Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Between Deception and Truth ❯ Truth Uncovered ( Chapter 7 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Lord Archive 
Ai discovers a few secrets that have been kept from her.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 12.24.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 1.0K | Status: Completed
Ai discovers a few secrets that have been kept from her.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 12.24.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 1.0K | Status: Completed
Between Deception and Truth
Chapter 7 - Truth Uncovered
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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"You're asleep!" Ai shouted irritably.
"Huh?" Tsunade blinked open her eyes.
"Did you listen to anything that just happened?" Ai demanded.
"You were bitching about Jiraiya ditching you and he was trying to make the Kyuubi come forth." Tsunade folded her arms, looking rather annoyed. "Did he succeed?"
"Of course I did," Jiraiya boasted. "She damned near ripped my face off."
"Shoulda kicked your ass some more." Ai shrugged. "Next part of the story is mostly Jiro's. I've got something to take care of." Without another word she left the room.
All eyes turned toward the teenage boy, who immediately shifted nervously.
"Mind if I ask you a few questions before getting back to the story?" Sakura then glanced toward her master. "It's not about what hasn't been said yet."
Jiro seemed to shrink in his chair. "I suspect you all have a few questions that you didn't want to ask with Ai around."
"Well, you have let her do most of the talking since she got here," Sakura pointed out. "I almost wonder if you're really were Hinata, or someone who took her place. I mean Hinata would never willingly be nude in the same room as Naruto, yet when Ai described that happening she was the one to be nervous."
Jiro looked away while blushing intensely. "It's not that I wouldn't have done that as Hinata... How do I say this? As Hinata, I got so flustered around Naruto because I wanted him to... well... do things to me. I mean, you remember when they told us about sex. How, as kunoichi, we could use feminine charms to get guys, especially teenage boys, to do what we want with the promise of sex, even if we never resorted to actually doing that. I firmly believed as a girl all boys wanted sex, and I wanted to be Naruto's partner, even if the idea of being with a guy like that scared the hell out of me. As Jiro, things weren't the same."
"Are things really different for guys?" Sakura wondered.
"It is and it isn't." Jiro shifted uneasily. "I found myself much easier to be, well, interested. Yet my situation caused me to force myself to maintain control."
"Did you like one of the guys in that town?" Sakura wondered.
Jiro shook his head slowly. "I still love Naruto even as he became Ai. It's how I responded to those feelings that changed."
Sakura blinked in confusion. "I don't follow."
Jiro couldn't look anyone in the eye. "It stopped being wanting Naruto to do things to me and started to be wanting to do things to Ai." He let out a long sigh. "Changing in the same room as her and some of the other things I did were to maintain control over myself and get used to her being right there all the time. Remaining in command of yourself was something Father had tried to instill into me, but it wasn't until I became Jiro did that lesson take hold."
"Oh." Sakura clucked uncertainly. "So... you like girls... as you are."
Jiro shrugged helplessly. "I don't know if it's liking girls or loving the person that is in Ai. I'm not attracted to you, but I'm not interested in Kakashi-sensei either."
"That's good to know," Kakashi chirped in.
"Does Ai know about your feelings?" Sakura wondered.
Jiro's blush intensified even more. "Um, that would be getting ahead of things..."
Sakura almost groaned at the reply. It was a simple question, but considering who she was talking to, lack of an answer didn't necessarily mean that Ai knew.
Jiro coughed. "Let's get back to the debriefing..." He shifted uneasily. "As much as Ai has said this part of the story is mine, there isn't really a lot to be said of it. I arranged for there to be a surprise party for Ai, setting it up a week before Naruto's birthday to play it safe in case anyone outside the village asked questions about her."
"Then why don't we take a break now and wait for Ai to return," Tsunade told them. "And bring some tea in. We're only about half-way done, aren't we?"
Jiro nodded reluctantly. "We've got a half-dozen major events still to go through."
Jiraiya stretched. "Why don't we just summarize the rest of it and be done?"
"Because someone needs to know the whole story and I'd like some idea on how to tell Hyuuga Hiashi what happened," Tsunade explained irritably. "There's no way he'd sit through this mess of a debriefing."
Sakura frowned, knowing she was that 'someone' who needed to know. While this was all interesting, she'd like to know what were the issues against changing the two back to their original bodies.
Jiro went to leave the room, but he didn't get more than one foot outside before leaping back into the room.
"Something wrong?" Tsunade asked.
"Neji-niisan and Tenten-san are out there," Jiro answered nervously.
Tsunade scowled. "They're back from their mission sooner than I expected. That could be an issue."
"Why is that?" Sakura wondered.
"That would be getting ahead of the story. But to put it simply, they've been at our village," Jiro explained.
"I'll take care of this." Tsunade stomped out of the room, knowing that if Neji was allowed to stay, he would be able to watch them with his eyes. When she returned fifteen minutes later with Ai, neither of them looked happy.
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Ai knew something was up. The villagers would stop talking as soon as they saw her. She was certain they were keeping some sort of secret as the silence didn't carry the same air that she had gotten in Konoha as Naruto. She couldn't tell if Jiro knew about it or not, considering his ninja training. She felt trying to worm any information out of him would be futile. She had a good idea who would be an easier target to find out what was going on.
Ai smiled cheerfully, waving at her target as she approached his home. "Hey, Mokkou. How's life?"
"Ah, hello, Ai. Things are good. You?" the teenage boy shifted uneasily.
"I'm doing good." Ai edged closer to him. "Do you know what's going on with everyone?"
Mokkou blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Whenever someone sees me, they stop talking. Is there some sort of secret they're keeping from me?" Ai pressed.
Mokkou turned away. "How would I know? They don't tell me anything."
"Aw, come on, Mokkou. You've got to know something." Ai grabbed his shoulder to make him look at her, but in the process of doing so she spotted what he had been working on. "What's with that gaudy heart thing?"
Mokkou's face flushed deeply. "It's just a little project I'm working on."
"Little project? For who?" Ai pressed.
"I can't say. That'd ruin the surprise." Mokkou laughed nervously.
Ai frowned. "The 'surprise' wouldn't happen to include me, would it?"
Mokkou tried to pull free of her now painful grip, to get some distance from her, but she wasn't letting go. "I, er, well, maybe."
Ai leveled her gaze. "'Maybe?'"
Mokkou seemed to deflate for a moment. "I know it's not right and all... That you're married... But things aren't that good with you and Jiro... And I... And I love you."
Ai jumped several meters away from. "You WHAT?!"
"I love you," Mokkou repeated uncertainly.
"Not going to happen," Ai spat. "Just get that shit out of your head." She whirled around and stomped off, leaving the boy to sob where he stood. She stomped out of sight and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
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Sakura grimaced. "Ouch. That was harsh."
"The first time I hear those words, and they were from a guy I thought was just a friend." Ai folded her arms irritably.
"You could've been nicer about it. You didn't have to stomp on his heart," Sakura pointed out.
"Were you any kinder to me?" Ai shot back.
Sakura opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Ai smirked. "Don't take a superior tone when you're no better. He should be thankful I didn't deck him."
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Jiro raised an eyebrow when Ai suddenly scowled viciously and took a sloppy swing at his face. "Something happen?"
"I've been wondering what the secret everyone has been keeping from me. Did you know Mokkou was in love with me?" Ai spat.
Jiro was initially a little nervous, but was relieved that one of Ai's clones had stumbled on a different secret. "I suspected it. He wasn't very discreet about it."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Ai snarled, her annoyance growing by her fake husband dodging her attacks as they sparred.
"I should have guessed you wouldn't figure it out," Jiro commented with a sigh.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ai growled out.
"Why do you think I agreed to go on this mission?" Jiro asked seriously.
Ai looked confused. "Because you were ordered to."
"I had the right to refuse it," Jiro pointed out. "This mission does go beyond what was expected of any ninja."
Ai stood still, staring dumbly. "You could've refused it? Why did you take the mission?"
Jiro frowned at the girl. "You really don't notice this sort of stuff. As Hinata I had the largest crush on you, Naruto."
Ai blinked. "You LIKED me? A girl actually LIKED me? Why didn't you say anything then?"
"Remember who you're talking to." Jiro smiled sheepishly. "I had a hard enough time talking to Kiba-kun, and he was just a friend. You were everything I wanted to be. We were both failures in the eyes of others, but you didn't let it hold you down. You had confidence in yourself, while I didn't."
Ai pouted. "You shouldn't play yourself down like that. You were a lot stronger than that. To face Neji and not back down."
"I was only able to do that because you were there, rooting for me. You had given me the courage to try to succeed when everyone expected me to run away," Jiro recalled fondly.
"Then I damned near killed you." Ai plopped onto the ground. "Neji didn't hold back at all. He tried to kill you."
Jiro shook his head. "Neji-niisan tried to kill the main house, not me. I was just the representation of it. And it's because of you that Neji-niisan and I were able to be on good terms with each other."
"Yeah, well. Everything is different now," Ai observed.
Jiro nodded, hoping that Ai would be sufficiently distracted.
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Ai was getting awfully annoyed at the villagers. She suspected they were plotting something to set her up with Mokkou. She'd sooner have her arms lopped off than screw Jiro, and she'd do him before any other guy. And it was the lack of intimacy between her and her fake husband which was likely the problem here. The villagers were noticing they weren't 'fully married' and might well believe Mokkou had an honest chance. Which he certainly did not.
There had to be something Ai could do to fix this mess. Make it look like she was really married to Jiro, even if they weren't. She gazed at her silent partner in her long mission as they walked home from training. He seemed to be fidgeting, on the verge of asking her something. But whenever she asked, the boy somehow reverted to Hinata and was all blushing and stammering, unable to phrase a single sentence. Ai wasn't sure what he wanted, maybe he was interested in knowing what she had felt for Hinata before the switch. Frankly, she'd rather not answer that question, considering that Sakura had been very much the focus of Naruto's thoughts, he hadn't really paid attention to any other girl. Hinata had been a fellow ninja to Naruto, not a girl.
"Why don't we wash up and go to the inn to eat?" Ai suggested suddenly.
Jiro blinked. "Huh?"
"These people haven't seen us being, well, 'married.' I thought if we were to make a show of going on a date, they'd get the hint that Mokkou has no chance with me," Ai explained.
"Ah, right. Sure. That sounds good." Jiro started to laugh nervously.
Ai scowled while flushing slightly. Learning that Hinata had a crush on Naruto made Ai wonder if Jiro's similar behavior today meant that the boy still harbored those feelings for her as they were now. She shook her head, hoping she was wrong. If Jiro tried anything, her instinctual reaction might well prove to the village they weren't married.
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"Remember to maintain our cover," Jiro whispered at the inn's door.
Ai looked at him strangely. She had been the one to suggest going here for that very purpose. She pushed open the door to the inn and her eyes widened.
"SURPRISE! Happy birthday!"
Beneath a canvas painted with the words 'Happy Birthday Ai' was the entire village and some of the neighboring farmers. Even Mokkou was there, though he had hidden himself in the back corner. Jiraiya was also present, under the guise of Ai's one-armed master.
Unbidden tears leaked from her eyes. Suddenly everything made more sense. They weren't trying to pair her off to Mokkou. They had been planning this. A birthday party. She had never had one before. In their one shout, more people had wished her a 'happy birthday' than she had ever received as Naruto. It had meant everything when Sakura had made that wish for her two years ago, yet this was somehow even more special. Naruto's birthday may not be until next week, but she would accept today as Ai's birthday.
Jiro put his arm around her back and ushered her toward the center of the room. After standing there for a moment, he prompted, "Say something to them, Dear."
"I... I don't know what to say..." Ai sniffed, hating that her emotions were getting the better of her in front of so many people, yet she wouldn't trade the moment away for anything. "I've never had a birthday party before. I... Thank you, everyone."
"Will you open my present first?" asked the innkeeper's four-year-old daughter, Hana.
"I told you before, presents come after dinner," Hana's mother chastised lightly.
Ai stared blankly. "I have presents?"
"Haven't you ever received birthday presents before?" Teijo asked.
"Little things... never something someone really planned on getting me," Ai admitted.
"I didn't give her one before because I learned of it a bit late, and, well, I was a bit too nervous at the time. We weren't exactly a couple at that time." Jiro added sheepishly. "Amazing how things can change in such a short time."
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Jiro noticed the shadow that was following him from the inn to the outhouse. He had to be cautious in not letting the person know as the pursuer was being extremely good. While Ai was known to have ninja training, he wasn't supposed to know anything.
As careful as the person had been, he was no ninja. He ended up tripping and landing on to his face.
Jiro turned around and looked at Mokkou lying in a mud puddle. "Are you all right?" He approached the boy and offered a hand.
Mokkou slapped the hand away. He shakily stood up, wiping some of the mud from his face. His body was tense, and his jaw tight. He seemed to want to say something, but couldn't get out any words.
"Why were you following me?" Jiro questioned seriously.
"Why do you stay with Ai if you're not happy with her?" Mokkou hissed out.
Jiro shook his head. "Who said I'm not happy with her?"
"Anyone looking at you can see that you're not happy! So why do you stay?" Mokkou demanded.
Jiro frowned, taking a moment to think of a proper answer. "Honestly, I don't know if I was honestly happy with the life I had before Ai. I had so many demands on me. 'Make your own decisions.' 'Do as I tell you.' 'Stand up for yourself.' 'Children are to be seen, not heard.' I could never figure out what I supposed to do or how to make my father happy with me. How Ai was treated and what I felt for her didn't help matters. I thought leaving with Ai would make my life easier. It didn't. I no longer have the help from my family. I'm on my own with Ai, and there's no taking back any mistakes. I have to make sure we both can survive."
Mokkou stomped his foot. "Why does she stay with you then? She not happy either! I could do better!"
"Could you really make things better for her?" Jiro shot back. "What would you do when Ai gets into a fight with you?"
"We'd never argue!" Mokkou protested.
Jiro shook his head. "I had believed that as well. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way no two people have the same wants and desires. At some point she will want something you don't. And she will make her demands quite clear. Would you be able to stand up to her? If you can't, I doubt you'd be the kind of guy she wants. She needs a partner. Someone who could challenge her."
"But, I..." Mokkou growled in frustration.
"I know nothing I say will change you mind. I know how a heart once committed is nearly impossible to move." Jiro sighed. "But you should also know that Ai isn't ever going to chose you, even if something happens to me."
"Like something would ever happen to a lucky bastard like you." Mokkou turned around and ran off towards his home.
Jiro's frown deepened when he heard a noise from the roof of the inn. Only two people he knew of could be there, and he hoped it wasn't Ai but knew it probably was her or one of her clones.
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Jiro followed behind Ai, both of them laden with her birthday gifts. While most of the presents didn't cost the villagers much in terms of money, many of them had a serious investment in time that made them even more valuable to the girl. Arriving at their home, he announced, "There's a few more presents left for you."
Ai turned toward him and her face carried a mix of emotions. "You already got me something."
Jiro nodded. "These aren't from me."
Ai shifted the stuff she was carrying to open the door to her house. Once she saw what was sitting on the table in the main room, she dropped everything she was holding. She immediately leapt to snatch the envelopes resting there. "Rock Lee, Chouji, Shikamaru... Sakura."
Jiro quietly moved to put Ai's presents away while the girl read through the birthday cards for her from Konoha. So entranced was the girl with the cards, she didn't even look at Tsunade's present of more scrolls.
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Sakura tried to force back tears of guilt. She almost vowed to not forget Naruto's next birthday but she realized she already had. It was now November and Naruto's birthday was in early October. She couldn't imagine going through life not having others around for the good times and the bad. Without other people could there even be good times?
"Is there something wrong, Sakura?" Ai asked.
"I'm sorry. Birthdays are important, and yet I've done nothing for you on those days," Sakura tearfully replied.
"I meant what I said before. Hearing you wish me a 'happy birthday' really did mean everything to me. And I still have the birthday card you sent me last year," Ai told her seriously.
Sakura pouted sheepishly. "Wasn't it dangerous to keep those?"
"Kept them with all the ninja scrolls. We'd be in trouble no matter who found those," Ai returned.
"There's Rain-nin trouble and then there's Akatsuki trouble," Sakura countered.
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Chapter 8 - Passing Cloud of Rain
Ai and Jiro find themselves in battle in the middle of the village with more than their own lives at stake.
Chapter 7 - Truth Uncovered
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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"You're asleep!" Ai shouted irritably.
"Huh?" Tsunade blinked open her eyes.
"Did you listen to anything that just happened?" Ai demanded.
"You were bitching about Jiraiya ditching you and he was trying to make the Kyuubi come forth." Tsunade folded her arms, looking rather annoyed. "Did he succeed?"
"Of course I did," Jiraiya boasted. "She damned near ripped my face off."
"Shoulda kicked your ass some more." Ai shrugged. "Next part of the story is mostly Jiro's. I've got something to take care of." Without another word she left the room.
All eyes turned toward the teenage boy, who immediately shifted nervously.
"Mind if I ask you a few questions before getting back to the story?" Sakura then glanced toward her master. "It's not about what hasn't been said yet."
Jiro seemed to shrink in his chair. "I suspect you all have a few questions that you didn't want to ask with Ai around."
"Well, you have let her do most of the talking since she got here," Sakura pointed out. "I almost wonder if you're really were Hinata, or someone who took her place. I mean Hinata would never willingly be nude in the same room as Naruto, yet when Ai described that happening she was the one to be nervous."
Jiro looked away while blushing intensely. "It's not that I wouldn't have done that as Hinata... How do I say this? As Hinata, I got so flustered around Naruto because I wanted him to... well... do things to me. I mean, you remember when they told us about sex. How, as kunoichi, we could use feminine charms to get guys, especially teenage boys, to do what we want with the promise of sex, even if we never resorted to actually doing that. I firmly believed as a girl all boys wanted sex, and I wanted to be Naruto's partner, even if the idea of being with a guy like that scared the hell out of me. As Jiro, things weren't the same."
"Are things really different for guys?" Sakura wondered.
"It is and it isn't." Jiro shifted uneasily. "I found myself much easier to be, well, interested. Yet my situation caused me to force myself to maintain control."
"Did you like one of the guys in that town?" Sakura wondered.
Jiro shook his head slowly. "I still love Naruto even as he became Ai. It's how I responded to those feelings that changed."
Sakura blinked in confusion. "I don't follow."
Jiro couldn't look anyone in the eye. "It stopped being wanting Naruto to do things to me and started to be wanting to do things to Ai." He let out a long sigh. "Changing in the same room as her and some of the other things I did were to maintain control over myself and get used to her being right there all the time. Remaining in command of yourself was something Father had tried to instill into me, but it wasn't until I became Jiro did that lesson take hold."
"Oh." Sakura clucked uncertainly. "So... you like girls... as you are."
Jiro shrugged helplessly. "I don't know if it's liking girls or loving the person that is in Ai. I'm not attracted to you, but I'm not interested in Kakashi-sensei either."
"That's good to know," Kakashi chirped in.
"Does Ai know about your feelings?" Sakura wondered.
Jiro's blush intensified even more. "Um, that would be getting ahead of things..."
Sakura almost groaned at the reply. It was a simple question, but considering who she was talking to, lack of an answer didn't necessarily mean that Ai knew.
Jiro coughed. "Let's get back to the debriefing..." He shifted uneasily. "As much as Ai has said this part of the story is mine, there isn't really a lot to be said of it. I arranged for there to be a surprise party for Ai, setting it up a week before Naruto's birthday to play it safe in case anyone outside the village asked questions about her."
"Then why don't we take a break now and wait for Ai to return," Tsunade told them. "And bring some tea in. We're only about half-way done, aren't we?"
Jiro nodded reluctantly. "We've got a half-dozen major events still to go through."
Jiraiya stretched. "Why don't we just summarize the rest of it and be done?"
"Because someone needs to know the whole story and I'd like some idea on how to tell Hyuuga Hiashi what happened," Tsunade explained irritably. "There's no way he'd sit through this mess of a debriefing."
Sakura frowned, knowing she was that 'someone' who needed to know. While this was all interesting, she'd like to know what were the issues against changing the two back to their original bodies.
Jiro went to leave the room, but he didn't get more than one foot outside before leaping back into the room.
"Something wrong?" Tsunade asked.
"Neji-niisan and Tenten-san are out there," Jiro answered nervously.
Tsunade scowled. "They're back from their mission sooner than I expected. That could be an issue."
"Why is that?" Sakura wondered.
"That would be getting ahead of the story. But to put it simply, they've been at our village," Jiro explained.
"I'll take care of this." Tsunade stomped out of the room, knowing that if Neji was allowed to stay, he would be able to watch them with his eyes. When she returned fifteen minutes later with Ai, neither of them looked happy.
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Ai knew something was up. The villagers would stop talking as soon as they saw her. She was certain they were keeping some sort of secret as the silence didn't carry the same air that she had gotten in Konoha as Naruto. She couldn't tell if Jiro knew about it or not, considering his ninja training. She felt trying to worm any information out of him would be futile. She had a good idea who would be an easier target to find out what was going on.
Ai smiled cheerfully, waving at her target as she approached his home. "Hey, Mokkou. How's life?"
"Ah, hello, Ai. Things are good. You?" the teenage boy shifted uneasily.
"I'm doing good." Ai edged closer to him. "Do you know what's going on with everyone?"
Mokkou blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Whenever someone sees me, they stop talking. Is there some sort of secret they're keeping from me?" Ai pressed.
Mokkou turned away. "How would I know? They don't tell me anything."
"Aw, come on, Mokkou. You've got to know something." Ai grabbed his shoulder to make him look at her, but in the process of doing so she spotted what he had been working on. "What's with that gaudy heart thing?"
Mokkou's face flushed deeply. "It's just a little project I'm working on."
"Little project? For who?" Ai pressed.
"I can't say. That'd ruin the surprise." Mokkou laughed nervously.
Ai frowned. "The 'surprise' wouldn't happen to include me, would it?"
Mokkou tried to pull free of her now painful grip, to get some distance from her, but she wasn't letting go. "I, er, well, maybe."
Ai leveled her gaze. "'Maybe?'"
Mokkou seemed to deflate for a moment. "I know it's not right and all... That you're married... But things aren't that good with you and Jiro... And I... And I love you."
Ai jumped several meters away from. "You WHAT?!"
"I love you," Mokkou repeated uncertainly.
"Not going to happen," Ai spat. "Just get that shit out of your head." She whirled around and stomped off, leaving the boy to sob where he stood. She stomped out of sight and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
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Sakura grimaced. "Ouch. That was harsh."
"The first time I hear those words, and they were from a guy I thought was just a friend." Ai folded her arms irritably.
"You could've been nicer about it. You didn't have to stomp on his heart," Sakura pointed out.
"Were you any kinder to me?" Ai shot back.
Sakura opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Ai smirked. "Don't take a superior tone when you're no better. He should be thankful I didn't deck him."
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Jiro raised an eyebrow when Ai suddenly scowled viciously and took a sloppy swing at his face. "Something happen?"
"I've been wondering what the secret everyone has been keeping from me. Did you know Mokkou was in love with me?" Ai spat.
Jiro was initially a little nervous, but was relieved that one of Ai's clones had stumbled on a different secret. "I suspected it. He wasn't very discreet about it."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Ai snarled, her annoyance growing by her fake husband dodging her attacks as they sparred.
"I should have guessed you wouldn't figure it out," Jiro commented with a sigh.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ai growled out.
"Why do you think I agreed to go on this mission?" Jiro asked seriously.
Ai looked confused. "Because you were ordered to."
"I had the right to refuse it," Jiro pointed out. "This mission does go beyond what was expected of any ninja."
Ai stood still, staring dumbly. "You could've refused it? Why did you take the mission?"
Jiro frowned at the girl. "You really don't notice this sort of stuff. As Hinata I had the largest crush on you, Naruto."
Ai blinked. "You LIKED me? A girl actually LIKED me? Why didn't you say anything then?"
"Remember who you're talking to." Jiro smiled sheepishly. "I had a hard enough time talking to Kiba-kun, and he was just a friend. You were everything I wanted to be. We were both failures in the eyes of others, but you didn't let it hold you down. You had confidence in yourself, while I didn't."
Ai pouted. "You shouldn't play yourself down like that. You were a lot stronger than that. To face Neji and not back down."
"I was only able to do that because you were there, rooting for me. You had given me the courage to try to succeed when everyone expected me to run away," Jiro recalled fondly.
"Then I damned near killed you." Ai plopped onto the ground. "Neji didn't hold back at all. He tried to kill you."
Jiro shook his head. "Neji-niisan tried to kill the main house, not me. I was just the representation of it. And it's because of you that Neji-niisan and I were able to be on good terms with each other."
"Yeah, well. Everything is different now," Ai observed.
Jiro nodded, hoping that Ai would be sufficiently distracted.
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Ai was getting awfully annoyed at the villagers. She suspected they were plotting something to set her up with Mokkou. She'd sooner have her arms lopped off than screw Jiro, and she'd do him before any other guy. And it was the lack of intimacy between her and her fake husband which was likely the problem here. The villagers were noticing they weren't 'fully married' and might well believe Mokkou had an honest chance. Which he certainly did not.
There had to be something Ai could do to fix this mess. Make it look like she was really married to Jiro, even if they weren't. She gazed at her silent partner in her long mission as they walked home from training. He seemed to be fidgeting, on the verge of asking her something. But whenever she asked, the boy somehow reverted to Hinata and was all blushing and stammering, unable to phrase a single sentence. Ai wasn't sure what he wanted, maybe he was interested in knowing what she had felt for Hinata before the switch. Frankly, she'd rather not answer that question, considering that Sakura had been very much the focus of Naruto's thoughts, he hadn't really paid attention to any other girl. Hinata had been a fellow ninja to Naruto, not a girl.
"Why don't we wash up and go to the inn to eat?" Ai suggested suddenly.
Jiro blinked. "Huh?"
"These people haven't seen us being, well, 'married.' I thought if we were to make a show of going on a date, they'd get the hint that Mokkou has no chance with me," Ai explained.
"Ah, right. Sure. That sounds good." Jiro started to laugh nervously.
Ai scowled while flushing slightly. Learning that Hinata had a crush on Naruto made Ai wonder if Jiro's similar behavior today meant that the boy still harbored those feelings for her as they were now. She shook her head, hoping she was wrong. If Jiro tried anything, her instinctual reaction might well prove to the village they weren't married.
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"Remember to maintain our cover," Jiro whispered at the inn's door.
Ai looked at him strangely. She had been the one to suggest going here for that very purpose. She pushed open the door to the inn and her eyes widened.
"SURPRISE! Happy birthday!"
Beneath a canvas painted with the words 'Happy Birthday Ai' was the entire village and some of the neighboring farmers. Even Mokkou was there, though he had hidden himself in the back corner. Jiraiya was also present, under the guise of Ai's one-armed master.
Unbidden tears leaked from her eyes. Suddenly everything made more sense. They weren't trying to pair her off to Mokkou. They had been planning this. A birthday party. She had never had one before. In their one shout, more people had wished her a 'happy birthday' than she had ever received as Naruto. It had meant everything when Sakura had made that wish for her two years ago, yet this was somehow even more special. Naruto's birthday may not be until next week, but she would accept today as Ai's birthday.
Jiro put his arm around her back and ushered her toward the center of the room. After standing there for a moment, he prompted, "Say something to them, Dear."
"I... I don't know what to say..." Ai sniffed, hating that her emotions were getting the better of her in front of so many people, yet she wouldn't trade the moment away for anything. "I've never had a birthday party before. I... Thank you, everyone."
"Will you open my present first?" asked the innkeeper's four-year-old daughter, Hana.
"I told you before, presents come after dinner," Hana's mother chastised lightly.
Ai stared blankly. "I have presents?"
"Haven't you ever received birthday presents before?" Teijo asked.
"Little things... never something someone really planned on getting me," Ai admitted.
"I didn't give her one before because I learned of it a bit late, and, well, I was a bit too nervous at the time. We weren't exactly a couple at that time." Jiro added sheepishly. "Amazing how things can change in such a short time."
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Jiro noticed the shadow that was following him from the inn to the outhouse. He had to be cautious in not letting the person know as the pursuer was being extremely good. While Ai was known to have ninja training, he wasn't supposed to know anything.
As careful as the person had been, he was no ninja. He ended up tripping and landing on to his face.
Jiro turned around and looked at Mokkou lying in a mud puddle. "Are you all right?" He approached the boy and offered a hand.
Mokkou slapped the hand away. He shakily stood up, wiping some of the mud from his face. His body was tense, and his jaw tight. He seemed to want to say something, but couldn't get out any words.
"Why were you following me?" Jiro questioned seriously.
"Why do you stay with Ai if you're not happy with her?" Mokkou hissed out.
Jiro shook his head. "Who said I'm not happy with her?"
"Anyone looking at you can see that you're not happy! So why do you stay?" Mokkou demanded.
Jiro frowned, taking a moment to think of a proper answer. "Honestly, I don't know if I was honestly happy with the life I had before Ai. I had so many demands on me. 'Make your own decisions.' 'Do as I tell you.' 'Stand up for yourself.' 'Children are to be seen, not heard.' I could never figure out what I supposed to do or how to make my father happy with me. How Ai was treated and what I felt for her didn't help matters. I thought leaving with Ai would make my life easier. It didn't. I no longer have the help from my family. I'm on my own with Ai, and there's no taking back any mistakes. I have to make sure we both can survive."
Mokkou stomped his foot. "Why does she stay with you then? She not happy either! I could do better!"
"Could you really make things better for her?" Jiro shot back. "What would you do when Ai gets into a fight with you?"
"We'd never argue!" Mokkou protested.
Jiro shook his head. "I had believed that as well. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way no two people have the same wants and desires. At some point she will want something you don't. And she will make her demands quite clear. Would you be able to stand up to her? If you can't, I doubt you'd be the kind of guy she wants. She needs a partner. Someone who could challenge her."
"But, I..." Mokkou growled in frustration.
"I know nothing I say will change you mind. I know how a heart once committed is nearly impossible to move." Jiro sighed. "But you should also know that Ai isn't ever going to chose you, even if something happens to me."
"Like something would ever happen to a lucky bastard like you." Mokkou turned around and ran off towards his home.
Jiro's frown deepened when he heard a noise from the roof of the inn. Only two people he knew of could be there, and he hoped it wasn't Ai but knew it probably was her or one of her clones.
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Jiro followed behind Ai, both of them laden with her birthday gifts. While most of the presents didn't cost the villagers much in terms of money, many of them had a serious investment in time that made them even more valuable to the girl. Arriving at their home, he announced, "There's a few more presents left for you."
Ai turned toward him and her face carried a mix of emotions. "You already got me something."
Jiro nodded. "These aren't from me."
Ai shifted the stuff she was carrying to open the door to her house. Once she saw what was sitting on the table in the main room, she dropped everything she was holding. She immediately leapt to snatch the envelopes resting there. "Rock Lee, Chouji, Shikamaru... Sakura."
Jiro quietly moved to put Ai's presents away while the girl read through the birthday cards for her from Konoha. So entranced was the girl with the cards, she didn't even look at Tsunade's present of more scrolls.
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Sakura tried to force back tears of guilt. She almost vowed to not forget Naruto's next birthday but she realized she already had. It was now November and Naruto's birthday was in early October. She couldn't imagine going through life not having others around for the good times and the bad. Without other people could there even be good times?
"Is there something wrong, Sakura?" Ai asked.
"I'm sorry. Birthdays are important, and yet I've done nothing for you on those days," Sakura tearfully replied.
"I meant what I said before. Hearing you wish me a 'happy birthday' really did mean everything to me. And I still have the birthday card you sent me last year," Ai told her seriously.
Sakura pouted sheepishly. "Wasn't it dangerous to keep those?"
"Kept them with all the ninja scrolls. We'd be in trouble no matter who found those," Ai returned.
"There's Rain-nin trouble and then there's Akatsuki trouble," Sakura countered.
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Chapter 8 - Passing Cloud of Rain
Ai and Jiro find themselves in battle in the middle of the village with more than their own lives at stake.