AN: I give you the mischief genin's get into. If there are any situations or ideas you would like to see or have me come up with regardless of time (I have no issues hopping about like a sugar high sea gull) either PM or just say in the reviews. If nothing else they may give me other ideas!
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Sometimes the words blur in Jiraiya's ears and it sounds like just random chanting as a background. When that happens, it feels a little like a pinch between brain cells and she feels a bit dazed. It's like the language around her blurs into nothing discernible. Foreign. It only happens when she's utterly relaxed though, when she almost hears all of life around her as a sort of music. Percussive, rhythmic. It's not something that ever alarms Orochimaru, he's used to her sudden disconnect.
The first time it happens because of bone deep exhaustion after a day of D rank missions that is just sheer amounts of chores people don't want to do; it startles Tsunade and Hiruzen-sensei.
Jiraiya isn't aware of it of course. Standing with her eyes unfocused as she is and swaying ever so slightly side to side where she's sitting. Her drink held loosely in her fingers. She reminds Orochimaru of a serpent when she does that, or a willow in the summer winds. He finds her movements hypnotic, soothing.
"Jiraiya-chan are you all right?" Hiruzen-sensei asks with concern but of course she doesn't answer. She likely doesn't even hear more then the tone and inflection bleeding into the sounds around them. If she didn't pay attention in the orphanage when they were usually about to be blamed for something they did do but no one could prove it, why would she out here?
"She's fine." Orochimaru glances over. Wonderful he has the full attention of Tsunade whom while tolerable is loud and full of herself and Hiruzen who is a bit too swift in the praise to Orochimaru and too little to Jiraiya. It is he supposes, her charm. Jiraiya's amazing talent is to blend when she shouldn't and so all the hundreds of little things he notices no one else does.
"She hasn't responded in a while. Perhaps she over exerted herself?" Tsunade asks and while Orochimaru is approving of his blonde teammate's interest in medicine she's so far off point it makes Orochimaru wonder if she ever learned to actually observe.
"Jiraiya when completely at ease loses herself in the world around her. If nothing important is happening it's best just to leave her be. She'll explain later if she feels like it." He wishes they would simply accept his words as the truth they are. It isn't as though Orochimaru ever says anything he hasn't tested and observed but they don't know him that well. It rankles still though.
"Loses herself?" Hiruzen-sensei doesn't sound pleased about the idea and it makes Orochimaru hide a frown.
"Jiraiya is..." Orochimaru tilts his head back, thinking. How to describe the conundrum that is his best friend? "Aware of things. This is not new, and has always been there. Indeed I have little doubt it is what contributes to her awareness when stealing or exploring. It is though she can feel the pulse of her location as surely as I can when pressing upon someone's wrist. It is usually half elusive but sometimes as now she slips into it fully. Just wait."
They clearly do not believe him but wait all the same. It is promising, at least he hopes this means they can be taught.
Eventually Jiraiya blinks and without hesitation turns her smile -the brutish one without artifice that is anything but attractive and yet his favorite- upon Orochimaru with her eyes dancing. "We should go to get a snack."
Orochimaru simply inclines his head and stands.
"Come on Tsunade, Hiruzen-sensei!" Jiraiya laughs and places her hands by her sides as she begins to run, twirling every so often as though she's been imbued with energy in a way that makes no sense. But this is Jiraiya and that is just how she is.
"But.." Tsunade starts as though she's going to begin lecturing and Orochimaru fixes her with a look. One that asks for patience and just to see.
It is very promising indeed that she just follows. Jiraiya weaves a path through Konoha's side streets going somewhere he is not familiar with but understands she could not explain right now. Not when her eyes are shining in that way after her swaying and the fact she cannot hold still. Her smiles and delight that he does not question her and even kept their teammate and leader from doing so warms him further because he knows with Jiraiya nothing comes without a gift when you have done so, and he will be doubtlessly surprised with whatever she finds to thank him. It is just how she is.
They finally stop at a tiny little stall, one that he has never seen before and yet there are almost no people nearby there. The place is clearly new, homemade and a little clumsy.
"Ohayo!" Jiraiya chirps and the man running it is gangly and awkward but beaming in that way that civilian's are shortly after fully becoming adults much later then shinobi.
"Oh hello! You're my first customers!"
"Daifuku?" Jiraiya chirps and it's amusing that she is bouncing on her toes, hands behind her back with fingers laced tight to make her behave herself.
"That's what the sign says!" There's happy idle chatter as he speaks with Hiruzen and Tsunade, even a few words to Orochimaru. The life story flows out of him as he has no reason to hold anything back from the ninja. So they learn he is newly married and he saved up money to start selling his wife's daifuku which is how he met her and fell in love. He speaks happily of how much he likes Konoha and a number of other things.
Orochimaru is dwelling on how it's a terrible spot so far from the common traffic for a stand. It's a bad idea, he'll never get the civilian's business. Then he takes his first bite and decides the quality makes up for the location, Jiraiya handing it to him first as she always does once she tastes one.
It's a very unfortunate habit the children are in. Because everything and anything could be poisoned over the years they have learned to take turns trying food before they eat it so at least one can get them to the hospital. They know the taste of most poisons set out for pests now at least. No one ever said that thieves only took the best things and Jiraiya learned the hard way never to steal from dumpsters again. Tsunade blushes and stammers something and it's a little strange to Orochimaru how much the stall owner and Hiruzen-sensei are staring that after Jiraiya took a bite of about half the Daifuku and pronounced it good she handed it to him to eat.
It's not like she has anything contagious.
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"So that guy was pretty nice..when did you hear about the stand, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asks, still pink when she looks at her or Orochimaru which Jiraiya thinks is odd but whatever. Tsunade is the wanna be medic if something was going around she'd tell them in lecture mode which Jiraiya appreciates.
"Earlier. Felt something was different."
"Huh?"
Orochimaru just chuckles and lightly -deceptively gently- swats Jiraiya in the back of her hair spikes. He learned a long time ago they are actually sharp and is always careful. "D'oow! Okay..um.." Jiraiya pauses then, turning to face them as they meander, seeming to be a casual fool but Orochimaru knows better. She's seen something she wants and is making certain she can recognize the place from the opposite direction. He'll learn what later. They don't trust their team that much yet.
"Something was different in that part of Konoha and so I went to find out what. The most common things to change in the more civvy sectors are food places and clothing but since the weather is nice it was probably food."
"How did you know it was different?" Hiruzen seems curious and Jiraiya shifts. She doesn't want to bring it up. It's one thing to Orochimaru because he wishes to understand everything and never judges her but asks questions. Still, trust is necessary and this is something small..ish.
"I sometimes just can feel when a place I'm familiar with is different. It's like I can feel the spider's web quiver and I'm on the edge of it."
Hiruzen looks doubtful, and Tsunade has that look as though she's convinced Jiraiya is an idiot again.
Orochimaru sneaks his hand out and swiftly steals another daifuku from Jiraiya's pocket where she stashed a bag for later. The distraction is perfect for Jiraiya to squawk and chase him around and the matter is dropped.
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"Why does the fire lord's daughter keep a ferret? Much less four. Who needs one of the little stretched rodents but four of them? Four. What sort of crazy stupid ignoramus.."
"Good word."
"Thanks Oro.."
"Shut up." Tsunade's voice crackles over the head gear.
Hiruzen is a little ways away and fighting laughter. Sadly for his team they are very good at stalking and wrangling the creatures and so it seems they are being personally requested by the fire lord's youngest daughter. His heiress, and to whom marriage will create the next fire lord so when she was found to like small furry creatures one over excited suitor to the young girl had gifted her four of the pets.
This is the eighth time this week they've been called in. Half of that because the other teams could only catch one or two and a crying twelve year old girl demanded team seven who 'treated her sweeties like they were valuable' was summoned to finish the job.
Hiruzen thinks the expression on Tobirama's face is utterly priceless when he's handling the mess. Even better, the expression on Jiraiya when she saw the common features with their hokage and shrieked "ImmaNobody!"
There was no relation of course, but it was oddly entertaining to see the mutual freak out of the two spikey white haired nin. Of course the second Hokage was an albino and Jiraiya though an orphan did have parents with features that are tracked down to her registered in the orphanage records but still.
Tsunade had been aghast at the lack of respect. Orochimaru hadn't reacted until out of the tower where he fell into giggles.
That the personal nickname he and Tsunade are calling Jiraiya is 'little Nobody' was gotten from the Hokage is rather priceless.
"Gah! This is impossible...Jiraiya can't you do that swaying space out thing and find them for us?!"
The lines go silent.
Orochimaru doesn't have to even say a word for his heavy disapproval to leak over the communication but the faint hissing breath he releases does that for him.
"...I don't think I can do that on purpose.."
Jiraiya's voice comes out softer than she wants it to. Blast it she's a genin! She's earned her rank and sweated and cried and worked so hard for it but her voice right then sounds like a tiny scared little girl who is shy and nervous. Because Tsunade has always given her odd looks and she had really hoped that incident with the Daifuku stall had been forgotten weeks ago. Even if the amount of ninja who go by happy to be able to get a snack outside the busy rush of traffic has meant the man is doing a good clip and Jiraiya really enjoys the taro flavored ones from there..
It may have been the end of the conversation. Perhaps a new argument would start.
"Try." Orochimaru's voice is soft, calm as always. He speaks in mellow statements and it makes Jiraiya close her eyes and feels something like lethargy settle in the too tense muscles because it's Orochimaru.
"Keep quiet guys." She answers and she knows they will. She knows Orochimaru will be watching her, he's never really that far away and she sighs. Luckily though they're in the back alleys with Orochimaru, Tsunade, and sensei there she trusts letting her guard down and knows they won't let anything happen to her.
She clicks off the head set to be on the safe side.
Breathe in. Out. It becomes soft, even. She's hyper aware though and that's the opposite of what she needs.
She needs Orochimaru. She switches the headset back on and ignores the bickering happening which is almost all Tsunade's ranting on ...chocolate?..go figure.
"Oro. Need assistance to space out."
"Hm." She switches the headset back off knowing that all that will happen in the blistering request for explanations and yet Orochimaru won't be the one saying anything.
He's there suddenly. And she can hear noise from his own headset even as he turns it off, walking steadily towards her.
He's always there and it makes Jiraiya's shoulders relax. It's easy to forget sometimes, anything besides this life in this strange strange world but Orochimaru is there and steady and rational and..
his pale face is slightly creased in concern but his hands settle on her shoulder's easily and he says nothing. His face gives nothing away, the yellow eyes ever so vibrant. Jiraiya shudders and closes her eyes.
Because she trusts Orochimaru above everything else she needed him there and he understood.
And she lets go.
Her connection she's seeking is silent. Utterly.
But slowly as she breathes in and out it feels like the ground creeps up in through her ankles and shins and her spine has roots coming from her shoulder blades that are creeping down to meet it. Her chin tilts up and she keeps her eyes closed and loses herself in the faint distant music, turning out the momentarily louder sounds that is so jarring.
She seeks the disconnect.
She seeks four particular lives in the dissconnect that scurry and prance and spin about and for just a moment her world twists as if it just side stepped her from her form and her eyes snap open even as her legs give out and oh Orochimaru has caught her and helping to hold her up and her eyes aren't really focusing beyond the yellowyellowyellow as her grounding point as she chokes it out.
"North east park.." and then she loses herself into the fuzziness that she vaguely recalls is like a buzz, as if she downed four drinks and it just started to hit her and her eyes cannot focus and her limbs feel heavy and tingly.
But Orochimaru is there and so she's fine.
They catch the ferrets.
She sleeps for a few days.
When Hiruzen sensei shows up to pull them out of their apartment (because the moment they qualified to get out of the orphanage they did and Jiraiya showed Orochimaru the best places to steal fruit for food even though getting caught stealing from civilian's was a hefty fine they weren't good enough to steal from ninja) he actually comes and sits down. Tsunade is with him and frankly after waking up and being forced to eat nothing but rice gruel that Orochimaru even went to the orphanage to collect because it was easy to make a dazed person eat, she's so happy to see Tsunade's cooking that she is smiling at the girl.
Without bickering.
The last is kind of a miracle. Tsunade and Jiraiya bicker as though it's their entertainment and it is for them, just no one else.
"I need you to try not to do that Jiraiya-chan." Sensei says softly and sets down books on summoning. "From my research it's like you're trying to tap into nature chakra and it is exceptionally dangerous. People die from it..gruesomely and nothing can be done. There are some summons who can assist with it but even though all three of you have vast chakra reserves for your age I do not wish you to try any summons until after you are chunin. You may start to look into the known contracts though to see which interest you, which I have gathered here, but not take any action. Understand you three?"
The collective 'hai' is rather subdued.
Jiraiya is just sulking because oh gods.
More reading.