"O-Obito.. Uchiha?" I asked. "Your best friend?" Kakashi nodded. "But that's Tobi. His name is.. Tobi."
He shook his head. "I don't know any more about this than you do. All I know is that Obito died on one of our missions."
Tears threatened to fall down my cheeks. "He.. died?" He nodded, then raised an eyebrow. "Where does your.. Tobi.. live?"
I shook my head. "He lives in the same house I do, but I don't really want to say where. Sorry."
Kakashi shrugged. "It's ok. It was a personal question, anyways."
For the next two weeks, I spent some time with Sai and the rest. Neji woke up around the same time I did, so we trained together.
A few days before Christmas Eve, I bought presents for all of my friends, including the Akatsuki.
On Christmas Eve, I gave everyone their presents. As I went to each of their houses, I said goodbye. Sai wasn't the same as last time, but he still cried.
Last was Kakashi. I walked up to his house, and knocked. The door opened, and he stuck his head out.
"Oh, hi, Taki. Came to say goodbye?" I nodded. He gave me a hug. I gave him one of the Makeout Paradise books. "It's not that bad, besides the love scenes."
"What? But you have to be at least 18 to purchase one of those."
"I am of age. I'm twenty two years old, Kakashi." A look if surprise spread across his face. "Oh. Sorry. Anyways, I want you to give Obito something."
He pulled out a pair of goggles. "These were his, and I'd like him to have them back. Tell him that I miss him. A lot." He gave her a note, too.
Aww. Kakashi misses.. Obito. I thanked him, and left. In order to make it in time to be able to get in some sleep, I had to run. Fast.
It was nine. If I walked, I would arrive at one in the morning. If I ran.. I would arrive at eleven. I transformed into a cheetah, and ran as fast as I could.
I arrived at eleven, to see that everyone was fast asleep. What? But.. where were all of the Christmas decorations? There was nothing, not even a tree. I let out a long grrooaann.
I ran back to the nearest convenience store. I bought lights, wrapping paper, ornaments, decorations, ingredients for cookies and dinner, and a tree. I was back at the hideout by eleven thirty.
I still had six and a half hours before anyone would start waking up, and that was at the earliest. I set up the Christmas lights outside of the house.
I wrapped gifts, and put them to the side. I made cookie batter, and prepared breakfast. I put both batters in the fridge, for later.
Last, I put up the tree in the living room, and strung lights on it. I hung ornaments on it, including the star on top. I wrapped the garland around the banisters, and put a wreath on the front door.
I began to walk towards my room, I opened the door, hid the goggles where I knew Tobi wouldn't find them, and walked out to use the restroom.
I walked back to my room, in the hallway, when the lack of sleep finally got to me. Before passing out, I looked at the clock. It was six. They would be waking up anytime now. I smiled, before blacking out.
3rd POV:
A loud "thump" could be heard throughout the house. Taki's body was laid out, sprawled on the ground.
The first to wake was Sasori. He marveled at the Christmas decorations hung around the house, before looking down at a passed out Taki. He chuckled to himself.
"Oh, what you go through for us." He crouched down next to her. Mimicking what Taki had done to him earlier, he poked her cheeks, and giggled in his own cute way.
He was caught by Deidara, who had been watching from his door. "Danna!" He whisper-shouted. Sasori jumped, and looked at Deidara.
"W-what are you doing, brat?" Amused, Deidara raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, I could ask you the same."
"I-I was just.." when Sasori couldn't think up of a good excuse for have been poking Taki's cheeks, Deidara laughed softly.
"You have a cute laugh, Sasori-danna, un." He commented. Sasori blushed. "Uh.. thanks... Deidara."
"You- called me by my real name, hm! You have never called me by my real name before." Sasori looked the other way. "Whatever."
Deidara looked around. "Woah. This seems like something Taki would do." Kisame got up. He had somehow managed an impressive bedhead.
Next was Tobi. They all looked at each other. Tobi squealed, and ran away. They ran after him. Finally, the three guys had him cornered.
"Admit it, Tobi. You like Taki, don't you?" Kisame teased. "W-what? O-of course.. not." Tobi laughed nervously.
Everyone knew that under his mask, he must have been blushing like crazy. Sasori scolded him. "Just don't break her heart, or I'll break you, got it?"
He waved his hands over his face. "Shh! Be quiet! Or she'll hear you!" They laughed at him. Deidara chuckled. "So you do like her, un."
Tobi groaned. "Just.. don't tell her, ok, Deidara-senpai?" Deidara patted his back. "Don't worry, I'm sure that even if she did know, she would not think of you any differently, un."
Tobi nodded. He looked down, just noticing that Taki was there, passed out. In a second, he was by her side.
He sat down next to her. He picked her up, and laid her on his lap. He stared at her. A few minutes later, Taki's eyes fluttered open.
Her breathing quickened. She jumped up, and wrapped her arms around Tobi's neck, hugging him. She started crying.
Tobi didn't know what was happening to her, but he comforted her anyway. Deidara, Sasori, and Kisame thought it was sweet.
Ten minutes passed, and Taki wouldn't stop crying. Her eyes were cloudy, and they knew something was wrong.
Kisame brought Itachi to her. He looked at her. "It's not a genjutsu.. but she's being mentally tortured." "By who!" They cried.
"... by herself."
Everyone was silent. "She's mentally torturing... herself?" Sasori asked sadly.
"I don't know how, or why, but in her own dreams, she tells herself things that makes her sad." Itachi felt her forehead.
"She should be waking up soon." He looked around. "She did this?" They nodded.
Taki stopped crying. They all looked at her. Her eyes were no longer cloudy. "Mm.. I had.. the.. most... aw-ful.. dream." She said sleepily.
She looked at the clock. "One hour of sleep.. it's not bad." She chuckled. Deidara stared at her. "You got one hour of sleep?!"
She closed her eyes. "It hurts to open my eyes. Well, it looks like I'm going to have to use Konan's makeup to cover these black bags under my eyes."
She knew that she was on Tobi's lap, but didn't do anything about it. She couldn't do anything about it. She held his hand, and smiled.
"Merry Christmas, guys." It took all of her pure willpower to get up. "I'm.. going to go.. make breakfast." She stumbled around, and walked downstairs.
They ran after her when they heard a thump downstairs. Taki had passed out again. A minute later, she got up.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll get right to it." She poured the breakfast batter into a pan, and put it in the oven. She was so tired, she accidentally burned her hand.
She tried to hold it in, but couldn't. She let out a scream that broke everyone's hearts that heard it.
The rest of the Akatsuki ran downstairs. "What happened?" Konan shouted. Deidara spoke.
"Taki tried to make breakfast for us, but she burned her hand. She got one hour of sleep last night, and passed out multiple times, hm."
"Oh.."
They ran over to Taki, who had passed out once again. They looked at her hand. It was burned badly, but luckily, it was only a second degree burn.
(For those who don't know, a second degree burn is a burn where you can still faintly feel the skin. A third degree burn is when you are unable to feel the skin on your burn.)
They wrapped up her hand, and laid her on the couch. She woke up half an hour later. "I need to get the meal out of the oven!" She yelled.
She ran to the kitchen. Luckily, the meal was just perfect, not burned. With oven mitts, she took it out, and placed it on the counter with a towel under it.
After frantically preparing breakfast, she winced, and looked down at her hand. "Ow.. what.. happened to my hand?"
Deidara walked over to her. "You burned it by accident. You don't remember?" "Oh.. I guess I remember now. Sorry."
They ate, and thanked her. They were in awe of her decorations. They began to open the presents she gave them.
They thanked her, and went to their rooms. Tobi was all that remained with her. It was nighttime, and they were going to bed.
Tobi was starting to get up, when Taki stopped him. "Wait. I.. have something to show you." She told him to stay there, on the couch while she went to grab something.
She hid the goggles and note behind her back. She walked up to him. "A.. friend of mine wanted me to give these to you, O-Tobi."
She revealed both items from her back. Tobi just stared at the goggles. He took them into his hands. He carefully looked at the note, too.
Obito,
I have been informed that you are indeed alive. I don't know where you are, but it is ok if you don't want to see me. I just wanted to say that I will always consider you my best friend. I miss you.
Kakashi
Taki heard Tobi sniffing behind his mask. The sounds of his crying made her heart soften. She hugged him. He hugged back. "Thank you."
Did Tobi's voice just get deeper? No.. she must have been mistaken.