Butterflies

"Me? I'm nobody. I'm not skilled like Uchiha-san. I am not passionate like Haruno-san. I am not smart like Nara-san. I'm not as strong as Chouji-san. I'm not as collected as Aburame-san. Or as pretty as Yamanaka-san. I'm not as confident as Inuzuka-san. If anything, I'm like Hyuuga-san, socially awkward. Oh wait, no, she's just shy. The socially awkward one is me." OC! Team 7 remix!

Chapter 21 – Stay with me

8-8

"Ladies, if you would please listen up?" Captain begins. Everyone settles down, offering the grey haired man their attention. Other than Sakiko-chan. I turn to her narrow my eyes and nod to Captain. She nods, to show she understands, and pays better attention. "Thank you. My team and I will be heading out in a bit. I'm leaving four of my dogs here to guard you. Let me assure you that they will protect you with their lives, just as we would. Please understand that we will be leaving soon. When I know more details, I will let you know."

The ladies nod, most not even wondering what this is all about. They're quite happy right now, even though they're mostly still covered in dirt. River water isn't the best option to bath in, even though they bathe twice a day in it.

Still, they accept the situation as it comes. We've already proven willing to protect them from anything, and Naruto-nii has been providing for them; three square meals a day. They've been doing all they can to help with everything, but most of the time we just don't have anything for them to do.

"Sasuke, Naruto, Aya. We move out in ten minutes. Make sure you're ready." I nod. Finally, we can just get this over with.

8-8

A two hour run later, and we're resting in a tree just outside the latest camp. Well, I say camp, but this is more like a fort. There're decent walls, a closed gate with four guards posted outside. More guards clearly on patrol on the gangway between two towers. These guys aren't playing around.

Same basic set up though. Rough looking characters all talking just like low-lives. We've gone over the map time and time again. We've gone over the patrols. We studied how they act, how they move. Lunch is going to be served in less than an hour. That's when we strike – they're less likely to be alert then.

The problem with this bunch… is that I see far more disciplined bandits. This isn't just some loose band of misfits, this is a miniature army someone trained – just one without a uniform.

#Two-five-seven targets total. Go in formation. Frog, shadow clone to watch Wolf's six. No casualties. I watch from shadows. Interfere only if needed.# Back to this again? Captain, you're too lazy for your own good.

#Roger.# We sign back as one.

And so, we start making our way into the fortress. Frog in the lead, Hawk signing to him when we need to move, and me (and my Froggy shadow) taking up the rear. We're supposed to take everyone out we can as quietly as we can. That means Hawk is mostly here in case things go wrong. And seeing as we're essentially going to be killing trained bandits… things will go wrong.

I look around, trying to keep my wits about me. We're on the upper gangway. Frog leads us to the tower on the right… left? I look at the back of my hands. Yes, left. My left hand is the one that makes an 'L' with my index finger and thumb.

Once we're close enough, I cast a genjutsu, a pleasant one, and Frog takes out the guard. Why have one guard per tower? Who cares if there's not a lot of room? One per tower is stupid!

Whatever. Frog opens the latch and we start going down the ladder to the lower level. There should be three levels, and we need to travel on the second, because it offers more cover. Who cares. We stick together, Frog taking out anyone we encounter, after I cast a genjutsu on them to keep them quiet. Sure, Frog could take them out without a problem, but this way we have a one-hundred percent guarantee. I like that.

#Hide bodies?# Hawk asks. With what? I don't have a genjutsu that would cover that, and I'm certainly not touching them! Unless you plan on dragging all of them somewhere, I say leave them to their fate.

#Negative. Stick to plan.# I sign back. Frog agrees with me. We're a combat unit anyway… I think. Then again, I can't really tell what we are anymore. We're focusing on combat, but knowing Captain Ecchi, he'd consider this infiltration training, or whatever.

We go about all the towers, taking out all the guards – well, Frog does. Once we're done, we make our way down into the courtyard. All the remaining bandits should be here. I sigh. It's my turn. I'm supposed to lure them, Hawk and I take them out. I'm supposed to just leave Frog wherever he stands, but forget that! I'm dragging my Froggy-nii with me!

Frog makes ten clones, which are meant to scout out the main building in the centre, and know to simply ignore my singing – no matter how good everyone claims it is.

#Hawk. Mark in five.# Hawk activates his eyes, turning towards the crowd. Why do they eat outside, by the way? Whatever. I focus my chakra into my vocal chords, walking ahead like I was born to do this. I start singing the second the countdown reaches zero.

Heads start turning towards me. Almost by the dozen, I see pairs of eyes glaze over. I keep walking, dragging an obviously out of it Froggy-nii with me. Hawk wastes no time, hacking and slashing as he goes. I don't care. Killing and blood and all that… doesn't bother me. I'm still not sure why.

More bandits start pouring out from the building. These wearing headbands? With slashes through them? Rogue Ninjas? Seriously? Only genin from the look of it, but still! This wasn't in the plan!

Ooh! Ecchi!

Whatever. Our orders are to slay the bandits. These genin look to be our age. I'm not killing them if I can help it! And I can help it! They're all under my genjutsu after all! I keep walking with Hawk, letting him slaughter the bandits as he goes. Once the last one falls, it's time for another plan.

#I'm letting kids our age die. Tie them up.# I demand. Even though I'm still singing, I glare at Hawk, daring him to argue with me. He shrugs. Obviously he doesn't care – it's not against orders.

I drag Froggy-nii along, towards the genin, and take out my ninja wire. Hawk is quick to do the same. And we set about tying up our newest charges. Captain Ecchi had BEST have an explanation for this! He scouted the place himself! There's no way he should have missed this!

And why do all these genin have Mist headbands with a strike through them? I don't understand.

8-8

"Good work team." Captain says, eyeing me. Yes, he can tell I'm not happy with him – I'm not the type to hide such a thing. I tilt my head, crossing my arms; explain, now. "This is a Mist rebel base. They work with bandits to keep up appearances. This is where they train new recruits and whatnot." I glare at him. Hard. He sent us into a Mist rebel base? Alone? To do what no genin is even allowed to? Why? What does Konoha profit from taking out rebels of someone else's country?

"Would you relax? There are only genin and chuunins here. While you guys were busy with the bandits and the genin, I already took out the chuunin." And that changes… what, exactly? "Aya. Think. Mist rebels have a base in the Land of Fire, and have been doing business with Gatou. What good would come from leaving them go about their business?"

"And this has what to do with a genin team just only graduated from the academy a month ago?" I ask, my tone dripping with annoyance.

"NO WAY! YOU GUYS ARE GENIN!?" One of the morons we tied up asks. I slap him, wondering why he's stupid enough to talk with me so close to him. "HEY!" I slap him again.

"She's gonna keep doing that until you shut up." Naruto-nii warns.

"So what was the intention of this then? Just to find a ledger?" I ask.

"No. The ledger's already been found in Wave. Ito sent word yesterday. This was about showing you three just what I can help you achieve." He says honestly. "Well, that and helping you three out with stocking up. What do you want us to do with the kids?"

I glare… but… then again… why glare at him? I can just tell Yoshino-sensei and let her deal with him. In fact, strolling into Konoha with fifty Mist rebels is just the kind of scene we need to get him into so much trouble that he's junk would fry just from the look Sensei will give him.

"I say we take them with us!" Of course Naruto-nii would say that. I don't really ca… no, I do care. But… look. Aya, not your problem. Let's just go scout out the place and see what we can take with us.

#Frog, Clones. Scout. Find armoury.#

#On it!# How can that boy seem so excited even when he's signing to me? Whatever.

"Taking this amount of genin with us will require permission. I'd need to speak to Hokage-sama about that." Kakashi offers.

"Well, how about simply asking them what they want? I mean, don't they have a say in this!?" Nii-san really is too much. He still makes like twenty clones though, which go scouting around.

"There's that too." He turns to the lined up genins, all tied up and sitting with just enough space between them so that we can tell if they're up to something. "What do you guys want to do? I mean, you could come with us to Konoha. If the Hokage approves of course, which I think he will. Or you could go back to Mist… things should be better now right?" All of the genins look… depressed about that. Crap! Aya! Stop caring so much about them! They aren't your problem!

I hate doing this to myself! I really do.

"How about this. All those who want to go back to Mist, raise your hand!" Naruto-nii… really? They're tied up.

"Thanks, but I just barely got out of there with my life!" One of the genins shouts, upset. Then why in Kami-sama's name are you still wearing the headband? Morons.

"Alright, so who would like to come with us to Konoha to live a better life?" Captain asks. Forty-nine tied up hands are wiggled into the air. The last one, looks at her comrades and sighs. She raises her hand as well. Sort of. They were tied up really, really well. "Good. I'll send word to Hokage-sama. If we release you, would you be a threat to us?"

Yeah, they'll tell us. 'Hey, yeah, I might try to kill you in your sleep! Now let me out!'

"Captain… really?" I ask, not really buying this stupidity. There has to be more intelligence in him somewhere.

"How about this, untie the girls." He offers, but winces once I glare at him; what's that supposed to mean?

"Aya-chan, that's not what he means." Naruto-nii is back to calling me by my name… crap. These people might spread the word in Konoha if they come with us. "Anyway, I'll be back. Something I need to check." Naruto-nii heads off. No idea what for. Not my concern.

8-8

I hate this. I hate this sooooooo much! But whatever. Aya. Just suck it up for now. It's only for three days. "Naruto, I'm going to need twenty of your clones. We need a list of these kids names, skills, and any additional information they'd be willing to tell you. Having a bloodline for example. And no, you don't have to worry about us hating you for it. In fact, Sasuke here is an Uchiha, he has a bloodline as well."

Yup, that has nothing to do with my hating him! I hate him for his stupid attitude!

Aya, stop. Just eat your chocolate, and suck it up. Whatever. This is just for Captain Ecchi's kicks. I hope Naruto-nii found some REALLY awesome stuff, because this is just going to upset me otherwise.

8-8

Alright, team! Good news! Hokage-sama's approved. The genins will be given asylum in Konoha, provided they want to join our shinobi ranks." Goodie. "So, who's interested?"

I don't bother glaring. It'd be pointless. Those who accepted are immediately untied – after four days, mind you. I still can't believe we had to end up sending Naruto-nii's clones to collect the other girls we'd rescued. How heroic are we trying to be here?

Whatever.

I've mostly been staying away from people. I'm just not in a people mood these days. Naruto-nii's back to calling me 'Aya-chan' every tick of the clock. Uchiha-san's back to his moody ways. Everything's all messed up.

At least Naruto-nii's in a good mood. I mean, Sarutobi-san's team is here. So he's enjoying her company at least.

8-8

It takes us almost two weeks to make it back to Konoha after that. I don't care to interact with anyone, other than Naruto-nii and Sakiko-chan, but even them I barely speak to. Too many people here. Way too many.

Once back, a team greets us at the gate, to 'process' the new arrivals. We're informed that Hokage-dono is expecting us in his office, so we start heading that way. Sakiko-chan wants to give me one last hug, and Yasu-san wants the same from Naruto-nii. After that, it's trying to get used to being back home – and sneaking into a store to buy something chocolaty so I'll be on my best behaviour in front of Hokage-sama.

On entering his office, the first thing I notice: "Yosshino-sensei!" I run to her, glomping her and simply refusing to let her go.

"Welcome back, guys." Sensei says, smiling at us, and glaring at Captain Ecchi.

"Yoshino-chan, we will deal with that later. First I would like a full report on your mission, Kakashi. And I mean everything." Hokage-dono demands.

This isn't going to end in Captain's favour. Not if logic and reasoning have any sway in this world.

8-8

Logic and reasoning have no sway in this world. That we, fresh genins, were allowed to clear out three bandit camps and a Mist rebel base is seen as a good thing. Seeing as Captain Ecchi worded it in such a way that he knew from testing and training us that we could handle it. And that we brought back thirty now free slaves, and fifty genins… these are good things to Hokage-dono. So what does Captain Ecchi get?

"I see. Good work, Kakashi."

"Excuse me!?" Yes, logic rings in. "He went against my direct orders on how my team was to be trained and the missions they were to take. And that is what you have to say!?"

"Yoshino-chan, you of all people should see what this could mean for Sasuke, Naruto and Aya. They've not only successfully completed their first C-rank mission, they've also taken out bandits that were aiding in terrorizing the Land of Waves, and a Mist rebel base that somehow got set up without us knowing. They are heroes!" Hokage-dono announces. "And they should be paid accordingly. I believe C-rank pay for each base, and B-rank pay for the Mist Rebel base should be suffice. And a generous bonus for bringing those genin to Konoha as well!"

"Hokage-sama, though I agree that Team Seven performed admirably, it is Kakashi's attitude that I am having a problem with." Yoshino-sensei announces.

There's a knock on the door. "Sorry to barge in, daddy, but you guys are taking forever. Look, we brought back Momochi Zabuza and his apprentice Yuki Haku from Wave with us. They're being processed down in T&I. If there's anything else, I'm sure I'll hear about it when you get home tonight."

"Actually, Asami. Your timing is quite perfect." I sigh. This is just a bunch of political manipulation going on here. Hokage-dono is trying to use his daughter as a smokescreen against Yoshino-sensei's outrage, Captain Ecchi is encouraging it, and Sensei is only getting more and more upset as time passes.

"Hokage-dono. I'm afraid I have far more important things to deal with today. If that is all you need us for?" I announce that I really am not in the mood to be someone else's pawn!

"Such as?" Yoshino-sensie is the one to ask.

"Moving into my parents house, giving up my old apartment, going through my bills and making sure they are all paid… getting away from three people trying to out-manipulate the other. I don't know, pick one."

"Aya-chan, breathe." Naruto-nii nudges me.

"Look." I growl, really not in the mood to be told to calm down. Not even by Nii-san. "Captain Ecchi wants to prove he's the better sensei, but he isn't. Sensei's well within her rights to be upset. Sarutobi-san is being used as a shield from Sensei, and I'm not dancing to someone else's tune. Now, unless someone here has something important to say, then you are all wasting my time." I grind out.

"Hmm, Aya makes sense. You two need to grow up." Sarutobi-san announces, aiming that at Hokage-dono and Captain Ecchi.

"Perhaps. But Aya, you will n-"

"Captain. Stop." I warn him. "I respect your rank, your skill, your techniques and your training regimen. I do not respect you." I tell him plainly.

"Now, Hokage-dono. May I be excused, yes or no?"

"Not yet." I'm informed. I stand at attention, awaiting whatever orders come my way. "I want to arrange a test for you three. In three days time. If Kakashi's report is accurate, the three of you have made exceptional leaps in your training. I wish to see this for myself." I growl. Actually growl. At Hokage-dono.

"Sis, breathe. This is a good thing, I promise." Naruto-nii soothes me, rubbing my back to calm me down.

That's a lie. This isn't a good thing. Captain is trying to take away Yoshino-sensei from me! How could that be a good thing!?

"Aya, what seems to be the problem?" Hokage-dono asks. I look away from him, even though it's bad form, even though Sensei will be upset about this. I don't care! This wasn't… Aya. Stop. This isn't your call to make.

"Nothing." I say simply.

"Good. I'll see the three of you on Friday at ten in the morning. Training ground seven. Other than Yoshino and Kakashi, everyone's dismissed."

"Come on, Aya-chan. I'll help you pack." Naruto-nii tugs me along.

8-8

Once back in my apartment, the first thing I do is throw a hissy-fit! I curse and complain and curse some more. That Ecchi! How could he do this to me? For what? For pride? Bragging rights? Just for the right to train Naruto-nii? And of course, no one is ever going to explain any of it to me! Why would they? They're 'doing this in my best interest' after all!

"Sis, come on. You know you want to." I look to Nii-san – well, glare at him, really. He has his arms open, motioning for me to come get a nice warm hug. Yeah… I think I need one right now. Once I'm close enough, he wraps his arms around me, holding me close, holding me tight. I sigh. I just feel annoyed, and upset, and hurt, and betrayed. And how could Captain do this to me? I've done my best to follow orders, even if I complained, but I don't call him 'sensei'. Yoshino-sensei is the only sensei I want. So why is he doing this?

"I don't have a clue what's going on in your head right now." Naruto-nii admits. "Do you want to tell me?"

"We're going to end up with Captain as our sensei. There's no other logical outcome. I mean, come on! He's an amazing trainer, and he's probably even better a shinobi… but he isn't Yoshino-sensei! He'll never be Yoshino-sensei."

"So who says we can't have both?" He asks. He's still massaging my back, trying to help me to calm down a bit.

"You don't get it. Captain is trying to train us, to tame us. Yoshino-sensei is trying to educated us." I say, trying with all my might to stop crying. This isn't something we can do anything about after all. But it just… hurts.

"Sis, you're being silly. Kakashi is a means to an end." I snort. That I can agree to. Captain would definitely make us ready for the chuunin exams. "And you still haven't answered my question, why do we have to choose?"

"… I don't understand."

"Kakashi's late for everything. We know this. So we go to Yoshino-sensei for training until he decides to show up. We're not hurting for money right now, so if we miss some D-rank missions, we won't even feel it. Yoshino-sensei can help us with a million different things, but only Kakashi can really train us as if we're joining Anbu."

I wonder about that. Hmm, Nii-san's got a point. I mean, he wants to manipulate us? Manipulate him right back so we get what we want…

"You're almost as bad as I am." I say, smiling. He pushes me back a bit, wiping away my tears for me. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me, sis. I mean, come on! I've been learning this stuff from you, remember!" He teases, rubbing the back of his head. "Now come on! Let's get everything packed and ready to go! We've got soo much stuff to sort through, and I've got some really cool surprises for you! Sis, this is just going to be so completely awesome!"

8-8

"I thought I'd find you two here." Yoshino-sensei is waiting for us at the gate to… well, our home. Still, it could just as easily be some prick using a transformation. I'm in no mood for people I can't trust implicitly right now.

"Who helps you the most with cooking? And why?" I ask, my voice demanding but professional.

"Naruto-kun. And that's because he needs the most help with it. He's getting better, but that boy chops the vegetables all wrong!" Sensei teases. I smile, glomping her. "Now, come on, let's get inside! I'm dying to hear all about your grand adventure!"

I cut my finger, smear some blood on the seal, and grin when the gate pops open. We enter, carefully closing the gate behind us. "It was actually pretty amazing, you know." I admit, now that Captain and Uchiha-san aren't here to hear me. "We met some really nice people, and you heard about those girls we saved? That was just so awesome, being able to save them from such a horrible fate." I palm the seal next to the door, feeling the warmth. I unlock the front door and we enter the house again. Bazu-chan is still waiting there with my house slippers, right where I left him.

"The way I hear it, you're the one that did the saving, Aya-chan." Sensei teases. I blush a little.

"Not really. I mean, Naruto-nii's really the one that did it. If it wasn't for him, I'd have refused to go in the first place. Orders or no." I say honestly. I kick off my slippers, stepping up and sliding the door open. I wait on them this time. "Naruto-nii, we really need to get this place cleaned up. But I'm kinda hungry too." I say.

"Not a problem!" Nii-san makes like fifty clones. How does that boy do that so easily!? He sends one back out and into the village, transformed as me to be safe. The others, all head into the house to start cleaning. "Hey, Yoshino-sensei, you really have GOT to see some of the awesome stuff we scored! I mean, seriously! First the Demon Brothers, then those camps! And Sasuke didn't want anything from that camp he did, so I kind took everything from there too! And then the rebel camp too! I must have gotten like fifty training scrolls! Some elemental ones too!"

I muss Nii-san's hair a bit. I love this idiot of mine. Once Sensei and Nii-san take off their sandals, we enter the house and move to the family sitting room. Clones are already halfway down wiping down the table, sweeping and mopping. Wow. Efficient! Still, Nii-san did make a lot of them.

Whatever. I go to the sliding paper screens and open them up all the way. We sit to the table, and we start chatting a bit with Sensei, telling her about the trainings, about Naruto-nii's progress with sealing, my progress with sound release, the tactics we've been using, the argument we got into after the Demon Brothers – I still kind of feel bad, but Nii-san waves it off when I try to apologize.

It isn't more than twenty minutes later that Nii-san's clone rings on the bell. He's not keyed into the security, so he can't get in, and even if he was, his clone can't bleed. I shake it off, rushing to go open the gate for him. He doesn't enter though. He just hands me the three bags he has with him – transformed as me or not, I can recognize Nii-san's body language. Then I slide the gate closed again. I want to walk into the wide open family sitting room, but I'm not going through that jungle, and Nii-san's clones are still busy inside, so I go back through the front door. Once back with Nii-san and Sensei, I place the bags on the table, curious what Nii-san even got.

"This one's for Sensei." He slides a bag to her. "This one's for me, and the last one's for you, sis." He slides my bag to me. I open it, already smelling barbeque ribs, steak and some other goodies I've been craving! No chocolate, but it's forgivable – I packed the chocolate I still had at my old apartment. We chorus 'Itatakimasu!' and dig in. It's been four weeks since I've had something yummy to eat. Kami-sama, how time flies! I mean, seriously!

We eat mostly in silence, simply enjoying being together again. It's a bit weird that we're doing this here and not by Sensei, but… still. "How was your mission, by the way!? Wow, I can't believe it was that long ago!" I ask Sensei. I'm still munching down on some beef, but I don't mind being a bit social if she doesn't mind either.

"Boring. Had to escort some prissy little prince back to his supposed castle. Turned out to be a compound. I guess he was trying to impress me." She shrugs, not caring. She already found the love of her life anyway. "But, as I hear it, there's going to be a very happy someone, now that Aya-chan's back."

"Oh?" I ask, actually curious. I mean, who'd miss me that badly?

"Yes, a certain Akimichi." She offers with a knowing smile. Ohhhh...! Poor Chouji-kun! "He's been getting by alright, don't worry. Mostly he's been bugging his dad for more and more training to pass the time."

"And she isn't the only one leaving broken hearts behind either! A certain Hyuuga's been asking Shikamaru if there's been any word on you." Aww! Nii-san's blushing up a storm now! "I'm sure they'll both be very happy once they hear who's home."

Heh. Home. Yeah… we're finally home.

8-8

Sensei decides she's left her home unattended long enough – she needs to get started on dinner, seeing as she doesn't have her two usual assistant chefs. She promises to come see us again soon though.

I don't know how Naruto-nii manages, but the entire house, front yard and back yard are neat and organized in less than two hours. He just didn't know what to do with the clothes, but I tell him to just throw those in my bathroom – I'll deal with them myself.

"For now, there are things we need to arrange." I tell him honestly. He gulps, looking nervous. "Nii-san, stop being silly. I mean we need to figure out how to key you into the security system, and you need to pick out a cache for your weapons. And we both need to pick a room, really. And I really think we should go through all the weapons and stuff we got during the mission. We've got three days before we officially need to do anything. Let's see if we can't turn my parents' house… into our home."

He smiles; warmly, brightly, but a little shyly too. Our eyes meet, just as he nods. "Home…" He says, almost testing the word. From the goofy smile, I think he likes it.

8-8

End Chapter 21

8-8

A/N: As I'm sure you can imagine, things are going to change drastically now. There's so much going on, but there's even more going on behind the scenes. The next chapter is really going to focus on smaller things, but the chapter after ^_^