Minato tried so hard that it hurt Shiori's teeth. Kushina was her usual brash person and demanded to know all the secrets of the brain tuning to the younger girl's frequency. Explanations that's enough to use logical arguments weren't taken into consideration. Orochimaru watched everything carefully, while maintaining a neutral expression of a man who was almost certain that his hosts were a little crazy. Nevertheless, he put up with it, because he just ate a delicious meal, and it would be rude to leave so soon. On the other hand, all the adults as one avoided looking into each other's eyes.
Meanwhile Shiori sat quietly swallowing in whole all goodies she managed to put her hands on, and at the same time not looking like a perpetually dissatisfied cookie monster. She had always been of the opinion that fish and children shouldn't have a voice, especially in the company of seemingly adult and reliable people; besides she didn't want to behave like a savage in front of Orochimaru. Actually, thinking about it, adding up all her life spans she should be close to his age. Thinking about this further, it was just sad.
But nothing was sadder than the uncomfortable air hanging over the table like an ax, so the girl decided to open her mouth.
"Orochimaru-sama, if I may ask, how is the new jutsu going?"
The mentioned man glanced sideways with something between relief for interrupting the silence and overwhelming repulsion to the need to talk.
"Good but there're some difficulties."
"Shiori-chan mentioned something about it before. What are you exactly developing, Orochimaru-sama?" asked the second redhead, also wary of the previous silence.
"Actually, it was all Shiori-chan's idea."
Minato nearly choked. It happened extremely often when the girl was nearby.
"Shiori-chan came up with a new jutsu alone?"
"You don't need to act so surprised, Mini-nii. I'm young, not half-witted." The reborn woman could endure a lot - teasing her age, height, odd hair and eyes, hell even her chubby fingers, but she would never stay silent when someone was mocking her intellect.
"You should see her in Uzu, Minato." Kushina snorted. "The Chief of fuinjutsu development often dragged her through the whole village like a wild Chihuahua. He was resembling a scorched chicken after her rather volatile experiments. After one she had a lifetime ban on access to the research facility."
"Performance issues - everybody have them from time to time." explained the embarrassed child. "Besides the ban was just temporary."
"You mean that Bomaru-sama was at his wits end after a week of exploding in his face meals, and that one time when he found the ether in his aftershave and later woke up in a box signed warning – a nitwit – it bites. It was golden."
"He had an IQ of a houseplant. And I put in there a supply of lettuce and water, and even some newspapers on the floor, so he wouldn't mess too much."
Minato swore then to close his locker in the bathroom shut and hid the key. He doubted any seals could help against the properly motivated Uzumaki.
"Don't you think it might have been a little over the top?"
"It was a matter of principles and work ethics, Mini-nii." In some weird way her lack of tooth made her sweet smile even more diabolic.
"What's the new jutsu?" Kushina worked currently as the blond man's lifesaver because for the third time today he looked like he was going to have a stroke in a minute.
"It's a wind ninjutsu combined with a barrier. It creates a vacuum, suffocating whoever is inside." Explained the Snake Sannin. "It's really clever."
The kid beamed from the prize.
"Unfortunately we have problem with maintaining paralysis, so the victim cannot step out of the barrier."
"What if you make the barrier more sustained?"
"Then its frequency would be too slow to proficiently pump out the air." Kushina's question was answered by Minato, who was bumping fingers into his chin, thinking.
It seemed that a jutsu problem was everything the bunch of socially inept shinobi nerds needed to overwhelm their differences. The brainstorm between the three seal-masters was something no one normal would understand. Shiori was mainly silent, thinking the whole time, not wanting to say something stupid. When Kushina served proper dessert and their time together was closing, the girl decided to share her best idea.
"If it can't be ninjutsu then make it a seal." She hushed instantly under the scrutinizing gaze of three pair of eyes. "You know… like exploding tag? I think four layers. First one paralyze everything with chakra in a specified radius, then a barrier so the void could be sustained, third - getting rid of the air, and at the end a small teleporting fuinjutsu to deal with the used seals and get rid of the evidence. It could be really useful for ANBU. Clean, silent death. Without fully competent coroner it would seem like a natural cause."
And then a miracle happened and not only Orochimaru smiled but also patted her head. It was a grimace and the pat was rather wooden as a furniture storage but not the less it was something. Shiori's grin was so big, it was highly possible her cheeks would fall off.
"It's brilliant, Shiori-chan, truly, but…" Minato didn't know how to express his thoughts; especially with hidden but no less menacing frown the other man was giving him. "You're five. Don't you think that inventing ways to murder someone isn't the best past time for someone your age?"
The lecture under the yellow glare changed into a sentence with fat question marks at the end.
"This's a shinobi village." Mouthed the girl. "The past time of vast part of its residents hovers around thinking about transience of human life and the means to cause it. I don't want to be a kunoichi, but every one of you kill on daily basis. If making it easier, so you won't be the one killed, is something I can do, I'll do it."
Minato understood then, he shouldn't worry about Orochimaru's bad influence on Shiori. The girl couldn't come under outside guidance at all, because from the very beginning she was under her own.
He remembered fights Jiraiya sensei always had against some of his colleagues for Orochimaru's sake. Of course not literally, and never when the man was present, but many leaf shinobi openly thought that the snake summoner wasn't naturally a paid-up member of the human race, except biologically and looking at his eyes and pale skin maybe not even that. He needed to be socially bounced around by fellow Sannins, thanks to what he was constantly reminded he was in fact… well … human being. Truth be told, Minato hadn't understood why his sensei was always defending the snake. Sure, they were once teammates, and once a teammate, always a teammate, but the man's presence was alarming. There was just something wrong with him. He gave the odd feeling and making even other killers uneasy wasn't something to belittle.
The problem was – Kushina's and his little girl had the same vibe and it was in perfect resonance with Orochimaru's.
He didn't know if it was a good thing, but now, watching her smile, it was good enough. That vibe was to guard their loved ones, and the fair-haired man knew he would protect the girl as his sensei protected his friend.
Unaware of Minato's over-interpretation of her behaviour, the young Uzumaki happily chatted with the rest of the adults about the new tags. Whole hour passed in a blink of an eye and Orochimaru was gone, sent back with a full plate of delicious leftovers.
"So?" Asked the child, clambering into Minato's lap on the sofa.
"So?"
"How was the test run?"
"The test run?" the man repeated again and the little redhead having enough of it pulled out the big guns - she pouted.
"Seriously, Mini-nii. Stop it and tell me."
"Tell you what, Shior-chan?" now Minato pouted. It was a full-fledged war of sickeningly sweet pouts. "It wasn't a test, just a dinner."
"Sure it wasn't. And you and Kushina-san didn't want to check if Orochimaru-sama will change me into suicidal maniac. By the way, nice sannins you have; creepy pervert, sinister genius and what? Gambler or a drunk?"
Minato sweat-dropped.
"Both actually."
"Stop kidding me." Then the woman vaguely remembered Tsunade as she was shown in the manga with her giant boobs and a bottle of sake always in the background. "Wait, you aren't kidding me."
"I'm afraid so."
Shiori hmmed and assessed him again, this time with serious face.
"What's the verdict, Mini-nii?"
The man scratched his chin with undisguised purpose rising the tension. Then without warning he was confronting the child with rough ticklish attack.
"The verdict is that you need to relax, kiddo."
The girl's laughter rolled out of her like waves on a golden, tropical beach. It appeared to disappear for a second only to build up and break to the surface once more. The blond was deaf for her pleads as if trying to squeeze out of her every giggle. Shiori was forced to call for backup even if it meant being a manipulative bitch.
"Kushina-nee-chan, help!"
The reinforcement walked out of the kitchen with a wet cloth in hand and a nebulous gaze.
"So now I'm a nee-chan, ehh? I'll show you your nee-chan, dettabane!"
After that Shiori had to deal with not one but two attackers and her laughter could be heard from a mile away, echoing through the halls and into each and every room in the house.
In one of them a person stopped.
A long shadow crouched on the windowsill listening to the joyful sounds so uncommon for his ears. It was something new in this household just like the room he was in. Gone were the weapons and taijutsu scrolls; gone was the target practice shield on the wall and training dummy in the corner, even old bed sheets in kunais were gone. In their place was a mountain of colorful cushions and teddy bears (and one gigantic plushy pink frog, it was the most disturbing toy he ever seen). Overall everything that could be was fluffy, vibrant and nice-looking. Perfect kid's room. Not his.
The short person jumped from the windowsill and walked to the bookshelf. The most problematic thing was the unpleasant feeling – mix of sadness, anger and loneliness. He knew he shouldn't feel all these things but he had. This room could be still his yet it was his idea to move out. Kushina-san nearly begged him to stay but he couldn't. This life wasn't his, so how could it be that he was angered by a loss of something he never had. What he once had he tried to forget. If he remembered the hugs, being sheltered in his father arms or picked up off his feet the second his lip trembled, he wouldn't be able to carry on.
He took one book out and started to mindlessly leaf through it.
He didn't look for love. He didn't expect anyone to care for him. Every time he thought about the 'L' word it was in the context of an enemy and how they would exploit it to their advantage. There was no room for sentimentality in his life. He was shinobi and the only important things for shinobi were rules and duty. He had become someone his father would have been ashamed of. But it was good; the feeling was mutual.
"What are you doing here?"
His first thought was disbelief. The child was louder than Obito, how was it possible he didn't hear her? The second thought was need to flee. Before the book he previously tried to reed hit the floor, half of his body was outside.
"Wait, Hatake-san" The boy didn't intend to. "Or I'll tell Minato you were here."
This worked. Kakashi gave her a thoroughly insulting stare but leapt back on the floor.
"What do you want?"
"Sheesh, you don't need to look at me like I just kicked your puppy." Mumbled the girl still a little flushed from laughing and opened the closet dragging something out of it. It was a box and when she opened it the silver-haired boy's eyes winded slightly.
"When I found them they were a little filthy, so I washed them. They are yours, aren't they?"
They were. Four plushy dogs were his favorite toys. His first pack, at least that's what his father called them when he gave them to him.
"For what could I need them? Toys are for kids."
Before Shiori could answer she was left alone, not counting the growing waves of anger.
"Yeah, and what are you? A beardless dwarf?!"
The reborn woman cursed herself and the boy. She shouldn't be so agitated by some brat. She was three times his senior for Buddha's fat belly sake! The girl glowered at the box with toys and stuffed it back into the closet. Now, looking at her trampled book on the floor at least she was sure that no good deed was left unpunished.
Ω
The redhead girl's stomach growled as she squirmed in her seat trying to silence the rumbling. She glared at the clock; it was lunch time. She should ponder the ways of cutting chakra circulation in paralyzed victims, but Shiori's head was preoccupied. Her eyes glazed over, when she imagined the bento she left on the table in the kitchen. She was so thrilled by the prospect of working witch Orochimaru she had totally forgotten her delicious food this morning. She was salivating at the very thought of it.
With one more rumble she prized to the skies the old record player and music flying out of it. She would have never been suspecting that the snake sannin was such a music lover. He even hummed a tune under his nose a few times. If the laboratory was silent and he would hear her lamenting stomach the girl would be mortified to her dying breath.
"Stop it."
"What?"
"Stop whatever you're doing and go to the corridor." Repeated the man, not taking his yellow eyes off the chakra charts.
The girl blinked. She was doing exactly nothing, so what should she stop doing? Wait, did he noticed she was doing nothing and was annoyed? Was he going to send her home? Separate her from the only brain absorbing activities in this village? Force to live her everyday mundane life full of idiots, musings about the upcoming doom and making her crazier with every hour?
"Stop panicking, Shiori-chan, and go eat."
"Eeeeh?" How it's possible that in front the only person she truly wanted to impress, she was behaving like a mindless cucumber?
"Nourishment is essential in maintaining the appropriate brain function. And even I don't eat in here. This could contaminate the surroundings."
Ooh, that made sense. But it didn't change the fact she was screwed. Embarrassment of the century here she comes.
"Speak louder, child. We both know you're capable of it."
"I don't have anything to eat." She mumbled a little louder, toying with her fingers. Orochimaru for the first time actually looked at her and lifted one slender brow in untold question. "I left the bento Kushina made for me on the table. I'm sorry, Orochimaru-sama."
"What do you want?"
"Eeh?" The next eloquent statement.
"I'll sent someone for a food for you. This department is full of incompetent fools, so it will be no loss."
"Can we go together?"
Shiori saw the shock registered on his face before Orochimaru could hide it. And, heck, the Snake Sannin was surprised, there was no doubt about it. He knew the child was highly intelligent and sought his company to get rid of her boredom. He, for his part, wanted to try and recruit the girl for his experiments. Not as a specimen but as a source of additional ideas; he wouldn't want to unnecessary aggravate the yellow flash and the Kyubi container.
Their mutual profit he understood, but the desire for common meal? That was something else entirely.
Had the young Uzumaki truly wanted to spent time with him or did she has some ulterior reasons? It had to be the second case. Orochimaru wasn't material for a casual hang out.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Imagawayaki or dango or both!" And here was the reason, the bottomless stomach.
"I'll sent for some…"
"Please, Orochimaru-sama," the girl interrupted. "Please, come with me, pretty please?"
From when her eyes were so big, shiny and round? And why her lower lip was trembling?
"Are you trying to manipulate me with you childish charm?"
Shiori flayed him with blank gaze and shrugged.
"It would be nice to eat together that's all."
After a moment of thought Orochimaru agreed. In the end, what could have happened?
Ω
It was years from the last time he thought of himself as an idiot, but here he was doing it again. Everyone looked at him as if he was on the brink of murder or just kidnapped the girl bouncing happily in his arms. The child's legs were too short to keep up with his long strides, and Orochimaru refused to lose more time than was necessary. So here he was, in the middle of the occurrence that had no right to exist, with a dango stick in his mouth and cheerful kid in his embrace. He asked Shiori to calm down and she did, for a whole two minutes after with her glee returned with a vengeance. It was like trying to tell a star not to shine. Those golden eyes were twinkling. Every single one of her muscles needed to move, to dance, to jump. She giggled and joked and chattered about fuinjutsu and other scientific subjects. Where one idea was coming out from her mouth there was seven more queuing up in her mind. And all of that gathered considerable attention.
For example, now two women were eyeing him with growing distrust, at least until Shiori stuck the next batch of dumplings into his mouth and giggled. The chuckle was like an acoustic hug. It traveled through the humid autumn air, inclosing even strangers in its embrace. Even the most stoic of the passers stifled grins, and the two women's glares morphed into a flirting smiles.
"See, you don't need to be the scary one. You just need a little good PR. For first, you should end this constant brooding."
The man's brows knitted in a frown.
"I do not brood."
"Orochimaru-sama, if your brooding was any more notable, it would be your main attack according to bingo books. Ninja armies would part before your broody face." Orochimaru glared as if wanting to pin her butt to the next ramen stand and leave her there as a flag, nevertheless stuffed cheeks spoiled the effect. "Women in the Land of Fire would have broody offspring in your hono…"
The man smiled. Who would have thought that dango have so remarkable muzzling proprieties?
After eating the sweets, all the way back to the Science and Development division's laboratories Shiori talked about ways to improve his image but to his own surprise Orochimaru wasn't irritated. It reminded him past bickering with Jiraiya about some childish, unimportant details to Tsunade's delight. The red head girl wasn't the big oaf nor Senju princess but she turned out to be not the worst company.
The laboratory's door barely swan shut behind them when the child went completely stiff. Her eyes were bulging with poorly concealed fright. Shimura Danzo was standing in the middle of Orochimaru's workroom, reading his notes.
"Orochimaru-kun, Shiori-chan," greeted the man and the addressed girl nearly melted into Sannin's side.
"Danzo-sama," droned the black-haired man and put the small Uzumaki on the floor. "Shiori-chan, ask someone to get you home."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama. Thank you for today and goodbye. Danzo-sama," the girl bowed and turned a little too slowly for it to be normal. When she spoke her voice trailed lifelessly, as if her words were unwilling to be heard. There was something akin of anger in her eyes; the gold hue way too sharp.
Ω
A week later the reborn woman was rolling over in her bed as a fish on a dry land. Every day of the past week she was with Orochimaru and in each of them she detected more disturbing things indicating that the Snake Sannin was in league with Shimura's Foundation.
It wasn't good, sure but it was utterly terrifying when she realized that spending time with Orochimaru and impressing him did nothing but further drew Danzo's attention. Damn her arrogance and that stupid luck! Why she was brought into this world in Uzu? Couldn't she be reborn from the start in the Leaf Village? Then she wouldn't need to be recognized as a prodigy. Behaving like a normal, stupid child would make her crazy and bitchy all the time but at least now she would be safe; and now what?!
When Minato and Kushina will be dead no one would even ask about her. Shimura was going to brainwash her and then she would lose herself and die one way or another. All this rebirthing, adjusting to new life and dealing with bunch of idiots was for nothing; she was doomed and at the moment had a panic attack!
She breathed in and out but air didn't enter her lungs. Begging for a breath her heart raced at incredible speed, lungs shallowly rose and fell. Contentment and security were nothing but a memory, and an invisible power crushed her small body from every direction. Each second flooded with dread made a permanent mark on her heart. She had to stop it. She had to do something.
Two wobbly legs barely managed to keep her vertical, but when the girl was certain that she would be able to stand up she headed forward straight to her caretaker's bedroom. Maybe it was stupid and childish and totally unbecoming, but when she was cradled in Minato's arms and listened to Kushina's sweet nothingness she again felt safe, if only for a moment.
And then she knew. I she wanted to live, she couldn't let them die. Otherwise she was lost.
As always I have to thank and gush over mrsmiawallace88 :D Seriously, I can't thank her enough, so I'll continue to be happily in her debt.
Ok, now when I've gushed somewhat suitably over my wonderful beta - big hugs and thanks to everyone who's reviewed, faved, followed and read the story. To the next time ^^