Summary:
Ice isn't calm. Ice is stiff and more fragile than you think, constantly cracking and refreezing. Saying someone has eyes of ice, therefore, isn't a compliment. [AU] [Hinted SasuHina] [Non-Chronological Linked Drabbles]
General Disclaimer For The Entire Story:
I don't own Naruto. If I did, I'd have added more homosexual and bisexual characters, with at least one clearly asexual character. Oh, and the cover picture isn't mine, either. Should I change it?
.
(kurenai wonders if she should cheer or cry or do both at having team 8)
.
[Age 12]
.
.
.
"I'm Yuuhi Kurenai, and I will be your Jounin-sensei for the assumed future. Congratulations on passing my test. As we only did the most basic introductions before the test yesterday, today we will do a more exhaustive familiarization with one another, and then perform some individual evaluations, with a group discussion afterwards about things noticed during the evaluations.
"Teamwork is the backbone and the ribs and the neurons of Konoha's ninja. That is, teamwork sets the spine, which is the framework and the support. The ribs protect Konoha's heart, which is the determination and loyalty at the core of the Will of Fire. Konoha's brains are functioning off of the information gathered and the intelligence compiled by the neurons working together seamlessly. Faulty intelligence can result in many deaths and tragedies better off avoided.
"I suppose that what I'm trying to get at with this elongated metaphor is that teamwork is critical, vital, to Konoha's success as a whole, and to you as an individual. Every hero, every legend, every Hokage and Jounin wouldn't have gotten to where they are today without teamwork.
"Things aren't always the best, they aren't always optimistic and sunshine and prancing glittery rainbow unicorns in a meadow of sugar flowers and a river of chocolate. In fact, there'll come a point where it's the worst, it's negative and pessemistic and gloomy rainclouds and prowling growling raving madmen in a battlefield of cold corpses and a river of blood, but we get by. Why? Because we stick together, we take one for the team, we recognize that the team will take one for us. Because we either get by or we die, and that is the truth of the ninja life.
"From today onwards we are Team 8, and Team 8 is us. The greatest teams are those who can melt together into one being, and still retain their own identities and talents and thoughts. I am to shape you into that kind of team, but I will need your cooperation in order to do so. Do you understand?"
.
.
.
The three Genin in front of her-
Her three Genin in front of her, and kami if it isn't ten sorts of stunned shock sifting around in her mind at that revelation, because holy fuck she has a team she has three too-young too-inexperienced too-valuable kids who are her responsibility.
Anko would have a laughing fit right now.
And they're all Clan kids, too, Clan kids who are all heir-apparent ohmyfuckingkami, which makes it worse, since 'Yuuhi' isn't a Clan, since Kurenai was a stonily steady civilian kunoichi clawing tooth and nail and more than a few nasty personal genjutsus on the level of 'LSD mindfuck WTH?' to get up the half-broken ladder of ninja advancement, since she was a freshly promoted Jounin and now suddenly she's a sensei and what if she accidentally loses one of the kids?
Would their Clan demand a bloody, gore-ish revenge?
Would she be demoted and essentially socially banished and forced to stew in her guilt and helplessness until her nameless grave?
The 'what ifs' aren't good to linger on, she knows this very well as many of her self-crafted genjutsus focus particularly on the torturous 'what ifs'.
So Yuuhi Kurenai breathes in.
So Yuuhi Kurenai breathes out.
She looks at her three Genin sitting in front of her and observes their reactions.
.
.
.
Hyuuga Hinata observes her right back, clear-eyed and steady-gazed with an unswerving sort of attentiveness, regal beyond her age, heliotrope irises nonexistent pupils pin-straight black-blue hair and all, sitting very correctly in a position-perfect seiza, hitai-ate tied around her left upper-arm.
Hinata nods, a gentle dip of her chin and a soft incline of her head, murmuring in a steel-sharp voice, "I understand. The spine, the heart, the brains; all exceedingly vulnerable parts of the easily breakable human body. Instant death for two, permanent paralysis if done specifically for one. But ninja, villages, particularly ninja villages, are often surprisingly resilient, is that not your point, Yuuhi-sensei?"
The tone doesn't fit the gentleness and softness of Hinata's small nod, the words fitting even less.
(She gets the sense that for Hinata, the gentleness and the softness of her nod tell far more than her actual verbalizing.)
Kurenai would be lying if she said that her female student didn't freak her out in that startlingly perceptive way of hers, amusingly cynical and depressingly jaded.
But she's a ninja, a kunoichi, a damned good one, and lying is her profession in a crystal nutshell.
Besides, the Hyuuga were always a bit unnerving when spoken to, and everyone who's a ninja has issues, so Kurenai decides to face that ruthlessness of hers when it's more convenient and they aren't just four strangers shoved together with the invisible bonds of paperwork, sitting in the shade of a leafy oak in a reserved training ground.
.
.
.
Aburame Shino speaks next, at Hinata's left, dark shades and oversized tan jacket, collared, covered, spiky chestnut hair sprouting like a durian's shell, baring no skin save for the strips of pale flesh reluctantly revealed by his face and ankles, cross-legged, hitai-ate tied around his forehead.
It makes him harder to read than the granite-faced Hyuuga, since there is such little uncovered skin to actually decipher, and what is deciphered can easily be rendered null by other motions under that outfit of his.
(She's not a Jounin for nothing, though, no matter how green she may be from her rather new rank-rise, and if she concentrates it'd be easy to pick him apart, easy to pick Hinata apart as well.
Just...
Not as easy as it would be for a serious Kakashi, but he's elite, she's gotta remember that, and if she tries to measure up against him it'll simply bring down her spirit.
He's elite, no matter how much of an asshole he is.
And, well, she's not.
'Not yet,' she reminds herself. 'This Genin team is one step closer, one step closer.')
"I, too, understand. Why? Konohagakure is famous for their teamwork, and out of the other Five Great Nations, they have suffered the least losses and retained the best economy. In the Academy, the teachers and textbooks preach teamwork heavily, even as they pit students against each other in competition. Therefore, it is only to be expected that teamwork will be hailed as a large part of our life, that being the most logical conclusion to be drawn."
He pushes up the bridge of his glasses and goes silent again, his piece said, dissected, and thoroughly explained.
She's had dealings with the Aburame before, and regards them as fine ninja overall, if a bit too inclined to stick to their dry facts.
(They all have dark glasses, too. At this point, she wonders if they all have vision problems and especially delicate skin, or if it's just to prevent them from freaking out too many people with their kikaichu hives.)
The hardest part of having him as a student would probably be remembering to include him and making sure not to accidentally isolate him.
Shino seems to be the quiet sort, like the rest of his family.
Very prone to fading into the background, his most easily recognized traits being his large jacket and sunglasses preventing others from getting to know him deeper.
Someone who doesn't appear to have much of a personality beyond flat and smart and reasonable.
It is really being quite uncharitable towards him and others like him when people start thinking like that, because it's always more difficult to get rid of preconceptions than it is to form new opinions.
He isn't a cardboard cut-out filler, he has his own likes and dislikes and life, he is his own person, and Kurenai knows she has to be careful not to ever forget that last fact, lest she lose his respect forever.
(Aburame are silently notorious for holding grudges, infamous for being so reserved you can't tell if you've offended them or not.)
.
.
.
Inuzuka Kiba pipes up last, sprawled on the left of Shino, all feral smile and a furry parka that overlaid his actual hair, framing his face with it's red Clan marks instead, leaning back flat legs one hand back supporting, the picture of friendly arrogance.
Easily readable; in a metaphor, her kunoichi student would be a drafted treatise chock-full of tangled reasoning and purposeful statements, her other shinobi student would be a dry but straightforward thesis essay scripted with predictable logic, and he would be an uncomplicated fiction story, engaging and dramatized and perfect for the age range of a tween.
Akamaru is nestled in his lap, eyeing her with beady puppy eyes, fluff and fangs and not-yet-cultivated-fearsomeness.
"Eh, that's not a problem! I get it; pack's pack, that's all there's to it. And when I'm an awesome ninja, of course I'll protect Konoha!"
Simple, not particularly eloquent, confident in the way that only a green Genin fresh-off-the-Academy-presses can be confident.
Honest enough, though, and enthusiasm's not really a bad thing.
She'll have to tone that down a bit and beat some subtley and stealth into him, of course, as essentials for a tracking team who will eventually be tapped to run covert seek-and-destroy/find-and-capture missions, or even the shadowy Intelligence jobs...
But still, he just might be her favorite so far, based solely on how much he actually acts his age, instead of the two creepily mature other kids.
Because they're just kids, and some part of her squirms guiltily at aiding in the process of creating of child soldiers, nevermind that she herself was (is) one.
Or, perhaps, as a result of her being one.
.
.
.
"Alright, then," Kurenai says, with a surety and confidence that she doesn't feel in the slightest, "we'll be meeting together at Training Ground from seven to noon each day for warm-ups and team training, with an hour break from noon to one. Then, depending on the day, I'll be giving each of you personal training from one to five, or we'll be participating in teamwork exercises against another team, or we'll be building up stamina and improving teamwork by holding three-way spars until one is left standing. From five to six, we'll be doing warm-downs and discussing our day, to try and find ways to improve, and to see what has improved. Understand?"
(She is a firm believer in having a schedule planned out, even if the ninja life rarely allows for a schedule to keep.)
Hinata dips her chin shallowly, imperturbable, Shino nods deeper, impenetrable, and Kiba grins with a raucous shout of agreement, impertinent.
Kurenai despairs, wallowing mutely for a brief, self-indulgent moment, watching them leave, each splitting off into different directions.
'I'm supposed to get these people into a team?'
.
That night at the bar, she listened to everyone else's descriptions of their team, and perked up a bit.
In comparison, she essentially had one cool-personality who understood the benefits of teamwork, one neutral-personality who was used to working with himself, and one loud-personality who had grown up with teamwork embedded into his Clan, which seemed better than a smart loner/lazy-slacker, a forcible peacekeeper/motivator, and a powerhouse obsessed with ramen and orange/food and more food.
She walked out of that bar a little happier.
(And not just because Asuma served as a truly excellent source blackmail material, provided you got him drunk on cheap sake first.
Because getting the good stuff isn't worth it, not when the drinker will inevitably vomit it all up the next day.)
#
#
You have to feel bad for Kurenai.
She just exudes that floundering vibe of 'oh kami why me how is this my life like seriously #FML #OnlySaneWoman #CreepyEmptyChildStares'.
#
#
-Review. Please. Really.-
