Log; Complete

[medic-assistant.livejournal.com]

When; The span of Sept. 4th
Rating; PG
Characters; Shizune {medic_assistant} and Kabuto {snake_servant}
Summary; With Kabuto blinded by the curse, Shizune becomes his escort for the day, which brings them back to their unresolved issues.
Log;

Kabuto blinked his eyes open, mouth going wide in a yawn. He sat up, reaching over to the bedside table he fumbled around until he found his glasses and placed them on his face before fumbling for the lamp. He turned it on, nothing happened. Maybe the bulb needed changed.

Getting up out of bed, he stumbled over to his closet and felt around for a plain t-shirt (all of the ones he owned being blue) and then a pair of shorts, feeling for the tags to be sure he put them on properly. Dressing for the day complete, he went to his door and opened it. It was dark in the main part of the apartment as well, he felt along the wall until he found a light switch, and flicked that on. Again, nothing.

“Shizune, I think the power is out.” He called out into the darkness.

Shizune heard her name and rolled over in bed, fumbling for the lamp at her bedside and flicking it on. She rubbed her eyes in the brightness, blinking several times. It took her a moment to fully wake up, grown complacent, she supposed, since arriving in the City. She dragged herself out of bed and quickly pulled a robe on over her nightgown. She opened her door and noticed Kabuto by the light switch, looking rather… confused.

“Did you call me, Kabuto?”

Kabuto turned his head towards where he heard Shizune’s voice from. “Yes, I’m sorry to have woken you up, but I think the power is out, none of the lights are working.” To demonstrate his point, he flicked the light switch a few times. “See, nothing.”

Shizune narrowed her eyes as Kabuto flicked the lights on and off. They were working fine. She stepped closer to him, one hand holding her robe close and the other taking Kabuto by the arm.

“Kabuto, the lights are working fine.” She said slowly, looking in his eyes, watching as they moved wildly, the pupils dilating and contracting with each flick of the light.

“What are you talking about? Its pitch black in here.” He jumped a little cheeks heating ever so slightly, startled by her hand on his arm, he couldn’t see anything. Usually his night vision was pretty good, able to make out at least the outline of things, but not now. “If they are working fine, why aren’t they coming on?” He frowned. “Is this some sort of joke you’re trying to play on me?”

Shizune was getting a little concerned, her first instinct to go check that computer thing to see if this was one of the curses. But she had to make sure.

“Kabuto, I’m not playing a joke with you. Those lights are on.” She waved her other hand in front of his face.

“I’m waving my hand, can you see me?” She squeezed his arm, half in reassurance, half in proving she was indeed there. “Can you see me at all?”

He blinked and squinted his eyes, blinked a few more times, then finally shook his head in defeat. “I can’t see anything.” Ignoring the awkwardness he still felt around her, he put his hand over Shizune’s on his arm, using it as a guide along with her voice to face her properly when he spoke. “I’ve gone blind?”

“It… seems so.” Shizune peered into his eyes, checking for any sign that he had gone blind due to some illness or natural occurrence, and not one of the City’s curses. She flicked the light on and off again, watching his eyes dilate and contract when faced with the light change. Those naturally blind did not respond that way. His eyes were clear, unclouded, and they still moved in response to stimulus. Which meant that, barring illness, this was a curse, or should be.

“This is rather sudden; there were no warning signs, no headaches or the like. Perhaps another curse of the City?” Kabuto pulled off his glasses, “Please put these somewhere safe for me, I don’t want to trip over something and break them.” He held them out in the direction he was sure Shizune was.

Kabuto realized then, that he still had to make breakfast, as well as brush his hair and a hundred other little things, that before had seemed so trivial. “This will be complicated; maybe we should go out and eat today, I don’t trust myself cooking.”

“I’m glad you’re taking this well.” She took his glasses and dropped them softly into her robe pocket. “And… perhaps you’re right about breakfast.” She almost laughed, but managed to remain serious. Knowing this was one of the City’s curses made it a bit more… light hearted. “You can’t really walk on your own, can you?”

“No, not really, but I know my way around the apartment pretty well. I can’t make myself any food, but beyond that I should be fine.” Kabuto replied, and then smiled in a mock proud way, “I did manage to dress myself though. Do I match?” He wasn’t too worried about all of this; it would be over in twenty four hours. He would make the best of the situation as he could.

She actually looked. “Yes, you do.” She pointed at his hair despite the fact that she knew he couldn’t see it. “You have a bit of a bed-head though. Want me to get a brush?” She smiled a bit to herself. It was funny, having to look after him like that. Kind of… well, she didn’t know, but she found it amusing anyway.

Kabuto’s hand rose halfway to his head, he had just been thinking about that, but hadn’t thought it was too bad. “… Sure, but no pig tails.” This was a little more embarrassing than he thought. He was going to have to be led around and taken care of like a small child. He was, for all intensive purposes completely helpless.

“Right, right.” Shizune patted his arm. “I’ll be right back. Try and be a big boy and find the couch.” She knew it wasn’t really right to pick on the blind, but she couldn’t help herself. She padded back towards her room to grab a brush, shaking her head with muffled laughter the whole way.

“I think I can manage that much at least.” Kabuto gave her a toothy grin, and wandered away from the wall, hands stretched out in front of him until he found the couch… with his shin. “Ouch!” He clutched the offended limb as he fell onto the soft cushions; that was going to bruise. With some mumbled curses, he sat up, and waited for Shizune to return.

Shizune raised an eyebrow as she emerged from her bedroom to find Kabuto cursing on the couch. Guess he found it. She made sure to not mask her movements, as she imagined it would be quite a bit easier to sneak up on him now, and she didn’t fancy startling any ninja, let alone Yakushi Kabuto. “Hey.” She sat down next to him. “Turn a bit, will you?”

Kabuto stopped his cursing; complying with Shizune’s request, he turned away from her voice so that she would have access to his hair. “Just to be safe, leave my hair down for today… you might actually think it’s funny to take advantage and put my hair in some ridiculous style.” He paused for a second. “Thank you for doing this.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t do that.” Shizune protested a bit, drawing up her legs and getting comfortable. She pulled his hair out of the loose ponytail it had been in when she last saw him the night before, placing the tie in her robe pocket next to his glasses. “And it’s no problem. However, if I ever go blind, I expect you to brush my hair and lead me around, okay?” She pulled a few strands of his hair from the collar of his shirt, beginning to brush from the ends.

“It’s a deal. Though, I don’t think the Gods are so uncreative that the curses will repeat.” Kabuto shifted slightly putting one leg on the couch, only his foot hanging over the edge. “Though, it’s not so bad. Sure I can’t see, but all of my other senses are working just fine. I could get around like this fairly well for an extended amount of time if needed.”

He was glad that his back was to her, because he could feel his cheeks heating at the thought of Shizune brushing his hair. It reminded him of the conversation he had had with Tenten.

“Mmmm.” Shizune shrugged, once again despite the fact that he couldn’t see the gesture. “I suppose so, but I expect I’ll eventually be in need of some sort of equivalent exchange.” She had one palm flat on the back of his shoulder, holding his hair still while she brushed, not in any sort of rush. She was almost jealous. His hair, light gray, was softer than hers.

Kabuto wasn’t really listening anymore; the only thing he was really aware of was the brush in his hair. It felt so… good. If he were physically capable of melting, that is what he would be doing right now. No one had ever brushed his hair for him before, it was so much better than brushing it himself. Maybe he could convince her to do it again sometime.

Shizune hummed to herself, brushing repeatedly, slowly. It was a comfortable softness, the quiet, filled only with the low humming of a song she didn’t really know. She smiled a little, continuing with the motion of brushing.

It didn’t matter anymore that Kabuto couldn’t see, because his eyes were closed. If he were a cat, he would have been purring. “Mmmm” He made a sound of contentment, relaxed to the point where he was barely keeping a sitting position.

Shizune was a bit surprised when his shoulders started slumping. She pressed a little harder with her palm and was interested to find his muscles relaxed. He was always so… tense… uptight. And he was making some rather contented noises. She leaned forward a bit, letting up a bit on the brushing.

“You going to be okay, there?”

“Mmhmmm…” Kabuto was beyond words, but it didn’t matter as long as she kept brushing his hair. He should have gone blind sooner.

Shizune chuckled, tugging slightly on his hair to have him tip his head back. “I think you went more than blind, Kabuto.” She murmured, shaking her head. This was too weird, really.

“Wha~ what do you mean?” He opened his eyes, having forgotten he couldn’t see for a few minute. “All of my other senses are working perfectly normal.” Then it hit him what he had just been doing. He pulled away from her, turning to where he should be facing her. “I assume you’re done then? We should go get breakfast.”

Shizune made a face, making sure to at least get his bangs with the brush to finish up before he could protest. “Now you can assume.” She realized that she was hungry. “But I’m going to have to change first, give me a minute, okay?”

Kabuto could feel the couch shift as Shizune got up, and seconds later heard the door to her room shut. As he sat there, he idly waved one of his hands in front of his face. He really couldn’t see anything. It was an odd sensation. Everything felt normal, his eyes didn’t seem any different than the ever did, he just couldn’t see.

Heaving a sigh, he levered himself up off the couch and felt his way to the door, this time careful not to hit anything. With some feeling around, he managed to locate his sandals and get them on. Not wanting to burden Shizune with even the most simple of tasks.

It took her a minute to change, but she took a moment to appreciate the clothing that had… for lack of a better word, popped into her wardrobe during that one renovating curse day. Pulling on the red shirt with the white cross on the chest, she stopped once more to think about not being able to see. She covered her eyes with her hands and just stared into blackness. Just black. With a shudder she hurried to finish changing and get back to the main room.

“Kabuto?” She called when she didn’t see him at the couch, but spotted him a moment later at the door. “Oh, there you are.”

“Ready to leave now?” He asked, turning a smile in her general direction. “I’ve already put my sandals on, so we can leave when ever you’re ready to.” It dawned on him that this would be the second time they had gone out to eat together since Shizune had arrived in the City, though a lot had changed in the month or so that they had been living together. Since then he had been cooking all his own meals, so that one café was the only one he knew. “Any idea where you’d like to go?”

“I am.” She headed to the door, pulling on her own footwear as well. “And… no, I don’t. Anywhere you care to recommend?” She opened the door as she spoke, holding out her arm for him, until it hit home again that he couldn’t see, so she sort of bumped his hand with her arm instead.

Kabuto grabbed onto Shizune’s arm, his hand resting just above her wrist. “The only place I know is that café I took you to.” It had been a good café and he wouldn’t mind eating there again. It was just weird to think about going back. When he had first taken her there he had been calling it a date, making fun of her in his own roundabout manner. If they went back, it would be her taking him, and could still technically be considered a date… only going for breakfast was conceivably worse than going for dinner. “A…anywhere you’d like to go is fine with me.”

“Well, I only really know one place.” She led him out the door, moving slowly, deliberately, closing the door and locking it behind them. She tensed unconsciously as she moved past the apartment occupied by Orochimaru, but moved quickly through the building and out to the streets. “What was that place we went to before? Café Juliet? I hope they serve breakfast. But in this City, I suppose they do.”

Kabuto let himself be led, it was the oddest feeling in the world. He knew what he was supposed to be seeing, but was unable to, could hear the noises of people getting an early start and walking past them, but they were as good as invisible.

He took a moment to answer her question, “I believe they do, but if not we can always find somewhere else to eat, this City is full of restaurants. I can’t tell you if any are good, but we shouldn’t have any problems.” He was oddly aware of how intimate they must look walking as they were, but kept his mouth shut on the subject.

“Good, well, we’ll see.” She didn’t quite see the moment as intimate, in fact, she was sort of reminded of a time when she’d helped an elderly man, whose eyesight was failing, cross the street. But thinking about it like that made her want to laugh, so she refrained. Upon sighting the café she was pleased to note the ‘open’ sign. “Looks like they do.” It brought back memories, this place. When she’d first arrived and thought it all just a dream. Shaking her head to clear it, she led Kabuto to a table, making sure to release his arm next to the chair so he wouldn’t have any undue trouble sitting down at one of the outside tables.

~~~~~~

Breakfast hadn’t been as awkward as Kabuto had thought it would, after they were situated (and with some difficulty finding his utensils) they had fallen into an easy discussion, joking about the situation and others in the city panicking over the latest curse. It was funny when one of the others in the café kept sending his food back claiming that it was ‘tasteless’.

After that, they went grocery shopping so there would be food in the refrigerator the next morning for when he could cook. Dropping the groceries off, they took a walk in the garden Xanadu, and even though he couldn’t see the flowers they smelt nice enough… until he tripped over an upturned stone and landed with a face full of dirt.

Over all the day was fairly uneventful, barring what chaos was created by the other residence of the City. On the whole, Kabuto found himself mostly uninjured when they finally made it back to the apartment for the evening, some take out with them from a small restaurant they had stopped by, only a few scrapes and bruises.

He felt his way over to one of the dinning room chairs, more accustom to getting around without sight after so many hours. “That smells great; you have a good eye for restaurants. I’ve never been a big fan of them, but this City seems to have quite a few that I would like to try.” His sense of smell had gotten sharper, and all day, he had been smelling food from places as far away as two blocks.

“I suppose it’s a useful skill.” Shizune chuckled, setting out the food. She made sure to place his utensils touching his hand, the plate of food touching his other. She didn’t want him stabbing down at the table like at breakfast. “Comes with practice.” It was an “Italian” restaurant, and they’d ordered pasta. This, she realized too late, may be a little difficult to consume while blind. But no matter. She had been silently laughing all day at the irony of it all. He was a terrifying fighter, a competent ninja, but take away the eyesight and he was as clumsy as a toddler. If she looked away for one second she might as well be dooming him to trip over something and fall, as he had done a few times. She felt a little bad for laughing, it really shouldn’t be funny, but because of who it was… well… she couldn’t help it.

With some effort, Kabuto managed to get a mouthful of the pasta, Shizune had ordered for him, it was spaghetti. “Mmm, remember the name of that place for next time we need to eat out.” They were eating kind of late, it was close to midnight, so he would have his sight back soon, but he was too hungry to wait until he could see.

He downed another few mouthfuls of food before speaking again. “Despite all the accidents, today was fun for a curse day.”

“Fun?” Shizune asked around a mouthful of pasta, some kind of chicken alfredo. “Being blind is fun?”

“Sure, I mean, it’s amusing. Constantly falling on my face and tripping over things. I’m enjoying it despite the physical harm that I’ve had to endure.” He spoke each sentence around a mouthful of food, going through his pasta fairly quickly; it took a lot out of you being blind. “I heard you laughing a few times, though you were trying to hide it. I don’t blame you, I would have laughed too. I must be a pathetic sight. I doubt I’ll ever get the dirt stains out of my clothes.”

“Ah, sorry about that.” Shizune covered her mouth with her hand, smiling behind it, not that she needed to hide it. “It was just sort of funny, you know.” She laughed a little. “I never imagined I’d see you… off, I suppose.”

“There’s that too. Raised as a medical ninja since I was young, I’m supposed to be very coordinated and careful, and suddenly I’m running into walls.” Kabuto laughed at the idea, well not so much idea since he had run into a couple of walls during the day when he had insisted that he hadn’t needed help. Luckily that was a lesson he had learned quickly.

Deciding he had had his fill of dinner, though he couldn’t see how much of it he had actually managed to eat, he set his fork down and pushed the plate slightly away from himself, content to wait until Shizune was finished. Besides, there were only a few minutes left until midnight according to his internal clock.

Shizune nodded, chewing thoughtfully. She’d read he’d been found as a child and raised in Konoha by the head of medical research. Probably not a loving upbringing, if the end product was any indication. She glanced at the clock, shoving her finished plate a bit farther from her. It was hard to believe that they had actually been out of the apartment all day. “Almost twelve.” She murmured.

He rested his elbows on the table and his chin in his upturned hands, loose hair falling over them. Silence fell between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. He was too lost in thought to notice anyway, his mind was on what Tenten had told him. Just tell Shizune, ask her how she felt. He wasn’t sure what he felt towards her, not really. The only two people he had even remotely discussed the situation with had told him that he cared for her (one in cruder terms than that). All day, his mind had been going back to this one thing, and he had come to a decision, for better or worse. At least this curse day had been useful.

Shizune watched him, watched his eyes staring into space. He seemed lost in thought, and she didn’t want to disturb him. It was rare when they had such a comfortable silence, and she didn’t want to ruin it. She was content just to sit and watch him, every now and then glancing at the clock, counting down. She knew it was a curse, but she wanted to make sure, just in case.

The clock struck midnight and Kabuto blinked. He could see, more specifically, he could see Shizune. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare at you like that!” That must have been uncomfortable for her, having his eyes on her. “Well,” he stood, “that’s the end of this curse. I’ll clean up dinner now.” He removed the dishes and food containers, clearing off the table before she could even think to offer to help, she had done enough for him today.

Shizune blinked, finding that she too had been staring off into space, content in the silence they’d been sharing. “Oh, no. It’s fine.” She answered quickly, making to stand and help, but he whisked it all away before she could lift a hand. She blinked.

Finished, he turned back to her. “You’ve done enough today, I owe you for helping me out. I’m not going to make you clean up dinner.” He knew he was babbling, but he was… nervous. How was she going to react?

“Oh, well, alright then.” She stood, pushing in her chair. “I… guess I’ll call it a day then, since you can see now.” It was strange the sudden transition from blind to vision. She started towards her bedroom, but hung back a bit, feeling like there was something unsaid in the air.

Kabuto, not really sure how to go about this, closed the distance between them. “I… uh…” Damn it, he just needed to get it over with. Leaning down quickly he pressed his lips against hers in a chaste kiss before straightening again. “Thanks…” He was pretty sure his cheeks were on fire.

Blink. Blink. She was wearing a confused expression, not exactly reacting quite yet, since she wasn’t quite sure how she felt like reacting anyway. “Uh… Kabuto?” She managed to get out, wondering if someone in the City had told the poor man that was how you thanked people.-

“I… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I just didn’t know what else to do.” He turned his head so that he couldn’t see her face, he didn’t want to see the disgust there. Besides, that had been far too forward. “I should have known you didn’t feel the same, it’s obvious now that I think about it.” He took a step back, voice dropping to a whisper. “Sorry.”

Shizune put a hand on his arm, stopping him from moving farther away. She didn’t know what was going on here. Her eyebrows knit together, trying to work things out. “Feel what way?” Her pulse was beating loudly in her ears, drowning out most rational thought.

“I… I…” Oh shit, what do I do? He thought, followed by I spend too much time around Tayuya. He was not prepared for any of this, at all. He was just sort of hoping that she would understand what he felt with that kiss, and he would get out of explaining this. Normally he was very good at explaining things, but words seemed to be his arch nemesis right now. “That is… I lo- well, I…” He took a deep breath, then spoke all in a rush. “Iloveyou.”

She blinked, a smile coming across her face before she burst into peals of laughter. “Oh, that’s funny!” She tried to stifle the noise, but it was amusing. She’d actually fallen for it for a minute there. And here was using that good acting of his on her. Ah, he was trying to get pay back for her laughing at him earlier. “I almost fell for that!”

“NO! I’m serious, really!” Kabuto practically shouted, feeling desperate. She thought he was trying to trick her, she still didn’t trust him to be honest with her. How was he supposed to prove he was telling the truth? This was so frustrating. Unconsciously he reached up and wiped a hand across his eyes… he was not crying, it was because of the frustration. “I really mean it.”

Shizune laughter cut off abruptly in a choked noise. She went through a few expressions, confusion, doubt, fear, apprehension, before settling on a blank look. His voice had almost cracked with emotion, and… he looked… sincere. Well, of course he would, he was a spy. But… deeper than that. Her eyes slowly lowered, her gaze drifting down unconsciously to the floor as she tried to sort it all out.

Love? Such… a strong word. A scary word, a binding word. Something not to be said frivolously, to be used for anything but what it stood for. Not to be used for some crush, some lust, but for something entirely different. She opened her mouth to speak, but found nothing coming out.

Kabuto heaved a sigh, “Look, forget I said or did anything. It wasn’t my place…” There was a tightness in his chest, it was hard to breathe, and he just… hurt. This was Shizune after all, she hated him and had from the moment they had met. She may not hate him per se any more, but what she felt was a far cry from what he did for her. Fuck. It had to be the City, there really wasn’t another explanation for this sudden change in him.

“Shut up, Kabuto.” Shizune finally managed to spit out speech. Her fists were clenched at her sides, her shoulders quivering slightly. “Stop apologizing, stop backing away, and just explain!” She forced out each word, her throat tightening. She wanted to reach out and understand, really understand what he meant. But she couldn’t.

“I already told you what I meant, and you laughed!” He snapped back, not angry at her, just not sure how to feel. “What else do you want from me? How much clearer than “I love you” do you expect?” He wanted to run away, everything in him was telling him to run, but his feet were rooted to the floor. His voice dropped again, to where he barley heard what he said. “Since it’s just a joke to you, forget it.”

“It’s not a joke!” She retorted too quickly, her cheeks red… from shouting, of course. “It’s not that, it’s… where did this come from?!” She understood the word love, understood what it meant, but that he would use it, use it with her, of all people, confused her. “I won’t just forget it! You said it, so explain it!”

“I don’t know where it came from!” Okay, so maybe he did want to cry. “I just noticed that things were different with you, they have been for a while, but I didn’t understand it, not until recently.” He was rambling again. “I just, it really hit home when you said you wanted to move out. I realized that I didn’t want you to leave, that I actually cared that someone was stepping out of my life for once. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Kabuto wanted to rip out his hair, this was not how things were supposed to go. He was sure of it. Sure he had never done anything like this before, but this could not be right. “I don’t know why, but I care for you.”

“Kabuto…” Shizune’s voice was barely abouve a whisper, soft, a bit shaky. “I don’t… I don’t know what to… of course I care… that you care if I care, oh…” She shook her head. “I… I do care…” She raised her arms, holding them in front of her. “Come here.”

Kabuto stepped forward cautiously. He didn’t know where this was going. “You say you care, but not in the same way… right?” He sounded disappointed, he didn’t care, because he was disappointed. “I understand…”

Shizune didn’t speak, her mouth in a sad line, moving her arms a bit and gesturing him closer.

Kabuto took another cautious step forward, not unaware of how little distance remained between them.

Shizune slowly closed the last gap, leaning in and encircling him with her arms, pulling him into an embrace. She closed her eyes, resting her head against his chest. She listened a moment, felt his heart beating, his breathing. “I don’t know.” She finally answered.

Kabuto stood stock still for a few seconds, before he brought his own arms up around Shizune. He wasn’t sure what this meant, she could be pitying him, it could be something else entirely. So he just stood there like that, sure that it would hurt when he let her go.

“I don’t know.” She repeated, feeling his muscles tense, tight and unsure. She squeezed a little, wanting to get through. She… didn’t want to hurt him, didn’t want to… scare him. But he seemed so scared, so… vulnerable, even more so than when he had been blind moments before. “I don’t know.” She murmured again.

“Okay.” It was the only answer he could think to give, even if he didn’t feel okay. He had been rejected; if he had known it would be like this he would have kept his feelings to himself and would have been fine just being near her. After this, he knew things couldn’t go back to normal though. He had fucked up.

“I…” Shizune tightened her grip, her fists balling in the back of his shirt. It was… comforting, and she breathed in deeply, trying to sort out her thoughts. “I do… you need to stop being so afraid, Kabuto…”

Shock was a good word to describe what he felt at that. He wasn’t afraid, was he? He couldn’t recall the last time he had been. It had been so long, not since he was found by the ANBU as a child. Yet, he was, he was afraid that she’d hate him, that she’d leave. “You aren’t going to move out now are you?”

“No… I’m not.” She idly moved her hands, slowly rubbing a circle into his back. “You asked me to stay. I want… to stay here.” Her voice was soft, hesitant. “But you have to stop being afraid… of being open. I know you’ve lived all your life closed… but… in order for me to do more than just care… to love… you… you need to be more open, more… yourself.” She shook her head into his chest. “No more running, no more false faces.”

Kabuto tightened his hold on her. He had always just done what he was supposed to do, never given any thought about it beyond the moment. Now; now she was asking him to change that, he didn’t know if he could, but he could try. He wanted to try, for her. “All right… I’ll try.”

Shizune slowly let go, taking him by the hand instead. “Come here.” She led him towards the couch. She sat down, pulling him down next to her. She had a moment to think about what had transpired on said couch on a previous curse day, getting a bit embarrassed from what she remembered of it. “Look…” She started, pulling his glasses out of her pocket and unfolding them, placing them softly on his face. “… I don’t…” She wasn’t quite sure why she felt she needed to say this. “I don’t want to hurt you…”

Kabuto let himself be led, sitting down next to her at her prompting. He could only nod his head at her words, unable to meet her eyes; of course she wouldn’t want to, she wasn’t that kind of person, but that didn’t mean this wasn’t painful. Tenten had also, apparently, been right about not accepting advice from sixteen year olds. Though, admittedly, she probably knew more about situations like this than he did. “I know.”

“No you don’t.” Shizune put both hands on either side of his face, making him meet her eyes, “Look at me.” She leaned a little closer. “I don’t want to hurt you.” She said slowly, looking at him through hooded eyes. “And… I can’t really ask you not be afraid… because I’m afraid too.”

Kabuto opened his mouth to apologize, then closed it again, remembering that Shizune kept telling him not to. It was just that around her, he felt like if there was even the possibility of him doing something that could discomfort her in anyway he needed to tell her he was sorry. It was a bit idiotic really. “Shizune san, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what’s going on anymore. I just… you confuse me, being around you confuses me.”

“We’re enemies… in our world.” She spoke slowly, this entire thing almost surreal. “Maybe… that’s why…” She didn’t know. “I’m… confused too.” She sunk into the couch, still not letting go of his hand, because if she did, it felt like he would run away, and she didn’t want him to retreat away again.

“We aren’t in our world any more.” He ventured, a hint of hope entering his voice, as if he had suddenly realized this. “I know you miss it, but until we go back, as long as were here we don’t have to be enemies?” His hand tightened around hers, and he leaned forward as he asked his question, eyes searching.

“We don’t have to be.” She met his gaze steadily, her thumb moving slowly over his hand. She didn’t want to think about Orochimaru, about anything like that. “… forget Sound, forget Leaf… just… be Kabuto and Shizune…”

Kabuto looked around as if trying to find something before turning his eyes back to Shizune. “Well, what do you want to do?” He finally asked after a moment. “I mean, I know… you don’t… but, what do you want?”

“… Can we just stay here?” She shifted into the couch, still holding his hand, resting her head on his shoulder. “Just… stay right here.” She felt her eyelids droop, after the long day out in the City. “And… you know… Kabuto…” She closed her eyes, just for a moment. “I do…” She opened her mouth to finish, but drifted off to sleep.

Kabuto noticed the change in breathing, Shizune was asleep. Well, it had been a long, and at the end, stressful day. He knew he was to blame for that. Freeing his hand from hers, he picked her up to carry her to her bed. He lay her down and pulled the blankets up to her chin, all the while thinking about the last thing she had said. Considering all that had gone on, he thought he knew what she meant, hoped really. But they could sort all that out later.

Turning off the light, he turned back staring at the dark form in the bed. “You’ll still be here in the morning.” He was glad that it wasn’t a question.