Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...but he would still wear orange if I did!
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Chapter Nine
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There was stunned silence around the little campfire. Sasuke was sitting in his 'brooding' position, glaring at the little party in general. Kakashi seemed surprised that she had decided to reveal herself. Haku seemed pretty serene, but he didn't know the background leading up to this. Zabuza seemed shocked for a moment, but it was quickly turning to amusement…especially since he was aware of how close Hotaru and Haku were becoming. And Sakura…
Sasuke watched as Sakura's mouth opened and closed a few times…and then she started laughing, a touch hysterically. "A girl! That's a good one, Naruto! How did you manage to get Sasuke-kun in…?" She trailed off as she saw the hurt expression on Hotaru's face.
The blond got up abruptly before anyone could gather their wits to react to that and snapped, "I'm going for a walk!" before stomping out of the clearing.
All eyes turned on the stunned kunoichi, and then both Sasuke and Kakashi stood. Both started to turn before Kakashi waved him off. "I'll talk to her, Sasuke. She might just decide to use you as a punching bag instead of a tree if you go."
The raven growled his agreement before turning cold eyes on Sakura. She flushed with embarrassment and stammered, "I…I didn't…"
He cut her off, snapping in an acidic tone, "You didn't what? Didn't think? Do you ever, Sakura?" He sneered at her, enjoying the tears that were welling up in her green eyes before he continued bitingly, "You know, I think Hotaru was right when she said that marks aren't everything. You're certainly proof of that." It was more than he had ever said to the girl, but he discovered that he didn't feel a bit sorry about it. He didn't feel sorry about the devastated expression on her face either.
Her expression suddenly twisted into anger and she spat, "Why are you sticking up for her? She's lied to us all for how long? And for what? What could she possibly have done something so incredibly stupid for?"
He was mildly impressed despite himself. The Sakura of a few weeks ago would have just folded under his disapproval, whether it had been a major issue or not. She was developing a spine at last. He smirked and replied, "She didn't want to be seen as weak. She didn't want to be treated like a second-class ninja just because she was a girl. She was smart enough to find a way."
Green eyes flashed in fury as she snarled, "Maybe she did it just to get at you! Is that why she told me to forget you? Did that even occur to you, Sasuke?" Zabuza and Haku decided at that point to vacate the clearing for somewhere quieter, and he watched them back away slowly from the enraged kunoichi.
He snorted and replied derisively, "She's not you, Sakura. Don't try to drag her down to your level. She didn't plan to reveal her secret to anyone for years…circumstances forced her to. We respect each other's abilities, but she's not out to 'get at me'. We are friends, and rivals, but nothing more."
Sakura threw her hands up in frustration. "So that's why you were sharing a futon then? Yes, that's really 'friend' behavior…and definitely something 'rivals' would do. You know what? I wish you two idiots the best of luck together! You definitely deserve each other!" He didn't know what to say to that, but luckily he didn't have to say a thing. She stalked out of the clearing in the opposite direction of the one Hotaru had gone.
He sat abruptly as his legs gave out underneath him, leaving him to think about something that he'd been trying hard not to think about since their arrival in Wave.
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Hotaru was doing her best to take down a tree with her bare fists alone when Kakashi caught up with her. He spent several minutes watching her in silence, but finally caught her arms when her knuckles started bleeding. "I think that's enough of that, Hotaru-chan." His voice was firm. She fought him, but the jounin was far stronger than she was and finally got her to sit with her back against the tree. He crouched in front of her. "She didn't mean it that way, you know."
She growled softly and glared into his visible eye, replying bitterly "How did she mean it then? Am I some sort of joke?" She was surprised that it was Kakashi that had followed her, but she supposed that they were going to have to talk about it eventually.
He sighed and shook his head. "You're not a joke, but you have to admit that it was quite a shock. She's young…she's had it easy. I'm not going to say that she's less mature because you can be pretty immature at times, but she's not as sure as you are of anything. You may get a lot of reactions like that from your peers."
She pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging her knees, and snorted softly. "Like I'm really sure of anything…"
He chuckled. "You're sure of what you can do. Your goals are clear. That's far more than she's got."
She sighed and shook her head. "I'm not sure about how to be a girl though…I've been 'Naruto' since I was four years old, Kaka-sensei. How do I be 'Hotaru' when I've been him for more than half my life? I don't even know who she is anymore. I'm not even sure I know who he is now. Who am I? I feel so lost…"
The jounin shrugged. "So let her teach you. After all this time, you're never going to be a girl in the same way the rest of them are. None of them would have done what you have to get this far. So…let her show you how to be a girl and then find the path that you want to walk, somewhere in between. You're Konoha's most surprising ninja…that's never going to change. We'll be here while you figure out who you are."
The blond looked up at him with mock-suspicion. "You're making too much sense. Who are you, and what did you do with my sensei?" She pushed herself up off the ground and grinned. "Thanks though…"
He gave her his smiley look. "You'd better wrap those hands." He pointed at her bloody knuckles.
She looked down at them and groaned…why was it always her hands? "Screw that…I'm going to go find out what happened to Sakura." The blond ran off back towards camp.
Kakashi rose as Zabuza stepped out of the cover of the trees and snorted as he stared after the blond. "Hatake-san, your team has got to be the biggest bunch of freaks I've ever met. I like them. Think your Hokage will let me take your kunoichi off your hands for a little while when we reach Konoha?"
The silver-haired man glanced back at the Demon curiously. "Hotaru? It's possible…"
The bandaged Mist-nin chuckled. "No, Sakura." The smirk in his eyes was evident at Kakashi's surprise. "She's starting to develop some interesting spunk…I think she'd do well training with Haku for a bit. And Hotaru…is no 'kunoichi'. That one's shinobi to the core, and going to be every bit the demon they call me. I wish you luck with her and the Uchiha."
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Sasuke wasn't sure how long he sat there in silence, alone with his thoughts, but he had managed to compose himself by the time Hotaru came storming into the clearing with all the subtlety of a raging hurricane. He winced slightly as she stomped up behind him and demanded, "Where did Sakura go? What the hell happened, bastard?"
He managed to reply in an even and slightly disinterested tone, "She said some exceptionally stupid things, and I corrected her. Then she decided she needed some time to cool off." He nodded in the direction that Sakura had stormed off in.
He felt the blue eyes bore into the back of his head as the blond digested that…and then suddenly found himself eating a face full of dirt as she unexpectedly punched him in the back of the head and declared, "You're such an asshole, Uchiha! Well, I guess I'd better go fix your mess!"
She swept out of the clearing with the same force that she'd entered it, leaving him to stare after her with a bewildered feeling, muttering resentfully about stupid girls as he rubbed the rising lump on the back of his head.
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Sakura wasn't sure how long she was running for, but it was more or less a blind run. She was crying so hard that she couldn't see around her burning eyes. Her world had just shifted into something unrecognizable around her, and she was twice as heartbroken now as she was when Naruto…no, Hotaru…had pointed out how useless she was. She was the star kunoichi of her class, the brightest of her year, second only to Uchiha Sasuke himself. How had things gone so very wrong? And on top of that, Hotaru was so much stronger than she was. How could she hope to even compete? She had gone from having the best chances with him…to being bottom of the barrel with every other kunoichi in her year. It was obvious to everyone but them that Sasuke and Hotaru were quickly developing eyes for no one but each other, though it had been easy to dismiss the signs when she thought the blond was a boy.
Her lungs were burning by the time she tripped over something unseen and landed flat on her face. She just didn't care enough to get up though…she didn't fight it when a pair of strong arms gathered her up, whispering soothing nonsense and stroking her hair gently. She sobbed into the offered shoulder gratefully, disregarding the approach of a second person. She had no idea how long she cried but she was exhausted by the time she stopped. She felt empty, and apathy settled over her. The silence between the two others continued for several minutes before the person holding her shifted into a more comfortable position, and she finally got up the energy to look up. She was startled to find herself being held by Haku, with a very solemn looking Hotaru sitting with them.
The blond grimaced and obviously decided to start things off. "I'd like to say I'm sorry, Sakura. I didn't really consider your feelings when I just blurted things out like that. And I'd also like to say that I'm sorry for anything the bastard might have said. Tactless asshole…" She trailed off into darkly ominous mutters that involved castrating Uchiha males while watching her teammate uncertainly. The kunoichi was a little startled that the other girl was apologizing for the Uchiha without even knowing what Sakura had said to him.
Sakura wasn't sure why, but that suddenly struck her as incredibly funny, breaking the apathy that gripped her. If her laughter had a hysterical edge, the other two didn't comment. They also didn't join her, letting her laugh herself out as she clung to Haku. When she finally caught her breath, she replied, "I…I'm sorry too…Hotaru. I said some mean and untrue things. I was…already on my way to letting go of him, but this was more than I was ready to hear yet and I reacted badly."
Blue eyes stared into hers, clearly puzzled. "More than you were ready to hear? Why would this have anything to do with you letting go of him?"
Sakura drew in a deep, shaky breath and stared into the blond's eyes, searching for any sign that the other girl was anything but sincere…then said softly, "You really don't know, do you? I don't think he does either…" She glanced up into Haku's grey eyes thoughtfully. "You see it, don't you?"
The older ninja nodded as the blond just stared at them, confused and getting a little annoyed. "See what? What did I miss?"
The kunoichi suddenly knew what she wanted. If she couldn't have Sasuke, she'd make sure that he got the best. And the best was sitting here with them, though she was rough around the edges, a little dirty, and completely oblivious. It was going to have to be an incredibly subtle campaign if this was going to succeed. Neither was the kind to take being manipulated like this well, but neither of them had been subjected to the subtle scheming of a matchmaking kunoichi. She was determined to see it through, if it took her years.
She suddenly leaned out of Haku's lap to grab the startled Hotaru's hands, pulling them to her chest as her green eyes sparkled with new life. "We have to go get you new clothes when we get back. On Sasuke…he promised, and we're going to milk him for that. I want to show you all the girl stuff you've been missing! We can start as soon as we get back!"
The orange-clad ninja's eyes widened a bit in alarm. "Can't we go slowly? A bit at a time…?" She started trying to squirm away from the other girl.
The growing panic in the other girl's eyes almost got Sakura laughing again, but she managed to hold it in. She grinned at Haku. "You'll help, right?"
The boy giggled and replied, "I think I probably have a better idea of how to be a girl than our lovely Hotaru-chan."
The blond groaned softly. "What have I gotten myself into? Wait, lovely?!"
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The remainder of the trip back to Konoha the following day was uneventful, but no one was surprised when a squad of ANBU met them at the gate to escort Zabuza and Haku off to an interview with the Hokage. Hotaru was upset at the necessity, but understood it. The pair were ninja defected from another village after all…though she was sure from the bits and pieces that she had caught from conversations between Kakashi and Zabuza on the way home that they had compelling reasons for that.
She was sure the old man would be reasonable, but all the same she gave her teammates a cheerful wave and a foxy grin "I'm gonna go have a few words with the old man…I'll see you all around tomorrow!"
She turned to follow the ANBU when Sakura ran to catch up with her. "Wait! I want to go shopping later tonight. Are you going to free?"
The blond blinked and nodded uncomfortably. "Yeah, I guess…but do we really have to go tonight?" She scratched the back of her head and wrinkled her nose at the thought.
Sasuke sauntered up behind Sakura and snorted. "We're burning those jumpsuits tomorrow, dead last, so if you want something to wear we'll be going out tonight."
She smirked a little and replied sweetly, "Are you sure you're feeling up to it, bastard? You hit your head pretty hard last night. Maybe you should rest!"
His eyes narrowed at that, but he replied in that infuriatingly indifferent tone of his, "Well, I wouldn't have hit my head if you weren't such a klutz."
She drew a deep breath, her eyes flaring with fire as she opened her mouth to give him her opinion…her candid opinion…of him, when Zabuza cleared his throat behind them. "Cute as the fighting is, kids, I wanna get this interview over with. Save the lover's spat for later." Much to the amusement of the group, though the ANBU hid it well, the former Mist jounin walked over before the blond could explode and picked her up, throwing her over a shoulder and ignoring her fighting and loud protests. He nodded to their escort. "We would have been here all night. Let's get this over with." He walked off with the blond screaming bloody murder, not even looking back.
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She wasn't happy to be left outside while the Hokage conducted his interview with her friends, but her reasons for wanting to talk to him didn't involve them anyways. She waited somewhat less than patiently for them to emerge from the office, as she knew they would eventually. When they finally did she looked up at them, her eyes immediately taking in the new forehead protectors. She leapt up and grinned. "I told ya it would be okay! The old man hasn't gone senile yet, so I knew he'd see you belong here!"
The Demon watched in amusement as the blond bounced, and replied, "There are restrictions for now. We're nin from another village, defectors…they don't trust us."
Hotaru flashed him a foxy grin and added, "Yet! It'll come! Anyway, my turn with the old man. Wish me luck!" She dashed in without a backward glance, leaving the new Leaf-nin shaking their heads before they were escorted off to their new quarters.
She slammed the door shut behind her and watched the Sandaime, her eyes wild with mischief as she approached his desk. He watched her warily, but said serenely, "Naruto, to what do I…"
She cut him off with a grin. "Hotaru." Her blue eyes were alive with conflicting emotions, but the dominant one was her pleasure at the shock on his face.
He shook his head, "I'm sorry, what?" It was clear that he didn't understand what she meant, or if she was even serious.
She smirked and drawled, "My name is Hotaru, old man. And I was just telling Zabuza-san that you're not senile yet! Way to prove me wrong!"
She started laughing her ass off when the twitch in his forehead started. She loved getting to him, though getting to Sasuke was quickly becoming a comparable pastime. He coughed and said calmly, "Really. I could have sworn that your name was Naruto. That is what your identification says, after all."
She chuckled and replied off-handedly, "Well, I guess we'd better fix that then, huh? Wouldn't want my fellow ninja mistaking me for a boy or something!"
The elderly Hokage's forehead twitched again, but then his expression softened. "You're sure, Hotaru?" His concern was evident.
She sighed and flopped gracelessly into the chair in front of his desk. "Yeah, I'm sure, old man. I already told Zabuza-san, Haku-chan and my team." She wrinkles her nose. "I'm being dragged out for new clothes when I'm done here. I swear the trip had better involve ramen."
Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "Well, I suppose I had better give you some money then."
She snorted. "Sasuke offered to pay, the bastard. Anyway, that's not all I wanted to talk to you about…" She pinned him with a glare. "I still owe you a talk about those stupid D-rank missions."
He started out in a placating tone, "Now Hotaru, ninja for generations have used those missions as a valuable learning…"
She leaned forward and slammed her fists down on his desk…his ANBU guards that were outside knew better than to react to that by now though. Her eyes were passionate as she cut him off. "Screw generations of ninja. Pure shit…giving the genin the D-ranked missions are a waste of time and Konoha's resources."
He regarded her calmly, and replied in an amused and slightly condescending tone, "Oh? And you know of a better way, Hotaru?"
She gave him a cocky grin and leaned back in her seat. "Damned right I do…which just proves we should have had a female Hokage a long time ago. Give the D-ranked missions to the Academy students." At his startled look she leaned forward again, her expression determined. "Look, giving the Academy students the D-rank missions will serve several purposes. If you devote say…2 hours every day of time from students in the final three years of the Academy, split them into the normal teams of 3, it will give them practical experience with running missions in a safe environment, not to mention experience writing mission reports and all the other junk that comes with doing missions and great teamwork building. That will give the future genin a step up, and free up your genin to handle C-ranked missions, leaving more chuunin for the B-ranked, and leaving you overall with more ninja to work with. I've seen the times you've struggled to fill all the missions that have come in. We're busy right?"
The Hokage opened his mouth for a moment to protest…but then shut it again and looked thoughtful. "You know, that would be a better allocation of resources. And you're correct about the practical experience. I'll have to call a meeting of the Academy teachers. We'll have to work this into the curriculum…" He grabbed a scroll and started muttering distractedly. After a few minutes she cleared her throat. He waved a hand without looking up. "Thank you, Hotaru. We'll take care of your identification when you've gotten rid of that horrid jumpsuit. You may go."
She groaned. "Not you too! Everyone's against my jumpsuit!" She let out a very forlorn sigh. "See you later then, old man!" She headed out to go get changed, figuring that she might as well take the jumpsuit off before they ripped it off her or something equally horrifying.
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She had spent nearly a half hour picking out something to wear from her meager wardrobe…well, meager without her beloved jumpsuits anyways. She finally decided on a pair of baggy black cargo pants, an orange t-shirt, and her ninja sandals. She took her shower and then tied her forehead protector around her neck. She decided to leave her weapon pouch and thigh holster at home, but the bit of metal was too precious to her to just leave somewhere. She stared into her mirror and frowned…she didn't really look much like a girl, as far as she was concerned. The wild, spiky hair just didn't help at all…but she couldn't picture herself with long hair anymore.
She was startled out of her brooding by a knock on her door, and went to answer it quickly. She wasn't surprised to find Sasuke and Sakura waiting for her, though she was a little surprised that they had changed too. Sasuke was wearing a pair of cargos as well, though not as baggy as hers, and a button-down blue shirt. He had left his forehead protector at home. She thought he didn't look bad. Sakura was dressed in a red top with spaghetti straps and a white skirt that stopped at mid thigh, her hair tied back with a white ribbon instead of her forehead protector.
The kunoichi looked her over with an expression of exasperation. "Does every outfit you own have orange in it? Well, at least it's not the jumpsuit. C'mon, let's go get something to eat first. I know this great little place with wonderful sushi!"
Hotaru smirked. "Oh no…if I'm going to put up with this…shopping shit, you owe me ramen. Ichiraku ramen. Or the whole deal's off and I'm going back to my…"
Sasuke snorted and nodded behind her into the apartment. "No going back, dead last."
She whirled in time to see Kakashi's wave, his smiley exclamation of, "Yo!"…and him disappearing with every jumpsuit she owned. She turned back to the guilty looking Sakura and calm Sasuke, pointing her finger at the raven accusingly. "You arranged this, you bastard! What am I supposed to wear now?!"
The pink-haired kunoichi giggled and slid her arm around Hotaru's. "Whatever we buy you? Let's go get that ramen then…"
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She was overwhelmed by the sheer variety of clothing that Sakura expected her to pick through and try on, and that was just civilian clothing. Honestly, how much clothing does one person need? There were dozens of tops, in every color except orange, in every style appropriate to a girl. She'd fought to get orange included, but the other girl seemed determined to keep her away from the color. She even appealed to the Uchiha, but he agreed with the kunoichi for a change. She sullenly picked out a dozen tops in blue, red, smoky grey and black. She refused to pick anything white though…if Sakura thought it was difficult to hide in orange, white was ten times worse.
The next argument was over bottoms. Hotaru would have been content with more pairs of pants identical to the ones she was wearing, but apparently that wasn't good enough for the kunoichi. She insisted that the blond try on many different things, including shorts, several different styles of pants…and skirts. She had never worn a skirt in her life…she had paled and refused when Sakura had held up a black one similar to the simple style she was wearing. It was finally Sasuke's comment that he didn't know she was such a coward, afraid of a little piece of clothing, which got her to try it on. Sakura had handed her a dark blue, sleeveless, tunic length shirt in the Chinese style, with buttons running diagonally from the collar to her side. Once she finally had the outfit on, she stared at herself in the mirror…it was hopeless. She really just looked like a boy dressed in a skirt with that hair…
She had been staring at herself for several minutes when Sakura knocked on the door. "Come out, Hotaru, we want to see how it looks on you!" She opened the door slowly, standing there awkwardly with her eyes shut, expecting laughter. She heard someone take a deep breath, and braced herself for the worst.
"You look…nice." The raven's voice was cool, but she could hear the slight waver in it. Her eyes popped open in surprise to see Sasuke looking anywhere but her, and Sakura grinning…but in a reassuring kind of way.
She stared at them in disbelief for a moment before reaching up to cover her greatest pain. "B-But…my hair. It's too short…it looks all wrong…" Her teammates were both startled when she burst into tears, never having seen her cry about anything. It was Sakura's turn to hold her as she cried, though she fought half-heartedly as she was pulled into the other girl's embrace. She hadn't cried about her hair, or about anything, since the day it had been cut. She'd sworn then that she wasn't going to be that weak over something so silly, but here she was again. The pain was old, but deep…it had been festering for so long under an indifferent attitude that was completely out of self-defense.
When the brief, but intense, storm of tears had passed, she had to admit that she felt a little better. She sniffled a little, and was completely stunned as she was shoved into Sasuke's arms…he froze, just as startled as she was. The temperamental kunoichi that was their teammate commanded him, "Take care of her for a few minutes, I have some ideas for her hair. Go get this stuff paid for and meet me across the street," and then swept off, seemingly oblivious to the shock she had just caused.
It was almost a full minute of stunned incomprehension before she shoved herself out of Sasuke's arms, her face burning. "I-I'll just go put my clothes back on…"
His face was slightly flushed as he recovered, snorting as he picked up the rest of her choices. "Don't bother. We can put them in the bags with all of this and you can just wear that out." He stalked off to the register, leaving her staring at his back in confusion. What a bastard! She grabbed her clothing with a growl, following after him with every intention of giving him a piece of her mind…but stopping when she realized she wasn't wearing any shorts under this skirt to keep her from being exposed in the spar that was sure to follow. Damn this girl stuff!
So she joined him at the register in stiff silence, and then followed him out and across the street. She could keep the peace for one evening…just long enough to get him to replace the wardrobe that he conspired to burn anyways. She took her half of the bags without comment. The store across the street turned out to be a shop of women's formal clothing, with kimonos ranging from simple, solid colors to elaborately patterned silk, and all the accessories a girl could ever wish.
Sakura rushed over to them when they entered, her hands full of tiny silver hairclips. She grinned cheerfully at the fuming pair. "Give those to Sasuke, Hotaru. You need something formal for festivals, and I'd like to try some things with your hair too. The shop owner is a friend of my mother's, so she'd made a bit of space in the back for us so that I can trim the bottom a bit…she's got some styling gel to try too! We'll have to get you some of your own if it looks nice." She took the bags out of the blond's hands and gave them to Sasuke, who glared pointedly at her…but she blithely ignored the prodigy-turned-pack-mule, dragging the bewildered Hotaru off to the back.
Sakura refused to let the blond look into the mirror until she was finished. She used a sharp pair of scissors to trim the bottom of Hotaru's hair shorter in the back, and then wet it so that she could brush the top and sides back. After several minutes of tugging, Sakura stilling her head with annoyed exclamations, and a bit of gel…she was finally allowed to look into the mirror. She was stunned by what greeted her.
In the front, Sakura had somehow convinced the front layer of her unruly bangs to hang down over her forehead, giving her bangs a sort of hanging, spiky effect. The remainder of the top and the sides had been pulled back into the silver hairclips, which formed a sort of head band. The back of her hair had been deliberately spiked with the gel, making it look like the wild blond hair was being held back by the hair clips as it spiked up behind them. She…liked it. She looked like a girl, but somehow still looked like her at the same time. She looked up at Sakura with a grateful expression. "Can you teach me how to do this?"
The kunoichi nodded in satisfaction. "I sure can, when we take your stuff home. It turned out nicely…and those hairclips are steel, they're not going anywhere in a fight." She grinned at the blond's startled expression. "Kunoichi do have some secrets. They come in other colors too, coated in a sort of enamel that's made to withstand the rigors of combat. I'm sure you'll test that to the full extent." She giggled.
Hotaru chuckled and stood. "We should go rescue the bastard from my clothing…do I really need something from here? I wouldn't have any clue how to wear it…" She looked almost wistful as she said that. She wouldn't mind something from here, but really…that was asking a lot, as most of these were in the high price range. And she still had to pick out something she could wear on missions.
Sakura patted her arm. "Every girl needs something formal, Hotaru. Don't worry; I'm sure we'll find something that suits you." The kunoichi dragged her out of the back. They were a little confused when they discovered that Sasuke wasn't where they left him, but quickly found him staring at a kimono. As they approached, he turned to them with an odd expression and said abruptly to Hotaru, "You're getting this one."
She was about to object to the Uchiha dictating her choice of clothing when Sakura's gasp prompted her to take a closer look at the raven's choice. Her objections died the moment she saw it…the gorgeous kimono could have been made for her. It started out orange at the top, blending to red as it traveled down until it was a red so dark it was nearly black at the knees. From knee to ankle it was patterned with flames in orange, red and gold. The flowing, floor length sleeves matched, shading from orange to red-black at the elbows and matching flames edging them. The obi was gold, with the outlines of vibrant crimson flames stitched lovingly into it. And the size was perfect…little, if any, alteration would be needed for it to fit her perfectly. She nodded mutely as Sasuke imperiously gestured the shop owner over and explained that they were getting that one, plus whatever hair accessories and other baubles that Sakura saw fit to purchase.
She was a little overwhelmed by it all by the time they reached the shop that contained specialty ninja clothing, all made in studier fabrics with plenty of reinforcement. She snapped out of it though when Sakura tried to hand her a top that exposed a good portion of her midriff. "No…nothing that shows of a lot of skin. It has to be comfortable, functional and have orange in it somewhere." And from there, she refused to be deterred. She'd compromised the whole day, with the exception of the kimono, but this was what she'd be wearing during all the important times of her future. She wasn't budging on this one.
They finally came to an agreement almost an hour later, and only because Sasuke was getting annoyed enough to take Hotaru's side in her arguments. They decided on calf-length black pants with cargo pockets running down the left leg, an orange, form hugging sleeveless shirt and a black jacket. Colors were more than half the argument, but she'd won out in the end…mostly. They refused to let her get the orange jacket. They bought several changes of each piece…a shinobi didn't want to carry much at most times, but it was also inadvisable to wear the same thing day in and out when some ninja had an acute enough sense of smell to detect unwashed human.
By the time she was dropped off at home with all of her new clothing, she was exhausted. She wasn't overly surprised to find the rest of her male clothing gone…even the bag that had the ones she'd been wearing when she left no longer had those in it. It seemed that they intended her to make a clean break…the old man was going to laugh his ass off at her tomorrow.
Author's Note: I was shocked to find the 18 reviews for the previous chapter…you guys make me so happy! *swoons* Your support makes this very easy to write for me! I'll admit it; I'm having fun writing this story. So much so that I've pretty much got it planned up to the end, and well into the sequel…so, I'd like to thank everyone that reviewed and added this to their alerts again…you guys are what make this all worth it!
