THE HAPPY HOME
Chapter Five
IT WAS A NORMAL DAY WITH SHION CASUALLY SITTING WITH HER JUICE BOX'S straw in between her lips while she read her book. It was of course, Ninja Love 3: Taehiro's demise and it only sucked a little. Not the book, as Taehiro was in her daydreams, but rather the bruise on her butt from being shoved into a rock during training. This made it very difficult to sit down on her favorite tree branch.
She turned a page while simultaneously a making rooster noise in her walkie talkie. She glanced up towards the window of Iruka's apartment, seeing his silhouette through the curtains as he scrambled to find the source of the sound.
Shion deemed that unlikely, unless he really was going to tear apart his floor boards in order to find the other walkie talkie. She doubted it though. Every once in a while she would sneak into his apartment while he was teaching at the academy, and she would change the batteries. That is the benefit of pranking a teacher; knowing their schedule.
"Shion," Shikamaru greeted from down below with a lazy shrug before he attempted to keep on walking. Shion however, perked up at the sight of the other boy before she jumped down next to him.
"Shikamaru, wanna play a game?" Shion asked and he sighed. "Before you say anything, be mindful: It's my birthday."
"Is it though?" Shikamaru was quick to question her, likely because he had been burned before. Still, the round of questioning caused her to let out a small grin that only made him sigh.
"It could be. Come on, Shikamaru, you never want to play." She took a step forward and grabbed him by the shoulders. "It's my birthday, Shikamaru."
"If I recall, wasn't your birthday in August?" Shikamaru asked and she bit her bottom lip.
"Nah. I'm pretty sure it's today. It's always been in July," she said with a nod.
"You are so annoying," he muttered as she dragged him away. "What are you doing outside Iruka's apartment anyway? You looked like a creep."
"I'm not being creepy. I'm just watching him through his window while drinking a juice box..." Shion paused. "You know, in order to rectify that obviously creepy statement, I should tell you it was a prank."
"Are you still mad he tried to hold you back in the academy?" Shikamaru asked, still annoyed that Shion continued to drag him to some unknown destination. The girl looked back at him, her small pink curls bobbing over her shoulder.
"Of course not, that would be petty and childish," she said, lifting the walkie talkie and making making the noise of a cat meowing. Shikamaru decided not to ask what her prank was on the account of her making him take part in it, which would seriously suck. "I was the best student in the class. I excelled. I don't know what his problem is."
"Yeah, you're totally not mad," Shikamaru said, letting out a small sigh as she led him to the orphanage. "What game are we playing again?"
"I invented it myself. It's really quite fun," she said, turning around to face him with a large smile that now looked a little more evil. "It's called, 'help Shion-chan move out'."
"No," Shikamaru immediately attempted to walk away, but Shion had already gripped him by the collar of his shirt and began to drag him towards the orphanage entrance. "Let me go, Shion. I don't wanna."
"I bet you miss playing tag with me now, don't you?" Shion asked, her lips quirking into a larger grin as she dragged him to one of her dorms that she shared with four other girls. Shikamaru almost immediately noticed that it was a mess, with random clothes laid out on the ground. In contrast, there was one corner that nearly looked untouched with everything orderly and dust free. She lead him to that area and took out a box from under the bed.
"This sucks," Shikamaru said, watching as she piled in clothes into the box. He did notice how most of the clothes looked rather worn out, which wasn't something he ever took notice to before. Even the clothes she wore currently had a very old look about them. All her stuff didn't look half as nice as the items his mother had purchased for him.
"Lighten up, Shikamaru," she said with an ever present smile as she placed her neatly folded clothes into the box. "It's not like I have much stuff."
"Then why did you need my help?" he asked with a sigh as she placed the box into his arms before she began to fill another with her blankets.
"Cause we're friends. This is what friends do," she said, and he immediately felt like banging his head against a wall. He knew he should have just stayed in bed. That's the last time he decided to wake up when his mother wanted.
As she lifted the last box, he noticed that she had even less stuff than he thought. "Wait, are you allowed to take the blankets?" Shikamaru asked as she began to quickly walk out of the dorm.
"Of course," she said with a chuckle, but he was struggling to keep his pace.
"They why are you rushing?" His was question wasn't answered as she waved goodbye to the grumpy looking woman behind the front desk of the orphanage.
"Life is short, Shikamaru. I don't want to get left behind," she exclaimed from behind her as they left the building. The moment he was out of there, he noticed that the weird feeling of being trapped had begun to dissipate and he began to wonder how anyone could stand living in that place.
"Okay, you just avoided the question. Did I or did I not just help you steal?" he asked and she laughed.
"Don't be suck a buzz kill. This is a happy day," she said.
He supposed that it was, but he still said, "I don't want to play anymore games with you."
By the time she got to her new apartment, Shikamaru took notice to the fact that it was completely empty, no beds or furniture. Shion set the box down and took out a blanket. Moments later she laid it on the ground along with a pillow.
"Is that where you are going to sleep?" Shikamaru asked, setting down the box. Shion didn't look worried as she took out a small picture frame and put it on the window seal.
"I know. It's pretty cool, right? My own place, all to myself," she ran into the bathroom, her lips pulled into a wide grin. "My own bathroom. It's clean, no globs of hair. Isn't it great?"
"Yeah," he replied, unenthusiastically.
"I know what you're thinking," she said, watching as he slouched with a lazy sigh with his hands in his pockets.
"I don't think you do."
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"Shion, I wanna go home," Shikamaru muttered from underneath their makeshift fort. Shion, in reply, lifted her head and pouted.
"Shikamaru, it's my birthday," she told him.
"Yeah, I don't think it is," he said, lying his head down with a sigh. Shion opened her mouth to retort when the pounding on the door made her pause.
"Spoilsport," she muttered as she stood up and got out of the fort to open the door, revealing two very flustered and angry teammates.
"I hate you, Shion," Misaki said, and Hikaru wiped a bit of sweat from his brow with a nod. In response, Shion let out a low whistle as she leaned against the open door.
"Wow. The greetings are really going downhill these days. You know, back in my day, we said hello," Shion replied, making both her teammates frown.
"First of all, we are older than you, for the last fucking time," Misaki said and Shion frowned.
"Only in human age. In dog years, I am a mature and sophisticated old man," Shion said.
"That doesn't eve-" Misaki began to lose her composure, so Hikaru placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
"We are getting off topic. Can't you see that's what it wants?" Hikaru said, making Shion gasp.
"'It'? That is so rude. Goodbye." Shion went to close the door but both of her teammates blocked it.
"This is so troublesome," Shikamaru said from inside the fort before he laid down and began to sleep.
"There's a boy in your house," Misaki gasped, and Hikaru shook his head.
"We're getting off topic," he said, while Shion sighed.
"But there's a boy in her house. All alone, under a blanket," Misaki said.
"I'm ten years old," Shion reminded them. "Man, you guys are ruining my birthday."
"You said it was your birthday last week. That's why we bought you cake," Misaki said with a slowly forming frown.
"Shit. I don't even like cake," Shion muttered in reply.
"You are good at diverging from our purpose, Shion whatever-your-last-name-is," Hikaru told her, causing Shion's brows to raise.
"I'm not doing anything. You two are just stupid," Shion said. "Also, it was Kurama Shion, for your information."
"You weren't at training today so Tsukasa-sensei made us run for three hours," Misaki shouted whilst pointing at the unsuspecting ten year old.
"And then we had to look for you, and guess what, you apparently moved out of the orphanage so we didn't know where the fuck to go. We knew we couldn't go back to Tsukasa otherwise she would make us run more laps," Hikaru began to take off his shoes. "I have blisters, Shion, blisters. Hyuugas don't get blisters, you bitch."
"So we had to go all the way to the Hokage tower just to figure out where you moved," Misaki's legs collapsed. "Why do you hate us?"
"Wow. Sounds like you two got yourself into quite the pickle," Shion replied, and Misaki leapt up to attack her, but Hikaru held her back by her waist.
"Misaki, calm down. Shion can kick your ass," Hikaru warned, causing Shion's eyebrow to raise.
"I can kick your ass too, Hikaru," she told him, and his eyes narrowed.
"Just come to practice, Shion. Tsukasa is pissed and she's about to take away our first actual mission," Hikaru said, watching as Shion's cheeks filled with air.
"Fine. Jeez, you two are such drama queens," Shion said, her lips curling into a grin, walking past the two after strapping on her ninja belt. She closed the door behind her, leaving Shikamaru sleeping in her fort/bed.
"I hate her," Misaki whispered while Hikaru gave her a sympathetic nod as he placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Me too."
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"Ohh, a C-rank mission. What is it?" Shion said in an excited tone of voice after she had gotten done running her punishment laps that only took an hour and a half. This was mostly because she was much faster than her teammates thanks to playing tag and actually training in her free time, instead of going shopping like Hikaru, or in Misaki's case, eating noodles with friends.
It helped that Shion's only friend was Shikamaru, and she supposed Naruto even if the boy was still as annoying as ever.
"It's a hunting mission," Tsukasa replied, and Shion pouted. "We have to find a specific root in the Forest of Death."
"Oh...why?" Shion asked, twirling a strand of her pink hair around her finger as she glanced towards the mission scroll with a sigh.
"Because, being a ninja isn't always exciting or adventurous where you get to go on far away journeys to different countries," Tsukasa said with a bored shrug as they four continued to walk towards the forest that resided on the far side of the village. "Remember, this is job that you all signed up for."
"I hate the Forest of Death though," Shion whined, kicking the ground.
"I shouldn't be surprised that you've been in there," Tsukasa said with a sigh.
"It's a good hiding spot," Shion answered.
"But it's forbidden," Misaki replied.
"Which is what makes it a good hiding spot," came Shion's retort.
It was only once they were in the forest that things got a little bit more exciting. Especially when a giant tiger tried to eat Hikaru. While Shion rooted for the tiger and Misaki got scratched by the tiger, Tsukasa was forced to intervene. It took moments and one touch to the tiger's back to make the overgrown cat sink to the ground.
"I'm saved," Hikaru said, glancing towards his sensei with a relieved sigh. "I hate cats."
"We have the root. Let's just go," Tsukasa muttered.
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"And done," Shion said with a smile as she looked at her completed project of Hikaru crying on the mission report. Usually, this would be where he whined for her to tear it up, but instead, Hikaru looked spaced out into the distance.
"Hikaru, what's wrong with you?" Misaki asked and Hikaru sighed.
"Don't you think Tsukasa-sensei is pretty amazing," he said and Misaki's brows furrowed.
"That's weird," Shion tilted her head, waving her hand in front of Hikaru's face from her spot on the grass. Tsukasa had abandoned them not long after leaving the Forest of Death, so they currently hung out under a tree next to the Hokage tower. "You're weird."
"Oh my god, Shion, don't you know what this means?" Misaki said with a large forming grin as they started to walk inside the building to get in line and turn in the report.
"I don't actually care," Shion replied.
"Hikaru is crushing on Tsukasa-sensei," Misaki finished, not minding Shion's indifference.
"Wow...I still don't care."
"It's just hilarious right," Misaki laughed just a moment too long, causing Shion's brows to raise.
"I think the one with the crush is you, Misaki," Shion told her with no worry as to whether or not Hikaru could hear. The boy glanced towards Misaki as her face got red and her voice got high.
"What? No I don't. Shut up," she quickly snapped.
"Yeah. We are the best of friends and trust me, her eyes are only on Itachi..." he said as he gave Misaki a sly glance. "All night."
"Wow. I understand that I am sending mixed signals out of boredom, but I still don't care," Shion said, getting to the front of the line where Iruka sat, the bags apparent under his eyes. "Wow sensei, rough night?" She put extra emphasis on the 'rough' hoping to make it innocently sound like a dog barking.
"If I see one picture, I swear I'm going to be pissed," Iruka told her and she grinned, handing him the mission report.
"Don't be silly Iruka, I listened very carefully to what you told me last time. I know I don't act like it, but I take your advice very seriously," she told him with a smile.
His eyes brightened as he opened the scroll, "That's good, Shion, I'm very proud of you-"
"I drew fifteen pictures," she pointed to the last one, her lips quirked into a grin. "See, there's me drawing this report at the end. Inception." Hikaru and Misaki placed their heads simultaneously in their palms in response.
"Just go home, Shion," Iruka begged, placing his head into his hands.
"I know. My artwork moves me to tears too. Bye bye sensei," Shion said with a tiny grin, walking out of the Hokage tower with Misaki and Hikaru in tow.
"Why do you purposefully try and make him mad?" Hikaru asked.
"Nah. I love Iruka-sensei," Shion answered with a smile as she walked out towards where Tsukasa waited for them. By the time they got to the training grounds, they saw both her sensei and Uchiha Itachi, speaking to each other in hushed whispers with their faces quite close to one another.
"Ohh? Is that Tsukasa and Itachi sitting a tree?" Hikaru exclaimed.
"We're standing," Tsukasa replied, glancing over Itachi's shoulder. "I hate kids."
"No you don't," Itachi told her, causing her to snort as she walked past him.
"Okay, we have a mission tomorrow," she informed the team and they all glanced up with a frown, except for Hikaru who was staring at her intently.
"It's not hunting again, right? Cause I can only handle to sight of Hikaru crying so many times," Shion commented, causing Hikaru to raise his finger.
"I wasn't crying. There was dust in my eye and I'm allergic to pollen," Hikaru interjected with a proud shrug of his shoulders. "I never cry." He gave Tsukasa a slight glance as he took a step forward. "I am even going to be hitting a growth spurt soon. Being tall runs in my family you know."
If Tsukasa could tell that Hikaru was trying to impress her, she didn't react. Then again, Tsukasa had the composure of fake flowers (in that they were just as beautiful as normal ones, but they never broke apart and died).
"Yeah, okay then," Tsukasa clicked her tongue while Misaki snorted at Hikaru's lame attempt at flirting. "It's a B-ranked mission. Yay. Go team."
"How did we get a B-ranked mission?" Misaki asked with her brows furrowed.
"Obviously because I'm so strong that they finally took notice," Shion bragged with tiny grin. "Don't thank me, I already know how great I am."
"Shion, you are not as great as you think you are," Misaki informed her and Shion made a 'V' shape under her chin with her fingers as she began to laugh.
"Great, Misaki. You let her loose, now she's going to be annoying all day," Hikaru said with a sigh.
"You're right, I'm probably better," Shion said, raising her hands and creating a quick barrage of clones and they all just began listing things that she could do that Misaki and Hikaru could not.
"Great," Tsukasa muttered with an unenthusiastic sigh while Itachi watched the display with an air of indifference.
"For her age, she's not horrible," he said before walking off, causing Tsukasa's eyes to narrow on the boy.
"Not horrible?" Shion contemplated this before nodding. "Itachi Uchiha says I'm 'not horrible'." She pointed to Misaki with a grin. "Take that loser."
"This is going to be my entire day...isn't it?" Tsukasa contemplated with a loud sigh. "I am so done with children."
"If you want, sensei, we can have a training session together in order to get away from these children," Hikaru commented with a slight smile that was immediately shot down with Tsukasa's deadpan stare.
"Oh my God," Tsukasa muttered, turning around to walk away from everyone.
"Tsukasa-sensei, what about that A-ranked mission?" Shion exclaimed.
"It's B-ranked and I'm regretting it," Tsukasa replied with a swift sigh.
"Huh. Speaking of A-ranked, I really think I'm almost ready for one," Shion replied, much to her teammate's chagrin.
"Slightly ahead for her age and she thinks she's the strongest person in the world," Misaki commented, and Shion glanced her way with a smile. "You're not half as strong as you think you are."
"Just stop arguing. I know I said I don't care about teamwork, but seriously." Tsukasa rubbed her temples, raising her hand to silence them. "I don't care, but for the love of God, you three should. A B-ranked mission is not a joke and this is not a game. It's about time you realize that people die on these missions and you can look away for a second to find your friends are dead."
"I'm sorry sensei," Misaki said with a genuine look of shame, as she cast her gaze downward while Hikaru did the same. Shion however, had no idea of when to stop so she continued.
"Relax, Kasa-sensei. The world is too amazing to be so hung up on all that stress," Shion said, and both her teammates raised their heads as their eyes widened. Tsukasa, however, was still as the grave and her eyes were narrowed like a cobra about to attack.
"Tell me to chill one more time, Shion, and you will be scrubbing the floors of the academy just wishing you had less sass towards your ex-teacher," Tsukasa promised before her face turned back to being impassive. "Your missions to come are not a jokes. Luckily for you, your duty for this mission is just to watch the pros. I merely want you to shadow me, and you three are just tagging along to see how a real mission is going to be in order to prepare you."
"So what you're saying is that this mission wasn't assigned to us, but rather to you?" Misaki asked and the teacher nodded.
"Precisely. I, along with an old team of mine, will be carrying out the duties assigned. You three are just here to keep the fire warm and cook our meals."
"That's hella boring," Shion complained.
"That's life. It's about time you become less arrogant in your strengths and start training your weaknesses." Tsukasa turned to the three students with her hand propped on her hip. "Hikaru, your Kekkei Genkai has given you an excellent advantage that has gone to waste because of your severe lack in skill when it comes to Taijutsu. You have improved under my training regimen-"
"I only threw up once last night," he bragged.
"But it's not enough. You have no balance and no poise or grace," Tsukasa finished as if she was never interrupted before she turned towards Misaki. "Your medical prowess is good, if not excellent. Your control over Chakra is above your age bracket and medical ninjutsu is not easy. However, you can't back all your money on that. It is dangerous and makes you a liability to your team. You ned to work on some type of self defense, and judging by your Chakra control, you are more than capable of learning how to turn medical ninjutsu into a powerful weapon."
Tsukasa turned towards Shion who was currently standing proudly from next to her teammates. Misaki and Hikaru were ready for their teacher to knock the girl down a peg.
"Shion," Tsukasa sighed. "You talk too much. You're loud and abrasive. You have no idea the dangers that arrogance can bring you and I have seen it drive a good man, head first into the bottom of a cliff."
"Is that a metaphor?" Shion asked, but Tsukasa didn't answer.
"You are decent with Ninjutsu, but your attention to detail and your ability to deflect harm is much more suited for Genjutsu," Tsukasa explained. "And yet I see you put all your money into Taijutsu and I'm telling you again that your body isn't made for the strain. You need to train what you're naturally talented at doing, and yet you keep on trying to work training what you will likely never excel.
"Why do you three think I never push for the big missions? Do you think watching you dump trash is fun for me? I do it because you are children, way too eager to jump into a world without fully understanding what is outside those gates."
"And what is outside those gates?" Misaki asked while Tsukasa was already getting ready to ditch them. "What exactly is our mission?"
"A hideout of the Sannin traitor, Orochimaru has been discovered. We are tasked with clearing it out of any victims of his experiments," Tsukasa explained, while Shion frowned.
"That doesn't sound too bad," Hikaru commented.
"You have yet to see his experiments," Tsukasa told him. "Koneko was his experiment and look at her victims. Be on your guard and pack light for tomorrow morning: 5 am. If you're late, Shion, I will send you back to the academy. I won't tolerate it any longer. Grow up. Life isn't a book that you can open and close any time you want."
Tsukasa disappeared in a barrage of leaves while Hikaru and Misaki scowled Shion's way.
"Good going, you got us yelled at," Misaki snapped, while Shion only stared her way.
"Me? You two are the ones at fault," Shion retorted causing both of her teammates to narrow their eyes.
"Us? Who is the one always late and making a ruckus because she thinks she is the best fighter in the world? Pretty big words considering we have never seen you in a real fight," Misaki argued.
"You're all talk Shion. It was a mistake to let a nine year old cut the line and become Genin," Hikaru agreed with a swift lash. Shion took both their insults without complaint before she decided to walk away.
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"Naruto!" Shion greeted as she peeked behind the wall of the orphanage. The blonde boy glanced up from his lonely swing set, setting his sights of the girl who now hid behind a rock.
"Oh its you," Naruto muttered without looking up again, causing Shion tilt her head as she ducked behind the rock when the orphanage head lady walked past the garden.
"Yeah it's me. Who did you think it was?" she asked, dashing over to the tree that supported Naruto's swing before pressing Chakra into her feet and walking up so she could sit on one of the thicker branches and allow the leaves to block her figure.
"I'm not talking to you," he said with a pout, turning his head away.
Shion was officially confused, causing her to lean down so she could look at him. "What crawled up your butt, Naruto-kun?" Shion asked with furrowed brows as she used her hands to stop his swing by sending Chakra down the rope.
"Nothing, dattebayo," he grumbled in return.
Shion's eyes narrowed in confusion as her brows furrowed together. "Is this cause I ate all the snack boxes last week because I didn't know you wanted those." She let out a 'aha' sound as she rose a finger, but Naruto didn't so much as look her way. "You don't have to be mad about that. No one will take all the snack boxes cause I moved out. There. Solved."
After Shion's comment, Naruto grumbled something before he stormed off. This left Shion even more confused than before so she furrowed her brows as she jumped down from the tree and towards the window of the girl's dorms. She opened it nonchalantly and stole four pillows from the girls who were always mean before she calmly walked out of the orphanage.
No one questioned why a ten year old girl was walking with four pillows in the middle of the roads of Konoha. She contemplated why Naruto would be mad at her and him being angry at her made her upset with him. When she got home and added the pillows to her fort, she felt a moment of depression.
She supposed most friendships just don't last when you're a ninja anyway.
Author's Note
It's so refreshing to write Shion since Anomie and Tsukasa (my current other stories) kind of bum me out.
I slipped a small detail in that Shion is in fact ten years old now. She wasn't lying. That really was her birthday. She was born on July 23nd and is a Leo. These folks are impossible to miss, since they love being center stage. Making an impression is Job One for Leos, and when you consider their personal magnetism, you see the job is quite easy. Leos are an ambitious lot, and their strength of purpose allows them to accomplish a great deal. The fact that these folks are also creative makes their endeavors fun for them and everyone else.
Anyway, thank you all for reading!