1 week before orientation
Kakashi stared through the window of the third floor apartment from his perch on a tree branch. A bed was crammed in one corner, but other than that, the inside looked like some kind of cross between a mad scientist's laboratory and an apothecary. Tables were littered with beakers and flasks, pipettes and stirring rods. Clusters of herbs hung from the ceiling and jars containing fangs lined shelves.
The window was suddenly flung open and a lavender-haired head come out. A white streak almost seemed to glow in the bright sunlight.
"Quit lurking, damn you!" she cursed at him, emerald eyes locking on him irritably. "It's distracting!"
"I would have come in," Kakashi assured her, "if I knew I wasn't going to die."
The woman glared, the corners of her mouth turning down behind the white mask that covered the lower half of her face. "You have a mask, you'll be fine," she assured him, stepping back from the window and pointing angrily at the floor next to her. "Get in here, Kakashi."
"So commanding," Kakashi sighed before jumping out of the tree and landing lightly inside the apartment. He got a smack to the back of his head for that as the woman stalked past him, moving towards one of the tables. She stared at a heating beaker for a moment, narrowing her eyes at it in irritation, before snatching up a mortar and pestle and grinding its contents furiously.
"Still hard at work with your poisons, Asuka?" Kakashi guessed. Asuka shot him a look.
"I know you're only looking with one eye, but you're not completely blind, Kakashi. What's it look like?"
Kakashi shrugged, leaning against the wall by the window. Lazily, he said, "It looks like you're not preparing for your genin team."
If he wasn't so well-trained – and if he didn't know Asuka so well – he might have missed the slight stutter in her grinding. Her eyes slanted to the side and she glared at the bubbling beaker.
"Not working," she muttered, and set down her mortar. She snatched up the beaker in one white-gloved hand and brought it to her face. She yanked down the white cloth and took a deep breath.
Kakashi's eye widened. "What are you doing?" he demanded, leaning forwards.
"Oh, relax," Asuka huffed, tugging the mask back up over her face. She stalked to the tiny kitchenette and poured the mixture down the sink, setting the beaker in after it. "That's a failure anyway, it seems."
"Still," Kakashi sighed, leaning back against the wall since Asuka showed no signs of keeling over. Even her failures were no joke.
There had been a very memorable – and unappreciated party – thrown at her apartment by the jonin one night, and someone had mixed up a drink using what they didn't realize was one of her failed poison concoctions. That night was still remembered at the hospital as 'the night that every jonin's stomach had to be pumped.' Kakashi still vividly remembered the hallucinations he'd had for the better part of that night.
"I'm immune to all the core toxins anyway," Asuka said, waving a hand absently as she went back to her grinding.
"One day I'm going to come visit and find you dead on the floor," Kakashi said confidently.
Asuka shrugged. "In that case, donate all my work to the hospital. Oh… and don't eat or drink anything out of my fridge while you're cleaning the place out."
"It's a little unnerving how easily you accept that you'll accidentally poison yourself one day," Kakashi commented absently, venturing closer to one of the tables and peering down his nose into one beaker. Its contents were black and bubbling of their own accord. He leaned away from it edgily.
"I'm realistic," Asuka shrugged. "It's not like I haven't done it before."
"It's not like you haven't taught genin before either," Kakashi stated absently, and leaned aside as a senbon flew past his head and imbedded itself in the opposite wall. He looked at Asuka over his shoulder, visible brow raised.
"I will get out of that," Asuka grunted under her breath. She set down the mortar again, leaning back against one table. She raised her hands and started popping her fingers one at a time absently as she thought.
"Why don't you want to teach?" Kakashi asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"Why don't you?" Asuka countered instantly, eyes slanting towards him. "You're the one that fails all your students."
Kakashi sighed, reaching up and ruffling his already messy hair. "Look, I know you're still upset about Ayaka-"
Asuka's eyes narrowed. "Get out."
"Asuka-"
"Get out of my home Kakashi."
Asuka's hand snapped out, diving into the belt of tan pouches slung low on her hips. She came out with a pinch of greenish powder. She glared at him challengingly, hand raised in warning. "So help me Kakashi," she threatened, "I will throw this."
Kakashi sighed. "No, you won't."
"You want to test me?" she demanded. "Hallucinations and fever followed by trouble breathing and then complete respiratory failure-"
"Asuka!" Kakashi said sharply. The slightly younger woman paused, her hand lowering slightly. He looked at her intently, waiting for her to surrender. It happened in stages. First her hand lowered a bit more, and then it dropped completely. The powder slipped from her fingers onto the floor. Finally her head lowered and she let out a weary sigh.
"I'm just… not ready," she finally said with a helpless shrug.
"The Hokage disagrees," Kakashi retorted. "It's been three years. You're a valuable jonin. Or at least you were, before you became a hermit. Sure you're not a little rusty?" he teased her gently.
Asuka's eyes snapped up, her mouth twitching in irritation under her mask. "I will knock you on your ass, you old pervert."
Kakashi winced. "You're only two years younger…"
Five days before orientation
"Again."
A senbon whizzed through the air, landing a millimeter away from exact center on the bull's eye. A growl accompanied this, interspersed with pants.
"Again."
Another senbon went flying, this time nailing dead center. Lips quirked up into a pleased smirk.
"Aqain."
The boy who was throwing turned, long silver hair swishing behind him. He narrowed slate eyes at the man lounging in the shade of the sakura trees by a table loaded with tea service.
"Father," he began slowly. "I hit the mark."
"Yes," his father nodded, reaching to the table beside him. He picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup. He brought it to his lips and took a long, thoughtful sip, leaving his son waiting. He sighed, pleased with his drink, and set the cup back down before continuing. "You did. Once out of a hundred throws. Forgive me if I'm not terribly impressed, Toshiro."
The boy flinched slightly. "Father, I did as you asked. I hit the center without looking."
"Congratulations, really," his father assured him mockingly. "You're at the same level my sister was when she was six. And how old are you? Ah, that's right." He sighed and took another sip of tea. "Twice that."
Toshiro refused to back down, even though his hands twitched towards fists at his side. He restrained himself before he got that far though, fixing dispassionate eyes on his father, Akio Fukui.
"I am not your sister," he said slowly. "I am not Midori."
Akio's lips twisted in distaste as he regarded his son. "No," he agreed, reaching for his cup once more. "You're not. More's the pity."
He paused as a senbon imbedded itself into the table top a centimeter from his hand. Akio looked up, staring at his son, who stood before him, blank-faced, but with one arm extended from the throw.
Akio sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "Missed again," he rebuked his son, knocking the senbon away with a flick of his wrist and scooping up his cup of tea again. He took a sip and leaned back on his cushion. "The Uchiha get wiped out, and the village mourns for weeks. The Fukui get wiped out, and no one notices. The Uchiha leave behind Sasuke, a prodigy. The Fukui leave behind you, a failure."
Toshiro's hands curled fully into fists this time, and he couldn't contain himself. He looked his father dead in the eye and said, "Better a failure than a crippled man."
Akio's head snapped up, eyes blazing. He sat up sharply, the empty left sleeve of his furisode swinging with the movement. In a movement too fast to see, his hand darted out. He snatched the teacup and hurled it. Tea sprayed across the training ground, turning little clumps of dirt into mud, and the cup itself smashed against Toshiro's cheek.
Toshiro didn't flinch, even when a long cut was opened just under his cheekbone. It dripped blood down his chin, droplets falling to the ground by his feet to rest among the shattered shards of china.
"Again!" Akio snarled, and Toshiro turned back the target, readying another kunai.
Three days before orientation
An alarm blared through the tiny apartment. The lump under the blankets shifted and a bare leg poked out, dangling off the bed. With a loud groan a hand poked out, index finger coiled under the thumb. The finger flicked out and, from a small pot on the windowsill, a single pebble flew out and smacked the alarm button on the clock. It fell silent and the pebble clattered to the ground.
The blankets flew back and a grand swirl as the girl sat up, mouth dropping open into a yawn. She reached up, ruffling her long emerald green hair, and sighed, levering herself out of bed and towards the bathroom.
Kasumi stood in front of the mirror, staring at it blankly. From the little shelf next to the sink she plucked up her brown catsuit and green shirt with buttons on the side. She did up the buttons slowly and then reached for long brown ribbons dangling over the side of the sink. Instead of brushing her hair, she just divided it into two hunks and, starting at her shoulders, wrapped it in the ribbons on either side until only a few inches poked out.
With a quick brush of her teeth, Kasumi was ready for the day. She headed for the door, where her sandals waited next to the table where her brand new hitai-ate was resting. She ignored both of them and headed out the door towards the Hokage's office.
Even though the village had a fund for orphans – hazard of the job and all – Kasumi wasn't entitled to it. She wasn't from the village originally. She'd been plucked from a group of raiders when she was eight years old and brought to Konoha. At twelve years old, she was already supporting herself with a little help from the Hokage.
"Ah, Kasumi!" the Hokage greeted when she knocked on the door to his office. "Come on in."
"What've you got for me today, old man?" Kasumi asked when she entered. The Hokage winced.
"Not even a hello, Kasumi?"
Kasumi snorted and crossed her arms as she stood in front of the Hokage's desk. "Fine," she sighed. "Good morning, Hokage-sama!" she announced in a perky chirp, a painfully-wide grin stretching her face. "How are you on this lovely Konoha morning?"
The Hokage looked at her askance. "That's just unnerving."
Kasumi tilted her head towards him. "Kind of my point, old man. So, what've you got?"
"Not much today, Kasumi," the Hokage said, picking up a pile of three scrolls from his desk and passing them over. A tag with a design pressed into it dangled from each one. Kasumi took them all, feeling the tags curiously.
"All for the council," she observed. The Hokage shrugged.
"They wanted updates on the new genin. Such as yourself. Congratulations, Kasumi, I hadn't told you yet."
Kasumi shrugged. "Eh, you've got more important stuff to do. Besides, it's just another step. It's not like I made ANBU or anything."
The Hokage gave a small scoff. "So I will be allowed to congratulate you when… what? You make ANBU?"
"Yeah, that sounds good," Kasumi nodded, giving a crooked grin. "Well, I have a job to do. See you when I'm done, old man!"
She turned and headed for the door, leaving the Hokage behind her muttering, "I'm not that old…"
The door opened before she could reach it though, and in came Konohamaru.
"Kasumi!" he yelped in greeting.
"Konohamaru!" she yelped back, teasing him. "What up?"
"My teacher's after me," Konohamaru said, panting slightly and glancing over his shoulder.
"Under the desk," Kasumi advised, nodding to the Hokage's desk. Konohamaru took her advice and scampered across the room, diving under the Hokage's desk despite his grandfather's protests.
Kasumi left the office and headed down the hall. She was halfway down when she ran into Ebisu, almost literally. She stepped aside just in time and Ebisu passed her by a few steps before actually stopping, turning on his heel to face her.
"Kasumi, have you seen the honorable grandson?" he demanded frantically. "He's missing his lessons!"
"Nope, sorry Shades, I haven't!" Kasumi called over her shoulder as she continued down the hall. "Good luck!"
She left the government building and sighed, stretching once more. Then she took off running, bare feet pounding over the pavement as she ran, dodging people and objects deftly, scrolls tucked tightly under her arms.
Something smacked into her from above and Kasumi staggered, dropping to her knees. She caught herself with one hand, the other holding the scrolls to her chest. If she lost her grip on them, there was no telling where they'd go or if she'd be able to find them again.
"Screw you Ramen Breath," she grunted as she rolled over onto her butt, holding up her scraped hand. Her head jerked to the side and the grit imbedded in it went flying out of the cuts.
The excitable blonde looked up from his own place sprawled on the ground. "Okay, how'd you know it was me Kasumi?" he demanded. Kasumi gave him a dark look.
"I'm awesome, that's how."
"You're blind!" he protested, pointing at the faded blue of her eyes.
"You're not proving my argument wrong," Kasumi countered, grunting as she pushed herself to her feet. She felt the tags, the designs on them letting her know who the letter was supposed to be delivered to. Otherwise she would have been up the creek without a paddle.
Actually, being blind was what got her this job. The council was full of stuffy, secretive old farts – Kasumi's description – and they liked the idea of there being a guarantee that the messenger was not reading their messages. Seeing as Kasumi couldn't read a word, it was guaranteed that whatever their letter was about, it wasn't going to get out.
Even if it was about the menu for a festival, which Kasumi knew for certain she'd delivered at one point.
"Hey, I'll see you at orientation tomorrow!" Naruto called as he picked himself up. Kasumi blinked.
"But you failed, Highlighter Head," she said bluntly.
Naruto shook his head, grinning widely. "Nuh uh! I saw Iruka-sensei afterwards and he passed me!"
Kasumi's eyebrows went up. She hadn't known there were do-overs, but hey, at least Naruto got through. She'd felt kind of bad for him when she found out he didn't pass.
"Well then, good for you. See you later, Naruto," Kasumi said, waving over her shoulder as she walked off.
"See you later Kasumi!" Naruto called, before paused and realizing, "Hey! You called me by my name!"
1 day before orientation
"Wake up!"
Harumi came awake with a loud yelp as something smacked down over her face. She ripped the kunai from under her pillow and stabbed it into whatever was trying to smother her, ripping the blade through it. With a wild jerk, she flung it off of her and tried to scramble backwards. Harumi toppled out of bed and hit the ground with a thump, blankets tangled around her legs.
Wild, hysterical laughter greeted her and Harumi moaned, finally opening her eyes. Her older sister Hotaru towered over her. She was doubled over with laughter, cackling wildly at her sister. Harumi rolled her head and looked at whatever had attacked her. A gutted pillow rested at the foot of her bed, feathers spilling sadly to the floor.
Harumi moaned. "You're mean, Hotaru."
"Harumi Oshiro, pillow slaying ninja!" Hotaru crowed, clutching the wall to try and stay upright as she cackled. "That was great!"
Harumi sighed, her face blushing as red as her hair and her eyes as she reached down and untangled her legs from the sheets and pushed herself upright. She cast a glance towards the window and let out another loud moan.
"Ugh, Hotaru!" she protested. "It's not even nine yet!"
"And I've been up since six," Hotaru huffed, getting herself together enough to plant her hands on her hips. "Come on, Harumi, help me out here! I need you to go gather herbs!"
Harumi cast a glance at the basket resting at the foot of her bed. She knew that by the end of the day it would be heaped with herbs and she'd be sweating and dirty.
Harumi and Hotaru lived in a clinic on the edges of Nara Forest. Their mother was a med-nin who realized how many shinobi Konoha lost because they went too long without treatment or flat-out couldn't make it to the hospital before it was too late. So she worked with the Nara Clan and set up a little clinic outside of Konoha proper for those shinobi. It was also popular with the kind of shinobi who didn't want to admit to going to the hospital. The hospital even sent people to them sometimes when they were overcrowded or needed extensive rehab.
Hitomi Oshiro had died seven years ago, and now her daughters kept the clinic going with just as much success as their mother had. Hotaru was the one that did most of the actual medical work, with Harumi serving as her nurse in most cases. Harumi, though, was the only one of the two Oshiro daughters that was a shinobi. Hotaru, while she'd learned a lot of medical ninjutsu from their mother, never had any formal training, even though she could hold her own in a fight.
"Get moving," Hotaru urged, smacking Harumi's rear. Harumi jumped, hands flying back to clutch her rear.
"Hotaru!" she protested with a whine.
"Harumi!" Hotaru retorted in the same tone. "Come on, we need supplies!"
"Okay, okay," Harumi submitted. "Just let me get dressed."
"Alright, but hurry up!" Hotaru said, grinning as she paused in Harumi's doorway. "It's your last day before orientation and I intend to get a full day's work out of you before you go off and start stabbing people!"
Harumi shook her head after her sister as Hotaru left, shutting the door behind her, and headed to her closet. She picked out her standard outfit of black leggings, a mesh armored shirt, and a loose red top. Once she was dressed, she went to brush her teeth and sweep her hair up into a high ponytail.
Feeling much more ready to face the day, Harumi emerged from the living quarters of the house into the infirmary area. Their house was built a bit oddly, being low and incredibly long. The living quarters, where Harumi and Hotaru lived, was the original house. The infirmary area had been slapped on to one end when it was turned into a clinic by their mother. It consisted of a long hallway with a series of rooms, mostly for patients to rest in. It also had a small surgery and a room for preparing medicines.
"Hey… Harumi…"
Harumi paused in her way down the hallway and looked into one of the rooms. In it lay a kunoichi who had come in with a bad case of the flu she got in the Land of Water. It had turned into pneumonia before she broke down and got help, and now she was their only serious patient.
"Hello Takara," Harumi greeted, stepping into the room. "How are you feeling today?"
The flushed kunoichi gave her a weak grin from her position leaned against pillows. "Eh, you know. Doing okay. Been better."
"I'd imagine," Harumi said. "How do you feel today?"
Takara shrugged. "About the same as yesterday, to be honest."
Harumi frowned at that and reached forwards, pressing the back of her hand to the kunoichi's forehead. Takara squirmed, wincing.
"Aw, come on Harumi," she complained. "I feel like a kid when you guys do that."
"Even a kid would know better than to let herself get pneumonia," Harumi scolded her.
Takara whined, "When you say things like that, it hurts my feelings, Haru-chan."
"I'm going to go make you some tea to help with that fever," Harumi explained. "I'll be back soon."
Takara paled slightly. "Tea… Like, uh… Like the stuff you gave me yesterday?"
Harumi looked at her questioningly. "Yes…"
Takara shook her head violently and slapped a hand over her mouth. "Huh uh, I'm fine!" she called from behind her hand. "Feeling better already!"
"Nice try," Harumi said, looking at her in amusement. "But you're taking it."
"Worse than the hospital," Takara groaned, slumping back against her pillows.
Harumi shook her head as she left Takara's room and headed to the preparation room. For all intents and purposes it looked like a cross between a pharmacy and an herbalist's. There were clusters of herbs hanging from the ceiling over cabinets that held pills and gauze. Along the back was a counter with a couple sinks for preparing the herbs and tinctures that the Oshiro girls made themselves.
Harumi headed to the counter and the pot of peppermint tea that was always kept going. She poured a glass of it for Takara and then a thermos for herself to take out into the woods – they were some of the very few who had a standing invitation to Nara Forest. To Takara's, though, she added a pinch of cayenne and a dollop of honey, and then squeezed half a lemon into it. She stirred the whole thing together and then headed back to Takara's room.
When she entered, the kunoichi was huddled under her sheets like a child. Harumi rolled her eyes fondly and walked to the bed, poking the lump.
"Takara, come out," she scolded.
"Takara's gone!" the kunoichi called.
"Takara, this is silly. It's not that bad."
"You have reached Takara! Please leave a message after the beep."
With a sigh, Harumi put down the cup of tea on the table by the bed and moved to the foot. She grabbed the end of the blankets and, in one quick jerk, ripped them off of Takara, leaving the kunoichi curled into a ball in the middle of her bare mattress.
"You can have these back when you've had the tea," Harumi scolded, folding up the sheets and draping them over one arm. She stood firmly at the end of the bed and stared at the beaten kunoichi sternly. Takara reached out hesitantly for the tea, grimaced, pinched her nose with one hand, and took a sip. She wretched, but swallowed.
"You're evil," she moaned, and took another gulp.
Harumi smiled and unfolded the blankets, giving them a big shake and letting them fall gently back over Takara, who hugged them to her happily.
"I only do it because I care," Harumi assured her, and headed out to go pick herbs.
Lately I've been trying to coach my writer friend AmayaXKyuriXAsuni out of her writer's block. Speaking of her, if you like ATLA, go look at some of her stories, they're pretty good, and I'm not just saying that because I like her.
That's actually what kind of prompted this story. I was marathoning Avatar with her and we got to the episode where Toph was holding up Wan Shi Tong's library in the desert. I had this mental image of Gaara just casually rolling up on a wave of sand or something like 'you need some help with that?' and Toph saying something sassy back like 'Go away, grumpy, I'm busy.' Then we started talking about who would win in a fight, Toph or Gaara, and then what it would be like if Toph was in Naruto...
Basically, I just kept thinking about it and thus was born Kasumi, followed almost immediately by Asuka, then Toshiro, and finally Harumi and Hotaru. And then suddenly I had an actual plot, and whoosh I was off! So this story came about through that random thought process. So I don't really want to hear 'oh em gee Kasumi is lyk ttly just Toph from ATLA! You so ripped her off!' I know. Toph inspired the character. That was sort of the point.