Disclaimer: I own nothing but the general plot and OCs
I really don't know how this turned into a full chapter. I had no intention of doing so and this was supposed to be a 1/1.5k word section. I guess I got too enamoured with the character I was writing.
Let me know what you think of the character you're about to get to know better!
Next chapter will likely be a lot smaller as a result, and I promise we finally get to meet Rock Lee then too!
Thank you so much for awesome reviews, as well as favs and follows! Let me know what works, or what doesn't work for you, as well as any prompts for scenes you'd like to see.
Chapter 40 - I Wish I Could Feel Things Like You
It was getting late in the afternoon by the time I began making my way home from four hours following Fukuda around as she dominated like a boss. It was kind of exhausting. I had a shit ton of respect for the woman and all she accomplished everyday, I was repeatedly impressed by how perceptive and sharp her intelligence was, how masterfully she manoeuvred everyone around her to get the exact result she wanted regardless of their initial willingness to comply, and just how thoroughly she knew her stuff.
She was still kind of a dick, though. Spending a prolonged amount of time in her presence was hella tiring, watching her steamroll over everyone - watching most of the people who worked for her bend over and take it because they knew the alternative was to get a brutal fucking rather than just a rough one. Even being liked by her was a bit knackering because she had such an opinionated 'my way or the highway' attitude.
DFB and Genma had been sent on a mission together, and with Tenzō not back for another week or two it was just Gai. Of course Gai wasn't really 'just' anything, but I was a grown-ass lady despite my size and I didn't need him to entertain me constantly when he had his own shit to be getting on with. As a result, the rest of my day was free of plans beyond messing around with the fuuinjutsu configurations of various types of explosive tags.
Not that I was allowed to activate any of what I made due to the lack of supervision. It was days like this that I really missed wifi.
Lost in thought about what the Elemental Nations might have done with internet, I almost missed the body hurtling around the corner toward me. And by almost I meant spotted it by miles, but had just enough time appropriate for a civilian child to dodge.
The other kid realised a second too late that I was in his general direction and stumbled in surprise, tripping over his own feet and face-planting spectacularly. In the seconds he lay face down in the dust, I cleared my throat painfully in order to suppress the cackle that wanted to burst from me at watching a child trip and eat dirt in that wonderfully bouncy way they had.
I restrained the urge to make some sort of quip, aware of most kids' sensitive nature when it came to being teased, and instead asked gently, "Are you okay?"
With a groan and a sniffle, the boy lifted his head and raised himself onto his knees giving me a proper view of his face. It took me a second to place it, but I quickly recognised the boy as the hilariously foul mouthed kid from weeks earlier, and from the wide eyes he did the same for me not too long afterward.
"You!" He scowled, pursing his small lips together in an attempt at fury, "You got in my fucking way again, you brat. I'm going punch your lights out for sure this time!"
He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the slightly weeping grazes on his knees and the thick dust covering his already wet clothes.
"Ah, hello again, stranger-kun, fancy meeting you like this again," I smiled sweetly.
"Well? What do you have to say?" He asked threateningly, taking a step forward in a futile and completely adorable try of physical intimidation.
I struggled to keep my answering grin to something polite and demure, "Did you like the hair clip, stranger-kun? I've noticed you're missing a hair adornment this time, would you like mine?"
Beneath his green-tinted black hair I saw the tips of his ears burn red as he spluttered, "Wha-N-I-I," he made an unattractive snorting noise and crossed his arms defensively while he unconvincingly insisted, "Tch, I don't know- don't know what you're talking about. Bitch."
Jesus this kid was going to kill me. I was going to die of asphyxiation from keeping my face straight and my laughter quiet.
Instead I tilted my head to the side with a mildly bewildered moue, forefinger touching my bottom lip in a manner I knew was almost saccharine in its sweetness.
"No? I apologise stranger-kun, I must have you confused with another scruffy green-black haired boy with a tendency toward swearing. You and he have an uncanny resemblance you see," I gave a warmly apologetic smile and a slight bow.
He full bodily twitched, seemingly having to take a few seconds to reboot in the face of an over saturation of cute, before his face reddened slowly and his chubby face folded in outrage.
"Oi, stop fucking calling me that, you shitty moron! My name's Masami-use it. Fucking weirdo!" He was actually shaking his fist at me with complete seriousness, and I had to clamp down on a twitch of my own as I screamed in my own head at how endearing the kid was.
"You want me to call you by your given name? Ah, that must mean we're friends now, Masami-chan! You should call me Sona in return then, I insist!" I beamed, clasping my hands together in front of me.
At this point I wasn't sure if I was screwing with the kid or genuinely trying to make friends with him. I kind of just wanted to keep him.
"I don't care what the fuck your name is, shithead, you better not get in my way again!" He gestured grandly to himself, "I've got important things to be getting on with, and I don't have time to talk to silly brats like you."
I pursed my lips and scanned him top to toe, before raising my brows with a quirk of my lips and innocently enquiring, "Ah, are you playing a game, Masami-chan? May I join you?"
He frowned irritably and visibly bristled, before opening his mouth and declaring loudly, "I'm not playing, moron! Anyone with eyes and a brain could see I'm following the inscrutable exhortations of my soul!"
I almost whistled, admiring the use of such big words from so young a kid, "by doing what?"
He gathered himself, smug pride at his own ideas written all over his face, "I'm looking for worms to mix into the noodles tonight. Kaa-san will never see it coming."
Somehow I got the feeling that Masami was an unrepentant little asshole.
It was still better than the playing ninja that I had expected him to say, and so when he smeared the dirt further into his clothes in an attempt to brush himself down, and turned semi-reluctantly to me, "Well? You can tag along if you can keep up, brat. You're a girl so I don't know what fucking use you'll be - girls are a bit like slugs; they probably serve some purpose but it's hard to imagine what." I simply gave a care free little smile and followed him.
We spent until the sun began to go down crawling in dirt and digging up worms by a river, and although I slyly ensured that all worms escaped from Masami's pockets since I didn't they deserved to be boiled alive for a gross prank, it was still enjoyable.
It reminded me so strongly of my own childhood that at times I was choking back the nostalgia, but anytime I felt I was on the verge of actually tearing up, Masami usually had something to say which was either outrageous or surprising enough that I found myself throughly distracted by him.
He just had such a huge personality that I wasn't sure how he could have possibly developed it in so few years, and the kid was smart. Insanely smart. But completely and utterly uninterested in applying his smarts in conventional ways.
By the time the sun was going down and Masami was finished ranting at the sky about existentialism and injustices once he realised the worms were all gone, he critically eyed my now crumpled and filthy wet (from where he'd pushed me into a stream) clothing - still not as in dire condition as his outfit - the scraped on my legs and arms and the stains on my skin and nodded once in approval, "if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life. Okay," he sighed, "you're allowed to be part of my super exclusive club.
"But! Don't get any shitty ideas about who runs things around here alright, brat? I'm club Captain. You're just first mate, and you're on probation too."
"Thank you for inviting me to joint you, Masami-chan. I had a lot of fun today. Ah, your hair is flopping into your face, here," I unclipped my heart shaped hair clip and in a repeat of last time yanked him down by the collar to clip his fringe back.
It looked vaguely ridiculous but then pretty much everything about Masami was ridiculous.
"Are you going to show up again tomorrow?" He asked, studiously not looking at me as he went red at the ears while fiddling with the hair clip.
"Mmhm! I'm free after lunch for the next week."
"There's club meetings you could turn up to. O-or don't. It's not like I fucking care what you do, loser!" He snapped, before storming off without another word.
"Ah, Masami-chan, what do you plan to do for the rest of the day?"
"Hurry the fuck up, shitty brat, and stop asking questions. I found some water trickling through dirt earlier, so I'd say our afternoon is booked solid!"
"Come on, brat, Kaa-san said I had to help out a coworker of hers today to help me build character."
"But the buildings are in the other direction, Masam-chan?"
"Yeah well, every time I've built character I've regretted it, so what does that bitch know? Besides, a day can really slip by when you're deliberately avoiding what you're supposed to do."
"That's true."
"Why are you carrying around worksheets and school books, Masami-chan?"
"Kaa-san insisted I take my homework with me if I wasn't going to stay inside to do it, since my grades are so shit."
"I can help you if you want. I haven't started school but I get private tutoring."
"Fuck no! I'm not letting you ruin months of careful analysis and planning. I've worked hard to keep my grades shitty but not so shitty that they'd talk to Kaa-san about extra tutoring."
"You're doing your homework poorly on purpose? Why?"
"If you do a shit enough job, sometimes you don't get asked to do it again."
"Your plan didn't go so well, then?"
"Shut the fuck up, Sona-brat... I got double homework."
"Ah, should you be out here with me?"
"No, but the way I look at it, playing in the dirt is a lot more important. Out here I'm learning real fucking skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life."
"Like what, Masami-chan?"
"Procrastination and rationalisation."
"Did you run into trouble, Masami-chan? You're a bit late."
"Kaa-san gave me a fucking lecture on self-determination and personal responsibility. She said that if I keep throwing my expensive education down the drain I'll end up living in the red light district whoring my body for drugs."
"That seems a little harsh."
"Yeah she went into a lot of detail. It was kinda scary actually, worrying all of a sudden about my future like that. I think it's true what they say, Sona-brat, ignorance is bliss. Once you know things fucking worries pop up everywhere. The secret to happiness is wilful stupidity; you don't know any better so you can keep doing whatever the fuck you like."
"Ah, I don't know if that's such a good idea, Masami-chan. It hasn't worked so far with your homework load."
"Pah, what would you fucking know, Sona-brat?"
"I got a parent-teacher meeting set up. I might as well fucking run away now. Shit."
"Surely this proves your theory from yesterday doesn't work so well, Masami-chan?
"No no no, careful, Sona-brat. We don't want to learn anything from this."
"So Kaa-san would like to have you over for dinner. If you're free tonight. Not like I give a shit."
"Thank you for inviting me, Masami-chan! I'm free tonight for dinner."
"Don't thank me, it wasn't my idea! If it was up to me you'd never meet that demon."
"I look forward to it. I should probably go home and get ready now, since my clothes are dirty."
"Fine, but just you fucking wait, life becomes that much more uncool with Kaa-san in it."
Masami always wore expensive clothes, and always got them filthy and fairly torn. Despite that, whoever dressed him clearly had no compunction about going out and buying him more expensive clothes. Keeping in mind that sort of easily preventable frivolous spending, I dressed nicely for dinner. Considering Igarashi Sona also belonged to a wealthy clan (heck the Hatake clan was wealthy, we just lived well below our means), this meant equally as expensive clothes as Masami.
I followed his instructions and made my way to his home, entering a wealthy civilian district and keeping an eye out on the landmarks he had told me about. It was only when I got close that I saw the clan mark outside a compound directly where I was supposed to go.
In particular, it was a clan mark that I recognised. I hesitantly approached the gates, not putting it past Masami to trick me, only to spot Fukuda Norita herself waiting off to the side.
"Good evening, Fukuda-san," I called with a tentative smile and a nod of my head.
She inclined her head at me in return, her face warming a fraction despite the lack of anything resembling a smile.
"Good evening, Igarashi-chan. Come, my home is this way."
"Ah, Fukuda-san? I was told to come here by..."
"Masami, my son, I know. As you know, my husband is often away on business so you'll have to excuse his absence, but I thought it prudent to invite you over to my home before he returns. As my apprentice you'll eventually come here regularly anyway due to much of the business being taken care of at home. You're also now familiar with Masami and as long as that familiarity continues, alongside your apprenticeship with me, you might as well be considered a part of the family."
Did Fukuda tell Masami to befriend me? Without shinobi training a six year old child would be incredibly hard pressed to trick me. His every reaction to me had seemed authentic. Unless he was very practiced and very carefully coached there was no way he could have tricked me into befriending him on behalf of his mother and his family - especially since he appealed to 23 year old me, and I couldn't imagine many young children who would be able to voluntarily put up with Masami for long.
But... it was a bit fucking convenient that the one person remotely close to my physical age that I had been spending time around just happened to be Fukuda's son. I wouldn't put it past her to arrange my day to end around the time her son tended to be around the tea room and shop. I wasn't pleased at being so effortlessly manipulated by her if that was the case.
Sure, Masami's general... Masami-ness meant that I wasn't pissed off because I was genuinely pleased to know him, but the fact that she had manipulated me while I had no idea that a manipulation was even taking place bothered me.
I had never guessed that he was her son because he was just nothing like her. In fact, now that I was thinking about it, Masami had been careful to conceal his clan mark from me by damaging or heavily dirtying his clothes before we met up. If I had to guess from how unenthusiastic he was about his family, it would be that he had intentionally distanced himself from his family name so as not to be associated with it.
I guessed that was one way of avoiding sycophants.
We took our shoes off as we entered Fukuda's large home, and it was easy to tell that this was a woman who knew her shit when it came to interior decorating, despite the fact that I knew little about it myself. The place was refined and elegant, simplistic but artistic. It was definitely not a space designed with a rowdy child in mind.
"I was very pleased to hear that you befriended Masami, his lack of any long term friends so far has been such a disappointment to his father and I. I also can't tell you how appreciative I am that you indulge in the odd activities he claims as recreational," she continued on in the impassive, informative tone she used to instruct me during the day. Like this was just another responsibility that she performed.
"I've been happy to leave him to his strange whims so far, but he's the heir of our family and there's a certain standard he seems committed not to achieve," we reached the dining room and she slid the door open, which revealed Masami -looking grumpy and miserable in his stiff expensive clothes -sat at the table, for once without dirt or dust anywhere on his person. He looked up with a sullen twist of his lips and his cheeks darkened a cherry red when Fukuda continued to talk while she led me to the table.
"Other appropriate children his age just don't seem to want to spend time with him unless prearranged by their parents and I. They've been taught better than to roll around in the dirt, but Masami is determined to be contrary despite my best efforts. I know how he can be, and I know a sweet, polite girl like you can hardly change his mind just yet so it's kind of you to go along with his games. Kami knows nobody else has the patience for it."
We sat at the table, my chest twisting tighter and tighter in discomfort and anger the longer I listened to Fukuda bad mouth her own kid. Especially one like Masami, who was honestly one the simultaneously coolest and least cool children I'd ever met. It had only been a week but I knew that much more and I'd pretty much adore the precocious little shit. He was completely wasted on a propriety and society driven woman like Fukuda.
It especially upset me to hear this all said right in front of Masami, as he ducked further into his chair looking increasingly humiliated. As someone who had been routinely humiliated by my dad over the dinner table each night due to my small appetite and slow eating, the sight brought feelings of nausea and panic in my stomach. It left me desperate to shut Fukuda up make Masami feel better.
Years of memories of dreading the approach of dinner time, knowing how ruthlessly bullied and mocked I was about to be, knowing that the audience to my humiliation made the experience ten times worse and knowing that I could count on one hand with fingers left over on the amount of times someone had intervened in any way... I couldn't just sit there. Not even as placid agreeable little Sona.
"Ah, Fukuda-san I do enjoy the time I spend with Masami. He's not like anyone I've met before in Konoha and I never know what he'll say next. It's a refreshing experience, honestly- I've never met someone so verbally creative as Masami-chan. I don't have any friends my age either - my family tends to prioritise adult company, so I appreciate that Masami has firm ideas on what he wants to spend his time doing or else I would be lost in his company."
Fukuda assessed me with a calculating start for long seconds, and I could see the tips of Masami's ears redden even further alongside the back of his neck. His head was still ducked, but I could see him badly hiding a bashful smile. Finally the corner of Fukuda's stern mouth twitched briefly in what was her version of a smile.
"Good, I'm glad you get along so well. I do worry about him. It's a relief to see him have normal human company."
Heh 'normal'.
It took a little while for Masami to warm up into his usual verbose self, and although he was only slightly more restrained in his Masami-ness than when it was just him and I together, there remained an odd tension between him and Fukuda - surprisingly to me, it was more on Fukuda's part than Masami's.
And then the food was served. I was dismayed on behalf of Masami when I saw that the food was cooked for an adult's palate with far too many complex and rich flavours. I could handle it due to my Hatake genetics but a normal child would take no enjoyment out of the meal.
True to my prediction, he made a revolted face and spent the next ten minutes shoving the food from side to side across his plate like it might come alive at any second and try to kill him.
Fukuda took no notice of him initially, and each time she went to turn her attention toward Masami, I did my best to redirect her attention back to me.
However, after ten minutes when he had perhaps picked his way through three mouthfuls and had retreated to some sort of daydream that clearly heavily used his food as a prop, Fukuda began to get cross.
It started as suggestions which got sterner within minutes. He whined, she stood firm. He grumbled, she snapped.
Finally she placed her hands flat on the table with a frigidly warning expression on her face and her shark-black eyes honing in on him, "Masami, be quiet and eat your food!"
If that had been me as a kid, I would have sunk into my seat and painfully forced the meal down my throat - probably as I cried pitifully and gagged a few times. Masami was made of stronger stuff. His face boiled red in indignation and his chubby face screwed up in disgust.
"Somewhere in Kirigakure I'll bet there's a little boy who has never known anything but brutality and oppression. But maybe he's heard of Konoha, and he dreams of living in this village of freedom and peace! Someday, I'd like to meet that little boy...and tell him the awful TRUTH ABOUT THIS PLACE!"
While her focus was directed away from me I allowed my expression to crease with the urge to laugh, and covered my mouth to barely hide the delighted smirk on my face while my shoulders shook. Masami, unlike Fukuda, spotted me and was exponentially encouraged in his behaviour.
By the end of the evening Fukuda's perfectly styled hair had loose limp strands hanging down her face, Masami's clothes (with the exception of underwear) were no longer adorning his body, and half his food was stuck to the ceiling. Neither Fukuda nor I could figure out where the other half ended up and if Masami knew he certainly wasn't telling.
Fukuda left it to Masami to lead me back to the gates, having left the room enraged and on the edge of murder. I had gotten the sense that the evening was just as much a test of my friendship as it was of Fukuda's sanity, and as we walked toward the exit of his clan compound he seemed warmer and more friendly to me than he had been before.
"So I doubt Kaa-san will let me leave the house to go on adventures with you in the next week or two, because she's a heinous bitch who thrives on my subjugation" he cheerfully stated, swinging his arms in a carefree manner while he walked.
"Ah, that's alright Masami-chan. I'll be here when you're allowed out again."
He brightened, "great," and then faltered, pinking at cheeks, "n-not like I care or anything, it's not like we're best fucking friends, brat."
"I don't mind being your best friend if you want," I beamed, watching surreptitiously through my lashes as he twitched at the adorableness, "here! A token of my friendship."
Grasping his wrist, I clipped one of my larger bracelets around his wrist. It was a ring of metal birds in flight, decorated with red and green stones. He stared down at the bracelet, twisting it back and forth, before glancing up at me with wide eyes that did nothing to disguise how deeply pleased he was.
"I'll see you soon, Masami-chan," I waved to him, and then turned to leave. He didn't say anything in reply, but when the pathway turned he was still staring after me, gripping his wrist.
So Masami's personality is heavily based upon a far more foul mouthed Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, to the point that I'm going to be quoting it as much as possible. The reason? No reason, I just want to. I've known the brat would a part of this story for months, and I also know quite well where Masami's story is going.
I know OCs aren't always enjoyed by readers but I'm hoping that by basing mine on an already existing character I won't fall flat with the character development like a lot OCs get. Fukuda and Masami (and maybe the dad? I'm not sure yet) will likely be the only OCs that last a significant percentage of the story.