Alrighty, everybody, sorry for the long wait. I've just been really busy here in the Army and I left my old computer at home so I haven't been able to work on my other fanfics. Fortunately, I should be getting that computer back soon so expect to see more of 'An Honorable Thief' soon. As for this one, quick couples list:
Temari+Shikamaru=Shikage. Age 7
Naruto+Hinata=Ki'iro. Age 7
Ino+Sai=Kurotsubaki. Age 6
Sakura+Lee=Iwa. Age 10
Neji+Tenten=Hizashi. Age 8
Konohamaru+Moegi=Asuma. Age 3
Alright. Let the story begin
It had been a long time since he'd taken a leisurely trip to Konoha. Shikamaru and his family gazed on Konoha's main gate as they entered the village. They passed through the gate and their eyes were assaulted by the color red. It was Valentine's Day in Konoha and the whole village was getting in the spirit. Hearts were displayed in every store while the smells of chocolate and perfume filled the air.
"Jeez, this place is an assault on your senses." Temari complained, but continued to smile
"Too much red." Shikage, their daughter, agreed; her eyes scanning the village.
"All you two do is complain…such a drag." Shikamaru moaned.
"And what do you call what you're doing?" Temari asked, a sly smile on her face.
"Whatever, let's go." Shikamaru muttered and stepped off, Temari and Shikage in tow.
"Are you ready to see Kurotsubaki again?" Temari asked Shikage.
"Extremely!" Shikage she exclaimed. "I can't wait to show her my puppets."
Temari smiled at her daughter. Her dark, blonde hair hung to her shoulders and her dark, blue eyes were wide with excitement. Temari reached down and grasped her hand.
"Let's hurry, we don't want to keep her waiting." She said and they rushed to catch up with Shikamaru.
Kurotsubaki sat by the door, patiently awaiting the Nara's arrival. In her hand she held a stack of papers, the top one being a letter from Shikage and the others were her most recent drawings. Her blue eyes moved to the window, checking for life for the hundredth time. She sighed and her light, blonde hair shifted on her pale skin.
"Ka-san, what time is it?" she called.
"Don't worry, honey. They'll be here soon enough." Ino called from the kitchen where she and Sai were preparing breakfast.
"Do you want to show me your pictures again?" Sai called from the griddle where he was flipping pancakes.
"No, To-san. You've already seen them."
"I wouldn't mind seeing them again." Sai offered.
"No, To-san."
"Should I be offended by that?" Sai muttered to Ino.
"Nah, she's just excited." Ino laughed.
Sai shrugged, but something caught his eye at the window.
"Oh, guess who it is!" Sai said as the door burst open.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" Sakura shouted from the door.
"Hey, Billboard-Brow! Ever heard of knocking!" Ino laughed as she ran to greet the Harunos.
"That was a knock, Ino-Pig. Not my fault your door opens easily." Sakura laughed as she hugged Ino.
"You and that damned monster strength."
"How have you been, Ino-chan?" Lee asked from behind Sakura.
"I've been fine, Lee. How about you?" Ino said, pulling Lee into a hug.
"Fantastic! Iwa and I have been training every day. He is even stronger than I was at his age."
Ino looked down at Iwa. His hair was the same as Lee's but his eyes were Sakura's. He also shared Lee's fashion sense, the bright green body suit proudly displayed.
"Even stronger than To-san! You must be training hard." Ino said.
"Hai, Yamanaka-san! I train with To-sama and Ka-sama all the time and then I play with Hizashi."
"Well aren't you the little athlete. Come in, come in." Ino gestured and they all went inside.
"You wanna play with Kurotsubaki-chan?" Sakura asked Iwa.
"Ka-sama…" Ino whined.
"Give her a chance." Sakura smiled.
"I have, Ka-sama, but she doesn't like me."
"I doubt that. Go ask her what she's holding." Sakura said, giving Iwa a little push.
Iwa reluctantly approached Kurotsubaki who didn't even look away from the window.
"H-how are you today, Kurotsubaki-chan?" Iwa began.
"Fine." She said curtly.
"What are you holding?"
"Nothing."
"Poor guy." Ino said from the kitchen. "He tries so hard, but that daughter of mine is so cold."
"Men only grow stronger with the rejection of women right?" Sakura laughed.
"So that is why you rejected me so often when we were children!" Lee said.
"Still I wish she'd be more sociable." Ino said, ignoring Lee.
"She'll grow out of it. I did." Sai said from the griddle.
Sakura and Ino shared a look and giggled.
"So who else is coming to the party?" Lee asked.
"The Nara's should be here soon if they didn't get caught in a sandstorm , the Hyuuga's should be on their way and the-"
"Uzumakis right!" a loud voice said from the door.
"Doesn't anyone know how to knock in this village?" Ino laughed and ran to greet the guests again.
"I-I tried to tell him it would be rude." Hinata muttered.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad he didn't Rasengan my door." Ino laughed.
"I wanted to do that!" Ki'iro said.
"Ki'iro-chan!" Ino cried and scooped the girl into her arms. Her long, dark hair mixing with Ino's blonde and her lavender eyes sparkled with joy. "You get cuter every time I see you."
"Thank you, Yamanaka-san! Is Hizashi here yet?"
"Not yet, but Iwa and Kurotsubaki are."
"Yay!" Ki'iro squealed and jumped out of Ino's arms.
"How have you been?" Ino asked Naruto and Hinata as they walked to the kitchen.
"We're doing ok. Konohamaru-I mean Nandaime Hokage, has been working hard so as his advisor, I've been working hard." Naruto said.
"I still can't believe he's Hokage now and I still can't believe you stepped down from the position." Ino said.
"Well I wanted to spend more time with Ki'iro as she grew up and to be perfectly honest…it was a lot of work. Ah, Sakura, Sai, Lee! Good to see you!"
"Hi Iwa-kun, Kurotsubaki-chan!" Ki'iro said sitting between the two.
"Ki'iro-chan, nice to see you!" Iwa said.
"Hello." Kurotsubaki muttered absent- mindedly.
"She's been like that the whole time?" Ki'iro asked behind her hand.
"Mhm. I'm really happy you're here."
Ki'iro giggled. "What kind of training have you been doing?"
"To-sama has been teaching me his Strong Arm Technique and Ka-sama has been teaching me chakra control. I can almost use them at the same time."
"Wow! Ka-san has been teaching me some of the Gentle Fist and To-san said he'd teach me the Rasengan soon."
"The Rasengan! I wish he'd teach me!"
"Uzumaki's only." Ki'iro giggled.
"I wish Kurotsubaki would be more like Ki'iro." Ino said from the kitchen.
"Why? She seems ok to me." Naruto said.
"Well you like gloomy girls so I'm not surprised." Ino said making Hinata blush.
"What's that supposed to mean!" Naruto shouted, "Besides, there's nothing wrong with being a little gloomy. After all, Sai got you and Hinata got me so being gloomy can't be too bad."
"I'll be Iwa will rub off on her sooner or later." Sakura said.
"If not him, then the first boy she gets a crush on." Sai said.
"That's a scary thought." Ino shivered.
Everybody laughed so nobody noticed as the Hyuuga's swept in and joined the laughter.
"What's for breakfast?" Neji asked.
The laughter changed to yells of excitement and happiness as Neji and Tenten were greeted. Hinata hugged her cousin and Tenten glomped Lee.
"That's it!" Ino yelled over the commotion, "I'm just gunna take my door off its hinges!"
Everybody laughed and settled at the table.
"So where is Hizashi?" Naruto asked. "Ki'iro was really excited to see him."
"You really can't hear them?" Tenten asked.
"Hizashi!" Ki'iro squealed and glomped her cousin. She collided with him and her red hair mixed with his dark, brown hair.
"It's good to see you, Ki'iro." Hizashi said, rubbing his chest.
"Your eyes still haven't changed color?" Ki'iro asked.
"Nope…they're still brown, but I have some of the same powers as you do." Hizashi said, excitement in his voice.
"Like what?" Iwa said, eager to know his rival's techniques.
"I can see behind me and really far away."
"Can you see through things?" Ki'iro asked, her Byakugan activating. "I can see all the adults in the kitchen."
"N-no…I can't do that." Hizashi said, a slight annoyance in his voice.
"You probably will. You just need to practice." Ki'iro said brightly.
"You think?" Hizashi said, excitement back in his voice.
"Sure!"
"Hizashi, we have not fought for a while. Let's go spar for a bit!" Iwa challenged.
"You're on!
"Me too!" Ki'iro declared.
"Let's g-" Iwa began but was cut off by an ear splitting squeal. All the adults came rushing into the room only to find Kurotsubaki at the window.
"Ka-san! They're here! They're here!"
"I must be losing my touch." Shikamaru sighed after all the 'hellos' had been said. "I was actually trying to sneak up."
"Or maybe my daughter is just that good." Ino said, hugging Shikamaru.
"If she's learning from you, then I'm sure she is." Shikamaru said, making Ino blush.
"Shikage, look at all the flowers I drew!" Kurotsubaki was squealing.
"Let me show you my puppets first!" Shikage said, pulling two little mannequins out of her bag. She made a seal and her shadow extended to them and they began to move.
"Uncle Kankuro's been teaching you, eh?" Temari smiled as everyone marveled at the puppet.
"Well how about this?" Kurotsubaki said and pulled out one of her pictures. She made a seal and pulled the flower right off the paper. "This is a Midnight Rose. One touch of its thorns and you'll fall straight asleep."
"But isn't it just ink?" Shikage asked reaching out to touch it, but Kurotsubaki pulled the flower away, a dangerous smile on her lips.
"It's a variation of my Beast Scroll Jutsu that she developed." Sai explained.
"Is anybody home?" a voice asked from the door.
"Finally a person who has some manners…but who is it?" Ino wondered. She went to the door and immediately bowed. "Hokage-sama!"
A silence fell on the room as Konohamaru, Moegi and they're three year old son, Asuma, entered. "I hope we're not too late." He said, clearly embarrassed by the awkward silence.
"Not at all!" Naruto said and went to shake Konohamaru's hand. "Sorry, everybody. I forgot to tell you that I invited Nandaime."
"Please, just call me Konohamaru." He said, removing his Hokage hat.
"Naruto, you idiot!" Ino and Sakura shrieked and punched him in the head. "How could you forget that you invited the Hokage! Not that we're not happy to have you Hokage-sama." Ino added quickly.
"Sorry, I was just so excited about getting everybody back together." Naruto apologized lamely.
"If I'm a bother-" Konohamaru began.
"Not at all, Hokage-sama! Let me prepare you a plate." Ino said and rushed to the kitchen.
"Hope we have enough food." Naruto muttered.
"If it's all the same Rokudaime, I brought some food with me." Konohamaru said opening his satchel and pulling out three tubs full of eggs, sausages and rice.
"Wow!" all the children said in unison.
"You certainly came prepared." Naruto smiled at his one-time pupil.
"Learned from the best." Konohamaru returned the smile.
"Surely you don't mean, Naruto." Sakura said with a sly smile.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto laughed.
"Moegi, can you help me?" Konohamaru asked, carrying one tub into the kitchen.
"Sure. Ki'iro-chan, can you hold Asuma for me?"
"Down!" Asuma said defiantly.
"We'll play with him." Ki'iro said and walked Asuma over to the other children.
"Anybody else coming?" Sakura asked as Naruto walked passed with the tub of rice.
"No, that's everybody." He reassured her.
Half an hour later, the table was set for breakfast and everybody had large plates of food. "Itadakimasu!" everybody yelled and they began to eat.
"You've really out done yourself, Ino." Naruto said, swallowing a large mouthful of eggs.
"Yes, this food is quite delicious!" Lee agreed.
"It's been too long since I've eaten like this." Shikamaru said. "We always have to eat sparingly in Suna."
"Sounds like something Choji would say." Ino smirked.
"Choji's got nothing on this appetite."
"Ino, you've got to give me the recipe!" Tenten exclaimed.
"How do you like it, Hokage-sama?" Ino asked.
"It's better than what they serve us at the mansion." Konohamaru said, making Ino blush and stuff her mouth to keep from saying something stupid.
"How is the flower shop coming along, Ino?" Sakura asked.
"Not much to talk about; it's rather monotonous. Working with To-san at the Intel Division is a lot more fun. How's the hospital?"
"Stressful. Ever since I took over Tsunade-sama's position as the Head Healer, I've been busier than ever."
"Sorry about that, Sakura-chan. Some of the wounded might have resulted from the most recent Chuunin Exam." Lee apologized. "We have had to make the challenges tougher. This new batch of Genin are quite strong."
"Must be fun being a proctor." Tenten laughed. "Being a part-time teacher at the Academy, I'm not allowed to be mean or scary."
"Never stopped me." Neji smirked.
"Whoa! Neji made a joke!"
"Seems like they're having fun." Shikage said.
All the children sat at their own table and were watching the adults laugh and joke while they themselves were rather bored. Shikage pulled out her puppets and started playing with them.
"Must be fun being an adult." Kurotsubaki agreed, pulling some more flowers out of her picture.
"We can have fun too!" Ki'iro said. "C'mon, let's go outside."
"Yes, you still owe me that match!" Iwa said jabbing a finger at Hizashi.
"Sounds like fun." Hizashi said finishing his milk.
The kids put their dishes in the sink and all ran for Ino's back yard. They opened the door and were about to run into the bright sun, but Ino called them back.
"What are you kids gunna do?" she asked, a suspicious look in her eye.
"Just a little sparring, Yamanaka-san." Iwa said, snapping to attention.
"Oh let them have their fun, Ino. Just be careful and don't break anything." Sakura said.
"Don't worry. There's nothing they can break out there." Sai said.
"Oh no?" Sakura smirked. "Remember who has been training Iwa in chakra control."
"Wait…you don't mean…" Ino began.
"Yep. He can already increase his strength a little like me and Tsunade-sama."
"Won't do him much good if Ki'iro gets serious." Naruto laughed.
"And why is that?" Sakura glared.
"Hinata has been teaching her Jyuuken."
"What!" everybody gasped.
"J-Just the basics." Hinata stammered. "Her Byakugan is still growing so she can't always see the Tenketsu, but I taught her some basic forms."
"Does she know the Rasengan?" Neji asked.
"Not yet, but I promised I'd show her the first step soon."
"It wouldn't help her anyway." Neji smiled. "Hizashi has better aim than Tenten."
"What! Better than Tenten?" Lee said, amazed.
"I wouldn't say he's that good." Tenten giggled, "But he does give me a run for my money."
"How are Shikage and Kurotsubaki progressing?" Konohamaru asked.
"Shikage's shadow is still weak. That's why I'm glad Kankuro is teaching her how to use puppets." Shikamaru said.
"She's also struggling with Fuuton, but Kakuro says she shows potential as a puppeteer so we're not too worried." Temari agreed.
All eyes turned to Ino and Sai who had been keeping quiet the whole time. Ino sighed, "I don't understand the girl. She's moody, has no interest in gardening, and doesn't like to go outside…it baffles me."
"Just sounds like she takes after Sai to me." Sakura said.
"Umm…she may not like gardening, but I-I think she has a great interest in flowers." Hinata said from the window.
"Why do you say that?"
Hinata said nothing but pointed out the window. All the adults gathered to look outside and found a battlefield covered in inky flowers and Kurotsubaki standing over the other four, laughing children.
The five kids bolted out the door and Iwa immediately leapt at Hizashi who ducked just in time.
"How did you see me coming?"
"I can see behind me with these eyes, remember?" Hizashi smirked.
"Well let's see if your eyes can keep up with To-sama's Strong Fist."
Iwa rushed forward and threw a punch, but Hizashi dodged it and retreated a few steps before pulling out his toy kunai.
"Your Strong Fist won't work if you can't get close to me." Hizashi smirked and threw the kunai.
Iwa jumped to the side to dodge the knife, rolled and came up on his feet only to find three shuriken flying at him. He yelped in surprise and the toy shuriken bounced off his chest.
"You're dead!" Hizashi said, pumping his fist.
"An opening!" Ki'iro yelled as she leapt toward Hizashi. He turned just in time to see the attack, but not dodge. She jabbed Hizashi's left arm twice before he could retreat again and she assumed her Jyuuken stance. Hizashi glared at his cousin, rubbing his arm.
"What did you do?" he growled. "My arm feels weak."
"I hit the little dots on your arm." Ki'iro said brightly.
"You can see the Tenketsu?" Hizashi said, jealousy obvious in his voice.
"Kinda."
"Ki'iro!" Iwa called and tossed her the kunai Hizashi had thrown.
"Let me help!" Shikage said, jumping next to Ki'iro.
"Two on one? That's not fair."
"It'll take both of us to beat you and you know it." Shikage said, her puppet rising to its feet next to her.
"Kurotsubaki! Help me!" Hizashi cried.
"If you insist." She said and reluctantly stepped on Hizashi's side.
"I'm still not very good with this puppet, but I can give you a little cover." Shikage whispered.
"Thanks." Ki'iro muttered back.
The two teams stared each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move. Shikage's fingers twitched and suddenly her puppet rushed forward. Its mouth opened to expose a tiny cannon and it fired several pellets. Hizashi drew another kunai, but Kurotsubaki had already drawn a flower and made a hand sign. The flower expanded off the paper and its petals blocked the pellets. Then it began to rotate and the petals closed, forming a point before it shot toward Ki'iro. She reacted just in time and pushed Shikage out of the way and dodged the floral missile. It collided with the ground and splashed ink everywhere. Ki'iro looked back at Kurotsubaki and found four flower-shaped shuriken flying at her. She held her arms up to protect herself, but Shikage's puppet intercepted them.
"You've gotten better." Kurotsubaki said.
"So have you." Shikage replied.
"Since when can either of you do that?" Hizashi demanded.
"If you like that, you'll love this." Kurotsubaki said and drew another flower. She pulled it off the page and they all recognized it as the Midnight Rose. She carefully held it and sniffed it, "Remember when you asked if this is just ink?"
"Yeah…" Shikage said.
Kurotsubaki just smiled and threw the flower at Shikage who moved her puppet to block it, but Hizashi threw his kunai and moved the puppet just enough to make it miss the flower. It shot forward, but Ki'iro jumped in the way and deflected it with her kunai.
"Thank you, Ki'iro-chan." Shikage said.
"No problem…but what about your puppet?"
Shikage looked and saw that Hizashi's kunai had broken her puppet in two, its legs lying motionless on the ground.
"Don't worry, I can still use him." Shikage said. "He may not have legs anymore, but he can still fight."
As if to prove her point, Shikage made her puppet fly up high and it rained pellets down on Hizashi and Kurotsubaki. Hizashi blocked the pellets and he and Kurotsubaki retaliated with shuriken, but Ki'iro blocked them with her kunai.
"Keep attacking and try to distract them." Ki'iro said and rushed the other two.
"This is getting boring." Kurotsubaki said and drew a large Venus fly trap-type plant which expanded off the page and opened its large maw. Several vines grew from the mouth and wriggled as if searching for prey. "Whiplash." Kurotsubaki said and the plant responded. The vines shot out at Ki'iro and Shikage and wrapped around them, despite their resistance. Shikage moved her fingers in a last ditch effort and her puppet slammed into the side of the plant. It swayed slightly, but did not falter and the puppet fell to the ground in pieces.
"Good job, Kurotsubaki!" Hizashi said and held his toy kunai over her throat. "I'm taking the victory though!"
Kurotsubaki didn't even blink. She just made another hand seal and suddenly Hizashi was suspended in the air, a vine wrapped tightly around his leg.
"Looks like I win." Kurotsubaki said quietly.
"You haven't even struck a lethal blow yet!" Hizashi cried, slashing at the inky vine.
"Fine." Kurotsubaki said. She made a seal and the vines retracted into the mouth of the plant. The mouth opened wide before slamming shut on the children and returning to a liquid state. Big puddles of ink littered the yard and in the biggest puddle were Hizashi, Ki'iro and Shikage, dyed completely black. "Now I win." Kurotsubaki said, standing over the others. They all laughed until Ino came storming out.
"Look what you've done to the yard! All the flowers have been dyed black!" she screamed, practically beside herself.
"Ino, calm down." Sai said, suddenly beside her.
"How can I? I sell these flowers!"
"It's easily cleaned up. Right, Kurotsubaki-chan?"
"Yes, To-san." Kurostubaki said and made a few more seals. The ink began to move back toward her and flowed back into her ink pot. The yard and children were left immaculate and Sai swept his daughter into his arms.
"What do you think, Ka-san?" he said to Ino, "What prize should go to the winner?"
"Prize?" Ino said, still calming herself down.
"Did you see, Ka-san?" Ki'iro said as Hinata and Naruto came walking out.
"I did. Your Jyuuken is getting stronger." Hinata said, hugging Ki'iro.
"To-san, can you fix my arm?" Hizashi said, poking his numb arm.
"Let me look at it." Neji said, his Byakugan activating. "What was with that last move of yours? You never turn on your comrades."
"I-I just wanted to win." Hizashi muttered.
"Victory isn't the most important thing." Tenten said. "Working as a team and protecting one another should always be the main priority."
"To-sama! I'm sorry that I failed. I must require more training." Iwa said bowing before Lee, tears streaming down his face.
"Iwa-kun." Lee said quietly, "You did great!" suddenly his voice rising, tears streaming down his own face. "You tossed Ki'iro-chan a kunai so she could defend herself. That was incredibly noble of you!"
"To-sama!"
"Iwa-kun!"
"They're just like Gai-sensei and Lee used to be." Sakura explained to the group.
"To-san…"Shikage said, approaching her father.
"Looks like we need to get you some new bigger, puppets." He said, patting Shikage on the head.
"Kankuro should be able to help with that." Temari said brightly. "Good job protecting your comrade."
"I'm glad to see the next generation is already so strong." Konohamaru said from the door. "As for the victor's prize, how about you get to wear my hat for the day?"
"What!" everybody yelled.
Konohamaru calmly pulled out his Hokage hat and placed it on Kurostubaki's head. "I'm glad to know my son will have so many strong friends by his side."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Kurotsubaki said, blushing.
"Shall we go to the festival then?" Moegi asked.
"Festibal!" Asuma squealed from Moegi's arms.
"I think it's been decided." Shikamaru chuckled.
"Race you there, Bushy-Brows!" Naruto yelled and leapt over the fence, Ki'iro on his shoulders.
"You are on!" Lee said, following with Iwa on his shoulders.
"Wait for me!" Konohamaru held out his hands for Asuma, but Moegi's look clearly said, 'hell no'. "What about you, Kurostubaki-chan?"
"No, thank you, Hokage-sama." She said, looking embarrassed.
"Can I, Hokage-sama?" Hizashi asked.
"Of course. Let's go!" he yelled and they were gone.
"I guess the rest of us are walking?" Sakura said.
"Definitely." Tenten said. "I'm getting too old to keep up with those guys."
Alrighty, if anyone cares, this is how I came up with the names for the kids. Shikage is a combination of the Japanese words Shika (deer) and kage (shadow) so I thought the name worked since she's Shikamaru's daughter. Ki'iro is the Japanese word for yellow and I thought that since Naruto is orange and Hinata is white, what color could I get if I mixed orange and white. It's a bit of a stretch but I like it. Kurotsubaki is two Japanese words; kuro (black) and tsubaki (flower). This was the hardest name by far because I was trying to take something from both parents and it was really hard to find something Ino and Sai had in common or was similar. In the end, Sai uses black ink and Ino is all about flowers; black flower, Kurotsubaki. I suppose that was a lie. I got lazy with Hizashi and Asuma simply because I couldn't think of anything else so I just named them after important people in the parents' lives. Alrighty. Hope you enjoyed my poor attempt at literature. Please comment and give me any tips that you think would make the story better. Oh and to all those who have read my other fanfics, don't worry, there is action to this one. Anyways, laters.
