The moon was high in the sky. It's pale light shone into the forested clearing of the Konoha training grounds. Two young women circled eachother in the fighting stance. Yasahashi was one of them, wearing some crumpled up fitness clothes, and the other was Kohaku, still in her police uniform from the day.
Kohaku was talking in a steady voice, instructing Yasahashi on something. She put her two hands together and did a quick sequence of signs, then aimed her hands at Yasa, blowing fire in her direction.
Yashashi jumped to the side and rolled underneath the fire, then took shelter behind a large boulder as Kohaku chased her with the katon. After the fire receded, the Uchiha leaned back and called out.
"Good, Yasa. You're getting quicker with recognizing the different seals."
Yasahashi rolled out from behind the boulder and blew her hair out of her face, "Ah, that was intense! I think I singed my bangs a bit."
She looked towards the black haired Uchiha, noticing how lovely the shine on her hair looked in the moonlight. Her face was in shadow, but she could just make out a faint smile on her face.
"Let me see," Kohaku gestured for Yasahashi to come over. She approached the woman, who then gazed intently at her forehead.
Yasa brushed her bangs forward, her fingers feeling a bit of the singed ends. She caught a glimmer in Kohaku's eyes, she blushed, losing track of her thoughts.
"You smell like crushed leaves and cedar," Kohaku said.
Her voice was caught in her throat. She wanted to respond somehow, but had nothing. She knew Kohaku's face looked like the moon, and her hair was like the night sky. And her breath… Yasa's heart beat in her chest.
Kohaku's hand brushed over Yasahashi's forehead, combing back her bangs. Their faces came closer and they looked at one another, phasing through the dimension that existed only between their eyes. Their lips met and they kissed.
All was quiet, except for the sound of a distant owl and the cicadas of the night. None witnessed the two women in the clearing, save for a crow who was polite enough not to bother them.
"A reason?"
"Yes, do you think there is one?" Yasa asked her colleague, Shizume, who taught the kunoichi classes at the ninja academy.
The bespectacled academy teacher met with the stern-faced math instructor in the academy cafeteria before classed were to start. Outside, ninja students milled around, talking with and sparring with one another.
Shizume shifted her glasses and nodded, "Perhaps Chiyo's shyness stems from body issues due to the beginnings of puberty."
"You think It's as simple as that?" Yasa pondered aloud. Chiyo did seem a bit curvier than the other girls her age.
"Many young kunoichi become uncomfortable around this time in their lives. There are many changes occurring for them. I have noticed since the girl's body has begun to mature was around when her shyness increaed."
Yasahashi thought back to her own time in the kunoichi classes at the academy. It was all a blur, but she remembered never taking any of it seriously. She didn't understand why it had to be separate from the boys class.
"It's hard to be a woman ninja." Shuzume said, looking out at a group of playing ninja who were getting closer with their ball to the school wall. "Though, you probably don't quite relate to that sentiment, do you Yasahashi-san?"
For a moment Yasahashi didn't know if the woman meant to call her not a ninja, or not a woman. Either, way, she felt a laugh rising in her. She cracked a smile, "I was always pretty flat-chested, wasn't I?"
"For a girl like Chiyo, it's best she learn to accept what we cannot change in this world." Shizume uttered sternly.
Something dull and heavy hit the window from the outside and the yelling of students grew closer to retrieve their mis-fired ball. Something else hit Yasahashi dully from that statement, she wasn't quite content with it.
In the green light from the ferns, she checked in on the Chiyo before class started and before Hifumi arrived. She asked her how she was doing and all that. The young girl responded shyly, but seemed glad that another person showed interest in her wellbeing.
"What kind of ninja do you want to be when you grow up?" Yasahashi asked the girl while the rest of her students milled into the class room.
"What kind of ninja?" Chiyo looked wide-eyed up at Yasahashi.
The math teacher waited for an answer, but the girl had none.
Soon, Hifumi burst into the room screaming like a death metal singer and Yasahashi had to put a stop to that. As she stepped towards the boy she noticed a huge shiner on his eye. Despite the death metal entrance, he seemed more timid this class period and even sat down in the back for a record period of time. After class she tried getting his attention but he was busy screaming like a rocker and jump-scaring his departing classmates. Finally, she managed to yank him by the sleeve before he left.
"Kid what happened to your eye?"
His face grew sour and he pulled out a senbon and tried stabbing Yasahashi with it. She jerked her arm back just in time and the boy ran off down the hallway. She chased after him.
"Hifumi, come back here!" she called. "Holy shit."
"Haha! I almost stabbed you!" the kid cackled and then made another death metal noise and disappeared out a window. Yasahashi came to a stop at the window and looked out at his receding form.
At the end of the day, she and Iruka were the last ones out of the building.
"The trouble students still giving you grief?"
"Almost got stabbed today. Ninja kids are nuts."
Iruka smiled, "Having regrets?"
"Not at all. I'm just worried about these kids."
He looked at her, "Yasahashi-san… I know it's hard… But you can't take responsibility for every student's well being. The ninja world is sink or swim, and these kids know that."
"I can't help but wonder what happens to the ones who sink."
Iruka didn't seem to know how to answer to that statement. He sighed sadly, "It's admirable that you care so much. But, please don't forget to take care of yourself too."
"Ah, I'm not looking that ragged lately, am I?" Yasahashi chuckled.
Iruka blushed, "No, I didn't mean it like that!"
They had just made it out of the school yard when a figure landed in front of them in the lamplight. Yasa took a deep breath and braced herself, as it was that ninja, Anko, again.
"Oi, fruit-bat." She walked up to Iruka and punched him in the arm, "I still need those chunin exam files, you know."
"Oh! I completely forgot. Sorry Anko, I thought the Hokage passed them on to you… I will be right back," he looked to Yashashi, "Night, Yasahashi-san! Get some rest." The spiky haired teacher zipped back towards the academy building, and soon a light in the teachers office turned on.
Yasahashi and Anko stared at eachother in awkward silence.
"Sooo… why are you at the academy?" Anko asked, "You and Iruka dating or something?"
Yasa scoffed. "I work here," She couldn't help but smirk, because Anko looked super cute.
"Oh, really? I thought you were a civilian. At least that's what your brother told me."
She grimaced, "Oh, you work with him, right."
"Yep."
Yasahashi shoved her hands into her pockets and looked away awkwardly, her eyes falling on the new classrooms across the field she had helped design.
Anko smirked, looking past her as Iruka returned from the academy building. He passed by Yasahashi and handed Anko a supple folder, "Sorry it's messy, Anko, I didn't have a chance to refile it after it was returned to us. But, hopefully it'll be helpful for the chunin exams."
"'Course it will!" Anko smiled. Iruka looked to Yasahashi in surprise, about to say something, but Anko interrupted him, "Hey Iruka- want to come to a gay bar with me and Yasahashi?"
"W-what?"
He of course, rejected, fully-flustered by the suggestion. But, Yasahashi took that as an invitation to depart with the woman. They walked together through the dim streets towards neon lights.
"Ahh, too bad Iruka was too chicken," Anko said, walking next to her.
"All in good time. I'm sure he'll find his way to that place soon or later," Yasahashi said.
Anko smiled wildly, "Okay, so you thought so too…"
Yasahashi loved the way Anko looked in the neon lights. They glowed on her purple hair in the coolest way. She smiled back.
"Of course, I mean- you can totally tell, right?"
Anko noticed how Yasahashi was looking at her and her eyes twinkled a bit. She turned around and continued walking, "Buy me dango," she said.
Yasa chuckled, "If you insist."
They had a nice time together, laughing and chatting, though, both decided not to stay out too late since it was a weeknight. Yasa instead walked her home, pointing out various buildings she had helped design. Anko listened with interest.
"So, I take it you're not mad at me anymore about that one night stand thing?" Yasa asked Anko as they grew closer to her home.
"Nah," Anko said.
"What changed your mind?"
"Well, first I realized that it wasn't because of the no-bondage stuff, so I felt better about that."
Yasa laughed, "Yeah, I swear it wasn't because of that, Anko."
She sighed, "You see, I have a reputation around here, it gets really old, you know?"
"I can imagine."
"But, then, I kind of pried a bit and learned why you might not have been ready for any of that, anyway."
"I'm guessing Kimura told you?" Yasa looked down a dark alleyway. Some cats yowled and fought down there. She shuddered.
"Oh, nothing of the sort!" Anko exclaimed, "I hate that prick."
"Okay, instant points with me now." Yasa smiled again.
"But…." Anko smiled guiltily, "I did check your intelligence file, which I was surprised to learn you had."
"Oh, what did you learn?"
Anko punched Yasa lightly in the side, but said nothing.
Yasa sighed.
"I learned that Yasahashi Koizuma is super gay and cool as shit, that's what I learned."
"Well, it's good to hear my official intelligence file get's that right," she chuckled, "thanks for doing such an invasive background check."
"My pleasure!"
"Would you want to go out another time?"
"Duh."
When Yasahashi got home that night, she heard arguing upstairs in Naruto's apartment. It sounded like a young girl and another boy. The neighbors were pounding on the walls, siding with one kid or another. Yasahashi wasn't paying attention enough to know what they were arguing about. She just thought it unusual that Naruto had company.
As she was walking to the lobby to drop off her rent check, she ran into a pent up pink-haired kunoichi who was obviously bottling up some intense anger. Yasahashi steered clear of her path as the girl stomped down the stairwell with gritted teeth.
The voice of Naruto came from the 3rd floor landing, "Sakura-chan! Please, you gotta help us!"
"N-Naruto! Stop moving!" shouted another boy's angry voice.
Soon, the orange clad boy came tumbling down the stairs, along with a blue-shirted boy who seemed…. attached to Naruto's back. The two ninja boys seemed plastered together in the most undignified way, as if their limbs and hair were at the mercy of some kind of strong-adhesive. In addition to that, pieces of paper, seals, and explosive tags, ramen cups, ninja stars, and dirty clothes decorated the two ninja kids, and Naruto's hand seemed to be stuck in a tin pail.
As Naruto landed infront of Yasahashi, calling down the stairwell to his long-gone female companion, Yasa came face to face with the black-haired boy who was attached to Naruto's back.
She found herself suddenly overwhelmed by a mixture of fearful emotions and pain. Her eyes locked on to the boy's features, recognizing the Uchiha resemblance. Terror filled her limbs and every ounce of her body told her to run back up the stairwell to her apartment. Her legs began to shake.
The Uchiha boy noticed her, but, with only slight distraction from his more pressing reality.
"N-Naruto!" he shouted as the other boy shifted and caused his arm to twist. The boy extended his legs further, trying to get his feet on the ground, but inevitably Naruto had won that battle somehow.
Yasahashi was still frozen in terror, her heart beating fast, until Naruto turned around 90 degrees and looked at her with the stupidest, weirdest face ever and said through the dopiest tears, "Aunty-Yasaaaa! Please help! Me and Sasuke are attached to each other and Sakura won't help us!"
Naruto noticed the fearful look on his neighbor's face after a moment and was about to ask if she was okay, until the woman blinked and, very quietly, began to laugh. Soon, the quiet laughter evolved into loud bellowing, insane rolling cackles that filled the stairwell and echoed throughout the complex.
She held her stomach and laughed and laughed and laughed, so much that even some of the other neighbors poked their heads into the stairwell and stared at her, dumbfounded at the unfamiliar noise. She laughed so hard, tears streamed down her face.
"Hey! Aunty-Yasa! No fair, don't laugh at us like that, this is serious!"
"Idiot, don't move like that!"
But, she could hardly breath, her stomach was so tight. As Yasa wiped the tears from her face, she looked at the two boys. Both were legacies of such intense tragedies, and yet were now stuck together like two cats that had fallen into a vat of honey! She had to look away and conceal one last bout of cackles, before starting to walk back up the stairs towards Naruto's apartment.
"S-sorry kid, let's get you two cleaned up," she called down, gesturing for them to follow.
That was the second time in Yasahashi's life that she laughed so hard she couldn't talk for a whole minute.
Beep beep! Kakashi's Prius here. Always be careful with sticky substances in your car.
