Author's note: This fic is basically based around my character Val, in present day, very different from the real story. Done for creative writing. Tell me what you think! Oh, and sorry if they're mistakes in grammar or spelling. Am lazy bum and refuse to fix them.

Disclaimer: I own the rights to Val, not Naruto, Jiraiya, Kotetsu, Izumo, or Konohamaru. I'm complaining greatly.

Val had this bad habit of liking older men. Not a big issue, right? Generally, it isn't. Her older brother, Kotetsu, didn't have time to worry about stuff like that, so his boyfriend, Izumo, often filled in as the over-protective big brother-- so she was covered in that area. Val and Kotetsu's parents had died when they were young, so they'd lived on their own for a while, and had it pretty good in a nice, but a little run-down house with lot's of stuffed animals and sufficient food. The only thing not too good was that, that was about as good as it got-- Kotetsu wasn't too responsible, nor motivated, but they managed.

Val has odd quirks to go with her 'bad habits', one of which is that she makes plushie dolls of everyone she's ever had a crush on (and that's a lot). She sews them by hand, and loves them all greatly, but the latest addition to her pile of plushies, is what worries pseudo-brother Izumo greatly: A small doll with arms awaiting a hug, red clothing, white hair, a roguish grin, and a cheerful wink. It looked exactly as it should, for who it was supposed to be-- Jiraiya.

Jiraiya is a great guy, Izumo and Kotetsu don't doubt that for a second, he's a brilliant writer and artist, but he's... old. Fifty years old to be exact, and he didn't look a day older than thirty, except for the spiky white hair that spilled down his back in a ponytail. That's all fine and dandy, but Val is only seventeen. Old enough to make her own decisions, but not mature enough to heed Izumo's advice.

"Val, I know that I'm not your brother, nor even related to you, but please, listen to me! Jiraiya's not a good person to be hanging around with. He's... old." Izumo finished with a loss for a better term.

Val glared at the adorable, stammering, twenty-something that lived in her house. "Older man." she corrected him.

"Alright, alright..." Izumo gave way, knowing full well that it wasn't a good idea to argue with the ill-tempered teen. "Older man, right. But he's a pervert! If he's hanging out with you, it's for one reason only, Val, don't delude yourself against that."

Her glare deepened, and as her aqua-green eyes narrowed to slits and her Cupid's bow mouth pressed into a tight line, a faint blush indicated that she had attempted to block that knowledge. "Izumo!" She snapped, "He is simply a friend. A good friend, and a good audience for my writing-- if you and Kotetsu can't deal with the idea that someone who doesn't live under this half-shingled roof can appreciate my company for something other than just my body, you're petty and sadly mistaken!"

Val pushed to her feet, the wooden chair that she had been sitting in clattering loudly against the worn linoleum. She stomped over to the sliding glass door, and yanked it open with such force that when it slammed against the wall, the glass cracked. She glared over her shoulder once more and gave a rude gesture in his general direction. "Screw you!" She snapped and stormed into Japan's busy streets, leaving the stunned man to explain to his boyfriend why it was that his sister wasn't going to be there when he got home.

"Honestly... the nerve." She muttered fiercely to herself as she smacked into a tall man in a red jacket with tanned skin and pale hair falling around his face and down past his back.

"The nerve? I could say the same to you young missy." He laughed slightly, then stopped. "No, seriously Val, what's got you? This is the first time I've seen you this month without a love-sick or dreamy look in your eyes."

Val stared up at the tall man that had captured her image in sketches every day these past weeks while she read her mushy love poems to him. She blushed slightly as she realized how silly her continued obsession with this 'ideal man' must seem to him.

"I... I got into a fight with Izumo." She avoided eye contact with the older male, though she seemed to know his every thought as he moved over and sat down on the park bench. He patted his thigh, and she sat down in utter trust of her friend.

"What about?" He asked her, voice soft and caring. Val's eyes darted up to his dark smoky eyes that held an intense heat when he gave his full attention to her, and immediately they went back down to her feet.

"...You." The faint blush that constantly resided on her cheeks flared up slightly as he tilted her chin up so that they were face to face.

"Oh?" he questioned. She nodded, but stopped quickly as firm, soft lips took hers in a first kiss, and a heated red filled the entirety of her cheeks. "Don't worry about it. You write anything new?"

Val couldn't reply, as she felt her Trust's Assassination.

.::Youth is Naive and Misleading::.



Some notes about this piece...

-Val is a poet, and in her spare time, she sketches... that is, when she's not making plushies.
-She may have had a slight crush on Jiraiya, but she honestly thought he didn't think about her like that.
-Jiraiya is a hot old guy.
-Jiraiya is a creepy perv.
-Val is naive, no matter how much she'll deny it.
-Val originally swore she was in love with Kakashi, one of the many details left out from this piece of writing.
-Again, I apologize about bad spelling and/or grammar, I am a lazy bum.
-The word choice... I like that last sentence before the .:: ::. bit... About her trust's assassination... Main reason I chose that was this: Her trust was not betrayed, because that could have been repaired, but he killed it by having ulterior motives, and not telling her.
-There is a bit of repetition that isn't needed (more like redundancy), and yes, there is a lot of unneeded information.
-No, Kotetsu didn't actually make one appearance in this. Thank you.