Rated: K, T- English – Romance/Drama/Adventure Sasuke U& Naruto U. & Hinata H.
Disclaimer: Naruto ain't mine..Isn't it obvious? * grumbling *
Warning: SasuNaruHina,OOC, AU, OC's, threesomes,Angst, Mature themes...lemons(maybe)
Well, people, I'm back! I know, I know..I should be working on chapter 5 of Be Mine. But this one shot or two shot story literally came to me in my sleep, and wouldn't let me alone..I just had to write it! Chapter 5 of Be Mine will be out soon though, so look out for it!
As always, please let me know what you think of this story! I know the coupling in this particular story isn't popular, but like I said, the plot bunnies for this story wouldn't leave me alone! So, please read and review!
In this universe, Sasuke's clan hasn't been murdered, but they are very eccentric, crazy even.
Please note: the clues are very obvious, but remember, the story is being written for a popular magazine in Konoha, so the readers have no idea what is going on, until the very end!
I'm sorry for the copious notes! Now on with the story!
Hinata(using a pen name) enters a writing competition in a popular magazine. She wins the competition with her story, and becomes a popular writer with the magazine by detailing how she ended up in an unconventional relationship with the man(ahem) men of her dreams.
True Life Stories: What I did for Love (And I don't Regret it)!
Chapter 1: I finally Meet Him(Ahem) Them
Well, people, it's that time of the year again! Green Leaf Book for Living presents its yearly "True Life Stories: What I did for Love And I don't Regret it!" competition.
This has become one of our most popular competitions, and one of the most fierce! As you, our diehard fans know, the winners will have their story published in one of our editions and on top of that, the Grand Prize winner becomes one of our very own staff writers *and* wins an all expense paid ship cruise for 2 weeks to any destination of their choice(with or without whomever the winner chooses). Our 2nd and 3rd place winners also get their stories printed and a cash prize and gifts. All the non winning participators also get a gift for having the courage to enter our competition.
So, good luck to all of you with your stories, and remember, no making up stories just so you can win the competition! We actually check all your dates and references, you know! Any story we cannot verify, we do not use and you won't be eligible to enter the competition again! So, be careful of what you say and write. Good Luck!
Three Months Later:
Guess what, our beloved fans! We have a grand prize winner!
The competition was tough and fierce, and it was very hard to settle for one winner, but we did!
Green Leaf Book for Living very proudly presents the winning entry of our True Life Stories: What I did for Love! The winning story comes from Yanagi-san! Yanagi-san is now one of our staff writers and gets the cruise!
All the True Life stories are re-printed with permission from the writers of the stories.
Yanagi-san's story is funny, touching and very romantic with a touch of angst poured in. We have no doubt it will be a popular story you fall in love with! Now people-Yes, YOU! Do not try some of things you read at home..! It most likely would end your relationship and land you in jail, so please do not try this! Remember, this story is for Mature Readers only, so please hide your magazine from the under-aged in your household!
Here goes:
All my life, I've been compared to other people and made to feel inadequate, worthless, and a burden. I have been raised to be self-sacrificing for the sake and good of my family and everything I do reflects on the pride of my family. Thus, I must never do anything to bring shame to my clan. Yes, I have issues with my family. Who doesn't? It's a great blessing to have parents that do not have impossible expectations for you, and even more of a blessing to have them love you for who you are, and you love them in return. I advise those that have this: Please do not take it for granted because when it's lost, it's gone for good and it's something you can never have back, and you live with regrets for the rest of your life.
This is one of the many reasons I adore my husbands (Yes, I have two!). I know, I know, it's scandalous, even unheard of in our society. Normally, it's acceptable for men to have multiple wives. But women can't have multiple lovers. Any woman that even has more than what we deem as the normal amount of relationships(one) is deemed a slut or a whore.
So, yes, in many quarters I've been ostracized, and shunned because of this. I'm even outcast to everyone in my family except my younger sister and my beloved cousin and uncle. The shunning doesn't happen outwardly, of course. But I see the way I'm looked at by many in our society sometimes-the envy, the jealousy and hatred, coming mostly from the women in my vicinity, thrown my way because of whom I'm with, and what I have. But they don't dare voice their opinions out loud(if they know what's was good for them, anyway.) My husbands' reach is very long...
Many have decided that I'm especially morally deficient. The only people who accepted us without any acrimony are my in-laws, my old teacher, Kurenai-sensei(she had laughed out loud, tears rolling down her cheeks in mirth and pride), and Iruka-papa, and his partner. Iruka-papa had blushed profusely when he had heard what we were up to, but had no condemnation for us.
Instead, he was very happy that my Sky finally found the love and acceptance he had always sought and finally found, even if it was in an unconventional manner.
And you know what? I don't care what other people think, because I'm finally living my dreams, and I'm happy. Very happy.
Me being with both my husbands mostly happened by accident, and no, it's not because of the money(I have plenty of my own, thank you very much) and no, it certainly wasn't because of the prestige(again, I have plenty of my own through my family connections). Those that live around my way know what I'm talking about. At least they will when they read this story.
Would you believe it was one of my husbands that encouraged me to write our story and submit it for publishing? My other husband says he's just shameless.
But Sky(it's what I call him-because of his beautiful sky blue eyes-and you'll get his real name soon, I promise) has never cared what people think. He loves doing things his own way, and damn the consequences and what other people think. If they want to live with sticks up their asses, that's their problem.
But Dark Chocolate(my other husband) says Sky is just an idiot.*giggle* Chocolate doesn't care what anybody thinks, either. Never has. But he says we have to be circumspect in all our doings. What other people think of us is of no consequence, but we have to think of our children and whether we like it or not, everything we do reflects on our offspring, and we don't want or need to make life unnecessarily hard for them, especially when what we do is not their fault. I have to agree with his statement, as this is so true, as Sky has the bad experience to prove.
Where I live, Konohagakure (Konoha-who wants to pronounce the full name of the city all the time-it's a freaking tongue twister!) is one of the biggest cities in Fire Country. It's a country filled with dichotomies. It has areas covered in lush forests and mountains and also tropical areas so hot, you'd think you were in Suna. But this is what makes Fire Country also one of the most the most beautiful in the world. The nearest country to ours is Wind Country, mostly covered with a vast desert. Suna/Sand (Sunagakure) is the city that exists within the biggest oasis in that vast desert. The contrasts between our country and theirs make our part of the world so beautiful. The only other country that compares to it is Snow-Spring Country(the crown princess of Snow-Spring is a close friend-she used to have a very big crush on Sky. Still has.). She even once told me to make sure I make Sky very happy or else she was going to console him and make him her husband if I ever broke his heart...She was very serious at the time. It doesn't help that she's one of Sky's favorite celebrities...Go figure.
Anyways, as big as Konoha is, it's also one of smallest communities. Not geographically. What I mean by that, at least, is that the upper echelons of our society is very insular and close-knit. Wealthy people tend to marry other wealthy people-Trust me, this is true everywhere, so we all know each other. Anything that happens, everyone in our society knows within days, a week at the most.(The society matrons are notorious gossips and flirts. What else is there for them to do, except to gossip and fornicate when they're always so bored? They pounce on the salacious details of scandal like starving jackals).
In any case, all three of us-Chocolate, Sky and myself, come from this society. This was not always so, at least, with Sky. Through tragedy and greed, Sky's parents were murdered, and his inheritance stolen from him. He was supposed to be killed as well, but at the last moment, one of the assassins couldn't bring himself to kill a child. So he abandoned Sky in the biggest and most infamous forest in Konoha at its farthest point, The Forest of Death, telling himself that some wild animal would devour the child. sooner or later(How that is better than killing him, I don't know).
Somehow, my beloved survived. And that survival honed his physical and mental skills that he applies to his life today.
What is even more amazing about his survival is that this forest is notorious all over the world for having some of the biggest and most vicious wild animals around. It's rumored that these animals are the remnants of infamous experiments that were undertaken back during the dark times of the world-The time of the Shinobi-The Ninja.
These animals are also famous for their size and till today, no one knows how Sky survived the experience in the wild. He had been only 6 years old.
Understandably, Sky doesn't like to talk much about his experiences much with anyone except myself, Chocolate and a few other people close to him. He's always dry eyed when he does talk about it,(I have no idea how he is able to remain dry-eyed when speaking of such trauma) but I've cried so much on his behalf and Chocolate flies into rages that freaks out the whole household whenever he hears these stories. Sky has to literally hold him down and I plop myself into his lap so that he doesn't break the furniture. We've literally have had to redo the living room thrice* whenever this happens. We may be unreasonably wealthy, but I don't enjoy throwing my money away on decorators. I'd rather give it away to the orphanages our family supports.
Anyway, Sky managed to finally make his way back to Konoha. He was eight.
It took him two years to make his way back to civilization. The night he finally made it back, one of the border guards that patrolled the entry to our city stumbled upon him. He was severely emaciated and undernourished, his whole body covered in scratches and sores (In fact, he has some permanent scars, that healed but never faded-but they make him look so sexy, and mischievous) bug bitten and dying with fever. His hair was almost to his knees, full of vermin. But the one thing that didn't die, was the fire in his eyes.(The Will of Fire, he calls it).
Of course, since he had no one left in Konoha, after being in the hospital for 3 months, he was taken to one of the orphanages in Konoha. Instead of his life improving, it kind of got worse in another way. In any case, he was nine when he finally got to attend school, and that was what finally brought him up to par in society. He was taken under the wing of one of his teachers, who also ended up literally adopting him. To this day, he is one of Sky's most adored precious people.
Eventually, the culprits behind the tragedy of Sky's life were finally caught. It was his father's uncle, that had his nephew and wife killed because of the multi-million ryou company the latter controlled. The only good thing I can say about that stupid snake is that at least he didn't run the company into the ground. He was actually very good at it, so that by the time he was arrested and charged for the murders of Sky's parents, and the attempted murder of my husband, Sky had come into a very great amount of money. It helped that the fool hadn't made a will (Karma is a bitch, ain't she?).
He had assumed his nephew's whole family was gone, so he didn't bother making one.
However, the laws of inheritance in Konoha are extremely strict and direct.
They dictated that the estate of a deceased or imprisoned person automatically goes to his nearest blood relative(barring no will on file). But Sky's father had made a will, which my husband's uncle tried to find and destroy. He never found a physical copy at his nephew's mansion, so he assumed there wasn't one. He had, in his haste to undertake his evil doings, forgotten that all wills had to be on file with the City Hall, Hokage Tower, regardless of who you are, and documentation such as these, were kept on virtually impossible to decrypt computers, and a physical copy was also kept in a very hard to break into library. The people that were in charge of that section of City Hall are virtually incorruptible(they had to be-inheritance is extremely important to the people of Konoha, you know).
How no one had realized this at that time beats me. I think it had to do with the fact that Sky's last name hadn't been the same as his father's. He was using his mother's last name(We found this out at the trial). Sky's father had done that to protect his family-and his intuition had proved him right. It saved his son's life. Now, though, Sky uses a combination last name to honor his parents.
I'm sure you're wondering why I got into all of this...well, I just wanted to give you a bit of me and my husbands' backgrounds..The explanation was to basically give you some insight into what makes us tick as a 3 person family unit-we will increase soon in 9 months *giggle* . And I've been told they are triplets-multiple births run on my side of the family. My father is a twin, so I'm not surprised.
Now my other husband, Dark Chocolate(his eyes are a very dark brown-they remind me of very dark chocolates, one of my weaknesses-cinnamon buns being the other), comes from a vast, close-knit clan. The clan he comes from are a very powerful, wealthy and old family. It's said they were one of the founding families of Konoha, the Senju being the other.
Anyway, Chocolate's family virtually rule Konoha. The only other families that I'll say are on the same level as they are the Senju (Sky is related to them through his mother, who are related to the Senju and are direct descendants of the royal house of Uzushiogakure. My sexy, blue eyed god is royalty. But you wouldn't know it by the way he acts.), the Hyuuga, the Sarutobi(I love old man Sarutobi to death, he's a treasure), the Aburame-(they're numerous, they beat even all the clans with their vast numbers) and some other families I don't remember at the moment.
My husband, Dark Chocolate's family may be very powerful, but they are eccentric. Very Eccentric, Crazy, even. Sky and me adore them, though(Sky doesn't have any close family anymore except for his great aunt, great uncle, me, Chocolate, his adoptive father, and personal friends he made along the way), and I don't get along with mine, except for my younger sister, uncle and cousin-my mom is deceased)so we don't mind their antics as much as Chocolate does. Sky actually finds their behavior very amusing and usually can't wait to see what they will be up to next, and what steps Chocolate will take to thwart them.
Chocolate does not like at lot of his extended family, and has no patience for their misbehavior. The only people he loves (apart from Sky and me as his spouses) are his older brother, his mother(whom he adores), a cousin and his older brother. He does not get along with his father.
Dark Chocolate's father currently heads the family; he took over from an uncle, many years ago.
Chocolate's family, decided to arrange the most elderly of their family into a sort of council that determines what goes on in the clan. Since there are a lot of them, they needed some way to keep track of what is going on in their clan. The family council consists of the head of each of the main family and branch members. They oversee all marriages, births, any big decisions that affect the whole clan as a whole, and so on. They have the power to veto the marriage of members of the family they don't approve of(this happens on occasion if they determine the family ties are too close etcetera-we can't have two headed babies running around after all).
It was by Sky's and Chocolates' wiliness & machinations that we were able to pull our marriage off. Luckily, Konoha honors marriage vows made in any country in the world, so far there is physical evidence of the vows, and the vows were done by a recognized authority, such as a judge of the peace. There is no law in any of the countries that bars marriage of multiple persons, so far all parties agree to it, and it was not done under duress. So we got married in Suna. Also, the president of Suna is a *very* close friend of Sky's!
By the time the council got wind of what was happening, the deed was already done. This totally pissed everyone off, especially Chocolates' father. But hey, * we * were happy!
Even Chocolates mother was upset. But we calmed everyone down by throwing a big reception, after the fact. This allowed Chocolate's mother to do all the fussing she wanted, in terms of my dress, the food and what not.
My family and Chocolates' are actually very distantly related, but the degree of relation is far enough that our getting married wasn't a problem. But still, the council didn't want us intermingled in anyway, because frankly, the families don't get along, they are sort of in competition.
But I digress.
Anyway, after our marriage, members of the family council developed the bad habit of popping up uninvited to our home at odd hours of the day and night. This literally drove my husband crazy. It felt (at least to him) that they were trying to find us (myself and Sky especially) in some sort of compromising position so that they could declare our marriage null & void. It was his mother & brother that blew the whistle on their conspiracy.
Dark Chocolate's mother was especially irate with all of the council's antics because she was worried that she wouldn't get any grandchildren. She felt their interference would stress us out-especially me. Women needed a calm, happy environment in which to have children. If a women is too stressed out, it affects her fertility. She had despaired of her sons getting married because, according to her, they were too
*damn picky*!
Finally, one of them does get married, and the council was bothering him in his married home. No way those old bats were going to get away with it!
Chocolate was furious when he finally found out what the family council were up to.
"Of course my husband and wife are going to be in fucking compromising positions with each other! We are all FUCKING MARRIED!"
This interference from the elders went on for quite awhile because we didn't want the council to know our in-laws had let us know what was going on. But I made it a point of duty not to bat an eyelid when the old fogies showed up at weird times.
I did my best to entertain them properly-it's a good thing I had extensive training in such things. I had been, after all, the eldest daughter and then heiress of my clan. Ergo, such machinations were common place with me. It was irksome, though, especially when they showed up when I was trying to rack up multiple orgasms in our double California king size bed, especially when both my husbands were present, willing, very able, accounted for, and raring to go.
Chocolate made sure we all ignored them when they showed themselves and let them
know we were ignoring them.
Like in one instance, where they showed up the middle of the night while we were very busy and body deep in sexing each other. Sky was in me, and Chocolates was in Sky. I was moaning, very loudly by the way, enjoying myself enormously while hanging on tight to our huge bed's headboard. Sky was fondling my girls and trying his best to bury himself as deep as he could (all ten inches accounted for, thank you very much) and Chocolate was busy digging for gold in Sky(again, all 10 inches, arigato gozaimasu). Then suddenly, a knock.
"WHAT?! WHAT?!" my dark haired husband yelled in the direction of our bedroom door, while still taking care of business. He didn't miss a beat(or a pump, * tee hee *). I'm not sure how he managed it. I was barely conscious as it was, and Sky didn't even bother to look up. He was enjoying himself too much to bother with what was going on, anyway.
Now, there is one thing about my husband, Chocolate, that everyone knew about. He's a control freak. He loves to make sure that every aspect of his life is controlled. He despises out of control emotions, messy emotional scenes, out of control financial issues, drama etc. He was always aware of what was going on around him, at all times.
But what people didn't know about him was that the few things he can't control are his enormous love for me and Sky, his love of sex in any shape & form and the family-Council, to a certain extent. It drives him absolutely crazy. Which is why Sky and me love to rile him up, to get him to the bedroom, preferably more than once in one day. And once he was there, he's always willing to try anything. Multiple times, if he liked it.
He will never admit to it, on the pain of death of course, but he loves being led by his dick(when he wasn't busy with business related stuff, that is). In that aspect, he's very professional. Sky and me knew when to back off when he has to act in that capacity.
Let me explain something about our sex lives. Neither of my husbands has any hang ups about sex. They didn't care who saw or heard us while we were going at it. As far as they are concerned, it's a natural biological act, and while it was being done in the privacy of our home(any area in the house, by the way, is fair game. We are notorious with the servants for that), no one had the right to be angry ,embarrassed or try to dictate to us where and when we are supposed to have sex . It was our home, after all.
All our workers know better than to interrupt us while we are busy getting down, barring a life threatening emergency. Unless someone was in the danger of dying, no one was to show up wherever we were together. Listen or enter At Your Own Risk.
"Um..Master..the council of elders have arrived and are in the waiting room. They have requested your presence and want to meet with you..." one of our footmen called out hesitantly.
We live in a mansion, of course. With all the money we had, do you see us in a three bedroom house? We even had 24 hour servants, for Kami's sake. We can afford it...
"Tell them to FUCK OFF! I'm busy!" My husband replied irately, while still pumping, of course. He never missed a beat.
How dare those old fools come at this hour of the night to bother him while he was having fun?!
I'm pretty sure the elders could hear him all the way in the reception room. And I'm sure the footman used more polite wording, of course, when he delivered my husband's reply to their unwanted presence. I could even hear the young man snicker as he walked away to deliver the rude message. I couldn't help but giggle(but I was soon moaning again). There would be hell to pay, of course. But at that moment, who cared? What kind of moron(or morons, take your pick) cruises around at night to interfere in other people's business? And business that didn't even didn't concern them? But my mind soon turned to better, more pleasurable things...
That's a perfect example of one my husbands in a nutshell.
I am totally and irrevocably in love with both of them with all my heart and soul. Equally? Yes. I know, know...Many say it's impossible..But to me, it's perfectly doable.
But they both have different personalities & qualities I treasure and these qualities makes me love them more everyday. But it didn't start out that way.
How did I meet my husbands?
Well, Chocolate I've known or at least, known about practically all my life. Like I said before, we come from the same insular stratus in society, so I saw him every so often when we were younger. He is very, very handsome. Beautiful, even. Of course , when I first saw him, I was attracted to him. Who wouldn't be? Chocolate's clan are famous for their good looks as much as they were for their wealth and eccentricity. Most women I know in Konoha were in total lust with them. I will not call it love. How can you love someone you don't know personally? But it didn't matter... to them.
It didn't matter that half the clan were crazy in some form or the other-when you have money, power and looks, it was easy for people to overlook your mental status. Until you had to live with it intimately.
But Chocolate and his immediate family plus some few other cousins were very normal. Thank Kami. (I also thank Kami for Chocolate's mother's blood running in my husband's and his brother's veins).
As time went on, I didn't get see Chocolate often, though. My clan was very strict in terms of us younger ones going out, enjoying ourselves and interacting with other young people in society. We were very restricted in where we went, when and with whom. Insular, even. The elders in my family didn't want our young minds being "polluted" with the "loose morals" of today's world. Thank Kami for books, magazines and television. And COLLLEGE!
Chocolate and his brother(the males in in the family in general) were very much notorious for having rabid fan girls following them wherever they went. I think this phenomena was what fueled my husband's few misogynistic tendencies. Even now, I'm amazed we were able to get married. He did not like women as a rule. He still says some things about women that make me cringe and laugh instead of making me angry, because I can understand where he's coming from. As a woman myself, I see things that other women do that tries my patience, makes me mad and sometimes I just shake my head in wonderment at their monumental stupidity. I think living with me has kind of softened his views to a certain degree, though.
Anytime I did get to see him, it was at some society function-like a wedding or when someone important was having a birthday for instance. Whatever the situation, he and other male members of his family would be surrounded by females of all stripes and colors, ages and whatnot(On the other hand, his family were very protective of their females and would surround them with stout, intimidating, older female chaperones. No male of sound mind would even dream of approaching them. Not the males, though. The males of Chocolate's clan were fair game. The clan tries to get them married off as soon as possible).
Anyway, these mercenary, frivolous females never seemed to notice the utter boredom on his beautiful face. They were too busy squealing, squeaking, fawning and batting their eyelashes at him.
Whenever I would get an opportunity to pass by him(I was surrounded by my chaperones as well) and our eyes met, he would give me a very brief nod. I would blush to the bottom of my toes and nod briefly back at him. That was it.
However, by the time I turned 16, I'd had enough of being stuck in my clan's compound. I felt absolutely stifled-emotionally, physically and mentally. Although I practiced my family's martial art and was in excellent physical shape, I wanted more: I wanted to see the world outside, needed to experience it on my own terms, learn more about it and learn different things. My opportunity came in the form of a scholarship.
For months, while I had been thinking of what do in planning my escape from my family in a subtle manner, my unexpected breakthrough came in the form of school.
One of the mistakes my father had made that helped my cause further along, was allowing me to attend a public high school. He could have had my sister and me home schooled, or we could have attended a private school, but he decided that he wanted us to at least mingle with other kids of our own age and learn how to interact & deal with them. As he had said, "Daughter, you are the heir of our clan. You must learn how to deal with the people beneath you."
Now, please don't get me wrong. I, in no way, shape or form, agree or subscribe to that nonsensical mindset. I abhor snobs. Having come from a large family in which I experienced being looked down on in some manner(Even though I was heir, I did not reach their standards in anyway. I was timid, too quiet, too something. It never occurred to them that they were the cause of my character flaws). I learned very early to detest that kind of behavior in people.
However, in order to get where I wanted to be, I had to acquiesce to his ridiculous statement. My agreement got me into Konoha High and to Kurenai-sensei.
Kurenai-nee was my homeroom teacher and had to be one of the most beautiful women I have ever had the pleasure to have met in my life. She had long dark hair, a killer figure and one of the most unusual colored eyes I have ever seen. They are an usual shade of brown that they appeared red.
Almost all the men in my school were in love with her, both young and old. She also had a sweet personality that just a frown at a misbehaving male student made him shape up in a minute in order to please her and get her attention. On the other hand, all the females except for a few(me being one of them)hated her because the boys never paid them any attention to them when she was around. All the males were too enthralled with her. But Kurenai-nee never took advantage of her power over the men in the school. She instead used it to steer each of them in the path that made use of their maximum potential. The only other person I've seen with that power is Iruka-sensei. It also helped that she was one of the schools' guidance counselors.
In any case, it seemed she was a friend of the family, and my father put me directly in her care. I learned how to manipulate males directly from her(tee-hee), although I've never had to use my skills too much.
Being at Konoha High helped me tremendously. I did very well in school, always coming in at the top 10 of my class. I was careful not to come in too high-I didn't want to call too much attention to myself, and I didn't want to alienate my classmates. Kids are weird in that if you're too smart, they hated you, and if you're too dumb, they jeered at you. You could never win, either way. I also learned to navigate the treacherous waters of high school. It doesn't seem obvious, but I despised it. But I don't want to get into that right now...That in itself is a different story all together...
Kurenai-nee was very smart(she had to be, she was a guidance counselor after all) and knew I was under performing on purpose. She called me into her office one day.
''Ojou, have a seat." Kurenai-nee always called me "Ojou" in deference to my position. I always told her to call me by my true name, but she always laughed and said that she loved the way I conducted myself, just like the lady I was.
After greeting her shyly, I perched on the edge of the chair in front of her desk. Your teacher or Principal calling you into their office never bodes well. But I don't think I've done anything wrong...Yet.
Kurenai-nee stood up from her chair, came around her desk and pulled up the second chair beside me and sat down as well. Smiling at me kindly, and taking my hand hers, she said:
"Ojou, I know what you're doing." Startled at the statement, I looked into her eyes with confusion. "What do you mean, sensei?"
"I know you're performing slightly below your potential." She smiled at me kindly. "I really don't blame you for it, but you can't let other people limit you."
I ducked my head in shame. " I just don't want my classmates to hate me."
Kurenai-nee sighed, stroking my head gently. "I know, sweetheart. But you really shouldn't care what other people think of you. If you care about others' opinions of you too much, it tends to limit you in what you can do, where you could you be."
She frowned a bit. It was obvious she was thinking about something, but her brow soon cleared, it was obvious she wasn't going to share her thoughts with me.
Getting up from where she had been sitting beside me, she soon moved to a metal file cabinet placed to the side of the office, not far from her desk. Opening one of the compartments and browsing through some files, she retrieved some documents from it and slid the cabinet shut. Moving quickly back to her desk, she sat down, quickly marking something on the paperwork, then she came around the desk again and handed the paperwork to me.
"I want you to fill out these forms and return them to me as soon as possible. Once you've done that, I'm going to ask your father to allow you to stay with me for a couple of weeks or months, depending on his reaction. It shouldn't be a problem, since we are going to be on summer vacation soon."
I looked up at her, again startled. "You will ask Otou-sama to allow me to leave the clan compound? I never leave the compound!" I was shocked. Was this event even possible?
Kurenai-nee smiled at me. "Don't worry, Ojou. Just leave your father to me." She winked at me.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
The paperwork Kurenai-nee had given me were applications for different scholarships for women, questionnaires and applications for colleges and universities. I was excited! I would finally leave that compound and experience the world like I wanted!
While all this was going on, Chocolate never entered or crossed my mind, even once. Like I said before, I hardly saw him enough for him to be anything special to me. Yet.
Over the next couple of months, (some of the best months of my life, barring my marrying my beloveds) I learned a lot about myself, how the world worked for women and what I could do to wade through the morass of misogyny in our society from Kurenai-nee.
As beautiful as she was, Kurenai-nee was a closet feminist. She was also a master manipulator. I found out eventually that the reason she was good with men was because she was descended from a long line of Witches on both sides of her family that had the power of optical illusion. Her family didn't really practice anymore, but certain secrets were passed down through the females of her family. What I mean is, she had the Power.
And she used it. Constantly.
Now, she didn't use it maliciously. It was always in the service of someone else, and she only used it on certain recalcitrant individuals. People like my father for instance.
She, too, had been battling the misogyny steeped in her family. I learned a lot about her-how her father had always wanted a son, his disappointment when he never got one and how he pushed her so much to be what she was not. She had spent most of her life trying to please him and soon found out that she couldn't, no matter what she did. Thus, she went her own way as soon as she could. But that came at a price that she was willing to pay for her self-respect and peace of mind eventually.
I learned from her how to love myself first, enjoy being female and learned I was not worthless, even though I wasn't male. I learned not to hate them, but realize that many of them acted the way they did because they didn't know any better. Chauvinistic behavior was learned, and they just acted out what they saw around them. Our society as a whole is really male dominated. Very few cultures are female oriented.
But regardless, everyone had a role to play in the world. You just had to find what your passion was, embrace it and enjoy indulging in it and use it to the best of your ability as long it wasn't in a malicious manner or to take advantage of other people. Karma was a bitch, and she always came back to bite you in the ass. Hard.
There was nothing wrong with being female or even male, at that. You are what you are, and it was up to the individual the live up to their own potential. I learned to enjoy my femininity, revel in it and use it. I loved all those months I spent with her. When it was time for me to go back to my clan compound, I most definitely did not want to.
I told Kurenai-nee that.
"Hmm..I guess I could talk to your father about that. But it will be difficult, very difficult indeed..." She winked at me impishly.
Till today, I don't know how she did it(she refused to tell me, though I suspect she used her powers on him, which was incredible-my father was well-known in being able to spot deception a mile away), But amazingly, he agreed to allow me to stay with Kurenai-nee for the remainder of my senior year of high school.
A couple of months before graduation, I arrived back at Kurenai-nee house after classes. I entered the house to hear her screaming excitedly. Dropping my school bag in a hurry, and worrying about what was happening, I cautiously approached her home office. I've watched enough television and read enough books to learn that it was never a wise or a good idea to rush into places where screaming was coming from.
I peered through the open door of Kurenai-nee's home office fearfully and carefully. I breathed out with relief.
She was alone, clutching at a sheaf of papers in her hand. Distracted, she didn't notice my entrance. It appeared she was excited about something, as her cheeks were flushed and her beautiful red eyes were sparkling.
"Anou..Nee-san?..." I called out carefully. My teacher glanced up at me in surprise.
"Oh, Ojou! You're back..How was the school council meeting?"
"Long..." I replied, smiling at the excited look on her face.
I was the secretary of the school council and every so often, we had meetings to determine what was going on in school. This time, though, we were planning the school festival and prom for the graduating seniors of Konoha High.
Konoha High, even though it was a public school, was actually one of the best high schools in Konoha. It was on the same level as some private schools, and we had a lot of illustrious graduates, including Tsunade Senju-sama, one of the world's foremost physicians, and Jiraiya Sannin-sama, a world famous archeologist, and even Hiruzen Sarutobi-sama, one of our revered Mayors.
This, I believed, allowed my father to agree I attend there instead of some of the more exclusive private schools. The school basically ran itself with little oversight from upper management, unless there was a dire intervention needed from the Principal. It was the Vice Principal, Ibiki-sensei, we saw frequently. A more intimidating individual, I have yet to meet. He was tall, bald headed and had some intimidating scarring around his head and face. It's said he used to be in the military. I can believe it.
No matter how bad ass a juvenile delinquent felt he/she was, once he encountered Ibiki-sensei, they cooled down at once. Just a look at you down from his great height, had people shaking in their shoes.
However, I believe it was teachers like Kurenai-nee and Iruka-sensei,(and Ibiki-sensei, of course) that made the students like and enjoy learning, and made our school's excellent academic reputation, and good standing discipline wise.
I gestured towards the papers in her hand. "Good news?"
"Yes! Spectacular news!" Kurenai-nee gave me a tight hug, almost lifting me off my feet. "Huh?" I asked in confusion.
"Ojou, you got it! You got in! I'm so happy for you!"
I still didn't get it. "Nee-san, I'm confused. What did I get? I don't understand what you're talking about."
Kurenai-nee put me down and thrust the papers she had been holding towards me.
I glanced at the typewritten words on the sheet.
Dear Miss,
It is with great pleasure we inform you that you have been accepted to the University Of Snow-Spring with a full scholarship-
I did the one thing that I hadn't done since I was 12 years old. I fainted.
When I came to, I was on the couch in the living room. Kurenai-nee was fanning me. There was a wet, cold wash towel on my forehead, and the neck of my school shirt was loosened, to allow for easier breathing.
I groaned. Kurenai-nee glanced down at me, smiling.
"How do you feel, Ojou?"
"Okay..What happened?" I started to pull myself up, but the steady hand of my teacher pressed me back down gently.
"Stay down, sweetheart, you just had a big shock to your system."
I laid back down. I looked up into the eyes of Kurenai-nee.
"What happened, Nee-san?" I asked again. Kurenai-nee looked down at me happily.
"You got into the University Of Snow-Spring." She leaned down and hugged me tightly. "Ojou, I'm so proud of you! Do you know how difficult it is to get in? And you got in with an all expenses paid full scholarship! I'm very, very proud of you!" There were actually tears in her eyes.
To tell the truth, I was still in shock, myself. I couldn't believe it.
The University of Snow-Spring was a world renowned University. It had a Medical school, Business School, Dental School, Law School-basically almost all the professional schools you could think of. Its' other programs were nothing to sneeze at, either.
The country of Snow-Spring had, for decades, labored under the rule of a dictator, a man called Doto Kazahana. He had inherited the throne of the country(then called the Land of Snow) from his brother, Sosetsu, in a coup d'etat. He had also tried to kill his niece, Koyuki, who was actually the true heir to the throne, but she had managed to escape, due to the help of some of her servants, who were very loyal to her late father.
Anyway, Doto's actions had caused the country to be cut off from the rest of the world, as Snow's neighboring countries and allies(Konoha and Suna included) had agreed to place embargoes on Snow, in protest of his actions. Basically, he had murdered his brother in order to gain the throne. Luckily for him, his country was basically self sufficient, but the loss of revenue from Snow's exports was a great blow to their economy.
Years later, Koyuki had been able to gain back her throne, with the help of Konoha, Sand and some of Snow's past allies. No, they didn't assassinate Doto!(I'm pretty sure he deserved it, though)..He was tried in an International Court, and found guilty. He and his accomplices that had planned and carried out the assassination and near destruction of the Royal Family of Snow were sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, in a maximum security prison.
It was during this time Koyuki-hime met Sky.
I didn't know until later, that Sky had been in the military. He had actually gotten recruited from high school, and basically worked himself high and hard enough to be noticed and recruited into ANBU-a kind of special forces group in the military. They were an ultra secret, black Ops group that most people in Konoha hadn't even heard of. I myself had only heard an inkling of it because some of my cousins happened to be in the group. Sky had spent many years in there, before being put on permanent leave, with honors. Once ANBU, always ANBU, though. You could never leave. You could be put on permanent leave, with the option of doing consultations for them, and in rare instances, even be reactivated for service, depending on why you were needed.
But he had wanted to further his education, and he couldn't do so while on active duty and if he had to be called back into action every so often. This was also because later he had found about his family and had to deal with his family's business. But he still consulted for them every so often.
Anyway, Koyuki-hime had met him and had totally fallen in lust(I didn't find this out until later when I started living in Snow-Spring), but for some reason or the other, they couldn't get together. But she's still very fond of him, and according to her, her various boyfriends had to be either blond or blue eyed. She made me laugh with that one.
In any case. Koyuki-hime was later re-instated as the Crown Princess of Snow-Spring(She had renamed her country that after the discovery of the massive generators that produced the energy needed that melted the perpetual snow of her country). She couldn't be crowned Queen until she turned 30, though. It was tradition in Snow-Spring that every monarch had to be given the opportunity to enjoy their youth and gain some life experience before taking the throne. Koyuki had actually been a very popular actress, before being known as the Crown Princess of Snow-Spring. She had been known as Yukie Fujikaze.
The best I could say about Doto Kazahana, is that he invested very heavily in the educational system of his country. Since the country was under heavy embargo, he decided he didn't need the rest of the world, anyway. So he urged the various sectors of his country's industries to make damn sure their employees were well educated. The only other countries with such well known Universities and Colleges were Konoha, Sand, Otogakure,and Ishigakure(Stone). Not to say other countries' schools weren't good, but the countries I mentioned tend to turn out well rounded graduates.
Of course, I could have attended University in Konoha, I had gotten admission to that school as well, but the point was to get away from my family and their various idiocies.
I still couldn't believe it...Me, getting into University of Snow-Spring? I didn't know what else to do, except to cry with happiness.
So I did. Cry, that is...a lot.
Preparing to go to college was great. Absolutely great! Kurenai-nee(she eventually frowned whenever I called her 'sensei'. She felt our relationship was closer than that for me to address her so formally) took me to all the places she shopped for clothes and shoes. We got me a lot of sportswear, Kurenai-nee didn't want me to stop my martial arts training in anyway. She even encouraged me to learn different kinds of martial arts and about weapons.
"A woman on her own must know how to defend herself physically as well as mentally. You never know when you'll need it."
She also encouraged me to join team sports like volleyball. "One must learn team spirit. It teaches you teamwork and how to get along with different personalities."
It helped that I had a limitless budget for shopping. My father, as much as we didn't get along, never stinted on getting me and my younger sister anything we needed. He didn't care how much money we spent, so far what we got was of excellent quality and pleased us. It helped that I had a full expense paid scholarship. This meant I could spend a considerable amount on living expenses, if I wanted.
Later, I found out my mother had left a huge inheritance for my younger sister and me, that automatically came into play once one of us entered college. That made my monetary situation even better.
Kurenai-nee made sure I had plenty of everything, since she figured I would be staying in the dorms. "The best way to stay in the know about what is going on in school is to live in the dorms and hang out in the Student Union..."
She had me fitted for different kinds of underwear and brassieres-she emphasized how important it was that I had the proper support to prevent back problems and was horrified when she found out I bind my chest to hide my bust size. When she discovered why, she was horrified.
"You..you bind your chest?! Why? You're still growing, that's not healthy..!WHAT?! What did you say?! Your chaperones advised you to bind your chest because if men saw the kind of size you have, they'd want you for a mistress instead of a wife?
Why, those insolent, insensitive, old-fashioned curmudgeons! Those jealous, dried up, old bitches! Those..oomph..!" I had to cover her mouth, as she was getting louder and louder in the lingerie shop we had ended up in, when she saw how I had been squirming with discomfort in order to adjust the bindings on my chest.
When I had initially taken off the bindings in order for the professional fitter to measure me for my brassieres, her eyes had widened at the size of my girls.. Even the fitter had gasped in incredulity. I was so humiliated that I had crossed my arms and used my hands to hide my nipples. I was red in the face from blushing, and had turned my head away in shame.
"Ojou...Oh kami...your chest..they're magnificent! How and where in the world had you hidden these? You make me wish I were bigger..."
I raised my head in shock...What, my breasts were 'magnificent'? They weren't 'cow's udders'?"
"Kurenai-nee...what do you mean? Does this mean my breasts are good? They aren't cow's udders?"
Kurenai-nee stared at me in astonishment. "Cow's udders? Where the heck did you hear that phrase from? Someone called your breasts cow's udders?"
I found myself blushing, as I pushed the tips of my pointing fingers together and the same time tried to cover my breasts.
I stuttered as I answered her. "W.w..well, the group of c..c..haperones I h..h..had told me..me t..t..that if..if men f.. out about m...m...my size..."
The professional fitter, who had regained her wits and bustled around me with a tape measure, snorted in derision. "Those jealous old bitches. I've heard a lot of those kinds of comments before. They told you if you didn't bind your chest, you'd be taken as a mistress, didn't they?" I nodded in humiliation. That was when Kurenai-nee hit the roof.
"Why, those jealous, dried up old sticks! Those dreadful, ugly, toad faced old maids! Those..!" I had to cover Kurenai-nee's mouth again to stop the verbal abuse.
I've since learned not to talk about the issue in her presence as it sent her off an amusing tangent. I guess that kind of talk is one of her pet peeves.
Even as we left the lingerie shop that day, Kurenai-nee continued to mutter to herself about the boob issue. I snickered at some of the punishments she wanted to visit upon the chaperones, until I told her to calm herself and not worry about it anymore, since I'd be leaving the compound anyway. I know my body better now, and I'm not ashamed of it anymore. What makes me ecstatic about my body, especially now, is that both Sky and Chocolate find such pleasure in me as I am. Sky, especially, is obsessed with my girls. I wonder how he'd react once I tell him they'd get bigger since I'm pregnant?
6 months later, I was finally ready to leave Konoha. Finally! Kurenai-nee, my father, sister, cousin and uncle, accompanied me to the airport, for a flight bound for Snow-Spring. My things had been sent ahead of me. Because I had so much stuff, my father decided to have my luggage sent and stored over there. I would reclaim my possessions once I arrived there.
I decided to go to Snow-Spring two weeks before school started, in order to get to know the town I would be living in for the next four to six years. I had also decided once I got to Snow-Spring, I would probably rent an apartment, instead of living in the dorms. I hadn't decided that as of yet, but also didn't let anyone know, though.
I was really looking forward to leaving Konoha...
Notes:
Ojou-Lady
Anou-Umm, Uhh
Nee/Nee-san:Older sister(in japanese)
Author: I tried as much as possible to not give the reader any clues as to who the writer of the story is..As I mentioned before, the clues will be obvious to us, but not to the magazine readers. If you need any clarification on what is going on, please do not hesitate to ask! I'm always happy to answer any questions...