A/N: A SUPER THANKS TO EVERYONE! This story got it's first C2, actually it's my first C2 of all time. So I'm super grateful and happy. Also, thanks to DutchyPuppy, Alli ate Sora-Sorry Roxas, RayneCeleste and ThePheonixOfTears for the reviews. Also to EclipseStripe my new reviewer :D Here is your awesome sauce chapter. It's kind of filler but I didn't want to go straight to the part where Naruto leaves on his big wave mission. So it shows bonding and there's a section of fast forward what's happened so far. Enjoy :D
This song is One step at a time by Jordan Sparks. I spent an hour looking for the perfect song before I gave up and stuck with this. It fits enough anyway.
Shinobu POV
Team eight was definitely functional. In the short time they'd had together they'd completed many D-rank missions. Ranging from carting construction supplies to weeding gardens. Their most recent task was to catch Tora, an evil cat with a bow on her ear. Every single genin team has been catching her since they graduated. Shinobu couldn't blame her though, she got squished by the woman who owned her everytime she was brought back. Part of Shinobu hated the cat for it though. Sure, it was just a cat. But why run away from family that loves you.. family that actually cares..
"Hmm.. another success I see. I guess your team will be cleaning the bath houses. It's best suited since you have equal boys and girls on your team." Sarutobi hummed before handing the mission sheet to Kurenai who nodded, taking it.
"Can't you count? We have three boys and two girls including our sensei. That's not even!" Kiba snorted, maybe he was a better ninja than he thought if he could figure that out while the Hokage couldn't.
"Hm? Really? Interesting.." He hummed. He had obviously not counted their sensei but Kiba apparently didn't notice the true genders of his teammates.
"Either way, if you guys want to be home by dark we should go.. the bath houses are bigger than they look." Shinobu stated nonchalantly while inwardly fighting on which bath house to clean. This was putting her in an awkward position. She continued with her mental battle for the entire trip towards the bath houses which now sported closed for cleaning signs. Her silence didn't go unnoticed by her teammates. Though they were only together a short while they could already read each other pretty well.
Of course the team had already noticed the difference between Shinobu's "I'm upset and I need someone to talk to" silence and her "I'm in mental anguish and if you try to make me feel better I'll bite your head off" silence so they didn't say anything.
"Alright. Hinata and I are going to go clean the women's side. Shinobu, Kiba and Shino, you guys clean the men's side. If you're making good progress send one of you over to our side to help out." Kurenai explained before disappearing after a curt nod from her students.
"How big is this place anyway? I've never really been in here because they don't allow dogs.." Kiba asked Shinobu. Truth be told she had been in both sides. She snuck Naruto into the girls side upon request and she snuck in with him to the guys side. It was absolutely huge.
"Let's just say this is going to take a while. By the way.. which one of you is more comfortable with hot water? We'll need to scrub the bottom of the bath and the rocks on the side and the walls and the benches and the bathrooms. Then we'll need to restock things like toilet paper and towels."
"This is going to take for ever isn't it.. and I'm ok with water I guess." Kiba groaned.
"I dislike water.. my bugs can't go in it so I have to use extra chakra to avoid them getting hurt or drowning." Shino explained.
"Oh.. ok.. Kiba and I can deal with that then. Too bad we don't have shadow clones.." Shinobu sighed and the two boys on her team looked dumbstruck for a moment. She watched for a moment as Akamaru became a Kiba clone and Shino quickly produced a bug clone.
"Oh.. we do have clones. Man, now I'm doing half the work as one of you." She groaned, taking a big breath with a cloth and scrub brush in hand before speeding about the rocks, scrubbing them all clean. She wasn't going to do less than them. They both grinned, well Shino let out more of a smirk than a grin, and quickly got to work. On the other side of the wall Kurenai and Hinata were doing their best too. Both groups worked for a good couple of hours before taking a break.
"Holy crap.. this place is huge.." Kiba groaned. They got all of the rocks done but they still needed to restock, do the bathrooms and do the bottom of the bath. As if reading Shinobu's mind Shino quickly spoke up.
"I'll clean the bathrooms if one of you does the bottom of the bath and the other restocks everything and washes the dirty towels." he suggested in monotone.
"I can clean the bottom of the bath!" Shinobu quickly volunteered. She'd rather do that then touch towels which rubbed against things she'd rather not think about.
"Fine.. I'll restock.. it'll be like strength training, right?" He grinned half heartedly. You'd need a hell of a lot of towels to get any strength benifits. Shinobu sighed before making her way to the side of the pool. To strip or not to strip.. that.. is the question. She inwardly laughed. She didn't want to looked like a drowned pooch in her clothes but she wasn't up for getting naked either. She took off her top, figuring her shorts would have to fair.
Shinobu worked on the bottom of the bath, grimacing as she spotted different dirt and grime stuck to the bottom. Her hair was matted to her forehead, she had fallen quite a few times because of the slippery bottom, though it would have been anyway because of sweat. She could deal though. She came across everything from gum to half a sandwich and put up with it. It wasn't until she almost stepped on a disgusting looking white-ish liquid on the island of rocks in the middle that she thought of asking for help.
"That.. is freaking.. disgusting.." she scowled, trying not to gag as she contemplated how she was supposed to clean it up.
"Oi, Shinobu! Hurry up. Shino and I are done we're just waiting on you!" Kiba shouted.
"Alright.. uhm.. I only have a little left, why don't you guys go help out the girls?" She suggested. This would be doubly embarrassing if she told them and they found out she was a girl later.. not gonna happen.
"You sure?" Shino asked.
"Yup. Meet you there when I'm done." She said, getting some paper towel and grimacing as she picked up the goop. Her face contorting in disgust. Who does that? In a public place no less! She thought as she waded through the water to throw it out before going to scrub the spot clean. She only had one section left to scrub and then she was done and she'd hopefully never have to do that again.
"Shino, Kiba, Hinata, Kurenai-sensei? You in here?" Shinobu called out, entering the girls side of the bath house. Inside however, were not her teammates. But a bunch of girls getting ready to take baths. Apparently it had re-opened. Uh... Back away slowly.. back away..She was creeping away with wide eyes when she heard her name called. Uh oh...
"Shinobu-kun!" Before she knew it she was on her back with a boisterous blond hugging her. That wasn't supposed to happen like that? Isn't she supposed to squeal and hit me or something? That's what happens to Naruto? She looked up in confused.
"What are you doing here? This is the girls side!" She finally asked, letting her sit up.
"U-uh... I was here on a mission.. I-uh.. my team was cleaning the bath houses.. I thought they were still over here. I came over to find them after I finished the guy's side.." She mumbled. This was embarrassing. Even though she was in fact a she, she felt as though she had just committed a sin or something.
"Oh. I see. So-" She started but was interupted.
"Oh my god! Who's he Ino-chan?"
"He's so cute!"
"Why is he on the girls side?" Sever girls were now crowded around her and she was confused as hell. He looked dumbstruck and honestly slightly afraid sitting there.
"Back off girls!" Ino finally shouted. "So.. you taking a bath or leaving?" Ino winked. Shinobu let her jaw drop.
"W-what?" She screeched in what the girls would later describe as a manly fashion.
"Shinobu? Are you in here?" A voice called out and she sighed in relief. Kurenai peeked her head in. Her facial expression quickly changed to awestruck as she saw what was happening though.
"K-kurenai-sensei!" Ino stuttered, turning bright red.
"I-I'm g-gonna go now." Shinobu stuttered, quickly getting up and stumbling over to Kurenai and out of the bath house to greet her now confused teammates.
"Why were you in the girls bath house?" Kiba asked with a sly grin.
"YOU MORON! YOU SAID I'D MEET YOU IN THERE WHEN I WAS DONE! WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP ME?" She blew up on the spot. Still bright red.
"W-woah! Sorry!" Kiba put his hands up infront of him defensively.
"It's fine.." She sighed. "Just wish you could have warned me.. Ino was in there.. I thought I died and went to meet Satan or something." Shinobu groaned trying to shake her head of the images.
"Haha, that sucks!" Kiba laughed but quickly shut up upon a well earned glare.
"Shut it dog-boy." She muttered.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A DOG BOY?" He shouted, silence broken. Shinobu sighed.
"You. Do you see anyone else around who owns a dog?" She grinned. Among their time together as a team, Shinobu quickly learned that it was ok to have this kind of banter with Kiba. He wouldn't stop talking to her for it and she wouldn't lose a friend. It was kind of fun if she thought about it.
"That's it!" He growled before chasing her as she ran, throwing a few punches which she easily dodged. She switched to running backwards with a fun smirk on her face as he growled. But he couldn't keep his scowl for long before they were both laughing as the chase around the bath house yard continued. Shinobu throwing in the odd flip here and there.
"SUGOI!" A young girl cried out watching them, causing them both to stop and Kiba almost ran into a tree. The girl had a pair of green goggles on her forehead and was flanking a boy Shinobu immediately recognized as Konohamaru.
"Hey, Konohamaru. What are you up to?" Shinobu asked.
"W-who are you?" He asked in slight confusion. To him she looked like his rival's arch nemisis.
"Shinobu? You know? The one who is always eating ramen with Naruto?" She realized that he was used to seeing her as a girl.
"Shinobu nee-chan?" He asked, taking a step back in confusion, ignoring the cut throat movement of her hand indicating not to call her that.
"Nee-chan? What?" Kiba looked between the two in confusion.
"H-he said Nii-chan. You just mis-heard him." The girl quickly covered. Shinobu figured she and the boy with the cold had heard about her from Naruto or Konohamaru.
"Oh.. ok." Kiba muttered.
"What are you doing out here Shinobu nii-chan?" Konohamaru asked, quickly changing her name.
"I just finished up a mission with my team." She grinned.
"Sugoi! Shinobu nii-chan! Could you teach me that flip you were doing?" The girl asked.
"I'll have to ask my sensei if I'm free first, and I never did catch your name." Shinobu smiled.
"It's Moegi! Alright." She smiled, blushing slightly. Shinobu quickly ran over to Kurenai who just nodded, she was apparently listening in.
"Alright, c'mon Moegi. We can go to the training field." Shinobu lead the way as Moegi waved goodbye to Konohamaru and the other boy.
"So.. how do we start this?" Moegi asked.
"Well... to start off, can you do a cartwheel?" Shinobu asked, grinning when Moegi nodded.
"I want you to try doin a cartwheel but face forward when you start." She explained. "Like this." Shinobu put her hands in front of her as if she was about to do a flip but quickly turned side ways into a cartwheel.
"Okay!" Moegi shouted as she tried. She stumbled slightly the first time but got in when she tried again.
"Good! Now, try pushing off with your hands a little bit so you get a bit of air time." She said. Shinobu stood and watched as Moegi tried again and again, not really making much progress.
"Ok.. wait a minute. I want you to try something. I want you to go into a hand stand and push yourself back into a standing position. I'll do it with you." She suggested so Moegi would get the feeling of pushing off. She jumped into a hand stand watching the ground get closer as she bent her elbows before pushing up and feeling the wind run through her hair as she sprung backwards to a standing position. They did it together a good twenty times and Moegi was quickly progressing. When she got it Shinobu got her to try the cartwheel again and she did it perfectly.
"I did it!" She shouted.
"Great job! Now, do you think you could stay straight? Instead of turning in the cartwheel. Keep facing forward and spring to your feet. But instead of pushing yourself backwards you're going to spring fowards." She explained, showing her quickly.
"I'm scared... what if I fall?" Moegi asked staring at the ground. It was grassy but it would still hurt to fall.
"Don't worry.. everyone gets scared. But we have to face fears to get stronger. I'll still spot you till you get used to it." She smiled kneeling and holding Moegi's stomache as she tried. Supporting her to stop her from falling as she messed up. After about an hour of trying she had a simple hand spring. Shinobu had stopped holding her about half way through and the time was definitely worth it. Moegi looked really proud of herself.
"What's next, nii-chan?" She asked, panting slightly.
"That's good for today. I don't want you to get hurt and it's better if you rest some." Shinobu smiled.
"Aww.. alright.. thank you nii-chan." She smiled giving her a small hug. "I hope one day I can be a strong ninja. I want to show everyone that a girl can be as strong as you and the other guys." Moegi said, grinning, her eyes gleamed with determination.
"I'll definitely support you.. but I'm not a good example in the sentence. I'm a girl." Shinobu smiled, dropping her genjutsu. "That's why Konohamaru was confused earlier." She explained. Apparently Moegi hadn't realized or hadn't heard about her.
"Really? Then I want to be like you!" She grinned. Shinobu couldn't help but smile. Another important person.
"You'll be strong one day. I'd bet my life on it." Shinobu grinned.
"Thanks nee-chan!" She gave her another hug. "Hopefully we can train again sometime?" Moegi asked hopefully.
"You can bet on it. See ya." She'll definitely be strong.
A/N: So there we have it XD I hope you enjoyed it :D School starts in about two weeks for me and I'm moving among there. I've been sick recently and I'm doing extra training to get ready for the next dance / acrobatic season. I'm busy, this'll slow down updates but I'll do my best! :D
