Sleep escaped Noriyuki. With his mind racing he just couldn't find the exhaustion to send him to bed so he lay staring at the ceiling for a while. What was on his mind? Anything and everything from his father, to his mother in the next room. He wondered how she was, not having the courage to go and check up on her.
A part of him had a feeling all she did was toss and turn as restlessly as he did. Lately, mother didn't sleep, he could see it in the bags underneath her eyes sometimes, and the crying. . . The crying. . .he could suddenly hear his mother's stifled tears through the thin wall that separated their rooms.
All he had to do was knock on her door and ask her those words "are you okay?" but he couldn't. He was too cowardly for that which was why he ran instead. He was out his window almost as soon as he heard the whimpering. The streets of The Sound were mostly empty as he moved through the night towards Yue's place. She probably wouldn't appreciate his coming at such a late hour but he needed a distraction from the talking walls at home.
"Psss! Yue, are you awake!?" he shouted in a kind of whisper by the girl's window after quietly scaling her roof to gain access to her room. He didn't want to wake anyone other than his friend so he made sure to keep as quiet as possible. "I got you something."
Sleep was one of those things that Yue considered to be integral, important, and having the same weight as a good day of training. In comparison to some of her peers who thought sleep was a waste of time, she thought otherwise. How could she smartly and correctly train? Interact with others? Be at the pinnacle of what her mind and body would allow? How could she do any of that without sleep? Tonight was no different. For various reasons. One of those reasons? Noriyuki.
They had met forever ago, when they were still children and since then they had been inseparable! Well, that's how her mother would describe it. More often than not one of them would seek the other out simply due to the fact that they were one of few who could tolerate one another. With her perfectionism and his arrogance it was a oddly complimentary friendship that allowed both to push on and be the best they could be. Cheering each other on without cheering each other on. So to speak. But there were times where Noriyuki would come to her in the middle of the night, especially after receiving stealth training at the Academy years prior. It was a habit that persisted for years and apparently still to this day; or this night rather.
He knows how I hate this...
Her very first thought upon being woken up certainly wasn't a pleasant one as she rolled out of bed to quietly make herself look presentable. Quickly brushing her long blonde hair until it was straight, though it ended in waves by the ends, she then tip toed to her closet to grab a light jacket to throw over the spaghetti strap undershirt. Pajama bottoms was all Noriyuki was getting tonight though, nothing fancier than that.
Begrudgingly, she pulled the blinds open before opening her window, sighing audibly and loudly for her friend. "Yes I am awake and I already know what you've gotten me; sleep deprivation." Despite the harsh tone to her voice, she climbed out of her window to join her friend on the roof though not before mostly closing her window to ensure she had a way back in but also to dampen any noise from their voices.
There was not many people Noriyuki could bother at this hour. For one he didn't have many friends like that and secondly no one was accepting of guests randomly visiting at odd times of the night. He hadn't even checked the time but it was late enough to know that most were asleep.
Yue was awake, thankfully. Though, Noriyuki was sure he was the one to wake her with his late night window knocking. "You're supposed to be used to this by now." he rolled his eyes playfully. He had been disturbing her sleep for a while now, nothing new there. "And you're supposed to leave the window unlocked so I don't wake your mother up when I do come around." he grinned, sitting down and scooting over to make space for her to sit next to him.
"You're right, I got you nothing. I just said that so you'd get out of bed." he managed to chuckle despite his heavy heart. The smile was momentary however, disappearing as soon as she asked if he was okay. "Yes, why wouldn't I be?" he was a good liar, but horrible at hiding his emotions. Yue always caught him out on his lies this way, but Noriyuki being typical Noriyuki woukd still try get one over her head. "You look a little. . . tired." he pointed out the obvious as he tried directing the spotlight on to her.
Yue stared at the older boy blankly, not appreciating his matter of fact attitude towards what should be routine or something she should be used to at this point. However, she was well aware that it was just one of those things she had no control over. Last thing she needed was to try and make a boundary to which his response was to be louder or more obnoxious. Having either of her parents wake up to find Nori at her window would be disastrous. "Ah yes, leave my window unlocked so you can attempt to scare me awake or, better yet, startle me into stabbing a blade somewhere where I'm sure you would agree it doesn't belong." Obviously it was an empty threat; unless she kept her fans inside of her pajama bottoms that is.
Sliding next to her friend, Yue merely sighed and ignored the boy for a moment, looking up at the 'sky' above them. The structural design of a tunnel based system that connected all of the Otogakure no Sato compounds was intricate and impressive but it certainly left most wanting when it came to the sight of the starry sky or a clear blue sky or just to feel the rain on your skin. It was certainly possible if you left one of the tunnels to go to a space between connectors but that wasn't what they were doing now and wouldn't be what they would do this late into the night either. Though it was only a few moments of silence, she knew that Nori wouldn't have minded, if he even noticed as he, as per usual, tried to skip right by any sort of inclination that something could be wrong.
I look tired? Look at him trying to bait me. I wonder if he realizes that I'm not so quick to anger like I was when I was a little girl.
"I look tired because you found yourself unable to sleep, once again, therefore thinking that it is my due diligence to keep you company." Yue shot him a glare, though it was only brief, before her features softened again. "She was crying again, wasn't she?"
She never liked Noriyuki's father, Akira. While she never saw him or was around him much, the very few times she remembers meeting him weren't exactly the most pleasant. He was a strict man, arrogant too, something that he clearly had passed down to his son. But there was a cruelness there that she didn't see in her friend, thankfully. But when the tragedy happened shortly after graduation and Akira was no longer in this world, she remembered hearing a discussion her parents had about how Nori's mother wasn't taking it well at all. From what little Nori told her, she still wasn't taking it very well. Yue could only imagine what and how Nori felt about it all, the confliction of losing a parent but also the freedom that came from being away from your abuser. It must be a strange dynamic to have to navigate.
His late night visits were already pushing it, he wouldn't overstep his boundaries by invading her personal space in that way. He made it a thing to knock, never sneaking his way in no matter how comfortable he got groin around her. Without fail, Yue answered to his calls every time.
She didn't have to put up with him but she sacrificed sleep to be his pillow to cry on. Some times he came around not because of a sleepless night but to only enjoy her company given their kinship throughout time. Yue had been more than a friend. She had been his voice of reason when his own sense lost him. "Fair enough." he groaned at her reply to his observation about her exhaustion. Fully to blame, Noriyuki would accept the fault. What had been an attempt to move the conversation away from him, Yue pointed out the root cause of him being there right from the go. This made him frown a bit, he hated how she was right.
By now it was useless trying to play emotional defence with her but he was stubborn enough to always try. "It's the first time in a while that she has. . .I just never know what to do when she gets like that." he admitted with a sigh. "Where else would I go?" he looked up at the stars in the night sky. There was no one else's window he'd come sulking at, at such hourns. Few would open up for him like her.
Yue always found it funny how exasperated Nori got whenever she would point out the obvious. Much as he said she should be used to him coming to visit her like this, she could easily say the same thing in return. He should be used to her calling it like she saw it and saying what most wouldn't dare to say to someone else for various reasons. It could be too blunt, too real, too much digging into a situation, or just forcing someone to confront how they felt about something. Whatever it was, Yue likely was the one to call it out. Thankfully, she had SOME tact with it, or so she felt anyway. She was doing them the favor after all by pointing something out when it needed to be.
Oh Nori, it really isn't that hard...
She listened to him speak, obviously keeping eye contact to show that she was listening, because she was, but he could likely see the near steel gaze she was giving in return. "Well, Nori, if I recall, you already have a prime example of what you can do." She gestured to where they sat. "And I don't mean coming here. Instead of getting up and leaving home to make the trek here, you could just knock on her door. See if she's up. Even though you already know she is." Yue paused, reaching out to clutch onto the Uchiha's shoulder though not roughly, but sternly. "Sometimes just sitting near someone helps. Wouldn't you say?" Again, she would make comparison to their current situation though this time just tilting her head and rolling her eyes down to insinuate his actions now.
"Not to be that person Nori but I'm sure there are a lot of things you wish you could say to your father and now you can't. Don't have similar regrets with your mother. It's different, way different, I know. But the simple truth is that no one stays around forever. Don't take that for granted.
Of course he was used to Yue slapping him with reality checks like the one she was giving him now. He had been acting childish with his mother, that much he knew, he was only running away from confronting it. What "it" was, was lot of pain and unresolved feelings, for his father and towards his mother.
Noriyuki was a little mad at the woman that she allowed their relationship to sit in the ice after what happened to Akira. Sure the man was her husband but he was her son, who was still alive. Maybe it was selfish of him to seek after his mother's attention during her mourning but Noriyuki felt his father didn't deserve so much of her tears, not with how imperfect he was as a husband and father. Noriyuki loved the man but he hated him too. Their relationship was complicated and their family was a little dysfunctional but Yue understood and in her understanding gave sound wisdom and advice. He hated how right she was, every sentence penetrating his hard head and causing him to think about the situation a little deeper.
His mother's crying wasn't a regular occurence, it's just that he didn't like being around when she did. He hadn't raised the topic up of Akira with his mother in some time now too. As a matter of fact they hardly spoke. Nowadays their conversations were short and lifeless and it was in those moments that Noriyuki would remember the days when Akasame would mend him after he suffered Akira's beatings. Back then her touch carried love unlike now. . "Yeah, but it's not as easy with her as it is with you." ironically, leaving home to come sit next to Yue on her roof was easier than going to the next room and talking to Akasame. He used to be able to confide in his mother, not like before where he could come to her about anything. Yue had taken over that role in recent time. . .
