A Dash of Chili Powder

56

"No," Yuki quelled, twitching her nose at Vell's passing to the stairs. "Smelly cat..."

"Yuki."

"What, tousan?"

"Stop it."

"No. He deserved it. He grabbed me and kept me from punching that bimbo's face in--"

"What?" Kakashi growled.

"Um......nothing." Yuki blinked and looked away, scratching the back of her head. "I didn't say nothing." Shit. She was soooooo dead. No question about it. Dead. Dying. Already murdered. 

Kakashi shook his head at his adoptive daughter, frowning behind his mask. He knew she wanted revenge on Aosora, but there were other ways. 

Amaya shivered at Rage's touch, sneezing again. She groaned. This second sneeze was absolutely awful, ravaging her body like it had a right to. It felt like tiny needle pricks stabbing at her lungs and her already sore body was getting even more so. She sniffled and buried her head into Rage's leg, hurt badly.

There were cramps swelling in her lower back and working their way up to her shoulders, her joints were stiff and would likely hurt like hell if she straightened any of her limbs out. She frowned. So much pain for such a little sickness. Weren't jinchuuriki impervious to crap like this? 

One would think, one would think.

She groaned again, her little hand grasping at Rage's knee portion of pants, exhausted and getting irritated with this continuous onslaught of agony. Too much goddamn pain. The cookie and the water didn't help. At all. In fact, she was a bit nauseous now...

A distraction was in order. 

But what could she use as a distraction, her studies from Orochimaru's hideout or the people she's met and become friend's with? Which? One of them is dark and one of them isn't. Maybe she should think about the less dark one? Some of those memories weren't good...at all.

Rage instantly waltzed his way into her thoughts, unashamed and entitled. He was a tall guy with wonderful peach eyes and he was very kind, always taking care of his friends and, well, her. A calm and silent and friendly giant of a boy. He was two and a half feet taller than her. She was, after all, four foot seven. And his hands were huge! Three times bigger than her own. She could just be tiny...and he could just be normal sized but... Oh well.

Amaya looked up at the peachy eyed boy and blinked. He was also older than she was, by about three and half years. Well, around that anyway. She found that perfectly acceptable. It's not like age matters when you make friends and take care of them and have them take cre of you and so on. Age was just a number. Right? Right.

"Rage-kun...sleep," she mumbled, thinking more about how tired HE looked. He could use the rest, couldn't he? He had bags under his eyes...

Gracie

[You can just feel the fondness oozing out of Vell. =_='' lol]

Vell came out of the bathroom in a black t-shirt and jeans, running a towel over his hair. He huffed. "Water. Stupid, stupid water," he growled, shaking his head to get the liquid out of his ears. "Stupid Onii-san. Stupid gaki," he continued for no particular reason.

Then another smell appeared and he looked down sharply at its source. He narrowed both his black and yellow eyes at Akahana. "And stupid mutt. Go back to napping; you were almost tolerable," he grouched.

"Vell-kuuuuuuuuuun!" The exclamation made his ears twitch and he looked out the window.

Kugomi and Naruto were standing beside the house, the blond girl with her hands cupped around her mouth. "Me an' Naruto-kun were gonna hit up Ichiraku's for lunch! Wanna come?" she shouted.

"I already ate, so no, I do not," Vell said with a frown. "And quit shouting, this is a neighborhood. You're disturbing the peace."

"Na, then ask Yuki-chan if she wants to come with instead," Naruto suggested.

"Ask her yourself," Vell snapped, turning back from the window and leaving them. As soon as he came downstairs, though, there was knocking at the door, and he stopped at the bottom of the stairs with a vein pulsing on his forehead. "Dammit...."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him. "Who were you yelling at?"

"A pair of gaki that are dead-set on making my life a living hell," Vell muttered.

Rage shook his head at Amaya - he didn't need sleep that bad. He'd sleep when it was time for bed.

"You should listen to her, y'know," Scythe mused, eyes still on the tv. Rage jumped. The black haired teen had forgotten it wasn't just him and Amaya in the room. "You look like hell," he teased amicably.

"..."

"Having take-out for one night won't kill us. Besides, Awaji-kun's way ahead of you," Scythe observed, nodding to the unconscious Awaji lying in front of the TV. The heat in the apartment had gotten to him and he snored softly under the blare of electronic laughter from the television.

Rage frowned and Scythe looked over his shoulder with a quirked brow. "You're a child, too, Mr. Sixteen. I think you all should have a nap."

"..."

"Amaya-san will be fine for a few hours. She's got you as a giant hot-water bottle to keep her warm and if you don't get some shut-eye, you'll be no use to her. Seriously, don't make me pull rank on you and make it an order," Scythe joked.

The black haired teen rolled his peachy eyes and looked down at Amaya again. She was gripping his pant leg and whimpering. There was nothing he could do about that, and that made him frustrated at his inability.

Finally, though, his eyes couldn't stay open anymore. He moaned quietly and leaned his head against the back of the couch, shifting to get comfortable. In moments, he was lost in unconsciousness.

Scythe took in the scene of Amaya and Rage for a few moments before grinning. "Kawaīdesho?" he chuckled to no one.

Well, he wasn't going to sleep. He looked around at his unconscious friends before standing up as quietly as he could, escaping out the door for a walk.

As soon as he was out in the cold, he bumped into a teenager with an eye patch. "Ah, sorry, kid," he laughed sheepishly.

[Fail input of Kazu-kun, but I felt he needed to be brought back in. ><]