The sticky morning air certainly was something different to Kurt. The Hidden Leaf Village had a tropical climate. It was always warm and summery, the air was clean and the water such a vivid blue. The Land of Waves was such a drastic change from the luxurious climate. The air was thick and uncomfortable, the water a murky green and the bugs drove Kurt insane.
As if on cue, Kurt unconsciously slapped a mosquito that had been leeching off of him. He frowned at the dismembered bug and poured some water over his bitten area. He sighed and leaned his head back on the wooden rocking chair. Kurt had gotten up rather early having nightmares about Nick. It turned out Tazuna couldn’t sleep either, and led Kurt out to his front porch. It was different but Kurt was secretly glad for the change of scenery.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Kurt shot up at the sound of Blaine’s voice. He tried to form words but to his dismay, was for once in his life, rendered speechless. The Uchiha’s usual smartly styled hair was wild; full of black curls that looked as if they felt like a cloud. It made Kurt want to touch them. He realized he was staring and quickly shook his head.
“Yeah, just a nightmare, nothing I can’t handle.”
Blaine wordlessly nodded and looked away towards the sky. Things after the battle between Nick had been tense. Schue Sensei had quickly fainted after Jeff left with the Hidden Mist assassin, and Blaine hadn’t spoken much of a word to him. Kurt wished he could read his mind; delve into the deep recess that is Blaine. He wondered what it was. He was hoping if anything, he and Blaine were closer. Apparently, they seemed to have shattered anything they would’ve had.
“I need to put something on this,” Kurt motioned to his mosquito bite that was slowly starting to irritate him. Blaine gave a small grunt of approval and Kurt swiftly left the porch, the tattered screen door closing with a clack.
Kurt immediately felt calm, well calmer than he’d been in days. He rushed to the small bathroom and cleaned the bite.
~~~
“Jeff, I can walk.” Nick placed his hand ungracefully on an eroding willow tree. His head was still foggy after coming to, he was furious that he had not killed Schuester and the other brats but he was thankful that Jeff had saved his life.
“I’m just making sure; you weren’t exactly in perfect condition when I found you.” Nick cringed at Jeff’s playful, but cruel words.
“Take that damn mask off. It muffles your voice. It’s a fake anyway.”
Jeff laughed, “It fooled your enemies. And I like it, reminds me of home,” the boy finished pulling off the ANBU mask revealing short blonde hair and a pretty face with olive green eyes. Nick had realized he’d been smiling and quickly wiped the emotion off his face.
“Thank you, now help me up.”
~~~
By the time Kurt saw Blaine again it was with company and around four in the afternoon. He had skillfully avoided his teammate as much as he could, but of course all good things had to end. Kurt, Quinn, and Blaine were all standing in Tazuna’s kitchen. It was pure white. The floors a golden brown, you could see the wear in the wood where it was walked on. The chairs and antique tables were olive green, contrasting perfectly with the white. Tazuna’s daughter, Tsunami was preparing dinner. Kurt had asked her many a time if he could help, but she said she had it all under control. Kurt needed a distraction, he needed air, and to get away from Blaine. He thought he might as well try again, third times the charm.
“You’re sure there’s nothing I can do to help? Skin potatoes; boil egg, run to the market?”
Kurt begged. He hoped the blue haired woman would get his plea. To his joy, her face actually lit up in realization.
“Actually, I do need a few things from the market. Do you mind going?”
“Not at all,” Tsunami grinned and handed me a list scrawled with the kanji for various food items.
“Can I come?”
Kurt turned to see Quinn walking towards him. Her hair was pulled back into her ponytail. He looked closer to see it swirled in a way that reminded him of ice cream. He’d have to ask her later how she did her hair. It always seemed perfect.
“Of course, I might need a few hands,” Kurt frowned slightly at the long list of goods. He was grateful though that he’d be busy for a while, and with Quinn tagging along maybe they can sightsee through the small seaside village.
“I can come too, if you want.” Kurt spun around to see Blaine sitting at a chair near a window. His face was in his hands and he looked up at Kurt with the biggest brown eyes. It was really hard for Kurt to say no to that adorable expression, but if he’d succumbed that would ruin his and Tsunami’s silent deal.
“No, I think we have enough. Why don’t you go train,” Kurt flippantly waved him away while turning back to Quinn.
“Me train?”
Kurt turned back to Blaine who seemed to have more anger in his eyes now; he wondered what caused this sudden change of emotion. And he was positive he didn’t want to find out.
“Umm, yeah, I mean, what else can you do?”
Kurt realized his statement came out different than he had it planned in his head. He thought Blaine was nothing short of amazing, he meant you couldn’t do much in this small town. He was about to correct Blaine, but the Uchiha started speaking, hints if anger in his tone.

Blaine had only suggested going to the market with Kurt, he was just trying to be a helpful friend. But Kurt’s comment hurt him, not only did he ignore his presence all day; Blaine knew Kurt was avoiding him, but he called him useless. It was an indirect insult, but an insult nonetheless but Blaine hated being ignored by Kurt, for reasons even he didn’t know of.
“It seems like you’re the one who needs to train. You’re the one who froze up against those Hidden Mist Chunin, and I’m the one who had to save you. Even against Nick you didn’t do anything but be a distraction, and I came in and saved the day.”
Blaine knew he was being irrational, even he froze up against Nick, but Kurt was hurting him. And the demon didn’t even know it. He wanted to hurt Kurt, not physically of course, but enough to make him mad. He didn’t know why, he just did.
“Blaine you’re being irrational,” Kurt confirmed his feelings and Blaine hated it, “I was more than a distraction and you know it.”
Kurt was being so calm, so nonchalant and it made Blaine more frustrated every second.
“It’s okay Kurt, let’s just go.”
He saw Quinn place a hand on the demon’s shoulder, and Kurt turned too looked at her with adoration in his eyes. This made Blaine feel different, he was still mad, but it felt like the time when Thad was with Kurt, he had a strange sense of need to cut down anyone Kurt paid attention too and send his attention back to himself. So that’s what he did.
“Quinn, don’t even start. You didn’t do anything to help against Nick; you were like a doll, a poor defenseless doll!”
Blaine shouted. He was angry, angry at Kurt, angry at Quinn, but mostly himself. He had thought he had such control over his emotions after his family’s genocide, but it turned out he didn’t. And he had a front row seat to watch all of his walls come crashing down.
He turned to see Quinn looking at the floor, her eyes were glazed over. Blaine’s anger seemed to dissipate, but he was overcome with guilt. This had nothing to do with Quinn, and he dragged her into the crossfire.
“Quinn, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean it-“
Blaine was cut off by an angry Quinn, the same Quinn that silenced Kurt back at the academy and he was terrified. He got into a battle with the wrong person.
“First off Blaine,” she said his name with disgust, “I was protecting Tazuna. I couldn’t keep up with the countless water clones he sent around you guys. I had to defeat them myself.”
Blaine stared; he didn’t think she had to deal with anything. Well, actually, he didn’t think at all.
“Secondly,” Quinn continued, venom laced in her voice, “You’re mad because Kurt’s avoiding you. You’re not in the spotlight Blaine, just get over your damn crush and move on.”
“I don’t have a crush on Kurt.”
He didn’t know why that had to be the first thing he said, he could’ve apologized to everyone, to Quinn, to Kurt. But he didn’t. He had to refute what Quinn was accusing him of. He couldn’t feel feelings. He couldn’t have emotions and everyone needed to know that, even if he just pitched a first class hissy fit.
“Of course you don’t. You’re too good for him, us.” She motioned the last part to not only Kurt, but Schue Sensei, Tazuna, and herself. “Come on Kurt.”
She grabbed his hand and stalked out the door, leaving Blaine to deal with the jealousy he knew he had no right to feel.

Quinn loved the marketplace. She’d always helped her mom pick out the groceries as a little girl. It was the one aspect of her life that felt humane. She didn’t have to please anyone for once; she was just a girl on a shopping spree.
Initially, she wanted to go with Kurt to see his status with Blaine. Quinn knew there was a mutual attraction, but as soon as Blaine has his outburst she knew the subject of the Uchiha would be taboo. Now she just wanted to get out. Tazuna’s home was small but cozy. She secretly loved being packed together in a house, it was warm, but it had started to get stuffy. Unlike her own home that was cold and distant.
She stopped at a booth filled with ripe apples. Quinn’s mother loved to make apple pies. She taught Quinn how to make the dish one summer while she was in her early teens. It was her favorite thing to make so she placed ten red delicious apples gingerly in her basket. She wanted to make everyone a special treat. Things with team 10 had been strained since the battle with Nick. Schue had been asleep for almost three days and it was starting to worry Quinn.
“What else should we get?” Quinn touched Kurt’s arm while still looking at spices and sugars for her apple pie.
Kurt placed a finger to his chin and Quinn watched as he disappeared off somewhere to a booth. She raised an eyebrow but continued on her search. She found a Sugar that was imported from the Land of Grass. It was a bit pricey, but they had the best sugar in the entire ninja world. When Quinn had tried some with her tea at her grandparents when she was seven, her mouth exploded into a burst of flavor. She had found regular sugar to be bitter. She laughed as she paid for the sugars. As she was exiting Kurt came back with a shiny red first aid kit.
“What is that?” Quinn asked with a laugh, she and Kurt had been getting closer, more like friends.
“It’s a first aid kit silly, for Schue Sensei, my dad had been in a coma from a heart attack a few months ago. There’s medicine in here that can dull the pain of coming to.”
Quinn frowned as she took the first aid kit. She wanted to press more on the subject but the look in Kurt’s eye told her not to.
“You’re very thoughtful Kurt,” She said dismissively as she paid for her items.
Kurt nodded, “It’s one of my many flaws.”

“Quinn this is amazing,” Kurt looked up with a mouthful of apple pie. The blonde had surprised them with the delicacy saying things have gotten tense and we needed to loosen up.
“Thank you, I hope you enjoy it.”
The group murmured their affirmatives and all reached in for seconds.
“I see you’ve used imported sugar, it didn’t go unnoticed.” Tsunami complimented Quinn with a sparkle in her eye. She really was a nice woman, even if she is related to the gruff Tazuna.
“Thank you, it’s something me and my mother used to do.”
Kurt noticed her face fall slightly at the mention of her mom. He wondered what someone so perfect could be hiding.
“You don’t talk about your mom much, is something wrong.”
Quinn shook her head, sending her ponytail bouncing. “No, things are just…Complicated.”
Kurt nodded, but flinched when he saw Blaine stab his bread knife into the table.
“Blaine what is your problem?” Kurt looked at the young Uchiha. He hadn’t been acting like himself ever since the battle with Nick. He didn’t know Blaine well enough to tell if he was moody or something more.
“My problem Kurt,” again with the mood swings, here we go, “Is that you all talk like you have big problems in your families when in reality you don’t. Quinn you’re rich. You come from the esteemed Fabray clan, and don’t start with me Kurt,” He turned his attention to the demon as soon as he saw him open his mouth, “I’ve seen you and Burt. He loves you so much. I’d give anything to have a family again.”
And with this Blaine got up from the table, and left, slamming the door harshly.
“What do you think’s wrong?” Quinn glanced to where the knife was.
“I don’t know. I wish we could help though.”
After a strained dinner conversation Kurt got up to clear the dishes. He went with a sigh to pick up the silver knife wedged into the table. As he picked it up he noticed something. There was a rough carving of a heart in the wood; it wasn’t there before dinner so Blaine must’ve carved it.
But what upset Kurt more was the long gash the knife left. It was slashed between the middle of the heart. Almost like Blaine just killed his own.