Marionette - Naruto Shippuden High School [Akasuna no Sasori x OC]

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Shakespeare, Reborn?!

[f]

[The week before finals week...]

"I am dying right now," Kuro groaned, pressing her forehead against the cool wooden table in her best friend's room. Across the table, Naruto eyed her warily. "Like, actually, physically dying. And mentally, too."

"That weirdo is puttin' you through some serious stuff right now, huh?" Naruto muttered with an inquisitive cock of his head. He munched quietly on some BBQ chips.

"Yeah, I think I've reviewed the same nine-hundred flashcards a thousand times each in the past two days." Picking up her head, Kuro heaved a heavy sigh. "Honestly, I don't think I should be enduring this much pain. I mean, school shouldn't be so fucking hard on my brain. Yanno? Like, why am I sacrificing my sleep and mental stability for this? I don't even know!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you're sayin', 'ttebayo." Picking up the unopened water bottle beside his elbow, Naruto handed it over to the sulking Kuro. She took it and chugged a good half of the bottle before handing it back to him.

"Thank goodness I have these eight seconds to chill," Kuro said wearily, standing. She trudged over to Naruto's bed and plopped onto the comforters, facedown. Every single one of her muscles felt beyond drained; balancing schoolwork and judo as well as helping out in the deli was becoming more and more hectic as finals week was approaching. Not to mention, meeting up with the Akatsuki on the regular did nothing to help her overwhelming schedule—including the almost daily study sessions Sasori had implemented.

On this particular night, judo had been cancelled due to her instructor catching a cold, and the deli closed early. Seeing that she finally had a free moment, Kuro used it to relax with Naruto. Admittedly, with her always being so busy, she barely even had the time to say hello to her friends nowadays.

"Anyways!" Naruto started with a sharp clap of his hands. "Any updates on this Maru guy? Has he done anythin' else shady lately?"

"His name is Haru, and the answer is no," Kuro responded briskly, her voice muffled by the down covers. "But that's exactly what's so shady. The kid's been ignoring me for the past, like, ten years or something. And he somehow happens to show up at my freakin' school? Ugh... I don't have the energy for this. My brain is fuckin' fried." She rolled over and huffed another sigh.

"Weird. I feel like he should have tried to get at you at least once or twice more in the past week or something, 'ttebayo. You know?" Naruto tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Or, maybe, since that redhead is hangin' out around you, it's scared him off?"

"Oh!" Kuro abruptly sat up, her face glowing a bright vermilion color. "I have something to tell you, dude. And you can't tell the other guys—at least, not yet. I mean, it's not that it's bad or anything, I just—I don't know how they would react... and Kiba would especially be on my ass about it."

Naruto sat patiently in silence, eyeing Kuro with wide, expectant eyes. The way he stared at her made it seem as if he already knew what she was going to say. Kuro breathed one deep breath, closing her eyes for a brief moment to collect her thoughts. Telling this to Naruto would mean she had come to terms with it.

"Well, so about that puppeteer guy..." Kuro started, but she faltered, struggling to find the words. Naruto nodded slowly, urging for her to go forth. "So, the other day we kinda—you know, it was kinda in the heat of the moment, but I guess you could say we sort of made out—"

"Made out?!" Naruto exploded, jumping to his feet. His jaw practically hit the ground, his eyes wide with shock. "Wait—what the hell? I didn't think you were gonna say this, holy shit!"