Hello! Welcome to another installment of Shenanigans. I am attempting to write an actual fic for Amai and Jin, but it is much more difficult than I thought haha. I wanna get right to the nitty gritty and skip the intro... which is probably why I'm more successful at writing these ficlets haha. Anyway! My fanfiction "Ninja Nonsense" was completed recently... but someone persuaded me to write some more so that's ongoing.
Special thanks to my reviewers CrazyCreator33 and kiralol101 ! I really do love reviews, they inspire me to write and write faster and write better, etc. So I really hate being a review whore but I'd super adore some reviews. A simple "keep going!" or "funny!" or "your hair looks nice today!" that's nice :)
Anyway, love you readers! I know there's a bunch of you all out there, and I think that's awesome. I've never had a popular fanfiction before, even a semi-popular one! You guys are cool and you know it. Lurv u ;)
Anyway, enjoy ;)
Amai woke to the chattering of parents downstairs. This was relatively unusual as typically everyone was gone from the house by the time Amai woke up on the weekends. Today was Saturday…right? She sat up quickly, her hair flying into her face where she left it lying across her freckled face. She reached, rather zombie-like, for her ancient cell phone, not moving from her futon.
When her fingers wrapped around its chilled metal surface, she heard hurried little feet running from their rooms down the hall and down the creaky steps. Hm. That was interesting. She flipped her phone open to check the date (it was, indeed, Saturday) and left it on her covers, running her hand through her hair. It was surprisingly unknotted – then she remembered her sister had straightened it yesterday.
Rolling to her feet and scratching her belly, Amai stuffed her feet into her leopard print slippers, and slumped down the hall in her pajamas (scrunched up old soccer shorts and a bright red high school hoodie). Someone knocked their knuckles against the back of her head and she grumbled a greeting.
"Morning sis," Atsushi was already fully dressed, ready for another day of cop training. For all he was a pain in the ass, he was a decent older brother.
"I wonder what the commotion's about," her older sister, Yuriko, had emerged from her room and was leaning against the doorframe. Yuri nodded at Amai, "Your hair still looks good."
Amai couldn't keep the grin from her face. "Right? I think I might make you straighten it more often."
"Hey, more important things than hair going on here. Running kids? Suspicious cheer downstairs?" Atsushi ushered them along, making the two girls roll their eyes.
They creaked their way down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. Their mother was red in the face and their father had his usual grin stretched across his face. Amai was instantly suspicious – he only wore that quirky smile when he had done something their mother would not have approved of… but he had done it anyway.
"Morning mom," Atsushi swooped in on his angry mother and kissed her on the cheek. "What'd dad do this time?"
Their mother merely uncrossed her arms and gestured to the living room with an angry huff. Amai peered around her parents and into the living room, but only saw Ichigo and Maika hovering over something. Weird. Amai ducked past her siblings and into the living room, her hair falling smoothly across her shoulders.
"Oh," Amai let the word escape her mouth. No wonder her mother was angry.
"Amai, Amai lookit!" Ichigo turned around to grab his older sister's hand and pull her to the carpet so she was face to face with a tiny little puppy.
It was licking her face before she had time to process. Then it barked at her and went back to Maika and Ichigo, who were struggling to keep the squirming puppy in their grasps. His fur was a sort of russet and cut quite short. His ears were floppy, as was his too-pink tongue.
"A puppy. You got us a dog?" Amai was rather dumbfounded.
Atsushi cheered and picked up his still-angry mother, swinging her around once before setting her back down on the tiles. Their father was still grinning and their mother was now a little pink in the face, though it seemed she was hiding a smile.
The dog licked Amai's nose, decided he rather liked the taste, and began licking her cheek as well.
"Gross," she pushed the wet snout away from her face and wiped her cheek dry. Still, she couldn't help smiling – she'd always wanted a dog.
"What will his name be?" Yuriko knelt in front of the russet dog and gently scratched behind his ear.
"Jin!" Maika chirped.
Ichigo cheered, "Yeah! Jin!"
Amai looked at her siblings incredulously, "You can't name him Jin! Why'd you wanna name him Jin?"
"Same color," Ichigo explained, petting the dog.
"Yeah, same color." Maika agreed wisely.
"Who's Jin? And why's he red?" Atsushi came over to play with their new pet also.
It was only chance that Maika and Ichigo had seen Jin, as the two little kids had a habit of not knocking before they came into her room. She and Jin had been having a perfectly pleasant conversation about something when they'd barged in. Now they barged in all the time in hopes of seeing the childish ginger demon. They got along quite well, causing Amai to roll her eyes and wonder why she bothered putting on lipgloss when she heard the tell-tale knock at her window pane. Many times he was only there to see her little siblings. From what she could gather, it seemed that children were a treasure to demons, as their world was harsh and often unsafe for raising kids. Amai wondered what that would be like- similar to raising your child in a warzone, she presumed. It sounded sad, to her.
Amai rolled her eyes and grumbled to her younger siblings. "This dog isn't red like Jin – if he was, he'd look like Clifford the Big Red Dog."
"Jin is Amai's friend," Ichigo told Atsushi. "He's got red hair, just like this Jin."
"You want to name the dog after Amai's friend?" Their mother leaned in the doorway. "That's a bit…"
"Weird. It's weird. Don't name him that." Amai narrowed her eyes at their younger siblings.
The two innocently returned her gaze before turning their attention back to their new pet. Amai wanted to pull her hair with frustration- those two weren't going to let it go and since they were the youngest, they often got their way.
"Who's this Jin guy? Why haven't I ever met him?" Atsushi grumbled at Amai, who once again rolled her eyes.
"I don't want you guys to freak him out- and if you name the dog Jin you'll freak him out." Amai finished with her infamous 'that's that' tone of voice.
She did not mention the fact that she didn't want Jin to freak them out either. After all, he had a difficult-to-hide horn on his head and talked in such a peculiar accent… she just wasn't sure how to explain all of it. Maika and Ichigo took it in stride, as children are want to do. Who cared about the funny way he spoke? He was fun to play with. As if reading her mind, Ichigo pointed to the top of his head and mouthed 'horn' at his sister. Amai glared at the sheepishly smiling seven year old.
"Jin! Jin!" Maika stared deep into the dog's eyes.
The dog barked – a rather deep, laughing bark that made Maika grin.
"I think he likes his name." Ichigo laughed.
Amai huffed and crossed her arms. "What about Ringo? Or what's that book you're reading, Ichigo – Harry Potter? Name him Harry."
Even the dog gave her a look. Ichigo hugged his arms around the dog's neck and gave his sister the big ol' teary eyes.
"It's perfect," Maika turned her own watery eyes on Amai – and 5 year olds are quite good at that.
In a last ditch effort, Amai turned to her parents. But they simply shrugged. Amai was the only one putting up a fight- majority ruled.
"I am not consenting to the name. But… I also don't have another name to offer-"
"Yay! Jin! Jin! Jin!" Maika and Ichigo cheered.
"Jin it is," Yuriko nodded her head and continued petting the dog behind his ears.
Atsushi also seemed pleased. "Come on, kiddos! Let's play with him in the backyard!"
Maika and Ichigo cheered again, jumping up and telling their newly named pet to chase them. Jin gladly pursued the two out the back door and into their closed-in backyard. Yuriko and Amai stood to follow.
"Maybe if we had all met your friend, it would be stranger to name the dog Jin. Although I suppose it's a relatively uncommon name." Yuriko mused
Amai shrugged. "Maybe later."
They went out back and watched Atsushi, Maika, and Ichigo play fetch with their puppy. Yuriko joined in, her usual soft smile dancing across her face. Amai looked up. The tree that grew in their backyard had branches spreading in every direction. One particularly sturdy branch grew near her window, making it the perfect place for a lurking demon to harass a once-normal human. Speaking of – it seemed that Jin was sitting up in the tree, watching Amai's siblings play with their dog. He looked down at Amai and grinned at her. She rolled her eyes, kicked off her slippers and headed barefoot over to the tree. Amai easily maneuvered the branches until she was sitting on the same branch as he was – she'd been climbing that same tree since she was little.
"Hey," Amai smiled a little.
Jin looked her up and down, a confused expression on his face. "Well, yer hair sure looks nice but didja jus' roll outta bed or somethin'?"
Amai huffed. "Yes, thank you very much. It's only… (here she checked her cell phone) like, eleven. It's a Saturday, anyway, okay?"
He laughed and returned his attention to the other Nagori family members running around the backyard. "So, ya got yerselves a dog, huh?"
"Yep."
"Didja name 'im?"
"Yuuup."
"Jin! Jin! Over here Jin! Okay, fetch!" Maika's shouted made the demon Jin jump a little.
Amai let her head fall into her hands. Jin started laughing so hard he floated a few inches above the tree branch. Amai groaned.
"Ya named 'im Jin?" Jin managed through his laughter.
Amai glared at him. "No, Maika and Ichigo named him Jin and no one disagreed except me."
"Well, Ah like it!" Jin declared.
"Of course you do you self-centered egomaniac." Amai waved her hand at him dismissively.
It seemed Jin had finished laughing. He leaned forward with a small smile still on his face, still floating a little. Jin extended his hand towards her face, making her freeze, eyes wide. Jin pulled his fingers through her silky, straight hair.
"Sure is pretty, all straight an' such," he whispered, tugging on a strand and making Amai pout. "But, Ah like it how ya normally do it, too."
Amai blushed, her fingers tracing patterns in the bark on the tree branch. She looked down at her fingertips and murmured, "Thanks."
"Yer welcome," he ducked his head and kissed her quick on her nose. "Anyway, Ah jus' wanted to say hullo an' remind ya that me mates will be joinin' us fer trainin' tomorrow."
Amai was too embarrassed to complain – she hated training and it was worse with an audience. It also meant obstacle courses, and that Yusuke and Kuwabara would probably be there. Great. She hated training with a bunch of meatheads when she could barely break a board. She'd already dislocated a pinky trying to karate chop a wooden board with Genkai.
"Amai?"
"Huh! O-oh, okay! I guess." She made a face but managed not to complain.
Jin ruffled her hair and stood up, "Yer gonna love it. Anyway, see ya tomorrow!"
"Uh huh," Amai nodded and watched him shoot straight up into the sky, like a shooting star.
Well, with shooting stars you were supposed make a wish right? Although she knew it was futile, she wished training would be canceled tomorrow. Amai climbed back down the tree's branches and landed with a small thud on the soft grass growing beneath the tree.
Jin the dog rushed up to her and ran around her legs crazily. Maiko and Ichigo ran over, a knowing look on their faces. Rather than answer any of their questions she ran up to the two of them and picked them up like footballs, one in each arm. The squealed in delight as Jin the dog licked their faces and their toes, all the while continuing his circuit around Amai's feet.
Well, she wouldn't worry about training for now. She had a new dog to take care of, after all. Besides, it was important to remember for whom she trained. The two kids tucked under her arms, her two older siblings coming towards her, and her parents standing in the doorway leading outside. It was tough but she would do her best to protect them.
Ichigo whispered up to Amai, "We saw Jin!"
"Yeah, we saw Jin!" Maika said.
"He kissed you!" Ichigo added, sticking out his tongue.
Maika made a face also, "Gross."
Amai laughed, "Shut up you little bugs!"
But she couldn't help grinning at the fact that he really had kissed her. Sure, he'd done it before, but she rather liked having it happen consistently.
"And guess what, bugs?" Amai shook the kids, making their reply sound more like 'wha-ah-ah-ah-aaaht'. "We're gonna kiss again, and there's nothin' you little bugs can do about it."
Maika and Ichigo made grossed-out noises, but Amai rather felt like cheering. Ah, puppy love.
Thanks for reading! Please do review ;) 3