ii.

Chapter Fourteen: Useless Affinity (Ambient Coaxing)

"I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman where the self-help section was, and she said if she told me it would defeat the purpose." –George Carlin

Raven Eyes was always a patient man, Nanami knew. He could sit quietly for hours with nothing but a book in his hands and still look vaguely entertained. Hell, she'd seen him stare at a wall for an entire afternoon looking like he was asleep with his eyes open.

She always had to resist the urge to try to sneak up on him when he got like that, just to see if he was. (She didn't think she had ever managed to sneak up on him, but if he was ever surprised by her sneakiness he never showed it.)

So it did come as a small surprise to find that Oceans was almost the total opposite. He fidgeted on the couch while she sat at her regular seat at the low table.

Beating Hearts had told her just because he was going to be away for a few weeks didn't mean she'd be allowed to slack off on her share of the accounts. Not that she would have anyways.

She thought it must be early morning, because Raven Eyes was just now coming out of the shower and his morning ritual included showering at the crack of dawn, or 'ass early' as Loud Blood liked to call it.

Oceans had already finished bandaging his massive sword (which she really liked but had never had the chance to go near; it had pleasant chakra- almost identical to his; the main difference being a more… animal feel to it. Definitely not human at least.)

"You know," the massive man said suddenly in the middle of her moving an excess of yen to Beating Hearts side ledger. He wouldn't be pleased when he found out about the discrepancy in the budget she'd come across this morning. (She suspected Loud Blood had bought fancy soap again.) She made a mental note to tell him as soon as he came home, that- or confirm with Loud Blood if he had. Loud Blood had never balked from a fight with his partner before, sometimes he even did stupid shit like this on purpose just to get a rise out of the man.

"The snake sannin made an offer for you." Oceans continued flippantly, and that definitely had her attention. She gripped her pen hard looking up at the man she secretly adored. (But it wasn't really a secret because Nanami couldn't hide anything to save her life.)

Her eyes met silver and he grinned at her, a dangerous sort of shape with far too many teeth. She resisted the urge to grin back at him. (His expressions were sort of infectious.)

"His messenger never made it back to him. Sasori is not a man known for his patience." Raven Eyes interrupted smoothly as he held his damp hair away from his neck and pulled it into his customary pony tail. It dripped lightly onto the towel he had draped across his shoulders.

Nanami bit her lip hopefully. "Kabuto?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed (Because she'd done that thing again) on her, his eyes held hers for a moment, searching.

"No." He finally said. She slumped in disappointment and resisted the urge to pout.

"Okay." She said, because she wasn't really sure what she should to say to that. Although, 'that's too bad.' came to mind.

Oceans twitched, a frown twisting his lips like he was dissatisfied because that wasn't what he'd been expecting, or maybe because he hadn't gotten a rise out of her. Nanami's brows furrowed in confusion and she frowned. She didn't want to disappoint him.

He grunted and flopped over onto his back to look up at the flat stone ceiling that was speckled with old blood. It was quiet for a time with only the scratching of Nanami's pen as she went back to work, and the turning of the pages in Raven Eyes book. (Raven Eyes liked his books)

"What can you do anyways?" Oceans asked breaking the silence, she looked back up with a tilt of her head, beads and feathers swaying.

"Hm?" She asked without words. He rolled over again arms hanging over the armrest of the couch as he considered her, he looked like a giant lazy blue cat like that.

"We know you can channel chakra, and you're a decent sensor and you can mute your own signature. Or mimic animal signatures. What else?" He ticked off his fingers as he listed what he knew about her.

And it was an odd thing for her, because no one had ever really asked what she was capable of. No one had ever asked her anything about herself.

Nanami slid her gaze over to Raven Eyes questioningly. Could she do anything else? He didn't look up from his book, but he did offer her a noncomental 'Hn.'

"Uhm, I don't know." She told him finally. His eyebrow rose. "Nanami tried once, before-" she made a gesture around the room 'before I came here' went unsaid. "to make fire, or water, or make the earth move. I didn't get very far. Everything else just sort of… happens."

"Just… happens." He parroted. She nodded.

Raven Eyes closed his book with a muted whump.

"Alright, let's get started then." He began in that tone of voice that said he expected her to listen carefully and learn what he had to offer.

Oceans grin split his face again in a manic sort of glee that had her biting her bottom lip to contain the excitement that was beginning to buzz beneath her skin.

They… were going to teach her shinobi stuff?

Awesome.

Nanami had an affinity for water; which she was, one hundred percent not surprised about. Her tiny little self sat on the floor with crossed legs in front of the much, much larger form of Kisame, who sat with the same folded legs. (He shared her affinity, and thus the mantle had fallen from Raven eyes who was a fire user, to him.)

Between them was a cup of water. Nanami felt like it was mocking her in all it's pretty, floral patterned ceramic brightness.

Nanami had tried her best to follow all of Oceans instructions, but despite this the man was frustrated, (so was she) and neither one of them understood why she couldn't make her chakra shift to nature chakra. She understood the concept just fine as he explained it, but somewhere in her own chakra there was… a sort of disconnect. It just wouldn't change.

This is what Loud Blood and Beating Hearts came home to almost three weeks after they initially left.

"What the fuck?" was Loud Blood's intelligent inquiry. Beating Hearts took one look at her, and then the cup, and then Kisame and grunted.

"Water affinity huh." To which both she and Oceans nodded absently.

She glared at the water in the cup when it rippled slightly with their passing footsteps. (Distantly, she was reminded of a movie about dinosaurs)

"Gehah! Fuck yea! Are we finally gunna teach her something fucking interesting?!"

Nanami shifted as Loud Blood was suddenly flopped over on the floor next to her, the very sharp points of his scythe in her lap- pointed at her belly button.

She twitched, and used careful fingertips at the top (because she learned the hard way not to touch it from underneath the blades) and gently guided it over into Hidan's space.

He just grinned at her with that spark in his violet eyes that said he'd done it on purpose and enjoyed watching her squirm. She bared her sharp little baby teeth at him and he grinned wider.

"Do you even know any elemental jutsu?" Came Oceans doubtful voice.

"Hey fuck you, I can do that one thing." He didn't elaborate, and Nanami chewed her bottom lip in an effort not to smile at his expense.

"How long have you been working on this?" Beating Hearts interrupted. Nanami looked up at him, her mouth morphing into a frustrated frown.

"A while." Oceans answered in a deadpan kind of way. "Maybe she just isn't well suited to elemental natured chakra." He added, a frown tugging at his own lips. (Her chest squeezed at the sight of his disappointment)

"Don't worry your tits off bitch all that fire and water shit is stupid anyways." Loud Blood told her, violet eyes shining. Underneath all the insults she thought it was almost sort of sweet. If he wasn't so fucking creepy about it.

"Put your hand in the cup." Beating Hearts told her from somewhere in the kitchen. She did, even though she didn't understand why. Because Nanami was a good girl and did what she was told. (most of the time)

The water was cold, and it swished between her fingers when she wiggled them. Oceans watched her, as if waiting for something. She didn't know what though.

"Tch." Loud Blood complained rolling his eyes heavenward while flopping fully onto the floor. She ignored him like she always did when he was trying to distract her from something. (He had an attention seeking nature a mile wide)

Beating Hearts came back in and sat at his customary place at the low table near them with a cup of hot tea and what she thought might have been a newspaper. (how… domestic of him.)

"Everything has chakra." he reminded her, and she nodded because she knew this very well. She could feel it, see it. Acid green eyes watched her expectantly, waiting for her to come to the conclusion he was attempting to guide her towards. (His faith in her always made her feel warm)

"You can't expect the brat to do anything with ambient chakra, that's like- some sage shit or something, seriously." Loud Blood interrupted.

Oceans gaze sharpened on her, and then slid over to look at Kakuzu (who was no longer paying attention to them) with narrowed eyes.

Nanami frowned.

Because she touched ambient chakra all the time. She didn't understand how it worked really, it was just there. She had never tried to take it into her coils- not that she really had a good grasp on the whole 'coils and pathways' thing, but she could nudge it around. Encourage it to do what she wanted.

Like she had always done with the deer, or the rabbits.

She'd never tried it with an element though. (She just hadn't thought to honestly)

So Nanami slowly and carefully (the word 'sage' made her nervous, didn't that have something to do with turning people to stone?) seeped chakra into her fingertips. She curled her hand into the water once more, giving the energy she could barely see within it a gentle touch, a soft nudge. She didn't try to take the chakra, she had her own to use. She just… projected what she wanted through her chakra as she touched the water's chakra.

Nanami lifted her hand out of the cup and opened her eyes (when had she closed them?) below her hand was a snake like flowing line of water. It wriggled in the air for a moment between her skin and the top of the cup.

"Are you fucking shitting me." Hidan's hushed words broke her concentration and the water dropped, splashing across the floor and over the top of the floral print cup.

"Well, it's not the same as changing your chakra into a nature-type but I suppose it'll do." Oceans told her, sounding like he wasn't sure what to think of this development.

Hidan gawked at her, and then at Kisame.

"You suppose it'll do." the white haired man parroted incredulously.

"Where did you learn that Nanami?" Raven Eyes spoke for the first time from his spot on the couch, gazing at her with sharp intelligent eyes.

Nanami shrugged. "No one taught Nanami, I just see the chakra and nudge it around. It only needs a little coaxing."

There was silence for a moment.

"The thing is." Oceans began with a strange look in his silver eyes. "That- that's not possible. You can't just 'nudge ambient chakra.'"

She frowned, had she done something wrong? Was she not supposed to use her chakra like this? "Sorry, Nanami didn't know."

Loud Blood made a strangled noise which quickly turned in guffaws.

"She didn't know, gehah! That-" He broke off to laugh some more.

"I suspect it is a kekkei genkai." Beating Hearts informed them. Raven Eyes gave him a sharp look. "I have watched her interact with it before." He supplied further.

"But shouldn't be she like- I don't know a fucking rock right now?" Loud Blood questioned. No one answered him. Because no one in the room really understood how ambient chakra or nature chakra worked. All they knew was it just wasn't done.

"I don't mix them." Nanami offered, hoping it might dispel the strange air in the room. It didn't.

"This isn't something we will be able to guide you through." Raven Eye said after a moment, tone serious. "It is doubtless, however, that Leader-sama would be very interested to have this information."

And then it was quiet again as the room filled with a rare and tenuous sense of mutual agreement that Nanami didn't really comprehend.

Loud Blood was frowning, his purple eyes seemed a shade darker, Oceans wasn't looking at her but seemed to be having some unspoken conversation with Raven Eyes. (They did that a lot.)

A hand settled on top of her head and she looked up to see tanned skin and acid green in a sea of red.

"You did well." He praised her efforts simply, like he knew she was capable the whole time. Her chest warmed.

No one ever mentioned what happened again, and Nanami never practiced where others could see her.

AN: The next chapter will have an extra story/omake-like bit at the beginning as a gift to my wonderful reviewers for taking the time to let me know what you think. Thank you for giving my story a chance, Please read and review!