Whoa guys. Whoa. I just finished the rough draft to SoA. Holy crap! Woot! Woot-y-woot! I couldn't have done it without all of your wonderful words of encouragement, friends! Thanks so much! *hands out cyber champagne and party blowers* I thought it was really beautiful to finish the draft to the song "Crystalline" by Bjork, from her new awesome album "Biophillia"; I thought it was really fitting, somehow:)
Here's a fun contest: guess how long the rough draft is to this fic! Submit your guess in either word count or page numbers via your review: the reader who guesses the closest will win a one-shot, written by myself, especially for you and according to your every whim and fancy:) That'll be fun:) You'll receive your gift of a one-shot by X-Mass, or as I like to call it, Chrismakwanzica (that's an amalgamation of X-Mass, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa, FYI:)
Special thanks to my amazing readers who never cease to amaze me with their lovely reviews:) Special thanks to my beta, Uchiha.S, who is the sunshine of my life. I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to ThriceJinxed who went back and reviewed ever single chapter just so that I would get off my lazy ass and give you all this bonus chapter, lol! Thanks Jinxy-chan! You rock!
Chapter 13
Consternation
Oh Kami, I hope we get to Ame soon, Yuki thought longingly as she bedded down for the night. For some reason, Ryuu insisted on sleeping near her bedroll, even though he knew that his snoring had a detrimental effect on her sleep. Yuki decided that he'd done it in pure spite and malice, and resolved to drop unsavory characters like worms and frogs into his sleeping bag when he passed out. Cho had taken the first night's watch, and was currently gathering enough firewood for the long night ahead. With her body expansion jutsu, she could easily carry sufficient fuel. It was a handy jutsu; unlike Ryuu— who could only manage his father's trademark shadow clone jutsu— Cho actually had what Yuki liked to call 'skills.'
"Yo, Yuki-chan, are you asleep yet?"
Yuki snorted. She had long ago given up on having Ryuu drop the dreaded 'chan' addendum that he liked to stick after her name, but it still irked her. Not bothering to mask the exasperation in her voice, Yuki retorted, "Well, if I was sleeping, I wouldn't be anymore."
"Oh. Sorry," he mumbled as he scrunched further down in his sleeping bag.
Since Yuki's eyes were still open and gazing at the stars overhead, she took the opportunity to roll them back in her head as far as they would go to show her annoyance, even if it was only for her own amusement. "Whatever. What's up, numbskull?"
"Not much asshole—Hey!"
Yuki retracted the arm that had just smacked her teammate and smirked. "Hn."
After that interaction, there was blessed silence; Yuki thought the idiot had gone to sleep, but a moment later she was proven wrong.
"Yuki-chan?"
"What?"
Ryuu sighed. "Nothing. Maybe I'll just go ask Cho instead..."
If nothing else, Yuki did not like being passed up in favor of someone else."You can ask me, ok? What do you want?"
"Nah. You probably wouldn't understand anyway," Ryuu muttered as he moved to get up.
Yuki liked to pretend that she understood everything, and was vaguely insulted by Ryuu's insinuation, and so she replied, "Come on. I graduated top of the class. I'm sure I can handle it."
Though the two had known each other their whole lives, they had never been much for conversation. For beating the heck out of each other, yes, but heart-to-heart talks? Not so much. At family gatherings, Ryuu was notorious for riling Yuki up about something or other— and Yuki was infamous for losing her iconic Uchiha cool and kicking his ass.
Indeed, holidays and special events almost inevitably ended with a full-out brawl between the eldest children of the Uzumaki and the Uchiha. Naruto often mused that Ryuu was just too much like his own father, with his fondness for ruffling the feathers of arrogant Uchiha members; to which Sasuke would have replied that Naruto was an idiot, and anyone with (proverbial) eyes in their head could see that Ryuu had a crush on Yuki: a crush which was in all likelihood returned. Violence was just the way ninja children at this age often showed affection, he would argue. Naruto would shake his head, and at this point in the festivities, would ask Sasuke to please remove his rabid daughter from his son before she broke one of his arms...again.
Even since becoming teammates, their relationship had yet to evolve beyond ass-kicking and name-calling. Hence, Ryuu was a bit reticent in confiding in Yuki, but for some reason felt that the Uchiha really would understand, despite his protests.
He exhaled through his teeth, the low whistling sound punctuating the silence as he settled back onto his mat. "Ok. Well...do you ever feel like your parents like your other siblings better...?" Yuki chewed her lower lip; Ryuu took the silence as permission to continue and ventured, "Because...I don't know. Both of my sisters have the byakugan, but Kami seems to have overlooked me in the kekkei genkai department..." The boy trailed off uncertainly and fiddled with the zipper to his sleeping bag.
"But you're a boy, Ryuu," she replied bitterly,"And the firstborn. That alone means you're the heir."
Ryuu sighed at that. He put his arms behind his head as he gazed up at the sky. "Not really. I can't be the heir to the Hyuga clan if I don't have the ocular jutsu, and as far as the Uzumaki or Namikaze go...it's just my family, not much of a clan...so yeah."
"Well geez, Ryuu, thanks a lot," Yuki snapped.
"Ooops...sorry, guess you're in the same boat."
Yuki nodded and replied, "Hey, I'll fight tooth and nail to be the next heir to the Uchiha and Haruno houses. No matter how small they might be!"
Ryuu snorted. "I don't think you'd have to fight hard at all— you're the oldest. You're pretty much a shoe-in."
"That's what you think. I'm a girl. I think my dad has his hopes pegged on Takeo." She rolled over onto her stomach and propped her chin in her elbows before adding more softly, "Plus...I don't have a doujutsu, either."
"You don't have your doujutsu yet. The sharingan activates later in life; but the byakugan, you either have it or you don't," Ryuu concluded, his tone slightly acerbic.
"Hn. I doubt I'll even get it, Ryuu. The Uchiha used to inbreed in order to ensure their children would get the sharingan, but I'm only half—"
"You're over-thinking it, Yuki-chan," Ryuu broke in. "You're the best ninja of our age group, and even if you are a girl, I don't think most guys stand a chance next to you."
It was silent for a moment, save for the chirping of the cicadas and crickets.
"Thanks Ryuu. I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"Oi, I say lots of nice things Yuki-chan, you just never listen to me."
Yuki rolled her eyes again— her own private joke with herself— and stated, "Well, I guess I never knew how much we had in common. You know, besides me being brilliant and everything, and you being at the bottom of our class."
"Oi! Come on!"
"Sorry. Just kidding." Kinda... But Yuki could tell she had hit a sore spot, as Ryuu was silent and had rolled away from her in his sleeping bag.
"Ryuu?"
"Hmmm."
"Come on. I think your parents like you just fine for who you are. You're a kind person who always has nice things to say. And you're goofy, you make people laugh."
"Great. I'm goofy."
"Gah, I was trying to give you a compliment."
"Well. Good job." Ryuu pulled his sleeping bag up over his head.
Yuki bit her lower lip again and thought about what to say to dig herself out of the hole she had just made for herself. Open mouth, insert foot, as they say. Damn, for a girl I'm really not good at these things. "Hey, Ryuu?"
"What?" he snapped waspishly.
My how the tables have turned, Yuki thought ruefully. She cleared her throat and ventured, "I think you should stop worrying about whether your parents love you or not, because it's obvious that they do. Nobody has parents that are as mushy gushy as yours. If you're worried about being a good ninja, you should just train more. That's all."
Ryuu uncovered his head and rolled back over to face Yuki. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. The one thing you have never lacked is enthusiasm. If you keep putting your all into it, you'll be a great ninja one day. So stop being such a girl about everything."
Ryuu snorted. "Easy for you to say!"
"WHAT!"
Yuki was about to punch Ryuu's lights out for calling her a non-girl-like-entity, but Konohamaru called from the other side of the fire pit, "Trolls. Shut. Up. And go to sleep. Unless I need to use genjutsu?"
"No sensei!"
"Goodnight sensei!"
Ryuu giggled slightly and flicked Yuki's arm. "Goodnight asshole."
"Goodnight moron," she hissed; she was definitely going to put a nice, juicy worm on Ryuu's face tonight when he started snoring.
"Good morning, Sora-kun!"
"Hmmm...Kasumi...good morning."
"Everyone is awake and breakfast is almost done— if you get up now, we'll share our porridge with you."
Now this is just embarrassing. I'm a fucking ninja and I out-slept the flakey hippies. Gah. Schooling his face to be neutral, he replied, "Sure. Thanks. I'll be there in a minute."
After an uneventful breakfast of bland rice mush, the four made their way south. Even at the slothful pace they were setting, Sasuke estimated that they would reach their destination by the end of the day. Unfortunately, he couldn't read his chakra-enhanced map, lest he blow his cover, but he was confident that his mind remembered the way. Thankfully, his traveling companions were conversing amongst themselves— something about how they should make some charms out of crystals and garlic to ward off werewolves— and they did not notice that they were being tailed by his summons, Tsubasa, who was keeping watch over their party. Not that the others would have noticed anyway: they didn't seem to be the brightest crayons in the box.
After a pleasant few hours of silence, Haruki approached him.
"Hey!"
"Hey," was Sasuke's lackluster reply.
The two men walked side by side together in silence for a while. Finally, Haruki cleared his throat. "So...me and the gang were thinking...if you want, you could totally join our band. It would be far out."
I'd rather cut off my own ears with a rusty kunai. Instead, Sasuke forced himself to answer politely, "I'm afraid I'm a bit of a free agent myself when it comes to playing music."
"Well, that's ok. You just think about it, man. But...um..." Haruki trailed off. The pair walked in awkward silence for a while longer before Kasumi swooped in to rescue her lover.
"What Haruki is trying to say is, if you wanted to join us, I mean, join join us, that would be radical."
Sasuke scratched his head. "I'm more of a solo musician..." he repeated.
"Um...not exactly...I mean...how to phrase it... Sora-kun would you like to join our love circle?"
Sasuke choked on his own spit—something that seemed to happen with increasing regularity the more time he spent with these freaks. He coughed loudly for a few moments, then finally managed, "Um. I'm really, really, very flattered...but um...remember that girlfriend I told you about? With the anger management problem?"
"Uh-huh?"
"Well...she's the jealous type. I couldn't vouch for your safety if I joined your...er...love circle. But I'm extremely flattered—"
"Hey, if your girlfriend ever wanted to join, she'd be welcome too, man. The Traveling Stardust Experience is all about free love. So the offer is out there, if you ever feel called to join, you just let us know."
Sasuke visibly paled. "Um...thanks...a lot..."
Someone put a hand on his ass.
"But...um...no thank you."
Said hand was removed. Sasuke didn't bother using chakra to locate the culprit. It's really better that I don't know who that was...
.:8:.
The End of Part One
.:8:.
Today I roamed with the lady of the mountain,
Trying to find something my soul to sleep,
In the thickets of wildflowers, wandering
By the rush of the cold spring creek.
She said to me, "Sure as the wheeling of the stars
Death is the final song ringing on a poor man's guitar;
Sure as the coming of winter and spring
Is the song of a sad life we all must sing."
Said I, "Surely, there is more than death
That encapsulates the mystery of life itself
For all the wheeling of the stars
You are merely taking things as they are."
Said she, taking herbs in her hand,
Mullien, Lambs-Wool, and Lilly-Of-The-Land,
"What can we speak that has not been said?
What can live that has not been dead?
What new thing can come, under the sun
When everything that ever was has already been done?"
This she said with a gentle sigh
As she picked Cats-Claw, Valerian and Wild Rye.
Said I, "Though the sun's movements do often repeat
And the stars rise, whirl, move apart and meet
Though my dreams are dark and full of fear
And my feet drag heavily as we finish each year."
Though death surrounds us like a veil
The sound of the wolf's moon lit wail
As you saved my body from blood, boiling like a fountain
I'd bear it all over again to be with the lady of the mountain."
Said she, smiling coyly as she plucked from the vine,
Passionflower fruits, then sprigs of Blue Vervain,
"Were it as bitter as the medicine from purpled Gentian,
Would you bear it all once more just to be with me on the mountain?"
Said I, "Bitterness a hundred times over and more,
Walking through the threshold of death's dark door
With no fear of the horrors that they contain
Just to walk in stride with the lady of the mountain."
She paused a while, lost in thought,
Gathering a bouquet of Forget-Me-Nots,
And while her questions she refrained to pose
I picked and proffered to her a red wild rose,
Saying, "Let us speak no more of death and beyond
The fate that is the final chord in life's short song;
Instead let us give thanks, and endeavor
To enjoy what little time we have together."
Said she, blushing the hue of the flower,
"When did you become so clever?"
And laughing like the ringing of a bell and free
She threw her little arms all around me.
~The Second Book of Akash
a/n Lol, I know, it's confusing, why does the poetry from the 2nd book of Akash go with part one? Cause I like things to be back-asswards, that's why:)
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