The Boy in the Park
Chapter Sixty-Two
"It's difficuuuuuuult," Naruko whined, slamming her head against the table. "Difficult, difficult, difficult," she mumbled, repeating each 'difficult' with a head-slam. "Asuma sensei helped me, but it's still difficult! Gah!"
"Trying to put Wind chakra in your Rasengan?" Shinku asked back from his spot near the oven.
"Yeah," she mumbled. "It's harder than it looks, Aniki," she grumbled. "Really, really hard," she murmured, rolling her head against the table's surface.
"I'm sure you'll manage something," he pointed out. "After a good night of sleep, everything turns out better."
Naruko didn't reply; she simply closed her eyes from fatigue. Her nose twitched slightly as the perfumes of the dinner being prepared reached her nostrils, and a small smile formed on her lips as she heard Shinku's 'noises' of him cooking.
The window was open and a light breeze came in, making the room comfortable to be in.
She yawned slightly, feeling the impromptu need to doze off, when something caught her attention.
Naruko heard the 'clink' of a plate being placed on the table, soon followed by another…and then one more.
Her eyes opened immediately, before she narrowed them down to two thin fissures. She scrunched her nose up, her attention spiking up as soon as her brain connected the dots.
Someone else was coming for dinner.
It would explain the roast in the oven.
She grumbled slightly as her mood soured.
Was it a woman? It had to be a woman. Someone she knew, because there was no way he'd invite home someone she didn't know.
It could be the saggy-breasted hag; maybe she had finished her punishment. It could even be Shizune-neechan. She had to be careful around her now, after sending Maito Gai her way…she probably had a few chips on her shoulders to pick.
She scoffed. Maybe it was Sakura? Kami, she hated having to pry Sakura off Aniki. She always felt horrible, even when it was fine to do so because Sakura crossed the line.
"Aniki?" she said then, "Who's coming for dinner?"
"Uh? Ah, Ayame," he replied calmly.
Ayame?
Naruko's eyes opened in perplexity. Ayame was…normal.
There literally was nothing wrong with her that she could think of. "Ayame-neechan?"
"You know of another Ayame?"
"Why?" she asked then, perplexed.
"She gave me a few good suggestions about how to deal with a moody teenager," he pointed out, before winking in her direction. "Thought I'd thank her with dinner."
"Dinner, uh," Naruko mumbled with a slight hint of bitterness.
"You said something, Naruko?" he asked turning his head towards her —busy as he was with the last preparations, he probably hadn't heard her.
"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "I should get in the shower," she added. "Is Ayame-neechan going to sleep over?"
Shinku sputtered. "What? No! I suppose not," he replied, then his gaze glazed over, as he turned thoughtful. Naruko made a 'tsk' sound and headed towards the bathroom.
Maybe it was a matter of breasts? She looked at her reflection in the mirror...no, it probably wasn't something like that. It probably was a matter of age, or of 'maturity'.
A glint of mischievousness suddenly appeared in the corner of her eyes as an idea popped in her head. Oh…
That was such a nice idea…
Shinku felt cold. He didn't know why, but he shuddered and looked towards the window.
"Think you can add a spot for me?" Joe Black asked from the window.
"Who the hell are you to begin with?" Shinku asked back, perplexed.
"No one," and then he left…leaving a sighing Shinku behind —for a shinobi village, this was actually a normal day.
When Ayame knocked at the door and he went to open, he half-expected some trouble to happen. It turned out he was worrying for no reason whatsoever, and even Naruko had a chipper attitude on her throughout the entire night.
Really, he had been worrying over nothing.
The next day, both of his eyebrows rose at the same time.
"Iruka Umino has taken leave for the next month," a senior teacher told him. "He will be substituted by Miss Uruki Nazuma," the old man then gestured towards the woman at his side. She had red hair, a pair of thick glasses covering her face and sported a chuunin flak jacket that was the epitome of 'clean'. A few loose strands of hair escaped her otherwise 'neet-like' ponytail, and she sported the stiffest smile he had ever seen.
She looked every bit like the anti-social old hag librarian, but he sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.
The only thing that was slightly off —barring the horrendous long and purple gym trousers she wore, was the way her flak jacket was slightly open to reveal a decently sized bust beneath it.
"She will be in your care, Haruno-san," the elder teacher droned. "Show her the ropes."
"I will be in your care, Haruno-san," the woman replied with a meek voice, making a firm and polite bowing gesture.
"Ah, I'll…take good care of you?" he replied nervously, before warily eying the retreating back of the senior teacher at the Academy.
Then, the woman waited.
He swallowed nervously for a split-second, and finally spoke.
"You should zip up," he pointed towards her chest. "We're dealing with kids here."
"Ah, of course," she obeyed in less than a second.
"Well," awkwardly, he gestured for her to follow him. "If you're to substitute Umino-san's hours, then you'll be in charge of the same class as me. If you have any question that the teacher's courses didn't cover, please ask me. You should receive a copy of the contact information of every teacher in the Academy pretty soon anyway, unless you already have it?"
She nodded quietly.
"Well, I'm Haruno, Shinku Haruno," he said then with a small smile. "And well, I'm sure every teacher likes to say this but…my class is a bit… special."
He then opened the door, and from one of his sleeve out came a frying pan.
Naru..Ahem, Nazuma's eyes widened as she watched him deflect a volley of rubber shurikens, before grabbing by the scarf Konohamaru and spinning him into a scarf-cocoon.
"Troublemaker number one: Konohamaru Sarutobi," he deadpanned. "Side-kicks Moegi and Udon are approachable as long as subject is neutralized," he gave a light 'thunk' on the head of Konohamaru. "Better luck next time, Koko!"
"I hate that nickname!" Konohamaru screeched. Udon and Moegi both politely bowed as they brought the boy back to his seat.
"What is your relationship with Sensei?" a dry voice called next, coming from the side of Nazuma. A chibi-Hyuga stared at the woman with frost and a poisonous glare.
"She's the new assistant; Iruka-sensei took a month of leave for family reasons."
"Understood, sensei." The Chibi-Hyuga bowed stiffly, and then returned to her spot…not before eying her and silently delivering the threat 'I'm watching you so you better not try anything or I'll rip your guts out with Jyuken strikes'.
"Don't be scared if at first they don't trust you yet," Shinku said, just as Nazuma was sweat-dropping from the glares she received. "Just smile and be as gentle as possible. They'll come around."
"Now class," he said, "Say hello to Uruki-sensei."
"Hello, Uruki-sensei!" there was a cough of 'four-eyes' from somewhere in the class.
Nazuma smiled and politely bowed. Mentally, she decided to stick a kunai through Konohamaru's ass next time they met.
"Hello class," she said with a bright smile. "Let's all get along, all right?"
She was going to show it to Aniki! She could so act mature! There was no spoiled brat in the house, no sir! No need to call over Ayame to 'thank' her or whatever. She was a Chuunin, she was 'old enough to drink booze and get laid' as Anko said it…albeit she had no idea why someone would need help 'getting laid'. Didn't one go to sleep alone anyway? Where did one need help in 'laying'?
She ignored that feeling. Everything was going to be fine. She had left more than enough clones way back to work on the technique. There really was no need for her to begin with, and after talking about it in private with the Godaime, they had made a bet on it. If Aniki discovered her, she'd have to pay half of the Hokage's sake debt in Konoha…but if he didn't and she completed the Rasengan before, then she had agreed to place a restraining order on Shizune.
And she was going to win this bet.
Dattebayo.
Author's notes
Academy Antics...death.