Akatsuki Princess

When the lunch bell rang I followed Kiba outside. I tried to talk to him, but he kept walking away from me and dodging my attempts to get his attention. Finally, I caught his arm. “Kiba, please.”
“Get off me, Kamiko!” he pushed me down. “I’m really not in the mood to talk to you. Go eat with you new boyfriend and leave me alone!”
He walked away again, and tears filled my eyes as I watched him from where I fell on the ground. Strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me to my feet. “Come here,” Sasuke murmured in my ear as he hugged me. “Kiba’s being a jerk today; are you alright.” I nodded and he led me to a tree, pulling me into his lap.
I looked into Sasuke’s eyes. “He hates me now. I don’t understand why. What’d I do?” Sasuke just looked at me sadly and held me tighter. I buried my head into his chest pouting, trying not to cry. I was so confused; I didn’t want to lose a friend already, especially not knowing why.
“Thank you,” I said, straightening up. “I’m sorry about that.”
Sasuke looked surprised. “You don’t have to be sorry. Everyone has bad days, and you’re in a fight with someone who’s supposed to be your friend.” I shrugged. Sasuke pushed me away from him to look at me curiously. “Why did you kiss me?”
I was taken aback at the random change of subject. “I told you. Those girls are always harassing you. It drives me insane. You must hate them. And I didn’t want everyone thinking you were gay, especially since that wouldn’t necessarily deter them.” Sasuke made a noise and I giggled. “Some girls are obsessed with gay guys. It could’ve just made things worse. I did the only thing I saw as an alternative. No girl wants to be known as a home-wrecker.” I shrugged as if it were obvious. “I’m your friend now; I’ll protect you at all costs.”
He smirked. “That’s pretty dramatic.” I smiled at him. Without warning he pulled me close again and kissed me. “Kamiko? Will you keep pretending to be my girlfriend for a while? I mean, until you get a real boyfriend or whatever. Just in school, too. I don’t care if you’re just my friend when we’re with the guys, but around those crazy girls! Please?”
I giggled at the desperation in his voice. “I’ll think about it.” As his eyes widened, my giggle turned into a hearty laugh. “I’m joking! Of course I will.” I snuggled into his body until the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.
We filed into the classroom and I made a beeline for my seat. Sasuke stood talking with the girls for a few moments; by the looks on their faces he was gloating about having a girlfriend. I rolled my eyes and looked around the room, my gaze resting on Naruto and Kiba, who were fooling around near the front. Naruto caught my stare and waved. I smiled and waved back, but the smile slipped right off my face as soon as Kiba glared at me. Naruto gave him a weird look, but sat down next to him starting to pester him again. “If looks could kill,” I muttered.
“What’s that?” Sasuke appeared next to me. I gave him a half-hearted smile. “You ok?” I nodded but gave no further response.
“Alright class, settle down please. Lunch is over.” The class quieted immediately. I leaned forward in my chair and rested my elbows on the desk, my head in my hands. The next three hours passed as slow as molasses. By the time the final bell rang, I was ready to bolt. However, before I could move two steps, Iruka called me back. “Kamiko, don’t leave yet. I want to speak to you.” My eyes widened and Iruka clarified. “Don’t worry you’re not in trouble.”
I sat back down next to Sasuke. After everyone left, Iruka motioned for us to sit in the front row. We complied and moved our seats closer. “Kamiko,” he began, “is sitting next to Sasuke going to be a problem?”
I raised my eyebrows and shook my head. “No! Of course not! I thought I wasn’t in trouble.”
“You’re not, but now that you’re dating…” he trailed off and shook his head. “You need to learn Kamiko. More than anyone in the class.”
I scowled. “I am learning! Watch!” I made a shadow clone. It was lifeless but at least it looked like me and could look around the room now. Iruka looked impressed. “Sasuke and Shikamaru taught me how! Naruto helped too. He’s not as stupid as you think, Sensei. You should give him more credit.”
Iruka’s eyes widened at my accusation. He nodded quickly. “Ok you can go now.”
I left the classroom calmly, but as soon as the door closed behind me I sprinted outside. As soon as I got through the doors, I slammed into Naruto. “Hi!” he exclaimed while helping me up off the ground. “Wanna go see the roof?”
I sighed. “I would any other time Naruto but right now I really have to go. What?” I asked looking at the smirk on his face.
He pumped a fist in the air. “I knew it! You’re afraid of heights!” I rolled my eyes and motioned for him to lead the way. He looked surprised but led me up anyway. To prove even further that I wasn’t afraid of heights I walked around the perimeter. After I got all the way around, I jumped down safely rolling onto the grass, almost landing on Kiba.
“Ahh! What the – where did you come from?”
I looked up at him sheepishly. “Ha, sorry Kiba. I was just on the roof with Naruto.” He started walking away from me. “Kiba! Wait!” I started after the brunette, but he just walked faster. “Kiba please!”
He whipped around and glared at me. “What?”
I took a step back. “I…I just want to know what I did. Why are you so mad at me?”
He continued to glare at me. “Seriously? You’re really dumb Kamiko. You’ve only known Sasuke for like 3 minutes and you’re already dating him?”
My eyes widened. “Is that what this is about? Me dating a kid I just met? Aww Kibs, we really need to talk. Why don’t you come over to my place? We can talk in my room.” He looked at me skeptically. “I’ll tell you everything! I promise.” I swore.
We started walking toward the gates. I was crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t be in trouble for being late. Kiba and I walked up to Sasori. “Where the hell were you?”
I ignored the question and asked one of my own. “Sasori? Can Kiba come over today?”
“No.”
“But—“
“No. You can ask your father about later this week but I doubt he’ll give in.”
I frowned but nodded. “Rain check?” Kiba nodded grumbling about how he still couldn’t believe I was dating Sasuke. I felt my heart skip a beat and waved to him, grabbing Sasori’s hand and dragging him away. I gave a silent prayer that Sasori didn’t hear what Kiba said.
The walk had been silent until Sasori spoke up. “So, baby Uchiha.” The redhead commented as we neared home. I looked up at him quickly, wondering if he would elaborate on the comment. He did. “Never pictured that one. I didn’t think you’d be brave enough to date Itachi’s baby brother.” He smirked as I paled. We walked inside. “I bet Itachi would just love to hear all about it. Don’t you?”
I grabbed the man’s elbow. “Please don’t tell him,” I begged.
“Aww why not? He deserves to know, don’t you think?”
I whimpered. “Please Sasori, he can’t find out.”
“Who can’t find out what?” I shivered at the cold voice behind me. “I asked you a question, little girl.” I whipped around to face Itachi. Wordlessly I handed over the small bag of money I had stolen.
Itachi ripped the bag from my hand and threw it behind him. “I know this isn’t what you’re talking about.” I cocked my head to the side in a questioning fashion, not trusting my voice to speak. “You’re not that afraid of Kakuzu. And anyway, everyone knows you stole from him.”
“What?” I squeaked. Sasori answered me.
“Yeah, Kakuzu noticed it was missing. We figured you’d realize there were no hotels in Konoha and find other arrangements.” He smirked at my shocked face.
“Now then,” Itachi shoved me against the wall. “What aren’t you telling me?” I whimpered and shut my eyes, waiting for a blow that never came. Instead I was dropped to the floor. “Whatever. I’ll find out eventually. In the meantime, your father wants us both in his office.”
I sprinted down the hallway, practically jumping on top of my father’s desk. “Daddy, can Kiba come over tomorrow and hang out? We’ll stay out of everybody’s way and stay with Tobi the whole time and he can help me cook dinner!”
He looked at me as Itachi strolled in. “No,” he replied, finally processing my question. “Now sit down, the both of you.” We complied immediately. I instantly felt like I was in trouble. My father sighed and rubbed his temples. “You two need to learn how to get along. Itachi has a mission coming up tomorrow, but when he gets back on Friday, after school you are both going to go on a little getaway to get to know each other better. It will last the entire weekend and you will come back Sunday night as friends. Do you understand me?”
“What?!” We both cried out in unison.
“Daddy you can’t!” I protested. “He’ll kill me!”
“And I’m not spending my weekend break with some little brat!” For once, Itachi and I agreed on something.
My father glared at us. “You will do as I say!” he roared.
“Fine,” I conceded. Itachi and my father both stared at me, shocked at how easy it was to convince me. “But if I do this,” I continued, “Kiba gets to come over.”
“What? This isn’t a negotiation, Kamiko!” I could see my father was about to say more, so I let my eyes fill up with tears. “Hey, don’t…don’t cry. Why are you crying?”
“I’m not.” I whimpered pathetically. “But it’s just not fair. I’ve already had such hard times and now you’re forcing me to spend an entire weekend alone with a man who wants to kill me? And for what? I don’t even get to have a friend over as a reward?” I let tears start to fall as I watched my dad’s resolve crumble.
“Well…it’s just…Kamiko I—“
I cut him off. “No, it’s ok. I get it. It’s why you abandoned me in the first place isn’t it? You just want me to feel absolutely unwanted.” Bingo! He looked like I’d just slapped him.
“Kamiko that’s not true!” He protested, then he sighed. “Alright, alright. You can have your friend over.” I smiled. “BUT, that will only happen if you and Itachi come back not wanting to murder each other.” I nodded.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you so much, Daddy! You’re the best in the whole wide world!” I hugged him quickly and ran out of the room. I galloped down the long hallway to Tobi’s room and walked in without even knocking.
“Oh! Hello!” He dropped the façade as soon as I closed the door. “Hey, Kamiko. You look happy.”
I nodded emphatically. “My friend Kiba is coming over on Monday! He was mad at me today, but I think we cleared things up a bit and we’re gonna talk about it then and I’m really excited that he gets to come over!”
He chuckled. “Nice! How’d you swing that one?”
I shrugged. “Well as long as I be Itachi’s friend this weekend on our getaway, he gets to come over. Tears get girls everywhere, trust me.”
“Getaway?” Tobi sounded concerned.
“Yeah” I giggled nervously. “Me and him in a hotel somewhere all by our lonesome. He’s not allowed to kill me at least.”
“Kamiko—“
“Tobi, don’t even,” I cut him off. “I have no choice in the matter. I’m pretty sure if I’m still fighting with Itachi by the time we come home, I’m gonna be in big trouble.”
Tobi gave me a big hug. “Good luck.” He whispered. Instead of giving me confidence, that short sentence made me even more uneasy about our trip.
He broke the hug quickly. “Anyway, why was this Kiba kid mad at you?”
“Oh it was stupid and a misunderstanding. Although, I’m still not really sure. He was so happy with me this morning and then…promise to keep a secret?” He nodded. “Well I might’ve kissed Sasuke to get his crazy obsessive stalker fangirls away from him. And Kiba got really pissed! Something about how I’ve barely known Sasuke and he can’t believe I’m dating him. I mean, I get his point: friends after a day is one thing, but dating is a whole different story. But he didn’t get the whole picture! He just assumed what he did and got pissy.” I pouted.
“Did he hurt you at all?”
I shook my head, then thought about it. “Well he pushed me down when I tried to talk to him at lunch. And then he tried to scare me by making bugs swarm around me. But that’s all; nothing too bad.”
Tobi angled his head down, a sign that he was frowning. :That’s not good Kamiko. Why are you friends with him?”
“Well he was nice to me at first and he helped tutor me. I think he was just having a bad day.” I heard Tobi sigh and knew it was the end of the conversation. I cuddled up to him and snuggled in his warm arms until I had to make dinner.