(no subject)
Time for the next five of the year-drabble challange!
SIX - sannin
---
By the time Asuka had been an academy student for a year, she'd been used to the semi-presence of the Hokage and an older, unlikeable brother. But when she was six, she finally got to meet the sannin. Which, all stories about them put aside, she really knew nothing about.
It was hard to decide what to say. Ultimately, like all things in Asuka's life so far, what actually came out was unplanned.
"Why are your eyes so weird looking?" she blurted out at Orochimayu during introductions, not even able to keep her mouth shut until dinner started. Her foster parents immediately started in with apologies and hushed her pretty much every other time she opened her mouth to speak for the rest of the night.
Except for during a lull after dinner, when Asuka was closer to the other two sannin than Orochimayu.
"Those eyes are what happens when you spend too much time being a bitch," Jimaiya said conspiratorially.
At which Tsurude smacked his teammate across the back of the head. "Shut up," he hissed. "I don't want her to hear that and think it was me."
They were definitely... weird, she ultimately decided. Interesting, but weird.
SEVEN - parents/funerals #1
---
She didn't find out until school had let out for the day.
"Didja hear about the southwest district of Odaiba?" a classmate said as they passed the old wooden swing. "They say it got totaled. That's why they made us do those drills during lu-"
But Asuka didn't stick around to hear anymore after that. She still had to go home - to the southwest district of Odaiba.
The damage was obvious from a long distance away, and the further she got to the south the worse it got. Burnt out buildings, rubble, places where smoke was billowing from fires still burning. It had happened hours ago, but people were still digging through the mess and tried to stop her as she went by. But she just slipped under their arms and kept running.
She didn't realize she was making any noise until Tsurude got in her way. She dropped her school bag and tried to get past him, tried to scramble up the shattered path to the smoking ruin of her home, but he caught her around the waist and dragged her away. That was when she realized that keening little chant of nonononononono was coming from her.
"You don't want to see that, chibi," the sannin said quietly, and carried her back to the Hokage tower while she cried.
EIGHT - jimaiya/puppets
---
The spunky little girl had grown withdrawn and hostile in the year since her foster parents had died. To say that she hated her new life would probably be something of an understatement; she snapped at every question, picked fights that weren't needed, and was constantly sneaking out of the Hokage's house or not being where she said she'd be or running away or otherwise being an obnoxious little brat. Jimaiya was damn glad Sarutobi-sensei hadn't asked her to watch the girl. She would have killed Asuka by now, instead of just tying her up in closets or hanging her on door-hooks like Tsurude.
Didn't mean she couldn't put the girl to use, though.
"Perfect!" she purred, turning the sock over in her hands to inspect the stitching. "Now draw a face on it, would you please? These will be the eyes ~"
"Why the hell do you want me to sew buttons eyes and draw faces on socks?" the girl asked suspiciously (and such a dirty mouth already!).
Jimaiya dropped the nice front and gave the kid a glare. "Just do it," she snapped, and with a dirty look Asuka complied.
Really. Kids these days.
Now all she had to do was get her blonde student away from her students long enough to give a little 'presentation' ~
NINE - orochimayu/graduation
---
Asuka had no friends in her class when she graduated from the shinobi academy, so she didn't stick around after the ceremony. There was no one she cared to watch during the rest of the graduation, and no one there to watch her, either. Tsurude was on a mission, and Hokage-sama was busy with her usual work. She didn't care.
She didn't want to go home; there was nothing there, either. So she wandered through the streets of town, aimlessly slipping through the crowds with no real direction. Eventually she sat down on a curb and rested her head in her hands, not even caring if the clouds overhead threatened rain. Like it mattered if she got sick.
It was Orochimayu who found her first. The sannin didn't bother with an umbrella, unlike the few others on the streets after the rain broke, and it was the hiss of her robes on the wet concrete that got Asuka's attention at last.
"D'y'think it's funny I don't have any friends?" she asked on the way home. (She knew better than to fight Orochimayu, not after the first time she'd seen the back of the woman's hand.)
"Friends are worthless," the sannin replied absently. "They only drag you down."
Those words stuck with Asuka longer than either expected.
TEN - tsurude/'s girlfriend
---
Asuka had been a genin for a year, had been to the front, had saved lives, had taken lives, had helped medics in the triage tents along the front of the war, and had even started picking up a few medical jutsu (that she would get killed for if Kouga-sensei - or anyone else - knew), and yet when she came home, she was still just a brat and an unruly child to everyone who looked at her. She was blooded, damnit; she was a ninja. She deserved to be treated with a little bit of respect for what she'd seen and done. But no - to Tsurude, she was still little more than a snot-nosed pain in the ass.
This deserved greater revenge than a simple egging.
"Did you know that Jimaiya writes porn?" she asked his girlfriend one time she was over for dinner, and Tsurude wasn't in the room. "She writes a lot of porn. And some of it she writes for Tsurude. You know what it means when people write each other porn, right?"
The rest of dinner was spent in frosty silence, to Tsurude's confusion. Asuka just smiled beatifically and remained the perfect angel.
After all, by the time the shit hit the fan, she'd be back at the front again. And far, far, far away from Tsurude's bloodthirsty aura.
SIX - sannin
---
By the time Asuka had been an academy student for a year, she'd been used to the semi-presence of the Hokage and an older, unlikeable brother. But when she was six, she finally got to meet the sannin. Which, all stories about them put aside, she really knew nothing about.
It was hard to decide what to say. Ultimately, like all things in Asuka's life so far, what actually came out was unplanned.
"Why are your eyes so weird looking?" she blurted out at Orochimayu during introductions, not even able to keep her mouth shut until dinner started. Her foster parents immediately started in with apologies and hushed her pretty much every other time she opened her mouth to speak for the rest of the night.
Except for during a lull after dinner, when Asuka was closer to the other two sannin than Orochimayu.
"Those eyes are what happens when you spend too much time being a bitch," Jimaiya said conspiratorially.
At which Tsurude smacked his teammate across the back of the head. "Shut up," he hissed. "I don't want her to hear that and think it was me."
They were definitely... weird, she ultimately decided. Interesting, but weird.
SEVEN - parents/funerals #1
---
She didn't find out until school had let out for the day.
"Didja hear about the southwest district of Odaiba?" a classmate said as they passed the old wooden swing. "They say it got totaled. That's why they made us do those drills during lu-"
But Asuka didn't stick around to hear anymore after that. She still had to go home - to the southwest district of Odaiba.
The damage was obvious from a long distance away, and the further she got to the south the worse it got. Burnt out buildings, rubble, places where smoke was billowing from fires still burning. It had happened hours ago, but people were still digging through the mess and tried to stop her as she went by. But she just slipped under their arms and kept running.
She didn't realize she was making any noise until Tsurude got in her way. She dropped her school bag and tried to get past him, tried to scramble up the shattered path to the smoking ruin of her home, but he caught her around the waist and dragged her away. That was when she realized that keening little chant of nonononononono was coming from her.
"You don't want to see that, chibi," the sannin said quietly, and carried her back to the Hokage tower while she cried.
EIGHT - jimaiya/puppets
---
The spunky little girl had grown withdrawn and hostile in the year since her foster parents had died. To say that she hated her new life would probably be something of an understatement; she snapped at every question, picked fights that weren't needed, and was constantly sneaking out of the Hokage's house or not being where she said she'd be or running away or otherwise being an obnoxious little brat. Jimaiya was damn glad Sarutobi-sensei hadn't asked her to watch the girl. She would have killed Asuka by now, instead of just tying her up in closets or hanging her on door-hooks like Tsurude.
Didn't mean she couldn't put the girl to use, though.
"Perfect!" she purred, turning the sock over in her hands to inspect the stitching. "Now draw a face on it, would you please? These will be the eyes ~"
"Why the hell do you want me to sew buttons eyes and draw faces on socks?" the girl asked suspiciously (and such a dirty mouth already!).
Jimaiya dropped the nice front and gave the kid a glare. "Just do it," she snapped, and with a dirty look Asuka complied.
Really. Kids these days.
Now all she had to do was get her blonde student away from her students long enough to give a little 'presentation' ~
NINE - orochimayu/graduation
---
Asuka had no friends in her class when she graduated from the shinobi academy, so she didn't stick around after the ceremony. There was no one she cared to watch during the rest of the graduation, and no one there to watch her, either. Tsurude was on a mission, and Hokage-sama was busy with her usual work. She didn't care.
She didn't want to go home; there was nothing there, either. So she wandered through the streets of town, aimlessly slipping through the crowds with no real direction. Eventually she sat down on a curb and rested her head in her hands, not even caring if the clouds overhead threatened rain. Like it mattered if she got sick.
It was Orochimayu who found her first. The sannin didn't bother with an umbrella, unlike the few others on the streets after the rain broke, and it was the hiss of her robes on the wet concrete that got Asuka's attention at last.
"D'y'think it's funny I don't have any friends?" she asked on the way home. (She knew better than to fight Orochimayu, not after the first time she'd seen the back of the woman's hand.)
"Friends are worthless," the sannin replied absently. "They only drag you down."
Those words stuck with Asuka longer than either expected.
TEN - tsurude/'s girlfriend
---
Asuka had been a genin for a year, had been to the front, had saved lives, had taken lives, had helped medics in the triage tents along the front of the war, and had even started picking up a few medical jutsu (that she would get killed for if Kouga-sensei - or anyone else - knew), and yet when she came home, she was still just a brat and an unruly child to everyone who looked at her. She was blooded, damnit; she was a ninja. She deserved to be treated with a little bit of respect for what she'd seen and done. But no - to Tsurude, she was still little more than a snot-nosed pain in the ass.
This deserved greater revenge than a simple egging.
"Did you know that Jimaiya writes porn?" she asked his girlfriend one time she was over for dinner, and Tsurude wasn't in the room. "She writes a lot of porn. And some of it she writes for Tsurude. You know what it means when people write each other porn, right?"
The rest of dinner was spent in frosty silence, to Tsurude's confusion. Asuka just smiled beatifically and remained the perfect angel.
After all, by the time the shit hit the fan, she'd be back at the front again. And far, far, far away from Tsurude's bloodthirsty aura.