Chapter 31 Part 2
During the journey home, I managed to calm down slightly and drive away the self-destructive thoughts. I made peace with my conscience by promising myself I'd devise a way to change the future events for the better. I still had many tasks ahead, and I couldn't permit myself despondency. Not now—and not in the near future. I still had time! My brain—wound to the limit—feverishly sifted through variants of possible actions: how to alter the situation while, at the same time, not "exposing" myself too greatly in the process.
Reaching my street, I stopped and slapped my cheeks a few times, wiping the grim expression from my face: no need to trouble my friends with my problems.
Astonishingly—the house stood in the same spot, and even the apartment was intact. The only damage I noticed was the devastated bed. The pillow, blanket, and mattress—all of it had been flung across the entire room, as if a grenade had detonated in the bed. And crowning this blast crater were two neatly folded shirts—right at the epicenter.
Cute.
The "grenades" were also immediately located. Both girls sat across from each other, measuring angry stares.
"Damn—I really do feel like a caretaker!" I marveled, stepping across the threshold. Lightly patting the Uchiha on the head, I earned a look full of indignation and a snort from the angry hedgehogs; performing the same action with Naruko, I received in response a bright smile from the carefree tomboy and a clearly flustered look. The heavy atmosphere was instantly broken—merely by distracting the girls from each other for a couple of moments.
They're like little children—hah.
"Gm..." Clearing the lump in my throat, I shifted my gaze for some time from the gutted sleeping place to the obvious culprits and back. The girls were clearly embarrassed—even the Uchiha! Though, even so, she still tried to appear unruffled—about the mess they'd made. And I kept looking—and couldn't find words fitting the situation. Everything resolved itself when my stomach growled, displeased, demanding food. "Hm. Will you be eating?"
The girls' stomachs answered faster than their owners.
"Itadakimasu!" Three voices sounded in a disorderly chorus: loud, calm, and grumbling. The hastily reheated leftovers of yesterday's dinner were swiftly annihilated by three hungry teenagers.
"I need to train—so I'm leaving," Sasuko said, having decided she'd already lingered too long at the drawn-out "celebratory gathering." And all because of the Loud Idiot, who'd turned out to have a completely absurd phobia. Not that Sasuko mocked this fact so harshly—but an extra opportunity to jab the irritating Uzumaki would have been welcome. She'd even stayed with that coward out of pity! Purely out of pity—and no other reason!!! And how had they repaid her kindness?!
Flustered, the black-eyed girl swore to herself to forget the morning's episode forever. And if that blond dimwit opened her mouth—she'd finish her! A good thing, too, that Nagisa hadn't been home at that moment.
Seizing on this thought with sudden illumination, the girl cast a suspicious look at the young man. He'd seen, hadn't he? He had seen, right?!
At Sasuko's abruptly sharp glare, Kaoru coughed, choking on rice. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
"Why do I suddenly have this feeling she wants to kill me?" he asked himself, shrugging his shoulders almost imperceptibly. The Uchiha was complex—especially her emotions.
stare
"Gm..."
"Something wrong?" Kaoru tilted his head, questioning.
"I'm watching you!" said Sasuko's look.
"What's the matter?"
"Just breathe a word of this!"
"Scary—scary! Stop looking at me like that, Sasuko-chan!"
"Forget this morning immediately—if you saw anything!"
"Seriously—what's the matter? Hm... when she furrows her brows like that, it's rather cute... Still frightening—but cute."
"I hope you understand that..."
THUD!
"Pu-haaaa! I'm full!" Naruko exclaimed, joyful, interrupting the wordless dialogue of gazes. "Thanks for the food!"
"Yes—about training." Kaoru nodded, deciding to ignore everything incomprehensible. "Aren't you running late for yours, Sasuko-chan?"
"Pf. That walking misunderstanding will be several hours late regardless," Sasuko threw out, dismissive. As if she wouldn't still end up having to wait for Akashi for several more hours! Sometimes, the Uchiha still refused to believe that such a careless woman was a jonin.
"Mm... you're right. We'll have things to do as well... Naruko."
"Umm?"
"The Hokage gave her approval—so, until you find yourself a mentor from among the jonin, I'll be handling your training."
"Really?! Yay!!" The blonde exclaimed, inspired. Naruko was beside herself with happiness: a whole month of training with Kaoru! What more could she wish for? And what other jonin?! She had absolutely no need for those idiots and bastards. That Ebisu-crone and the rest couldn't teach her anything—Naruko was firmly convinced of this. Or they wouldn't want to... There was also Chibi-Eyebrows-sensei—but she was already training Lee or that white-eyed jerk whose name the blonde had already forgotten.
And let them! All the same—her Koru-chan was much smarter and knew infinitely more of all sorts of awesome things!
Wait—"her Koru-chan"?
"Ummm—bad thoughts, bad thoughts!" The girl nearly panicked, striving with all her might not to blush.
"She's drifting in the clouds again," Kaoru shook his head with a smile, watching the girl who'd withdrawn into herself.
"Never mind," Sasuko grunted, suddenly sensing something strange in the air. For some unknown reason, she felt slightly angry. "I'm going."
"This is all that Idiot and her stupid emanations," the Uchiha finally decided, thereby finding a logical justification for her feelings. Getting angry at Uzumaki and her foolish antics had become such a habit it happened almost naturally.
"Ha—you're just jealous that Koru-chan will be training me!" Naruko instantly fired up, having found a perfect excuse to shift the vector of her thoughts.
"What are you spouting, Idiot? What's there for me to be jealous of here?!" The Uchiha fumed.
"The fact that I'll kick your skinny butt at the exam!" The blonde proudly thrust out her chest.
"Only in your stupid dreams, moron!"
"Oh yeah?! We'll see at the exam!!"
"Get your butt ready for a pounding, Idiot!"
"Now, now!" Kaoru stepped between the girls, to prevent the threatening fight. His little apartment wouldn't survive a full-on scuffle! "As far as I know—you two aren't meeting in the finals, ne? So—don't fight!"
"It was Hedgehog / the Idiot who started it!" The girls exclaimed in chorus and once again began flinging lightning from their eyes.
"Mm... ha..." The young man exhaled quietly, quelling his irritation. Patience and serenity. "Naruko."
"But!"
"Na-ru-ko," Kaoru pronounced, weighty. "Stop provoking Sasuko-chan."
"B-but!."
"Naruko. You're in the wrong—and you know it yourself." The young man reproached. Under his gaze, Uzumaki lowered her head, guilty. The girl was hurt that the young man had scolded her—and his reproachful look almost caused pain. "It's just... hah... Sasuko-chan."
"Fh—what?!" The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, irritated. "If this id—"
"Please, Sasuko-chan." Nagisa spoke in a pacifying tone. In passing, the girl once again marveled at how he could play with his voice like that—imbuing it with different shades. "Don't react so sharply to Naruko's words, alright?"
"Ph—fine!" The girl grunted, irritated, reluctantly admitting she, too, had gone too far.
"Good, then." Kaoru nodded, satisfied.
"And still—I'm a caretaker," the young man thought, glum, shaking his head inwardly.
"Good," the young man repeated, driving away the cheerless thoughts. "So—we'll be heading out for training soon, Naruko."
"Mm—okay!" The girl nodded, cheered a little. It seemed Kaoru wasn't angry with her—and from this, she felt immense relief. "I'll be a flash!!!"
The girl dashed headlong to get ready, leaving the room through the window.
"The door... though..." Kaoru thought, abashed, then simply waved a hand: "These shinobi..."
"Maybe... just maybe!—he really can teach her something," Sasuko pondered, thoughtful, recalling the "early Naruko." After all, she acknowledged that the noisy idio... noisy girl—who'd somehow, by some miracle, barely managed to graduate the Academy—and the current Naruko differed to a significant degree. She also recalled all the time Kaoru had spent training the team in place of slacker-Akashi, then nodded to herself: he had a chance. Or rather—if he'd managed to teach Naruko anything at all—the boy had an obvious talent... Or the patience of the gods.
"Should I pack you some food for the road?" Kaoru suddenly asked, pulling Sasuko out of her reflections about his supposed genius or possible affiliation with celestial beings.
Kaoru himself—unaware of the Uchiha's vector of thought—was simply concerned that the girl might get hungry in the future. After all, she lived entirely alone—and who knew? Maybe her fridge held nothing but semi-finished products?!
"No—I'll manage," the girl, thrown off her train of thought, shook her head. Though—to be honest with herself—in refusing, Sasuko felt a certain regret and a tiny drop of jealousy: Kaoru cooked deliciously—far more deliciously than she did. But she had a justification—she'd devoted her entire life to training and had no time for trivial things like cooking! Moreover, she'd always had money so as not to worry about worldly concerns. "Just make sure you wash those."
"W... wash them?" The young man mumbled, puzzled—having just decided to tackle the cleaning and already reached the bed.
"Wash them!" Sasuko demanded, peremptory, pointing a finger at the folded clothes.
"But they're clean," Kaoru continued, puzzled.
"Just do it!" The girl exclaimed, angry. "I don't want my scent to!.."
Having hotly shouted the last words, Sasuko suddenly cut herself short. The girl's eyes widened in surprise, and her palm instantly covered her mouth.
She'd said... what?!
"Scent?.." Kaoru murmured, thoughtful—and reflexively brought the clothing to his face... And only an instant later understood he'd committed a terrible mistake. It had been thoughtless—and entirely reflexive!
"Y-you!.. Why you!.." Stuttering, Sasuko simply couldn't find words. He was sniffing the clothes she'd slept in!!! With a face blazing with anger—only anger!!!—the girl lunged forward without hesitation! "Die!!!"
"S-sto!.. Sasu!!.."
Sounds of brutal murder
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