Chapter 4
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine
A few weeks of training went by and they had just finished another session. Jayne plopped down on the grass, her training clothes clinging to her sweat covered body. Shisui came and laid out next to her, Itachi following closely behind and sat down.
"Man, conditioning sucks," Shisui said letting out a deep breathe.
"Why do we have to run so much?" Jayne moaned.
Ayato appeared behind them, "You will thank me one day. Being able to run great distances is required of a ninja, especially if you want to become a jonin or anbu."
Itachi quickly stood up, "I just remembered I have to babysit my little brother this afternoon! I will see you guys Monday, bye."
Shisui waved to his friend. His parents were also going to be gone for the Uchiha clan meeting going on tonight, except he didn't have anyone to look after so it was just him. How boring.
"Jayne, are you ready to go?" Ayato asked.
"No! I am too dirty right now!" Jayne said.
"Ready for what?" Shisui chimed in full of curiosity.
"Jayne is getting a baking lesson," Ayato said, "and it doesn't matter if you're sweaty. You don't have to look good to bake."
Jayne pouted, "but I don't want to give any bad first impressions!" The person Ayato asked to teach Jayne how to bake was his old teammate. Jayne really wanted to meet her and leave a good impression.
"Hey, can I come too?" Shisui asked. He had nothing to do and he was extremely curious about this baking lesson that was going to take place.
Jayne turned to him a little surprised, "We are baking cookies. Do you really want to do that?"
"Why not? I'm not sure when my parents are going to get back tonight so I would be alone otherwise," Shisui crosses his arms.
"Hey grassy head-sensei, will your apartment even fit 4 people?" Jayne asked.
Ayato's eyebrow twitched. That nickname again? "Of course it will. How poor do you think I am?"
"Then let's go! We don't want to keep your friend waiting," Jayne stood up.
"This will be fun!" Shisui got up and walked next to her.
Ayato sighed, these kids really enjoyed making decisions on their own. He led them to his apartment, it was a pretty average size, not small like Jayne assumed. Once they arrived he offered Shisui and Jayne some wet towels to clean up a bit before she arrived.
Jayne observed his apartment. This was her first time here. It wasn't very decorative and had the bare essentials. The only pictures he had in his house were in his living room on a table. She approached them and picked one up. It was a picture of a young Ayato, probably around her age, posing with what was probably his team. They all had strained smiles on their faces as they stood in front of a large man in a green jumpsuit with shiny black hair and eyebrows as thick as his mustache. He had a scarily optimistic smile and was giving a thumbs up.
"Is this Ayato-sensei's team?" Shisui asked coming up behind her. It startled Jayne and she dropped the picture. Shisui quickly reached out and grabbed it right before it hit the ground.
"That was close, thanks," Jayne whispered, blushing at her clumsiness.
"What are you two doing?" Ayato called over eyeing his whispering students.
"We were just looking at this picture. Was this your team?" Jayne asked.
Ayato walked over to see what the kids were looking at, "Ah yes. This is Nozomu Nikaido, one of my teammates. He is actually one of the senseis to a group of your classmates. And this here is Might Duy, my sensei. He was a very strange man, always going on about youth." He pointed to the man with the bushy eyebrows and mustache. Then he moved his finger to the girl standing in the middle, "This is Rina Ninagawa, she is the one who will be here in a few minutes to teach you guys some baking."
The sound of someone knocking on the door filled the room.
"Perfect timing," Ayato quickly went to the door to let in his old teammate.
Jayne stiffened up. She felt so nervous.
"What are you so stiff for?" Shisui asked.
Jayne blushed, like she so easily does, "We are about to meet one of Ayato-sensei's best friends!"
"So?" Shisui didn't understand why she was acting so nervous.
"You wouldn't understand," Jayne pouted.
Shisui opened his mouth to say something when Ayato returned to the room carrying several grocery bags. Following behind him was a small beautiful women. She had shoulder length dark brown hair that framed her face. She didn't wear a forehead protector like in the picture and was wearing casual clothing.
When she saw the two genin she froze and stared at them, "Are these your new students?"
"Yup, this is Shisui Uchiha and the bratty one is Jayne," Ayato smirked.
"Hey!" Jayne crossed her arms over her chest.
Rina was silent for a few more seconds, then she let it all out, "OMYGODTHEYAREESOCUTE!"
"What?" Ayato was a bit taken back.
"Look at how adorable they are!" Rina rushed over to where the two of them were standing. Shisui also seemed a bit shocked but Jayne was beaming.
"Of course we are cute!" Shisui said with a confident smile.
Jayne elbowed him in the side, "Rina-sama, it is nice to finally meet you."
Rina smiled, so this is Jayne, "I'm glad to finally meet you as well, Jayne. I have heard a lot about you!"
Jayne's smiled, "Thank you for taking the time to teach me how to bake cookies."
"Of course let's get started!" Rina lead the way to the kitchen where Ayato was waiting with the groceries she had brought.
Shisui looked at the full bags on the counter, "Does it really take all this?"
"No, just the stuff in this bag. The rest are things I bought for Ayato because I know he doesn't do a good job shopping on his own," Rina said nudging him in the ribs.
Ayato rolled his eyes, "Let's just get started."
"Alright," Rina clapped her hands together, "Jayne, you can help me set out the ingredients and Shisui, you can get out the bowls and measuring tools."
Jayne grabbed the bag and started pulling out things like flour, chocolate chips, and eggs. She set them all out in a neat line on the counter. Shisui set down a bowl and a measuring glass and a few measuring spoons.
"Ayato-sensei, I'm surprised you have this stuff in your house," Jayne said commenting on his cooking utensils.
"It's not like I ever use them. Rina is always buying me stuff to cook with." Ayato said.
"And you should, it's not healthy to always eat instant meals," She winked. "Alright next I'm going to have Shisui preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Jayne, I'll show you how to measure out some flour."
Shisui moved over to the oven. He was really only here because it sounded more fun than sitting all alone at home. Plus spending more time with Jayne didn't sound so bad, she was pretty fun to be around.
"Know what you're doing?" Ayato asked.
"No idea" Shisui laughed.
"How did we get dragged into this?" Ayato sighed, "Just hit bake and then keep pushing the arrow until you get to 350."
Shisui did just that and then went over to figure out his next task, "what's next Rina-sama?"
"Hm, how about you put in the two sticks of butter then add ½ a cup of sugar." She said then turned back to Jayne who was busy mixing the contents already in the bowl. She smiled as she watched the girl who was focusing hard on what she was doing. Somehow this girl was able to help Ayato soften his heart and be a bit kinder, slower to anger, and more patience. Something she had been trying to do for years.
"What next?" Jayne asked.
"We need two eggs. I will show you how to do one and then you can try with the other. Shisui, I need you to throw in 2 cups of chocolate chips."
"Hai," Shisui said and got to work.
The cookies came along well and they soon put them into the oven and had to wait for them to be done cooking. They sat on the couches and talked to pass the time.
"So what was Ayato-sensei like when you guys were on a team?" Jayne asked.
"Let's see, he was pretty grumpy and he got into fights a lot. Duy-sensei would punish him by making him run laps with him around the village," Rina said.
"Hey, don't make it sound like I was just walking around picking fights! I was always provoked," Ayato crossed his arms.
"Provoked? By who?" Shisui asked.
"His rival, Hiro Sarutobi. Ever since the academy they've fought. I don't think they even remember why they started fighting in the first place," Rina rolled her eyes remember all the dumb fights the boys got into.
"Sarutobi? Like the Hokage?" Jayne asked.
"Yeah, he is the Hokage's oldest son," Rina said.
"A cocky bastard is what he is," Ayato grumbled.
"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention he also had and still has a foul mouth!" Rina scolded.
"He does! He is very rude," Jayne added.
"Shut up Jayne, don't act like you don't insult everyone you meet," Ayato snapped.
"How could you say that? Jayne is an angel," Rina frowned.
"She is a little devil," Ayato glared at the kid. She was turning Rina against him.
Shisui started laughing. By being on Jayne's team he noticed her insults to people. She always called people she didn't like names. Poor Nanami has been called a Walrus since he can remember.
"Yeah, 'grassy head-sensei', Jayne's great," Shisui joined in on the teasing.
"Grassy head-sensei?" Rina almost choked when she started laughing.
Ayato felt his face turn red in a mixture of anger and embarrassment, "I hope your cookies burn."
They all joined in laughter when the timer 'dinged' notifying them the cookies were done. Jayne jumped up and ran to the oven.
"Careful, it's hot," Ayato handed her a heat pad.
Rina smiled. If Ayato really was mad at her or disliked her he never would have helped her.
"Dang! These smell really good!" Shisui hovered over the cookies.
Jayne smiled, "We did it!" The two genin high-fived.
"They look pretty good," Rina confirmed.
"I can't believe you didn't burn the house down," Ayato muttered.
Everyone grabbed a cookie and took a bite. They were delicious.
"Not bad," Ayato said.
"We have to save some for Itachi!" Jayne said. "Do you have a baggie we could put some in for him?"
"Yeah over here," Ayato went over to a drawer and pulled out some plastic bags.
"I can give them to him when I go back to the compound," Shisui said.
"You better not eat them!" Jayne warned.
Shisui put his hands in the air, "I won't, I won't"
Rina laughed watching their little exchange. The team seemed to have great chemistry.
"It's almost 1:00 now," Ayato said, "You kids probably should head out so you can get a late lunch."
"Jayne, do you want to go to that ramen shop?" Shisui asked.
"Yeah!" Jayne said excitedly.
Ayato and Rina said goodbye and watched as the two genin walked out of the apartment.
Rina laughed, "I love your students. You have a good team."
"They are pretty good kids," Ayato agreed.
"You know, if someone told me you would one day become a sensei, I would have told them they were crazy," Rina wrapped her arms around his torso.
Ayato smiled, "Me too." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Shall we get some lunch of our own?"
"If the kids are going to the ramen shop we can go to that one sandwich shop on the opposite side of town," She said.
"Yeah, that sounds good," Ayato took her hand and led her out the door.
Ayato smiled, today was actually a pretty good day. I got cookies, got to spend time with Rina, and Jayne didn't burn down my house. Good day.
A/N: So a few quick things. (1) Sorry that was a slow and uneventful chapter but I hoped you liked it. I just wanted to give you more of an inside to Shisui, Jayne, and Ayato. (2) I know Might Duy never passed genin in the show but I decided to change it because I thought it would be funny to make him the sensei to someone like Ayato. (3) Rina and Ayato simply have a hidden relationship mostly because they just don't want to be public about it yet. Rina is not a main character and the relationship won't really be necessary to the plot, in fact I debated whether or not to make them a couple or just teammates but then I thought, "why not?" and gave Ayato a girlfriend. (4) The teams 1st mission is the next chapter.
