This is supposed to be a marigold in a jar on a table. Pastels are thick and not great for detailed work so I don't know if you can tell...
A while later, Kaira came in to take out the remaining needles in my arm. I was happy to see them gone, quite honestly, and spent a few minutes flexing my arm, trying to get rid of the weird sensation of having needles in my skin.
"Oh, one other thing," Kaira said suddenly as she was half way to the door. "You're allowed visitors now, between nine in the morning and eight in the evening. I think there are a few people who came in earlier to see you, so just brace yourself."
"Thanks." I grinned. I was getting somewhat bored of Kakashi's company, and I was looking forward to having someone else to talk to.
The first visitor was Tsumari, who came in cautiously, but when she saw I was awake, she broke into a smile and made her way over to me.
"Hi, Miyoshi! How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm absolutely wonderful," I said sarcastically. "Nothing like a fight to the death and multiple broken bones to cheer a person up."
We laughed. Tsumari was good company; she knew when to mediate between joking around and being serious. She was definitely a mother figure in my life, and knowing her as well as I did, I was tempted to say that she saw Teren, Garake and me as her figurative children.
"I see you're still here, Kakashi," Tsumari said pointedly.
"I'm taking an opportunity to run away from my responsibilities," Kakashi explained.
"Oh, so that's your excuse!" There was a smirk on Tsumari's face that I didn't like.
"Is there something I should know?" I demanded.
"It's nothing," Tsumari assured me, but I wasn't sure I believed her.
"If it's nothing, why has Naruto heard rumours?" I pointed out. "Be honest, what have people been saying?"
"I think you can probably guess." Tsumari pulled a face. "But I find it hard to believe."
"So you should," I grumbled. "Honestly, some people have no sense of decency."
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Tsumari bent down and pulled a small yellow flower from her ninja pouch. "I bought this from the Yamanaka's shop. Do you know, they have a little girl called Ino - cutest shop assistant ever! She must be, what, five? She followed me around the shop, telling me which ones were her favourites, and then took the change from her mom just to give to me."
"Aww!" I cooed. "She's Naruto's age. Maybe we should hook them up." I grinned. Then I reconsidered. "Actually... no. Absolutely not. Naruto is staying small and cute for the rest of time. No growing up for him."
"He's not going to be young forever." Kakashi pointed out. "You know he starts the Academy next month, right?"
"Don't remind me." I rubbed my temples. "Is it bad that I feel old at nineteen?"
"Don't feel old yet. You can feel old when he graduates from the Academy and officially leaves your care," Tsumari told me. "How old do you think I feel, seeing you all... grown up? Both of you! I remember being told the next batch of graduates were a bunch of little kids, and now look. You're officially adults."
"Yeah, now you can't pretend to be my mom," I joked. "Actually... no, who am I kidding? I haven't grown up yet. I'll need you to stick around a bit longer, I'm afraid."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Tsumari assured me. "I'll be your figurative mom forever, you aren't going to get rid of me that easily."
We laughed and chatted together for a while. At some point, Kakashi pulled his book out of his ninja pouch and started reading it. I would have called him out and teased him about it, but with Tsumari in the room I didn't feel like that was necessary. I think he appreciated that decision, because he looked quite happy while he was reading. I quite liked seeing him happy; it was nice to know that he had found reason to smile despite everything he'd been through.
Tsumari left after a while, saying that she had a mission to prepare for. Kakashi and I sat in silence for a while; he was still reading, and I was admiring the small marigold that Tsumari had bought. Yellow had always been my favourite colour; not bright, intrusive yellows, but softer hues, like the marigold. I wondered if Tsumari knew that; it was such a simple thing that I couldn't remember specifically telling her. It probably came up in conversation at some point a few years ago.
"You've been staring at that flower for ages," Kakashi said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Any particular reason?"
"Oh! Uh, this shade of yellow is my favourite colour. I was just wondering how she knew." I placed the flower in a small glass that had been sitting on the beside table.
Kakashi shrugged. "You spend so much time with your old team, it probably didn't take much effort for Tsumari to guess. You guys are practically family."
I didn't miss the tone of sadness in his voice. He obviously missed Minato, Obito and Rin a lot. I did too, of course, but I couldn't imagine the pain of losing Tsumari, Teren and Garake on top of the whole ordeal with my Clan. For the first time, I realised that I really didn't know exactly what he was going through.
"I've been an idiot, haven't I?" I murmured. "I don't have a clue what it's like. I've just been pretending this whole time."
"It's not like that," Kakashi said quietly.
"Yes, it is," I said firmly. "But I'm done pretending."
There was a moment of silence.
"Thanks," Kakashi said finally. I was slightly taken aback.
"What for?"
He shrugged. "I guess... just for being a friend. As much as you've been annoying, I've been a jerk. So, how about we start again? Friends?"
I couldn't suppress a smile. "We always were."
The door suddenly flew open, and to my surprise, I saw Garake stumbling in.
"You idiot!" Teren's voice sounded from outside in the corridor, and a second later he came in, his long, black ponytail swaying. "They were trying to have a moment."
"Hey, what do you mean, moment?" I exclaimed. "You guys are the third visitors to reference something like that, and one of those was five years old!"
Teren's hands flew up in surrender. He and Garake knew from experience what happened when I was wound up, and neither of them had found it fun.
"Sorry!" Garake said. "We only meant..." he left the end of the sentence dangling, unable to finish it.
"Technically," Kakashi put in, "'having a moment' doesn't necessarily refer to anything romantic-"
"You are not helping!" I snapped. "Would it kill you to go outside for five minutes? Why don't you go and race Guy? He'd love that."
Kakashi pulled a face. "Knowing Guy, there would be some kind of handicap that will murder one of us. No thanks."
Garake whistled. "Yeesh, guys, quit it with the sexual tension, would you."
If looks could kill, he'd be burned to ashes, drowned, flushed down the drain, stuck together with glue, pounded in with a mallet, and then buried under a tonne of solid rock. Kakashi didn't look too pleased, either.
"Out." I pointed to the door with my good arm. "Out now, before I murder you." The potted plant on the window sill behind Kakashi lashed its leaves threateningly.
Garake swore under his breath. "I forgot she could do that."
"Well done." Teren rolled his eyes. "We only came to see how you were doing, Miyoshi, I swear."
I scowled, but let my control of the plant slip, and it grew still. Kakashi brushed some leaves out of his hair with his fingers.
"Hmph. I'll have you know that my right arm is broken, and my leg broke in three places, so I won't be running for a while. I also feel like a crappy person, because I just murdered my brother in cold blood."
"Wait, what?" Garake spluttered.
"You didn't include that detail," Teren said pointedly.
I sighed. I couldn't not tell them; they were like brothers to me. "You might want to sit down. It's kind of a long story."