"You need to pick a penname," Ino said authoritatively, spearing a grape from her fruit bowl onto a senbon and then delicately taking it with her teeth.
Aiko just shrugged. "I dunno. Just pick something."
Ino swallowed quickly and shook her head, waving one hand with fingers splayed out into a 'stop' position. "No, see, you should pick because it should fit the themes in what you write. Either that or be really distinctive. Something made-up or foreign. People lap that stuff up," she added with a shrug, blue eyes darting to Aiko's fruit.
She quickly pulled her bowl back, protecting her cherries. It wasn't her fault that Ino hadn't had the sense to get the best berry of all when they'd been at the counter. "Distinctive, huh?"
The whole thing sounded a bit pretentious to her. Aiko would rather pick something plain, or a pun or even something funny.
'Is there any name that really makes me laugh?'
She had to ponder that one. When it came, the answer was so perfect that she hurriedly brought her hand up to her mouth to cover the grin. "How about Luna moon?"
Ino frowned. "Lu-na?" she repeated uncertainly. Then she shook her head. "It's exotic, I'll give you that. Luna Moon it is. How do you write that, phonetically?"
Aiko confirmed that, and then took a moment to giggle hysterically in her head about naming herself Moon Moon. Then she was momentarily sad. No one would ever get the joke. She slumped, inadvertently leaving her fruit unguarded for a crucial moment. Just as Ino leaned forward (more interested in the challenge than the actual fruit) Aiko snapped back up to attention.
Ino yelped like a small dog and jumped back up, eyes wide. "What-" Then she trailed off, wondering why Aiko was getting up.
"I have to go check on something," she said quickly, gathering up her leftovers and busing them to the trash. Confused, Ino hustled to keep up and only pouted a little at having to get rid of her uneaten breakfast.
"Is something wrong?" She was already jogging to keep up as the overhead bell jangled on the door.
Aiko shook her head, easily springing up onto the rooftop and setting off at a fast lope towards the village gate, easily within sight about a block away. Ino pattered up half a breath behind her. "Not wrong, just unusual. I swear I feel Naruto's chakra signature."
"Weird," Ino commented, wrinkling her brow. "I haven't seen him in forever."
She'd lost her companion's attention by that point. Aiko's gaze locked onto two distinctive messy manes in the crowd, and she launched herself directly into her brother with an uncharacteristically playful grin.
He went down into the dirt with an 'Off!", rolling awkwardly and nearly moving to knee her in the gut before he made eye contact. Naruto blinked dumbly for a moment—and then grinned, grabbing his sister to push her up in a classic puppy-wrestle move. She slipped his grip and pinned his shoulder with one hand, so he knocked her supporting arm out from under her with his head and capitulated on her downward momentum to flip her over. Aiko landed on her back, mildly surprised.
"You are so embarrassing sometimes."
Both twins glanced over to see Ino's sandals and slowly looked up to see her mildly disapproving expression.
That is, disapproving until her eyes flickered over to where Naruto's shirt had ridden up to his ribs. She blinked, and then re-focused on his face… and turned a little pink.
'That's right Ino, he's adorable,' Aiko crowed. But she didn't actually want to embarrass her friend, so… "Hai, hai, laugh it up." She brushed dirt of her legs as she got up and turned to lend a hand to Naruto, but he was already back on his feet and bouncing on his heels.
"Why does no one so glad to see me?" Jiraiya pouted. It was bizarre to hear the whiny tone coming from a big bear of a man. Aiko felt a little guilty for completely ignoring him, until he continued, "Lucky Naruto, getting tackled to the ground by a pretty girl. Hey there cutie, how would you like to give me a hug?"
Ino looked like someone had slapped her with a fish.
Naruto was much more prepared to deal with that sort of statement. "Knock it off, you old pervert!" He scrunched his nose up at his mentor. "Ino is way too smart and pretty to fall for an old dude like you!"
Said Yamanaka stood a little taller than she had been a moment before.
"He's just teasing." Aiko leveled Jiraiya with an unimpressed stare. He had to be teasing. Ino was gorgeous and leggy, but she was still fifteen. There was no way even Jiraiya could justify that. How old was he again? No, he was just a troll winding Naruto up. 'And he still falls for it…' She sighed a little.
Ino probably knew Jiraiya was teasing too, but she wasn't the type of girl who let an opportunity slide by. "Still, Naruto is definitely right. Hey, I'll take you out to eat for defending me!" She gave him a pretty wink, holding one shoulder up and clasping her fingers in front of her.
Her adorable little brother blinked, and then grinned at her. "Hell yeah!" He companionably slung an arm over Ino's shoulder, ignoring her surprised 'yeep!'. "You're pretty awesome, Ino-chan! Come on, let's go have some breakfast ramen." Ino looked downright confused at that.
"Ramen… for breakfast?" she asked, sounding uncertain. Aiko suppressed a snicker. Jiraiya didn't bother—he gave a massively rude snort. Ino just shrugged. "Okay, I guess. But we can't take too long, I have to report for the tournament finals in three hours," she warned. Then she turned on the charm. "When I suggested we go eat, I was actually thinking about a victory meal to celebrate my Chuunin promotion."
Naruto just shrugged good-naturedly. "We can go get ramen then too! Are you coming, Aiko?"
She choked down a laugh when her friend shot her a warning look. "Ah, no, I'm good. I'll just—talk to him." She jerked a finger at Jiraiya. She subtly flashed, 'Play nice,' to Ino through handsigns. As Naruto practically dragged her off, Ino stuck her tongue out at Aiko before flouncing away.
"He has no idea what she wants, does he," Jiraiya mused lowly.
Aiko shook her head. "Nope. Not a clue."
"Hmm. I see I missed Naruto," Kakashi commented, walking up with his hands in his pockets.
"You could always catch up to him at Ichiraku," she suggested wryly, angling her body to face the newcomer. If her attention hadn't been entirely on Kakashi, she might have seen Jiraiya raise an eyebrow consideringly.
Kakashi just shrugged. "I'm sure I'll see him soon." Then he nodded at Jiraiya. "Jiraiya-sama."
He put his hands on his hips and laughed theatrically, tossing his head back. "Well, if it isn't my greatest fan!" Kakashi twitched slightly, as if expecting a treat. This might have been a tradition or something, because he actually allowed it when Jiraiya leant over conspiratorially and pulled a sheaf of paper out of his hip pouch. "For you! The draft of my latest masterpiece! I've already sent the final version off to the publisher, but hopefully this will tide you over until you see it in its final glorious form!"
She bit down hard on her lip to keep from grinning at how fucking adorable it was when Kakashi delicately took the proffered papers- and then immediately crushed them to his chest. "Hai. I'm sure it will exceed all expectations."
That was about when Jiraiya seemed to remember she was there. "Ah, nothing to see here," he laughed sheepishly, shooing her away. She rolled her eyes.
"What's that supposed to do," she deadpanned. "I know what you're talking about. I've read all your books."
Jiraiya momentarily startled, and then re-evaluated her with an exaggerated up-and-down motion before giving a thumbs-up. "Oh, I see. I see that you've matured into a fine young woman, unlike that scoundrel of a brother of yours!"
"I have also noticed that Naruto isn't a fine young woman," Kakashi agreed blandly. Then he all but yelped when Jiraiya ripped the manuscript back out of his grip and gave him a scowl.
"Don't get smart with me, kid." He pulled the papers back out of reach for a long second, and then gave them back. "You know what I meant. He still seems like a kid. But you." Jiraiya gave one of his silly grins that she was 100% certain meant he was trying to provoke a reaction. "You're allll grown up." His lecherous giggle was totally wasted on his current audience. Aiko was hard to tease and Kakashi was already staring at his new book.
So she pointed that out.
"Naruto isn't here. Who are you trying to rile up? I don't really believe that you're perving on me." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "And if you were, it would just mean that you had excellent taste."
Jiraiya stared at her silently for a moment. "You're no fun, girlie. Now scram, I need to talk to Hatake-kun here."
Kakashi managed to make a mildly indignant sound from behind his book, but apparently the snub wasn't worth risking access to his materials.
'Gee, thanks for standing up for me,' she thought a bit mutinously, but Kakashi didn't seem to catch onto her dark thoughts as she stomped away. She didn't feel hungry anymore. Maybe she'd go rescue Sasuke from Temari or something.
"That was a little abrupt," Kakashi remarked lightly as soon as Aiko was out of hearing distance.
His companion nodded. "I didn't want to worry her, but I need to talk to you about Naruto."
'Well, that got his attention,' Jiraiya noted wryly. He wasn't sure if he should be impressed by Hatake's poorly hidden concern or irritated that he so easily lost focus on the glorious work of art in his hands.
"Is something wrong?"
'Let's go with impressed,' he decided generously. It was best to reward good behaviors in stunted people like the Hatake kid. 'Even if he hasn't noticed that cute little Aiko-chan only has eyes for him. How long has that been going on?' She hadn't been particularly subtle about directing her attention to Hatake as soon as he showed up, after all. Jiraiya didn't bother to hide the snicker that welled up as they crossed town to a more private location to talk, knowing that his companion would have absolutely no idea why he was amused anyway.
He hadn't been lying when he said that Aiko had grown up, even if she wasn't any taller than she'd been when he'd last seen her. 'That reminds me, Naruto did a damn good job aging that sexy jutsu of his. It's a dead ringer for her face, now that she's lost the baby cheeks.'
Naruto, on the other hand, still had a bit of a baby face, but he probably always would. He'd gotten Kushina's round bone structure, but Aiko's facial structure was a bit more sculpted and sharp like her dad's had been.
'Of course, Minato never had knockers,' he mused with a serious expression, hand on his chin. 'If he had, I might have enjoyed training the brat a bit more!'
That in combination with his earlier musing on Aiko-chan's badly hidden interest in Hatake brought him up short with a strange thought, and he gave the younger man who had taught his adorable goddaughter a suspicious gaze. Kakashi just looked confused.
'I'll have to consider this.'
He tabled the thought for later. "I need to warn you that Naruto still hasn't completely mastered using the Nine-Tails' chakra," he began seriously. "He hits a point where it overwhelms him, and he will indiscriminately attack anyone he sees. He doesn't even remember when it happens," he added, clearly frustrated. "He nearly killed me, so maybe that part is a blessing in disguise. He doesn't know. I didn't think he'd react well. It won't matter, as long as he's careful and doesn't overuse it. You understand?"
Wearily, Kakashi nodded. "I understand." A hand came up to scratch at his hair. "We should be able to control him," he added hopefully. "Between Tenzo's mastery of the Shodaime's bloodline and Aiko's chakra chains, all we'd need to do would be discover that there was fact behind that idiot myth about the Sharingan controlling tailed beasts to be better equipped to deal with him if anything goes wrong."
Obito sneezed.
"Is she really any good with those?" Jiraiya settled down on the ground, skeptically propping his elbows on folded knees. "It took Kushina years to master, and she had training, references, and constant practice on the Nine-Tails itself."
Kakashi shrugged noncommittally. "She's nowhere as good as her mother with them. I doubt she ever will be. Still, she's definitely competent."
Jiraiya nodded sagely. "That's nothing shameful. Kushina was…" he grimaced, lost for words.
"She was," Kakashi agreed solemnly.
Verbal language hadn't quite developed the vocabulary to properly describe that woman. As a combatant, she'd danced wildly along the line between 'pants-wettingly-scary' and 'what the hell just happened, are those really my limbs way over there in the bushes?'.
There was a peaceful silence for a moment, before Jiraiya probed again. "Other than the chakra chains, how is her training going?"
He should be interested in her welfare at least a little. He'd never wanted to take another student, but a twinge of guilt called for his attention whenever he remembered he had spent two years getting to know his godson and barely knew his goddaughter.
"I wouldn't know." Kakashi breathed in deeply, looking up at the sky. Jiraiya wasn't entirely sure if he looked contemplative or peaceful. "We haven't trained together in a while. I'm not her shishou anymore. Just her teamleader when she isn't doing ANBU work."
Jiraiya cringed.
"ANBU?" He shook his head. "Jeeze, whose stupid idea was that?"
"Tsunade's," Kakashi replied dryly. "Feel free to take it up with her."
"Maybe I will," he grumbled, knowing that he probably wouldn't. Tsunade-hime usually had a plan, and there were more time-sensitive issues than chewing her out about something that was already done. She'd probably bite back by telling him he'd lost the right to advocate for Aiko and Naruto when he left them behind all those years ago. After all, Tsunade hadn't shirked her duties when Shizune-chan was left alone in the world, despite having no actual legal or blood ties to the girl.
That train of thought was depressing and self-incriminating, so he left it behind. It wasn't too late to get a little involved to make up for some of his absences anyway. Besides, he was much better with adults than kids. Hence why he didn't write children's stories.
"Go Ino-chan! You're awesome!" Naruto cheered, leaning over the balcony in his enthusiasm. Ino's opponent looked severely put-out.
"You should probably cheer for both of them," Aiko suggested idly while the kunoichi below traded fierce blows.
"Okay," he agreed good-naturedly. "Yay Hinata!"
The underwhelming cheer didn't seem to assuage her mood. Sasuke rolled his eyes, crossing his arms stiffly across his chest. Temari tracked the way the motion pulled his chest tightly across his chest like she was about to pounce.
Karin had been completely right. The tournament had set time limits for matches this time around instead of whittling numbers down. It had probably been so that they could finally promote their back-logged genin. Every single one of the shinobi in their age group put up Chuunin-worthy performances. Naruto seemed completely oblivious of that what meant, but at least someone was kind enough to point it out.
"This makes you the only genin left," Sasuke taunted lowly.
Naruto stiffened, eyes wide. His brow furrowed, he slowly shook his head. "No, that can't be right." He started mumbling to himself and counting on his fingers, gradually looking more and more irritated until he slouched over in ultimate sadness.
Sasuke snickered.
He received a glare that implied Naruto had forgotten about him. "Don't be so smug, I could kick your ass anytime." Naruto viciously poked Sasuke in the chest. The Uchiha batted his hand away impassively.
Aiko knew it was a damn lie. He was enjoying every minute of this.
"I'd prove you wrong, but it'd be bullying for me to fight with a genin." He turned his face away, probably to hide a smirk.
She groaned. It was way too damn easy to rile Naruto up. Whatever Jiraiya had been training him in, it sure hadn't been emotional control. But Sasuke wasn't acting much better either. As much as she knew it was probably more those two in particular than their gender as a whole, sometimes she just felt like she really didn't understand boys.
Naruto glared helplessly at Sasuke's jawline for a moment, clearly struggling for a good rejoinder. He got assistance from the oddest source.
"I don't know," Temari sighed thoughtfully. "Wasn't he much stronger than you as a genin at the last Chuunin exam here, Sasuke-san?"
'Annnnd that's why you're never going to get laid. God, Temari, make up your mind. Do you want to fuck him or taunt him? You can't have both, not with his pride.'
Something twitched in Sasuke's jaw. "No," he forced out stiffly. He was wearing an expression that Aiko recognized as indicating that he was on the verge of snapping with an unusual display of anger after phenomenal provocation.
Naruto snickered, earlier resentment gone. "If you want to prove her wrong, you should come to the training ground with me," he wheedled, leaning obnoxiously into Sasuke's personal space.
At this point, it was obvious Sasuke had lost the battle. He had a knack for riling other people up, until he lost his temper. When he got crabby, he often agreed to things he wouldn't have normally.
"Where are we going?" Ino interjected none-too-subtly, leaning into the conversation with a nod to Aiko and a suspicious look to Temari. The older girl sneered in response.
The byplay was completely lost on both boys.
"To the training grounds," Sasuke bit out stiffly, getting to his feet and walking out. Naruto whooped, jogging to catch up. The three girls stayed sitting for just a moment. The blondes were eyeing each other like alley cats, and Aiko was wondering if it would come to blows.
"I'm going," Temari said challengingly.
Ino scoffed. "I'm not missing it either," she huffed back. She couldn't seem to help the sly little smile that escaped. "It's hot out. One of them might take his shirt off."
"Both of them might take their shirts off," Temari countered gravely. They exchanged a hard look before giving matching (creepy) smiles and taking off after the boys. Suddenly they seemed to be at some bizarre compromise that Aiko didn't understand. She shook her head at their backs for a moment, downright bewildered.
'Girls,' she thought helplessly. 'I don't understand girls either.'
Naruto and Sasuke proceeded to beat the ever-loving crap out of each other for what felt like a million years. Aiko startled at the sight of the Kage Bunshin No Jutsu—had Jiraiya taught him that? Sasuke countered with a bone-crunching punch that sent the real Naruto into the crowd of doubles with enough force to dispel them.
Ino and Temari were watching avidly. If they could, they probably would have started throwing around fire ninjutsu to heat up the clearing.
It wouldn't have worked anyways. Sasuke used fire jutsu all the time, and the heat never seemed to bother him enough to disrobe. Although her companions were bound to be disappointed, Aiko took the opportunity to curl into the grass for a cat nap when it became apparent that this 'I'm happy to see you but too manly to admit it' fight was going to go on for a while.
She awoke to Naruto's whining. "Aikoooo, you're supposed to pay attention. I beat the bastard."
"Like hell you did," Sasuke interjected sharply, despite looking pretty ruffled.
Naruto stuck his tongue out at his friend. "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt? Anyway, I'm hunnnngry."
That sounded suspiciously like her cue to interject. "No ramen." Her otouto looked piteously betrayed. "We can have that again tomorrow, but we should take Ino somewhere nicer for her victory dinner, shouldn't we?" she tried cajolingly.
"Ichiraku is nice," Naruto argued weakly.
Temari looked a bit confused by the vehement discussion of a restaurant. "Er, how about that place by Hokage tower with the really good steamed buns," she offered uncertainly. It was probably one of very few she knew.
"Works for me," Sasuke sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking away as if the conversation was done. Naruto heaved a sigh, but hurried to catch up and punch Sasuke's shoulder. That quickly devolved exactly the way Aiko thought it would.
The other girls looked a bit perplexed by the bickering and how easily they'd been left behind, but Aiko just shrugged and started walking. "I think you're both out of luck," she called lightly behind her. They quick-stepped to catch up, on one either side of her.
"Why's that," Ino asked suspiciously.
"I'm like, half-certain that they're going to end up banging. Look at them, they're totally only interested in each other."
Okay, so it was a dirty lie. She was pretty sure that they were both straight. But it was worth it to see her companions so obviously conflicted.
Of course, it only got better.
'They're not as far ahead as I thought,' she noted when both boys jolted and stepped apart as if burnt. Naruto turned to give her a sorrowful, betrayed expression. Sasuke was bright red and walking at double pace.
Aiko just waved, a dumb smile planted innocently on her features.
Apparently they weren't the only ones who had thought to go out to celebrate the matches. They had to take seats in the waiting room for a while, prompting Naruto to ask, "Hey, Temari. Don't you have to go back?"
She shrugged. "My pass is until the end of the day. I'm sure the Chuunin candidates and their instructors have left, but I don't need to go with the group." She blew air out of her mouth, fluttering her bangs. "I would have had to stop for dinner about now anyway. I'm not losing any more time by eating."
"Sasuke, party of four?"
He stood up quickly and strode off. Aiko and Naruto lingered at the back of the group. Her brother nudged her mischievously. "What do you bet that's the first time the words 'Sasuke' and 'party' have been put that close together before?"
"No bet," she shot back, nudging him back. 'Damn, he's like a furnace just like Kakashi,' she noted idly. 'Is that just a boy thing or something?'
Sasuke apparently hadn't heard them making fun of his 'nonstop party' attitude, because he didn't seem any grumpier when they sat down. There was an awkward silence when the waitress asked how many ways the check would be split—no one wanted to ask her to split it five ways, but most of them didn't make that much money either. Aiko, who had been making significantly more money than any of them for significantly longer (Chuunin pay was nothing to scoff at, most ninja were Chuunin) rolled her eyes. "I'll get it. We'll call it Naruto's welcome home dinner as well as celebration of Ino's promotion." She waved off the polite thanks, wishing they'd just hurry up already. "Order whatever you want."
Didn't matter to her. She'd gotten a massive check in reimbursement for her ANBU training. Sure, some had been gouged out for her gear, but Aiko wasn't exactly hurting for cash.
She did find herself leaning into her brother to leech his body heat. It was hot enough outside that her tiny shorts (teal today) and black tanktop were weather appropriate, but less so inside the air conditioned restaurant. She found Ino giving her a particularly smug, 'I told you so' look from behind Naruto's head when she started bouncing her leg under the table to generate some body heat.
"Why are you sticking your tongue out?" Temari wrinkled her nose. "That's gross."
"Nothing," Aiko muttered, turning her face away sullenly. Because of that, she missed the exact moment that Temari's half full teacup cracked. The other girl cursed under her breath and backed up to avoid getting hot liquid on her lap. She looked unsettled.
Aiko froze, breath still. This… this was familiar. She didn't remember why, but this was familiar. That was probably a bad sign.
"That's bad luck, isn't it," Ino asked, biting her lip.
Temari took a deep breath. "I… Well, supposedly, yes. I mean, I don't really believe in that stuff, but I do have a bad feeling about home." She frowned. "Maybe I should hurry back."
'Either I'm nervous over nothing, or that bad luck omen really does mean something. Either way, there's one fast way to check…'
"Don't bother," she interjected, face smoothed into pleasant detachment. "Why don't you guys wait here? Tsunade-sama has a really fast way to talk to the Kazekage. If something is wrong, I'll tell you when I get back."
'And send reinforcements his way a little faster than in the manga,' she noted. Aiko did her best to ignore what had happened the last time she'd intentionally interfered with the timing of a ninja battle. This was different. If she was right, there was no way they could get to Suna in time to stop Gaara from being kidnapped anyways. She'd given up on ways to figure that out, even though the thought was terrible. Deidara was going to do a lot of damage to Suna. Maybe he already had. Still, she couldn't seem to be too genuinely worried about Temari's superstitious bad feeling without looking like she was overreacting. So she did her best to seem as if she was merely being polite and assuaging the older girl's bad feeling.
Sasuke gave her a decidedly confused look at the implication that she knew something about Tsunade that he didn't. Aiko avoided eye contact and stood, automatically brushing a hand over the equipment pouch around her waist and the stocked holster on her thigh. She had one seal with her at the moment, but another at her house that she could easily travel to without alerting anyone. That should be fine.
"It's really not a big deal," Temari protested weakly. "I don't mean to cause trouble."
"Nonsense. It's no big deal." She gave the older girl a pacifying smile. "Here." She handed Naruto her wallet. "Take care of the bill if it gets back before I do. I'll hurry, though."
She left the restaurant at a normal pace so as not to make them think she'd been lying about putting little stock in Temari's suspicions, but then flickered at top speed (sans Hiraishin, anyway) across the city to Hokage tower.
"Is something wrong?" Tsunade gave her an odd look. "I thought you weren't going to be visiting me anymore," she drawled out testily.
Aiko shrugged. "Temari-san had a bad feeling about Suna. I told her you had a way to quickly check."
"I do- oh, I see." Tsunade shrugged when Aiko indicated herself. "Sneaky. You think Gaara hasn't told her about Hiraishin?"
"Probably not," she answered honestly. "And I don't know how she'd know. I asked him to leave it in his office. Unless she normally roots through his drawers, it's probably been all but forgotten."
"Fine, fine. Drop these off while you're going, then? I was going to give them to Temari, but this'll be faster."
"Kay." Aiko folded and tucked the sheaf of papers into her hip pouch. "I'll be right back." Then for the first time, she sought out, gripped, and violently tugged on the seal attached to the kunai she had given to Gaara.
She wound up landing hard on her knees on top of a building she didn't recognize, feeling distinctly dizzy and a bit sick. "Ooh, that's a head trip," she muttered, not quite cognizant to what was wrong with the scenario she found herself in. Namely, that it was not an office of any sort.
"Aiko?"
She looked up, up, and up into Gaara's confused expression. "How-" He closed his eyes. "I see. Did I accidentally set off the seal?", he rumbled quietly, moving his left arm slightly.
"Hey, don't you dare ignore me, scum!" a voice called distantly. Oddly enough, it was coming from above.
If she'd been in a totally rational state of mind, her reaction might have been more dignified. "That is one ugly fucking bird," Aiko marveled under her breath. Gaara wasn't paying attention—he was directing a wave of sand to deflect a falling projectile.
'This is not exactly what I intended,' she decided when the resulting explosion nearly sent her to the ground she had barely struggled up from. 'On the bright side, I made it in one piece. Slightly less good… I don't think I can make the really long trip home, and I may have miscalculated about arriving after the worst of it was over.' Screams floated up from below, and she quirked her head to thoughtfully amend, 'Slightly. I definitely miscalculated slightly.'
At least her head was quickly clearly as she took deep controlled breaths. She was going to be okay. Really, that hadn't been such a bad trip. It would be smart to wait a few hours before making another cross-continental trip (and Minato hadn't mentioned any side effects like that, had he just been better with it than she was, or was something sloppy in her seal work?) but she was easily capable of using Hiraishin short distance.
'Now would be an excellent time for a plan.'
"I could easily defeat him if only he were in reach of my sand," Gaara muttered as if thinking aloud. Aiko blinked.
"Ask and ye shall receive," she mumbled.
"What?"
"Oh nothing," she said mildly. "Just a moment."
"Where did that girl come from?" Deidara squinted, almost entirely certain that a half-naked girl was suddenly standing by the jinchuuriki when an explosion made an opening in the protective sand shield he was currently beginning to fill with his own explosives.
He nearly rolled his eyes when a poorly thrown kunai zipped just past the side of his bird, leaning over slightly to catch it. He gave the weapon a dismissive look—and then felt outright affront at the shitty tag attached to it. "You're seriously trying to use explosives on me?" he called down, sneering even though they couldn't see it. Honestly. Of course he could stop an explosive tag from going off. Not that it mattered. This one didn't seem to be readied at all. The idiot had thrown a dud at him. He raised it over his head, ready to toss it back down at the idiots-
And then blinked, completely stunned.
'There's a girl sitting on my lap,' he registered. 'This is not usual.'
One hand that had been chewing clay fell open in surprise. The explosives laced contents fell onto her bare thigh with a plop, sliding off her leg to land on his knee, where it actually could stick to his clothes.
Deidara vaguely registered vivid artistic colors—orange and teal, set in a pale face—before the girl gave a dizzy smile and reached up to curl her fingers sweetly under the collar of his shirt. He flushed.
All that had taken about a second. Perhaps he could be forgiven for not reacting in time when she tightened her thighs around his hips, pressed her chest to his front (by that point he was crimson), and abruptly leaned the fuck over the side of the bird, unbalancing them both and sending them hurtling through the air.
Suddenly the hormone influenced magic of the previous moment was over, and Deidara was pissed off.
It was the half-naked bitch who'd been by the Kazekage. He ripped her hand off of him in the same movement that he used his other hand to snake down and punch her harshly on the side of her torso where he could reach. With satisfaction, he felt at least one rib collapse inward. In shock, her grip loosened.
That was excellent, because there was a two-ton clay construct losing velocity without him to power it above them and a Kazekage waiting below with a cloud of sand. If either of those two things touched him, he would be dead.
With a little more viciousness than was strictly necessary, he let go of his grip on the bitch's wrist at the same time that he curled both legs up to kick her in the gut with enough force to separate the two, sending her more directly into the path of that sand and him further away. That wouldn't be enough of a distraction, of course.
His whole damn plan was ruined, and Sasori-no-Danna was going to call him an idiot. Deidara scowled, but he didn't deny for even an instant that this was beyond repair. He was no idiot. He knew his explosives and he knew the properties of sand—he hadn't managed to saturate it with nearly enough tiny explosives to use against the jinchuuriki. The bird falling towards him unfortunately didn't have the punch to do it either. However, if he activated every last bit of explosives he'd laced and activated, it might well disrupt the brat's control over his sand for just long enough that he could beat a hasty retreat and fall back to make another go at it.
The entire plan, from 'Oh shit I'm falling' to its conclusion took less than a second. He rather cruelly smirked and made a hand sign. "Katsu!"
The explosion that followed was beautiful. It rippled among the sand, superheating and turning tiny bits to glass that flung upward away from the epicenter hole just as the bird collided with the side of it, sending red flames out that licked at the Kazekage's stupid coat when he leapt up to catch the girl.
He might not have done that if he'd remembered the clay that had fallen onto his knee.
White hot pain burnt through his consciousness, but Deidara only really knew what had gone wrong when instead of landing in a graceful crouch, one leg completely gave out with a horrible crack. Numbly, he looked down, having a hard time understanding that the bits of bone barely holding his shin to his thigh were really what was left of his knee. Then he didn't know anything at all.
"Asshole," Baki grunted, watching the blonde hair flip prettily while the head it was attached to soared through the air in a graceful arc, falling over the side of the building and bouncing against a lower roof as it went. It took a half-second for the body to catch on, falling over gracelessly in a pile of partially scorched meat.
He irritably kicked the corpse. "This shit is going to take weeks to clean up." He looked up, attention drawn by the strange sounds coming from the roof Gaara had leapt to when he'd intercepted the redhead's fall.
"and what the hell is she doing here anyways," he grumbled. "You'd think I'd know about a Konoha nin wandering around Suna."
It really was bizarre. He hadn't seen her arrive at all. She must be stupidly fast.
She didn't look very fast at the moment. In fact, she looked positively ghastly and a bit indecent. But it wasn't really her fault. She was probably more concerned with the burning chunk of flesh missing from her upper thigh and hip than a wardrobe malfunction, and the blood leaking out of her mouth from what was probably a punctured lung. Gaara was quickly pulling the now molten metal that had been inside her holster and hip pouch away from her flesh, using sand to stop the burning. Baki had to wince a little. Sure, that'd put it out, but sand in wounds hurt like a bitch.