A Shinobi Approaches

Shiro heard Kai get out and walk around so he slowly got up.
"I'm next", he said, grinning and getting inside the bathroom to take a shower himself.
When he was done he searched for his clothes, which Kai had put somewhere the night before.
"Anything planned for today?", Shiro asked, he seemed to be in a good mood.

"Well... I want to visit Erika and smooth things over with her..."
he mummbled quietly... She deserved that much...
"You don't hve to come if you don't want to..." he finished.

"Smooth... things over?", Shiro said, his voice distrustful. What was Kai up to?
"I'd rather accompany you", he said, guessing Kai was bout to cheat on him.
Maybe that bitch of a girl would not let him go again? Or kiss him?
Maybe she would seduce him?

Kai could tell by the tone of Shiro's voice that he wasnt pleased...
Then again why should he was about to the open the door, when
suddenly Erika walked in... Almost as if she owned the place...

She had a stern look on her face, she scouted out the room for
Kai, and found him crushed behind the door.
"Stop playing around like a little Kid, the Hoshikage wants
to see you." she said angrily
"He wantes to see me... but why?"
"We've got a mission, we need to get it done." she said as
she pulled his ear and dragged him out the door...
"Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow!!" kai said.

"Kai!", Shiro said, attempting to follow the two of them.
"You... you won't go away... with her, will you?", Shiro asked, glaring at the girl.
This was not fair. How could she do this just like that?

Kai looked at Shiro and sighed...
"If it's an urgent mission from the Hoshikage... I must do it..."
Kai walked out the door...

Erika closed the door behind him and looked at Shiro...
"You may think you have him, you may think you want him..."
she grumbled powerfully... taking a stride towards Shiro with
each word... "But I swear to Lucifer! I would rather see him
dead... Then be with some street rat. I don't care what
mistake's he may of made... I will forgive him..." With the last
word she clenched her fist and raised it to Shiro's face...
"He's mine! Got it?!"

Shiro glared at Erika, he was not backing away by an inch.
Instead, he shoved her hard when she was done talking.
"He is mine, you won't take him away from me you ugly hag", he hissed venomous.

Erika opened her hand in front of his face releasing a ball of fire in her palm...
"If you can't stand the heat, you shouldn't of pissed me off" She shouted angrily
The fire dispersed into the air and she grabbed Shiro by the collar...
"If need be, I will kill you... and I'll just say you ran away..."

She threw him at a wall... and giggled evily... she stood in the doorway
blew a kiss and chased after Kai.

Shiro froze when he saw the fire, which was probably his greatest weakness. He was very afraid of fire... When his back hit the wall Shiro did not make a sound, although it hurt. When she left Shiro started to cry, he was afraid of her and afraid she would take Kai away from him. What should he do? Shiro did not want to die but he did not want to give Kai up either...
To distract himself Shiro started tidying up Kai's apartment, just putting everything somewhere, sorting things away, doing the dishes and even cooking in case Kai would come back soon.
The girl's words resonated in his head. She was right... he was only a 'street rat', nobody special and nobody worth Kai's attention...

It was true, Kai did recieve a mission, the two had been paired together, along
with Suzuki Sensei, they were to share knowledge of Medical Jutsu with a small
tribal settlement some distance away.
As they got outside the door, Erika stopped Kai and leaned on him...
I'm so glad we're back together and finally a real team again!"
She smiled and gripped Kai's clothes holding him tight...
Kai smiled, her touch was soft and she had a loving embrace...
She took Kai's hand and held it, "Let's go to our favorite restruant,
before we set out..." She gently tugged Kai to move with her...

The meal was great and they had a great time, Kai decided he would
have to collect some items from back home and Erika volunteered to
go with him. Kai opened the door to a spotless home...
"Shiro? Did you do all this?!" he asked, looking impressed...

Erika looked at Shiro deeply, she raised a Kunai and pulled it to her
throat and showed a slicing motion and then pointed at Shiro...
She then mouthed the words... "Say anything... And I will Kill you."

Shiro was happy to see Kai was back but he went pale when he saw Erika's motion, avoiding to look at Kai. "Yes I... I was bored", he mumbled and turned to get to the bedroom. He was shaking when he sat down on his bed, from anger and from fear. The food he had prepared for Kai and him was still in the kitchen, Shiro had not started eating alone. But now with Erika here, it was no good anyways. Shiro had to give up on Kai as he realized he was too afraid of the girl to stay with him.

"Shiro... I have some bad news... I have to leave, for a mission..." Kai said softly...
"I hope you understand but I'll be gone for a while... I dont know how long it'll take...
I'm sorry..." Kai then started to collect items and place them in his duffle bag...

Erika put her hand on Kai's shoulder... "You head off, I'll talk to him...
It'll be easier that way..." Kai nodded and left...
"Now then..." She said as she turned towards Shiro... "What to do with you..."
Moving in closer to Shiro, she kissed him on the forehead...
"Good game, but no one beats me..." she flicked her hair and strutted outside
"Your welcome to stay here... I'm not that heartless... but once we get back,
He will be his regular self..." she whispered to him...
"Ciao!" She shouted as she ran out of the room leaving Shiro alone.

Shiro did not get to ask how long Kai would be gone, as Erika wanted to talk to him. The boy ducked when she got too close to him, not daring to reply to what she said. When she and Kai were gone, Shiro cried again. He felt lonely and desperate. Telling himself Kai would be back soon, maybe in a day or two, Shiro decided to go on as usually. However, when the boy had not come back after even a week, Shiro was worried. He had started drawing, producing dark, sad pictures. Not wanting Erika or Kai to find them Shiro hid them below his mattress.

Eight days after Kai had left there was no food left. Shiro waited three days, then he used some of the money Kai had hidden, which Shiro had found while cleaning up, Shiro bought new food, only the most necessary, such as rice and bread. He did not take much of the money, only enough to feed himself for a few more days. This he repeated when the food was used up. And again. Was Kai not going to come back at all? Maybe Erika actually took him away...

Shiro was getting thinner from not eating well and worrying. He was working hard to keep the apartment clean and tidy and whenever the food was out he waited for two or three days before he bought something new, just in case Kai would be back this time. After all, it was not Shiro's money. After a while he had used up his paper and hoped it was alright for him to buy a new sketchpad. It was all he had to spend his time with. He was drawing all the time.

When he finally heard someone at the door, Shiro hurried to hide his latest drawings.

Erika opened the door and laughed... "Oh Kai, you did great!" she laughed, then
she turned her head... and noticed... he was still here.
"Shiirrooo" Kai yelled loudly as he walked in the door, he walked up
to him and hugged him... "A little thin, arnt we, have you not been eating well?"
he asked.

Erika stood behind Kai, she looked at Shiro and smiled... Her hate for him had
gone, now that she knew Kai was hers.

Shiro hesitated to hug Kai back, he was not sure how close he was allowed to get.
"You... where gone for quite a while...", Shiro mumbled, looking at his feet. He was hungry, it was one of the days he had not bought food for, the second day in a row. There was no money left and Shiro was glad Kai was back although he felt guilty for using all the money.

"How about we all go out for lunch, you look as if you want it."
Kai chuckled, "Come on, let's go eat..."
The three of them set off to his favorite local ramen shop.
All the way there, Kai held Erika's hand... He had fell for her...
Deeply... However he still felt treated Shiro as a younger brother.

Shiro felt like crying when he saw the two of them holding hands.
He felt even lonelier as he had for the past weeks.
Had Kai forgotten about their feelings towards each other?
Had he forgotten what they had done, how close they had been?
"S-so... how was it? What did you do?", Shiro asked, just to say something.
He did not want to know. Not at all.

"Well Shiro-chan, we collected medical knowledge from a far away tribe,
we learned new innotive ways to use our herbs... How are you little
brother" he asked. Kai tried to make Shiro feel included, Kai wanted
him to be part of his life but he knew where his heart belonged.

Erika held kai's hand tightly, she finally felt at peace, she looked at Shiro
and smiled, it was a smile that showed honesty and sincerity...
"What have you been doing since we were away?" She asked

Little brother. About two months ago Shiro would have been happy about this title. Now these two words hurt so bad he was almost bursting into tears. "Nothing much", Shiro replied to Erika, trying to keep his voice from giving his emotions away. It sounded cold and flat. "I... I took care of the apartment... I did some shopping... Kai I'm sorry I took your money I'll pay it back as soon as I can", Shiro said.

"Don't be silly, It's fine, We earned quite a bit of money so, we're good...
I'll go order us some food..." Kai walked to the serving bar and asked
for enough food for 4 people, everyone deserved this...

"I can tell your sad, you do realise he's trying to give you a nice home...
he's got a surprise for you, so try and act happy" Erika said.
Kai returned to the table, "Hey Shiro, remember how we decided to train
to make you a ninja, Well... I got you a place in the Ninja Academy!"
he shouted with a smile on his face.

Shiro smiled widely at Kai although he felt like crying.
What was the sense in going to that academy if he could not have Kai?
Maybe if he trained hard he could be with him, go on missions with him.
But then Erika would be angry again, threatening Shiro.
"Thank you, Kai-kun", Shiro politely said, his voice still lacking emotion apart from a fake happiness and excitement.

Kai looked at the Bartender signalling him over to collect their food, he got up and got his and Erikas drink and brought it back, then collected Shiro's drink and ramen then went back to collect his own Ramen and Erika's too.

While Kai was going up and down for the food and drink Erika began to lecture Shiro inbetween Kai's movement, "He may not notice that you're miserable or is trying to ignore it.... *Silence* But he's trying to make you happy and you shouldn't take... *Silence* that for granted, he's trying to be family for you...
"Did I miss anything good" Kai asked nicely, No one seemed to reply so he took it to mean, that nothing good was happening... He looked down at his food... "Looks good" he said nicely before then viciously wolfing his food down and downing his alcohol... He exhaled loudly...
The evening wasnt quite how he planned...

Shiro ate quietly, pretending to be tired. His body was hungry but all the things on his mind kept him from eating and in the end he had only finished half of his ramen. "Do you mind if I head home already? I... I feel tired. Erika, will you stay at our place tonight?", Shiro asked.

Kai was worried about Shiro and this was worse when he had asked to leave as if this was some sort of chore to be here. "Yeah if you're tired you can go if you want, I may be a little late, I need to speak with the Hoshikage..."

"Nah, I've got a Ninja hound which the neighbour has been looking after and he won't be happy if I don't come home, but I'm sure we'll see each other again" she smiled...

As Shiro left, Kai and Erika looked at each other worried...

Shiro nodded and got up, then slowly made his way home.
The moment he closed the door behind himself, Shiro started crying.
This was not fair. How could Kai have forgotten about them?
Out of habit Shiro lay down in Kai's bed just like he had done for the past weeks.
He was not sleeping though, when he heard Kai come home.