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 36 – A tale of Clans

8-8

It's been a hard few days. Finding a balance between tending to my patient, my training, training with my team, training those in my care, training Minori, Aomaru and Haruki in some of the more basic things to assist Maki so that I don't have to stay by her side every second of every day – and setting up a simple rotation so that Maki isn't ever alone.

Then there's still having meetings with Yoshino-sensei to discuss what we could do for Minori, Aomaru and Haruki… And on top of that there're the meetings with Mariko-san about her clansman's health and plans for rehabilitation. Mariko-san does come over to spend time with Maki as well, which I count as a blessing – having the matriarch of her clan show that much care for her is doing wonders for Maki's mental health.

And that doesn't even cover the meetings with the three genins. Meetings Naru-nii about what he wants to do with Minori and Haruki – and then more meetings with them to discuss if they agree. It's… exhausting trying to get everything done.

"Minori-chan, please sit down." I say, starting meeting number… only Kami-sama knows. "I know this has been a trying week for you. And I'm sure you have more than enough going on." I begin, trying to show that I'm not missing the effect this all has on them.

"N-nn." Minori noises, looking away.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to discuss how you think the current situation is." She looks at me, confused. "Please think about every answer you give before speaking it. I don't want the polite answer… I want the truth. Do you think I'm helping you in every way I can?"

She thinks about that for a moment. "I'm not sure." She says, thinking about that some more. "I mean, you're certainly doing everything I can think of and then some. You're family's doing everything they can and more. We haven't started training under you as yet, so I can't say anything about that… but I understand why you'd prefer for us to rest first."

I nod. "Do you feel safe here? Emotionally, physically?"

"… Of course?" She sounds confused. "I mean, I don't think I've felt this much at home since…"

"… Yes?"

"Since… my parents." She says, a pained look in her eyes, on her face.

"… I understand. I lost my parents too." I say, but I'm quick to shake off the emotions that I have no use for right now. "Would you say you're treated fairly here? That we take care of you?" I make sure to keep all emotion out of my voice, offering only the words – no assumptions, no judgment, just me asking her what she thinks.

"Yes. Yasu-san has done everything she can to help us feel right at home. She's even teaching me how to cook." Minori says, a soft smile on her face. "And Saki-chan keeps asking me a million and one questions. It's… I don't feel like an outsider here." She says, that smile still on her lips, unshed tears in her eyes.

I nod, smiling a little. "Good." Our eyes meet for a second, before I continue. "Are you afraid of us?"

She looks at me, confused. "No. Not even a little." She says evenly. "I mean, sure, you could probably take us in a fight any day of the week, but… I don't believe you or anyone here would harm us."

I nod again. "Do you believe we'd harm Maki-san?"

"Of course not! You've been taking the best care of her! I mean, I haven't seen her do much of anything other than smile around you! And she's an excellent judge of character." She narrows her eyes at me. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I need to know." I tell her honestly. "I don't want to believe something that isn't there. I want to hear if there's something going wrong that I can fix."

"The value of trust…" She murmurs, a faraway look in her eyes. "You… don't trust easily, do you."

"I'm an orphan." I say, as if that explains everything. She nods. "Do you believe your teammates would offer different answers than you have? And I don't mean different words, I mean… would the react negatively to any of these questions?"

She thinks about that. "Haruki is more careful, but… he'd tell me if something was bothering him. He hasn't said anything yet." She thinks some more. "And Ao-chan… I think he's happy that you know about his… preferences and don't talk down to him for it."

"I see. Thank you." I say smiling a bit. "Just one more question?"

"Sure." She says, not at all nervous.

"Are you truly of the Uzumaki clan?" Her eyes widen a little, obviously not having expected that question. Then her eyes soften, tearing up a little.

"Yes. My… my parents were little when Whirlpool was destroyed." She says, her eyes holding sadness but not pain. "They didn't know much of any specialized trainings and whatnot, but they trained hard to avenge their clan. They thought they were the only survivors."

"I see."

"They joined the rebellion to get back at Mist for their part in…" She looks away from me, crying silently. "They… it happened when Haruki was almost a year old."

"I understand." I don't press her, and she doesn't continue. Instead, I walk around my desk and wrap the girl in a hug. She'd already stopped crying and holding her doesn't change that, but she doesn't push me away either. "Thank you for trusting me with this. I know… I know it isn't easy to talk about it."

"… nn." She doesn't seem to know how to react to that.

"My parents… died years apart." I really don't know why I say that. "My father when I was three, so I don't remember much about him. I just remember how he'd wrap me up in a quilt so I'd be warm while we watch it snow."

"My mother died when I was five. On a mission with Captain no less." I say, my tone sour. We still haven't really sorted that out, but talking to him about it isn't going to bring her back. "She was in Anbu. She came home from missions covered in blood most of the time. She even taught me how to wash blood out of your clothes."

I don't know why I'm telling her this. Not very professional, and seeing as I'm the one crying here I can say for sure that it isn't helping her at all.

"… I was sent to an orphanage, but I constantly got into trouble. I picked fights with anyone that said something mean about anyone else… so I got into a lot of fights." I smile this time, sad and wary, but a smile all the same. "Looking back, it was mostly with people that picked on Naru-nii. They all seemed to love picking on him."

"Hmm. I can understand that." Minori says, smiling. "I'd break anyone that picks on my little brother."

"He isn't my biological brother." I correct. "We aren't related in any way."

She stiffens in my arms. "I… but you two are so close."

"We are now. But we didn't start out that way." I tell her. "I kept everyone away from me. I didn't let anyone close, didn't let anyone in. And in fact, I only allowed Naru-nii to see behind my mask because Sasuke was being clingy and stalker-ish at the time."

"… I would have never guessed."

"Nn. Most wouldn't, looking at us now." I agree. "My respect for them is hard earned. I mean, Naru-nii took a kunai in the lung for me. Sasuke put himself between me and more chuunins and even jounins that I care to count. And Captain… he's…" I roll my eyes, smiling a little.

She nods into my embrace, relaxing a bit. "Ao-chan's the same. He's the only one that ever defended us. And he keeps telling me that I'm the only one that ever defended him…" She pushes me back looking up at me with tears streaming down her face. "Until you guys showed up."

"During the mission?" I ask, confused. She nods, letting me wipe away her tears. "We were just doing our job."

"Maybe… but you didn't make fun of us after that. And you didn't care that Ao-chan is into guys… and you don't make fun of Haruki for being so shy, or so short or for both of us having red hair or violet eyes."

I scratch my cheek, trying to understand that. "Umm… duh?" She snorts amused , more tears falling again. "I take it others weren't as accepting?" I ask, wiping away her tears again. She looks away. "People are idiots."

She doesn't argue against that, but she doesn't really say anything else either.

"People used to make fun of me all the time too." I confess. She looks at me, clearly not believing me. "It's true. You can ask Naru-nii… wait, that idiot probably never noticed. Just trust me. I always sounded like an idiot when I talked, and I was always singing to myself and doodling. So people called me names and told me how I'd never get adopted." I snort, amused. "They were right too. And I got kicked out of the orphanage for causing too much trouble."

Her eyes widen with shock. "So… let's just say that I know that pain too well to hurt you, your brother or your best friend like that." I say, offering a watery smile. She stands –almost a head and a half taller than me– and wraps me in her arms this time.

"Thank you." She says, practically smothering me in her bust. I sigh, trying not to get annoyed – does EVERYONE have to rub my nose in the fact that I'm boobless!?

8-8

"Sweetie, Zabuza-san and Haku-chan are back. Did you want to speak with them?" Yasu-nee asks, entering my office without knocking. Not that I need her to, really. I mean, if I can't trust Yasu-nee, then who can I trust?

"I'll be right there." I say, writing the last part of my first report on Team Maki. Satisfied with my report, I roll up the scroll and tie it off properly – I'd written it with a pen so it'll dry faster.

Having dealt with that, put the scroll into on of my pants pockets and head towards the family sitting room. As expected, Haku and Momochi-san are there. What wasn't expected, is Aomaru, Minori and Haruki sitting across from them and glaring daggers at the pair. Hmm, interesting.

"Welcome back." I say, making a face to sort of indirectly apologize for not giving them the heads up on this.

"Nn." Momochi-san noises, but I'm not sure what to make of that.

"As I'm sure you've noticed, we have… guests." Momochi-san snorts at my wording. "I was hoping to talk to you before this, but… this works out just as well."

"Aya-chan…?" Minori turns to me, wondering what I'm getting at.

"Do you trust me?" I ask the three of them. Haruki looks away, but he nods a little. Ao-chan rolls his eyes, raising an eyebrow; what do you think? And Minori… she's harder to read. Much harder to read.

"I do not know what your history is together. I never asked." I begin. "I'm not going to ask now either. All I need to know is if there's something I can do to help ease the tension."

"No." Ao-kun says, crossing his arms and glaring at Haku.

"I see." I say, sorrow in my tone. "I'm sorry to hear that." Ao-chan winces, but tries looking away from me to hide that.

"… So the she-wolf's pack grows." Momochi-san say, amused. "I can't say I'm surprised. These three are talented. Good picks."

"Don't." I glare at him.

"How dare you." Minori says through gritted teeth, her eyes almost burning with anger. "Aya-chan would NEVER do something like that."

"So she isn't helping you because you're an Uzumaki?" Momochi-san asks, not buying that.

"…" Minori looks away, unsure how to respond.

"No." I answer. "I've let her and her team into my home because they are Uzumakis and a Yuki. That is true. But I would have helped them anyway, just in a different way."

Momochi-san glances at me, eyes narrow, face blank. "… is that so." He mutters. I can't tell if he's being sarcastic, or whatever, but I know he doesn't believe me.

"Zabuza-san. I would advise you to be careful with that tone." Yasu-nee gets on his case. "Aya wouldn't lie about something like this. After all… she had no reason to help me or Sakiko."

"Huh… but… aren't you three sisters?" Ao-chan asks, clearly confused.

"She is as much my sister as Naruto is my brother." Yasu-nee answers, smiling brightly. "But when she found Sakiko and me, we were total strangers." Her smile wavers. She doesn't like talking about those days.

"Yasu-nee. It's alright. You don't have to." I say offering her an understanding look.

"No, I don't. But I will not have Zabuza-san talking about you like that. Not now, not ever. Apologize, or leave." She demands hotly.

Momochi-san looks almost insulted by that, so Yasu-nee crosses her arms and gives him a look that would level a small forest. Dang. I didn't know she had it in her. He relents. "Fine. Sorry, Namiki." He drones. She taps her finger against her bicep, unimpressed. He sighs. "Namiki, really. I'm sorry about that." He bows his head a little this time, then looks away.

Don't mess with Yasu-nee.

"That's better. Now, Ao-chan. I want you to tell me what the issue with this man is." Yasu-nee clearly isn't letting anything go this time.

He looks away from her. "He… he abandoned us."

"Idiot." Momochi-san drones, completely ignoring Yasu-nee's warning glare. I was right to adopt her into the Namiki family. "I didn't abandon anyone. I gave you all the chance to fit in, to forget the pains of the past."

"Bullsh-" Yasu-nee glares at Ao-chan, warning him to mind his tongue. "That's crap!"

"Oh? Is it?" Momochi-san seems sure of himself, I'll give him that. "Tell, me other than you three, how many are still plotting against Mist?"

"Tha…" That brings Ao-chan up short.

"None." Momochi-san answers for him. "Because forgetting that struggle is easy if you're given the home you were fighting for – even if it's in another village."

Ao-chan doesn't have an answer for that.

"I didn't abandon you. I gave you a chance. And only you three wouldn't take it." Momochi-san drives his point home.

"Is that why you come here so often?" I ask. "To give Haku the chance to make friends as well?"

"At first, yes." Momochi-san is really chatty right now. He must really want these three to hear what he's saying. "After a while, it was because not coming would hurt Haku for keeping her from her friends. She still can't stand being away from me for too long." Haku blushes at that, but doesn't deny it.

"I see." I murmur. "Thank you, Momochi-san."

"I didn't do it for you, Namiki." He drones.

"No. But I'm thanking you for putting her first." I counter. He scoffs.

"…" He mumbles something I can't quite make out, but I guess he doesn't want me to. And seeing that Haku is blushing and smiling happily, I think she's the only one meant to hear that.

"He said, 'Haku will always come first.'" Captain walks in, eye-smiling. "Yo." I just roll my eyes, keeping out of whatever this will turn into.

"Haku. There's something we need to talk to you about." I change that subject. "Care to join us outside?"

8-8

"Haku… Naru-nii… I… have a plan. It's going to sound crazy, and you're probably going to laugh in my face, but…" I begin, feeling a bit nervous how they'll react. "I want to start a clan. The Namiki clan."

They share a look, questions in their eyes. "That's great… but why would that sound crazy?" Naru-nii asks.

"And why would we laugh?" Haku asks, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Because… I want the two of you to do the same." I explain. They look at each other, worried now. "Haku, you could establish the Yuki clan here. And Naru-nii, you could re-establish the Uzumaki clan."

"So… what you're saying is you want to form a bond, like the Ino-Shika-Chou?" Naru-nii asks. Haku looks curious as well, having spent enough time with Ino and company to know how deep that bond truly goes.

"Not quite as specialized, but… I do want that kind of closeness, yes."

"Define… closeness?" Haku is being a bit careful.

"Like I told Ao-chan and his team… many families, one pack." I say, nodding at my own words. "Like… one large pack with alphas leading their own family, but hunting together and rearing and protecting our pups together, you know?" I run that over and over in my head. "And like how I can trust the Uzumakis to show them secrets jutsus of my family, how Naru-nii can trust the Namikis to show us secret jutsus of his… I would want that closeness for you as well, Haku. So that we can grow strong together, you know?"

Both of them look unsure. "I'm not saying we give each other's clan unrestricted access to every secret." I assure them. "I'm not saying that you'd need to teach anyone the secrets of your ice release. I'm saying that we could trust each other to guard those secrets, just like Naru-nii's parents trusted my mother to guard them. Just like I'll teach Saki to guard them… just like I'll teach future Namikis to guard them…"

"Hnn… are you willing to make that deal for me as well?" Sasuke asks. I turn to him, completely forgetting he was even here.

"… Hmm…" I think about that. Would I trust Sasuke with something like this? Honestly, yes. Sure, he's still such a complete and total idiot with most things, but… I know I can trust him with my life – he's proven it often enough. "Yes."

"… thank you." Sasuke says, his words simple but the emotions behind them deep.

"Well… I'm in." Naru-nii says, acting all cool and detached. I swat his shoulder, trying to tell him not to act so cool. "Hey! No attacking a fellow clan head!" I swat him again, just because.

Haku giggles, knowing us well enough to not bother getting involved. "Very well. I'm in." She says, smiling with her eyes.

"You three will have to register your clans as such." Sasuke says. "And you'll have to deal with the council…" His tone sours are the mention of the council. He also shivers a little and looks put out. He obviously doesn't like dealing with the council if he can help it.

"We can look into that today." Haku suggests. "I will go inquire."

"Would you? Thank you, that means I can start with Maki's physical therapy while you're out. Would you mind taking Ao-chan with you as well? He could probably use the fresh air?"

"That's fine. I would prefer it if I could get him some senbon to start practicing with anyway. Would you be willing to help teach him medical jutsu? He doesn't have the temperament for it, but I believe learning it will help him in the long run." She asks me.

"Sounds fair." I agree, but quickly turn to Naru-nii. "What about Minori and Haruki? I know you'll want them studying sealing and your clan's kenjutsu style, but I think at least Haruki has the state of mind to be an excellent medic. And Minori would definitely grow stronger from the training as well."

"Sounds good. Willing to train Moegi as well? I don't think Udon will be able to handle it, so I'd rather try build him up more as a sealing and kenjutsu specialist."

"Hnn! Shows what you know. I've been training both of them for months! You didn't think I was only teaching them sound release, did you?"

"That my sis for you." Naru-nii says, happy about that.

"I was actually wonder, Aya-chan… Sakiko is quite talented with kunai and shuriken… Perhaps I should start teaching her to work with senbon as well? She certainly has the aim for it." Haku offers.

"Aww, would you? I can't believe how quickly that girl learnt to hit the target though, seriously! I mean, she's not even in the academy yet!"

"Hnn." Sasuke smirks.

"Well, that explains it. Someone's been showing her proper techniques." I tease, nudging Sasuke with my elbow.

"She and Hanabi are good students." Is all Sasuke has to say about it.

"Yeah, they kind of are." I agree. "Ooh! That reminds me! I need to start teaching Saki to work with my special shuriken too! And I soo want to get that thing done soon!"

"That thing…?" Naru-nii asks, curious.

"I want to have a special tracking seal placed on all my shuriken, so that I don't lose them on a mission or something. I mean, they aren't exactly cheap, you know."

"That's all very interesting. But we still need to start our team training." Captain butts in.

8-8

We keep talking about things –planning things, plotting our… our clansmen's trainings– for another few hours, while training to shut Captain up. Afterwards, Haku decides to go get the information we'll need, and I need Minori to help me bring Maki to the bathroom.

I start with Maki's physical therapy soon after, making sure to show both Minori and Haruki what I'm doing and why. Working with Maki, we stretch all of her muscles, test her nerves' response, and slowly start building up to her doing little exercises herself. She's already doing so much better, feeding herself and holding little debates with her students about this or that. She still gets tired easily, but we'll work that out in time.

After that, we let her take a nap, and I call my little minions into the dojo for today's training session.

"Hinata, it's time to see what you can do." I say demandingly. "Hanabi, I want you to stand over on that side of the dojo and when I give you the signal you're to cast Siren's Call on everyone in front of you. I'll be standing behind you to test this." I explain, getting a serious nod from the younger Hyuuga.

"Hinata, you'll be standing in front of everyone else, trying to counter her with the Offsetting Sound jutsu. Everyone will be facing me, so I'll be able to tell if they fall into the genjutsu." Hinata nods, and everyone –Moegi, Udon, Sakiko, Minori and Haruki– spreads out behind her.

I stand behind Hanabi, who's just putting her guitar strap over her, and focusing on what she'll need to do. First off, she needs to focus the Siren's Call jutsu into her sound waves, second she needs to focus those sound waves to not affect me by channelling them forwards. Neither is a simple task, but this isn't impossible.

Hinata's job is technically easier, seeing as she only needs to use the Offsetting Sound jutsu, but Siren's Call –as I taught it to them– is D-rank, while Offsetting Sound is C-rank. So in this case, they are being tested more or less equally.

"Whenever you're ready, Hanabi." With a nod, a focused glance, and a single 'strike' of her guitar, her chakra fills the room in front of her. Hinata, using her flute, counters the sound waves, making the jutsu fail within her effective range. I briefly wonder if there's an advantage-disadvantage relationship here – guitar versus flute. I mean, Hanabi wouldn't have to worry about breathing half as much, but she's also much more vulnerable to attacks since her guitar is much bigger. Hmm… I'll have to look into that eventually.

"Good. Moegi, switch places with Hanabi. You haven't mastered Siren's Call as yet, but you do have my Snap-genjutsu down pat. You'll be using that instead."

Moegi stands in front of me, focuses hard, and snaps with her right hand. Hinata counters effortlessly – the lower level genjutsu is easier to break. Moegi then snaps with her left hand, which Hinata also counters.

"Good, good. Saki, you're up." Sakiko switches places with Moegi, but Sakiko looks nervous.

"Aya-nee… which jutsu did you want me to use?" She asks nervously. She hasn't really mastered any of them yet, but that's okay.

"Start with the Snap-genjutsu. You don't have to worry about me, I've found new ways of countering it." I tell her. It's only fair to test them on their level, and not compared to each other. Besides! An almost six year old that can do this is FRICKING AWESOME!

She snaps, but nothing happens. She looks frustrated, but snaps again. And again. And again. Nothing happens.

"Saki…" She looks to me, frustrated, downtrodden. "You need to relax." She nods. We take some deep breaths together, until I notice she's calm. "Remember, you need to focus chakra in only these three places." I say, tapping them each in turn, and once again explaining her how to place the 'genjutsu sequence' into that chakra.

Snap!

I see all of us together, sitting on the porch in the middle of summer. We're eating watermelon together, Akimichi-san asking me if I want another piece. Naru-nii and Hina-nee are smiling at each other. Sasuke and Asami are teasing each other. Saki's showing me how far she can make one of the seeds fly. Udon and Moegi keep asking if they can jump into the pond to cool off.

I shake my head and the genjutsu falls apart on its own. I really didn't want that genjutsu to end.

"Sis…" I begin, meeting her VERY nervous gaze. I muss her hair a little, smiling. "Good job." She beams at me.

8-8

Ninety-two-thousand eight-hundred and thirty six. By myself I've made that much money from the last mission – not bad, but I usually make more seeing that I usually end up getting more because of collecting bounties. That means that… all tallied for the month… I've made over three-million Ryou. Considering that I –by myself– have five mouths to feed, that's still quite impressive; but that's mostly because the house we live in is paid for and we only have to worry about a yearly land tax. Not paying rent or a mortgage is truly a blessing for us.

Now… the going rate for a C-rank mission is roughly three-thousand Ryou per mission day. That means I should be making eighty-four-thousand Ryou per four weeks. Hmm… that is actually more than we'll need for the basics. We won't be able to do anything fancy. We do have enough set aside so that we have something to fall back on… and that doesn't even include the money set aside for those projects come spring. Luckily every time I've gone all out and splurged on something, I've almost immediately gotten a new mission that covered for that and more… so things shouldn't even get too tight around here with this.

"You are way too serious sometimes." I look up from my bookkeeping, finding Asami in the doorway. Hmm, I didn't even hear my office door slide open. She's good.

"Life taught me to be careful with money. So I'm very serious with it." I tell her, looking back down to finish this quickly.

"You realise that you're twelve, right?" She asks. Even though her tone is serious, she's obviously teasing me. "Why are you so focussed on bookkeeping and money?"

"I've been living on my own since I was… six? You learn quickly when there's no net to catch you." I say. Hmm… I should actually be able to start investing if this keeps up. I mean, if we can afford to live off this without the bonuses per mission, it means that I should start taking a slice of those bonuses and start investing in something… hmm, but what?

"You know what you need?" I'm asked. I look up at her, wondering. "You need to relax. Unwind. Remember that there's more to life than what's in front of you."

"… yeah…" I go over the numbers one more time. Hmm… yes. This should work out nicely. Not perfectly, perfect would be running into a few rogue shinobi with hefty prices on their heads. "It's too bad all I have is what's in front of me."

"Aya… I'm-"

"Asami." I cut her off. "I heard what you said."

"No, you didn't." She isn't going to let this go. Well, I'm confident we're not going broke, so I put away my books and I try to offer Asami the attention she so obviously needs. "I'm taking you out. Girls' night. And don't try telling me you can't afford it. I'm paying."

I roll my eyes, knowing that she and Naru-nii are too much alike sometimes. "… Who's coming then."

"I'll bug Minori, Hinata, Haku and Ino. That way you can't complain you won't like the company." I could have done without that last part, thanks. "We're going casual, but nice. Dinner, a movie, maybe some craziness after. I'll be here to pick you up at six. And I'll arrange for Yoshino-san and/or Mariko-san to be here to mind your patient. That way you won't be able to back out at all."

I sigh. She really isn't giving me any room at all to back out. Whatever.

8-8

End Chapter 36

8-8

A/N: Just one more thing. One more little detail to work out, and it'll be time ^_^ Sorry about the lack of Thanksgiving interlude and/or update so that you guys could use it as an excuse to be antisocial while your family is trying to spend time with you (dripping with sarcasm). I spend the day with my brother, thb, so even though I was working on the chapter, I was also cuddling with my nephew and teasing my brother all day long ^_^

No, I'm not American, nor do I have American roots. I'm from the Caribbean actually, but we kind of celebrate everything. Even the Three Kings on January 5th (Spanish holiday). Then again, I didn't really make a big deal of TDoR either. I like things to be more low key with some days.