"So let me get this straight? Hokage-sama wants me teach a witch."
"Yes. Well, train." Corrected Kurenai.
"And he's willing to pay for it."
"Yes."
"And you are the first candidate."
"Yes."
"WHY."
"You are more qualified than anyone else in Fire country. Plus, You've already agreed to teach certain spells to people."
Mina's hands went to pinch the bridge of her nose while Kurenai stood awkwardly at the counter. She watched curiously as the witch walked to the window where a hideous moving plant grew and plucked off a large leaf. The witch then dipped the leaf into a shimmering grey solution and shoved it into her mouth.
They had been going around in circles for the last ten minutes with Kurenai requesting a mentorship and Oribanda denying qualifying for it. Kurenai had been to the shop numerous times and perhaps it was bias or lack of experience on her part, but the woman at the counter was definitely a capable witch.
Kurenai swirled her tea for a few moments before taking a sip.
Frankly, the idea of someone who could summon any animal, telekinetically command objects, and teleport from place to place, was terrifying for ninja.
Of course they would be interested in learning it.
If she could pick up something, anything at all, it would net her a promotion, like it did to Ebisu when he finally mastered the the light spell.
Though, hopefully she would be able to learn more than one spell, preferably without a wand. Hokage-sama seemed willing to negotiate the terms of what was taught.
"I don't recall ever letting you try out a wand. Why are you the top candidate?"
"My chakra reserves are much smaller than those of my male colleagues. It was theorized that it would be safer for me to learn magic. Also when I was 4 my eyes turned red during a riot and no explanations have been found."
"So, possible accidental magic." The witch nodded as she spoke. "Interesting."
As many accidents could tell. Magic and chakra sometimes went well, but did not mix. If anything, they displaced each other. Attempts to combine them were often met with erratic side effects ranging from something as mundane as hallucinations, pain, and nausea to the more exotic ones like, growing extra limbs, liquefying body parts, and partial transformations.
Those were just the ones that R & D thought to tell the candidates.
Kurenai shuddered to think what they weren't telling them.
"Another question. Why couldn't this wait until after my holidays?"
"It wasn't supposed to become public knowledge."
"Your out of luck on that one. I can't leave the shop alone and I am not hiring ninja for mage work. If someone is getting trained it WILL be during store hours." The witch crossed her arms. "Unless your boss is willing to pay me for all the lost profits."
Given that the Flying blackbird generates more profit than any other shop in Konoha, that's not likely to happen without a serious economical crash. "I'll let Homage-sama know." On the other hand, she was talking logistics rather than possibilities, which meant that she was more or less considering it.
"But I do think he will agree to cover any expenses and work you need while you train a witch."
"Pfah" Snorted the witch. "I doubt anyone could handle the workload without my skills. Give me a few hours to finish my arithmancy for this year's odds and I'll work something out."
It shouldn't be that hard to run a shop between half a dozen ninja.
"Very well." Agreed Kurenai.
It wasn't long before the shop had been straightened up.
It also wasn't long before someone had to go to the hospital for a concussion, much to Kurenai's dismay. "What the hell was that?" She demanded as the medics patched up the poor ninja. "She told me she disabled all of her booby traps!"
"I recall Naruto mentioning that his Nee-chan had some sport equipment that would attack people?" Shrugged Kakashi.
"Why would she keep something like that? Shouldn't she at least try to fix them?"
"Well, they're supposed to do that and she's quite good at dodging them."
"I'm starting to wonder if her ditziness is from being a witch or from continuous brain trauma."
Kakashi paused on the windowsill "I wouldn't be that surprised if the former was true," his mask twisted as his expression changed from his usual aloofness "Now that you mention it you might be onto something there."
Kurenai buried her face into her hands as she realized the insanity she had jumped into. Oh well, at least she was guaranteed a stable salary.
...
The idea of learning magic being classified as a B-rank solely for the danger seemed a little overboard. At least until Kurenai read all the accounts of grotesque transformations that couldn't be reversed. Oribanda-san had admitted first hand that she was no medical witch and had no experience undoing the security measures on her shop.
Then again, considering the number of dangerous things in the Flying Blackbird and Oribanda's blase attitude regarding them, it might actually be valid. Kurenai really didn't want to find out what being forcibly turned into an inanimate object felt like. Though something like that would be a great boon in her area of specialty.
Infiltrating enemy positions would be a breeze if she could disguise herself as a scroll or something similar.
Of course, there's the ever growing worry that taking magic lessons would turn her into a ditz. Kurenai once overheard Yamanaka Inoichi mutter something about cognitive dissonance being an adaptation to the terrors of magic. Or you know, dying in the process of learning. But the traditional way of climbing ranks wasn't as effective due to bias against kunoichi.
She wasn't too sure about what to make of it. But given the amount of times she'd been attacked by a book for reading too long without paying the fee, she would not be surprised if it turned out to be true.
At any rate, she had spent a good chunk of time in the hospital. The witch should be done with her duties by now, or at the very least, uncluttered enough to have a rudimentary curriculum worked out for her.
Kurenai checked once more to make sure that no one was seriously hurt and disappeared in a flurry of leaves back to the Flying Blackbird.
The sun had begun to set at this point and she spied the Jinchuuriki walking with the Hyuuga heiress away from the store. Once upon a time Kurenai would've been alarmed. Hinata had always been a little nervous after the kidnapping attempt. The naturally stiff nature of her clan hadn't helped. But the girl looked so happy being friends with the jinchuuriki that she really wasn't in any position to complain about it.
Uchiha Shisui was there to greet her when she walked in through the door. "Hey there Kurenai-san! Mina-san is almost finished. She'll be with you shortly. Want any tea while you wait?"
"Sure." She nodded and sat down to wait with a cup of black tea.
A few minutes later the witch made an appearance. Her fingers were stained with ink and she looked rather disheveled. She had a rather pensive look on her face.
"Hey Mina-san!" Called Shisui "How are the odds this year?"
"Very strange." Replied Oribanda. "The odds of someone getting a flying monkey one top of them are very good. So are the odds of a conspiracy forming, me getting a break through, and something about one of my friends getting in touch with their feminine side."
Kurenai couldn't showing her own confusion on her face. Flying monkeys? Conspiracies? How did she get these things from math equations?
She also saw Shisui's eyes widen at the mention of a conspiracy. Interesting.
"A flying monkey? That sounds like one of your really weird dreams." Snickered Shisui "Someone is probably going to be spending a lot of time under a henge this year."
"Indeed. Plus things are so weird here, I wouldn't be surprised if there were indeed flying monkeys that liked to land on people." Oribanda stopped pacing for a moment and stared at Shisui for a moment before smiling brightly. "Well, you do have some very girly eyelashes. Shall I buy you a dress?"
"Mina NO! I don't want a dress!" Shisui flailed in alarm. Before stopping adopting a sneaky expression "Why don't you go and dress up Dogface or something. I'm sure he'd look great in a dress."
The witch stopped and actually thought for a few moments before chuckling. Then she seemed to realize that Kurenai was in the same room and turned to face her. "I apologize. I do not believe I can truly train you. We do not think in the same language and that is a very large obstacle. If I had a way to contact home that may change."
Kurenai tried not to show her disappointment.
She'd really been hoping to get some sort of edge on the competition. Or at least get some way of proving them that she did NOT get to her position by sleeping her way to the top. Damn bas-
"But don't worry. Until then, I'll just point you the right way. I can at least try to teach you spell theory and maybe make you something to channel it with."
Well, she would take what she can get. There must be something that she could get from studying magic. At the very least she could sell her notes to Research and development for a large sum of money. "That's fine Oribanda-san. Where should I start?"
The witch smiled brightly at her before magically tossing a stack of heavy books at her. "I've rewritten what I can remember from my first year magical theory notes as well as translated some metaphysics."
Kurenai stared at the books in dismay. How on earth was she going to find the time to go through all the notes? She had bills she needed to pay and that meant missions on the side. One B-ranked mission would normally over everything she needed for a while but that was because she hadn't needed to pay her rent. Also, what on earth did metaphysics have to do with magic?
She thumbed through some of the pages and to her relief, it was mostly in kana with relatively few kanji. Made sense seeing as Oribanda wasn't from the elemental nations originally. Many of the terms were unfamiliar to her but that the witch had been willing to translate and rewrite things into japanese was still worthy of gratitude. "Thank you very much Oribanda-san" She bowed in response.
"It's not a big deal. Just let me know when you get through with everything." Chirped the witch.
Naturally as with just about every other thing in her career it went belly up just as she was getting accustomed to it.
It was the dead of night when the more unpleasant thoughts always rose.
Sadness, regret, rage. All of them were laid bare in the light of the moon.
Amidst the light shining from her cauldron and the mage circle on the ground, a witch pondered her current place in life.
Naruto still hadn't found a permanent place to live. It's not a problem right now but once he outgrows the space in the closet he'll have to sleep in the bathtub. She hadn't tried to give him her room ever since the first night, where he became violently ill after the security charms and barriers surrounding her space mysteriously failed several hours after they both fell asleep.
Kakashi still kept coming by and it was always a delight to poke at him. His dogs were also a delight to pet and talk to. Though she did jump at seeing a pack of dogs in vests scattered throughout the store first thing in the morning. She'll have to get him back for that one.
Shisui was showing up less and less often. He seemed to be under a lot of stress. She tried to ask him several times but he wouldn't talk about it. Drastic measures may become an option in the future.
Then there were the customers.
Mina was typically neutral to all her customers.
There were some she liked.
Hinata was always welcome. She was cute as a button, even if her eyes were kind of creepy.
The Nara's were almost always here for a game of chess. They only showed up around closing time, but usually helped get the store back in order when the game was finished. Akimichi's too, but they came mostly for the food she sometimes gave out. Chose had once spent a week badgering her for a cheesecake recipe. Shibi and Inoichi occasionally came by with their children to purchase various plants she grew. Sometimes they would just trade plants. Small children often came by to have her fix broken vases and such.
The Hyuuga and the Uchiha always seemed to find her a personal affront to their existence for some odd reason. They didn't come to the store very often so it didn't really matter much.
Then there were the nobles.
Ever since she helped the Daimyo's wife repair her carriage (reparo) the woman and her friends had decided that the entire purpose of the shop was to serve their needs and entertain them. After the first 'tea party' she had taken to slowly cranking up the temperature until the interior of the shop was hotter than the desert in the middle of july. She blamed it on faulty runes.
Stupid nobles.
What's worse, she couldn't actually say anything about it.
It's bad form to let personal feelings get involved with business after all and you can't always pick your venue. Plus it would put her mysterious store persona in jeopardy.
She hadn't made up her mind about Kurenai though.
Kurenai was a regular patron of the Flying Blackbird. She often came to browse some of the translated books (50 ryo per hour of reading), drink tea (free), and eat cauldron cakes (200 ryo for a package of six).
The female ninja had an almost regal bearing that brought forth a great deal of nostalgia. She was very much like Claudia.
And like Genevieve.
Mina was a bit scatterbrained.
She had no qualms about admitting it.
She would rather bounce between working on many things at once. It worked for her, even if it raised a few eyebrows. There was a reason she was the most versatile wood crafter in the family. Magic staffs, rings, tables, even wardrobes wardrobes you name it, and she could build it.
She just alternated between crafting wands and using the scrap wood to make her little knick nacks.
But none of those things had to be strung with a magical core though. An act that needed extreme precision and allowed for no room for error.
It was why her sister, Genevieve, had been the better wand maker. She had always been better at the smaller details.
That isn't to say she couldn't make good wands, just that her sister made better ones, faster.
Genevieve had crafted wands with a singular focus that only been seen from Grandfather Garrick. Her's were almost always store worthy.
She was the heir and thus the most valued person, the priority.
The younger more annoying one naturally got shoved to the back burner. There was no point in hoping for change so she never bothered to talk about her wishes once she realized that.
Naturally, they were rather distant. Something that they were both proud of in spite of all the scoldings and comments.
Even in Hogwarts, Mina had always been compared to Genevieve everywhere she went.
Until her second year, where she'd finally been allowed to join the clubs she wanted.
Dueling club for Nikita, who had wanted to be a professional duelist. Muggle association, for Lily and Claudia so they could be home away from home.
Quidditch. Quidditch was where she came into her own. She became a hufflepuff chaser and eventually the captain in her fifth year. Playing against her childhood friend Riddley Wolfe, the slytherin keeper had gotten her noticed.
The forgotten second daughter of a wand making family, became a quidditch star with her friends by her side.
For the first time in her life, Guillermina Olivander was herself and not the replacement.
She wasn't just Genevieve's plain little sister.
After that, it didn't really matter that the Olivander sisters weren't close. Genevieve the ravenclaw was the quieter, more studious one who always got the best marks and had people asking her out. She was the elegant princess whom everyone admired.
Mina was the more upbeat and outgoing one, who did well despite her unconventional answers and surrounded by her friends. She was the odd one, the crazy one. The one who everyone was friends with.
The distance that separated the two sisters went from being a large gap to an impassable canyon with this development. It only got worse as time went on.
The two of them became virtual strangers with two completely separate lives even with the ache that the other left inside of them.
Lily, who was friends with both Genevieve and herself always seemed so sad whenever the two of them were in the same room. She had a similar relationship with her own sister, Petunia which she regretted but couldn't fix. She'd tried several times to reconcile them both, but nothing ever came of it. Neither party had been interested.
Until one day during the beginning of her sixth year when Genevieve came to her.
"Mina. It has been a while since we have last spoken."
"Yeah. During your seventh year."
The two girls stood in awkward silence.
Then Mina asked. "Do you need something from me?" Because she was the second. If the future head of House Ollivander wanted something, it was her duty to get it.
Genevieve shifted from side to side in discomfort. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?" Blinked Mina.
"Be friends with everyone."
"Er…." That threw the younger girl for a loop. Her sister was asking HER advice? "Well, I just talk really."
"About what?"
"Things I like. Quidditch, dueling, oobleck, quality potion ingredients and substitutions, drawing-" Prattled Mina
The elder wand maker cocked her head in confusion. "What is oobleck?"
"OH! It's the most interesting thing in the world! See, Claudia told me that if you mixed cornstarch and water you could make this thing called a non-newtonian fluid. It's gooey if you touch it but solid if you punch it!"
Genevieve blinked and leaned forward in interest. "Truly? I thought muggles couldn't do magic."
"Well according to Claudia it works like this..."
It was the first conversation that felt natural in a long time.
Kurenai coming to her had reminded her of the day she started becoming friends again with her sister.
Then it happened and she was left with the legacy of her dead family, an imperioused sister that she had to mercy kill, and an ugly magical scar on her back.
Mina dismissed her thoughts with a shake of her head. It was dangerous to be distracted when casting. Especially for something as dangerous as this.
It had been years since she got Sirius to talk about being an animagus. Years since she studied self transfiguration under Mcgonagall.
She'd never got to finish the mentorship either.
Sirius was locked up for something Peter had done and she would probably never see him again.
Still, the potion was the right color. The magic circle she'd drawn was precise. She still had the same mandrake leaf in her mouth.
She could at least keep their memory close by joining them as an animagus.
Carpe diem.
Seize the day.
No time like the present to take the plunge.
She waved her wand and began to cast.
Kakashi had no idea what to make of the present situation.
The shop was eerily quiet after the events of this afternoon and he wasn't quite sure what to feel about it.
It had been about months after Kurenai had become a student at the shop and while he wouldn't say she became a regular visitor, she did show up once every three days rather than once a week like she used to. She would take the chair across from him at the table in the shop and drink tea while she went through the notes given to her.
Sometimes he would look at them over her shoulder, just to see if he could try and understand what went on in the little shop that had abruptly planted itself in his life.
And also maybe the witch who had maybe wormed her way past his walls.
As always, He had no such luck. The level of abstract thinking involved in magic was so different from what he was used to that it became a nearly insurmountable obstacle. Even the advanced principles of sealing couldn't compare to it. Though from what he could gather, magic was effectively bits and pieces of thoughts gathered from the spirit and the air, directed by the mind a manner similar to calculating a spiral.
Naruto would bring Hinata into the shop after the academy ended. The kids would greet the two of them at the table and Mina behind the counter before grabbing some snacks (magically sliced fruit and ice mice) and rushing back outside to play in the knot grass. Then they would run back inside to pester him to teach them a 'cool jutsu' or politely request advice from Mina and Kurenai.
After everything was over and done with, Mina would offer her strangely delicious english dinners which would be declined sometimes by Kurenai or often by Hinata. Then either the Kunoichi or sensei's son would walk her back to the Hyuuga estate.
It was a comforting routine that had been soothing for him when ever he came back from a difficult mission.
Nothing really unusual.
Until one day he came back from a short assassination mission to find Mina in the back yard, on the ground in a semi-conscious state, feverishly babbling away. Naruto was by her side feebly trying to get her on her feet.
Naruto was in tears because he had tried to ask someone from the hospital to help her and they only kicked him out.
He carefully checked the area but couldn't see any signs of foul play and he knew that despite what most people thought, Mina wasn't actually reckless with her potions or her health. It wasn't like her to end up in such a state.
So how did she get this way?
Sometimes the symptoms are a clue in an of itself, except Mina was alternating between hysterical crying that she'd failed and manic giggling that she'd succeeded.
"Hey Dogface! Whats wrong with Nee-chan? Why's she like that? Is she gonna die? Please don't let her die!" Naruto wailed in the background.
"Naruto. Calm down." He commanded. "Panicking won't be any help and you might miss something important." He watched as the boy attempted to calm himself. "Deep slow breaths Naruto."
Eventually the boy calmed himself to an acceptable degree.
"Now I want you to tell me something."
"'Kay."
"What was she doing last night?"
"Uhh. She was busy doin' something with a potion."
That's… Not very helpful. "Go on."
"And then she chanted something over the pot."
"Okay?"
"And then she told me to go to bed."
"That's…." He tried not to show how much the lack of detail bothered him. No sense getting upset over something that can't be helped. "Hmmm…."
"Nee-chan will be fine right?" Begged Naruto as he started to cry again. "I'm sorry I don't know more!"
Of course he'd forgotten that Naruto was much more sensitive to disappointment and would probably pick up on it. Maybe he should try and comfort the boy. Mina was probably the largest and most reliable source of warmth and love in the village after all.
"Mah. Well I know that she'd probably planned this to some extent. Which means she probably has notes somewhere." Kakashi gently picked her up, bridal style and began walking to the stairway when something occurred to him. Given her past behavior towards ANBU, ninja, and to a degree himself, it was very likely that she had some sort of barrier separating the shop from her home.
He doubted that she was telling the truth about the runes she carved into the walls.
Given what tends to happen to intruders he should probably have Naruto let him in. Being cut into pieces and kept alive in spite of that does not sound appealing in the slightest. "Naruto? Can you let me upstairs? I want to put Mina back into her bed without getting jinxed into pieces."
Mina twitched slightly, as if she was laughing in mind but not in body. Her eyes held a spark of amusement though they stared at nothing in particular.
Well, at least she wasn't totally lost in her head.
Naruto nodded and immediately went to lead him upstairs and down a hall.
As he went up the stairs he couldn't help but notice that the paintings on the walls were creepy as fuck. It was like they were all staring at them.
He could've sworn that some of them were moving from the corner of his eye, the smiles turning into glares. Probably best not to think about it.
Mina was lighter than she should be, and also a little cooler. A lack of chakra probably meant that her temperature was lower than his own but the weight was a cause for concern. He was fairly certain that a grown woman should weigh more than a mid sized dog but Mina was no heavier than Naruto.
Her skin lacked the color that it normally did. If anything it had an awful iridescent shine that was wholly unnatural on a human being.
He could feel the tension leaving her body as he moved.
Kakashi made a note to look up the symptoms once he got back.
"Nee-chan's room is right here. The others are closets so don't go in there."
"Alright. Thanks Naruto." He replied and went into the room.
The first thing he did was tuck Mina under the covers.
Once that was accomplished he decided to take a look around her bedroom.
The room itself was very tidy but extremely cluttered. Every available space had something in it. The walls were full of strange diagrams involving various trees, cauldrons, and something that looked like an ugly baby with roots for hands and leaves growing out of its head.
The shelves were loaded with books, cutting tools, and photos of her childhood. She was noticeably happier in her school photos than in her family ones. Most of the school pictures had them all flying about on broom sticks
Her bedside table held a black and yellow winged badge that read Hufflepuff Captain.
He wasn't sure what the words meant, but he suspected it had something to do with kui-dichu.
Her desk was filled with notes and Kakashi was almost certain that something nasty would happen if tried to peer at its contents. The strange energy he had come to associate with Mina and her store radiating in extremely large amounts from the desk. It prickled and buzzed like an angry Aburame unlike the slower whirring sensations from downstairs.
The room also smelled like her. Earthy. Woody. A sort of sweet spiciness, bleeding into each other like the ingredients of the potions she makes.
Yet there was something else there that wasn't quite natural yet not unnatural either.
Crisp, fresh like the sky, and indescribably female.
Intoxicating.
Whoops.
He blinked.
….
Well it's true.
As interesting the room was, he did not belong here.
This was the home of a civilian. A simple, if extraordinary shopkeeper. The amount of clutter limited movement. Plus having only one exit is a poor idea and can turn a safe haven into a death trap.
The paintings in the hallway were definitely looking at him through the door and it gave him the creeps. Honestly it was more unsettling than the time Gai switched to wearing a neon green mini dress.
He gently pressed his hand onto her forehead again to check if there was any change in her status.
But there wasn't.
AN: I AM ALIVE!
ONCE AGAIN I MUST APOLOGIZE FOR THE DELAY.
It's been so long since I've finished the chapter but I had problems getting someone to edit it. Halfway had gotten sick and most of my other friends have started their summer jobs. None the less, here is chapter 14.
So yeah, Mina tried to do a thing. Whether or not she succeeded... hehehe.
Now for the review replies.
Sheik: I noticed that too. I'll have to try again once I have time to dig through my pictures. I'll probably just post a new link rather than fix the old one.
Eruki-sama: Ok? It's your choice. I'm cool with it.
. Fanfic: Thank you! ^^ I'm glad the scene came out well. As for the the massacre, hmmmmmmm well Sasuke and Itachi definitely won't be the last people with the sharingan but I won't say more than that. Ps. Wish granted.
PappyOldGuy: Thank you :D
Manaliac: Ha! Obito fixates on things pretty quickly and Mina won't stand for hypocrisy. The question is who is going to drive the other one crazy first. Especially since he acts a little like a death eater.
Madam3Mayh3m: It's good to be back.
Ultimate Alternate Universe: Cameras and TVs are good utilities though. They are tools used primarily for teaching and spreading information and are pretty mobile, you can broadcast all sorts of visuals and sounds through a television and photos can be copied and distributed all over the nation. A piano is just a musical instrument, and a pretty big and heavy one at that. I don't think a nation that's so focused on war and combat would be so willing to use that much wood and metal for entertainment when it would've been more practical to use them for weapons.
Reviews and comments are always welcome. They are food for my soul and I love replying to them.
~ciao