Alright, I usually don't say anything at the beginning, but if you didn't know this is a fan appreciation chapter. Thank you so much to OfCloves, AyaValkyrie, lilly_rocks98, and MyDeathLolipop for the ideas. So grab a cup of tea, play the hour long music track I found, cuddle into a blanket, and enjoy. I may update this chapter later on if you want to submit an idea, so don't feel like you've missed out if you want to submit ideas afterward. Without further ado:
The First Valentine's Day (Idea by MyDeathLolipop)
Aoi walked into the classroom a bit behind Naruto, he had only been in Konoha a few months, and was still trying to get accustomed to his new life. Walking to school today had felt a bit different, brighter in many ways as there were people smiling while exchanging packages and flowers, yet with a tangible air of hostility once he entered the academy. He couldn't understand why, as he walked through the halls, all the girls stared at one another as he passed, mouthing threats at one another.
Ignoring the strange atmosphere, Aoi took his seat next to Naruto, a few minutes before the first bell would ring to start the lesson. There was a lot of chatter behind Aoi, mainly girl's voices from what he could hear, but he ignored them, instead taking out his notebook for class. He didn't know how to take notes, but everyone else had one and since Iruka had provided it he felt the need to have it out.
Suddenly, the hushed voices ceased, and a few sounds of disbelief were made. Aoi looked up as someone stood before his desk. Naruto, who had sat up in excitement, sat back in a slump when she did so. Aoi almost turned his attention away, as all the girl did was stand there fidgeting. Suddenly, she thrust her hands toward his face. Aoi almost jumped back in a defensive stance before noticing she had stopped a foot away, a package in her hands.
Looking up, Aoi saw she was looking down, her face red and brown bangs covering her eyes. "Um... A-Aoi this is... um... a present for you. I, uh, made these for you, so please enjoy them!" Her blush deepened, and without waiting for a reply she set them on the desk and took off.
While there was an uproar and cheering behind him, he picked up the bag by the ribbon tied around it. Not quite understanding, he turned to Naruto.
"Naruto, what is this for?" Starting in surprise, Naruto sat up to stare at Aoi before responding.
"That's for Valentine's Day." Seeing that he still didn't understand, Naruto went on, "It's a day when girls will give the person they like chocolates as a present."
"Chocolate?" Curious, Aoi opened the bag to see a pile of gray mush in the bag. Naruto, who leaned over his shoulder, shook his head.
Taking the bag, Naruto re-tied it. "You do not want this to be your first taste of chocolate. Just set it on your desk for now."
Looking back up, Aoi noticed three more girls in front of him. Before he could say a word, they hid their faces and almost in unison said: "Please accept this chocolate!"
They all glared at one another for a moment before pushing the variously decorated bags and boxes toward him. Taking them, he looked at Naruto once again in confusion. The blond simply shook his head. Setting them with the other bag, he looked up as Iruka walked through the door and the bell rang. There were small sighs from girls who still held small decorated boxes in their hands. Iruka gave a confused look around the class before glancing at the calendar. Understanding flitted across his face.
_+_
When Aoi returned after the afternoon lunch break, piles upon piles of those neat little boxes were piled up on his desk. He just stared for a moment before proceeding to his desk and sitting down. Naruto did the same.
Turning, Aoi looked at Naruto. "Why are there so many boxes now?"
"How should I know?" With a sour look on his face, Naruto faced the other direction, only serving to make Aoi even more confused.
_+_
It was after lessons, and Aoi stood up, grabbing his stuff and looking at the pile of chocolates, wondering the best way to get them all home. Naruto had told him it would be mean to throw them out, at least anywhere in public. Before he could decide anything though, a voice interrupted him.
"Um... Aoi, would you mind coming with me for a minute?" Looking over, he noticed a girl with pigtails, looking him straight in the eye with deep brown eyes. She was fidgeting with her hands, completely nervous. There was a low hiss from a couple of people in the classroom.
About to answer no, Aoi was interrupted by Naruto. "Of course he will. Don't worry Aoi, I'll be here when you get back." He winked slightly, and Aoi started to wonder what was wrong with today. Everything was beyond his understanding.
Either way, he nodded and followed the ecstatic looking girl from the room. Once he had closed the door, he heard the room explode into chaotic conversation.
The girl walked quite a ways, and Aoi followed until they were at the base of the stairway that led to the rooftops. She fidgeted a bit, turning to face him. Before he could ask though, she started into what she wanted to say.
"Well, um, you see Aoi, I've liked you for a really long time. I'm not sure you remember, but I'm Sachiko, and I was wondering if you would like to, well, go out?" Since she was still looking down, she was unable to see Aoi open his mouth. "Of course, it's Valentine's Day, so I actually did make some chocolate, but um... it melted, so I was wondering if maybe I could do something else to show my affection?"
Unfamiliar with the situation, Aoi simply nodded. Her eyes lit up, and before Aoi could react, she grabbed the side of his face and smashed her lips against his. Feeling the close proximity of her, Aoi's instincts screamed danger, and without thought he had grabbed the hand on his face and flipped the girl over his shoulder.
She lay on the ground breathless, and Aoi had backed away a few paces in case she tried to attack him. All she did was let out a small gasp of pain. "You could have just said no if you didn't want to be my boyfriend."
_+_
When Aoi returned to the classroom, all the chocolates that were given to him had disappeared off his desk. Naruto sat in his seat, head held in his hand and staring off into space.
"Where did all the boxes go?" Aoi noticed that Naruto started a little, but didn't understand why.
"Who knows? They just suddenly disappeared." Aoi instinctively knew Naruto was lying, so he stared at him with a questioning air. "Oh fine, I threw them all out, they were taking up my desk too and it got annoying." Aoi didn't really mind, instead simply shrugging.
Little did either know that among all the boxes, one of the ones on Naruto's desk, under the pile of ones for Aoi, was for Naruto himself.
Hot Spring Drama (Idea by lilly_rocks98)
A barely audible sigh escaped into the air as Aoi and his teammates settled into the room for the night. It had been a hard day of travel as the group gradually made their way to the lord's palace. Aoi's head was heavy with hair ornaments, and his skin thick with make-up. They hadn't traveled as far as Aoi would have liked, but Mamoru was persistent in making sure this was as believable as possible. Thus they had stopped so Aoi, disguised as Kou, could rest from the journey.
The room was luxurious, but it seemed none of the ninja cared, quickly chatting about other subjects. Shikamaru dozed lazily in the corner, but the others seemed intent on doing everything the hot springs had to offer. As such, the room was quickly emptied, leaving only Shikamaru, Shino, and Aoi in the room.
It had barely been ten minutes, but soon the silence was broken by a knock on the door. Shino rose, opening the door to reveal the hostess of the hot springs. She bowed, head touching the ground, in greeting to Aoi.
"Princess, should it be your desire, it would be my honor to show you to the baths at this time. I am sure you are weary from your long day of traveling." Hesitating slightly, Aoi studied the woman. There seemed to be more than courtesy behind the offer. The twitch of her eyes had the look of greed to them, and Aoi realized she was probably hoping more nobles would visit if the princess was happy with the springs.
By the time Aoi responded, the woman was peeking up in nervousness that she had offended him. "I would be delighted to enter the hot spring, please lead the way."
After a few moments the woman bowed lowly, holding aside a curtain for Aoi to pass through. "Would you like any help undressing, princess?"
"I will decline the offer, you may leave now," bowing even lower as Aoi passed by, the woman quickly scurried away after.
Glancing around the room, Aoi found small bins for holding clothing, all of which were empty. It was unsurprising, as Mamoru had proceeded to book the entire hotel, as most nobles would often do. Quickly removing his clothing, Aoi proceeded to the spring, washing off before sitting calmly in the middle of the water near a rock and leaning against it.
_+_
Shikamaru cracked an eye open, realizing that he had fallen asleep in his position on the floor. He was tempted to just fall back asleep when something, or rather the lack of something, caught his attention. Sitting up slightly, Shikamaru turned his attention to the only other person in the room. "Hey, Shino, where did Aoi go?"
"He went into the hot springs. Why? Because the hostess wanted to show him the way," Shino had looked up from his bag to reply, making eye contact through his lenses.
Grunting slightly, Shikamaru almost laid down again before sitting bolt upright. The sudden movement made Shino jump ever so slightly. "So Aoi got into the bath that the hostess showed him to?" Shino nodded in answer. "While disguised as a princess?"
Understanding dawned upon Shino within moments, and soon enough both were walking quickly down the hallway. Halfway to the bathes though, they heard a shrill scream and a lot of yelling. Quickening their pace, they hurried onward.
"How troublesome."
_+_
At the sound of the door to the spring sliding to the side, Aoi opened his eyes to see three figures walking in. He was about to lean his head back against the rock once more when something stopped him. These three people seemed... curvier than males.
The three paused at the edge of the springs before their eyes slowly widened and faces became bright red. Hinata looked about ready to faint, using the towel she had wrapped around her to cover as much as was possible. Migota and Kaori, however, had been much more daring in their attire, having simply slung their towels over their shoulders. Though the steam of the bath was able to conceal quite a bit, it left very little to the imagination.
Kaori whipped the towel off her shoulders and covered the necessities with it, letting out a small scream of shock at Aoi's presence. Migota ripped the towel off of her shoulder, throwing it into his face. In the few seconds before the towel hit his face, the three would swear up and down that there was a faint dusting of pink on Aoi's cheeks. Whether it was from the heat or embarrassment would be debated though.
Migota started to yell obscenities while chucking other bathing implements at Aoi, who took the hint and quickly left the bathing area. Hinata sat in a corner, a depressing aura about her as she muttered about not being fit for marriage. Kaori hid her face with her silver hair, the biggest blush on her face as she realized that Aoi, being rather brave in appearance as well, hadn't had a towel on. If the girls weren't hidden by the fog, the same went for Aoi as well.
The door to the spring closed with a loud clack, and on both sides of the barrier there were very confused parties.
_+_
Standing outside the door to the women's changing area, Shikamaru quickly managed to send the hostess away while taking the bottle of milk she had brought for 'the princess.' Now, both he and Shino turned to see Aoi emerge from the baths with a robe around him, looking more than a little dazed and confused.
Smirking slightly, he tossed the milk at Aoi who instinctively caught it. "See anything interesting in there?"
Unexpectedly, there was a spark of emotion that Shikamaru couldn't quite identify that lit up in Aoi's eyes for a second. "Very eye catching at least." With that, Aoi walked off back toward the room, trying to regain the facade of being Kou. The grin on Shikamaru's face widened slightly, and the barest hint of a smile appeared on Shino's face as they followed him back to the room.
An Interesting Match (Idea and guest characters by OfCloves) ((Needs editing because I totally didn't do their characters justice))
It was early in a fall evening when Aoi first came into contact with the members of the famed Dobutsu clan. The day was a rare one, in which Aoi had been excused from his missions. As such, he had taken to wandering the village, meeting up with Shikamaru along the way. The two had been together since earlier in the afternoon, and now they were sitting out in the garden playing shogi.
Shikamaru was about to move a piece on the bored when he noticed Aoi's attention drift off to the yard. Looking up as well, he sensed five chakras drifting down from the sky before he saw the images of the hawks landing in the yard. Aoi blinked a few times at the sight of the five birds morphing into the shapes of five teens.
There was a sigh that escaped from Shikamaru's lips and the female of the group smiled at the sound. "What's up Shikamaru, it's been a while?"
"You know, for someone so important and busy, you sure find a lot of time to drop in unexpectedly." Despite his words, Shikamaru had a faint smile on his face as he said this.
"Well, I needed to speak to the Hokage about something..." The teen trailed of as her eyes followed Aoi as he walked toward them. "Who's this?"
"I'm surprised you haven't met him wandering the village. Allow me to introduce Aoi, he's one of my friends." Aoi looked over the members of the group curiously as he walked behind them. There was something different about them, something slightly off with their chakra that made him wonder if that was why they could transform into birds. He looked up to meet the girl's eyes, nodding briefly in greeting.
For her part, the girl looked at Aoi in curiosity as well. Though she and the members of her clan were used to the transformations, this was the first time someone had reacted so little to seeing birds become human. When he met her gaze, she was surprised by the lack of emotion they held. Though it was clear there was a certain interest in the look.
"Aoi, these five are members of the Dobutsu clan, the girl is Suzume, the two twins are Night and King, the one with the white hair is Yukito, and the one that is left is Robin." Aoi met Suzume's eyes again, judging her just as he could sense she was doing.
Suzume broke the silence, "It's nice to meet you." As she Shikamaru had introduced her, she watched the look of interest transform into slight understanding. It was clear that Aoi had heard of the clan.
If she had expected Aoi to reply in kind, she was disappointed as he simply nodded. Aoi switched his gaze to the left as one of the twins leaned over to speak to the other. "Oi, he hasn't spoken yet, do you think he does?"
"I dunno, it's kinda odd that he's just staring at us though." The twin replied in kind, using a failed whisper.
Suzume turned around, about to reprimand the boys when she was interrupted. "Is it odd to not speak when you have nothing to say?" The question halted whatever anyone else had been about to say.
"You'll need to excuse Aoi," Shikamaru took advantage of the silence to explain, "He was raised in special circumstances, to say the least. He isn't very good at communication with others. Despite that though, he's fairly curious and pretty smart."
Having waited until Shikamaru finished speaking, Aoi was the next to speak up. "Can you transform into other animals besides birds?"
"With enough time and training, yes." Suzume answered him immediately.
The white haired boy, Yukito spoke up at this, "Suzume-sama, are you sure you should be giving away information so easily?"
"Is there anything wrong with doing so? It's already common knowledge we can transform into multiple animals by now."
"I suppose so."
Aoi cut in once again, "Would you be willing to demonstrate?"
"Robin," Suzume turned and gave the boy a look. With a nod he focused a little and his form shrunk, becoming that of a cat. Aoi looked at it with his head tilted to the side slightly. He reached out a hand, but seeing the cat's muscles tense he paused.
"May I touch you?" The boy, turned cat, looked up at Suzume then back at Aoi before nodding with what could pass as a sigh. Aoi felt the fur, and sure enough it was the same texture as a cat's. He poked and prodded the cat until it let out a hiss of protest. Ignoring that, Aoi picked up the cat as it let out a yowl.
Behind him, Aoi could hear snickers of laughter. He set the cat down again, petting its fur. Despite what he could discern as discomfort at first, soon enough the cat closed its eyes in pleasure. Then Aoi stood, taking out his notebook and watched as Robin resumed being human again. It was an odd thing to see, fur retracting and face structure as well as bones changing from cat to human.
"What other animals can you become?" Aoi looked up at Suzume for the answer, already sensing she was the leader of the group.
Suzume debated telling him the truth for a moment before answering. "So far as we can tell, there are no limits. From dogs to cheetahs, even more exotic animals like hippos and giraffes are within out abilities."
Aoi considered this before asking his next question. "Can you transform singular parts of your body?"
Suzume didn't answer this. "I doesn't seem fair for only you to be gaining something from this." A hum escaped from Aoi's throat as he considered the point. Tapping his pencil on his chin before stowing that and his notebook away in his pouch.
"We could trade information then," The look in Aoi's eye seemed to catch Suzume's attention. It looked like he did indeed have information to offer her, and she considered it.
Shikamaru had a smile in his voice as he spoke. "Why don't you have a sparring match? You'll learn quite a bit that way Suzume."
"Deal."
_+_
"Are you alright with a simple bukijutsu match?" Suzume reached to her back, pulling out her dual swords, the light of the setting sun shine off of them.
"What are the rules?" Aoi pulled out his si, holding them against his forarms.
Suzume narrowed her eyes at the weapon before responding. "Ninjutsu and chakra can be used, but only to enhance one's technique. Other than that, no killing or critically injuring the opponent." Aoi nodded. The other members of the Dobutsu clan sat on the porch with Shikamaru, prepared to watch the match. From the looks on the four's faces, it was clear that they expected their leader to win. Shikamaru, for his part, just looked bored.
Cracking an eye open, the lazy chunin let out the word to start the battle. "Begin."
Both of them launched forward immediately, the clang of their weapons coming an instant later. Both Aoi's arms were raised, blocking one sword with a si against his forarm, and the other caught in the guard of his other. The weapons shook slightly as Suzume tried for a moment to try and break through his guard. Using that to his advantage, Aoi raised the si with her sword trapped in the guard, guiding it over his head.
The unexpected action putting her slightly off balance, she had to twist to the side to avoid a swift elbow from his now unoccupied arm. Leaning back slightly, Suzume sent a kick toward his stomach, nearly landing the hit. In a last minute block, Aoi lowered his arm in front of him, stopping the damage he would have taken. He slid back a meter or two, and measured her with his one-eyed gaze. Suzume smirked slightly as well, enjoying the fight.
Aoi went on the attack this time, whipping out a si to try and knock his opponent on the side of the head. Suzume responded by hitting the arm with one of her swords. She had expected it to cut deeply into the flesh, but instead a ringing resounded through the area. Her eyes widened when she saw a gleam of metal underneath his long sleeves. There wasn't time to admire that though, as, using the moment, Aoi swung the other si, going for a stab to the stomach. The other of the pair of swords arced out of nowhere, guiding the weapon passed.
Though Aoi's attack had left his arms slightly crossed, he didn't leave time for Suzume to take advantage of this, immediately crouching down in an attempted leg sweep. Reaction speed on par with that of the best shinobi, Suzume jumped over the leg, using the opportunity to aim both her swords in a double strike as she flipped over his head. Aoi crossed the two weapons, catching her strike in the middle. The downward motion, augmented by both the flip and gravity however, knocked him, whose stance wasn't suitable for blocking, off balance. Pushing off with his bent knee, Aoi managed to perform a flip as well, using his left hand to push off the ground and complete it.
Suzume had already landed and began charging forward when she met Aoi's eyes and froze. When Aoi had landed in his crouch, his hair was already being held back with his right hand, and he had used the moment to launch his jutsu.
Not knowing how long the chance would last, he pushed off the ground. The next moment Suzume was able to move, she found herself looking down at a hand holding a weapon to her throat as it pricked the skin there. Aoi himself was to her side, the bangs once again hiding his right eye and the look of apathy still clear on his face.
Suzume smirked, "I'll admit my defeat."
Aoi returned the weapons to his sides, and Suzume sheathed her weapons as well. The other four from the Dobutsu clan devolved into a mass of chatter that Aoi didn't care to follow. Instead, Aoi simply turned to Shikamaru.
"It's still your move in our game." The younger teen sighed slightly while scratching the back of his head before walking over and moving a piece on the board.
For the next few hours, Suzume, Shikamaru, and Aoi sat around the shogi board, taking turns playing and sharing information. Robin once more morphed into a cat, taking up residency in his leader's lap. The other three, quickly growing bored of the game wandered off into the yard to find something more interesting. Soon enough though, both Suzume and Aoi left, each having their own matters to attend to. Thus, Aoi's first meeting with the Dobutsu clan ended, both sides seeming to have benefited from the experience.
Kou's Adventurous Day (Idea by MyDeathLolipop)
It was barely five in the morning when Aoi was woken up by a knock on his door. Eyes flying open instantly, he retrieved a weapon from under his pillow and slid silently toward the door. Hane let out a small chirp as he passed by where the bird perched on a chair, and bobbed its head slightly. A sign that the bird recognized the person at the door as an ally. Keeping the weapon in hand anyway, Aoi swiftly opened the door.
The blue haired figure jumped back slightly as the door opened in front of her. Aoi's eyes grew slightly as he noticed Kou standing on the other side of the entranceway. "Ah, sorry for coming here so early, but I need your help with something. May I come in?"
Aoi stepped to the side to allow her to pass by, and her eyes widened slightly when she saw an arm-length sword in his hand. Noticing her gaze, he past her to return the weapon to its original place. Kou followed him into his house, pausing in the living room as if unsure what to do. When he had returned from his room empty-handed and with Hane on his shoulder it was made even more awkward as they both stood there for a few moments.
Suddenly Aoi walked off toward the kitchen, "Would you like something to drink?" The question tossed over his shoulder suddenly, Kou jumped ever so slightly.
"Yes, tea would be good." A motion of his hand beckoning her to follow, he led the way through a small archway to his kitchen/dining area.
"Take a seat while I prepare it," he motioned toward a table with two chairs set against one wall. Hesitantly, Kou pulled out a chair and took a seat. She watched as Hane hopped off his shoulder as he began to fill a kettle with water. The bird opened up a cupboard and took out the tin for tea setting it on the counter, retrieving a spoon and handing it to Aoi as he finished with the water. After heating the water and setting the tea to steep, he set the kettle down as Hane placed two cups on the table as well.
"Hane sure is well trained," Kou's comment caused Aoi too look up from said bird as he pat it on the head.
Nodding slightly, Aoi proceeded to pour the tea. "So K-" A sharp look from her made him cut off. "So sister, what is it you need from me?"
Smiling as she took a sip from her tea, the smile persisted as she set the cup down. "Well, long story short, I want to change places with you today."
"No."
"Eh? Why not?" Kou pouted slightly, crossing her arms.
"It's too dangerous for you to pretend to be a ninja. You're a pri-" She cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"I am well aware of my position as royalty." Slouching in her seat, she leaned against the table in boredom. "That's why I want to do this. I already paid off one of the ninja in charge of missions to make sure you have the day off today, so it's not like I'll be going on a mission or anything. I just want to have fun walking around a town without a wall of bodyguards surrounding me. Have fun experiencing a city on my own.
"Because you look almost exactly like me, you'll be able to fool my usual guards so that I can do just that. Also, since you're a citizen here, it's even safer than ever! No one would attack you in Konoha!" Aoi looked off into the distance in thought at that, but was dragged out of it by her words. "So you see, I'll be completely safe, and worst case scenario there are dozens of other ninja in the village that could help out. Please? You'll do it for your sister, won't you? We're family after all, bro."
At this sentence, Aoi wavered a little. He studied her carefully, actually considering her words. After a while, he nodded. It might have been influenced by his own wishes to form a stronger bond with her, but finally he agreed with a small, "Fine, what do I have to do?"
_+_
Kou tried to act natural as she walked through the village. She was currently dressed in Aoi's regular chunin clothing, green vest and arm guards included. After a morning of planning and instruction from her brother, she was more or less confident she could pass through a day pretending to be him. The hardest part was his manner though.
As she walked down the street, it was one of the hardest things for her to not break out into a smile and let her excitement show on her face. Even then, she couldn't help but look around at everything bustling around. The village was so lively. Food stalls, weapons shops, and colorful clothing made it hard for her to believe that this was just an average day. It felt like the festival that she gone to during the chunin exams with Aoi.
Speaking of weapon shops, she paused as she passed on, looking in the windows with curiosity. She had never been in one after all. There was a second's hesitation before she shrugged her shoulders slightly and opened the door. The smell of wood permeated the air, as well as the smell of fire. A closed off door in the back made her suspect that they made some of the weapons here by themselves.
Within moments she was simply staring at the weapons as she passed them, not sure what everything was. The only things she was familiar with were swords and si, the latter only because of Aoi. There were blades shaped like sickles, small disk-like contraptions, whips, and even plain wooden staves. A sudden obstacle in her path made Kou fall backward, almost falling on the floor if not for someone grabbing her arm.
"Watch where you're going!" Looking up, she noticed that what, or rather who, she had ran into had grabbed her to keep her from falling. Quickly composing herself, Kou looked the other person over. It was a girl around sixteen from what Kou could tell. Her mass of hair was gathered up into two neat buns, and Kou couldn't help think that she was quite beautiful. "Especially in a weapon shop, what if I were carrying a blade?"
Trying to deepen her voice to sound like Aoi, Kou muttered out an apology.
"For a chunin, you sure were spaced out. Were the weapons really that interesting?" Kou could have been wrong, but it looked like there was a light of hope in the girl's eyes. She nodded slightly, and the girl's face lit up. "I know! There is this deadly elegance about them, you know? Do you know much about weapons?"
"Ah, no, not really." The girl nodded slightly before turning to the shelves.
She picked up a long thin chain. "This is a whip, this is a really interesting weapon you see because," Kou tried to keep pace with the girl, but she talked so quickly and in depth. All she did was continue to nod every now and then, surprise rendering her speechless.
After four or five explanations of different weapons, Kou held up a hand. "Thank you so much for telling me all of this, but I only came in to look today. Maybe we could meet again and you can tell me more?" She left a slightly questioning tone at the end, hoping not to appear rude.
Pausing in the action of picking up what looked like a device used for torture, the girl set it down with a small smile. "Sorry, I just get excited when talking about weapons. I would love to tell you more later on if you're interested."
"Absolutely!" Kou smiled slightly, relieved that the girl didn't take offense.
"Until next time then, my name is Tenten by the way," She held out a hand, smiling broadly.
Kou took the hand. "And I'm K-" She hesitated slightly, "Aoi. The name's Aoi."
With that, Kou left the building. Once outside she breathed a sigh of relief before trying to regain her act. She realized that when talking with Tenten she had slipped out of character. She hoped it wouldn't be a problem in the future. Shrugging slightly she continued on. It wasn't like she would have to deal with the situation later on if there was a problem.
_+_
It was around mid-day before anything else happened to Kou. She was wandering around the village still, this time looking for a place to eat. Suddenly her attention was brought to a little shop on the left. It was a tea shop, and the reason it caught her interest was sitting on a bench in front. Shikamaru lowered his arm after seeing that Kou had turned. Easily recognizing the boy, she hurried compose herself so that she wouldn't give anything away.
Shikamaru walked over stopping in front of Kou in a lazy pose. "Hey Aoi, finally got a free day from missions?"
Before Kou could respond in any way, Hane flew over in a rustle of feathers. Kou turned slightly, surprised by the appearance. Little did she know, the bird had been following her ever since that morning. The bird leaned over and tapped Shikamaru on the arm with its beak. Looking down, Shikamaru took the feather from its beak, twirling it once in his fingers.
Looking back at Kou, Shikamaru stuffed his hands in his pockets, keeping the same bored expression. "Want to go get something to eat?" Remembering Aoi telling her than Shikamaru was a friend, she nodded slightly in agreement. It shouldn't be too hard to fool him, and he knew better places to eat than she could ever find.
It was silent as they walked, and Kou was beginning to realize that this was probably normal for the two. She didn't expect that Aoi would be very talkative, and as Shikamaru kept walking without trying to make conversation or looking at her funny that thought was affirmed. Suddenly though, the silence between the two was broken with a shout. Not sure what was happening, Kou began to turn when Shikamaru seemingly tripped, knocking Kou out of the way in the process.
Eiji sailed through the air where Kou had been before crashing into a post box. Kou blinked once or twice, trying not to look worried or upset. It wouldn't do for her to be caught now. Jumping up suddenly, Eiji pointed at Kou.
"Not fair Aoi-sensei! You shouldn't use the environment to do you dirty work for you!" Kou was slightly taken aback, though she tried not to let it show. Aoi-sensei? Did her brother teach children?
Almost as if to answer her question, two more appeared. She looked them over, trying not to stare at the girl once she realized that she only had one arm, the other hole in her top having a knot where the arm should go. "Eiji, you should know by now that being aware of their surroundings is basic for ninja, there isn't anything wrong with using it against your opponent."
"Of course I knew the mailbox was there, I'm not that stupid." Eiji huffed a little, folding his arms and turning away.
"Says the one that always runs into trees when fighting Aoi-sensei."
"I don't run into them, I skillfully use them to stop forward momentum."
"By crashing into them face first?" Kuria gave Eiji a pointed look, and he retreated against a nearby wall in a depressed state.
Kou didn't know how she was supposed to react to this scene, but by Shikamaru's bored look she could guess that this was normal. Her attention was pulled to the side though when she heard a voice. "Aoi-sensei, why did you cancel training today?"
Jinhai stood to the side with a curious look on his face. Not knowing if she should speak to people who clearly knew him and his mannerisms, she let the silence drag on far too long. Suddenly, an explanation wasn't needed from her though, as Kuria practically bounced into her line of sight. "Is it some top secret mission that we can't know about?"
Kou nodded, thankful for the quick way out and her luck in the situation. It wasn't a complete lie. No one could know about her activities today after all. Jinhai seemed to nod in understanding, accepting the reasoning. "You get really cool missions Aoi-sensei, I can't wait to start our own missions! Training is getting boring."
"Well then, we should let you get back to your mission, see you later Aoi-sensei!" Kuria waved brightly as she started to walk off, Jinhai following behind. Seeming to realize something, Kuria walked back, grabbing Eiji by the back of the collar and dragging him away from his small mushroom farm.
_+_
It was after a very silent meal with Shikamaru, and said boy was still by Kou's side as she continued to wander the streets of Konoha. Slowly but surely the day had dragged on, and soon Kou would have to return to Aoi's apartment. She was just about to look around down another street when she heard someone calling Aoi's name.
At first she didn't respond, not used to answering to her brother's name, but when she finally realized she stopped and turned around. Behind her, there was a pale-eyed teen, his dark brown hair hanging well past his shoulder tied in a very loose tail. Their was an air of strength about him that even Kou could sense, and as she waited for him to catch up she began to get nervous.
"Aoi, I'm glad I was able to catch you. You haven't forgotten about or deal have you?" Kou blinked her eyes, trying to keep her growing worries from showing on her face. "The promise that we would spar, remember?"
Kou remained silent, and Shikamaru looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Hey Neji, what's this about a match with Aoi?"
"We promised to have a match once we got back from escorting Princess Kou to the chunin exams. I discovered we both had the day off today and decided to challenge him."
"I see, well then, no time like the present." Neji gave Shikamaru an odd look, but the teen just shrugged it off.
The two began to walk off in the direction of the training grounds, and Kou trailed behind. This was bad. She couldn't fight with a ninja, especially someone considered strong enough to guard her. She knew that only some of the strongest ninjas would be relied upon to guard her, and had even witnessed his strength with her own eyes while traveling to Kiri. There was no way she would last five seconds. Not to mention she was posing as Aoi. She couldn't even throw a kunai straight, so imitating him here would be utterly impossible. Kou looked up at the two people in front of her, slowing her pace slightly to make some distance between them. There was only one option she had left.
When Shikamaru and Neji turned a corner, she used the moment to execute her plan. Within seconds she was down the street, heading around a corner, and running as fast as she could in the opposite direction of the two. She didn't stop until she was at least half a kilometer away, and she leaned against a fence, huffing slightly as she tried to catch her breath.
That was close.
Looking around, she realized that she had no idea how to return to Aoi's apartment, or even where she was in the town. Just as she had this thought though, Hane flew down from the sky, landing in front of Kou and looking at her with intelligent eyes.
"Hey, think you could lead me back to Aoi's place?" The bird bobbed its head, taking off and pausing at the next street, leading her back home.
_+_
It was two weeks since then, and Aoi woke to another knock on his door early in the morning. Grabbing a weapon, he once more made his way to the door. Opening it, Kou stood there, the largest puppy-dog look on her face and her hands clasped firmly before her.
"Hey, brother, could you trade pla-" She didn't even finish the sentence before she was cut off.
"No." With that, Aoi firmly shut the door. He remembered the day after he had traded places quite well. A weird girl waving at him from the weapons shop, the three kids asking for information on a secret mission he hadn't gone on, and Neji giving him a poisonous glare from down the street. Overall a very confusing day for him. He was glad he told Hane to inform Shikamaru of the situation.
Kou clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Guess I'll come back in another two weeks."
On the other side of the door, Aoi let out a small, troubled sigh. Looks like he would be seeing Kou a lot more frequently.
Laughter is the Best Medicine (Idea by AyaValkyrie)
Aoi walked through the village like normal. He had just finished work at the academy, and today was one of the few days that Kuria and the boys had the day off their extra lessons. He planned to stop by the store before heading home, the groceries in his house severely lacking as of late. He was almost at the store before sensing three familiar presences.
Deciding to ignore the kids for now, he continued on, but only made it a few steps before being stopped.
"Hey! Aoi!" Looking back behind him, he saw someone he hadn't for a long while. When they finally stopped in front of him, panting slightly from exertion, he spoke.
"Hello Sakura, long time no see."
A brief laugh escaped her. "No joke. Tsunade has been working me like crazy, but my medical ninjutsu has never been better." She smiled a little, "How have you been? I haven't heard anything about you recently."
"I'm still teaching at the academy, as well as receiving training from Ibiki and Inoichi."
"I see, that would explain why there haven't been many reports on missions from you. What has Ibiki been teaching you?"
Aoi didn't hesitate in his answer. "Torture."
Sakura's face paled at this, and she gave a half-hearted grunt in reply. She had just recovered when a shout broke out over the general noise.
"You're mine!"
Sakura reeled back slightly as Eiji sent a wide kick aimed at Aoi's head. The blue haired ninja simply caught it, and once more Eiji was hanging in mid air. Blinking once or twice, Sakura pointed at the child.
"Aoi, who is this?"
Spinning in his position to face Sakura instead, Eiji grinned. "I'm Aoi-sensei's rival! He's really far below me though, because I'm the best ninja in the whole village."
"Ah, I see." Sakura looked at Aoi, "So he's actually...?"
"A student I teach at the academy." Sakura made a small 'ah' sound in the back of her throat.
Eiji, still hanging by his foot, frowned. "I am not just some academy student!" Getting a wicked grin, there was a glint of mischief in his eyes. "I'll prove it too!"
Aoi immediately released Eiji as the young boy began to press his fingertips into Aoi's sides. The shock of the sensation was strange and he didn't know how to react.
Landing on his feet, Eiji's grin simply widened. "Aoi, could it be that you're ticklish?" Sakura's attention peaked at this information as well.
Slightly confused, Aoi cocked his head to the side. "Ticklish? I've never heard that."
At this moment, Jinhai and Kuria appeared as well, grins on their faces as they heard this. Using the brief moment while Aoi was asking about the word, they both ran probing fingers up Aoi's sides. Squirming away from them, Aoi grew more confused as menacing looks came over all four of the faces before him.
In an amazing display of snap-shot teamwork, Aoi quickly found himself in the chakra-infused clutches of Sakura. He tugged slightly on his arms, but soon discovered that it would be futile. Sakura was indeed trained by Tsunade.
"Ah!" A brief sound of surprise escaped Aoi's throat as Eiji let his fingers dance across his sensei's side. Aoi flinched away, but found himself unable to move.
Soon enough, Jinhai and Kuria joined in, and before he knew it he found himself kneeling on the ground gasping for air. The three ticklers paused just long enough for Aoi to get breath into his lungs before resuming their attack.
Suddenly, a deep, throaty sound split the air in between the group of five, making everyone freeze.
Sakura had an amazed look on her face, as did the three kids. Looking supremely confused, Aoi gazed at the four too.
"Did..." Eiji started.
"...Aoi-sensei..." Kuria continued.
"...Just..." Jinhai looked up.
"...Laugh?" Sakura was dumbfounded by the development. Though briefly, Aoi was her teammate, and she had just realized it was the first time she heard him laugh.
Looking between the four, Aoi opened his mouth to ask what laughter was, but before he could get a word out the tickling hands continued once more. Unable to contain the air he had gathered, it escaped from him once more. The laugh was deep and rich, and before long everyone that stopped to watch the scene was laughing as well.
Aoi continued to gasp and laugh for nearly ten minutes before the children stopped. Even after that, it took Aoi a moment to get his breath to return. Sakura released his arms at that point, and he lay on the pavement with four grinning faces looking down from above.
"I think I found a new method of torture." With those words, All four faces turned to ones of smiling disbelief.
_+_
Whew... That. Took. Forever. But it was fun anyway! I hope that you all liked it, and I hope that you'll continue to read the book. I'm gonna keep this semi-short, all things considered, but I do want to give a proper thank you to the people who submitted ideas for this. So, thank you for reading this chapter that could easily be five chapters, it was so much fun to write. It will be the longest chapter of the book so far, exceeding 8500 words including this final note. Gosh, you folks aren't good for my carpal tunnel. Also, final note, if you want to, you should check out OfCloves' story called Adopted, it's a really good fanfic, and it includes everyone's favorite Gaara. Really, go check it out, especially if you want to understand where the characters in one of the shorts came from. Anywhore, on to the 'thank you's.
MyDeathLolipop- Your ideas were really fun to write. Thanks for giving me an excuse to write young Aoi again, because it's been something I've really wanted to do but haven't had the reason to. Also, I'm really happy that you liked Kou enough to ask for a story about her. It probably wasn't the most exciting thing I wrote, but she is definitely one of my favorite characters. Last thing, thank you so much for the kind words in PM, they were a great motivation. I hope you keep reading and writing, because you're awesome. Last, last thing, thank you for all the facts, some of them brighten my day considerably.
lilly_rocks98- Honestly, I think I had the most fun writing out this idea, even though it was hard to find a reason for Aoi to go to a hot spring. It's something I probably wouldn't have done myself, solely because I didn't think anyone would want to read it. Sorry for making it a little pervy, but I imagine you expected that when you suggested it. I'm really super happy that I got to give Aoi an experience like that! Thank you so much for your continued support as well, it's been a blast reading the comments you leave. I hope to hear more from you in the future.
AyaValkyrie- For making me write this fluff, I can not thank you enough! Oh my gosh, I almost died of laughter and cuteness! I didn't though, but only barely. Also, thank you so much for pointing out that Aoi had never laughed before, because it was something that had completely escaped my notice. It's not like I didn't want him to laugh, I just never realized. Anywhore, I'm really glad that you notice little details like that, it makes me really glad that people pick up on little things like that as they read. It would be awesome to hear from you in the future, so you better not disappear on me.
OfCloves- Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity and permission to use your characters. I have to say though, that your idea managed to give me the most trouble. It was really hard to try and do your characters and story justice, even though I feel like I know them well. I had to reread your books quite a few times to get a feel for it. There are just so many different sides to the characters, and I felt I did the best I could. Feel free to give criticism though, because they're your characters. Anyway, I hope you'll continue to enjoy my book as much as I have yours! Thank you so much for showing such enthusiasm as you read, it makes me literally glow with joy. (Okay, not literally but shh) I hope that you continue to write and read, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your rewritten book one!
For anyone still here- Thank you so much for the years of continued support. This chapter was for you. I have had so much fun writing this story, and I feel like I've gone through a lot. Writing is my ultimate escape, and I'm glad that I can make others happy by sharing it with you all. I feel like I've grown from a kid to an adult with all of you, and it couldn't make me happier. I'll be turning 18 soon, but no matter what I'm going to keep writing. Thank you so, so much for your support until now, and I hope you'll continue to support me in my future writing as well. You guys have managed to cheer me up when I've felt depressed, and I can't thank you enough for that. Without the Wattpad community, I probably would have given up on a lot of things that are really important to me. You guys are so amazing. Keep being awesome, and maybe one day we'll meet up in person and I can truly give you the thanks you all deserve. Well then, I'll get started on writing that next chapter now, so I hope you look forward to reading it. Thank you.
-Nick~