“Incoming” – Chapter 8
I told you it’d be up soon! This is chapter eight and I have a warning: there are some bad words in this chapter, so the rating’s upped a bit to keep me out of trouble with the officials. This chapter is kinda long, so get a snack, maybe a drink, and get comfy.
Disclaimer: The Naruto characters all belong to Kishimoto Masashi-dono, but Ava and Hashirigaki are entirely MY ideas, so no stealing!
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I yawned heavily as I woke up and moved to toss the sheets off of me…except there were no sheets. It turns out I had rolled out of bed and continued sleeping on the floor. Good thing the carpet was soft. I sat myself up on the floor and blinked slowly as the sleepies began to move away and my brain started functioning again. I usually woke up perky and set for the day, but today was Saturday: the one day I permitted myself to be the laziest I could be, so five AM was hard for me to wake up at.
“Good morning Sleeping Beauty! Sleep well?” Hashirigaki asked, his transparent self upside-down and about six inches from my face. I scowled at the guardian angel and swatted at him irritably before he hovered away and folded his arms over his chest as he flipped himself right side up. “Grumpy, much?”
“Mhhmffgheh…” I mumbled as I stood on tired legs and shuffled towards my pile of clean clothes. I picked out a brown tee-shirt, cream-white knee-shorts, and a clean pair of undies before leaving my room and entering the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and grumbled a few incoherent words before grabbing my toothbrush and squirting a generous amount of toothpaste on the bristles.
“Sorry? I didn’t quite catch that.” Hashirigaki said as he stood behind me. I took a couple minutes to brush my teeth vigorously before spitting into the sink and rinsing. I let out a sigh and looked at Hashi over my shoulder.
“Halitosis is a bitch…” I said before Hashirigaki hovered out of the room, laughing his ghostly butt off. I then undressed out of my pjs and redressed into my selected outfit. I then returned to my room, dumped my pjs on the floor and started heading towards the kitchen. As I walked by Shino’s room, I remembered my promise to take care of his bugs. I approached the door and several kikaichu buzzed out to hover in front of me. “Uhmm…good morning! Has Shino-kun already taken care of his bugs?” I asked the insect awkwardly. It’d be a while before I could comfortably converse with beings nobody normally converses with.
“He did,” One of the male Kikaichu said as he bobbed up and down in the air, “He wants you to check up on them every morning and every night.” I nodded at the insect.
“Alright. I won’t disturb you guys then.” I said and turned away to head down the stairs and into the kitchen. I saw a few dishes in the sink, immaculately cleaned, and a note on the refrigerator door. I pulled the note off the door and stared at it awkwardly before sighing sadly. “Ava can’t read Kanji…no matter how neat it is…” I said sadly as anime tears rolled down my cheeks in waterfalls, until I hear Hashirigaki clear his throat behind me. My tears stopped and I looked at the ghostly figure questioningly.
“I can translate it, Ava.” Hashirigaki said before taking the note and reading it out loud, “‘Ava, please go shopping. There’s money hidden under the wasps’ nest in the greenhouse. Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. Shino.’ Huh…if he needs you to go shopping, I wonder what’s left…” Hashi said before handing the note back to me. I scowled at the piece of paper for a minute.
“What am I, the maid?” I asked angrily before placing the paper on the counter and opening the fridge. Inside was a bag of two apples, a hunk of cheese on a plate, half a stick of butter, two eggs, a leek, a quarter gallon of milk, and a hunk of ham…seriously, that was ALL the food in Shino-kun’s refrigerator. My eye twitched irritably and I sighed before digging through the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen. All to be found was a bunch of utensils, plates, bowls, every other basic of a kitchen, and two instant ramen cups in the pantry, along with a bunch of other expired foods. I grimaced and dug around the kitchen again to find the drawer that had a frying pan in it. “Success!” I shouted, lifting the pan above my head. It was a medium-sized pan, about a foot and a half in diameter, and I set it on the stove.
I looked up, down, and around the stove until I found it was an old-fashion gas stove. You know, the kinds where you have to put on the gas and then light it with a match? That kind. I was a little skeptical to put the stove into use, though, and Hashirigaki noticed.
“Something the matter?” Hashi asked as he sat on one of the counters.
“Yeah. This is Shino-kun’s house and he’s an Aburame, and insect master. I don’t know what effect the gas will have on the bugs.” I muttered gnawing lightly on my right index finger. It’s what I do when I get concerned.
“If you crack open the window, the gas can go outside and cause minimal damage, if any. If the gas bothers you so much, why don’t you ask this little kikaichu here?” Hashirigaki asked as the familiar female kikaichu from last night hovered over and landed on my right shoulder.
“Ne, what do you think?” I asked the bug awkwardly. Again, talking to animals will take a while. The kikaichu seemed to pause for a moment (in thought?) before answering.
“The gas won’t hurt us. It doesn’t affect us. Shino-sama makes sure of it.” The little insect answered.
“Well, alright.” I said before digging out the matches from a nearby drawer and opening the window above the stove. I turned on the gas (low) and lit a match. The gas caught fire and then I set the frying pan on the small, yet very hot, flames. “Butter and eggs first…” I muttered, grabbing said food items out of the fridge. I also grabbed the other foods and placed them nearby my cooking station. Some minutes later, I performed the final flip and my freshly made omelet landed neatly on the plate I set next to the stove.
“An omelet? Hadn’t seen you make one of them in a week.” Hashirigaki said as he floated above me. I quickly turned off the stove and set the pan in the sink under some cool water.
“Yeah, well…I needed to clear out the refrigerator and I wanted something eggy.” I answered as I cleaned the counter and turned to my healthy eggy feast (mainly because I don’t eat much anyway). I quickly poured myself a glass of milk, finished off the carton and tossed it in the garbage bin in one of the cabinets. “Time for food!” I sang as I plopped myself down at the dining room table with all the necessaries of breakfast.
It was sometime later, during my morning jog, that I remembered I had to visit Tsunade in training field…eight? ‘Maybe the kikaichu know.’ I thought, turning to my seemingly constant companion. “Could you show me to where I needed to meet Tsunade? I’m fairly sure where, but I don’t know the way.” The female kikaichu bobbed up and down next to me before taking off in a direction. It was about nine-ish and the streets were getting active: stores were opening up, kids were hanging out or playing on their day off from school, and several ANBU and other ninjas zipped around overhead, still having work despite the weekend. The little kikaichu turned a corner and I sped up to follow, before accidentally crashing into someone once I rounded the house. I landed butt-first on the ground before taking the time to realize who I ran into.
“Ah! Watch where you’re going!” A blonde female shouted at me. She wore a purple, sleeveless, button-up tummy shirt, a matching purple skirt with slits in the front and (I assumed) the back that showed her purple spandex shorts underneath. She had a set of fishnet shorts sticking out from under the spandex shorts and had fishnet over her elbows and knees; her shoes were a lot like Sakura’s…only a shade of purple.
‘If there’s anyone in Naruto that likes purple as much as this girl, it’s Yamanaka Ino.’ Lo and behold, when I looked up and noted her style of hair, it was styled with a fringe over her right eye and her long hair was in a high ponytail. ‘It’s Ino all right.’
“Er…sumimasen. I was in a hurry to meet Tsunade-sama.” I said to Ino as I stood, dusted myself off and ran down the street to find the little kikaichu. Suddenly, Ino grabbed my arm and I skidded to a halt.
“You’re looking for Tsunade-sama? Shizune should know where she is. You could probably find her in the Hokage tower.” Ino said, indicating the Hokage building I’d already visited twice. The little insect from before suddenly flew in and landed on my shoulder, fortunately without Ino noticing, and I smiled thankfully at the blonde. “I’m Ino by the way. Yamanaka Ino.” The blonde stuck out her hand.
“Woods Ava, I’m new here.” I answered, grabbing her hand and shaking it quickly before running off towards the tower. “Sorry! I’m gonna be late!” I heard Ino laugh in the distance and I quickly weaved my way through the crowds, moving close to my top speed, and dodged the various obstacles in my way. A crate sat in my way and I easily leapt over it, then an accidental barricade of fruit from a spilled cart, and lastly a game of hopscotch before I got to the entrance to the Hokage tower. I paused and caught my breath before noticing a familiar green jacket and the blonde dual-ponytail. “Tsunade-sama!” I shouted happily, jogging up to the woman. She turned around and smirked, seeing my slightly disheveled appearance.
“Woods Ava. I thought I told you to meet me at training ground 8?” Tsunade asked, folding her arms under her busty chest.
“Yeah…well…I had some free time and wanted to see if you were available.” I answered, slightly out of breath, “Besides, Shino-kun isn’t here right now, so I’d get lost if I tried looking for it.” I scratched the back of my head sheepishly and the little kikaichu on my shoulder buzzed irritably, knowing that I made a jab at her getting lost.
“Okay, but I need to do some paperwork. Care to do some filing?” Tsunade asked, an evil smirk on her face.
“Actually, my dad had me doing filing for his company a few years ago.” I answered casually. Besides running, schoolwork, and hiding from my brother, I was very good and fairly fast when it came to filing: last time, I was able to file away six years of troublesome paperwork in less than five hours. Needless to say, I was confident in my filing skills.
“Well then, let me show you to your desk, Ava.” Tsunade said with a smile. There was an evil aura dripping from her words and I gulped nervously. She would be having me do some real paperwork. Not the lame stuff from before, but real work. Oh how fun my day would be.
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It was sometime, maybe half an hour, before noon by the time Tsunade was done working with me. For the first hour after I met her in front of the Hokage tower, I’d run several miles in transporting papers here, there, and everywhere else around the village (with a map, of course) as her errand girl and the hour after that was spent sorting through the most vital and least important papers that piled up around Tsunade’s roomy office. I asked her once why Shizune was not here doing this and Tsunade answered that Shizune was away on ninja business. I sighed and spent the remainder of my time sorting, organizing and borderline threatening the female Hokage to tell me what she originally wanted me to meet her for.
“Alright Woods,” Tsunade started, stamping the last paper and setting it on top of a pile to go to the Ninja Academy, “you were wondering why I called you to meet me?”
“Yeah, am I getting and answer this time?” I asked irritably, setting a few packages to Tsunade on her desk. Albeit the packages were small, they were heavy! What was in those boxes? Iron balls? I rested my left elbow on the boxes and set my right hand on my hip. The blonde, busty Hokage smiled and chuckled faintly.
“The reason I called you to meet me was to test your potential ninja skills.” Tsunade said simply folding her hands in front of her nose. I was silent as I looked around, waiting for a trap to spring or for Tsunade to burst out laughing. I blinked for a moment before answering:
“You’re joking…I have no ninja skills!” I said in exasperation, taking my arm off the boxes and waving them around for emphasis. Tsunade chuckled again and smiled at me sweetly as she lowered her hands from in front of her face.
“Actually, Ava, you have amazing potential: first you delivered everything correctly and in a timely manner, you were able to sort out and determine priority effectively, and, from what I’ve seen, you’re fairly strong and athletic. Perfect kunoichi material.” Tsunade answered as she picked up a couple boxes to see who they were from. I let this all process and was silent for a minute or two.
”Uhm…Earth to Ava, Earth to Ava. Come in Ava.” Hashirigaki said, waving a transparent hand in front of my face. It was a second before I started speaking again.
“So…you’re serious? You think I’d be able to be a kunoichi?” I asked Tsunade eagerly. My excitement was just below the surface and was bound to burst through any second now. Tsunade looked up from her packages and smiled, nodding at me.
“After some serious training, yes. I think you’d-“
“OH, THANK YOU TSUNADE-SAMA!!” I shouted happily as I hugged her and laughed in joy. Tsunade was a bit…surprised from my outburst, but at least her ninja instincts didn’t make her throw me out the window. Then again, I wouldn’t care if I was thrown out of a window! I was too happy for words. ‘You hear that Hashi?! I get to be a kunoichi!!’
“Yeah, Ava. I heard.” Hashirigaki said, using his ghostly right pinky finger clean out his ghostly ear. His face appeared pained, but whatever, he’ll get over it. After all, I’m gonna be a kunoichi!
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Got kinda happy there at the end didn’t it? Well, how’d you feel if you just got the offer of a lifetime: to become a ninja? Think about it.
OMG, I wrote this thing so quick! Don’t expect another chapter too soon, because I’m riding waves of inspiration and they always fluctuate between maximal inspiration and none at all. (This chapter was at max.)
Ja ne, minna!
PS - Holy cranberries! I've already started chapter nine!
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