Connection Between Puppets and Plants

Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto nor any of the characters in it. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

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~Haruka’s POV~

After a long period of finding a way to go back to the village, the three of us had finally arrived back outside the gate of Suna. Thanks to the trail of pebbles which Kimi Raikkichi had been dropping from the beginning of our journey with our creepy Jonin. I could say it was a bit ludicrous, being saved by a method that I had once read in a children’s story back when I was still litte. I admitted, it was clever of the Blonde to leave a trail like that. If he hadn’t left some, the three of us would still be barbecued on the heated desert right now.

“Finally...” I panted heavily, staggering my way inside the village, with both Sasori and Kimi Raikkichi not too far in front of me. “Now I know how Hansel and Gretel felt when they managed to go back home safely.”

“You can’t feel relieved just yet. We still have to figure out which one of these cards actually holds the real identity of that Jonin,” Sasori said, taking the wallet out from his pocket. “It’s almost dark. We should be returning home now.” He added, looking at the reddened sky above us.

“But how are we supposed to figure that out if we’re going back home now? We don’t have much time until tomorrow morning, or at least until our bedtime.” I complained.

“As if we’ll be able to get some sleep tonight.” The red-head snorted, putting the wallet back into his hidden pocket. “I believe it’s better for the three of us if I sort this out on my own. “

“Hee? No way! We’re in this together; you can’t just do all the work on your own!” I contradicted, tugging on his long sleeve. “Besides, we’ve still got plenty of time to solve this problem.”

“Ooo!” the Blonde suddenly squealed, waving his hands in front of both me and Sasori. “Kimi Raikkichi has an idea! Why don’t Haruka-chan and Aka-no-baka have a sleepover at Kimi Raikkichi’s house tonight?”

“And what does that have to do with our mission, exactly?” Sasori asked lazily, tapping his foot on the ground in a gesture of impatience.

“Good idea! If we stay at your place tonight, we’ll be able to solve our test together!” I said, agreeing with Kimi Raikkichi’s suggestion. “What do you say, Sasori?”

I looked over at my childhood friend, only to find his right eye twitching in a mix of shock, stress, and annoyance.

“No.” He responded shortly, turning around and started walking away from both me and Kimi.

“Hey! Wait up! You can’t just leave like that!”

Hearing me calling out after him, the puppeteer then halted and turned his head back at me. “I’d rather solve this one on my own than have a sleepover at that Idiot’s place. And there’s nothing you could possibly do to change that.”

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~One Hour Later~

“I can’t believe you’ve dragged me into this...” Sasori cursed, as I dragged him with Kimi by my long vine whip on our way toward Raikkichi’s house.

“Stop complaining. We’re a team now, so we have to do this together.” I said, still pulling onto the whip.

We dropped by my house for a little while so I could take some clothes with me and told my grandma that I was about to have a sleepover at my friend’s house before we continued with our journey to the Raikkichi’s resident. We didn’t stop by at Sasori’s house though, since we knew that he’d try to run away if we let him free for even a minute to get his stuffs packed.

Apparently, Kimi Raikkichi’s house isn’t too far from my own, so it only took us some minutes before finally arriving there.

“Here we are!” Kimi announced, turning around to face me and Sasori.

I couldn’t help but to gawk as I stared at the house in front of me.

It. Was. Huge.

I knew I had passed by it once or twice, but I never knew that this huge mansion actually belonged to the mindless Blonde! The front door was probably twice as big as mine. I think it was made out of... I don’t know... Bronze? But it sure seemed like it was. It was the only thing that made the house looked like it was still being owned by someone, since the walls and roof were covered in thick beige paint.

Kimi Raikkichi led our way to his front door, turning the gargoyle-shaped knob around before proceeding on pushing the door open to reveal the room inside.

Honestly, I couldn’t help but to gawk even more when I stepped inside his house.

It. Was. Bright.

Reaaalllly bright.

There were chandeliers all over the place. The walls were painted in rainbow colors, statues of rainbow monkeys were placed in every corner of the huge hallway, paintings of Monalisa wearing different shades of hats and glasses were hung on the colourful wall above the colourful monkey statues. The floor was covered in red and yellow carpet, giving the house an even dizzier look than it already was.

“This... is your house?” I asked my blond friend, who nodded excitedly in response.

“Hai, hai! Does Haruka-chan like Kimi Raikkichi’s house? Kimi Raikkichi bets Haruka-chan does!” he assumed without giving me a chance to answer it, although I knew I was going to answer otherwise, but, oh well...

“Here! Kimi Raikkichi will give Kimi Raikkichi’s teammates a tour around Kimi Raikkichi’s house!” he trailed off before leading the way through the giant hallway.

I couldn’t help but to try covering my eyes in vain as we walked across the corridor. The view here was just so... blinding. Too colourful for my poor eyes to bear. I took a look at my red-headed friend, who was still being dragged by both me and Kimi Raikkichi, and noticed that he was trying to do the exact thing that I was trying to do: Shielding his eyes from the blinding view.

Kimi didn’t seem to notice, though. I wonder if every member of his family had the same odd taste as he did.

“Welcome, strangers!” a loud voice called out, snapping me out of my previous trance. I took a look ahead of me and saw a guy that looked like a bigger clone of Kimi standing next to one of the rainbow monkey statues. He was wearing a shirt and baggy pants, with the letter “T” all over it. I guessed his name must start with the letter T, then. But more importantly, who was he anyway? Kimi never mentioned that he had an older brother, not to mention a very cute one indeed.

“Otou-chan!” Kimi yelled as he ran toward the man’s welcoming embrace and tackled the poor guy into a deadly hug.

I froze on my spot when I heard the word which Kimi had just yelled out.

Otou-chan!

Otou-chan!

Otou-chan!

Ooo... tou... chaaaaan...

The word kept playing repeatedly inside my mind. It took me long enough before I finally realized that the 18-year-old-looking guy was actually Kimi Raikkichi’s FATHER!

“Y-you... you... you...” I stuttered as my wide eyes were still glued at the figure in front of me. “You’re Kimi’s father???”

“Hai-hai-haaaii... Tou-chan, meet Haruka-chan, and Aka-no-baka. Haruka-chan, Aka-no-baka, meet Kimi Raikkichi’s tou-chan, Tou-tou!”

I raised an eyebrow at both of them, while Sasori’s left eye was twitching non-stop. Seriously, this guy couldn’t be Kimi’s father! He couldn’t!

“Konnichiwa, strangers that are no longer strangers!” the man grinned and waved at us. “Tou-tou’s name is Touya Raikkichi, but everyone calls Tou-Tou Tou-Tou!” he continued introducing himself.

“Oh great... not another Raikkichi...” Sasori sighed desperately, resting his head onto my back.

“C’mon! Kimi Raikkichi will introduce Haruka-chan and Aka-no-baka the rest of Kimi Raikkichi’s family!” the smaller blonde said, skipping his way through the rest of the never-ending hallway, with his father right next to him, who was, unfortunately, skipping happily right next to his happy son.

I can’t wait to meet the other members of his family...

“Can you let me go now? I won’t be able to run away from this house anyway if you do, because apparently, I’ve lost my way back to the front door.” The red-head grumbled boredly.

Seeing that he actually had a point, I decided to release him from the grip of my vine. He rubbed his arms severely as soon as he was free from my grasp, making sure that they were still there.

“We better go, Kimi and his dad are almost out of sight,” I suggested, taking fast steps down the hallway. “We don’t want to be stuck here forever, now come on!”

Sasori just let out a heavy sighed before deciding to follow behind me.

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“This is Kimi Raikkichi’s Okaa-chan, and this is Kimi Raikkichi’s Obaa-chan, and this is Kimi Raikkichi’s Ojii-chan, and this is...”

I was now sitting around the dining table along with the other members of the Raikkichi’s family. There were at least 9 people inside the room, excluding the maids and the other butlers that were standing straight in each side of the colourful walls.

Kimi’s family sure was big, not mention very young as well. His grandparents looked like they were in the same age as my sensei at school, and his parents and his parents’ relatives seemed to be around 18 or something. I wonder what caused them to look so fit and young.

“... and finally, Kimi Raikkichi’s woo-woo, Woo-Woo!”

Both I and Sasori raised an eyebrow at the blonde. “What’s a... woo-woo?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s ‘Dog’ in our Raikkichi’s language.” Kaochi Raikkichi- er, Kimi’s mom explained.

“I see...” I stated blankly, looking at Kimi’s odd looking dog. Well, I wouldn’t call it odd if only had one head instead if 3 in one body!

Just then, a gust of wind flew past me and the red-head who was sitting next to me, stopping at the end of the long dining table. We looked at the source of it and saw a woman holding onto trays of food was smiling down at the 9 of us. “Here are the desserts!!”

She sure moved quickly... I wonder if every Raikkichi could move that fa- wait, did she just say desserts???

“Um, Kimi... what about the main course?” I whispered quietly to the Blonde who was sitting on the chair next to me.

“Kimi Raikkichi and Kimi Raikkichi’s family always serve desserts before the main course! It’s all in the tradition!” he replied, taking one sweet chocolate cake onto his small plate. “Here Haruka-chan, Aka-no-Baka, take some too! They’re yummy!”

Well, I always wanted to have desserts first, so I guess it’s alright to eat one.

“Can this family get any weirder?” Sasori whispered into my ear, eyeing the black-forest cake suspiciously.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure we’re gonna find out sooner or later.” I said, taking a bite of the cake into my mouth.

And for once, Kimi was right. This cake is delicious!