Landing
Sequel to Out Of It
Anko listened to a train grind to a halt at the station as she pulled her tiny car into her driveway. She heard her tires squeal and rolled her eyes. She stopped next to her darkened backdoor and turned off the headlights and the blaring music. Spinning her keys around her index figure, she climbed out of the car and kicked the door closed with her foot. Her long coat billowed out behind her as she started toward the backdoor. Then she stopped suddenly.
It was open.
Anko frowned and stopped spinning her keys. Sasuke would never be so careless as to forget to close the door. She put them in her pocket and raced inside. She brashly flipped on the lights, on edge like a woman fully intending and eager to kick the nuts of whomever had broken into her house.
Arms up defensively, she went from room to room, throwing on the lights as she did. She got more and more confused—all their large electronics were there. Hell, all their small electronics were there.
She stopped and her eyes widened.
"Sasuke!?" She yelled into the large house, which she was almost positive at this point was devoid of bad guys. She hurried up the stairs to his room.
"Sasuke!?"
His room was neat and Anko noted with some relief that his backpack and shoes weren't there. Still gritting her teeth and ready for a fight, she stomped back down to the kitchen, snatched up the phone, and slammed the backdoor closed a little harder than she had to.
Without looking at the phone, she punched in a number automatically and lifted it to her ear as she inspected the broken lock on the door.
"Hello," Sasuke's voice drifted through the receiver.
Anko sighed, finally allowing a little of her nervousness to dissipate. "You're okay? You're okay. Where are you?"
She wandered back over to the kitchen table. On the other end, Sasuke frowned.
"Still with Kimimaro. We decided to get dinner before he had to go back for his evening class. Anko? What happened?"
Anko was in the process of pulling out a chair to fall into when she caught sight of a distinctive mark burned into their wooden kitchen table. Ice dumped down her spine and her breath hitched.
"Anko?" Sasuke's voice sounded far away.
"Can you stay in his dorm for the night?" She said, still standing, her eyes locked on the mark.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Shit. Sasuke. I'll tell you tomorrow," she said, her nerves jangling. She finally sat down.
"I'm coming home," Sasuke said decisively.
"No! Stay in the city. We just had a break in, that's all."
"Anko, I doubt whoever broke in would come back twice in the same night."
"There's a symbol. It's the mark. It's his mark and it's on the goddamn table."
There was a tense pause as Sasuke absorbed this.
"Meaning what?" He finally said. "It can't be Orochimaru. He's in jail. Who would it be?"
Anko sighed and closed her eyes, slapping a palm over the three dots burned in a circle on the pale wooden surface. "I don't know. But stay with Kimimaro, okay?"
"...okay. Should I call the others?"
"No, I'll do it. Don't worry."
Sasuke snorted. "I should be telling you that. You okay by yourself?"
"Damnit, Sasuke, I'll be fine," she said a little indignantly. Who did he think she was?
"Okay, okay. Crazy woman," he muttered.
"Bite me," she said as way of goodbye and then hung up.
She just sat for a few minutes, clutching the phone tightly. She ran a hand over her eyes and then glared balefully at the scorched image on her furniture. She unconsciously brushed her fingers over the place on her neck where a smaller, identical version of the mark lay stark and permanent on her skin.
What should she do? She should call the police. That's what people do in situations like this. She raised the phone to hit the 'on' button but before she did, it rang out shrilly. She jumped violently and the phone dropped out of her hands to skitter across the floor. She took a deep breath.
God, Mitarashi, get a fucking hold on yourself. She thought as she bent over and picked up the still blaring phone a little shakily, trying to will her heart to stop pounding.
"Hello?" She answered, taking another deep breath and sinking heavily back into her chair.
"Mitarashi Anko, I presume," said a disembodied yet vaguely familiar voice.
"Yes?" She said, scouring her mind for the face that went with the sound.
"This is Hatake Kakashi from Konoha Hospital."
"Right! Kakashi." She relaxed a little. "Haven't heard from you in a while...well, not since Sasuke's check-up a couple of months ago."
"How is Sasuke?"
"Why? Found a defect? You gonna try and take him back?" She said, her smile coming through in her tone of voice. She tried to ignore that her legs were still shaking slightly.
"Precisely," Kakashi said.
Anko snorted.
"No, I was just wondering, as I have a bit of a favour to ask you."
"Sasuke's fine--broody as usual but fine...What kind of favour?"
"Would you happen to remember Uzumaki Naruto?"
Anko blinked. "Vaguely. He was a good friend of Sasuke's at the ward, right?"
"You could say that," Kakashi said lightly. "Naruto was a big part of Sasuke's recovery."
"They had sex, didn't they?" She said, grinning.
"I'm pretty sure, yeah. Point is, Sasuke's absence actually sped Naruto's own recovery up."
She frowned. "Okay. And?"
"This is a big thing to ask, but I was wondering if you could possibly take Naruto in until he's on his feet again. He's 19, same as Sasuke, and he's planning to live on his own but I think it would be better for him to begin by staying with others. He's never lived by himself."
There was a pause as Anko debated the possibility of this. She easily had the financial means to support another kid--testifying against Orochimaru had earned her a monstrously large sum of money. But after this evening...her eyes fell on the vandalized tabletop again.
"Kakashi, to be honest, I'm not sure it's completely safe right now. We just had a break in by someone who I think is working for Orochimaru."
"I understand," Kakashi said with a sigh, before deciding to try the guilt factor. "The only reason I ask is because Naruto has no other family to speak of."
This time Anko sighed, feeling her heartstrings tug at the mention of family. Memories of her own childhood surfaced in her mind. She had lost her parents at an early age too. At least she had had uncles and aunts looking after her but this Naruto kid would be out in the world on his own, without anybody...god damn her sentimentality
"Alright," she said, the exhaustion from the night coming through in her voice. "Alright, I'll take him for a while. Wait, you said Sasuke was an obstacle in Naruto's recovery? Why send him to me, then?"
"Naruto is a lot better now. His relationship with Sasuke will be on completely new grounds."
"Whatever. You're the doctor, right?"
"Well, I'm an orderly...Anko, thank you. You have no idea what this means to Naruto."
"Yeah yeah, don't get mushy."
They arranged a pick up time and then shortly after, Anko hung up. She slumped down in her chair and closed her eyes, belatedly remembering she still had to call the police. God, she was tired. And completely sick of this night.
Sasuke yawned as walked down the street. The morning sunlight fell merrily on the trees lining the sidewalk. Sasuke squinted tiredly at the ground, feeling his black t-shirt soak up the heat.
Kimimaro hadn't had much in the way of spare bedding, so Sasuke had spent the whole night tossing and turning, wrapped in some spare sheets on the hard floor. It didn't help that Kimimaro's roommate and his friends had been playing floor hockey in the hallway until 3 a.m.
He had been nodding off for the entire train ride back, waking up just in time to crawl off at the appropriate station. Thankfully, Anko's large house was only a block from said station. So it didn't take long until the rather worse-for-wear ex-mental patient was plodding up the driveway.
He noted their kitchen table set out for the garbage men to take...or what had been the kitchen table. Anko looked like she had thrashed it first and it currently lay in five pieces at the end of the driveway. Sasuke caught sight of half of the mark on the piece farthest from him and, like his foster-mother, felt the identical copy of it weigh heavy on his skin.
A little more awake, he entered the kitchen, now table-less, and kicked off his shoes.
"Yo," he said to Anko, who was leaning over something on the counter. He opened the large silver fridge and scrutinized its shelves absently, wondering how much of the food he saw was supposed to be furry.
Anko paused in scribbling down a shopping list and out of left field, asked, "You keep in touch with your...uh, Naruto?"
Sasuke's hand froze on its way to a blessedly fur-free apple. Memories suddenly flooded through his head and drowned out everything else for a minute (Naruto's lips Naruto's weight pressing down into him Kyuubi's vicious grin "Kiss me" his back pressed into the grass "Until you go, I can't get better" the ubiquitous orange and black outfit "Liar. You're not a real sociopath") and then Sasuke shook himself.
"Why?" He said in a steady voice as his hand wrapped around the cold red fruit.
"He's getting out of the loony bin and I offered to let him stay here for a little while." She tapped her pen on the list. "Do we need more eggs?'
"No," Sasuke said absently, before shutting the fridge slowly, apple in hand. He tried to remain uninterested while he asked, "When is he coming?"
"I'm picking him up this afternoon," she said, watching her foster-son intently study an apple. He distractedly cleaned it on his jeans and she smirked.
She sauntered over to him and draped herself over his shoulders.
"You don't seem too excited," she said into his ear. Sasuke could hear the grin. "And from what I remember, he was pretty cute, right?" She loudly licked her lips and Sasuke leapt away from her, his face an interesting shade of red.
"ANKO!" He hollered, brandishing the apple like a weapon.
Her laughter rang at full volume through the table-less kitchen.
Her hair really did look good short, Lee thought as the bus pulled up and reluctantly stopped. Its door swung open.
Sakura smiled at Lee and looked away shyly.
"I'll see you in class on Monday, I guess," Lee said.
"Well...do you want to hang out sometime this weekend?" She asked, shifting the straps of her backpack.
"Sakura! I'd love to--"
The bus driver honked the horn and Sakura turned to face him.
"ONE SECOND!"
The bus driver shrank in his seat and Lee flinched slightly at the noise.
"Do you want to have lunch Sunday?" She asked sweetly, turning back to Lee.
"Sure!" He answered, enthusiasm bursting from every syllable, as usual.
"Great!" She said before skipping up the steps onto the bus. She hurled change at the driver over her shoulder and then waved to Lee out the window as the bus pulled away.
Lee waved back.
Then again, she looked great with long hair too, he thought as he began walking along the path parallel to the train tracks. It was only a short walk from the college to the apartment he shared with an older cousin and he spent the entirety of it wondering if Sakura really liked him back or if she just liked him as a friend.
He sighed happily as he climbed the stairs to the small apartment complex. It was only four stories high, and his apartment was approximately half of the second floor.
Sakura was so pretty! He loved how assertive she could get, how unafraid of society she was. But she was also so kind-hearted! And her fashion sense seemed to reach new heights of glory everyday!
Lee was outright grinning by the time he had got inside his living room. He threw his backpack onto the couch and wandered into the kitchen. He clicked on the small TV and his eye caught the pile of mail on the table. There was a note from his cousin on the top asking him to cook dinner again. Lee set it aside, next to the pen used to write it, and underneath he found a letter from Gaara.
Lee's grin came back in full force and he tore open the envelope. His eyes scanned the words gleefully. When he was done, he hugged the paper to his chest and had to struggle not to squeal.
He settled for giggling. After a moment, he came down from his momentary high and he couldn't help a little sigh that escaped him.
He really liked Sakura but...he reread the letter briefly...he really liked Gaara too. He stared into space for a minute, thoughts bouncing from red to pink and back again. He leaned against the table, putting his hand behind him, about to look at his letter again when his palm landed on something hard.
He turned around, confused, and found a silver oval-shaped locket under his hand. He frowned, setting down Gaara's letter and picking up the locket by its delicate chain. He had been sure there was nothing on the table but the mail, the note, and the pen. He tried opening the locket but found it stuck tight. It was then he noticed the symbol on its surface.
He held the trinket in one hand and brought it closer to his face for an easier investigation. It was very lightly engraved with what appeared to be a sort of fan symbol. It was vaguely familiar.
In the middle of trying to remember where he'd seen it before, Lee suddenly realised he was holding the pen. He glanced down with surprise and jolted when he saw that something was written on the back of the note his cousin had left him.
Sorry if I'm frightening you, sweetheart. But please give the locket to my youngest.
Lee took several deep breaths. Okay. Okay. Okay. He didn't write that, despite the fact that he was holding the pen. Was he dreaming? Hallucinating?
No. Lee shook himself. He was awake. And he hadn't been put into a mental hospital for hallucinations...he hadn't been outright crazy, just a little sick and out of control. This could only be one thing then: real.
He gulped and stared at the note as though it were about to catch fire. He absently realised he was gripping the pen so hard his knuckles were turning white, though his grip on the locket remained loose. He let go of the pen and set it down slowly, figuring he could freak out or just do what his possessed hand asked him to do.
Lee closed his eyes, trying harder to remember where he'd seen the fan symbol. He envisioned it and it changed from silver to white and red. It started to move in a slight bouncing motion, like an image on the back of someone's shirt while they were walking...someone's blue shirt...
Lee opened his eyes and looked down at the locket nestled in his palm. It gleamed in the sunlight of the early afternoon. He guessed he had a phone call to make.
Sasuke had been sitting in the kitchen, tapping his foot and periodically glaring at the clock when he heard Anko's trashed little two-person car pulled up the driveway with a sputter. Sasuke smirked at the sound. He would swear that that thing ran on pure enthusiasm. He sat up straight, suddenly realising that he didn't want it to look as though he'd just been waiting all this time.
He stood up and noticed with desperate relief that the dishwasher was done. He hurried over and began casually unloading the dry plates. He wondered if Naruto blamed him for leaving. Or maybe if he blamed him for not leaving sooner. Sasuke sighed and shoved the stack of plates into the cupboard.
A bolt of panic shot through him...he hadn't done enough since leaving the hospital. All he had was a job at the library, what would Naruto think? Why hadn't he gone out and seen the world?
Then he heard the backdoor open and had barely turned around before a blond and orange tornado was barrelling towards him.
"SASUKE!" Was yelled at an ungodly volume close to his ear but it didn't matter because Naruto had flung his arms around his shoulders and Sasuke had never hugged someone back so hard in his life.
His eyes shut at the feel of how amazing and familiar it felt to have the blonde in his arms again. Naruto's thoughts were on similar tracks and he pulled back a little so he could smile, really smile, at Sasuke.
Naruto thought he could drown in Sasuke's smile. Sasuke briefly wondered if Naruto's eyes had gotten bluer or if his memory had just dimmed the colour, and he really wanted to just lean forward and press their lips together to see if his memory of that had dimmed too. But then Anko was grunting from the effort of dragging in Naruto's orange suitcase and she demanded help.
The two boys broke apart reluctantly.
"You can make out after you frickin unpack," she said with a lewd smile as she handed off the suitcase to Naruto, whose blush didn't at all diminish his grin, which looked like it could light a Christmas Tree.
"ANKO!" Sasuke yelled indignantly.
She stuck her tongue out. "Upstairs guest room," she said. "Go on, I'll pretend I won't eavesdrop."
Sasuke gave her a dark look that had no effect and Naruto made his way out of the kitchen. Sasuke led them up the stairs to the designated room, Naruto chattering happily all the way, telling him about the fates of everyone that had been in the C-class ward with them.
"Well, Ino went back to finish her last year of high school and is now applying to colleges. Gaara still has that house on the beach that he shares with his two siblings--they get along way better now. And, uhhhhhh, Shikamaru decided to just ditch school and he invented this sort of computer chip that this company bought for about a gazillion dollars."
Sasuke made noncommittal noises as he and Naruto filled the dresser drawers with Naruto's mainly orange, black, and blue clothes. Naruto himself was in baggy black slacks and a garish orange t-shirt. Sasuke eyed his old roommate; some things didn't change. Naruto had gotten a little taller but everything else about him seemed just as Sasuke remembered.
Naruto thought for a minute as he shoved the now-empty suitcase under the bed.
"Oh, and Lee--"
"Lives two blocks away," Sasuke interrupted, folding his arms with a smirk.
"Seriously?" Naruto crowed happily.
Sasuke shrugged. "Yeah, I see him around sometimes. Sakura's not too far either. She lives with her parents on the other side of town."
"Right, right, they go to the college here. Do you hang out?'
"Not really. But I'm supposed to meet Lee after dinner tonight."
"For what?"
"He called me a little before you got here." Sasuke frowned. "He sounded kind of strange."
"Can I come?" Naruto said eagerly.
"No, Naruto. You have to stay here and clean so I can go to the ball," Sasuke deadpanned.
Naruto mock glared at him and Sasuke's smirk returned.
Some things really don't change, Naruto thought. His glare shifted to a devious smile and he moved a little closer to Sasuke, who still had his arms folded. Sasuke met his blue eyes in playful defiance.
Eyes locked, Naruto leaned in and Sasuke let him get close enough to feel his breath on his lips before he suddenly stuck his tongue out. It hit Naruto's lips and Sasuke pulled back with a teasing, mischievous smile. Naruto blinked in surprise and then his own smile was back. He reached up and put his hands on either sides of Sasuke's face. Then he pulled him in for a kiss, leaving no room for any more games.
Sasuke sank into the kiss and his mouth opened against the blonde's on its own free will. His arms slid up Naruto's back and he pulled him closer.
Naruto tried not to let it show how desperately he had missed Sasuke over the last year. He hands gently slid over Sasuke's face and into his dark hair. He felt his ex-roommate's mouth open and his warm hands on his back and couldn't resist sliding his tongue out to find Sasuke's.
An almost electric tingle ran through their bodies as their tongues glided roughly against one another. A soft groan escaped the dark-haired teen. It made Naruto want to melt. He tilted his head so as to more deeply plunder Sasuke's mouth and Sasuke gripped him harder, drinking him in.
The sun was fast on its way to setting as Lee approached the picnic tables in the park. He had asked Sasuke to rendezvous with him here as the little green park was right near the train station and thus between both their houses.
His eyes scanned across the freshly cut grass and the neat little trees, deftly dismissing the teenagers sitting on top of one of the plastic tables and kissing. Then his vision swung back to them and he slapped his forehead in frustration.
Let me get this straight, Lee thought, his eyes now rolled to the sky. In addition to dealing with the ghost of Sasuke's mom and having to decide between the two bombshells that are Sakura and Gaara, I get hit with Naruto's sudden (if awesome) reappearance and not only that, his hormone fest with Sasuke?!
Lee watched Sasuke's hand move to the back of Naruto's neck and decided to give up on trying to make today a good day.
"NARUTO!" Lee called loudly, startling the two on the table and causing them to pull away from each other. "It's great to see you again! Now that your face isn't attached to Sasuke's..." He continued as he approached.
Naruto stuck his tongue out and took in Lee's new look with approval. Lee appeared to have ditched the spandex and instead was wearing a long-sleeved button down shirt in his favourite shade of green over a pair of black jeans. Still had the dorky bowl cut though, Naruto thought.
It took another few moments for Sasuke's hand to drift away from its place cupped at the nape of Naruto's neck.
"Sasuke, you'll never guess...I got home and...Someone told me..." Lee stopped, finding himself at a loss to explain what he had to, and ended up just digging in his pocket for the oval locket.
Sasuke's eyes widened as Lee held it up by its chain and offered it to him. Naruto watched on in confusion as Sasuke took it slowly and with utter gentleness, as though he were afraid it would vanish like a handful of smoke.
"This...this was my mother's. Where did you get this?" He finally said, his eyes never leaving the worn silver trinket.
"Tell you the truth, it kind of appeared on my kitchen table," Lee said a little abashed.
"It what?" Sasuke asked with a frown.
"Sasuke...I think your mom gave it to me," Lee blurted out.
"Like a ghost?" Naruto interjected.
Lee nodded vigorously. "Yeah. She was real nice too. Even though the whole thing was really creepy." Then he suddenly turned and yelled at the sky: "NO OFFENCE TO YOU UCHIHA-SAMA!"
There was a pause as the heartfelt cry echoed through the trees and then the small click of Sasuke opening the locket.
"I don't believe in ghosts," Naruto said defiantly while Lee looked at the newly-opened locket with a shiver.
Sasuke, meanwhile, eyed the message on the inside of the locket with a small sense of awe and a feeling of security he hadn't had in years.
"Did she...say anything?" He asked slowly, trying not to let the tears threatening his composure leak out.
"Well, she apologized for frightening me and said 'Give this to my youngest' by using a note."
The sun dipped under the horizon and the shadows around the little park jilted and switched places as the lampposts burst into yellow life.
"Why you?" Sasuke asked eventually. Naruto leaned closer to him and peered at the necklace.
Lee shrugged and held up his hands defensively. "I don't know! Do I look like I know how any of this works?"
"Ne, Sasuke, what's the message on the inside say?" Naruto asked, curiously squinting at it in the darkening light.
"'We're proud of you, sweetheart'," Sasuke said in a voice that came out a little more choked than he'd intended. He snapped the locket shut gently and wrapped the glinting chain around it. He held it in a loosely fisted hand, still fighting tears.
"It's alright to cry if you're happy, bastard," Naruto said with a grin as the last light of day vanished.
Sasuke smiled and looked up at the moon, which was rising between the clouds.
Sasuke was quiet and distracted all throughout the short walk home. Understandably so, but that was still no reason to not pay attention when crossing the street, Naruto thought hotly. It didn't help that it had been Anko that had nearly run him over.
"Bastard! Don't die now," Naruto hollered, eyeing Anko as she screeched up the driveway. "I just got you ba--mmph."
Sasuke held the kiss for a few sweet seconds before pulling back slowly.
"What's that for?" Naruto asked confused.
Sasuke just smiled (a real smile, Naruto noted. What had happened to the dark, angry mental patient he'd known?). Naruto, still confused, nonetheless smiled back, a deep satisfying happiness spreading through him at the thought that the reticent, temperamental Sasuke of over a year ago was fading and becoming this gorgeous person in front of him.
As they approached the backdoor that everyone who lived in the house used as the entrance, they heard Anko's surprised voice carry through the kitchen.
"What are you doing here? And why is he on the floor?"
As they entered, Naruto saw a girl a little older than himself and wearing a backpack standing with her arms on her hips in front of Anko.
"I didn't have class, I figured I'd come home for the fucking weekend. And what the fuck do I find?" She tossed her long orange hair over her shoulder and toed the boy lying unconscious on the floor where the table used to be. "Shitty Kabuto crawling around! Shit, this asshole gives me the fucking creeps! Makes my fucking tattoo itch!"
To emphasize, she rubbed the back of her neck under her long hair.
Naruto winced at the overflow of profanity as they entered the house. The girl turned around and barely glanced at them.
"Nice to see you too, Tayuya," Sasuke said wryly. "Did you call the police?"
"What for? I took care of him," she said haughtily, adding another kick to said 'him' for good measure.
"So it's not Orochimaru then," Anko said, eyes on Kabuto's prone form as she breathed a sigh of relief. "That's it," she said, suddenly fed up. "We have no table and the threat is minimal--I'm taking you all out for dango tonight."
"Fuck yeah!" Tayuya crowed. "Oh! That reminds me, Sakon said he and Ukon would be home on Saturday."
"Hmm. Almost a full house," Anko said thoughtfully, thinking of the blue furry graveyard residing in their fridge. "We'll have to buy more food."
"I'm not doing it!" Tayuya called out harshly and then stomped out of the kitchen, long hair flying out behind her.
Anko scowled and went after her.
"Call the police, would you?" She called over her shoulder before resuming her argument with Tayuya.
Sasuke looked down at the unconscious boy, worry flickering over his face as he remembered the lanky, intimidating form of Orochimaru looming over the ward's rec room like a poisonous snake. He found his hand slinking up to cover the tattoo on his neck and stopped himself with an element of disgust.
Naruto picked up the phone absently, eyes serious. He recognized Sasuke's actions for what they were.
"You know how this works, do I have to explain it?" The blonde said suddenly.
"Hnn?" Sasuke said, looking up to find Naruto watching him.
"The bad guy gets defeated at some point and we go on," he said confidently, blue eyes brimming with warmth.
"Yeah...we go on," Sasuke said, smile creeping back onto his face. The small weight of the locket was comforting in his pocket.
Sasuke reached out his hand. Naruto's smile grew and he placed the phone in it. Their fingers lingered against one another's.
END
Author's Note:
Well, that's it. I really hope this sequel was up to everyone's expectations. I was thinking of writing something small about Lee after this. What do you think?
An indescribably massive thank you to everyone, absolutely everyone who reviewed Out Of It...
The people who threatened me and/or asked nicely for this fic:
Zephyras, LunyMoony, Kakashilover890, loveisharmful, Random-Sadness, Nikki-Karley, k1ta.ky0ko, NaRuKo77, Sozomi, ShadowSpirit2, SWSNBN, Ky0Kichi, TheSunshineGirls, degraala, IxHeartxYaoi, Chibinekoninja, Neko-Anime, happychica, riversprite77, Tammy, Hikari M666, Crimson Wolf Fang, Icy Sapphire15, Mija711, Fields of View, and LostHeaven.
The people who offered fabulous ideas for the sequel:
Kage no Tenshi, DaUglyChibi, Social disorder, bitchy-bitch, LtF, blunightrunner, and sasuxnarucute.
And the people who were swell enough to leave a sweet review:
Hidden Pagan, knighted lioness, Midnight Shining Star, Kouen-Koji, DarkRavie, gazzums, Alley-Oop, VescaWithoutWings, Phantomhobbitses, mkh2, Crimson Aries, Jess Anime, yin-yangwinds, malulie, False-Image, Hotaru-ai, Social disorder, Zoomi, Stalker-san, Kurai88, Aura Saurus, and tsuhiyo.
And TAILS...I don't even know how to thank you for the comment you gave me, which just made me feel, gah, I don't even know...ridiculously good about myself? Thank you. Very much, thank you.
Lots of Love and Happy New Year!
Ms Trick