A Change in the Wind

Chapter 9

Garu tried wiping away all of the tears, but no matter how hard he tried, more tears would just come and replace the ones wiped away. 'Why am I crying? When did I even start crying?' Garu thought as he continued to stop crying, but nothing he did seemed to help, it only made it worse. 'Why can't I stop? Why can't I breathe right?' Garu began to heave as he started to heavily sob, he slid down the door until he was sitting on the ground, his knees against his chest. He sat there for who knows how long just trying to breathe properly as he sobbed into his knees, until he felt something small and fluffy rub against his thigh. The heart ninja lifted his face slightly and looked over to see Mio nagging/rubbing his face into his thigh, as if he were trying to help calm him down. Slowly Garu lifted one of his hands off of his knees and petted the black cat as he focused his breathing, his heaving turning into sniffling and wet hiccups as he did so. Slowly the heart ninja lowered his legs till they were flat on the ground to let Mio sit on his lap.

Mio jumped into the crying ninja's lap and nuzzled up against his lap and stomach, purring softly. It took a few more minutes to calm down but once he did, he felt exhausted, he didn't have much energy to do anything else but cuddle and pet his black cat. 'I can't believe I started crying for no reason, there's gotta be something wrong with me.' Garu thought as he continued to pet Mio. 'I mean really, all that happened was 2 of Tobe's ninjas falling out of the bush they were spying on us from, it's nothing to cry about... but now they know...they know that we've been faking fights to hang out...they saw us being nice and being friends with each other...they saw us almost...almost...' Garu felt his face grow hot as he realized that he and Tobe almost kissed each other for a second?... third? Time. How do you even count the amount of time you've kissed someone?

Garu shook his head at the thought, it didn't matter anyways it wasn't like they were actually going to kiss. They were already messing with each other so clearly they were just messing with each other more by acting like they were going to kiss but really they weren't. 'Yeah, yeah that's what was happening, Tobe wasn't going to actually kiss me.' Garu reasoned with himself. He continued to pet his black cat, somewhat wondering how Tobe and his ninjas were doing now. Wondering if he was laughing with them or scolding them for what had happened. The heart ninja hoped that Tobe was scolding and yelling at them for spying on them but part of him thought that wouldn't be the case. Little did Garu know that he was wrong, because the second he had run away from them all, Tobe started yelling, demanding an explanation while glaring daggers at them.

"W-well ummm..." Ryan started, looking at Sim for help. "Y-you see, we just umm..." Sim continued, getting off his teammate and standing up. Ryan followed getting off the forest floor. "W-we umm..." The two looked at each other, trying to figure out how to lie to their boss, they didn't really think about what to say or do if they got caught. They didn't really think that they would get caught, but then again, they also didn't think they'd see their leader almost kiss their enemy either. "YOU WHAT? SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!" Tobe screamed, he was beyond angry. Though he had every right to be, his ninjas had been spying on him and Garu for god knows how long. Part of was worried that they had been spying on him for weeks now, he hoped that wasn't the case and instead they had just been spying on him for today.

"Everyonewasjustconfusedonwhyweweredoingthesameplanoverandoveragain," "Andwedidn'tknowhowtoconfrontyouaboutit," "Soeveryonedecidedthatthenexttimethishappenedthat," "Twoofuswouldfollowyouandfindoutwhatwashappening," "SomeandSimvolunteeredtofollowyou!" The 2 explained quickly, barely stopping to breathe as they did so. Tobe stopped glaring at the 2 ninjas before him and replaced it with a look of pure confusion. "...What? Please say that all again but 20 times slower." Tobe asked, rubbing the sides of his head. Sim and Ryan did so, this time actually remembering to breathe and slowed down enough to where their leader could actually understand what they were saying.Once they finished the navy ninja took a deep breath in before sighing heavily. "Let me get this straight," Tobe began, looking up at his fellow ninjas pissed.

"You all were getting confused on why we're using the same plan over and over again," The navy ninja took a step forward. "And instead of asking me why we were doing that," He took another step. "You imbeciles' immediate thought was to get 2 of you," And another. "TO SPY ON ME?!?!?" and another until he was right in front of their faces, screaming at them. The 2 ninjas nodded their heads, not daring to look their leader in the eye. "How long have you been spying on me and Garu?" "A couple of hours, sir." "Is this the first time you've been spying on us?" "Yes sir." Hearing that brought the navy ninja some relief, knowing that this was the first and last time that his ninjas would pull a stunt like this. "This will be the last time you guys will do something like this, do I make myself clear?" Tobe said in a low and almost threatening tone.

Sim and Ryan glanced at each other, gulping a bit before saying that they understood. "Good, now let's get back to home." Tobe said, pushing past them, picking up his mask from the ground and making his way back to base, the other ninjas following close behind. The walk back was silent for the most part, nothing could be heard other than the sounds of the forest around them. Which was good in Tobe's case, it gave him a moment to think about what he was going to tell the others and actually let what had happened sink in. He felt conflicted, on one hand he really really wanted to kiss the heart ninja again but on the other hand he also wasn't ready to do that again. He wasn't even sure if Garu liked him back, he didn't want to force anything on him and he certainly wasn't ready to confess yet either. Maybe it was a good thing that Ryan and Sim had interrupted them when they had. 'Now I just need to think of an explanation to say to everyone.' Tobe thought to himself.

He tried thinking of a false explanation but it was hard to think of anything that sounded believable. On top of that, Ryan and Sim were whisper arguing with each other which made it even harder for the navy ninja to think. It served as a reminder that anything he came up with would be debunked by the 2 behind him and would likely tell everyone the truth. Which lead to another dilemma, should he actually tell everyone the truth about what's been going on and how his feelings for Garu had changed? Or should he continue lying? He wasn't really sure what to do or what to think. "You ask him!" "No you!" "Oh my fucking god! Will one of you just shut up and ask me your fucking question!" Tobe yelled, turning around to face the 2 ninjas who were arguing behind him. He was getting sick of the back and forth between the 2 while he was trying to think. Sim nudged Ryan forward with his shoulder as if to say you do it, Ryan rolled his eyes at Sim before looking Tobe in the eyes and asking. "Are you in love with Garu?"

Oooo, I wonder how Tobe will responsed to that question. I wonder if he'll explain to everyone what really been going on or continue to lie about it. I wonder how Garu will react to seeing Tobe again after all that. I wonder how Tobe's ninjas will react if Tobe decides to tell them that truth. Find out in the next chapter! Bye!