The Dancing Beggar

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Master Shikamaru appeared to panic as he saw tears streaming down my face. The look of sudden shock ran through his features. He tried to place his hand on my shoulder to calm me down, but he hesitated then moved them away. Instead, he searched through the room until he found a box of tissues. “Hey now”, he frowned, “I didn't mean for you to cry. Here”, He shoved the box of tissues awkwardly into my arms.

It didn't please me the way he was treating me. It resembled that of an adult trying to calm a child.

Quickly, I grabbed a tissue and wiped my eyes. That was enough humiliation for one day. “Listen”, my voice was shaky and unsteady, “I am new to all this and I don't know what I'm doing... What happened yesterday was because I was being stupid and Master Kankuro was allowing me to be stupid.” I figured my excuse was solid. It was true after all. I bit the inside of my mouth. For some reason, it hurt to call myself unintelligent. It stood true that I was uneducated and unable to read and write. However, that should not suggest in anyway that I was dumb or stupid. I was never given the opportunity to rise to my full potential. It hurt to even think that anybody might think of me as such. But that was my excuse to escape from this situation. My thoughts began to drift again toward Master Kankuro... It could have been that he thought of me as uneducated and slow... but I believed there was a little more to us than that.

“It's a drag”, Master Shikamaru whined as he broke my train of thought, “You do whatever you want. I don't want to be involved.”

“What?!” I wasn't able to hold my surprise.

“You heard me”, he confirmed as he slouched on the bed, “Do what you want. I only wanted to know because I thought maybe I could get her brother off my back.”

That was quite unexpected. “How could this ever help you?” I asked. It wasn't my place to question him, however, before he could even replied, I squinted my eyes and muttered, “You weren't planning on blackmailing Master Kankuro into being nice, now were you?!”

The way he turned his head at my comment told me that I was right. My hands fell involuntarily onto my hips as I sighed. “You better not”, I felt prepared to lecture him. Hurting other people was plain wrong. And causing people pain through blackmail is even worse. It sickened me to think that he would ever think of such an idea. Maybe I was struck hard by his thoughts, but it wasn't the complete story. I had done blackmail before and I was blackmailed in return. It wasn't a pleasant experience and I was hoping that he wasn't that kind of guy. I thought he was kind and gentle and... intelligent.

“How dare you try to hurt him like that?!” I burst out in anger. “You know, that will only make him hate you!”

He waved his hands lazily in a dismissive motion. “I know it wouldn't have worked... And he already hates me.”

Was he that blind, I thought sadly. “Master Kankuro doesn't hate you.” He'll probably hate me once I tell Shikamaru this, but... “He's only being overly-protective of his sister. It's nothing personal.”

“Yeah, sure”, he spoke in sarcasm and complete disinterest.

Was he calling me a liar?! “Hey! I am telling you the truth!”

“Temari doesn't need to be protected. She could kill me if she wanted to.”

I rolled my eyes. “As siblings, we do things that can't be explained at times. Lord Gaara and Master Kankuro both know that Madam Temari knows how to protect herself... but they are still siblings and they don't want to lose each other. Did you ever wonder that maybe they didn't like you because the distance between your two villages was big?”