The Unsung Story of the Inconspicuous

A/N: Thanks to my beta, Vanya. I gave you a break yesterday, but now I'm going to work you like a dog. An adored and cherished dog, but a dog nonetheless. Feel appreciated!

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


Raiku awoke in a splendour she was unaccustomed to. In other words, a room without makeshift doors and windows. She also couldn't open her eyes more than a sliver, which was less than ideal, but she could actually feel something other than the rush in her blood. The fact that it was pain was a mild drawback, and at least this time it was only in her head.

She tried to frown, ending up with a mild twitch of her lips. Where was she? And why was her forehead bandaged? This way of waking up was severely overrated in shinobi circles. Granted, the average shinobi woke up to see the tearful face of a suddenly-requited Love Interest.

She paused in realisation. Her eyes slowly slid to her bedside.

Not Daisukenojo, she panicked. He's too-

Short? part of her mind volunteered.

Angry. I was going to say angry.

'This is the second time we've been stuck with her while she sleeps off something that's Yamada-sensei's fault,' Ryuu said in a distinctly bored fashion somewhere beyond her peripheral vision. She almost blacked out again in relief: no Love Interest here then! She was free! Free to live the life of a spinster-

Wait a second. It occurred to her there was something wrong with her priorities.

'Could be worse. It could be us,' Daisukenojo snorted, absently reaching over and tugging a piece of hair out of her face. His own hair instantly lifted off his scalp with the static, and Ryuu snorted at him in amusement.

'You honestly think this sort of crap happens to us, or ever will?'

'I hope not,' Daisukenojo muttered.

'Crazy shit happens around her, and only around her. She's as bad as Uzumaki.'

Something very cold was creeping up her spine, and Raiku sincerely hoped it was realisation. Was it possible that…

She was the Drama catalyst here?

Her eyes widened as much as they could (marginally) as she tried to think back. A freckled face leaned over her, raising an eyebrow and largely ignored. 'Toaster, you with us here?'

She was starting to panic. Improbable hair? Right now, yes. Improbable eyes? Hell yes! Strange abilities!?

Oh sweet god of thunder.

'She's freaking out,' Daisukenojo frowned, hazel eyes flicking over her as her breaths shallowed, jerking a thumb towards the door. 'Go get Yamada-sensei.'

'I really hope you didn't just tell me what to do, Hatori,' Ryuu said coldly.

'You know, you could try to be less of a bastard for once in your life!'

'Maybe if you weren't such a goddamn moron I wouldn't act like one at all!'

'Raiku's no moron and you're mean to her too!'

And she was brought up in arguments? Any second now an Equaliser was going to bust through that door and kill them all.

Any second now.

'Raiku is constantly getting herself into trouble and I'm always the one who helps her out! You call that being mean, huh?'

Her teammates did unexpected favours for her and refused thanks! Granted they refused thanks by being bastards and making her stop wanting to thank them at all, but the principle applied!

'Ouch,' she croaked.

'Shut up, Raiku, we're trying to have a conv-,' Daisukenojo trailed off mid-word and looked back down. 'Toaster? Can you hear me?'

'Yes,' she winced.

'We're at Yamada-sensei's house, because Hyuuga-bastard refused to carry you up to the Gairano compound. Since you called him a girl. That was freaking awesome,' he grinned in recollection. 'You said he was a flat-chested girl with a deep voice! I'm going to tell that story every time I hear his name.'

'What's with you and Hyuugas?' Ryuu asked, leaning into her range of sight from somewhere above her head. His eyes were even more disconcerting upside down. 'First Hinata, now Neji…'

'What's next- the clan head?'

She frowned up at them blearily clearing her throat. 'Why is it,' she rasped. 'That you both argue until it's time to pick on me? Then you suddenly get along- why?'

'Because you're pathetic,' Ryuu explained.

'Because I've got six little brothers and sisters just as annoying. Call it reflex,' Daisukenojo shrugged, equally blasé.

She nodded wearily. 'Got it.'

He lowered his voice, glancing around surreptitiously. 'You've gotta watch out for his wife, toaster- she's insane. Not insane like you, even, she's just crazy. Got it?'

'Isn't she pregnant?' she asked slowly, brow wrinkling.

He nodded, giving her a dubious look. 'Yeah,' he said, as though his point were very, very obvious. 'And all pregnant people are insane.'

'I don't want to hear about how you're scared of pregnant people again, Hatori,' Ryuu said, glaring.

Raiku watched the conversation being conducted over her head with bemusement, eyes flicking between them as Daisukenojo rolled his eyes.

'I'm not scared of them, it's just freakish. They're one and a half people: it's unnatural!'

'You think pregnant people are unnatural…?' Raiku interjected. Daisukenojo flushed with embarrassment.

'See, when you say it like that it sounds really bad.'

'That's because it is really bad,' Ryuu said dryly.

'Look, if you tell Yamada-sensei that I said that about his wife he'll kill me,' Daisukenojo hissed. 'My life is in your spider-like fingers.'

Raiku lifted her head up to look down at her hands, frowning. 'My fingers are not like spiders…'

'I was talking to Ryuu,' he said, putting a hand on her forehead bandages and pushing her back down forcefully.

Ryuu smirked wickedly.

'Oh hell no,' Daisukenojo said, narrowing his eyes. 'I'll fight you if I have to.'

'Please don't,' Raiku said worriedly. She was promptly ignored.

'Oh really?' Ryuu said, smirk growing even more pronounced. He leaned further over her, shadow falling over her face. Her brow creased even more.

'If you fight you're going to squish me. I feel that's counterproductive to my recovery process,' Raiku offered nervously, shrinking down on the futon.

'Yeah, really,' Daisukenojo said, shifting forward.

'In fact, maybe we should all agree to be friends! Friends, anyone?'

'I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass, Hatori.'

Raiku paused, taking in the scant inches between the faces above her. 'Are you two… going to kiss or something?' she asked with some small measure of doubt. She screwed her eyes shut and prepared for pain.

There was the sound of two boys trying to get as far away from each other as possible as quickly as possible. To be more specific, there was a loud series of scuffles and crashes.

The door slid open very slowly, and all other sound ceased.

'Boys,' a low female voice said cautiously. A woman with dark blonde hair and green eyes leaned in from the hallway, heavy bags and lines of exhaustion under her narrowed green orbs. 'I hope you're not disturbing the patient… You wouldn't disturb the patient… Would you boys?'

Her slow, disjointed sentences had an effect on the two that Raiku would spend the rest of her life trying to emulate. Two pale faces gave subtle signs for 'no', 'never' and 'please spare my life'.

Her eyes narrowed even further, and she resembled nothing less than some sort of grim spectre hanging from the doorframe. 'Maybe… you should go help my husband make lunch…?' she asked softly, eyes dragged from one to the other.

Two slow, cautious nods.

'Good,' she said, so softly it was almost hidden in the breath it took to say it. She moved inside the room fully, allowing them the room to use the door. Raiku noticed, for the first time, that she was heavily pregnant. She was quick, but not always on the uptake. Especially when concussed.

'How did I get a concussion…?' she wondered, frowning. The revelation as to her role could wait until she could confront her father.

'Rock Lee… dropped you,' Yamada's wife, Suzuki said slowly, putting a hand on her covered forehead.

'I don't think you should touch me,' Raiku said, wincing. 'Since you're… pregnant, and all.'

'Yama-kun has told me about your condition,' she said mildly.

'Yama- oh, yeah, married,' Raiku remembered, rolling her eyes at herself. She coughed awkwardly. 'Yes. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.'

The woman sent her a smile. Raiku's skin broke out in goosebumps. 'It's not an inconvenience.'

'Right…' she said slowly, dragging herself up with some screaming of the muscles in her arms. 'Maybe… I should help with lunch too…'

'You should rest,' Suzuki said softly.

'I'd… I'd rather help with lunch,' Raiku began. Anger flashed across Suzuki's face.

'I said you should get some rest!'

Raiku shrunk back, eyes wide. She nodded mutely.

Suzuki smiled. 'Thank you Raiku-chan.'

She nodded again, fingers digging into either side of the futon.

Suzuki straightened and waddled silently from the room. Raiku exhaled heavily in relief, running a shaking hand through her hair. Her electricity, equally terrified of the frightening woman, clung to her hand reassuringly, making the strands stick directly up. Yamada's wife's mood swings were as bad as his were! Possibly worse!

It was official.

She had to escape.

She moved her legs to the side of the futon, shivering as bare skin met cool air. She edged along towards the end, eyes firmly fixed on the door. She reached out for the bag she could see in her peripheral, other hand double checking her mask. She'd had the foresight to pull it up before the exhilaration of her run had made her forget to breathe, so luckily her exposure was at a minimum.

She knew she had to talk to her father about her Drama Level. It had never occurred to her she even had one, but it was increasingly obvious that there were a lot of things she simply hadn't considered. Like Yamada: he'd looked perfect at first glance. Happily married, blissfully in fact. Powerful but not exceptional, former member of ANBU who'd come out relatively unscathed. But then there was his wife.

What a wife.

She wasn't a kunoichi but she was excessively dangerous, coming from an obscure Mist village after Yamada had been posted there. She hadn't read the whole damn report on her teammates, but that had stuck out. Something about instantaneous and hideously painful death upon the exercising of her will.

It just figured that Yamada would go and screw up her Drama Balance like that by marrying some sort of super-weapon.

She timidly reached for her forehead protector, which was looking suspiciously immaculate. She tied it on over her bandages and winced. Obviously Rock Lee had dropped her onto a rock of some kind. She didn't remember that, but there was something else that seemed sort of important that was pressing at the front of her mind…

She'd called Hyuuga Neji a girl.

Her eyes widened. They'd told her earlier, even teased her about it. But actually remembering it was significantly more traumatising.

There were now two reasons for the Hyuuga family to try and kill her.

She groaned, hitting her forehead in frustration. Stupid stupid stupid! Of course he wasn't a girl, he was just… pretty? No, pretty was a bad word to associate with the shinobi genius. It would inevitably come out and then there'd be three reasons. Beautiful? No. Handsome? Handsome! Handsome was a nice, masculine word that she could attach to him without someone trying to assassinate her for emasculating him! Brilliance!

She paused as something occurred to her, bringing her grand total to two epiphanies that day and well beyond the human norm. 'Maybe it's because I've been around so many high Drama Levels?' she whispered to herself incredulously. It made sense. She'd been born because her mother had done the same thing, so the process must attach itself to someone. Whether it's an unborn child or the person themself in the child's absence?

Raiku took a deep breath to calm herself. Vengeance was an Uchiha thing, not a Gairano thing. She tried to look for the bright side. 'At least I didn't try to compliment his figure,' she said to herself calmly, rubbing her temples.

There was an affronted silence. She closed her eyes.

Please, God. No.

The door slid open warily. Suzuki's head peered in and partially obstructed the view of green spandex and shiny black hair. 'Raiku-chan, some members of Team Gai are here to speak to you,' she murmured.

'I'm unconscious,' Raiku said instantly.

'But friend, you're speaking! How can you possibly be unconscious?' a friendly voice exclaimed. She could hear the exclamation marks sliding into place.

'I'm… awake… suddenly, thank you,' she said weakly, hanging her head. 'Rock Lee, is it just you and Gai out there? I can't really afford any exposure to Drama Catalysts before I can see my family…'

Rock Lee slid past Suzuki into the room, leaning down to study her with those curiously round eyes. 'No, my brave friend! But Yamada-san has told us all about your valiant efforts that allowed your team to safely cross the desert! We are truly in awe of your abilities!' He nodded enthusiastically, and his eyes shone. She inched back, wary of tears of inspiration.

'Oh… Thank you…' she said awkwardly. He seized her hands, pulling a yelp from her, staring deep into her eyes. That in and of itself was impressive. Her eyes were a direct light source, so staring into them- deeply into them no less- would actually burn the retinas. One more thing she could thank her power for: there would be no soliloquies about her eyes, no romanticisation and no risk.

'I myself cannot use my chakra either! I feel that we are truly kindred spirits, working to overcome our own hardships to better protect Konoha and enjoy the springtime of our youth!'

'Okay,' she said slowly, eyes wide as she tried to process all of what he'd said. 'Who told you that?'

'Ryuu-san!' he answered promptly, giving her hand a light squeeze.

'Okay,' she said, nodding to herself. 'I'm going to murder him. But who else came with you?'

Please let it be Tenten, she thought to herself.

Behind Lee, someone cleared their throat.

What Raiku did next was instinctive, and so while technically her fault, not necessarily her will. She leaned to the side to see around the spandex bodysuit, tilting her head.

Perfectly blank white eyes watched her with a vaguely accusing hostility.

'Raiku-chan?' Lee asked, moving her hands slightly to get her attention. 'Raiku-chan?'

She tugged a hand free, inching it towards her sandal.

'Raiku-chan, no!' he cried as she flung it at the door and a truly stunned Hyuuga Neji.

'The power of obscurity compels you to stop making my life more dramatic!' she exclaimed.

'Raiku-chan, Neji-san carried you here!' Rock Lee protested, instantly trapping her hands in his own again despite her struggles. 'You shouldn't lash out at him!'

'I'm not going to let some greater Plot affect my life! I don't care who I have to avoid or throw shoes at! I've got another one!' she threatened, shooting him an accusing glare.

'Neji-san, I fear that Raiku-chan is still suffering the effects of her concussion!' Lee exclaimed, shooting a worried look over his shoulder. 'We should depart until she is more recovered so that she ceases to aggravate you through footwear!'

'Never!'

'What are you babbling about, Gairano?' Neji asked coldly, crossing his arms across his chest. Unable to throw anything at him, she settled for glowering. The effect was ruined by her forehead protector slide down to cover one eye.

'I'm going home!' she announced, completely failing at any sort of subtlety and crossing into the realm of the painfully obvious. She stood, using Lee's that grip as support. 'I'm not going to be murdered by a Hyuuga for ruining their dignity for the second time!'

Lee sent her a horrified look

'Second Hyuuga, second offence,' she elaborated.

He nodded in relief. 'But Neji-san is a very forgiving man!'

Raiku's eyes slid over to the man in question. If looks could kill, she'd never have to worry about electrocuting anyone again.

'Leaving!' she announced firmly, picking up her pack. She wasn't dizzy and she wasn't nauseous. She was also convinced that if she told herself that enough, it would become true.

Suzuki trapped her at the door. The air dropped in temperature as the thin arm slammed out to hit the doorframe between Neji and Raiku's faces. Raiku's was the only one that displayed real shock- Neji just blinked and widened his eyes slightly.

'We made lunch,' Suzuki reminded her with kindness her arm failed to imply. 'You should eat.'

'I think I should go, actually,' Raiku said cautiously, eyes darting between her hand and her face.

Aforementioned face darkened.

'Lunch!' Raiku said brightly. 'I'd be happy to!'

'In that case we will no longer impinge upon your bountiful hospitality!' Gai exclaimed, and tiny sparkles danced in the air around his teeth. Even Raiku didn't do that on her own. 'Farewell, sweet maid-'

'I insist,' Suzuki hissed to him, eyes burning, the bags under her eyes suddenly incredibly pronounced. Even Neji recoiled slightly, but Gai managed to cower away with impressive speed.

'Of course!' he said, from a very, very respectable distance, tears of fear in his eyes. 'Anything the lady requires!'

And that was how Raiku found herself sitting at a table with her captain, a Hyuuga, Might Gai, Rock Lee and the scariest woman alive.

The Hyuuga glowered at her as if it were her fault. And yes, the bruise on his neck was technically her fault, if not, as previously stipulated, her will. Might Gai and Rock Lee discussed Yamada's unique brand of taijutsu with avid enthusiasm: Yamada's style being 'kill them, kill them good'.

Ryuu joined them after she'd been seated awkwardly under the hostile scrutiny of the Hyuuga for a few minutes, cupping his hand around her ear to whisper in it. 'Check out the kitchen.'

She blinked owlishly, and leaned to the side.

Daisukenojo sent her a pleading look, trapped in an apron with frills on it. He held a spatula in one agonisingly embarrassed hand. The spatula, in its defence, was quite embarrassed too. Frills? That was simply poor taste.

She quietly excused herself and made her way into the kitchen, staring at him. 'What are you doing?' she hissed.

He shrugged helplessly. 'She told me to!'

'Don't you have four sisters to practice resisting on?!' she demanded quietly, gesticulating wildly. She felt the Hyuuga continue to glare at her through the wall, and tried her best to ignore it.

'She looked at me all… weird!' he hissed. 'Like she was going to cry!'

She stared at him. '… Women cry all the time!'

'Not around me, they don't! My mother always made damn sure I wouldn't let a girl cry around me!' He flushed at the revelation, and to her shock, started to fidget. 'You… You're meant to look after girls,' he admitted quietly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. 'And since my dad died, I've been looking after all of them. So I guess it's just… habit?' he offered helplessly, staring at his feet.

'You never look after me,' she grumbled, doing her best to ignore the back story.

He looked up. 'What?' he asked, brow wrinkling in confusion.

'Nothing,' she sighed. She held a hand out. 'Give me the spatula. I'll see what I can do.'

She resisted the urge to roll up her sleeves, turning and staring at the kitchen stubbornly. She wouldn't be the first Gairano to ever fail in the face of domesticity.

Surely it couldn't be that much more complicated than instant miso.


A/N: I remember thinking that once. Foolish, foolish days.

Reviews:

V: You'll be reading it in your inbox from now on.

envysXsin: I'm starting to provide backstories, but given how avidly my character's avoided them I can only provide them in short bursts. Until I create a proper context, that is, so please be patient and I won't disappoint you. I love Daisukenojo too and he's getting more attention as we get closer to the chuunin exams. And yes, I may have thrown him into an apron with frills on, but he was asking for it. Your praise is... wonderful. Thank you so much for both that and your advice, because you've inspired me to write more and write better. And like I said- you can have France, but the rest of the universe we'll have to negotiate about.