Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own my plot and characters like Andrew and Matthew.
UPDATED: 1/14/10
Kenneth=Minato
Cassie=Kushina
John=Saishu/uncle
It was June. The middle of June, to be precise.
Kushina, now fourteen, the same age as Minato, was giddily receiving congratulations from her many family members. Having just graduated from Middle school, she stood in the middle of her grand living room surrounded by other redheads.
"Congratulations on graduating. Sorry we couldn't be there," her aunt, Megan said apologetically. Her husband John, also known as Saishu, had a hand around her shoulders. He too, looked sorry.
Cassie laughed joyfully. "Oh who cares? Only three people could come anyway. Thanks for coming over to visit! These flowers are really nice. And it's not like I just graduated High school either! Ha ha,"
She bent down and sniffed the flowers her aunt and uncle had just recently placed in her arms. Lilies and lavender, such a nice smell.
Kenneth, now acceptably fluent, replied in English as well. "Hey, nice job on graduating. That ceremony was really unique. Is that the way all graduations are held here?"
"No, just our school. Actually, I don't know, he he, all schools celebrate a little differently, but it's pretty much the same, I guess, with the diplomas and all. But high school graduation will definitely be grander! I promise you!" Cassie smiled brightly. Then, on an even happier note, she added, "Now that it's summer, I can hang out with you all day! We can go swimming, teach you tennis, train, go to the amusement park...especially now that I'm no longer grounded! He he," she scratched her head.
Kenneth raised an eyebrow. "You were grounded?" he asked.
"Yeah! Didn't you know? When I ran away to see you a few months ago, Dad grounded me the moment I came back home. That's why I couldn't use computers and all that stuff,"
"I see,"
"Did you like my friends? I think they all liked you. They said you were smart, that you learned English so quickly, and that you're cool," Cassie chirped. Kenneth reflected back when he had been at her school...
-flashback-
"Hey Kenneth!! You have to meet my friends! Come on~!" Grabbing his hand, Cassie ran over to a group of former eighth graders. Smiling as she came near them, one of them wolf whistled as they saw that the two were holding hands. Cassie immediately let go and smacked the boy on his shoulder, referring to the taller, Chinese boy as Johnny. Then, she'd proceeded to introduce Kenneth to everyone there, including Cassie's best friend Claudia.
Claudia was a bit taller than Cassie's five three, and stood in a nice, five six. She was of muscular build, but despite the fact that she carried herself with strength and power, she had a cute face and smile. As a girl, her muscles weren't very noticeable, but Kenneth, who was trained as a ninja, could plainly see the layers of muscle on her biceps. Besides that, Cassie had described her as a "Killer hobo who used to beat me up for revenge" back when he had asked about her best friends, and he could see that Cassie's description was actually quite accurate. She very easily be intimidating if she wanted to. Claudia also lived in Bradbury, and so was in walking distance of their house. They promised to visit each other during the summer.
"Hello. I'm Kenneth, nice to meet all of you," he greeted politely. Everyone he had met up till then was very different from the people in Konoha. Before, any girl he came across blushed and either became an annoying fan, or became a downright scary stalker, or sometimes, tried to be a friend. At that time however, Kenneth had been too closed up and shy that no girl actually succeeded in becoming one. Contrarily, everyone he'd come across at Cassie's school (including the girls) treated him like a normal person. They didn't blush, they didn't try to make themselves sound funny or amazing, they just behaved the way they normally do.
Cassie's friends were all just like her. They had a mischievous glint in their eyes and an open smile. That boy, Johnny, seemed specially dangerous as he had crept up to Kenneth and slung his arm over the blonde and stealthily whispered if he and Cassie were dating. He had included an evil chuckle while he was at it too, and nudged Kenneth's ribs. Kenneth, on the other hand, was simply bemused.
Cassie was just chatting merrily with Claudia and seemed to not realize that the other boys were ganging up on Kenneth. Pavin and Johnny, Anthony, Lyndon, and Brian all crowded the blonde and jokingly punched him in the shoulders a few times. He soon became very comfortable with them.
By the time they had to leave for home, he was friends with everyone. They had welcomed him into their circle of friends and added stuff like, "that was hip!" or "Man that's cool," during their conversation.
He was intrigued at the individuality that graced everyone. Pavin was extremely feminine, but truth to be told, no one would really think he was a girl, nor would they think he was gay. People just joked for fun, at least from what he gathered.
Brian was very short. He was around Kenneth's waistline and was very cute, with a slightly round face and physique. He was also Chinese, and even if he happened to be lacking in height, no one made fun of him or thought of him any lesser than themselves. They treated him with respect and he treated his friends with respect, but with that humor everyone else had.
Anthony, the gangly teen who was once again, Chinese, had many pimples dotting his face. He was super tall, and his spindly legs and arms looked pathetically out of control. He talked with a stutter, and walked with a stutter, but he was part of their group just the same.
Johnny and Lyndon were like two brothers who just couldn't let loose the bomb. Or rather, they were two brothers who ALWAYS released the bomb. They kept on joking with mature humor, and snickered at Kenneth's and Cassie's relationship. Kenneth thought that the two really...fit in well with each other.
-flashback ends-
Waving, Kenneth helped the guests out the door. He had that excited, frenzied feeling in his gut that told him he couldn't wait to be in school. Closing the double doors, he turned around to walk up to his bedroom. He heard Cassie gushing over her cellphone, talking animatedly with Andrew in speedy English, which of whom had stayed in his dorm to study. He had taken the time to call his little sister to say his own congratulations, despite the workload.
'Wow, they're such a loving family...hard to believe that there's such a tightly knitted clan...' he thought, then gradually, a smile graced his lips. '...and I'm a part of them.'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next day,
"Kenneth wake up!!! Let's go play Tennis! It's the first day of summer~ it's the first day of summer, it's the first day of SUMMER!!!!!" Cassie spun into his room. It was seven, and Kenneth was already awake with a textbook in his hands. Bemused, his lips curled upward. She was so cute.
"Are you going to teach me?" he smirked, throwing his book to the side and smiling suggestively. He leaned back onto his hands, that confident look challenging her. In a way, he was flirting, but he preferred to not think of it that way. He just loved that he had no problems with expressing himself anymore. If he wanted to flirt with her, then he will do just that. No more shyness or worries!
"Why not? Matthew and I can both teach you," she replied brightly. "Do you have your racket? The one we gave you as a late birthday present not too long ago? Go bring it," She ordered. "and bring that black over-grip I gave you before. You still have it right?"
Obliging, Kenneth moved off the bed and pulled out his tennis gear from under the bed. Dusting it off, he handed her the roll.
"Okay, give me your racket and get me some scissors," she said in a professional tone, and sat on the spot he was sitting, wrapping the grip around and around. The tennis racket, with orange and black patterns, Wilson brand, was shiny and new. He loved it.
Taking less than a minute to wrap the grip around the handle with practiced ease, Cassie handed the racket back to Kenneth.
"Get dressed, and meet me downstairs in ten minutes, kay?" She smiled sweetly. Before she could pull away, Kenneth grabbed her hand and kissed her on the cheek.
"Thank you," he breathed, watching humorously as she colored red. She never complained, and sometimes even retaliated by giving him a kiss too, so he never stopped doing that occasionally. And he planned to never stop...whether she liked it or not.
Giving a tentative smile, Cassie ran out the room and into hers.
Ugh! She couldn't think whenever he did that! Not like she didn't like it, but sometimes it was embarrassing. She was glad that he never did that in front of anyone else. But at the same time, she was glad that she was the one to make him open up so much to give her an affectionate peck on the cheek. She was also absolutely certain that she was the first person he ever did that to. It made her...really happy.
Jumping out of her pajamas, she pulled on her PE shorts and looked for a stretchy shirt, all the while thinking.
She had known that he liked her very much, ever since she first met him. She wasn't one of those oblivious girls who always failed to notice if a guy liked her or not. When she'd first met him, she initially thought that he was good looking, but didn't think any more on it. But, he'd been so nice...the tour, the talks, his personality..everything about him drew her in. Without realizing it, she too had fallen for him.
Cassie snorted. A person's feelings were such strange things. Who knew things would turn out this way? 'If only Andrew knew that Kenneth and I are having these affairs...' she thought wryly.
Retrieving the rest of her stuff, she walked to the garage and packed ten bottles of water. Matthew was already waiting. After a minute, Kenneth walked down, and the three put on their tennis shoes and walked out the door.
"This is the forehand," Matthew instructed patiently. He guided Kenneth's arms and legs to the correct position. "You move like this, then follow through. Always follow through. Or else the shot will be weak. And push out, like this," releasing his grip, Matthew gave a slow demonstration. Kenneth watched attentively, then copied his movements.
"Like this?" he asked.
Matthew studied him for a moment, then shifted to rearrange Kenneth's arm a bit.
"Like that," he replied. Trying the form again, Kenneth received the approval from Matthew.
Frankly, Matthew was impressed. It took a while to get used to the forms and to hit effective shots. But it looked like Kenneth was already easing into the techniques. The blonde was already eying one of the balls.
Turning, Matthew looked at Cassie for a response. To his surprise, his sister was completely out of it, zoning out in the middle of the court.
"Hey Cassie! Wanna go for a practice round? Help Kenneth out?" he called, observing his usually attentive sister jerk from her trance.
"Huh? What? What'cha say?" Matthew shook his head.
"I said, can you play a practice match with Kenneth! Rally a bit! I'm gonna warm up while you two do that. Okay?"
"Yeah, sure..." she mumbled, gripping her racket. She then dazedly walked over to the baseline, and silently motioned for Kenneth to do the same.
"Go easy on him!!" Matthew added. Normally he knew that Cassie would play lightly, but today he wasn't so sure. She seemed...blank. Thinking about other things, he supposed. It happened to all girls her age.
Not answering, Cassie just stared into space ahead, and threw the green ball into the air. Kenneth tensed.
Cassie's racket flew into the air, and smashed the ball straight into the service box. Gaping, Kenneth turned around to see the ball stuck between the wire fence after it had rebounded off the court.
How in the world did she hit that hard??!
"Umm, Cassie?" he froze as another ball pivoted towards him. Hell, he couldn't retaliate!! The balls were coming too fast! Then all of a sudden, she stopped hitting. Half a second later, he realized he'd just lost the game and so it was his turn to serve.
Carefully launching the ball across the net, Kenneth inwardly whooped as he saw that he had put in just the right amount of power into it to make it into the service box.
Cassie ran up to the ball, dazed, and whipping her shoulder back, brought down the racket with crushing force...projecting the ball 80 miles per hour right into Kenneth's stomach.
Eyes bulging, Kenneth was lifted off his feet as the green projectile plunged into his gut and threw him to the floor. He let our a harsh gasp as the wind was knocked out of his body, and once he was on the ground, he dropped his racket to clutch at the blue/purple circle just under his shirt.
It hurt so much. Why was a small ball like that so compact?!
Matthew, who'd witnessed the entire event, cried out, "Cassie! What the heck are you doing?!!?"
"Huh?" Cassie looked like she just woke up.
"Look what you did to Kenneth!"
"Huh—what...OH MY GAWDDD!!" Cassie screamed and ran to Kenneth's side. "are you alright? I'm so sorry! I was zonking out and...oh I'm just so sorry, Kenneth, I-"
Kenneth raised a hand, gasping painfully as he did so.
"I'm fine. Ugh. That was a very nice....cool...hard shot," he rasped out. "I really felt it with every fiber of my being, if you get what I mean."
Cassie just dropped her head in shame. Tutting worriedly, Matthew quietly suggested, "Why don't we go home today? I think Kenneth's going to be sore,"
"..Good idea." Helping Kenneth up, the siblings tiredly trudged over to their house.
Walking much further up front than Kenneth or Cassie, Matthew led the way back to their house.
Meanwhile, Cassie was being assailed with guilt. Oh goodness, she was such an idiot! Daydreaming about the kiss earlier, and then ending up hurting the real thing in front of her. Now Kenneth would probably have a ball shaped bruise on his stomach. What to do now...
"So, was it fun to hit me with the ball?" Kenneth casually asked, humor evident in his voice.
"...no..I'm sorry." Cassie just looked ahead.
Taken aback, Kenneth turned to look at her profile. She indignantly refused to look at him. He had thought she'd return to her normal self after some subtle probing, but it seemed her guilt was running deeper than he originally thought. Shoot, now HE was feeling bad. His stomach was sore, but it wasn't that bad. Honestly, this was nothing compared to Jiraiya's hits back in training. He was just caught off guard, that was all.
Wordlessly, Kenneth reached for her hand. Squeezing, he gripped harder as she tried to pull away.
"I'm not letting go until you stop feeling bad," he announced quietly. Cassie slumped.
"Fine. I'm not sorry anymore. Happy? Let go of me!" but instead, Kenneth firmly adjusted his grip and kept on walking, a triumphant grin etched on his face.
"Argh!! You are soooo--!"
"So what?" he asked innocently. She liked him holding her hand, so why bother pulling it out? It was pretty obvious with her face all red like that.
"Hmph. Now I regret teaching you English. I hate it now that you can talk back to me like that," she pointedly looked away.
"Well they say knowledge is power right?" he joked. "It really is worth it to see that expression on your face. It's priceless! Haha!"
"..jerk," Cassie muttered.
"Hmm, now that's a new word. Mind giving me its definition?"
"YOU'RE THE WORST!" in a flash Kenneth was behind her, his soft breath rustling her red hair. Cassie promptly froze, feeling his warmth through their clothes. God, he was so warm. He was always warm.
"Shh. Matthew will hear," Kenneth whispered next to her ear. She shivered, nodding silently. It would be bad if any of the males in the family knew of the feelings raging between the two. She and Kenneth weren't exactly dating, but she wasn't sure if they were just friends anymore.
To their utter ignorance, Matthew was completely aware of what was going on behind him. He too was a trained shinobi, a top elite, and living right next door to the two practically made it impossible to notice. Not to mention that the little charade the two were showing off twenty feet behind pretty much scorched his back with intensity.
He was a bit put off with their unsure relationship, but he wasn't Andrew, and if Cassie thought Kenneth was a good guy, then he had no problems with it. Being personally acquainted with the blonde also proved to him Kenneth was a dependable, trustworthy person. In a way, he approved, but then again, there was that hint of disapproval. Matthew thought that most likely he would feel the same way towards any other guy Cassie would have ended up bringing home. Ahh, brotherly love...
'Can those two get any more obvious? It feels like they're bombarding my backside...' Matthew thought, doing his best to ignore the small pints of noise coming from behind him.
"..YOU'RE THE WORST!" he caught. Hmm? Were they having a fight? Well, either way, it was of no consequence for him. Let them do whatever they want to do. But as for Kenneth...well, he'll be keeping an eye on that blonde, nevertheless.
Lunch went on without anything interesting happening. It was just the usual small talk made at tables.
Only the trio was present, their parents out for work.
"Kenneth, are you fully adapted with the seal yet?" Matthew asked over his plate of spaghetti. Kenneth slowly swallowed..
"Yeah...the change happens instantaneously now, and I am much more comfortable with the process. I don't get headaches or sweaty anymore either,"
"That's good. Dad said something about bringing Andrew back home so that he can start helping you train for the Uzumaki-ryu. The clan sword makers have already begun forging a sword for you,"
"A..a sword?"
"That's right. Since you are not of Uzumaki descent, you will be unable to sign the contract, but like the way we gave a dagger to Sarutobi-Jisan, we can make you a sword with the same properties. The blade will just be longer,"
"Wow, thank you,"
"Don't thank me for something so trivial. It's part of our duty as the main family to make sure all of our family members are bestowed a sword," Matthew calmly poured some juice for himself and the rest of them.
"The main family?" Kenneth inquired.
"Yeah, we're very close to each other as a family, but the direct line of the clan head is born with some obligations to the clan. Like the sealing technique and that stuff,"
"I never knew that."
"But of course; we always seem like one big friendly family, so you unintentionally assumed that we have no system among the clan. I understand. That happens a lot," Matthew explained.
"That's cool..Hey, do you have a job too?" Kenneth brightly asked, facing Cassie.
"Ummm..."
"Cassie, as the hime, bears the title of ceremonial maiden," Matthew answered for Cassie. "Every once in two years, we go to a retreat in southern Korea, located in the mountains. We stay there for two months, during the summer. While we stay there, we must always have our seal activated, and wear traditional clothes. English is also forbidden,"
"Huh? So you talk in Korean? Why do you do such things?"
"It's to preserve our heritage. This way, we never forget who we descended from and our genealogy,"
"That makes sense...I suppose. Wait, does this apply to me too?!"
"Duh,"
"Oh shoot! What am I gonna do? I don't know any Korean, I don't have any traditional clothes, and I don't know any single thing about mannerisms and all that..."
"Don't worry. We went last year, so we'll go next year. You have an entire year to study. As for the clothes, we don't exactly wear the Korean garb, but the clothes from Shilla time. And there are people who serve us there. They make all our clothes, food, jewelry, weapons, and act as servants. They'll make your clothes for you,"
"Woah..I never knew you guys did something like that. It sounds fun, even if it seems formal."
"It is a lot of fun. While we are there, the rest of the clan addresses us differently, and with respect. But that's just part of recreating our ancestry." Matthew picked up the empty dishes and began to wash them. "I'll do the dishes if the two of you will vacuum the floors. Mom said that there was company coming tonight."
Chorusing in a faint, "Okay," the two soon-to-be freshmen walked into the living room and began vacuuming the first and second floors.
After about a minute of loud vacuuming, Kenneth called loudly over the noise, "Who's coming tonight?"
"Probably the other elders and some of the organizers, and the maestro of the Uzumaki orchestra!" She yelled back over the whirring sound.
"Why?"
"The summer ball is coming up! I think it's in six days. All Uzumaki's have to be present at the ballroom located next to Uncle John's house!"
"Really? So Andrew will be there?"
"Yeah! And so will our relatives from all over the world! They'll most likely just plan out the time, the mood, the setting, and the food, and all that. It's kinda boring to listen to them, but it's fun to go to the ball!"
"If our orchestra is participating, does that mean we won't get to enjoy the party?"
"No. We rotate shifts every year. We're off this year, so we'll be dancing and catching up with our family. Oh, and this will be your "official" debut into our family. We're to introduce you to all the members of our family,"
Pausing, Cassie turned off her vacuum. The sudden action startled Kenneth. He too turned his off.
"Cassie?"
"..Hey Kenneth.....come to think of it...all the masters will be there!" enthusiastically waving her arms around, she grinned at him in pure glee.
"Masters?"
"Yeah! Remember? The special techniques of our clan? Since they'll all be there...I bet we can convince a master to take you in as his apprentice!! Wouldn't that be great?"
"B—but, I'm not an Uzumaki..so I don't think I should...and I already have a master.."
"No one cares! I'm apprenticed, Matthew's apprenticed, and Andrew's apprenticed. You're the only one out of the four of us who is not a successor to a technique!"
A second passed.
"WHAT? YOU GUYS ARE THE SUCCESSORS TO A TECHNIQUE?!!?"
"Didn't I tell you already? I'm the successor of the Zankenmaru-ryu, Matthew is of the Tenzantenken-ryu, and Andrew is of the Hijutsu! We all are proteges of the three great masters!"
"Three great masters??" Kenneth asked weakly. Honestly, he didn't think he was worthy to take away a technique from them. He was not even blood related. This was ridiculous!
"You don't know the story? Well lets hurry and finish our job, then I can tell you about it," Nodding, Kenneth and Cassie moved across the huge house, picking up every little speck of dust.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Okay, so this is the story of the foundations of our family," Cassie, leaning on the bedpost of Kenneth's bed, made herself comfortable by arranging his pillows around her back. "Where to start... hmmm.. oh, okay. In the beginning, there were three masters."
Kenneth leaned forward on the same bed in rapt attention. "They were the holders of the Zankenmaru-ryu, the Tenzantenken-ryu, and the Hijutsu. They were later called the three great masters. The master of the Tenzantenken, a beautiful, dark haired woman, was married to the master of the Hijutsu. The master of the Zankenmaru-ryu was brother-in-arms with the husband, even if their styles differed. They were the first founders of our clan.
"Putting the three techniques together, they were able to come up with the Uzumaki- taijutsu. The taijustu involved rapidly accumulating Jinki into certain points of the body and to release them spontaneously, sort of like a spring. When executed properly, your blows would leave a spiral shaped mark on the contact point, which later gave us our name. When hit by our taijutsu, the victims would sport both internal and external damage. The strength of the spirals differ from how much tension is built up compared to its size."
"That's sort of like the Hyuuga clan's Jyuuken," Kenneth commented.
"Well, unlike the Hyuuga, we did not have the Byakugan, nor were we aware of the fact that chakra existed. Back then, it was just Jinki. The high powered, contained spring explosions compensated for the fact that we didn't have the Byakugan. Later, as chakra was introduced to the clan, we were able to use the taijutsu for both Jinki and chakra, but that's a much later story.
"In their life, the three masters came across other Jinki users. Those who had found out about the secrets of the Jinki fighting style. They fought them, and won, earning the respect and alliance of their newfound opponents. These two other masters of the Ryuumaken-ryu, and the Rozuzansei-taijutsu, decided to join our family. They were later called the lesser masters, even though their skills were on par with any of the greater masters. From then, the family kept on building and building, the techniques passed down from master to apprentice again and again.
"Right now, all the greater masters are taken. But, both the lessor masters have still yet to acquire an apprentice. If you were to be chosen for either master, then it would empower you tremendously,"
"Woah!! too much vocab right there! Tone it down, will you?"
"Haha, sorry."
"What are the two techniques like?" Kenneth questioned. He was starting to feel that maybe this would be a great chance to improve himself, even if he felt a bit sorry for Jiraiya.
"The Rozuzansei-taijutsu is an amazing fighting style that is about training your legs. When you fight, it makes your moves practically impossible to follow until it's executed. So, if I tried to kick you right now, you would see me moving to start the kick, but for the Rozuzansei-taijutsu, you don't see any of that until the actual kick. Oh, that and the training makes your legs impossible to be damaged in any way, as long as the seal is up. You can also release sharp streams of Jinki from your legs to cut a rock in half, and all that stuff. It's really amazing.
"As for the Ryuumaken-ryu, well, I don't really know much about it, except that a person trained in it can release sharp, powerful strikes from their fingertips even without their sword. It depends a lot on physical shape, so not everyone is for this technique. When utilized properly, the sword slashes are perfectly silent and do not disturb the flow of air. It focuses very much on stealth and assassination, but it can also be used in an all out battle. I personally don't like that technique, because the master is really weird and creepy. The style also requires a fat, Chinese style dragon blade, and I think it looks ugly. I mean, my Zankenmaru-ryu has some sword requirements too, but it's not that drastic or ugly!"
"What about the three other techs? I still haven't heard about them," Kenneth cocked his head to the side.
"To put it simply, the Hijutsu is a hijutsu, so I can't tell you (pun, because it's the "secret technique," she can't say what it is), but I can tell you that it's passed from the clan head to his heir, so Dad is the master right now.
"TheTenzantenken is based on sharpness, accuracy, and flexiblity of movement; and the Zankenmaru-ryu is based more on sword ki than sword form," shrugging her shoulders, Cassie fiddled with a piece of her hair. Clearly done with her explanation, she looked up into Kenneth's half-grimacing half-stunned expression and arched a delicate eyebrow. Kenneth spoke first.
"That was...certainly enlightening."
"I know."
Hi. Finals was ridiculously easy. But now I have to prepare for a recital that's coming up. Sorry if all this info hurts your head. Try to understand. It'll all get simpler later. Right now, it's still the beginning, so I have to cram in a lot of stuff if I want to get to the high school life.
-Hulkishpower