Like most things it had started out as a game and had been built up from there. Sometimes it would be simple; see who could get a boy's phone number first, who could get a date with a boy who had specific features i.e. brown hair, gray eyes, non-shinobi etcetera. The game had started after the village heart throb had bailed on them and they'd suddenly realized that there were other guys around them. When asked about it by their friends and senseis' it was passed it off as honing their kunoichi skills. Whether the aforementioned senseis' and friends actually believed them was really not their concern. Training, that was their story and they were sticking to it.
Maybe it was to prove how powerful they were without blood shed. Maybe it was one of the few childish games they could still get away with. Maybe it was their way of dealing with time.
At seventeen they were- and had been for sometime- considered full adults, not because they'd been sexually 'active' since fifteen, and not because they owned their own homes (apartments) but because time moved differently for shinobi. At the age of five the children had entered into classes on basic stealth, tools, and weapons handling. Kunoichi training for the girls and a muscle conditioning class for the boys. At ten the kids would have their own kunai and/or shuriken and possibly be taught (or already learning) family jutsu's. At twelve they were official shinobi (usually). Most of the kids had killed before they even hit puberty.
Childhood was a luxury few to no shinobi could afford to have; a 'happy' childhood was something of dreams. Though most childhoods weren't amazing, spectacular, sugar coated wonderlands of fun and love most weren't hellish blood letting nightmares either. (Though the latter was far more common than the former.) Shinobi simply couldn't afford to have the naivety of childhood past their academy days; after all, the general goal for a shinobi is to die young as late as possible. Silly as it sounds the idea foregoes all records of humanity, back to the days when demons and creatures of far more ancient blood ruled the land.
But as previously mentioned… time moves differently for shinobi and age is a high price to pay for maturity.
Was that it?
Was that the explanation to their games?
So childish yet so elaborate?
Their selfish, self imposed kunoichi training?
Seducing men both unfamiliar and well known with some flirty looks and a few choice words?
Of course it was more than that. More than just games, more than just subtly asserting their power over men, and more than them trying to get their jollies for the night. It was a science. They used scent to lure their prey to them; subtle mixes of blood, sweat, and fire. These three things appealed to the primal part of the target's brain. The sweat contained natural pheromones that elicited a degree of arousal to the opposite sex. The blood appealed to the targets 'inner hunter' and triggered excitement. The fire was for a sense of warmth, companionship, and comfort. They usually wore their hair up so that the throat was visible; semi tight shirts that drew attention but weren't too revealing, skirts, pants, and shorts that made the legs look long and appealing.
Of course the whole clothing thing was far more obvious and they'd been using the appeal of the body for several years. While it had not attracted the heart throb's attention other males had noticed and had responded accordingly. Though those males' attempts at the courting ritual were shot to hell, burned, buried, and forgotten, accordingly.
But now? Well now the courting ritual was taken with a far more serious mind than the kunoichi had previously given to the suitors. Of course the homelier boys' affections were shot to hell, burned, buried and forgotten. Accordingly, of course.
But of the few who garnered enough favor with the women were lucky to be called upon for more than a few dates and physical pleasure. Sadly that was the price to pay, and when the heartthrob left so did some of the girls' interest in anything long term. Though the passion ran high, it ran short and more than one man was tossed out. (Sometimes literally).
Imagine the shock and confusion when the heart throb came back. The initial response was to stay away from him as if he'd been quarantined for a pox. Though after a period of almost exactly one week. And the public announcement of his defect being merely part of an extensive mission, some began shifting back into their old habits, sort of.
The first woman to do so was in fact his former teammate. Though it was far from what he'd grown used to. A small smile, a relieved look in her eye and several -calm- words about her happiness that his mission was successful. And that was it. Well aside from an 'I'll see you around, I guess' followed by a wave and she turned away. She turned away… she turned away? He was both confused and relieved at her response. No tears, no attempts at physical contact, no 'I was so worried about you' just casual small talk.
The second and third females he ran into had been in a conversation together, and though he recognized only one of them, both had offered up polite 'I'm glad your mission was successful' remarks before walking on and continuing their conversation.
While both relieved that he'd been in the village for a month and wasn't accosted in some alleyway by a random group of inebriated girls (a rather common experience in his younger days) he was rather …unsettled… by the drastic changes in the female populaces' behavior. Growing more and more curious with each passing day he finally confronted one he could trust about the situation.
"Well… yeah." He said running fingers through his messy blonde hair. "It started out slow, right? And then it kind of snowballed it when everybody hit fifteen… it just sort of… exploded." Naruto made what Sasuke assumed was an exploding gesture and continued with his briefing of the changes over Sasuke's absence. "It's kinda hard to explain if you weren't there…" The blonde groped for the right words then his expression lit up. "Have you ever read any of the Icha Icha Paradise books?" The glare he received made Naruto hold up his hands in self defense. "Ok ok… jeez… look here." Rummaging around under a pile of clothes on the stove Naruto pulled out a book and tossed it to Sasuke. "Chapter six, page two eighty two, fourth paragraph. Stop when Kimiko mentions a cow, two flamethrowers, a crowbar, and the jelly beans. It gets kinda…freaky…after that." Naruto said as the dark haired boy caught the book, quirked an eyebrow and thumbed through to the indicated pages.
Naruto bit his cheek to prevent himself from bursting out with laughter as Sasuke's face got redder and redder with each sentence he read until the boy finally closed the book, set it down on the only open space on the table, and gave Naruto a rather distressed look.
"Wh-what did any of that perverted garble have to do with what's been happening… around…" The dark haired boy cut himself off as realization came. Naruto merely nodded. "I… it… they…" Again Naruto nodded. "And th-the…the piercing…?" Naruto chuckled and ruffled his hair.
"Yeah… Hinata has one actually." Sasuke blinked in disbelief. They'd been doing things like… like what was in the book…
"A-and th-the thing with the… the whips?" Naruto let out a laugh.
"Sakura and Ino actually dragged me into a leather bar last night, it had a stage with stuff like that on it. I didn't let them talk me into going up there but they got Shino to go up instead-" Sasuke wasn't listening any more, do to the fact that his mind was busy reeling in horror. Not so much that Shino was in a leather bar but that Sakura; who'd always been so quick to blush and condemn Naruto and Kakashi as perverts would have to drag Naruto into a place like that.
He was brought back to the present by a simple sentence "-and I didn't know Ino could get her leg that far behind her head."
"What the Hell?" Sasuke said, loudly, before Naruto could launch into another story. "What the Hell happened to make everybody into… into… perverts!" The blonde was taken aback by Sasuke's loss of his calm demeanor.
"What? The kinky stuff usually only happens before somebody goes off on a mission, you know, in case they die or something. Otherwise it's mostly just sex."
"Just sex?" Sasuke stood quickly and then went off on a tangent, most of which Naruto didn't even pay attention to. It was a few minutes in before Sasuke noticed Naruto's rather evil smile and slowed his rant to a halt. "What are you grinning at dobe?" Not even fazed Naruto leaned in close to Sasuke and the smile became far more sinister.
"Ya know… I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of sex. Unless-" Sasuke knew where this conversation would lead and tried to cut Naruto off.
"Shut up dobe."
"You're a…"
"Don't say it. Don't even think it."
"Virgin." He said it in a sing-song way and promptly had to dodge a fist. "Ha ha! I knew it! Sasuke's a Virgin! Sasuke's a Virgin!" The blonde leapt around his apartment continuing the 'Sasuke's a Virgin' mantra in a sing-song tone as he dodged fists and the occasional kunai. "How does it feel to be the last Virgin of the rookie nine?" The blonde asked as he caught his friend's fist and the dark eyed boy faltered as the full implication of what Naruto had just said hit him.
"Th-the…last?" The smile wasn't as evil as it had been, more of a 'not-so-nice-intentions' smile really, but the words that followed could definitely have been classified as malevolent.
"Oh yeah… Chouji got some too." He released Sasuke's fist, seeing as the statement had diffused him. "You missed out on a lot Sasuke." And Naruto turned away from the boy. The Uchiha boy shook his head slightly, giving Naruto's back a 'no-fucking-duh' expression.
"How… how long has… this... been going on for?" The blonde paused, tilted his head slightly and glanced over his shoulder at Sasuke.
"What? Everyone from childhood becoming sexual deviants?" He said it so casually it made Sasuke blanch mentally. "Runnin' on the later half of two years."
"And you… agree… with what everyone's doing?" Ugh. So many questions. Naruto rolled his eye but replied.
"Hey, everybody's happy." And that thought left Sasuke to do what he did (does) best. Brood.
…and this little piggy went 'brood, brood, brood, all the way home.
How long had he been laying there contemplating everything he'd learned. What happened? Where had his childhood gone? Where had their childhoods gone? Had they ever existed in the first place?
…
A hand covered his eyes and he grunted. This was stupid. He was getting upset over a childhood and an innocence that never existed.
But the question remained…
Whose innocence and childhood was he mourning?