Raven & Flower: Am I Weird?

Raven: It had been a little over a week since I had my eye surgery, my eyesight had been fixed. The surgery had been hell because of the nasty flashbacks but it was over now, I would never have to worry about it again. I was on my way to see Flower as Asher had asked of me earlier after the morning's training was done.

Earlier This Afternoon

"I am not going to be around for him this afternoon and he tends to get lonely when I'm gone. Just go see him if you get some free time and try not to be totally shocked when you see him." he said to me as we were leaving the training grounds.

"Why would I…" I asked, trailing off confused.

"Plant boy remember. He's self conscious and sensitive, he thinks you'll hate him now that you can see him. "

"That's ridiculous."

"It has happened before, Raven. You may have gone through the Company same as us but you haven't had time to adjust to seeing the different species."

"It doesn't matter. In my own way I have seen him." This made Asher smile at me before he replied.

"I understand, so go and prove that to our shy little goofball."

Back To Present

I sighed as I knocked on the door to Flower and Asher's room, the door opened and I found myself staring into the deep violet eyes of Flower as they looked up at me.

"Raven? Oh, I wasn't expecting you."

"Asher didn't tell you did he?"

"Um, no he didn't."

"So can I come in or should I come back another time?"

"Oh right sorry, come on in." He opened the door wider and moved so I could step in. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Thanks but I am all set." I said as I took up a seat on the couch, "Flower will you come sit with me please?"

He came over and sat beside me and began fidgeting nervously. This was the first time I had seen him since my eyes had been fixed. He looked to be in better health than last I knew too. Just three days ago Asher had ended up breaking down his door to get to Flower who had locked himself in all week. This might have been the first time I had seen him physically but even I could tell he was still recovering from the ordeal. He was still thinner than was healthy, his eyes told me the rest, he was tired. Asher had told me it was likely due to flashbacks from his time with the company, I could understand how that may have caused him to lock himself away all week. After all I had done the same thing myself once before, it had been Naruto and my sister Orchid, who had finally talked me out of seclusion so I could feed.

"Flower, you have nothing to worry about with me." I said gently.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Flower give me your hand please," I said as I held out my hand to him, he placed his hand in my open palm "That's what I thought." I said as I ran my fingers over the back of his hand it felt so soft, like babies skin or the petals of a rose.

"Wh-what?"

"Your skin is very soft Flower."

He blushed, "It's not skin…"

"It is for you, it does not matter what it actually is, it does not make me feel any differently about you."

"You don't think I am strange?" he asked me softly. I reached out and ran my fingers through his dark green hair and then down along the soft pale peach 'skin' on his arm.

"No Flower, you're not strange to me. I think you are quite beautiful, or cute if you prefer."

"You're not using unique?"

"I thought that might make you feel like I was just looking for a cheap way of saying odd but not in a bad way."

He blushed again, "you think I am cute."

I chuckled at his back tracking, "I do. Flower I have known about you being part plant since that first dinner date. Do you remember our second date with Asher?"

"Of course."

"I held your hand while we walked, do you remember what I said?"

"You said it was soft."

"Yes, and I like it Flower. Just now when I felt your arm I realized its not just your hands that are soft like that. It's all of you, isn't it?" he blushed harder and looked down, "I like the way it feels Flower, there is nothing to worry about."

"There are other things you may find weird about me."

"Try me."

"I can change my gender at will, whenever I want."

"Flower that's cool, not weird. Really."

"It messes things up for me, my emotions, my hormones, it's all completely out of whack. I think it also has something to do with why you sensed my energy as being all over the place. I am always in flux, emotionally."

I just chuckled as he fidgeted. "Flower, it's fine. I have lived with two very aggressive pregnant women, at the same time. Trust me I can handle it."

"There is one more thing I am worried is going to freak you out."

"Such as…" I pushed when he didn't continue.

"My vines."

"Your what?" I asked confused as to what he was talking about, so he held his hand in between us and I watched as finger sized vines slipped out from his wrists. There were two of them and they were an orangey-brown color. He was watching me carefully for a reaction and I knew I was a little surprised, it must have shown on my face cause he quickly withdrew them and started apologizing dropping his hands into his lap.

"Flower it's fine. Please show me again."

"But…"

I picked up his hand gently, giving him a look of encouragement. "It's okay, do it again." He did and as I was examining them more closely I noticed that they were a part of his skin, not something that came from beneath, almost as if it grew as needed. No blood, no mess, no pain, just there. He extended them another four inches and I had to ask, "Flower, how far can you reach with those?"

"About twenty-five feet"

"Can you pick stuff up with them?"

"Yes."

"Like a cup or a ball maybe?"

"Oh, that would be easy." he said blushing again as he looked away from me.

"Easy? Flower just how much can you lift with those?"

"About seventy-five pounds per vine." That's when it clicked, the day Flower had given me a demonstration as to how he'd earned the exempt status came to mind. Flower hadn't held back on me that day, the only thing he hadn't used was his poisons, and even then, I hadn't even lasted five minutes. I had been pinned very quickly and held by my arms and legs until I'd given up. During that time it had felt like he had physically pinned me, but when he spoke he'd been too far away, so at the time I had decided it had to have been a spell. Maybe something similar to what Trace could do. However now the sensation of being physically pinned made sense despite the distance, it had been his vines holding me down while he remained a safe distance.

I reached out towards one of them and he quickly retracted them drawing his hand away quickly. "It's alright Flower."

"But Raven…I…"

"Would you rather I not touch? If your too uncomfortable, you don't have to let me." I knew full well what it felt like to be touched when you didn't want it and I was not about to do that to Flower.

"No, it's not that. It's just… well can I do it instead?"

I nodded to him and placed my hand into his, "Go ahead." Soon his vines were bent around my wrist, then began to wrap around my arm, and though they were a bit warmer, they felt the same as the rest of him seemed to.

He had inched them up to my elbow when he stopped and looked at me searchingly.

"So what do you think of me now? Am I weird yet?"

"It's fine Flower. How many times do I have to tell you before you will believe me? This doesn't change anything." I said calmly giving him a chastising look, without thinking I reached up with my free hand to run my fingers along the vines he had wrapped around my arm. He gasped and closed his eyes, "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" I asked worriedly.

"No, just please don't, do that."

"Sorry." I repeated as I dropped my hand.

He released my arm and blushed again as he tried to explain, "You didn't hurt me, Raven." I looked at him questioningly and he continued, "Uh, well they're um, sensitive."

"Oh," I said not really understanding, then of course it hit me, "Oh, I'm sorry Flower. I didn't mean to cross a line or anything."

"I'm alright, it's not that bad. It's just, well a little like, uh… maybe if you had no shirt on and I were to… um…"

"It's okay Flower, I get it." I said with a sigh of relief.

It wasn't as bad as I had first thought, he apparently figured out what I was thinking because he blushed and looked down. If this could be called a date it wouldn't really be so far fetched to think that we might be to that point by now. I had been dating Asher and Flower for nearly four months now. My nightmares and anxieties about other people knowing had finally dropped to a nearly nonexistent level. I was okay being with them, holding hands or hugging them even in public places.

"Flower?" I asked gently and he looked up at me, "I've been seeing you and Asher for almost four months now. I think that I've been doing pretty well but what do you think?"

"Raven, if you want to kiss me then just go ahead and kiss me already."

"I didn't say…" I began knowing full well that it was in fact what I had been thinking.

"Then why are you blushing?" he asked as he leaned towards me and gently drew me into his arms.

"Is it okay?"

"I've been waiting for you to kiss me for a while now." He said less than a breath from my lips.

I placed one hand behind his neck and drew him to me, his lips were just as soft as his hands and arms. A pleasant warmth ran through me as he kissed me back. Before long I was leaning against the arm of the couch with Flower resting comfortably against my chest.

"This is nice, Raven." he said looking up at me.

"I'm glad that I came to see you today, this is a good way to spend my afternoon." I told him as I leaned down to kiss him again.

We spent much of the afternoon comfortably lounging on the couch together while we talked. It was a good way for us to get to know each other and eventually Asher came home to find us still cuddled up on the couch together.

"I'm glad that today seems to have worked out so well for you two, that makes me happy." Asher said as he walked into the living room smiling.

"Asher guess what?" Flower piped up suddenly.

"What?"

"He doesn't think that my vines are weird." Flower replied happily.

"Told you so." Asher retorted.

"Yeah I know." Flower said with a light sigh.

Asher came to the couch and leaned over to kiss Flower and a thought occurred to me, "you know for as long as I've been seeing you two, this is the first time I've seen you kiss."

"Well we wanted to keep things easy for you, but seeing as you've become comfortable enough to kiss Flower, I figured that would no longer be an issue."

"How do you even know that?" I asked in shock.

"Vampire, remember?" he said indicating himself, "I could smell you on him as soon as I kissed him."

"Oh right, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"For kind of forgetting the fact that you're a vampire."

"Oh good, I thought for a moment that you might be foolish enough to apologize for kissing my boyfriend." he said lightly, the concept of people being so casual about things like being openly gay or even open about being a vampire, was still new to me. Before hand both would have been a potential death sentence to myself at the very least, if not them too and that was just for being gay.

"If I upset him or you then…"

Asher moved from being near Flower to leaning over me, "Don't you dare." he warned, "Do you remember what I said to you earlier today?"

"About coming to visit Flower?"

"You told me that you weren't concerned with his appearance and I told you to go and prove that to our shy little goofball. Ours, Raven. Don't keep letting it be my boyfriend like you're just a third wheel. You're a part of this now and you have nothing to apologize for," he paused and continued to look at me for a moment, a strange look crossed his face, "But I might."

Before I could ask what he meant, he kissed me. As he pulled away I could see the apology in his eyes and though I was shocked I wasn't upset. Flower who was still sitting in my lap broke the silence, "That was hot." he said blushing deeply.

Asher and I both broke out laughing, and Asher spoke "Oh Flower my love, of course you would."

I grasped Asher's wrist and his attention snapped back to me, "You have nothing to apologize for."

He smiled and placed himself at the other end of the couch and I stayed with them for a few more hours.

"Raven, why do you always get so tense when people mention being gay or having a boyfriend?" Asked flower innocently from his spot in Asher's lap.

"You mean nobody told you?"

"Well Asher did explain a little bit, but..." I looked at Asher questionably, if he knew why had he not explained better?

"Raven, I said what I knew. Your sister was becoming uncomfortable talking about it, upset if you will. I was not going to push for details that obviously bothered her so much. I knew it bothered you and I had a concept as to the why, that was all I needed." I just nodded and sighed as I reached for Flower, he moved into my lap and rested his head on my chest while I collected my thoughts.

"Let me explain...You see most shinobi villages where I came from back home have such a high casualty rate, that any concept of two capable nin not being able to have children for non medical reasons was a dangerous subject. Mostly because of the ingrained fear of the council. They honestly didn't care how a girl got pregnant, or how many affairs a man was having, babies were the goal...

...Gay means no babies could be born, regardless of gender, a fact that they dealt with in lethal force to encourage people to understand that it was not worth it. It was considered a kind treason against the village and as such anyone who was caught being gay even experimentally, would be killed as would any who knew about it. It bred a special kind of fear in the people of the villages. Where if caught; friends, family, neighbors would turn you in because it was now their own life on the line. Pregnant women were never killed, it was one of the few ways I could keep my wives, Sakura and Garnet, safe once I found out that there was a good chance that the council knew of me being with a guy even if they likely didn't know with who. But they made it very clear that they did know that Sakura knew and never came forward. I was shocked when I got here and found out it was Garnet who was able to convince them to let Sakura live as long as she continued to make little Uchiha's for the village to throw at their enemies." I paused to collect myself and Flower gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry Raven I didn't know, if you want to..."

"Stop right there Flower, don't you dare finish that sentence. I'm not going anywhere I thought I had made that clear already?" He just sighed and nodded smiling, I heard Asher let out a breath of relief.

"Anyway, as I was saying, if you were of a clan or had a kekkei genkai the pressure from the council was always so much worse. You could then expect to be pressured to be married as soon as you were sixteen, even married without your consent at twenty-one if you didn't already have a stable relationship. Even people of such bloodlines who were prisoners of war, would be locked up and then volunteers, people who were blackmailed into it or nin under orders, would come in and rape them until the lines could be verified as being present in the next generation and then the prisoner would likely be killed, provided they were not kept in case the elders decided to try again. Yes, in some senses the elder council was just as bad as the company. The villages were brutal in their pursuit of fighters, encouraging the rabid cult quality fan girls/boys who had been caught catching teenagers they had a fancy for, tying them up and often times taking turns raping them. No, most clan heads were not aware of this behavior. I have my suspicions that Danzo may have been the source blood for this vile sect of fan populace. I regret to say that... that was not the first time fan girls have managed to catch me, nor even the second. Hell I imagine if you were to ask any clan boy we have here, the heirs especially, they will give you a similar story to what you saved me from Asher."

"Did the parents not care? Why did nobody do anything!" He asked, he was upset I understood.

"Asher, people who spoke out against the council went missing on a regular basis. Yes parents were told in some cases, some who already knew of the councils reaction to such things simply began teaching their children more defensive jutsus. Others tried to go to the council about it and were blackmailed into silence and inaction, or they went to the Hokage and were told that it would be dealt with. Not that they could do anything, most did at least try. I know people like Sakura and Ino joined the fan groups because it was safer that way. Not only would it gaurentee they would not become a target for abductions but they would not be cornered by angry homicidal fan girls and likely beaten to death for being too close to one of their precious boys. They also like Hinata and Tenten, would do their best to help the boys out. Sometimes it was by cutting them loose, other times it was advanced warnings of routes to avoid or by running ahead of the groups targets and hauling the boys into hides they had scattered all around the village, keeping them silent until the herds of dangerous girls had passed saying things like 'I was never here', 'this never happened.' Most of us knew who the good girls were, they acted as if they had successfully infiltrated an enemy organization helping when they could, how they could, if they could do so without endangering what I later found out was a privet mission from Anko, another one of our common saviors. Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, Ino and later Ayame were her group of spies and sabotagers working together flawlessly to become one with the fan groups."

"But Raven I have heard the others say that Hinata was not part of-"

"No, she was not part of mine, she was in Naruto's. Tenten was in Neji & Lee's. Ino later joined Lee's as well for safety reasons. Ino mainly made sure that the girls were too afraid of Shikaku to even attempt to take Shikamaru, by telling fake horror stories about things that had happened to girls who had tried to take him and how he kept too close a tab on his boy for it to be possible to grab him. All lies mind you, but Ino was a fabulous lier when she had enough motivation. She did this for him because Nara's did have a history for being lethal when upset, and were overprotective. Shikaku had a reputation for being ruthless on his enemies that helped fuel her stories, but the one she was really worried about should something like that actually happen to Shika, was Choji. If Shikamaru was hurt that Choji would likely black out level the village and slaughter anyone who had a hand in it. The girls were all amazing, a real blessing. Most making allies with those rescues that would last well into adulthood."

We simply talked and relaxed with each other. Flower occasionally switched from my chest to Asher's and back again while Asher and I did most of the talking. When I finally left for the night to go back to my room, I received kisses from both of them before I left their room. It had been a good day and I was happy with how things had turned out.