The Beast, the Woman, and Her Flowers
A/N: Haru was asleep for over a year. Just kidding. I had stalled this and everything else I was supposedly writing for Naruto until now. I wrote a lot of other things and now I think it's time for me to get back.
Love-in-idleness will be updated soon, if only to end things cleanly in three or four more chapters before I start with Over Troubled Waters (working title).
Oh, and this timeline happens before Love-in-idleness, like nearing the Chuunin Exams of the original series. So it's not really a spin-off? Oh, goodness. What have I done? Anyway, the previous chapter has been updated for consistency.
Feedback is always appreciated. I love these women so much and I hope you do as well. Thanks for reading.
"He is no brute, he is a man.
Konoha's Green Beast has met his match in a woman with flowers in her hair.
Shikai had met Haru when she was thirty years old. And in the two years she has known her, she has never really asked why Haru is in the profession that she is.
That is, under the employment of a certain Lady Miyabi, a wealthy philanthropist whose main source of income is the fact that she is abundantly rich. Lady Miyabi hails from Hi no Kuni, but is not affiliated to the daimyou, not entirely, not directly. In fact, she could hardly say that she is affiliated with any one of the daimyou from any of the countries.
Shikai thinks Lady Miyabi could establish her own country and no one would bat an eye.
No, Lady Miyabi could definitely establish her own country and no one would even dare bat an eye.
She was that wealthy and that powerful, she employs various kinds of people into her service, and still has enough resources to provide for other countries in need.
"Konohagakure is hosting the exams this year. I want you to go there for me."
Which is why they've found themselves at the said village's gates, holding on to Lady Miyabi's invitation and a letter from the woman herself.
"We are here in Lady Miyabi's behalf." Shikai tells the guards, handing them the letter.
And it was an expensive-looking letter, written on silken paper, with the finest black ink, and enclosed in an embroidered scroll.
The man doesn't need to read the letter in its entirety, as he sees Lady Miyabi's golden stamp of approval on the lower left.
"Of course!" He stutters. "Please enjoy your visit!"
He returns the letter to her with shaky hands.
"Thank you, kind sirs." Haru replied as Shikai tucked the letter back into her sleeve.
"Let's go, Haru." Shikai cleared her throat, fixing the straw hat over her head.
Haru smiled at them brightly, and Shikai could already tell that they've fallen for it, before trailing after her.
Konohagakure is big and loud. They were told that graduation had just finished and everyone is busier than ever. Foreigners, whether shinobi or not, are sure to come through the village by the hundreds.
"We have four days before the Chuunin Exams." Shikai says, suddenly feeling weary at the sight of the crowd. "Best find a place to stay for however long it is."
"Oh, there's no rush." Haru says cheerfully. "Exams would usually last for only two to three weeks."
"Usually?"
"And this village looks so vibrant." Haru continued, "I wonder how many fresh buds are there."
Shikai thinks that metaphor is either horrific or harrowing.
"Whatever, they're going to wilt eventually anyway." Shikai mutters, stepping forward to clear their first agenda of the day.
Lodging.
So they spent half of their morning looking for a place to stay in, a place spacious enough to fit two people comfortably. Though Shikai wanted a place far from the main streets, Haru wanted nothing more than to live along the main streets, where all the market stalls and all the noise is.
"Wouldn't you consider somewhere inconspicuous?" Shikai looked over the inn's too-welcoming facade.
"What for? We aren't here for an assassination." Haru was unabashed enough to say it so openly.
But with all the things going on around them, no one had noticed. After all, they were just two women looking for a place to stay.
"It's too... close to the main street." Shikai preferred quiet places.
"Which is the most inconspicuous location of all."
And Haru was right. It was a traveler's inn close to restaurants and market stalls. No one would suspect anything.
As if there was anything to be suspicious of?
In the end, Shikai agrees and books two rooms across each other. She takes the room on the inside and Haru takes the room facing the street. The rooms were only mildly lavish; with a raised futon, a simple vanity, a table and two chairs each, and a heater with a tea set.
Haru's room had a vase, perhaps left behind by the room's previous occupant, and takes a single stem from her sleeve.
It was a yellow agrimony.
But of course, to Shikai it was just a flower.
Much like the carved flower on her hairpin, a purple globe amaranth.
Haru wonders why she keeps it on her person at all times.
"I'm going out." Haru says over Shikai's shoulder. "I want to see what's there in the market."
A drawer was open in the vanity in Shikai's room, and her hairpin was held in one hand. Haru could only assume what she was about to do.
"Do you want to come with me?"
Shikai shook her head. "I think I'll rest for a while."
"I'll be back by lunch." Haru smiled before she left.
Shikai doesn't believe her.
This is Haru's first time in this village, and Shikai knows that Haru just absolutely loves exploring shops and stalls.
"At least she's not the type you need to take care of." Shikai says to herself before drifting off to sleep.
Haru was the type you need to be careful of.
Though her outward appearance shows little of it, Shikai believes Haru can cut a man's head cleanly off his shoulders with the ease and grace as if she were trimming a bonsai.
And that is exactly what Haru is doing.
Rather, she's looking at a stall featuring small bonsai trees.
"And these are grown here?"
"Oh, yes!" The old lady manning the stall replied. "Right here in my garden."
"How wonderful."
She thinks the bonsai could use a little more watering.
The store she goes to after that is an apothecary. The dried plants are all in dusty, labeled jars. The middle-aged man behind the counter is gingerly counting what looks to be seeds.
"Excuse me."
And he looks up, the stern look on his face unchanging.
"Would you happen to have any–" She was about to ask him if he had any dried angelica when a distant voice shouted.
"Stop, thief!"
She stepped outside to see the commotion. There were three men, each with a bag of goods, running and shoving past unwitting civilians. She could stop them if she tried. She could.
"Hana Ninpou–"
But before she could actually summon vines to trap and capture those thieves, a man wearing a green tracksuit ran past her.
A man who, to her, bore the fiercest eyes and the brightest of smiles.
At that moment, Haru fell in love.
But in the present moment, Haru is unconscious.
And Shikai, ever roped in her antics and her misadventure since the day they met, rushes to save her from the fall.
"I'm sorry for my friend." She says to the group at the table. "She's had a bit too much to drink."
She rushes Haru right out of there and heads straight to the inn.
So much for being inconspicuous.
But mere minutes after being laid down on her futon, Haru wakes up shocked and red-faced. She knew all-too-well what had happened minutes before.
"How embarrassing!" She cried into her hands.
"I told you." Shikai doesn't comfort her. "Don't make an embarrassment of yourself while we're here."
"I fainted?" But Haru seems to not hear her, and instead continues her lamenting. "In front of him?"
Shikai sighs.
"Oh, what would he think of me now?"
"Possibly just shocked. Possibly unstable." Shikai joked.
Haru continued wailing.
"But it's unlikely that either of you would see each other again."
That quieted her...
"Why do you think so?" Haru asked meekly.
"He's a shinobi, Haru." Shikai states knowingly. "And shinobi have very little time outside of their missions and their training."
"But he was..."
Yes, he could have time, but not enough for you, Haru.
Haru doesn't say anything more, but instead looks down as if in grief
"But the Chuunin Exams begin in a few days." Shikai says in an attempt to comfort her. If there was anything scarier than a single-minded Haru, it was an emotional Haru.
For some reason, her abilities are more potent, a bit more stronger, and a lot more formidable if she was unlike her usual self. And Shikai does not want to be a victim of that.
"You might see him again."
And Haru's frown faded.
"Yes." She said dreamily. "I will see him again."
The pink flush on Haru's cheeks does not deter Shikai from Haru's declaration.
She will see him again.
Oh, no.
And Haru means it.
Back at the bar, a certain Shiranui Genma picks up and hairpin from the ground and regrets ever thinking to not go drinking with Gai ever again.
A/N: Oh, can you feel the ships now? Just kidding. I hope I get to update my other works soon! Thanks for reading.