The Unsung Story of the Inconspicuous

A/N: Do you... really need to ask who I'm going to thank? By this point? It's pretty damn obvious.

(Vanya).

Second chapter in a single day... You're brilliant.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters or affiliates.


The 'mission' was to the hidden village of the Sand, and Raiku felt her heart break. It made itself known through a pained whimper. Sand? In these clothes? These clothes… in the desert? Sand and electricity at once? There were far too many things that were already wrong with this mission.

"That's right, ladies- Sand,' Yamada said with an unholy abundance of glee. "We're going to be escorting this young lady-," he gestured, but she was standing behind him and they couldn't see any part of her, "back home. Get me?"

'Can I stay home?' Raiku asked instantly, looking up at him imploringly. His face darkened.

"No!"

She strived to fabricate an excuse. 'I… I need to take care of my father!' she lied desperately. 'He's… sick.'

She received three disbelieving looks. "It's gonna take more than illness to finish off your father, Speedy."

'I have my period?' she threw out as a last resort, cringing.

This time, she received two horrified looks and one smug one. "Really?" Yamada asked, smirking.

She broke into cold sweat. 'Ye-es?' she offered slowly.

"Prove it."

She choked on air, stumbling back a step. 'What!?'

Ryuuu and Daisukenojo transferred their horrified looks to Yamada. He was unmoved. "You heard me, Speedy. Prove it." He folded his arms over his chest, squaring his shoulders and looking down at her with an uncompromising expression.

There was no greater humiliation than being asked to prove your own period. She fidgeted on the spot, shifting her weight from foot to foot. 'I… I can't,' she managed, unable to maintain eye contact. Even if she had had her period, all the blood was rushing to her head now anyway, making proof impossible.

"I knew it!" Yamada crowed. "Ichitaka, you're a woman. Does she look like she's got it?"

A blonde head peered around Yamada's gargantuan frame, hazel eyes studying Raiku critically. 'No. Skinny girl like that may not get it for a few more years.'

Raiku went scarlet.

"Few years? That's normal for a kunoich-,"

'Can we not discuss my bodily functions?' Raiku offered from behind her hand, currently firmly placed over her eyes.

"Well we've gotta talk about something on the way there, don't we Speedy?"

'Why don't we talk about your wife? Isn't she due soon?' she offered with a wince.

Two vile glares instantly snapped back to her.

Yamada's face was split with a glowing smile, creasing the unpleasant scars around his lips in a deeply unsettling way. "Yeah! Next month, actually!" he said proudly. He turned smartly on his heel, enthused strides carrying him quickly past their mission subject, still talking animatedly about his wife.

His wife was not beautiful.

But he always said she was.

Usually for hours on end, which was the problem.

'Good going, pal,' Daisukenojo gritted out, clapping her on the shoulder harder than was strictly necessary.

'Yeah, Raiku,' Ryuu growled, falling into place on her other side. Ichitaka sent them a curious look over her shoulder, and Raiku sent her a nervous smile in response. Ichitaka seemed less than reassured at the sight of the three of them. Understandable, really. Raiku's frame was stick thin, her painful lack of weight only emphasised by the dark clothes she wore, her mop of brown spiky hair making her look somewhat, in her opinion, like a spastic broom. Ryuu's handsome face resembled a statue for its stillness and aloof air, his black knee-length shorts and long sleeved brown shirt setting off his yellow eyes well, but unable to hide his rather extreme youth and slight build. Daisukenojo's vibrant red hair only clashed with his white singlet shirt and dark green shorts, arms clad in numerous wristbands and making him look even younger than he was.

They were all shorter than the Sand citizen.

They didn't look like shinobi.

On the other hand, Ichitaka was the most beautiful woman Raiku had ever seen. Her hair was almost white blonde and contrasted with her hazel eyes, framed by long, sooty eyelashes. Raiku stared up at her with a mixture of adoration and embarrassment lingering from their earlier, indirect exchange.

'Hi?' she offered in an embarrassing squeak.

Wordlessly, Ichitaka turned back around.

Raiku slumped, receiving a pat on the back for her troubles. 'We've gotta act like proper genin when we get outta the gates, got it?' Daisukenojo said gruffly, noticing the defeated line of her shoulders. She nodded sadly. 'Got it.'

He nodded and walked a little ahead of her, Ryuu following after almost subconsciously. 'You still sound like Yamada-sensei,' she heard him mutter, but couldn't make out Daisukenojo's vehement response. She straightened with some effort as her two teammates split to stand on either side of Ichitaka at a respectable distance, assuming her own defensive position at the rear. The gates of Konoha loomed up over them momentarily as they crossed the bridge onto the tree-lined dirt road, before they experienced the sudden rush of freedom leaving their hometown provided.

To Raiku, it felt somewhat like what she imagined standing naked in public. In every shadow, a Plot loomed threateningly, taunting her with images of immaculately styled hair and beauty that required no maintenance. The ancient trees lining their path served only to punctuate the stark contrast between their path and the earthy Gairano compound, where sunlight was perpetually filtered by the fading smog of Plots and came out as a strange grey colour, rather than the vibrant gold pouring over every inch of the road and Raiku's pale features.

Raiku slipped her hands into her pockets, forcing herself to relax. It wouldn't be so bad out here, she hoped quietly, enjoying the fresh breeze pushing her hair out of her face.

She immediately tensed again, eyes widening in shock at her own stupidity. Her hair! How could she forget her hair!? Hair suddenly losing pigment wasn't something they weren't going to notice!

She looked back at the shrinking figure of Konoha with panic in her eyes. They were walking, but walking quickly enough that in the short time since their departure returning to retrieve that supply was impossible. She forced her face back to face the direction they were travelling in, eyes flicking blindly over uneven road and patchy grass. There was no need to panic. She'd just have to improvise.

Improvise with what? Charcoal!?

She blinked.

Charcoal might do.

Her eyes narrowed shrewdly. Charcoal may be too dark. Mud was too thick. Ink? Ink! Ink was perfect.

Her sly gaze flitted over the three members of their party that were still visible to her. How hard could it be to steal ink?

It couldn't be that difficult, surely.

But they had a long day of travelling ahead of them, so it would have to wait. She'd use the ink if they failed to reach Sand before it was time for her hair to be dyed…

Less than a week.

She lightly touched a fist to her open palm in a gesture of determination. She could do this. She could put up with the sand, and the heat, without unexpectedly revitalising the Sand glass industry or dying of dehydration.

She could do this.


It was an hour shy of nightfall when she was at last allowed to collapse in a conveniently placed clearing, fenced in on one side by a sheer rock face. Collapse she did, rather spectacularly, slumping to the ground in a tangle of limbs that should have been physically impossible.

Yamada looked up from the kindling he was piling in preparation for sundown, shaking his head at her. "Don't get too comfortable, speedy- you three are going to be working, get me?" he asked.

She twitched in response.

"You're all going to be practicing chakra manipulation," he added as Daisukenojo and Ryuu escorted Ichitaka into sight, seating themselves with considerably more grace than their overheated teammate. Ryuu raised an eyebrow, settling back on his hands.

Yamada jerked his head at the rock face, which recognised a hint when it saw one and released a few stray pebbles to ricochet off particularly sharp edges ominously. "You're all going to be climbing that."

Raiku brightened from under her arm. Rock-climbing she could do.

"With chakra!"

She bit her lip, crossing her eyes with the effort it took to not swear. "Yes," Yamada continued heedlessly, taking some sort of feral joy from their displeasure, as he always did, "you're going to learn how to use chakra in a way that's actually useful!"

Ryuu's eyebrow remained raised, and Raiku could just tell what he was thinking. The jutsu that allowed him to pull the air from someone's lungs was useful. The jutsu that made a copy of himself from wind was useful. Walking up a cliff face held only by the application of chakra did not seem useful, but did seem dangerous.

She bit the skin between thumb and first finger worriedly, unfolding herself into a seated position by what would in a few hours be the fire. Up a cliff? Up a cliff… with chakra? She tried to hold back the look of terror in front of Ichitaka, wishing for nothing more than the beautiful woman's absence. Falling to her death was bad enough, but with her luck she'd fall into an embarrassing pose and be immortalised that way in both Konoha and Sand.

Ryuu got to his feet, looking at Yamada with a blank expression. 'How do I do this, Yamada-sensei?' he asked. If Raiku didn't see the occasional flash of rage, she'd think him a sociopath. He loved the necessary, and almost nothing else.

That and she'd seen him blush in the arms of his mother once. That alone had convinced her he wasn't the sociopath he strived so hard to resemble.

"Concentrate your chakra onto your feet, and walk up."

Their leader seemed to remember something as Ryuu took a step towards the stone. "Most beginners find it easier to run, and maintain it as long as they can, get me? Slower is harder, and this sorta thing comes with practice."

'I get you,' Ryuu said, tilting his head back to drag his eyes up the wall. Daisukenojo watched him like a hawk, and Raiku found herself doing the same. Ryuu's chakra control was by far the best out of the three of them even with Daisukenojo's natural advantages bringing him up to speed, and thus if he could at least get close on the first try then surely

Ryuu took several steps back, before sprinting forward and up the perfectly vertical cliff face. Raiku gaped up at him, wide eyes giving away what the mask tried so valiantly to hide. Ryuu made it successfully up roughly ten metres before his feet lost whatever had held them there and sent him plummeting back towards the ground.

Raiku gave an involuntary yelp of concern when he hit the ground, hands instantly coming up to cover her mouth. Yamada smirked knowingly, settling back next to Ichitaka to watch the show. After a moment in which he simply couldn't breathe, Ryuu took a gasping breath and sat up, arm twisting to try and rub his back.

'I … can do that better,' he said after a while, wheezing only slightly. He got to his feet.

"I'd better see you land properly, get me?" Yamada demanded, but his glinting eyes belied the casual playfulness within. "We're shinobi, not rocks."

Raiku risked a glance at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You two, don't make him do all the work," Yamada ordered.

With considerable reluctance, she got to her feet.

"And… go!"

Instinctively she responded to the command, sprinting towards the cliff as quickly as she could, planting an impossibly fast foot onto the stone and launching herself up it, forgetting in her haste to attach any chakra to her feet at all.

Ryuu watched with mild surprise as she made it far higher than he had, shortly before she began to fall with a petrified shriek.

"I said use your chakra, Speedy!" Yamada bellowed as she fell downwards, desperately twisting to try and land on her feet. "Don't think I didn't notice that you're cheating!"

Raiku managed to land on her feet, knees bending to absorb the impact automatically with a quiet crack. She bit her lip and clutched her shin, little white dots appearing in front of her eyes. 'Not… fun,' she managed. Daisukenojo craned his neck to look up at the distant top of the cliff.

He didn't end up saying anything, but chose to run forward without comment.

Yamada settled back again, moving only to shout both advice and reprimand. By the time nightfall actually came about, the path Raiku had taken to the cliff was burnt into the soil and grass forever, blackened footsteps leading up past the scuff marks of the others and her teammates pointedly not asking her why.

It was her cue to tell them on her own, and she recognised that. But being too close to her teammates would inevitably lead to betrayal. The small part of her mind dedicated solely to her efficiency as a shinobi pointed out that being aware of strengths and weaknesses would allow them to better work with her, ruthlessly quashed by the significantly bigger part dedicated solely to being a Gairano.

Attaching chakra to the soles of her shoes was less effective than simply creating a web underneath her foot, but for the moment it was as much as she could manage and it allowed her to stay on the cliff without falling, which was really all she wanted. Ryuu had managed to walk to the top of the cliff and tell them how far they still were from the desert- far- before walking down, while Daisukenojo managed to run up and achieve the same end.

Now they sat around the cheerful if slightly small fire, watching the pot bubbling over it with conspicuously ravenous interest. Ichitaka had watched the afternoon's entertainment with some interest, but evidently found the strange dynamic even more fascinating.

Raiku watched her analyse them with some curiosity. The older woman's eyes lingered on Ryuu for a few seconds longer than they had on her and for an even briefer period on Daisukenojo. The silence was punctuated by the crackling of the fire and the distinct sound of four people fixedly not talking about something.

Raiku cleared her throat awkwardly.

"So," Yamada said brightly, making three well-conditioned genin flinch. "You mentioned stunted puberty for girls as thin as Raiku?"

Raiku, for the second time that day, choked.

Ichitaka nodded, and if she was taken aback at the topic she didn't give any indication. 'Girls who suffer from being underweight often find themselves developing late- if at all.'

From the beady stare Yamada was giving her, Raiku was going to be given extra stew tonight. She sank her head into her hands, elbows resting on crossed legs. A surprised sound issued from Ichitaka. 'Raiku-chan, you don't need to be embarrassed. Hasn't your mother told you about this sort of thing?' she inquired.

'My mother's dead,' Raiku said with awkward cheer.

Ichitaka looked taken aback. 'I'm sorry to hear that. Was she also a shinobi?'

Raiku looked up, brow wrinkled in confusion. '… No.'

Ichitaka hesitated before she asked her next question. 'Do you mind if I asked how she died?'

Raiku stared at her. 'No.'

There was an awkward silence.

Ryuu sighed, rolling his eyes and better grasping how Raiku's mind worked. 'So how did she die, toaster?'

'Electrical malfunction in the hospital when I was born,' Raiku supplied readily. Yamada's eyes immediately flicked over to her, but he chose to remain silent.

'Why aren't you dead then?' Ryuu asked unabashedly. Ichitaka winced, eyes darting between them. 'That was a very callous question,' Raiku heard her murmur to Yamada, who simply laughed.

'Don't know,' Raiku shrugged carelessly, pulling up some grass as she stared at the ground. 'Dad never really talks about it.'

'It must be painful for him,' Ichitaka supposed.

Raiku snickered faintly. 'No, he's just really busy. He doesn't mind talking about her, but neither of us really feel like it most of the time.'

Ryuu nodded, easily accepting the reason. 'I see.'

'What about you, Daisukenojo?' Raiku asked after a moment's respectful pause, looking over at him. 'What's your family like?'

'I've got six brothers and sisters,' he grumbled. 'What do you think it's like?'

'I have no idea,' she responded instantly and honestly. 'I have no brothers or sisters.'

'…Crowded,' he said gruffly, eyes briefly flicking up to meet hers.

'Are you the oldest?' Raiku asked.

'Yeah,' he answered, allowing a small, proud smile to surface. It immediately vanished when Ryuu opened his mouth.

'You're the shortest, too.'

'Shut the hell up!'

"'Electrical malfunction'?" Yamada echoed when the fierce arguing of the two other genin safely drowned out all background noise. Raiku nodded, her eyes wide and sincere.

'Electricity is a dangerous thing.'

"Yeah," he drawled, eyeing her. "I got that."

'You're all insane,' Ichitaka informed them flatly. Raiku's eyes creased in a friendly fashion.

'We're not insane, we're just… sort of weird,' she said sheepishly. Ichitaka gave her a look she felt was less than enthused.

'Shinobi are supposed to be composed, aren't they?' the blonde asked. 'Dignified and powerful?'

'Well, yeah,' Raiku said hesitantly, scratching the back of her head. 'But we're only learning. And we really can do a lot of things that civilians can't. Like running up walls.'

'Anything else?' Ichitaka deadpanned.

'We're not as emotional as we look, either,' Raiku contrived, wincing as she struggled to think of an example. 'I mean… civilians are really into love, aren't they?'

'Are you about to make a sex joke?' Ichitaka asked suspiciously. Yamada snorted derisively, lifting the lid on the pot and stirring. Clearly she hadn't spent any time talking to Raiku before.

On cue, Raiku flushed with embarrassment. 'No, but it's just … for instance, people in my family are always taught that love is watching somebody die. And from what I've seen, it's not the same for civilians. So we can… look really emotional, but I think that our emotions, or how we see the same emotions, are actually different to yours.'

She looked up, expression uncertain. 'Am I… making any sense?'

For a long time, Ichitaka just looked at her. 'Yes,' she said eventually. 'Yes, I think you are.' And then she smiled, for the first time since they'd met her, a smile of reassurance that brought life to her beautiful face, making her so lovely something in Raiku twinged in a feeling almost like pain.

Raiku's eyes lit up with joy. 'I'm glad,' she said simply and sweetly.

"Dinner's ready, ladies!" Yamada announced, hiding a smile. "First come, first served."

The two boys were instantly at each other's throats, rolling in the grass and dirt and using every underhanded method they could think of. Raiku smiled ruefully, scratching the back of her head again.

They were still the worst team ever, from the looks of things.


A/N: Vanya Starwind. I felt the need to specific, somewhat.

Reviews: Yes- I got one instead of just being silently put into favourites! Ahaha!

V Starwind (I'm so discreet): Indeed. Indeed they are.