Gratuitous Fanservice, Silly String from Hell, and Practical Application of Suiton Jutsu
"So, are you really sure you want to do this? It took me years to master these skills, and a while back you didn't seem so keen on further training."
Naeko looked down at the spool of thread held in her hand, then back up at her father. Nodding once decisively, she replied, "I'm sure of it. Even if I'm not the most talented around, I'll never know what I can do if I give up early."
"That's the spirit." Satoshi took the spool from Naeko and unwound a length of the dark fiber, slicing it loose from the rest with a knife. "Now I'm sure you've seen your peers using various forms of string or cable in their techniques, but I'll tell you now that standard-issue wire has nothing on this. You know the most basic use of it…" At a spoken command from Satoshi, the thread wound itself up around his arm like a living creature and squeezed lightly, glowing with faint blue light. "But there are so many more things you can do. Pretty much the only limits you have are the quantity of thread on hand, your own supply of chakra, and your imagination. If you wouldn't mind shutting the door, I'll show you a trick or two I've learned."
"But why? It's not like anyone outside the family can use it," Naeko grumbled but nonetheless did as asked, shutting the door that separated her father's work area from the rest of the tailor shop.
"You're quite right when you say that. Only a person with Kurogata blood in their veins can control this thread, and that makes it quite unique and useful. However, I don't want any of the rest of the crew here overhearing and getting ideas. The last thing any of the teaching staff at the Academy needs is one of our family trying to glue them to the ceiling." At an incredulous look from Naeko, Satoshi chuckled in quiet embarrassment. "It's happened before in my time, but I digress." He then unwrapped the thread from his arm and turned to face a battered dressmaker's form, patched and worn from much use.
"First up, setsudan no ito – the thread of severing." Satoshi flicked the thread out in one refined gesture, scoring it lightly across the torso of the dummy. The fabric covering split where the thread had hit, stuffing spilling loose in a pale imitation of fleshly injury. "Sesshou no ito - the thread of destruction – would normally come next, but after what I did to her last tailoring dummy, your mother has asked me not to use it inside. I would guess the same rule now applies to you." Before Naeko could react, her father next wrapped the thread around her wrists and spoke a different command. "The thread of binding – imashime no ito – is useful if you need a quick trap. As you know, though, one of the most basic skills you learn is how to escape from a rope binding and our thread is no exception to this. If you need a tighter restraint, there's tesshin no ito, the iron-willed thread. Try to get loose."
After a few moments of futile struggle, Naeko shook her head in defeat. "It won't budge."
"Exactly. I've used this to hold a demon back, so it should be more than strong enough against your average enemy." Satoshi released his daughter and stepped back, dusting his hands off. "That's more than enough to keep you occupied for a while. Now tell me, what's this I hear about you catching a giant toad…?"
-------
"B-rank, my foot," Kotori could be heard to mutter as she closed the door behind her, kicking her shoes off with a tired sigh. Her pack went into one of the unused first-floor bedrooms to be taken care of later. "I swear that man would die if he didn't have someone around to cover his ass after some of the things he says. But then again, I shouldn't be too choosy. The job did pay well, and now I can rest for a while." Unfastening the closure on her flak jacket and removing her headband, she then padded upstairs to her own quarters to gather up a fresh change of clothing. As she stashed her earnings in their usual safe place, Kotori reflected over the events of the past week that had merited such a sum. Playing hired muscle to one of the most hotheaded fools in the Fire Country would cover it, not to mention the additional fee for the kill squad I had to 'remove' before they could give him what he deserved for being such a loudmouthed idiot. Another day, another ryo, so who am I to complain?
The fresh change of clothing was wrapped along with a towel into a tidy bundle, and Kotori returned briefly to the bathroom downstairs to gather a few other necessities before stepping out. It took no longer than a minute after she returned outside on her private errands to hear the pounding of approaching footsteps, and with an eye roll she identified the presence as that of Taiki. "What do you want?" she asked impatiently, not even bothering to slow her steps to acknowledge him. "I have nothing to say to you and nothing I want to hear from you."
"I was just going to say welcome back," Taiki grumbled, "but you are efficient as usual and cut me down before I could get to it."
"So? You don't waste your breath and I don't waste my time. It's a win-win situation." Hazarding a guess as to what Taiki's next words would be, Kotori held up a forestalling hand and added, "Don't bother with an apology. I've recently been reminded of why emotions are dangerous, that sentiment distracts me from my true purpose. Save it for someone who actually wants it, Tai." With a level stare that dared him to oppose her, she waited for a response, and when none was forthcoming she quietly shrugged and walked away without further speech.
She arrived at her destination some time later, a fresh, cold crystal stream in relative seclusion away from the village and potentially prying eyes. The waist-deep water in its turn cascaded over a small cliff, dropping about thirty feet in a shimmering curtain into a pond that proved ideal for bathing and relaxation, and in the months that had passed since the invasion Kotori had found this place to be her perfect retreat away from the stresses of the village. The perfect place to wash away blood, purify my mind, and rest my spirit before going again into the fire, mused the girl as she stripped away the battle-grimed attire she had worn on her most recent sojourns. Emptying it of the soaps and shampoos that she'd brought along, Kotori then dipped the wooden bucket that she used in her bathing rituals into the stream and filled it with the icy water of the pond.
A gasp escaped through tightly clenched teeth as she emptied the bucket over her head, the first time out of three that she would do this. A second immersion rinsed away lather and suds, and the third ensured that her body was completely pure before she began the final part of her rite of de-stressing. Leaving clothing, towel, and bathing supplies at the bank of the pond, Kotori then climbed to the top of the cliff and took one deep, calming breath before launching herself in a clean arc over the waterfall and into the basin below. Her body slicing through the surface, she let the water swallow her in its numbing embrace before floating to the top again and luxuriating in the sting of fresh forest air against cleansed skin.
A small smile crossed her face as she hung suspended, sunlight through the tree canopy above filtering the scene into something out of a folktale, the girl a copper-haired naiad at home in her natural setting. So wonderful… or it would be if someone weren't peeping. I thought I'd found a spot where no one could spy! Leaving a liquid clone of her unclothed body resting in the water, Kotori eased herself over to where she'd left her clothing and other supplies and, using careful substitutions of the used items, donned the fresh garments she'd brought and gathered her supplies. It's him, the king of perverts, she realized as she felt her skin begin to bubble with a familiar itch. Now is my chance for revenge!
Using the care and skill that had been granted her through years of exacting training and rigorous work, Kotori tracked down her observer and hung suspended above him for a moment, considering her next course of action. That's all - a dirty old man? Doesn't he have anything better to do in his spare time? She couldn't help a fierce grin of satisfaction when she realized that her prey was still completely absorbed by the illusion that she'd set, devouring the lazing girl's every bioluminescent curve with starving eyes while furiously scribbling down notes. This must be the one who writes those disgusting books that Taiki and that pervert find so fascinating. Well, I'll do the world a favor and help him clean up, if even for a moment.
Kotori focused her chakra and then moved her hands through the required seals, relishing the flinch of shock that ran up and down the older man's spine when he realized that he'd been ambushed. "Suiton – daibakufu no jutsu!" Then the water below erupted into angry life, the girl leaping to a higher branch to watch as her quarry vanished under the rushing torrent. "That'll serve him right, whoever he is…" Maintaining her careful perch, she kept her senses sharp in case of retaliation. "What did they say his name was – Jiraiya?"
Yes, Jiraiya. One of the Legendary Sannin, whom you just gave one hell of a wet willie. The cat-demon snickered. Have fun with this one.
-------
"I don't know why she won't just let it go," Taiki muttered as he returned to his apartment from his afternoon errands. "I mean, I guess she was right – my ego did kinda ruin things." He finished storing the various sundries he'd picked up out and around the village and then on impulse wandered over to stand in front of his mirror to see if the damage wreaked by Takeshi and the carving knife was still visible. "And my hair's back to normal, so it's not like that's an issue. What could it possibly be then?"
Speaking his thoughts aloud as he did so, Taiki struck a pose in front of the full-length pane of reflective glass to see if he could possibly spot the flaw that had ignited Kotori's ire. "Takeshi says that looks aren't everything, and I agree with him there. But for some people – people like me – looks count for a whole lot!" When a cursory examination turned up nothing, the youth frowned and ruminated for a moment, then discarded his shirt to give his upper body a closer look. "I mean, looks can be used as a weapon in some cases, so I've got to keep mine up." He flexed one arm and made a pleased noise at the ripple of muscle. "I'd have to say I'm doing pretty good. What could she possibly find wrong with this?"
A twitch ran down Taiki's spine as he noted that he was being observed, a twitch which turned into a shiver when he realized that there was more than one watcher. "What the - " Catching a flicker of movement at the edge of his vision, he heard a faint scuffing of feet as someone moved quickly away from the window. He walked with careful, quiet steps over to the open window and peered out, putting his hands on the sill and leaning out ever so slightly. The light breeze caught the ends of his loose hair and teased the strands, tossing them back and forth in a sinuous ebony ripple, and Taiki blinked as he heard a sigh and a giggle. He leaned out even further and glanced around, trying to figure out the source, then jumped as a pleased squeal from the street below reached his ears.
"Look, it's him!" a girl shouted, pointing up. "I told you he was beautiful."
"Bloody hell," Taiki muttered, blushing and hurriedly snapping the window closed. "How many were there, twenty? And I'd bet there were more that I just wasn't seeing…"
-------
After the incident at the pond, Kotori's day had passed with no other notable events. She had turned her attention to restoring her home's usual tidiness which had been let slip during her month-long absence, dusting and cleaning and hanging freshly-washed clothing out to dry. When the last of her housekeeping was finished, Kotori relaxed at the living room table with a book and idly thought over how she could spend the money she'd earned on her most recent mission. Much as she tried to forget, though, something nagged at her brain and she finally pushed herself up from her seat to check on her laundry.
The mixed batch of shirts and tunics was not particularly noteworthy, their owner preferring simplicity of design over flamboyant expression as much out of personality as practicality. Collecting the dry items from the small clothesline in the side yard, Kotori then began gathering the underthings that she'd also hung up after washing and hissed an expletive under her breath when she realized that one of the pairs of panties – a lacy black number that she'd purchased at the cat-demon's suggestion – had gone missing. "Mother- !" Biting the tail end of the word off, Kotori then took inventory and verified that this was the only thing that had gone missing. "Sannin or no, he's going to die."
-------
Evening had come and Taiki had determined after a cursory check of the surroundings that it would be safe to venture out for a bite of dinner. As he walked, he could not help a smile at the two different types of looks he got from other pedestrians – revulsion and hatred from the older citizens tempered by unalloyed admiration from the younger set. It seems that looks are a double-edged sword in my case, he mused, shrugging the attention off and doing his best to appear unaffected.
Any forced neutrality was banished, though, when he passed by a small coffee shop and found himself the subject of yet a third type of scrutiny. Taiki stopped for a moment to find out the source of the look and came face-to-face with an even, expressionless, yet unnervingly intense gaze from deep-set black eyes. Suppressing the urge to laugh aloud, Taiki instead managed a merely pleasant smile and wondered, "Is something the matter, Sasuke-kun?"
"So it's you they're chasing after now." The Uchiha boy shook his head once and then meditatively wrote out a few words on the exposed page of a small spiral-bound notebook on the table in front of where he sat. "What can I say? Better you than me." A smirk, then more writing.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were jealous," Taiki responded after a moment's consideration. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of them." A wicked thought then came to him, and he briefly crossed to the table where Sasuke now recorded the rest of his musings. "Have a good evening," Taiki murmured and leaned down, kissing the other boy lightly on the cheek before turning to walk away. Blinking rapidly a few times, Sasuke was oblivious to the muted squeals of joy and thumps of fainted young women hitting the ground.
Taiki snorted once in amusement and then glanced down at the cover of the notebook in which the Uchiha had been writing. "'I'm Going to Kill My Brother' and Other Poems? Now that's a cliché if I've ever seen one." Shrugging unconcernedly, Taiki then continued down the street with that evening's dinner being the uppermost concern in his mind.