Chapter Text
"Set it down!"
Shinki lowered his end of the twisted steel beam with a muted groan. Chunks of blasted concrete littered the ground around him, interspersed with gnarled hunks of plastic and metal and broken drywall. He swiped at his brow; the dust and the fine, misting rain left him muddy and dirty, and his sleeve came away covered in grime.
"Look out!"
His iron dust swept overhead reflexively, but it proved unnecessary. A pair of massive hands flashed above him, capturing a boulder-sized piece of what had been a decorative cornice from the roof of the local courthouse. The rest of the building began to crumble. As slabs of brick and concrete tumbled toward him, the pair of hands dropped around him in a dome, like a child capturing a grasshopper. When the rumbling settled, the right hand rolled away, almost negligently shifting aside what must have amounted to 500 kg of broken debris.
"Cripes, Shinki," Chocho admonished, flexing her fingers. Bright red drops of blood splattered the earth at her feet, dripping from her knuckles. "Pay attention, won't you? We have enough victims to unearth without you getting buried in the rubble."
Before he could open his mouth to retort that he had been perfectly capable of escaping without her help, one of the Tani nin directing the search-and-rescue dropped out of the sky, staring at Chocho with obvious relief.
"You - you're Akimichi, aren't you? Come with me. The earthquake opened a sinkhole under the supermarket. It's growing by the minute, and there are families still trapped inside."
Chocho nodded sharply, and they took off together, leaving Shiki still fumbling for a reply.
"Well, that went about as expected." His cousin's dry voice was amused. "Knew they'd snap her up the minute we got here."
"Shikadai," Shinki said, by way of greeting, then, "She was bleeding."
Shikadai snorted. "She probably didn't even notice. She doesn't, not until no one needs her anymore. Then she remembers she's a delicate flower and that people are supposed to feel sorry for her when she's hurt, so she'll whine like a child until you tell her how brave she was." His tone was warm, despite his words, and his wry smile was tinged with affection.
He raised his chin toward the devastation that used to be a decently sized town in the Land of Rain. "Inojin is already set up at the triage tent," he said. "Where will I be most useful?"
"You can help me," Shinki told him. "I've been using a net of iron dust to locate and mark exposed electrical wires before the rescue teams go in. They haven't managed to get the power shut off to this block, yet, and the rain and broken water pipes are making the risk of electrocution even greater."
The mizzling rain picked up, and Shinki and Shikadai plodded from building to building, marking hazards as they went, shutting off power at any house where they could find a utility box. Shinki's magnet release was occasionally useful in shifting debris but for the most part, their abilities were less in demand than their teammates'. Araya and Inojin both had training as medics, Yodo's remarkable hearing ensured her a place on the rescue teams, locating buried victims, and Chocho - Chocho was everywhere.
Every few minutes it seemed, her massive shadow fell on a new part of the ruined town, supporting a building as rescue workers carried out injured townspeople, serving as human scaffolding as nin climbed her body in lieu of derelict stairs, or carefully lifting victims from the rubble in the palms of her hands. As the day wore on, her shadow stretched further and thinner over the broken landscape. Shikadai grew grim and quiet, watching.
"Careful," Shinki snapped, wrapping a hand of iron dust around his distracted cousin and snatching him up and away from the water that had pooled around a downed power line. "Idiot. Your mother would kill me if I let you get electrocuted."
"Thanks," Shikadai said, grimacing. He gestured somewhere behind Shinki. "I don't like the way Chocho's spamming her Super-Multisize technique."
Shinki turned to look over his shoulder and clenched his jaw to keep it from falling open. Chocho was braced against a six-story apartment building, but if it weren't for her signature strawberry blonde hair and the fact that she was currently about thirty meters tall, he wouldn't have recognized the slender girl as his cousin's teammate.
"Is that normal?"
"Not for her," Shikadai replied. "Her chakra control is very fine, so she uses Calorie Counter more efficiently than most of her clan. Better even than her father. She can't match him for pure strength - yet - but she can maintain Butterfly Mode and her Supersize techniques almost as long as he can, and Chouji-san holds the clan record. So for her to be that worn down..." He pressed his lips together tightly. "She needs to stop. She needs to eat."
"Go," Shinki said. "I'll finish up here and meet you at the medical tents. You and I should take a break, as well. We're no use to anyone tired and distracted."
"Or electrocuted." Shikadai grimaced again, then shot off toward his strangely transformed teammate, leaving Shinki to flag the energized puddle that he had nearly stepped in.
Shikadai, Inojin, Araya, and Chocho were sprawled under tarp, lounging around a sputtering campfire when he joined them. Ararya's face was hidden, but long familiarity told him that his old partner was troubled, and the haunted look in Inojin's eyes suggested their experiences in the medical tents had been far more grueling than his own. Chocho's eyes were closed, and she was slumped against Inojin, who was ripping open a bag of crisps for her.
Shinki sat down next to Araya. "Are you alright?" he murmured.
"Not really," Araya replied dully. "We... There were a couple of kids. They didn't make it."
Inojin flinched, and Chocho wrapped an arm around him wordlessly, although she didn't open her eyes. He made a face and thrust a handful of potato crisps into her free hand, but he didn't pull away.
Shinki bowed his head in regret. "Have you seen Yodo?"
"Couple of times. She stopped in a little while ago for food and water. Seems like the guy in charge of the tracking teams has a lot of experience, and he's pretty insistent that they stop and rest regularly. She said she hasn't seen anything too terrible yet."
"Chocho - you doing okay?" Shikadai asked pointedly.
She swallowed a mouthful and blinked blearily at him. "Worry about yourself, Mom," she told him.
He scowled. "Just don't overdo it. If you collapse and drop a house on yourself, you're not the only one who's going to get hurt."
"I promise not to drop any houses on our allies," she said dutifully. Inojin shoved another handful of crisps at her, and she closed her eyes again, still leaning against him.
"Really? Because you look like you're falling asleep on my shoulder, there, Chubs."
"That's rude," Araya said irritably. "You shouldn't call your teammates names."
"I get to call her Chubs because she's been stealing food off my plate since we were in diapers," Inojin retorted, "and because she's one of my best friends. Other people who call her Chubs get their mouths washed out with ink."
Chocho swallowed again and peered around Inojin at Araya. "I can fight my own battles, you know," she said, "but chivalry is so attractive. Keep that up and some pretty girl is going to fall in love with you, even with your face hidden behind that silly mask."
"It's not silly!"
Shinki couldn't repress a smile. Araya was reasonably good-looking, actually, but he was self-conscious to a fault. A compliment from a pretty kunoichi would probably go a lot further toward easing his anxiety than Shinki or Yodo's constant exasperation with his insecurities.
"I think," he said, surprising himself with an unexpected willingness to engage in small talk, "that there's a certain girl in Suna he'd like to impress."
"Shinki-san!" Araya protested shrilly.
Chocho opened her eyes again, and Shinki blinked. They had only met a handful of times, but the faint gleam that had ignited behind her eyes felt at once shockingly familiar and pitifully dim, and he understood at once why Shikadai had been so concerned for her.
"OK," she demanded, "spill."
Shinki shrugged apologetically at Araya and pulled out his cell phone, where he had saved a picture of their graduating class from the Academy. "The dark-haired girl with pink eyes," he said briefly, extending the phone to Chocho. Araya grabbed at it, but Chocho's arm tripled in size, and she caught it first.
"Ooooh, she's pretty!" Chocho gushed, the light in her eyes brightening. "What's her name, Araya-kun?"
"Hi - Hikari-chan."
"And I guess you haven't told her how you feel," she said, disapprovingly. She sat up and plucked the bag of crisps out of Inojin's hand.
Beside Shinki, Shikadai exhaled softly, and he relaxed, his shoulders drooping almost imperceptibly.
Chocho waved a dismissive hand as Araya stammered for a reply. "Nevermind, of course you haven't. Boys are so stupid. Tell me about her. What are her interests? What does she like? You know that much at least, don't you?" She narrowed her eyes. "You don't only like her because she's pretty, right?"
"I - no. I mean, yes, she's pretty, but she's also..." Araya cleared his throat. "She's nice, okay? She's... she's always thinking about other people. Trying to make them feel... safe. Or heard. Or whatever."
"Uh-huh," Chocho said wisely. "People-pleaser. Listen, if she's always the one taking care of others, chances are that people don't think about her wants and needs. She's obviously comfortable speaking up, so they assume if she wants something, she'll say so. But unless she really, really cares about it, she'll just go with whatever everyone else wants."
She smiled. "And that's your way in. Pay attention, when she's making those opportunities for others to voice their opinions, and make sure you get hers, as well. Extra points if you happen to know her tastes, and point them out, like... I don't know. Say you're all going to eat, and she's making sure everyone gets a say. If you know she likes burgers, or ramen, or barbeque, make a point of suggesting that on her behalf."
ng her nose, she added, "Be careful with that last, though. Make sure it's something you have any business knowing, and don't sound too confident about it. It's creepy when someone you don't know well seems to know all about you."
She munched on another handful of crisps, while Araya stared. "But trust me," she said, after swallowing. "She'll notice the guy who is noticing her and advocating for her. And she'll naturally gravitate toward the person looking out for her. Sounds like you did, after all."
Ararya made a small noise of surprise or embarrassment. Chocho laughed and grabbed another handful of crisps. She settled back against Inojin and closed her eyes again, but she definitely seemed more animated than she had before.
"You should do what she says," Inojin said sourly, looking down at her. "It's annoying how often she's right when it comes to relationships."
"She's seen too many dramas and rom-coms," Shikadai opined.
"Shows what you know," Chocho retorted, but she was smiling. "I love a good romance, but as fun as they are, most of those people have awful relationships that would never last. People skills are definitely not something you should pick up at the cinema."
"Where do you learn them, then?" Shinki asked, curious.
"Mostly practice," she admitted. "An outgoing personality helps - if only because the practice is more enjoyable when you actually like spending time with people. But respect, honesty, and consideration are the basis of any healthy relationship, romantic or otherwise, and anybody can learn those."
"Says you," Araya muttered.
"Yes, says me." Chocho opened her eyes again and fixed him with a thoughtful look. "It does help to know what your weaknesses are, so you can mitigate them when you can. I have to actively push myself to think about other people's feelings, for example. I'm pretty self-centered, most of the time."
"No, you're not," Inojin told her.
"Sure she is," Shikadai countered, then he smiled. "But only when it doesn't matter," he added.
She shrugged. "If you say so," she said, indifferently. "The point is, Araya-kun, kindness doesn't come as naturally to me as honesty or respect. I have to work at it, and I'm honest with my friends that it's not the easiest thing in the world for me. They know it, tolerate it, and call me out if it's a problem.
"For you, it's more difficult to be open about your true feelings. But you don't have to spill your guts to help Hikari-kun see that you respect her opinions and that you want to support her. When she sees that you value her, she'll learn to value you, too. Honesty becomes easier the better you know someone, because you trust them not to hurt you."
"That takes a very great deal of trust," Shinki observed quietly.
Chocho turned her bright stare on him. "It does," she agreed. "And not everyone deserves it. But you can't have meaningful relationships without trust. You just kind of expect that getting hurt sometimes comes with the territory."
She sighed and closed her eyes regretfully. "It's not as if any of us are unaccustomed to pain, you know. But if a stupid mission and a bunch of strangers are worth that risk, then surely love and friendship are, too."
"Hey." A Tani nin with a scar across his jaw - the man who had assigned Shinki to search out hazards - dropped suddenly into their midst. He nodded at Shinki and Shikadai.
"Sorry to interrupt your break, kids. Thought you would like to know they finally got the electricity turned off. On another note, though, do any of you have dispatch experience? We just got a fresh batch of supplies and two support teams from Suna, and we could use some help getting everything where it needs to go."
Inojin and Chocho both immediately pointed at Shikadai, who glowered at them briefly before rising. "Not dispatch, exactly, but I'm pretty good with logistics. Where do you want me?"
He pointed. "The primary school is pretty stable, so we've set up shop there."
Shikadai took off with the Tani nin, and Inojin shifted Chocho over so that she was braced against a broken wall, instead of his shoulder. He got to his feet reluctantly. "We should probably be getting back, too," he said to Araya.
He glared down at Chocho with a severe look. "You, though - less talking, more eating, Chubs. And get some sleep, if you can." He pulled another bag of crisps from a pouch on his hip, and she took it with a knowing smile.
Araya rose as well. "Inojin-kun is right. We should be going, but you really ought to get some rest, Chocho-chan. Your abilities are too valuable out here to risk you getting injured or collapsing from exhaustion." He hesitated a moment. "And... thanks. You know. For the advice. I'll think about it."
She poured the crumbs from her first bag of crisps into her mouth, swiped a hand across her lips, and waved them away.
"Where are you off to, Shinki-kun?" she asked when they had gone.
"Probably more hazard duty," he said unenthusiastically. "Gas leaks. Broken sewage lines. Fire patrol."
"Fun."
"Definitely not as glamorous as holding up buildings," he said wryly. "You're of far more use here than I am."
She laughed softly. "This is just something we're good at, my clan, and not only because we're strong. Natural disasters are huge by definition. It encourages people to have allies that seem big enough to tackle them. We're serious morale-boosters."
That made sense, he supposed, although Chocho didn't look nearly as sturdy as she usually did. She looked weary and small, and as he left her at the fireside, he privately hoped she would be back to normal the next time they spoke. Shikadai had said she wasn't selfish when it counted, and he thought he understood what his cousin meant. She was sacrificing her own body to her demanding jutsus to help others, and she had been doing it practically nonstop.
Personally, Shinki couldn't see what the hell was supposed to be so encouraging about that.
A terrible, thundering crash shook the earth a half hour later as Shinki flagged hazards in the rubble. Within minutes, Chocho's massive shadow had stretched out over the town once again, freakishly long, thin, and distorted in the last rays of a dying sun. She was near the supermarket and the sinkhole. When a team of tracking nin paused near him ten minutes afterward, some sniffing at the air and others cocking their head to listen for faint cries for help, he pulled one aside to ask about the sinkhole, and what Chocho was doing there.
"It just keeps getting bigger," one kunoichi said grimly. "They thought they had given it a wide enough berth, but about an hour ago, another fifty meters collapsed, and it's creeping up on one of the refugee shelters. Akimichi-san is helping to move equipment and people to a safer location."
"It's a damned good thing she's here, too," said one of the other nin, who had overhead Shinki's question. "I don't think those Konoha nin realize how lucky they are to have the Akimichi for allies. Sheer size and brute strength aren't everything, but they are as useful in peacetime as they are on a battlefield, and you can't say that about a lot of secret family jutsus."
"Over here!" A Tani nin shouted to the shinobi Shinki had been speaking with, and they nodded at him before taking off to alert a rescue team they had found a woman in the rubble.
The rescue team arrived shortly thereafter, and as hazard duty was considerably less urgent, he was conscripted to assist in moving wreckage. He was grateful for the change of pace - identifying and marking broken sewage lines not being on his list of favorite activities - but caught himself staring into the horizon every few minutes, eyeing the giant girl silhouetted against the darkening sky. When she stumbled, staggering against an office building, he cursed Shikadai for his infectious worry.
"Friend of yours, Shinki-san?" One of the rescue team, a puppeteer whom Shinki recalled specialized in subterranean puppetry, was giving him a curious look.
"She's my cousin's teammate," Shinki said shortly, hoping the relationship was near enough to justify his apparently obvious interest.
"Poor kid looks about done in. Go check on her, why don't you? Our lady down here seems to have avoided the worst of the falling debris, so we'll have her out in a minute. There's really not much left for you to do here."
Shinki nodded and took off at a ground-eating sprint toward Chocho and the sinkhole.
He wasn't quite quick enough.