The Snake on Your Shoulder

"It's not fair!" Imu cried out as she downed her soda "No matter how hard I try, nothing ever seems to work out between Miyabi and I!" she took another sip of her drink. "What am I doing wrong?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Hikage replied, she had no real idea how she'd gotten wrapped up in this lonesome pity party, she'd just stopped by the cafe to grab a small bite to eat (The squad had managed to finally get some cash to allow such a luxury) but for some reason, seeing Imu so saddened made Hikage's heart feel strange, so to assuage said feeling, she found herself taking the time to give Imu a shoulder to cry on, even though a part of her wanted to hurry on back to the hideout.

"You're terrible at making me feel better!" Imu whined

"Sorry."

"It's fine...it's just...I feel so lost."

"Maybe you shouldn't be focusing on Miyabi, maybe Miyabi isn't the one meant for you to love."

At this Imu's eyes widened, that couldn't be true! Miyabi was her destined love, sure she had turned Imu down multiple times, but it surely if she persisted then something would happen...right?

"I know it's probably not my place to say it, I don't really have emotions, but you've been at this thing with Miyabi for a few years now right? Nothing has come of it, so it's probably better for you to move on."

"H-how can you be so cruel?!"

"According to Haruka, I tend to specialize in...'blunt honesty' I think she called it? My point here is, at this point aren't you just hurting yourself by pursuing this hopeless romance?"

Imu couldn't even think of a rebuttal to the words Hikage was spouting at her. She had been hoping for the stoic girl of the Crimson Squad to merely sit quietly as she sobbed and drank her soda,instead she was getting something she'd never (openly) thought she'd needed?

"B-but it's not hopeless!"

"But it is. Just face the facts that Miyabi isn't interested, if you keep this up, you may end up ruining your friendship one day."

"Ruining...our friendship?" That particular line made Imu pause for thought, she and Miyabi had been friends since they were kids, they'd been through everything together as they rose up the ranks in the ninja world. The prospect of losing Miyabi even as a friend was something that terrified Imu on a level she didn't think was possible, almost as much as any (serious) harm coming to her little sister Murasaki. She didn't really have that many friends, so losing even one would be devastating for her.

"C-could that really happen...?" Imu asked, her voice becoming meek

"Well yeah, if you keep hounding her, she'd get fed up eventually right? Who knows, she may end up going off on you and wanting you out of her life completely." Hikage stated in the most nonchalant way possible

"Urk!" That line of thought  was something Imu hadn't thought about at all, and she definitely did NOT want that scenario to play out "So...so what do I do then...how do I find someone else?"

"I dunno, try online dating or something. If you try looking, you'll find someone actually interested in you. You're not a bad looking girl at all."

"R-really...?"

"Yeah. Really. Now, I have to go, I should have been back home a while ago." With that, Hikage left, leaving Imu to bask in her thoughts. It was true that Miyabi had shown no interest and after everything Hikage said, it was more  than likely that the leader of the Hebijo elite never WOULD show any interest in her. It took a while for Imu to accept it, but it was true: Miyabi wasn't in love with her and never would love her. With this being the case, Imu decided it'd be better to apologize...she had been acting rather stupid a lot of the time around Miyabi and it had made things awkward on more than one occasion.

"Maybe the online dating thing could work...?" She mumbled to herself as she left the cafe "Either way...as much as I hate to admit it, Hikage is right, it's time to move on! I-I'll find someone who is totally into me that way, and they'll be even manlier than Miyabi could ever be!"

With newfound confidence, Imu returned to Hebijo Academy, eager to not only apologize to her best friend, but to try searching for a girl who fit her needs and would accept her love!