Mr Nice Guy

Anything I say here and now will probably make me sound like a stalker, but I swear that isn't the case. It's just we live in the same building and she's so beautiful, I just can't take my eyes off her. Sometimes I notice her walking from a vantage point high above and it's wonderful. Not only that, but she's pretty powerful as girls like her go.

I decided to speak to someone about the feelings I was having. Father kind of died before we reached the age he would start to talk to us about matters of the human body. I still remember my sister's reaction when she got her first period. Shizuka-nee-san had to have a long talk with her about woman stuff when we first met them. My nee-san barely knew what her breasts were.

That's what happens when you grow up so completely isolated in a dark cave.

Raising my fist uncertainly, I knocked on the door of my best friend, Uchiha Katsuhiko. After a brief scuffle with his bedclothes, the blonde answered the door, rubbing the sleep from his eye. I offered him a small smile and waited for him to invite me in. After an awkward staring match, he gestured to allow me entrance and we sat side by side on his bed.
"It's late, Tokageroh."
"I know, I'm sorry, but I needed to talk to someone and you're my best friend, so..."
A brief smile flashed across the blond's face. "I guess I am."
"Yeah, so-"
"I'm also tired though."
I sighed. "Katsuhiko-san, you know how girls work, right?"
He stared at me for a moment before shrugging. "Nobody knows how girls work. They're weird and bitchy and super personal."
"And under-dressed."
A brief silence followed as his genkai eyes scrutinised me. "This is about Takara...?"
"Takara-nee-san is...she makes me feel strange whenever I see her."

Though he was younger than me, Katsuhiko-san was much more experienced in this field. Heck, he was even dating my sister. Not that I ever minded-he's made her happier than she's been in a long time. He thought it over for a moment, because he knew this would either be a matter of body and hormones, or feelings and heart.
"Like a tingling feeling in your lower body? Or is it more a tightness in your chest and this strange feeling that she's the best thing to ever happen in your short, pointless life? Or weird as in completely grossed out? Because Takara is pretty gross."
"A bit of both...not the last one though." I wouldn't get defensive of her there and then. I knew Katsuhiko-nii-san was just trying to rile me up. He gave a deep hum of thought.
"I think you like her." And he spoke in a slightly teasing tone, although it was ruined by a yawn.
"So what do I do?"
"I don't know, ask one of the girls."
"But you have a girlfriend!"
"Yeah, but she practically stalked me until I said yes." He pointed out before dismissing me with a flick of his wrist.

Next stop, Arigeta-onee-chan.

~*~*~*~

Takara-chan liked the tough, rugged kind of guy, I guess. She was drawn to the bad boy biker types, to the testosterone and muscles. Compared, I'm weak and weedy, and no girl seems interested in the super kind and polite boy these days. I didn't know it at this point, but she had been hanging with a boy from a nearby village that she was drawn to, exactly her type, and let's just say said boy was equally drawn to her large chest and flirtatious nature. Suffice to say, he was put on a pedestal he so didn't deserve and considered to be above me. While I spoke to Katsuhiko-nii-san, Takara-chan snuck away from the base and out into the woods to meet this boy.

"Yamahiko-chaaaaaaaan?" She cooed loudly, an eager smile on her face. The boy in question emerged after a moment, bursting forth from the undergrowth.
"I'm here, babe." He assured her, waving his hands to quieten her down before drawing closer, taking the pendant around Takara-chan's neck in his hand curiously. "What's this?"
"Oh, um, a rosary."
He scowled then. "You're my girl."
"And you're my boy!"
"No, I mean who gave you this?"
She was shocked by that. "Oh...it was my father's."
"You don't have a father!" Yamahiko spat viciously. "You're one of the Akatsuki brats, everyone knows about you, none of you have parents!"
She had to think up something, she couldn't say they had retrieved it from his grave. "It...it was in his will that-"
"Bullshit!" He pulled, snapping the silver pendant off, the tarnished, battered metal breaking away from the cloth choker with ease. Her hands flew to her throat in shock as her mind struggled to process what had just happened. Anger began to boil up within her ashe carried on. "What kind of stupid rosary is this anyway? Don't those things normally have beads? And religious symbols."
"Which is what you're holding in your hand right now."
"An upside down triangle is not a religious symbol."
Take deep breaths, she told herself. Calm down and don't kill the little heathen yet. Make him suffer first and don't rush in. "You will be the first sacrifice..." She managed through gritted teeth. Though unarmed, Takara would still prove to be quite formidable that night, although beating a bigger, stronger, armed man above her level would be an extreme feat, and one she wouldn't quite manage alone.

~*~*~*~

"Arigeta-onee-chan?" I called as I entered our shared room. (Yes, shared, but that was how we'd lived our whole lives, we weren't going to change just because we had company.) She was up, sat by the window. She barely glanced over when I entered. Something outside had caught my onee-chan's attention. "What's up? Is something out there?"
"Someone just left, onii-chan." (okay, we're twins, we don't know who was born first.)
"Who?"
"I couldn't see. Nobody's meant to be up this late, though."
I joined her at the window, peering out. "I can't see anyone."
"They've gone into the forest."
"It had to be one of the girls. Katsuhiko-nii-san is in bed still."
"Why do you call him 'nii-san'? He's like halfyour age."
"And yours."
"Touche." She turned to me then, frowning curiously. "Did you need me, onii-chan?"
"Oh, yeah! I need help about a girl I like..."
Her eyes narrowed. "What girl?"
"Um, Takara-san..." I squeaked out nervously after a moment. She burst into laughter.
"The nutter with the stitches and the big boobs?"
"Not as big as yours." I muttered spitefully, aware she was self-conscious. She went a little red before pushing me away roughly.
"I don't know Takara. We don't talk much. Ask Rio."
I nodded unsurely, although Rio-nee-san kind of scared me.

Rio-nee-san stood by the entranceway, a look of boredom on her face. I offered her a smile as I approached and she glared back. I guess she kind of knew I was the doormat twin from the get go though.
"Do me a favour," She began, holding a jacket and Takara-chan's scythe out to me. "Take these to Takara-san. She went into the forest to meet a boy, but obviously she didn't prepare, the idiot."
"Um, I uh...what boy?"
"Some douche from a nearby village she has the hots for."
I think my heart and stomach fell out then, the sinking feeling was so big. The scythe and jacket were forced into my hands and I was pushed out the front doors, so to speak. Sighing, I trudged onward through to the forest, tugging my jumper up to cover my shoulder. As I walked, I became acutely aware of a distant scuffle. As I drew closer, I heard things more distinctively.

Something heavy thunking into a tree, a grunt of pain, tearing of cloth...and someone yelling for someone else to 'shut their damn mouth'. The girl yelled back at once.
"I will not shut my mouth you piece of shit! Get off me, you filth-mongering heathen! I swear, I will enjoy slicing you into pieces, bit by bit, inch by inch, and every squirm and scream you make will make Jashin-sama proud."
"You really are nuts, aren't you?" The boy laughed and hit her, square in the jaw. I stayed concealed among the trees, watching. I think I was a bit shocked at first. You see, I saw this bastard standing over her, weapon in hand, and her, on the floor, the cloth wrapped around her chest normally torn and falling loose. At least she looked furious rather than afraid. I don't think anyone could scare our Takara. I'd only ever seen her cry once, when we found her father's body. Even then, it wasn't much. I climbed the nearest tree, something I can do with utmost ease, and watched from above as she tried to strike him, only to be knocked back harshly by the chain in his hand. I saw blood.

I don't really remember diving off the tree, but I did. I was falling and landed, my full weight (which wasn't much, I admit, I'd lived my whole life in a cave, fending for myself) colliding with his backside. He fell forward, face first into the dirt, and I wrapped an arm around his neck.
"You're not hurting my friend, are you?" I asked darkly. It was strange. Driven to act for those I cared for, I found I sounded a lot more threatening than usual. It clearly wasn't enough, though. He was stronger than I was heavy, and he lifted himself up, swinging his chain round to get me. My tongue shot out, hooking around a branch and pulling me out of danger. The perks of being a lizard-boy. I dropped myself nearby, placing a senbon discreetly in my mouth, letting a natural poison build around it before spitting. The senbon hit home, I think, but would take a moment to work, providing he didn't pull it out at once.

The chain came flying at me, and I lifted my arms, activating a jutsu. Dermal Scale Shield, we called it. It was more my thing than Arigeta's. The weapon hit a second skin of scales that grew over my crossed arms to form a shell and dropped off with no problem once I was done with it. I sent out another senbon, running up a nearby tree to get away from another attack of his. I guess Takara was unconscious. I dropped again, and he grabbed me, holding me away by my throat. I had an ace up my sleeve though, and my torso stretched, knocking away the senbon so they wouldn't hurt me too and wrapping tight around the other man. Constricting him tight, until the air left him and he staggered. Into a tree, and I swung Takara's scythe at him ahile he pulled his chained blade back, pulling until it came for both of our heads. Something wrapped around me and pulled me out of harm's way, and I looked up to see Takara-san's arm returning to her, dark strands disappearing. I went to get up, but found my eyes drawn to something shining in the moonlight. It was Takara's roasry!

I picked up the small circle of metal and got shakily to my feet, walking over to her as she rubbed her bloody head. I offered her my hand, the one holding the symbol of Jashin, palm up. She stared for a long moment before taking it from me and accepting the hand, her other hand keeping her chest covered. "Thank you..."
"Are you okay, Takara-san?" I asked eagerly as she examined the damage to the rosary. She just nodded before hugging me with one arm.
"You're so cute blushing like that, Toka-chan!" She teased into my ear before taking her scythe back and putting on the jacket I'd brought for her. I have to say, I loved the feel of her breath on my cheek. Mainly because it was freezing out here. I followed her back to base like a loyal lapdog, ensuring the wound to her head wouldn't cause too much trouble. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek that night before departing to bed.

Best night of my life.