8: Hot Springs Madness

[Rockinmuffin]

Disclaimer: What a sad world we’d live in if I owned Naruto.

I don’t think this chapter came out right. Well, I like the beginning but it got kind of shaky as the chapter progressed. The ending was a bit rushed since this chapter was longer than I wanted it to be. But oh well. At least it’s done. Next chapter will be a fluff chapter, I believe.

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“Kisa-kun… Kisa-kun, wake up!”

Kisame rolled over onto his stomach, smothering his face in his pillow as he tried to tune out the voice that was calling his name. It was much too early in the morning for his brain to start functioning properly and his family should know better than to disturb him at such a time, especially when he had the day off, free of missions and training.

…And free of annoying teammates as well.

“Kiiiiiiiiissssaaaaaaaa-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuun…”

Kisame grunted as something jabbed him in the side of his ribs. He ignored it in favor of snuggling farther in his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bed sheets. Still, the poking in his sides persisted and Kisame found that he could no longer ignore it. With a groan, he turned towards the source of the pain in his sides and found you.

You. Sitting with your legs folded on his bed sheets. Poking his side. Early in the morning. In his house.

“…How did you get in my house?” Kisame questioned, his eyes half-closed and his voice hoarse from sleep.

“Your mom let me in” you answered simply, smiling down at him. “Nice bed sheets, by the way.”

Kisame frowned, a light purple blush coloring his cheeks, but let the remark go since he was too tired to retaliate with something witty. Instead, he sat up in his bed, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. “What are you doing here so early?” he questioned before stretching out his arms and yawning.

“Early?” You blinked at Kisame, quirking an eyebrow. “Kisa-kun, it’s eleven o’ clock; that hardly counts as early.”

Kisame frowned. It was only eleven? He could’ve slept for another hour if it hadn’t been for your nasty wake-up-call. Oh well, he would live. Maybe.

Or maybe not. Kisame fell back on his bed, his head cushioned by his pillow as he closed his eyes and tried to return back to the land of slumber. However, fate would never allow Kisame to be so lucky.

“Kisa-kuuuuuuun,” you whined, poking Kisame on the cheek impatiently, “Wake up! You need to get dressed and get ready so we can go to the hot springs, you lazy butt-munch!”

“Eh?” Kisame opened a single eye and stared up at you curiously. “Hot springs?”

“Yeah, hot springs! I decided that we could celebrate our first successful mission by relaxing at a hot spring.” You frowned down at Kisame, poking him on the gills when he didn’t make a move to get out of bed. “Get your lazy blue butt up!” you whined loudly.

“I don’t wanna go” he muttered, rolling over so his face was smothered in the pillows. “You, Takei, and Yoshizaki-sensei will just have to have fun without me” came his muffled response.

“…”

Kisame sighed in relief as he snuggled against his pillow. Maybe you had finally given up on trying to wake him up and drag him off to hang out with people he didn’t like very much. The chances of that were unlikely, but it was a possibility and Kisame didn’t want to rule it out entirely.

Kisame turned his head to the side to see if you had left; nope, you were still there. He was about to turn his head back and suffocate himself in his pillows when he noticed something odd.

You were crying.

Kisame blinked. He didn’t like it when people cried, especially girls. It made them look weak. …And it made him feel weak too. With a sigh, Kisame sat up, placing his hand on your shoulder gently. “Uh… Don’t cry” he muttered awkwardly.

You sniffled lightly, wiping the tears from your eyes before taking a deep breath. “Why doesn’t anyone wanna go to the hot springs with me?!” you sobbed loudly, tears streaming down from your eyes like twin waterfalls. “First I ask Taki-kun if he wants to come with me but then he got sick cuz he turned real red and passed out! Then I try to look for Yoshizaki-sensei but I can’t find him anywhere! Am I really so annoying that no one wants to spend time with me?!”

Kisame sweat-dropped. He wanted to say yes, that you really were that annoying, but his gut instincts told him to hold his tongue. Instead, he turned towards you and opened his mouth, knowing that he would regret his words. “I’ll go to the hot springs with you.”

You crying instantly ceased, a giant grin appearing on your face. “Good. I was worried that the waterworks wouldn’t work on you, Kisa-kun.”

Kisame’s right eye twitched. “You were… You were faking those tears…”

You ignored his words as you stood up from his bed, taking one last glance at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bed sheets before walking out of Kisame’s room. “Hurry up and get dressed; I’ll be waiting downstairs” you casually called over your shoulder as you left his doorway. You stopped for a moment and turned back towards Kisame, your eyes shining. “Oh, by the way, nice boxers” you said with a laugh, running away before Kisame could even react.

Kisame frowned as he stared at the spot where you had been standing, his cheeks taking on a purple hue. He directed his attention downwards and mentally cursed as he glared down at his boxers with the blue fishies on them. It wasn’t his fault that his mother enjoyed buying Kisame humiliating undergarments. Well, on the bright side, at least he hadn’t been wearing the yellow boxers with the winking smiley face on them.

Kisame grumbled as he stepped around his room, picking up a random t-shirt and a pair of shorts off his floor, sniffing them to make sure they weren’t dirty. Finding the outfit to be clean enough and only smelling faintly of bad sushi, he quickly slipped the clothing on and headed downstairs.

He wasn’t surprised to see that you had made yourself at home; in fact, you were currently sitting in the dining room with Kisame’s parents, eating some of Mrs. Hoshigaki’s delicious home-made pancakes. You ate them as if they were candy. It certainly beat the frozen, freezer-burnt pancakes that you were used to eating.

“Kisame, sweetie, eat your breakfast before you go out to play with _____-chan” Kisame’s mother said as she walked towards Kisame and guided him towards the table, forced him in a chair, and set down a plate of pancakes in front of him.

Kisame stared at the pancakes in front of him then looked up at you, frowning as you shoved bite after bite of the home-cooked goodness into your mouth, barely taking enough time to swallow. He turned back down towards his own plate, sweat-dropping. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

“Nonsense! A growing boy needs to eat!” you teased as you threw a syrup-covered pancake at Kisame, hitting him square on his left cheek.

“Nice shot! You got him right in the face!” Mr. Hoshigaki congratulated as he gave you a high-five. The two of you laughed obnoxiously while Mrs. Hoshigaki covered her mouth with a cloth napkin, hiding her quiet snickers.

Kisame groaned as he pulled the pancake off of his cheek, mumbling about how hard it was to wash maple syrup out of his gills as he set the breakfast food down on his plate. He spent the rest of the meal trying to ignore you and his father as the two of you would randomly throw food at either Kisame or each other. Kisame’s mother wasn’t much better off; she kept arranging the food in her plate until it looked like a delicious and edible pancake-baby. The poor, delusional woman (with babies constantly on her mind) occasionally talked to it, causing Kisame’s eyelids to twitch.

Kisame briefly wondered what it would be like to have a sane family and normal friends.

He gave up on his thoughts, however, as a piece of bacon hit him in the eye.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

You smiled as you walked down the street at Kisame’s side, grinning up at him as he grumbled about bacon bits in his eye. You laughed aloud to yourself, feeling guiltless; Kisame’s father threw the bacon, not you. You just threw sticky pancakes.

As you were walking you had been half-tempted to grab Kisame’s hand and see his reaction, but you decided against it. You’d humiliated the boy enough. Well, for the moment, at the very least. Besides, there would be plenty of chances to harass him in the hot springs.

Kisame grumbled to himself and glared at the ground as he continued down the street. His eye was stinging from the after-effects of the burning grease and now he smelt like over-cooked bacon. Of course, on the bright side, maybe a trip to the hot springs would be just the thing he needed; a little rest and relaxation would probably do him some good.

As soon as the two of you reached the hot springs, you immediately went to the clerk at the desk and paid for the two of you. (Kisame briefly wondered where you got all your money from, but decided that he’d rather not know.) You happily accepted the two fluffy towels that the lady handed to you and bowed politely before flinging one of them at Kisame’s face.

The sight of Kisame’s right eye twitching was blocked by the towel, not that there was anyone to see it anyway; you had already run off to the girls’ locker room to strip your clothes and wash off before getting into the hot springs. Kisame pulled the towel off of his head and slung it over his shoulder as he walked into the boys’ locker room, ignoring the snickers from the lady at the front desk.

Kisame was pleased to find that there was no one else in the locker room; had there been any other people he’d be forced to deal with their idiocy and harassment and he really wasn’t in the mood for any of that. With a sigh, he removed his clothing, allowing his outfit to fall unceremoniously to the ground. There really was no need for him to fold his clothes and put them in a locker if there was no one else around.

He only spent about five or so minutes under the cold shower, scrubbing away any traces of dirt that had collected on his skin since his last shower so that it wouldn’t contaminate the hot springs. Once the dirt was gone, he turned off the shower and wrapped the fluffy towel around his waist, shaking his head wildly to remove the water droplets that stuck to his hair and skin; it was a primitive method but it was effective nonetheless.

Kisame then wrapped the towel around his waist; more so out of habit rather than for modesty’s sake; and left the locker room for the steamy bliss of the hot springs. He was relieved to see that there was no one else in the room with him and allowed a faint grin to grace his features as he removed his towel from his body and slowly sank into the warm waters.

As Kisame relaxed, allowing his eyelids to slowly close, he briefly thought that things couldn’t get any better than this.

Oh, how right he was.

“Kisa-kun!” The high-pitched sound of your voice caused Kisame’s eyes to widen. “Don’t fall asleep in the water or you’ll be boiled alive like a lobster” you teased playfully.

Kisame just stared at you, eyes unblinking. Why were you alone in a hot springs with him and wearing nothing but a towel? Unless, of course, it was a unisex hot spring that didn’t separate the sexes. But, you would never do something like that…

“I’m glad this is a unisex hot spring! Otherwise we’d both be all alone and have no one to talk to.”

Okay… So maybe you would.

Kisame’s eye twitched as you jumped into the hot spring, towel and all, causing a steaming wave to splash Kisame in the face. However, the blue-skinned boy didn’t even bat and eyelash (did he even have eyelashes?) and just continued to stare at you as if you grew an extra head. You looked down at your right and left shoulder just to make sure.

“Yo, Kisa-kun, what’s up with you?” you questioned, your face scrunched up in confusion as you poked Kisame lightly on his collarbone. He still didn’t react. “Kisa-kun?” Still no response.

With an indignant huff, you sunk into the water until you were neck-deep then removed your wet towel and smacked Kisame in the head with it.

Kisame still didn’t speak, however, a purple hue colored his cheeks. Kisame crossed his arms over his chest, his lips thinning into a small, forced frown as he turned his head away from you.

You pouted at this, twirling your finger in a damp strand of your hair. “Kisa-kun, what’s wrong? Who pissed in your cornflakes?” you asked with a frown and furrowed brows.

You received a grunt in response. Well, at least it was better than nothing.

You frowned some more, sticking your lower lip out in an exaggerated pout. Suddenly, a brilliant idea formed within your feeble mind. You gave Kisame a sly grin and scooted closer towards the poor boy.

In return, Kisame tried to scoot away; however, he didn’t get very far before you scooted even closer to him.

“I know what’s wrong, Kisa-kun…” you drawled, your grin widening. “You just need a big hug!” you squealed aloud, pouncing towards the poor, unsuspecting shark-boy.

Luckily (or unluckily) for Kisame, his hands had gripped onto your shoulders, keeping you at arm’s length and preventing any more contact. The light violet blush on his cheeks had developed into a bright magenta color. You squirmed against his grip, trying to reach out and pull him into a hug, but your arms were too short and Kisame’s grip was too strong.

“Kiiiiiiiiisssssaaaaaaaa-kuuuuuuuuuuun,” you whined, “Stop being a butt-munch and let me hug you!”

Kisame frowned, the blush on his face fading by a little bit. “Will you think clearly for once?! We’re both naked under the water.”

“…So? We’re gonna get married anyway…” you trailed off, grinning up at Kisame and showing off pearly-white teeth.

Kisame could feel his face heat up as all his blood rushed up to his cheeks. For a moment, his hold on you relaxed and he almost considered releasing you entirely and letting you just do whatever you wanted. However, a loud, obnoxious voice abruptly brought him out of these thoughts.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

Kisame frowned as he was met with the sight of his blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jounin instructor who was currently wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. The older man had a cocky grin on his face as he stared down at his students, a knowing glint shining in his eyes.

“Yoshizaki-sensei!” you squealed in excitement, moving away from Kisame in order to stare up at your sensei. “You came! How’d you find out about the trip to the hot springs?”

“A little birdie told me” he stated nonchalantly, gesturing towards Takei who you just noticed had been standing behind him.

“Taki-kun! I thought you were sick.” The boy simply blushed and looked down at his feet shyly. “I’m glad everyone could come. Now we can spend the day together and relax as a team” you said with a smile, your eyes closing and your smile widening.

Kisame rolled his eyes as you, Takei, and Yoshizaki all smiled stupidly at one another. For the thirty-seventh time since he was put into his Genin team, Kisame once again wondered how he became surrounded by such idiots. On the bright side, his team’s idiocy allowed him time to diminish the blush on his face.

Soon Yoshizaki and Takei joined you and Kisame in the hot springs; you all talked and laughed and splashed scalding hot water at each other’s faces, with the exception of Kisame who tried to ignore his team.

Still, even though he was stuck with incompetent morons, Kisame decided that he wouldn’t trade them for the world, though he’d never admit it to anyone else.