A Dash of Chili Powder

29

[Kuro Kakashi! XD I'm dyin' here.]

Kazuki smiled in response to the three taps. "C'mon, you two seem a little more than strangers. You don't have to know someone completely or for very long in order to be friends," he stated simply, scanning one of Amaya's chocolate cakes. "You seem to like her anyways."

He continue to scan and scan and scan, now scanning Rage's meats. He thought about what he was saying decided that he may have been a bit too insightful. "I apologize. I mean no harm. I'm just a little empathic." On with the awkward scanning.

Truthfully, he didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable. He was just able to understand feelings and feel them too. He supposed that maybe that's why he was blind. He sighed.

Yuki frowned at her coffee-skinned mate and tried her hardest not to punch him. He just told her she stank! Why would he do that? She frowned more deeply. "How the fuck do I stink?" she snapped, putting a lot of emphasis on the 'I'. Seriously. It's not like SHE was a dog.

"Would you shut up! Goddamn. You stink like blood and sweat and I don't like it! S'all I was saying," Kiba growled. He didn't like her jumpiness or her attitude. She didn't need to be like this. All she had to do was calm down. "Dammit, Yuki. Just calm down, okay? That isn't what's important."

She huffed and looked away from him. "Don't tell me I stink, asshole."

He sighed. "Look, even if you DO stink, I don't care. I just wish you didn't smell like wounds and tears and sweat and dirt. It bothers me...especially because it's YOU. You shouldn't ever have to smell that way.

She blushed and kept her eyes away from him, still a little offended. "Shut up, you stupid dog," she quipped, deciding to hug him as tightly as she could.

[Just...die romance! Bad awful romance!]

Gracie

[Acting black with that bored face of his..."On ma hood. e_\ *z-snap*" It's total win. That's all it is. Bahahahaha XD]

Rage had never been so frustrated before in his life. This blind teen was not the cause; not at all. Not being able to clarify his own thoughts to another human being made him realize how truly handicapped he was without his voice. He'd never encountered such a giant gap between himself and someone else. It made him angry at himself for being mute.

Besides that, he was shocked at how urgently he wanted to rebuke the idea that Rage didn't like Amaya. He did. She was an honest person who he was sure would be a good friend to have. He just wasn't comfortable speaking on Amaya's behalf - she probably didn't have the same thoughts when it came to him.

He was fond of her. He wasn't so sure it was the other way around. She frowned too much and was too closed-up for him to be sure.

After the blind teen apologized for no reason Rage could understand, and a little while of awkward silence, the brown haired teen sighed randomly. Rage blinked at him, seeing the quiet dolor gathering like mist at the bottom of his dark-honey eye.

But Rage just looked back down at his groceries. Feeling frustrated again. Not being able to speak had never made him so angry at his own ineptness before. At least not to this degree.

Why did this matter so much if the person was a stranger, anyway? Rage dropped it like an impatient child dropped a toy he couldn't get to work for the life of him. He had to stop thinking about this.

Kugomi's first words since entering the hospital were said as she and Vell rounded the corner just before Yuki's room. And her face was screwed up in disgust as she said it:

"Smells like death and decay in here!"

"You're in a hospital, genius," Vell muttered. His black eye landed on the man leaning just outside the room door. He sighed. "She kick you out?"

Kakashi looked up from his deep concentration and smiled amicably, as was his nature. "I needed some fresh air, too."

"She? Is it your niece?" If Kugomi had wolf ears, they'd have perked in her interest. She scampered around Vell before he could stop her and opened the door to the room. Kugomi's eyes grew round at the couple her age hugging on the bed. "But she looks nothin' like the egg-suckin' neko," she almost complained.

[Tactful, tactful Kugomi. *pats her head*]