Uchiha, Koto says: Ansem.
Uchiha, Koto says: ...Meet me at home. Got some stuff to talk to you about.
Uchiha, Koto didn't stop, keeping on moving toward the west, toward their home.
Uzumaki, Ansem steps in, both hands tucked into his pockets. His eyes have bags beneath them as he makes his way over to the table to sit down.

". . . Suzuri didn't tell the full story."
Uchiha, Koto sat on the top of the back of the couch, her legs gently kicking against it. Her eyes followed Ansem, as he moved to sit down - she looked to be in a fairly thoughtful mood, judging by her expression.

"Then let's hear your side. Even plannin' on gettin' Hisaya's later, even if I know that's basically like askin' a brick wall."
Uzumaki, Ansem says: I was planning on having you, me, and Hisaya sit down.
Uzumaki, Ansem says: But uh..
"Hisaya found me and asked me to come help her move from her house to the mansion. It seemed like she wasn't sure she wanted to, so I asked her how moving in with Matsuo was going to help her gain independance rather than take it away. She took offense to it and we had a back and forth where I pointed out the fact that Matsuo has favored the Senju since the Academy and how they've been eating out of his hands ever since.

.. And that it seems like she's trying really hard to impress him, hoping for a golden ticket at the end of it all. For his validation. I said that she was her own person and didn't need to keep trying to impress him - that it was pathetic. I didn't 'talk the Senju down to their lowest'. That's actually all I said."

He refrains from groaning, but he does let a sigh slip as he turns around at the table to face Koto.

"She was crying at this point, and said that Matsuo chose them and not the Uzumaki because we're all destined to do stupid things and die. Tossed an entire box of books at the back of my head and gashed me open, then called me pathetic." He reaches back to touch the sore spot, mainly to make sure the stitches were still there. "Then I told her that I hated the way this village is run. The way Matsuo raised us in it. And that despite how ugly the conversation had been, I hated that I couldn't say I hate her." His brow furrows and he looks away for a moment, a hand moving to adjust his scarf. "I consider her a friend regardless. Then I left -by blowing her door off its hinges- and walking out."

His legs extend out a bit and cross over one another. This was such along story.

"She was in hysterics about it and found Suzuri, Chouzei, and Omoi, and told them chunks of what happened. Suzuri made assumptions and immediately started telling people that I was trying to play her and play you. That I was some huge scumbag rather than a guy that made one mistake --" He looks back at her with a regretful expression, knowing that he should have brought it up earlier. "Around the time Matsuo recruited us--er, me. To the special ops.."

There it was. His biggest secret. Thrown up like a tennis ball for her to spike back down if she wanted.

"He told us that we needed to cut people off. Said that since my family was all-already dead, all I had to cut off was you to be the perfect candidate. Said that I was destined to break all of my bonds, and that I shouldn't even bother. That it wasn't 'true love'. He just kept flooding my head with all of these doubts until I.. thought he was right. He had to be.

I knew that Hisaya was manipulated by him in the same way, so we talked about it for hours. Talked about what love really was versus what Matsuo told us it was. How we had to make our own way instead of blinding following the rules that Matsuo sets. Then.." He rises up from the bench and takes a couple of hesitant steps forward, "Then I made a mistake. -We- made a mistake and kissed. Once. I was just trying to figure out if it was even possible to feel emotions like that anymore. I didn't want to drag you down and hold you back. As it turns out.. it wasn't.

I had so much hatred and confusion in my heart that I couldn't love anyone. Care about anyone. Matsuo gave me the option to take on bigger responsibilities or to keep my bond with you - and I chose the promotion. That's when we broke up. But after Nozomi died? He stopped caring. I.." The long-winded explanation stops there, and the Uzumaki looks down at the ground.

"I didn't lie to you about anything, Koto. I should have told you before, though."
(Uzumaki, Ansem)
Uzumaki, Ansem OOCs: blindly*)
Uchiha, Koto listened incredibly carefully. Her expression never changed from the thoughtful one she wore when he first walked in, even as he admitted what he did, even as he threw that tennis ball (which would be held in space, to be spiked down very soon). She wanted to understand this situation, this entire unfortunate mess, to get every detail she could - because it was the kind of person Koto was, to want to take those details and use them to fix it.

Though her expression didn't change, that wasn't to say she wasn't on a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the entire thing, though. Namely, at the mention of why exactly it was that the two of them had broken up briefly, and what Matsuo had said to Ansem about it. That brought her hatred for the man to a whole other degree, silently bubbling beneath the surface. She just kept a good pokerface up.

"...look, dork."

She dropped off the back of the couch, moving over toward Ansem, stopping just short of standing right in front of him. Her hands slid into her pockets, and finally, her pokerface broke in favor of a barely noticeable smile, accompanying it with a soft shrug.

"Before I say anything to that whole mess with you, Suzuri and Hisaya, I'm goin' to get Hisaya's side of the story. But on the matter of... y'know-...it's in the past. Doesn't matter. That's really all I can say. I don't hold it against you in the slightest. I just ask one thing - from now on? Truth. On everything. Includin' this 'black ops' matter."
Uchiha, Koto OOCs: [i'm just sittin here dreading having to write more progress logs over this stuff]
Uchiha, Koto OOCs: [i've written 15 since monday]
Uchiha, Koto OOCs: [i'm tired of it]
Uzumaki, Ansem OOCs: [dude right?]
Including the black ops matter.
Could he trust her with it? Could he trust anyone with a secret that would end in his head being cut off it got out?

".. Alright. But you still can't tell anyone about it. Including Suzuri. After what she showed us all the other night, I don't trust her to not use it against me the first chance she gets - whether she is your best friend or not."

He focuses his eyes on hers and frowns a bit, obviously still somewhat hurt about being made out as a villain to their entire friend group simply because Suzuri decided to only tell her side of the story.

She had done more than just sever their bonds.

".. Thanks for understanding, though."
(Uzumaki, Ansem)
Uchiha, Koto cringed a little at part of what he said. The last thing in the world she wanted was her best friend and her boyfriend at each other's throats, and to hear him sound so vicious toward her... it hurt, a little. But she tried to gather herself together a little better, stepping forward to completely close the distance between them and draw Ansem into a hug.

"...I know you're mad at her right now," she said, "But I'm fixing this. One way or another. For what it's worth, she regrets it. She's beating herself to hell and back."

She'd let the embrace linger for a few moments, and provided Ansem let her, break it off not too much later. She'd let out a soft sigh, glancing down toward the ground.

"...Everyone makes mistakes. We've all made a lot of 'em. Lord knows I'm the queen of 'em. Just... remember that. Please. I'm... gonna go see if I can find Hisaya, get her side, and just try to figure out how to make everything proper again. Okay?"
Uzumaki, Ansem tears up a little bit the moment she hugs him. Nothing falls from his eyes, but the emotion was there. Rather than actually replying like a normal human being, he returns the embrace and tilts his head up to screech at the roof above them like a lost deer in a Japanese park.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAZYqXwW5lA]

"Yeah.. for sure. I'll try to make myself not-hard to find."
Uchiha, Koto OOCs: [back]
Uzumaki, Ansem OOCs: [wb]
Uchiha, Koto moved for the exit, at that point.

"Alright. See you, dork. I..."

She stopped just short of the door, standing there in silence for a few short moments. She finished off that sentence, then rushed through the door before she could really see any kind of reaction.

"...I really, really like you, you know. Might even be a little more than that. Maybe. Haven't figured that out yet."

Zooooom.
Uchiha, Koto says: ...Hisaya.
Senju, Hisaya asks: ... Huh?
Uchiha, Koto says: You free? Wanted to have a little chat.
Senju, Hisaya says: Very well.
Senju, Hisaya is now following you.
Uchiha, Koto asks: You okay with us goin' to your place?
Senju, Hisaya says: .... I guess.
Uchiha, Koto says: Right.
Senju, Hisaya stops following you.
Senju, Hisaya is now following you.
Uchiha, Koto moved over to the table, taking a seat.

"...okay, so, look," she started, "All I want to know is your side of this mess with you, Ansem and Suzuri. I'm tryin' to get every detail of the story that I can, to try and fix it. Okay?"
Senju, Hisaya stops following you.
Senju, Hisaya took a seat at the table, remaining quiet a long time. She had to explain this... So many times already - it was getting tiresome. But once more, with feeling,

"... He came to me and said he was considering breaking up with you. After we talked about thing, he ended up kissing me," she explained, "Then with our argument, I asked him to take some books off the top shelf," she indicated the bookshelf, "Since he's taller than me. I told him I was moving and where - the free room in the mansion - and he got mad at me. Because he was never given that hand out when he was alone. Which I get. But then he questioned Matsuo babies Suzuri and I - and that we eat out of his hand..." she trailed off,

"Which he isn't wrong about. All I want is for him to look at me and say good job - just once. The man's like a father to me, so... Any child would want that. But uh.... Anyway. He also said that I was pathetic if I did it... And I think that's what set me off. I just got really mad and I said really terrible things. I told him his clan died because they did one stupid thing after another - I shouldn't have said it and it was purely because he made me so mad. After that he stormed off."
A small messenger bird flutters in and lands on Uchiha, Koto's shoulder.
Uchiha, Koto | "...Frankly, I agree with what he said."

Koto was blunt, starting this conversation off - she wasn't going to hide her disdain for Hisaya, or the man she admired so much, in the slightest. But she followed that up with closing her eyes, raising a hand to her face, and letting out a heavy sigh.

"Won't lie to you on that. But my opinion here, it really isn't important. What's important is that you know that even despite what he said, he still considers you friend. What you said, he glossed over it like it was absolutely nothin'."

She let that hand on her face fall down toward the table, eyes opening to move her gaze over toward Hisaya. She was starting to get everything, having heard all three sides of the story, and figured she could at least start to make attempts to bring the people she cared for back together.

"Sounds to me like it's a case of everyone involved losin' their cool. I can't really say a damn word about that - you know that. Just... do Ansem a solid and sit down with him, yeah? Try 'n' work things out. I don't get it, but he likes you, and I don't want him beatin' himself up over what happened between y'all."

She looked clearly uncomfortable having this conversation. But she was willing to push through it, for Ansem's sake, at least.
Uchiha, Koto OOCs: [you a friend*]
Uchiha, Koto thinks: Sayua.. I should go take care of that, once this is done.
Senju, Hisaya says: I already apologized to him. He said it'd take more than words to fix that.
Senju, Hisaya says: So no, I don't think he believes it's nothing.
Uchiha, Koto says: ...
Uchiha, Koto says: ...god damnit, Ansem.
Senju, Hisaya says: I get it.
Senju, Hisaya says: What I said was pretty bad. So there it is.
Senju, Hisaya asks: Was that all, Koto?
Uchiha, Koto says: I'll talk to him again. Get him to come around, somehow.
Uchiha, Koto says: ...Yeah. I guess.
Uchiha, Koto says: Sorry for apparently wastin' time.
Uchiha, Koto thinks: ...not going to be easy, is it.
Senju, Hisaya shrugged.

"It's fine."
Uchiha, Koto rose up to her feet.

"...One last thing, admittedly- Do yourself a favor. Try and look at Matsuo beyond that relationship, if you can. Really, really feel like it'd do you some good. Face the fact that the man you want approval from, it ain't happening - that this 'father' of yours is a monster. It'll hurt, but you'll come out better for it in the end."

She matched Hisaya's shrug with one of her own. If not stopped, she'd leave it at that, and head for the door.
Senju, Hisaya remained silent. She'd let Koto leave on that note.