Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the only people I own, are my OCs.
Let me know what you think!
. . .
As soon as I said those three words, I knew I'd regret them.
All because I didn't count on the fact that Kazuki was a fan girl.
And after I had said those three words, Kazuki had rushed forward, sweeping me into her arms. I instantly stiffened at the contact, unsure how to respond. The arms wrapped around my shoulders were soft, but at the same time, lean and well muscled.
Maybe Kazuki wasn't a fan girl, after all.
"Oh, Takashi-kun, your sister is so cute!" Kazuki practically squealed, squeezing me even harder.
I barely managed a wince- my cheek was pressed against her chest, and the fact that Kazuki was girl, didn't help at all. Her chest was already developing, and I was pressed up against it!
If that didn't make me blush crimson, I'm not sure what would.
"I know," Takashi answered smugly, his smirk surely hidden by his long hair.
And to my misfortune, that admission only made Kazuki hug me harder. Sighing, I looped one short arm around her shoulder, awkwardly patting her back. A few seconds later, I released her, letting my arm fall back to my side.
"May you please release me, Kazuki-san?" I inquired as politely as I could manage.
Luckily, my half-assed tone seemed to be enough for Kazuki, who pulled back about a split-second after I had uttered those words. Unfortunately, the excited gleam in her brown eyes didn't waver, if possible, it had heightened.
"None of this -san business, Yū-chan," she practically cooed. "Just call me Kazuki-chan, everyone else does."
"Except for me," Takashi added.
Kazuki's face crumpled into a frown, and she turned toward my brother. "'Course you don't!" She vented angrily. "You just call me whatever you want! At least someone around here is polite!" She glanced quite pointedly at me, a hidden smile tugging at my lips.
"Wha- that's not true!" Takashi said just as angrily.
I then decided to add something in, knowing that this particular thing would amuse me for days on end.
"You know, Onii-chan," I said calmly. "All your bickering constitutes to the fact that you have feelings for each other."
From somewhere beside me, I heard Akai choke on his own saliva, and in front of me, Takashi's face went as red as his hair. I felt a hidden smirk curl at my lips, but I suppressed, lest I have my only brother out for my blood.
While I enjoyed all their reactions immensly, it was Kazuki's that was the most surprising.
While she went red in the face- though it was hard to tell with how tanned her cheeks were- she emitted a sort of angry cry, tears gradually beginning their way down her face-
And then she stormed off.
I blinked at her retreating figure in silence, utterly bewildered.
"Uh, Onii-chan," I whispered. "What just happened?"
Surprisingly, it wasn't Takashi who answered, but Akai.
And here I thought the guy was the definition of anti-social!
"It's better not to discuss that at the current moment," he said firmly, raising an eyebrow, as if he was silently daring me to object.
Psh, who did he think I was?
A praise worthy, barely tolerable fan girl?
No.
Because excuse me, I will not become a Marysue.
And I intend to leave it at that.
But I also wanted to push it, as well.
Ha, in my past life, I had never counted myself as potentially annoying- it was usually Riley who annoyed me first.
"So," I drawled, ignoring Akai's warning glare. "Are you in love with Kazuki-san, is that it?"
But instead of lashing out as I'd hoped, Akai just ignored me.
Like, flat out ignored me, the cold shoulder type.
Sighing, I turned to Takashi. Twisting my fingers into the fabric of my clothes as I so often did when I was nervous, I murmured, "Onii-chan, I don't think Akai-san likes me very much."
Much to my surprise, Takashi shook his head. He knelt down to my level, placing his hands on my shoulders. He leaned, breath just warming my ear as he whispered, "Akai-kun's a bastard to everyone, don't let him get to you."
I smiled.
That made Takashi back away slightly. "W-Why are you smiling, Yū-chan?" He all be yelped.
"Because you're my Onii-chan and I love you?" I offered.
Unfortunately, Takashi seemed to see through my lie (not that it was a lie), and he remarked, "What do you really want, Yūmaru?"
I internally winced, more so due to the fact that Takashi hadn't used my shortened name, the one that I did prefer, and no honorifics- this meant that he was plain serious.
"I-I want you to train me as a Shinobi!" I blurted, and his eyes widened a smidgeon and he opened his mouth to reply.
But before he could speak, I cut in, "Look, I know that being a Ninja is dangerous, I can understand why Kaa-chan never became one, but Onii-chan, please give me a chance," I all but begged.
I didn't know why I was doing this, I was only three, after all. But why not? Why not start early instead of at the specified age of six? I knew that I would be no prodigy, not that I did want to become one, but still.
I wanted to do this, I wanted to become a Shinobi, I wanted to protect Sunagakure.
Takashi's voice brought me back to reality, and I found him gazing back at me curiously. However, when he saw that I was staring at him, his curiousity dimmed to be replaced by an expression of unusual graveness.
"Are you sure you want this?" He inquired softly, his eyes unusually serious.
For once, the stupid grin that I had commonly associated with my brother was now gone.
In its place was an expression of grimness, his lips pressed tightly together.
"Yes!" I all but cried, startling us both vwith how loud it was. Wincing, I nodded, trailing solemn eyes to the bottom of his sandeled feet.
A few moments later, I raised my head, and to my horror, I found my brother just standing there, shaggy hair shadowing his half-closed eyes. He was just looking down at me, that damnable smirk of his curling at his lips.
When had Takashi forgotten to grin?
When he became a Shinobi and was forced to kill, a voice in the corner of my mind hissed.
If Takashi couldn't smile because he was a Shinobi, then why couldn't I?
Why did Takashi feel so sad, all of a sudden?
"O-Onii-chan," I gulped.
What was happening?
I had only felt this way once, and that was when Dad home from yet another mission, but he didn't come home. No, he went to the hospital. He had been cut down by an enemy-nin while patrolling the border of Wind Country. When we had gone to visit him in the hospital, I swear Mum had almost died.
Every part of Dad's body that wasn't covered up by a blanket, was wrapped in bandages. Suffice to say, my mother's tears still haunted me to this day.
Suddenly, Takashi was in front of me, one hand cupping the side of my side. His hand was huge and completely dwarfed the left side of my face. I watched with huge eyes as he tilted my face up and down, and side to side. When he appeared satisfied, his fingers left my face and fell back to rest by his side.
"I think," Takashi began. "I think that you're a Sensor Type."
A what?!
Had I heard correctly? Because if I did, then it seems that I'm teetering very close to the Marysue boundary, and I loathed it.
"Mold some chakra," Takashi suddenly ordered, face completely serious.
I gave him a 'WTF' look, and he responded in kind, taking a step closer and guiding my hands together. When my palms were firmly pressed in some sort of sign, I looked up from my interlocked fingers and stared at my brother.
He stared at back at me.
Then, he broke the silence, "Mold some chakra," he repeated.
Okay, how the hell was I supposed to mold chakra?
When I voiced my concerns out loud, Takashi just told me to "find my core" as he had so aptly put in. When I asked him to demonstrate, he merely intertwined his fingers together in a position similar to mine and just stood there.
Yeah, you heard me right.
Takashi just stood there.
And then everything exploded.
Like, literally exploded.
I was knocked back a metre or so by the sheer force of his chakra, and I watched from my position on the ground, completely amazed, yet astounded at the same time.
"That," Takashi said smugly, "Is how you mold chakra, Yūmaru."
I looked at my hands. Could I do what Takashi had done only moments before?
Sighing, and quite thankful that they were in that unfamiliar so I wouldn't have to do it myself, I scrunched my eye shut and, feeling quite ridiculous, I began to search my mind for my "centre" as Takashi had so aptly put it.
I didn't know how long I stayed in that position for, but I began to feel a little foolish. I was trying, and failing, to produce the result that Takshi had just dug up in a split-second of a second.
I sighed, opening my eyes, but when I did, I felt a flickering of sorts. It was only there for a split-second, but it had caused me to close my eyes once again, valiently trying to locate the spark of warmth that had meticulously escaped me by the sliver of a fingertip. Suddenly, I found it. And it was warmer than I realised, sort of like a candle.
So to avoid it escaping from me again, I made a mad grab for it. At the same moment that my fingers had closed around coarse cloth, everything exploded into blue.
And then I was back.
Staring my shaking hands, all the while wondering why everything was so warm, all of a sudden.
I soon found out the cause, and I decided that I didn't really like it.
I had always destested physical contact, especially by strangers. I never really had a reason, either. Maybe because if I did touch someone, I'd feel some type of weird emotion spiraling off them- but only for a split-second of a second. That saying, the only touch I could really tolerate was from a member of my family.
Preferably Dad.
I didn't really know why I craved his touch so much- maybe due to the fact that I'd never really had a father that was proud of me, a father that loved me for who I was. Yeah, I know at one point I may have mentioned my father ruffling my hair, but that was my Dad being him. He ruffled all his kids' hair.
I was slowly brought back to reality by the feeling of a warm hand resting on the top of my head, then a hand gently wiped away the perspiration that I hadn't realised gathered on my cheeks.
Just how pathetic was I?
"You're not pathetic," Takashi repriminded.
I blinked. Had I said that out loud?
"We should get you some new clothes," my brother said suddenly.
"Huh?" I mumbled intelligently.
Takashi chuckled softly. "Well, I can't start training you in a yukata, and who knows what Okaa-san will say when she finds out."
I frowned. "Kaa-chan will never find out," I announced boldly. "Because I won't let her."
"Okaa-san will find out sooner or later, Yūmaru," he said softly. "And when she does, I can't expect her to be happy."
"She'll just jump to conclusions," I said bitterly, keeping my eyes trained on the ground.
Takashi sighed, took a step back, then gestured.
What did that mean?
"I want you to come at me with everything you've got, Yūmaru," he instructed.
My eyes went wide, "Y-You mean you want me to fight you?" I sputtered.
Takashi seemed to smirk, but I couldn't know for sure what was hidden under that curtain of red. "Yes, now, Yūmaru, run at me."
Without even knowing what the heck I was doing, I began to run. My yukata rippled, twisting and nearly tripping me as I went. I aimed a sloppy punch at my brother's chest, but he easily side stepped the attack, leaving me wide open. I grunted slightly as pain erupted in my shoulder, but I brushed it off, aiming yet another punch at Takashi who dodged every single one of them with ease.
A sudden pain in my cheek sent me careening to the ground, and when I made contact with the ground, tears sprung to the ground. I angrily wiped them away, and hurriedly got to my feet. I cupped a hand over my throbbing cheek, all the while berating myself how awful I was at Taijutsu in general.
"It was a good first try,Yūmaru," Takashi commented. "Now, I want you to do it again."
So this is what we did for the next hour, and my ass was continuously whooped by my dear older brother. For a split-second of a second, I considered ditching my brother and going home to whine to my mother.
But I ditched that mindset when my brother seemed to guess what I was thinking.
"This is what you wanted, Yūmaru," he reminded me harshly.
I looked up at him, shock written plainly on my face. His expression softened a smidgeon, and he murmured, "This is what you wanted, and I am only honouring that promise. Let's get you some clothes, then."
I softened, as well.
I didn't even complain when he hoisted me onto my back. I didn't complain when he jumped high into the air, either. And now that I can think about it, I actually kinda like up here.
"Takashi, you have got to teach me how to do this," I breathed.
I admired the view of all the sand coloured buildings, and I think I quite liked the view of Sunagakure.
At least it looked better than Kirigakure.
And at the mention of the Bloody Mist, an unwanted shiver shot down my spine, and I found myself wondering what it would have been like to have been born there instead.
Okay, time to stop that train of thought.
I had been born in Sunagakure, and that was that.
When Takashi finally touched dwon, it was to our front door.
I frowned. "Are we getting clothes?"
Takashi raised an eyebrow. "You will be getting clothes, I will be going on a mission," he informed me cheekily.
I sighed. "And after that?"
This time, Takashi's grin was back on his face. "I want you to run as many laps as you can around my team's training ground."
My mouth fell open. "You have got to be kidding me!"
"Nope!"
"... I hate you."
"Love you, too, Yū-chan."
I ended up doing those laps, anyway.
