The Flying Blackbird had been closed that afternoon.
It looked like it would be closed for the rest of the week if Mina didn't figure out a solution quick.
After studying out of several thick textbooks she had decided to try her hand at ancient rune wards. She she thought she might be able to set up a one-way, floo if she could figure it out.
Somehow, in an attempt to sound proof her staircase with runes, she had managed to turn her stairway back on itself so that she, Hatake, and Shisui were now staring at themselves.
Normally in Hogwarts, this wouldn't be a problem. She would call for the professor or go to the library and find another thick textbook on disabling runes.
However, the stairs that got twisted also lead up to her room and study.
The room and study where she kept the textbooks.
She looked at herself through the door. It was such a strange thing. She waves her left hand. The person through the door way would do the same. The same synchronization, only not in reverse like a mirror. She reached through the doorway and prodded the Dogface on the other side.
She notes that her Dogface got prodded while she was doing this.
Shisui stared at the whole process with a blank expression that suggested that his brain had metaphorically turned to mush and was currently in the process of leaking out of his ears.
His counterpart had the same expression. Apparently the synchronized expressions combined with the reaction time proved to be so amusing (or mind breaking) that he soon burst into hysterical laughter.
"Shisui. Hatake. How good are you with ancient runes?" She asked, not taking her eyes away from the doorway.
"I don't know what they are." Replied the man in a slightly miffed tone. "And stop calling me by name, while I'm working."
"Same here. Was anything important up the staircase?" Asked Shisui. He looked like he already knew the answer but hadn't made up his mind on what to feel about it.
"My bedroom, study, and my workshop." She replied "All of which I need to support myself." She slowly sank into a seat and began to work through her current issues. She, ignoring the presence of the other two people, began ticking off her fingers. "I can't sell the shop in good conscience. I can probably brew potions outside but someone is bound to fine me for the smell and noise. I don't have access to a good portion of my clothes of my clothes or my goggles. Until I figure out how to undo the dimensional knot, I might actually have to look into prostitution or drug running until can get back on my feet."
"Please do not do that." Inserted the ANBU. "I do not know what magi consider to be drugs but we have enough problems with out you adding to it." Then in a lower voice he added "I highly doubt you would work out in prostitution."
Mina started as if she had forgotten that she was not by herself. "I supposed you have a point. I'm not exactly the most attractive option. Hmmm.."
"That isn't what I meant." Griped Hatake. He glanced warily at the wand before changing the subject. "I'm reporting this to Hokage-sama. He might have someone who can inspect you're seal- er. Runes." Then he flickered away.
Shisui, who was glad for the change in subject (He really didn't want to think about it.) quickly added "You can stay with me and work out of my flat while this gets fixed."
"I suppose I'll have to take you up on that." She agreed after a few moments of thought. "How much should I pay you?"
Shisui waved off her question. "Nah. You don't need to pay anything. Working with you is interesting and your pretty cool. Ummm..." Then he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He seemed to be on the verge of saying something but couldn't quite bring himself to say anything. "Could we uh... maybe go on a date sometime?" He blushed and sort of flailed as he stammered an explanation. "After the rune seal thing is uh... fixed and you move back into place."
Mina blinked in surprise then blushed.
Out of all the things she was expecting, being asked out was not one of them. "Of course." She replied. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and straightened and leaned forward slightly. "As soon as I get everything sorted out we can do something. You'd best get planning then ne?" She laughed.
Unbeknownst to the witch there was politicking going on in the Hokage tower.
It was the monthly town meeting, where chunin and jonin representatives meet with the clan heads and civilian politicians to iron out any village wide messes. Typical issues reserved for such meetings revolved around taxes, Uzumaki Naruto, and salaries, though with recent years, Oribanda Mina was also added into the mix.
Hiruzen was already grumbling about Mina in his head. She just had to go and befriend Naruto and now there is an uneven balance of power in the town.
Half the civilians in the meeting were now demanding her blood (Something ridiculous about being an infiltrator sent to destroy them). The other half were demanding she be exiled from the village.
Ibiki snickered at the suggestions. He was one of the few people who knew the origin on such rumors (The others being Genma, and Anko.)
"You should keep away from that demon *. It's bad for business."
Mina only cocks her head at the statement, puzzled over why she was getting such a warning. "Demon cat? I've never seen one of those before. Though, my transfiguration teacher could turn into a cat."
"The little monster is dangerous!"
The shinobi in the store then watched as she pulled out a large furry tome (Was it growling?) and began flipping throw the pages. "Naruto, what ever he is, can't be anything dangerous. See? He can't kill people by looking at them like this one can, or by screaming like this one."
She then proceeded to go through a number of creatures with names no one could pronounce. Several other people leaned over curiously to take a gander at the book she was holding. Many of them winced as she translated the descriptions.
Ibiki made a note to tell Sandaime-sama that Mina's power came from living in a world full of creatures that were just as deadly as biju. He figured that her quirks and obliviousness were probably an adaptation to avoid being driven mad by the dangerous creatures in their society.
Though in the Jinchuriki's case it was probably a good thing the witch was such a ditz. If she had any idea what he was, she might let the fox loose to study it. That would be a disaster of epic proportions and it would not be an exagerration that a second Kyuubi rampage might turn konoha from a major hidden village, to a minor one.
What a strange woman she was.
Anko very much wanted to try and hatch a basilisk when she learned the process but was shut down by both the hokage and Ibiki. Neither of which wanted to know what she would do with a toxic snake.
It was very unlikely that she would actually be run out of town.
Shinobi work was hard and people never left the profession unscarred. Her dreamless sleep agents were amongst her best sellers. She also had some sort of developing solution that allowed the pictures to move like they were a frozen moment rather then just an image (Very popular for weddings and other ceremonies). Ibiki could think of several ninja families who used those mage beans to get their children in the habit of checking their food before they ate (Idate got a vomit flavored one when he forgot to check. Serves him right.)
She also provided knowledge of places beyond the elemental nations. Every single one of her books was worth more than their weight in gold. They were the only semisentient books in the elemental nation.
It was interesting how Mina had surrounded herself with very powerful allies despite rarely leaving her shop. First, Inoichi and the Yamanaka clan by extension. Then Ibiki (Veritaserum caused too much general mayhem. But it was invaluable to interrogations.) then the Hyuuga clan, now Uzumaki Naruto. If both his interrogation specialists hadn't confirmed her to be scatterbrained he would be feeling rather threatened by her growing support base. (Both however confirmed that she had personal demons that she had guarded fiercely in her mind.)
Civilian nobles seemed to realize this too and began inquiring whether or not the shinobi in the room had been brain washed.
If it's one thing most ninja will take offense to it's their mental functions being called into question.
Hiruzen promptly put an end to that conversation, saying that he had something in mind regarding the subject, and ended the meeting before some ninja took offense (Too late.) and things became uncivilized.
Inoichi was the last to leave the room. As he passed Hiruzen he muttered. "I hope you know what you are doing. Once word of what you are planning gets out, people from every clan, civilian and shinobi will be pushing forward candidates."
"I take it you will be one of them?"
The blonde merely grinned as a response.
It was official.
Naruto was in heaven.
Mina-nee and Shisui-nii were the best people ever. The dog face guy that sometimes followed him around was alright too. Nee-chan keeps trying to embarrass him when ever he comes into the black bird. He never says anything unless it was to Shisui-nii or Mina-nee. He hopes that Dogface isn't like the others.
(Because while it hurts, Nee-chan and Nii-chan are there and it doesn't matter anymore.)
Naruto figures its because he's not really supposed to let people see him but he doesn't want to get hexed by nee-chan. She hates when people hang around the shop and don't buy things (except she calls it loitering). The other creepy masked guys are like that too but it doesn't stop nee-chan from embarassing them when ever they follow him into the shop. So now they all sit and watch him from outside which is even creepier.
Except for Dogface. He always comes in and mops the floor (Or what ever else needs doing.)
They showed him how to do all sorts of cool things like pulling coins out of people's ears (Nee-chan couldn't teach him the magic she used but she knew muggle magic.), making pop tags (Maybe Dogface wasn't so bad after all.), and trapping his own food (Shisui-nii said to practice traps by pranking people).
Naruto couldn't wait to get started.
He didn't have to go digging through the dumpster for food anymore (Mostly) since he always went there for tea. He'd stay for dinner, but the food always smelled weird (cabbages are gross!). Plus he liked ramen more then they did.
He can't stay in the cool magic store the whole day because Mina-nee is really poor and can't afford for people to not come in.
He didn't normally eat vegetables (They tasted funny and made his mouth itch), but they were okay for tea time. Plus, tea time just wasn't the same with out those little sandwiches.
No one else really knows what tea time was though, they kept telling him that it was stupid.
Except for this really quiet girl he met the other day when he was trying to use Nee-chan's flying broom.
He had gotten bored of using his toy broom (That dog face and Shisui-nii had bought for him. ) It was fun, but it only went a few feet off the ground. He knew that Konoha looked really cool from really high up so he figured that the one Mina-nee used would be able to go really really high.
Well it certainly did.
He shot up so high and fast that he left a hole in the shop wall.
He was going to be in so much trouble when he got back but first he had to figure out how to get down (Was that a cloud?)
He saw her pitch forward once to dive so he tried that.
He guessed she must've booby trapped the broom because he went from flying up to diving down faster then he could say ramen.
On the way down (Way way too fast. His face hurts and his ears felt like they were being ripped off.) he saw a bunch of kids beating up someone.
He figured that if he was going to crash and get hurt he might as well a bunch of meanies with him. ('Cuz nee-chan says stuff like that a lot.)
So he crashed into the bullies and broke his legs (He didn't know about the boys, but he'd had worse when Nee-chan's bouncing plants tried to squash him.)
He was about to ask the girl is she was alright when Dogface showed up, yelled at him for leaving a hole in the shop ("What were you thinking?! You could've died! You could've killed someone! You could've broken Mina's Favorite broom!"), and dragged him (and the boys) away to the hospital before he could say anything else.
He found her again in the same park months later. The girl took one look at him and turned beet red and stuttering her thanks and apologizing for getting him in to trouble.
"Oh. You're welcome. Don't worry about me getting into trouble. Nii-chan and Nee-chan get in trouble all the time." He shuffled awkwardly. Not knowing what else to say "Uhhh. I got some cake and sandwiches. Wanna have tea together?"
Hinata sort of blinked in surprise and agreed.
Normally he would've taken the girl (She said her name was Hinata.) for tea time at the shop.
He couldn't do it today though, Dogface said that Nee-chan did something really dumb and kicked him out.
AN:/
HOLY CRAP 2000 VIEWS! I DID NOT EXPECT THAT AT ALL! I THANK THEE ALL FOR THY PATRONAGE!
* Mina misheard Bakemono for Bakeneko. The former is monster, the latter is demon cat.
I got inspired when I read the HP fic The Family Clock by Jan. McNeville. Mina isn't necessarily based off of Jessie Tickes but She is what inspired me to make this fic. Mina's propensity for causing changes and havoc was inspired by Yukimura Hisana from Walk Two Lives by coolio101
There is no quicker way to lose your home then through debt, fines, and taxes. Take a guess where the funds were going.
Also, someone please point me where I can find a beta. I've posted in forums and Pmed several people but i've yet to recieve a response.
Reviews are love and they give me direction. Please continue posting them.