Chapter 50: An Amazon Welcome Home
No one in the group was more excited about seeing the Amazon Village than Raiku was. The minute they entered the village the leader of the small group beamed happily and let out a contented sigh dropping everything that she was holding right inside of the village borders, including her sister.
In front of her stood the Arena right past the village gate. To the side of the Arena were meadows, the guest and small family area to the left, the monuments of past Heros to the right. There were so many things to see from her vantage point, such as the fountain, parks, the Amazon Anbu headquarters, the single men living area, and the cemetery.
It was a breath of fresh air to the elder Senju. She smiled and looked up to the council building, looming large over the rest of the area, except for the wall surrounding the Senju property. There were a lot of things that she couldn't see from her viewpoint yet, such as the school buildings, the meeting rooms, the armory, the hall of records. The orchards, shops, training areas, caves, underground tunnels, and so on and so forth. Her precious waterfall was somewhere in the distance at the farthest end of the village to the left side. She closed her eyes briefly just imagining it as it had been. It stood in front of her as if she were already there; she couldn't wait to make her daydream a reality though. She opened her eyes with a bright smile,
"Ah paradise!" Raiku let out as soon as they got past the guards in the front of the village, and past the village gate.
Unfortunately these sentiments were very short lived as, just at that moment, a man came zooming towards them with a present in hand. This might not have been bad at all if it had been a different person with a different gift, but alas it was Chino's father, Kusannagi Akihiko with a very explosive surprise.
"Chino, my Eyas-chan, I've done it!" her father said having launched at the ANBU operative without a thought handing her a gift wrapped in all blue paper with golden ribbon at the top and the sides.
Chino coughed at the impact as he hugged her and looked at the gift in confusion,
"Did what?"
"I've gotten you what you wanted last time before you left on your mission." He said pleased with himself, as Raiku and Rinku stared curiously at the present and the Kusannagi.
"I don't remember telling you that I wanted anything." Chino said racking her brain for the conversation.
"Well you didn't say it straight out but you implied that it was what you wanted. You were quite clear that you wanted the gift to be more exciting and explosive," He answered as he looked at her and let go, "any second now it should-"
"Wait- … OH NO DAD YOU DIDN'T?" Chino exclaimed, eyes widening with realization, "everybody duck!" she called out quickly as she threw the gift as high into the air as she could, using her wind abilities to raise it.
Taka called loudly to warn any birds that might be passing by as he himself dived down to the ground and lowered himself on to it.
"Duck? Where? Is that the present a duck? I want to see it." Rinku stated looking up at the present high in the sky.
"Not that kind you idiot!" Chino commented as she pushed Rinku and her father down to the ground with her.
Raiku had instantly grabbed Miku and got down to the ground as quickly as possible, glad that there were no passerby's at the entrance except for the guards who were smart enough to duck when told to. She was upset by the fact that Miku cried harder once she hit the ground. Raiku had to admit it was probably another low point in the girls mind.
Just as they all had managed to get down a loud BOOM! erupted as the package exploded in the air, giving the village quite a show and raining ashes of ribbon and wrapping paper falling slowly from the sky as Team 17 and the Kusannagi's stood up and wiped dirt off of their clothes.
Chino was the first one to speak raising her hand as she looked at them and asked,
"Who's not dead?" she asked raising her own hand.
Raiku, Miku, Akihiko, the guards, and a few disheveled stall owners all raised their hands. Rinku folded hers,
"I may as well be since I'm back here, but well I guess if I missed anything in this crummy village this and all of the other stories that I get to tell others are it." Rinku commented shaking her head with a small smirk growing at the corner of her mouth.
A number of Amazon guards ran up at the sound of the explosion with spears in their hands,
"What happened here?" The leader of the guards asked the groups before recognizing Raiku-hime and quickly bowing to her, "I apologize for the abruptness of my question."
Raiku waved it off,
"No need I am glad to see such a swift response from my people. Better to be safe then polite. Good work girls but I have it covered from here, it is not an outside attack. It's just the Kusannagi's."
"Oh." The leader of the guards said suddenly looking relieved.
The Kusannagi's clearly being troublemakers and all. She and the others bowed again,
"Well then we will go back to our patrol if you have nothing else."
"Permission freely given." Raiku said with a smile.
The guards nodded one last time respectfully then vanished to continue their jobs, then Raiku turned to look at Chino who was clearly hysterical,
"DAD WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN THINKING? ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME KILLED?" Chino yelled at her father flailing her arms wildly around her.
Akihiko pouted at his daughter as she yelled at him,
"But Eyas-chan I thought that you wanted something that blew up, you asked for it last time."
"I DID NOT I MERELY ASKED IF THE LAST GIFT THAT YOU GAVE ME WAS GOING TO BLOW UP AND IT FIGURES THAT YOU WOULD MISCONSTRUE THE SITUATION! SO LET ME TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THAT I DO NOT WANT YOU GIVING ME PRESENTS THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BLOW ME OR MY FRIENDS UP GOT IT?" Chino yelled as her heart was settling down after the adrenaline rush that occurred from near death experiences.
"Hey Nii-chan Chino's doing a pretty good impression of you right about now." Rinku commented pointing at Chino verbally reprimanding her father.
"Oh haha Rinku you are just so hilarious," Raiku said rolling her eyes as she set Miku down on the panther, "not. And stop calling me your older brother! I am your sister, SISTER."
"So having almost been killed in your own village don't you think we should head back to Konoha now?" Rinku suggested.
Miku started to sob harder as Raiku glared at her sister,
"Nope this is still my paradise, a place where those devious and evil minded men can't get to you three or me for that matter. Now they can stay in their village and we can stay in ours. Ah bliss." She said with a happy sigh of contentment.
"Well this is my hell there's not a guy in this village that I want to do anything with. Men here are either married, too old, or wimps. I can't stand it already. Women, women everywhere, and not a man to touch!' Rinku snapped.
"Leeeeeeeeeeee." Miku cried as Raiku growled in frustration.
"My team is absolutely hopeless! Imagine invincible for over a decade and then a few months in Konoha and we are rendered incapacitated, you lot by mere men and I by you lot!"
"Men? What's this about men? Chino are you included in that speech?" Akihiko commented turning chillingly serious all of a sudden.
Chino opened her mouth in order to deny this, hoping her father never found out about Shino until after the two were married, if they got married that was, but she was unable to keep this fantasy as Raiku continued self righteously, not realizing that Chino might not want it known,
"Yes all three of them! And it's all the fault of those Konoha men! First chance I get I'm going to the waterfall of purity and cursing all four of their names."
"Four? …you feel for one too Raiku-hime?" Akihiko asked curiously as the other three watched her with raised eyebrows.
Raiku turned bright red and shook her head vehemently,
"No, no of course not! I am merely cursing his name because he tried…AND FAILED EPICALLY I MIGHT ADD! Now Kusannagi-san if you do not mind I have to bring Miku and Rinku back home immediately. Miku needs to rest up and I need to find a cure while mother supervises my darling sister." Raiku commented as she stormed off dramatically.
Chino shook her head as her father turned to her. The elder Kusannagi waved Raiku and company off as he continued to stare down his daughter,
"Looks like we have to have the talk now don't we?" Akihiko asked seriously, "Come we shall have this discussion at home with your mother, I'll not be blamed for not telling her about this situation."
Chino let out a little sigh as her father led her home. Even if Raiku didn't understand what she had done, Chino couldn't help but feel that she needed to get even with her favorite princess, and so she would, but that would have to wait for another day, because today she had a lot of explaining to do.
The Senju estate was a large building on top of a slight hill, directly across from the council building at the center of the village. It was surrounded by dense forest areas notably close to the Waterfall of Purity of which Raiku often visited. Today however, she would not be visiting her sanctuary due to the fact that she had two charges of whom she could not leave. One of which was too depressed and the other was not to be trusted. The former one still held on top of a panther was sobbing profusely while the latter was still whining and complaining about being forced to return.
Raiku was not sure how much longer she could take this and so she entered her estate to find the one person who she knew would always be of help to her- her mother. Dropping off Miku and Rinku in the living room much like one would drop off baggage from a long trip, she called aloud in an attempt to get attention. For a few minutes it seemed as if she was alone but then she heard the echo of light yet powerful footfalls on the ground.
Raiku began to beam as her mother's face came into view. Her mother in turn walked quickly over and pulled her daughter into a tight hug. Raiku closed her eyes briefly taking in the calming feeling of her mother's strong but caring arms around her. Despite Raiku's nearly obsessive control issues the young jounin did enjoy some relaxation when her mother was there. Her mother was the only one that she trusted to take over situations in her absence. At least at the moment she was because Miku was currently incapacitated. Oh how Raiku hated 'Sad Miku.' She preferred the other two personalities much more.
"Mom it's so good to see you. I've missed you so much!" Raiku gushed as she let her mother go.
Senju Sunako continued smirking as she checked her daughter over,
"Raiku dear I was rather surprised to hear of your return. Your Aunt sent me a message through the Kusannagi's informing me that you quit. That's not like you dear, care to explain what happened."
There was no judgment in her mother's voice and yet Raiku was suddenly tense and uneasy. She certainly wasn't going to tell her mother, or anyone, about the anything dealing with the young male Hyuga situation that may or may not have been somewhat involved in her decision to leave. Though there was no way to tell how much her mother already knew about her stay at Konoha, even though Aunt Tsunade maintaining contact with her mother was a bad sign, Raiku would press on as if her mother knew only knew that which she herself wanted her to know. Still she'd have to give her mother some sort of explanation. And so, because it was her mother, Raiku spilled everybody else in the groups business, but not her own. The minute her mouth opened the whole story (minus any Neji related points), spilled out, and she finished by saying,
"And now Chino was nearly blown up and likely vengeful, Miku is heartbroken, and my perverted sister keeps whining about the fact that "we" left perfectly good single men in Konoha to return to this 'village infested with women' apparently and I JUST CAN'T DEAL WITH ALL OF THIS RIGHT NOW!" Raiku burst as her mother blinked at her. Between her job and family members she had seen and heard more than enough strange things, and because of that not much shocked Senju Sunako anymore.
"Well I see you've been busy." Raiku's mother chuckled.
"It's not funny mom! Come just look at Miku and you'll under-" Raiku stopped midsentence as she reached the area that she'd left Miku and Rinku in earlier. This was due to the fact that Miku was nowhere to be found and Rinku was pointing at the spot that Miku had been when Raiku had first dropped her off at. The panther was still laying in the spot where the girl had been. Rinku's eyes were wide and her mouth open and gaping as if in shock. Raiku wasn't sure how much of this that she could take,
"WHERE ON EARTH IS MIKU? WAS SHE KIDNAPPED? WHY ARE YOU JUST SITTING THERE POINTING?" Raiku yelled as Rinku started waving her hands around.
"But there was wind and then she was gone. I was right here but I didn't see anything. I mean I blinked but… this has never happened to me before. I'm supposed to be the sneaky one!" Rinku began to pout as Raiku waved her own hands wildly in the air,
"We have to find her right now, what if those psychotic Konoha men have her somehow?"
Raiku's mother waved her hands dismissively,
"There's no need for the dramatics girls, Miku's parents were the ones to pick her up. They'll take care of her for a while. There's really no replacement for a mothers care in these types of situations."
"Wait how do you know this?" Raiku started suspiciously just as Rinku's eyes bugged and she asked,
"MIKU HAS PARENTS?" she exclaimed in shock.
There mother ignored Rinku's shock to answer her elder child.
"Miku's mother informed me while I was in the dining room right before you stepped in actually. Really dear you know how ANBU can be, Haruhi and her husband are specialists as well. Sneaking around and hiding are their occupations so to speak. Perhaps someday soon I'll invite her over to meet you two, though truth to tell you've met her before, quite a few times actually as children. I suppose you don't remember though." Sunako let out with a sigh.
"She was masked the whole time mom, in fact both of her parents were. I'm surprised that they let her get away with not being masked until she was an ANBU. If not for joining our team I bet she would have had it welded to her face as much as she used it. To this day she still puts it on when she's extremely embarrassed of us. It's a rather obvious indication of her displeasure." Raiku commented.
Rinku snorted and growled, "It's a rude and annoying habit that she picked up. And I can't believe you knew that she had parents and never told me." Rinku pouted crossing her arms as Raiku rolled her eyes.
"If I had a mask to use I'd hide behind it as well if it would mask the fact that we are related."
"You are so cruel to me and yet I know that you love me so I let these little things go."
"Whatever the case, Miku is in good hands and for a little while I get a break from Sad Miku, this one kills me. Not that I could ever really take a true break with the spawn of Satan over here as my sister and own personal charge. You just had to have two of us didn't you mother?" Raiku said with a sigh and then a scowl.
"Your father wouldn't settle for any less. In fact he's still rooting for three of you at the very least apparently. You're lucky that I'm against it myself. Truly your father should never have procreated. I did the world a disservice and it should not be repeated again…though I do love you Rinku and am amused by you. Still, the madness must stop. We can't have another of your fathers genes passing, which is why I told him that if he tries to touch me inappropriately I will maim him." Sunako commented lightly.
Just as Senju Sanako was finishing that sentence a big blur of blonde and peach zoomed past her as Raiku's eyes widened dramatically. The young Kunochi turned about face as soon as she recognized the sounds of the blurs footsteps and the wide open arms of one of the very few men in the village who would dare to even try for a hug from Raiku. The young girl began running for what looked like dear life. But her efforts were in vain because strong arms engulfed her from behind and pulled her back to him (though she was kicking the ground as if to stop it).
Sunako chuckled amused,
"And speaking of maiming…"
"My princess!" The man exclaimed pulling Raiku in tighter as Rinku clapped her hands together and yelled,
"Daddy!"
Raiku growled under her throat as she stopped struggling long enough to roll her eyes, standstill, and in an annoyed tone acknowledged, "Father."
"I'm so glad that my girls are back! But for shame on both of you not letting me know about it. I would have set up a feast for my lovely daughters had I known I could have invited some eligible young men to share my joy at seeing you."
"Oh daddy!" Rinku gushed as she rushed him from behind.
Raiku tried to remain calm as she was being held captive in a group hug with two psychos,
"For the millionth time I do not want to have anything to do with your supposed eligible bachelor's father. I plan to be a spinster and I will not have my reputation ruined so easily."
The tall and broad man quickly turned Raiku around in front of him and grabbed her shoulders before looking into her eyes and saying, "But I want grandchildren!"
"You do have two daughters you know and for all we know Rinku could already have some running around. Besides I can adopt and already have begun some processes to do so." Raiku deadpanned.
"Well I have been working on that experiment to turn men into baby producing machines so it is plausible that I might have one or two that I don't know of. But ewww kids are creepy, you'd think I would have learned from that whole Sensei episode in that case…" Rinku commented sarcastically as their father raised an eyebrow at Raiku and ignored Rinku's sarcasm.
"What do you mean by starting the process of adoption?" he asked watching her closely. She would after all do something like that, "as for your sister, as likely as that situation is, I would like living grandchildren."
"Alright Kyohei that's enough tormenting your daughters tonight they both are probably worn out from everything they've gone through. We'll send a message to our friends tomorrow and have a little get together to celebrate their homecoming in a few days. Then you can hear all about their trip and whatnot how about that?" Sunako suggested.
"Why not tomorrow?" Kyohei asked with a slight pout.
"Because the girls are going to take all of tomorrow to rest, neither of them is allowed to leave the house and you are not allowed to stay. They've obviously come from a tough mission and need time to de-stress before adding to it."
The girls' father paused for a moment and considered this before asking,
"Can I invite the Feudal lord's son to this party?"
"Absolutely not. I refuse to go to this thing if it's going to be a set up or something. Seriously I'll kill him and then we'll all be rotting in prison somewhere. Or better yet they'll hand us over to Ibiki and Anko and the like. I'm sure Rinku will have fun but the rest of us won't find it to be so lovely. But of course at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing it was worth it." Raiku threatened.
Rinku seemed okay with this route as well but Sunako shook her head and offered,
"Not this time Kyohei dear. But I'm sure you will manage another meeting for our eldest daughter and the feudal lord's son soon since she's home again."
"Not if I can help it." Raiku grumbled under her breath.
But her father was an optimist and so he clapped his hands together in agreement,
"Alrighty then. Two days from today is family friend night but someday soon you will be meeting with the feudal lord and his family. Don't forget that your ninja royalty but we work for the good of the people and mostly for the feudal lord."
"I work for myself Dad. I only take 'orders' that I want to take, and missions that I want to take as well. Nothing more, nothing less."
"You keep telling yourself that," Kyohei commented as he pulled both of his daughters in for a proper hug, "I did miss you two though and I'm glad that your back here with your mother and I."
Rinku immediately got into the hug as she had always been one for touch and affection in public or private. And Raiku, who always felt the need to be tough and strong let go for a brief moment so that she could give her father a hug. She closed her eyes and took in the moment as briefly as she was going to let it happen for, and for that short amount of time she let go just a little, and let only herself know that it felt good, and that she two had missed her family while she was gone. Yes, even her father. That is she did until minutes later she found herself face to face with his list and profile of all Eligible Bachelors in the area. But then again that's how it was in her family. Little amazing boughts of joy from time to time, often overshadowed and encased by insanity. Then again that was her life in general, and everyone else's that she had ever known as well. It could be tough some of the time but hey it was worth it.
