Chapter Text
Yuina startles.
-And nearly drops her tea and it’s only the quick stick of thin chakra to the rim of the cup that stops the whole thing from shattering on the floor. Hot tea still sloshes over, though- scalds at her careful fingers but that doesn’t matter when-
She squints at the tree line.
The ‘Hashirama’ trees rustle inconspicuously. Tall- so tall that it’s dizzying to try and contemplate- some man who lived far before her and he made trees so tall that they could hide a mountain- And they’re perfect to hide in- So, truly, was she simply imagining things when she thought she saw someone in them? Watching her?
Yuina’s not a fucking trained ninja- Just the plucky genius daughter of a farmer who’s long dead. But… But, for a second, she was certain she could feel it. Someone watching her. And the briefest glimpse of a tan cloth in the trees.
Her eyes don’t leave the dense woods as she takes another sip of tea.
And ugh, tea. They drink tea in Fire Country- not café. They don’t even grow the beans here. Because they can’t . The climate and soil are wrong. Not tropical. Not muggy with humidity.
(And if anyone says anything about the sudden rise of temperature and humidity the moment they step on Yuina’s farm- she’ll be the first to turn a deaf ear. Farmer’s chakra is farmer’s secrets .)
Yuina sighs, finally. The trees aren’t doing anything. Just normal tree stuff. Casting long shadows and rustling in the breeze. Hiding away Nara-men who like to jump from trees when she’s clearly trying to explore, nothing more.
The tea is barely there as she sips it- faint herbs and floral notes. Hot. Hot against the already hot air. It’s mostly morning ritual, at this point. She wakes up, tends her plants, washes off- and drinks a hot cup of whatever she’s managed to forage.
Yuina lets her legs swing from where she’s sitting on the engawa.
And then-
A twinge in the corner of her mind-
Something wrong wrong wrong- like a hunted deer that just knows- Brushing against her senses- something shadowed in her peripheral-
Yuina startles again.
And this time- her neck cracks from the whip of her head-
She turns-
Standing there openly with a smirk.
“Mochizuki-san.” Ensui raises a hand in greeting.
( This, Her brain tries to convince her. Tries to ease her jumpy nerves, This is it. It was only him. That’s all.
Nevermind that he wasn’t even wearing anything tan. )
Yuina forces her shoulder slack. The tea in her hands no longer feels like a lifeline. And perhaps her smile is a touch manic- but it’s soft enough for a casual greeting.
She waves back with a nod. “Ensui-san.”
She doesn’t exactly invite him closer- but Fire Country customs are different- and she did acknowledge him- So it’s no shock when Ensui wanders closer.
“You haven’t been in the Nara Forest in a few days.” His nose twitches. Probably the humidity. Or, at least, the use of his given name. He has no room to complain, however, when there are a hundred other 'Nara-san's.
Yuina hums, rolling her shoulders back and looking up at the sky.
(And there it is. His walk had been too casual. Too detached. But when she rolls her shoulders and looks up?
A hungry little look at her skin.)
She hides a smile into her next sip.
"No. I have not." She meets his gaze head-on and knows her eyes are just a touch too lidded to be casual- but not enough to be obvious. Just a tease- To keep him guessing. Wondering. To keep him confused.
Because Yuina likes to confuse men.
Especially pretty men with sharp eyes and wandering minds.
She leans back onto her palm and knows, like this, the arch of her back is accentuated- natural enough but she’s also a tease- Will make him wonder ‘Is this flirting or is she just leaning?’- Lidded-eyes and uneven smile- Chest pushed out and how fortunate that she’s wearing a low-neckline today, hm?
The bite of pink on his temples is pretty. Suits him. Pairs well with his blue-lined lids and tired expression. The Discreet-NotDiscreet flicker of his charcoal eyes to the muscles of her neck- to her eyes- to the line of her cleavage- Because all men think that a quick glance is never noticed but every woman always knows-
“I have just happened,” Yuina forgoes the tea and wriggles her pinkened fingers wryly, “To have burned my, eh…” And what is the word again? What is it- Oh! “My fingers .”
She flexes them and tries not to revel in the odd little way his eyelashes flutter. If he finds her hands attractive- then this is in her favor. Let him stare at her fingers.
(Ninjutsu Fingers. It’s a stupid thing to fixate on. Strong forearms with stable wrists. Long, slender fingers. Calluses on her palms. Long, slender, ninjustu-specialist fingers. Bulging biceps and shining skin-
And long, slender, nimble, flexible fingers that could-
No-, Ensui forces his eyes back to Mochizuki’s, Fucking stop.)
His eyes snap to hers with steely determination and Yuina might smirk, just a tiny bit. “I will need things for ointment.”
“Let’s walk together, then.” Ensui gestures lazily to the hundreds of clustered trees behind him.
(Yuina very, very purposely forgets about the color tan.)
-----
(ANBU Operative Monkey sighs in relief. He’d gotten just a bit too cocky, for a second.
Mentally, he marks down that Mochizuki has minor Sensing capabilities. The Hokage will find it important.)
-----
“Ah, wait a moment, Ensui-san.”
Do NOT focus on it. Forget about it. It’s not relevant. Forget about it forget about it forgetaboutitforge-
Ensui’s fingers twitch at his sides as he very, very respectfully keeps his eyes averted from Miss Mochizuki’s bent-over form.
It’s quiet. Stiflingly so, because this is the Nara Forest and everything is just slightly wrong here. Too-Strong Nature Chakra and deer-beasts that aren’t-summons-but-aren’t-normal-neither. Deer-beasts that are always fucking watching. Watching here and now as Nara Ensui pointedly ignores the fact that he and Mochizuki Yuina are so incredibly alone .
With no one else. No other prying eyes. Of course, except for the fucking Nara Deer.
(This deters. The Deer are notorious fucking gossips. )
“I am pleased to see áloe grows here. Very convenient.”
Yuina stands and she must be a natural flirt- Or this is intentional - because she flips away her ponytail and Ensui’s once again drawn to the magnificent columns of her neck- The deep, deep plunge of her shirt- And the swell of her breas- Shit-
“There are-” His fingers twitch, “-Patches we cultivate in the compound. It’s a very useful plant…”
This conversation is dull. Boring. Dry and empty small talk about a well-known medicinal plant so- So why is Ensui so fucking high-sprung? Why can’t he fucking concentrate?
“Indeed.” She smiles with pretty, plump, cherry lips. Her eyelashes do what must be a habitual slow-flutter- golden eyes holding his with a too-forward intensity. “It is much messy, though.”
Yuina holds up her hand pointedly. It’s absolutely coated in thick, viscous aloe- Sticky, drooping strands between her long, graceful, flexible fingers- Gooey and slimy and dripping down her wrist-
There are no words for how dry his mouth is.
(There is. It’s ‘ embarrassment’.)
-----
It is a bright, early, and- most importantly- positively Youthful morning!
More specifically- the sun is currently an approximated 50.6 degrees in the sky- Meaning it’s roughly 6:40 A.M- and what a beautiful, sunny morning to seize the day! The perfect kind of day to do 100 laps around the village on his hands!
It is, after all, his 94th lap.
(There is, and in this he is most certain, something to be said about the boundless restlessness that settles into his bones when he is without to-dos. After 100 hand-stand laps around Konoha is 200 push-ups, and then after that is 200 crunches, and then after that he runs through his kata, and then after that, he challenges his Eternal Rival!
And by then, it’s only 9 A.M. There is nothing else but buzzing chakra beneath his skin and an entire day to utilize to the fullest.)
Yosh! After my laps, perhaps I could add in a Most Youthful 200 Squats today! Routine is healthy for the mind of shinobi- but so too is a change for mental enrichmen-
It is entirely his fault.
It’s mid-95th lap- where he passes through the more rural edges of a farmer’s market- When it is nearing the 7th hour of a day- Where the stands are all set up and the earliest of early birds are already bustling- And he’s far too busy with an internal rant to notice the sudden step back a civilian takes- A civvy who must be new to Konoha because everyone knows that the Green Beast is making his rounds and to stay out of the way but she steps back- Right into his path-
Really, a most unfortunate, peculiar, rare set of circumstances.
They collide-
And Gai falls.
One beat passes.
He’s on the floor in a mess of ungraceful limbs. Flat on his back- Hair touselled- Messy and disoriented-
Then two beats.
He’s dizzy. Not too hurt- Quick enough to cycle chakra to absorb impact with the gravel path- but twinges of pain from the initial impact-
A third beat-
Pain from the impact? That’s not right. What civilian could possibly manage to cause him pain from a simple impact?
A fourth beat. Then a fifth- and then- and then-!
Gai jerks up onto his elbows. A Civvy knocked him over!
Then, most momentously, a sixth beat passes- And finally it dawns that-
The Civvy is still standing.
Hoh-! Knocked over by a civilian! Him! The Great, Mighty Green Beast of Konoha! Renowned for his incredible Taijutsu skills! And he’s been- He’s been knocked over by a civilian- who-! Who-!
Oh-!
(Red rolls up the back of his neck and into the very tips of his ears- Races over his temples and floods his cheeks and his breath is a lot harder to keep steady now-)
“Are you well, Shinobi-san?”
(A civilian who has muscles that rival his own. )
It’s the buzz of the entire market watching very obviously that makes him come to- makes him understand that he is very much still prone on the floor- makes him understand that he is, in fact, awkwardly gawking at this Spring Blossom-
No, Spring Redwood-
And everyone is whispering-
She half-smiles, knowingly, and Gai is swept by the mute beauty of that youthful curve of her lips-
“Need a hand?” A voice like sea-salted caramels, like the haze of summer heat on roads, like the roaring depths of the ocean filled with wandering jellyfish-like smoke-glazed sunsets- like--
Ah, he’s waxing poetic.
He clasps her hand firmly- (and goodness, the calluses! Years of hard work silently marking her palms- palms sturdy and strong and reaching out with long, graceful, ninjutsu fingers-) knees braced to lift himself entirely-
She lifts him before he can spark his chakra.
Flexing muscles- tendons and fibers and ligaments strong enough to lift a 6-foot, 200-pound man with just one curling bicep-
“I ask again,” She tilts her head prompting and the smirk on her lips is playful, “Are you well, Shinobi-san?”
He’s eye level with her clavicle .
Gai’s brain short-circuits.
Mouth moving before the thought is even complete-
“I am stunned by your Youthful strength and endless beauty.”
She blinks. Blinks again. Even with a stunned expression- she is an incomprehensive type of beauty. Strong, well-built. Tall. Tall. Truly like a Hashirama Tree! Boundless Youth- A Springtime well into its early bosoms- blossoms-!
“Would you, perhaps, join me in a challenge of 200 pushups..?” Almost breathlessly- Shamelessly, even.
(Gai is stricken by the way it slips from his mouth. Stupid. Stupid. He is hardly any smooth talker on a normal day. Women simply do not like his quirks. And here he is, sweaty and dirty, awkward and rumpled- and trying .
But he cannot stop the way he’s drawn to the slope of muscles in her neck. Gods. )
“Perhaps, instead, we can try for 200 laps of picking up my groceries, Shinobi-san.” And this smile is teasing. Glinting amber eyes that pierce his sensibilities and render him brainless- And they flick pointedly down to their feet.
Gai’s gaze is drawn to the floor. “Ah.”
There are loose vegetables on the gravel. Bok choi and celery and carrot and- It clicks!
“Ah!” Gai’s neck is red. Shoulders bunch up because- because- “My sincerest apologies, Fairest of Flowers!”
He cannot be any quicker to squat down and begin gathering runaway groceries. The groceries he knocked out of her hands because of his recklessness.
At this height- he is eye level with her knees. And the muscles of her calves are just as wonderfully sculpted . They tense and flex as she deepens into a squat too- squats near him to help pick up the vegetables he knocked from her sweet hands.
Their fingers brush and Gai jolts.
He’s sure, by now, even his forehead must be pink.
She chuckles and the sound soaks into his brain. “Do you run on hands through this market often, Shinobi-san?”
She’s called you Shinobi thrice now. Gai picks up a celery stalk demurely.
“Maito Gai-” He staggers, head fuzzy, chest hot- Dizzy, of all things, “I’m- Maito Gai.”
He looks up at her through his lashes. Just to see . To witness.
“Then,” Loose curls of her dark hair tumble over her wonderful shoulder as she reaches for a tomato. She smiles slightly- softer this time. “Do your run on hands through this market often, Maito-san ?”
Gai stills.
(There is something simply horrifying about the way a certain part of him twitches. A part of him that shouldn’t . Not here, not now- Most certainly not in public!)
“Yeaahh-” He clears his throat. “Yes. Yes, I, ah- Daily, I make 100 laps around the village and- and pass through this market.”
The last carrot is in her grasp before his. She stands. Gai follows and is once again swept by her height. She’s an entire head taller than him! Goodness-!
“Well,” Fairest of All Fair Blossoms grins sharply- almost feral, “I will see you around, then, won’t I?”
Marry Her. Solidify a Maito Clan with offspring-
He tries to respond. Truly. But his mouth drops open and all he can manage is a hitch of his breath.
He clears his throat again.
“M-most possibly…” His throat is an endless passage of sandpaper. He swallows fruitlessly.
“My groceries, Maito-san?” She shifts the basket at her hip. Pointedly. Her eyes are positively brimming with mirth.
Gai scrambles. Scrambles. Almost uncoordinated in his haste to stop hindering this woman. This woman with steel core muscles and citrus perfume and a pretty, pretty smile-
She huffs and he catches sight of the half-tilt on her mouth once more.
(He'd run on his hands around the village a thousand times if it meant he could kiss that mouth even just once. )
“Until next time, no?” She waves lackadaisically- and walks off without response.
Gai watches her sculpted backside disappear into the crowd. Citrus lingers in his nose. His fingers are tingly. The back of his neck is still sweltering.
He didn’t even get her name.
(His morning routine is an afterthought many, many hours later- with sudden clarity that hits him while he’s laying in his own bed with a sore wrist .)
-----
“Dropped out of the Academy my ass. ”
But she was. He’s got the damn files right in front of him. Carefully stolen from an A-Rank mission run by an Infiltrations ANBU and- yes, she did get forcefully dropped from the Academy program. Mid-war effort, of all things.
But it’s wrong.
The placement test is- and when compared to the final gradings- It just doesn’t match up.
By all means, Mochizuki Yuina had the markings to become a civilian genius. Something of a- Something of a-
“Inoichi, can you believe this shit?” Shikaku rubs a tired, tired hand over his stressed browbone. The beginnings of a migraine are building, for certain. “There’s no way this is true.”
Inoichi smiles ruefully, paging through his own file. “Aside from the initial testing and markings for the first few weeks- everything seems consistent. A ‘bright young civvy but with no future in the Ninja Arts.’ If it wasn’t for the recent ANBU reports on her skills, I wouldn’t have suspected anything from her old Kumo Academy files.”
Shikaku does not like the way things are adding up.
A little farm girl rounded up for wartime efforts- tall for her age and quite possibly one of the brightest things to grace these overworked career genin’s classrooms- high grades and smart questions and attentive and- and clever. Too clever. Far too clever for these teachers because, as if seemingly in one night- her grades tank- and then level- and then she’s doing slightly below average- the notes in her file mark that she’s only remarkable with basic numbers, apparently, and slow on the uptake of more advanced subjects-
And it’s the failing marks in Taijutsu and Chakra Control that end this fodder’s career.
Shikaku’s too caught in the disparity. In the high entrance marks. In the Chunin-levels of Taijutsu strength and Farmer’s Ninjutsu she has currently .
To think a mere child outsmarted the Kumo schooling administration-
Shikaku halts.
The idea feels traitorous. She’s just a fucking farmer , for Sage’s sake. A tall farmer that’s got the Jounin lounge raving- but a farmer nonetheless. Not something of a-
Something of a Namikaze Mina-
“What idiots.” Inoichi smirks, bags under his eyes far too deep for his own good. He has, no doubt, reached the same conclusion.
What a fucking troublesome headache this singular immigrant farmer is proving to be.
-----
If you asked him what his favorite downtime in the village was- there is no doubt that Hatake Kakashi would simply hum and then shrug.
There are only so many late-afternoon lazy strolls he can take. He already trained this morning. And he’s on mandatory vacation time right now. He’s read through all of his Icha-Icha thrice . What’s left? He could, theoretically, go to the jounin lounge. But for what? Gossip?
Kakashi supposes it’s been far too long since he’s idled in any teashop.
(Perhaps there is something to be said about how staying in his apartment for extended periods of time makes his skin crawl. It can be said later, though. When Kakashi isn’t within earshot.)
Kakashi sighs and slouches just a bit deeper. His walk is slow and ambling- lazy. Lazy like the wispy clouds in the red-amber sky. Lazy like he’s tired- but he’s not. Because it’s a controlled lazy. And there’s no way Kakashi could even possibly be tired on a day like today.
Gai hadn’t even challenged him today.
It’s fine, really. Spontaneous missions or the everchanging tides of youth- or whatever else Gai liked to call it. Kakashi’s certainly not hinging his life on those silly little challenges.
It makes for a blissfully lazy day. A lazy, lazy day where Kakashi can idle through the streets and read his books and then get terribly antsy. A wonderfully nothing day that leads to an impulsive decision and now Kakashi is anxiously pacing around in a commercial district, looking for a busy-enough-but-not-too-busy teahouse.
His fingers itch for a book. In a most unfortunate lack of foresight- he happens to have left all of his Icha-Icha books in the apartment. Devastating.
Kakashi sighs out his most put-upon sigh- and gives up on finding the perfect teahouse at this hour. It’s practically teahouse-o-clock. Either the teahouse was far too empty to bode well for its service- or it was good, so it was busy.
Mah, but he’s already walked all this way. He’s certainly craving some green tea with senbei too.
Kakashi very carefully weighs his options in the next few indolent steps. He could go back to his apartment. But he also did leave because he was antsy. And now he actually wants some tea. His only other option is the jounin lounge. Or a bar.
He ducks immediately into the most not-too-busy teashop-
“-uined by you-.”
Citrus and coconut-
By the skin of his teeth, he jerks back-
And freezes.
TallTallTallTall-
Scrunched face- Pressed, pissed eyebrows a-nd blazing, bright eyes. Y
Yellow, y-ellow- Like burning gold-
Straining neck muscles a--nd- B-a-red tee-th-
(Kakashi is certain he cowers slightly.
A hot flash up his back and down his forehead- Fingers twinging with heat- Cheekbones hot-
Just barely a bend in the knees- Looking up through eyelashes-
And up- because she’s so huge -
By the Sage. )
The slight wet smack of her lips parting and he jolts- Ansty skin and warm thighs- Toes tingling in the hot air-
So, so acutely aware of nothing but the absolute woman in front of him- The way her face smooths to calm, lips parted ever so slightly.
Like a burning purr- Flooding his ears with sweet incense smoke- “Ah, with pardon, shinobi. Didn’t see you there.”
His knees knock.
Her voice feels good.
Deep and smokey- Almost growly for a woman- (And what a traitorous part of his stupid Hatake brain that whispers AlphaAlphaAlpha-)
H-e dares just another loo-k up into ey-es- Her e-eyes- Blaring A-mber-
She catches his peek dead-on-
“You have very long lashes.” The barest curve of a smile- “Such a pretty eye, hm?”
Ah-
His neck gets hot.
All he ma-anages is a staggered breath.
“Uhn,” She shifts- just barely but Kakashi is so incredibly high-wired to her every move that he almost flinches. And then- and then-
And then it’s different- She’s different- Energy different-
The air i-s stifling- Citrus- citrus, citrus, citruscitruscitrus- an-d coconut-
Not just tall- Towering-
Towering over him- En-ergy char-ged and SageSageSage- She’s so big-
Eyes drilled into his- lidded and dark and oh, oh- oh-
"What's the matter, Shinobi-san? Cat got your tongue ?"
(And then his head tilts .
Neck bared like the fucking dog he is-)
-----
He’s hot-collared, obviously. Honestly, the most obvious hot-collar she’s seen in her life.
But Konoha’s different. The shinobi here are different. Kumo folk are direct, to the point- and Peach folk honest, forward-
But Konoha folk aren’t like home.
Maybe it’s normal for the men here to cower.
Normal for the men to get warm in the pants from a couple’a lidded stares and slick words and then they all shake. Like they want her so bad it makes them stupid.
So this one with a single pretty eye and face completely covered shrinks and trembles and tilts his head like even just the weight of her voice presses him down. She can see the way his knees knock- fingers flexing by his side like he’s almost plagued by the desire to touch her. Making a weird noise almost imperceptibly- but Yuina has fun with these men- So she listens to the almost silent whine deep in this one’s throat with glee.
Cute.
Makes her nearly forget that she was leaving the tea shop to escape that damned Asuma.
Ah, annoying.
She can feel his blatant eyes dragging at the fabric of her pants- so openly disrespectful that she almost wants to put him in his place because men like that deser-
Nevermind, nevermind-
She’s new to Konoha. It’s different here.
People will judge if she bullies a man in public.
She huffs-
A different time- Another opportunity will surely arise. Besides, there are many other, far less annoying ninja.
Like the one in front of her- nearly blocking her way but he’s cowered back just enough for her to brush past.
And brush past she does- Watches the way the man with silvery hair almost melts from the brush of her thigh against his hip- her hair over his shoulder-
“Another day, shinobi. ”
And he whimpers-!
She waits until she’s at least 40 paces away to laugh.
Yuina likes Fire Country. Likes how all the men and women ninja here like her. And she especially likes how pale-skinned the people here are.
Because they all turn such a fun, pretty pink color any time she so much as smiles.
----------
