(no subject)

[medic-assistant.livejournal.com]

When; Monday, after snowstorm
Rating; PG
Characters; Shizune (medic_assistant and Kabuto (snake_servant
Summary; Shizune offers to bring Kabuto some soup, as he's sick in bed after the snowstorm. Awkwardness ensues due to events of an earlier curse.
Log;


Shizune bustled about the small kitchen, turning on the burner and placing a pot to begin sizzling. The soup can followed soon enough, chicken noodle. She could hear a sneeze from Kabuto's room and smiled. It was... funny, seeing him in that condition. She was so used to seeing him as the villain, and here he was, with a cold. She knew it wasn't really anything special, but it only proved to her that he was every bit as human as she was. Which was slightly comforting. Not liking the wait, Shizune turned the burner on high, urging the soup to cook a little faster as she stirred to keep it moving. "One more moment!" She called.

Kabuto was, in a word, miserable. His head hurt, his nose was stuffy (luckily not running), and he was burning up. First the hated thing called snow and the freezing weather, now a cold. From the looks of it, he was going to be in bed for a couple more days too.

Shizune had offered to bring him soup, and was currently in the process of making it. He should have been a little more suspicious of her, but he didn’t think that she would try to poison him, especially with him in this condition. After all, she had been eating his cooking since they began sharing an apartment without incident.

Shizune shrugged and busied herself humming. She supposed she owed Kabuto, after all, he was a much better cook than she, and had been making meals since she'd begun staying with him. Which she still didn't fully understand herself. She did feel indebted to the man, he'd taken care of her, for unknown reasons, when she'd first arrived. And she supposed the situation was adventitious in case of things being put into motion. But it was also dangerous. Very dangerous.

With a sigh she turned off the stove and gave the steaming soup one last stir. It was quite a lot. She poured half into one bowl, and half into another. She might as well feed herself at the same time. After tidying up a bit in the kitchen to give the soup enough time to cool enough so as not to burn the tongue, Shizune picked up both bowls with oven mitts and proceeded to use her hip to nudge open Kabuto's door.

Kabuto gave the best smile he could, feeling as he did. “Shizune san, you really don’t have to be doing this.” He shifted so he was sitting up against the backboard of his bed, surprised by how effort it actually took. He sneezed, the force of it causing a stab of pain through his already aching head. “Thank you though.”

Shizune stifled a small chuckle, managing not to spill any soup in the process of getting in. "No problem." She pulled up a chair, setting the soup bowls down in the seats before handing one over. "I owe you." She sat down herself. "I hope you don't mind." She motioned to the fact that she had helped herself to the seat. "I used to eat all my meals alone, but now I'm sort of used to company."

Kabuto took the bowl, stirring the contents for a moment; chicken noodle, when was the last time he had that? “I don’t mind, I enjoy the company. More pleasant than others.” By that he was referring to the Sound Five.

He lifted his spoon, blowing on the soup to cool it off a little before taking a bite. He could barely taste it, but it wasn’t so bad from what he could taste. “Did you make this yourself?”

“I should at least hope so." Shizune nodded, stirring her soup a bit and blowing the steam away from the surface. "Ah, yes." She smiled. "One of the few things I can cook." With a bit of wry humor she added, "And I won't blow it up, either."

Kabuto chuckled, taking another bite of soup. Getting a little hot food into him was already starting to make him feel better. “Not blowing things up is good.” He wasn’t too surprised when he had first found out she couldn’t cook, she hadn’t struck him as the type who would have had much of an opportunity to learn. “If you’d like, when I’m better, I can teach you how to make a few more things that won’t explode.” He turned his head away, sneezing again.

Shizune absently reached over to the nightstand and handed Kabuto a tissue. "Thanks." She said, taking a moment to take a bite of the soup, wiping her chin with a napkin when one of the noodles made a bid for freedom. "I never really learned, I've been with Tsunade since I was 12, and we always ate out." She was always careful with what she said around Kabuto, but that piece of information was harmless.

Kabuto blew his nose in the tissue, trying to be as not disgusting as possible, though they were both medical ninja so it wasnÂ’t like neither had seen worse. He tossed the tissue into the trashcan on the opposite side of his bed, already quite full. “I’ve never really liked take out. It’s made with the least amount of effort and lowest quality foods that can be gotten away with.” Something one came to realize as they studied cooking more and more.

Shizune shrugged. "I made do." She took another slow sip. "Besides, Tsunade was usually surviving off sake anyway. TonTon ate the more... greasy portions of my food." She took another tissue out and placed it on the covers, in case of urgent need. "I never did find out how Tsunade paid for all that food. I think she walked out on the checks a lot."

Kabuto probably would have snorted soup out his nose if it weren’t stuffed as it was, that did sound like Tsunade, he had heard a lot about her in his years of service. He chocked on his soup instead. “S…sorry… I’ll try to remember… not t..to laugh… and… eat at the… same… time.” He said between fits of coughing.

Shizune had almost sprung from her seat, ready to perform the Heimlich maneuver, however, when Kabuto spoke, proving his airway unblocked, she lowered herself back from the few inches she had risen. She smiled behind a spoonful of the chicken noodle. "It is, I suppose. We got a lot of bills in Konoha when she became Godaime. Now that everyone can find her."

Kabuto managed to not choke again as he chuckled at that. “No running from her debts anymore? It has to be tough on her.” Some where in the back of his mind, Kabuto registered that he was having a conversation with Shizune and there didn’t seem to be any of the usual tension. Then again, that could be his cold clouding his perception.

Not really knowing what to say to continue that current line of conversation, he considered his current situation, as far as he knew, Serph knew nothing about cooking, whatsoever. He did all of the cooking usually, and had never seen Shizune attempt to make anything more than tea before today. “I’m glad you can at least boil water, otherwise I might have starved before I recovered. I haven’t been sick in a long time, I forgot how helpless it makes you.”

"Thankfully she's hoodwinked Konoha into paying her bills, as her payment for becoming Godaime, I suppose." Shizune stirred her soup, idly watching the vegetables and noodles follow the wake of her silverware. At Kabuto's comment she bristled a little.
"I may not be a chef, but I assure you, I can do more than boil water."

“I didnÂ’t mean it as an insult.” Kabuto said, holding up his hands defensively. “I just meant that you have some skill. If I were stuck with someone like Tayuya I would have starved. That woman has burned water.” Though he had heard that she had made soup recently, with the help of another person in the building.

"Ah, she did bring some soup by... now that I think about it." Shizune nodded, sipping once more from her bowl. "I tested it for poison and it passed, but when one of the vegetables began growing I thought I should throw it out. She seemed to want to prove she'd made it, or something."

Kabuto’s eyes went wide in shock. “It didn’t try to bite you, or spontaneously combust did it?” He wouldn’t put it past Tayuya’s “cooking”. “That could be dangerous if something in it so much as looked strange.” Some people just weren’t meant to cook after all.

"No, it just seemed... unsavory." She sipped another bit of noodle. "And yes, I suppose you are correct." She smiled. "I know a few people... back in Konoha... who can't." She lowered her head and hid a sad expression behind her soup bowl. Home sickness always did seem to strike at the most inopportune moments.

Kabuto, though he couldn’t see Shizune’s face, could sense the change in atmosphere, he had said something wrong. Perhaps a change of subject was in order. “The current snowstorm was very strange.” He couldn’t help but sound a little bit bitter about it, having gotten sick from the whole ordeal. “I was completely unprepared, and I’ve never liked the cold.”

"I can tell, as bundled as you were." Shizune tried to distract herself as well. "And I don't suppose you going out a few days ago had anything to do with the explosion I heard shortly before you returned to your heater?"

“Explosion?” It took him a moment, but Kabuto remembered. “Oh, that. Deidara san got his tongue stuck to the frozen metal of his balcony railing and needed some help. I went over there with some hot water and freed him, so in thanks he made some “art” out of a snowbank.”

"... He got his tongue stuck to a pole?" She blinked. "Is he... five? His mouth tongue or his hand tongues?"

“I think he might be, and it was his mouth, not his hands.” Kabuto clarified, having not considered the possibility of the Akatsuki getting all three of his tongues stuck. That would have been an amusing sight. “You think he would know better having been raised in Iwa~” Kabuto grabbed the tissue Shizune had set on the bed, covering a series of violent sneezes, reminding him of just how awful he felt.

Shizune nodded in agreement, picking up another tissue and placing it where the other one had been. "You'd think, but I'm beginning to think most of the Akatsuki are a little off in the head, if not extremely powerful." That thought brought her right back to her home-sickness. She wondered... had Kakuzu and Hidan, those two Akatsuki members, reached Konoha? Were they even now reeking havoc, as she sat here having chicken noodle soup with one of her enemies?

Kabuto noticed the change again, he thought around the cotton in his head trying to think what he could be saying that was off. What had the subjects had in common? … They had been talking about ninja, from their own world, at least a little in both… was it just homesickness? He didn’t personally feel any, not having had any strong attachments, but Shizune had lived under different circumstances. “Do you miss it that much?”

"I..." Shizune paused. She shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't be speaking so freely, shouldn't be... oh, everything as so wrong. "... yes, yes, I do." She shook her head. "I know some people here, but... I don't belong here." She didn't make eye contact. "I... miss Konoha."

Kabuto set his mostly empty soup bowl aside, resting his hands in his lap and studying them for a moment. He wasn’t really sure how to go about comforting someone, mostly he just pushed people’s buttons and mocked them, but Shizune didnÂ’t deserve that right now, she was taking care of him while he was sick after all. “…I, I’m sure you’ll find a way back,” he said after a pause, “and everyone will be fine.” He wondered what it was like to have a home to go back to.

"I wish I believed you." Shizune murmured, stirring her now cold soup. She blinked a few times, slowly, not holding back her emotions. "But even if I do find a way, I would give it to Tsunade-sama. Konoha needs people like her more than they need me." She used the spoon to ladle the noodles in and out of the bowl. "Don't you miss what you had?"

“Not really.” Kabuto replied honestly. “I had my reasons for what I did in that world, but it wasn’t because I wanted something in particular or enjoyed those things.” He sounded thoughtful rather than reminiscent or regretful. “There was no real line between what I wanted to do and what I had to do, they were one in the same. I just did things because it was the most logical option given the circumstances.”

"... So... you never do anything for your own sake?" She was a little disheartened. She was disconcerted to find herself feeling... sympathy for him... feeling sorry... for him. "Never... did anything you wanted to?"

“There was never anything I wanted to do.” Kabuto paused to blow his nose again. “Everything that happened, from being found to serving the Akatsuki and then Orochimaru sama was just the way things went.” He shrugged, it was all that simple, just moving from one place to another as the situation changed. It was only by chance that the ANBU had found him in the first place, and took him to Konoha; who knows how things would have turned out had he not been found?

"... Nothing? Absolutely nothing?" She pushed. "I mean, I know you did all that, but what do you want?"

Kabuto thought for a long moment, considering the question. Was there something he wanted? One of the previous curse days said yes, but he couldn’t tell Shizune that, she barely liked him let alone wanted anything along those lines to do with him. He let out a defeated sigh, examining his hands as they sat in his lap. “I guess you could say, it’s complicated. I didn’t think I wanted anything for a long time, but things change.”

"What do you want?" She leaned forward a little unconsciously, interested, despite her better judgments.

Kabuto turned his head away from Shizune. It was almost laughable, she was actually making him feel uncomfortable in a conversation instead of the other way around. On any other topic he would be in stitches with the hilarity of the reversed roles, but this… this was different. “Nothing really…” He muttered it, not sure if it was loud enough to hear. He felt like some inexperienced little boy, faced with a situation like this, and just as awkward as he imagined said little boy would feel.

Shizune's brow furrowed a little bit. "I don't believe you." She watched his awkward motions, thinking. And then... "... No way..." She mouthed, then shook her head. No, that was definitely not it. However, she still had some unanswered questions pertaining to that night. "On that last curse day, Kabuto..." She trailed off, not knowing how to phrase it.

Kabuto turned his head a little further away, his cheeks were not turning pink, no it was the fever, it had to be. Damn this cold for messing with his brain. “Yes…uh… that is what about it?”

"... What... ahem... happened, exactly?" She was loathe to admit that she could not remember how many drinks she'd had, how drunk she'd been, but what she could remember, touches, moans, names, did not bode well for the rest of the night's happenings.

“I told you, you passed out, so nothing. Besides we were both under the effects of the curse, neither of us could control our actions.” Yes, it was definitely the fever that was causing his face to flush, it must be getting worse. He was very ill right now, that was all.

"That's it?" She almost reached out for his shoulder to turn him, to face her, but she stopped herself. "I passed out. That's it?" She wanted to believe him. "And we were doing what before that?"

Kabuto knew he should be honest, it was only fair, the problem was that he would probably destroy what ever friendship he had build with Shizune with the truth of things. It was a tough decision, one that he didn’t want to be faced with, but here it was. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for whatever was to come, probably nothing favorable. “We were kissing.” There he had said it; it was the truth too, they hadnÂ’t gotten past that to his relief and disappointment.

Shizune gasped quietly, a hand raising to her face and covering the lower portion of it, trying very hard to remember what had happened. Thinking along those lines... "So you're a big boy then, Kabuto?" Her eyes widened. "Oh my goodness I baited you." It was said in a rush of breath.

“No!” He turned back to face her suddenly. “I mean, no, you didn’t it was just as much my fault and the fault of the curse. Besides, nothing that you would have regretted happened,” He put on a smile that felt fake even to himself, “so you shouldn’t worry yourself over it. If you aren’t angry about it, then it’s fine.”

Both hands were on her face now. "No, I mean, I distinctly remember baiting you now. Oh my goodness..." She fretted, despite the fact that she pretty much believed him when he said nothing had happened beyond what he said. "I led you on..."

“It was the curse, you don’t need to feel guilty, plus you were drunk. You had even less control over yourself than I did.” Kabuto felt… guilty… he had been sober, he had been the one able to think clearly, and he had taken advantage of the situation. It was something he did all the time, part of his job as a Shinobi... so why did it bother him so much?

"Yes, yes..." Shizune slowed her breathing, calming herself. Nothing to get worked up about. Only the City's curses, nothing they could have prevented. "Um... yes, curses." She nodded matter of factly. "Totally out of our hands."

“I’m sorry.” His voice was low, so low he could have questioned it had he not been the one speaking. It was odd, the way she messed with the way his brain worked, he wasn’t sure if he liked it. She could throw him so off balance so easily, it was almost frightening.

Shizune's mouth opened and closed, almost like a gaping fish. Did... did Kabuto just say he was sorry? Did she actually believe him? "It's..." She struggled for words. "No, it's..." She reached forward and lightly touched his hand. "It's fine..."

There, this was the perfect example, he couldn’t move and all because she had reached out and touched his hand. He couldn’t react, didn’t know how to. The feeling in the pit of his stomach was a lot like being scared… only not… it was one he sort of liked, but it was so close he couldn’t tell the differences. “I wasn’t drunk.” Why was he admitting that, why was he digging a hole?

Shizune paused, her mouth drawing itself into a tight line. Was this the betrayal she'd been waiting for... expecting this entire time? Her throat tightened, though her hand remained where it lay. "You... weren't?"

“No… I’m sorry.” His voice was a whisper, as if he were afraid to speak, and maybe he was. “I meant to tell you before, but I didn’t want you to be angry with me. I just couldn’t keep from giving into the curse.”

"..." She opened and closed her mouth, searching for words. "Would you have... if I hadn't passed out, would you have gone along with me?" Her hand trembled slightly, though she tried to keep her nervousness hidden, unknown to her why she was so... she didn't know why she... she didn't even know what she felt.

“I…I… don’t know.” He didn’t, he had wanted to, but he knew that it was for more than just the sake of sleeping with someone. He also knew that she wouldn’t have wanted it; would that have stopped him?

"... I..." Shizune trailed off. She didn't know what to think. "I..." She supposed she couldn't blame him. Hormones, testosterone, everything like that... but... she didn't know. "... what..." She was at a loss for words.

“I should get to sleep, I’m feeling a little dizzy. Thank you for the soup.” Kabuto cut the conversation off, this wasn’t going well. Neither of them really knew what was going on, that was obvious.

"..." Shizune slowly stood, silent. She didn't have any words, didn't know she should say, should feel. She collected the two soup bowls and turned to go. "... Goodnight, Kabuto."

Kabuto watched as Shizune left the room, the door clicking shut behind her. This wasn’t making any sense. The cold or something was clouding his judgment; he wasn’t supposed to get so worked up over some girl. Grabbing his pillow, he threw it across the room in one violent motion. “Damn it!” He flopped down onto his pillow less bed, and pulled the blankets over his head only to let out a violent sneeze.