Ephemeral as you are (Kuroha x Reader)

Ephemeral as you are

The experiment had been a success, after all.

Here he was, sat in the base of the "Mekakushi Dan" (truly, an asinine name for this group of worthless brats)...and for once, not a single thing was amiss amongst their incessant chatter.
Not a single trace of that bloodstained image, an image he'd become so familiar with, an image that marked fearful partings and the return of that fateful summer day, was present.
Not yet.
No, the Snake of Clearing Eyes had other plans for this timeline. Something fun, first - an appetizer for suffering, if you will.

Hope.

This time, he had taken the liberty of befriending them (what an absurd notion), hell, of joining them in their ridiculous endeavours.
Of course, something like that meant robbing Konoha of ever meeting them, and of ever tasting betrayal from his only father figure (he thought back to Kenjirou's body in the lab, too soon left lifeless, and grinned), but he didn't mind all that much.
It wasn't that he loathed that sort of despair, or that it no longer brought him any joy, but...
But Clearing Eyes was becoming so, so terribly bored.

Why not have a little fun then, he thought - delude them into thinking they could mean anything to him in the first place, only to crush that notion under the inevitability of their pathetic fates.

"Kuroha!" a voice, Concealing Eyes as he had identified it, called from the kitchen, "Dinner's ready! Care to join us?"
"Of course." he replied coolly, and took pride in how, even calm, his voice overpowered their ceaseless noise so effortlessly.

Opening Eyes (or "Ene", as she had taken to calling herself), distracted by the sound, gave him a cold look, the only person unwilling to play along with his little charade.
Well...the only person besides (his eyes drifted towards the door)...ah, but he wasn't even certain of that yet.
He was sure she'd be joining this time, of course...but all else was a matter of chance, he figured. That much definitely made things interesting.

He looked around, surveying the dull view of kids' heads, and grinned.
Ah, poor, poor Konoha...all these friends, just as he'd desired, and not a single second to share with them. "Kuroha" truly did enjoy being the villain.
Maybe, he entertained, something like this was even more monstrous than what would come later...ah, but then-
A knock. It seemed she had arrived.

Well then: time to welcome the newest actor upon the stage, even for a little while.

~^~

"Kuroha" he'd introduced himself as. Somehow, you didn't really believe him.
Honestly, you wished they'd give you more of a notice on matters like these!

You'd been returning from a brief shopping trip when you stopped in the doorway upon hearing all that commotion.
Not that it was unusual of the Mekakushi Dan - this strange, ragtag group you found yourself entangled with - to be loud, especially not in the evenings, when Kido would get dinner cooking and an argument would inevitably break out somewhere along the line, but...
This seemed...different. More boisterous.
A new member, you had concluded - because really, what else would get them going so much? It's not like there was anything to really do around here.

Even as you entered wordlessly, you could feel his cold yellow eyes upon you in an instant, like a predator locking onto its prey.
Still. Waiting.
You wondered what exactly he was waiting for, and instinctively shuddered at the thought.
Initially, you weren't sure why. He didn't look frightening - not in the traditional sense, at least.
He was tall, taller than his apparent age would've made you think, and well-built too, a dark, unkempt mop of hair enclosed by grey headphones. If anything, he was just...bizarre.

But...he looked a bit familiar, didn't he?
You couldn't quite place it at first, but the more you thought about it, the more certain you became that you had seen someone like this before.