It was probably the fastest trip that Fukurou had ever made to Diagon Alley. After she had portkey'd in, she made a quick stop at Gringotts and then raced to the Quidditch supplies shop to buy six broomsticks – there was also some very fast-paced haggling, one broomstick free, three heavily reduced – and she was portkeying herself home again. Laying out the broomsticks in the yard, she then muttered the magic word that would clean her, "Scourgify," and fetched the dessert from the kitchen.
"I hope I didn't keep you waiting," she said, smiling brightly at everybody.
"I was just explaining to everybody about the incident," Ibiki answered.
"No, you didn't keep us waiting," Kakashi assured. "Sasuke-kun might need you right now, though," he said quietly, pointing to the boy who was clearly not letting himself cry.
"I hope you were nice about it Ibiki-sensei. I know your reputation as a sadist better than anyone in the whole village!" she scolded, going to her littlest brother. "Sasuke-chan," Fukurou said softly, wrapping her arms around him. "It's alright. You're allowed to cry. Tou-san wanted to do something bad. What Itachi-nii did stopped it from happening, even if it didn't make it better. You're allowed to cry."
"Shinobi do not have emotions," Sasuke objected.
"Bollocks," she answered, letting eight years of life in Britain seep in. "Of course we do. We're still human. Crying is important. Crying, laughing, and seeking help when we need it. No shinobi is a machine, however much we may strive to be. I'll bet Itachi-nii was really hurting when he did what he did, and you know he still struggles with it, and the nightmares he has from his own actions. This is hurting you, and right now you are in a safe place where nothing is going to get at you if you let your guard down. Let yourself cry, Sasuke-chan," Fukurou said, rocking him gently as she stroked his back and held him close. Never mind that she meditated for hours so that she wasn't like this. Sasuke was still only a child, and if she could break the mould that she had been forced into, then so much the better.
A choked sob issued from her little brother, and she felt dampness spread over her shirt. She let him continue, hiding his face from his friends and team mates, until he started to sniffle and straighten.
"Sorry about your shirt Fuu-nee-san," he said quietly, wiping at his eyes and nose.
"It's just a shirt. Do you feel better now?" she asked, stroking his hair gently.
He nodded.
"If everybody is done staring now," Fukurou said, smiling at her little brother and standing up. "I'll serve dessert."
They sat in silence for a while before Neji spoke up.
"Is it really okay for shinobi to cry?" he asked.
"Yes," Fukurou answered.
"Depending on the situation," Kakashi added. "Crying when you're surrounded by the enemy is probably a bad idea."
"Definitely a bad idea," Ibiki said, "unless you're acting," he added with a chuckle.
That, at last, eased the atmosphere once again and allowed everybody to enjoy their dessert. Rather than using magic to serve this into people's bowls, however, Fukurou used a little levitation charm to take the desserts around the genin and jounin to let them take as much as they wanted of the different treats. There was vanilla ice cream with lollies mixed through it, summer berry pudding, and dango sticks floating around for people to help themselves.
Fukurou was satisfied to watch everybody else interact, rather than serving herself anything.
She smiled to see that Chouji only took one scoop of each the ice cream and the pudding and one dango stick, which surprised Shikamaru who was sitting next to him, though he seemed pleased as well. He knew his friend was more than his girth, but he was glad to see that the other boy would not be expanding it further, for the sake of his health.
"Does Akamaru want dessert as well, Kiba-kun?" Fukurou heard Hinata asking the Inuzuka boy. "I think he enjoyed the pork buns, but does he have room for more?"
"Hai, thank you Hinata-hime," the tall boy said with a slightly fanged smile. "If you could dish him a little of the berry pudding, while I stop him from launching into the whole thing, I would appreciate it."
Shino held out a napkin to Sakura, causing her to blink in surprise. When he tapped it gently to her chin, she got the idea though, and blushing took the linen from him, wiping away the little bits of berry pudding from her face.
"Did I get it all?" she asked shyly, blushing.
Shino nodded and smiled gently behind his high collar.
Ino was scolding Naruto for making a mess of his food, that it looked disgusting all mashed up together. He was ignoring her, occasionally saying something to Sasuke between his mouthfuls of sweets.
Kakashi was teasing Kurenai about her crush on Asuma, which Ibiki was clearly finding fascinating.
Neji wasn't eating.
"Is something bothering you Neji-san?" she asked quietly.
"You would teach even me how to fly?" he said quietly, disbelieving.
"Yes. Why wouldn't – Oh. Is this about...?" her eyes flicked up to Neji's headband, which she knew hid a binding placed upon him by his clan.
"The mark of the caged bird. Hai. Can even a caged bird fly?" he asked, as though desperate to know but afraid of the answer.
"Neji-kun, something that I have learned about birds that had their wings clipped, was that their feathers grow back," Fukurou said gently. "It's a complicated jutsu, isn't it?"
"Hai."
"Every jutsu has a weakness somewhere, a way to cancel or defeat it. If you like, you can visit me some times and we can work on finding a way of freeing you," she offered. "I quite like doing things that might upset Hyashi-sama, even if he doesn't know about them."
"Like teaching Hinata-sama how to fly?"
"Exactly."
"She really surprised Hyashi-sama when she came home from training, day before yesterday, and -"
"Can we fly now?" Naruto demanded, his dessert finished, unaware that he was interrupting.
"Apologies, Neji-kun," Fukurou said quietly. "Has everybody had enough dessert?" she asked the general table.
"Hai!" everyone responded.
"Then yes Naruto-chan, we may fly now."
"Yeah! Come on Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, pulling Sasuke up and dragging him off to get their broomsticks.
Kakashi and Kurenai performed a transportation jutsu to fetch their own, and popped back into the dining room in no time, broomsticks in hand.
"You've got to be kidding," Ino said, blue eyes wide and voice completely flat.
"That's what I said," Sakura told her friend. "But they aren't."
"What are we? Witches?" the blonde demanded.
"I am," Fukurou said calmly. "Please notice the wand, the use of broomsticks for flying. If you want I can go and fetch my black flowing robes and pointy hat even."
Ino gaped.
"Please may we start Fukurou-sensei?" Hinata asked, clearly eager to fly again.
"They are lined up in the yard. Don't go so high the air gets thin, alright?"
"Yes! Come on Neji-nii-san, Kiba-kun! You've got to try this!" the girl said, eagerly grabbing the sleeves of the two boys that she had been seated between and dragging them out behind her.
"Hinata... out of her shell..." Ino stuttered, wide eyed. It was all a bit much for her.
"Flying lessons are apparently good for her," Fukurou said with a chuckle. "Come on Ino, just give it a go. I swear I'm not going to hex you so that you look like a beaver or anything."
"You could do that?" she squeaked.
"I spent eight years learning magic," Fukurou said. "In that time, a snob of a bully used that hex on me. Yes, I could do that. I can do a lot of stuff. Most of it, however, isn't really useful."
"I still want lessons," Kurenai said, holding up her new wand triumphantly.
"Yes Kurenai-chan, I know. How has the last spell I taught you been serving you?"
"My house has never been so clean," she exclaimed, her red eyes wide. "I love it!"
"Oh Kami-sama!" came Kiba's voice from outside, leading to a very fast mass-migration from the dining room to the yard.
Sakura and Shikamaru smiled as they saw Hinata going up fast, and her cousin and Kiba trying to follow, before rushing to find their own brooms to join them.
Hinata did a dive, scaring Ino, and came to a halt in front of Fukurou.
"I know it's gotten dark Fukurou-sensei, but will you please -?"
"Alright. I'll light the place up and fetch it out," Fukurou said, shaking her head at the girl who was probably her happiest genin. "Lumos locale, accio snitch."
The yard lit up, and two little cages with golden balls inside flew through the air at Fukurou, who caught them.
"Fukurou-san! We've got them!" Naruto said, bounding up carrying his broom, Sasuke following behind with his broom over his shoulder. "How do we fly?"
Fukurou went to stand by the broomstick that she had carved her own name into and, holding out a hand over it, said "Up!"
Looking at the others, she explained how it worked, before taking off gently, side-saddle. "This is harder though, so I want you to put a leg over, like that lot," she added, indicating her genin, and the still awed Kiba and Neji who were also already in the air.
Soon everybody was in the air, even Chouji, who had been worried that the broomstick might not lift him. Fukurou had assured him that his bulk just meant he wouldn't be battered about by a strong wind like the skinny kids would be.
Fukurou waited until everybody seemed comfortable on their broomsticks, and then called their attention to the little golden balls she had summoned.
"The trick is to catch them," she told them with a smile. "I've got two here, so we can all have ourselves a bit of fun. Whoever brings them back to me, well, I think I can come up with a couple of prizes. No attacking beyond a few kicks, punches or shoves though. I don't want anybody falling off and breaking anything."
"Yes!" Hinata said, smiling broadly.
"She's caught them both times we've played this game," Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes.
"You almost got it yesterday Shikamaru-kun," Hinata comforted, though her slightly wicked giggle ruined it slightly.
Everybody laughed gently and hovered, ready for the balls to be released, and as soon as Fukurou opened the cage doors, the balls were away.
Hinata was off like a rocket after one of them, Neji and Kiba both hot on her tail. Soon Kakashi, Kurenai and Chouji were after the same snitch as well. Naruto was racing Sasuke after the other one, though Sakura and Shikamaru were both in front of them, with Ino not far behind and Ibiki steadily creeping up on her position. Shino, however, hovered near Fukurou and started to send out his bugs.
"I think that's cheating, Shino-kun," Fukurou said when she spotted the insects starting to seep around the edges of the jacket. "Besides, those don't run on chakra. How about you just chase after them the normal way?"
Shino might have blushed behind his high collar, in fact Fukurou was sure he did, but the bugs retreated and he wrapped his hands around the broom handle, taking off at a good speed to catch up with Naturo and Sasuke.
Fukurou laughed when the snitch Shikamaru and Sakura were chasing abruptly changed direction and they were all forced to break off; applauded when Kiba did a barrel role to get past Neji and level with Hinata after their snitch; and nearly fell of her broom when Shino streaked past her after one of the winged balls.
At last, Hinata and Kiba – who had broken off chasing her and the snitch in front when the other had whizzed past his nose – came in to land with a golden ball in their fists. Kakashi swiped in at the last second and picked up Hinata.
"Ah, I seem to have caught the golden ball," he said smiling. "And a Hinata-hime as well! Do I get a prize, Fukurou-san?"
Fukurou landed her broom, laughing so hard she was getting a stitch in her side.
"Sure, you get a prize too Kakashi-kun, just put Hinata-chan down," she said, holding out the cage for Kiba's snitch while Kakashi obligingly lowered the white-eyed girl to the floor.
Once both snitches were locked up again, Fukurou led the three to her room and, opening her trunk which was full of magic paraphernalia and a few generally British things, fished around for a while before she had picked out something for each of the genin to go and show off to their friends.
To Hinata she gave a music box, very intricately made and with many very tiny moving parts. It was practically a work of art, but it had been a Christmas present from Remus and though Fukurou generally didn't think much of people who passed on presents, she really wasn't the music-box type.
Hinata carried it out before her reverently to show to Neji and the others.
For Kiba, Fukurou fished around a little more, until she found an old backpack – still in perfectly good condition – that had the same spell on it as the shopping bags had. The boy looked confused until Fukurou had demonstrated by shoving her broomstick in without any difficulty. Perhaps it wasn't as show-off-able, but the kid seemed to still think it was pretty cool, and he'd get good use from it too.
"What about me?" Kakashi asked when the kids had left.
"You cheated," Fukurou reminded him, trying not to smile, and failing.
"You said I'd get a prize anyway," he countered.
"Hm, so I did..." Fukurou said, tapping her chin thoughtfully for a moment as she locked her eyes on his one.
Kakashi had a vague sensation of fingers under the edge of his mask, a brief cool breeze, and lips pressed against his, but when he checked, his mask was in place and Fukurou was just smiling up at him.
"Was that an acceptable prize?" Fukurou asked innocently.
"I didn't really get the chance to enjoy it," Kakashi answered, realising that it had happened, and he hadn't been imagining it.
"Well, I assumed you wouldn't want me to really look at you face," Fukurou said, a slight teasing edge creeping in to her smile.
Kakashi's right arm shot out and wrapped around Fukurou's waist, drawing her in close against him. His left hand rose to tug his mask down firmly, revealing his pale, handsome face to the gentle candle light of the room.
"In your case, I would make an exception, Fukurou-chan," he said, almost growled, before lowering his lips to capture hers, enjoying the chance to linger over her soft pink petals, though he didn't take it any further than that.
"Wow," Fukurou said, her black eyes slightly glazed, when Kakashi finally released her mouth from their imprisonment under his own. "Can I look forward to more of those in the future, Kakashi?"
"I certainly hope so. I've been wanting to do that for quite some time."
"Me too, for now though, we'd better get back to everybody else."
Kakashi nodded and returned his mask to its regular place.