OaKaaLD chapter 12(according to my computer) coming at ya, my most Freaky of Darlings!
Just kidding; the people getting off to Whedabra from my story Aria of the Moonless Night are the Freakiest among you. Theoretically. Don't take that as a challenge.
Color danced before Kenji's closed eyes, each and every shade a soundless symphony that let him view the world around him in a way that only he could; a terribly depressing thought that reminded him that he was, indeed, the last Asura in the world.
To him though, the world the Waves showed him was the true world; what his eyes would show him was a false vision. Just something that came into existence after the Waves converged. It was in the world that many thought to be one of eternal darkness that the true power of an Asura could be harnessed however, and it was a bridge he had yet to cross. He knew the potion by heart of course, and he should have taken it near the beginning of his training, but something had always stopped him. Ultimately though some apparently compelling argument that Kenji couldn't recall, he had convinced his mentor to let him keep his sight until he was ready.
He could freely walk between the worlds like this, though there was something waiting for him in the world of Waves that he couldn't bring to the waking world; his sword. The unbreakable, intangible blade made of his own waves that would open his Wave eye. Moonblade was the only non-blind Asura aside from himself, though the Saint's eyes simply recovered from blindness at a rate that rendered even repeated treatment pointless; still, Moonblade was proof that you could eventually get your wave sword to function without blindness.
The Village had something that somewhat mimicked the ability to view the Wave world; the Byakugan, he believed it to be called. Kenji wasn't sure where it came from, as opposed to the Sharingan; that one had been a bit of an accident on his part. During one of the years where he was still in beast form but not totally rampaging he had agreed to give his blood to a human who had appealed to him; an old fool that reminded him of his mentor; theoretically Kenji could conjure the Sharingan for himself, but he had a feeling it came from the fusion of human and demon blood, and his eyes were good enough for him regardless. Apparently that man had gone on to pass those eyes to his descendants, all the way down to Sasuke and Itachi.
The brothers were very interesting to Kenji; Itachi due to his mastery of the Sharingan—which should have driven him totally insane due to the fact it came from demonic blood—and Sasuke due to his incredibly stable wavelength for someone with insanity technically inherent in his blood.
Kenji was half-broken away from his thoughts by Hikari's approach; the world of waves wasn't something that limited him to seeing only in front of him, after all.
"Lunch is almost over. We're going to have to get back to work." She started, leaning against a tree nearby. The nibi scoffed.
"Work would imply that we're making progress."
"Effort has to count for something." Hikari replied, watching the nibi stand and stretch a bit. "But you can only push so hard before you realize you're trying to move a mountain."
"My point exactly." Kenji remarked, rubbing his neck. "It wasn't exactly a promising idea from the start; humans have grown to hate and fear us, here especially." Kenji waited for a moment, expecting an optimistic response from Hikari. It was almost worrying when he heard nothing from her, causing him to look up and see her eyes glazed over like she was lost in thought. "Hikari, are you alright?"
"Huh? O-oh, yeah, I'm fine." Hikari stuttered out, blushing.
"So who were you daydreaming about?" Kenji snickered, knowing that Tsukiko had the ability to distract the Juubi even if she was nowhere nearby.
"Not who, where." Hikari replied, confusing Kenji.
"Where?"
"Yeah. Back in Spring Country." Hikari almost whispered it, leaning against a tree.
"Are you okay?"
"It's been… almost a thousand years." The words were a mixture of confusion and regret, rife with the sort of emotion that Kenji did his best to avoid. "Kenji, what if… what if that village died without me?"
The question caught the nibi off guard to the point where he was standing with his jaw hanging for several seconds before he composed himself enough to answer.
"Okkma?" He asked, only vaguely recalling the name of the village. He hadn't heard any news of it in quite some time, though he hadn't exactly been keeping an ear to the ground. "I… Hikari, humans are pretty resilient fuckers; I doubt that you leaving would have affected their survival chances."
She was quiet for a while after that, long enough that Kenji was considering saying something more. He watched as time swirled in her eyes, centuries of memories playing through her mind over the course of those awkwardly silent minutes.
"The weather up there was always pretty harsh. I kept the worst of the storms away and taught them how to keep the ground fertile." Hikari muttered. "I told the Wise Woman I didn't know when I'd be back… but what if they were lost to the snow because of my absence?"
"Hikari, I am not the one you should be talking to about this." Kenji replied gently, "First of all, I have a difficult time sympathizing with anyone. Secondly, Tsukiko is the one courting you and would no doubt be infinitely more understanding than I am about this whole thing. Failing that, talk to the Old-Ones—I mean, Jiraiya and Tsunade."
"Sorry." Hikari apologized, wiping a nervous tear from her cheek. "I hope Tsukiko doesn't mind me talking about… do you think that I shouldn't talk to her about this? I mean, this is a lot heavier than anything she—"
"Hikari, forgive the bluntness but if Tsukiko can't listen to your emotional issues then this Courtship is doomed from the start." Kenji cut in, his words earning him a glare. "Don't give me that look."
"Well you just said…Argh! You haven't gotten any better at talking to people since we were kids!"
"Well no shit; half my life was learning how to be an Asura and the other half was losing my shit in some mad dash for power because I was trying to prove something to… fuck I don't even know if it was you or me anymore." Kenji snapped back, growling, "Nowhere in my life did I learn whatever gentleness you seem to think I should possess."
"Well I didn't tell you to go try and be a badass to impress me!"
"Well what the ever-loving-fuck did you want me to do? Hikari, you were the only one who would ever fucking put up with my shit and then you rejected me. The fuck was I supposed to do?" Kenji shouted, tails striking the air behind him angrily.
"Well first off you should have figured I wasn't going to say yes! I've NEVER liked men, and to be honest I was a little hurt that you tried to use jewelry to squeeze a yes out of me!"
"I wasn't trying to squeeze a yes out of you, it was a fucking Courtship gift! And I know that you never had a thing for guys, but I was hoping you'd at least give me a shot! Sorry for getting my hopes up!"
"And the response to my no was "Oh, I think I'll go on a quest for power and just fuck shit up left and right."?!"
"You fucking told me that I wasn't strong enough!"
"I meant keep training and maybe meet someone who hasn't been homosexual since day one, not go bat-shit insane! I was kinda hinting about the fact you were still pretty immature through the whole speech you made me give you too!"
"I made you give a speech?! Where the fuck-"
"You would not leave it alone after I just said no. You said "Give me a reason, tell me why", and I did. I said everything I could possibly think of!"
Iruka wasn't entirely sure what to do at this point; the two had been standing in the trees, shouting at each-other in some language that he didn't understand, for the past few minutes. As they continued to shout in tones that made him sure he was hearing demonic expletives en masse, he debated on stepping in to break up the shouting match or stay out of the shitstorm. Mizuki stood beside him, eying the two Bijou cautiously.
"Do you think we should…?"
"There's this little voice in the back of my head with a microphone screaming at me "no", so I think I'm just going to stay out of it and hope they finish their argument soon… and without explosions." Mizuki replied, nervously chuckling.
"Class is about to start."
"And I'd hate to have my funeral right afterwards."
"True."
With a final shout that sounded like the demonic equvilant of "Fuck this", the two chuunin watched Kenji storm off while Hikari turned on her heel and walked off in the opposite direction.
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Tsukiko felt her elements within her as she fought against Neji, Shikamaru and Tenten, knowing with every motion what could be unleashed in retaliation. It had been a revelation born in training, in the midst of combat, and one that she hadn't yet shared with Hikari despite the two weeks that had passed since the discovery. The Kyuubi intended it to be a surprise during the Chuunin exams, along with how she had altered the Kaze Mai.
Lightning and Fire now influenced her dodging and striking more than Wind; no longer did she merely tire the opponent out by dodging. Now she ducked and weaved through attacks, dodging at the last second and striking seemingly at random throughout the chaotic dance as she mimicked dancing flames and arcing lightning. Neji had been forced to remain cautious in his assault; Hinata had healed more than a few burns from Tsukiko's strikes.
The burns had come from the flames that licked Tsukiko's hands, feet, and tail-tips; the amethyst fire left her unscathed and—as her three opponents found out—added a great deal of danger to even brief contact. As it stood, all three of them had lost about 15 articles of clothing collectively to the rapidly spreading flames.
It had come as a relief to whoever sparred with her that Lightning was significantly harder to channel properly; Fire had actually been extremely simple to understand and call forth. All she had to do was will it into existence and POOF! Flaming strikes.
Lighting, though considered a primary element in chakra, was a secondary element in terms of elemental manipulation under Air's domain, which pertained to thought. Thinking about having her attacks have lightning didn't spawn it into existence, and trying to will it only made the fires bigger. She could still feel it arcing within her movements, perhaps manifesting in her agility, but it seemed that fire would be her offensive weapon for the time being.
Failing that, she had gone far towards her goal of mastering the Chidori; Kakashi was the only one to know thus far and had offered only enough help to make sure Tsukiko wouldn't hurt herself, saying that the Chidori was difficult to teach since lightning chakra functioned a little differently for everyone. Hikari knew as well of course, though Tsukiko's progress was a secret to the Juubi; another surprise for the Chuunin exams.
Neji dashed forward, committing to a full assault while Tenten unleashed a hail of blades. Tsukiko deftly dodged, darting and swaying all around Neji and the blades and striking the Hyuuga more than a few times through the dance. The lethargy that the world seemed to be afflicted with let her flip out of the way of Shikamaru's shadow, hardly feeling the kunai that grazed her cheek.
The wound itched like crazy as the skin knitted back together; minor injuries like that took about 10 seconds to heal, provided there weren't too many and a more serious injury wasn't present. The worst she had gotten was a kunai in her gut, which had hurt like hell and had brought the Kyuubi to her knees until it had been removed and healed, the latter taking roughly 7 minutes. Had the blade gone deeper and hit something vital it could have taken even longer, or disabled her longer.
Tsukiko was finding a balance between dodging and taking hits; she could probably absorb all of Neji's strikes and keep fighting without her chakra hindered, or take a few of Tenten's weapons grazing her in favor of striking in either situation, but the simple fact that it hurt stopped her. She didn't know if a high pain tolerance would come of a lot of injuries, but even with the knowledge that pretty much anything would heal Tsukiko found herself fearing being hit.
She tried not to view it as fear fueling her nimble dance, but the pain was what kept her moving so swiftly.
"Time-out." Shikamaru called, coming out from behind a tree and wiping some sweat from his brow; Tsukiko was getting exceedingly better at dodging multiple attackers at once; the fact that her dance made him have to avoid hitting Neji had made the whole even draining. "I need to rest up if we're going to keep this pace up."
"Geez, for a Chunin you're lazy as hell." Tenten deadpanned, sighing afterwards and heading off to gather up her weapons
"You're not the one who has to dodge the fire." Neji replied, patting out some smoldering cloth on his shoulder. Hinata was already there, healing the burns and shooting Tsukiko a half-glare for making her have to continually patch them up.
Tsukiko mouthed a sorry and extinguished her fire, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.
"Tsukiko, can you get lunch? I think everyone could use a breather." Shikamaru called out, laying down under a tree. "It's your turn to get it."
"Yeah yeah, I know. Just get something for me to write it all down on; I am not trying to commit everything to memory." Tsukiko shouted back, tails twitching. She had been avoiding walking through town ever since she had been healed up; somehow she doubted the villagers would be totally accepting of her now. A few here and there had been kind, but then again she hadn't been through Konoha without her father and Hikari nearby, generally with Kenji or Jiraiya relatively close.
"Where are you going?" Kiba asked, walking over and handing a pencil and a blank scroll to Tsukiko. The Inuzuka chuckled sheepishly when she gave him a look, "I don't think anyone has anything else to write on."
"Well Tenten might but there's probably already a weapon in it." Tsukiko giggled, getting a punch on the shoulder and a smile from the weapon user as she walked by. "I think I'm just going to run to Ichiraku; I get a pretty big discount because of how often my dad and I stop by. I try not to go to places that just give me a discount because I'm the Hokage's daughter; I feel awkward accepting it, you know?"
"Not really, I'd just take the discount and anything else they'd give me." Kiba laughed, getting a flick on the forehead from the Kyuubi. "That hurts you know!" He shouted, rubbing the spot.
"Oh stop whining; that was nothing." Tsukiko replied, unrolling the scroll enough to write.
"She could have set it on fire first, Kiba-kun."
Tsukiko turned and saw Sakura drawing near, Kakashi not far behind her.
"Hey Sakura; what are you doing here?" Normally the bubblegum-haired ninja would be off with Kakashi and Sasuke, getting very focused training in order to try and help close the gap that Tsukiko's transformation had made while the demoness practiced her combat skills against varying opponents. It wasn't odd to have them show up near the end of the matches and such to get in some sparring, but it was oddly early and Sasuke wasn't with them.
"Well I was hoping you knew where Sasuke was; We were waiting for him for a while. Kakashi-sensei helped me with trap designs and healing jutsu, but after a few hours we decided to see if he was here."
"He… no, he hasn't shown up here as far as I know. Did you try his house? Might be sick or something." Tsukiko suggested, though she didn't think that there had ever been an instance of the Uchiha being sick. Still, there had to be a first time for everything. "I'm about to head out and get lunch for everyone; I could stop by his house but it's a bit out of the way."
"I'll go check." Kakashi offered, giving an eye smile. "Sakura, why don't you help Tsukiko carry the food and catch up a bit; you two have been running yourselves ragged in training and some time to socialize might be good for you."
With that the copy ninja was off, casually strolling away while the rest of the training group walked over. A few asked what Kakashi had wanted, most greeted Sakura, and all of them handed over some money alongside their orders.
"I'm glad you're coming Sakura… Even with the tails I don't think I can carry this much." Tsukiko deadpanned as the two walked towards Konoha. "How has training been going?"
"It's been going good; really fast too. With you gone most of the time Kakashi can focus on both of us more… okay, that sounded a little bad; no offense but so far you taking care of your whole sparring thing is the best thing to happen to my ninja career." Sakura offered the statement alongside a nervously joking tone, knowing that it hadn't really been funny. Tsukiko picked up on that and laughed to give the girl some sense of ease; she wasn't offended and quite frankly she was glad they were getting so much done. "Sasuke is pretty self-regulating so Kakashi usually sets him up with a task—like a jutsu or working on his taijutsu—and then comes to help me. I know just about everything I'll need, it's just putting it into practice that I'm worried about."
"You'll be fine Sakura; You'll have me and Sasuke there too you know." Tsukiko smiled, her lips falling as Sakura frowned.
"I don't… Tsukiko, I'm tired of being the weakest member of this team; I don't want to have to keep being rescued by you two!"
"I didn't mean it like that-"
"No one ever does but…!" Sakura sighed, taking a breath and shaking her head. "I'm sorry; I know it's not really anyone's fault, but between you and Sasuke I kinda have inferiority issues. I was never as fast and strong as Sasuke, and you just became a demoness who may well be able to match Kakashi in raw power. Even before that you were still a better ninja than I was."
"I don't think it's fair to be comparing anyone to me." Tsukiko deadpanned, "Because in terms of getting power, this was like putting in every cheat-code imaginable." She motioned to all of herself, getting a light laugh from Sakura. There was a period of silence between the two as they walked, getting closer to Konoha's center.
"Was it worth it?"
"What?"
"Becoming a demon?" Sakura asked, the word "demon" coming out so softly that Tsukiko almost missed it.
"Why?" Sakura's response was to dart her eyes to the side, drawing Tsukiko's attention. The Kyuubi let her eyes drop to the ground for a moment afterwards, feeling a pang in her heart. "In the end I won't have any doubts about that question. Right now though… I don't know how to handle this."
Konoha general population, which Tsukiko now realized wasn't as accepting as she thought, hadn't taken Tsukiko's choice or the presence of two Bijou too kindly. As it stood, only her father's power had stopped anyone from taking action; it was common knowledge through some demented grapevine that she didn't have a full grasp on her powers, so Tsukiko knew that being a Kyuubi wasn't doing her any good. At least not in the sense of stopping people from acting, anyway.
Still, the worst she had thus far had to deal with was the glares and dirty looks; doing anything more, even just refusing her service, had the threat of angering Minato attached to it. Of course, the Yondaime was fairly pissed that she was being shunned in any way—not particularly surprised, but not happy about it either.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to… I shouldn't have asked." Sakura hastily apologized. She tried to explain, but cut herself off every time, thinking that what she was about to say would make things even worse.
"It's alright Sakura. I kinda knew this was going to happen… I just hoped it wouldn't." Tsukiko replied, trying to calm Sakura down; in truth, she had never considered what Konoha would be like to her post-transformation. There were pockets of acceptance here and there; the Ichiraku staff, Ayame and Itachi, the Rookie 9 and Gai's team, and her family obviously—in their own way.
In truth, the more she thought about it the more she wasn't sure why she was even trying. Anyone who didn't know that she had once been the Jinchuuriki for a Kyuubi now knew, and certainly everyone knew that she was a demoness now. It didn't even matter that she and Kenji were different; ultimately they were both nine-tailed foxes, which no doubt made them one in the same for those whose wounds refused to heal.
Hikari and Kenji's presence hadn't exactly been helping the situation either; she had heard whispers of how some villagers were talking about leaving because Konoha was being secretly controlled by "the Demons". That and the fact they hadn't made any progress at the Academy was proof as well that they weren't winning any hearts. It felt like everyone was closing their minds and hearts about learning that not all Demons were bad.
The ninjas were better than the Civilians, but having one's presence justified in a way that thought of you as a potential weapon wasn't exactly fun either. Above and beyond her friends and family there wasn't much keeping her here; Hikari used to travel, and no doubt the Juubi would travel the world with her without minding much, if any.
"Tsukiko? Are you okay?" Sakura asked, having turned around to see the Kyuubi standing still a few paces behind. She had been pretty quiet and pensive through the last few minutes, but Tuskiko looked flat out depressed now.
"I… I dunno. Just realized I'm weighing options when I didn't think I was." She replied, not intending to be so cryptic
"Options?"
"I'm not really sure. I just kinda… realized that an idle thought was kind of an option. Something that might be kinda logical."
"Like what? You're being kinda vague right now." Sakura wasn't entirely sure what Tsukiko was talking about, but she had a feeling it wasn't going to be anything good with how her friend was talking about it.
"Let's say… you were a fish. Like for the purposes of a question." Tsukiko proposed, trying to keep her thoughts straight enough to be vague with.
"Blub blub." Sakura brought he hands up to her face to make a poor mimic of a fish, getting a laugh from Tsukiko that spread quickly to both of them. "Ask away."
"Okay, you're a fish—a little fish—and you're looking for a place to swim. You're not the best swimmer, but you can do well enough on your own; You've also got a bigger fish that will help you if the current is too strong." Tsukiko started, hoping this wasn't too thinly veiled, "You have two choices."
"Okay. Blub."
"Stop making that face! I can't concentrate if you're making me laugh so much!" Tsukiko stifled a laugh with her hand, ignoring the fishy attempts to provoke more giggling. "You have two choices: You can either stay in the river or go to the Ocean. The river is familiar, but pretty much all the fish don't want you to be there; The Ocean is sort of a new start and maybe holds some adventure, but you have no idea what'll happen."
"I… guess I'd pick the ocean. I mean, the river sounds kinda shitty when you think about it." Sakura replied, shrugging, "What brought this on?"
"Well… I'm starting to feel like the river doesn't want me around… and I have an awfully bigger fish to watch my back."
Before she could react, Sakura had grabbed her arm and shunshinned to the top of a nearby building, leaving the Kyuubi slightly off balance from the sudden change in location. Before Tsukiko could even ask when she had learned to shunshin Sakura cut her off with a harsh whisper.
"Are you talking about defecting?" She asked, concern plastered across her face with flecks of disbelief embedded in it.
"No! I mean, I'd resign as a ninja first so it'd be more like… well, I mean I wouldn't be going nuke-nin or anything. I just got to thinking about it and ninety percent of the village isn't going to accept me… I mean, why not leave for a while and see the world a bit while people let things sink in."
"Tsukiko, you of all people should know how convoluted the rules are for former ninja; They won't just let you walk out the gate with the Juubi just because you resigned as a ninja. Didn't you want to be the Hokage one day too?"
"I don't think it'd be a good idea for me to be the Hokage anymore though; we need to have new kage every now and then, and I wouldn't be getting old and letting the young take over. I'd get stale after a while, you know? And that's only if they let me be the Hokage in the first place; it's not that hard to figure out that I'm a lesbian demoness. Neither, as you know, are descriptions that the people of Konoha are particularly in love with!"
"So you're just up and leaving?" Sakura asked, stunned.
"Well I'd… leave a note or something. I don't know, alright?!" Tsukiko shouted, doing her best to not do the thunder-voice trick. "We've been here a while now, and no one outside of friends I already had were particularly eager to talk to me; even you guys admitted you were scared of me at first! Maybe it'd be alright if I went on a walkabout or something, you know?"
"Did Hikari bring this up?"
"What? No, She's been pretty tied up complaining with Kenji about the academy. I mean, she's… I feel like she's a bit unhappy living in the village, but she hasn't said anything."
Sakura couldn't get a response out beyond a sigh and a shake of her head. She rested her hand on her friend's shoulder, sighing again.
"Tsukiko, please don't do anything stupid or rash, okay? I know it seems bad, but I'm sure the villagers will grow to like you if you give them some time, you know?"
"That's what I want to do though! I'm giving them some time."
"Just… make the "Not going to do something stupid" promise. For me?"
"Fine; I promise not to do anything stupid." Tsukiko grumbled, turning and deciding to roof hop to the restaurant with Sakura close behind. She already had a loose plan, but she wanted to talk to Hikari and see what she felt.
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"Can we talk about something upstairs for a minute?"
The question had come at the same time from both of them, slightly nervous and quiet in both cases. A pair of nods and blushes followed, a quick ascension of stairs shortly after that, and the discreet closing of a door closing the silent journey.
"Do you want to go first?" Tsukiko asked, wincing a little when Hikari shook her head; she didn't want to downplay the Juubi's emotions, but Tsukiko had a feeling that her own topic was a bit farther off the deep end.
"I'd rather not go first if that's alright. What's bothering you?" Hikari asked, tails betraying how nervous she was.
Tsukiko took a breath, reminding herself that she had spent all afternoon trying to figure out how to bring this up .
"I am… thinking about maybe—that is, I've just been noticing that… uh…" She mentally kicked herself for stumbling so badly after practicing so much, "I don't know about whether or not I want to be a ninja, and to make things worse I don't think half the villagers are ever going to accept me. Or you. Kenji either."
Hikari was quiet for a few seconds, eventually pulling Tsukiko into her lap for an embrace.
"I understand what you mean. The Academy project seems doomed to fail, and I am not listened to for whatever reasons they choose; Konoha is not eager to accept us, though it pains me to say it about your home." Hikari lamented, holding Tsukiko close. For a time, all the younger demoness did was sit and listen to Hikari's heartbeat; after a minute had passed the Juubi broke the silence and spared Tsukiko from having to answer. "I… needed to talk to you about something. Do you remember when you were told Demons were once called Gods?"
"Yeah, I remember."
"Once, I was worshipped as a Goddess of the Harvest. I found a village almost lost to the snow in spring country, struggling to get by as the people starved and the livestock died; I couldn't not do anything, so I stopped the storm that was hitting them and showed them how to grow plants in such weather. I was only going to stay for a season or so, then leave; I didn't want the whole worship thing lasting a while. I…stayed though. I stayed for hundreds of years, generation after generation; I got them to stop calling me a goddess after a while, but there was still this reverence for me that was… I mean, it was nice really, but I would have been more comfortable with being called by my name. Then, almost a thousand years ago, I told them I had to go back to wandering the world; I was too stir crazy to stay there any longer. The climate was less extreme and they were better prepared for storms than when I had shown up anyway, so I told myself they'd be fine. But… well it's been a thousand years and seeing Konoha has made me worry about whether Okkma is even still standing. I mean, what if a blizzard came through right after I left and they all died? What if they forgot what I taught them? I mean, so many things could have gone wrong…"
"It's alright, Hikari-chan. I'm sure they're all alright because of what you taught them; you're a good teacher like that." Tsukiko smiled, gently kissing Hikari to calm her down a little. She pulled back and looked into the Juubi's eyes, cupping her cheek while her thumb traced her cheekbone.
The idea struck her so quickly that Tsukiko froze for a moment, confusing the Juubi and then startling her when the kunoichi cupped her other cheeks and pulled her in for a much more passionate kiss. Before Hikari could properly respond, Tsukiko pulled back with a wide smile.
"What are you…?"
"Let's go!"
"What?... Wait, What?!" Hikari half-shouted, unsure of whether or not she was understanding Tsukiko's meaning.
"Let's go check on Okkma; come on, I want to get some breathing room from Konoha for a while, and you want to go check on Okkma! We can go together and kill two birds with one stone!" Tsukiko was practically bouncing with excitement.
"What about the Chuunin exams? Even if I carried you and ran it would still take several days to reach Okkma, and… well if we're going on a trip together…"
"I want it to take a while; I don't even know if I want to be a ninja anymore, and if nothing else I need time to get away from everything and think. I can't do that here." Tsukiko explained with a smile, shifting until she was straddling Hikari's lap and putting her arms loosely around her shoulders to that she could look into the Juubi's eyes. "I want to run away with you, Hikari-chan. Let's go see Okkma, and maybe the rest of the world while we're out. Have some adventures, make some memories."
Hikari let her hands debate on what to do for a moment before placing them on Tsukiko's hips, resisting the urge to try and untuck her haori so that she could rest her hands on the kunoichi's bare skin. This was definitely the most intimate position they had been in so far though, and it was taking enough effort not to imagine where this could lead.
"Careful, you might just tempt me back to my old ways of wandering… but I'd have to spirit you away with me." Hikari playfully warned, biting her lip as Tsukiko scooted a little closer and pressed herself against her. The kunoichi leaned in, stopping just close enough for Hikari to feel her words strike her lips.
"Steal me away Hikari-chan; steal me and never let me go."
"Gladly."
The silence, broken only by the soft sounds of love, went largely unnoticed by the two of them as they reveled in what intimacy they could give at that time. The kiss hadn't been the start of their obliviousness, of course, and only when they heard a knock at the door did they realize that someone was there. Tsukiko sprung back and Hikari stood up, both of them looking fairly petrified and frazzled.
"W-who is it?" Tsukiko called, quickly straightening herself in the mirror while Hikari followed suit.
"Jiraiya; you know, the old guy whose visiting."
"Come on in…" Tsukiko called back after a quick look at Hikari, who nodded.
The toad sannin opened the door and stepped in, giving a small wave to Hikari as he shut the door behind him.
"Look, it's late and I'm feeling my age tonight, so I'm going to skip the mindfucks that I could get away with right now." He started, doing a few handseals. When the windows and doors flashed blue for a moment, signaling the room was soundproofed, he continued, "Running away right before the chuunin exams probably isn't the best of plans you know."
Hikari and Tuskiko paled simultaneously, hoping that Jiraiya was the only one who overheard them. If nothing else he was reasonable.
"I… uh…I was going to come back… you know… eventually." Tsukiko flushed, looking away.
"She would have been safe with me. I know my way around the world." Hikari tried to defend, though Jiraiya cut her off from more with a raised hand.
"Running off no matter how safe or brief isn't particularly smart when you consider your situation. You're the Yondaime's daughter, and on top of that you're a bijou; you also don't have a clear goal or a firm grasp on your powers." He explained, leaning against the door as the two bijou just looked more embarrassed to have been caught. "Now, taking off on a training trip is a lot more respectable. One for the sake of, let's say… learning to control your power, maybe finding what your place in the world is… not many could throw a bitch fit about that. Of course you'd need a teacher to go along; a powerful ninja, well respected and with enough experience to just take the Hokage's own daughter off on a training trip. A massive spy network might also be helpful; keep everyone in touch over the trip, make sure you know what's going on in the world and when the shit's gonna hit the fan."
There was utter silence in the room as he finished, folding his arms in mock thought like he was trying to think of someone to fill the role.
"Jiraiya… are you offering to…?" Tsukiko started, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Hmm? Oh, I suppose I do fit the bill. I mean, between Hikari, Tsunade, and myself you'd be able to learn just about everything you'd need. Plus, everyone loves the noble act of distancing one's self from one's home for the safety of your friends and family; I should know, I write about it enough. Kind of a nice plan to get away, if you ask me. Of course, there are a few conditions!" Jiraiya quickly added, though it didn't stop Tsukiko from almost taking him through the door from the sudden impact her hug created.
"Thank you!"
"Indeed, this means a lot to us Jiraiya." Hikari bowed her head, making Jiraiya almost laugh.
"The Juubi bowing her head to me; well, now I have seen everything. Still, don't you want to hear the conditions before you start packing?"
"I have a feeling it's not going to be that big of a deal compared to what we're getting out of this." Hikari replied, smiling, "But yes, we'd love to hear the conditions."
Jiraiya nodded and managed to pry Tsukiko off of him before she broke a rib, at which point she promptly darted to Hikari and caught her in a hug that probably would have snapped the Toad sannin in half.
"Alright, first thing is that if we say it's a training trip then it needs to be a training trip; we're actually going to have to put a fair bit of effort into making sure you can handle what you have now, and then we need to refine it. I don't really care what you two are doing in the downtime, but this is not a vacation, okay?" Jiraiya started, getting nods when he paused, "Good. Second condition, and this is where we might start having issues, Kenji is probably going to have to stay here; there might be issues if all three of you leave the village at once, and you have more to teach her than he does, alright Hikari?"
"That's… that's fine. Kenji and I would do well with some time to cool off; we had a bit of a fight earlier and neither of us has quite recovered from old wounds." Hikari explained, sighing, "Though we should give him some notice just to be nice, I suppose."
"What was it about?" Tsukiko asked, loosening her grip enough to look Hikari in the eyes with a worried expression.
"Part of it was Okkma, part of it was the fact he used to have a thing for me. I'll explain it all on the trip if you want."
"If you don't mind…" Tsukiko replied, though she definitely wanted to hear more about Kenji's "thing" for her.
"Wonderful. Now then, the third condition is that we have to clear it with your father. I was actually talking to him earlier about maybe getting you to do something like this to make sure you had a firm grip on your abilities, so hopefully it won't be that hard. Fourth… is more of a personal favor that you can say no to, if you don't mind me asking."
Hikari and Tsukiko shared a look before nodding to him to continue, not knowing what he could have wanted.
"You know I'm an author, right? It's been 90% smut through the years, I'll admit, but it was well written smut. The market has been shifting towards… well, stories, and I've been getting a lot of requests for… well, Yuri stories. I always prided myself on realistic characters and interactions between them, but… well I've hit kind of a brick wall on that. I'm not saying I'd use your names or base characters off of you, but if you wouldn't mind me taking the occasional note on how you interact, it'd help me immensely. Nothing sexual or too personal, just how you interact on the day-to-day basis."
"I…am not sure how to respond to that." Hikari started, looking at Tsukiko afterwards.
"Let us think about that one, alright? It's… kinda creepy."
"I'm aware; people-watching is a valuable tool for authors though, but I haven't seen couples like you interact really, that's the only reason I'm asking. Truth be told, the story probably won't even feature sex until I figure out what the readers want now-a-days, so you don't have worry about me making this weird. Just a note here or there about how you two interact in everyday situations or stuff like that. Totally chaste, I swear."
"As long as you are not spying on us, and merely noting how we are in public and not private situations, I think it will be alright. Still, let us think on it." Hikari replied diplomatically, though he tone was a bit threatening.
"You can say no; Like I said, it's more of a personal favor and I'm not going to refuse to take you on the trip because of it. Alright?"
"Thanks again." Tsukiko smiled wide, getting a laugh from the Sannin.
"Far be it from me to do nothing while two young ladies lament about something I can help with." He shrugged, getting a laugh from Hikari.
"I am quite a bit older than you, Jiraiya."
"Yeah yeah. Just be packed and ready to go by morning; we need to ask and get out of here before they can think on it too much. How long are you two planning on being gone?"
"I… however long it takes, I suppose." Tsukiko made a face, shrugging a moment later while Hikari nodded in agreement with the sentiment.
"We'll figure that out later then. Enjoy your night then; tomorrow we're heading out."
With that he dispelled the jutsu and left, gently shutting the door behind him. Jiraiya chuckled a bit at the excited laughs that echoed from the room as they ran about and got Tsukiko's stuff packed up. He supposed that he wouldn't really have to take notes or anything; the two of them were really just like any other couple about to run off together.
If nothing else he wouldn't have to worry about politics on this little venture, so that was always a plus.
Sorry if there are any errors that ruin the flow; I've been dead tired and I didn't have too much of a chance to proofread. Still, I can edit it if anything is too jarring.
A reader reviewed that he would hate to see them get stuck in Konoha, and I think that's what was holding me up with this chapter. So hats off to you good sir, you've inspired me to write more for this.
Now if only I could summon more time to write…
Ja Ne, my Freaky Darlings!
