Chapter 19: Adventures In Babysitting
Yoshino looked out the window of the hospitality suite in the high rise resort building on the coast. She smiled to herself. When a daiymo threw a party, they really threw a party. Apparently the negotiations had gone exceedingly well, new trade avenues were open, tariff issues were resolved, the chief negotiator for Konoha was happy, his counterpart locally was happy, the daiymo was happy and they were all celebrating.
Of course, officially, Yoshino wasn't celebrating, she was on body guard duty for some of the diplomats. But still their party gave her a reason to get dressed up. She held the skirt of her blue dress out to the side and let it slip through her fingers, rippling to the floor like the ocean waves outside the window. Elbow resting on the balcony rail, chin propped in her hand, the warm breeze flitted around her. Not-so-stray tendrils of dark locks draped artfully from her pinned up hair, held in place by the jeweled hairsticks. Smiling at that she wondered, did guys really think that was an accident? Didn't they know how long it took to get those 'stray' bits of hair to look just-so?
She sighed. If only Shikaku were here with her.
Down below, in the streets of the city, she would have been surprised to know that the oddly assembled 'team' was indeed looking for her. Shikaku had been frustrated when they'd gotten to the encampment and she wasn't there. Yoshino had been staffed to one of the diplomats that day as their administrative aide. She would be in meetings all day long and unavailable.
Jiraiya had had them split up into teams, Shikaku and Chouza taking the area outside the city limits itself, Inoichi and his little kohai remaining inside the city along with Jiraiya. Shikaku idly wondered if Jiraiya had been serious, was he actually going to use the kid as bait to get the attention of chicks? Somehow, he thought to himself, this was probably not the training and mentoring the Academy had in mind. He shuddered, this was the kind of stuff that could scar that kid for life.
Turning his attention back to their location he stood in amazement staring at the field in front of him. Whatever the techniques that the forest products developers were using it was certainly impressive. Trees grew in front of him in homogenously sized groups. They could effectively grow the number of boardfeet they needed in predefined sizes. A field a little further in the distance appeared ready for harvest. The trees could simply be pushed over, no saws involved at all. Yet another field revealed ones that had been felled for a couple of days, the bark simply peeling off. Shikaku shook his head, science-fucking-fiction.
It was awe-inspiring and creepy too. The idea that you could turn on and off behaviors so precisely just seemed profoundly wrong, unnatural even. Thinking of applying that technique to something psychotropic that could then be used to turn on and off or amplify traits and skills in shinobi seemed even more unnatural. He was starting to understand why Tsunade was going around with ragged fingernails now.
Rounding up Chouza they headed back into the village. He didn't know exactly what Jiraiya had wanted them to look for but one thing was certain was that Wave was certainly a destination spot for any designer agricultural products you might need. Seeing the operation in action was profoundly more impressive than simply reading about it in a journal.
Stopping back by the encampment that night he was annoyed yet again to find out that not only was Yoshino not back yet, she wasn't even coming back. There was a reception tonight at one of the resorts and she was staffed to it. The entire team that had drawn that duty had packed for the morning and dropped their changes of clothes off at the hotel this morning before going to the meeting.
He and Chouza parted ways then, the red-head turning his direction toward their own set of rooms in the modest inn they had checked into in the morning. Shikaku thought he would (silently) crash the party and see if he could find Yoshino.
Back in the hospitality suite, Yoshino checked the time and realized her break was almost over. Reluctantly leaving the balcony, she gave one last look at the moon rising over the ocean, reflected in the waves and doubly regretting the fact that she was here on a mission and not on vacation. Re-entering the room from the balcony she heard someone at the door and went to open it, expecting to find the next team member who was due for their break.
"Inoichi?" she asked, staring at the tall blonde boy in front of her.
"Hey," he mumbled to her, closing the door behind him.
Puzzled, she repeated his name, "Inoichi, what are you doing here? Are you all here? Where's Shikaku? Chouza?"
"I came to see you," he said, reaching out and touching her cheek.
Baffled, Yoshino stepped back. "Inoichi, I… I need to get back downstairs, my break is over."
"You can stay…awhile," he said, stepping toward her.
Yoshino went to step back again or around him or something but found she couldn't move. Shinranshin no jutsu. She tried to pull against it, like she had with Shikaku's shadow bind but she couldn't, her muscles wouldn't work. They simply weren't obeying her.
She could speak, though, and she whispered again, "Inoichi, please, what are you doing?"
He leaned forward, rough hands grabbing at her shoulders, kissing her, ramming his tongue down her throat and she could do nothing to stop it, just stood there, muscles completely unresponsive.
"I said you can stay…awhile…and so can I," he answered gruffly, kissing her again, tongue so far down her throat she thought she'd gag.
She could talk so she could scream she realized. That's it. as soon as the jerk stopped she'd scream like a bloody banshee.
Inoichi pulled back and looked at her, wicked gleam in his eye. Yoshino opened her mouth and…nothing happened.
"Shhhh…," he leered at her, "Can't let you scream, now can I? We wouldn't want anybody to disturb us would we?"
Oh, God, her mind was a whirl. This couldn't be happening. Why was he here? Where was the team mate whom she was supposed to be relieving? This could NOT be happening.
Then to her absolute disgust and horror she saw her own arm lift up, draping across Inoichi's shoulder, her feet making small jerking steps closer to him.
No,no,no, she whispered to herself in her mind. He was making her body behave the way he wanted. Like a puppet on a string, he was controlling her movements.
Shinranshin was a genjutsu, she should be able to release it. She tried to whisper the release but his power was too strong. She needed the handseals to be able to focus more chakra to release shinranshin this powerful. And he was controlling her hands.
She wanted to barf as her left hand at his shoulder pulled her own body closer to him, her right hand forced to palm his growing erection through his clothes. Oh, God!
"What's the matter, baby? Aren't you glad to see me?" he mumbled in her ear as his hands grabbed her ass, yanking her close to him. "Your boyfriend goes to all this trouble to come and see you and you aren't glad? And I know you don't even have to worry about any souvenirs because you've got a kit you can take care of it with."
Boyfriend? The hell?
He was slobbering in her ear now, now down her throat, thumbs circling roughly at the center of her breasts through the ruched fabric of the top.
Boyfriend? Why would Inoichi say he was her boyfriend? What kind of friend was he to Shikaku if…?
A piece of the puzzle fell into place in her mind. That day at the bookstore. She and Inoichi had been in the one section the entire afternoon, laughing, bickering, side by side looking at various volumes. Shikaku and Chouza and wandered around the entire store but she and Inoichi had stayed put in the sword-and-sorcery section.
And that creep Tsuyoshi had been staring at her most of that afternoon.
Oh, God! This wasn't Inoichi. It was Tsuyoshi. It was Tsuyoshi grabbing her ass and licking her shoulders.
She felt her own hips sway, involuntarily, grinding againt him. Ugh! She was going to vomit right here, right now.
But Tsuyoshi was Uchiha – was he able to do shinranshin? Was he a Sharingan wielder? Had he copied shinranshin before?
It really didn't matter. What mattered right now was Sharingan or not, he was using shinranshin to rape her.
Thankfully, at least for a moment, he removed his mouth from her and stood up and said "You do it."
Revulsion filled her as she watched her own hands travel to her shoulders and then slide down her body, pushing the fabric over the swell of her breasts, down to her waist, leaving the strapless bra exposed.
"Tch, tch, bra, too," Inoichi-Tsuyhoshi muttered.
He may have been using shinranshin but not very skillfully. He certainly wasn't very deft about what he was making her fingers do. Rather than sliding the bra down too he seemed to want to open the clasp in the center. He was controlling her fingers but in a fumbling way.
This gave Yoshino and idea. If she could just work with the jutsu, rather than struggle against it then she might be able to do something.
She tried to move her fingers on her own and realized that if she was moving them in the direction he was she had a litle bit of control herself. Pretending to fumble with her own motions, she hooked the spool of wire that was threaded in with the underwire of the bra and pulled it out palming it, hoping that he wouldn't see, then realizing that the only thing he would want to see were her tits, paying no attention to anything else. She heard the click of the clasp and held the two sides as he made her pull her hands to the side, showing him her breasts.
He of course, never noticed the little spool of wire in her one hand. Covering one breast clumsily with a large hand, he pawed at her, willing her to walk her body back close to him. Again she found that if she moved in the direction he was moving her she had a little bit of control over her own muscles.
And he wanted her to embrace him, making her throw her arms about his shoulders, which she did, loop of wire on each them.
And he willed her to circle her hands behind his neck which she did, tightening the wire around his throat and pulling hard.
He sputtered against her, his focus now on grasping at the wire at his throat.
Yoshino pulled tighter, sobbing as she felt some of the shinranshin weaken as control of her own muscles returned to her she pulled the wire tighter and tigher around his throat, Tsuyoshi clawing at it, his body sinking to the floor as Yoshino bent, following it down to the ground.
Tsuyoshi was kicking and managed to knock over the night table by the bed. The table and the books on it skittered to the ground.
"Shut up you bastard, just die already," Yoshino hissed, pulling the wire tighter yet. Tsuyoshi's kicks were weakening.
"Yoshino! Yoshino! Is that you?" Unbelievably she heard Shikaku's voice calling her.
Kneeling on the ground over Tsuyoshi's body, afraid to let go of the wire she called out, "I'm in here, Shikaku."
Flinging the door open, Shikaku rushed in and stood there dumbfounded. "Yoshino! Are you okay? Is that…what the FUCK…is that Inoichi? Did you…did you kill Inoichi?"
Yoshino knelt on the ground and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Pulling the wire away from his throat she motioned for Shikaku to look again at the man whose face was returning to its own features. She tugged awkwardly at the top of her dress, pulling it back up to cover herself.
She felt strong hands, under her shoulders, tugging her gently to her feet. After wanting to resist Tsuyoshi for so long but being betrayed by her own muscles she couldn't believe how good it felt to just give in to him, to let him tug her to him like a rag doll and rest limp against his chest, feeling his hands rubbing soothing circles on shoulders, on the small of her back.
A stab of fear gripped her. What if this wasn't…what if this wasn't Shikaku? What would he be doing here, anyway?
"Shikaku," she hadn't been going to cry, had been proud of herself for holding it in, but this was just too much. "Shikaku is it really you? Tell me something so I know that it's really you."
"Shh, shhh," he murmured against her, "It's really me." He paused, trying to think of something he could tell her so that she would know it was him. "The first time," he whispered, "the first time I took you to the deer meadow, you fell asleep on my chest. When we woke up the deer were coming out. We saw a buck, five does and two fawns."
At that point the dam broke and she sobbed againt him like a baby, like a candy-assed village girl.
After a few moments of shushing and holding, Yoshino began to collect herself and realization dawned on her. "Shikaku, I've…I've killed a fellow shinobi. A leaf village ninja. What am I going to do?"
Before he could answer, the balcony was graced with three ninja and a boy. "What the fuck scared the shit out of you, Shikaku!" Inoichi demanded, coming in off the balcony, Kakashi in tow. "I could feel it a mile away."
Neither he nor Shikaku were prepared for Yoshino to fling herself into Inoichi's arms and saying, "I thought it was you, Inoichi. I'm so sorry, I thought it was you."
"The hell?" Inoichi asked, looking perplexedly at Shikaku. "Not that I don't mind of course, Yoshino, but what did I do to deserve this?"
"Probably has something to do with the body," Jiraiya motioned to the corpse on the floor.
"Cool. You didn't tell me we were going to kill people, Inoichi," Kakashi blurted out, beaming at his Shinobi-senpai with new found respect. "I thought I was going to be stuck in those bookstores with you and Jiraiya forever."
"WE didn't kill anybody," Inoichi waved dismissively at him, "Yoshino did. Don't tell your teachers I took you to the beach and somebody got killed. I'm not supposed to let that happen."
"That girl did?" Kakashi asked.
"Don't call me girl," Yoshino snapped. "Inoichi, who is he, why do you have a kid with you?"
Inoichi shrugged. "Hatake Kakashi. Ninja Academy student. Long story."
"Hatake?" Yoshino's eyes opened wider. Kakashi stepped back a little behind Inoichi.
Kakashi quickly looked up at Jiraiya and said in a suck-up voice, "Jiraiya-sama, you're in charge here. What do we do now?"
Yoshino was on her knees in front of him, one of her hairsticks pointed up under his chin in a flash. "Oh no, you little snot. I'm in charge here. Even if a senior shinobi joins a team, until the person with most situational awareness has briefed them and acknowledged their command, they are not "in charge." If you want to be a ninja you better learn the rules. Now I've got one nerve left after tonight and I suggest you don't get on it."
Shikaku was tugging her back up again. "Yoshino, he's just a kid."
"Hah! I used to babysit him. He's a holy terror. You know what you did, don't you, kid?"
Eyes wide, Kakashi nodded.
Yoshino's grin was wicked, "Now, do you want me to tell all the fine young shinobi what I did to get back at you…."
"No," Kakashi spoke up weakly. "No ma'am. That won't be necessary." He tugged on Inoichi's hand. The older boy leaned down to hear him whisper, "Inoichi, don't fuck with the babysitter."
Yoshino turned her attention to Jiraiya and filled him and the rest of them in on the situation.
Inoichi walked over to the corpse and nudged it with his toe. He whispered hoarsely, "Shinranshin no jutsu" as if he just couldn't believe anybody would do such a thing. Then he added "Fucker was using my face. Yoshino, I like a pretty girl as much as the next guy. But, I'm not a frickin' rapist."
Yoshino hugged him again. "I know, Inoichi. I know."
She faced Jiraiya. "Sir, I think I should turn myself in to you. I…I think I've…committed a crime."
Jiraiya studied her with his arms folded over his chest. "As I see it, you were assaulted by a missing-nin. Looks like self-defense to me."
"Missing-nin? But Jiraiya-sama, he was just on duty, at his post, right before he came up here."
"Yes, and the minute he put you under shinranshin no jutsu, he became a missing nin. I agree with Inoichi the creep was a frickin' rapist."
"So what do we do now?"
"Okay, Yoshino, I need for you to finish your shift tonight. You're already late I think. But I'm guessing that Tsuyoshi was supposed to be the one up here on break so no one's come up here looking for him yet. Get yourself straightened back out, put your hair back up and go down and act as if nothing has happened. As a matter of fact as far as you know nothing has happened. I'm going to pull you off Mugato's team at midnight. I can trump him on this mission and it will be fun to watch his face when I do."
"Yes, sir," Yoshino acknowledged, smoothing her dress and gathering her hair back up.
"Shikaku, Chouza you two get the body. " Jiraiya instructed. As they started to pick up the corpse a small object rolled from one of his pockets. Jiraiya picked it up. It was a syringe filled with a clear liquid. "Rape may not have been the only thing he was planning," he said as he sealed it in a scroll to take to Tsunade for analysis later.
Turning to the little boy he added "Come on Kakashi, we'll show you where the bodies are buried."
"Cool! Awesome!" the white-haired wanna-be ninja said, beaming with pride.
"Can we trust you to keep some mighty big secrets?" Jiraiya said with a chuckle.
"Yes, sir!" Kakashi avowed.
As she watched them slip into the night, she heard Kakashi's voice, "Being a ninja is the awesomest thing ever!"