AN: Sorry this took so long! Chapter 5 should be up tomorrow as well.
"To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle." - Confucius
Chapter 4: Crowded Spaces
Present - Konohagakure
Aratashiki barely heard the thump from behind her over the sound of her own haggard breathing. Twisting around to look at its source, she was greeted by the sight of Neji's unconscious form slumped against the wall, a light snore escaping from his lips. The others were a little concerned; she seemed to be truthful thus far, but they couldn't be sure she hadn't sucked out his entire life force during the ritual.
"Hn."
"Is he going to be alright?" Tsunade asked.
"Hn."
"Use your words, Sasuke."
"Who the hell is Sasuke anyways?" She asked, turning back to face the older woman.
"Long story," Kakashi answered. He had grown bored during the sixty seconds of silence following the sealing ritual's completion, and thus had already buried his nose into the latest Icha Icha novel.
Tsunade groaned when she saw the book in his hands and Hiashi frowned, having lost all hope for the younger generation. To him, it was a great shame to have an abundance of knowledge and educational literature at your disposal and to choose such mindless drivel in favor of intellectual growth.
"You're seriously reading that indecent filth at a time like this?" Tsunade growled at him.
"To know what is right and choose to ignore it is the act of a coward, Tsunade."
"Am I misinterpreting this conversation, or is he reading a porno novel?" Aratashiki asked.
Kakashi shrugged, and she took it as confirmation of her assumption.
"Oh thank kami you guys have them too," she sighed in relief.
All eyes in the room snapped to her. Even Kakashi looked up at her from behind the book, raising an eyebrow at her unexpected reaction. They waited patiently for Aratashiki to elaborate.
"Erotica is one of the hallmarks of an intelligent species, as far as I'm concerned."
"Indeed," Kakashi said. "Pornagraphy will save the world."
Hiashi excused himself then, looking like he was about to cry, and Tsunade achingly rubbed her temples. Kakashi stood up and followed the elder Hyuga out, offering some lame excuse about having kittens and grandmothers to save. It was nearly four in the morning at that point; Aratashiki doubted that there were many elderly or feline damsels in distress who were out and about. What a load of bullshit - no wonder that guy was so arrogant if they let him make such absurd excuses.
From behind Aratashiki, Neji groaned and attempted to sit upright. "You good buddy? Almost brought down the building with your snoring," she teased.
Neji glared at her before giving a subtle nod. "Fine. What time is it?"
"Morning, I think."
"Thank you, that is very specific and helpful."
Aratashiki huffed. She knew she was being a bit too sarcastic with him, which is the opposite of how she needed to be behaving. If she actually wanted these people to trust her, then presenting herself as flippant and immature was not the way to go about it. However, Neji happened to unearth something within her; he triggered all of her stress to bubble to the surface, and overwhelmed her with his mere presence, something she could only cope with - in this situation - by being mischievous. Her predicament had everything to do with the fact that he had come to her defense earlier.
She couldn't understand why - couldn't understand him - which made her feel insecure and uneasy. Neji had seen her unsightly transformation and should have been running for the hills; she expected as much from people in general, and especially from men. Instead, he was being cooperative, and it pissed her off because she hadn't done anything to deserve such accommodation. Sure, she should have been grateful for it - and she was - but in truth it just made her worry that these people would be susceptible to manipulation. Something Kaguya was very good at. Isshiki as well.
Were humans always this willing to bend over for powerful people, or threats? The notion concerned her; power, as she had learned, was the ultimate corrupter.
Tsunade chuckled, watching the two of them bicker. "I suppose it is close to being time to prepare for the day. Aratashiki, before I send you off: we can't exactly have you going around calling yourself an Otsutsuki, just in case. So, what would you like for us to refer to you as instead?"
"Ah, like a codename - I've always wanted one of those. Hmm," Aratashiki retreated into her mind to brainstorm, unconsciously staring at Tsunade's boobs. "...call me Dra'nakyuek, Destroyer of Worlds."
No response; they were a tough crowd. Humor may have been one of her preferred coping skills, but that didn't mean it was a good one, or that she was even remotely funny.
"Right, I was totally kidding. Sorry. How about 'Arata Hoseki'." The name was inspired by the relatively recently-acquired piece of jewelry worn around her neck. "That's believable, right?"
"That should work," Tsunade replied. "Now that that's out of the way; Arata, we need to assess your abilities as soon as possible in order to assign you a rank. But first and foremost, you need to get you some proper clothing. And gloves," she added.
Arata clapped her eye-balled hands together, delighted by the prospect of shopping for human attire; but then she remembered that she wouldn't be able to blow through Junichiro's money on this planet. Not that she had been able to back on her own. Hypothetically, had she not been imprisoned of fucking hated then maybe she would have gotten the chance to do so. In fact, she had never personally used money before and wasn't even sure what kind of currency they used here.
As if sensing her dilemma, Tsunade spoke up. "Don't worry, Shizune will provide you the necessary Ryo. Neji, since you are in the know, I'd like for you to accompany her for the next few weeks while she settles in."
Neji and Arata both began screaming internally. The poor guy - talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they were stuck together, and she would have to set aside her impulses and pride and try to be a normal adult person, who was capable of attempting to understand and get along with others. Which shouldn't be a problem, unless they were all like Neji.
He may be good-looking, she thought, but he had a temperament like him . Then again, it's not like she didn't have to deal with that douchebag for her entire childhood. One 'peach' was preferable to all three of the stooges, anyhow.
"As you wish, Hokage-sama." Neji stood up, stretching out his tired limbs and dusting off the black pants he wore. He then began walking towards the doorway, stopping momentarily to glance over his shoulder at Arata. "Are you coming, or do I need to carry you as well?"
"Pfft, as if I'd let you touch me. You could be a pervert or something," she retorted, scrambling to her feet.
Watching the pair argue over who should carry the Ryo Shizune handed them, Tsunade sighed and rested her head in her hands. She desperately hoped that her gut was correct about all of this; despite the girl's haughty behavior, Tsunade sensed no ill will from her, only benevolence. Which was beyond shocking, to be honest. If she were wrong and had missed something, though, Naruto would surely pick up on it.
"Seems like it's just one thing after another these days; what strange times we live in."
Since none of the shops were open at four in the morning, Shizune offered for Arata to sleep in an empty house next door for the night - a very generous offer. Concluding that there was nothing better to do for the moment, Arata accepted the offer and laid down in the corner of the empty living room to try and catch a few hours of sleep. Neji leaned against the outer wall near the door to keep watch - otherwise described as aggressively staving off an existential crisis - and eventually dozed off as well.
ooooooo
ooooooo
Several hours later, Neji was woken up by the bustling sounds of construction work that he had grown accustomed to ever since Pain's assault. Noting the sun's position in the sky, he realized that he had been asleep for the past six hours. He cursed, jumping to his feet and praying that Arata hadn't run off while he was unconscious.
Opening the door cautiously, Neji peered inside the hut to find Ara sleeping peacefully. Almost too peacefully, as he didn't see any movement from her chest. Activating his Byakugan, he examined her chakra network; it seemed to be in working order, but her heart had literally stopped - he couldn't see it moving at all.
"What the fuck?" he whispered.
Neji walked up to her side and knelt down, holding his ear over her mouth. Relief flooded his senses as he felt faint breaths leaving her parted lips. Kami, he thought, the last thing he needed was for this chick to fucking keel over on his watch, ruining his career and reputation.
Arata opened her eyes then. "Good-morning!" she sang, startling Neji and sending him scrambling backwards towards the wall. "The next time you try to take advantage of me while I'm asleep, I'm going to greet you with a swift kick to the nuts instead of a cheery salutation." Her voice lowered dramatically, dripping with venom.
"Get over yourself. I was just making sure you weren't suffocating or having cardiac arrest, since your heart wasn't beating at all ."
"Were you worried about me, Neji-kun?"
A blush rose to his cheeks and he looked away from her, rising to his feet. Of all the times for him to blush like some schoolboy, why did it have to be now? Sometimes it seemed like his dick genuinely did have a mind of its own, no matter what protests his brain threw out. "No, you just sleep like a corpse, that's all," he replied. "Unfortunately for me, you're still alive. And please, never call me that again."
"Or what - you're going to tell me to never call you that again and I'm going to do it again anyways?"
"Let's go," he said, ignoring her highly accurate statement. Neji had no idea what to do, or how the hell he was going to cope with this woman's presence. So far she had matched his divisive attitude blow for blow, and it was infuriating. Certainly it wasn't this huge of an annoyance to others when he acted that way. No, that was impossible; otherwise he would have no friends, right?
Begrudgingly, Arata let the matter go and followed him out of the house before he could get too far away. She needed to stop overthinking things and letting her insecurities run rampant, otherwise her mouth was going to burn every single bridge before she'd even come across them. Besides, her tongue was unruly enough without the added emotional toll of this situation. It had to be the damn curse, which was undoubtedly real even if it wasn't a literal curse.
Trying to focus on something else, she looked around at the shinobi and citizens working together to transport materials between the plethora of construction sites. The clang of hammers and grinding of saws filled the dewy morning air; sunlight reflected off of the droplets of sweat peppering the workers' faces and gave their skin a shiny appearance.
"Your construction seems to move surprisingly fast, despite the primitive methods," Arata commented.
Neji kept his gaze ahead as he responded. "Primitive or not, hard work is what actually gets things done."
Work smarter, not harder, she thought. Hadn't he heard of that before? She almost said it out loud, but recognized that doing so might come off as offensive. No, not might - it definitely would.
They were both silent as they continued to follow a narrow dirt path through the smattering of buildings. Arata noticed the occasional appearance of the same creatures she had sent flying in terror the previous evening. She spotted a small blue one perched on a pile of lumber off to their side and held out her arm to see if it would come to her, attempting to reach out to it with a gentle pulse of her chakra; imitating the actions of a fictional princess she had read about in a book when she was a little girl. The animal made a pleasant noise before fluttering over and landing in Arata's palm with a flap of what she recognized to be wings.
She squealed, examining its small black eyes and short beak. "I've never seen such a tiny bird! Ahh, so cute."
"There are birds where you come from?" he asked, internally scolding himself for betraying his interest in the subject matter.
"Yes, although they are much bigger than this. My companion - Tatsu - had a wingspan of about eight meters."
Thinking of the creature made her miss the big, blue bird. The last time she'd seen him was when she was aged ten, and had gone riding with Kaguya and the youngest of her elder brothers. She had gotten into an argument with him , and that night while everyone was asleep he'd gone out to the stables and murdered Tatsu. As a waking gift, Aratashiki had found the bloody, severed head of her former best-animal-friend sitting outside of her bedroom door. The memory filled her with rage, but with profound sadness as well. Tatsu was an innocent creature.
Neji scoffed at her in disbelief; no natural bird had a wingspan that large, that he knew of. Only a summoning animal would reach such a size. What the hell kind of planet was she from? "That sounds made up. I don't believe you."
"Hmph. Argentavis Magnificens, look it up!"
Only after she had spoken did Arata realize that humanity might not have developed a digital information database like their own; her people had computing machines where they could store near-infinite volumes of data. The computers became a huge repository of knowledge, enabling the transcription of all of their books and archives into a singular database that could be accessed by anyone who was given permission and who owned a tablet device; there were different levels of access for each class of citizen, as well. Neji just might have a heart attack if she showed him the tablet stored in her hidden leg pouch, even if it hadn't worked in years.
Neji briefly glanced up at the sky, unsure of what she meant by 'look it up'. Did she want him to go to a library and sift through books for a term he wasn't going to find? How absurd; what a lunatic suggestion, that he should waste his precious time and intellect performing such an arbitrary task when she could simply provide him with the information herself. One thing he did want to know, however, was why she used the same measurements as he would have; not that it was unreasonable for different civilizations to have reached the same practical solution for the problem of quantifying dimensional characteristics. She had feet, so it was logical to assume that perhaps they too had started measuring using body parts and evolved from there in the same way humanity had, but still; it was awfully convenient. If he'd been reading a story about such things, he would have deemed it lazy world-building. There was also the matter of communication. He may as well just ask her this question, so Neji gave into this gnawing curiosities and addressed the second half of her bizarre claim.
"How is it that you use the same units of measurement as we do? Not to mention language-"
Before he could finish, a familiar pair of shinobi called out to them, leaving one man by himself to support the log they had been carrying. Fantastic, he thought. It was only natural for Lee to prevent him from observing any personal intellectual growth. The man who was unfortunate enough to be reliant upon those two yelped as he fumbled his grip and dropped the lumber, which only narrowly avoided crushing both of his feet.
Arata began to wave at them, but stopped short once she remembered that they would not recognize her; when she remembered why that was, she began to feel very anxious. Her secret 'prank' - which was only partially intended, the rest being a product of necessity - was about to bite her in the ass.
"Neji, comrade! Is your rear-end intact today?" Lee asked, breaching Neji's personal space by sidling up to the man, and earning himself a light shove in response.
"What are you talking about?" Neji asked, his mind reeling.
What the fuck was Lee doing, asking him such a thing; was Lee implying that he was gay? Because if so, it was an extremely homophobic way of going about it, and quite problematic. He would sooner expect that behavior from a clan elder, not his youth-obsessed teammate. Maybe Lee had seen Neji and Kiba that one time they had kissed. It wasn't consensual; Kiba did it on purpose just to traumatize Neji in retaliation for being defeated during a spar. He even went so far as asking Neji to pretend to be Hinata-sama so he could 'see what it was like'. That guy was an animal; Neji had nearly killed him that day. But he was almost certain no one else had been around.
This was trouble , Arata thought. She grabbed Neji's sleeve and tugged on it lightly, hoping he would take it as a hint to play along.
"We went to eat ramen last night, remember? When you saw that Naruto had been given the title of 'Ramenkage', you got jealous and challenged his wall photo to an eating contest-"
"Which you totally lost," Tenten interjected. "Which shouldn't have been possible, against a photo frame."
"-and started crying after eating three bowls of spicy ramen." Lee lowered his voice to what counted for him as a whisper. "You even accused the chef of trying to mutilate your rectum, and got us kicked out for telling the other patrons that they were going to probe everyone's anus with the noodles."
Tenten leaned in to whisper as well. "We had to restrain you to keep you from doing something violent. You had started coming up with a fuinjutsu that you were convinced would summon Naruto because he was, quote, 'clearly bound by some divine contract to make me miserable'."
Neji had no idea what either of them were talking about; the only plausible thing he had heard was his supposed claim about Naruto being his contractual tormentor. It wasn't always intentional, but Naruto truly did have a knack for inadvertently causing Neji psychological pain. Like the one time Konohamaru had approached him during the chunin exams and disguised himself as a girl Neji was 'in love' with. By 'in love', he meant that Naruto said she was hot and Neji didn't verbally disagree. Naruto was leaving the village for some time, so naturally he had ensured that Konohamaru mastered the sexy transformation technique so that he could prank people in Naruto's absence. At the exam, the brat had started squishing his boobs together and shaking his barely-covered ass in front of every genin in the fucking five great nations, all while directly antagonizing Neji. It had driven him to activate his byakugan so he could incapacitate the kid before anything worse happened. So even though Naruto never specified Neji as a target, the entire debacle was his fault. That memory still kept him up at night.
"You were inconsolable, Neji! You told us that your asshole was going to be sore for days , it was so youthful!"
"Yeah, I considered taking you to the hospital but feared for the safety of the nurses, so we just locked you inside the nearest empty house and put a timed seal on the exits."
Neji just stared at them, clenching his jaw as he tried and spectacularly failed to push down the inconceivable amount of rage he felt. Of course Arata had borrowed memories from the most embarrassing timeline imaginable. No, not even imaginable, it was impossibly embarrassing and there was no way that he would ever do something like that in any universe. What did he even do to her to deserve such humiliation? Even more maddening, though, was the fact that Lee had thought it appropriate to discuss such a thing in public.
Arata giggled nervously, covering her mouth as she watched his reaction. He was really angry; shit, this guy was beyond livid. This is why she hated herself sometimes - she just couldn't help being a fucking moron and crossing every line known to man for no good reason. Sure, it had genuinely been the first usable timeline she'd come across, but Arata technically could have taken the time to find a different one. Whatever was coming her way was well deserved.
"Hey, who's this?" Tenten asked, either not noticing or not caring about the fact that her teammate was five seconds away from going berserk. Shit was about to get western.
"Miss, are you Neji's girlfriend?" Lee followed, playfully jeering at Neji.
Big mistake. Huge. Tenten laughed and Neji gave Lee a death stare, causing the colorful shinobi to recoil in fear while frantically muttering a string of apologies. Neji knew it was ultimately Arata's fault, but Lee was clearly bringing it up to intentionally piss him off instead of just letting it go and keeping it between their team members like a normal human being. That bushy-browed imbecile picked the wrong day to push his luck, as he was soon to discover. Neji grabbed him by the collar and dragged his victim behind the nearest building, into a secluded patch of woods. Arata was genuinely concerned for Lee's safety, and looked at Tenten to see her reaction.
"Um, should we go after them? I really think he might hurt him-"
"No, it'll be fine. This happens often enough that I no longer waste my time trying to intervene," she sighed. "Anyways, I'm Tenten. I take it you're new to the village?"
"Arata Hoseki," she responded, attempting to smile, "and yes, I'm from a small village."
"Oh, is that so? Maybe I've heard of it!"
She had not prepared at all for this situation, and needed to think of something quickly.
"Bakakagure. Is the name of my village, I mean. Bakagakure." Seriously. Village of idiots? Honestly, right now that wasn't too far off from the truth. If the shoe fits, so they say. And presently, the shoe fit quite well.
"Huh, that's not in one of the Five Great Nations is it?" Tenten tilted her head to the side curiously, brown eyes narrowing in thought.
In the daylight, Tenten's eyes were actually really pretty. They were round and slightly upturned, with large irises the color of Magnolia bark that had a faint greenish tint whenever a shadow was cast over them. Her features were somewhat androgynous, too; last night her face had appeared cute and feminine, but right now Arata found her to be boyishly handsome. Funny, she would have expected the reverse given the corresponding circumstances. The androgyny reminded her of him , but in this case she didn't feel revolted.
"Oh, no, it's actually in the Land of….Grass." Arata had no idea if the Land of Grass was real, it was just the first thing that came to mind because she was standing in the stuff.
"Ah, yeah, I think Kusogakure is there as well! So what brings you here?"
Now Arata was really sweating, and regretting not taking the time to come up with a cover story before venturing out into the village. She could talk out of her ass some more, or she could come up with one that was the heavily-veiled truth. The latter would be easier to maintain. "Hmm, well, it's a bit of a long story. I don't want to keep you."
Tenten smiled, sitting down and patting a spot on the grass beside her, gesturing for Arata to sit with her. Off in the distance, a muffled scream and frantic pleading could be heard. "Don't worry, they will be a while. Besides, you're a breath of fresh air compared to those fools. I'm all ears!"
A blush crept up her cheeks in response to the undeserved kindness; Arata could easily be lumped in with the other two at times. She sat down next to Tenten, hugging her knees to her chest and letting her eyes wander around. "Alright, as long as you don't mind, Tenten-san."
"Oh, you can just call me Tenten," the kunoichi replied with a laugh. "Anyways, you don't have to share if you aren't comfortable."
"Thanks. It's fine, though," she smiled. Neither of them noticed that Neji and a dazed but still-able to walk Lee were heading towards them. "My father is very abusive and controlling. All I ever did was...train. Ninja training, you know. I never left the house or went into the village outside of that. I escaped around a year ago, wandered for a time and then ended up coming here when the war broke out. I came to the Leaf specifically because-"
"She is related to a Hyuga branch that defected from the main clan several generations ago. That's why she has the Byakugan; she came to find Hiashi," a much calmer Neji finished for her. Impeccable timing, because she hadn't a clue what was about to come out of her mouth, and it likely would have been both incriminating and weird as hell.
"Yes, what he said."
"Well, I'm glad you're with us now and away from that awful man. I hope you feel welcomed here!" Tenten grinned broadly, jumping to her feet and offering a hand to help Arata stand. She took it gladly, still a bit conflicted about it all. It was so nice to be accepted by someone, but she couldn't help feeling guilty and like it wasn't warranted, whether she told the truth or not. "So, what are you and Neji up to?"
"She needs new clothes and I have to babysit her," Neji replied shortly.
"Yeah, back in my village we only wore our birthday suits. It's pretty boring, given that most of the citizens are old men." Ah, there it was. Arata had gone entirely too long without spewing creepy nonsense - it was bound to happen. Maybe she needed professional help to get rid of the awful habit, or a shaman to cleanse her of the curse.
"Aw man, I wish I could go shopping. I hope you're not serious, though. I for one would have to blind myself if I ever saw either of these two-"
Lee - who had retained enough cognizance to know when to shut her up - grabbed Tenten's arm and started pulling her back towards their work site. "Tenten, the village is in need of our assistance! Nice to meet you, miss Arata-san!"
"Dammit, Lee! Hey, it was fun meeting you- see ya around!"
Tenten gave an apologetic wave as she was dragged away. Arata watched them in amusement, failing to notice that Neji had already started walking away at a brisk pace. She turned around to ask about what happened in the woods but was met with an empty space. Seeing him already several meters away, she sighed before jogging to catch up with him.
Thinking to herself, she wondered why Neji seemed to always be so tense around others. Even if her prank hadn't been an influence, he would have still behaved rather standoffish. Oh, well - at least she wasn't the only person he acted like that around.
Arata walked alongside Neji in silence, feeling bad for teasing him so relentlessly now that she was no longer delusional from adrenaline like she had been the previous night; she could see how easily his moods were spoiled. Not that she could blame him, in this case. Finally, they stepped out onto the main street that was lined with small shops and restaurants. While making their way towards the only open clothing shop, Arata kept pausing to gasp and make strange noises while looking into the windows of the other stores as they passed.
The burdened shinobi was quickly losing patience with this strange girl, who was wasting time by conversing with herself. He wondered if perhaps his current situation was some form of karmic punishment for his actions as an angsty and bitter youth.
"Arata," Neji said, stopping to stare at her. She nearly ran into him, distracted by a stuffed 'Ku-ra-ma' in one of the shop windows. "What are you doing?"
"Ah, well there's just so many cute and interesting things," she replied, patting her cheeks.
Neji rolled his eyes and continued walking. "Please focus on the task at hand. We don't have all day."
"Right, sorry."
The submissive response surprised him, considering who he was talking to. He wouldn't complain, however. Perhaps she had a conscience after all, and felt bad for trying to ruin his day with her little memory stunt. Neji was starting to wonder if she was actually malicious or just an extremely impulsive and emotional person; it was still a toss up at that point, and only time would tell. Though he had a feeling it might be the latter, despite how much he would've loved to have a righteous reason to loathe her. Maybe it was a defense mechanism similar to how he himself would wall off his emotions at times. She certainly wouldn't have been the first person he'd met who had a tendency to self-sabotage or be inappropriately humorous. Hell, half of the people he knew fell into one of those categories, if not both.
At long last they reached their destination, and Arata excitedly yanked open the door. Neji followed, renouncing his will to continue existing, and leaned against the wall while she flitted about, carefully inspecting every single item of clothing that was available. Which, unfortunately, was a fuck-ton. It was like they had intentionally packed it full of as many garments as possible in order to prolong his torture. All different, too, so she had to inspect each and every one. At first Neji tried to entertain himself by mentally dressing her up in the most ridiculous outfits he could come up with, but that inevitably devolved into un dressing her after part of her kimono slipped to the side and revealed her shoulder. Yep - Neji Hyuga, a skilled Jonin, was still reduced to his carnal desires when faced with more than two centimeters of skin that happened to belong to a female who wasn't ugly. He cursed his manhood and stared at the ceiling instead.
After thirty minutes of her exaggerated 'hmms' and 'oohs' Neji closed his eyes and silently begged for the sweet release of death. The Shinigami actually heard his cries, but felt no compulsion to answer; rather, he was intrigued by the source of the man's misery. Unwittingly, Neji's turmoil had alerted someone to a very important piece of information. After being ghosted by the King of Hell, Neji gave up and allowed his mind to wander instead.
Arata held up a long-sleeved mesh top and a light blue crop-top with a turtleneck side-by-side, comparing them as if the fate of the ninja world depended on her decision. "Neji-kun, which one of these would you pick?" she called out, holding the tops in question up where he could see them.
Why, why did she insist upon calling him that when she already knew he was in a foul mood, he wondered. Neji responded without opening his eyes. "Whatever is both functional and affordable."
"You haven't even looked."
Neji fixed her with a searing gaze as he pushed himself off of the wall, angrily crossing his arms. "Fuck! I don't care, just pick something! This is taking way too long, it's just clothing. Ridiculous."
His words were harsher than she was prepared for; Arata found herself feeling a tad bit hurt, even though Neji had every right to be angry at her. The only reason she'd asked him was to try and reach out - an attempt at some normal interaction. She now realized that she had already tarnished any hope of a friendly relationship with that guy, and the loneliness of her situation set in once Neji walked out of the shop to cool off. This was the first time she had ever even had the opportunity to make friends with people, and it was becoming painfully obvious that Arata was horrible at it. Even if she had escaped her former situation relatively unharmed, her social skills and impulse control had decayed from lack of use.
Arata began to second-guess her decision to trust these people; her intentions were completely benevolent, but they had no way to know that for sure unless Kakashi succeeded in convincing everyone. What had she been thinking, willingly sealing away her power and thrusting herself into human society? She didn't know a single one of them, period. Arata didn't usually cry, but in that moment such a visceral response was very tempting.
Bolstering herself with the words of an ancient proverb stating that 'big girls don't cry', she pushed the idea away. Unfortunately she didn't push hard enough, though, and it came right back. Ignoring the tears for the second time, she refocused on the task at hand and decided to go with the crop top. Once all was said and done, she ended up with the top, a pair of gray shorts, a dark red kimono-jacket, and a pair of black over-the-knee boots; with an open toe, of course.
She purchased white wrappings to cover her hands, figuring that those were more likely to stay on than a pair of fingerless gloves, and she hated gloves; the wrappings would also be much cheaper to replace. After paying for her items, the shopkeeper - who'd taken notice of her unfortunate state of dress - offered for Arata to change in one of the back rooms, which she gladly accepted. Changing quickly, she carefully wrapped her hands and arms with the dressings from her palms to halfway up the length of her bicep. She gathered up her long hair, twisting half of it into a secure bun and letting the rest flow into a long ponytail. Her side-bangs were wrapped in the extra bandages, because she was too lazy to braid them; it looked cool, anyways. Very ninja. The pouch secured to her thigh had thankfully survived her tantrum, and the tablet within was unharmed - but still useless. She tossed the piece of junk into what she assumed was a trash collection bin.
Satisfied with her new outfit, Arata tucked the old kimono under her arm and stepped out of the store. The quiet street was now bustling with old people, children, and other civilians who were unable to work construction jobs or were otherwise employed. Glancing around, she spotted Neji talking to - or rather, being talked to by - a very attractive blonde woman. As in, she was a 'give you a nosebleed' level of hot. She had bright, almond shaped sea-blue eyes, a slim face, and a small nose. Her hair was impossibly shiny and styled into a high ponytail, with a section of long bangs unsecured and covering one side of her face. As if she hadn't already won the genetic lottery, she had one of those fit but somehow still curvy figures as well. Arata couldn't decide if she wanted to be her or be on her.
She started to wonder if Neji was even into women considering how relaxed and indifferent he seemed, but quickly realized that it was problematic to make assumptions about someone's sexuality based off of nothing other than their loose adherence to a set of preconceived and stereotypical behaviors.
Arata strolled over to the pair, politely waiting for one of them to notice her presence instead of interrupting; because she was intimidated, and also because she no longer had faith in her ability to socialize. The blonde woman flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and briefly glanced around, which alerted her to Arata's presence.
"Neji, who's this stunner? I never knew you had actual game," she said with a suggestive smirk, raking her eyes up and down Arata's now much-less concealed form.
"Oh, it's not like that," Arata replied. "We've only just met, so we haven't been together long. Not in a sexual way, just out in the forest. We met in the forest last night and he arrested me. Not how I prefer to be manhandled, you know? Besides, I, um..." they were both staring at her, trying to comprehend her line of thought, and their anticipation unfortunately encouraged her mouth to keep producing word vomit.
Neji wanted to stop her for his own sake, but was too curious to see where this train wreck was headed.
Internally, Arata screamed at herself to close her mouth and stop talking immediately, but her pleas fell on deaf, psychic ears.
"...I like my men how I like my emotions, you know? Which I bury deep inside of me. And Neji isn't like that. He's outside. Like me and the forest. Well I guess we are all outside aren't we, haha."
The other woman erupted into a fit of laughter, and even Neji - who was still grumpy - struggled to contain himself. The sadistic pleasure he felt from seeing Arata flounder in every possible way was extremely satisfying. She was acting totally different from the night before, her composure had been completely shot to hell. It was fucking hilarious to watch; she was literally losing her mind from anxiety. Neji knew he should have felt bad for her, but right now he was too entertained.
Arata found herself growing rather hot in their presence, despite the pleasant temperature outside. This was not what she had in mind whenever she imagined having the attention of two beautiful people at the same time; she honestly wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. No amount of scientific knowledge would grant her, or anyone else, the information needed to figure out how, why, or what the fuck just came out of her mouth.
"Do you hear yourself sometimes? When you speak?" Neji asked incredulously.
"God, that was gloriously weird! You and Neji would make a great pair. Yamanaka Ino, pleased to meet you!"
"Arata Hoseki, and the pleasure is all mine," she said with a thousand-yard stare.
Ino, bless her, disregarded the previous outburst and began to make light conversation. Arata explained her purpose for being in the village and gradually became more comfortable and confident. As it turned out, Arata got along quite easily with Ino whenever she herself was behaving in a sane manner. The anxieties of the past day seemed to have short circuited her personality; hopefully only temporarily. Neji stood with his hands in his pockets, only talking when Ino asked him to comment on or agree with something. The two women started to click, and Arata was grateful to have met someone she was confident could become a close friend.
"Say, Arata, our class is getting together tonight to celebrate before a few of us have to head out on supply missions. You should come, it'll be a good way to meet people our age."
"By celebrate she means 'drink irresponsibly while pretending that we aren't in the beginning stages of a likely devastating conflict'," Neji pointed out.
"Hmph, you're as cynical as ever," Ino responded. "He's not wrong. But still, it'll be loads of fun. In fact, the offer isn't optional, you're going to be there."
"Ah, sure thing I guess. Thank you, Ino." Arata was trying to contain her happiness, unused to such kind and welcoming behavior. It took an incredible amount of mercy to forgive her horrific first impression.
"My pleasure. Anyways, I've gotta go make sure Shikamaru isn't sleeping through the day. Like he did yesterday, and the day before. You two stay out of the forest and try not to get arrested again. See you later Neji, Arata!"
Ino shot her a flirtatious wink and bounded away, her blonde ponytail flowing behind her like a ray of sunshine and confidence; a stark contrast to the awkward gloom surrounding Neji and Arata. She giggled in excitement, but her miniscule amusement was squashed as soon as she remembered how irritated Neji had been earlier. Arata remained silent as they left the village's center, and made sure to walk a safe distance away from him. Instead of going back to the house she had slept in the night before, Neji led her in the opposite direction down a different road. The dirt path wound through a series of much larger buildings then the ones they'd been in, and she recognized one of them as what she believed to be a hospital.
"Um, sorry to bother you, but where are we going?" Arata asked quietly.
"I'm taking you to the Hyuga compound. Tsunade is sending someone over to spar with you."
"Ah, okay."
They continued on for a while until the compound became visible in the distance. Suddenly, Neji held his arm out to stop her. He cleared his throat and glanced towards Arata from the side.
"About earlier…" he started, swallowing nervously. "I apologize for losing my temper. These past twenty-four hours have been overwhelming, but I should not have taken my frustrations out on you."
Arata stared at him, stunned by the unexpected admission of guilt and subsequent apology. His words sent a wave of warmth through her body, which was quickly swept away by shame.
"Thank you. However, I should be the one apologizing. I tend to lash out when I am stressed, and that isn't okay - it's pretty toxic, actually. So I'm sorry you've had to put up with it."
Neji had no prior intentions of apologizing, but something about seeing her and Ino acting all chummy - and also her social self-immolation - made him regret his earlier outburst. They were both stressed out about the situation; it wasn't just him. He could see now that she legitimately did not have malicious intent when it came to her...mannerisms. Neji knew all too well what it was like to feel like you had no one, and treating her like an intruder would not reflect well on the village or himself. Even if she was technically an outsider.
Right then and there, Neji decided that going forward he would try to be more easygoing. This would prove to be difficult for the young man at times, but a challenge had never deterred the Hyuga prodigy.
"It's okay," he replied, contemplating asking his next question. "I ask this out of concern, and not to belittle you: are you mentally well?"
Arata turned bright red. Fantastic, she had finally achieved every woman's dream of having an attractive man ask if you are mentally ill. She may as well be honest; she had nothing left to lose at this point. "Uh, yes. I think. The thing is, before yesterday I literally hadn't talked to anyone in more than a year."
Neji didn't understand how that was possible. If it was, he needed to know the secret in case the idiots he had to deal with on a daily basis ever drove him to the point of requiring a year of absolute solitude. "Why not?"
She laughed nervously. "Well, first I was alone inside of an empty dimension for a while. Then, I was traveling alone - not many people up in space - and now I'm here. Needless to say, my social skills are...a bit rusty."
"That is understandable."
He didn't really know what else to say. The implications of her statement were dark to say the least, and he wasn't prepared to discuss such heavy themes at that particular moment. Maybe, just maybe, he should give this chick a second chance; like Naruto had given him one all those years ago.
"I'm sorry that happened," Neji added. "And...it's good that you are here instead. We may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but I'm willing to start fresh if you are."
Arata thought that it was way too sentimental of a thing for him to say. So, why did he, she wondered.
It just sort of...felt like the right thing to say. Neji wanted to say it - to comfort her - which disturbed him, even if it was sort of his mission to watch over her. When he glanced over to see Arata's reaction, she was blushing and staring at the ground with bleary eyes. Fuck, he thought, please don't cry. He really wouldn't know what to do then.
As they neared the compound, she finally looked up at Neji and smiled. "I'd like that as well."
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What's in a name?
Aratashiki ( 新た指揮 ) means 'new command'. This is the intended usage for my story. There is also Arata-shiki (新た式), meaning 'new style'.
- Arata (新た, 新) means 'new, fresh'
- Shiki (指揮) means 'command'
- Hōseki(宝石) means 'jewel, jewelry'
~Shiki itself has various meanings as a suffix:
式: ceremony
式: formula, expression
式: style
Isshiki, Momoshiki, Kinshiki, and Urashiki are all spelled phonetically, however, and have no literal meaning. Their names come from various Japanese folklore figures instead, namely:
- Issun-bōshi
- Momotarō
- Kintarō
- Urashima Tarō