_._
The Story of Us
'For those who never gave up'
Naruto x OC
Friendship, Adventure, Romance
Chapter 26: Eb and Flow
"There is ebb and flow. Leaving and coming. Flight and fall. Sing and silent. Reaching and reached."
-Ally Condie
Blood/Water - grandson
Sasuke and I returned to the others, only for me to find my team had caught up and mingled with Naruto and Sakura. Akira and Naruto were glaring at each other over something while Sakura and Reiji were conversing as he helped her wrap up her arm with a long bandage.
I looked up at Sasuke, to see him looking down at me.
"What is it?" I asked, noticing he seemed hesitant about something. He glanced at the group, but then they saw us and Naruto called out.
"Never mind." Sasuke said, dismissing the conversation. I didn't push, unsure what he even had wanted to say in the first place.
"Oi, you done running off or what?" Akira huffed, shoving his hands in his pockets as he sauntered up to us. He looked at Sasuke, his eyes narrowing. To my surprise Sasuke's eyes narrowed back as he stood a bit taller.
Akira was tall, taller than Sasuke by at least two inches, and for a lazy Nara he has gained a lot of muscle mass in the past few months. Compared to him, Sasuke looked a bit skinny. Reiji was just as tall as Akira, but with much less muscle. The two of them absolutely dwarfed me.
But Sasuke looked up at Akira and almost seemed to be squaring up to him. I really didn't know what was happening, but it was like a silent conversation was passing between the two. Reiji cleared his throat, gaining my attention.
"We should go, the next phase of the exams should start in half an hour." He said to me. I nodded, looking back to Akira and Sasuke.
"Akira, if we don't go now, you won't get a chance to fight that Kankuro guy." I teased. Akira's gaze snapped to mine.
"Oh please, puppet boy doesn't stand a chance." His confidence made me snicker.
"I dunno, you both might be evenly matched on that one." I said while the group started to walk. Naruto on the right side talking to Sakura, Reiji and Sasuke bringing up the rear, and Akira on my left. The Nara and I conversed more, but in the back of my head I had a nagging feeling about what Sasuke wanted to talk about.
My thoughts drifted to the forest of death, to Orochimaru, and to whatever he did to Sasuke and Naruto.
I paused then, my head whipping over to Naruto as it dawned on me that I had completely forgotten that he had been knocked out. Naruto sensed my distress, he must've, because he whipped his head to face me too.
"Kari?" he asked, his beautiful blue eyes wide with worry. I opened my mouth and hesitated for a second, before closing it. Instead, I grabbed his hand and held tightly.
"We're going to have to catch up after all this. There's a lot that happened, y'know?" I supplemented. Naruto watched me for a moment, then seemed to realize something.
"Oh yeah! Lots happened! I got eaten by a snake out there! It was huge and swallowed me whole!"
I nearly passed out when I heard this.
"Well well, the big shots show up." I looked to the sound of the intruding voice, and was surprised to see Kiba grinning at us. Hinata shyly nodded her head at me, from behind him.
"H-Hikari... I-I'm glad you're alright." She spoke so softly Kiba nearly drowned her out.
"Of course she is, she knocked that Sand ninja and took his scroll. It was awesome!" Kiba exclaimed. Shino sighed behind him.
"You're causing too much noise Kiba." He said into his collar. The Inuzuka ignored him though. Hinata also smiled a bit.
"Yes it-it was really impressive. Your teamwork... and your speed..." She said gently. I scratched the back of my head and looked up to Akira and Reiji. Akira rolled his eyes, while Reiji bowed gently.
"Hang on, what happened?" Sakura asked. Akira scratched at his ear.
"Oh, speedster over here managed to smack around that sand ninja guy and trick him into attacking his own teammate. That's where we got our heaven scroll." Akira said lightly. I coughed awkwardly.
"I hit him once, I didn't smack him around." I retorted. Akira shrugged.
"Whatever, dude looked so shocked he didn't even react until after he hit the ground. I'll bet it doesn't happen often if his whole team looked surprised... You did good." He seemed to add the last sentence as an afterthought, but as I looked up at him his cheeks turned pink and he looked away from the group grumbling. A small smile slipped onto my face at that.
"We're a great team." I confirmed. Akira glanced down at me, before muttering something as he stormed off. I let him, instead opting to deal with Naruto's excitement next to me. He wanted a play by play of what happened, but it was all cut short as we arrived in the main hall. I saw the sand ninja across the way from us. Gaara turned and looked right at me, and if looks could kill, I would've been long since dead.
Mitsuki was right next to him, but I frowned this time as I looked between the two. There was something about their dynamic that bothered me, something felt off about it.
I remembered the immense chakra that Gaara exuded in the forest of death. I remembered the bloodlust, the desire to kill. It reminded me of-
I took in a deep breath.
It reminded me of Naruto on the bridge.
"The chakra you felt, and likely saw, belonged to the nine-tailed fox."
The anger, the the bloodlust...
Could he be... just like Naruto?
Mitsuki's behavior would make a lot more sense.
"Hikari?" Reiji called. I startled a little, but then got in line with them. However, I couldn't keep my eyes off those two.
Sasuke was acting strangely.
Throughout the entire speech the Hokage gave about the Chuunin Exams, he was flinching, or moving around. Sakura was whispering to him, but Sasuke finally snapped with a 'mind your own business'. His eyes, surprisingly, went straight to mine. I stared back at him, and he nodded then. Unsure what to make of it, I nodded as well, then turned to listen to the Hokage.
It would appear that too many of us made it through this exam. Despite several people bailing. I was shocked to see so many just up a quit. Some sand ninja, some leaf, and then there were the ones from Cloud village that left for some odd reason.
This was when I locked eyes with one of them. He was blatantly staring at me. Unlike Gaara, he didn't look pissed off when he saw me. No, his eyes lit up with glee.
Akira, who stood behind me in line, tapped my shoulder before leaning down to whisper in my ear.
"That guy was looking for you during the exam. He ran into us."
I was surprised to hear that, but before I could ask more, the panel opened to reveal two people who were meant to fight.
Kenji Monogabe vs Shino Abarame
While most of us moved to the wings, with the proctors in their corners, that creepy guy and Shino stayed on the ground. Kenji looked like a menace. I didn't have any other way to describe him other than he made me uncomfortable.
He was big, that much was certain, with golden eyes commonly found in the Land of Lightning, and darker shades of skin even darker than my own. His hair was a deep red, with a tall but built frame that rivalled Akira's. He had tattoos along both his arms that were visible with his tight sleeveless top. He looked up at me in the viewing area, his eyes seemed to become darker as he stared.
"I don't like that guy." Naruto said from beside me, I didn't react, instead I wanted to try and figure out what the guy's deal was.
What did he want with me?
"Alright," the proctor called out. "You may begin."
Shino immediately called all his bugs out, but Kenji didn't move as the swarm surrounded him. He chuckled, that huge grin never leaving his face as he kept his eyes on me. I was almost nervous for him with how he was acting.
As the swarm surrounded him on the ground, Kenji made several hand signs before slamming his hands into the earth. A huge blast of fire and earth hit me.
"Lava Release: Planet Branding Blast!"
The heat from the attack filled the room rapidly. The ground around Kenji sizzled and expanded straight up to Shino and his army of bugs. Anything on the ground was caught, but Shino leapt out of the way quickly, attempting to find high ground as his insects fled for their lives.
"Holy shit, that's one hell of a jutsu. Did he say Lava Release? Seriously?" Akira whistled as he watched. "Wonder why he pulled the big stops out now?"
I had a pit in my stomach that told me.
He wanted me to watch.
And I was even more shocked when he left his spot, being lost in the steam. I sensed his chakra molding on the ceiling, and looked up.
"Wait, water and wind too?!" I stared in somewhat awe, but also concern.
"Ice release: Storm Barrage!"
It rained senbon of ice down into the arena, there wasn't really a safe spot to stand as many of us backed into the wall to avoid the shattering pieces. While I was trying to get a better view, Sasuke yanked me along with himself and the others to step back. I didn't take my eyes off Kenji though as he still somehow had the strength to keep going.
"That's impossible." I whispered, shocked by the chakra reserves for this supposed Genin.
"Yeah, that's a lot of chakra he's just tossing around." Shikamaru commented, brushing off the snow from his shoulder. We looked into the arena to find the proctors had aborted the grounds as well, while Shino was lying in a pile of his own bugs. The bugs were frozen, and pins of ice were stabbing into Shino's back. Blood was leaking from his jacket. I vaguely heard his team calling to him, but my eyes went straight back to Kenji. He leapt to the ground, and immediately his eyes found mine. He watched me for a moment, before a smirk broke out across his lips.
"No," I replied to Shikamaru's comment. "It's not possible because he just produced two kekkei genkai's back-to-back."
The sinking feeling in my gut became worse when I realized that he could do what I could. He could combine chakra natures.
And he had just blatantly showed me this as well.
I remembered the good ol' times, back in the academy. Back when things were just a bit simpler. Naruto was just Naruto. The village just hated us because we were orphans, and I was just an unlucky kid. Sasuke was just a brat. My friends and I would play in the playground after class, or suffer through a detention for playing pranks.
I distinctly remembered Kakashi-sensei on the day I told him I didn't want to be fast tracked. My team would've been with him, I would've gotten to actually work side by side with Sensei. Maybe I would've been a jonin like Sensei was at this age, maybe I would've been a lot further along. But I remembered most the words Sensei told me when I explained I didn't feel ready to move forward.
"There's nothing wrong with enjoying a good thing while you can."
And I had this horrible pit in my stomach that told me the appearance of Mitsuki and Kenji Monogabe meant that it was all going to come crashing down around me.
The good times were coming to an end.
"...kari... Oi, Hikari." I felt someone knock on the side of my head and became startled, jumping into Naruto's side before looking up at Akira. The Nara raised a brow, his usual grumpy face on display.
"You spaced out there." He grumbled, though he kept eyeing me. I forced a smile and muttered an apology, something he didn't seem the least bit convinced of. My gaze drifted to Sasuke standing a bit further away. He was clutching his shoulder, flinching now and again. He turned suddenly and stiffly walked down the stairs.
Looking up at the screen, I didn't see his name, and after a moment I saw him walk out of the arena all together.
"I'm going to be right back." I told Naruto and my teammates. Naruto was animatedly talking to Shikamaru about something and the lazy boy was humming along at points to at least pretend he was listening. The Uzumaki stopped when I spoke and looked at me.
"You okay?" He asked. I smiled, smaller than the fake one I gave Akira, and nodded.
"Yeah, I just need to walk for a moment. Stay here." I added on before he could offer to go with me. He huffed, but then forced himself to stay put as I walked away to follow the Uchiha.
I found him not far off in the hallway, bracing his good arm against the wall and small huffs came from his mouth. Immediately I raced up to him.
"Are you okay?" I asked, afraid to touch him but standing nearby in case he needed help. I could see the curse mark flaring, turning red as Sasuke grimaced. The sensation of that ominous chakra was returning, and I could feel a chill come up my spine.
"Sasuke." I said gently. He glared at me, his mouth opening to yell in my face, but then he stopped and just stared. His breathing was heavy as he turned his body to rest his back against the wall. In his half-hunched position, he was at eye level with me now, but he ducked his head and took deep breaths.
He was struggling, and I wasn't sure how to help him. The chakra emitted an aura of darkness, but... it also felt... familiar.
"Can I help you?" I asked, but only received a mocking, exhausted laugh from him.
"How you gunna do that? Cut it off me?" He taunted. I huffed.
"Well at least you're feeling good enough to joke around." I muttered.
This seal felt like it was drawing something in, similar to my own flow of chakra. I could feel the increase compared to the last time I had seen Sasuke in the forest. It hadn't peaked, but it was definitely pushing the limits. Sasuke's own chakra didn't feel as strong now either, so where was the seal getting it's strength from?
I reached out and touched the seal, feeling the actual heat coming from his body under my cool palm surprised me. Sasuke shuddered at the sensation, but I immediately felt a pulse of energy in the seal.
It was the same pulse that I could get whenever I was meditating, a push and pull sensation. Except this time, it was trying to just pull from me.
I pulled just as hard back.
"Stay still." I whispered, feeling heat rise into my arm. I took a deep breath and imagined the eb and flow only going one way. It flowed straight into me. Straight to my chakra core. When it made contact, I gasped and pulled back at the alarming sensation. With a few feet between us, I watched the curse mark completely recede back into it's original position. Sasuke exhaled, tension leaving his shoulders. He took a second to just stay slumped there, and I stared down at my hands. I felt my heartbeat humming under my skin, felt like I had pent up energy. Like a balloon filled with too much air. I shuddered, feeling dizzy while also trying to imagine the eb and flow going a different direction.
It was like finally escaped the balloon, and I fell backwards onto my butt from the sudden relief.
Sasuke looked at me, and I looked at him. Neither of us said anything for a second, then I saw the thoughts behind his eyes.
"What did you do?" He asked, sounding genuinely confused. I started to speak, trying to replay the moment in my head, but then hesitated.
"I-" I didn't exactly know what I did, but it felt like...
"When I meditate, I can feel this eb and flow of energy around me. Like I'm taking in energy with every breath, and putting out the equal amount of energy with an exhale. But, that curse mark, it felt like... like the energy was only going one direction. So I just- I made it flow out of you instead."
I stared at my hands again, bewildered what I had just done.
"I don't even understand how I did it, I just imagined it was like I was when I meditated and that chakra responded." I must've sounded shocked since Sasuke stood tall and scoffed.
"You've never done that with someone else?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious. I shook my head.
"No, I've- I've never been able to. I can't even do it to your chakra, but- that curse mark, it's like I could-"
Like I could control the chakra it was gaining.
Sasuke stood in front of me and offered a hand up. I stared dumbly for a second, then took it. He easily hoisted me to my feet, but I was too busy staring at the mark.
"Does it hurt?" I asked, noticing how much calmer he looked. Sasuke covered the mark as if reacting to my stare. He tried to glance at his own shoulder.
"Not nearly as much. Whatever you did, it made it easier." He paused, then looked at me. "I was expecting you to go tell Kakashi I needed to quit, but you're just full of surprises, aren't you?"
If it was anyone but Uchiha saying that, I might've thought it was a compliment, but Sasuke was not one to give out free compliments. I huffed, crossing my arms.
"Oh come on, you came this far and thought I would tell you to turn back? Yeah right." I smiled despite the dizziness. "But if you had collapsed in this hallway I would've ran for Kakashi-sensei for sure."
Sasuke smirked.
"Okay there, Sakura." He mocked. I frowned.
"Excuse me, but Sakura saved my butt in the forest. Far as I'm concerned, I owe her one." Sasuke rolled his eyes, still rubbing the curse mark a little bit. I frowned slightly. "But seriously, you should talk to Sensei. He'll probably know what to do."
"I'm fine," he said almost instinctively. Then he paused, looking away. "You don't have to worry about it, alright? Just focus on your own things."
I snorted.
"What things? And didn't I just tell you that you don't have to deal with this alone?" I challenged. Sasuke glanced down at me.
"I'm not the one with a twin running around and some psycho eyeing me up." He paused, thinking. "Well, I don't have a twin."
I smiled, but felt a strain behind my eyes as I remembered my twin.
"Yeah well she doesn't want to speak with me anyway." I muttered, feeling sour. "But still, if we work together maybe we'll get through more, y'know?"
"I'm not singing songs and holding hands anytime soon." Sasuke said bluntly. I smirked.
"No but you'll come around." I teased. He rolled his eyes, then finally stopped touching the curse mark.
"We should head back." He said. I sighed, dreading the return to the arena, but turned and started to walk.
"Hikari."
I paused, then half turned to see Sasuke still standing there. He shoved his hands in his pockets, taking up his usual casual stance when he wanted to feign disinterest. But his eyes were zeroed in on mine, and he didn't look away.
"You're not alone."
My brow furrowed.
"You keep talking like you have to do this all on your own." He walked forward then, and continued to walk around me. "Take your own advice for once."
He walked past me, and I stood in the hall for a moment longer pondering his words. And I wondered if he meant the last thing I had said to him earlier today.
"Whatever we face, even if it's just for a little while, we can face it together, okay?"
"Oi, you coming?" He called from the end of the hallway. I snapped to, ready to return to the main hall.
It was just our luck that a round had finished. Looked like Temari vs Tenten. Considering Tenten was on a stretcher it was clear who the victor was. Termari eyed us both as we walked back in. She stared at me with narrowed eyes, but didn't say anything as she returned to the viewing balcony.
"Well, guess that was perfect timing." Sasuke commented. I looked from him, to where he was gazing at the panel.
Sasuke Uchiha vs Yoroi
I looked to Sasuke, and then to his curse mark.
"You should make it a fast match." I told him, looking up to his eyes. He glanced down at me. "I can feel the energy building already, the faster you make this match, the better chance you have at not keeling over."
He snorted.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"I'm confident you can make it quick." I teased. He smirked, then walked out to the arena while I made for the stairs. Sakura and Kakashi had moved closer to Naruto and my team. I waved, making my way up to them. Sakura looked nervous as she watched Sasuke, then glanced at me.
"Is he... alright?" She hesitated to say more. I paused, looking at the Uchiha, then nodded.
"For now." I clarified, then looked up to Sensei. He smiled assuredly at me.
"I know, it will be taken care of." He said quietly. I nodded, not saying more on it.
"Hey, why are you running off with Uchiha? Having late afternoon rendezvous with your boyfriend's rival now?" Akira taunted. I exhaled heavily, imagining I blew the comment away with it.
"You sound jealous Akira." Reiji said calmly from the other side of the Nara. Akira did not like that comment.
"Man fuck you guys." Was all we got before he stormed down the balcony and to another area by himself. Sakura looked a bit startled, but Reiji smirked at me.
"Don't worry," I said to Sakura. "That's just Akira, typical Nara that's grouchy because he hasn't napped in a few days."
Shikamaru scoffed.
"Don't lump me in with him." He yawned. Ino glanced at Shikamaru then to me.
"Now that I think about it, I think you're right." Shikamaru gave a half glare at her, but it held no animosity.
Our focus was returned to the match below as Sasuke's match began. The enemy in question, Yoroi, had the ability to draw out chakra from Sasuke. However, unlike me, he didn't seem to access the curse mark, but rather Sasuke's own chakra.
And what was worse, the loss of his chakra seemed to fuel the curse mark to fill in whatever room there was. I didn't understand it exactly, but I could feel the sharp increase of chakra from the mark now.
"Hikari," Reiji called to me. I looked over at him to see his head tilted to see the match. "Have you noticed it?"
He was referring to the chakra that the mark emitted.
"Yeah, as Yoroi draws out Sasuke's chakra, the other chakra seeps in." I said quietly. Sakura looked to us both in worry.
"Then what can Sasuke do?" Sakura asked.
I paused and weighed the options. If I were Sasuke, how would I proceed?
"Well... there is one obvious path. It's the only one Sasuke can take to proceed. One that relies less on chakra and more on physical skill."
It dawned on Sakura then, and Naruto hummed in the background trying to keep up with what we were saying.
"Man Kari, we really need to talk soon, I'm super lost right now." He whispered in my ear. I smiled at him.
"The answer, Naruto, is Taijutsu."
It seemed Sasuke also took that cue, as he began to use different movements to attack Yoroi. Easily evading and counter striking the movements with his sharingan activated. I noticed though, that there was a familiarity to his movements.
"Look familiar?" Kakashi teased. I looked up at him, frowning. "It seems like Sasuke literally took a page out of your book."
It was then that I realized why the strategies looked so familiar. Sasuke had used his sharingan when I was fighting Orochimaru, and from that small amount of movement, he was able to copy it.
He was using my techniques.
I wasn't sure whether to be ruffled with pride, or to feel slightly mocked, but regardless, I was happy to see Sasuke trying his damndest against his opponent.
In a last-minute change up, he performed a modified version of the Primary Lotus. He slammed Yoroi down so hard with his heel that he passed out. Sasuke didn't take the fall right, and landed in a heap. However, he did manage to stay conscious, which made him technically able to continue.
"The winner is Sasuke Uchiha."
The matches continued, some exciting, some basic. Kakashi had skittered away with Sasuke at some point, only to return and inform us he needed medical attention and was with Anbu. I imagined it was because of Orochimaru and didn't blame the cautious nature of it all. Instead, I focused on watching the matches.
Shikamaru went up against Kankuro, which was a surprisingly easy fight. Shikamaru knew that Kankuro was using Puppet master jutsu and pinned Kankuro before making him strike himself with his puppet after watching him move his hands a few times.
Sakura faced off against Ino, and both fought hard enough to knock each other out completely and end in a draw.
Hinata faced off against Mitsuki, and while I cheered her on and she tried her best, Mitsuki was clever in her fight, and managed to find the one blind spot to the Byakugan directly behind Hinata, and caught her there. Thankfully she wasn't as bloodthirsty as Gaara, she only held a kunai to her neck, but I could tell from the way she looked at me not all of us would be given that courtesy. Whatever her jutsu was, it was extremely fast and smooth, feeling like she just swapped locations to another just by staring at it. Like a time/space jutsu. Kakashi-sensei and Gai were commenting on it.
Naruto faced off against Kiba. I don't know what Kiba whispered in Naruto's ear before the start of the match, but Naruto flat out lost his head for a good twenty minutes and constantly fell into Kiba's traps. It wasn't until after a good knock to the head that he refocused and continued on to win against him with a barrage.
Choji went against a teammate of Kenji's and both got knocked into a wall and passed out. It wasn't climactic at all, and I felt bummed out that Choji didn't get a chance to shine.
Reiji's fight against Neji had a...strange feeling to it. Neji clearly held a hatred for the older Hyuuga. I didn't know why, but the way he spoke was so spiteful. And Reiji just seemed... sad...
But Reiji was more experienced with his Byakugan. He had more training behind him, and ultimately, he defeated Neji. It was an amazing match to watch though, as I hadn't seen two Hyuuga's fight like this. Gai was shocked and crying his eyes out that two of his three students had failed.
Now the only ones left to fight were myself, Gaara, Akira, and Lee. None of those sounded like an easy fight either.
My attention was taken to Reiji as he made his way out of the arena, and down the hallway. I wanted to go after him, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. I looked up to see Sensei looking tensely at me.
"You might want to focus yourself."
It was only then that I looked up at the panel, and realized what he had meant.
Hikari Koissui VS Rock Lee
LMAO not me thinking it's only been a few months since I last updated, meanwhile it's been AN ENTIRE YEAR. How does that even happen?! I'm sorry, I think I futzed around too much and hummed and hawed too long trying to decide how to write it and then juts said "I'll fix it another day"... well that day was today.
I just wanna make something super clear, Hikari has a very fixed set of skills that won't make sense until explained, but- well, there's two halves to the puzzle walking around the chuunin exams. Kenji and Mitsuki are just gunna fuck up little Hikari's happy little bubble, poor Hikari.
I was also trying to figure out how to write the blank period where Naruto is gone. Should ti be after Flashbacks? Should I just not write it and leave y'all confused? I decided to write it, but in a more condensed version. There were things that happen that I wanted to keep secret, but instead I think i'll tell you and let you pine along with me. It'll be alright, we'll get through this together! I finally, finally figured out the exact ending and how I'm going to fit the millions of stroy threads into this series. Buckle up y'all, it's a long ride.
Reviews:
GUEST 1: Thanks! Well I'm here now! Hoping to pump another one out this week!
Guest 2: I cannot for the life of me understand how AO3 works so no, I doubt I'll move there. I'm sure I would get more traffic, but I don't really care. That site seems too chaotic for my small IQ
Guest 3: Yes I'm back! I promise i will update, but they are so infrequent sometimes.
TigrezzTail: Baffled is good! Hikari is a fun character and has such a huge story arc OML if I ever get my butt to Shipuuden y'all are going to loooooove it!
laraceleste: Yes! I'm happy you liked the chapter! I appreciate the reviews too, always makes me get off my butt. Even if I don't necessarily write anything, it makes me think of the story and get into story telling mode.
Lupe Rouge: You're a gem. Honestly, you have such kind words. I think yes, a little bit of me is in all my characters. I am a pretty apathetic and blunt person, but I write what I would need to hear. I hope to do right by the characters and make y'all feel something when you read this. Thank you again.
Hinate: Thank you! We are almost at the scene that made me think of Hikari. There is always a moment I think of where I go "What if...?" and then come up with a character, and boom, Hikari was born. It's hard to find NarutoOC because a lot of people didn't find him attractive or interesting until he was OP and all, at least thats what I see. But I lvoe me a golden retriever boy. they're the best.
Crimson G: Anko lowkey saved their butts OML. As they are, they wouldn't stand a chance. Sasuke is on the precipice of who he is in canon and changing to who he will become in fanon. Hikari has a huge domino effect in this world, but you won't see that until later. However, Sasuke is still Sasuke, and I ask myself "what would sasuke actually do?" in every situation. I think I rewrote that scene with him in this chapter 3 times before finally going with it. It still doesnt feel perfect, but it feels realistic at least.
cacheroanthony: thank you! Yeah sorry for the long wait! I've been terribly busy trying to get my life together and decide the future of this series.