Three days had passed since that "eventful" day. It was no wonder to anyone close to Naruto that he kept most of two days in silence, sitting on his bed and staring to nothing in particular. It had fallen on Aya's shoulders to conduct him to his restored apartment and give him the key to it back. She would never admit this to his student, but she was starting to worry about his wellbeing. Especially since he was starting to smell.
At the dawn of the third day, he had been woken up suddenly when he was thrown into the shower to take a forced bath. Spluttering at the lack of air incoming to his lungs, he bellowed at his sensei. "What was that for?!?"
"You started to smell. Come on. We're training today. No excuses." With that, she turned on her heels and in the blink of an eye, she was gone.
She's right, you know... His tenant piped in his own two cents. All you've been doing is pondering upon a past that is impossible to change. Face reality and do it like a man! Or are you a mouse?
He ignored the last comment, but what he previously said held wisdom. As such, he agreed with him. Removing his now soaked clothes, he threw them in a pile at a corner of the shower and finished removing his body of the grime and smell that had glued to his skin.
Feeling like new, he stepped out of the bathroom with a towel strapped around his waist and an idiot grin plastered on his face. Said smile whipped off his face the instant he saw his sensei dressed in a yellow apron, cooking lunch. Only an apron.
"Oh." She let out turning to look at him with an easy-going smile, almost mockingly. "You ready to eat something?" She again turned and moved her arms to place the heated food on the platter, unconsciously making his eyes travel to her barely covered chest and the movement it had. Of course, responding to his male instincts and rushes, his gaze rolled to more...compromising spots, shall we say...
The instant he realized what was happening, he darted out of the place grabbing a fresh set of clothes in the way, leaving a chuckling Aya behind. Oh, how she loved to tease the boy to no end. It was her favourite past-time with him. Well... second actually. The third being training.
Back with Naruto, he was fitting his feet into a black-dyed sandal. Why? Just why does she always have to do that every time we are alone? He grumbled mentally. Of course, he couldn't actually complain, but it was better than to admit it to her that he enjoyed such an attention. No, it was too embarrassing to even give it the least of though.
Oh, come on, kit. Why don't you actually get on with it and rip that apron off? The bed isn't that far... Kyuubi smirked inside his cage. Seeing the red-faced teen was something that surely completed his day, no matter how bad it had been. It was the cherry on the cake for him. And boy, did he love provoking such reactions.
Shut up. He snarled. Finally stretching the straps of his footwear, he dared to take a peak to the main room, but he saw nothing but a steaming plate of food and empty air. Sighing in relief, he stepped out twice. A shiver at the back of his neck made him stop and re-think his course of action. Something was off. He knew it, in fact, he could smell it right near him.
Letting out a war cry becoming more of a fan girl than a warrior in her early twenties, Aya let go of the ceiling and landed on Naruto. Toppling over him, he sprawled on the floor with her on top of him. Strange warmth suddenly covered all the front of his body. Opening his eyes, he found the most turn-on scene he had ever seen in his almost-eighteen year old life.
She was shamelessly rubbing against him with a vicious grin.
Of course, him being a decent person (Or a fag, according to the fox's timely comment.), he pushed her gently and rose to his feet. "Would you please stop doing that? We're in the middle of a ninja village! Anyone could come in at any moment!" It easily registered in her mind that he wasn't disapproving her display of "affection".
"Oh, come on. Ai is even worse and you don't complain!" To this he flushed darker than a beet.
"Well...that's because she's... well, you know why!" He stammered taking a step back. Blaming his partner of all things! That was a low blow and she knew it, but it was too much fun not to use it as a punch-line. Trying to divert the focus of the situation, he placed a hand on the back of his head and grinned. "So...What's for lunch?"
"You're learning swiftly, my young apprentice..." She walked past him and patted his shoulder on the way. Three steps forward, she cancelled the henge, covering her body in a long shirt that barely reached past her backside. One of the hand-counted techniques she had learned from the blond near her. She had only grasped the truly basic techniques, and like her student, it wasn't possible for her to do a proper Bunshin. In fact, Naruto had to teach her his favourite clone Jutsu for her to be able to do a decent one. The other thing that she failed to achieve was his fanaticism for said Jutsu.
She had accepted the advantage of such a technique with a spear-bow user, but it cut her energy way too much for it to be successfully effective. Only Naruto could recklessly use Kage Bunshin and combine them almost seamlessly with his bow. Making an initial wave with his spear and then complimenting the attack with a distance attack to keep the enemy on their toes, quickly tiring whoever he faced.
"Mind for some fried rice with meat?" She grinned back at him from over her shoulder.
He smiled contently. It was good to be home again.
"Jiraiya, what's your opinion on Naruto's sensei?" Tsunade frowned from behind the crystal ball. For the last three days, she had taken a careful watch over the blonde teaching his "brother". So far, the woman had shown nothing but an intense worry for the sulking boy. For continuous hours she had been sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed and facing the boy that had been sitting on the couch. Even if her sight hadn't been on her apprentice, Tsunade knew that all her other senses were focusing on the younger fair-haired.
She wondered if those two had something going on together that they didn't want anyone to find out.
Especially after the show they had pulled in the last hour.
"Why, I support her 100 percent!" Jiraiya lecherously beamed and struck the nice-guy pose, Jiraiya version.
"You only say that because she had fewer clothes on than the girls you stalk near the waterfalls..." Tsunade stated with half-lidded eyes and a sigh. It was beyond her compression why she allowed her formed team-mate to maintain such an attitude. And worst of all, how she could stand him when he got into "lecher-mode", as she had wisely named it.
"Guilty of charges..." He admitted raising his hands over his head and grinned almost embarrassedly. "But what it matters here isn't my opinion, it's yours."
"True." She nodded. "She has proven to me that she reunites the qualities to be entrusted with Naruto. However, she must prove that she isn't a wolf in a sheep's disguise planning the devastation of Konoha."
Jiraiya had wisely rejected this job exactly because of the true meaning behind that phrase. The Hokage had to be wary of every newcomer that set a foot in Konoha so as to keep the peace inside the walls. It was too stressing for him to do it.
And also because it severely disrupted his investigation time.
"Are you ready, Naruto?" He nodded. It was time to get back on track with their training. He had been procrastinating too much for the past days, that with the travel and the news. However, he had no clue as to what was next in her training schedule. He truly hoped that it wasn't that week. As much as his chakra reserves improved, it was most of the time too embarrassing to endure.
"Call her."
Only one thought ran through his mind after that phrase. One word with the power to describe his full opinion of the following week. That word that was considered a forbidden word to the youngsters. That same word that at the same time was considered one of the wisest and dirtiest ever created.
Fuck.
Bracing himself to what was to come he warily raised a hand to the skies and looked opposite and down with a scrunched face, almost fearing the universal reaction to his action.
"A...Ai!" He called. A swirl of sparkling light flashed over his raised hand for a second before vanishing in the wind, proof that the technique had been executed successfully, much to Naruto's regret. He wasn't looking forward to spending a whole week with this girl continuously by his side. At the beginning of their first meeting, he assumed it was a temporal thing, but as the days went by, the awful truth came out. She was like that normally.
He raised a brow after ten seconds of silence and quiet. This was not normal. Warily, he opened his eyes and straightened up while looking around.
He didn't make it to look back for more than a nanosecond.
"Naruto-kun!" A cheerful voice exclaimed before said girl snaked her arms around his neck, continuing her leap of faith. The sudden movement of his gravity centre made his equilibrium go to hell, therefore once again, landing on the ground with a girl on top of him. He mentally slapped his mind at his own idiocy. He had taught this girl some ninja moves to balance out her head-on fighting style.
Like she needed that... He mused regarding his past spars with her.
He looked upon her again, finding her appearance somewhat a call to his past. She looked impossibly alike to her Oiroke form, except without the whiskers marks, her hair free of ponytails and slightly more pronounced "assets". Of course, her amber full plate mail covered almost all of her skin, leaving a lot to imagination for the ones who didn't have the pleasure (And regretfully to Naruto because of the special scenario it produced.) of seeing her dressed in everyday clothes. An undersized red top, a pair of knee-length black gym-shorts and simple red sandals.
He sometimes wondered if the smoke of his Oiroke no Jutsu covered more than that.
She took her name to heart as she suddenly began covering his face with kisses. All, except his mouth, for some weird reason he didn't want to know. Of course, before he could mouth his curiosity, she covered it with a smouldering lip-lock. Her body heat began to rise in spikes, thing he immediately noticed and panicked. This was no good. He gave out some muffled shouts, which she misunderstood that he was choking and let him go.
To the only spectator that had her arms closed, she unknowingly fulfilled Naruto's wish and slapped her forehead while shaking her head. He always got away in the interesting part. Her apprentice had several times called her a sadist to make him go through all that every time he had to expand his energy reserves, and of course, her reply was that no matter what it was, the following week would be energy expanding training as she had named them. Vicious? No, Strict.
Aya had almost stepped in when she had first showed him how to call upon his partner and he had successfully summoned her to this plane. Things had escalated from a simple stare of hers to an almost degrading clothes removal. The only thing that made her stop was his unconscious but almost black-red face. It was times like that when she was happy to forget about her self-imposed exile and train the younger blonde.
"Naruto-kun? Are you okay?" Ai called worriedly looming over him. He coughed twice silently and nodded slowly. Letting out a squeal, she latched upon his waist gleefully.
"Okay, show's over." Aya clapped disapprovingly with a frown. Enough teasing the boy, it was time to get on with their training schedule. "Naruto, you're spear-training this week. You know the drill." She ordered with a firm voice, to which he nodded swiftly. It was this voice that made him remember when he had met her six years back in that run-down inn during his travels in Fire Country.
Ninpo: Flashback no Jutsu!
Naruto trudged through the heavy rain, covered in a tattered brown cloak that he had acquired when he did a favour to a helpless homeless folk. His soaked hair, now free of the hitai-ate that was tied directly on his arm and beneath his shirt, continuously blocked his sight, no matter how many times he pulled it back. His leaping on the branches of the forest called to a stop when he noticed the inn directly ahead.
Great. I got here before planned. He said to himself mentally.
Landing in front of the door, he spared a quick glance at the building. Made of concrete, it seriously needed a paint-job. And perhaps a few batches of the base material here and there. The door was no better; it looked like it would fall off its hinges at any moment.
Placing a wary hand, he pushed the door and it firmly stood for a millisecond before turning like a normal one would, except that this one gave out a low screech. Stepping inside he peered around the small room with his ninja-enhanced senses. It was a simple inn, with only two already occupied tables each with one person, a bar-like counter attended by the innkeeper himself and two doors on the wall adjacent to the counter, which the blond assumed directed to the rooms.
There were only four people there, counting the innkeeper and himself. And so, he was pushed to share. Asking the innkeeper for something to drink, he scrutinized his choices of table. There was the usual drunk old man, trying to drown his problems in cheep sake, his reek of alcohol reaching Naruto's nostrils even 10 feet away from him.
That left him the blonde woman with the grey cloak. Her impassive look towards her amber-coloured drink traversed the glass and kept on the slowly spinning cube of ice.
He wondered what was so interesting about watching ice out of all things, but decided to not give it any further thought. In any case, he approached the sitting blonde with his inquiry. "Do you mind if I sit with you?" He asked as politely as he could with his trademark grin.
As sluggishly as possible, she lifted her azure gaze from her focus to stare into a barely lighter-toned pair of cerulean orbs. Debating for half a second between if she should let him or not. She shrugged in apathy. It didn't matter. This kid wouldn't matter a thing to her anyway, no one did after all. Not after what happened to her only two years ago.
After all, this kid was only here to sit and stay quiet, right?
Kai!
Chuckling to herself, she too remembered quite well how the two had met. After a stretched silence, the younger sun-kissed could no longer stand the lack of sound and started assailing her with questions of all nature. Of course, she valiantly ignored the ranting brat for several...seconds. That was when she could no longer hold it in and grabbed him by the neck before slamming him mercilessly against the floor. Repeatedly.
Of course, that worked like a charm and he had shut up.
For five seconds.
Then he was all for knowing how she had learned that move and to fight like that. And of course, bug her to no end to teach him. She actually wondered if this kid was up to such a task. She was a harsh teacher; that she was aware of (according to what everyone said). It was lost to her when they had gotten to the point of her giving him the task to impress her during a fight. If he was able, she would teach him.
Needless to say, he passed with flying colours. And she still blushed while rubbing her chest at the embarrassing scene her apprentice had made her undergo. Ripping her shirt completely indeed shook her very foundations of what this kid was able to do, and also was the cause of his incredible blood-loss.
And as simple as that, the two fair-haired joined "forces" and began trekking all around the world. Meeting very few interesting people while he underwent a non-stop training under her supervision. Specially bow related. He hadn't a grasp of how to handle a spear until he could summon Ai. There was a simple explanation as to why his sensei would do that.
While his training had been mostly how to handle a bow and precision improvements, hers had been absolutely spear-related. Aya had never explained how she knew Ai would train him solely in spears, but he assumed that it was one of those "Do not ask under penalty of castration" questions. And so, he had kept shut about that subject. He couldn't complain, after all. Receiving grand-master level of training on how to skilfully struggle for his life in a fight with either a bow or spear was something no one would be saying anything against.
He was no different.
There was the strange conversation he had when he had first made contact with Ai; that was after getting a mental image of how she looked like, so he could summon her almost at will. His sensei hadn't explained either from where he was summoning her, but Ai had never been against his callings, whatever the time was, so he suspected that she lived in a place she didn't appreciate too much. It was all covered in that to and fro of words they shared.
Ninpo! Flashback no Jutsu!
Still in a haze and a little dizzy, he could still feel the nagging sensation that there had been a removal and immediate return of something in his mind. It was hard to explain in words, like cutting a piece of cheese and taking it back and making the cheese have no actual signs of being cut in the first place. After his successful finding of his partner's image, he could no longer stay sitting and fell on his back with his legs crossed and a faraway look in his eyes.
"Well, brat, you amaze me once again. You were able to call upon her in only a week and a half. Only my teacher beat you to that. Four days." Aya remarked smugly and proudly while kneeling besides him with both forearms on her upper knee. A content smile played on her lips.
"I don't know your sensei, so I really can't care. Thing is, I beat you." She seriously considered neutering him right there with a spoon, but found it counter-producing to her promise and oath as a warrior from her homeland.
"You've got much to learn in order to best me, brat. I can still wipe the floor with your ass, no sweat. But instead of bickering about who's best, I think you'd better analyse your handiwork with your own set of eyes." She grabbed him from the front of his shirt and pulled until he was sitting normally. His range of sight catching the third person standing a couple of meters away, looking at him with an amused grin and half-lidded eyes.
If he hadn't seen her vaguely through that brief metal connection, he would be disbelieving that her appearance was so alike to his Oiroke form. Except that there were neither whisker marks nor ponytails, giving her a more mature aura. However, that wasn't what drew his attention. It was the obsidian coloured full-plate armour and dark-grey spear tapping lightly her shoulder.
Didn't Aya say something that the summoned resembled the one who called? He mused mentally. Her grip on her weapon tightened ever so slightly for a second before her hand flexed in a cycle that kept repeating for a minute. Instants that they used to gaze upon each other, so as to record with fire in their minds their looks.
"So, you finally brought me here." She commented in that voice characteristically belonging to his Oiroke form. Suddenly, her content demeanour changed in a 180 degree swap. "I was waiting for forever, Naruto!" Withdrawing the urge to bop him, she gracefully stepped closer to him. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being cornered and had no chance of escaping.
His fear proved true two seconds later when she leaped onto him and hugged him mercilessly. The spear clattering against the ground were she had been standing.
And for the first time, he wondered if this was how Sasuke felt with his fan girls.
He envied him. Big time.
Naruto at least had the dignity to blush a light shade of red while stuttering non-sense. This was the first a girl hugged him and while it felt like Heaven, his conscious considered it awfully awkward. That reminded him of that girl he helped once; he had been this close to receive a hug, but her mother called her over and he was called by his sensei to continue their trip.
Letting him go, she sat cross-legged in front of him smiling happily and her spear resting on her lap.
"Um..." He began when the silence stretched on and on. "So...who are you?"
She eye-smiled very Kakashi-like. "My peers call me Ai. Not that many care to call me that, though..." She added the last as a dark afterthought and in a very low voice. Like a resented memory. Or perhaps a hated present? He could only wonder.
"Aya-sensei said that you'd be my spear teacher..." He let it hang and her visage reverted before nodding vigorously. "No offense, but how good are you?"
"I have trained with this spear since I could walk. Which is around the same time you were able to." His brows almost fused with his hair-line. "Does that answer your question?"
"Er...yes. And... Why do you look so much like my Oiroke form?"
"Q&A time, uh? Suppose I had it coming." She commented chuckling to herself. "Let's start from the top. What do you know about my kind?"
He scratched the back of his head with an embarrased blush on his demeanor. "Well, not much. Aya-sensei said you'd explain everything there was to know."
Ai gave a quick glare to the other female before planting that easy-going beam on her face. "Kay. First things first. My kind are based on this plane of existance. We are born at the same time our counter-part is born here. In other words, you and I are the exact same age, just as your sensei and her counter-part. You catch so far?"
He nodded transfixedly.
"Good. Now, what transpires to someone here, to the counter-part happens exactly or infinitely close to what it was. That is the main link that a caller and a summoned share. And most of the time this is a pillar to begin whatever relationship they might want to hold. But that was an extra. For the appearance, our kind is designated of only what you call "female" for reasons mostly unknown to us."
"I can cover that." Aya piped in. Now both teen blondes gave her complete attention for different reasons. Naruto for getting all the pieces of the puzzle and Ai because she could discover an unknown factor from her life. "Bare in mind that I received this info from my sensei and she gave me explicit orders to relay this onto my only student and her/his summon. Of course, I must ask of you to never, under any circumstances to reveal this to anyone. Be it from this plane, or the other." Her severe and stoic tone left no other reply than a:
"We understand." Both said in exact unison. Sharing a quick glance they diverted their attention back to the speaker. It had felt strange when they had converged and spoke in the same instant.
"Good. Now, according to history, or at least the official history of the Summoned, their origin is unknown to everyone except hand-counted few. Those were the legendary ones with skills that would make your skin crawl just by hearing the name of them. From one of them, I learned that early in the past of the Summoned, there existed gender distinction, but when the leader of the time made a pact with two powerful entities, that difference went out of the window.
The leader then inquired for power for her race and the entities granted it with only two drawbacks that would finish the era of the original Summoned. One was the complete wipe of the male section of the Summoned and the other was that they would lose their personality completely until the end of time, degrading them to only helpers or supporters in whatever the Caller wanted to do. So, in order to acquire one, Summons "copy", if you would, part of the Caller's mindscape to create their own attitude and way of thinking. Most of the time it's emotions the Caller mostly never uses. That's why you two are so different in attitudes. She is loving while you are wary of facing an emotional relationship, and so on." She finished inhaling a deep breath and letting it go slowly. "Questions?"
Both hands shot up immediately. Aya impassively pointed at Ai. "Why only leave the females?"
"I don't truly know. I have my especulations, but they are so vague it's point-less to share them with you. Speaking of speculations...I suppose there aren't many of your kind back on your plane, right?" Ai nodded confusedly. "I thought so. So it wasn't true that every human from here gets a counter-part. Only those with the potential to call one are gifted with such a companion." Aya half-mused half-thought out loud. "Naruto?"
"What do you mean I'm wary to start an emotional relationship?" His sensei's only response was a pointed look. "Oh." He admitted sheepishly, remembering every instance in which he could have started something but denied it right away. "And...um...wouldn't Ai be affected by...you know...him?"
Before Aya could respond, his Summon gave him a scathing stare. "I know who you're talking of, so don't even think of speaking in codes again. I've been through a lot because of that...fox." It was glaringly obvious that her choice of words had subdued impressively.
"Naruto, cut that stupid shocked face. Remember what I told you? They live something alike to what you did, so she'd obviously know about it. Now, to answer your doubt. I think that's what makes her love blossom to astounding levels, that is, your devotion for you. I don't think she'd be as forward with others as she's with you, though..."
Ai at least had the dignity to blush beet-red. Something clicked in Aya's mind and chuckled before it converted in full-blown laughter. Both spectators looking at her with an incredulous blink.
After half a minute, she calmed down enough to talk. "It's that...I remember my explanations. She's actually helping you in something you unconsciously want!"
"Uh?!" Both shouted at her.
"Yup. You've been wanting acceptance, but most of all, you've looking for love and she's very willing to give you all you need!" She finished with a grin. Naruto's jaw almost hit the ground. How could his sensei read him like a book in only two years of contact? And worst of all...what did she mean by "all you need"?
Turning away to look at his Summon, he passed out with a gigantic nose-bleed. Somehow she removed her armour completely, leaving her in what could only be something that barely covered her body. How she did that without making a sound, it never even registered in his mind. There were other preocupations first.
Kai!
Hatake Kakashi considered himself as a worthy Shinobi. He had attained Jounin rank at fifteen and moved up to ANBU shortly after that. As the creator of arguably Konoha's second deadliest assassination jutsu, the Rasengan being the first, his loyalty to Konoha had only been chipped off recently under the light of events.
Only three hours ago, at seven-twentyone in the morning, he had been told his sensei's position and his reasons to do so. His actions were perfectly justified in his apprentice's eyes and had he been in the ex-Hokage's shoes, he'd have done the same. In fact, he backed his assumed father figure so much, that he actually got up during the meeting with the Godaime to give the council a piece of his mind.
After said reunion had been adjourned, he was ordered to call Naruto for a return-to-action assignment. According to the little intel he was given, it was a juicy B-rank. The details, however, were a mystery to him and he had not asked for them. It was irrelevant to him whatever the mission entailed was for Naruto and his team to know.
And not, at 10:22 in the morning, he was knocking on Naruto's door feeling like this scene had been foretold in some kind of song. Actually, it was more like slamming his fist with three-fourths of his strenght, due to the lack of response. He had tried the window, but it was sealed shut with wood. That raised a brow but supposed that he had been to lazy to remove them after the Hokage had closed his house when he had left.
Ten seconds later, a droggy Naruto opened the door and peaked outside. Or rather, only his face and a hand. Yawning, he blinked several times just before he recognized who had disturbed his much needed sleep.
"Yo, Kakashi." And he had the gall to use his own salute against him? This boy truly was his father's son.
"Naruto." He nodded curtly. "The Hokage calls you ASAP. It's about a mission to cel-" He was interrupted by the most seductive female voice he had heard in his thirty-three year old existance. And it was coming from the inside of the apartment.
"Naruto-kun..." Why was it so familiar? And worst of all, it didn't stop there. Another female voice called from behind the blond.
"Hurry up and get back to bed with us... We're freezing without your... warmth." The last word was almost moaned and it was the last straw. Curiosity slashed in his mind to be let out.
Naruto sheepishly grinned and scratched his cheek. "Women. You know how they are. Well, duty calls."
And with that, he slammed the door shut in front of his ex-sensei's face. Before locking it tight.
Just then, something clicked in the silver-haired man. Wait. Did Naruto just... with two...
But there was something else that also came up to his attention. Wasn't that...AYA?
His last musing before he left to read his choosing of literature was:
Maybe he can give me a few pointers?
Well. This last scene is a small Kakashi bashing. It's not that I don't like him, I think he's a vital point in the canon storyline, but this just popped in my head and I wanted to know how Kakashi would act if he was faced with this.
And yes. This makes Naruto far more devious and cunning. I think Aya and Ai are a bit submissive around him (I created the characters, however I can't control their actions or emotions. I just made a background for them and their tendencies of actions. That's why I speak like I'm only a spectator.), but don't be fooled. In around five to six chapters, you'll see their true potential.
Lastly, can you forgive me for my lateness? Don't expect me to update sooner than the 10th of December. I have two exams up to that day, so I can't put my laziness down to write. I (VERY RELUCTANTLY) have to study... Sigh.
Later,
Soulcry.
