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 68 – Chouji: The more they stay the same
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Medical jutsu. I always used to think it was a thing for smart people. I used to think that, now I know it's true. How Aya and the others can cram all this information into their brains…
Nervous system – sympathetic and parasympathetic. Cardiovascular system. Lymphatic system, which then automatically ties into the autoimmune system. Digestive system. Endocrinal (or internal hormonal) system. Exocrinal (or external hormonal) system. Even the senses are covered in great detail!
And those are just subjects within the theory! Each has a section within this book Aya has me studying! A SECTION! Meaning it has chapters, each describing another aspect of those systems in even greater detail!
Kami! You'd have to be a genius to keep track of all this!
Okay, buddy, breathe. Breathe. It's not that bad. And frankly, Aya has Sakiko and Katsuo studying this too. Same book. Same theory. If they can manage, you can manage. It's okay. Take it one chapter at a time. One page at a time. You can do this.
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"Not bad, ya know." I feel like a total amateur. Sakiko's working me in with the shinobue, but no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I practice, I can never play a song the way she can.
"Thanks." I say, trying to smile but I think it's coming out more of a frown than anything.
"Don't be like that! Aya-nee's been teaching me every trick she knows, for months, ya know! You've been practicing for just over a week! You'd doing amazing, ya know!" She tries comforting me. And I really appreciate it, I do. But… It's frustrating. I can play a song just fine. Playing notes isn't exactly easy, but it's easy enough to get right.
Sakiko doesn't play notes, she makes her flute sing. Sing! I can hear what her heart is feeling when she plays. All I hear when I play… is notes strung together in a rhythm.
"I've got an idea!" She shouts, taking out a scroll; seemingly from nowhere. She unseals the pellet drum Aya bought her for New Years. She stuffs her flute into her sleeve and puts away the scroll. She grabs the pellet drum by the stick it's mounted on and starts twisting it back and forth to let the pellets strike the little drum. The rhythm is pretty fast, the sound coming from it almost constant. "Aya-nee's been teaching me how to use this as well, ever since I got it. It's not as much fun to play, but it does the job, ya know."
Meh. It couldn't hurt to try, right?
8-8
"… Who are you?" A new face? Again? Well, it's not exactly surprising.
"Akimichi Chouji. And you are…?"
"Tsuchi Kin." She answers. Hmm. Same shade and texture hair as Aya's, though a good bit shorter. Black eyes. Just a bit shorter than I am. Good posture. Decent muscle tone. Nondescript civilian styled clothing. No headband, even though I can tell she's a kunoichi. "What's with the look?"
"I know everybody around here. I don't know you. Aya knows you're here?" I study her, trying to figure out just what is going on.
"Chouji, relax. Imouto-chan brought her here." Shika says. Ah. That makes sense. I go back to the book I'm studying – geology this time. It's incredible just how much you need to be mindful of as an earth release user.
"… Hold on. You find out that Namiki-san let me in and you're cool?" Kin doesn't seem to understand just how protective Aya is of her pack.
"Yup. And don't call her that. She likes being called Aya." I say, wondering about denser rocks. Same chemical composition, more or less, but created under immense pressure and often at ridiculously high temperatures.
"So what is she to you?" Kin asks. I look up at her.
"… So Shika, you spending the afternoon with Temari again?" I change the subject.
"She wants some quality time with her brothers. I had to help her hide his puppets before he woke up." He sounds amused, even though his face is completely neutral.
"Makes sense." I say, getting back to my reading. I'm half tempted to ask what he thinks about her, but… honestly the fact that he helped her so she could spend time with her brothers? That says a lot. To me at least.
"…" Kin's gaze is a little intense, but frankly it's not nearly as bad as Anko-san when she's upset about something. Like Aya being a little too friendly towards me – not sure why that would upset her, but…
"What they are is none of your concern." Shika glares at her dully. She glares at Shika, but he doesn't seem to care. "You feel like a game of Shogi when you're done?"
8-8
It's… weird. Sitting with Tsuren and her pups, in Aya's office. No Ryuuzetsu. No Hitomi.
No Aya.
I've… gotten used to seeing Aya here. Gotten used to our daily talks, to sitting on the couch Asami's laying on. Gotten used to hearing her tell me all the things on her mind. Gotten used to telling her what's bugging me. Now… being in her office without her is… weird.
Asami doesn't seem to mind, reading some book on sealing, I guess. It's a little weird to be in here, alone, with Asami. Really weird actually. Still. It's not as if she's distracting me.
Yuzuki-chan is a bit more attention grabbing though. She sometimes runs out of the room to go play, but she always comes back with a snack or something for Asami. I could swear she's a mini Sasuke sometimes, but I can't quite figure out why I think that. Well, it's obviously not the dark shades she always wears, that's for sure. And she's usually wearing a deep red skirt with a deep blue top. Still, there's just something about her that makes me think of that boy…
None of my business, of course. I'm sure Aya will tell me when she thinks I need to know.
Great. Now I feel annoyed, trying to figure out something I can't. Maybe I just need to work out a bit.
8-8
"Tsuren? Aya's ready." Asami says out of the blue. And poof! Aya's standing in the room with us. Alone. I blink. Somehow that just seems wrong.
She walks over to her desk, lays out her scroll and in short order Ryuuzetsu and Hitomi are in front of her. Ah, that's better. Hitomi, as always, heads out to do whatever it is that she does when she's home. Tsu, as usual, flanks Aya and doesn't seem to notice us here at all. I wonder at that. It's doubtful, seeing as she's hyperaware of anything and everything around her. Still, that's how she looks.
"Hey, welcome back." I say grinning. She doesn't answer immediately. Instead she does the same handsigns again and Kakashi-sensei poofs into the room. She teases him about missing Yasu-san, but he doesn't bother denying it. He waves lazily, seeing himself out.
"Hi, Chouji. Thank you, it's good to be back." Aya says, smiling. "When the pups wake up, I'm going to want to check you." I smirk, curious about how she worded that.
"Now, doc. Are you checking out one of your patients?" I tease. She opens her mouth to say something, but no words come out. Her eyes wide from surprise. She blushes. I grin. It isn't often you find her at a loss for words anymore. That I can do that to her is... interesting.
"Alright, alright. I'll leave you two alone. You only had to ask, you know." Asami says, dog-earing the page in her book and closing it. She eases herself into a sitting position, Yuzuki still fast asleep in her arms. She carefully wraps her arms around the sleeping girl, holding the book under her backside so she'll drop neither of them. She looks at the closed door, wondering just how she's going to manage this miracle. Tsu runs over, opening the door for her. "Thank you, Ryuuzetsu."
8-8
An hour later, the pups wake up, and Aya calls me over to her for inspection. She scans me, twice. I'm not sure why. "Everything alright, doc?" I ask her.
"Everything's fine. I think you should be able to start some light training tomorrow. I'm going to give your mother some very specific instructions though. And you will only be allowed to train when she's there to keep an eye on you. If she has to leave for whatever reason, you're training automatically gets cancelled. Do you understand?" She really doesn't want to take chances with me.
"No problem. You mind recommending some trainings you think I can handle?" I ask. She thinks about that for a second, before taking a scroll out of her drawer. She hands it to me, her eyes studying mine for a long moment, but not letting go of the scroll.
"Stop the second you become short of breath, light headed, or just feel like you need to rest. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, ma'am." I smile, grateful she's taking such good care of me.
"Good." She lets go of the scroll. Curious, I open it and start to read.
"Mud bullets." I read out loud, smirking. Yeah, I think I'm going to enjoy this.
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End Chapter 68
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A/N: Having a bit of an off day, recovering from Christmas with the family. Sorry for the lack of action (again) and the short chapter. However, it was either this or make you guys wait until tomorrow.
At any rate! Butterflies is coming to a close in the next ten chapters. I know, I know. Horrible! But! BUT! Check my profile page under Butterflies' notes. There is something interesting there you might like. I won't spoil too much, for those uninterested, but the third option is really catching my eye right now (read and you'll know what I mean).
Until the next update!