Kitsune no Ken GAIDEN Chronicles
Written by Neon Majestic
(DISCLAIMER: The Naruto franchise and the characters therein belong to and were originally created by Masashi Kishimoto.)
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GAIDEN 01 – Playful Mouse
(N.B. This Gaiden chapter takes place during the time-skip in which Naruto is off training with Minato.)
1:15 p.m.
Rain was falling on the roof of the Hyuga mansion, and all around the grounds surrounding the hilltop structure was soaked. The weather forecast that morning had called for afternoon showers, and now Konoha Town was getting a good watering as had been promised by the weatherman. Yet for all the pitter-patter of the drops on the roof, the work of the household staff as they busied themselves with their regular duties was not disturbed for the sound of the rain.
But being stuck indoors during rainy weather tended to make Hinata rather bored.
Hyuga Hinata, the elder daughter and immediate main heir of the patriarch Hyuga Hiashi, was lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling. She had tried napping, in an effort to make the time pass more quickly, but sleep refused to come to her.
She couldn't think of any way to sate her boredom. She wondered for a moment if she should go into the family's library and peruse any of the books there…but then she remembered that her sister Hanabi was already in there and had basically claimed the room as her territory. Her father Hiashi was still at work, and her cousin Neji had gone out for the day, presumably to spend time with his friend Lee. And Hinata had enough consideration for the household staff not to disturb them as they went about their duties…no need to distract them just because she couldn't do much of anything while the rain limited her scop of activities.
Leaning as far back into her pillows as she could, she decided to let her mind wander a little. And it went wandering on people.
The first person her thoughts went to was the one she held a special place in her heart for—blond hair, whisker-like scars on both cheeks, and a mischievous grin. Uzumaki Naruto was out of the area now, recuperating from the injuries he'd sustained at the hands of the terrorist group Akatsuki, and expected to receive training from his father Minato, if he hadn't started already. Hinata smiled as she allowed her thoughts to linger on the boy on whom she'd had a crush from the first day she'd seen him...then, a bit reluctantly, she let her mind wander to other people known to both of them.
Uchiha Sasuke-kun...cool, direct, and son of Father's main business rival, but he was certainly willing to help Naruto-kun when Akatsuki had him in their clutches. Yamanaka Ino...my best friend, and also Naruto-kun's first friend when he first arrived here in town...Uzumaki Kushina-san, Naruto-kun's mother, a woman of timely wisdom and filled with love for her family...and...
Hinata's mind ran to another person...this one much closer to home. Yugito-san...
She'd met the woman, Nii Yugito, a good while back, at the Hyuga family's annual socialite party. Yugito had been a former acquaintance of Naruto's...to be more exact, a former member of the infamous Nine Terrors, just as he had been. As unlikely as it would have seemed, Hinata had gotten to know Yugito a little better, on her own initiative, and there had begun an association…nay, now, a close friendship...one that Hinata would have thought of as odd once upon a time, given Yugito's background, but which she now valued highly, seeing as Yugito had been helping her to grow and mature both as a fighter and as an individual.
Hinata thought back to when she'd first made proper acquaintance with Yugito. When they had met at the party, Yugito had presented herself as a no-nonsense woman and a government operative who was there to warn Naruto about the machinations of Akatsuki. The next time the two met, Hinata discovered three things about the blond-haired woman: that she was a woman of significant means, which was no small asset when it came to residing in a room at the illustrious Samsara Hotel for longer than a few days; that she was quite unashamed of her own good looks, as evidenced by her complete lack of embarrassment when Hinata caught her taking a shower in an artificial waterfall on the terrace of her high-rise penthouse suite; and that she had a sense of humor and wasn't above teasing the teenager as she saw fit. The seriousness did not completely subside, though, as Yugito made clear while enlightening Hinata about what she knew of the circumstances of the 365 days, and then when she agreed to become Hinata's trainer in self-defense, at the latter's request.
And Yugito was quite a stern trainer, too; not a few times since they'd started training together had Hinata sustained multiple bruises, been knocked flat on her butt, and been forced to practically apply the lessons Yugito was quite literally beating into her. Outside of their training sessions, Hinata came to realize, Yugito was very affable, if grave at times; inside training, she embodied the drill-sergeant mindset. That she had been a detective-sergeant of police prior to the 365 days likely had something to do with it as well, Hinata felt sure.
But even with the harshness of their training sessions, a bond had developed between the two girls. Hinata, for her part, was gradually seeing Yugito as a big sister; almost like a mother...a little stricter than she remembered her own late mother being, to be certain, but still a role model nonetheless. Hinata knew, too, that Yugito truly did care about her, in her own way. The moments of teasing...the smiles of approval...even during training, the effort to ensure Hinata understood the concepts being taught to her...Hinata didn't know if Yugito had ever put out that kind of effort for anyone else before, except maybe Naruto—and even in that case, they'd been united by the common factor of being members of the Nine Terrors who had fought just to keep from being killed during the year of chaos.
It hadn't been very long since Yugito had moved into the Hyuga mansion, on a temporary basis since the Samsara Hotel was still doing repair work on the section of the suite hallway that had been damaged from the fight between Sasuke's brother Itachi and Akatsuki member Kyusuke. This current arrangement worked well for both of them, as Hiashi had taken on Yugito to serve as a bodyguard of sorts for Hinata; it meant that they were in constant close contact with each other, instead of one having to travel any significant distance across town to meet with the other. It also worked in that, being in such close contact on a daily basis, the two could eat together, socialize together, and even use the spacious back yard to train together.
Except, at the moment, the back yard was rained out, so training was out of the question until the weather eased up.
Yugito had contributed a good degree of her time and energy to help Hinata, the heiress knew well. And she was grateful for the effort the ex-cop had put forward to help her get stronger and come more out of her shell.
Aw, damn it, still bored…
Hinata sighed, listening for a while to the rain falling outside, as she allowed her thought-train to travel. Thought after thought came to mind, with each being dismissed as quickly as it came. "What am I supposed to do right now?" Hinata asked quietly.
The background noise of the falling rain filled the silence for a moment.
Hmm…I wonder...what if I…
Carefully throwing her sheets off her person, Hinata slipped out of bed and padded to the bedroom door, opening it as gently as she could and looking out. From her immediate vantage point, she could see two maids dutifully working in the living room downstairs; there was no sign of anyone else in the immediate vicinity. Nodding, Hinata walked with catlike tread along the passageway and toward the place where she knew Yugito's room was. In a moment she approached the woman's bedroom door, and only then paused and looked at the doorknob for a long moment.
Should I even...
Taking a deep, quiet breath to steel herself, she reached forward and tried the doorknob. She didn't know if Yugito had locked her bedroom door; if she did, the door would not give, and thus, no harm, no foul. If not...
She turned the doorknob as gently as she could so as not to make any undue noise. She felt the mechanisms giving way...then she carefully pushed the door open a bit and looked inside.
Just inside the door was Yugito's queen-sized bed, with the woman herself lying on her back, her head turned away from the doorway, her hair not in a ponytail as usual, but completely loose and spread out on the pillow. The sheet was drawn up to Yugito's rather sizeable chest, and the outline of her breasts could plainly be seen as she breathed softly in her nap. Carefully, so as not to disturb her home's guest, Hinata slipped inside and shut the door as softly as she could, before turning and stepping toward Yugito on the same cat-like tread. In a moment she was standing over Yugito's resting form, looking down at her instructor.
She looks so peaceful...and yet...like this, almost vulnerable...
Hinata considered the matter. She wasn't certain it would be a wise idea to just reach out and shake Yugito to determine if she was really asleep; aware of what horrors Yugito had had to endure during the 365 days, the heiress was willing to bet that the ex-cop might be a PTSD sufferer and thus might lash out at anyone who tried to wake her roughly and unduly. And yet, Hinata did not know her to be a sufferer of bad dreams, plus she directly remembered how Yugito had told her that the only reason she'd been able to come upon the older woman in that same waterfall-shower scenario was because Yugito let her. So, she reasoned, if Yugito had truly not desired for anyone to come in on her here, she would have made sure of it by whatever means she saw fit.
"Yugito-san..." Hinata called softly, testing the waters.
There was no response, but she saw Yugito shift her head slightly.
Hinata studied the older woman's face a little more. Even in sleep...she's beautiful.
She made her decision.
Carefully, she reached down and pulled the sheets up from Yugito's feet. In the soft glare of the rain-filtered sunlight from outside the window, Yugito's well-pedicured toes came into view. Hinata studied them for a moment; many a time during their training sessions together, Yugito had balanced her body on these same toes to teach Hinata how to keep her balance during a fight. In sparring sessions, these feet were strong, sturdy…now, they were…
Hinata couldn't help the slight smile that came over her face. With a little bit of mischief in her eyes, she carefully lowered herself and, experimentally, she placed the tip of her fingernail on the top of Yugito's big toe and gently drew the finger down the older woman's sole.
"…mmm…" The sound came from Yugito's throat so quietly that Hinata only barely caught it.
Stifling a chuckle, Hinata added two more fingers and let them travel up and down Yugito's sole. Yugito, eyes still closed, grunted and drew her leg up and out of Hinata's reach, turning onto her side; that act, however, left her other foot still uncovered and within reach. Hinata shook her head lightly as she observed this, and readied her fingers again.
What the hell am I even doing? I swear, Yugito-san's rubbing off on me in a bad way…
Her fingertips moved swiftly but lightly, caressing the flesh of Yugito's other foot-bottom.
"…tickles…" Yugito murmured, but otherwise didn't stir.
This woman's mischievous nature is definitely rubbing off on me, Hinata thought to herself. But if the sensei can have a playful side…
Her index finger moved in circular patterns around Yugito's instep.
"…cut it out…baka Itachi…" Yugito's foot shifted, as did her shoulders.
Hinata's ears pricked up at the mention of Itachi's name. Yugito seemed to have some…interesting thoughts about Sasuke's older brother, it would seem.
The Hyuga's fingers kept moving up and down.
"…pervert Itachi…gonna castrate you…" Yugito mumbled, only now bringing her leg up to join her other one.
Hinata silently gave thanks she was not Itachi.
She dared to go a step further, reaching up and slipping the tip of her index finger in between Yugito's toes. She heard Yugito's slight gasp, and the older woman's feet shifted again, this time going completely under the sheets Hinata had drawn up earlier. "Perverted bird-brain Itachi," Yugito mumbled.
Hinata decided to break the charade. She stood up and moved to the head of the bed, bringing her mouth down to Yugito's ear. "Yugito-san..." she whispered.
"Mmm..."
Hinata watched as Yugito's brow furrowed, though her eyes stayed shut. "It's me—Hinata," she supplied.
The corners of Yugito's eyes moved a little...then her eyes slowly opened, blinking awake. "Hinata...?" she asked, her voice clearly groggy from having just awoken. "What is it...?"
Hinata let her smile show in full. "Seems you think quite a few perverted things about Itachi-san."
"Because Itachi's a perv—" Yugito said automatically, before stopping to register what Hinata had just said. "…wait, what?"
The younger woman giggled. "The things you say in your sleep."
The rest of Yugito's sleepiness vanished in that moment. "Wait…Hinata…what did you just do?"
"I caught you in an extremely vulnerable position, Yugito-san," Hinata said with a lot of innocence in her tone.
At that moment, Yugito could feel a sort-of-prickly sensation in the bottoms of her feet. She looked down at them, covered as they were by her sheet, then at Hinata. "And your reason was…"
"Because the kitty-cat's playfulness has rubbed off on her favorite little mouse." Hinata had deliberately chosen her words.
Yugito stared at Hinata…then seconds later a fit of chuckling overcame the ex-cop. "Am I that bad an influence on you, young lady?"
Hinata's smile got a little wider. "Nobody to blame but yourself, playful cat."
"I suppose so," Yugito conceded. "But in any event…" She fixed a direct look on the Hyuga heiress's face. "Playtime is over now, okay, little mouse? Just to pay you back for that, we'll have an even more intense training session after the rain lets up."
"Yes, ma'am," Hinata nodded assent, though the smile didn't leave her face even as she bowed briefly in farewell and then exited the room.
Shaking her head as she watched the dark-haired girl leave, Yugito settled back onto her pillow…while making a mental note to start wearing socks to bed from now on.
OoOoO
END GAIDEN 01
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NEON MAJESTIC: Yes, I did this chapter's plot on purpose. Yes, it will be canon to the main story, since it is a gaiden chapter. No, I am not going to do anything more perverted than this. No, I do not know if I will reference this in the main story's narrative.