has been a little busy of late but... spring is here! Hope you enjoy this little chapter.
Asami browsed through the section of books and scrolls, looking for something to give her brother to read. Something that would be difficult to understand with large and complicated words he would never understand. She knew Satoshi would pour over the book repeatedly even if he did not understand and it would bring her a lot of amusement to watch until he finally gave up and came to her. Then she would send him to Ibiki. Or maybe Kakashi, just to see the looks on their faces. Then she would laugh and leave them to their fate. She hummed as she picked up a rather thick book.
The Rudimental Fundamentals to Chakra Techniques. Asami thumbed through it in a appreciation. It was redundant and did not actually go over any techniques. It was perfect for her plans.
"Satoshi, dearest brother mine." She sang out as she spied her brother, "I found the perfect book for you. Read it, love it, memorize it." She shoved it into his hands and watched him leaf through the book.
Satoshi's incredulous look grew the more he looked through it. Eventually the boy snapped it closed and looked up at his sister.
"What." He asked dryly. Asami's grin grew.
"Read it, love it, and memorize it. It is now a necessity."
Satoshi walked, with the book to the front desk to check it out, knowing his sister never gave him a challenge that would be easy. "Ok, what else?"
"Hmmm what else do we need?"
"Ooh, this one." Satoshi pulled a medical book off the shelf and handed to Asami. It was a detailed book on chakra healing. She promptly handed it back to her brother.
"Only get it if by the end of it you can list every bone, tendon and chakra path." He reluctantly put it back on the shelf from where he had gotten it.
"Medical stuff is good to know, but if you are distracted while learning it, you won't really learn it all. It is something that you have to be able to focus on. Missing one layer of skin could mean the difference between healed and dying from blood poisoning because you missed an infection. Too many projects at once will make you a jack of all trades but a master of none remember."
"Well I was thinking for you."
"Ehh I already have a plan for wounds. Besides I'm already working on a project or two."
"Oh?" Satoshi leaned in closer to his sister, "Anything that won't destroy the neighborhood?"
"Nope, it would take out the area. Probably." Asami grinned cheekily as she sauntered away towards the checkout counter. Satoshi stifled a grin and shook his head.
"My baby brother wants this book." Asami announced to the clerk as she arrived at the counter, plucking the book from Satoshi's hands and plopping it in front of the woman.
The clerk looked between the book and the two siblings before beginning the checkout process. She had seen weirder things be checked out by shinobi, even if they were not usually as young at the two before her. The whole time Asami kept her grin up.
"It's due back in three weeks." Asami took the book back, chirping out a thanks as she left, Satoshi hot on her heels.
Once outside and away from most busybodies, Satoshi caught up with his sister, "So do we know when she's expected?" he asked while eyeing a familiar stranger. Asami followed the trail of her brothers sight.
"I have a rough estimate. I could be off by a few weeks though." Asami yanked on her brother's arm, flash stepping them to the roofs. Once there she tossed her brother over her shoulder once more.
"Hold on." She hopped across the roofs of the village before reaching their own house. "Window or door?" Satoshi questioned from her back.
"Door. Just like normal. There's nothing weird about carrying my little brother home when he's being slow after all." She dropped him on the stairs before pushing him forward.
"Jumping and running along the roofs" Satoshi stopped and turned "You know, when I get older again. You will be the little one."
"Yeah but by that point I'll be too crazy for that. Now move, I want food." She ignored the first part of his comment, not deeming it worth a response.
Asami waited until Satoshi finally gave in and wandered to the kitchen before moving to the window, drawing the curtains shut. It hid the fiddling she did with the window sill and Satoshi was still too inexperienced to sense anything she did.
Asami moved through the house, checking each window and closing them, pausing only once to check on their mother. Asami gave it less than a month before their sibling was born. Maybe sooner or later, depending on how much of a pain she wanted to be this time.
Eventually she wandered back into the kitchen, peering over Satoshi's shoulder. "What ch'ya doing?"
"I'm cooking." Satoshi responded while he heated up leftovers from yesterday.
"Ooooh sounds exciting. Will it be edible?"
"It's leftovers, I have yet to catch anything on fire. By accident." He looked over his shoulder at Asami.
"That's a shame. Give it time, it will happen eventually." Asami said as she ignored the pointed look her brother was giving her. Then she got a thoughtful look on her face.
"Hmm, accidental fires could be bad. I should fix that. I'll be back in a second." She darted out of the kitchen as he brother whipped around.
"Wait! What!" But she was already gone, Satoshi groaned and knew he'd regret it, but he couldn't help himself from grinning, "Somethings never change." he mumbled.
True to her words, Asami was not gone long. She appeared a few minutes later, soot streaked across her face and an exasperated Kakashi behind her.
"I have returned brother! And I brought home a puppy!"
Satoshi just stared at her, a deadpan expression on his face, as Asami wandered over to the table, looking for food. On que Satoshi brought it out, and continued to stare at her.
"Sweet, food! And it's edible, even better. Kakashi, come sit, eat with us."
Kakashi reluctantly complied but not without asking, "Asami, why is your four year old brother making the food?"
"He doesn't set things on fire accidently." She stated it as if it was obvious before returning to her own food before her.
"Does she really have that bad of a habit doing that?" Kakashi asked Satoshi, who still looked perplexed about Asami's appearance.
"Oh, you have no idea. Once she was helping mother and went to the bathroom, and got stuck." Satoshi knew he would pay, but thats later, he thought, as he grabbed his own food and started eating out of the kitchen and away from his sister,
"So her solution was to break the door. It did not end well for her. Or the door." Satoshi ducked under the projectile thrown by his sister.
Kakashi looked perplexed. "Defeated by doors and setting people on fire. Should I be concerned?"
Satoshi choked on his food in surprise. "Is that what you just did?!"
Asami held up her hands defensively. "It was an accident! Sort of."
Satoshi looked to Kakashi "Sort of, mark those words."
Asami sniffed. "Rude. You act like I break things on purpose."
Satoshi shrugged "Just honest."
Asami flung her fork at her brother before sticking her tounge out at him. If only things would stay as they were, but deep down, Asami knew the upcoming weeks were going to change everything.