Naruto was crouched down in a shaded nook between a tree and the side of a building a few blocks away from the hospital. His head was in his hands and his shoulders were visibly bunched beneath his jacket. Sakura hesitated a few feet away. She didn't know what to say to him. She hadn't known what to say since Kakashi had brought him back. This was all her fault. She had let Naruto convince her Sasuke was too strong to be tempted by the power Orochimaru offered because she had wanted to be convinced. She should have told Kakashi as well. Maybe if the three of them had confronted Sasuke this would never have happened. Instead she had gone alone, as if anything she said could have persuaded him. And then she had begged Naruto to bring him back, without even considering what might happen to him. She hadn't thought Sasuke would attack him. Why hadn't she seen that coming? Sasuke and Naruto always clashed. Of course it had become a fight. And after that horrible scene on the rooftop she should have known just how bad it would be when they did fight, without Kakashi there to stop them this time. She had seen how battered Naruto was when Kakashi had carried him back. She couldn't imagine how badly being beaten by Sasuke, again, like always, must have hurt both his feelings and his pride. Naruto tried so hard when he was just doing it for himself. He would have tried even harder for her. And he had still failed. When she had visited him in the hospital he hadn't even been able to look her in the eye. Naruto blamed himself just like she blamed herself, and they could apologize to each other over and over and it wouldn't help anything.
Now Sasuke was here and everything should have been better but it wasn't. She wanted to unleash her anger on him, to put the blame on his shoulders where it belonged, and she couldn't. She was afraid to. He was here but he wasn't back. They needed him to want to stay. Why would he want to stay with people who were angry with him, berating and even hating him for what he had done? And she did hate him for that because she couldn't understand why they weren't more important to him than his need for revenge. They were alive. Nothing he did would bring his family back. He had known that and he had given them up anyway. For power. That was the worst part if it because that made no sense at all. Sasuke had always been powerful compared to everyone their age. Why couldn't that be enough? He was bound to get stronger no matter where he was so why couldn't he have stayed right here in the village? Impatience and greed. He wanted it now, yesterday, and she wished she could hit him over the head like she would have with Naruto and point out how childish that was. Sasuke wasn't supposed to be childish. But she could never call him on that because it would push him further away. Sometimes she envied Naruto. He didn't seem to care if Sasuke hated him or not, so he could say and do whatever he wanted. They communicated with their fists so it didn't matter if Sasuke never spoke to him again. It was different for her. She treasured every little moment when Sasuke gave her a hint of what he felt, whether he was angry with her for not considering the fact that he was an orphan the same as Naruto or admitting to her that he had cried when his parents were killed. Those tiny glimpses into his mind meant the world to her. If she did something that made Sasuke stop speaking to her it would be the same as never seeing him again. She just couldn't risk that.
"Naruto?"
Naruto jumped, his hands dropping and his head snapping around to look at her. For an instant he looked afraid, cornered, and she almost left. But then his face twisted into an awkwardly overdone grin, and she sighed because that was classic Naruto. Even he probably knew those forced smiles didn't fool anyone, but he defaulted back to them anyway. Just a bit of the usual to make up for everything else being so wrong. She sat down against the wall, let the scarred hitaiate fall into her lap, and folded her arms over her chest. After eyeing her warily for a second, Naruto plopped down, too.
"What are we going to do with him?" asked Sakura.
"Kick his ass until he apologizes," Naruto scowled. "And then kick his ass again for making us kick his ass until he apologizes. The stupid bastard."
Sakura let out a choked little laugh. He made it sound so simple. "As satisfying as that would be, an apology doesn't mean anything if it's forced." A glance found Naruto gaping at her. She frowned back. "What?"
"You want to kick his ass, too?" Naruto demanded. "Seriously?"
"It isn't as if I could," she scowled, "so it doesn't really matter. But if you think you're the only one angry with him, you're wrong." She sighed and looked away. "I'm furious with him."
"Perfect!" Naruto jumped to his feet, his eyes gleaming maniacally. "Come on, Sakura-chan! I'll hold the bastard down and you kick his ass until he wishes he had never laid eyes on that fucking snake. That'll teach him!"
"Naruto!"
"Come on," he whined, crouching again beside her. "You want to. You just admitted you want to. This is your chance! The bastard will never see it coming, not from you. He'll never look at you the same way again!"
"That's precisely why I would never do such a thing," Sakura scoffed. "Not that it would mean anything if I had to get you to hold him down for me, anyway. Besides, even if you did it on your own it would just be kicking him while he's down. You saw him. His chakra is sealed, he's completely unarmed, and he's...well..."
"Naked?"
Sakura blushed furiously, and glared at Naruto for making her blush. "Yes!"
"That would be a little weird," Naruto sighed. Weird and sort of hot. Why the hell would that strike him as hot? It would have been easy to blame it on Kyuubi, but even without the fox putting perverted images into his head there was something about the thought of Sasuke getting his naked ass handed to him by a furious Sakura that was very appealing. Maybe because it would be nice to have Sakura taking her anger out on someone other than him for a change, and having her beat up on Sasuke of all people would just make it even better. Plus Sasuke would be totally humiliated and helpless until Naruto stepped in to save his sorry ass. He probably shouldn't be thinking about Sasuke's ass, though. Kyuubi had shut up the moment Sakura spoke. Or maybe Naruto had managed to block him out. He had been shocked to see her, afraid she might somehow know what he was hearing in his head. Whatever had caused it, Kyuubi was quiet for the moment and he wanted to keep it that way. He sighed again and frowned at Sakura. "Maybe we can sneak him some clothes and make him get dressed. Then we can kick his ass."
She laughed at that. She also blushed some more, because bringing Sasuke clothes would mean being in the room while he put on said clothes. She should really hit Naruto for putting that thought into her head. She didn't like being a pervert. But this was Sasuke, after all, and he was indeed very naked at the moment. Naruto was grinning deviously at her, as if he knew what she was thinking. She mustered up a scowl. "Don't make me hit you, Naruto."
"Why would you hit me?" Naruto asked, managing to look wounded. "He's the bastard. Hit him. If we can't sneak him clothes, then I'll make sure the sheet stays in place while you're beating some sense into his stupid head. Come on. He deserves it and it'll be fun. It'll make you feel better."
She sighed and dropped her arms, looking down at the forehead protector in her lap. "Thank you, Naruto."
"Eh?"
"For being you," she shrugged. "I know this is as upsetting for you as it is for me, but you're putting up a good front. I appreciate that."
Naruto's stomach churned. Was she going to cry again? He had been trying to distract her, maybe cheer her up a little, not make her cry again! "Um, Sakura-chan...?"
"Here," Sakura said, holding the hitaiate out to him. "I shouldn't have let you give this to me. You're the one who held onto it. You should keep it until he's ready to take it back. To me, it just makes him looking like a missing nin."
"I'm the one who scratched it," Naruto reminded her quickly. "He didn't do that, I did!"
"I know. You told me that. But he might as well have done it himself. He obviously can't wear it now, even if...well, if everything turns out okay. He will have to get a new one. It was nice of you to let me bring it to him, but honestly, I..." She winced at Naruto's expression. He had meant well. She knew that. "I just don't want to touch it. I don't even like looking at it. I'm sorry."
"Oh." He accepted the forehead protector and stuffed it into his jacket. There wasn't much room what with the vest he was wearing under his coat, and the metal felt cold and conspicuous against his stomach. He should have known Sakura wouldn't view the hitaiate the same way he did. For him, that scratch was an accomplishment. It hurt that Sasuke had simply left it behind, but he had kept it to remind himself of what he had accomplished, so maybe he wouldn't dwell so much on what he had failed to accomplish. He hadn't really thought about what he would do with it once he finally found Sasuke again. Now that Sasuke was here, it had seemed natural to let Sakura give it back. Sasuke would never have taken it from him, but he had hoped he would take it from Sakura. He should have known better. The bastard really was a bastard, after all.
Naruto sat back down with his legs crossed, and scowled bitterly. "Well, if we can't kick his ass while he's naked, can we at least yell at him some more? He deserves an earful from both of us."
"You want to go back? After the way you left, I didn't think you were ready to see him yet." She frowned when Naruto grimaced and looked away. "Why did you storm out of there like that? Even Sasuke-kun was surprised. He asked me what was wrong with you and I had no idea what to tell him."
"I don't know," Naruto mumbled. "Maybe I just didn't want to beat the hell out of him right there. You know, kick him while he's down." Down and naked, while Kyuubi filled his head with all the things that might have happened had Sasuke been away long enough to officially become Orochimaru's bitch. As disgusting as that was, it was also infuriating because Sasuke was too proud for that. Sasuke was supposed to be too proud to bow his head to a superior much less hand himself over on a platter to be used like some sort of...plaything. What was wrong with him? The Sasuke he knew would never have allowed that. What the hell had happened to the Sasuke he knew? Naruto let out a disgusted growl. "That stupid bastard. He's not supposed to be this stupid! I can't wait till he's out of there so I can kick some sense into his stupid ass."
"He'll be out as soon as we finish securing a place for him," said Kakashi. "But I'm afraid any ass-kicking will have to wait for the time being."
"Kakashi-sensei!" cried Sakura.
"Where were you?" demanded Naruto. "Gai-sensei said you were too busy to go see the bastard with us. What was more important than that?"
"A mission," said Kakashi. "Don't bother asking what it was about. Let's go. If the two of you want Sasuke out of confinement, and fully dressed, we have work to do."
Naruto scowled. "Were you spying on us?"
"Of course." He had also been pleasantly surprised by how well the two were handling the situation. If Sasuke's deflection helped these two overcome their differences they would be in a better state to work together in bringing him around. Sakura also might be better prepared to learn about Naruto's demon. That was not going to be an easy revelation for Naruto to make. If Kakashi had it his way, the team would be at least somewhat grounded before all of that came out. It depended on how long Tsunade could keep the visitors at bay. He suspected they wouldn't follow her order to stay away from Naruto for very long.
.-.
Ino was instantly skeptical of the strange girl who had entered her parents' flower shop. It wasn't the pale blue hair, held up in a high bushy pony tail, or the big pink eyes. Those obviously weren't natural, but if a woman wanted to use a henge to look a little more exotic more power to her. No, it was the way she was dressed that made it clear she wasn't from around here. She looked to be about sixteen, but she was wearing tan pants with a high waist that no one under the age of forty would be caught dead in, a red shirt tucked into that high waist, and a short jean jacket opened to reveal her almost completely flat chest. She was cute in the face, bright-eyed, and smiling, but...damn that lack of fashion sense was painful. The girl didn't need flowers, she needed a stylist or at least a friend who could steer her in the right direction. That was just sad.
"Hello," the girl chirped. "Do you work here?"
"Yes," said Ino. She brushed off her hands and rose. The girl had that 'I'm just window-shopping' look about her, but it had been a slow day and pity was reason enough to waste a little time on the poor thing. "Are you looking for something in particular?"
"Nope. Well, yes, but not flowers. I mean," she laughed, "I came in because of the flowers, but only because I thought since this place sells flowers it would the perfect place to ask. Is there a graveyard around here?"
Ino's sympathy doubled for the awkward kid. "Yes," she said slowly. What kind of ninja village didn't have a graveyard? "You aren't from around here, are you."
"No. Sorry!" She smiled and held out a hand. "My name is Botan. I just got here."
"Ino." She shook her hand, a little surprised by how firm and confident the grip was. "What brings you to Konoha, Botan?"
"Sight-seeing," Botan grinned. "I have never been to a ninja village before. It's surprisingly busy. Not that people haven't been friendly! There just doesn't seem to be much to look at."
"Such as the graveyard?" Ino drawled. "What, are you in the funeral business?"
"How did you guess?"
Ino blinked and stared. "Really?" But she was so young! Ino had been helping out in the shop for most of her life, but even she hated putting together flowers for funerals. She wondered what sort of work Botan did. Engraving for tombstones, maybe? If so, Ino hoped her tastes in engravings were better than her taste in clothes. "That's..." beyond wierd, "interesting. I guess." To each their own, she supposed. "Our graveyard is on the east side. I can give you directions."
"Thank you! I really appreciate it." Botan smiled and nodded once given the directions, but seemed in no hurry to leave. "How long have you lived here?"
"Oh, I was born in Konoha."
"And have you always wanted to work in a flower shop?"
Had the girl not noticed the forehead protector tied around her waist? Or did she not know what it meant? Maybe her hair was natural, after all. Ino supposed pale blue wasn't really any stranger than Sakura's bubblegum pink. "This is my parents' shop, I just help out sometimes. I'm a shinobi. A genin." She pointed at her hitaiate. "See? This is a hitaiate, a forehead protector. We get these when we graduate from the ninja academy."
"So that's what those are! I wondered why so many people were wearing them." Botan laughed a little too loudly. "I thought that might be why, that they were some sort of armor to protect the head, but not everyone was wearing it on their head so then I didn't know what to think."
"I only wear mine on my head when I'm fighting." For good reason, too. Ino didn't know how so many women wore those all the time without getting dirt, sweat, and zits underneath them. She suspected even the men had problems with that. It would explain why so many of them never took the things off even when they weren't on duty.
"That makes sense. Thanks for explaining it to me. I should be going, though. I want to get a good look around before it gets too dark. Thank you so much for your help. Can I come back some time if I have more questions? I promise to buy something next time!"
"Sure," Ino shrugged. "It gets pretty dull in here." Unless there was a funeral. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "When you said you were in the funeral business, you didn't mean selling flowers, did you?" The last thing her family needed was some new competition moving into the area.
"Oh, no. I don't know anything about decorating graves. I work on the other side of things."
"I see," said Ino. Was she talking about preparing bodies or something? She probably didn't want to know. She returned the girl's wave, and then frowned when she almost walked into Shikamaru on her way out. There he was. Finally. "What took you so long?"
Shikamaru halted just inside the door, looking over his shoulder. "Who was that?"
"A visitor or something. She was looking for directions to the graveyard. I think she carves tombstones or something. Forget about that. Where have you been? You said you were just going to drop in for a quick visit with Naruto. It's been hours!"
"I ran into something," Shikamaru muttered. He finally looked around and promptly scowled when Ino caught sight of his face and snorted.
"What did you run into," Ino laughed, "a door?"
Shikamaru sighed. He knew he should have left the bandage on. His nose didn't look crooked, but it was awfully bruised and swollen. And painful, too.
"Whatever," Ino said dismissively. "I don't really care. Did Chouji like his flowers or not?"
"He would rather have had food."
"Naturally." She rolled her eyes. The hospital had Chouji on a controlled diet. He was getting plenty of food, just not the kind he liked. "Did you at least tell him what they meant? I worked really hard on that bouquet."
"I told him. I also told him they won't taste as good as they smell."
Ino grimaced. The first flowers she had sent had been eaten and then immediately thrown back up. She had made sure this batch wouldn't make him sick, but the idiot still shouldn't be eating them. Who even did that? Why did her teammates have to be so weird?
"You should bring him some yourself next time," said Shikamaru.
"He might get the wrong idea," Ino waved.
"I doubt it." Shikamaru eyed the door for a moment before making up his mind. "I just stopped by to let you know that Sasuke's back. I figure you'd want to know so you can run and tell Sakura, or beat her to him, or whatever. I have to go now. See you."
"What? Wait! What are you talking about?" Ino jumped and chased after him. "Get back here! You can't just say that and leave! You know I can't leave the shop until my mom gets back. Shikamaru!" She halted two feet outside the shop, her hands curled into fists. That lazy bum could move awfully fast when he wanted to.
.-.
"I hope you realize this isn't what I had in mind," Kurama murmured, looking askance at Hiei. They were sharing a branch, but Hiei was a good three feet away, crouched on the slender edge that couldn't possibly support Kurama's weight. He knew very well that the distance between them was intentional.
Hiei snorted softly. "I let you snuggle me."
"That barely counted as a hug." He was used to how stingy Hiei could be, but this was just rude. Hiei hadn't even turned into the embrace. The only reason Hiei had allowed it in the first place was because he had burned off Kurama's scent along with the Kyuubi's and he hadn't wanted Kurama getting 'territorial' on him while they were trying to work. Allowing Kurama to hug him was an insult, not a favor. It certainly wasn't snuggling. Kurama would should show him snuggling. "You really shouldn't taunt me so much when I'm in a volatile state of mind."
"I respect your self control," Hiei said, turning to send a taunting smile over his shoulder. "And you value my respect."
If Kurama had been in his youko form, his tail would have bristled furiously. The damned tease! "Just tell me why we're hiding here. Those masked men are watching us now. We could have moved without attracting their attention. Why do you want them to believe we're unaware of the surveillance? It just makes us look incompetent."
"Give them a wave if it hurts your pride to let them think we don't know they're there. They aren't the ones we're hiding from." He just didn't want to attract the attention of the random people passing along the street below. A glance revealed Kurama with his head turned to stare at the closest of their shadows, making it obvious they were perfectly aware that they were being watched. Hiei wasn't surprised. Kurama really was in a touchy state at the moment. He would have to keep that in mind for this next part. "Are you fighting a need to hunt down the youko's host?"
"No," Kurama said firmly. "I can't sense him at all. If I hadn't encountered his scent on you and Kakashi, I would assume he had just passed through here. Whatever they're using to seal him is very powerful."
"They must have reinforced it. His energy was leaking noticeably when I met him."
"Do you really plan to follow their orders and stay away from his host?" Kurama had trouble believing that.
"Yes," Hiei admitted, "because we won't need to go to him when we can bring him to us instead." These humans either didn't understand how territorial spirit foxes were or they grossly overestimated their ability to control the youko's host. He rose and walked over to Kurama, who was eyeing him suspiciously. "Don't get any ideas," he warned him. "These humans have strange abilities that we don't know enough about. I don't mind if they see us, but I would rather they not see this." He lifted a hand to the band covering his jagan.
Kurama stepped forward with a sigh and wrapped his arms around Hiei's back. To the spies it would just look like an embrace. Naturally it wouldn't occur to Hiei that the sight of two men hugging in a tree might be as shocking to these humans as his jagan would have been. It was a good chance to find out if they could sense Hiei's energy when he was using the third eye, though. And he had been wanting to give Hiei a proper snuggle. He ducked his head and bent close enough to snuffle Hiei's neck and the back of his hair. A muttered curse and an abrupt tensing was all he got for his efforts. That was enough. For now.
The youko's host was no where near the hospital, though his scent had been in the area recently. He was in what appeared to be an apartment, with Kakashi and a few other humans. A sweep found one of those masked men keeping an eye on the exterior of the building. The man would probably try to stop the boy from leaving even if Kurama riled the youko enough for it to act despite the seal keeping him hidden. It would be interesting to see if they used any of their strange abilities while restraining the boy. He wasn't sure that was reason enough to reveal Kurama, though. These people didn't seem to realize they were demons. They likely wouldn't be as willing to cooperate once they found out. He sighed in annoyance. 'Once they see your youko form,' he sent to Kurama, 'they will never take their eyes off you again.'
'I shouldn't need to transform in order to catch the youko's attention,' Kurama shot back. 'Even in my human form he'll recognize my energy for what it is.' Their watchers might recognize it as well, but he didn't think so. They didn't appear to have sensed anything from Hiei so far. The two men had exchanged a sharp look at the sight of them hugging, though. It was rather amusing.
'Do it, then.'
Although surprised, Kurama didn't hesitate. This was much better than that bland hug in the hotel room. Hiei was so close Kurama could liberally coat him in his energy. He didn't get to do that very often outside of a fight. He pulled Hiei a little closer and let his youki rise until it wafted through his hair and tickled the edges of Hiei's cloak. The spies stiffened but didn't break cover. They might just be reacting to the visible movement where there was no wind. Even if they could sense the energy, that didn't mean they would recognize it as demonic. Still, Kurama didn't mind if they did recognize him for what he was. Hiei was being too cautious about 'playing nice' with these people. It was only a matter of time before Hiei became impatient and stopped caring. Kurama was looking forward to that.
Through his jagan, Hiei could see the moment the youko felt Kurama. The blonde boy flinched and rushed to Kakashi, pulling him out of the room and away from the others. It was hard to read the boy's lips when he spoke that quickly, but Hiei caught the basics. Demon, youko, hospital, Sasuke. And then Kakashi was talking and that mask of his blocked everything he said. Hiei had seen enough. He kicked Kurama's ankle, which had edged between his own feet. As if he hadn't noticed. 'That's enough.' He was relieved when Kurama controlled his energy. The feel of it made him want to fight or fuck and this really wasn't the time for either. 'He felt you, but there is no sign of his energy. The seal must have him locked up too tightly to do more than communicate with his host. They're not letting the boy come himself.' Kakashi would probably come instead. Hiei could work with that. He focused his jagan on the boy he and Bui had brought back. The 'Sasuke' the fox's host was so concerned about. They hadn't been able to pinpoint his location in the hospital. As saturated as the boy had been when Bui handed him over, he should have been a beacon here the same as when they had originally found him. Instead he was as hidden as the youko. With the jagan, Hiei quickly saw why. He let out a disgusted growl and jerked the band back over the third eye. Kurama must have felt his annoyance because he didn't try to stop him from stepping back.
"What is it?" asked Kurama.
"The human we brought here is sealed. He's a prisoner here the same as he was there. That woman lied to us." She would pay dearly for it. They didn't have to cooperate with these humans in order to learn what they wanted to know. They could snatch them one by one, isolate them in the Makai, and take their sweet time interrogating them. He should have done that from the start. Why had he bothered trying to do this nicely? Even Mukuro had laughed at the idea of him approaching this while on his 'best behavior.' His best behavior meant not slaughtering the lot of them. It didn't mean he had to behave like some gutless oni from the Reikai.
"Hiei?"
"What?" he snapped.
"Your energy is a lot more visible than mine," Kurama pointed out kindly. He hid a smile when Hiei promptly bottled it up. A bit too late for that. The spies would have to be blind not to have noticed that churning black heat. "Now, from what I understand Koenma can't hold you responsible for anything that happens to the human you brought here. Not now. When you first handed him over, yes, but anything that happens now can easily be blamed on something he said or did since then. Even Koenma isn't stupid enough to think he can use these humans killing one of their own as a way to get you back under his control. You don't have to worry about that."
"That's not the point." Hiei turned away, his hands clenched into fists.
No, Kurama thought, that wasn't the point at all. He didn't believe it was the fact that the woman had lied, either. "Why did you decide to take him with you?" Petty revenge, according to Hiei, because he had been irritated by the snake. And a flimsy excuse about using the energy coating the boy to track down the source. None of that rang true. Kurama eyed Hiei's tense frame closely and gave a soft sigh. Sometimes, Hiei was downright sweet. "He was warded, wasn't he?" The lack of an answer told him he had guessed correctly. Yukina hadn't spoken of the wards that had been used on her, but Kuwabara had blabbed enough to give Hiei a raging hatred of anyone who used such things on anyone for any reason. In Hiei's mind he hadn't just stolen and used the boy, he had rescued him. Of course Hiei was furious to see him right back in captivity again.
"Well," Kurama said brightly. "If your jagan can see through the seals then the Reikai can penetrate them as well. Shall we pop in for a quick visit? Having fought with the nine-tail he might be more willing to talk about him than the rest of the people here. And no one warned us to stay away from him."
Hiei snorted. "I was already planning on that. Whether or not I can risk bringing you is another matter." He turned to raise an eyebrow at Kurama. "Will you be able to control yourself or are you liable to jump him the way the youko did with me? I wouldn't want you embarrassing yourself over a human child."
If Hiei wanted to rile him, he would have to do much better than that. Kurama closed the distance between them and leaned down until they were at eye level. "Unlike that youko, I am firmly attached and fully satisfied with that attachment. If you doubt that, I would be more than happy to prove it to you. I'm sure this tree could be convinced to give us a bit of privacy while I'm making my point."
"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time," Hiei drawled, his lips twitching to reveal one of his fangs. "I suspect Kakashi is on his way here now. Introducing him to your youko form should prove a nice distraction. If you do end up needing one."
"I won't need a distraction." Though he wouldn't mind flashing his fox form to Kakashi. The man irritated him. Badly. "I gather the boy isn't being watched, then?" Or had Hiei changed his mind about letting people here know what Kurama was?
"There are guards outside the room. A kekkai should keep them from entering." And if it didn't, then at least they would get to see just what these humans were capable of.
Hiei kept his eyes on the two badly hidden spies as he opened a portal to the Reikai. They could have stormed the hospital and forced their way in, but why bother? This should remind these humans that they could go anywhere they liked. It was up to the humans to stay on their good side, not the other way around. The masked men broke their cover, but they didn't approach them. Then flashed off in the direction of that tower the woman resided in. Hiei smirked as he and Kurama stepped into the portal. He hoped the woman went mad trying to figure out what they were up to. Maybe if he scored enough petty revenge against her he wouldn't give in to his sudden urge to snatch the woman and drop her off for a few days with Mukuro. Knowing his luck the two of them would become best friends.
.-.
TBC