***Here's chapter 25, I DON'T OWN NARUTO. This is just a chapter about Akemi's birthday since I feel like the story is going a bit too fast. It'll slow the story down. She's now officially 13 now! She was born near the beginning of winter. Side pic is Akemi. This chapter's dedication is for RavenHathaway3. Enjoy this chapter or else.***
**EDIT: I'm sure the people re-reading my story can tell by now that I've been fixing my side pictures. I hope you enjoy them better now**
~Akemi & Akatsuki fact: Whenever Tobi comes close to Akemi she runs away screaming with him chasing after her. It offers hours of entertainment for Akatsuki members watching.~
AKEMI'S POV
I am blind right now. For anyone thinking what your thinking, stop it right there. I'm not blind as in the medical condition. I'm blind as in I can't see anything right now because I'm wearing a blind fold. Gramps told me I rely too much on my sight when fighting so my reflexes aren't as good when I can't see it coming so I have to try to spend a couple of hours walking around Konoha blindfolded. Even though he's retired as a ninja, he's still my mentor. I'm starting to question Gramps teaching methods though. Because when I went to his house he gave me some new clothes, put a blindfold on me, told me why, then literally shoved me out his house, slamming the door on me. So here I am walking around who knows where. I'm wearing a sort of pink Chinese top, grey pants, and black flats. I have my hair in two separate loose braids with Shika's ribbon on the end of one of my braids and a black blindfold around my eyes. I kind of feel glad about being blind folded. My eyes are purple today they rarely are ever that color but people always stare when they're that color.
So far I've already ran into 3 walls, 7 poles, a few people, and someone's front door. It must have been awkward for them since I accidentally rang the door bell when I smashed into the door, making whoever lived there open their door to me crumpled on their porch holding my forehead cursing in a not so much indoor voice. I hope it wasn't a kid cause I said some things in my yelling that were not appropriate for small ears. I'm getting better at this though, I learned through a series of accidents not to be repeated on some unsuspecting villagers that if I listen really carefully I know when not to walk straight into someone although if it's a ninja that screws up my plan. I learned from walking into Nami and Ai an hour ago, both wished me luck in my training. I was walking carefully around a corner with my hands out a bit to stop me from hitting into any walls or poles when I walking straight into something sturdy. I was about to fall backwards until someone grabbed my hand. They were soft hands, probably females, who grabbed one of my hands with both of their hands stopping me from falling. As weird as this sounds I wanted to fall so case I could do it in slow motion dramatic effect. I've seen Naruto do it a couple times when Sakura punches him so I wanted to try it at least once. "Akemi?" A surprised voice said. I recognized the voice.
"Gaara?" He was off to my left so he was the person I walked into. The person holding my hand was in front of me, so that equals two people. The person in front of me let go. I walked into the direction I heard Gaara then hugged him. "Gaara! Who else is with you?" I was excited to see them all.
"Hi, Akemi." A confident voice said. Oh, it's Temari. I wonder when they arrived back to Konoha. "Are you okay?" Temari asked concerned. I could feel her eyeing my outfit along with two other sets of eyes.
I waved my hand in an off handed manner. "Yeah. It's this exercise I'm doing from Gramps that'll help me with me advance my hearing abilities in battle." I explained. I guess they understood since I heard Kankuro make an 'oh' noise. "So why are you guys back in Konoha? Also do you know what street I am on?" Kankuro snorted through his nose trying to hide his laugh. He was off to my right, so I kicked him. When I heard an 'ow' I was satisfied. ~I am definitely getting better at this no seeing thing~ Temari giggled next to me when I kicked Kankuro.
"We're here to sign an alliance between Konoha and Suna. We're going to be here for a month. So Lady Tsunade told us to meet up with the other Genin. She said they'ld all be at the barbecue shop." Kankuro answered for me.
"Well I would help you there but as you can see and I can't I have problems of my own at the moment." I pointed to the blindfold tied around my eyes. Temari chuckled then told me they already knew where it was. She grabbed my hand leading the rest of the way. We finally stopped when I smelled meat being cooked I knew we were there. Temari tugged onto my hand pulling me into the the restaurant. I heard arguing close by so I could already tell where my friends were. I walked ahead to where the yelling was. "Gosh, you guys can be loud."
"Hey Akemi, what's with the blindfold?" Kiba asked putting his arm around my shoulder like usual.
"Hearing training." I simply said. Then smiled happy. "Guess who I found." I gestured off to where I last was with the Sand Siblings. It was silent I couldn't see anyone's faces.
Finally Naruto broke the silence being the loudmouth he always is. "Gaara, how're you?" I felt Naruto go by me to Gaara. He started socializing with Gaara so everyone else did also with Kankuro and Temari. She apologized to Ten Ten who was cool about it. Shino, Kiba, and Kankuro talked to each other. I walked towards where all the girls were until I tripped on my feet by accident. Wait here's my chance, slow motion falling go! Sadly it didn't work out as I planned. I fell at regular speed instead of slow motion and on top of that landed flat on my stomach ontop of someone's lap. Why didn't it work? Maybe you have to be an expert at falling like Naruto to be able to master the slo-mo action. While I was grumbling it didn't work an ahem could be heard above me.
"Having fun there Akemi?" It was Sasuke I was on. Damn it this blindfold is really getting annoying to wear.
"Hey Sasuke what time is it?" I felt him turn slightly to look at a clock somewhere, either that or he just decided to turn for no apparent reason, knowing Sasuke the first option would be more plausible.
"Around 3 o' clock now, why?" Really!? It's been that long already.
"Oh thank the freaking Lord Almighty," I snatched the piece of fabric off my face and getting up off of Sasuke's lap, "I've been wearing that since ten o' clock this morning. I think five hours is considered enough training." I could finally see. The light hurt a bit but I adjusted back. I saw everyone here including Pirate and the other Jonin. When the Hell did they get here? "What the Hell, did you guys plan to have a party without me?" They ignored my question. Jerks.
"You wore that blindfold for 5 hours?" Sasuke stared at me incredulously
"Yeah I also got lost for five hours. I ran into so many walls, poles, and people. This one guy even offered me a job when I ran into him." Sasuke sat back in his seat drinking some tea.
"Hm?" He asked not really sounding interested more along the lines of just making small talk.
"Yeah he asked if I would model for him as long as I wore the blindfold. I don't know why though; maybe he thought I was actually blind and was trying to be considerate. If I didn't have money from missions I might have excepted the job." Sasuke spit his tea out of his mouth hitting Naruto straight in the face. While Naruto was complaining about Sasuke spit.
Sasuke actually yelled not incredible loud but enough for everyone to hear. "You met a strange guy while blind folded and almost took his offer to head to his house!?" Shika snapped his head over to me immediately. Ibiki holding a glass of water smashed it in his hands when he heard that. Everyone else shut up and looked at me like I was the world's biggest idiot.
"You what!?" Ibiki looked ready to murder. "Who was he? What did he look like?" His face was getting red from anger. Pirate had a dark look to him too.
I shrugged my shoulders not understanding why everyone was upset. "I don't know I couldn't see. Besides he didn't offer to take me into his house, he asked if he could take pictures of me. I don't see what the problem is." No looked all that happy. What I said next seemed to have been the wrong thing. "What's wrong? I got 5 other offers similar to that today." I asked confused. Almost all the guys and adults looked extremely pissed off for some reason while the girls looked horrified. Shika came up to me putting his hands on both my shoulders looking me in the eye.
"Akemi, you've been walking around the streets for five hours wearing a blind fold, if a man just comes up to you offering you a job. It's not good." I was starting to catch onto what they thought.
"Perverts? No, perverts only come out around night time."
Pirate with that dark look still asked, "And how would you know that?"
"Because that's usually always the time I met them while travelling. They were drunk most of the time." I don't think I'm lightening up the mood here. Yoga man suddenly came running up to me hugging me while crying.
"You poor child, to have been through so much! You are so youthful!" I flashed myself to behind Shika, hiding myself so he wouldn't touch me again. Why are they worried about perverts when they have Yoga man here?
"I'm telling you they're not perverts. This is Konoha. Konoha doesn't have bad people." I stated like a fact. It's true, everyone is nice here. Pirate sighed.
"Akemi every place has some bad people. You shouldn't be talking with people like that. They could do something bad to you." I put my hands on my hips in defiance.
"Please the worst things perverts do is kissing you. Which has never happened to me since I'm not weak." Ibiki came up to me still angry at someone for some reason.
"That's not the worst a pervert could do! How can you be so stupid, Akemi!? What if they did something worse!?" I didn't appreciate being called stupid but I was really curious about what supposedly was 'worse.'
"Like what?"
"You know," He stated waiting for something to sink in.
"Know what?" I was confused. He stared at my face for a second then turned from bright red to pale white. It was interesting to see. "What? What's this 'worse' you're all worried about?" I turned to everyone else since Ibiki wasn't going to give me an answer. They all turned away red or started stuttering. "Come on tell me. Sasuke?" He was starting to turn pink. "Sakura?" She was blushing madly avoiding eye contact. "Pirate?" I couldn't believe it, he was blushing! I saw some pink come out from under his mask. I turned to my last attempt really wanting to know now. "Shika, come on tell me! What's this 'worse' thing everyone's talking about?" He looked to the ground trying to cover his growing blush. I threw my hands up in the air exasperated. "I bet you people are making this 'worse' thing up! You're just trying to scare me and not even when I need it. I'm telling you perverts can't harm me." Pirate coughed, I couldn't see any red on his face anymore.
"That's besides the point Akemi. You need to be more cautious of strangers. You're only 12."
"I doesn't matter because Konoha's a good place. I could be beat up any pervert who would try to harm me. I did it before and I can still do it now. And I'm not 12." I can't believe they think an ordinary pervert could ever overpower me.
"Yes you are." Pirate said like I was the dumbest person in the world for the second time, man I'm on a roll today.
"Nu uh, I just turned 13." I stated happy I was winning the argument so far. Pirate's along with everyone else's eyes went wide. Now what's wrong with them?
"When?"
"I'm officially 13 today. Ha! Now I'm 13 like the rest of you and people won't even know I'm younger." I mean I had problems at the Chunin Exams because I was younger. Everyone glared at me. Now if I say I'm 13 no one will care. Everyone was looking at like deer about to be shot.
"WHAT!?" Everyone yelled in unison. Naruto ran up to me with Sasuke spit still covering his face. It was sticky.
"Akemi, why didn't you tell us it was your birthday?" He asked seeming sad.
"Because it wasn't important. Why do you care if it's my birthday?" Everyone is serious emotional today: first surprised, then angry, and now sad.
He said "Because," really long, "friends tell each other stuff like this?" That's new information.
"Really?" All my friends nodded their heads. "Oh, well then it's my birthday." I told them. They all deadpanned. "So what now?" Sakura came up along with Ino grabbing my arms.
"We've got to celebrate!" They said together. Hinata, Ten Ten, Temari, and Kurenai came following after. Ino pointed at the boys ordering, "We'll met you back in a couple hours at Sasuke's house. Set up the party until then." They all nodded leaving. The girls were still dragging me somewhere. We picked up Anko along the way. They finally stopped dragging me right in front of a clothes shop. At my confused expression Sakura explained for me.
"We've got to get you clothes to celebrate your birthday." I was still confused.
"You celebrate on birthdays?" What I said made everyone look at me oddly.
"You've never had a party for your birthday." I still looked confused.
"Are we supposed to have one?" I tilted my head to the side in question. Ten Ten came up and hugged me.
"That's it. I'm definitely making sure this is the best birthday you have." She declared followed by a lot of yeahs from the other girls then pulled me into the clothing store. Okay after two hours of arguing in the store I finally had some clothes. Shopping with seven other women is tiring. Everyone kept changing what they wanted me to wear. Thank goodness for Hinata, she made the whole process go faster and our taste in clothes was similar so I stuck with her for the shopping trip mostly. I'm now in a plain brown shirt with a blue jacket, green leggings, and yellow frilly shorts. I took out Shika's ribbon and used it to tie a loose ponytail in my hair. We went to Sasuke's house where I held that party before the final round to the Chunin Exams. I walked into the room, it was dark with no lights. When suddenly the lights flickered on with everyone yelling 'happy birthday'. Me being me I flipped out not expecting that.
"I swear to God I didn't touch the monkey!" I was a defensive stance ready for attack when I realized who it was. All the people in the room sweat dropped when they looked at me. Except Gaara, Shino, and Shika; they all gave me 'really?' looks. I laughed nervously. "Hey people." After that everyone hung out, talking. For some reason Yoga man, Pirate, and Asuma checked out what all the drinks were before they let me drink anything. I talked with everyone, they all wished me a happy birthday. It felt weird since I never celebrated my birthday before. We already cut the cake but no one would let me near the knife. I was talking with Shika when Sakura and Ino dragged me away asking for my opinion. Sakura and Ino were talking about strategies to get Sasuke to notice them and they're asking me who's is better.
"Maybe I should try giving him the puppy dog face. He would find me adorable." Ino said.
"Yeah right Ino-pig," She jabbed her thumb at herself, "Sasuke would find me much cuter than you if I used my puppy dog face." Ino grew an irk mark on her head.
"What did you say Billboard-brow!?" Sakura smiled smugly at her.
"You heard me." Before Ino could retaliate I interrupted their conversation.
"Puppy dog face?" They both turned towards me.
"Yeah the face you use when you want something. Haven't you ever used it?" Ino explained looking at me. I shook my head. Please I don't beg, that's degrading.
"What's it look like?" After I asked she and Sakura explained more even trying to get me how to do it. Somehow all the females of the party came around giving tips on how to do it. 1)Shoulders bunched together 2)Look upwards 3)Pout your lip a little. I did all of it but they say somethings missing.
"She looks cute now but there something missing." Ten Ten said looking at me. I felt like an idiot just standing here in this pose. Temari nodded her head standing next to Ten Ten. Apparently they're friends now.
"You're right. It's her eyes. She doesn't really look like she wants it." All the females nodded. How on Earth they got Anko over here also is a mystery to me. I mean Kurenai I get but Anko? I guess even she has her inner girl as Sakura likes to call it. Ino snapped her fingers seeming to have figured something out.
"Akemi," I turned to her, "think of something you really want." Something I want, I don't know. I shrugged my shoulders. Ino went back to thinking. "I got it!" Everyone turned to Ino. "Shikamaru's said how you love apples. I have a load of out of season apples and will give them to you if you do this." My eyes lit up. Apple season is over so all the good apples are gone now. I would have to wait until it got warm again to get a decent apple. I thought it over then nodded. "Okay give us your best face then." ~Hands together, eyes looking up, pout lips slightly ,think of apples, think of apples~ All the girls blushed when they saw my face. Temari ran over to me hugging me.
"Oh my gosh, your so cute!" She was pretty much saying that the entire time. Ten Ten looked satisfied with her arms folded when she suddenly got an evil glint in her eyes.
"It looks like she got it! So lets do a test run on the boys." Kurenai and Anko had mischievous smiles on their faces. Sakura and Ino looked amused by the idea, along with Hinata who only showed some of her amusement at the idea. Ino turned me around to facing the boys then pushed me in their direction.
"Remember, apples." She reminded me. I really wanted those apples. I walked up to Shika who was talking to Choji. He saw me then smiled, I smiled back.
"Hey Shika the girls wanted me to show the guys this new trick they showed me to do." He looked interested. Naruto and Kiba the more loud out of the group seemed interested too. Soon all the Genin boys were there waiting for me to show them. Gaara even came after Kankuro pulled him along. I'm glad they acting more like siblings now. The adult men watched from the side looking at the group of girls suspiciously. I turned my head to all the girls who were laughing to themselves. They nodded so turned back to the group doing what I did before pretty much just focusing on the thought of getting those apples. Soon all the boys started blushing red. Some even had some blood dripping out of their nose. The girls behind me erupted into laughter while the men looked at me as flabbergasted as the boys did. Shika snapped out of it first pulling me outside for a moment still blushing.
"Don't show others that face again."
"Why?" I only did it for the apples. His face was getting red.
He covered his mouth with his hand, getting redder, then mumbled loud enough for me to hear, "Because you're too cute. I don't want anyone else to see that face." I blushed now. I nodded my head though. I grabbed his hands. We both stayed outside for the rest of the party talking with each other. I laughed at a couple things he said, Shika can be funny when he wants to be. I'm sure someone noticed by now that we were gone but no one came out to get us. I spent the rest of my birthday with Shika.
"I wonder if it would look good." He murmured. I tipped my head to the side asking him what he meant silently. Shika stared at me for a couple minutes. Finally he just pointed to come closer to him. I scooted next to him. He pulled out a pretty white flower putting it in my hair. He smiled at me. "Happy Birthday, Akemi."