The two of you are promoted to chunin. Tsunade’s words echoed through Rukia’s head as she walked down the narrow halls of the Hokage's tower.
She could see flashbacks of her and Konohamaru racing to get to the Hokage’s office. Memories of when she tripped and scraped her knee as her grandfather soothed her and picked her up, memories of when her many guards would let her climb on their back as they walked her to the office.
Who do I even celebrate this with? Rukia sighed opening the front door, the suns rays shining on her face as if to congratulate her.
She kicks a few pebbles along the street as she made her way to the Sarutobi compound. Home of the last two family members she had. A once thriving clan dwindled down to just three people.
She knocked on Asuma’s door, a room followed by a large section of the Sarutobi compound that Asuma had completely to himself. “Uncle Asuma?” she knocked again before opening the door to a pitch black empty room that still lingered with one of her favorite smells. He's probably out celebrating with Shikamaru.
“Ah! Lady Rukia!” Hori, the Sarutobi groundskeeper, said.
Rukia smiled as she turned around to Hori. Hori, one of the few constants in Rukia's life. Rukia jumped down from Asuma's porch as she ran to hug her. “Hori! Guess what!”
“What’s that?” Hori smiled taking in how much Rukia has grown.
“I know ninja stuff isn’t your thing.” Rukia blushed as she let go, the front of her foot tapping against the ground. “But I got promoted to chunin! Rukia Sarutobi, a chunin!”
“Oh Lady Rukia! Your grandfather would be so proud.” Hori smiled as she pulled Rukia in for another hug. You poor thing. Most people get to celebrate with their family and here you are celebrating with little ol' me.
“He would wouldn’t he?” Rukia muffled against Hori’s chest as tears started to sneak out. “I’m uh, I’m gonna go tell him.”
“I think he would like that very much.” Hori gave Rukia a smile before pulling away, “I won’t tell your uncle you were snooping around his room.”
Rukia laughed as she started running away, “You can! What is he gonna do? I’m a chunin now!”
Rukia ran down the busy streets of Konoha, stopping in her tracks as she ran past Ichiraku, as she ran past Kiba, Hinata, and Shino in Ichiraku. Shino would care, right? And Kiba and Hinata would definitely be happy for me, right?.
“Ruks!” Kiba laughed, placing his arm over her shoulder the second she walked under the sign, “You joining?”
“I just ate but..” Rukia blushed, taking a quick glance at Shino, “Umm.” How do I casually bring up I got promoted to chunin and they didn’t?
“Are you okay?” Hinata softly asked. Rukia was always the polar opposite of her but right now with the nervous fidgeting of Rukia’s fingers, Hinata could tell something was up.
Does she want to tell us about her promotion? Is she nervous to bring it up? “We saw Shikamaru earlier. Congratulations Rukia, why? Be-”
“Because you’re chunin now!” Teuchi smiled down at the young girl in front of him, “Next time you stop by it’s on the house.”
“Thank you,” Rukia smiled and turned towards Shino as she unraveled herself from Kiba’s arms, “it means a lot.”
She could feel her tears start to swell up again, celebrating with friends was nice but she just wanted him, whoever he was, to tell her he was proud of her. “I gotta go but really thank you.”
With that, Rukia jumped along the rooftops of Konoha leaving little teardrops in her path up to Hiruzen’s face on the Hokage mountain.
She slid herself in between the two tallest pieces of his hair, “Hey grandpa.” God this is so stupid, I’m talking to a rock. “So I got promoted to chunin today! I know it’s not jonin but I’ll get there eventually." Rukia sighed leaning against the rock, feeling comfort despite the hard surface.
"It was me and Shikamaru- just the two of us. Which feels a little weird since I think Naruto summoning those giant toads is enough for him to be a chunin but whatever, you know?”
“Becoming a chunin isn’t just about strength, you know.”
Rukia flinched, startled by another voice, but a voice she knew exactly who it belonged to. “Kakashi sensei! You can’t sneak up on people like that!” Rukia laughed, wiping away her tears as she stared up on her sensei who stood on the tip of one of Hiruzen's hairs.
“For a chunin, I’m surprised you didn’t already sense me.” he teased crouching down maintaining perfect balance.
Rukia chuckled, “Sorry I was a little preoccupied having a moment with a rock.”
“I can see that.” Kakashi smiled as jumped down, taking a seat next to Rukia. “Congratulations, I’m pr-” Kakashi stopped, Rukia's tears interrupting him.
“Uncle Asuma is with his team and Konohamaru is still in class and-and-and the first person I was able to tell is Hori and I love Hori it’s just-it’s just..” Rukia wiped away the tears from eyes with her hands, “my first thought was about him. Wondering if I’m finally strong enough for him.”
“Lord Third?” Kakashi knew that wasn't the answer but he was scared to hear the actual answer. Hiruzen made it clear that despite Rukia being placed on Kakashi’s team, she was only placed on it for Naruto and Sasuke - not because she was his daughter.
There have been so many moments in Rukia’s life where he’s wanted to tell her. When she aced her first exam, when she came running out of the academy jumping onto the new ANBU guard Kakashi was disguising himself as that day, the first time she made a spark, every time Kakashi would see her in the office before he was sent on a mission.
He often wondered how he would feel if she would wish him good luck before a mission. If he got to hold her and promise her he’d be back.
Sure, if he saw Rukia before he was sent off on a mission she would wish him good luck; but just like how she would wish Gai or Genma good luck. It had no other meaning other than Rukia seeing him as a shinobi and hoping not to witness another funeral.
Kakashi wanted the good luck that she would give to Asuma. The good luck followed by her jumping off of her grandfather's lap as she ran to hug his legs, the smile and bright beaming eyes that she only gave to her family members- not just to some regular jonin.
“Not him.” Rukia sighed, feeling embarrassed that she was complaining about family matters to her sensei. “I’m sorry sensei. You probably don’t have time to listen to me whine about not knowing my father.”
“I have all the time in the world.” Kakashi smiled, internally working up the courage to confess to her. How would she take it? Would she be angry at him? Would she hug him as a father rather than her sensei?
Rukia laughed, “Sure you’re not just using me as an excuse not to do something else?”
“Well yes,” Kakashi chuckled, she knew him well, “but that can wait. This can’t.” You’ve waited long enough.
“Okay but don’t tell Naruto and them that I’ve gone all soft okay?”
“Okay.”
“So..” Rukia plopped down next to Kakashi, “My grandfather used to tell me bedtime stories of my mom every night. I was very curious about her and my dad when I was younger because everything was kept such a secret. I’ve only ever seen pictures of her but even then they’re the black and white ones so it wasn’t until I was like, i dunno maybe three that I learned she had green eyes.”
A very deep emerald green. Kakash smiled remembering Rumi, how the trees of Konoha begged to be as beautiful and vibrant as her eyes.
“But still, he never told me what color my fathers eyes are. Though, being the only one with white hair and red eyes in my family I think I know.” Rukia laughed as she continued to ramble. “One time when I was like four I think… anyways I asked Fugaku if I could see his sharingan because they were red and he never showed me it but he did explain that my red eyes must have come from somewhere else.”
“Yeah, theirs is not always on.” Kakashi sighed, wishing he could deactivate his.
“Well I know that now.” Rukia laughed, “But back then I just clinged onto any sort of similarity. I love uncle Asuma and Konohamaru but you can look at them and see they’re related. Me, you just see a short girl with white hair and red eyes who looks nothing like her family.”
“Well, your grandfather was short so you do have that going for you.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Rukia took a deep breath. She stopped searching for her father when Kakashi became her sensei. She looked up to him, would watch how he fought, would listen to how he commanded her team, would hold onto him when she was hurt. It was silly, she knew that, but in a way she couldn’t picture her father ever measuring up to Kakashi.
“Rukia, do you have time to listen to a story?” Kakashi took a deep breath, if he was going to tell her he wanted to tell her everything.
“If it’s one of your Icha Icha ones, then no.” Rukia laughed looking up at him, “Whatcha got?”
“13 years ago, well longer than that, your mother filled a void in your fathers heart. The two of them lost their teammates and for a while didn’t speak to each other.”
“Wait, you know them?” Rukia sat up on her knees leaning into Kakashi.
“Listen.”
“But-”
“Rukia...” Kakashi laughed, she certainly isn't a patient one.
“Fine.” Rukia plopped back down, patience is a stupid virtue.
“Your father isn’t the best man. He’s made a lot of mistakes but he tries to make up for them.”
“So you know him pretty well?”
Kakashi took a deep breath avoiding Rukia’s question, “When your father and your mother found each other again, it made him feel whole and it was something he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Shortly after, you were born and your mom-”
“Had to choose between me or her.” Rukia finished for him, she knew that part. That’s a part of her story that eats her up at night, she killed her mother. Sure, no one ever saw it like that but Rukia did, her mother chose to save Rukia instead of herself. To Rukia there was no other way to see it.
“Right. A part of your father died that day, but at least he had you..” Kakashi looked over at Rukia taking a deep breath, “and he had his sensei and his wife who were just about to have a son. He was prepared to raise you on his own, but then…”
“What happened? Why did he let me go?” Rukia’s voice croaked.
“The day the nine tails attacked was the day he lost his sensei. He lost everyone he cared about, he didn’t want to lose you. Death followed him like a shadow.”
“So he gave me to my grandfather to protect me?”
Kakashi nodded his head, “But he couldn’t stay away, he watched over you every day he could.”
Rukia took a deep breath, a little feeling in her gut that Kakashi knew way too much about her father for it not to be him. “So the agreement, about knowing my other side of the family once I’m strong enough, I’m finally strong enough?”
“Yes.” Kakashi swallowed, “I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to tell you but I-.”
“Is it you?” Rukia looked out to Konoha, she didn’t know what answer she wanted.
If it was Kakashi she’d be happy but if it was Kakashi she’d also feel betrayed. If it wasn’t Kakashi she’d be disappointed but if it wasn’t Kakashi she’d also feel a little relieved she hasn’t been lied to by him for 13 years.
“How would you feel?”
“I don't know but, Lady Tsunade might want to take away my chunin status for not being able to realize it sooner.” Rukia laughed, turning her head to Kakashi, tears falling down her face as she gave him a smile.
Right now, all she could focus on was the fact her father was right in front of her. “But if it is you then-then that must’ve been really hard for you.”
Kakashi felt his breath hitch in his throat, of all of the responses he expected from her, he never expected that.
“You had to act like just my sensei, treat me like just a student.” Rukia smirked, “I knew I was your favorite.”
Kakashi let out a chuckle as he draped his arm over her shoulders. “Was it that obvious?”
Rukia smiled leaning into Kakashi’s shoulder, an action she’s done before but this time with so much more meaning. “A little bit, I just chalked it up to our hair though.”
The two of them stayed like that for a while before getting up and stretching their legs, taking a walk as father and daughter. Rukia asked nearly a hundred questions; what was her mom like on the team, how did they pick the name Rukia, how did they finally get together, which of her many guards was Kakashi and which were just regular guards. All questions the Kakashi had the answers to, all questions he loved finally being able to answer.
“Wait but if mom didn’t have red eyes and if you don’t have red eyes… who the hell gave me my eyes?” Rukia laughed as the two of them walked down the street.
“Well,” Kakashi stopped and turned back to the Hokage Mountain, “See Lord Second up there?”
Rukia stared at the mountain, her mouth agape. “Yeahh..”
“He had a daughter and his daughter fell in love with your great grandfather.”
Rukia’s eyes glanced back and forth between the mountain and her father, trying to process what she was hearing. “So I’m a-I’m a Senju?”
Kakashi nodded his head, “Makes sense now doesn’t it?”
“Feels like a lot to live up to.” Rukia nervously chuckled as she twisted a strand of her hair around her fingers.
Kakashi crouched down before her, “Senju, Hatake, Sarutobi, whatever name you choose to go by; the one that matters most, is you. Rukia.”
Rukia immediately felt tears running down her face as she ran up to Kakashi, wrapping her arms around him as he held her close. It was everything she never knew she needed to hear.
“Kakashi sensei!” Naruto screamed out from down the street, Sakura and Sasuke trailing behind him.
Rukia pulled away from her father, “Are we gonna tell them?”
“Up to you.” Kakashi laughed, picturing the reactions of each of his students once they learned the truth.
Rukia debated before she felt a little devilish running off to join her team, “Hey guys! Kakashi sensei is my dad but he’s going to buy us all ramen as he explains everything!”
I didn’t agree to that part. Kakashi sighed, the joys of being a father.
Hehehehe you have no idea how happy I am to talk OC things with you again. 💕
🧑 Talk about your OC's name. Does it have a special meaning or reason behind it?
Personally - I was like 10, watched a few episodes of Bleach but was mainly into Naruto and my parents were going through a divorce so thus Rukia Hatake was born 😂
Story wise - Rumi and Kakashi were trying out baby names with their names since they were silly teenagers who were not prepared for a child at all. Ruka was the last name that Rumi told her brother Asuma so during Rumi’s death / Rukia’s birth, Asuma mistakenly said the name Rukia which sounded perfect to the three of them. And means light? Among other things I can’t remember and I’m typing on my phone. 😂
🤗 Who are the people your OC considers their closest confidants? Do those people feel the same way?
Oh girl has quite a few. Goes without saying that depending on the AU - her partner becomes one of them whether that’s Shino, Suigetsu, or Naruto. It definitely takes time with each partner for Rukia to feel truly able to go to them with anything. With Shino, she worries about letting him down / him not getting it. With Suigetsu, well they hated each other and then had a very rocky middle of their relationship but now are thick as thieves. And then Nart, he’s so bright and warm that she worries about him also not getting it or understanding why she does the things she does, but they break through that :)
In every universe Shikamaru is her best friend through and through so he’s pretty much always at the top and likewise she is his. Then followed by Sakura, and Konohamaru.
AND OF COUSE in the OC Multiverses her Leaf bestie / doctor that reminds her jealousy is not something that can be treated at the hospital - Nezumi and the OC duo that started me down the OC rabbit hole in the first place- Aki Kamiya 😂. And of course @therantingfangirl’s Kurono and @mortyvongola2-0’s Masa who have probably seen all sides of Rukia at this point through many different universes and they always end up friends 💕.
🤞 What is your OC's greatest dream or desire?
Her greatest dream / desire is really just peace. Her entire life she’s lived in fear over losing the people she loved and often had a front row seat to it. Nearly everything she has ever done has been done to achieve the idea of peace somewhere down the line. She’s never been one to aim to be Hokage (despite it being in her bloodline) or to be the strongest, etc. she just wants peace, true peace and equity among everyone though she does know that’s a dream that won’t happen unless they work towards it.
A Jealous Heart: Rukia meets two girls from the Land of Iron {Part 1}
Summary: When two Samurai from the Land of Iron are interested in the insect user from their division during the war, Rukia faces her biggest foe yet.
Pairing: Shino x Rukia
WC: 5.8k
Warnings: Rukia says fuck, Rukia is just a very jealous gal.
Look for the amazing cameo's of @nightingaleflow's Nezumi, @therantingfangirl's Kurono, @mortyvongola2-0's Masa, and @hashira-mal's Hotaru.
Rukia yawned rolling out of bed taking her blankets and her pillow with her to the floor. She’s been up for just a few seconds but she had a sinking feeling that today is just not one of her days. She let out a groan hearing small knocks on her door.
It’s so early. Rukia sighed hoping that whoever it was would just leave it at the door or come back later.
They didn't. Konohamaru slowly slid open her door, sighing at the pathetic look of Rukia on the ground, a blanket over her head and one foot sticking out. “You’re a Jonin, come on!”
“And as a Jonin, my missions are harder than yours. Therefore, I am completely justified in wanting to sleep in on my days off.” Rukia grumbled as her hand traveled up her bed and chucked a pillow towards the door.
Konohamaru sighed as he caught the pillow, “Yeah but today’s not your day off.”
Slowly, the blanket slid down from Rukia’s face, the hem of the blanket covering the bridge of her nose making her resemblance to her father painfully clear. “What do you mean it’s not my day off?”
“You said last week that you have Saturday off if you don’t get sent on a mission before then.”
“Right, and I wasn’t sent on a mission and today is - .”
“Friday.”
Rukia’s eyes went wide, “Did she send a - .”
“Yep.”
“How long do I have?”
“You gotta be up at the tower in…” - Konohamaru looked at the clock beside Rukia’s bed - “10 minutes.”
“10 minutes!?” Rukia screamed and threw her blanket and pillows back onto her bed, “Well get out you twerp! I have to get ready!”
“I’m not late!” Rukia screamed flying through the window into the Hokage’s office. She was thankful her aunt always kept the windows open – far too often did they have to repair them once Rukia learned how to fly.
Hotaru looked up from her desk, her pen in her mouth as she stared at her niece. “Uh, Ruki? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine! Sorry, I just overslept.”
“I thought I wrote down eight on the slip to Konohamaru?”
Rukia could feel her eye start twitching as she stared at her Aunt. She wasn’t angry at Hotaru, of course not but Konohamaru? Who purposefully gave her the wrong information? He better pray that Rukia gets sent on a mission outside of the village tonight.
“Ruki…” Hotaru nervously trailed off, somehow her siblings produced two kids who love each other but relentlessly tease each other to the ends of the earth.
“Don’t worry! I stopped murdering people after the War, Konohamaru is safe.” Rukia replied as she walked towards the closet in the office and pulled out a blanket. Rukia sat down and pulled the blanket over her head. “Wake me up at eight.”
Hotaru sighed. If Rukia was already up she wouldn’t mind some help with the paperwork or preparing for their guests from the Land of Iron or even some company. Rukia was always a good choice for an escorting mission, she could ramble on and on about the Leaf Village and the Samurai respected her greatly. “Ruki…”
“Shh I’m sleeping.”
“Ruki, you’re not sleeping if you - .”
“Did I see you and Iruka-sensei at Ichiraku two nights ago?”
Hotaru gasped, “Sleep well.” Even though Rukia was the push of Iruka and Hotaru getting together, she wasn’t too excited to dive into her relationship status with her 19-year old niece.
“Goodnight!” Rukia sang as her eyelids slid closed. Sleeping came easy to Rukia. Mostly because her missions tend to keep her up for days on end so on the off chance she got to sleep, all it took was a pillow and closed eyes and she was out like a light.
Hotaru let Rukia sleep in the corner for a while, though she didn’t make a sound when Kakashi, her advisor and Rukia’s father came into the office. Kakashi turned to his daughter, chuckling a little at the sight of her. Hotaru looked up at Kakashi, her eyes telling him to wake up his daughter before their guests from the Land of Iron arrive.
Kakashi sighed and walked over to his daughter. Her head was up against the wall and her white hair splattered across her face. He crouched down and whispered her name a few times to no avail, she was dead asleep it seemed.
“Oh Shino! How was your miss-.” Kakashi grunted as his body landed against the floor, a blanket over his face. He chuckled hearing the scramble of Rukia getting back on her feet.
“How can you do that to me!?” Rukia whined, her face burning red as she faced her father and aunt.
“Well Ruki… he did try waking you up nicely at first,” Hotaru explained as she took a sip of her honeydew tea.
“But then we had to resort to other measures,” Kakashi smirked. His daughter's crush on the Aburame heir had been apparent since their very first chunin exam.
“Glad you’re up, Ruki. Our guests will be here soon.” Hotaru said softly as she sorted the paperwork. “They’re from the Land of Iron, you’ll be showing them around and escorting them to and from the meetings today and tomorrow.”
“Oh, okay. Seems simple enough.” Rukia yawned as she made her way to the window, “Is anyone else escorting with me?”
Hotaru smiled and looked through her files to see if he was still on his mission, “Did you have a certain person in mind?”
“No. I was just simply wondering. I get shy sometimes.” Rukia folded her arms across her chest as she peered into the village sensing chakra she’s never felt before.
Kakashi coughed, covering his laugh. Rukia gets shy next to one person, other than that you can’t get her to stop talking.
“Well, it looks like the person you weren’t thinking of is still on his mission. Would anyone work for you?”
“Is Nezumi working the shift at the hospital with Sakura?”
“Yes.”
“Hm, is Shikamaru planning the chunin exams?”
“Yes.”
“Hm, and Kiba is with Shino…”
“I thought you weren’t thinking of anyone?” Kakashi chuckled, picking up a scroll from the Mist Village.
“I’m not. It’s just true. Can you summon Kurono and Masa?” Rukia jokingly smiled.
“Ruki, I don’t think two girls from another village would benefit a Leaf escorting mission that’s starting as soon as you get out of here.”
Rukia stood on the ledge of the window, her back facing the outside, “Fine, I’ll just do it alone. How bad could it be?” she said as she hopped backwards, allowing her flight to soar her through the wind.
“It terrifies me when she does that.” Hotaru sighed looking up at Kakashi.
“From the window is survivable… you should see her when she does it from the top of the Tatsu Mountain.”
“I’d rather not.” Hotaru sighed.
Rukia gently landed at the gate noticing she was already a few seconds too late. Two Samurai from the Land of Iron were talking to Izumo and Kotetsu. “My apologies for running late, a few family problems to sort.”
“Don’t worry, we just got here.” one Samurai said, her voice as soft as velvet, her hair as vibrant and red as Rukia’s eyes. She was gorgeous.
“Plus, we had these two gentlemen here to keep us company.” The other said, her voice just like her companions, the only difference was that she had purple hair and was maybe an inch shorter than her companion. They didn’t mean to make Rukia feel small but it was clear Rukia was many inches shorter than the two of them.
“I’m Akiko.” The one with red hair said, “This is Yukimi.”
Rukia smiled, “And if Kotetsu and Izumo didn’t already tell you... hi, I’m Rukia.” she said as she stretched her arm out to shake their hands, raising her arm a little so they wouldn’t have to shake so low.
Yukimi laughed, “They did tell us but even if they hadn’t you do have quite the reputation.”
“I hope a good one.” Rukia chuckled as her cheeks warmed.
“General Mifune speaks very highly of you. You handled yourself quite well at the Kage summit before the war.” Yukimi said.
“It was also hard not to see Rukia and her infamous team.” Akiko smirked. “Are they here? Naruto and Sasuke?”
“And Sakura... But no, Sasuke’s out and Naruto is spending time with the toads. Sakura is here though, she’s at the hospital if you’d like to meet her.”
“That’s alright.” Yukimi said as the three of them started walking towards the hotel. “The Leaf really shined during the war.”
“I’d hope so. Obito and Madara were once a part of our village, it’s only right that we were the ones that took care of the problem.”
Yukimi and Akiko nodded their heads and exchanged quick glances to each other, followed by a blush appearing on Akiko’s cheeks. “There was one guy from your village. He really shined.”
Rukia laughed, “And it wasn’t Sasuke or Naruto? Was it my father?”
“No, not him. We don’t really know his name.” Akiko mumbled. What was once a Samurai that intimidated Rukia was now just a girl Rukia could potentially bond with. Talking about boys was something she learned very quickly with Ino and Sakura.
Rukia’s eyebrows raised. “Oh. Um… did he have a dog?” Though I wouldn’t say Kiba necessarily shined.
“No, at least we didn’t see one.” Yukimi said. “But thinking about it, he was next to a guy who did.”
Rukia slowed her pace just a little, surely it’s not him. “Oh, did he have long hair? That’s Neji Hyuga, he’s – .”
“No, I don’t think he had long hair. It was rather short… and he wore gla–.” Yukimi replied.
“Wh-what division were you in again?” Rukia smiled, “Sorry I must’ve missed it.”
“Division Five.” Akiko replied.
Out of all the people in the world. Out of all the people in the War, these two beautiful Samurai set their sights on Shino Aburame. She needed more proof. “Do you happen to know his jutsu?”
“I believe he could control insects.” Yukimi answered. “The Aburame clan can do that in this village right? So he must be a part of them.”
Well, I doubt these girls are pestering this much about Shibi. Rukia took a deep breath, taking the only course of action she could think of. “Yeah, the man you’re talking about…”
“Yes?” Akiko inquired, anxiously awaiting to figure out what the name of the guy was.
“He died.” Rukia hurried out, swallowing the saliva that had gathered in her mouth. “And unfortunately, you know the two women who brought everyone back?”
“Yes.” Yukimi replied as she softened her gaze on Rukia.
“Yeah well, unfortunately he wasn’t one of them. So sorry you had to find out about it this way though.” Rukia let out a breath of relief seeing how the three of them were now in front of the hotel. “Well, here’s the hotel. Your rooms are under your names and I’ll be back to pick you up in two hours for the meeting.” Rukia smiled.
“O-okay.” Yukimi and Akiko replied, though before they could even finish Rukia was nowhere to be seen.
The hospital doors burst open attracting attention from everyone in the room.
“Rukia!?” Nezumi quietly yelled, her eyes were wide looking at her friend. She’d never seen her in such a state of panic before.
“Fix me.” Rukia said as she approached Nezumi and her patient. “Hi sir,” Rukia paused to sense any illnesses or major injuries to him and found nothing, “I’m just going to need your spot real quick.” Rukia smiled as she ushered the patient from the bed to the seat. “It’s okay, you’ll live. Dr. Nezumi will make sure of it.”
“Rukia!” Nezumi sighed as she met her patient at the chair. She grabbed a bottle of pills from her smock and handed them to him. “Take these twice a day, preferably with meals, we don’t want to upset your stomach anymore than it already is.”
“Feel better!” Rukia smiled as the patient walked away. Rukia’s eyes steered to the left to avoid Nezumi’s glare.
“You can’t just remove my patients.”
“It’s an emergency.”
Nezumi took a deep breath and put her stethoscope to her ears, “What's wrong?” She placed the diaphragm up to Rukia’s chest. Her head shot back surprised, Rukia’s heart was racing a million miles a minute.
“See? An emergency.”
“Well, what’s the emergency?”
Rukia pursed her lips to the side, “I killed Shino.”
Nezumi stumbled backwards and gasped. “WHAT!?”
“Not actually! But these two girls seem to think he’s dead.”
Nezumi tilted her head, “Because…?”
“Because I told them he was.”
“And you told them that because…?”
“Because…it seemed like one of them may have… thought highly of him.” Rukia said fiddling with her mothers ring on her finger.
Nezumi’s brows furrowed, “Well, you’re always saying that Shino deserves more attention and recognition.”
“Yeah… but not from really beautiful girls.”
“Aren’t you a really beautiful girl?”
“Not right now I'm not!”
Nezumi sighed and pulled her clipboard from the bed. “Can you describe what else made you feel the need to tell them Shino died?”
“Well, they can’t just lay claim to him like that. I’ve known him my whole life and they spend one war with him and…and…what are you writing down?”
Nezumi shook her head, “Nothing. Continue on please.”
“I mean, I just think that maybe they should’ve asked first.”
“Asked what?”
“If he was single.”
“He is single.” Rukia shot Nezumi a glare causing Nezumi to laugh. She then tore off a sheet of paper from her clipboard, “My official diagnosis is that you’re jealous. My recommended treatment is to go tell them that Shino is alive and well and then go get some rest.”
Rukia took the sheet of paper from her hands, “I’m not jealous, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Perfectly fine people don’t tell people their crush is dead.”
Rukia let herself fall against the bed, “So I’m jealous? Is this how you felt when Sakura gave Lee the red tulips?”
Nezumi smiled, her death grip on her clipboard causing it to snap completely in half, “No. Completely different.”
“Ah.” Rukia sat up, “Okay but if I tell them the truth they’re going to try to make a move and tell him and everyone is going to think I’m crazy…and I’m not.”
“And if they do you just have to –.”
“Kill them.”
“Rukia, no!”
Rukia smiled and hopped off the bed, “I’m kidding! Thank you Dr. Nezumi! I’m off to go tell the truth.”
“Doctor’s orders, Rukia!” Nezumi yelled out for her, not believing for a second Rukia was going to go tell the truth.
“Doctor's orders!” Rukia smiled and made her way out of the hospital.
Now, she very well could go tell the truth to the two beautiful Samurai that have laid their eyes on Shino. Or she could live in a peaceful world where Shino is still on his mission, Yukimi and Akiko should only be here for two more days, and no one has to know except for her, Nezumi, and them.
So, Rukia made her way through the village; back to the hotel, knowing she wasn’t going to follow doctors orders. She was okay with the decision and surely since she never explicitly stated his name was Shino, then she can backtrack her way out of it should anything or anyone come up.
“Oh, Lady Rukia!”
Rukia stopped in her tracks, it's too much of a coincidence for him to be calling her name right now. “Oh, hi! How are you?” Rukia asked, her smile tight and her eyes worried.
“Oh I’m fine, just confused and I was hoping you would be able to give me some guidance. The reason being, these two girls came up to me offering condolences for a member of my clan.” Shibi Aburame looked down at Rukia.
“Did one have purple hair and one have red hair?”
“They did.”
“Oh they’re just… they’re from the Land of Iron and they’ve just been offering condolences to every clan. Very sweet of them, ya know?”
Shibi looked down at her, “Very sweet indeed. Well, thank you for clearing that up for us. When I went inside to tell Shino, he was equally as confused as I was.”
Rukia smiled and nodded along, “No worries at all! Happy to clear that….did you say Shino?”
Shibi nodded his head, “He just arrived back a few moments before they appeared, surprised you didn’t sense him and Kiba on their return.”
“Heh..heh...yeah...very surprising things are happening today, I guess.” Rukia laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her neck. “Um, can… you know what? I have to hurry to my aunts–aunt–Lady Hokage you know…can you just tell Shino to stay inside?”
“To stay inside?” Shibi asked, concern growing in his voice.
“No…that’s crazy.” Rukia laughed, “Um, tell him to avoid…well, not avoid. O-kay… I gotta…go.” Rukia finished and immediately flew up to the sky, straight to the Hokage’s tower leaving a very confused Shibi Aburame looking up at her.
She’s never been more in her head. She’s commanded a unit before, spoken on behalf of the Leaf before, and stepped in for her aunt when needed. And now...in front of Shibi Aburame she becomes a blubbering idiot. Why now?
Why did two beautiful women have to start crushing on Shino now? She’s been through years of never having to worry about another girl crushing on Shino, all her friends had their crushes locked and secured. Why did they have to be tall?
Surely, that’s got to appeal to him. Imagine having to basically break your back to kiss your girlfriend, it’d be much easier just to lower your neck a little. Rukia closed her eyes, preparing to slide into the Hokage’s office.
“Rukia!” Hotaru gasped as shards of broken glass scattered across the floor and onto Rukia’s body. “Oh my god, Ruki are you okay?!”
“No.” Rukia sighed, her back against the ground as she stared up at the ceiling ignoring the glass.
“What hurts?”
“My head…and my heart.”
Hotaru widened her eyes, “Oh no. Guards!”
Rukia turned onto her side, sighing and throwing a piece of glass at the door, nailing it into place so the guards couldn’t come in. “It’s all your fault. Why weren't the windows open?"
“Well, it was windy and I didn’t expect you back so soon. Especially when you’re supposed to be here with the two of them in 30 minutes.” Hotaru got up and removed the glass from the door, “Wait, why don’t you want help?”
“I’m fine… I just can’t continue the mission.”
Hotaru furrowed her brows, “Rukia, it’s an escort mission.”
“It’s hell.” Rukia whined as she pushed herself up, brushing the broken glass off of her.
“I’m sure they’re lovely.”
“They are. That’s why it’s hell. Why didn’t you say no?” Rukia whined again, walking towards Hotaru and laying her head on her shoulder.
“Ruki…Ruki, I’m extremely confused.” Hotaru whispered as she removed tiny pieces of glass from Rukia’s hair.
“You’re confused. Shibi’s confused. Yukimi and Akiko are confused, Nezumi is…Nezumi’s not confused but she is concerned.”
“You’re speaking nonsense.” Hotaru sighed and pulled away holding Rukia’s head in her hands.
Rukia rolled her eyes and slumped into Hotaru’s hand, “Can you just teleport them out of here? Can we go to the Land of Iron instead?”
“Rukia, I can’t just teleport our guests. That’s beyond rude, entirely disrespectful and they traveled all this way for this meeting I –.”
“I get it…just…please send anyone but me.”
Hotaru sighed and walked to her desk, “Well Shino and Kiba just arrived back. Kiba dropped off their report just moments ago. I could send Shi–.”
Rukia ran up to the desk, leaning over it with wide eyes. “No. Not Shino you can’t send Shino. It’s fine, I’ll do it.”
Hotaru looked down at her niece, “I’m really worried about you.”
Rukia let out a laugh, “Yeah me too.” she said walking over the shattered glass and towards the window. “I’ll be back shortly. You might want to clean up the glass, whoever did it is so inconsiderate.”
Hotaru watched Rukia jump out of the window again and then she put her face in her hands sighing. “Kakashi!” she yelled hoping he would hear her from the next room.
Rukia sighed as she landed back down at the hotel, she picked a few shards of glass out of her skirt. “Fuck.” she sighed as she stuck her finger in her mouth, sucking the blood out of it. “Stupid glass.” she mumbled.
“Ruks?” She heard Kiba ask from behind her. “Are you okay?”
Rukia took a deep breath and closed her eyes, sensing a hive of chakra next to Kiba. Today is totally not my day. Rukia turned around and smiled. “Yeah, I’m okay. Just a rough day.”
Shino stepped forward, Rukia could feel his eyes scanning her body looking for any injuries to match the glass all over her. He stretched out his hand, his fingers pulling a piece of glass from Rukia’s hair that Hotaru and Rukia were unable to see. “My dad is very concerned about you, the reason being your conversation earlier left him –.”
“Oh it’s him!” Akiko squealed from the hotel lobby.
Rukia stood frozen, partially trying to restart her heart from Shino touching her hair and partially because this is the worst scenario for her.
“Oh my god, Rukia! What happened to you?” Yukimi asked as the two of them approached the three Leaf shinobi.
Kiba chuckled and put his arm over Rukia’s shoulders earning a quick look from Shino. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. You didn’t crash into a window again did you?”
Rukia sighed, “That’s not not what happened. Anyways you two, I have to escort our two guests to the tower.” she said, brushing Kiba’s arm off and smiling towards Yukimi and Akiko.
“Yeah, but, I thought he died?” Akiko questioned and motioned toward Shino.
“Shino?” Kiba laughed, “Hey man, you died and didn’t tell me?”
Shino looked at his teammate, then at Akiko, then at Rukia who was in the middle of a very deep breath. “I didn’t know that I did.”
“I must’ve mixed up who you were talking about earlier. A lot of people died in the war. Who would’ve guessed you were talking about Shino, ya know?” Rukia said, chuckling between each word.
“No way, you guys were asking for Shino?” Kiba smiled, smacking Shino on the back. “Well look at you go my man.”
Rukia looked over to see Shino’s face beet red, “Okay, while I would love absolutely nothing more in the world than to stay here chatting, Lady Hotaru is a very punctual woman so we shouldn’t be late.”
“Why are you being so proper with your aunt?” Kiba whispered.
“I will kill you.” Rukia whispered back.
“Right, we wouldn’t want to keep the Hokage waiting.” Yukimi smiled. “Shino, Kiba, what are you two doing for dinner?”
“What were you thinking?” Kiba asked back.
Rukia tuned out the rest of the conversation, focusing on a pebble in the grass instead. She could handle a lot but the idea of Shino going on a double date was worse than death. The fact it was happening in front of her? She wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball on her bed and cry.
“Rukia? Are you ready?” Akiko asked, pulling Rukia out of her thoughts.
Rukia looked up and smiled and began walking towards the Hokage Tower, swallowing a few tears that didn’t dare come out. “Yeah. Kiba, Shino, see you guys later.”
“Wait.. Rukia.. You didn’t say if you were coming to dinner.” Shino said, his hand holding onto Rukia’s forearm. It was such a gentle touch but his grip was strong ensuring he would get an answer from her.
Rukia turned, “Did…do you want me to?”
“Yeah, it was an open invitation.” Yukimi smiled.
Rukia smiled and nodded toward Yukimi. It was an answer but not from who she wanted. If she were to survive dinner with two women with eyes for Shino she just needed him to say it, say he wanted her at dinner with them.
“I can’t promise it will be better than my steak and rice, but it should be enjoyable.” Shino smiled towards Rukia.
“We’ll meet you guys at dinner then.” Rukia smiled and turned around, feeling the rush of anxiety leave her body.
Kiba and Shino watched the three girls walk to the tower. Kiba laughed a little at Rukia in the middle of the girls who were probably half a foot taller than her. “So there are two girls who are very interested in you and yet you only cared if Rukia was coming to dinner?”
Shino looked over at Kiba, “I wouldn’t have gone if Rukia wasn’t joining.”
“What? Why not? Don’t tell me you’re still holding onto your crush from the academy.”
Shino smiled and began walking towards the field.
“What, you’re not going to say anything?”
“You said not to tell you.”
Rukia sat next to Kiba and Yukimi, leaving Akiko and Shino on the opposite end of the table, right in front of her. It was safe to say all the anxiety that previously left her body was now back, and even stronger.
It wasn’t her fault that she got to the table late because she was busy talking to the restaurant owner; promising that she wouldn’t cook any of her food and she’d just eat the rice so the table didn’t burn. It also wasn’t her fault that the only table he would give them was one of the outdoor tables in the field, he called it the "Rukia Safety Precaution."
“Rukia? Did you want any of the steak?” Yukimi asked, holding a chopstick with raw steak above the boiling water.
“No, that’s okay. I’ll just have rice and the veggies.”
Shino squinted his eyes at her, he knew the restaurant rule but usually one of her friends would cook it for her. “Are you sure?”
Rukia gave him a weak smile, “Yeah it’s fine. I’m not too hungry right-” Rukia paused, feeling an immense amount of chakra entering the village. She pushed herself out from the table, readying her hands to put up her own shield around the Leaf.
"Is everything alright?" Yukimi asked.
Rukia looked around seeing a light blue-green Susanoo and couldn’t help but start laughing as she ran towards the middle of the field. “What are you two doing here?!” Rukia asked as Kurono was lowered down to the ground by Masa’s Susanoo.
“Hotaru sent a messenger hawk and then said she’d be summoning us. She said it was an emergency so Masa thought it’d be best to show up like this.”
Masa released her Susanoo holding Mitsu around her hips. “I thought it’d be best to show up like this? You said it would be the best way to intimidate any threat.”
Rukia laughed and tilted her head towards Mitsu, “Hey little friend!”
Mitsu smiled up at Rukia as Kurono lifted her out of Masa's arm and onto the ground. “Yeah… I didn’t really have time to ask if anyone in the Sand could watch her.”
“Kankuro was busy?” Rukia asked.
“Not busy, but there was a little moment between us and then – .”
“She chickened out.” Masa yawned.
“I did not chicken out!” Kurono yelled.
Rukia laughed as she watched Mitsu try to catch a lantern fly. “Well, I’m sorry if Hotaru made it seem like a really bad emergency."
“You were concerning me so I figured you need a friend.” Hotaru smiled, appearing next to the three of them. “Well, friends.”
Kurono laughed, “It’s alright. Honestly, I’ve been meaning to take Mitsu over to the bakery. She keeps talking about the cookies you brought her.” Kurono looked over at the table where Akamaru was sitting. Her eyes moved from Kiba to Yukimi, then to Akiko and landed on Shino. “Who are the girls sitting with Shino and Kiba?”
“That's the emergency.”
Hotaru sighed, “They’re guests from the Land of Iron and for whatever reason, Rukia seems to be going…a little insane about it.”
“One of them has a crush on Shino.” Rukia whispered and nodded her head to the gasps of her friends and Hotaru. “Exactly.”
Masa looked behind Rukia towards the two women sitting at the table with Kiba and Shikamaru. “And they’re still breathing?”
“Masa!” Hotaru quietly yelled.
“I admit though, they are really hot Ruks.” Kurono said casually as she kept her eyes on them and a Mitsu, who was running to the table.
“Thanks, that really helps.” Rukia sulked and turned her head to face the table.
“It’ll be okay though. Shino is a really attractive and respectable guy, there’s bound to be people who end up liking him.” Masa whispered trying to lift Rukia’s spirits.
“Matsuri…” Kurono coughed.
“But they should be taken care of and dealt with.” Masa smiled.
“And that's what I plan to do.” Kurono smiled as she brushed past everyone, cocking an eyebrow up, “You coming?”
Hotaru laughed and shook her head, “I really can’t be involved in this. Rukia, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“If Iruka-sensei had dinner with that one teacher…”
“Don’t do anything they wouldn’t do.” Hotaru sighed before teleporting back to her office.
Rukia and Masa looked at each other, both stifling a laugh before letting it out completely.
“Guess we’re back at square one.” Rukia laughed as she walked back with Masa to the table.
“Ah! There they are!” Kurono smiled in her seat, which was conveniently between Akiko and Shino with Mitsu on her lap. “Rukia, come sit by me.” Kurono said as she sat closer to Akiko placing Mitsu on the bench, leaving the only spot open next to Shino.
“Sorry.” Rukia whispered to Shino as she sat down in between him and Mitsu.
“Don’t be. Though should we have gotten a bigger table? The reason being I don’t think this table was meant for nine guests.” Shino whispered back.
“Yeah, Kurono and Masa just surprised me. It’s okay though.”
“Yeah, I think there’s room for everyone.” Masa smiled from across the table as she took a seat next to Kiba right across from Akiko.
“They said Auntie Ru was in danger.” Mitsu said, stuffing a carrot into her mouth.
Kurono laughed and turned to Rukia, “Sorry, she’s a very observant child.”
Rukia smiled through her pain, “Yeah apparently.”
“Why are you in danger?” Shino asked immediately, causing Masa and Kurono to perk up and try to help change the subject.
“So, you two don’t look like you’re from the Leaf. Where are you from?” Masa asked looking at Akiko.
“The Land of Iron.” Akiko replied while trying to pull her dress out from under Kurono. “We’re here meeting with the Hokage.”
“And with Shino and Kiba apparently.” Kurono said.
“Well, they were nice enough to accept our invitation to dinner.” Yumiki answered as she dipped another piece of steak into the water.
“How very nice of them.” Masa smiled while picking up a chopstick.
Rukia’s face continued to grow more and more red as the conversation around the table continued. So far any unsuspecting person would think it was a normal conversation but Rukia could hear the subtle words that would from time to time slip from Masa and Kurono.
Like when Masa mentioned how heartwarming it was to see how happy Shino was to see Rukia at the end of the war. Or how Kurono mentioned that she found height differences attractive.
“So, will you tell me what was wrong earlier?” Shino whispered, his head lowered to Rukia.
“Oh it was just…you know…stuff.” Rukia smiled at him.
“What kind of stuff?” Mitsu asked, causing Rukia to laugh as she turned her head to the four year old.
“Grown up stuff.”
“Like?”
Rukia chuckled, “Like, if someone took your favorite toy.”
“Mom wouldn’t let them.” Mitsu yawned and grabbed Rukia’s hand, finding amusement in playing with her rings. “So don’t let them.”
“Well, why do you think we’re here?” Kurono whispered towards Mitsu before laying a kiss on the top of her head.
Rukia smiled and let out an awkward laugh as she looked around the table. Her eyes met Kiba’s and his lips that were formed into a smirk. “Don’t.” she mouthed to Kiba as a waiter came to collect the dishes and place down the check.
Kiba laughed and faked a yawn, “Well, you know I’m beat so why don’t I take you guys back to the hotel. Trust me, these girls can talk for hours catching up.”
Masa smiled, “Very nice of you to do that for them.”
“Yeah, you two must be exhausted traveling all the way from the Land of Iron.” Kurono added on.
Yumiki smiled, “Sounds great.”
“Shino, are you coming as well?” Akiko asked in a way that Kurono, Masa and Rukia couldn’t decide was innocent or not.
“I can.” Shino said, taking a quick glance at Rukia’s reaction though Rukia decided to act focused on Mitsu instead.
“Rukia, I assume we’ll be staying at your place?” Masa asked as she got up from the table.
“Of course! We have a lot of catching up to do.” Rukia replied as she accepted defeat for the night.
The two groups said their goodbyes and parted ways. They were only a few feet apart from the other group when Yukimi asked Shino and Kiba to join them for breakfast tomorrow.
Masa, Kurono, and Rukia all turned their heads to Yukimi. When did the plan for breakfast happen? How had these two girls not gotten the hint already that there was obviously something between Rukia and Shino?
“Breakfast!” Mitsu beamed, “I love breakfast.”
Rukia let out a sigh of relief, eternally grateful for the four-year-old beside her.
“Breakfast sounds amazing! Do you mind if we join you?” Kurono turned around, holding Mitsu on her hip.
Yukimi and Akiko looked at each other and then back at Mitsu who was currently batting her eyelashes at the two of them. Dinner was already ruined but how can they say no to a four-year-old? “Sure! Should be fun, we’ll just make sure to get a bigger table.”
Kurono smiled and wrapped her arm around Rukia's shoulders. “Perfect! Then we’ll see you guys tomorrow!”
Tag list: @wizardfrog160404 @unsuretater-simp @thetimelesschild @anchy-bananchy @mrs-bakashi @ I forgot who else was on the rukia tag list 😂
Rukia introduction ⚘ Arc by Arc ⚘ OC Family ⚘ Moodboard ⚘ Personality Alphabet
𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕤𝕠𝕕𝕖𝕤: 𝕆𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤
❖ Rukia Chronicles
➣ Rukia's Bloodline Revealed! The joys of being a father! - Summary: When Rukia has no one to celebrate her chunin promotion with, she spends time with the one man she’s always looked up to. Kakashi sensei reveals a major secret!
❖ Dark vs Light
Summary: Danzo utilizes the perfect time to bring Rukia in the Anbu but when things get too dark, Rukia finds her light.
➣ Dark vs Light: Rukia Joins The Anbu Black Ops
➣ Dark vs Light: Tenzo meet Kodomo! not yet posted
𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕤𝕠𝕕𝕖𝕤: 𝕊𝕙𝕚𝕡𝕡𝕦𝕕𝕖𝕟
❖ Rukia's Tears
Summary: A mission that causes Rukia to lose another family member causes Rukia to bring out an old part of herself she thought she left behind.
➣ Rukia's Tears! Falling Silver.
𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕤𝕠𝕕𝕖𝕤: 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕜 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕕 - (Old Version)
❖ The Strongest Kunoichi and Her Greatest Opponent!
Summary: After a long mission away, a burnt dinner and a busy father, Rukia has no other option for food until she runs into Shino Aburame- who just so happens to be an expert in her favorite dish.
➣ The Strongest Kunoichi and Her Greatest Opponent! Rukia Burns Dinner!
➣ The Strongest Kunoichi and Her Greatest Opponent! Cooking up a crush!
❖ Rukia Captured!
Summary: A master of all but genjutsu, Rukia Hatake gets captured! Who’s crazy enough to capture her and who will stop at nothing to get her back? Shino, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Konohamaru head out to bring the Lady of the Leaf back home!
➣ Rukia Captured! A worried father and a worried…Shino Aburame?
➣ Rukia Captured! A battle of memories.
➣ Rukia Captured! A safe haven in the ambers.
➣ Rukia Captured! Mission Complete!
❖ Fillers {Extra Rukia}
➣ How Rukia Met Aki (Written by the lovely incredible @nightingaleflow ) - The thrilling tale of how Rukia Hatake and Aki Kamiya met and started to become friends.
➣ A light in the darkness! Rukia is born! - Summary: Rumi and Kakashi try to figure out what to name their child that's coming in November but they don't know they have to figure out her name sooner rather than later.
➣ Konohamaru Hits 5'5" - Summary: Rukia freaks about about Konohamaru being taller than her.
❖ The Naruto OC Multiverse
➣ A Jealous Heart: Rukia meets two girls from the Land of Iron - Summary: When two Samurai from the Land of Iron are interested in the insect user from their division during the war, Rukia faces her biggest foe yet. Will she face them alone? Or will she call in a few friends?
➣ Girls Night Out - Summary: The kunoichi of Konoha enjoy a night out with drinks and some interesting discussions, and poor Nezumi comes to an embarrassing realization. (Written by the lovely, incredible and amazing @nightingaleflow
➣ Not that bad - Summary: Rukia and Chojuro spend time together and Chojuro is able to get some classified information out of Rukia lol. (Written by the lovely, incredible and amazing @nightingaleflow
➣ Help neeeded! Rukia on the search for a birthday gift - Summary: Finding a birthday present for a boy you have a crush on is harder than one would suspect, Rukia finds that out the hard way. (Written by the amazing and lovely and incredible @wind-becomes-lightning
Rukia being assigned to watch over Suigetsu? A man who's tried to kill her before? What could go wrong.
A/N: I KNOW I LIED AND SAID A Y/N WOULD BE COMING NEXT BUT THIS HAS BEEN SITTING IN DRAFTS FOR MONTHS. Anyways, enjoy a Rukia AU because SuiKia is hot and toxic (at times) and different than her and Shino but that's what makes it fun!
WC: 3,650
The air was warm and crisp, the breeze danced across the deep blue water that resided in the pond behind the Sarutobi complex. Rukia’s body laid afloat in the middle of the pond, her hands extended to the sides of her as her body moved and swayed to the wind and the waters’ desire. It was peaceful serenity as she enjoyed the chirping of the birds that lived in the trees, the sounds of the cicadas buzzing, the ripple of the small waves that crashed against the earth.
It was rare that Rukia was allowed time alone like this. No interruptions. No responsibilities. Just her and Nature, like it was intended. Unfortunately for her, her sensory abilities were always on and she could feel her peaceful moments begin to evaporate.
“I just got back.” she sighed with her eyes still closed.
“Yes but -.”
“But I just got back…” she said as she dropped her hands and allowed her body to sink underwater, a few moments passed and she reemerged. Her ashy white hair stuck to her skin like honey as she swam up to her best friend who was beginning to smell like a burnt forest after it rains.
“Sorry Ruks, we’re low on people right now.” Shikamaru sighed as he slid a cigarette into his mouth. His hand traveled down the left side of his trousers searching for Asuma’s silver lighter.
Rukia placed her hands on the ground and pulled herself up out of the water. She bent down and grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her body, not paying any mind to Shikamaru until she heard a recognizable clink from his direction.
“No.” she said sternly, pulling the cigarette out from his mouth. She looked at it and examined it before lighting it on fire. “Those things will kill you.”
Shikamaru sighed as he watched her take a seat next to him. Like so many times since Asuma’s death, like so many times since the war, a silence shadowed their conversation. Neither of them handled Asuma’s death well. Rukia took up killing her problems, Shikamaru took up smoking to forget his and both of them actively tried to get the other to quit their habits. “It helps.”
“I know.” Rukia whispered as she turned her head to look at him. Her eyes traced his features realizing just how much the two of them have grown up since they’ve first met. “I don’t care though. If you die, I will kill you.”
Shikamaru smiled and turned to look at her. He couldn’t imagine his life without her and more often than not, lately, it seemed like Rukia had a death wish. If she wasn’t there for him after Asuma’s death though, if he wasn’t there for her during Asuma’s death – the world would be a lot darker – maybe the war wouldn’t have been won. “Back at you.”
Rukia gave him a reassuring smile that told him that he didn’t have to worry about her reverting back to her reckless self. She sighed as she turned back to the water, wishing she could escape in it again. “So, is my dad still helping out on the battlefield?”
Shikamaru nodded his head. It was a job that wore out everyone both mentally and physically; finding dead bodies and loading them into carts was just one of the few ugly aftermaths of the war. Even though the war has been over for a few weeks, there were still hundreds of K.I.A’s and missing nin that Rukia holds herself personally responsible for. Rukia was there two days ago, she was there often.
Her sensory abilities combined with her spiritual connection to nature proved extremely valuable in this mission but her already fragile mind and relationship with death proved to be too damaging to her mental health for her to continue for long periods of time.
While the goal of the Villages was just to bring the bodies back, she’d take it a step further. She’d use her sensory abilities to pick up the faintest trace of chakra left on any personal item whether that was headbands, shoes, or jewelry. It didn’t matter to her what she found, she just wanted to find something to bring back to the families.
“I shouldn’t have let him.” Rukia shook her head as she stood up. “Lady Tsunade wants him to become Hokage and he’s out there instead because I can’t handle it.”
Shikamaru let out a sigh, “You're his daughter. Besides, nearly everyone witnessed your panic attack when you were out there. You needed a break and he knew that.”
“I feel weak.” Rukia grimaced, she never once thought she’d describe herself as weak but that was before the war.
“Well, you’re strong enough to deal with…well you know.” Shikamaru chuckled, referring to the prisoner that makes Rukia wish she actually was back on the battlefield.
Rukia turned and rolled her eyes towards Shikamaru before turning back and walking towards the Sarutobi complex. “So many other lightning users you could’ve used other than me. Besides he has chakra blockers on, you barely need me.”
Shikamaru shook his head and followed her down the dirt path. “You might be a Nature Nin but he is practically water. It’s just a precaution.”
Rukia scoffed and crossed her arms across her chest, letting out a puff that blew up a few strands of her hair. “He is water.” she mocked. “Yeah well, I control water. I’d say that’s more impressive.”
“It’s not a competition.” Shikamaru sighed heavily, raising his hands up behind his head.
Yes it is.
When it came to him and her, the two of them only had a few things in common and that was being the best at using their preferred nature, being extremely competitive, and absolutely hating each other.
Rukia said nothing as she and Shikamaru approached the back gate to the Sarutobi compound. A few acres of land that used to hold the Sarutobi clan – now just used up by her, Konohamaru, Kurenai, Mirai, and occasionally her father.
Rukia’s fingers unhooked the latch on the red metal gates that stood 20 feet taller than her. She turned to look at Shikamaru before pulling them open. “So… no chance you’ll go in today for me instead?”
Shikamaru laughed, sticking his hands in his pockets as he started walking away, “He’s not that bad.”
Rukia gagged in response and stepped back to allow the gates to slide open. She turned to stop by Konohamaru’s room, a habit, a routine, basically muscle memory to always check on Konohamaru.
She walked a little further down the compound, passing the Ancestors Fountain and her garden in the process before she got to her room. She smiled once she slid her door closed and allowed her towel to drop to her feet. She changed out of her bikini sliding into her underwear and sports bra before searching for her clothes.
She didn’t remember doing laundry but with Kurenai around the compound more, she shouldn’t have been surprised seeing a pile of nicely folded clothes on her bed. Rukia smiled, she wasn’t used to having another female around the compound but now Konohamaru’s outnumbered and she was slowly getting used to it.
Rukia slid into her clothes then turned to look in the mirror after she finished putting everything on, readjusting a few pieces before readjusting her hair and thinking about how now that she’s finally mastered her fire nature, maybe she shouldn’t be so afraid of letting it grow long.
She walked into the middle of the complex, giving her thanks and gratitude to the Sarutobi’s that had come before her. She was taking her time a bit, dreading going over to the underground holding facility that technically couldn’t be called a prison or a jail.
She gave Karin a smile and a nod as she passed by her station. Karin cooperated with the Leaf fairly quickly and got her sentence reduced and chose to stay for a little. As did Juugo but the man who Rukia was on her way to see still refused to cooperate.
“What’s up knock off?” Rukia sang as she walked down the steps and approached his cell. She could feel her stomach churning the moment she was able to sense him. She wasn’t afraid of him – far from it but for whatever reason he gave her body a physical reaction every time they were near each other. More often than not, the reaction was disgust.
Suigetsu rolled his eyes and peered through the bars in the cell. His arms were resting behind his head and metal bracelets with chakra suppressing seals were dangling from his wrist. “When are you going to knock it off with that joke?”
“Well – .”
“Why are you here? I thought you were out on the battlefield.”
Rukia rolled her eyes as she sat down by his cell and crossed her legs. “I was – look I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be.”
“Hot date?” Suigetsu asked as he got up off of his bed and sat across from Rukia. He could see the annoyance roll across her face… and he loved it.
Rukia hid a chuckle, “No, I was just enjoying a relaxing day.”
“Relaxing day?”
Rukia smirked, “A pond, me, and absolutely no one else around. You would’ve loved it, being surrounded by water again.”
Suigetsu groaned, “You’re torturing me.”
“This isn’t torture.”
“It feels like torture.” Suigetsu said as he fell onto his back. “Everyone else is out, it’s not fair I’m still in.”
“Everyone else promised we can trust them… more or less.”
Suigetsu cocked his head up, “I told you. I don’t care about the Leaf, I care about –.”
“The swords.” Rukia finished. She pressed her palms against the ground and pushed herself up. “You’re quite fond of those swords.”
“You’re quite fond of your natures.”
Rukia grinned, “Especially water. Water is so nice isn’t it?”
Suigetsu rolled his eyes and shook his head, his mouth was as dry as the desert. He needed water but he wasn’t about to ask her for any. “I don’t know why you hate me so much.”
“You almost killed me. Twice.” Rukia deadpanned him.
“And you almost killed me. Twice.” Suigetsu countered.
“Mine was self-defense.”
Suigetsu shook his head, “No that look in your eye the second time was anything but self-defense.”
“You had me underwater!” Rukia yelled, her eyes rolled remembering the reunion after the Summit by the dam where she finally officially met Sasuke’s new team. She wasn’t impressed by them, not by a long shot and if anything she saw them, especially Suigetsu, as cheap knock-offs of her team.
“Thought you loved water?”
Rukia shot another glare in his direction. “And Karin put a lightning suppressor seal on me! Of course I was pissed.”
Suigetsu glared at her and held his hands up to Rukia showcasing similar seals on his bracelet but for wind and water. “Oh... oh really? You’re complaining? You had that on you for a day! I’ve had these on for…”
“A few weeks,” Rukia answered for him, “and they could’ve been off by now.”
“But you don’t trust me.” Suigetsu sighed.
“You were in the Akatsuki, almost killed Bee, crashed the summit, and… you tried to kill me.” Rukia ever so thoughtfully reminded him.
“You’re just bitter that I got close to killing you.”
Rukia took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves. “Yeah, because me using your little blade against you is you, ‘getting close to killing me’.”
“You using Kubikiribōchō as your little balance beam just because you’re small doesn’t mean you used it against me.”
Rukia smirked, “It got me close to you.”
Suigetsu crossed his arms. “A little too close.” Silence followed for a few moments as they both took a few breaths to calm down. “I did save you once.”
Rukia rolled her eyes and leaned her head against the brick wall, “You saved me from a fire blast that I had handled.”
“But I helped.” Suigetsu remembered just how big the blast from Madara was. How it was aimed directly at Rukia and he wasn’t sure why but he ran to help her. Though the shove and eye roll she gave him after caused instant regret and he definitely thought about letting her burn to a crisp next time.
“Okay fine. You helped.”
Suigetsu smirked, it was so easy to get Rukia riled up.
Rukia sighed then turned to look down at her hand using her earth and lightning release simultaneously to create a steel cup.
“What are you doing?”
Rukia said nothing as she kept her focus on the cup, kunai were easy but cups and curves were less so. Once the cup was finished, she looked at Suigetsu, “Thirsty?”
He was, he was extremely thirsty but as much as he enjoyed their spats it didn’t mean he fully trusted her. “I’m fine.”
Rukia nodded her head and sat back down in front of him, her hand twisting the water from the air and siphoning it into the cup.
“Suit yourself.” she said as she took a drink.
Suigetsu watched as the water traveled down her throat, as her hand wiped away the remaining traces of water from her bottom lip.
“Okay, maybe I want a drink.” Suigetsu sighed then rolled his eyes when he noticed the smirk that was appearing on Rukia’s face.
“Oh do you now?” Rukia teased as her hand twirled around the air again and started to siphon the water into the cup. “You know you could have all the water you want if you just… I don’t know, joined us?”
Suigetsu sighed, it wasn’t that he hated or didn’t want to join the Leaf, it was that he didn’t want to be tied to a new village. Tied to the ruling and order of someone he didn’t even know, in a village that barely accepted him.
When Kakashi came down to watch him, he was quiet, barely saying anything other than trying to get information about Orochimaru and the past. When Shikamaru came down it was always silent but yet Suigetsu felt like he was being tested constantly. When Sakura came down, she’d try to talk to him, try to get him to talk about Sasuke and Team Taka. They didn’t trust him, he didn’t trust them, it was a mutual dislike so why would he join the Leaf?
Rukia slid the cup through the metal bars before standing back up leaning back against the wall. She wasn’t sure why Suigetsu was holding on for so long. She didn’t think he had a similar reasoning to Sasuke’s. “Let me know if you need anything.”
“Look at you caring about me.” Suigetsu mumbled as he gurgled down the water. The cool liquid felt amazing traveling down his throat as his body and cells slurped it all up like the first drop of rain after a drought. In a way, it was kind of like drinking a part of her…it was her jutsu that was providing him with this and the thought instantly made him want to gag.
“I don’t care. I would just prefer having my days off, not having to babysit a knock off version of me.”
“Still on with that nickname?”
Rukia grinned, “Yes.”
“Maybe the original needed an upgrade.” Suigetsu smirked as he slid the cup back between the bars of the cell.
Rukia looked down at him, her eyes looked at the piece of steel that she created for him. Annoyance filled her body again, she does so much for him and he can’t even mutter a simple thank you. “An upgrade? You know what… two chakra natures? Not sure if that counts as an upgrade.”
“I can do things with water you can’t even dream of.” Suigetsu grinned, “Also you can’t wield Kubikiribōchō.”
“You sure love talking about that blade.” Rukia thought about her first run in with the Executioner's Blade, it certainly wasn’t a fond memory but it was the first mission that required her team to work together as one rather than individuals. The Executioner's Blade was regenerated by her blood once before and then once during her fight with Suigetsu she did balance herself on it, it couldn’t be too hard to wield it. “I’m sure I could.”
“It’s doubtful.”
“It’s what… 70lbs?”
“And you’re what… 90lbs?”
Rukia rolled her eyes, she never liked it when people picked on her size but coming from Suigetsu it made it all the more frustrating. “Doesn’t mean I’m not strong.”
Suigetsu got up from the ground and walked over to his bed. “Never said you weren’t strong. You’re just not what I would consider… capable.”
Rukia’s eyes followed him in shock. After the war, herself and her team were considered heroes of the war and here he was calling her incapable of wielding a simple blade. “Whatever, next time you can die of thirst for all I care.”
Suigetsu rested his head in his arms as he laid down on his bed. “You do care.”
“I do not.” Rukia replied harshly.
“You’re the only one who gives me water.”
Rukia’s brows furrowed, “That’s because the others are worried about what happens if you get too much.” At least that’s what she assumed. Suigetsu’s hydration technique was a mystery to most people and lightning was not the most popular affinity in the Leaf village.
“And you’re not?”
“I can handle it.” Rukia yawned and rested her head on the desk, she wasn’t fond of keeping people prisoner, especially when there wasn’t exactly a reason for it.
She didn’t trust Suigetsu, she didn’t like Suigetsu, but he didn’t deserve to stay here. “Look Suigetsu, can you just hurry up and accept the Leaf as your new home? Your other option would be the Cloud which is filled with Lightning users or your home, that will immediately put you on trial and they have a harsher system than we have so… so the Leaf is the best option.”
“You want me out that bad?” Suigetsu smirked.
“I want to stop coming down here every day when I’m not out on a separate mission.”
Suigetsu looked up at the ceiling, he’s counted nearly every crack in the ceiling by now. He wouldn’t mind getting out.
Rukia raised her eyebrow at him when he didn’t respond, “You’d get to see less of me.” she offered.
“Sign me up.” Suigetsu joked as a smile formed on his face allowing Rukia to see the one fang that was always poking out.
Though Rukia hated the guy, he did have his moments and those moments were always followed by that fang. “See…” she sang, “a win-win, we’d never have to see each other ever again.”
“That’s doubtful.” Suigetsu yawned. “I have a feeling everyone is going to be seeing a lot more of you,” – Suigetsu smirked and turned his head to Rukia – “unfortunately for them, of course.”
Rukia took a deep breath before she felt Shikamaru’s chakra entering the building. “I hate you, you know that right?”
Suigetsu smiled and raised his eyebrow, “Good. Glad the feeling is mutual Hatake.”
Shikamaru knocked on the wall before he made his final steps down the stairs, “All good Ruks?”
“You mean have we killed each other yet?”
“Not yet… though I think I got her close.” Suigetsu smirked as he sat up from his bed.
Shikamaru sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he took a look around the room. His eyes fell to the steel cup on the ground and he chuckled. It was just like Rukia to have an enemy she still takes care of.
He wondered when the last time Rukia took care of herself, the last time Rukia made herself a meal – well maybe making a meal wasn’t a good idea for Rukia considering houses in the village still needed to be built, not burned down.
“What’s up?” Rukia asked, pulling Shikamaru out of his thoughts.
“Well, all the other villages have cleared out their parts of the battlefields so whenever we find someone to go with you to the coast of the Clouds… you’ll be able to finish it up.”
“You’re looking for dead bodies in the ocean?” Suigetsu chuckled.
Rukia glared at him, “No… not just the bodies, things to bring back to their families.”
“Why do you care?” Suigetsu asked.
Shikamaru could feel the tension rise in the room again and he sighed. Rukia by nature was a very sentimental person. She still has a chip bag that Choji gave her to throw away once, still has a petal that fell from a flower Ino once gave her that is now pressed in a journal, Asuma’s earrings never left her ears, and her mothers ring has never left her middle finger.
“Also your dad just got back, so I figured I’d relieve you.” Shikamaru sighed as his fingers fiddled with a cigarette in his pocket.
Rukia pushed herself off the wall, her fingers gliding across the Suigetsu’s cell bars as she walked away, “So we did end up switching days.” she smirked at Shikamaru before wrapping her arms over his shoulders and giving him a quick hug, “Thank you.”
Shikamaru nodded his head as she retreated up the stairs and slid the cigarette into his mouth.
“Those things will kill you.” Suigetsu said watching Shikamaru light the cigarette.
“That’s what she tells me.”
“Well for once she’s not wrong.” Suigetsu watched as Shikamaru looked up to make sure Rukia was out of sight before he took a drag. “You really don’t want your girlfriend to catch you smoking.”
Shikamaru shook his head and rolled his eyes, “She’s not my girlfriend.”
“No?”
“No.”
“Lucky you.” Suigetsu chuckled before laying back down contemplating Rukia’s words on whether he should give in already.
Tag list: @nightingaleflow @hashira-mal @therantingfangirl @mortyvongola2-0 @mrs-bakashi @anchy-bananchy @thetimelesschild
I won't bother everyone with OC stuff so don't worry the 3k words are under the cut. @mal-the-konohoe @therantingfangirl @mortyvongola2-0 @nightingaleflow
Picrew: TW: @neige_vague
Rukia Hatake, formerly known as Rukia Sarutobi is a member of Team 7 alongside Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Due to Kakashi losing Rukia’s mother during childbirth and then his sensei only three days later, he sees himself as a curse and asks Hiruzen to take care of her instead. The two of them came to an agreement that, once Rukia becomes strong enough to handle the people that would come after her when her Hatake bloodline was revealed, she can know who her father is.
Had super long hair as a kid but burned a lot of it off after she failed at controlling her fire release, so she keeps it short until she masters fire.
Being the granddaughter of Hiruzen Sarutobi, excellence was expected but it was never easy, despite being born with all five natures. She had them, she knew she had them, everyone reminded her that she had them, but could she use them well? Could she control her chakra enough to switch interchangeably? Absolutely not, so from the ages 2-4 she primarily only used her strongest nature - water - because she ended up hurting herself when she used the others.
Once she enters the Academy, Kakashi does start to worry that she’ll be noticed by rogue ninja’s hidden in the Leaf, by traitors, by Danzo. So everyday when Kakashi is not on a mission, he dawns a new disguise be it - his old anbu outfit, Sukea, or some poor civilian he copies from the street - and picks her up from the academy, training all day with her after. He’s the first one to teach her how to actually use her lightning release. She can’t do chidori by any means, but the first one she can control is a little spark. That little spark is enough to make the both of them proud.
During her time at the Academy, she sticks to Shikamaru due to their families being close. She stops Naruto from being bullied because similar to Konohamaru, no one wants to be the one that hit the Hokage's granddaughter. It angers her that no one sees her, they just see the man whose face is carved on the mountain.
After the Uchiha massacre, she watches over Sasuke who immediately notices her. For a while they both accept that she just wants to make sure he’s okay but one day he burns himself and Rukia walks over with ointment, the two of them not speaking about it and the two of them start training with each other, her water being the perfect opponent for his fire. Who better to help her achieve the excellence her grandfather expects of her than an Uchiha?
She’s friendly with Shino in the Academy, Shibi is one of her favorite people to see during the clan meetings. To Rukia, she thinks it’s impressive that Shino has the ability to control insects like that. Which means Shino has a very hidden soft spot for Rukia. Rukia the kid who always smiled at him, who always involved him in group play activities, who would always make sure to find him a partner since she was always paired up with Naruto or Sasuke.
When Rukia is placed on Team 7, Sakura is immediately questioning things because Rukia looks too similar to the sensei in front of them and looks nothing like the sensei to Team 10. She gets a little peeved that Sakura seems to be solely focused on Sasuke at first so there is quite a division between the group because Rukia doesn’t want Naruto to feel like he’s alone despite her friendship with Sasuke. Kakashi explains to them that every year there is always a four man squad due to the number of children allowed in the academy. The Great Shinin (legendary four ninja), Kakashi’s team 7 (where Rukia’s mom was placed), etc.
During the Bells exercise, Rukia exhausts herself trying to help each of her teammates. Which, despite that being the whole purpose of this exercise, angers Kakashi as a father, because he knew if he couldn’t drill into the other three the importance of teamwork that Rukia was going to get herself killed one of these days. This leads to Kakashi and Rukia sparring as she tries to steal the bells while he tries explaining to her that she can’t help anyone if she’s dead. She doesn’t listen, she's too focused on getting all the bells for her teammates.
During the chunin exams, she ends up fighting Zaku, Rukia has already used up a lot of chakra at this point protecting her other three teammates. She has a defense for most ninjutsu, at least one solid jutsu for each nature to be used as a counter- but sound? She has no idea how to protect herself from it so he really does damage to her.
Shino overhears that Zaku is the reason Rukia is all cut up and bloody. Kakashi did have to hold out his hand and physically stop Rukia from jumping over the rail to protect him after Shino got punched by Zaku . She says thank you to Shino after he wins, asks him if he’s okay and he just nods telling her not to worry about him because she’s up next.
There’s a fourth sand sibling, Iya, whose speciality is medical ninjutsu and sealing as well as an earth release. After Kankuro, and Temari have already fought and won their battles, Rukia's name is called up. Automatically people really don’t know how this is going to go. Rukia is the second strongest of their year but the Sand Siblings have proven to be ruthless.
With water being Rukia’s strongest nature, having someone who’s only nature is Earth causes for a very intense battle, all of Rukia’s favorite jutsus get used against her or have no effect, and when she does land a hit on Iya, Iya just heals herself. This leads her to using her lightning release for the first time in front of everyone- besides Kakashi. She does end up winning, but passes out immediately after. Kakashi catches her and picks her up, him and Hiruzen making eye contact knowing Rukia is getting strong enough to know about him.
Before the arena chunin exams, Kakashi introduces Rukia to the Dragon Sage Hidora, the fire Nature Ninja and one of the Shinin, and has them train together. Rukia fought just a normal added character who was truly no match for her after training with Hidora since she can now use all five of her natures interchangeably but still primarily focusing on water and lightning- they’re her comfort natures.
When the Konoha crush happens Rukia immediately runs up to Hiruzen to no avail because she can’t do anything against that barrier. Anbu members try to pull her away once Hiruzen sacrifices himself which makes Rukia pull in her first storm from her emotions, she’s kicking and screaming and crying because she wants to see her grandfather. Kakashi goes up to her and he’s all like, I know it hurts, but Naruto needs you. So Rukia pushes down her emotions and goes to help Naruto and them.
Jiraiya brings Rukia along with Naruto to recruit Tsunade knowing that Rukia is also a Senju, knowing that Tsunade knows she’s a Senju and hoping it encourages Tsunade. It doesn’t. The two of them don’t really have any relationship at all however when Rukia mentions training with Hidora, Tsunade does become slightly intrigued. Rukia is a Senju and a Nature Ninja and is on the path to become a dragon sage? Tsunade can see very quickly that Rukia will be powerful and with the Leaf without a Hokage, they might be at risk. It’s during this time that we learn Rukia is very susceptible to genjutsu. When Rukia gets back she is still very much depressed especially after seeing and fighting Orochimaru and Kabuto.
Tsunade promotes Rukia to chunin along with Shikamaru because Rukia was able to push her emotions aside and focus on the mission at hand. With her new chunin status and with Rukia losing her grandfather, Kakashi tells her the truth about her lineage.
Injures her hand after she and Kakashi deflect Naruto’s/Sasuke’s rasengan/chidori. Kakashi deflects their jutsu’s while Rukia pushes Sakura out of the way. Shikamaru doesn’t pick her to go on the mission which really pisses her off because she feels like she’s the strongest one out of Konoha 12 even with her injury. She finds Shino who is also a little upset about not going on the recovery mission and the two of them joke about how it’s like Shikamaru wants the mission to fail by not picking the two of them but Rukia tells Shino she doesn’t care if she gets in trouble, she’s going to go help them.
It’s Rukia and Lee vs Kimimaru, the both of them ultimately end up being saved by Gaara thankfully. However it’s because of that fight that Rukia becomes adamant about learning how to create a forcefield/shield of some sort to be able to defend against attacks like his.
Once Gaara comes to save Lee, Rukia runs off to follow Naruto and catches up with him just in time after his fight with Sasuke. Right there, she has to choose between helping Naruto or fighting Sasuke and trying to bring him back but she chooses to help Naruto. She tries to carry him back to the village but exhausted all of her chakra during her fight with Kimimaro so she passes out fairly quickly. Kakashi, Shino and Pakun arrive to pick up the two of them.
After she realizes that Sasuke fought Naruto meaning he was choosing to follow Orochimaru,
Orochimaru- the man who killed her grandfather in front of her. After she actually has time to grieve the death of her grandfather. After she realizes that Kakashi has known her for 13 years and waited THIS long to tell her- Rukia kinda falls down a spiral.
Danzo sees her training in a field. He’s always wanted Rukia to be in ROOT knowing he could never have her in ROOT because of Hiruzen. He basically kind of gaslights her into joining the ANBU. Danzo knows if he can break her down enough in the ANBU that he can slowly get her to join ROOT. She joins the ANBU secretly without Tsunade or Kakashi knowing with the help of Danzo. She jumps between regular missions and ANBU missions. When she gets placed on Tenzo’s team, he knows she’s Kakashi's daughter but doesn’t say anything until he sees Rukia get a little too dark on a mission. Killing a family that could be a potential threat? Anyone would’ve thought twice about it, would’ve had doubts but 13 year-old Rukia just went straight in as she was told. Rukia kinda goes a bit stoic, spaces out when she sees all the blood on her.
When her and Tenzo get back to the village she just walks around like a zombie leading to Tenzo finding Kakashi and being like “yeah your daughter is a little fucked up right now.” Kakashi gets pissed because he had no idea Rukia was in the ANBU and never ever wanted her to ever be in the ANBU. Kakashi convinces her to leave the ANBU and train between him and Hidora instead.
Training with Hidora is rough to say the least. To become a Dragon Sage which is something only Nature Ninja’s have the ability to become (it’s the only humans the dragons trust and even that is rare because they’ve been betrayed by some of the Nature Ninja’s in the past which is why the path to becoming a dragon sage is so gruesome), you have to be one with the elements meaning; to master the elements you have to withstand the elements. Burning, drowning, electrocuting herself, etc. she has to go through it all. It’s a bloody, brutal, and deadly training but it’s worth it especially to Rukia who needs to be the strongest.
Through her training with Hidora, she was only able to master lightning, wind, and earth before returning to the village. Fire was too painful and despite water being her strongest, she had an odd mental block on it. She did however manage to create a jutsu, combining the 5 natures into her hand and disintegrating whatever she touched. For her opponent, they go through the 5 natures one by one before their body turns into dust and gets blown away. For Rukia it uses nearly all of her chakra, because of her creation of a new jutsu and her new skills, Hidora recommends Rukia to Tsunade to be promoted to Jonin.
Comes back to the village with Hidora just minutes after Naruto and Jiraiya come back from the village, though Rukia isn’t a sage yet her ability to sense chakra and use her natures have greatly increased. She leaves Hidora at the gate when she senses Naruto leading to a cute runion between Naruto, Sakura and Rukia all who haven’t seen each other in years. Jokes about how Rukia is still the shortest however her two teammates can clearly see that she’s changed. She’s still bubbly, still touchy and overall still puts on a happy appearance but there's a sort of silence that hovers over each word. Her teammates don’t know about her ANBU days or the fact that her training was essentially torture. When Tsunade has them spar with Kakashi, her teamwork is even better than it was originally but she’s still willing to sacrifice herself which angers Kakashi.
She really beats herself up over Gaara being kidnapped. How was she supposed to know? No clue, but she still beats herself up over it because Gaara is important to Naruto and even to Rukia. There’s a third Akatsuki member named Chikyu who is a rogue Nature Ninja from the Hidden Cloud and her primary jutsu is lightning. Though Rukia has mastered lightning and lightning is one of her strongest , Chikyu is stronger. Chikyu is more relentless unlike Hidora who would hold back. Rukia barely has time to use hand signs to put up defensive measures. Their battle is long and drawn out, the two of them being dark enough to want to kill each other. Rukia summons a thunderstorm so she could use the natural elements rather than her own because her chakra is plummeting during this fight however it backfires because Chikyu can use it as well. Which leaves Rukia her only option and it’s her disintegration jutsu, which wipes her out after and she passes out being picked up by Neji and Gai shortly after.
During the Tenchi bridge arc, Rukia runs into Shino with Naruto when they both try to find a new teammate which leads to lots of blushed faces and longing stares after she sees Shino again for the first time in a couple of years. Rukia is called to Tsunade’s office when Tenzo becomes Yamato to make sure that Rukia doesn’t slip up. She doesn’t know Sai but she does sympathize with him, if being in ANBU was rough, being in the Foundation was rougher. The first time she figures out that flying is a possibility is when Sakura falls off the bridge. Anyways lots of angst from Rukia here because she hates Orochimaru and Kabuto and right now she does hold resentment towards Sasuke.
Rukia chooses to help Naruto with training rather than missions for a bit, she sees Shikamaru and Asuma at the gate while she’s on her way to the field where Yamato and Kakashi are and gives them a smile and waves goodbye, wishing them luck on their mission. A couple hours go by and Rukia starts to feel physically sick, her gut telling her that something is wrong so she sends Raiku out to Shikamaru and Asuma to provide backup but Raiku doesn’t get there in time and links with Rukia- letting her see Asuma’s last moments.
Causes her second emotional outburst storm when she watches Asuma’s death and immediately she wants revenge so she joins Ino, Shikamaru and Choji on their mission which is ultimately why Kakashi joins the mission because he knows, at least for Rukia, this is a suicide mission. Just imagine the best father daughter fight scenes for this arc because they’re soooo pretty in my head.
During the Three Tails Appearance filler arc, she stays behind with Shino, wanting to protect him when he is focused on his bugs, which leads to awkward cuddles when it rains and they have to take shelter under one of her makeshift caves. She becomes a part of the sealing team except she has to go underwater for it and Isobu ends up knocking her out rendering her unconscious as she sinks to the bottom of the lake, she wakes up as her back hits the bottom, she realizes that she’s completely alone, no one is able to come save her and she has to save herself and she finally masters the water nature.
The Pain Arc is brutal for her. She starts it off by gathering people in the cemetery as she sets up a very large force field surrounding the cemetery top and bottom because based on what she can see in the sky, something is about to destroy the village and she can’t lose her family members that lay six feet under. After that she fights an added Pain, who midfight, she feels Kakashi die causing her to freeze and Pain nearly kills her then cute Rukia and Shino stuff happens but that will be posted sooooon. Then she goes where the huge crater is and fights all the Pain again, nearly dying again, just before Naruto comes in.
Danzo brings her to the Five Kage Summit because he knows the Kage and the Samurai respect her bloodline more than they do him. He also is bitter she left the Anbu so he does plan for Torune to kill her after the Summit is over. Rukia goes but rightfully keeps her distance which causes Danzo to have Torune poison her, only to heal her so she knows how easily they can kill her if she steps out of line. Everything goes with canon besides her and Sasuke having an angsty fight; however, once he mentions he’s after Danzo, Rukia lets him through- telling him not to hurt the other two because they’re just following orders. After Danzo is gone, Rukia is the one who ends up finalizing the Leaf will join the war and goes with the Sand Siblings to tell Kakashi.
She’s originally with Kakashi on his battalion only she’s called to Gaara’s battalion after half of them are sent to assist Darui’s. Kakashi stumbles upon a reincarnated Rumi on the battlefield after Rukia destroys 1,000 Zetsu with the help of her dragons with Gaara.
Kabuto hates her with a passion so he moves Rumi (her mom) from battling with Kakashi to now battling with Rukia, her mom who specialized in fire release and medical ninjutsu coaches Rukia on how to deal with the burns while Kabuto is forcing Rumi to use every deadly fire jutsu against her and Rukia finally masters her fire nature, only realizing that when her burns slowly start to heal. Lots of stuff happens in the war with her but the war arc is so long I’m not going to make you guys read everything. Essentially she gets to meet Tobirama which is fun, gets closure with Hiruzen, kicks ass, and helps kill Kaguya ya know.
During the blank period Rukia spends the first couple of months Rukia searches for all of the shinobi that have been KIA because she wants to bring them back to their villages where they can rest in peace, she wants to get something to the people who have lost their loved ones. Then after lots of longing stares, a rescue mission and lots of late night talks, Rukia and Shino finally get together. Rukia takes a lot of the missions (with Shino now), and spends a lot of time going between each village as Kakashi’s second hand.
During the Boruto era (which is vastly different in my world) she’s one of Naruto’s many hands but mainly spends her time ensuring smaller villages have what they need and giving them support. Kinda in a selfish way, she wants the smaller villages to be grateful for the Leaf so they never rise up against the Leaf but she does care about all of them just cares more about the Leaf. She takes her kids with her to other villages when she can so they learn that there is a bigger world than just the Leaf, that peace for the Leaf can only be peaceful if peace is everywhere else as well.
The Strongest Kunoichi and Her Greatest Opponent! Rukia Burns Dinner!
A/N: Please enjoy this Rukia x Shino fic that I couldn't get out of my head. It follows her storyline so they don't end up together yet so just enjoy the mutual pining.
WC: 2.1k (I have no control when it comes to Rukia)
Warnings: OC, burning food, fluff, food
“Oh no no no no no!” Rukia cried, staring at the burnt frozen vegetables on her stove. The broccoli charred to a crisp and somehow still completely frozen, “How is that even possible?” She poked and prodded the vegetables with a chopstick, the rice next to her beginning to burn as she was lost in thought about her veggies.
She just got back from a three week mission, took a 10 minute nap that ended up being four hours and now it was too late to get dinner anywhere which led to this. This smoke filled apartment, where Rukia was quite literally burning water as her stomach growled.
“Okay Rukia, you got this…” her eyes closed as she took deep breaths, maintaining her cool, “it’s just cooking…it’s just cooking and besides they’re not that burnt!” her nose sniffed a bit, her eyes widened when she realized she didn’t turn off the stove. “and now they are."
Maybe dad made dinner, his leftovers are always good, oooo maybe fish and rice, he loves fish and rice!
Rukia smiled as she put her shoes on as she started heading out the door. She was glad that Kakashi's apartment was only a few streets away. Her mouth was practically drooling thinking about his food. She did blame him for her being unable to cook, if he only taught her when she was younger she wouldn’t be 18, spending her money eating out every night.
She took in the brisk breeze, the woodsy rainfall scent of Konoha which smelled a lot better than the inside of her apartment right now. She stretched as she looked up at the sky, her arms leaning from side to side, it was too late for there to be anyone to see her right now and she really needed to pop this knot in her back.
Ooo maybe he made the fish with lemon, oh and soy sauce to pour on top!
Rukia squealed as she started jogging to Kakashi’s apartment, she needed food and she needed food now.
Her heart dropped, her stomach churned, and the tears flooded her eyes again seeing his front porch light was off.
“Please no no no no no no!" Rukia ran up to Kakashi's door, "Daaaaaad I’m so hungry.” Rukia whined as she leaned her back against the door, her body slumped as her hand continued to knock on it, “You’re the Hokage! How can you leave your own daughter on your doorstep starving?”
“Ruks?” Kiba laughed seeing her slumped up against the door. Akamaru, Hinata and Shino behind him.
“Kiba, if you don’t have food I don’t want to hear it.” Rukia sighed, her eyes closed as she focused on getting rid of her hunger, accepting her fate that she would just have to eat in the morning.
“I have dog food.”
Rukia laughed, her head turning to face Kiba, she didn’t realize that Shino was standing behind him. Shino was standing behind him watching her act like a total baby. Rukia straightened herself up, “I uh um you know I..”
“Um RuRu? Kakashi sensei went out to visit another village two days ago.” Hinata smiled, as she walked closer to her friend. “So he might not be home.”
So Shino just watched me act like this and my dad isn’t even home?
“So I guess that’s what I get for taking a long mission.” Rukia smiled, “Speaking of, why are you guys out so late? It’s like 2 am.”
“We also just got back.” Kiba yawned, “But unlike you we had dinner before it was midnight.”
“We had dinner before it was midnight...” Rukia mocked as Kiba placed his arm around her, teasing her like he always does, the two of them play fighting once Kiba tried to ruffle her hair.
Shino was always a little envious of their closeness, the way they’ve been friends since the academy. He couldn’t blame her though, dogs are cute and Kiba had plenty of them. He couldn’t help but wonder how Rukia would react to him placing his arms around her. How she would react to him ruffling her hair.
Sure, they’ve touched before; Shino has carried her lifeless body once or twice. Rukia once jumped onto Shino’s back after Naruto came back from defeating Pain - her lips barely grazing his high collar as she thanked him for saving her.
Rukia has fallen asleep and her head dropped onto his shoulders, but he couldn’t count that because she was asleep so it wasn’t her choice. He did have the pleasure of receiving her countless nudges when she tells him a bad bug pun, and then there was the hug. The hug after the war where Rukia flew down to Shino, the hug where her hands were lost in his hair, where her face was nuzzled into his neck as she squeezed him, the drop of water that hit his shoulder as she whispered that she was glad he's okay.
Shino never forgot that hug, because it was different from the hug she gave Kiba right after. Different from the hug she gave her best friend who, Shino had to admit, a hug like that would’ve just made him say “What a drag”.
Shino’s hug was different and he would never forget that.
“If you’re still hungry, I can make you something to eat.” Shino gave Rukia a weak smile, doubtful that she would even hear him over her and Kiba’s laughs.
But as always, Rukia heard him.
“Wait really?” Rukia smiled, running up to Shino leaning her body forward as she rested on the tip of her toes, stretching just a bit to gain a little more height. “You don’t have to. I mean, I am really hungry and I would love you forever if you did, but if you don’t want to...”
Love you forever. Shino knew it was just an expression, but imagine being the guy who Rukia Hatake actually did choose to love forever. How lucky they would be. “I want to.”
“Can you even cook?” Kiba laughed, helping Hinata climb onto Akamaru.
“I guess I’m going to find out.” Rukia blushed, giving Hinata and Kiba a wave as the two of them headed off on Akamaru. “You know, honestly though it’s super late, I don’t want to put you out.”
“I sacrificed a thousand of my insects to bring you back to life one time…”
Yeah I know don’t remind me I still feel bad. Rukia pursed her lips wondering where Shino was going with this.
“...cooking for you isn’t putting me out. Reason being, I’m awake and you’re hungry.”
Rukia smiled up at Shino, she couldn’t ignore her feelings for him. How strong they were, how strong they’ve always been.
“Soooo when you said it was no big deal when you brought me back, you were lying?” Rukia teased walking next to Shino, her shoulder nudging him just a bit.
Shino smiled. God, he loved when she teased him, loved when she gave him a nudge. If he could, he would find a way to bottle this feeling. “I wasn’t lying. Why? Because it was an example of how cooking is a much smaller task than sacrificing a thousand insects.”
Rukia nodded her head as the two of them walked towards his apartment, her hands stuffed into her hoodie. Sacrificing a thousand insects just sounds so brutal though Shino. Wait it’s 2am and he’s about to be cooking for me… this is like couple stuff… does he know this is couple stuff? Is sacrificing a thousand insects a first date and then the next date is cooking?
“Rukia?” Shino looked down, pulling Rukia out of her thoughts, “Are you coming in?”
Am I coming in? Into Shino’s apartment at 2am? “Uh um, yeah, but seriously only if you’re sure.” Rukia asked again, her body already 5 feet into Shino’s apartment.
Am I sure that I won’t freak out you’re in my apartment and I have to cook you dinner? No. Am I happy that we ran into you tonight? Absolutely. Why? Because I love you. “I’m sure, unless you’re afraid of my cooking.”
Rukia chuckled, taking a look around Shino’s apartment as Shino walked into his kitchen. “Trust me buggie, no one’s cooking is scarier than mine.”
This was definitely what Rukia imagined his apartment to be like. Meticulously clean, the genin photo that nearly every shinobi held dear. It was cute, it was Shino.
She couldn’t help but imagine a few of her blankets on the couch, her succulent from Gaara next to the window. Couldn’t help but see herself running into Shino’s arms after one of them got back from a mission. Would he let her get a cat?
A wonderful, mouth watering smell came from the kitchen, pulling Rukia out of her little daydream as she walked over.
It was a normal sight, a sight most people see all the time. Someone standing over a stove, cooking food but this, this was a little special to her. Growing up, Hiruzen was always busy so they had a chef hired for her and Konohamaru. Sometimes she would see Kakashi make dinner but most of the time she was in a separate room when he prepared it. This though, Shino making food for her, in his home, it felt meaningful. Her heart spreading with this warm feeling, she’s being taken care of, and she liked it.
“Smells yummy Shino.” Rukia blushed, standing beside him as she watched him move steak around the pan, a pot of unburned rice boiling on the stove.
“I remember you once mentioned your favorite meal is steak and rice.”
“Yeah. Because if you burn steak it adds flavor and then rice is hard to burn.”
“I see. So why didn’t you make rice tonight?”
“I burned it.”
“Ah, so hard but not impossible.” Shino laughed, turning his head a bit to look at Rukia. He could get used to this. Her being next to him, watching him cook her food.
It was a long time joke that Rukia, a master of jutsu and dragons and elements had one greatest foe, and it was cooking. It was the only reason he asked his parents to teach him, because one day, he hoped he would be able to do this for her.
“Correct!” Rukia smiled, a yawn escaping from her lips. Her head had no other place to go. The stove would burn so it fell onto Shino’s shoulder, the layers of his clothes providing the perfect pillow.
Shino’s fingers stopped stirring the steak for a second. Rukia does this when she’s tired, she finds a shoulder to act like a pillow but never in their friendship has Shino ever been chosen as that pillow, except for the one night she fell asleep first and it dropped onto his shoulder but again he didn’t know if he could count that. If it was a movie night, it was Kiba or Naruto or Sakura, or an actual pillow. If it was the group hanging out on the field, again it was Kiba or the more accurate answer would be Akamaru. Point is, it has been everyone in the group at least once, but never Shino.
It wasn’t that Rukia never wanted to lean on Shino, she just didn’t want to deal with the teasing that would follow if she leaned on Shino. The teasing that could’ve scared him off because she knew her friends were blunt and relentless when something happened with a crush. Always in a loving way but still, she was smart enough to not do that if she wanted her crush on Shino to stay a secret.
“You know, I never heard them before.” Rukia smiled, nuzzling her head deeper into Shino’s shoulder as he used everything in his body to keep his eyes on the steak.
“Heard what before?”
“The buzzing. It’s so…”
“I’m sorr-”
“...peaceful. And calming.”
Peaceful and calming? Rukia was never afraid of his insects, even had names for a couple of them but still, when your insects have been the cause of many screams and “ew’s” it takes you by surprise when someone compliments them.
And yet, here Rukia was, not only complimenting them but giving them a feeling, an emotion. They were peaceful to her, they calmed her. The sound that came from his body was peaceful to her, it calmed her.
“Um,” Shino coughed, “the uh food is ready.”
“Yay!” Rukia squealed, pulling her head off of Shino’s shoulder as her mouth drooled. It smelled and looked delicious. Who would’ve thought that Shino Aburame is a class A cook?
“I hope you enjoy.” Shino smiled, handing Rukia the plate, the glistening steak on one side and a scoop of rice on the other.
“Wait, you’re not eating?”
“I already did.”
“I can’t eat alone!” Rukia laughed, “You really made it just for me?”
Shino blushed, turning his head to look over at the stove. I would do anything for you. He wouldn’t mind eating rice if it made her more comfortable. “You were hungry.”
He likes you, you IDIOT! No he doesn’t he’s just Shino, he’s nice like this.
Rukia smiled seeing Shino scoop out some rice before the two of them sat at his table. It was comfortable silence as the two of them ate. Shino took his time with his spoonfuls of rice so it would match up with Rukia. Rukia took her time so she didn’t finish quickly and would have to leave. Soon, the scratching of silver spoons scraping ceramic plates was all that was left.
“Thank you,” Rukia smiled, “for dinner or more like breakfast.” Rukia laughed, glancing up at the clock that read 3:05am.
“Anytime.” Shino swallowed, he didn’t mean to say anytime. Anytime implies that this could be a common thing between them, and he wanted it to be a common thing but only if Rukia wanted it to be a common thing.
Rukia got up and made her way to the sink, washing her dish before putting it on the rack beside it. “Anytime? I might hold you to that.”
Shino leaned against the bookcase with a book in hand as he waited for Rukia in Kakashi’s office. The sounds of Kakashi sighs and the slide of his pen as he signed the paperwork filled the room.
It was peaceful. Shino and Kakashi have grown used to the comfortable silence the two of them seemed to share. A silence soon interrupted by someone the both of them hold dear.
“What the fuck!?”
The two of them looked up as they heard Rukia’s yell from the other room. Shino turned his head to Kakashi as Kakashi rested his head in his hands. She didn't sound in danger, mostly annoyed at something.
“Rock paper scissors?”
Shino chuckled, setting down the book he was reading. “She’s your daughter.”
“Ah, yes but she is your girlfriend now.” Kakashi smiled as he got out of his seat, noticing the blush that formed across Shino’s cheeks.
Despite the fact Rukia and Shino have been dating for a few months now, it was easy to cause the two of them to blush merely by stating the obvious.
“Rukia! Get down!” Konohamaru groaned from the other room as Shino and Kakashi continued to stare at the door.
"Sibling rivalry?" Kakashi laughed leaning against his desk, biding his time before he had to calm down his daughter.
"They do seem to be the only ones allowed to pick on each other." Shino sighed, he just hoped it was Rukia picking on Konohamaru because she does tend to get a little emotional when people pick on her.
"Well! Stop what you're doing and maybe I might!" Rukia's voice yelled through the halls causing Shino and Kakashi to sigh and leave the office.
Kakashi and Shino walked down the hall and opened the door to all the commotion. Piles of books were stacked on the floor in front of Konohamaru, Rukia’s body laid flat against the ceiling and Konohamaru stood tall on the floor with a very drained look on his face.
“Thank God! Shino, get her down.” Konohamaru sighed.
Kakashi laughed seeing the pout on his daughters face. “Why are you up there?”
“Measure him!” Rukia pointed down to Konohamaru. She refused to believe it, her mind was just playing tricks on her. She just saw him before he left for his mission when he was still shorter than her. It’s only been a few weeks! There’s no way.
“My love, can you please get down from there?” Shino asked as he looked up at her, he could easily reach his hand up but he didn’t like forcing her to do things.
He had to admit though, she was adorable up there. How her fists were clutching her skirt so it wouldn’t fall, how her hair was tucked behind her ears even though nearly half of it was just dangling underneath her.
“No. Not till you both measure him.”
Kakashi looked over at Konohamaru. He does look a little taller. “The easiest way to tell would be for you to come down.”
Rukia furrowed her brows. “No.”
“Rukia...” Kakashi warned.
“Don’t use your ‘dad voice' on me.”
“Rukia...”
“It won’t work!” Rukia pouted as she ignored the urge to drop down just to get her father to stop using his ‘dad voice’.
Shino sighed, “Rukia, please?”
“I love you, but no.”
Shino blushed before he shook his head and turned away from her to look over at Konohamaru. He knew the top of Rukia’s head hit just a little above his own shoulder, so then Konohamaru would have to hit above that. “Konohamaru, stand by me.”
Konohamaru walked over, his head clearly above Shino’s shoulder.
Kakashi laughed as he leaned against the wall visually seeing how much shorter Rukia is going to be whenever she comes down.
Rukia’s eyes grew wide as she stared down at Shino and Konohamaru, “Check his shoes.”
“My love, you can clearly see his feet.”
“Well then! There you go! It’s giving him an extra inch!”
“But by that logic, you have a one inch heel on your shoes as well.” Shino said with an exasperated sigh.
“You’re supposed to be on my side!”
“I’m always on your side, but right now I’m not sure how. It's because, he is taller than you and it's well, very clear to see.”
"Shino!" Rukia yelled, she couldn't believe her boyfriend just betrayed her like that.
"Listen, half of my students are taller than you. You just have to accept it at this point." Shino sighed, immediately regretting his words when he heard Kakashi stifle a laugh.
One way to get Rukia to act childish is to, well, compare her height to that of a child.
"You still have a lot to learn." Kakashi laughed as he patted Shino on the shoulder. "Ruks, I think I saw a spider up there a few days ago."
"Wha-what!?" Rukia screamed as she plopped down, her face landing through the pile of books.
"You're dating an insect user, how are you afraid of spiders?" Konohamaru laughed loving this new found information about his sister that he was definitely going to use later.
"Spiders are arachnids. They're a class of arthropods." Rukia and Shino said in unison, Rukia's words a tad more muffled with her face against the floor.
"That is because.."
"Shino, I love you but please don't talk about spiders right now." Rukia sighed as she got up.
"Right." Shino said as he remembered the first time Rukia jumped on top of his back when there was a spider in her apartment. It did confuse him that she was absolutely petrified of spiders but could care less about the many, many, beetles that lived inside of him.
Rukia's eyes looked up at Konohamaru across from her. “You’re not allowed to grow up anymore.”
“I don't have control over that.” Konohamaru nervously chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Better figure out a way bud." Rukia laughed as she walked over to Shino and wrapped her arm around him.
“Oh Shino, I still have your razor by the way.” Konohamaru yawned, remembering Shino's razor at the absolute worst time he could've remembered.
“WHAT!?!” Rukia let go of Shino and stomped over to Konohamaru, pulling his face down so she could get a better view. “Since when are you shaving!?”
“I had a little stubble a couple days ago and then Shi-.”
Rukia turned her head to look at her boyfriend who seemingly forgot to tell her about Konohamaru using his razor to shave. “You knew and didn’t tell me?”
“It’s because..” Shino stammered as he backed away from Rukia and into Kakashi.
Rukia pursed her lips, trying to figure out a way to get back at the three Shinobi in the room. Kakashi’s done nothing wrong but he’s guilty by association. “I’m cooking dinner tonight.”
