanket around me, and hugged me close.
"I'll leave you guys for now." I heard Kazuma say.
When I'd heard the door click, I pulled my arms out of the blanket and wrapped them tightly around Haru's waist. He responded by smoothing my hair and whispering that everything was OK.
We sat like that for a while before I began to feel sleepy. I suppose Haru noticed this, because he gently unwrapped the blanket from around me, and placed me under it as well as the blanket that had already been on my bed. He remained there for a moment before standing to leave, but when he did, I reached out for his hand, catching it.
He turned to face me and I asked, "Can you stay here tonight?"
"Are you still scared?" He asked taunting me a little, trying to lift the mood.
"Yes." I replied honestly
He went around to the other side of the bed, and slid under the top blanket only. I rolled over to face him and he pulled me into a hug. Maybe I should just tell him now. I thought to myself.
"Can I be extremely honest with you?" I asked him. He looked at me funny, but then nodded. "When I came here, leader-sama told me that no one could know my real name, unless the circumstances changed. Well, they did, and I can tell you now." I said looking at him.
"But Maiko's such a pretty name." He said, sounding a little upset.
I giggled a little at that, then said, "You really won't like what I have to say though."
"Well, I'll try to understand. You're not some spy, are you?" He said accusingly.
"No. Of course not." I said. "My real name is Kimiko," I paused for a breath to steady myself, "Uchiha."
His body recoiled a little at the name, but then he asked, "You aren't closely related to Itachi are you?"
I laughed a little at his tone. "No, not closely. I'm still not allowed to tell you who my father is, but you'll find out in a couple of years anyway; he just doesn't want anyone to know yet –you know, he wants a 'dramatic entrance'." We both laughed at that. "I'll have to say, though. You handled me telling you that really well. I was scared it would be a really big problem." I admitted.
"Well, for my brother, it might be, but it's his own fault he doesn't like Itachi; he shouldn't have lost." We laughed again remembering the story of how Itachi had beaten Deidara in a bet.
"You'll probably have second thoughts when you find out about my dad." I told him.
"That's OK. Your family doesn't determine who you are; for the most part." He chuckled. "Besides I think I'm starting to love you." I blushed madly, grinning, and burying my face in his neck again as he hugged me tightly.
I fell asleep that night thinking about how much I was really going to enjoy these next couple of years.
AN: Don't forget about the drawing entries! If you would like, I'm starting a competition. Just send me a link in the reviews, or on private messaging of a drawing, sketch, or painting of your favorite characters from my stories. You may include characters that are from the actual universe, but all entries must include at least one of the stories OCs. I'll start the first drawing on March 1, but if you're just reading, don't worry. I plan to continue this for a while