Yes, hi... I'm still around. Sorry this took so long again... Thank you all who still reviewed, favorited, and followed even during my ridiculously long time missing. A thousand times Thank You. Seeing them pop up encouraged me (and guilt-tripped me) to write my way through my horrible writer's block I experienced in some moments, other times it was that I was just too busy between work and school and more work, even though I really wanted to write. I've also found I do my best writing when I should be sleeping, resulting in me staying up far too late and ruining any semblance of a sleep cycle I possess.


Silver Streams

Wait for me, you've gone much farther, Too Far

Shibi, she learned his name after the terrible weep-fest she'd had on his coat, was kind enough, or perhaps it was worried enough, to escort her home. Shino following along silently, not that there was much conversation between any of them, apparently the three of them all preferred silence when available. Still Ai couldn't quite find it in herself to be totally embarrassed at her display, not when they both seemed undeterred by it themselves.

The escort also turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as once they got to her door, it was yanked open by Aoba, mouth open and probably ready to chew her out. However, upon seeing the head of the Aburame clan and his son he changed tactics.

"Thank you for finding and returning my errant ward," he bowed.

"On the contrary, you have my apologies. After we came across each other we had a talk and I likely delayed her return." While it wasn't the truth, it also wasn't a lie and Ai felt immensely grateful that Shibi didn't divulge what had actually happened, though Aoba was sure to have spotted her reddened eyes. She was glad in this moment that crying was a taboo subject among ninja in public.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, giving a clean bow to the Aburame leader. He returned her deference with a slight nod of his head, which Shino mimicked, before the two went on their way.

Once they were out of sight, Aoba gave her a look. "Since when are you so polite?"

"To you, never, to Shibi Aburame, head of his clan, since I decided to be."

Aoba snorted, closing the door after she, and Abel, had entered. "Did you two actually talk?"

"He wasn't lying," Ai defended.

"I didn't say that," Aoba returned. Abel rattled his agreement with Ai as he moved down the hallway and plopped down at the foot of the couch, going still. "I was curious how much crying was interspersed with the talking." Ai shot Aoba a dirty look as she passed into the kitchen to wash her hands.

"Can you be any more rude?"

"Yeah."

Ai rolled her eyes and yanked open a cabinet to get at the container of rice within. "I had a little breakdown, okay, can you blame me?" she asked rhetorically. "I guess I picked the wrong training ground for it 'cause they showed up. He said he wants to help me learn how to communicate better with my chakra. Sort of how they do with their insects." She finished putting the rice in the cooker. "Oh, and that you're a garbage teacher."

Aoba smiled and huffed. "I don't think Shibi Aburame has used the word 'garbage' in his life." Ai just shrugged. He sat down sideways in a chair at the table, arms resting on the two objects. "I guess it makes sense and I suppose it couldn't hurt. Thinking about it, I can see some parallels between you and the Aburame clan. I'll see what I can work out with them and our schedule."

"Thanks mom."

"Anything for my little girl."

Ai made a disgusted sound and then just in case that wasn't clear enough added, "Gag." She moved to the refrigerator and looked in to see what she had. "How do you feel about Katsudon?"

"I wouldn't kick it out of bed."

With another roll of her eyes she got to work on lunch. They had a few minutes of silence before Aoba spoke again. "Hey," he called to her, his tone significantly softer than it had been. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she answered, feeling the truth of that in her bones. Sure, she was still considerably upset about the whole Itachi thing, but something inside of her had loosened. While Ai knew it wasn't entirely Aoba's fault, she still said, "Who knew you could screw up a jutsu so bad."

"I apologized for that," he countered, holding up two fingers. "Twice."

"Then maybe in two years I'll let you live it down."

"Pain in my –" Aoba began.

"When are we going to resume your training?" Ai asked.

"That excited to start again?"

"Not really, but I figured I'd ask."

Aoba shifted his position to have the back of his chair between his legs, resting both arms on the top rail, now facing Ai's back. "I was thinking I'd give you the day, let you shake Inoichi's jutsu off, then we'll start up again tomorrow." He grinned. "Right where we left off. Tree climbing." Ai let out quiet groan, her shoulders slumping. "I don't get why you hate it so much. It's the gateway to much more difficult skills, in comparison to others, this is a simple one."

"It's not that I hate it exactly," Ai said turning her back to the food. "I just dislike the idea of falling and breaking my skull open. Water walking? Fine, I know how to swim. Climbing thirty feet up? I'm not so sure I can stick the landing properly."

Aoba tilted his head in thought as his fingers tapped rhythmically on the chair. "That's not a bad idea, I forget sometimes that you didn't go to the Academy and didn't cover some of these things. We can add tumbling to the roster."

"Fun." Ai's tone said she thought it was anything but. She continued to finish up the food as Aoba expounded on a few changes he was going to implement in their training roster, she let his chatting wash over her, giving it only part of her attention. He finally stopped when Ai set food on the table, sitting down to eat her own meal.

She was ready for him to keep going about his new regimen, but he surprised her when he instead asked, "Okay, Ai, why don't you tell me about this rock thing of yours?"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, what's, er, your favorite one?"

"Just remember that you asked for this," she stated, pointing her chopsticks at him in emphasis. He frowned slightly, but otherwise seemed unperturbed at her manners. "I wouldn't say I have a favorite, but interestingly, igneous rocks seem to be the best at absorbing chakra, though if you're not careful, they have a nasty habit of exploding if under too high a transfer rate.

Aoba paused in eating an eyebrow raising to his hairline. "Wait, are you joking?"

"My jokes are usually far more dry than this." He pitied her with a soft huff and wry grin. "Nevertheless, yeah, they explode, behaving a bit like glass."

"Huh. That is, surprisingly, fascinating."

Ai stood from her chair, moving to a bookshelf that she also used as general storage space. From it she removed a relatively flat plastic box. Inside, she stored multiple types of rocks, split into their own little sections. Retuning to the table, Ai set it down.

"Wanna see?"

Aoba widening grin was answer enough, but he still said, "Hell yeah."

"Finish eating first, no sense in ruining good food with rock debris."

By the couch Abel gave a sharp rattle. Children.

※※※※※

The next day Aoba proved good to his word and had Ai practicing how to fall. Starting, first, with explaining how to properly fall without injuring oneself, complete with demonstrations. He then had her repeating his explained motions over and over, having her preform them from a crouch and eventually working their way up into a standing fall, before moving into a rolling fall. He had her repeating it as well from a low crouch to standing, but also adding forward movement.

"Tuck your chin, Ai," Aoba barked, "or you'll be swallowing teeth." He paused before adding, "Or parts of your tongue, if you haven't concussed yourself into oblivion first."

"It hurts," Ai complained, rubbing at a sore spot on her shoulder that she was sure would be turning into a bruise. Stupid hidden rock in the grass.

"Then I guess you're not doing it right." Ai shot him a filthy look. "Let your body roll with the impact."

"Yeah, yeah."

The next few days proved Aoba was more sadistic than she'd realized. While he may not have understood the her 'draw me like one of your French girls,' comment she made the first day while he way laying on the ground explaining fall position, he certainly proved the spirit of the joke had come across and he doubled her training. He continued the tumbling exercises, teaching her all sorts of proper falls in order to not hurt herself, but made her repeat them for hours, sometimes after she'd run a large number of laps.

Not only did he continue with the physical training, but claiming he had to catch her up on everything she didn't learn in the Academy, he began lecturing her on chakra theory and quizzing her on it. Usually while she was running, or otherwise occupied with another task.

"Once the coils have activated, chakra naturally gifts a stronger disposition. It reinforces bones, muscles, even increasing the rate of healing and blood clotting. Of course, there is only so much it can do. You cut an artery and you're still going to bleed to death, but you can impact into an object and not sustain as much damage as someone whose coils are not active. This can be even more strengthened by purposeful direction of chakra before contact. It's important to know where these limits are in order to remain in the most viable condition.

"Take your chakra reserves for example, they may be average, but with your higher regenerative nature, you can, with planning and careful conservation, outlast your opponent. That said, you may be more likely to blow it all in only a few jutsu, but I think in time, you can probably maintain a chakra-enforced run for longer than most."

"So, boiled down, I've got good endurance."

"Essentially."

"What about," she panted as she ran perimeter laps, "something that one could draw chakra from to further sustainability, or empower a bigger jutsu?"

Aoba titled his head. "There are a few ninja capable of forming an internal chakra cache separate from their normal reserve, but that requires a lot of effort to begin and maintain. It's a skill not many can execute well.

"But you sound like you're speaking of an external one." He tapped his fingers a few times on his leg in thought. "I don't see why something like that wouldn't be possible, but the issue comes in what item would be capable of holding enough to be useful without detriment to the carrier. And, of course, it's got to be living, a dead stick isn't going to get you very far. A weapon can be a tool to enhance chakra use, but it won't store any for you to draw from over long periods of time. Which, brings up, that the bigger the item the more it can store, sure you could run around with a hundred pebbles in your pocket, but at what point does that become obnoxious?"

Ai made a disgruntled sound. "And the rate of chakra degradation. How long does an item incapable of holding or producing its own chakra, retain it?"

"You'd probably know about that better than I, but it's still an interesting idea though." He shifted and Ai threw herself into a forward roll to dodge the kunai he sent through her path. She managed to get back to her feet with her continued momentum, but she took a number of stumbling steps, nearly eating more dirt, before she fell back into her jog.

Aoba, the jerk, laughed the whole time.

It was on one of those days after practice, and before he took her to the hum-drum office to work – she was now demoted to goffer for the lazy bums. Ai was sitting on the ground downing water between near panting breaths, and debating dumping it over her head to cool off, that Aoba told her something interesting.

He proffered her his hand, held between two fingers was a slip of paper. Ai tilted her head as she studied the contents scrawled across its surface in Aoba's untidy handwriting. It was an address, though not a street address as she'd ever seen. It was more like a location than a house address, then it clicked, that fact meant it was probably a training ground or something of its ilk. When she finally looked back at Aoba, he enlightened her further.

"That's where Shibi Aburame said he'd meet you for your first lesson. Tomorrow morning, be there. Bring what you need." Ai looked down at the paper once more, studying the information given. She didn't know the ninja system for labelling their training grounds. Which is exactly what she told Aoba. "Well, that sounds like something you'll have to work out then." She wanted to growl at him, literal growl in frustration.

"I don't suppose you'll…" she trailed off, not bothering to finish. The look on his face said 'no, I'm not.' But he seemed to find pleasure in the scowl that formed. He reached out, patting her head like a dog in a 'there, there' motion. She did her best to tell him nonverbally that if he kept it up, she'd bite his hand off. He either couldn't decipher the expression or chose to ignore it.

It was probably the latter. After all, it was a very obvious bluff.

Ai woke up early the next morning, not that she wanted to, but she figured she'd budget in some time for getting lost because that was exactly what was going to happen.

She shrugged into a light jacket that would keep the morning chill away and strapped a small pack to her waist, which contained her 'bugs,' the metal channeling rod she used, and a few other odds and ends she might want, including a couple snacks. After a few moments debating Tsukikage, Ai settled on leaving the sword behind. The way Shibi had spoken implied a chakra training exercise and she didn't want to be weighed down. It was Aoba who was the compete jerkwad and insisted she bring it everywhere even though they'd never once used it. Safety falls with it had been a literal pain in her neck. And back. And ass. And came accompanied by some lovely bruises painting her back like a yellow and purple sunrise.

Stepping out of the apartment, Ai looked at the slip of paper Aoba had given her yesterday. The information had not miraculously changed to a clear step-be-step guide. She sighed, shoulders slumping. Yes, she knew it was a training ground, but given how many there were in the village, knowing that didn't really narrow it down much. It only took out parks civilians could use.

Looking left and right down the street didn't reveal any heavenly light shinning upon her destination either. With a shrug, Ai turned right and headed in that direction. As she strolled, she perused the building fronts, not that they helped either, but they provided a distraction. Repeatedly nibbling her lip as she walked, Ai looked down at the slip of paper in her hand once more, it still hadn't changed.

A niggling sensation crept up her spine and Ai pulled to an abrupt stop, looking up. She was a foot from utility pole and would have smacked straight into it had she kept going. A gentle laugh pulled her attention across the street and Ai met the gaze of the beautiful, dark-haired Kurenai.

"I was wondering if you'd notice," she said before crossing the street to Ai.

"Barely." Abel rattled his amusement from the rooftop above. Ai twitched an aborted look to the cat in favor of ignoring him instead. "Day off?" she asked instead.

Kurenai smiled and hummed her affirmative. "Mmhmm." The older woman's red eyes scanned her quickly, making Ai really uncomfortable as she was assessed. "But you look a little lost."

Ai perked up at Kurenai's statement, suddenly realizing her luck. Aoba wouldn't tell her how to get there, but surely Kurenai would.

"I'm supposed to get to a training ground, but I'm not sure which one I should be going to," Ai stated, holding out the paper towards Kurenai like an offering. "You wouldn't be willing to help me, would you?"

Kurenai didn't take the paper, but she did look at it. "Is there a reason Aoba didn't tell you how to get there?"

She almost spat out 'because he's the devil,' but changed tactics before she dug herself a hole. "He said I should figure it out for myself, which is a little difficult given I'm not a ninja and, with my current situation, unwilling to break laws."

"That's probably a wise choice," Kurenai agreed with a good-natured smile. Her stance shifted slightly, hip tilting a little to one side. "Konoha is broken up a few different ways. With the organization of training grounds, the village is split into quarters." As she spoke this, she lifted her hand and drew a plus into the air. "One," she hovered her hand in the top left corner. Her hand moved right, "two," diagonal, "three," back to the right, "four," Kurenai's hand dropped to her hip. "As you see it," she added, referring that this was Konoha to Ai's perspective. "Currently, we are in…?"

"Two," Ai stated as Kurenai trailed off.

"Right," the older woman nodded firmly. "That is what the first number means there." Ai looked down, sure enough there was a two scribbled there right at the start. "The rest is which training park within that quarter to go to, followed by the number of the training ground within that park."

"Okay." That narrowed it down a bit, but Konoha was still a big village, even split into four. However, the last number was thirty-six and there were only so many places large enough to hold that many training grounds, especially ones that were designated as ninja-only. Every civilian knew which parks were for ninja and which were public. "Okay," Ai repeated. "I think I can figure it out from here."

"Wonderful."

"Thank you." Kurenai nodded as gracefully as a princess as she accepted Ai's appreciation.

"Have fun," the other woman added, watching Ai begin her way down the road once more. Ai snorted softly, she wasn't sure that was going to happen, but she could be grateful for the well wishes at least.

With one more glace at the slip of paper, marking what she was sure was supposed to be a cardinal direction, Ai stuffed it into her pants pocket. She oriented herself with the Hokage Monument, which wasn't actually due North, and slipped down a small street between two buildings.

With ten minutes, or there about, to spare, Ai arrived outside what she hoped was the correct training park, but she paused before entering. Uncertainty crept back up once more. Should she wait for them out here? Or had they already arrived? What if they were there, but she interrupted by showing up? Was ten minutes too early to show up? Or perhaps it was an okay time. She didn't want to be one of those people that showed up way too early for something.

Ai frowned. Perhaps she could wait five minutes and then go to the to the field. Surely, five minutes wasn't too early, right? That was a reasonable early, but not a kind of creepy early time. Or worse, what if they showed up while she was dithering away out here and they thought her an even bigger weirdo than she was already? Maybe she should go in and wait there.

All this doubt was making her arm itch.

Ai paused, hand poised to scratch, as the itch moved to the underside of her arm, but not in that way itches moved, more like…

She pulled up her sleeve.

Sure enough, just a bit down from her wrist were five little black beetles. She watched as they formed a cluster and began to lick… nibble… or whatever it was bugs did with their mandibles. All she knew for sure was that it itched something obnoxiously terrible.

Her fingers moved from scratch position to flick position and just as she was about to let her finger fly to take care of the problem, Ai stopped again.

Could these be Aburame beetles? She'd never seen them before, or if she had she doubted she'd recognize them. What if this was some sort of beetle cruelty test? Their beetles or not, she figured they wouldn't approve, even if a flick wouldn't really hurt them.

Tugging her sleeve back down with a sigh, Ai decided to do her best to ignore that voraciously growing itch and just rip off the proverbial social band-aid. Who knows, maybe arriving with a couple insect friends would warm them up to her.

It wasn't a long trek to the field she needed to find, and much to her relief, she quickly spotted both father and son already within the clearing. The pair stood as she approached and when she was close enough, she dipped her head.

"Thank you for the opportunity."

Aburame senior gave a slight tip of his head in return. "My son and I begin every day in communion with our Kikaichu," he said, gesturing to an open spot in their little circle while reclaiming the place he had sat before Ai arrived. She and Shino followed his example and sat as well. "I believe this is a good place for you to start as well. However, first I must ask. Where is Abel?"

His question caught Ai off balance. First, for the fact she hadn't thought he'd know Abel's name or even use it and second, that he even cared where said cat was. Ai lifted her hand and pointed off to her right, at about Shibi's twelve o'clock. "He tends to be hidden unless otherwise necessary. Do you need me to call him out?"

"That is inessential." Ai let her hand drop back into her lap, slightly stunned that people used the word 'inessential' outside a laboratory. "I merely wish to clarify a conjecture of mine." He continued at her nod. "When they provide you with information, they do so nonverbally, correct?" Ai nodded again. "Do you initiate this passing of information?"

Ai opened her mouth to reply with 'of course,' but stopped just before the words came out. She closed her mouth, thinking on it harder, she realized that the answer was in fact, no. Sure, she'd talked with them verbally, but if Shibi had meant solely nonverbally, which was what went beyond the mundane, then she never had. Abel gave her information while she slept, Seth, when he was around to tell her anything, didn't, and Tori sent flashing images to her, but Ai had never initiated any of these.

"No, I suppose I haven't," she answered. Shifting, Ai removed the small purse filled with her metal bugs. She set it on the ground in front of her, the bag sagging open, sunlight glittered off of the metal spheres within. "I have with these, but it's not the same. They're not sentient."

"Then we shall begin there," Shibi stated. "Simply maintain contact with them for as long as possible and we will eventually build into communion with the others."

"Okay," she agreed, before perking up as particularly intense itch made her remember. "Oh," Ai rolled up her sleeve gently, doing her best to not rough the beetles up. "Are these your guys'? Shibi studied the beetles happily tickling away at her wrist for a moment before turning his sight to his son.

Shino who had looked to her as well, somehow straightened his already ramrod straight posture even more. Stiffly, and with obvious awkwardness, he extended his hand a little. The beetles immediately stopped tickling her, spread their little wings, and took off, landing in Shino's extended hand where they quickly disappeared under his jacket sleeve. "My apologies," his quiet voice barely reached her.

"Oh, uh, sure. I imagine it's difficult to keep track of five out of, er, however many there are," Ai slowed down and trailed off at the end.

Watching Shino as she was, she did not see the small smile briefly twist his father's lips. "Now shall we begin?" With a nod, Ai dug into her bag once more and pulled out a thin, six-inch metal rod. As she pulled her arm back in front of her, Shibi caught the tip of the rod with a finger. "Perhaps," he stated gently, "you should try first without the crutch."

Ai stared at the older Aburame. How did he know?

Shibi wrapped his fingers around the rod and Ai let it go, watching as he set it on the other side of himself.

She supposed there were a couple people he could have talked to about her. Yugao, Ibiki or Aoba would have been good places to start.

"If you truly need it, we will then work on transitioning you away from your dependency."

"He makes it sound like an addiction," she thought, giving the inside of her lip a small bite. "Right. Give it a shot."

The two Aburame righted their postures and stilled as they quickly evened their breathing. Closing her eyes, she attempted the same. Ai counted out her breathing as she found a rhythm. Once there, mind empty of all extraneous thoughts, she reached her chakra out. The cool metal sensation of her bugs rubbed against her chakra as she wove it through them.

Nothing happened.

The feeling, that spark or whatever, she got when they came alive for her didn't occur. And nothing continued to happen for what felt like an embarrassingly long time, but she didn't want to actually say anything about it. One, they were busy and she hated the idea of interrupting their meditation and two, it was embarrassing. Super, super embarrassing.

"Relax," Shibi's voice intoned softly. Ai opened her eyes to look at him, but he wasn't looking at her, so she had no clue if he had even bothered to open his. As if sensing her thoughts, he continued. "I can feel your anxiety permeating the air."

"How?" Ai asked, confused.

Shibi had surely opened his eyes now, for his face turned to her as he explained. "Emotions are entwined with chakra, there is no uncertainty about that fact. Many cannot sense or tell apart the shifts in chakra that correspond to each feeling. Between myself, a sensor, and my Kikaichu, I can easily pick up on your feelings when they have grown strong enough. Emotions such as anxiety and fear may disrupt a jutsu. Relax and try again."

Gnawing her lip, Ai looked away. She didn't know what she was supposed to do though. It took a moment of indecision, but she sucked up her pride and told him as much.

"You have preformed this jutsu before," he stated calmly. "Ask yourself, what are you doing differently this time?"

That much was at least obvious. "I'm not using my rod. It's made from the same metal as my dragonflies, as well as Abel and Seth. I use it to harmonize with them."

"I find the first step of hearing, is to listen."

Ai nodded, that made sense. She used the rod to listen to them. She had managed to do so once before, she merely needed to try again. Back then, she'd harmonized with another piece of metal, used the sound to imitate what she did with the rod. Perhaps all she had to do was try the same, but without any metal. Which left her with only the sound.

Taking a few deep breaths to relax, she shut her eyes. "Just hear it," Ai told herself.

Releasing another breath, Ai pictured the strike of a tuning fork, trimmed that image down to only the sound. That resonating note, that perfect tone, ringing long and clear.

So precisely could she hear it in her mind that Ai would have sworn she could actually hear it. Humming through her head, rushing through her body. It encompassed everything, came from all around her. From Shibi and Shino. From the ground beneath her.

Something shifted, changed, just slightly tilted.

Shine, bright morning light. Now in the air the spring is coming. Sweet blowing wind, singing down the hills and valleys.

Colors radiated out on a backdrop of black and the field blossomed into sight in her mind. Shino on her right and his father to her left. The air about them vibrated and hummed, burning with life as colors swirled upward. Her sight followed, bringing the sky into view and rushing up. It felt like a complete loop, but when it came back around, she stared down at buildings and trees rushing below. The village. Tilting, metal glinted and her body banked, circling around on a grove. Ai's vision spiraled down, a blink of black and she was in bushes. Before her, in a clearing, three forms sat, two with dark hair and the third with sun-lit blonde. That was…

Inhaling sharply, Ai opened her eyes. She turned her head to the angle she'd seen herself and sure enough, while she couldn't see him, that was exactly where Abel lay in the undergrowth. Lifting her sight upward, and experiencing a whirl of déjà vu, Ai stared into the sky. A couple clouds lazily strolled across the blue. Yet, the colors didn't seem as sharp as they had just seconds before.

"Are you all right?"

The question snapped her out of her reverie. Both Shino and his father were watching her.

"Yes," she answered on an exhale of breath, nearly a sigh. "I'm fine." That feeling in the air, that resonance, was draining like water from the bath, but even in its dregs she could still feel that sensation of flying, sharing her vision with Tori. It was exhilarating. Yet most of all, that music, it was beautiful.

"Did you not hear it?" Surely, they could too, but Shibi tilted his head slightly and Shino glanced at his father. "The music? And the colors? I could see them coming off both you and Shino. It was…" God, she longed to see it again already. She felt so light, she hadn't felt this way since… since Itachi, Shisui, and she used to get together and train.

How had she forgotten? She'd once made metal hum with the music she heard for them. Had the genjutsu blocked that memory?

Shibi's voice pulled her from those thoughts. "The mind interprets the flow of chakra differently for all who are gifted in sensing it as familiarly as we." That made sense, but it was still disappointing. "We shall end the meditation here then. Did you find your attempt helpful?"

"Yes," Ai looked down, she expected her bugs to be gone, scattered throughout the grass, but they hadn't moved in the slightest. "I guess nothing happened with these," she said nudging the bag, "but I did connect with Tori." The sensation was finally gone, the last note vanishing, leaving only the memory.

"Then, the morning was a success. One that exceeded expectation." Her rod appeared in Shibi's hand, stretched out towards her. Nerves rattled through Ai as she reached out. Even though the feeling had faded, Ai still felt charged and she was concerned, like she knew she was about to receive an electrical shock. Nothing happened as she took it from him. A relief, but still oddly disconcerting. "Would you care to join us again another time?"

"I would," Ai responded after a moment, glancing and Shino, who appeared utterly unconcerned, she continued, "if it's not a bother."

"It is not." Shibi stood, Shino only doing the same when Ai had gathered and packed her stuff away.

"I have to meet up with Aoba and then get to work, but thank you," Ai gave the pair a bow, which father and son returned.

"Have a productive day." Ai paused at Shino's words, it was a somewhat odd statement, but she nodded nonetheless.

"Same to you," she returned before departing. The bushes on the edge of the woods rustled briefly.

"Father," Shino spoke after Ai had disappeared. His dad turned to him, his action telling Shino that he was listening and to continue. "There is something… different about her chakra."

"Oh?" his father prompted.

"Something beyond it leaning heavily towards the physical." He frowned, recalling the information those five insects had brought him, along with the tumult. "It is hard to put into words," Shino spoke slowly, "but when my Kikaichu returned with her chakra, it felt… different than others I've experienced. Her chakra riled up the others and they all desired to taste it for themselves, especially when her chakra filled the air during our meditation. Keeping them from doing so was difficult, but I do not understand why hers made them react in such a way. Did you not experience the same?"

"I did not," he replied to which his son seemed disappointed. "However, in the moment you spoke of, they did become alert, therefore I do understand what you speak of to a small degree. Think of a food you enjoy, your Kikaichu have merely discovered one in which they delight."

There had been others in the clan whose insects had developed a liking to certain chakra natures. Such a thing occurring to his own son was possible as well.

While, his own Kikaichu hadn't reacted the same, the alerting of his own insects at her chakra had been a somewhat disconcerting sensation for the only times they did so was when they'd sensed an impending attack, yet he'd known on his own instinctual level that was not what Ai had intended. Yet it was the same when he'd first met her a few days ago when she'd destroyed trees with her chakra. The clarion call for possible danger incoming, and at the same time, something itched at him that he'd felt it before.

"It will be good training for you to be around her," he finally added onto his previous words.

"Yes, that is likely true," Shino agreed, recalling what had felt like an uprising among his insects, it hadn't been enjoyable. He was curious about one thing though. "But, father, why are you helping her? She is neither a part of our clan or someone you know."

"Helping those in need is always worth our while, Shino," he chided gently, "but more than that, I feel that she could someday become an asset to our village, should she be given the opportunity."

※※※※※

"You should be proud of yourself today," Aoba commented as they walked into the Administration Building. His voice was too sweet though, putting Ai on alert for his incoming insult. "It took a few days, but you actually managed to climb twenty feet up a tree, until you wussed out." There it was. Most ninja seemed to believe in the encourage by discourage vein of teaching. "Aoba," he whined in poor imitation of her, stretching out words, "I'm tired. This is too much work. I want to stop."

"I don't sound like that," she defended. "Also, I wasn't whining."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, that wasn't whining, because," she raised her voice a few decibels and added high pitch cry, "this is whining. Aoba, my feet hurt. This bag is too heavy. It's so warm in here. I'm hungry. I'm thirsty." By her second complaint heads were turning in their direction to find the source of the ear-splitting disturbance.

"All right! I get it," he hushed her, waving his hand at her to get her to stop.

"Hear the difference?"

"Yeah, it's twenty decibels." Ai grinned at him.

They'd only made it a few feet when something heavy collided into her from behind, dropping a weight around her shoulders and making her stumble. "Hey, Ai." The voice said on her right.

Just as that voice finished, another weight dropped onto her shoulders. "Hey, Ai," this voice said as well, but on her left.

The two people leaned forward, putting a considerable amount of their weight onto her and their faces in her way.

"We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"Eug, you two," she grumbled, which only made the two guys grin.

"Nice to see you back at work, slacker," Okei said.

"Yeah, you lazy cow, skippin' out isn't cool," followed Hayase.

"I've been back for a week," she countered, not appreciating the 'lazy cow' comment.

Okei and Hayase exchanged looks. "I haven't seen her around, have you?"

"Nope," Hayase agreed. "She's obviously lying." Their faces turned back to Ai awaiting her reply.

"I see you two have been wondering what it would feel like to be stabbed thirty-seven times."

The two let their arms slide off her shoulders, as they backed up to hold their hands in front of themselves. However, their laughter said they weren't intimidated by the threat in the slightest.

"Keep up the hard work!" Okei chuckled, dropping his hands.

"Yea-hah," Hayase slapped a hand down on his bicep in a very Rosie the Riveter way. "Fighting," he cheered as two turned down a different corridor.

"And you say no one likes you," Aoba remarked good-naturedly.

"Is that what liking someone looks like?"

"They used to have a teammate," Aoba started as they continued on their way. Ai looked at him curious as to where this was going. "An Uchiha girl, she died five years ago."

"Ah."

"Surprisingly, not what you're thinking. It was a blood clot, three months before the incident. Which, they'll tell you she was lucky. She went peacefully, not many of us in this field get that. What I'm getting at is that you remind them of her. That's why they tease you. They were quite thrilled to hear you've been training."

"Sure," Ai grumbled sullenly, looking away. There was a part of her that didn't want people liking her, but another part was feeling some relief that there were people that were even willing to give it a shot. Especially when she felt she didn't deserve it.

"All right, Miss I'm-surly-because-I'm-embarrassed, subject change. When is your next training session with the Aburames?"

"This afternoon," Ai answered, content with the change. "They said they couldn't this morning for some reason or other, but they'd book a field for later in the day." Since she'd first practiced with them, she'd tried again to connect with Tori, both in and out of training with them, and had found it very hit or miss. Not only that, but when she did manage it, she couldn't hold it much past thirty seconds on a good try. Though, whenever she was with them, she usually managed at least one 'good try.'

Aoba preceded her into an open doorway. Inside were a number of ninja seated at desks reading through scrolls and stacks of paper. Picking up a large section of paper from an overloaded table, he claimed two desks next to each other, dropped his stack in the middle of the two. It put them in easy reach of them both once they sat.

Ai pawed off the top sheet and asked, "What's this?"

"Patrol reports."

"Not worried I'll read something I shouldn't?"

"Basic patrol reports," he clarified for her.

"Oh good, my favorite, the drudgery of life."

"Looks for anything inconsistent or otherwise weird."

"Right." Ai thumped into her chair and tossed her legs up on the desk. Today was going to be a thrill.

A few hours of reading dull reports left Ai bored out of her mind and when everyone parted for lunch break, Ai opted to stay in the room to eat what she'd packed. She was also going to enjoy her alone time.

She was doing exactly that as she pulled out a chuck of waste metal. Rubbing her thumb back and forth over and over, she began to push her warm chakra into it. The spot began to turn malleable in her hand and she started to shape it, pulling out bits which she turned into petals of a flower.

A clatter by the door caught her attention, startling her chakra into vanishing. Looking up, she spotted Aoba staring at her, hand laden with a paper bag emanating the tantalizing smell of fresh food.

"Do that again," he commanded.

"Huh?"

"Shaping the metal," he clarified. "I want to see you do it again.

"All right." Ai could feel her nerves buzzing as he walked over to watch more closely. Setting the brown bag on the desk.

She looked back at the half-formed flower she'd been working on and guided her warm chakra back into her hand, but as she pushed it into the metal, it petered out into the air.

"You're making me anxious," Ai accused Aoba without looking up.

"Tough," he countered. "Keep trying."

With a sigh, she repeated the action, doing her best to pretend Aoba wasn't breathing down her neck, watching her every move.

This time her heated chakra slid into the metal, and she coaxed another petal into existence.

"Oh, my…" he trailed off, staring. One of his hands slid into his hair.

"What?" Ai asked in worry. Was something wrong? Sure, she wasn't too certain what she was doing, but could he tell something was going on that she couldn't?

"I can't believe it." Aoba muttered to himself. He turned around, his head rolling back to look at the ceiling and let out an incredulous laugh. He whipped back around, pointing an accusing finger at her and snapped. "You dirty little faker!"

"Huh?" Now she was really confused.

"You've been faking it this whole time!"

"What in the world are you going on about?"

"That!" His finger redirected to the metal in her hand. "You used fire-natured chakra and molded the metal." His pointing finger curled back in and he settled the hand on his waist.

"So, what, I don't have a bloodline then?"

"Oh no, you definitely have one. I'm mean, you've got too, just look at those metal creatures of yours. I'm just saying that I doubt you've been using your bloodline this entire time."

"How would I know if I was?"

"Well, there's the rub. I only noticed because you're using only a fire nature transformation, which I myself use. But from my understanding, you should be using all three of yours. Have you ever used a water or earth jutsu, even in the smallest of ways?" Ai just tilted her head a blinked at him repeatedly. "I'll take that dying fish look to mean 'no.'"

"Even if I have, it's a water-based jutsu gone awry that caused the explosions, which I doubt we want me to try to repeat in a deliberate fashion."

"Good point. We don't want you instilling bad chakra behavior either." He let out a groan. "You're really frustrating sometimes."

"Thanks," Ai deadpanned.

"It's fine, we don't need to worry about your bloodline at the moment anyway." He pulled out his chair and sat. "We'll keep going with chakra exercises and work on figuring out the rest later. I'm really not qualified to teach a bloodline," he murmured before his voice gained strength again, "but give me some time and I'll figure out someway that will hopefully help you figure it out."

"I'm quaking in great anticipation," she grumbled sarcastically.

Aoba ignored her. "Eat some food," he commanded, gesturing at the bag he brought. "You don't eat enough and you're going to need more now that your training is becoming more chakra intensive." She could still feel a slight hunger gnawing at her belly. "Oh, and tomorrow bring a change of clothes, we're moving onto water-walking, so also wear something you don't mind getting wet. And don't forget to eat some veggies," he griped when he saw she was only going for the meat dishes.

Ai made a disgusted noise. "You're becoming such a nag."


Credits:

Fake Wings – Yuki Kajiura (Unsurprisingly there is an Amalee version that I enjoy)

Sorry for the pretty boring chapter (in my opinion). Hopefully there aren't too many errors, I didn't reread it the way I like. Let me know what you guys think, I'm curious as to your opinions. On that vein, how do you feel about romance? Swearing? (I know I've had a little, is that fine? Too much, too little?) I don't want to get too violent either, has the current level been okay? (Not so applicable in this chapter). Opinions on breaks/time skips? Do you guys want full training sessions or more montage-like to make time go a bit faster. I will confess I'm looking more forward into the time after Naruto has left/ leading into Shippuden cause then things will start to shake up more. - A side note, this story will never make it to an M rating, I do want to keep it in a T rating.

I also want to add more written backstory other than just explained backstory, I'm just finding it difficult to find proper moments for them to fit in, should I put the odd ones in, or shuffle them all off to the side story? Sorry for all the questions there… just feeling insecure and anxious xD