To celebrate the NaruHinaWedding event, I wrote a drabble about a conversation between Boruto, Himawari and Hinata. They are asking about Hinata's love life. The anime displayed a scene of Hinata reminiscing about her love life. From a crush to someone qualified enough to support Naruto. In this drabble, I want to elaborate more into details about her feelings and the lessons she learned in pursuit of happiness.
"I'm home!" Boruto shouted as he ran his way to the living room.
"Mum, I'm hungry! What's for dinner?" He asks.
"Sit down. Wash your hands first or you won't have dinner. I've roasted chicken mixed with black pepper and corn soup."
"Yay! Where is Hima?" Boruto enquires, as he washes his hand at the sink.
"I'm here! I've just finished my mission with Yuina and Ehou!" Himawari helps her mother to put the dishes into some bowls as soon as she arrives.
"Eh... new mission, huh? What did you do Hima? I bet it's a mission about finding missing cat, cleaning the chickens' coops or guiding a VIP's safety..." Boruto displays his bored face while belittling his sister's mission. He used to complain the missions he got and this laid back personality of his also led to him in trouble.
"Nope. None of those. It's a mission to find rare herbs; Matucoldi. It is actually a mission requested by aunt Sakura and she chose our team because of our ability. Well, to be honest I didn't know why she chose me as a temporary team leader at first. I know Yuina is a knowledgeable student. She studied a lot about herbs and animals. Her resourcefulness helped us a lot. Ehou, on the other hand acted without thinking sometimes but he is great in combat. As for me... I cannot really control my Byakugan yet and my taijutsu isn't as great as Ehou. During the mission, I realised that one of my redeeming qualities is my quick thinking which coincides with the situation and the spirit to never give up. We managed to retrieve the herbs successfully in the end. Of course, we needed to involve ourselves in a fight but with teamwork, we did it!"
"Wow.. Hima, looks like you're going to be a cool shinobi just like me!" Boruto laughs, after listening to Himawari's detailed explanation regarding her mission.
"Hey! I don't want to be like you, onii-chan. You always made other people worry and you never communicate your inner feelings. I'm going to be someone honest in the future and that includes taking care of you!"
"Hey! I'm the big one here. I was born first. I am supposed to be the one who protects you!" Boruto rebutts Himawari's statements.
"Hush.. hush! Okay, stop it. Stop the fight or you both won't be having dinner." Hinata puts down a big bowl of corn soup on the table and look at her children with a scary expression.
"Ok.. okay.." Botg Himawari and Boruto reply in unison.
Hinata laughs and sit next to Himawari.
"You know what, mum.. sometimes I wonder how dad is able to marry you. I mean.. you could've find better men out there. You cooked all these delicious dishes only for him to rush back to the Hokage's office again," Boruto conplained.
"But, he did... came home right? He tried his best to be a great father for both of you. He always tried his best, despite working for the village. Without him, we won't be living peacefully now. He even tried to be an inspiring figure for Kawaki. Speaking of him.. where is he?"
"Well, he said he had something to deal with. I don't know. For me, dinner is more important. I'll find out sooner or later anyway," Boruto responds.
"Mama! We want to listen your story before you meet papa! You refused to tell us before!" Himawari looks at her mother with an eager expression.
"Er, well.. I've told you before about how clumsy and rash he was before, right? Your father is still the same old him even after having 2 children. I always liked him in secrecy. Once, I tried to release the chakra draining rods from him even after beaten up by Pain. Pain is one of the akatsuki members, by the way. You learned that in your school right?"
"Akat.. akatsuki? The same Pain who destroyed Konoha? I've learned it before during class.. and we had that particular moment described in our text book. There's a girl mentioned in the text book. The one who tried to save the Hokage.. but I didn't know it was you, mum! Wow! Why didn't you let your name known in the text book? I could've boasted about it!" Boruto proudly shows his enthusiasm about the new fact he acknowledged.
Hinata chuckles. "No. I prefer a quiet life. I don't really care about fame and being a legend. To me, being happy is enough. Taking care of my kids is enough. Supporting my husband is enough. I don't need more in life. Your father nearly gave up his ninja way when we were in the middle of war. However, I managed to gain his strength. Even when my beloved cousin who's like a brother to me, Neji passed away at that time, I tried to calm myself down. As a shinobi, you can never express your emotions willingly. Yes, it's hard but that's the reason why it is important to be strong not just by physical but also by heart. After the war, we visited each other's house. He would ask for my help because he needed to study more if he wants to become a Hokage. Sometimes, I brought food. Did you know that he was once an avid hater of vegetables? Well, it takes an impressive cooking skill to mesh the vegetables well with meats so that the taste will become delectable."
Boruto and Himawari look at their mother's loving facade. She has a soft expression whenever she reminisces about her past life. She looks like a maiden in love, not someone who was married and gave birth to 2 kids.
Hinata continues to describe her love life. " I learned so much from your father. He taught me to grow in my own pace and be brave, despite what the circumstances are. We became closer without even noticing it. Sometimes, we trained together. There were rumours circulating that we were in a relationship but we ignored it. Your father was too dense about love and at that time, I'm sure he thought of me as a friend. Not more. I was still a bit timid even after war because the idea of being in a relationship with your crush is too good to be true. So in the end, we just led a life without even acknowledging our feelings.
Then, years passed by and we're finally 18. A lot of things changed. Your aunt, Hanabi was kidnapped by a descendant of Hamura Otsusuki. He needed the byakugan to acquire the Tenseigan created from his ancestors' sealed eyes. He proposed me so I had to accept it in order to save Hanabi. Your father was utterly heart-broken upon knowing it and I did try to explain just for a while but my I believed he could manage himself. He's a strong shinobi who used to lead the war. My goal at that time was to save your aunt. She's still a child. Long story short, we managed to defeat Toneri. Your father was super romantic when he finally understood his feelings for me. With one hand, he released a big rasengan and flew under the moon's silhouette. Well, after that.. I couldn't tell you."
"What? You kissed don't you? Papa kissed mama!" Himawari teased her mother.
"Woah really? I didn't know dad can be so romantic! He's a fool for not being able to know his true feelings." Boruto laughs.
"It's not his fault. He was alone for so many years. He worked hard to gain acknowledgement from other villagers. He didn't have anyone to talk to him about this matter. As for me, I'm happy if he's happy. I did get jealous once, when he was popular with the girls due to his popularity. I thought the scarf given to him was from one of the girls so I hid the scarf I've knitted for him. It turns out that it was actually from his mother. In a way, I was in the wrong too. We both are. Being in a relationship means that both of us stand in an equal footing. We vowed to cherish each other through thick and thin. To support each other and to communicate our inner feelings. No more skirting lies while leaving the truths half-told."
"Aww.. I want to have a beautiful love story like mama too, when I grow up later.. but so far I don't like anyone in class..." Himawari gushes her mother's love tale while gazing at her mother's embarrassed face.
"Heh.. I don't know if I will ever get married.. I want to enjoy my single life to eternity.. but having someone who can understand you for who you are is rare..." Boruto's eyes narrow with such focus, as if thinking about someone who could match his description.
"I'm home!" Naruto's voice can be heard at the door.
Boruto and Himawari run and hug him instantly.
"Okay.. what happen?" Naruto is confused.
"Dad.. you're a cool guy huh?" Boruto teased him.
"Daddy! You are so sweet!" Himawari joins her brother.
"What? What's going on? Hinata, what's going on? Did something peculiar happen?" Naruto tries to ask for explanation but Hinata refuses to look him in the eye.
"No... Nothing happened! Any.. anyway, why did you get home so soon?" Hinata helps her husband to untie the Hokage robe.
Naruto is puzzled. "I thought you like it when I'm home?"
Hinata is speechless. Usually, she won't be flustered as she was used to her role as a wife but somehow, the prior engagement with her children makes her embarrassed. She regrets expressing her love towards her husband in front of her children. Pretty sure they're going to tease her further.
"Well, anyway... do you know that there's a new record for ramen eating competition? I did it! I managed to defeat your past record!"
Shocked, Hinata scrutinizes her eyes. "What? How? You never managed to defeat me before! Did you cheat?"
"Hey, I didn't cheat okay? Well, it won't make me a real man if you always win. Did you still remember your promise if I win?"
"Hima.. is this really our "cool" father? Why is he being childish all the time." Boruto asks, with an incredulous look on his face.
"I'm pretty sure it's just papa being papa. He never shows this side of him in front of other villagers. He usually brings out his inner child when he's with mama."
"I.. of course I remember. I promised to accompany you on a date to an expensive restaurant. That was ages ago! You're a rich man now." Hinata laughs, as she remembers her promise to Naruto.
"It'll just be the 2 of us. No kids allowed."
"Okay. Okay. Gosh, you're so funny, Naruto-kun."
"I'm curious though. What were you talking about just now?" Naruto asks.
Hinata tries to suppress her embarrassment by controlling her face expression. "Huh.. nothing okay? I was just talking about how cool you were when you brought me to the moon. There, happy now?"
It was Naruto's turn to be embarrassed. "What kind of conversation was that? You shouldn't tell the about that. It's not fair!"
"Well, I did say that I was so in love with you. It's fair." Hinata fights back.
"I'm home..."
All of them look at the owner's voice. Turns out, it's Kawaki. Kawaki is confused at the weird atmosphere as he walks into the dining room.
"Dinner is served and you guys aren't eating? The food is going to get cold. What happen? Why do you have that ugly and strange grin on your face Boruto?"
"Ugly you say? You're the ugly one! Wanna fight?" Boruto stands up.
"Hush! Okay, okay. Let's eat now. Kawaki, wash your hands first. Honey, as a punishment you must massage my shoulders tonight."
Naruto almost faint when he heard that Hinata called him "honey". She only said that when both of them are not in front of their kids. Looks like he can never win the war with his own wife.
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Ninja Daily: Clarity 15
Kakashi suppressed a cringe, blocking a strike with a kunai and lashing out in a low kick that his opponent moved around. He tore his attention away from Naruto and firmly onto his own fight, but couldn't keep from commenting internally.
'Things like that are why people are frightened by jinchuuriki.'
The water brat really shouldn't have provoked Naruto. It took him a pitifully short time to rip apart the youngest Akatsuki on the cellular level- when a wind-natured Rasengan didn't do the trick, corrosive demonic chakra and his bare hands did. Kakashi tried not to wince. He half-wished he hadn't turned to see the source of the screaming.
Naruto was probably more resistant to the corrosion than even most other jinchuuriki- he'd been born to another jinchuuriki. His body had acclimated and worked around the poison even as he was formed.
It was still phenomenally creepy to see him only get bleeding rashes from exposure to the same poisonous heat that had vaporized the Akatsuki made of water. A few minutes later, Naruto was fine- not even panting anymore.
"Need help, sensei?" Naruto cupped his hands around his mouth to yell across the distance, too cautious to barge in on such a fast fight if his assistance wasn't needed.
'Tobi is too aggressive. There's no way I want Naruto in this fight.'
Kakashi grunted dismissively, despite knowing that the boy couldn't possibly hear. He dodged backwards and twisted away from Tobi's offensive. It took a few moments for him to have enough time to shake his head in response. Naruto must have seen, because he darted off to help the Suna nin.
'I have to know this man somehow, or he knows me at least. Whoever he is, he seems to want the visceral pleasure of killing me in close range combat, despite an inability to get the upper hand that way. If he'd just wanted to win, he would have kept using the showy techniques that put me on the run at the start of this fight.'
It was galling to admit, but Tobi was more powerful than he was. After all the work he'd done in the past years to improve his mastery of his Sharingan and despite a lifetime's worth of techniques stolen, perfected, and created, he was out-matched.
'Of course, I do have one advantage. He's arrogant enough to want to beat me at my best suit instead of the one where he has a strong advantage.'
And that he could use.
They were both fast-very fast. At their skill level, close combat was decided by how their skill sets matched up and who would slip up first. Slipping up was often precipitated by making decisions out of reasons other than practicality and tactical assessment. Tobi was already compromised- Kakashi had no idea why, but he was.
"What the hell is that?"
The startled exclamation in the distance came a full second before Kakashi had registered the emergence of an enormous chakra signature. Kankuro had been the first to know that something was wrong. Kakashi didn't have time to muse that he really wouldn't have called that, preoccupied as he was with performing a backwards flip to dodge a swipe from Tobi.
'That's not one chakra signature,' Kakashi realized, heartbeat picking up. 'That's three.'
There was no mistaking that for anything else. Three sources of demonic chakra- how many jinchuuriki were in the area?
'This is insane. I don't know about the other two, but one is almost certainly Utakata. Did someone send reinforcements after us?'
He would have spent more time thinking about it if his long-awaited opening hadn't come just as his sandals touched down to the ground. Almost in slow motion, he saw Tobi jerk around to stare, completely forgetting that he was in the middle of a fight. Mistake. Kakashi lunged, fist lighting up with electricity. He crossed the space between them in a millisecond, leading with his arm. He wasn't aiming for the chest.
The ceramic mask shattered, some shards falling forwards. Larger chunks were still attached to the strings that had attached it behind Tobi's head. Victory was thrumming in his chest- yes, this would throw Madara off balance, and that jawline was far too strong for most Uchiha he remembered. Tobi moved backwards too late to save the mask and barely in time to save his face, head jerking up so that Kakashi's fist grazed over harmlessly.
Kakashi's Sharingan registered the movement as if in slow motion. Every fraction of a millisecond might as well have been a minute with his brain running at adrenaline-assisted full capacity. That was the only reason he managed to register a full look at the features behind the flying bits of mask.
His momentum carried him past Tobi, but his feet felt like lead. His landing was ungainly.
'That can't be right. It was a trick of the light.'
The hair on the back of his neck was standing straight up. Almost unwillingly, Kakashi turned to stare. His Sharingan throbbed. His mouth was dry. He swallowed.
Uchiha Madara looked taken aback, as if he too was mildly surprised that he was wearing Obito's face. Half of it was mangled with strange wrinkled scar tissue. The other half was a cruelly pristine marble sculpture of what that laughing boy would have grown up to be. Obito had never been so dispassionate.
And then mismatched Sharingan (and where did Madara get the spare, only one of those was a match to the one in Kakashi's skull) looked past Kakashi in clear disinterest. He clearly considered whatever was happening in the distance to be more important than watching a man fall apart.
"We'll have to finish this another time," Obito's voice said through Obito's mouth oh kami that was his best friend's corpse.
Chidori died in his hand, despite having only made a glancing blow. His fingers felt numb. And then Uchiha Madara was gone. With Obito's corpse.
Blood rushing in his ears was the only thing he could hear. He didn't come down to the real world until someone gripped his upper arm. Kakashi blinked, and noticed that he was trembling.
Naruto washed across his vision, big blue eyes wide with concern. "ay Sensei?" he was saying.
"What?" Kakashi asked reflexively, focusing with a terrible vivid certainty on his student's face. He was so bright. So alive. He distantly noted that the inhuman chakra in the distance had receded a bit, through distance or suppression. His stomach roiled.
"Pajama man wants to make a deal," he repeated, looking more concerned. "He says-"
"Quiet, brat," Kakuzu spat. The nuke-nin was breathing heavily, but three odd masks were hovering protectively around his body on undulating tentacles of black string. Temari and Kankuro looked worse than he did- scuffed, dirty, and probably scraped. Temari was bleeding steadily from her right forearm. "I give you information, and you don't follow me," Kakuzu proposed brusquely. His red-green eyes were narrowed in cold calculation at Kakashi. "I know where the man you care about went."
"He's long gone," Temari spat in disgust, gripping her arm tight to staunch the bleeding. "Don't think we're stupid."
The Akatsuki didn't alter his stony look, unfazed.
'If what he says doesn't check out, we'll kill him anyway.'
Out loud, he said, "Tobi is more important, but the Suna patrols will get you anyway." That show of faith soothed Temari's hackles down, though she still looked ready to spit venom. "What can you tell me?"
'WhathappenedtoObitohowIdon'tunderstand.'
"Tobi," Kakuzu pronounced in a tone with a strange sense of irony (or maybe Kakashi was being overly sensitive). "has gone not far from here. We made the trip to meet you in several minutes' time. He will have used his technique to travel most of the way and then approach on foot to gauge the situation."
"And what is that situation?" Kankuro challenged, cataloging the tension in the group with single-minded determination to think about the here and now because if he let his mind wander he was going to be useless.
Naruto was merely serious, but the Suna shinobi were awfully high-strung about three jinchuuriki in their country releasing demonic-
Two. Two jinchuuriki releasing demonic chakra, Kakashi internally corrected. One of them had dropped off the map. It was impossible to discern whether that meant they were dead or simply under control now.
"He left the girl there."
It took a moment to interpret that dispassionate statement. "What-", Kakashi began.
Kakuzu cut him off, clearly irritated by their inability to comprehend a fairly simple sentence. "The girl you were arguing about," he elaborated. "Tobi considers her very valuable. He had left her with Zetsu instead of risking her coming into contact with Konoha ninja." There was a slight pause. "Zetsu has never liked her."
Naruto made a small, wounded sound.
Temari snapped her fan shut, holstering it on her back in preparation for a run. "Where are we going?"
The thing that saved her from boiling alive in her skin was just how hastily the bijuu recognized each other and restrained their chakra, simmering down from dangerously defensive posturing to what apparently passed for politeness.
Her whole body thrummed with pain, one raw open wound. When the white clouds of rock chalk polluting the air cleared and Aiko blinked away tears, she got her first real look at chakra demons. They were a mixed bag.
A glossy blue beetle with a long, spiked torso and pointed green feet yawned into cognizance, fluttering sparkling wings with the colors of sunset burnt into their delicate membrane. The second beast was something ghastly, built entirely of naked muscle and horns with coloring the angry red of raw flesh-and tentacles. Why tentacles? The last being was –
"A monkey?" Aiko asked herself hoarsely, taken aback at that underwhelming manifestation of demonic power. That wasn't very scary. Weren't demons meant to be either monstrous or majestic? It was hard to take monkeys seriously. She felt oddly let down.
All three bijuu jerked to attention, enormous snouts pointed directly at her. That, on the other hand, was pants-wettingly scary.
Oh god. She could not fight three bijuu on her best day. Scratch that, she wouldn't fight one bijuu on her best day. And if they had the slightest inclination to follow, she wasn't going to outrun them. Fight and flight were time-honored responses to danger, and the only things that would work against a bloody-minded animal. But.
'Utakata and Fuu implied that they were sentient,' she remembered faintly.
So that left groveling?
Aiko dropped into a bow, trembling slightly. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw her braid swing down, completely white with dust. All of her was, probably. 'Please let this work. If they're too angry, it won't. But if they're prideful, they'll like respect. If they're reasonably friendly they won't necessarily want to hurt someone peaceable. Maybe they'll want information. No one else can provide that.'
"What's this?" There was a scraping sound that jarred her bones.
"Brothers, I know that one." Hot breath bellowed over her. Her eyes were wide open.
'A bijuu is standing right over me and breathing on me.'
Did bijuu eat people? They were big enough that she must be like those tiny sugar candies. Maybe the chalk was off-putting? The dust settling and swirling over her feet in pale clouds didn't answer.
'How do people taste?' she wondered, mind racing. 'I could have asked Zetsu before I killed him.'
Little late now.
"Little one, stand up," another voice ordered sternly- probably the most masculine voice she'd ever heard. It was definitely not the same one as before.
She stood up.
The blue-green beetle was indeed uncomfortably close, primly seated with her curved wings pricked up in interest. The other two were much further back. Unwillingly, her eyes darted down towards the destruction of the cave that the bijuu were still standing in, searching out the body of the only authority she knew on consuming human flesh. Zetsu was just a blur, the approximate size of a mouse. And still dead, definitely not very helpful.
"Hi." Aiko greeted meekly, not managing to raise her voice nearly as much as she'd intended. They couldn't possibly have heard her, but the lingering bijuu knelt and oriented toward her, a meaty red head cocking in curiousity. The red and mint green simian put one fist down on the ground without apparently noticing black plant and organic matter squishing up between its (his? Did bijuu have gender? Fuu had implied so) knuckles.
Aiko choked back bile at the casual destruction of half of Zetsu's corpse. Her stomach attempted to rebel. She forced it down. If she was going to die in a moment, it wouldn't be covered in her own vomit. She had some pride.
'The monkey looks a bit more intimidating from the front,' she decided, feeling the blood drain from her face. 'His face is angry.'
The insect demon shifted forward, iridescent wings catching the light and casting faint shadows over Aiko. "Brothers, my host liked this one," she chirped, the split wings that made up her shell twitching. "Little one, little one, you must be lucky. We could have stepped on you."
Perhaps the bijuu weren't as unaware of squishing Zetsu as they had seemed. That might actually be more intimidating than having done so on accident.
"I feel lucky," Aiko lied, trembling without a hint of shame. She was still a coward. Good to know. Things she couldn't fight were still scary. It made sense to be scared of things that were scary.
"Stepping is not the issue at hand." The hamburger demon rumbled. "A human should not have survived such proximity to our unrestrained chakra. What are you?"
"Um," Aiko said stupidly, not knowing where to go with that. She was human. Pretty sure. Her head wandered a bit, darkness sparking at the edges before she blinked and drew her attention back on the situation at hand.
"It's insignificant. What does this one care if the tiny beast was liked by your jailor?" The red monkey's lip curled in a snarl.
'That one is not a fan. The pretty insect looks like my in.'
The big horned hamburger monster was still an unknown.
"Nyah, Son Goku is grumpy." The beetle twisted its long body back to prod a wing affectionately at the hamburger thing. "Gyūki, discipline our little brother."
The monkey reeled up in offense.
Thankfully, the raw meat demon spoke first. "Calm yourselves, young ones."
Over the grumbled words, "You're minutes older than I" and a series of clicking sounds, it continued. "Human. What has happened here? Why are we gathered?"
"Oh my god," Aiko said faintly, trying to figure out how she would even begin to summarize this situation. The rock fragments in her surface wounds itched terribly as her accelerated healing worked to smooth over the blistered skin and inadvertently trapped shrapnel. That was going to cause a problem later, but she pushed the observation away.
"We are bijuu, not gods," hamburger demon confirmed mildly while the monke- no, Son Goku- grinned toothily.
'Sure, that's what I meant.' She gave a smile that definitely didn't reach her eyes and felt like falling over.
What exactly was he asking about? Did he know that Akatsuki had been collecting bijuu? He was the first trapped, so he could well be ignorant. And how much did the seven tails know? If she'd realized what Aiko had done, her reception would probably be different. So the genjutsu must have really done a number on her perception.
'I'm sure as hell not telling them that I was with the men in red and black,' she decided wildly.
She cleared her throat. "Are you aware that the organization called Akatsuki has been hunting jinchuuriki with the intention of capturing bijuu?" As she spoke, her faint tone picked up a little volume and strength.
"Obviously something to that effect," the eight-tentacled hamburger drawled, sounding unfairly cultured for someone so icky.
"Brothers?" The insect piped up, quietly confused. She tilted her head, staring at a bent leg. "I'm getting smaller. My chakra is being drawn away."
"Chomei!" There was a shocked growl from hamburger, and an indignant shriek from the monkey.
"What?" Aiko blinked. Oh, hell. If something weird was going to happen to one of them, she'd prefer that it was the unfriendly simian. Why would it be the beetle- oh. "I think I know why," she ventured, trying to raise her voice above the monkey's bellows. No one heard her, preoccupied as they were with examining the seven-tailed insect and arguing within themselves. "Hey!" she shouted, and then developed into outright shouting, waving a hand in a ploy for attention. "Excuse me, sorry! I think I know why-"
"Stop shouting," Chomei said disapprovingly. At her voice, the male bijuu stopped talking immediately. "Honestly, all of you are dramatic." She clicked, pincers twitching. "I'm being sucked in by a seal." By this point, she was half the size of her brothers, a difference that even Aiko could notice.
"That's what I was trying to say," Aiko explained, curling her fingers into the fabric of her pants. She glanced down nervously. "I brought Fuu, her jinchuuriki, back from the dead." She forced herself to look up, as if to show off her Rinnegan. "I didn't intend for the seal to be reformed, but I suppose it must have been a critical part of her chakra paths after bearing it for most of her life."
The insect sighed with a buzz, deflating. "I wanted to play." She gave a stretch, her wings going out straight behind her in a line. "I won't have much time to use my wings."
'At least she doesn't seem angry?'
"I'm sorry," Aiko offered ineffectually.
Chomei sighed, digging her pointed feet into the ground. "It's not as good as being free, but I love Fuu-chan. She's cute, isn't she?"
Aiko had a sudden moment of terror that the bijuu had noticed her checking out Fuu earlier. She blanched and searched desperately for a distraction.
Actually, there was something important that should be said.
"Ah! Um." She fumbled for words, her tongue feeling heavy and slow in her mouth. "B-before you go, Chomei-sama." Aiko swallowed. Why was it so hard to talk? She never had this hard of a time talking. "There's a man who, um. The man behind Akatsuki is an Uchiha and he said that he could hypnotize bijuu and I just thought you should know about him if you didn't already because-"
"Enough, little one." Chomei, now only about twice Aiko's height, flew closer to address her softly. "I am aware, but thank you. I can do little about him at this time. Brothers, be careful." The last bits of her chakra were wisping into the direction Fuu had gone, glittering on the wind.
'I bet Fuu is going to be surprised.'
When she was gone, the mon- Son Goku, best to use his name- leaned forward to take her place. At his full size, he was hundreds of times Aiko's bulk. Even when contorted so that his chin nearly scraped the ground, his eyes were a good three feet above her.
'So this is how it ends. I really never expected this.'
Really, she hadn't. Giant monkeys had never figured into her life plan in any capacity.
"Why does the small beast care?" He raised one side of his upper lip aggressively, showing off pointed teeth. "It released us. What does it have to gain from our freedom?"
Hopeless, all Aiko could say was the truth. "I just did that because Fuu asked me to." She swallowed, eyes fixed on those terrible teeth. "I. Uh. The Uchiha is, um, my enemy too, and so I just thought…"
"Its cringing bores me." Son Goku reared back dismissively, catching Gyūki's eyes. "Stupid beast. It is less worthy of breath and chakra than speechless apes."
"Brother," Gyūki intoned seriously, as if he was disappointed but knew that his brother was unrepentant. "Be kind." Before the monkey could respond, it turned its attention back to Aiko. "I thank you for your warning, despite the selfish intent behind the deed. Tell me, what has happened to the one they call B?"
It took her a long moment to figure out what he was talking about. "You mean your old jinchuuriki," Aiko breathed out, wracking her brains. "Um. He's been dead for a while. Longer than I remember. I don't know much, I had some-" she cut herself off. The bijuu didn't care about her medical history, why was she babbling? "Yeah. He's dead."
Aiko looked down at her feet and was mildly surprised to see that they were nearly white. Like, really white, and not just pale.
'I have natural camouflage,' she thought wildly, remembering that the rock dust on her skin had come from the same formation as the rubble coating the ground. Haha. Like a lizard. Shame it wasn't helping her hide right now. Maybe lizardyness would help later. Lizardlizardlizard there was something about lizards poking at her consciousness, but now was so not the time.
Gyuki sucked in a breath that took a good five seconds. When he spoke, his tone was an unaffected and factual. She didn't believe it for an instant. "You revived Chomei's jinchuuriki."
Well yeah, but she'd been dead for less than a month. B… that had happened a long time ago. Aiko wouldn't know where to find a sample of his genetic material to revive him. Unless maybe he had a sweetheart who kept a lock of his hair, like in a cheesy romance novel.
'What am I going to do; tell a bijuu no? That'd be stupid.'
She tried not to start giggling, because nothing was funny at all. "I can, um. I can try to do the same thing for B," Aiko offered. "Just not right now. I'm pretty dizz… I'm about to pass out."
The eight-tailed tentacle thing rumbled in reply, inadvertently shaking the ground and rattling loose rocks. Aiko herself was unbalanced, and would have fallen over entirely if she hadn't been jerked into a tall and unfortunately pointed rock that propped her up. As it was, she found herself seated with her shaking legs bent underneath her body and her body listing to the side, arms wrapped protectively around her torso. Sticky heat against her side told her that blood was pumping into her shirt from her still oozing hand.
'When did the scab get ripped off? The bleeding had stopped earlier.'
It was hard to ignore just how pitifully tiny and weak she was in comparison to the bijuu in front of her, and how very much she was at their mercy.
The eight-tailed demon did look a little apologetic at how he'd jarred her. "I will hold you to that, tiny human." Gyūki bent over so that its chin nearly scraped the ground, breathing fiery chakra dangerously close in some misguided attempt to put them on equal ground. Heat licked at her skin- was it possible to get sunburn from demonic chakra? Because her flesh felt tight and hot, like it should be a shiny peeling pink. Where she looked at it, it was splotched with red rashes that quickly healed themselves and were reformed from the chakra lingering by her body. Her head swam.
'So dizzy.'
"Well, this magnificent one cares not if the dirty little beast revives the pathetic jailors." The four tai- no, Son Goku loomed over her, swaying slightly as if it was considering leaping in one direction or another. "Do not revive mine, or I will squash you like the worm you are."
"Okay," Aiko agreed stiffly, trying not to think too hard about that. "I, um. You two should probably hurry, if you don't want to meet the Uchiha. He's probably on his way back." There was no way this had slipped his notice. He wasn't insensible.
Son Goku gave an ugly snorting sound that she didn't even try to interpret, but he gave a stretch and started walking without so much as 'good-bye'. Gyūki cast a disapproving look at his brother and granted her with a polite nod of farewell before he followed, each footstep shaking the ground.
'Well. At least they're not going to step on me right now.'
Judging by how flat Zetsu's corpse was, that wouldn't have ended well for her.
She took a moment to consider the merits of breaking out into hysterical giggles and curling up in the fetal position. It probably wouldn't help anything, but it still sort of seemed like a good idea.
She was so, so tired, and her head was just not cooperating with the logic that it should be using. She could just stay down. Running seemed impossible at the point, and she definitely could not muster up another jutsu without risking her life. Chakra exhaustion was playing with her muscles, tugging tendrils of darkness over her vision.
A glance up showed that the bijuu had set off south. There was nothing there but desert and then ocean, but she wasn't about to play travel agent. Bijuu could do what they wanted with no argument from her. She watched for just a little while- each enormous step took them hundreds of feet. Despite their obscene size, they were out of sight within minutes.
'I need to stand up. Now is probably the time to move.'
Thinking that didn't magically get her up off the ground. Pity. Laboriously, Aiko leaned forward enough to plant her palms on the ground and awkwardly struggled up that way, feeling pain ringing through her bones. Standing hurt so much. It beggared disbelief that she could feel so terrible but have so few visible injuries. One little cut on her hand and a rash from poisonous chakra- oh hey, that was fading again already. Was it normal to heal so quickly? Every step hurt, but she started climbing her way up out of the bowl shape that the bijuu had somehow formed when bringing down the cave.
'Oh, no.'
She didn't have to turn around to know that Obito had just kamui'd into the area. He wasn't bothering to conceal his chakra signature at all. Aiko sighed, feeling her shoulders curl in.
'It was a pipe dream anyway. At least the others got out. This isn't what I wanted, but maybe it's for the best. At least I can get closure.'
She was just so tired.
"Aiko!" his voice cracked. "Oh, thank god. We need to go, they're… close…" She turned to face him in time to see the relief filter out of his body language to be replaced with confusion. Obito's shoulders stiffened, and light glanced off his glittering red eyes when he subtly moved enough to survey the area for details on his second pass. She was too preoccupied to even wonder why he wasn't wearing his mask.
She had to admit that the scene was pretty damning. The squished remains of her minder were painting the rocks, still wrapped in the scraps of his cloak. And, you know, there were no enemies in sight.
"I left you two alone for less than an hour," he breathed in a tone of disbelief. "What happened?"
'Oh god. This is hard.'
She tried to speak, but apparently stuttering at bijuu had used up all of her courage. Instead, Aiko wrapped her thumb and forefinger around the ring she wore on her right thumb, working it off. She tossed it underhanded, letting it make a glittering arc where dying light caught it. Obito caught it in a gloved hand wordlessly. "I quit," she enunciated clearly through a strange thickness in her throat, sounding much braver than she felt.
There was a stunned silence. He broke it with the scuff of a sandal on rock. She flinched back, and instantly cursed the gesture.
"No. You- you did this." His voice was flat. "Did- did Zetsu attack you? Is that what happened?" He shook his head, taking a step toward her. "I knew I shouldn't have left you alone with him after-"
"After things we're not talking about?" Aiko prompted when he cut off, moving her feet to shoulder width. It looked aggressive, but the motion was more to keep from falling over than it was in preparation for a fight, honestly. She raised her eyebrow. "Like nonconsensual surgery? What the fuck was this about, Obito?" She wished her voice hadn't cracked tellingly on that, but managed to breathily push out, "Wasn't I good enough?" Her abused knuckles cracked when she clenched a fist against her thigh.
She couldn't tell if he was stunned into silence or trying not to roll his eyes at her.
'I'm pathetic. Oh god, if I cry now I won't stop.'
Fiercely determined, Aiko blinked hastily. That reminded her- she shut down the chakra filtered towards her eyes to conserve energy. Because she really couldn't afford to lose that chakra right now.
She genuinely had not done that to provoke Obito. That didn't change the completely unwarranted betrayal he felt when he saw her eyes turn black.
"You kept messing with that? I told you to leave well enough alone." Obito's voice was high and stiff. "Why couldn't you just listen to me? If you didn't have to fight me on every stupid little thing-"
"What are you talking about?" Aiko demanded, giving her head a brisk shake to clear it. That motion had the side effect of making her sway a bit. "I never fight you!"
"You do! Everyone does," he shouted, body tensing aggressively. "You- and stupid Bakashi- and your dad-"
'Wait. He said my dad was his teacher. Why would he have fought my dad?'
She didn't want to think about the fact that the fourth Hokage had died young under mysterious circumstances when a bijuu was released on Konoha. She did anyway. Aiko could actually feel the blood drain from her face. Her voice probably shouldn't have been as accusatory as it came out. "What did you do?"
It wasn't hard to guess. Obito hated Konoha, was obsessed with bijuu, and had the ability to control them.
'This was never about me at all, was it? He was just getting back at people like my dad and this Kakashi. I'm a pawn. Oh my god.'
She took a step back.
That was a terrible mistake. The frail hold Obito had over his temper snapped at the thought that she was about to run from him like she had when he'd come to Konoha for her own damn good. "Don't you dare run," he snapped, whipping a kunai at her in a standard opening move from their spars. "If you're going to fight me, fight me."
Well. That settled it.
'I'm going to die.'
On some level, she really hadn't believed that Obito would try to hurt her. But belief didn't stop kunai.
Aiko lurched to the side to dodge the blade, propelled more by panic than grace or coordination. Her body was shaking too much for that. She wasn't fast enough to dodge the next blow- a fuuton jutsu that came as a solid wall of air and flung her up like a ragdoll.
For a moment, she was nothing. Not even a feather, just a bit of weightless nothing suspended in the air. Aiko could see the millisecond that Obito started in shock at her failure to dodge something that would normally have posed no problem. It had been meant to herd her into close quarters fighting, not hit her.
And then she hit the ground, rolling and colliding with what felt like hundreds of rocks. Her arms convulsed defensively around her head, gaining filthy gouges and ugly scrapes and a jarred bone in her right elbow. That move saved her face and skull, but left her torso completely open. She didn't feel a thing as it happened, but she heard ominous cracking through the roaring in her ears.
The first thing she realized was that she had come to a stop, body twisted so that her face was looking up and to the left, but that her right hip was supporting her weight.
The next thing was the realization that breathing was difficult.
The sound she made when she inhaled was a raspy gurgle. And- and it didn't do what it was supposed to do, she wasn't getting any air. Panicked and winded, she tried again. Her stomach roiled and she coughed, vomiting except no, that was just warm blood trickling out of her mouth and painting the ground. A few seconds of effort was enough for her muscles to turn to shaking jelly.
'Well, this sucks.'
Black spots stole across her vision at about the same time that shock faded away and she realized that her left arm was visibly broken and that there was an incredible pain in her chest. She tried not to move.
She should have been terrified. But all she wanted to do was hold very, very still. Just for a bit. Maybe rest.
'Sorry, hamburger. I don't think I'll bring back your bee,' Aiko thought regretfully. She hadn't meant to lie, honest. She'd never lie to meat. She loved meat.
"Aiko?" Obito sounded like he was talking to her through water. "I didn't mean to- get up," he pleaded, voice wavering strangely.
She closed her eyes. And then jerked them open again with a wet shriek at the feeling of a hand laid gently on her shoulder, it hurt oh it hurt. Stricken, Obito pulled his hand back, eyes wide.
"I didn't mean to," he repeated brokenly. Aiko couldn't reply through the liquid in her throat, so she sort of gurgled and spat instead. Obito gave an odd little sob, shaking his head. "I… I don't know what to do. I could take you to a civilian hospital but that's not the same. Medic, you need a-" he cut himself off. "That Konoha team must have a medic," he said slowly, in a tone of unwilling realization. "They're very close. They'll come this way, but with a little persuasion they'll hurry."
Aiko was too far gone to question that naïve assumption, or what it meant that he would put her well-being ahead of his hatred for Konoha. She was having a hard time caring about anything at the moment, actually. The look on Obito's face managed to bring her down a bit.
"I can't believe I'm hoping Bakashi will help," Obito said, still sounding stunned. "I..." He began making handsigns with a dazed expression. "Friend killer. That's him. Not me."
She vaguely put together that he was talking about the once-mentioned incident where Kakashi had murdered their third teammate, before he tilted his head back, brought his hands up to his mouth, and blew.
Apparently, 'a little persuasion' meant shooting three grand fireballs directly up into the air, in what the Konoha team would undoubtedly interpret as an exceptionally sassy 'come and get me, big boys'. In fairness, it was likely to bring them running. It was just… That wasn't Obito's style at all.
'He's totally losing it.' She licked her lips and tried to say something, but that just wasn't happening. Breathing was hard enough. Instead, she curled her fingers slightly and brought her hand up. Obito took it wordlessly, red eyes fixed on her eyes with uncomfortable intensity. She rubbed her thumb along his fingers and tried to communicate with her eyes in combination with awkwardly formed sign language with the hand he was holding.
I know you didn't mean to.
She wouldn't say that it was alright, or not his fault. Nothing was alright, and everything that had led them here could be attributed to him. He'd notice the specific wording and that he wasn't forgiven. Just, you know, that he hadn't murdered her on purpose. Aiko wasn't about to start mincing words to spare his feelings now. Wasn't really her thing.
'What an impulsive idiot. It's amazing that I find him likable.'
A muscle contracted in his throat, lines moving in a way that she noted but couldn't compute at the moment.
"They're almost here," he promised, voice distant but eyes intently on her. It looked like he was memorizing her face. His own was pale, from what she could see through her eyelashes.
She managed to shrug one shoulder. It was hard to care right now, fuzzy as her thoughts were. Her attention kept drifting inward to wavering darkness, away from stupid ugly rocks and the rubble of that statue and her pathetically codependent friend. Wasn't it common sense that you shouldn't break things you don't want to live without? Dumb Obito. She sucked in a breath and then had to exhale immediately, grimacing at the convulsions her insides were going through in an attempt to force out the liquid.
'Which is sort of a shame, really, blood is important. I lost blood earlier,' Aiko remembered dully. Yeah, that was probably not good. 'Now would have been a good time for one of us to have the bare minimum of field medicine competency. Goddamn.'
Obito flinched. "I'm sorry," he repeated brokenly, bending over a little.
'Is that all he can say?' Aiko managed a frown. 'I think that if anyone should be throwing a fit, it'd be me.' Laboriously she twisted her body so that her weight was on her back. He rushed to help, propping her up into a seated position and helping her rest against the steep outcropping she'd fallen off of. Maybe it was in her head, but that change in position made it easier for her to croak out, "Crybaby."
He gave a startled laugh with more enthusiasm than the lackluster taunt deserved, fingers clenching around her hand.
She couldn't reply- the exertion of speaking had set her to coughing again, but this position was much better- it allowed her to actually hack up a good chunk of slimy blood to the left of her legs. It splattered on the underside of her calves.
'Ew.' Aiko cringed. 'But at least I'm not choking on it anymore.' Breathing was a little easier, at least momentarily. She was cheered for a moment. Then she remembered what that meant.
'Awesome. I'll survive drowning in blood and die of blood loss instead. At least my legacy will be that of an unparalleled jackass who accidentally released two bijuu on an unsuspecting desert. Awesome.' She paused thoughtfully. 'Poor lizards.'
It could be worse than blood loss. Instead of struggling, she'd sort of just fall asleep. There wasn't energy left in her body to be frightened or angry about that. Just resignment. She'd already died once, after all. Her time had run out. And at least this was less gross and scary than it could have been. Everyone dies. She'd go see the creepy death god again sooner than planned, that was all.
Judging by his state of upset and the litany of incoherent apologies that Obito was spouting off, he wasn't taking that fact with anywhere near as much dignity.
She drew her eyebrows down into a disapproving V. The hysterics weren't any more appealing than his earlier loss of temper had been. Aiko didn't know if that was the message he got exactly, but his face smoothed out into a better facsimile of professional detachment. It would have been more convincing if he'd let go of her hand.
Obito let out a long, shaky breath, and squeezed her hand just a little too tightly. "I." He swallowed. "I apologize. And it's not that- not what you said earlier," he babbled, averting his eyes.
Aiko didn't remember what he was talking about or know if he was apologizing for smacking her down a small mountain of rubble or for stealthy surgery. She closed her eyes. His voice was hurting her head. She wished he would stop talking and just let her rest.
There was a moment of silence. He took his hand off of hers. She only now noticed that she was cold. "I'll see you around," he promised shakily.
'Yeah right. Pretty sure this is the end of the line for me, buddy.'
It was cowardly of him to kamui away instead of waiting with her, but Aiko didn't entirely blame him. She was a coward too, after all. She hadn't wanted to hurt him either. His leaving was a relief. Without him hovering and talking at her, it was easy to slip under the veil of consciousness.
She opened her eyes a few minutes later, roused by the sounds of her own pathetic struggle for air. Or maybe not- multiple voices were ringing out not too far away, probably on the other side of the uplifted ring of rubble she'd fallen down. 'Oh my god, shut up.' They were far enough away that it was impossible to understand what they were saying, or maybe that was just the blood rushing in her ears.
Aiko waited patiently for approximately forty seconds before her blood began to boil. She'd never dealt well with frustration.
'Fucking rude, is what it is. Can't I die in peace?'
Irritable and in pain, Aiko struggled around and closed her right hand around a sharp rock the size of her palm with the hopes of hitting someone and making them suffer. Then she picked up one the size of her thumb, because she couldn't easily lift the first one. She couldn't see at all, but throwing it blindly over her head in the direction of the voices did a little bit for her pent-up aggression. The motion nearly overbalanced her, since her broken left forearm was completely useless as a brace. It was worth slumping to that elbow and being unable to sit back up properly. Supporting any weight on that arm hurt like a bitch, yeah, but satisfaction soothed all ills.
'I hope I hit one of them.'
She tried to cackle at the image that put in her head, but blood got in the way. She wheezed quietly for a few moments, face purpling. That soured her mood again. If they hadn't made her laugh at them, she wouldn't have disrupted her carefully shallow breathing patterns.
'Stupid bastards,' she thought viciously.
Granted, that was probably more her fault than theirs, but she was dying. She was allowed to be a little dramatic.
The voices had halted, and for one blissful minute she thought they were going to fuck off. Then they started back up again louder. Angrily, she scrabbled for another rock and banged it down in short bursts, using the sound code Obito'd known to demand quiet- and not all that politely, for that matter. Just moving stretched her skin painfully. She didn't appreciate the need.
Four bodies whooshed overhead and landed back to back in a diamond formation a few dozen feet off. Anticlimactically, they appeared to completely overlook the spot where she was slumped in the shadow of an overhang. Ugh, honestly. Stupid blurry jackasses couldn't do anything right.
She rolled her eyes and threw her glorified pebble at the closest chump, the one facing her- some dork in hooded pajamas. He caught it, of course, and his eyes went wide when he followed the path of flight back to her.
Aiko bared her teeth, taking advantage of the fact that they were covered in her own blood. It wasn't like she was going to get to use her usual method of persuasion- looking cute and harmless.
Pajamas took a startled step backwards, into what appeared to be a traffic cone in a Konoha flak jacket. The painfully bright shape staggered and twisted around, barely keeping Pajamas from falling. The two shinobi who'd taken the north and south points seemed to deflate in embarrassment, turning in the direction that the other two were already looking at. And they froze.
To be fair, she probably looked like shit. The parts of her that weren't covered in blood were coated nicely in small rocks and white dust. …That phrasing implied that there wasn't overlap. There was, but she sort of preferred not to think of bloody mud getting stuck under her nails and in her hair, ew. If she lived (ha! She didn't realize she was an optimist), she was never getting this shit out of her hair. Rock dust was worse than flour—she couldn't bear to look, but her hair was probably one stiff glutinous mass. Attractive.
"Do you need help?" Pajamas stammered, sandaled feet spread wide.
'Moron.'
She didn't want his help.
"No," Aiko hacked out, glowering. "I'm exactly where I want to be doing exactly what I want. This is the plan. Fuck off so I can die in peace." A disgracefully large portion of those words came out as wet gargles, but she thought she got her point across.
"Oh my god," a female voice said faintly. "Is that-" She cut off, apparently too horrified to finish her sentence.
'Stuck-up priss. Like you've never rolled around in blood.' Aiko felt oddly insulted, despite her personal assessment that she was indeed a hot mess. It was okay for her to say, not anyone else.
'That was rude. I bet you don't look so hot - with a rock in your face!'
She took a guess at the speaker and chucked another rock, managing to nail the vaguely grey spiky blob. It was either too slow or too stunned to move. 'I can die happy now, knowing that I mildly inconvenienced strangers.' She raised an eyebrow in challenge, trying not to snicker. She was almost glad they'd showed up. At least in her last moments, she got to be grumpy. Aiko showed her bloody teeth again. "What're ya gonna do, kill me?"
It was probably best for posterity that she passed out at that point before she managed to incriminate herself for that whole bijuu thing in front of the Kazekage's siblings.
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