AN: New chapter.
Blue skin. Red eyes. Claws for nails. Demonic red mask. The dark outfit.
She knew it made for a rather terrifying sight, day or night.
Her appearance didn't even take into account the small squad of Ninja Shadowkhan (Ninjakhan? Shadowjas? Ninkhans? She would workshop the name later) kneeling behind her.
That probably multiplied the whole terror factor by three, maybe four.
From the way that everyone else outside the Academy kept their distance, she hadn't lost her touch in invoking terror.
It was a nice feeling.
Most of the parents waiting for their kids these days hadn't been around for when she used to pick up Kushina during her own time at the Academy, how much of an event it was for the 'Demon Princess of Shadows and Fire' when it was time to pick her up. Once the girl had made that contract between the two of them (and gotten used to having her around), she had wanted the works almost every time. Shadowkhan lining the street, banners, a flag or two, and so much more. It would've been murder on her nonexistent bank account to have that many torches for the processions Kushina used to command as a kid. To say nothing of turning off all the lights the two passed for, as Kushina used to say, "the aesthetics".
The girl had been set on more and more extravagant pickups as the years passed.
Although, she drew the line at Kushina wanting a full orchestra on top of it all. That. That had been a step too far.
It also helped that she wasn't so sure the Shadowkhan knew how to play instruments and, since they couldn't talk, it was rather hard to ask them.
All the choreography with the Shadowkhan was bad enough, had taken more of her time than she would ever admit to Kushina.
Speaking of them, weirdly enough, the Shadowkhan seemed to have liked all the bells and whistles Kushina made them put on for her. She was almost upset to tell them that they weren't going to repeat it with-
"Jade-chan!"
At the shout of her name from Naruto, she couldn't help but roll her eyes even if it was nothing but good-natured.
"I keep telling you kid, it's Jade Chan." Once again, she tried correcting him.
"That's what I said!" At the smile on his face, she couldn't stay mad at him.
This kid was just too adorable.
"Just come here." She scooped the blonde up into her arms, the kid's school bag falling from his hands but not to the ground. The Shadowkhan were here for a reason after all, mainly because Naruto had a habit of dropping all his stuff when she picked him up. She held him out by under his arms, smiled at him, something he could see even behind the mask this close up. "So, how'd it go today kid?"
"We learned Taijutsu! We did kicks and punches! It was super fun! Can you teach me some stuff too? Like that shadow claw thing you do!" He swung his hand around, with the wild energy only an eight-year-old could summon, and she smoothly dodged a slap to the eye from his flailing arm.
"Maybe." Jade set him down, knelt down to get on his level. "But, if you want to learn, you've got to promise me something first too, alright?" She held out her hand with all but her pinkie finger curled back.
"What?" Naruto's grin didn't fall, the boy more than familiar with this routine by now. Any lesson or favor from Jade always came with a promise of one kind or another.
"You've got to do your homework before we start, got it?"
"Deal!"
"Alright then, let's get you home."
While it would take no time at all to just travel through the Shadow Realm, it was also boring to the kid. All it took was a second to travel through the Shadow Realm, something that had lost its luster to him from a bit of overuse on Jade's part. Besides, he wanted an adventure more then he wanted to head home to do homework.
While she probably needed to be the responsible adult and make sure he did his homework, she also never quite grew out of hating homework. Paperwork at Section 13 had been frustratingly similar to homework.
She didn't need to be efficient with him. She needed to be fun for the kid.
It was slow but walking home with him wasn't something she intended to give up anytime soon.
With Kushina out on a mission and Minato busy in his office, it was left to her to pick him up.
She was just glad his birthday had passed last week.
Plenty of presents, plenty of friends from the Academy, and a good time was had by all.
She had even managed to get Kushina involved in the party, a small army of Shadowkhan to handle everything had worked wonder at relieving the redhead's stress and get her to actually enjoy the party with the rest of her family.
"So, what else happened today?"
As Naruto started up again, saying everything and anything that he did, Jade was only half listening.
Part of her focus would be on Kushina's brighter shadow until she was back in the village.
AN: New chapter. Expect any others in a 1-2 week timeframe, possible 3 weeks.
Review/PM if you want.
Peace.
