"Hey, hey! What's with that disgusted and disdainful look on your face?" Reeking of alcohol, Kushina unhappily lowered her arms from where they had been crossed over her chest.
Sure, she was loud and brash, but she still had the looks and the figure of a beautiful girl! Was that expression really necessary?
"How much did you drink?"
Ignoring her complaint, Kei glanced around the ssy living room, feeling utterly speechless.
The once clean and tidy coffee table was now covered with empty instant ran cups filled with leftover broth and scattered beer bottles. Magazines and loosely placed ninja scrolls were spread across the sofa and floor. Even a few of his practice puppets, normally well-kept, had been tossed around and left abandoned.
"J-just a little..."
Noticing the ss, Kushina sobered up halfway, shrinking her neck back as she carefully peeked at Kei's expression. She muttered to herself—she really hadn't done anything, so how had the living room ended up like this?
"... No matter how frustrated you are, cut back on the drinking. It's not good for you."
Seeing the unease in her eyes, Kei swallowed the words he initially wanted to say and instead chose to show concern. Having known her for years, he understood her better than anyone. Kushina never touched alcohol, yet she had clearly downed a lot tonight.
Sothing must have happened after her earlier conflict with Danzō that had upset her even more.
With a single-handed sign of the Ram seal, Kei perford an advanced combination of the Mind Body Switch Technique and Mind Clone Switch Technique—the Mind Puppet Switch Cursed Seal Technique.
Five humanoid puppets, each about a foot tall, suddenly flipped up from the floor, moving in sync as they clumsily but efficiently began tidying the room. The filthy coffee table was quickly wiped clean. The scattered magazines and scrolls were sorted and returned to their original places.
Barefoot, Kushina hurriedly ran around, following the puppets and helping to clean up. From the way she eagerly moved about, soone unaware of the situation might have actually mistaken her for being naturally diligent.
"Just tell , what do you need?"
Kei looked at Kushina, who was now grinning and trying to act cute, and sighed, already feeling defeated.
"Hehehe~ Kei~ Can we talk? Lend a few million ryō, pretty please~?"
Her tone was as sweet as honey, her deanor coy and shy—nothing like the fierce, short-tempered Red-Hot Habanero she was known to be.
"Hold on—you just collected rent in July. It's barely been three months, and you're broke already?"
Kei stared at her in disbelief.
When Mito passed away, she had left Kushina an incredibly generous inheritance. Just the dozen or so storefronts she owned in Konoha's comrcial district brought in enough rental inco each year to guarantee her a life of luxury.
How had she managed to burn through all of it so fast that she was now asking to borrow money?
"I... I lent it to Tsunade-nee."
"That gambling addict—you've got so guts!"
"I didn't have a choice! She was crying, saying she had no food, no clothes, that she couldn't survive..."
"And you actually believed her?"
"Aww, co on, Kei~"
Kushina pouted before quickly shifting the topic. "That bastard is completely heartless! He claims he has nothing to do with the damage to the standby station and is making pay for all the repairs! Even the Third Hokage is siding with him..."
Her voice turned whiny as she skipped over the part about lending money to Tsunade, launching into an endless rant about how despicable Danzō was.
She even threw in a few complaints about the Third Hokage, as if the destruction of the standby station had absolutely nothing to do with her.
"Just three million ryō, right?"
"If you could add a little more so I can afford food, that would be even better..."
"You really need to start managing your expenses better. When you collect rent, set aside an ergency fund. And next ti soone asks to borrow money, think about whether they actually need it for sothing important..."
With a helpless sigh, Kei got up from the couch, speaking as he retrieved two deposit slips from a hidden compartnt in his study.
Kushina obediently kneeled in front of the coffee table. Maybe it was the alcohol, but as she listened to his nagging, she couldn't help but think of Mito. Absentmindedly, she accepted the two bank slips, each worth five million ryō.
Seeing her dazed expression, Kei waved a hand in front of her face and reminded her again.
"Take the extra money, eat well, buy yourself so nice clothes. And next ti sothing like this happens, don't take it out on yourself. Rather than making yourself suffer, make others suffer instead..."
Before he could finish, he noticed tears welling up in Kushina's eyes, rolling down her cheeks one after another.
Not great at handling emotional situations, he quickly grabbed a tissue from the box and handed it to her.
Watching her cry so miserably, he sighed, racking his brain for a way to comfort her.
"If you're still mad, we could always sneak up on Danzō and give him a good whack. I know how Root operates pretty well."
"Uwaaaah—Kei! Waaaaah—I miss Granny Mito!"
She had only been silently shedding tears at first, but with Kei's words, she completely lost control.
All the grievances, all the loneliness, all the suppressed longing for her loved ones ca flooding out in one uncontrollable outburst. She threw her head back and wailed, snot mixing with tears as she cried her heart out.
Since Mito's passing, it had been so, so long since she had heard words of genuine care like this.
Because she was the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, she couldn't leave the village freely for missions, nor could she live like a normal kunoichi. Everywhere she went, she felt the eyes of those who feared and despised her.
And on top of that, high-ranking officials led by Danzō would target her from ti to ti.
The Third Hokage always consoled her afterward, but his words were always the sa—telling her to be mature, saying that they were only doing what was best for the village.
But if it was really for the village, then why was she always the one who had to endure? Why weren't they the ones making compromises?
"Want to go with you to the Senju compound for a visit?" Kei asked tentatively.
Kushina shook her head, wiping at her tears as she suddenly looked up. "Did you use so kind of jutsu on Danzō?"
"Huh? No, why would you think that?" Kei's heart skipped a beat, but his expression remained perfectly neutral as he played dumb.
"Liar! You might be able to fool others, but not ~ I sensed it, you know! When he left, I felt a flicker of malice from you!"
She was still covered in tears and snot, but her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled mischievously.
"Gross. Wipe your face already. Crying and laughing at the sa ti—you look ridiculous."
Kei twitched slightly at the corner of his eye, gave up on denying it, and simply pressed a tissue against her face.
"Hehe~ Kei, I'm really glad I t you~"
Reviews
All reviews (0)