My Savior

chapter fourteen

I stood staring at myself nervously at the mirror. My brown hair was down since it is too short to put it up. One side was pulled back by a simple purple flower clip behind my right ear. I decided to go against make up since I felt I was already going over board with a kimono. I try to Keep my breathing even as possible to calm the butterflies in my stomach. My father wasn't home he already left to go to visit my mother's grave. He always goes at every holiday, festival and her birthday. I already went with him, but he tends to be there for hours to talk to her. I know he would be alright. I hope I find the love and loyalty my father has for my mother one day. I then hear a knock on the door. It made me jump and I take one last look on my reflection. I noticed I paled, I take a big breath.
" Stay calm" I nod to myself and head towards the door. I put my shoes on and open it to find Tobi there, but he wasn't in his normal clothes, he was in a grey yutaka with black designs. His lollipop mask was replaced with a kitsune mask. Trying to control my blush I stuttered out,
"H-hey" He didn't say anything and stayed quiet for some time. His silence started making me feel insecure of how I looked.
"You ok Tobi." I say quietly while looking down at my knotted finger turning pink from him staring at me. I heard him clear his throat.
" You look beautiful " My heart skips a beat when he said that. I look at him really fast and saw he was still looking, I then turn my head away from him blushing more than before.
"T-thank you." He takes my hand and places an object. I look down to see it was a kitsune mask. It wasn't a full mask like his, but it only covers the upper half of the face. I look up and question him.
"What's this for?" I raise my eyebrow.
"It is for you so people won't notice you, I doubt you wanted to run into people you know at the festival." He explains. I smile at him he always thinking I thought to myself.
"It's beautiful." I begin to admire the mask. It had red and gold flowers designs around the eyes and forehead. I put it on and made sure it was secured. I turned back to Tobi, he gives me a nod.
"Ready?" I made sure I locked the door behind me.
" yup." We Begin to walk towards the festival.
"So, um I think I'm ready to move on to a mobile dummy." I say, only for tobi to shake his head at me.
"I don't want to talk about training. Tonight let's have fun." I turn to him and he looks down at me. He tilts his head I had a feeling he was smiling under it and I smile back.
"Ok."
***
After we went to the shrine to pay our respects we head over to the stands. Where there were full of food, games, music and more. It was beginning to get dark and the streets were full of light up lanterns, more people were beginning to fill it.
"Sorry." I apologize for bumping into some again. The mask ruins my tunnel view and it's hard to walk without bumping into things or people.
"How can you see or breath through a mask."  My face just covered half way and yet it feels like I'm suffocating.
"You get use to it." Tobi says .I bump into someone else again, I apologize and blush in embarrassment of being clumsy in front of Tobi. He just shakes his head and sighs.
"Here I'll help you" he puts his arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him. My eyes widened, I take a sharp breath and my heart rate increases of being this close to him. I thank the mask for hiding my facial expressions.
"Thanks" I say shyly. He then gently guides me through the crowd. I couldn't help but think how we look like a couple, not trying to get my hopes up I shake the idea from my head and pay attention to the stands. I see one where you scoop goldfishes.
"Let's try that one." I point towards the stand and he guides us towards it .
"Welcome! Let's see how much gold fish you can scoop without the poi breaking. Would you lovely couple like to try?" We ignored his couple comment and nodded. Tobi hands him the money. The man gives us a bowl and poi. We crouch down and begin scooping I could only get 5 before the poi ripped. I smile thinking it was alot only to turn to Tobi who had what looked like 20 in his bowl. I deadpan at him and look back at the owner, his eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open.
"I have a talent for it." He shrugs his shoulders like nothing. The owner of the stand just nodded. I gave him my bowl for my gold fish to be put into a bag. While I was waiting I was watching a little boy around what appeared to be six maybe. He dunks the poi back to the water try to catch a goldfish only for it to break.
"I couldn't get any" The little boys face fell of disappointment. The man came back and gave me my goldfish that I won. Feeling sad seeing the boys face I give the bag full of goldfish to him.
" Here. Take good care of them" I give a closed eye smile at him.
"Thank you!" His face lights up and takes the bag from me. He then bows at me, turns and heads over to a lady I assumed was his grandmother. She bowed her head at me, I smile at her and nod my head in return.
"Here I won this for you" I turn to Tobi, he hands out to me a medium sized orange and black pond goldfish.
"How did you get that" I question him, I was only distracted for a short amount of time.
"I put the goldfish I won back to the tank and ask the man if he had anything bigger. That is how I won this " he holds up the goldfish
"You only won this?" Expecting he would have won more.
"I could have gotten more, but I liked this one the most."
"Thank you." I say when I take the goldfish. It was pretty big there no way you can catch one of these with that paper scooper. Unless you use..... then I realized how he won so easily.
"You use chakra to cheat." I say with wide eye.
"Shh." He shushes me. I giggle at him, he then pulls me close and guides me out of the stand. We then wondered into a knock the blocks over game stand. I brighten knowing I  finally have my revenge on all the money I spent in the past on this game.
"You want to try? All you have to do is knock the blocks and make sure none of them remain on their stand." I nod determine and pay the man. He gives me three sand filled sacks. I take them all and knock all three blocks over that where closets to me without breaking a sweat.
"The stuff dango toy please." The man with a wide eye expression on his face nods and hands me a green stuff dango plush. It was so adorable and I hand it out to Tobi since he a sweet tooth for dango.
"For me?" He questions me in a shocked voice. I just nod at him and wait for him to take it from me.
"Thank you." He takes the plush from me. It was his turn to knock the blocks over I knew he would win. The man puts the blocks up and tells Tobi to go. I look at him, he then knocks off all of them while looking at me the entire time
"Show off." I scoff and cross my arms.
"I will take the bear." The man just nods his head and gives Tobi a teddy bear with a blue bow tied around its neck.
"Here for you." He gives me the bear. I turn pink and take it from him. It's orange my favorite color. I will name you Obi I thought to myself.
"I love it" I say quietly with a smile on my face. I look at Obi the bear and give him a squeeze. Tobi pulls me towards him and leads me out of the stand. We continue to walk and I continue to hug my cute orange bear.
"Are you hungry?" Tobi speaks up
"yeah" I nod my head.
"Anything spacific" I look around and find a taiyaki stand next to us, I point towards it.
"We could get some taiyaki, but I also want some takoyaki. Can we go find a food stand that sells them after?"
"Why don't you go get us some taiyaki and I'll go get us some takoyaki." He explains while making our way to the food stand.
"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" I tun my body to face him.
"I don't mind. It's faster this way, here give me those prizes I'll carry them. " i give my Obi bear one last squeez and hand it to tobi along with the goldfish. He take them and starts walking away finding a takoyaki stand and I head off towards the food stand behind me.
"Welcome" the women greets me.
" Hello I would like to two taiyaki, one of custard and the other of red bean please." I give her the money and she hands me the batter fried in fish-shaped pans. I thank her and walk out of the stand to wait for Tobi.
"Rina?"
"Yuuma?!" I ask surprised to find him here. Then I realized I was wearing a mask.
"How did you know it was me?"
"I know that kimono anywhere once I saw you wear it."
" Right, I forgot about that." I give him a nod.
"You look amazing."  He gives me a warm smile.
"You think so." I smile at the compliment. He was about to say something else, but Tobi came back.
"Here you go one order of takoyaki." He hands me the fried octopus balls on the stick.
"Thanks here's a taiyaki. I got you one with custard." I hand him his he takes it and looked at Yuuma.
"Who is this." He asks in his more serious voice towards Yuuma. Yumma straighten his posture and gave Tobi a blink look. I begin eating my takoyaki. Being clueless of the situation I introduce them.
"Yuuma this is Shiro. Shiro this is Yuuma." I lie on the spot to cover Tobi's identity. They both just nod there head at each other not saying a word. I continue eating and look around to see which stand to go next.
"Look theres a garapon! Let's go try it you guys." They didn't say anything, but when Tobi put his free around me Yuuma started to glare at him him. He then squeezed me closer to him making me turn red. We walk towards the booth while Yuuma fallowed behind us and continued to give Tobi a glare.
"Come test you luck at the game of garapon and you can win one of these prizes." I take a bite out of my takoyaki while I watch people try to win one of the grand prizes. I look to see what type of prizes they had. Third place is a gift card to a restaurant, second place is some sort of music player and first place is a all expense paid trip to a bath house. I continue to eat while not noticing Tobi and Yuuma were silently starring at each other.
"Their all pretty good prizes. I would like to win the bath house prize. I haven't been to one in a long time." I sigh.
"I could probably win it for you." Yuuma speaks up. I  turn my head to smirk at him
"Really? you think you can?" He leans towards me and gives me a wink.
"Just watch me." I just shrug my shoulders, he walks up to get a ticket. I watch Yuuma as he loses and only wins a candy.
"I want to try " Hoping I have better luck than him.
"Hn, it's a waste of money your better off just paying those things yourself." Tobi says unimpressed with the whole idea of the game.
"But it's fun." I walk out of his hold and walk up to the man selling raffles. Once it was my turn I try and a white ball comes out the man gives me a candy. I walk back to where Tobi and Yuuma where.
"Looks like we don't have any luck huh." Yumma looks at me already eating his candy.
"Want to try again?" I ask him, he nods at me and grabs my hand heading back to the garapon. I went first and got a another white ball. Next was Yuuma and he actually one a one of the grand prizes. The man rang the bell and gave Yuuma the music player.
"Here, now you can listen to music where ever you want." Yuuma takes my hand placing the device on it. My eyes widened, I begin to shake my head handing it back.
"I can't take this, you won it." He just pushes my hand back.
"Take it, I won it for you" he smiles and I smile back in return.  I face towards Tobi being oblivious of the dark aura he had around him.
"What is a waste of money" I tease him.
"Just luck." He grumbles while having his arms crossed, I giggle at him. I noticed there was a dart game close by, I light up and pull Tobi's hand towards the stand. I almost bump into someone again while Yuuma fallows behind us. I pay the women and she gives me a set of darts. Taking the darts I hit all of them perfectly on the center. I smile with pride at everyones amazed reactions.I win a cherry blossom tree painting, I face Yuuma giving him the painting.
"Here, sorry it's not great as a music player." He thanks me and gives me a smile. Taking the last bite of my takoyaki I needed a drink to wash it down.
"I'm kinda getting thirsty, I think I saw something to drink around here." I begin to look for a stand that sold brevages.
"I can go get you something." Yuuma offers.
" You don't have to and he's gone." He leaves before I can stop him. I turn to Tobi and saw he already ate his food. I also noticed that he wasn't holding any of the prizes any more, before I could question him he asks me a question.
"So who is he to you."
"Huh, you mean Yuuma?" He nods his head.
" He is just an old friend of mine." I tell him.
"You don't feel something more for him." He questions me. I take some time to think what he meant I reply.
"I guess I love him, but a love I have for a brother you know." He just nods his head in understanding and pulls me into a tight hug. Making me lose control of my heartbeat, I begin to blush and the butterflies return.
"Good." He whispers to me. That made my heart skip when I heard him. I started getting my hopes up that maybe he does have feelings for me. He let's go of me and holds my free hand giving it a squeeze. Yuuma finally returned and gave me a soda.
"Thanks, but you shouldn't have done that." I tell him.
"It's no problem for you Rina." He smiles shyly.
"The fireworks are go to begin in 30 minutes" A man announces making me excited and nervous at the same time. I wanted to see them, but I also wanted to get a great view and finally confess to Tobi. I couldn't do that with Yuuma around it would reveal Tobi's a shinobi and my training, also making it awkward.
"So umm see you around Yuuma. We are going to go ahead and find a spot for the fireworks." I say to him.
"You don't want me to tag along?" I was going to turn him down nicely, but Tobi spoke up.
"No." He says. Yuuma smile vanished and looks at Tobi.
"I asked her not you." He gives him a annoyed look.
"Well she asked me to come with her to the festival, you are just a third wheel." Tobi says.
"T-shiro." I corrected myself. I was about to say they should calm down only to have Yuuma cut me off.
"She just didn't want to cancel, because she is nice person. I bet if she had to choose she would have chosen me." They begin to step closer to each other glaring at one another, I step between them. I knew if a fight broke out Yuuma will get badly hurt and I didn't want to see him like that.
"Just stop both of you." I put my hand on there chest pushing them away from each other.
" See you around alright." I say to Yuuma and turn to Tobi.
"Please don't do this." I beg him. He just looks down at me. He lets out a breath and walks further away from Yuuma.
"Rina" I look back at him, his eyes keep looking back at me and Tobi.
"We will hang out some other day alright. I did asked Shiro to come with me. I'm sorry." I walk up to him and give him a hug. I let go and walk back to Tobi's side. He just gives me a forced smile.
"See you around." He leaves making me feel like shit. Pulled out of my feelings Tobi grabs my hand. I look up at him. 
"Come, let's go find a good place for the fireworks." I squeez his hand and we walk out of the festival. Once there was no one in sight he sweeps me off my feet, before I can say anything he heads towards the rooftops and he sits me down on top of one the highest buildings. I head over the edge to see the festival below. All the laturns gave it a sea of stars look. I hear Tobi come to my side, he looks down as well.
"You ok?" He asks. I let out a loud breath and continued looking down at the festival.
"Yeah, it's just.... I hated the look on his face......... am I a terrible person." I look down at the music player he gave me. Tobi then gives me a hug from behind. Making me stiffen he speaks,
" You can never be a terrible person." The fireworks begin. I look up and see them go off in the sky. The butterflies return, I take a big breath.
"I love you tobi" His arms stiffen around me. He then gently turns me around to face him.
"Close your eyes and what ever you do don't open them."I do without hesitation. I close my eyes wondering what he was going with this. I then felt his lips with mine. I take a sharp breath realized what was happening I keep my eyes closed returning the kiss. Feeling my chest get this warm feeling and my faces was feeling more warm than usual making me know I was blushing.When he stops he whispers,
" I love you too Rin ,but I can't be with you." I opened my eyes in shock. I see Tobi quickly puts his mask back on not letting me see his face. All the feelings I had before were replaced with my heart dropping to my stomach and my face loosing its color.
"Why" I try to control the hurt in my voice.
" I can't be with you not just yet, you have to trust me. Will you wait for me."
"yes " I say without a second thought. He then grabs me from my waist.
"Close your eyes" I do and he gives me another kiss.
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So if you're wondering why tobi is hiding his face it's because Rina made a promise to never see his face also for her safety. Happy holidays everyone! Till next time ^-^