'Lights' - Requested Naruto One-shot

It was a dark and stormy night in Konoha. The streets were deserted, and rain lashed like a whip. Sarah was huddled in a blanket in her living room, eyes glued to the television. She was supposed to be at an extra training session with her team, but no way was she venturing out into that! When she saw them tomorrow, she was sure they would understand.

Never the less, when there were three sharp raps against her front door, she could not help but jump. She got up; blanket wrapped firmly around her, and walked to the door as she quickly began to think of an excuse to explain why she was missing training.

With one – not brilliant but usable – excuse in mind, she pulled open the front door, but instead of seeing her Sensei or another of her team-mates, she saw her friend, Ino, shivering and cold but with a determined grin on her face.

“Oh good! Sarah, you're in!” Without being invited Ino walked through the door, passing Sarah by, into the hallway where she proceeded to try and dry out her hair, “It's a bit wet outside.”

Looking down at the trail of water that had followed Ino into her house, Sarah nodded,

“No kidding?” She looked up from the pool on her floor, to Ino, “So why were you crazy enough to venture out into the storm, in that?” she said, pointing disbelievingly at Ino's usual attire of short purple clothing, a few bandages and nothing else – not even a jacket. Ino, after giving up on attempting to dry herself off, gave Sarah a wink, tapping the side of her nose. This seemed to worry Sarah more than any verbal answer could have done.

“What are you up to?” Sarah demanded. Ino, seeing her friend's expression, giggled.

“Don't look so worried, Sarah! It's nothing bad-”

“So it is something?”

Ino winked again, beginning to put her hand into her side-bag,

“Well of course.” She produced a small pouch from her bag, no bigged than her hand. Sarah looked at it suspiciously but before she had time to ask about it, Ino was already holding it out towards her,

“Pull out the first thing you grab.”

Sarah stepped back, attempting to hide her hands deep within the blanket around her so that Ino could never find them.

“Why should I? What's the bag?”

At this, Ino began to pout,

“Why so suspicious all of a sudden?”

“Last time you told me to do this,” Sarah reminded, “I pulled out a-...” her face paled at the memory. Ino laughed, waving her free hand about in the air,

“I already told you it wasn't me! It was that Naruto kid, using transformation jutsu – I swear!”

Quickly giving up the attempt to get out of putting her hand in the bag, Sarah decided to give Ino a small jab to her pride, instead. Holding her hand out in defeat, she smirked,

“Yeah, it was Naruto. A likely story.”

Ino flipped her hair,

“It's true. Where would I have been able to get one of those things, anyway?” A grin grew on her face and she undid the fastening on the pouch, then held it out for Sarah, “Now pick one.”

Sarah, looking at the fabric pouch with suspicion one final time, closed her eyes and slipped her hand between the folds of the fabric, praying she would not feel anything slimy.

She didn't. What she felt were undoubtedly pieces of paper, and lots of them. Following the instructions of her friend, Sarah grabbed the first piece of paper that ran between her fingers and fished it out of the bag. She held it out in front of her, then opened it, looking at what was written there. Ino, once she had slipped the pouch back into her bag and had produced a small notepad, asked,

“What number did you get?”

Author:// "It really makes me laugh"

Well, since I'm always writing on here I thought I'd take a moment to stop and say Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Here's a Christmas story for you! Also, I'd just like to say thank you; thank you to my followers, and also to everyone who uses a search engine to find my blog.

You may not know this, but I know exactly what you type in on the search engine before you come to my blog (it's a little bloggers' tool ;D), and dear God they don't half make me laugh :) OK, I've had the obvious 'Akatsuki 7 minutes in heaven' but then I've had some great ones like 'Tobi trip over tent pole' and 'Yazoo final fantasy plait heaven' xD They never cease to amuse me. It's also nice, because it shows you know about my work, remember it, and are able to search for it using what you remember (hence 'Tobi trip over tent pole')

So yeah, just thought I'd stop to say hey - I haven't written a personal entry on this thing yet, so I thought I should - and a thank you for making me smile! Have no fear, you'll be getting another wave of stories just as soon as the New Year's in!

Love, Sarah xx

Loveless: {Genesis x You One-shot}

            (Posted originally as a 10k profile hit commemoration on Quizilla)         

You walk with a spring in your step on the way to your house, your school bag slung over a shoulder and a small pile of books and folders clustered in your arms. You let out a happy whistle as you turn the next corner, deciding to take a short cut home. You are in a little bit of a hurry.

            Earlier today your mother sent you a text saying that the book you had ordered has finally arrived. It is probably sat in your bedroom right now. You clench your school books closer to your chest, tickling with anticipation and excitement. The book you have ordered is the first volume of 'Loveless' – a series of manga about a boy with cat ears, trying to find his brother. You can't wait!

You speed up, trying to get home faster. You dodge a large group of younger students from your school, rolling your eyes at them. Why they have to walk in such large groups that walk so slowly, you have no idea. You leave them in the distance behind you, almost coming into a sprint now. You are not too far away; in fact you can see the light blue slating of your roof. You grin, securing a hand over your book bag, then run the last few meters to your front gate. You hop over it – momentarily looking back, surprised that you managed to clear it (usually you fall flat on your face) – then run up to your front door.

            You shuffle the books around in your arms, dropping a couple, then with one free hand you knock on wood. You pause. No one answers. You begin to bounce on the balls of your feet, hoping that your parents haven't stepped out for a quick errand. You hadn't picked up your key this morning, and it would be luck that now is the first time you've ever needed it. There's about another few seconds of waiting, then you give a small sigh of relief when the door is unlatched.

            Feeling you've wasted too much time already, even before the door's been pulled back you set off moving, pushing what remains of your pile of books out in front of you. Your mother manages to get the door just wide enough to stop you from colliding into it painfully, then you push your books into her hands and dart past her, dropping your school bag in the hallway.

            “___!” your mother yells scornfully, looking at the collection of books spilling from her hands, and some still left to wallow out in the garden. You look over your shoulder and call back,

            “Sorry! I'll get them in a minute!” by this time you're already up the stairs and on the landing. You dash along to your room and fling open the door, whereas down below your mother can only roll her eyes, laughing slightly at your over-enthusiasm. You manage to slow down once your door's open and you're inside. You can see the package sitting on your bedside table. It's at this point that you finally sigh, panting slightly. You know for a fact that all that running you've just done is going to come back to bite you tomorrow. You'll be as stiff as a bone.

            You kick your school-shoes off, slackening off your tie at the same time. You walk across the floor to one side of your bed and flop down onto it, pausing slightly to take in the comfortable feeling of your cotton blankets, then shuffle across so that your hands are just reaching over the other side of the bed, where they are in reach of the package. You wrap your fingers around the brown packaging and pull it up, dropping it in front of you with the sound of someone letting the air out of a beach-ball. You stare at it, your face breaking out in a grin then pull it towards you; needy hands grasping at the packaging to tear it all away.

            Below the layer of cardboard box there is another layer of bubble-wrap, wound so tightly that the book in the middle is barely noticeable for all of the compressed pockets of air. Nevertheless your hands work quickly, pulling the protective layer away, earning the occasional pop that makes you laugh. You will be playing with that later. You strip the thing bare then turn it over so the front cover of the book is looking up at you. You grin. It looks so... regal.

            The cover is a layer of white bound on top of a brown leathering with thin rope, held in place with four ornate, golden metal corner pieces. The decoration on the cover is very simple. In the top centre of the book there is the title 'LOVELESS' in golden lettering, surrounded by a boarder of ornate stencils, then below it there is - what you can only presume to be - a flower made of four golden circles, each holding a heart inside them. Below that are the words 'Legends of the LOVELESS' and the author of the book – whose name you have never heard of before, but of course that's expected as it had been your friend who had suggested the series to you in the first place. You have no idea who's written it.

            You give a giddy giggle, taking the book firmly in your hands, then flip to the first page. That's when you stop. You study the page, your eyebrows slowly pulling down into a frown, then flip to the next page, then the next, then the next. You take a better grip on the book then pull your thumb up the side, flicking through the pages. It's all writing. This isn't right. Your friend told you that this book is a manga – a Japanese cartoon book... so why is it all in writing? You flick back to the first page and start to read it,

            When the war of the beast brings about world's end the goddess descends from the sky. Wings of light and dark spread far-

            You put the book down. This isn't right at all. You close the book, dusting your hand lightly over the cover, then pull yourself up to  a sitting position. Hmm. You look around. There, on the floor, is the cardboard box it had arrived in. You lean down and pick it up, flipping it to look at the collection of stamps.

            There. Now you realise the problem. Looking across the many many foreign stamps – some of which you've never even heard of – you come to realise that this book 'LOVELESS' is not your Loveless. You are expecting your package to have come from across America, whereas this package has come from somewhere called... Midgar? You've never heard of the place. You flex your fingers, thinking things over. There must be more than one book under the same title then. You curse under your breath. This means there must have been a mix-up at the post-office or something, and that means you have someone's 'LOVELESS', and that same someone has your 'Loveless' instead. Damn. You've been looking forward to reading your new book ever since you'd gotten the text.

You drop the packaging onto your bed, next to the book, then flop backwards so your head crashes against your pillow, a pout on your lips. Your Loveless could be anywhere now. Half way across the world for all you know. Where is 'Midgar' anyway? It sounds almost Norwegian.

            That's when a thought hits you. You roll onto your side and pick up the packaging again, twirling it round in your fingers to find something. Of course what you're looking for is on the bottom. The address. Why it's on the bottom of the package you have no idea. That's probably the reason your package got mixed in the first place. You read over the words of where this package was meant to have been sent, expecting it to be a foreign country. What you don't expect is it to be in the same neighbourhood as you.

            With the address firmly burnt into your mind you jump up from the bed, landing on your carpeted floor with a loud thud. You scoop up the confounded 'LOVELESS', stuff it back into the cardboard box (making sure to leave the bubble-wrap for you to play with later), then slip back into your school shoes and head out the door. You charge along the landing, not bothering to miss treading on your baby brother's pile of stuffed toys, down the stairs and into the living room. In the same breath you manage to say,

            “MumwhereisthisaddressIneedtoknowIwanttogetmybookback?!” you thrust the package forward, holding the address out for you mother to look at. She takes a moment to blink, staring wide-eyed at you as what you've just said processes in her mind. As it all settles down she begins to realise why you're holding a torn up cardboard box for her. She takes it from you and looks at the barely legible address, then holds it away from her so she can think properly.

            “That's... well that's a couple of streets over. That's the same street the post office's on!” She hands you back the package. “Now what was that about needed to get a book back?”

            Too late. You're already out the door. You're already half way down the street.

Christmas Time: {Axel x You One-shot}

            You cupped your hands in front of your face, blowing warm air in to them to stop them from going numb, then quickly shoved them down into the pockets of your thick winter coat. It was a nice day out, you had to admit, even if it was a little cold. There were thick blankets of snow on the ground, the sun was shining brightly from above, and everyone around you was enjoying their time at the festive Christmas markets.

            The Christmas market was one of your favourite things about the holidays, with hundreds of stalls dedicated to selling baubles and mulled wine, toys and chocolates, everything you could possibly need at Christmas time. But the shops weren't the only things you liked about the market. There were also the events that went on, such as the best dressed Santa competition, the ice-sculpting competition, and of course the bonfire at night where everyone came together to sing festive songs. Yes, it was safe to say that the Christmas market was one of your favourite things about the holidays.

            Turning away from a small stall selling Christmas cookies, you grinned, hearing a sudden childish scream of delight coming from the frozen lake, not too far away. You decided then to go and watch, feeling that maybe it was a little too cold for you to go ice-skating, but warm enough for you to, at least, see others having fun.

            You walked over to the railing that separated the frozen lake from the street and leant on it with your arms dangling over the other side, a smile on your face as you saw some of the other children you knew skating around in circles – some more successfully than others, as you watched a thin boy with short blonde hair try to do an intricate spin on one foot to try and impress his female friend, only he quickly lost his balance and ended up on the floor, his female friend and his other, more rounded friend with spiky brown hair, laughing at him.

            There were couples on the ice as well, skating hand-in-hand with each other, and even a set of instructors to teach the little ones how to skate for the first time. The instructors were all dressed in black coats, some with fluffy black hoods up, hiding their faces, to cover them from the chill.

Too busy staring at the many people skating together, you did not notice someone skate up to the railings that you were leaning on. You only noticed the person after they had turned round, leant their elbows against the railings, next to you, turned their head and had started to speak,

            “Do you want to have a go?”

            You turned your head to look at the person, only there was a black, fluffy hood hiding their face,

            “What? Oh- well I don't know. It's a little cold to be-”

            The person raised their hands to the hood, pulling it down, revealing their - slightly more beautiful than you had been expecting - face.

            “Excuses, excuses. I've heard them all before.” The hood was dropped low enough for you to make out a mass of red, spiky hair, and a pair of bright green eyes that looked playfully at you, “The name's Axel.” He tapped the side of his head with a finger, smirking, “Got it memorised?”

            Surprised by Axel's confident personality, you laughed, but then when you noticed he was looking confusedly at you, you decided not to be rude, and gave a half-hearted attempt to defend yourself,

            “That wasn't an excuse; it is too cold.”

            Axel shook his head, grabbing hold of the railings with one hand, then pushed away and span around so he was facing you, his hands coming to rest so that both of your hands were boxed in by his,

            “So what's your name?”

            “____,” you replied, giving him what you hoped was a friendly smile, despite the fact that your teeth were chattering slightly. He nodded, giving you another smirk,

            “Okay, ____, I'm going to take a wild guess and say you've never skated before?”

            Well, that wasn't entirely true. You had been skating quite a few times before, actually, but never on a frozen lake. You were used to skating on levelled-off ice-rinks where there was no chance of hitting a bump and falling flat on your face. Axel noticed your hesitant expression and smiled again, this time in a more reassuring manner,

            “Come on, it'll be fun! If you're worried about the cold, then I've got enough body heat for the both of us, and don't worry, you won't fall. I'll make sure of it.”

            You pursed your lips, weighing it up in your mind. You were a little cold, yes, but from the happy sounds you could hear coming from the natural ice-rink, you decided, what the heck, you may as well. You nodded at Axel, smiling,

            “Okay,”

            Axel, happy he had coaxed you into skating, pushed back from the railings slightly, grinning,

            “Great.”

            “Oh! But I don't have any skates with me.”

           As Axel began to skate sideways, motioning for you to follow him, he said,

            “Don't worry. You can borrow some from us.” He pointed to a small shack by the edge of the lake, where a man with bright pink, overly-flamboyant hair was sitting behind a screen, taking money and handing out skates to customers.

            “Okay then,” You could tell that there was no way you were going to get out of this, even if it was too cold - and it was too cold; you could see your breath as a white cloud in front of your face.

            Axel, seeing you following him, skated off ahead, over to the shack. At the point when any normal person would have crashed into the shack for travelling at such a high speed, Axel managed to do a hockey stop, spraying ice-shavings into the screen, behind which sat the man with pink hair. He looked quite alarmed.

            “Axel, what are you doing?”

            “Showing off,” he said bluntly. Axel turned to the screen, placing his hands on the small ledge in front of it, then said, “Marluxia, take the price of a pair of skates out of my wages, would ya'?”

            “Sure,” he said, already beginning to scribble things down onto a piece of paper, “but why?”

            When there was no reply, Marluxia looked up, only to find that Axel had already skated off and was currently stood with a pretty girl by the side of the shack, helping her to find some skates that fit. He rolled his eyes.

            Now wearing a comfortable pair of skates – already broken in by the many uses of other people – you walked across to the edge of the lake with Axel just ahead of you, then he stepped out first, skating just a short distance away, then turned and waited for you. You were quick to follow, quite confident in your ability to skate. You stepped out onto the ice, giving yourself a bit of a push with the railings, and came to a gentle stop in front of Axel. He raised an eyebrow, a hand finding its way onto his hip,

Akatsuki Night In: Seven Minutes in Heaven

“Let's play seven minutes in heaven!” you yell enthusiastically – too enthusiastically. Everyone else in the room looks at you with one or both eyebrows raised, but you shrug it off. After your outburst it goes quiet for a moment, then Itachi points out, deciding to enlighten those that haven't already noticed,

“There's no point playing that game. ____, you're the only girl here.”

You smile devilishly, helping everyone realise your true intentions behind this game,

“I know, which means it's more likely two of you guys will have to go in together!” You make a kissing face, to which Hidan gives you the finger,

“Fuck off! I'm not doing it!”

You glare at him, not liking that he won't take part. That's just like Hidan.

“Oh come on!” You change tactics and give him a playful wink, “You might end up with me.”

This only makes him turn his head, folding his arms over his chest in the process,

“Even more reason not to!”

Your jaw drops open,

“Hidan you-”

Luckily the loudness of everyone's laughter manages to censor the second half of your sentence. Once everything is quiet again Pein, shrouded by the shadows at the back of the room, decides to speak,

“Well then ____, as no one has suggested a better option, we will take yo-”

“LET'S DO A FUCKING DRINKING GA-”

'Clang'

“-As you were saying, Leader?” You say with a grin, having momentarily knocked Hidan unconscious with a kunai to the head. Pein continues,

“We will take your idea and play seven minutes in heaven.” he pauses, “but as you suggested it, you will be going first.”

This causes many cat-calls. You nod,

“Sure!” You know that the faster you're in and gone, the sooner you can get other people in together, and the better chance you have at getting provocative photographs. Photographs you can later sell for much needed money.

Itachi points something out again, able to tell what you're thinking by the look on your face,

“____, there really is no point to this game. If you are not willing to do anything with one of the other members, what makes you think they will do anything with each other?”

You go to retort something about how you're sure they're all batting for the other team anyway, but Pein comments first, a slight amount of amusement swirling in his voice,

“Fair point, Itachi.” He becomes quiet, forcing all of you to look into the shadow where he is sat, then something small comes whirling out of it at you. Deidara goes to grab it but you're faster and catch it between your middle fingers. You pull it in and study it.

“A lipstick tube?”

Some of the other members catch on before you do and cat-call again. Pein explains,

“With each pair that enters, they must at least kiss each other. The lipstick stain will be proof.”

Kisame mumbles, digging Itachi in the ribs as he laughs,

“And Leader just happened to have some lipstick on him?”

Pein says from the shadows, firmly,

“It's Konan's.”

This causes a ripple of chuckles; chuckles from everyone but Zetsu. His black side grumbles to his white side,

“First we're getting locked in a room with some creep, now we're putting on make-up-”

“What's next? Boosting the time up to half an hour and making us give them a lap dance?”

The room is quiet. The other members dart their eyes to the back of the room, hoping Pein hasn't just had another brilliant idea.

“Half an hour sounds better, in my opinion.” Damn. “But no lap-dances are needed.” It could be worse!

Many of the others turn to glare at Zetsu. He gives them an innocent look; not realising everyone has heard the conversation between his two halves.

So now, faced with a game of 'Thirty minutes in heaven and you to have to kiss them or suffer the consequences', it comes as no surprise when a large population of the males decide they don't want to play. Unfortunately they have no opinion in the matter. They are playing. It comes as a little less of a blow to them, even for Hidan, when you're reminded that you have to be the first one to go into the closet, or more, since they don't have a closet, Tobi's room as it's the nearest.

So once the game is set up, all the boys having drawn something on pieces of paper and put it in Pein's Kasa, the bamboo hat is passed to you and you are told to draw a piece of paper from it. You drop your hand in hurriedly, wanting to get your turn over with as soon as possible, but also you have a small part of you that wants to see who you're spending your time with. It's half of the fun, after all.

You open the piece of paper, looking over the drawing, then immediately you scrunch up the paper, slip it in your pocket and call out,