Thanks for holding out, friends! I recently restarted a grueling routine to get myself back into fighting shape for volleyball in the fall, and I have spent more time dead in a pile on the floor than writing. Sorry. I hope this makes up for it!
Dai and Soba arrived shortly before sunset the next day, only stopping briefly at the village's council room on their way home. Dai sprawled across the tatami in their living room and groaned appreciatively.
"Home is the best." Soba nodded in agreement, looking out through the window to the abundantly grassy backyard. The large tree growing in the middle of the lush space had lost many of its leaves as the season dragged on; soon it would be frosted in the early mornings. Kusagakure was nestled in a ribbon of forest that provided a barrier between the mountains and sweeping grasslands dominating the Land of Grass. As such, winter often set in earlier and more harshly than in other areas of the country. For some reason, the weather was still agreeable when the Matsui twins returned home, though the air carried a foreboding bite. Soba padded to the kitchen, unceremoniously dumping her pack and katanas on the island counter. The two had taken a more populated route, and had eaten at several small stands on their trip; as a result, they hadn't had to dive into Soba's food stores. She unzipped the little bag to empty out some of the extra snacks and felt something soft blocking her hand. Wrapping her fingers around it carefully, the kunoichi pulled it out of the bag. She ran a probing eye over the fabric before coming to the conclusion that it wasn't a bomb, or poisoned. In shifting her grip, the cotton item unfurled, and Soba caught sight of a little symbol that made her blush. Dai picked that exact moment to stroll into the kitchen in his patterned pyjamas, yawning hugely. His eyes caught the fierce flush in his sister's cheeks.
"Whatcha holding?" As though she was scalded, Soba hastily hid the present behind her back.
"Nothing."
"Imouto, you're cherry-red and hiding something behind your back. The fact you didn't hear me come in is evidence enough."
"It's nothing." The kunoichi remained steadfast in her denial, and Dai rolled his eyes at her. He padded over to where she was standing and shooed her out of the way.
"Get away from the fridge, you goof, I want a drink." His voice floated out of the fridge: "If you think you're gonna keep anything hidden from me, you're outta luck."
"I'm not hiding anything." Dai sauntered out of the kitchen, taking a swig of juice.
"You've always been a terrible liar." The kunoichi sent murderous glares at his retreating back. She pulled out the item she had been hiding and spread it out on the table. The shirt was as tiny as she remembered it being, and just as soft, with the Uzumaki swirl right in the middle. She bit her lip in an attempt to conceal her smile, but it failed terribly. Something crinkled beneath her right palm as she smoothed the cotton down. Pulling the shirt back up, Soba spotted a small note written in nearly incomprehensible characters. The kunoichi couldn't be critical; her own writing had been labeled a disaster by her former sensei.
Soba-chan,
This shirt is way too small for me to wear, so I wanted you to have it. I know you'll take care of it!
See you soon,
Naruto
She really wanted to wear the shirt, but knew that Dai would never let her hear the end of it. Even worse, he'd probably just wear a smug grin on his face every time he got near her, and that was worse than death by a thousand paper cuts. He may even tell Akira about it, and that would drive the final nail into her coffin. Soba stole out of the kitchen and into her ascetic room, tucking the item into the top drawer of her simple chest of drawers. A thin film of dust had settled on all the surfaces, so she decided she may as well clean while she was there. Having dust motes floating around her head every time she exhaled would eventually drive her mad.
An hour later, the entire house had been cleaned top to bottom, and Dai had taken the liberty of restocking their fridge with a few days' worth of real, healthy food. Soba had complained about the lack of ramen, but her brother had swatted her away with a large daikon radish, insisting she needed nutrients. While they were eating a hastily prepared bowl of soup, a familiar face popped in to visit. The shoulder-length dirty blonde hair made its appearance first, and then a delicately curving male jaw line.
"Ayako said that she saw the two of you show up, so I figured I'd come say hi! How was the mission? Konohagakure? I can't remember who told me that's where the two of you had been, but-"
"Akira!" Soba jumped to her feet and threw her arms around the visitor. "We were awesome, as usual. I trained a bunch-" She started, but Dai's exaggerated choking cut her off. Akira arched a thin eyebrow at the kunoichi.
"She spent the whole of our time awkwardly seducing a certain someone-" A second eyebrow shot up to join its twin.
"Did not! I trained!"
"You trained in the mornings, and flirted all the rest of the time!" Dai retorted, jabbing a threatening spoon in her direction. Akira took a seat, gestured to Soba to sit down, and eagerly settled in to hear the rest of the story. The man had spent eight years watching the insane twins bicker and dramatically reenact stories. For nearly that reason alone, he made a point of visiting every time they came back from a mission. The Matsui twins were wonderful company, and Akira missed the camaraderie of active duty; it was the danger that he had happily left behind.
"Wait. Soba flirted?" Dai nodded aggressively behind his sister's back. Akira let out a bark of a laugh before narrowing his grey eyes at the balking kunoichi. Her lips were pressed together tightly, as though she feared her tongue would betray her.
"Yeah, and you'd never guess who with!"
"Description, please! I have to know who he is if I ever run into him."
"Not like you're going to, Akira." Soba added dryly. Dai shoved her face out of the way with a large palm and leaned in towards their old friend.
"Don't listen to her. I am willing to bet he's going to drop by at some point because I'm about 105% sure he wants to daaaate her. Plus, if I told you his name, you'd know him. He's in the same generation as us. He's mostly responsible for us even being here today. Blonde. Get guessing."
"How would I possibly-" Wide-open emerald eyes met Akira's grey as the realization dawned on him. "Wait. It-no. No, it couldn't be!" Dai's face was split by a grin and Soba groaned, throwing her arms on top of her head.
"Shh, Soba, this doesn't concern you." Dai shushed his sister.
"How does it not concern me?!" Her twin shoved a rice ball in her mouth and she chewed happily, distracted from her momentary rage. Soba then realized there were a whole three onigiri left on her brother's plate, and he was otherwise occupied. She snuck her hand over, dodging the soup bowl to close her fingers around the snack. In the meantime, a gleeful Dai and Akira exchanged giggly looks. Akira's face was less expressive than Dai's on a good day, but those grey eyes were glinting with barely-contained amusement.
"We thought you didn't like people, but you just had really, really, really, really high standards." The blonde teased the kunoichi, quirking up the corner of his mouth. "Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" Soba met his kind eyes and blushed, her mouth full of food.
"You should have seen her. Oh man, it was hilarious. She fussed over her makeup and hair before we all went out for dinner-" Dai stared down his nose at a kunai. Akira guffawed and covered the weapon with his hand, pushing it down.
"Don't kill Dai before he has a chance to fill me in on everything, unless you want to tell me the story yourself." Soba swallowed the not-quite-chewed food with some difficulty and replied.
"I'd rather tell you. You know how he embellishes stories to make me sound terrible."
"No, I actually tell them accurately; you're the one that tries to hide the unsavory parts that make you seem anything less than Captain Soba, Indestructible Kunoichi of Maximum Efficiency!" Dai finished with a dramatic voice and salute.
"You're both pretty over the top when you want to be; at least I used to be able to tell who was telling the truth when I lived through the stories with you." Akira added, swiping some onigiri from Soba's plate. She scowled at him, but allowed him to continue breathing. "Who am I kidding? I can still tell. And Dai, she wore makeup?" Soba's twin nodded in the affirmative, ready to burst from delight.
"Well, it's been lovely, Akira, but you should go be with Ayako, or something. I'm sure she misses you and whatever." Soba attempted to drag the man out the front door by grabbing him around the waist and pulling. It was an attempt rather than a success because Dai had grabbed Akira by the elbow and was pulling in the opposite direction. Not sure whether to wince in pain from the strain his body was under or to laugh at how little the two had changed over the years, Akira resigned himself to being a toy for the two to bicker over.
"Sasuke." Silence. "Sasuke!"
"Hn."
"SASUKE!"
"What."
"Wanna train?"
"No, dobe."
"But I'm bored and there are no missions!"
"I don't care."
"Sasukeeeee, why are you so mean?"
"Go bother someone else. I have a headache. At least Soba kept you out of my hair."
The Hokage sat in his Spartan chair, chin resting on his hand, eyes blearily focused on a book opened in front of him. He had hardly slept the previous night, and his reluctant body wasn't hesitating to remind him of that fact. Across the room from him, Iruka scratched idly at the scar across his nose while he worked; someone had to make the paperwork presentable, after all. Out of nowhere, Kakashi slammed his palm down on his desk, startling his aide enough for him to jump.
"I have an idea." The silver-haired man started, single visible eye narrowing in thought.
"And you had to slam your hand down, why?"
"Maa, it just makes it more dramatic." In reality, his hand had slipped in his half-slumber, and his initial reflex had led to the table slap.
"I have to rewrite this now because you startled me into messing up this character. Why don't you just take a nap? It's not like you've done anything productive since you arrived here this morning." Iruka took a sip of tea and met Kakashi's gaze.
"I must be asleep. I thought I just heard Umino Iruka suggest that I take a nap on the job." The brunette rolled his eyes at the disbelieving Hokage.
"A small price to pay for you actually being present in body and in mind for this afternoon. You have another meeting after lunch." With that, he went back to his paperwork, leaving Kakashi groaning in protest.
"You still haven't heard my excellent idea, Iruka."
"I doubt it's anything short of insane, but go ahead." The man knew to be wary of anything the former ANBU captain deemed 'an excellent idea.'
"We should send Naruto on missions that would bring him closer to say, Kusagakure."
"Wow, what brilliant insight." Kakashi continued, ignoring Iruka's snarky comment.
"It is, isn't it? Or could we maybe request her for a more involved mission?"
"I don't know that we have any higher-class missions at the moment, but yes, that would actually be a good idea. Now, for your nap." The Hokage was already dozing, his head lolling at an uncomfortable angle and his arms crossed on his chest. The brunette chuckled to himself, took another sip from his mug and resumed writing.
Soba had been gone nearly a week when Naruto began to have an inexplicable itch to write to her. Since Sasuke-bastard was no help in matters of the heart, the blonde was in need of advice. He lay sprawled across his bedroom floor, surrounded by ink blotches and crumpled paper with contents he'd rather never be read. Naruto groaned in frustration, letting his forehead hit the bare floor with a muffled thunk.
"Who can I ask?!" He demanded of the floorboards. The blonde went through a mental list of potential candidates. He immediately crossed Guy-sensei and Lee off the list, horrified at the potential speeches and posing he'd endure after asking them for help. He too nixed the idea of asking any of the rest of the Rookie Nine. Naruto wasn't too keen on asking his ex-girlfriend, Sakura, either, but he kept her as a 'maybe.' She was a girl and probably understood girl things. Kakashi-sensei would undoubtedly paraphrase Icha-Icha, the thought of which sent a shudder down his spine before realizing Soba actually enjoyed the novels. Heck, he'd even read a saucy passage or two with her. It wasn't so much the contents of Icha-Icha at this point, so much as the association; Naruto had no desire to write a letter to a woman he was interested in while thinking of his pervert sensei. No, sir. Making the natural leap from Kakashi-sensei to his more rational former teacher, the blonde considered whether Iruka-sensei would give good advice. He'd never known the man to be romantically involved with anyone, but Naruto trusted his wisdom (and scary teacher face). He made one more futile attempt to write an opening sentence before destroying yet another sheet of paper and leaping out the window in search of Iruka.
The village elders hadn't wasted much time in roping Dai and Soba into yet another mission. This one was neither long, nor far from home, but it offered some modicum of distraction for the frazzled kunoichi. She had quickly returned to her training regimen and her body was as in tune as ever, but her mind had begun taking holidays without consulting her. Dai watched the daily struggle of Soba the Unfeeling versus Soba the Human, and chuckled knowingly while she writhed in frustration. He would playfully cuff her to get her back to reality and she would blush, realizing how far her subconscious had strayed from home. Dai had also noticed, despite all of Soba's efforts to be clandestine, that she had taken to wearing a small white shirt with the Uzumaki symbol to bed. He hadn't brought it up, fearing furry accessories or a solid butt-kicking, but he smiled smugly every time she emerged from her bedroom in the morning looking satisfied with her sneaky charade.
Soba was perched in a tree, eyes loosely focused on a seldom used trail beneath her. She and Dai were expecting a small group of smugglers disguised as merchants to pass through in several hours. Their job was simple; they were to rough the smugglers up a little to scare them, and recover a small golden artifact of considerable value. Neither shinobi knew exactly what it was, as the elders had insisted it was of no importance to them to know the history. They were simply there to identify it and bring it back to Kusa. Both of the twins had their reservations about the secrecy shrouding the item, as they were well into the need-to-know circle in the village hierarchy; the sudden wall erected in front of them was a cause for suspicion. Duty called regardless, and despite their lingering distaste for not being fully informed, the Matsui twins answered. What source could be more trustworthy than their council, after all?
Naruto's mouth was visibly turned down at the corners from Iruka's admonishing. Sure, his writing wasn't what one would call legible, but if you squinted, you could infer some meaning.
"Did I teach you anything at all at the Academy? What does that even say?" Naruto had not had the forethought to anticipate the activation of Teacher Mode.
"That says-"
"It doesn't matter. Tidy up those letters! No wonder Sakura and Sasuke always filled out mission reports."
"Maa, maa, I think you're being too strict, sensei! The poor boy's in love, and you berate his handwriting? Shame." Kakashi slouched into the room noiselessly. The blonde let out an indignant squeak and reddened at the mention of the l-word, opting to duck his head down as far as he could manage to avoid embarassment.
"I'm not in-Kakashi-sensei, I am just writing a friendly letter."
"Uh-huh."
"It is! I promise!" Kakashi really got a kick out of flustering Naruto, so he fixed the young man with a disbelieving and aloof look, and just waited for the fireworks. Soon, the firecracker of a blonde was spluttering through explanations, voice exploring octaves only known to dogs, and flailing wildly with his fingers clutching ink-splattered papers.
"You're allowed to have emotions, Naruto, just not with atrocious handwriting like that. She won't have any idea what you're trying to tell her. You may as well just mail her a potato and call it a day." Iruka leaned over the bones of the letter-in-progress, his hands on his waist. Suddenly, Naruto felt that maybe Sakura would have been the best person to go to in this situation. She'd likely be less patronizing and parent-y. Oblivious to the potential for extreme awkwardness in the interaction, Naruto mumbled a quick thank you and disappeared from the mission room. Iruka shook his head at the space where Naruto had been moments prior, and exchanged a fatherly glance with Kakashi. Both men chuckled at how quickly time had flown.
Thank you so much for reading! Comments are appreciated :)