For the past two years Ori hadn't needed to use an alarm clock. For every morning, no matter what, she would get woken as a small boy curled up on the foot of her bed. This morning was no exception; like clockwork, right at six o' clock, her son quietly snuck into the room and climbed up onto the bed. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes Ori smiled to see Sato all curled up and clutching the blankets. Moving softly herself she leaned over and kissed Saru's cheek to wake him. Then getting up she scooped up her small son and carried him back to his own room to sleep for a few more hours.
That done she set about looking over the house to see what had been messed with. At first it had been alarming to wake up and find some room turned inside out by little hands, but after a while it had just become routine to check that nothing had been broken. Coming into the kitchen she had to appreciate the skill Sato had in stacking all her pots in one giant tower. Shaking her head she sighed, "He's getting better at moving things without making any noise." Not that that was a bad thing really, it just made it troublesome since she knew he'd be using that skill for more mischievous things soon if she didn't do something.
While she was still thinking and looking over the tower of pots Saru came in and looked at the room in surprise then chuckled, "You'd think one of us would have heard him moving these." Ori nodded, "I really must be getting rusty." Moving carefully she started taking down the pots and setting them into the sink. Working together the two parents got it taken care of quickly then sat down (after making sure they chairs hadn't been tampered with) at the table to relay information. They had to just to keep up with the energetic child.
"Don't use the toothpaste yet, it's been rigged to turn on the shower."
"Opening the front door will drop a bucket of – and I don't know where he got it- snow on you."
"Oh look out for the smoke bomb in the hallway."
"Did we find them all?" Saru asked drumming his fingers on the table. "Yes I think so," Ori sighed. Shaking his head Saru stood going towards the bathroom, "Sometimes I just don't know what to think about that boy. Good luck with him today." Ori nodded and waved to him, "M'kay! Good luck with the family today."
It had been a near constant thing for him to go report to their head and reassure them that while Sato might be a bit hyper he was not going to start turning on anyone. Going to peek in on him Ori really couldn't see how anyone could think he was dangerous. 'Yup, a real cold blooded killer,' she though rolling her eyes as she watched him sleep hugging a small stuffed bear. Closing the door she headed back to get dressed—and failed to remember about the smoke bomb. Back in his room he couldn't help but grin as he heard the thump sound as it went off and heard his mother yell in surprise. Giggling softly he snuggled his face closer to his bears' and yawned, falling back to sleep almost as soon as his eyes closed.
Later that day when he'd finally woken up and trudged downstairs the small boy found that his tower had been taken apart. For a moment he looked sad then he grinned, thinking about how much bigger he was going to make it tonight. "Sato, is that you?" Ori came walking into the kitchen behind him and was immediately attacked in a hug. She playfully growled down at him and picked him up by the vest and tossed him over her shoulder making him yell in delight. Carrying him like this to the table she set him down and then sat herself to have lunch.
Once they were done, and he'd cleaned up the mess in the hallway, they went outside to take a walk around the compound, most everyone but the younger children and their mothers had already left for the day, leaving this part of the clan's home fairly empty. Finding a good spot down by one of the ornamental ponds Ori set down her bag and took a seat on the grass there. While she set out a small pincushion and little red and yellow hakama and took out some measuring tape.
"Now hold still just for a little bit, then you can go." Nodding He did his best, well as best as a young boy can, to hold perfectly still as she rechecked that he would fit into it well. After about five minutes though she had to stop since he'd been basically bouncing as he looked around bored. He'd really done pretty well, Ori thought as she gave him a smile and nodded letting him run off. In a flash he was gone, but she knew he wouldn't go too far from her, at least she hoped he wouldn't.
It wasn't another ten minutes as she sat working before she noticed three of the other young mothers not too far away all sitting together with many a half concealed glance at her. Working hard to take a deep breathe she didn't bother even trying to listen in on what they were saying, she'd already heard it all before. In fact, she thought with a small grin, I'll bet I could nearly predict it word for word.
"Look at her, shameful isn't it?" she began murmuring under her breathe as she looked over at the oldest of the three gossips. "Thinks she can just sit there and ignore what she's done to our clan." Adopting a nasally voice she continued, "Yes, I'll bet she thinks that since no one will face her about it she can just go on pretending she's a loyal wife and upstanding member of the clan, the little hussy." Then making her voice sound slick she whispered to herself, "One of these days the real father will come back, and then that fool of a husband will have to admit once and for all that he's been cuckold." Sighing tiredly Ori finished the bit of thread she had left and then tied it off. Tucking the needle away and doing the same with her hair behind her ear she folded up the little clothes and packed them away.
Standing she looked around for a sign of where her son might have run off to and was alarmed that either he was hiding so well she couldn't even see him when she activated her Byakuuyan, or he was gone. Dropping the bag she began walking quickly around the buildings looking everywhere.
Little did she know that he was long gone a good five minutes ago. The reason being that he'd run into some of the other Hyuuga children. Not directly, he was glad to find, but they had been getting a lot closer and he was not eager to see them anytime soon. So he'd turned and started walking in the other direction when he literally bumped into Kaito his older cousin.
"Watch it fox!" he snarled down at the smaller boy while giving him a good shove that made him fall back and scrape his arm. Sato didn't answer and didn't look up, it wasn't worth it. Since he was very little he'd known that he could have fought back and won, but he also knew that doing that would make his mother worry and cry. He wasn't sure what was so wrong about him fighting back but he didn't want to upset him mom.
After a moment Kaito just walked off leaving Sato to get up and brush off his blue pants. Casting a glare at his back he hurried to make his way closer to the main wall surrounding the complex. Checking quick he was happy to see that no one was bothering to keep an eye on him or the wall, and was soon up, over it, and gone. Gone to work out his frustration at dealing with the older boy.
Keeping to the back roads and rooftops when possible he met very few people, which was perfect for what he was planning. Using a shop owners distraction with a worker that had spilled a pile of empty scrolls he nicked a small bottle of super strong ninja glue and started scheming. Soon after stopping by a small chicken coop for some feathers he set up shop in a small dark alley and waited. It was amazing how it killed him to sit still for fittings and other such things, but he could sit in a dark crevice in the wall for as long as he needed to, to wait for a fitting victim.
Just such his perfect victim was heading closer to her doom with every distracted step. They young Konoha chunnin was busily scribbling in the first few pages of a fancy looking black note pad. Kyouko, as she called herself, was having a bit of trouble getting the eyes on the cat she was drawing right. Growling she rubbed out her latest attempt and turned down another street, too preoccupied to hear a quiet giggle.
But as inattentive as she had been before, she was very much focused now as something at first very wet hit her face, then a cloud of white. Sputtering she was horrified to find that the wetness was starting to get sticky and hard, and that the white cloud had been a face full of feathers. Shoving the note pad into her vest she ripped out a few shurriken and looked about roaring, "When I get my hands on you motherless little weasels you'll wish you'd just died at birth!" Hearing a snort of laughter from her left she spun intending to lay into the person.
But at the sight of the defiant little red headed boy she froze. For a moment she could only stare at him open mouthed as she noted his rather singular features. Just for a moment she'd been reminded of what she'd left behind, and what she never thought to see again. But it was a very short moment since she had to rub a piece of the glue away from her eye so that she could see. Sato hearing her curse under her breathe and rub at the almost totally hardened glue started laughing so hard he had to lean up against the wall.
Her head whipping around she gave him one of her coldest glares and he skipped back a few feet grinning as she said, "You're that Hyuuga brat aren't you? Well you've really pranked the wrong person…" Gulping a bit as he saw her pull out more sharp and potentially harmful objects Sato gave her one last grin then stuck out his tongue and then ran for his life. Kyouko sputtered for a moment at the gesture then growling and yelling ran after him and out onto the main streets, causing a small old woman who was walking by a fright.
Sato thoguht back that maybe he should have waited a bit longer for someone else to go by, but then he grinned as he made a sharp right down another street. If it had been anyone else he wouldn't have gotten to play with them afterwards like this. Confident he could egt away he dove through a stall and glanced back. Yelping he saw that she was coming up right behind him and couldn't help but yell back to her, "Geez obaa-san, what are you a DEMON?" Kyouko felt the last bit of calm she had snap and she lunged towards him shoving a young ninja out of the way, all while yelling, "I'M NOT THAT OLD! And you're nothing compared with Kazzy, kid!"
With a small bit of chagrin she realized just how alike the two situation were, but unlike when she'd chased her husband down like a dog the kid's legs just weren't long enough to keep away forever. With a triumphant yell she grabbed hold of his vest and skidded to a stop panting as she grabbed his arm as well to keep him from wriggling away.
"Ha…I've..got you…now…brat," she gasped out with a wide grin that made him nervous. "No! Let me go! Let me go!" growling, though it wasn't very impressive since he was so young. Kyouko picked him up and held him tightly under an arm as she turned towards the Hyuuga compound, but to her unhappiness she saw that it was nearly on the other side of the city from where she'd chased him to. Anticipating a headache since he was still yelling she snapped at him to be quiet.
This of course did nothing whatsoever to help since he only yelled more and even started trying to bite her arm from where he could reach it. Yelling in slight pain she grabbed him by the vest again and said, "That's it brat I've had it!" Grabbing his slim shoulder she was happy to see that it had worked, and that she was now holding a very shocked and very much smaller fox kit. Smiling she grabbed him the scruff of his neck and set off again.
But then it didn't help as much as she'd hoped. As soon as Sato got over the shock of having suddenly become a fox he started peppering her with questions. To any other pserson it would have sound like a soft chatter of animal noises, but she had the fortune (or in this case the misfortune) of being able to understand every word. "Wow! That was awesome! Can you do it again? How did you do it? Can I do this myself? Are you a witch? Are you like me too? I'll bet you are, but you're not a fox. You're too grumpy to be one."
Trying to tune him out as best she could she hoped he'd run out of things to ask or say by the time they got there. But ten minutes later (she's had to stick to the back streets to avoid attention) he was still going strong and she was never more happy to drop something off as she was when she came to the gates.
"Oi!" she called to a man standing there, "Can you tell me where this little cretin," at this point she held up Sato, "lives so I can get rid of him?" The man looked them both over and said with a barely hidden smile, "It's just past that pond over there and four houses in on the right." She nodded and started walking but was stopped when he called softly, "Ummm..miss? You might want to get those feathers off soon.." Sato cackled softly as he hung there and Kyouko gritted her teeth and thanked him.
Another long two minutes later she was rapping rather hard on the front door. Soon after it was flung open barely missing her nose as a frantic looking woman with orange hair blinked at her in surprise. "I think this is yours." Kyouko dropped the kit, releasing him and allowing him to change back. As soon as he did he ran behind Ori and smiled as innocently as he could up at the two women. Neither one was fooled.
"Can I help you miss..err.." Ori began leaning against the doorframe. Kyouko pointed to her face then at Sato saying, "Kyouko. This brat did this to me, and I want to make sure that he's going to be punished in some way for this. He got it on my clothes too." She pointed to the offending spots as Ori nodded, "I see, he's going to have to repay you for those. And he's going to be getting punished as well." Sato gulped a bit pinning his ears to his head as he waited for the sentencing. Ori thought for a moment looking at the two of them then smiled clapping her hands, "I've got it!"
Kyouko just wanted to leave to get home so she could get the feathers off her face, they were really starting to itch, "Very well, anything would be fine." Ori nodded, "Yes, but I want something that will really stick in his memory. So he's going to be your apprentice and helper until he's paid for everything he's done."
Sato looked up at the woman in horror and they both exclaimed, "WHAT!?" Sato grabbed his mom's hand and shaking his head said quickly, "No please no, I swear I'm never going to ever do anything like this ever again!" Kyou gestured franticly with her hands, "No! Absolutely not! I never said anything about spending more time with him! I refuse!" Ori sighed and glanced at them both saying softly, "That's my decision, also while he's with you he promises not to prank you or otherwise bother you." Smiling softly at the other woman she said, "He really can be a big help, you won't regret it."