A/N Alright so I re watched Pucca on netflix recently and since I am having sleeping problems and have lost all control of my life I thought I would try my hand at a fanfic for her! Woohoo yay! And if you can't tell from the description its not exactly going to be lovey dovey and there may be some adult themes later because you know Tobe being even more of an ass now that they are older and everything so if things get to bad I will change it to M. I don't want to ruin anything but I guess I owe everyone this so I don't get chewed out, the shippings mentioned and showed in this story are going to be Ching/Abyo, Pucca/Garu and Pucca/Tobe and possibly some Pucca/RingRing but that's not a definite thing yet so do not quote me or nothing. Okay enough of listening to me blubber on, onto the story!
P.S okay I lied but I love hearing feed back (no not flames actual critique) so review, review, review my lovely readers :)
Pucca stared nervously into the mirror as she tied her hair back, worried what her friends would think of her changing her signature buns. Its not that she didn't like her hair but going into her junior year of high school she thought maybe it was time for a change. Instead of her usual odango's she pulled her black locks into a messy bun atop her head with her bangs framing her face and caramel eyes.
She stood up with a gulp and looked her whole self over once more, to make sure everything was perfect, especially if she was serious about gaining Garu's affections this year! Not that she hadn't been serious every other year … but still a new look was sure to draw some attention to her! But of course everything was in place as it should have been. Her red shirt fell just under her belly button with her long sleeves billowing around her arms, black pants slightly baggy but staying firmly on her hips and covering her black flats.
As always she looked perfectly fine but as always Pucca thought something was wrong. Still she forced herself to grab her gray messenger bag and slung it over her shoulder, reminding herself that Ching would soon be there to fetch her for school. And of course right at her side would be Abyo and following him would be …. Garu! She grinned just thinking about his name and giggled as she blew a swift kiss to the poster of him she still had taped to her wall though over the years she had made his presence in her room a little less stalker like with only a few photos of him left, the rest of her walls filled with posters and photos of days spent with friends.
It was then that Yani poked her head in through the door and meowed with impatience sending Pucca a small glare. Pucca gasped "Oh I was so anxious about today that I forgot to give you your breakfast." she said with alarm as she rushed out of the door, picking the annoyed feline up as she dashed off to the kitchen. "Good morning uncles!" Pucca called out as she entered the swinging doors of the kitchen giving each of her uncles a kiss on the cheek before setting Yani down and moving at an unnatural speed to prepare the cats breakfast before she had to go.
"Good morning my dear, aren't we in a rush today." Dumpling laughed as he, along with Ho and Linguini, watched their niece scurry about. He squinted his eyes a bit and took a step forward asking "Did you … do something with your hair today?" he asked with shock grabbing her arm and turning her to face him after she had placed Yani's bowl on the ground. "Oh ho ho you did! New tactic in the war to win Garu's love hm?" he asked with a grin releasing her as she gave an indignant huff. He just chuckled though and she soon joined him with her own giggles.
"Well yes and no. Yes because I do hope he will like it and no because I thought it was just time for a change." Pucca replied twirling a strand of hair along her finger and looking up at her uncles "Does it … Does it look alright?" she asked innocently.
"Pucca darling any way you fix your hair or anything you wear or any style you do your make up looks amazing because its still you." Linguini answered with a kind smile before gently nudging her out of the kitchen and through the front doors of the restaurant. "Now go, you don't want to keep Ching waiting." he told her to which she nodded and jogged down the street to the two girls normal meeting place.
Pucca stopped at the corner and rested against one of the many lion statues that surrounded the town, crossing her arms and every so often blowing her bangs out of her face, still contemplating if she should quickly redo her hair or not. She had just gotten herself so worked up about it that she had actually started to pull out her brush when she suddenly heard a familiar voice call out to her, along with an equally familiar cluck. "Pucca oh my gosh, your hair!" Ching cried out, running up to her best friend and pulling her into a tight hug.
Pucca grinned and returned the hug eagerly before pulling away and holding the other girls hands in her own as they both bounced on the balls of their feet. "You like it then? I was nervous but I figured it had been so long since I had done anything different with my hair that it was time." she said rather quickly, clearly showing her still present anxiety about the problem. She knew it was something silly to fuss over but after so long it felt like her odango's had become part of her persona and it felt almost sad not to have them any more.
"Are you kidding me it looks great, you should have gotten bangs a long time ago." Ching said pulling her hands away to readjust her book bag. Over the years Pucca hadn't been the only one to change and this was apparent by looking at the trio in front of her. Ching now wore her hair in a long single braid that just grazed her hips, her purple kimono inspired outfit was replaced with a plain purple v-neck that showed her developed assets all to well and black short shorts with matching black combat boots. Though of course Won still sat contently on top of her head.
Abyo had probably changed the least out of them with his hair looking as if not even the wind could move it, though he now often wore a beanie with the word ninja over it, and had that strange need to rip off his shirt whenever there was a crowd, which still got him in trouble with Ching though he never did figure out what the problem was. Though Ching had convinced him to get rid of his training uniform so he now wore dark jeans, black vans and a black button up over a plain white shirt that was often ripped to shreds
Then there was Garu who seemed to have changed a lot to most eyes, mostly now because he had broken his vow of silence along with Pucca's (though she choose to forget it was because he did it so he could finally shout at her to leave him alone three years ago) though he still didn't speak very often when around a lot of people. He had continued to grow out his hair though ditched his pigtails, now wearing it in a single pony tail at the base of his neck, and had gotten rid of the ninja suite with the heart. He now wore a plain red shirt with a large black hoodie over it, often with the sleeves rolled up, and dark baggy jeans though if you ever saw him without the hoodie you would see a heart tattoo over his left bicep with a ninja star tearing through it.
"Thanks Ching." Pucca said warmly flashing her friend a gracious smile before her eyes trailed over to the boy who had been the center of her desires for years. She then giggled and, just as he spotted her and tried to side step her, she latched onto his arm and nuzzle her nose into his neck. "Good morning Garu~" she sang making sure to keep a tight hold on him so he wouldn't get away.
Garu groaned and sent a glare over to Abyo, who was suppose to warn him if Pucca was about to pounce, but of course he was off flexing for Ching once again, who was indulging him by feeling his muscles even though they couldn't have grown any since yesterday. Seeing no way out of her death grip Garu simply sighed and started to walk to school, every once in awhile trying to shake her off and refusing to make eye contact with the girl on his arm. "Morning Pucca, you changed your hair." he stated in a monotone not revealing if he liked it or not since it didn't really bother him one way or the other. It was just hair after all but if he forced himself to take her whole self in he would suppose she looked nice. He could never tell her that of course, he would never hear the end of it.
"So you did notice!" Pucca squealed looking up at him with sparkling eyes and Garu slapped a hand to his face, he should have known that something as simple as just pointing that out would have made her swoon. He should have just said nothing at all since anything he said made her swoon. Then again it seemed when he did say nothing she only pestered him even more.
"Yes now will you let go, your clingyness is making it hard to walk straight." Garu snapped taking his one opportunity, while she was distracted, to pull his arm free and squeeze himself in between Ching and Abyo, not even caring about the protest from either of them. Pucca just shrugged, falling into step beside Ching and not complaining about her captive getting away since he had noticed she changed her hair.
It was silent for a bit as they all walked towards their shared high school but as usual Abyo hated the peace of the moment and soon opened his mouth. "So has everyone gotten their schedule? I'm hoping I have some classes with you guys because the only interesting one I have is advanced P.E, which I will dominate!" he stated striking a pose as he pulled out the blue sheet that held his schedule.
"Hm let me see, I know Pucca and I have Pre Calc and History together already as for you ..." Ching muttered comparing his schedule to hers and most likely Pucca's as well since she had already learned it by heart. "Mm we have biology but thats it and its assigned seats so who knows where you will be sitting. What about you Garu, what is your schedule like?" she asked kindly looking over at the ninja boy expectantly.
A bit reluctantly Garu pulled out the crumbled up paper and handed it over to her. "Hm nothing with Abyo or I … but you have parenting with Pucca!" she said happily beaming over at her friend who was jumping and clapping with joy. Abyo though just started laughing, holding onto his sides "Y-you are taking parenting!? Thats a girls class!" he roared pointing at Garu accusingly.
Garu growled and slapped his friend roughly on the back of the head, instantly stopping the laughing and earning an indignant whine from him as well. "I didn't choose it but I signed up late so it was the only thing left. So no big ideas or anything." he stated sending a harsh stare over at Pucca who completely ignored it and returned air kisses instead.
"Well uh at least we all have lunch together!" Ching pointed out, not wanting a chase to start and was glad when they finally reached the front steps of Funny Love High. "Now come on guys we are going to be late for homeroom!" she said worriedly as she looked at the time and made a run for her own homeroom, Abyo at her heels since his was right next to hers. Garu and Pucca looked at each other for a brief moment and she grinned but Garu got a second's head start, which was all he needed, and ran for the homeroom he unfortunately shared with Pucca.
This only made Pucca let out a small sigh and hang her head, she wasn't going to surprise attack him or anything, all she wanted was to walk to class with him. She knew that he had good reason to run though, it would have been the kind of thing she would do, but after spending the summer working full time to start saving up for college she had melloed down a bit. All she needed was for Garu to notice that.
She didn't stay in low spirits for long though, she never did, because when she walked into class she saw the seat next to Garu open. She giggled and skipped over to take it, leaning her head on her hand as she looked over at him. "You didn't have to run, I'm not going to chase you any more or force my kisses on you." she said playfully as she tapped her fingers on her desk.
Garu raised an eyebrow and sat back with his arms crossed, suspicious but curious to her new approach. "Please don't get offended if I tell you that I don't quite trust you." he said narrowing his eye lids slightly but not trying to come across as threatening. Pucca simply shrugged and looked away, she kept a smile on her face but inside she did feel a small twinge of hurt.
She knew she may have been a bit … persistent in the past but it was still a mean thing to say that he didn't trust her. She had never lied to him and had done everything she could to try and keep him out of harms way so shouldn't that be enough to trust her even if he didn't return her feelings? "You don't have to believe me but I haven't lied to you before have I?" she asked in a bit more quiet voice but still sounding like the same cheerful Pucca.
Garu caught the change in her voice though and it made him frown. She didn't look upset or anything but that small change in her voice …. had he insulted her some how? If he had he hadn't meant too but thinking about it maybe he should have reworded his statement. Pucca had never lied to him and over the summer he had noticed that she wasn't chasing and surprising him as much as she use to.
He opened his mouth slightly to say he was sorry, if there was anything to actually apologize for, but quickly shut it again. What was he doing!? He had no reason to try and make her feel better even if he had upset her in some way, one summer of freedom was not enough to make up for years of stalking! He didn't care about her, no way, so he had no reason to try and lighten his harsh tone or words. Yet, as he glanced over at Pucca who was now listening intently to their teacher, he couldn't help but wonder if that was all true.
A/N … again! So sorry if this first chapter sucked but it was mostly to set up how they had changed to their teenage years and yada yada you know the drill. Also sorry if Pucca seems a bit wishy washy here too but I am trying to stay true to her character but also make her more mature at the same time which is kind of hard to do since she is so child like and happy. As for Garu well he is self explanatory since we all know he secretly loves Pucca but won't admit it hehe.