Chapter 42
Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Naruto series, only my own OCs.
After our game, I rose stretching and yawning. "Alright, I'm tired. I think I'll just take a shower and head on to bed." But, as I made my way to the door, Kazuma, who was helping Haru clean up the pieces, decided to revisit the topic from that morning.
"You're not going to wait on Haru?" He asked sarcastically. Earning him a warning look.
"No, I'm not." I responded sharply. "Haru's a big boy, he can take a shower on his own." Then I turned my attention to Haru, asking, "Your ribs aren't so broken that you cant reach your back or wash you hair, are they?"
He hesitated, having turned a light shade of pink. "Uhhhh."
"Well. Yes or no?"
"Uh, no, I guess."
I rolled my eyes. "That's what I thought." I continued through the door, but stopped just outside it and stuck my head back in, saying, "By the way, if you plan on sleeping in my bed again, try not to wake me up this time. It's hard enough to go to sleep, let alone, to go back to sleep." Then left for the washroom.
"I WAS RIGHT!" I heard Kazuma shout to himself, followed by a loud thud, and 'ouch', and the sound of something falling. I could only assume Haru had tackled him.
"What's with you and trying to prove something?" I could hear Haru asking through gritted teeth, accompanied by the sound of what I guessed to be a foot or fist hitting the floor.
"HA! Missed."
"TAKE IT OUTSIDE!" I yelled back in their direction. "YOU'VE ALREADY BROKEN ENOUGH THINGS SINCE YOU'VE BEEN HERE!" I added, shaking my head as I heard the door open and close.
I guess I'm going to have to take them to a training field. I thought to myseslf. We've all got too much built up energy. Besides, Kakashi hasn't had the chance to see either of them fight, or see how we work as a team. May be he can get a few other Jonin together and we can have a team spar.
Later, after I'd taken a quick shower and was sitting on my bed, towel drying my hair a bit before going to sleep, I noticed something in the upper corner of my closet. I stood and made my way over and retrieved it-having to stand on my toes a bit to reach it. I really should just get a stool. It really is annoying, having to do that all the time.
When I pulled it down, I realized it was the sealed box of memoirs I'd left when I went with my father. I'd had the box, and had kept it sealed since I'd arrived in Konoha when I was a child, so I doubted anyone would have thought to check it out once I'd gone missing-although, I'd placed a blood seal on it when I was nine so only I'd be able to open it anyway. Remembering this, I nicked my thumb and wiped it across the seal. Once the seal was removed, I sat looking at the box, trying to remember what was in it.
I was trying to decide whether I wanted to open it now, or not, when Haru knocked. "It's me Kimi." He called.
"You can come it." I responded.
When he saw I was sitting on the bed holding something, his curiosity sparked.
"What's that?" He questioned, setting next to me.
"It's a box of things I've accumulated since I moved here, that mean a lot to me, but to be honest, I'm not really sure I remember all that's in it." I said.
"Well, why don't you open it and look?" He asked, curious as ever.
"I'm not sure. I guess, since I don't know what I'll find, I'm a bit nervous. I know it doesn't make much sense to be scared of my own memorabilia, but it feels like I've been away from this life so long that I might not feel the same about it."
"No, your right." He chuckled. "That doesn't make any sense. Even if you don't feel the same about it as you did when you put it in there, you'll still have some feelings for everything in that box. You might laugh at why you have some of it, once you remember why it's there."
I laughed at that. "I'll have to agree, some of it may be a bit funny to look back at now, considering I've had it all since I was five or six. I'm just curious as to why I can't remember any of it." Then I opened it and it all came flooding back.
As I sat there with a shocked expression, Haru looked at me and waved a hand in front of my face. "You OK, Kimiko?"
I shook my head to regain my thoughts.
"Yeah." I answered. "I just realized why I couldn't remember anything." I laughed. "When I left, I erased my own memory of everything that's in it, since there was information crucial to Konoha in it, and I wasn't entirely sure no one would question my on sensitive topics like that." I lowered the lid and looked at him seriously. "I will erase your memory of anything related to that you may see."
"How about I just close my eyes, cover them, and turn around?" He suggested, not really preferring the use of a mind bending jutsu, as he said they felt uncomfortable.
I agreed, and waited until he had done what he'd said, then rummaged around until I found all of the old information, and sat on it.
"OK. You're good now." I laughed. "Now, lets see…" I looked through the box to see what all I wanted to show him.
"So this is kind of like a tangible diary, huh?"
"I guess you could call it that, except you won't find any black mail." We laughed as I pulled out the necklace I'd bought when I'd first moved to Konoha. "This is the Uzumaki clan crest." I said holding it in my hand, where he could see it. "If you and Kazuma are accepted as Jonin, you'll have to wear the standard vests; they have this on the side." He nodded, remembering the history I'd taught him of why the crests were worn on the vests.
"What about your family's crest?" He asked as I returned the necklace to my box. "Won't I have to wear it once we're married?"
I blushed a little at the thought, causing him to as well. "Well, it's not required, I suppose since you weren't born into the clan, but you can if you like." I smiled.
"I don't mind. I've never actually belonged to a clan anyway. I mean, I was adopted, so I don't even know my own lineage."
I thought about that for a second. He really could be anyone; why hadn't my dad looked into that? Or did he, and just chose not to tell me; or maybe even forgot, though I doubted it. "I'll get Lady Tsunade to check on that too, if she doesn't mind. I'm a bit curious as well." Then I continued with the items in front of me.
In turn, I pulled out my first set of ninja shoes, some pictures of Kakashi and myself, and even a few of myself and the Suna siblings, as well as some old recipes, my standard vest, and a spare key, which I passed to Haru, asking him to remind me to get another made for Kazuma.
Then, returning to the final items in the box, I saw, at the bottom, my headband and all the information I'd had at the time, on my parents.
"So this was his?" Haru asked, recalling that I'd told him I'd been accidentally given my father's old forehead protector. "You know, now that you've told me who he really is, I can't see him wearing it. It seems like it'd ruin his whole look."
I laughed. "I think he only wore it while he was fighting; probably not for everyday wear."
"Makes sense. Who's that?" He asked pointing to the picture at the very bottom.
"Oh yeah. This, Haru, is my mother, Kiminari." I said proudly holding up the print off photo.
"I see where you get your looks." I punched his shoulder. "No really, I get why your dad liked her, although, I'm not quite sure what she saw in him. But then again, I guess I don't really know him" He smiled, and we laughed.
"Well, I don't really know much about her aside what she looked like, but Dad says I'm like her sometimes." I thought for a moment, then said, "You know you never really talk about your adopted parents. What were they like?"
He frowned. "Well, they took me in, but only because it was asked of them by their superiors. Deidara took to me well enough; he enjoyed having someone to look up to him, but his parents weren't even that close to him. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everything they did for me, like sending me to school and making sure I had everything I needed, but they were always gone on missions, so Deidara ended up raising me more than they did."
"I'm sorry, I never thought about it being like that." I said.
"It's ok." He smiled back. "I was already able to do most things myself when I got there. I think I moved to Iwagakure when I was four or five."
"Well, what about your family before that? You should be able to remember something about them right? Or about where you lived before you moved to the ****village."
He shook his head. "I've tried to remember, but I guess they erased my memory, or maybe I was just too young and forgot too quick." He smiled. "It's ok though. I don't really mind. And besides, I've got you and a brother of sorts, so I think I have a wonderful family."
"Sure, whatever you say, just wait until you see how crazy Uchiha kids are." I leaned in and whispered. "Especially with Kazuma the way he is; you never know what his will be like." We laughed at that for a few minutes, until Haru started to complain about it causing his ribs to hurt again, and flopped back onto the bed, still trying to control his laughter.
Once I'd regained my own self, I told him to cover his eyes again and roll over so I could return the important documents to their place in the box. After I'd done that, I finished replacing everything else on top of that, closed the lid, reactivating the seal, and stuffed it back on the top shelf of the closet, then returned to my side of the bed after turning off the lights and returning to my side of the bed.
"You'd better go get a shower before you fall asleep." I said, moving the blankets and earning a confused look from Haru. "I'm not letting you sleep in my bed dirty." I warned jokingly.
"Fine…" He said with a sigh, leaving for the washroom.
About fifteen minutes later, I was just starting to dose, when the door opened again. I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing out loud. Haru had a towel around his waist and another over his head and was trying to sneak along the wall to find the dresser and his clothes; he'd forgotten them again, and couldn't see well in the dark, but was too afraid to turn the lights back on.
He had done this a couple nights before and had to find them before returning to the bathroom to change, however this night, he must have forgotten to think, or assumed I was asleep, because right there, in the middle of the room, he just dropped his towel.
I immediately closed my eyes, and tried not to make any noise. I was somewhere between laughing and yelling at him to cover up, but I didn't want to make the situation worse by having both of us embarrassed. I did, after all feel bad for him having broken ribs, and didn't really want him to opt for the floor just because of this, so I stayed quiet and focused on controlling my blush and pretending I was asleep.
A few minutes later, after he'd finished dressing and drying his hair, he climbed in the bed beside me and wrapped his arm around my waist, as he'd done the night before, only this time he'd conveniently forgotten his shirt. I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything. He'd been in that habit until last night anyway; he'd only put one on the night before because he didn't know what I'd say.
A while later, after Haru had gone to sleep, I was about to go to sleep, myself, but suddenly felt something change; it felt wrong. I tried to un-fog my mind and think straight, when it dawned on me. Haru had stopped breathing.