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“Hm? Where’s Ryusei Yellow?” Chiaki questions, glancing around the gym.
“He’s not ‘here’,” Kanata replies, wondering where the small child was.
“Shouldn’t someone go look for him?” Tetora asks.
“I can,” Midori pipes up, Shinobu was probably the person he was closest to after all.
Exiting the gym, Midori began his search, trying to go to all places Shinobu might be. ‘He is a ninja, finding him might be harder then the normal person,’ he thought.
—
After about 20 minutes of walking, as he was searching the back of the school, he heard quiet sobs. ‘Someone’s... crying?’ He debating turning around and walking the other direction, he wasn’t much for meddling in others’ business if he had a choice, but the single thought of ‘What if it was Shinobu,’ convinced him to at least see who it was.
Moving as slowly and quietly as possible, Midori peaks around the wall to see who the quiet sobs were coming from. Low and behold it was just the ninja he was looking for, crouched down and sobbing.
“Shinobu..?” Midori said a bit quietly, walking out from his “hiding spot” so Shinobu could see him.
“M-Midori de gozaru!” Shinobu exclaimed, quickly trying to wipe the tears from his eyes.
Midori knelt down to get to Shinobu’s level. Staring in awe at the scene in front of him, in Shinobu’s attempt to wipe the tears from his eyes, his bangs had been brushed to the side, letting Midori get a look at his usually covered eye.
Without really think, Midori went to cup his hands around Shinobu’s face before he could quite finish what he was doing. “Pretty...” Midori whispered to himself, smiling at the chance to look at both of Shinobu’s eyes face to face like this.
“H-huh??” Shinobu blushed, eyes still watery, but not leaking like before.
“O-oh uh, sorry...” Midori quickly apologized, taking hands away to put them on his lap in embarrassment. “I just don’t normally get to see both your eyes, they’re very pretty you know.”
Shinobu got even redder, trying to fix his hair in embarrassment. Midori frowned a little at this, but figured Shinobu was probably more comfortable like that anyways. “So... uhm... why were you... crying?” Midori tried, not quite sure what to do when someone’s crying in front of you.
“A-ah uhm... it’s nothing de gozaru...” Shinobu replied, avoiding the question.
Midori pouted a little, even if normally he would’ve been glad not to deal with something like this, this was Shinobu, probably his closest friend. “It’s obviously not nothing if you’re crying like this in the back of the school.”
Shinobu put his head down, he didn’t want to not trust Midori, so he took a deep breath and shared his troubles. “It’s just... today some people came up to me and, well, they said some mean things about me...”
“Mean things..?” Midori repeated, already fuming with anger at the thought of people bullying Shinobu.
“Y-yea, the commented on my height, how I’ll never be a “real ninja”, and even judged me for my hairstyle de gozaru!”
“Jeez, people are so mean for no reason at all,” Midori sighs, wanting to go hunt down these fools, but deciding cheering up Shinobu was more important at the moment. “You know you shouldn’t listen to people like that.”
“I know... but it’s just, hard...”
Midori understood, he’d gotten hate before from people who were jealous of his “good looks”, made him wish he wasn’t born like this. Midori moved his hand to pet Shinobu’s head, “Well I think you”re perfect the way you are, and I believe someday you’ll be the best ninja around!”
Shinobu blushed yet again, “T-thank you de gozaru! It means a lot...”
“Anytime,” Midori smiles, hugging Shinobu, who hugs back.
They stay like that for a few minutes before Midori remembers why he went to go find Shinobu in the first place. Pulling away from Shinobu he exclaimed, “Ah, we have to get back to the gym, everyone must be worried sick by now!”
“A-ah! Today was practice day wasn’t it de gozaru! I’m sorry...”
Midori shook his head, “It’s completely fine, I’m sure the others will understand. Shinobu nods his head, if one thing was sure, it was that their family was one of the most caring in arguably the world.
Midori stands up and holds his hand out for Shinobu. The smaller boy grabs on and his pulled up by the other, and they both make their way back to the gym, talking about needless things.
The End ☆ ミ