Stupid Mooching Kittens

Passing the Time

    Early Thursday morning on October twenty-fifth, Ren walked out of the police department as a free man. He quickly made it across the parking lot and down the street, beginning his long trek back home. Once he made it to the shop, he wasted no time in entering the building. Closing the door behind him, he walked across the reception area over and up the spiral staircase. Once he reached the door at the top of the stairs, he ran into a problem.
   
    He unlocked the door with no problem, but when he tried to open it there in lay the problem. The door would not budge. Putting more force behind his push, the door would not move. Letting out a groan, he put his back against the door, and used his legs to push. He got the same results as before; nothing. As he increased the amount of force he applied on the door, he started to slowly slide down until his butt hit the floor.

    "Son of a bitch! Someone open this goddamned door," Ren shouted after finally losing his patience. He was jiggling the doorknob while pounding on the door with his fist.

    On the other side of the door, there was a groan and some shuffling followed by the door slowly opening. Looking up at him were the droopy eyes of their resident blond terrorist. The blond was struggling to stay away and remain standing up straight. Ren rolled his eyes and grabbed hold of the blond man's arm, guiding him out of the way as he walked through the threshold.

    "Morning," Deidara mumbled as he was attempting to find his sense of balance when Ren had let go of his arm. He rubbed his eyes sleepily as he stumbled over to a stool at the kitchen island, where he promptly fell asleep with his face plastered to the quartz countertop.

    "Ren, you're back," Sakura noted in surprise as she had walked out of her bedroom after finally pulling herself out of bed to see what the commotion was all about. She'd completely forgotten Ren was to be released that morning. At the sight of the expression on the usually playful man's face when he spotted her, she knew what was on his mind. His frown lines coupled with his hard eyes had given his thoughts away.

    "How is she," Ren asked getting straight to the point, no need to pussyfoot around. On his third day stuck in that cell, he had gotten a call visit from Jade. At first he was confused when he realized the blonde had come alone, but then he was informed of the situation. At first he was in denial. Then his daughter's best friend had explained everything to the best of her ability, omitting many details due to the jailer standing off to the side, including their collective decision to inform him in person rather than over the phone.

    "She'll make a full recovery. Though I think I went a bit overboard and ended up needing at bit of rest myself," she said with a laugh. "Now all that's left for us to so is wait for her to wake up, which should be at any time now."

    Slowly the questions that had been gathering at the back of his mind, spilled from his lips. Sakura soon gave the man a retelling of the situation, beginning with Kakashi's shout for help, to the frenzied emergency surgery and the tense blood transfusion, and ending with them placing the girl in her room to rest. Ren nodded his head, taking in the information. Now, as he stood before the pink medic with most of his questions answered, he allowed himself to feel the full extent of the worry he had suppressed for the past two days.

    "How did this even happen? Sure she's gotten a few cuts and bruises, but never anything like this. Shes never even had a broken bone before. Yeah, she doesn't have the best sense of balance, but her reflexes are amazing. I taught her better than that," Ren cried in frustration causing the sleeping blond to jerk violently awake. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep breath, his hand curling into a fist as he brought it down to rest at his side.

    "That's the exact same thing Jade told me," Sakura mused, watching the worried father make his way up the stairs after receiving at pat on the head from the man.