Butterflies
"Me? I'm nobody. I'm not skilled like Uchiha-san. I am not passionate like Haruno-san. I am not smart like Nara-san. I'm not as strong as Chouji-san. I'm not as collected as Aburame-san. Or as pretty as Yamanaka-san. I'm not as confident as Inuzuka-san. If anything, I'm like Hyuuga-san, socially awkward. Oh wait, no, she's just shy. The socially awkward one is me." OC! Team 7 remix!
Chapter 27 – Relapse
8-8
"You the new guy, ain't che. Waz good in yo' hood?"
"You're an idiot aren't you." The words fly off my tongue before I can help it. It's true though! I mean, it sounds as if this fox is an announcer on the radio or something! Going from accent to accent, persona to persona, just showing they're skilled at something for the sake of showing it.
"There are those that may agree with you, yes." Yokoshima eyes me warily. "Ha! A Namiki! And from the looks of it, you just summoned a wolf too! No… five wolves. An older female and… four nursing pups!? ARE YOU NUTS!?"
"Shh!" I whisper harshly, looking down to Tsuki to indicate she's still sleeping. Yokoshima takes one look, sees the pup, and is suddenly on the other side of the room.
"And I'm the idiot! You're holding a wolf pup! Actually holding her! You… you're crazy! Even for a Namiki!"
"Would you relax? Her mother asked me to mind her while she's napping." I say calmly. "It's smart that you don't want to touch her, but Tsuren really doesn't mind with me."
"Tsuren?" Yokoshima thinks about that. "I know that name… Hey, new guy!"
An annoyed whine draws my attention to Tsuki. She wriggles in my arms, shifting around, and is obviously annoyed that there's so much noise around her. She opens her yellow eyes, taking in the scene.
"Mama?" She calls, wondering where Tsuren is.
"Hey, Tsuki. Sleep well?" I ask, drawing her attention to me.
"Mama?" She asks again.
"She already went home with the others. She didn't want to wake you, though. You should probably head home." I say, scratching her ear a little.
"Home… mama?"
"Yes, go on home to mama." I confirm. She poofs away a second later. I find myself missing her weight in my arms.
A relieved sigh tells me the fox isn't missing the pup at all. "I swear, you Namikis are just out of your mind." I'm told. I roll my eyes though. "Now as I was saying, Hey, new guy, you should totally meet my sister. Try summoning again! I'll bet you anything you get her!"
"That wouldn't happen to be because all kitsunes are females, and most of you consider the entire clan 'sisters'… would it?" Nii-san asks, deadpan.
A low whistle meets my ears. "A crazy Namiki I can live with. An Uzumaki that thinks… this is going to take some getting used to." Naruto-nii glares at the… kitsune? I didn't know kitsunes had only one tail. "Well anyway! I'll smell ya later, punk!" Poof! Gone.
Naruto-nii doubles over, wheezing from the laughter that catches him. "I'm gonna love summoning that one again!" I blink. And Yokoshima thinks Namikis are crazy?
8-8
Elemental training ends up being something of a let down. Yes, it turns out that I'm earth. Yes, it turns out that Naruto-nii is wind. But that's as far as 'predictable' goes. Neither Sensei nor Captain knows how to train someone in wind release, so Sarutobi-san is called in – Nii-san doesn't seem to mind, so I keep the glares to a minimum for his sake. But luckily Sensei does know earth release, so she's been teaching me.
The reason it's a let down? The first exercise, is turning a leaf into stone. Yes. A leaf. Into stone. "Aya! Are you listening to me!?" Sensei sounds majorly ticked. "I said you need to focus earth chakra into that leaf until it's as hard as stone." Yes, leaf into stone. I hear you. It's the 'believing' part that needs work.
Well. It's not as if she'll let up until she's satisfied with my work. Hop to, Aya!
8-8
"Seriously?" I ask Uchiha-san. He's just staring at me, wordlessly asking me what the problem is. I glare back, trying as hard as I can to not slap the teeth out of his mouth. "You not only didn't practice the genjutsu I told you to, but you now are trying to tell me that you don't fully understand the basics of genjutsu?"
"I said no such thing." He tries, looking annoyed. "I said I do not understand how it is that you can create such an illusion with little preparation and no handsigns." And that's somehow different, because…?
I rub my forehead, wondering why I'm stuck with this numbskull in the first place. I mean, really? "Genjutsu is an abstract art. You cannot think in terms of 'show this', you need to think in terms of how it needs to be shown." I try. He just looks at me weird, as if I'm making less sense now.
"Alright, how about another way then. You can't just simply prepare a genjutsu with 'show person A', or 'see person B die'. You need to be able to be abstract enough to keep the genjutsu as 'person A' or 'person B', while still putting in subtle details like 'that look they always give you when no one's looking'. Do you understand?"
"Not even a little." He deadpans. I groan. And this is the supposed 'brightest' boy of our class?
How about something more concrete then. "You know that E-rank genjutsu I use a lot? The one with a snap?" He nods. "I prep that one with: show something that soothes. Meaning that the person that falls into my genjutsu, their subconscious calls up an image that would sooth them. No matter who it is, no matter what soothes them, that's what they'll see."
"… I see." He sounds like he gets it, if only a little.
"So even though it's a really weak genjutsu, because the target likes what they see, they'd be less likely to want to get out of it. As opposed to genjutsus of nightmares, pain, torture, or whatever. Those are far more likely to make an unprepared victim forget that they can get out of it, but anyone with a strong enough mind will immediately know it's fake. From there anyone can break the genjutsu if they try hard enough."
"So how does this work with environmental genjutsus?" He wonders.
I groan again. Did he learn nothing on the subject? "Genjutsus fall into four categories, depending on how they work. They either affect your reasoning, affect how you interpret the signals from your senses, affect what signals you get in from your senses, or completely shut off one or more of your senses." He has that look again. That 'what are you even talking about look'.
"Let's try an example then." Teaching Naruto-nii was by far simpler than this. "Touch. The sensation we call touch is actually a network of nerves spread out over our entire body. Right?"
He nods, showing he's still with me. "Now, according to the four categories I just described you can either make the person reason that their injuries aren't so bad. Or you could fool the nerves into thinking that they aren't getting in any signals. Or you could make the injuries feel worse or better by affecting how those nerves take in the information. Or you could… okay, wait… touch is a bad way to show all four…"
"No. Sight is easier. Much easier actually, and far more common to affect. Okay. So you receive billions of little light waves right?" He nods, wondering if this will actually work out this time. I growl at him, warning him that I'm doing this for him!
"Alright. So you can either make the person not care what they see, by forcing their mind to reason that it isn't important enough to notice, so it gets filtered out along with the hundreds of other things we don't consciously notice. Or you can prevent those light waves from reaching their eyes, by either bending the light around what you don't want them to see or just around their eyes, or whatever other means people come up with. Or you can force their eyes to take in those light waves differently, like confusing the brain that the signal for orange and black are the same which would mean that a black and orange picture would either be completely black, or completely orange. Or you can just shut off the connection to the eyes entirely."
Okay, THAT was a much better example! "Get it?"
He lets that sink in for a bit. Once he feels he's absorbed it –or whatever– he nods. "Can things be permanently changed via genjutsu?"
"Yes." I nod sadly. "Genjutsus are usually only temporary. Especially the lower ranked ones. But once you get up into B and A-ranked genjutsu, doing them wrong can cause permanent damage to the target. You can be killed via genjutsu, whether people like to admit it or not."
"How so?"
"That's how the brain works. Every genjutsu directly or indirectly involves the brain, but anything that alters how the senses work does this directly. So let's say, I prep a genjutsu which would force your muscles to relax – a paralysis jutsu of sorts. What if I prep it wrong and forget to allow the muscles that work your lungs and heart to continue working? Yes, these muscles work on a completely different 'frequency' in the body. But… they can just as easily be targeted via genjutsu. It's all controlled by the brain. You just have to hijack the right parts and force it to do what you want."
"So… you could stop someone's heart?" He asks.
"Theoretically. I'm not that good yet." I admit.
"How?"
"That depends on your method of using the genjutsu." I don't want to teach him that, at all. So I subtly change the subject. He looks at me curiously again. "Jeez, you really know nothing about this. A genjutsu is any jutsu that directly or indirectly affects the brain via the senses. So either you prep a visual genjutsu, that would be called an ocular genjutsu. So any genjutsu induced via the eyes. These are the most common, because your opponent is always going to keep an eye on you. It's simply easier." I explain.
He nods, showing that he's with me so far. "But those have drawbacks. For example, the Sharingan or the Byakugan, both bloodline limits are immune to these types of genjutsu. Or if the person's eyes are damaged, or simply covered for whatever reason. A small risk, so most never consider it."
He nods again, obviously proud of his heritage. Easy there, tiger. So much your missing, it isn't funny. "But that's just one method. The eyes aren't the only sensory receptors, and unless you haven't noticed, you still fall into my genjutsus." He nods, more serious this time. "That's because I use two senses: hearing and touch. A lot of people don't realise that you can feel sounds just as acutely as you hear them. That's one of the advantages of those hairs on every inch of our skin – they can act as little microphones. Not to mention the skin."
He furrows his brow, thinking about that. He doesn't like what he's thinking. "So that would mean that as long as your target can hear or feel, they are susceptible to your sound release genjutsus?"
"Yes, more or less." I admit. There are ways around everything, but that covers the basics.
"Meaning?"
"Nothing is without risk, no jutsu is without weakness." I remind him. He agrees with me, but he doesn't understand what that really means in this case. Not that I plan on explaining the weaknesses of my jutsus – I don't trust him!
"So… ocular genjutsu. How can I take Hell viewing jutsu and turn it ocular?" He asks. Hmm, he's learning something.
"Why do you think it isn't already ocular?"
"Because it's induced via a burst of chakra, and not aimed at the eyes." He smirks. So, he does have some brains in there.
"That's true. It's induced via our sense of chakra." I grin, wondering if he'll even understand what that means. He blinks, looking confused. I thought so. "Everyone that learns to use chakra, consciously or subconsciously, learns to sense chakra. Those who are good at it are called sensors, but everyone does it on some level." He nods. There's this weird look in his eyes. And I think he's pupils are slightly more dilated…?
"Uchiha-san." He snaps out of whatever the heck that was. I swear to Kami-sama if this boy develops a crush on me…
"So anyway, the way to change it into an ocular genjutsu is to have the same moulded chakra focused somewhere you know the target will look. It doesn't have to be on you, it could also be a flower, a window, a rock. So long as you can ensure the moulded chakra remains where you want it, anyone the 'receives' the information, will fall into your genjutsu."
8-8
"Naruto-nii… really?" I complain.
"Yes, sis, really." He answers evenly.
"No… really?" I try again.
"Yes. Really, really." He isn't budging. I groan. Didn't I do enough today? "Look, you said yourself that most of the medical jutsus that your dad used were Seals based. And your mom was completely awesome at them! If you want your parents to be totally proud of you, you're going to have to learn this eventually." I groan again. Dealing with Uchiha-san after dinner wasn't bad enough, it seems.
"Fine…" I give in, unhappy about it. He rolls his eyes, but turns to our 'sensei' for the evening.
"Alright, Asami-chan! We're in your capable hands!"
8-8
"I've never seen someone mess up this exercise this badly." I groan. Thanks, Sarutobi-san, that helps. "No, really. I mean. Wow. This is a whole new kind of bad."
I growl at her. "Si~iiis." What!? You're just going to let her talk to me like that!? "Asami-chan, is there something we can do?"
"Yeah, you can tell her to stop trying to do this with the wrong hand." I blink. Huh? "She grabs her brush with her left hand, switches it over to her right and messes up. Badly. That's a clear sign she's not right-handed."
"I am right handed, I just messed up my fine motor skills with a burn on my right forearm." I explain, blushing. I hate talking about how badly I mess up.
"That might explain the quality, but it doesn't explain grabbing it with your left to begin with. I mean, a lot of left-handed students are forced to write right-handed, simply because the teachers tell them to. It doesn't change which is your dominant hand, though." I blink at her. Now I know how Uchiha-san felt listening to me earlier.
"Alright, let's try this then." She throws something at my face. I swat it away, on instinct. "See, you hit it with your left hand." She says. I look, and… well, yeah, that's the one that forms an 'L'.
"So, basically, we need to stop focusing on you relearning your right hand. We need to teach you properly with your left." She explains. "In the end it'll technically make you ambidextrous, which is mostly in your advantage. But the point is, you're very much a lefty."
"So why don't they allow 'lefties' to write left-handed?" I ask, remembering how much trouble I had learning to write in the first place – it just felt awkward.
"Because they keep arguing that the number of lefties is negligible and that they'll eventually just teach themselves anyway. And… as an 'added bonus' this would train their off hand as well. So really, they're 'doing lefties a favour'." She does the air-quotes every time, obviously as annoyed about this as I am.
"So. Miss lefty, let's see if we can't undo their stupidity."
"Alright." I nod. I'm still not really sure, but what could it hurt? Worst case scenario, I train my 'off hand' and still become ambidextrous. "Th-thanks." I say, looking away. I won't lie, or pretend that I like the girl. But… I can respect the person that she is. She's obviously doing this for Naruto-nii, trying to include herself into his clique, his pack, but…
She smiles at me, beams really. I don't understand her at all.
8-8
The next afternoon, after lunch, Yoshino-sensei and I end up dragging poor Hina-nee and Hanabi along, into the Kuruta's again. I'm beginning to really like coming here – even if the blacksmith isn't really one for a casual conversation; like I'm any better?
"So, Hinata. Have you thought about which instrument you might like to work with?" Yoshino-sensei asks as we enter.
"A-ano… I-I w-was thinking about… maybe… possibly the sh-shinobue?" She manages. We really need to work on that stutter of hers. I mean, really?
"That's a wonderful idea! I mean, if you like it, that is." I try not to sound too happy about it. I mean, I'm thrilled! But I really want this to be her choice; she has to work with it, and she has to love doing it.
"I-I do." She beams. So we head over to the same section I bought my flute, and we let her pick one she likes. It takes a few minutes, but she eventually selects a black shinobue – she does point out that it's also a hiyashi styled one, so we can basically do duets now.
We turn to Hanabi, but she doesn't seem to like the flute at all. And there aren't any other musical instruments here, unless you count bells – which I don't.
Yoshino-sensei suggests we go to a music store a bit 'up the way' –whatever that means– and switches over to weapons. "Sensei, it'd make more sense to let them look through the weapons we have at home first, and if they don't find something they like… then we could always come back and see if we can find something suitable."
"That sounds reasonable." Sensei agrees. As do the Hyuuga sisters, more or less. They're still not really sure about needing a weapon at all, but I'm not giving them a choice in the matter. Their training is my business, so they'll learn to handle a weapon in addition to a musical instrument.
Neither girl seems to need –or want– a new pair of sandals, so I pay for the flute and we leave. We're not really in a rush, so we kind of window shop on the way.
"Hey, Chouji-ku~uuuuun!" Chouji? My head snaps towards the voice – Haruno-san's, a bit behind us. And sure enough, up ahead I see Chouji-kun, Ino and Nara-san walking towards us, with Haruno-san now running in their direction. The pinkette runs right up to Chouji-kun…
She throws her arms around him…
…
Their lips meet…
Once… twice… a third time… this time much longer.
8-8
I don't even know how I got home. I don't know how long ago I saw that scene. All I know, is that I felt my heart shatter. I thought… I could have sworn…
But he never said anything about it. He knows I like him, he CAN'T be stupid enough to not know. But he never said anything about him and Haruno. Not that Haruno was ever anything but a 'Sasuke fangirl'. It doesn't make sense. It shouldn't make sense. I… he…
I'm being stupid.
He's just a boy. I'm just a girl. I need to focus on my training, on my pack. The pack comes first. The pack will always come first.
8-8
End Chapter 27
8-8
A/N: Sorry, no teasers or subtle hints this time. You'll just have to wait and see how this plays out ^_^ (yes, I know I'm evil sometimes)