I was going to write a KakaSaku fic but this one came out instead.
So, in his first all-about-him-fic, introducing *Drum roll please*: Jiro!
For Jiro, things had always been pretty easy. He had always known that he would be a medic nin, though he couldn't even remember why he had decided such a thing anymore. He just knew, straight into his very core, that it was what was right for him. That the hands he trained to kill would also be trained to heal, to bless.
Very few people at the age of twelve had things figured out and he included himself in that league. He didn't know what he wanted out of life when it came to stupid things like marriage and kids, but he did know that he wanted to fight and protect and heal. And he also knew that he wanted to have a summon.
This is where things got more difficult.
True, he could have easily asked his father and the man would have proudly helped him get his own ninken, but he wanted something to help him when he finally fulfilled his dream, and to his knowledge the ninken were never ones to heal. He also could have gotten the healing slugs that the Godaime Hokage had had, but they were really gross.
So he had found himself at the front door of the Uzumaki's large home, knocking as he hoped he would be able to find what he was looking for. Hinata was the one who opened the door, smiling softly at the boy as she wiped her hands off on the hand towel she had carried out of the kitchen.
"Jiro-kun, what a pleasant surprise. Did you want to see Leo? He's not here right now but-"
"Actually, Hinata-sama, I wanted to see Yuka and Yuki." The woman blinked and smiled again.
"Well, sure. Come on in." She said, motioning him in and closing the door behind him. "Yuki, Yuka, Jiro is here to see you." She called up the stairs, two identical dark blue heads poking over the upstairs banister.
"Jiro?" Yuki puzzled, looking down at the pink haired boy.
"You don't really come calling on us. What's the deal?" Yuka bluntly asked. Hinata sent a sharp look to her daughter, making the girl's ego duck down to avoid the devastating blow.
"Yuka, I'd like to think that I've instilled some sense of courtesy and manners into you. Now, come down stairs and into the kitchen so you can talk. I just made some chocolate cookies." Both girls were quick to get down the steps, just barely restraining themselves from sliding down the banister and getting another look from their mother. They sat down at the kitchen table, each of them grabbing a cookie and accepting a glass of milk from their mother as they looked across at the boy.
"So what do you want?" Hinata cleared her throat, continuing to wash the dishes as she listened to the children's conversation. "What? He obviously wants something! Why else would he be here to see us?"
"Actually, I want to ask you two a question." The twins blinked at the younger boy, though they were used to people asking them questions they had never really expected Jiro to come to them because usually he just found the answers in books like they did.
"Oh. Well, shoot." He nodded and swallowed the bite of cookie he had just taken, wondering if he would be able to steal a few and take them home with him.
"I was wondering if you know anything about summons."
"That's a pretty broad subject." Yuki said, shifting in her seat and lacing her fingers together atop the table as she flipped through her mental files, instantly finding several of them on the subject though he'd have to narrow it down for her before she'd have anything definite.
"I was wondering about what the certain types are able to do."
"And you want us to go through all of them? That's not exactly a short order."
Jiro slumped into his seat, sighing as he felt his task getting suddenly more complicated. If the twins didn't know, he just didn't know who would. "So you can't help?"
"Oh, we could, but we're not perfect. Some of it is a bit fuzzy, and it would probably be best if we went to the library and look it up. It would be easier and take less time than going through every single thing we remember."
Jiro blinked at them, stunned. "The Yondaime's library?" Very few people would ever have the honor to look upon such a place, let alone be personally invited to look at a book.
Hinata looked over her shoulder to eye the two girls and they both quickly shook their heads, waving away the very thought before it got them killed or seriously grounded. "No! We meant the other library. The normal one. They should have a book about it there." Hinata nodded and continued with the dishes.
"Alright then, you can go, but make sure to get back before supper. And Jiro-kun, you can take some of those cookies with you." He nodded his thanks and got up, grabbing a few of the snacks to go.
"So you guys go to the civilian library too? Not just the Yondaime's?" The twins nodded as they looked over the spines, rapidly searching through the titles for the one they wanted. Jiro thought briefly about helping but instead decided to lean against the bookshelf to watch the two girls as they almost seemed to dance, knowing the moves of their partner and moving along with each other perfectly as they twisted between shelves.
He thought it was kind of weird that they didn't just stick to one shelf each instead of moving back and forth, but he didn't say it. After all, they were doing all of the work and it was their choice how they did it.
"Ah-ha!" Yuka shouted, pulling out an absurdly big of at least two dictionaries thick. "The Encyclopedia of Ninja Animal Summons. Just what we were looking for." She carried it over to the nearest table easily and sat it down, the table creaking under the sudden and heavy weight. Yuki stood beside her so they were shoulder to shoulder, Jiro -thankfully taller than the two of them- peeking over their shoulders.
"So, what are you looking for?"
"Something to help with healing."
"You could do slugs." Yuka suggested as they began to flip through the pages, their fingers sliding across the words as they rapidly skimmed through them.
"No thank you. I'm not a slug kind of person."
"Well..." They were silent as they searched the pages, eyes rapidly flicking over the words and flipping the pages so quickly that Jiro was unable to even glance over a few of the words. He resigned himself to just stand behind the pair, waiting for them to say something to show they had found a clue. Suddenly they paused, looking over their shoulders, shockingly pale blue eyes glowing triumphantly.
"How do you feel about cats?"
Jiro flipped through the much smaller book he had checked out of the library about the cat summons, reading about them with a sense of rightness.
Cat summons are not usually used for combat, though they do have some fighting merit. They are often used for their stealth and have amazing balance, speed, acrobatic skills and their animal senses. They, unlike dog summons, do not travel in packs, though they can work together. They are arrogant and often lazy and only give their affections to a chosen few which is why they stay with only one summoner.
Cat summons also have a sixth sense towards people who are ill or dying, often lying beside them and sending soothing chakra through their systems to calm them and ease small amounts of their pain. While they do not have the ability to heal people themselves they have an affinity with the art and...
Jiro sat the book down beside him and reclined back against the pillows on his bed. He now knew exactly what he wanted and figured that if he asked around he'd be able to find someone who would be able to help him make the contract, but the real problem lay within his own apartment. In fact, it was over in the living room.
"Jiro, come on! Dinner's ready." His mother called out, and Jiro sighed as he pushed off of the bed. He might as well face the firing squad now. He trudged into the dining room and sat down, looking over at his father as he tried to figure out just how to go about this. While he didn't know how the man would react, he was sure that it wouldn't be good.
Karin poked her head into the window, white hair falling into her mint green eyes as she grinned at the pair of men at the table. "Mom?"
"In the kitchen." She nodded and slipped the rest of the way inside. "Mom! I'm HERE!" She yelled, her mother shouting back that she had heard her come in. The nineteen year old walked over and threw her arms around her father's shoulders, kissing him noisily on the cheek as she kicked one of her legs up theatrically. "Hello Daddy." She said, practically gushing happiness.
"Hey. How's your new apartment working out for you?" He asked, putting his book down so that he could focus on his eldest child. She almost seemed to skip over to the other side of the table to ruffle an indignant Jiro's hair, beaming at every familiar thing in sight.
"Oh, it's terrible." She said, smiling at the man. He blinked at her, trying to connect her elated mood to the fact that her new home was terrible. "Oh?" She nodded, plopping down on her seat. "Oh yes. The pipes rattle, the window stays cracked no matter what I do, and the restaurant downstairs makes the place smell like Chinese food." Jiro blinked at her, wondering how -even after all these years- his sister still managed to baffle him.
"So what's so great about it?" He asked, his half-mast eyes blandly questioning her. She rolled her own eyes at him, picking up one of the rolls from the bowl her mother had sat just down, biting into it viciously.
"It's mine, duh."
"That's it?" He asked, and she nodded, accepting the bowl of stir-fry her mother passed her.
"That's it."
The ninken wandered into the room, settling in front of their own plates and Karin grinned. "Pakkun! Bull! Urushi! Shiba! Bisuke! Akino! Uhei! Guruko! Hey guys! I haven't seen you guys in forever!" Pakkun sighed wearily at the girl.
"You saw us when you were here two weeks ago for supper."
Suddenly the girl's jacket pocket began to rustle and Karin pulled out the wriggling object, holding up a tiny white ball of fluffy fur. The small pug stiffened as the unnaturally adorable creature turned its wide eyes on him.
"Pachi!" The small creature chirped, sing-songing the strange nickname she had given to the dog. The dog shuddered as the palm sized creature leaped out of her master's hand and onto the floor, bouncing over to the older dog. Karin grinned at the pair as her tiny summon nipped at Pakkun's paws, jumping up to hang onto his ears as she growled playfully.
"Oh yeah, I brought over Pochiri. She really wanted to see you, Pakkun." The pug tried to shake off the creature but -as always- she hung on, thinking that it was all a big game.
"I'm too old for this." He grumbled, resigning himself to the torture.
Jiro waited for a pause, glancing between his parents as he took a breath, hoping for the best. "Speaking about summons, I've decided on what I want to do." Twelve pairs of eyes landed on him and stared, waiting.
"I've decided against the dogs." He said, and though said dogs grumbled they had figured that was what would have happened, and at least they wouldn't get stuck with another Pochiri.
"So you're going to sign the contract with the slugs?" Sakura asked, hiding her smile behind her glass of water. She had had a bet with Kakashi about which summon he would choose and apparently she had won. After all, she had known that Jiro would choose healing over the dogs. But everyone at the table was surprised when the pink haired boy shook his head.
"So, what is it? What did you choose?" Karin asked, something telling her that the answer was going to be really, really, bad.
"Cats." The boy said, the entire apartment falling into complete silence at that single word. Suddenly the ninken began to growl, their fur standing up at the mere mention of the hated cat summons. Kakashi, a dog person through and through, looked at the boy aghast.
"No." He said, wondering how to get the boy to see the light. Sakura put a soothing hand on her husband's arm and looked at Jiro, concerned that if she didn't settle this soon either her son or her home would be destroyed.
"Jiro, why did you decide on cats?" Jiro leaned back into his chair and met his mother's gaze determinedly, already having decided that this was the path he would take.
"They have a lot of abilities that I like and an affinity for healing." Sakura could see where the boy was coming from, but she could also see the direction her husband was determined to push him towards. And looking the both of them over she decided that she'd just have to side with her son on this one. After all, she liked cats and she didn't like people pushing her baby.
Kakashi, not knowing about the mutinous intentions of his wife, glared at the boy. "Jiro, we do not allow cats into this house."
"Why not?"
"Because we're dog people, not cat. Did you even look to see if the dogs have an affinity?" Jiro blinked and thought back over everything he had seen from the ninken, trying to remember if the dogs did in fact have such an ability.
"Kakashi, the ninken have no such thing and you know it." The white haired man turned to his wife, narrowing his open eye at her.
"They could have."
"But they don't. Stop acting like a grouchy old man and just let the kid have his cat."
"I'm not acting like a grouchy old man-"
"Yes you are. You are one." Sakura interrupted, causing the man to have to restrain himself from throttling her.
"And he can't have a cat because it will affect the ninken if we let it just run around here."
"It can stay in his room or just go back to wherever it is the cat summons are from."
"Sakura-"
"Don't you Sakura me. If he wants to have a cat summon he can have a cat summon. Got it?" She asked, narrow eyes raking over the dogs on the floor and over her husband, all of them falling back against the ruthless assault of her glare, nodding as they took cover.
Karin, completely unphased by the whole thing since it was all pretty much normal for her family, poked her brother in the arm. "Hey, pass me the pasta, will you?"
I've had the whole cat thing planned out for a little while, and you'll hear more about it later on.
It didn't make Kakashi very happy.
And about Karin's summon, I didn't really have a breed planned out for her. She's just and extremely tiny, extremely clingy and extremely fluffy dog that absolutely adores Pakkun.
A real KakaSaku fic is soon coming, and to my sweet darling Ninquelot, I swear that I'm not torturing you! I'll write the rest of Temari's story out soon!
I love you all! Kisses!