Scroll 9: Sleep Over II
Almost weightless; a little thumb sized plushie was clinging to Yukari's heel as she went back into town. Wydra and Sheena were looking all over camp for him, but Gilligan was nowhere to be seen.
Yukari made her way back to where it all started: her place. As good as Otou-sensei's word, her wall was as good as new. Meko was sitting calmly in the open window as the paint inside and out was drying.
"Meko, I heard you are a bad kitty!" Yukari light-heartedly scolded her cat.
The now-brown cat just lifted its head and yawned, settling back down on the windowsill, stealing the last of the sunbeams as the sun set. Inside there was a voice as another person threw open Yukari's purple door.
"ONEE-SAMA! THERE you are!" A smaller-sized Yukari stood fuming in the doorway; but her face and hair were noticeably different.
Meiko's Akashingan eyes slanted more than her sister's, yet still were boldly red. The young girl's hair was black with a brown sheen and short; short enough for the girl to not need anything to restrain it. The nearly genin girl wore a black and blue shirt and shorts; black sandals and scarf-turned belt, red in color.
"WHAT the BUGGER happened today! Our class was planning on going on a mock-mission, but Taiko-sensei took us to a safe house because the village was being attacked!" The girl hissed her distaste. "I was looking forward to today's class too!"
It was a funny sight, as a shorter version of Yukari stood there, arms on her black-shorted hips, glaring at a taller, mature-er version of herself.
Gilligan, in his thumb-sized plushie form, looked at Meko and crawled a little into Yukari's pant leg. He didn't want to be attacked or discovered, at least not yet. He had a feeling about the Yukari person that his friends had been talking about. A good feeling; like he'd known her from somewhere or in some way.
"Relax, Meiko-san, it was an attack drill, no big deal. I had to go to a safe house too and…" Yukari lied as she sweat dropped, inching her way towards the open door. If she could just get in and triple bolt the door, she'd be safe from her Hanabi-wanna-be sister and from explaining why Meiko's class had skipped the mock-mission. The lengthening shadows cast on Meiko, age 8, made her look even scarier since her younger sister was as friendly as a pissed-off porcupine in the summer.
"RELAX! THE HELL can I relax when they shuffle me to safety at every hint of danger, Onee-san! I want to become a NINJA here, and YOU say relax!" Meiko shouted, drawing attention from the scant passer-bys that were wrapping up their evening business. "I'M A STINKING GENIN, Onee-san, I want to see some STINKIN ACTION HERE! To get OUT of the village and GO places!"
"Meiko-san…be careful what you wish for…" Yukari was about to attempt to calm her raging sister down. The funny looks Yukari was getting were grating on her nerves. Meko jumped to the rescue and landed on Meiko's head, taking the wind out of the younger girl's sails.
Gilligan sent off a little plushie-clone to run along the floor, pretty sure that none of the Uzarukis were looking down. He did this, hoping it would reach Meiko's foot before Meko went for it. His goal was to make Meko go crazy all over Meiko, so Yukari could get to wherever she was going. So far, all the little girl had done was complain, she didn't seem nice at all.
XXX
A few minutes later, after they had gotten permission from Shozaku, the two other kids went exploring for Gilligan. Sheena trailed along behind Wydra, trying to avoid people's stares and ignoring any comments they might have. Wydra and Sheena spotted a tiny ball of fluff on the ground, a signature of Gilligan's. They followed the trail is it led towards the Kenkon district.
XXX
Yukari was on the receiving end of her younger sister's whining and complaining. It was hard on Yukari that her own older sister, Raikanami was not around anymore, so it fell to Yukari to fill the older-sister role. So far, all she got was a whiny, bitchy kid sister that had a high-and-mighty attitude. Yukari swore she could fill a lake with Meiko's attitude. The fact that the Hyuuga Hanabi was Meiko's best friend helped matters none. Yukari didn't mind; Hanabi she could handle; it was Neji and the rest of the Hyuuga (minus Hinata) that made her terrified with nervousness. But right now it was Meiko, with her adopted Hanabi-attitude, that she had to deal with. It was freakier still, upon learning that her own father, Hibachi, was great friends with Hinata and Neji's fathers.
"Look, Meiko-san, I'm sure there was a perfectly good reason for you and your class to miss a mission and get piled into a safe house. Your sensei knows how to keep you safe and allows you to learn things. Like how to swiftly evacuate the village in just such crisis!"
Yukari ended her statement in astonishment as Meko yowled and virtually climbed downward Meiko's shirt to get to her knees. You guessed it; Meko had spotted the unfortunate plushie clone and was poised for attack.
Attack Meko did, his claws out and slashing at Meiko's capri-pants, trying to flush out the little teddy bear. It had a score to settle from before and hell would freeze over before Meko would let the Teddy-Bear grudge go.
Meiko screamed as the cat launched its attack, and Yukari stepped backwards in surprise.
"Meiko! Meko! What in the name of Hokage is going on!"
Gilligan smiled, and poofed the mini-teddy out of existence. If Meiko was a smart cat, it would know that it had just been fooled, and rather badly. Chances were that this sort of thing was going to turn into a cat and mouse like grudge between them. Gilligan stayed absolutely still, not wanting Meiko to find his actual location.
Hearing the commotion, they guessed that he had something to do with it. Every time he got comfortable in some place he started causing a little mischief in some way, trying to find his own little niche. It had happened several times, and had gotten them kicked out of a couple of villages along the way here. They weren't too upset with him, but they'd be really mad if he did it again. Wydra knocked on Yukari's door while Sheena circled the apartment.
Fortunately, Meiko threw the cat off and had stomped away, crying to herself. She was a tad bit spoiled, if one wanted to label Meiko. She wasn't always like that, but as she turned eight and entered her last year of the academy, she got snooty. Yukari prayed that Meiko would iron out in the future and become much nicer.
But by the time the other two had knocked on Yukari's door, Meiko and Meko were seconds gone and Yukari had just shut the door for the night.
"Eh, just a moment." Yukari turned off her oven and opened the door. "Oh, hey Wydra-chan, what are you doing here?"
"Mind if we sleep over? Shozaku said we have to stay here anyway and you're really nice…please?" she looked up at her with her best attempt at puppy eyes, swishing her foot in the dirt, holding her hands together. Sheena poked her head down from the top of the door frame and spoke:
"Besides, Gilligan's already here…"
"Uh, sure I guess, if you promise not to knock a hole in a wall or whatever…" Yukari smirked herself as she finally spotted the tiny teddy. Strands of her hair slowly snaked towards it, seeing if she could catch it off guard and snag him. "Aren't there two more of you, Wydra-san? A team of three is best…"
XXX
Meiko was sulking and wincing as the cat scratches were pulled at by her leg muscles. She hated cats, loved birds, hated foxes and loved dogs. Kiba-sensei was cooler, but he wasn't her teammate, nor was Akamaru her dog. If her sister Yukari had a bond with Naruto, Meiko had a bond with Kiba or the Inuzuka Clan. Now she was running home to her father to whine about how Yukari's stupid cat attacked her. Yea, she acted spoiled, but it was a stage, a childhood event that some kids went through in their ages. Meiko wanted to be instantly strong and become an awesome ninja like Kiba and Akamaru. But for now, she was a pre-genin stuck with academy class.
An eye popped open from a wall nearby Meiko, following her. It closed and a lumpy shape could be seen following her trail, whether it was in the wall or on the ground. Something was following her.
A large and misshapen arm began reaching out of the wall, its almost demonic hand slowly making its way towards Meiko. It didn't look to be attached to a body, but there was an eye in the wall following her progress. If nobody soon intervened, very bad things could happen very quickly.
XXX
Wydra pointed up at Sheena's visible spiky head. Gilligan poofed back into existence on Yukari's side; hugging her and nuzzling her like she was a teddy bear herself. He was a weird one indeed. Wydra stepped in, as Sheena crawled along the roof by way of using chains.
"We're not officially a team yet…do you take a test for that sort of thing? We've done a lot of stuff together though. Do you have a team Yukari?" Wydra sat down on the floor in front of her while Sheena crawled off to explore the rest of the building. Gilligan was firmly attached to her side. Yukari laughed heartily as the odd-bunch trio swarmed, more or less, into and over the apartment.
"No, I guess you don't have to take a test to become a team, but in this village, you are assigned to one…judging on individual skills. I had a team once…" here she sat down on her rather old green and yellow flame-print (hot as hell in design) black-leather couch and smiled at Gilligan.
"But, alas, I wasn't strong enough back then to keep them alive. It was a really tough day for me…the ninja that attacked us were jounin from another village. I was no match for them even if I wanted to be…they were just too fast. Sudokari Misaruki and Yuro Maso were their names. Team 13 included two girls and a guy." Yukari looked sad as she thought back on it all. "I later found out that my sensei, Jamaru Akanchi, hated my guts and wanted to sell me to the highest bidder." Shaking her head, she snapped out of it. "He is…was…is a traitor to this village, and no longer my sensei. Now I train like crazy with Otou-sensei and that silver-haired ninja you saw yesterday, Kakashi-sensei. They make me happy and strong. Of course the strong part is my thanks, I won't ever give up to Naruto-chan!"
XXX
Meko, although having went ballistic on Meiko, had followed the snooty-girl as she went home. The black cat slinked through the shadows silently and watched the red-eyed youngling sniffle and cry over her weak scratches. Meko was indeed a ninja-trained animal, but the reason he was abandoned was that he was the essence of cat-like friskiness and had refused to listen to 7.9/8ths of the orders given. Hailing, as a kitten, from the Village Hidden in the Rain, the cat had run away to Konoha and had staked the Uzaruki Clan as his property. Now he was looking oddly at the misty hand and decided to do something. Meko grew larger, his fangs and claws growing longer too. He jumped onto the hand and hissed.
The eye swiveled and noticed Meko going for its arm. It didn't retaliate, but whipped itself back into the wall and disappeared so that if Meiko turned around all she would see is Meko in attack mode looking in her direction. Whatever it was, it was an evil bastard or just really, really mean.
Meiko spun around and nearly impaled the poor cat with a kunai. Meko screeched and ran away; totally miffed that Meiko had tried to harm him. Meiko muttered an unheard apology and walked over to pick her kunai up. If she learned even one thing from her sister, it was that never leave your ninja weapons or tools lying around.
Not quite its goal, but some damage done, the eye closed after a brief look and moved on. It would see what else it could do by morning.
XXX
"Oh…I don't think Sheena would work well with others. She says Gilligan's not much of a guy so he doesn't count. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad!" Now she was clinging to her as well. Sheena was just sort of sitting there. Her spiked-helmet was somehow gone, leaving a bunch of frizzy-balled up helmet hair in its place. Her hair should have been smooth and black. Wydra kept talking.
"Oh. Do you know what kind of lady could help train us?"
"Naw, that's ok, Naruto-chan taught me that staying sad is wrong. You gotta train to get stronger to protect the ones you care for. And I'm doing that!" Yukari laughed and hugged both Gilligan and Wydra. "Hey, nice hair, Sheena…looks really dangerous…do you use it in fighting?"
"No…it's just like that from wearing my helmet all the time. I don't use my hair for anything really. It's been…awhile since I took it off. I use the chains for fighting though." It was a slow start, but Sheena seemed to be interested in the conversation. There was a way to connect with her and not be her age. Gilligan blinked, and walked off into another room. Wydra shrugged and continued to stay latched onto Yukari.
"Cute-Chan, that's my bathroom, if you gotta go, please shut the door…" Yukari laughed again and settled in for the night. "Well, you kids got any sleep clothes? I have a few spare long shirts, but that's about it…"
If Shozaku had seen what she slept in – just plain, white shirt that went down her knees - he'd probably have a nosebleed and a few naughty ideas.
Wydra blinked. "We're supposed to sleep in different kinds of clothes? I usually just sleep in my pants. Sheena doesn't do anything special for sleep, she just does." Wydra was talking about the chains that encompassed Sheena's body.
XXX
Gilligan, meanwhile, had left the house altogether via bathroom window. He was now wandering the streets on all fours, sniffing around like some sort of animal. He found Meko, and blinked, sniffing at him.
XXX
"Well, you can is you want too, do those chains come off or what, Sheena-san?" Yukari asked curiously. "I've also got a few extra pillows that came from I don't know where." She got up and went over to small closet by her bedroom 'room.' It wasn't so much an enclosed room with a door; it was sectioned off by a raised floor as well. Yukari opened the closet and a few bucketfuls of toys toppled out. More than few of them were wooden shuriken, toy swords and rag dolls. A yo-yo and a slinkie rolled over by Sheena. Yukari stood there, red-faced and hand on her forehead.
"I forgot I had a toy collection that kids throw at my window…" The kunoichi's face nearly matched the color of her eyes. "It's a game for them to see if they can throw the toy into my window. I normally give the toys back, but not recently…"
Wydra picked up the yo-yo and blinked.
"I think Joma used to use these before he learned to use nunchaku." she threw the slinky at Sheena. Sheena caught it with her teeth and dropped it, watching it roll around. She poked at it with her foot, before looking up to answer Yukari.
"No. I can retract them a bit, but they never come out. Daddy made sure of that when I was two." Sheena answered in a soft voice.
Yukari had the oddest look on her face as she watched Sheena poke the slinkie with a toe. She began to snicker, her red eyes full of mirth. Getting a hold of herself before she lost it, Yukari smiled before making her way over to the couch, throwing down two pillows that she had pulled out of the closet.
"You two are so funny. Here are your pillows…"
Wydra giggled and grabbed her pillow, falling over onto it. Sheena poked the slinky until she got thwapped with a pillow. Her chains slowly wrapped around the pillow until it was held against her back and propped her head up. She leaned against the wall with the pillow in between and closed her eyes, falling asleep instantly.
"Can you do that Yukari? I want to; Sheena says she doesn't know how to tell me." Wydra paused as she yawned.
"Do what? Control hair, string or wire? Or the Yo-Yo Nunchaku thing? I've never trained with a weapons-item master before, but they can use anything to fight with. But I use shuriken, kunai and the normal ninja tools. Ack, my brain is on the sleep-mode…" Yukari made a quick dash to the bathroom, after grabbing cloths out of her dresser and closed the door. A few seconds later, running water could be heard as Yukari was grooming herself for the night.
Wydra spoke as Yukari moved about. "Joma can fight with any weapon, mostly his hands. He said it was a taijutsu specialist…he has this thing where he can't do jutsus…but he can release his chakra in a sort of boom, or pass it into other people. He also said it never stops building, so he does it every night so he doesn't 'splode. I think he's lying about the last part. Hey, wasn't Gilligan in there?" She meant Gilligan being in the bathroom.
"Well, he's…BETTER NOT BE IN HERE, I'm CLEANING UP!" Yukari's surprised voice could be heard through the closed door. "I better not catch you peeping, you crafty little plushie-kid. If I do, I'll flush you…and believe me, that wouldn't be fun…for you at least…" Yukari yammered on for the next couple minutes until the door opened and she stepped out, clad in an overly white shirt and black boxer-type shorts. She stood there, an evil grin on her lips as her right hand held a black, visible strand of her hair. "Guess what…" a dramatic 'flush' sound was heard as she tugged on the strand of hair.
"Darn, you're too smart for me to trick…" Yukari sweat dropped as her scare-tactic failed miserably. It was just as well; she wouldn't flush a kid, even if he WAS in a transformation jutsu.
"Yea, I'm going to bed…last night was really hard on me…" Yukari rubbed the lower portion of her back.
The curse mark that Kabuto had replaced her Uzaruki tattoo with didn't hurt at the moment and wasn't going to act up anytime soon. Good thing; the hormonal curse surfacing tonight was the last thing Yukari wanted or needed. Not only would it scare the shit out of the kids, it would bring the ANBU down on her newly fixed apartment. So she turned the back-rubbing action into a forced, fake stretch as she lumbered over to her bed. Meko was still nowhere to be seen as she closed her window for the night. The sun had now set and night bugs were starting up their god-sent symphony.
"You guys ok for now?" The red-eyed kunoichi would ask.
"Yeah. Gilligan will wander in whenever. He's usually pretty quite at night. Thanks Yukari. You're a nice lady." Wydra yawned again and curled up a little tighter around Sheena's legs.
Yukari smiled a small smile and tossed the sheets up over her body as she crawled into bed.
"Sleep well, Chibi-Nins."
