After washing my hands very thoroughly, I dried them on the hand towel and went to go join in on the "family" dinner.
"I guess I may have overreacted with Naruto. I just...he was defending Naruko when she is obviously in the wrong here! Nonki, you need to calm down. Maybe if I just don't talk to them tonight, I can calm myself down so I don't feel the urge to flip the table over in frustration..."
Walking downstairs, I saw that everyone had picked their own seats already, leaving me sitting on the left of my father, who was at the head of the table. Directly across from me was Queen Vulture Bitch. Next to me was Sasuke and across from him was King Screw-Up. Then at the other end of the table was Mother.
It made for the perfect family dynamic. Or so I thought.
So I went and sat down, almost glaring at my sister, then remembering that my father was right next to me. I quickly swapped out my glare for a neutral look and sat down.
"Nonki, since you're the almost birthday girl, why don't you say grace?" my father asked politely.
I sighed internally. "It's not like I have a goddamn choice, though."
I smiled externally. "Sure, Dad!" As I took his hand and took Sasuke's, my family leaned their heads down and closed their eyes. Instead, I tilted my head upward and closed my eyes, as was a family tradition for whoever was saying grace.
"Bless our food, bless this family and bless our hearts. Amen." I said. Everyone lifted, and I lowered, their heads and opened their eyes, beginning to dig in.
I also began to eat and felt uncomfortable just sitting there, doing nothing to try to start conversation. I exchanged a few glances with Sasuke, showing that I needed to talk to him later. But for the most part the table was silent except for the clank of utensils.
Then Father cleared his throat. Everyone stopped eating and looked toward him.
"I would like to say a few words."
Mother nodded, "Go ahead, Minato."
He nodded gratefully back to her and turned his head straight toward me. "Nonki, darling, you are almost 13 years old. Are you excited?"
I nodded, completely letting my excitement burst. "How can I not be excited, Dad? It's like a rights of passage into adulthood! And it's only one week away!"
My father nodded and opened his mouth again to speak. I turned my head to him so I could better hear what he was going to say. "So in honor of your approaching birthday, I have decided to ask Jiraiya to do something special just for you. Mind you, this isn't her actual birthday present. Just something I wanted to show you so you know that I care for you with all my heart, just as I love my two eldest." He said, speaking directly toward me.
"I'm touched but…why Jiraiya-sensei?"
Suddenly, I felt arms twine themselves through the gaps in between my shoulders and form hook shapes so as to keep my balanced equally on the arms. I looked down to see red sleeves and a chain metal undershirt.
I was lifted out of my seat and dragged over to the family room, which was directly outside of the side door in the kitchen. I heard other footsteps behind me, and figured it was my family. I began to kick and wriggle, getting really anxious and really excited.
White hair brushed my cheeks as my kidnapper leaned to my ears.
"Close your eyes."
I wasn't shocked to hear Jiraiya-sensei's voice. I struggled to turn and face him and finally, I just gave up.
And I closed my eyes, preparing myself to pass through the kitchen door and into the family room.
"Ready?" he whispered in my ear, sounding as excited as I had been when I was talking about my 13th.
I shook my head. "I…I'm not. But you can go anyway." I said, my heart catching in my throat. "I can't wait to see what's behind this door!"
My eyes squeezed tighter as I felt Jiraiya-sensei move forward. I heard the door open and then heard footsteps following Jiraiya-sensei's, which probably meant everyone was gathering into the room. I heard someone flick on the lights as I was dropped.
With my eyes squeezed tight, I turned to where I assumed my sensei was and asked, "Can I open my eyes?"
"Yes, you can." My father said.
"Wait where is Jiraiya-sensei, dad?"
"Open your eyes and you'll see."
My eyes fluttered open. I saw Jiraiya-sensei across the room. In moments, I was holding back tears of joy.
There, in front of me, was an orange tiara.
It was a simple orange tiara, adorned on a beautiful red satin pillow that had golden tassels the color of Naruto's hair.
The best part was the chair it sat on.
This chair was a wooden chair, nothing huge or small. It was a light mahogany color that was smooth and sleek. Engraved in the chair was Murasaki no Hana (violet blossom), which is what my mother called me from birth, and my dad called me Saki for the longest time, because it was all my mother called me: her murasaki no hana.
So other than that Jiraiya held a silver box with an orange bow on it in his hands.
Pulling myself together, I lifted my head and strode over to Jiraiya and looked at him.
"Well Hermit, you seem a bit sad? Why is that?"
"You've grown so much. I will truly miss you."
"Miss me?" I asked, completely confused.
"I'm sorry to say that after you're 13th, I will not be teaching you anymore."
"What? Why the fuck not?" I asked loudly.
"Nonki!" my mother shouted in an appalled tone.
"No, momma! You don't get to be appalled! Why isn't Jiraiya-sensei going to teach me after my birthday?"
She turned to my father who came up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders, brushing my hair away from my face.
"It's a secret Nonki. It's your true birthday present."
"My best teacher is quitting on me and that's supposed to be a present? What in the hell is going on?"
I attempted to calm myself down by thinking (semi) happy thoughts. "Maybe it's a good surprise. Hopefully they're not like sending me away or anything. But I get the feeling the twins have some say in this…"
I turned back to Jiraiya-sensei. "So are you going to open that box? I'm dying to know what's in it!"
Jiraiya-sensei smiled. "This was meant for your actual birthday, but Minato begged me to give it to you so that you could wear it on your birthday." He handed me the box, "So you open it."
"So it's clothes? What is it like some elegant dress?" I asked as I shook the box.
"Just open it." He replied.
I carefully removed the orange bow and found that the box was simply taped shut. I peeled the tape off of it, and removed the wrapping paper, setting it with the bow.
My heart skipped as I stared at the bare brown box in my hands. "I wonder what kind of clothing it is."
I lifted the top of the box and then set the box on the table in front of me so I could see the whole thing in front of me. I pulled out a gray mass, because honestly I had no clue if it was a shirt, robes, or a dress. I noticed the gray thing had a card attached to it, once again, by tape. The card simply said, Enjoy.
I removed the card and put it with the bow and wrapping paper. Then I finally allowed myself to unfold the grey thing and found it was robes. Going back into the box I found that the bottoms were also there.
The shirt part of the robes was beautiful. It was a pale gray-ish color and had red flames at the ends of the sleeves and on the bottom. Not only that, it had a green ribbon that probably tied at the waist. There was a curly gold design on the green ribbon. The same design was on the edge of the collar of the shirt too.
The bottoms of the robes were simple. They were loose, kind of baggy black pants that cinched at the ankles.
I lifted my head to Jiraiya-sensei. "They're beautiful. I especially love the golden curls."
"I'm glad. I hope you remember me when you wear them."
I nodded gratefully. "Where did you get them?" I asked.
"They used to be mine."
My eyes widened. "What?"
Jiraiya smiled at me and took me in his arms for seconds before he let me go and began to speak. "They were my robes from when I was about your age. They might be a little big because they're for a boy but Minato thought you would like them, so we searched for hours for them in my house. Then Kushina cleaned them with Naruko and Naruto wrapped the box."
I looked at my entire family, especially Naruko and Naruto.
"What are they planning? Why did they do something nice after continuously being jackasses?"
I looked at Sasuke for guidance but he shrugged his shoulders at me.
My eyes wandered to my parents. I covered the distance between us and hugged them tight, especially my father.
"Dad, this was the best thing you could have ever thought of."
He hugged me back, sifting his fingers through my glorious red hair. "Just wait until your birthday. You're gonna get the surprise of your life."
