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Shenanigans -- Chapter TWO:
Meet the Victi-...I Mean Sitter
The very next day, Gai reported to the Hokage building (or is it called government building?) bright and early and ready to take on the day ahead. But, not early enough. Hinata was already there at the door, and waiting for him to arrive. Suzu was standing behind her, one hand clenching her mother's left leg, and the other one squeezing her hand.
Gai looked a bit closer at Suzu. He hadn't seen her since she was an infant, even though she was always around. Well, she was always under constant supervision of Hinata, and he hadn't seen much of her recently either. The first thing he noticed was how small she was for her age. Lately, he had heard the rumors that she was going to supposedly be too small to go to the academy with the other children. He hoped this wasn't true. I mean, could you imagine a hokage's child, too weak to go to the normal ninja academy? But now that he saw her, he was a bit worried.
Other than that, she had a quite adorably innocent appearance. Today, she was obviously dressed by her father. She had on a horrendous pale orange, knee-length sleeveless dress with red flame designs at the bottom, which almost matched the jacket her father wore. Except for the colors. (Come on. You really think that he'd wear the Hokage Outfit all the time?) Her eyes were big and pale like her mother's, but tinted a faint ocean blue, and her skin wasn't as pale as her mother's, but still on the pale side. But the most identifiable feature she had was her short bright blond hair, just like her father's and brother's. it had a strange resemblance to a slightly open umbrella, and reached to the middle of her neck. On either side of her face were two bangs like her mother's, only they reached all the way to her chest, and had a bow near each end. Speaking of bows, it looked like she had 2 more at the top of her bangs, and a lot randomly placed all around her hair. Almost like a completely failed attempt to tame her hair. Yeah. The typical innocent little girl.
"Oh, Gai! You're here!" Hinata seemed relieved. She got down on her knees to talk to Suzu at a little more than eye level. "Okay, Suzu-chan. this is Gai-san." As she gestured over to him, Suzu turned herself to face him. "He' the one who's going to be taking care of you today, okay? So be good and no matter what, you can't play with Tou-san today."
Suzu's face became a sort of kawaii/ confused as she put in innocent finger up to her mouth and just stared. Gai couldn't explain it, but it wasn't a normal chibi-stare. It was spacey and wide-eyed and innocent, but there was an undertone of vague contemplation beneath. It frightened him.
All of the sudden, her face scrunched up in realization. She then inhaled as much air as she could and, in what Gai hoped was as loud a voice she could, she waved a tiny hand at him and screeched, "OHAYO, BUSHY-BROWS-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!" (just think of the first episode of avatar where Aang was having a serious conversation with Katara, and he stops to yell, PENGUIN!!)
Gai's face was definitely of the 'WTF' variety as he slapped his hands over his ears to stop his head from spinning. He shook it off and bent down into the same position as Hinata. He bowed his head slightly. "It is indeed a pleasure to finally meet you, Suzu-himesama."
Suzu looked giddy and excited as she turned around to her mother and tugged on her sleeve. "Ne, ne. (yes,she did pick that up from her father. she likes to emulate him.) Kaa-san? This is my babysitter? Honto ni?" (really)
Hinata smiled. "Honto yo." (really-again) she replied.
Suzu beamed and in a flash had tackled Gai to the ground. She waved her hands in that air and stared ranting about the super cool time they were going to have together.
"Ne, ne. Bushy-brown-san! You're going to come to my pretty princess tea time tea party, right?! And then we're going to play dress up and I'll show you all the pretty bows oba-san got for me, and you can meet all my stuffed animals, and then we'll both dress up and go to the super-fancy cookie and tea ROYAL EXTRAVAGANZA BONANZAAAAAA!!" By the end, she had shining eyes, and joyful tears streaming down her face. Gai was horrified of what monstrosities awaited him. This was so un-youthful.
He was about to protest when Suzu grabbed his collar and brought his face close. Her visage grew very dark until nothing was visible but her mouth, which then turned into a dastardly evil, maniacal, sadistic, grin. Sharp teeth included. Her voice was low monotone and serious as she spoke, only loud enough for her and Gai to hear, "And if you won't come to my tea party,
I'll just have to rip those bushy eyebrows off your face while you sleep...among other things." a dark aura surrounded her as she pulled out from her dress what seemed to be some sort of medieval torture device, complete with a drill bit, pliers clamps, and saw blade.
On second thought, maybe he could be taught an important lesson in humility from this child. Actually, he could quite possibly get back in touch with his inner youthfulness, too! Something, which he missed very dearly. With this happy thought, he forgot all about Suzu's threats and magically appearing pocket death machine and faced the situation with a new found valor and determination. He was going to get back in touch with his youth!
-Duh, duh-duh! - GAI'S RANT TIME!!!
He picked Suzu up off the ground and carried her under one arm against his hip. She smiled a satisfied, eyes half-closed, grinning a Cheshire cat smile. She was going to like this babysitter. A lot more messed up than boring old Haru. Gai shouted to the world, "Oh Suzu-himesama! I shall complete your activities of youth and become more in touch with my own youthfulness in the process! What a wise soul you have! For peace and justice in the world, let's face the task ahead with boldness and spunk! You can teach me how to be a child again, and we can frolic in the wonders of being young and free-spirited for the rest of our lives! You're completely right! Youth can't be counted in years of your life, but in the years of your everlasting, noble heart! So, therefore, Suzu-himesama, in order to prove the existence of a youthful spirit to the world, I SHALL DRESS UP AND PLAY PRETTY PRINCESS TEA TIME TEA PARTY WITH YOU!!" He burst into tears, and enveloped Suzu in a bear hug as a sunset scene appeared out of nowhere.
After a while, it all went back to normal.
Suzu smiled excitedly as she spoke, "We're going to do all my favorite things today, Bushy-brows-san!"
She turned to see that her Oba-san and Ino-san were already there, and waiting for her mother. Hinata turned to Suzu. "Okay, Suzu-chan I have to go, so behave yourself until I get back tomorrow." She leaned down and kissed her on the forehead with probably too much of a smooching sound than was necessary. In response, Suzu put on her cutest, wide-eyed face and looked up at her mother. "I love you, Kaa-san!" She chirped as Hinata started walking away.
"I love you too, sweetie, have lots of fun with Gai-san today, okay?" Hinata shouted back.
Suzu turned around on one foot, and abruptly stopped to face Gai. She smiled with her eyes closed up at him. There was an awkward silence. Which was oddly broken by Gai this time.
"So, Suzu-himesama. Can we start on your youthful activities, now?" He asked, rather anxious to get in touch with his youth again. Strange. A fifty-something year old man excited to get into a fairy princess dress and have tea with a five-year-old.
But, Suzu had planned this. "HAAAAAAI!" she said in a loud monotone voice. She hummed to herself and skipped through the doors, gesturing for Gai to follow her. He did. Almost exactly. He, too started skipping and humming in synch with little Suzu. Again, strange.
But he seemed to enjoy it, nonetheless. "We're starting right out of the gate, huh? YOSH! Way to show discipline at an early age, Himesama! Like I always say, there's no time like the present!"
Suzu didn't respond. She looked back through the window as her mother faded into the distance with her Oba-san and Ino-san close behind. She smiled and closed her eyes again, continuing to lead Gai, skipping, through the hallways of the Hokage tower to her room.
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So concludes chapter the second of this fic. and trust me...IT DOESN'T END HOW YOU THINK! -Wink- and there'll be a flashback in the next chapter that explains some things... have a comment/idea? Please review! DOWN HERE!
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