#chapter 5.5

[everyusaida]

Usaida as Little Red Riding Hood's grandma

Scan translation by noots scans on Mangadex

[evildeadfan102]

I read Okiku-san wa Ichatsukitai chapter 5.5.

I finished volume 1.

[bunny-hoodlum]

Asynchronous With You: Ch 5.5

ship: naruhina

rating: teen (references to much ecchi this chapter)

tags: Modern Day AU, Foster Siblings, Family, Angst, Unrequited Love, Poor Communication

summary: An awkward journey full of self-denial and missed moments between two foster siblings. Perhaps their love will find the right timing someday.

She can't stand herself right now, so she makes him feel like he's the untolerated one

She just wants to be alone.

Between the abandonment from her parents, the fact that she wronged Hanabi and will deserve the worst outcome for it, to the way Naruto skillfully fucks up her emotions without even trying, she just wants it all to stop.

It's all… so itchy.

These events and circumstances, they gravitate to her, they stick to her fly-trap skin and die. And she can't be rid of it.

It's all fated.

Her whole existence is one incurable allergy, and continued exposure will only lead to anaphylaxis.

However, if she closes her eyes and lays very still atop her covers, she can dream of a world where everything is as it should be.

One where her parents cherish her and she and Hanabi are one of the closest sisters you'll ever see.

A world where Neji didn't lose his parents, yet it would still feel like he's always lived with her in the same house.

A world where Naruto had never been orphaned, had grown up secure in the love of his parents so that he didn't have to inebriate himself on his vices.

She just can't stand being his sister, because it makes her feel depraved.

She can't stand all the ways that she wants to compete against those other girls.

She's got the home advantage.

Proximity is everything, or it should be.

She doubts he would hate it if he found the hole had grown bigger. She doubts he would hate testing it out.

She pictures it and pictures it, and it's exciting. Tingles shoot down into her belly, traveling lower and lower.

It's so wrong how much she wants to be claimed.

She knows he wouldn't dare.

She knows he would hate it if the one offering themselves on the other side was her.

She can't stand how she had wanted to be curled against his side on the train ride to Neji, how she wished his voice would tickle her ears again like when they were kids, giving her the reassurance that she needed.

She can't stand how she had conspired with Neji to make Naruto feel off-kilter, like he didn't know her at all, just to hand off this whole cosmic unfairness onto him.

Any effort on her part brings them closer together as foster siblings, so really, could anyone blame her for giving up at this point?

She's starting to feel itchy again.

Hinata sucks in a sharp breath as she wills her legs to work.

She needs to apologize to him.

She wobbles out of her room, then leans against his bedroom door. She knocks against the wood. Her efforts are weak at first, hesitant pauses punctuated between each knock. Then desperation finally takes hold, and her knocking picks up as much volume as intensity.

She knows what she's here to do.

It's not that hard.

But the hushed desires crowding the back of her mind, the clawing need to clear the air and put her anxieties down for good, these make it so hard for her to breathe.

These make her not trust herself to be alone with him.

The door handle rotates, the click hitting her ears like the cocking of a gun hammer.

Her heart seizes in a panic.

He greets her with an affronted frown, then tugs at his earbud wires. Thunderous drums and riotous electric guitars buzzed like industrial wasps from the earbuds. When he hit pause on his phone screen, the absence of noise made their home feel like a cave.

Cold and vast.

"I-I have things to say." Her nose wrinkled with embarrassment.

Naruto stepped away from the door, allowing her passage into his room.

It feels like it's been forever since she's stepped foot in here. The posters were all different, and there was an abundance of them plastered along his walls. To her shame, the ceiling over his bed was also well-decorated with the ripped out pages of Gravure models. They all had different looks, different shapes and sizes.

Did he really have no preference?

As she hovered awkwardly in the middle of his room, he took a seat on his bed and patted the empty spot beside him.

She stared, her skepticism all too open.

"Hinata…" His eyes implored her, but when she would still go no closer to him, he was reminded of a life he had thought long-forgotten, back when he was treated like a germ. He shut his mouth, and buried that pain down deep. He couldn't bring himself to say those words. It felt way too pathetic.

His eyes followed her as she headed for his desk and slid the chair out from it. But then she stood there, staring at it too, like it would infect her.

With a growl, he collapsed onto his bed. "You're not going to sit, you're not going to talk--"

"I am going to talk."

"So talk." He laced his fingers behind his head, staring at her pointedly.

She pushed the chair back, and turned towards him, her hands wringing themselves to the point of splintering bones.

"I'm sorry. Neither of us have had a choice in all of this. The only thing we can choose to do is be better to each other."

His pointed look evolved with a lifted eyebrow. "Yeah, we kind of decided that early on, didn't we? I made sure to get along with Neji, and I protected you. It's what I could do. The bullying you endured didn't just stop for no reason."

"I-I know. And what I'm saying is, I'm the-the one whose g-given up on--" Her stuttering caused him to sit up.

"Hey, Hinata? Hey, hey, hey," He stood up and walked over to her, his hands clasping over her strangled ones. "It's okay. C'mon, it's okay. Try to breathe," he extricated her hands from each other and squeezed each of them in his own, offering her strength. "Breathe. Breathe."

But that shaky breath she took caused a few tears to let loose, and for her to question her purpose here.

When he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding her tight, her mouth smashed against his shoulder, the sobs wouldn't stop. The air was like pins in her throat and she felt so, so itchy.

His bedroom was caked in perfume and sex just as she had always imagined, and she wanted to wipe that all away.

"I c,c,can't be a g,good s,s,sister."

She wanted to love him fully.

He stroked her hair and shushed her.

"You'll be an amazing sister. That little brat already loves you. Hell, sometimes I think I won the lottery myself, y'know?"

She wanted to pound her fists against his chest. Instead she clawed the fabric of his lounge hoodie, because she may not be able to hold onto him like this for much longer.

I don't want to be your sister.

I don't want you for a brother.

These are the things she wishes she could say. With every intention of making it up to him, if he would have her.

Before she came here, she needed to gauge how badly he wanted to be part of this family. But now that he went and said something like that… she doesn't have the heart to take this away from him.

"I-I'll do better, Naruto-lun, I,I,I'll do better."

"Geez, you push yourself hard enough, don't you?" He teased.

In the world she dreams up when her eyes are closed, she's able to press her lips to his, all questions erased from both their minds as they melt into the rightness of each other's bodies.

In reality, this is as far as they can go.

AN: I didn't feel comfortable leaving them all passive-aggressive and whatnot, because I no longer like that part of my writing? I think in the past I was fascinated with the whole concept of 'this is what happens when you let things be', but lately it's not all that fascinating, it actually feels pretty dumb. So maybe this is just one of those stories where it's like, 'Yeah, this ain't working for this'. Also, I used to think communication, even if it's healthy, was boring no matter what. Like, 'Easily solved! There is no story!', but lately my mindset on that has evolved and maybe that's because of exposing myself to better stories and media. Anyways, another short one, unfortunately, but I hope you liked it! This chapter has allowed me to go back to advancing the plot with summaries, so I'm quite looking forward to speeding things up. IDK if there is actual NH juiciness up ahead, but we'll see the story allows. 😅 I really had imagined Hinata getting up to more bold 'hint-dropping hijinks' like she did with her shirt, but it seems like it wrote itself out. :( lesigh.

[topfavefollowedongoingmanga]

Ahhh!! I get it now

Everything ties in together in the end. 

Gakuen Alice and Alice from the Opera Country - both are telling the same story... well, they will... I think. because Natsume Hyuuga’s there!!! Chapter 5.5 is my fave chapter because Luca-pyon was featured. I just don’t have Mr. Bear can appear everywhere!

[animegadaisukiidesu]

[krixwell-liveblogs]

“That’s alright,” he answered.  There was a note of humor in his voice, which I took to mean he was just having fun at my expense.  I resolved to ignore him.

Hehe.

Bitch just stared angrily at me.  It was so intense I had to look away.  So much for being on the same page.

...

Well then.

What are you so pissed about? Taylor being a last-minute addition to the group?

The interior of the van had benches on either side.  Since we were in a rush, I had only a second to decide whether I wanted to sit next to Regent – and be facing Bitch for the duration of the trip – or plop myself down next to her and the dogs.  I opted for the former, hoping I wouldn’t manage to do or say anything that would get us off on a bad start for the evening.

An excellent position for getting stared at, good choice.

Tattletale sat in the passenger seat, with Grue driving.  As the van pulled onto the road, she called back to us, “Hey, Bitch, Skitter.  We’re dropping you off first, but you’re going to have to walk to the meeting place.  You might be short on time, so walk fast.  Cool?”

I suppose that gives them a short time to themselves to say a few words in private before they arrive.

Bitch shrugged, “Works.”

“No complaints,” I added my own two cents.  I could see where it would be advantageous – Bitch would have time to get her dogs beefed up, and I could gather some bugs.

Ah, yeah, that’s handy too.

Besides, it gave us something to do – if we had to stand idle for a few minutes, I was pretty sure it would only increase the chances of Bitch finding a reason to pick a fight with me or one of the other villains.

Taylor’s taking Bitch for walkies so she’ll be a good dog, best friend.

[50tintsofblack]

Chapter 5.5

Chapter 5.5: its cold please help

So we kind of lied about the .5s. 

Fuck my head.

I groaned from the dull pain in my head, and rolled over to reach for the bottle of water that always sat by my bed for mornings like this, only to feel my knuckles hit hard wood. I winced and pulled my hand back and then slowly opened my eyes. This was not my room.

I sat up and immediately winced. I felt like throwing up.

“Relax, Sweetie,” a soothing voice whispered next to me. I felt someone place their hands on my shoulders. Who the fuck was touching me? “It’s okay, Babe. Here,” I felt the person’s hand nudge my arm. “Take these. They’ll help with the headache.”

I took the white pills from their hand, while they handed me a glass of water with the other hand. I noticed the rose gold chrome nail color she had, and immediately without thinking blurted out, “You have very pretty nails.”

I heard her laugh, and I felt myself redden. Of course that was the first fucking thing I said. I didn’t even know who she was.

I quickly swallowed the pills and the water, hoping that I would stop blushing. “Sweetie?” I heard her say, “Do you remember anything from last night?”

“Um… I remember going out with my friend… and um… drinking, a lot… There was something happening with fire, or something like that… and uh… I might’ve passed out…?”

“Mhm, and do you know where you are right now?”

I thought for a second and realized I had no idea where I was, or how I had gotten here. “Um… Where’s Callie?”

“She’s with Roman,” she said as she moved so she was sitting directly behind me. I felt her hands move to my back around my shoulder blades, rubbing in little circles. “She’ll be fine.”

I moved to face her, achieving a sharp pain in my head. Her hands dropped, and she smiled. “Who are you, just by the way?”

“Oh, I’m Roman’s sister, Ellie.” She took my hands in hers. “It’s very nice to meet you.” She softly moved her thumb back and forth across my hand, while still smiling.

I raised an eyebrow at her, and took my hands from her. What did she think she was doing? I obviously had Callie to look forward to, and I needed to focus on her, especially since this break seemed like a good chance to get on her good side.

“Oh Honey, please don’t be like that.” She directed me to turn back around, then wrapped her arms around me. “Roman has told me a lot about you, and your papers and the interviews that you had your friend fill in for. You seem like such a sweet little thing, don’t ruin it and be mean now.” She moved one of her hands up, and ran her fingers through my hair.

“Um. I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but if you haven’t noticed, I have Callie-”

“Callie? You honestly think you have that girl?” She sneered, before she went back to petting my head. “No… Roman has her, Babe. And to be honest… I’m a little jealous that my little brother has found someone before I have… But you’re so sweet. We could be…” She paused for a moment. “Well, we could be something too…”

I pushed her hand away from my hair, and myself away from her. “Look, I get that you’re upset about your little brother or whatever, but I don’t even know you.”

“Yeah… I understand that… But we could get to know each other. We wouldn’t have to be alone. We could be together, or at least try to.”

I leaned back. Maybe I was being too picky and needed to expand my people interest. I mean, how bad could getting to know someone be? Even if a relationship didn’t work out, maybe we could be friends, and I wasn’t complaining about making new friends. However… She wanted me, or at least she enjoyed the idea of having someone to be with. But Callie was still here… And she- I felt the hurt grow, and I bit down on my lip to stop myself from whimpering.

I would feel like I was betraying her… I remembered last week when it felt like she was doing the same to me, even though she owed me nothing. I could still taste the bitterness. I wanted to be with Callie, not the sister of a stuck-up prick who was stealing my girl.

Ellie though… I glanced at her, with her puppy dog eyes. I could give her a chance, and maybe my interest in Callie would fade and I would start liking her, and then I would finally be with someone I wanted to be with.

I took her hands in mine and smiled at her. “You know, maybe we could try something.” Even though I felt better about not rejecting her, something cold and dark crept upon me. The hurt in my chest grew, and I felt like I was going to cry.

She smiled and stood up. She kissed the top of my head, “You know, you’re much cuter when you’re agreeing with me.” She left the room, shutting out most of the light, probably because of the hangover and all. But she left me with my own thoughts, and feeling even more cold and alone than ever.

[krixwell-liveblogs]

“I’m going with the group that has Faultline, Trickster, and the Traveller’s shapeshifter.

I guess that would be the apparent ape?

I did note that they seemed to be treated as a person more than an animal, didn’t I?

I’m betting there will be a few from Empire Eighty-Eight and some of Coil’s soldiers, too.”

“Shapeshifter?”

“That gorilla with four arms, from the other night.

Gorilla, sorry.

Only I don’t know exactly what she is, yet, but she’s not quite a shapeshifter.

That’s... interesting. Is she more like Newter and Gregor, stuck in that form? Or maybe it’s her only alternate form, but she does have a human form?

I guess I can’t rule out a literal alien passing as a parahuman, either.

I’m hoping to get a better sense of her abilities by spending some time around her.  Ditto for Trickster.  Regent’s coming with so we’re contributing some firepower.  Kind of.”

I suppose you have to count the taser. His actual power is better for combat than Tattle’s, but it’s still more about sabotaging the opponent’s firepower than adding to your own.