Oddity
Chapter One
-Vacation-
Minako sat at the table with her family, eating the meal she had prepared earlier that day. She looked to her youngest daughter Ayame, who had become a Chuunin a couple years back. Her long, wavy auburn hair fell to her waist and was pulled away from her face in a clip, revealing her pale features and teal eyes. She was wearing her new ninja clothes that had been bought for her recently, as her other ones had become too small. Ayame took after her mother in build, and so practically overnight she had blossomed, now having the large, full chest of a woman. Her entire outfit was made of a dull pink, the top only covering one shoulder and scooping diagonally across her chest, mesh coming up from it and fastening around her neck. The sleeve that came off her shoulder hung down past her hand, with her forehead protector tied around her bicep. She had on leggings that went to her ankles, and a short skirt with long slits up the sides for easy movement, her kunai holster strapped around her right thigh.
The ebony haired woman then looked to her oldest child, who always seemed to have a bored look on her face. She was almost as tall as her father, and had a slight build. Her straight auburn locks were up in a high ponytail that ended in the middle of her back, her bangs brushing off to the right. Her clothes were blue, the top tight and sleeveless, stopping beneath her chest to reveal her flat stomach. She had on tight black shorts and a blue skirt, looking similar to her grandmother, Sabaku no Sakura. She wore fingerless gloves on her hands and her forehead protector on her right thigh, along with her kunai holster.
It was then Minako's blue gaze moved to her husband, Sabaku no Toshiro, the Sixth Kazekage of Suna. He looked exactly like his father, though his jade eyes were darker, thanks to his mother. Such thoughts had her missing her own family, as she hadn't seen either of her parents since Ayame completed the Chuunin Exams two years ago. Not to mention her grandfather was in poor condition, and she wanted to see him before it was too late. But she knew such a subject would have to be broached carefully, and so continued to look around the table at her family.
Noticing that nobody was catching her gaze, Minako sighed, twirling her fork in her pasta. "I sure miss mommy and daddy." She said, glancing at Toshiro. "It's been a while since we've seen them."
"Hell. No." Ami said before her mother could continue, looking up at her with hard teal eyes. "I can't stand Konoha, and I can stand our family there even less."
Minako pouted. "I just want to take a short trip there, like a family vacation. It would be fun."
"I agree with mom." Ayame smiled. "Besides, we never get to see our cousins, and I always have fun when we visit."
Ami crossed her arms. "I'm still not going. It's a stupid idea."
Minako looked at Toshiro then, who was still eating his dinner like nothing was going on. "What do you think Shiro-kun?" she asked sweetly, batting her eyes at him to help get him onto her side.
The redhead sighed and stood. "I think I'm going to finish eating upstairs." He said, grabbing his plate and walking out of the room before his wife could stop him.
"See, that means no." Ami smirked, returning to her meal. Minako frowned and stood.
"We'll just see about that." She huffed, turning and following after her husband.
Ayame looked to her sister. "Why don't you want to go? A vacation sounds nice."
She met her sibling's mirrored gaze. "If it were a vacation, we would be going to a different village where we had no family members, and could just relax. If we go to Konoha, I will not be able to relax at all."
"I don't know why you have that problem sister, since you don't possess any sand, the atmosphere shouldn't be that bad to you."
"I don't like all the love and Uchiha-worship that occurs in that stupid village. And grandpapa is an idiot, I don't understand how grandmother puts up with him." the elder said.
Just then Minako re-entered the room, a triumphant look on her face. "Girls, pack your bags, we leave for Konoha in two days' time." She announced, taking her seat and picking up her fork.
"Yay!" Ayame cheered, bouncing slightly in her chair.
Ami slammed her hands on the table as she stood, using enough force to cause it to shake. "What?" she shouted. "Daddy said yes? But he hates it there almost as much as I do!"
The ebony haired woman didn't even seem affected by her daughter's outburst. "Ami, your father is that Kazekage. And as a Kage, he is very busy, and will not have time to come with us to see family. So it's going to be a girl's vacation!" she smiled, absolutely thrilled with the idea.
Ayame gasped in delight. "That's even better! We can bond over our shared experiences and grow closer as a family!"
Ami's eye began to twitch as they continued to talk about all of the fun things they could do while on their little 'vacation'. Unable to take any more of this, she stomped out of the room and up the stairs, making a beeline for her father's study, where she knew he was. "Daddy!" she said, opening the door without knocking and stopping before the desk that the redhead was eating at. "How could you just give in to mom and her lame idea?" she asked, crossing her arms. "Do you want me to go crazy and commit suicide? Huh? Because I swear that's what's going to happen if I'm stuck with them in that frilly green place with all those arrogant, self-centered people. Not to mention grandpapa."
"I don't know why you hate it there so much, you're not like a fish out of water the way Ayame and myself are." The elder sighed, really not in the mood to deal with his trouble-stirring eldest. "Besides, aunt Natty loves it there, and she's from Suna, and your mother really wants to spend time with you girls."
"Then why can't we do it somewhere where I won't have to deal with our family?" she whined, letting her arms fall to her sides. "And you're not even going, so I won't have anything to do. Because mom is going to be all about hanging out with her family and aunt Sumi, and Ayame gets along with everyone, so she'll be busy the whole time. I'll be all by myself, and-" she paused, a devious smile coming to her face then.
"And?" Toshiro raised a brow, not liking the things that look could lead to on any woman in his family.
Ami began to laugh then, though it sounded a bit maniacal. "And I'll be left alone!" she announced, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. "I can just have my own vacation all by myself!" she giggled, flitting around the room as if this was the best thing in the world. "All I have to do is say hi to everyone, go to a few events, and voila! Me time!" she ran over and kissed the redhead on the cheek. "Thanks daddy! I love you!" she said, leaving the room as quickly as she had entered.
Toshiro blinked, staring at the door to his office, now very, very confused. "What just happened?" he asked himself before returning to his meal.
About a week later, Minako and her two daughters arrived in Konoha. "I'm so glad you changed your mind Ami." The ebony haired woman smiled over at her eldest daughter. "This vacation is going to be so much fun."
"Uh huh." Ami nodded absentmindedly, already wondering how soon she could ditch her mom and sister.
"And I bet grandmother has a yummy meal planned for us, and has our rooms ready and everything!" Ayame smiled.
This made Ami blink. "What? You mean we're not staying in a hotel?"
"Of course not sweetie." Minako waved her off with a laugh. "This is a family vacation after all, and your grandparents have more than enough room for us."
Ami blew a few stray wisps of hair from her face in slight aggravation. This put a bit of a hitch in her plans, but as long as she was gone for most of the day, things shouldn't be too much of a problem. It didn't take too long to arrive at their grandparent's house, and when they did, their grandmother was the one to answer the door. "Girls, it's so wonderful to see you." the elder woman said, holding her arms open for a hug.
Minako and Ayame stepped into the embrace, and Ami just sighed. But before she could move away, her sister grabbed her and yanked her into the group hug. "I missed you grandmother!" Ayame smiled.
"We all did." Minako laughed.
"Naruto-kun and I have been looking forward to your arrival ever since you wrote us." Hinata informed them as she stepped back to allow them inside the house. "He's over teaching a class at the academy today. It's good for him to be with the kids." She said as they walked into the living room.
"You mean so he can act like one and not look like a freak?" Ami asked in a bored tone.
"Ami." Minako frowned, before looking back at her elder. "Well we'll just go put our stuff in our rooms and then we can all catch up while waiting for daddy to come home." She said.
"Alright." Hinata smiled. "I'll go and prepare some tea." She said, turning and heading towards the kitchen.
Ami followed her mother and sister up the stairs to the bedrooms. "Mom, can Ayame stay with you?" she asked, since there was only one guest room, along with her mother's old room and her grandparent's room.
Ayame stopped and blinked, looking up at her sister with wide eyes. "You don't want to share with me sissy?"
"Ami, you're sharing with your sister." Minako said with a tone of finality.
"But mom, I'm eighteen. Do you know how lame it is to have to share a room with your little sister at my age?"
"Not as lame as it is for someone my age to share a room with their mom." Ayame quipped, opening the door to their room and heading inside. Ami sighed and followed after her sister, knowing she wouldn't win this battle. She threw her bag onto her bed while Ayame placed her gourd against the wall. Then she walked over to the window and slid it open.
"Tell mom I went to get some fresh air."
The younger girl frowned. "Don't you want to stay and rest while we talk to grandmother? We are here for a family vacation after all."
She snorted. "Yeah, and the vacation doesn't officially start until tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll be back in time for dinner." She said, before climbing out the window and leaping onto a nearby roof.
She got away from the house as quickly as she could, slowing only when the shopping district came into view. A small smile came to her face. Today she could window shop, and tomorrow just breeze through the stores and buy what she'd already found. After that she could stop for a quick bite to eat at one of the local restaurants, and then meet her mom and Ayame over at her aunt and uncle's house, where they would be having dinner. It was perfect.
She wandered around the streets for a while, mentally listing the things she wanted to get. Suddenly she could sense a familiar chakra signature, and she froze. Crap. She glanced around, spotting the source a ways down the street. It was her cousin Noriaki, and he was with two of his friends. One of them she had met before, as he was dating her other cousin, Izayoi. He had grey eyes and white spiky hair, though the bottom half of it was black. She searched her mind for his name, but remembered that at the time she didn't care enough to listen when they'd been introduced.
But she'd never seen the other one. This boy had light brown hair that fell around his kind face, framing his fuchsia eyes nicely. He was slender, like her cousin and the man with him, but was slightly taller than the other two. They were all laughing, and didn't seem to notice her, which was good. Ami quickly concealed her chakra and ducked behind a vendor selling elegant scarves and sashes.
"Hello madam!" the merchant boomed, startling her. "Would you like to buy a veil?" he smiled. "I bet we can find the perfect one to match your stunning eyes!"
"Shut it old man." Ami hissed, peeking out to make sure she hadn't been found out. "I'm not here to buy anything." She searched for her cousin, and, not spotting him, let out a breath of relief. He was gone.
She straightened and walked back onto the street in the direction she had been going in, a pleased smirk on her face. Then she turned a corner and ran into a hard body, causing her to stumble backwards a bit. When she looked up, it was to meet the amused gaze of the man she had been trying to avoid, his two friends behind him. "Damnit." She cursed, a frown coming to her face. She'd thought she'd lost him.
"Not exactly the greeting I would expect from you cousin." The Uchiha triplet smirked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Ami rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Well I obviously wasn't going out of my way to say hello to you."
"Yeah but your hair makes you kinda obvious. And you didn't conceal your chakra in time for Nori not to catch a whiff of it." the white haired boy snickered.
"Exactly." The Uchiha snickered, "And here I thought you got better with age Mimi. Guess the lack of weight in your chest had more effects than first presumed."
She glared at him. "Whatever Nori. At least I'm not walking down the street laughing and looking like a queer." She said. "Along with two other equally as gay looking people."
"I resent that." The first boy huffed, crossing his arms. "Me dating Izayoi is definite proof that I am as straight as they come."
Ami raised a delicate brow. "Or a fool proof plan to keep people from knowing the truth."
"I think everyone needs to just calm down and relax." The brunette sighed, holding his hands up in a placating manner. He stepped between his friend and the girl, seeing that at the insult of his sister even pretending to be someone's girlfriend Noriaki was about to blow. "Hi, I'm Akechi Hideaki." The boy smiled, pushing Noriaki back slightly before he offered his hand to Ami.
She blinked in momentary surprise. He was much more attractive than she had initially given him credit for, now that he was practically invading her personal space. At a loss for what to do, as she was momentarily stunned by how kind his eyes looked, she wiped any and all expression off of her face. She needed to get out of here now before she embarrassed herself. "Okay." She said, moving her gaze back to Noriaki. "See you at dinner tomorrow, cousin." She waved over her shoulder as she turned and walked away from the group of boys.
Hideaki blinked and looked back at his friends, "Well she was rude."
"Yeah." Noriaki sighed, scratching the back of his head. "She's just pms-ing cause' she's a flat chested, sand-less Sabaku descendent."
"So what can she do?" Kai asked, looking at his friend.
"She's strong like my grandma and aunt Tomi, I think she can heal. But she got the other, retarded end of the gene pool." The Uchiha chuckled. "You know old Naruto is a doofus."
Kai laughed. "Yeah, he is."
"Well I'm hungry." Hideaki said simply, touching his stomach. "Let's get something."
"Agreed." Noriaki nodded. And so the trio headed off to get something to eat.
Ami let out a sigh as she brought her covers up under her chin. Dinner had been terrible, of course, because her grandpapa, mother, and sister didn't shut up the entire time. And her grandmother just sat there and smiled, chiming in every once in a while. How could such a quiet woman live with such a loud man? Though, they did say love was blind, so it's possible that it could be deaf as well.
Ayame came out of the bathroom then and got into the bed next to her. When she tugged on the comforter , Ami tugged back. "Sissy, quit hogging the covers." The younger girl whined slightly.
"Quit using an unnecessary amount of them to cover yourself with." She replied.
Her sister sighed. "Just because you aren't happy about this vacation doesn't mean you need to ruin it for the rest of us."
"As long as you guys leave me alone I'll be fine." Ami said, clenching her eyes shut and willing herself to go to sleep. The moment when she had run into Noriaki and his friends came to mind at Ayame's words. She really could have been nicer to that boy. It wasn't like he had done anything to make her angry. It was her stupid cousin and his cracks about her chest. But she had been so flustered, anything that she could have said would have sounded stupid.
Another sigh left her lips as she got over her momentary guilt. Tomorrow was a big day. After all, she had a lot of shopping to do before going to what was sure to be a terrible dinner with her cousins.