Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Who knew... ❯ 32. OININS ( Chapter 32 )

32. OININS

 

Asuka was sitting on her bed, in the small, standardized flat Ren and her were sharing in Kirigakure. The girl looked out of the window; it was snowing. Not that it was strange. But she missed the feeling of the hot sun on her skin badly. The building overlooked the shinobi headquarter, a huge building, grey, cold and humid.

 

That was quite depressing.

 

She was wearing her usual dark outfit, which the Yoshizumi clan shared with the Uchiha, a high collar dark blue jumper, and dark blue trousers. A red ribbon tied her hair in her usual high ponytail, leaving the fringe covering her forehead and almost her eyes. She sighed. Her hair. Yes, she will have to write about that, too.

 

She grabbed a scroll, and began to write.

 

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Dear Hitomi-chan, dear Tomoyo-chan,

 

Ren and I are pretty bored.

 

It is almost two weeks since we left Konoha, and ten days since we've become Kirigakure Oinins.

 

We were put in a four man team, but our team leader doesn't find their preparation satisfactory, so… he sent us back to school!!! Do you understand?

 

Back. To. School.

 

I feel like killing him.

 

The missions, that pathetic geisha training, and now…now…academy? Ok, it isn't really academy. But still! I can't stand this awful place. Everything is covered in snow, it's cold, wet, frozen, and sunlight is barely visible through the thick clouds. The rare times it appears, it reflects on the snow and it hurts the eyes.

 

Oh man, I am complaining like a little girl.

 

The lessons at the academy don't satisfy us; well, me, at least. It is all about stuffs we had already studied while testing to enter the Anbu…human body, and so on.

 

Be given the identity of the nukenin (missing nin) to find, check the Bingo book, look for him, and eventually fight him.

 

Then.

 

Kill the target, taking the head as proof, and then completely dispose of the body.

This part is just creepy.

Cremation, or the summoning of crows to devour the corpse are the most used techniques, and the Yoshizumi cousins have already grown to hate the smell of death that surrounds Oinins. You would do to.

 

I come to believe that if the Anbu are powerful and fearful, Oinins are even eerier.

 

These masks of theirs, to begin, are far more frightening then those of the Anbu members. They show no features, and barely have openings for the eyes. They made the shinobi look like those anthropomorphous demons of the Japanese culture.

 

Not to mention, they are annoying to wear. I almost can't breath behind that thing.

 

And then, the way we kill.

 

Girls, in just two weeks I killed more people than I ever killed in months of Anbu, back in Konoha. I can't sleep at night, their faces hunt me.

 

Anbu fight; they give the enemy the chance to die fighting for their lives.

 

Oinins, well, they don't.

 

We hit, hiding in the darkness, surprising the nukenin, and giving them a silent, maybe sweeter death.

 

As hunter-nin we're also taught about how the human body works and how to kill people easily, we're trained on the precise use of senbon; we must be able to incapacitate or kill a person with a single needle.

A single senbon, a single needle is enough to break the life of a human being.

 

No words, no fighting, no special moves…actually, no movement at all, except for the quick, precise flashing of the hand that throws the goddamn needle.

 

Everyone says `Asuka, and Ren, you seem created on purpose to become Oinin'.

 

Is that supposed to be an insult?!

 

Because if it's a compliment, well, which part of `you seem created to kill people who don't even know you are there' could be a compliment?!

 

Screw them.

 

They say we could make victims in an even more anonymous, cold way. Ishigan. Ishigan. They want us to kill with Ishigan. They don't know us, ok, but how could one expect to kill so mercilessly?! I am no Orochimaru!

 

Ishigan, to block them, and allow the team members to proceed with the senbon. Ishigan, to stop the heart of the nukenin, with just one look. They were disappointed when we both refused to do so. My way of the ninja imposes me to let the targets fight for their lives.

 

Hunting the missing nins, which is where the fun is supposed to be, is nothing if compared to the burden of disposing of the body in the very spot we had killed him, witnessing until we're absolutely sure that no traces of the body are left. It's horrible, but it has to be done in order to make sure the village secrets which a ninja's body holds will not be revealed to outsiders. Chakra types, herbs eaten, ninjutsu, advanced bloodlines - all this knowledge has to die and disappear with the corpse of the nukenin.

 

We have to reach perfection.

 

Our team leader requires perfection.

 

And Tomori Isoshi is indeed one to be feared.

 

This Oinin reminds me of Kakashi sempai.

I think that the two are probably of the same age; no, he doesn't look like my former sempai at all, no white hair, no mask, no eyes fixed on the reading of weird porn books, no mismatched eyes. But yes, he is handsome. Girls, you'd love him. He has short blond hair, almost white, which, I am sure, is dyed; it is far too blond to be natural. But still, I can't picture my new Taichou dying his hair in front of the mirror…nah. It is messy, but nothing like sempai's. He has had this sort of distracted elegance, which allows him to look handsome even in the middle of a storm or in the middle of a fight.

 

He fought very well, the few times I had the chance to see him actually fight. He always carries a katana, rather unusual for Oinins. I like that katana. Kakashi once told me that in Kiri they are famous swordsman. Isoshi is tall, taller then Kakashi; Ren had said that he is probably around 1,85 m. You know I am not good with age or height guessing! His strength and the particular care he takes in training make his natural lean body muscular, which, for Oinins, who use to kill with senbon and not with fighting, is pretty unusual.

 

There was something that reminded me of someone else. The first to notice had been Ren.

 

I think I was still hurt and trying to think of this someone as less as possible.

 

You know who I am talking about.

 

His manners, his behaviour, his posture, the way he talks and the way he commands, it is typically…Uchiha-like. And, more specifically, Itachi-like.

 

The coldness irradiating through these pale green orbs of his is scaring, and the way he always asks for precision, for constancy, for the very best we can do, it is typical of the teme. Then, then he has this way to speak, which makes him even more Itachi-like…he would command, regardless of what he is asking, a simple `how are you' or `kill that man'. He always commands, and he does it using as less words as possible.

 

But Isoshi has something I don't believe Itachi could ever allow himself: he has love.

 

Isoshi has a wife.

 

He is young, he is too damn young to be married!!!

 

All Kiri kunoichi's think alike, and I agreed for a short time.

 

Then the words `young' and `married' in the same sentence began giving me the creeps, and I came to think that by his age I will be married…

 

So I decided never to mention to myself the young age of the Taichou and his love life again.

 

I don't want to think about wedding, but above all, I don't want to think about *him*.

Him.

Him.

 

That idiot human being, that mean creature that (ok girls, I can tell you) is everything I think and dream about, day and night.

 

What the hell did he meant, kissing me and then smirking satisfied `don't wait for me'?! And who ever told him that I would have waited for him??? I wouldn't have.

 

Shit.

 

I would have.

 

I'm such a loser.

 

Does that mean I sort of…chose…him?

 

Well, yes, and no.

 

I'm even more confused. And I'm a total moron… it looks as if I am waiting for him to do something so bad and unforgivable to me, which will allow me to give up on him for real.

 

I think that I am an idiot, because we all know Uchiha Itachi; we all know that he is so not the boy for romance, that he would treat everyone badly, or at least keep people at a distance. I knew it perfectly. But those little, brief moments in which he was different…girls, you really should have seen him. The usual rude-yet-graceful, commanding Itachi, with that touch of softness that…that…oh.

 

And I am baka enough to be all shivering and smiling whenever I think of the kiss itself…and all depressed and sad when I reach the `after-kiss'…

 

Wait.

 

I don't want to think of him.

 

Ren had tried to convince me (after I had calmed him down, the boy was a little overreacting at the news of his `precious cousin' being kissed by anyone, and more specifically, by Itachi) that what the Uchiha had done was just an attempt to ease my waiting. If I had nothing to wait for, than time would have passed faster…but even Ren didn't sound too convinced when he explained his theory.

 

C'mon! That doesn't even make sense. Ok, Itachi is a genius, and geniuses often have a twisted mind…but that would be too twisted, even for someone like him…

 

In love or not, we will get married, and share a life together, and probably do things together, and you perfectly know what I mean, no, I am not afraid of the word itself, nor shy, it just makes me wanna slaughter somebody…

 

Sigh.

 

Avoiding Isoshi's love life is impossible. Well, it's not like he really shows any emotion or anything, but having his wife around all the time certainly doesn't help.

 

Enoki Aya, a young woman with dark, black skin and a constant raven high ponytail, is not only one of the best kunoichi, but also one of the kindest women Ren and I have ever met.

 

She helped us with the lessons, gave us advices and revealed us things that we would have never known otherwise.

 

Ren appears much more skilled than me, in the anatomical part of the job. But that was rather obvious, him being a medic ninja.

 

I fought and killed, and find boring, if not annoying, all this studying.

 

You know me.

 

I love reading, I loved studying, but scientific subjects…no, that's just sooo not my business.

 

I love history, literature, law. But ask me what a duodenum is, and no, all you will get is a blank stare.

 

This sort of…rejection I have towards anatomy is one of the main causes of fights between Ishoshi-taichou and me.

 

Oh yeah, girl, I do fight with my goddamn Taichou. Once I almost threw a shuriken at him.

 

But I didn't, because here in Kiri they are much more strict and severe than in Konoha.

 

Mr Perfection-sama is never satisfied with what two of the youngest and strongest (^^) shinobi of Konoha can do; Aya confessed that he had begun complaining as soon as he found out about our age.

 

“You brats”, that was how he usually addresses us. And Asuka, Asuka would not shut up. Asuka had never been one to shut up, you know me, even if Kakashi and Itachi had tried to work on that side of me, finding it un-shinobi-like.

 

You'd think Isoshi-teme would stop complaining when he found out that we're members of the Yoshizumi clan, but no way, the fact that I'm the clan heir didn't stop him either.

 

Actually, he had changed the way he calls us from “You brats” to “You spoiled noble brats”.

 

Ren is patient and does nothing but sigh, and tries to block me whenever I am to close to let my instinct overcome my common sense and go killing Taichou-teme.

 

And today he began complaining about my hair, too! He is saying things like `it will only get in the way', or `you are a shinobi not a model', and `tomorrow I want to see that hair disappeared'. He sooo gets on my nerves. Nobody talks bad about my hair.

 

Yes, girls, in Kiri both Yoshizumi cousins are having a hard time.

 

Hugs,

Asuka

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* * *

 

A letter from Tomoyo, a letter from Hitomi, one from Shinji-chan and one from Shisui. She loved those little pieces of Konoha that Shisui used to send her. A leaf, a small dried flower, a sketch…Shisui was really the cutest of boys. Dammit, Asuka, why didn't you go for him instead of those two heartless bastards? Well, more specifically, that cold hearted bastard.

 

Kakashi hadn't been writing.

 

Itachi hadn't been writing.

 

Not that she expected them to write, of course. But still, she had hoped that her two former team mates would have proven her wrong.

 

“In your dreams, Asuka” she muttered, when she checked their mailbox at the headquarter, where the two had been given related rooms.

 

Aya had stopped by her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Are you waiting for mail, Asuka-chan?” she had asked, politely.

 

The girl nodded. Aya invited her to have a tea at her house, and the girl accepted.

 

She really didn't know how, nor why, but a few minutes later she had found herself telling Aya everything about what she had left in Konoha, and why she (and Ren) had been forced to leave and go to Kiri.

 

Aya had listened silently, nodding and with teary eyes whenever the younger girl had come into details.

 

When she had finished, Asuka had felt relieved. “I really feel better now. Even if I fear I might have been too harsh on…my family, and Itachi, you know. After all, that was just my point of view!” she said, on second thought.

 

“You could write a novel based on your life, Asuka-chan” Aya said laughing “The story of a girl torn between the handsome and kind man, and the handsome and jerk boy…an arranged wedding and a forced exile…” she recited, with a fake solemn voice.

 

The Yoshizumi girl laughed. “So, now you know where I am when I am not at the academy or in mission with you guys.”

 

Aya nodded. “Geisha. Oh kami. Did you learn anything…useful, by now? I mean, in spite of my young age I am a married woman, and I might want to learn a few of these geisha tricks” the kunoichi said, grinning slyly.

 

“Oh god, no! They think I am still too young for…that stuff” Asuka shook her head violently, blushing. “But if you want, I know how to make a perfect tea, following the traditional details…” she added, smirking.

 

“Mmm, I don't think I am interested in *that*” Aya smirked back.

 

Asuka looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the older kunoichi's kitchen. It was already 6 pm.

 

“I must go now” Asuka announced “geisha training, you know. Wanna come?” she asked jokingly.

 

“No, thanks!” Aya replied.

 

“Bye bye, Aya-san. Thank you for the tea, and for the chat. It was nice talking to you! You really made me feel better.” Asuka bowed lightly.

 

“Hey hey hey, what's with that formality? We are team mates, and, I hope, friends…so, Asuka-chan, you can call me Aya, or Aya-chan” Isoshi's wife said smiling.

 

“Arigato, Aya-chan!” Asuka said.

“And Asuka-chan, forgive Isoshi. Sometimes he's a real bastard. Don't tell him I told you, but in spite of his harsh manners…he is pretty satisfied with you two. You are the first members of a team led by Isoshi, except for me, that won't escape running and ask to change team! I think he actually likes you. He had never had nicknames for anyone, before.”

 

“Nicknames? Oh, you're talking about `brats', `spoiled brats', `useless brats' and so on? Good to know he likes us. You know, brats are usually rather rude to those they don't like. Bye, Aya-chan!”

 

And now…now, breathe deeply, and get ready to face the geishas.

 

Yu hu.