Knitting Fate (Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren Part II)

Sixty-Eighth Thread

"Okay," he says, giving up, but presses himself closer to Ren's side instead.

While the movie had been subpar at best—it's okay, they're still learning how to make them, they can fuck up a bit—the food is out of this world. All of it is so damn good, from the stir-fry to seafood. Even the rice proved quite palatable to Ren. Even Ren, however, despite having eaten many, many things in her life, has to admit that, when she took that first bite of A5 Kobe beef steak, she cried a little.

Well, at least now she knows what paradise tastes like.

Hibiki cried, too. He even forgets to pretend to be irritated at her for dragging him to the restaurant.

000

Ren had no idea that Konoha had honest-to-Jashin, actual Love Hotels, but she was a bit too busy throwing a giggling Hibiki onto the bed to question it too much.

Predictably, neither of them get much sleep that night.

000

"You smell," Kurama informs her when he waltzes into the kitchen at maybe seven, pawing the sleep out of his red eyes. Ren has a change of clothes on, the ones she had brought with her as a spare—she had put them on after a shower, but Hibiki had been quite insistent on sending her off properly, and so, her shirt is still a bit rumpled here and there. But she knows exactly what he means, even after a long shower.

"So?" she asks, unbothered by the centuries-old chakra construct sitting on her counter like a goddamn pet. Awai is sitting on top of the fridge, glaring at him as much as a spider can glare. Ren is keeping a much closer eye on Danzō now, with her spiders, and with Awai and Ōjo being her main information brokers between the colonies, she will be seeing them less for now. At least until this mess is resolved.

She's considering just calling them all back now since Shibi-sensei said they'd take care of it, but—well, some Aburame should be able to communicate with them, no?

"Just pointing it out," Kurama shrugs, and eyes Minerva warily as the cat pounces under the table followed by the other two cats, as Ren sets down their food. "You smell like—"

"Like I just spent past five hours doing nothing but having sex?" she asks the construct, looking him in the eye. Kurama blinks and cocks his head to the side. Ren just snorts, and points her ladle at him. "Look, if you're looking to embarrass me, try finding some nonexistent baby photos, because I'm not gonna blush or splutter at the mention of doing one of the most basic things humans do. Okay?"

"You're weird," the fox huffs. "You took the brat in when everybody else shunned him, you told him to seek me out like you knew he would be able to, you didn't even bat an eye at me when you first saw me. Just what are you up to, Uchiha?"

Ah. Kurama and his legendary hatred towards all things Uchiha. Thanks, Madara. Ren will remember to punch him in the face for this.

"What do you mean what's my deal?" Ren asks, but moves about making breakfast anyway.

"Why are you doing all this?"

"Because I died once already and I know the future," she shrugs. "And I don't like that future, so I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I want instead, and tackle the consequences as they come. YOLO and all that, you know? Except I'm living twice, so does it even hold?"

The fox just looks at her for a moment, incredulous.

"Did you—" he tries. "Did you just, in a very flippant manner, tell me that you're reincarnated or something?"

"Pretty much," Ren shrugs. "Why?"

"Exactly, why!"

"You're a thousand-year-old, fox-shaped ball of power and rage," Ren says. "We're both weird, so let's just be weird together. Also I haven't slept in more than 30 hours so my brain-to-mouth filter is a bit wonky."