In hopes of luring someone to actually comment, and since it is draft-compleye... Happy Solstice (a little late)!
========================
txy03_ino_gaiden.txt
2007-12-13 - initial file created, notes transferred from DWMB saves
2077-12-25 - finished!
Kami, was she thirsty! It had taken Ino two hours to compose the stupid review essay Iruka-sensei wanted on the theory and applications of bunshin and kawarimi before he taught them to combine the two so the object they swapped with would keep their appearance until it was hit, between the time spent actually coming up with what to write, and then copying it neatly onto a scroll to turn in. Massaging her wrist, the somewhat-less-chipper-than-usual blonde slipped out of the study and headed to the kitchen for a drink, pausing at the head of the stairs as she heard her parents' voices in the family room below.
"-omiai? Honestly, she's only eleven years old! What is he thinking?" her mother complained. Ino's eye twitched as she realized what they were talking about. Unless they meant arranging something with Sasuke-kun, there was gonna be hell to pay!
Her father sounded nearly as exasperated as his wife, replying, "I thought the old coot gave in too easily about teaching them, and now I know why. Grandmother and Uncle Inoichi are against forcing the issue, but even they would like to see such strong talent reinforcing the bloodline." He sighed, and from the soft sound of their movements, Ino guessed he'd pulled Mother into a hug. "She's the only one available for it, since Inoko married that Asagiri boy, and my sister only has sons. Ino, come downstairs."
Flushing slightly and wondering what had given her away - and when she'd get to learn it! - the youngest Yamanaka complied, picking up energy as she shook off embarrassment and remembered to be angry about getting fixed up with someone that didn't sound like Sasuke-kun at all. At least, she didn't think her father had ever taught the handsome Uchiha heir.
Her father cut her off before she could give voice to her displeasure, however. "Ino-chan, I've invited two of my old genin team over for dinner tomorrow so you can meet them - just a normal introduction, not an omiai - as a matter of keeping peace in the clan. You WILL be polite and gracious, understood?"
"But daddy!"
"Do you understand?" he insisted.
"All riiiight..." she reluctantly agreed, thinking, "but just because I have to be polite doesn't mean I have to like them, or make them like me!"
Her father's skeptical look warned that he probably understood what she'd left unsaid all too well, but he let it slide for now. "The boys are twins, Haruno Jinrei and Kenshiro, and instead of the normal Haruno bloodline they are very strongly psychic."
"What!? Forehead girl has a special bloodline? Maybe a bloodline for keeping her nose in musty old scrolls without choking to death, or signal flashes reflecting the sunlight off her oversized expanse of -" She cut herself off, staring angrily at the floor when her father cleared his throat threateningly.
"The Haruno bloodline is one of the very oldest, like our own, well established even before the first of the great ninja wars when shinobi began to change from specialists in infiltration and espionage to front line combatants." he explained. "Their ability is especially suited for use by deep cover operatives, but more combat oriented uses have been developed as times changed, also. For one thing, their second self is a perfect defense against mind-controlling jutsu, including many of our own family jutsu. Those techniques take considerable training to achieve, however, so it's no surprise if the only thing your friend has shown is unusually good chakra control."
"The twins are different, however, as I said. Even without knowing any of our jutsu, their psychic ability would be very valuable to keep the Yamanaka bloodline strong, since abilities like our own are so rare outside the clan, and we are too small to marry within it the way the Hyuuga often do, and the Uchiha did." Inoshi's face softened, as did his tone, knowing that if he was too authoritarian his strong-willed daughter would disobey just to be contrary. "I'm not asking you to fall head over heels at first sight, or to do anything particularly romantic while the boys are half again your age. All I want is for you to give being friends with them a chance, and let anything more develop as it may."
It took a bit more grumbling on Ino's part, soothing on her father's, and a few sharp words about manners from her mother before the conversation wound down, but Ino already knew she'd been licked. She was still dying of thirst, for that matter, and too much talking might damage her poor parched throat.
Explosive Youth Part Three
Ino Gaiden: It's Just An Intro, I Should Really Just Relax
Dinner the next evening had come and gone without major difficulty, though Ino had been a bit weirded out by the twins' tendency to switch off in mid-sentence when one or the other needed to take a breath or a bite of food. Then her parents had shooed the three of them into the family room while the adults cleaned up, and an awkward silence had fallen.
Her clan's marriage-minded maneuverings were absolutely the LAST thing she wanted to talk about, especially if no one had told the boys - Please, by all the kami, let no one have mentioned any such thing! - but absolutely nothing else was coming to mind. Worse, she could feel a light blush forming as she continued to look them over, the open vests and tight skinsuit doing little to hide the fit bodies of active ninja. *SASUKE-KUN, Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun...* she chanted in her head, trying to purge any such thoughts, then admitted, "...wears that bulky jacket all the time, so I have no idea if he's really this hot under it." She sighed, and felt the strong urge to start fiddling with her hands like that Hyuuga girl was always doing.
Taking pity on her, the twins drew a breath, then one said, "Ino-san, your father told you a bit about us, right?" At her hesitant nod, the one on the left continued, "He said he'd told you that Haruno usually have a second self, but that we're psychic, like the Yamanaka, instead. That's -"
"- not quite accurate," right-side-red continued. "We've kept it a secret so far, but your family probably wants you to think about dating one of us, since psychics are so uncommon."
Damn! They'd figured it out, or someone had told them and they were trying to be politic. The blonde girl could feel her cheeks burn, but stubbornly brought her eyes up to meet the green orbs of... arg, which one was which again? She took a guess and said, "Well, yeah, Kenshiro-san. Mostly the elders, really."
The pink-haired boys smiled in eerie unison, before requesting, "What we have to say is a secret even from our own family, but since you're now involved, we think you should know. Will you let us use a psychic contact so no one can listen in?"
Still upset with herself and her family, Ino thought for only a second - long enough to realize that in a telepathic link she could tell them off without her parents hearing - and agreed. The two boys shuffled closer together on their cushions, then interlinked their near arms to each form half of the familiar triangular hand seal used for Shintenshin, leaning their heads together to both look through it at her. There was the familiar pull of contact, then the three of them were in her mental space. Ino smirked slightly, seeing that their mental images apparently hadn't adjusted to their recent promotions, since despite the proudly worn vests on their real bodies they had only the bodysuits in here, while her own mental self had a perfect replica of the outfit she'd chosen for the day.
The bodysuits weren't even accurate, she realized - one had a red pattern on both sides, and the other was inverted, mostly red with black arms. Also, their facial expressions had lost that eerie unison, the one on the left wearing a confident smirk while his twin smiled warmly. Left folded his black-sleeved arms and - was that pervert openly checking her out!? - while right introduced them and explained, "I'm Kenshiro, he's Jinrei... but the truth is, we're not really two Haruno with a strange blip in the bloodline. Actually, we're one normal Haruno who happens to have two bodies. Jinrei would have been Inner Kenshiro, and most of the time I run them both. When we're in combat, separated, or in some other situation where full attention is needed for each body, that's the only time he really takes over. Since my parents named the first body born Kenshiro, Jinrei decided to use the extra name."
"... And here I thought the Aburame were freaky, what kind of stupid is having two minds and two bodies, and still only having one mind control both?" she sniped.
"Gosh, I dunno," Jinrei snapped right back. "What kind of stupid is only having one of each, then sending your mind to take over another body when all you can do is let your own lie around helpless? Even your grandfather can't do more than use a guard stance while controlling someone with Shintenshin, and the higher-level Yamanaka techniques don't allow as much control. Two heads are better than one, and I'm twice as good as that!"
"Oi, be polite when there's a guest, me," Kenshiro scolded, then turned to the fuming girl. "Jinrei doesn't deal with people much, so he's a bit brash, and unused to referring to us in the plural - even so, it's a fact that because of our unusual situation, we can use the Shintenshin to excellent effect, though that has been mostly hidden as well... If we hadn't, you probably would have been simply told you would be marrying one of us."
"WHAT!? Like hell! When I marry anyone, it's going to be Sasuke-kun, you stuck-up pinkies!" the young Yamanaka shouted. "Besides, Dad would never let the elders do something like that to me!"
Jinrei snarked, "So says every girl in his class... Including Little Sis."
Kenshiro bapped his other self on the forehead. "Ino-san, let me tell you about one of our recent missions, and then perhaps you'll see what we mean." He waved a hand, and suddenly they were standing by a row of seats in a movie theater... Except, it didn't have a normal screen, instead it was like a giant spy-seal viewer. "You know what this is?" he asked.
"Yes, of course," the blonde replied, since they were covered briefly under the study of ninja tools, "but I've never heard of one this big before..." She stepped closer and ran a hand over the surface. "So, you can make clear, solid mental constructs. Big deal, so can any genjutsu user!"
"That's not the big deal," Kenshiro said. "Take a seat with us, and we'll show you as well as telling." Ino frowned at the twins, but perched daintily in a seat near the middle of the row. They sat in the next two seats, Kenshiro beside the girl with Jinrei to his left.
A moment later, Jinrei passed two tubs of popcorn to his other self, who handed one on to the girl. "What?" the Inner Haruno said defensively. "It's traditional for our mission reviews. Don't worry, it's just another construct so it won't make your ass fatter. Not like you couldn't use a little both front and back any - Ow!" He was cut off by Kenshiro's knuckles digging into the top of his head, amid a shower of popcorn from Ino. "Ow! Ow! Okay, fine, her ass is perfect, stop it!" Rubbing his head as his other self finally let up, the red-clad twin griped quietly, "Bad enough fighting with myself, why'd the crazy chick have to go throwing popcorn all over? Now my mind's all dirty..."
Vein bulging and shaking a fist, Ino roared, "YOUR MIND WAS DIRTY ALL ON ITS OWN, YOU PERVERT! And damn right my behind is perfect. Way too good for the likes of you, so keep your eyes to yourself, jerk!" she huffed, and turned up her nose. After a few seconds to calm down, she turned to Kenshiro (utterly ignoring his immature twin giving her the red-eye in the next seat... Grrr...) and forced a sweet smile. "If there's a point here, can we get back to it? Something to do with the unrealistically huge viewer?"
(cont'd)SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
========================
txy03_ino_gaiden.txt
2007-12-13 - initial file created, notes transferred from DWMB saves
2077-12-25 - finished!
Kami, was she thirsty! It had taken Ino two hours to compose the stupid review essay Iruka-sensei wanted on the theory and applications of bunshin and kawarimi before he taught them to combine the two so the object they swapped with would keep their appearance until it was hit, between the time spent actually coming up with what to write, and then copying it neatly onto a scroll to turn in. Massaging her wrist, the somewhat-less-chipper-than-usual blonde slipped out of the study and headed to the kitchen for a drink, pausing at the head of the stairs as she heard her parents' voices in the family room below.
"-omiai? Honestly, she's only eleven years old! What is he thinking?" her mother complained. Ino's eye twitched as she realized what they were talking about. Unless they meant arranging something with Sasuke-kun, there was gonna be hell to pay!
Her father sounded nearly as exasperated as his wife, replying, "I thought the old coot gave in too easily about teaching them, and now I know why. Grandmother and Uncle Inoichi are against forcing the issue, but even they would like to see such strong talent reinforcing the bloodline." He sighed, and from the soft sound of their movements, Ino guessed he'd pulled Mother into a hug. "She's the only one available for it, since Inoko married that Asagiri boy, and my sister only has sons. Ino, come downstairs."
Flushing slightly and wondering what had given her away - and when she'd get to learn it! - the youngest Yamanaka complied, picking up energy as she shook off embarrassment and remembered to be angry about getting fixed up with someone that didn't sound like Sasuke-kun at all. At least, she didn't think her father had ever taught the handsome Uchiha heir.
Her father cut her off before she could give voice to her displeasure, however. "Ino-chan, I've invited two of my old genin team over for dinner tomorrow so you can meet them - just a normal introduction, not an omiai - as a matter of keeping peace in the clan. You WILL be polite and gracious, understood?"
"But daddy!"
"Do you understand?" he insisted.
"All riiiight..." she reluctantly agreed, thinking, "but just because I have to be polite doesn't mean I have to like them, or make them like me!"
Her father's skeptical look warned that he probably understood what she'd left unsaid all too well, but he let it slide for now. "The boys are twins, Haruno Jinrei and Kenshiro, and instead of the normal Haruno bloodline they are very strongly psychic."
"What!? Forehead girl has a special bloodline? Maybe a bloodline for keeping her nose in musty old scrolls without choking to death, or signal flashes reflecting the sunlight off her oversized expanse of -" She cut herself off, staring angrily at the floor when her father cleared his throat threateningly.
"The Haruno bloodline is one of the very oldest, like our own, well established even before the first of the great ninja wars when shinobi began to change from specialists in infiltration and espionage to front line combatants." he explained. "Their ability is especially suited for use by deep cover operatives, but more combat oriented uses have been developed as times changed, also. For one thing, their second self is a perfect defense against mind-controlling jutsu, including many of our own family jutsu. Those techniques take considerable training to achieve, however, so it's no surprise if the only thing your friend has shown is unusually good chakra control."
"The twins are different, however, as I said. Even without knowing any of our jutsu, their psychic ability would be very valuable to keep the Yamanaka bloodline strong, since abilities like our own are so rare outside the clan, and we are too small to marry within it the way the Hyuuga often do, and the Uchiha did." Inoshi's face softened, as did his tone, knowing that if he was too authoritarian his strong-willed daughter would disobey just to be contrary. "I'm not asking you to fall head over heels at first sight, or to do anything particularly romantic while the boys are half again your age. All I want is for you to give being friends with them a chance, and let anything more develop as it may."
It took a bit more grumbling on Ino's part, soothing on her father's, and a few sharp words about manners from her mother before the conversation wound down, but Ino already knew she'd been licked. She was still dying of thirst, for that matter, and too much talking might damage her poor parched throat.
Explosive Youth Part Three
Ino Gaiden: It's Just An Intro, I Should Really Just Relax
Dinner the next evening had come and gone without major difficulty, though Ino had been a bit weirded out by the twins' tendency to switch off in mid-sentence when one or the other needed to take a breath or a bite of food. Then her parents had shooed the three of them into the family room while the adults cleaned up, and an awkward silence had fallen.
Her clan's marriage-minded maneuverings were absolutely the LAST thing she wanted to talk about, especially if no one had told the boys - Please, by all the kami, let no one have mentioned any such thing! - but absolutely nothing else was coming to mind. Worse, she could feel a light blush forming as she continued to look them over, the open vests and tight skinsuit doing little to hide the fit bodies of active ninja. *SASUKE-KUN, Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun...* she chanted in her head, trying to purge any such thoughts, then admitted, "...wears that bulky jacket all the time, so I have no idea if he's really this hot under it." She sighed, and felt the strong urge to start fiddling with her hands like that Hyuuga girl was always doing.
Taking pity on her, the twins drew a breath, then one said, "Ino-san, your father told you a bit about us, right?" At her hesitant nod, the one on the left continued, "He said he'd told you that Haruno usually have a second self, but that we're psychic, like the Yamanaka, instead. That's -"
"- not quite accurate," right-side-red continued. "We've kept it a secret so far, but your family probably wants you to think about dating one of us, since psychics are so uncommon."
Damn! They'd figured it out, or someone had told them and they were trying to be politic. The blonde girl could feel her cheeks burn, but stubbornly brought her eyes up to meet the green orbs of... arg, which one was which again? She took a guess and said, "Well, yeah, Kenshiro-san. Mostly the elders, really."
The pink-haired boys smiled in eerie unison, before requesting, "What we have to say is a secret even from our own family, but since you're now involved, we think you should know. Will you let us use a psychic contact so no one can listen in?"
Still upset with herself and her family, Ino thought for only a second - long enough to realize that in a telepathic link she could tell them off without her parents hearing - and agreed. The two boys shuffled closer together on their cushions, then interlinked their near arms to each form half of the familiar triangular hand seal used for Shintenshin, leaning their heads together to both look through it at her. There was the familiar pull of contact, then the three of them were in her mental space. Ino smirked slightly, seeing that their mental images apparently hadn't adjusted to their recent promotions, since despite the proudly worn vests on their real bodies they had only the bodysuits in here, while her own mental self had a perfect replica of the outfit she'd chosen for the day.
The bodysuits weren't even accurate, she realized - one had a red pattern on both sides, and the other was inverted, mostly red with black arms. Also, their facial expressions had lost that eerie unison, the one on the left wearing a confident smirk while his twin smiled warmly. Left folded his black-sleeved arms and - was that pervert openly checking her out!? - while right introduced them and explained, "I'm Kenshiro, he's Jinrei... but the truth is, we're not really two Haruno with a strange blip in the bloodline. Actually, we're one normal Haruno who happens to have two bodies. Jinrei would have been Inner Kenshiro, and most of the time I run them both. When we're in combat, separated, or in some other situation where full attention is needed for each body, that's the only time he really takes over. Since my parents named the first body born Kenshiro, Jinrei decided to use the extra name."
"... And here I thought the Aburame were freaky, what kind of stupid is having two minds and two bodies, and still only having one mind control both?" she sniped.
"Gosh, I dunno," Jinrei snapped right back. "What kind of stupid is only having one of each, then sending your mind to take over another body when all you can do is let your own lie around helpless? Even your grandfather can't do more than use a guard stance while controlling someone with Shintenshin, and the higher-level Yamanaka techniques don't allow as much control. Two heads are better than one, and I'm twice as good as that!"
"Oi, be polite when there's a guest, me," Kenshiro scolded, then turned to the fuming girl. "Jinrei doesn't deal with people much, so he's a bit brash, and unused to referring to us in the plural - even so, it's a fact that because of our unusual situation, we can use the Shintenshin to excellent effect, though that has been mostly hidden as well... If we hadn't, you probably would have been simply told you would be marrying one of us."
"WHAT!? Like hell! When I marry anyone, it's going to be Sasuke-kun, you stuck-up pinkies!" the young Yamanaka shouted. "Besides, Dad would never let the elders do something like that to me!"
Jinrei snarked, "So says every girl in his class... Including Little Sis."
Kenshiro bapped his other self on the forehead. "Ino-san, let me tell you about one of our recent missions, and then perhaps you'll see what we mean." He waved a hand, and suddenly they were standing by a row of seats in a movie theater... Except, it didn't have a normal screen, instead it was like a giant spy-seal viewer. "You know what this is?" he asked.
"Yes, of course," the blonde replied, since they were covered briefly under the study of ninja tools, "but I've never heard of one this big before..." She stepped closer and ran a hand over the surface. "So, you can make clear, solid mental constructs. Big deal, so can any genjutsu user!"
"That's not the big deal," Kenshiro said. "Take a seat with us, and we'll show you as well as telling." Ino frowned at the twins, but perched daintily in a seat near the middle of the row. They sat in the next two seats, Kenshiro beside the girl with Jinrei to his left.
A moment later, Jinrei passed two tubs of popcorn to his other self, who handed one on to the girl. "What?" the Inner Haruno said defensively. "It's traditional for our mission reviews. Don't worry, it's just another construct so it won't make your ass fatter. Not like you couldn't use a little both front and back any - Ow!" He was cut off by Kenshiro's knuckles digging into the top of his head, amid a shower of popcorn from Ino. "Ow! Ow! Okay, fine, her ass is perfect, stop it!" Rubbing his head as his other self finally let up, the red-clad twin griped quietly, "Bad enough fighting with myself, why'd the crazy chick have to go throwing popcorn all over? Now my mind's all dirty..."
Vein bulging and shaking a fist, Ino roared, "YOUR MIND WAS DIRTY ALL ON ITS OWN, YOU PERVERT! And damn right my behind is perfect. Way too good for the likes of you, so keep your eyes to yourself, jerk!" she huffed, and turned up her nose. After a few seconds to calm down, she turned to Kenshiro (utterly ignoring his immature twin giving her the red-eye in the next seat... Grrr...) and forced a sweet smile. "If there's a point here, can we get back to it? Something to do with the unrealistically huge viewer?"
(cont'd)SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
For the next 72 hours, Itachi intoned, I will slap you with this trout. - Spying no Jutsu, chapter 3
"In the futuristic taco bell of the year 20XX, justice wears an aluminum sombrero!"hemlock-martini
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows