[Fic] "The Good Daughter" -- Naruto
Feb. 3rd, 2010 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingI am sort of attempting to feel my way back into writing Naruto fanfiction, in preparation for (hopefully) getting back to work on "The Guardian in Spite of Herself." In that spirit, here is an absurdly self-indulgent story about Ayakawa Yukiko's childhood, which contains no canon characters whatsoever. (900 words)
Possibly relevant background: Ayakawa Yukina is Yukiko's mother. Aoi (short for Tachiaoi) is her father. Yukina owns and runs the apartment building as well as various other properties around Konoha, while Aoi is her handyman and househusband. Generally Aoi would be the one cooking -- he's the one who taught Yukiko to cook and do repairs, while Yukina taught Yukiko about accounting and contractors and stuff like that -- but Yukina and Yukiko are 'surprising' him with a special birthday dinner. Yukina is the head of the Ayakawa clan, since she is older than her brother Yutaro. Aoi was a war orphan from a Fire Country village that got destroyed in a battle; he moved to Konoha as a refugee and married into Yukina's clan.
(The final version is now up on ff.net.)
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The Good Daughter
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"Our building's a deathtrap, you know," Yukiko pronounced as she stood beside her mother and chopped onions and shiitake mushrooms for her father's surprise birthday dinner.
Ayakawa Yukina looked down at her daughter, curious about her suddenly morbid turn of conversation. "How so? I know we're right against the village wall, but those defenses are very good. And Konoha has never been directly attacked in the wars. Slice the onions a little finer, darling; you know your father doesn't like them in large chunks."
Yukiko shook her head, setting her ponytail flying. "That's not what I meant. If I meant that, I'd say this location is dangerous -- which it is, sort of, but no more than anywhere else in a hidden village. What I meant is that if enemies get into the building, we don't have good escape routes. And if there's a fire or someone uses an earth-moving jutsu and the building falls down, we don't have any plans or ladders or anything."
Yukina set down her wooden spoon and turned the heat under the soup down to the lowest simmer possible. "It's true that we don't have fire escapes, but darling, what do you think the water tank is for? There's an emergency generator in the rooftop garden, and hoses coiled under the tank. We can fight any small fires until the military police and the fire squad arrive. As for enemies and earthquakes--" She sighed, remembering Aoi's stories of the battle that had devastated his farming village and sent him and his cousin to Konoha as refugees. "If enemy ninja are within the walls, nobody will still be inside civilian housing. We'll all be in caves and other shelters, under guard."
Yukiko frowned down at the mushrooms, her knife flashing with swift, reflexive skill as she chopped them up and swept them aside into a mixing bowl. "Maybe," she said. "But what if it's a sneak attack? What if they come under the wall and need hostages? I just--"
"You just what, darling?" Yukina asked, laying a hand lightly on her daughter's shoulder.
"What if something happens and I can't protect you?" Yukiko asked, stabbing her kitchen knife through the cutting board and into the counter. Yukina made a note to scold her for that later, but said nothing, waiting for the rest of the outburst. Sure enough, Yukiko continued: "I want to be a ninja and protect Konoha, but everybody else in the academy is so much better than me, and there's so many ways to kill people without even trying, really, and I don't want you and Dad to die! Not like Grandma and Grandpa died on their trip, and like Dad's parents did so I never even got to meet them."
"Oh, Yukiko, baby. Come here," Yukina said, bringing her other arm forward to wrap around her daughter.
Yukiko made a stifled noise of protest. "I'm eleven, Mom -- I'm not a baby."
"You'll always be my baby," Yukina said firmly, "even when you're a hundred years old. Listen, Yukiko -- Aoi and I are so proud of you for wanting to protect us and all of Konoha and Fire Country. But you're only one person. Nobody, no matter how strong or skilled, can be everywhere and do everything alone. You're not the only ninja in Konoha. You have to trust that the Hokage and the Council, the Anbu and the police, and all the other ninja are here to help you."
She pulled her daughter closer, hugging her tight. "You're going to graduate next year. I know you will. And then you'll have partners; you'll have to trust them."
"I'll trust them with me," Yukiko mumbled. "I don't want to trust them with you."
"I'll be trusting your partners and jounin-sensei with you," Yukina pointed out. "Yukiko, nothing is going to happen to me or to your father. We have far too much to live for. But if it makes you feel better, you can look over the building from cellar to roof and tell us whatever you think might make it safer. I won't promise to follow all your plans, but I will promise to listen. We'll trust each other to be strong and stay safe. Okay?"
Slowly, Yukiko relaxed into her mother's embrace, tipping her head up and back to offer a watery smile. "Maybe." Yukina raised one eyebrow. "Okay, okay, I'll try not to worry. Even if you and Dad are getting old and stupid, and you couldn't win a fight if the enemy tripped and knocked himself out with his own kunai."
"I'm going to ignore that last sentence, since I know you can't possibly have said something that would force me to make you miss your father's birthday dinner," Yukina said, and hid a smile at her daughter's suddenly abashed expression. She gave Yukiko one last squeeze, then let her go with a gentle push back toward the counter. "Now pull that knife out, find the wood putty, and fix the cut you made."
"But Mom! I'm supposed to be helping you cook Dad's special dinner, not doing repairs. Can't it wait for tomorrow?"
Yukina picked up her spoon and gave the soup an absent stir. "Are you too proud to take orders from a civilian, darling?"
"No. But-- oh, you're so unfair! I don't know why I worry about you at all!" Yukiko stomped out of the kitchen with all the normal aggrieved self-righteousness of an eleven-year-old girl.
As the door slammed shut, Yukina laughed.
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Inspired by the 2/3/10![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
15_minute_fic word #128: insecurity
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...Well. I started writing with only the first sentence and no idea where the story was going, but that was interesting to find out. No wonder Yukiko was so hard on herself when her family and teammates died.
Possibly relevant background: Ayakawa Yukina is Yukiko's mother. Aoi (short for Tachiaoi) is her father. Yukina owns and runs the apartment building as well as various other properties around Konoha, while Aoi is her handyman and househusband. Generally Aoi would be the one cooking -- he's the one who taught Yukiko to cook and do repairs, while Yukina taught Yukiko about accounting and contractors and stuff like that -- but Yukina and Yukiko are 'surprising' him with a special birthday dinner. Yukina is the head of the Ayakawa clan, since she is older than her brother Yutaro. Aoi was a war orphan from a Fire Country village that got destroyed in a battle; he moved to Konoha as a refugee and married into Yukina's clan.
(The final version is now up on ff.net.)
---------------------------------------------
The Good Daughter
---------------------------------------------
"Our building's a deathtrap, you know," Yukiko pronounced as she stood beside her mother and chopped onions and shiitake mushrooms for her father's surprise birthday dinner.
Ayakawa Yukina looked down at her daughter, curious about her suddenly morbid turn of conversation. "How so? I know we're right against the village wall, but those defenses are very good. And Konoha has never been directly attacked in the wars. Slice the onions a little finer, darling; you know your father doesn't like them in large chunks."
Yukiko shook her head, setting her ponytail flying. "That's not what I meant. If I meant that, I'd say this location is dangerous -- which it is, sort of, but no more than anywhere else in a hidden village. What I meant is that if enemies get into the building, we don't have good escape routes. And if there's a fire or someone uses an earth-moving jutsu and the building falls down, we don't have any plans or ladders or anything."
Yukina set down her wooden spoon and turned the heat under the soup down to the lowest simmer possible. "It's true that we don't have fire escapes, but darling, what do you think the water tank is for? There's an emergency generator in the rooftop garden, and hoses coiled under the tank. We can fight any small fires until the military police and the fire squad arrive. As for enemies and earthquakes--" She sighed, remembering Aoi's stories of the battle that had devastated his farming village and sent him and his cousin to Konoha as refugees. "If enemy ninja are within the walls, nobody will still be inside civilian housing. We'll all be in caves and other shelters, under guard."
Yukiko frowned down at the mushrooms, her knife flashing with swift, reflexive skill as she chopped them up and swept them aside into a mixing bowl. "Maybe," she said. "But what if it's a sneak attack? What if they come under the wall and need hostages? I just--"
"You just what, darling?" Yukina asked, laying a hand lightly on her daughter's shoulder.
"What if something happens and I can't protect you?" Yukiko asked, stabbing her kitchen knife through the cutting board and into the counter. Yukina made a note to scold her for that later, but said nothing, waiting for the rest of the outburst. Sure enough, Yukiko continued: "I want to be a ninja and protect Konoha, but everybody else in the academy is so much better than me, and there's so many ways to kill people without even trying, really, and I don't want you and Dad to die! Not like Grandma and Grandpa died on their trip, and like Dad's parents did so I never even got to meet them."
"Oh, Yukiko, baby. Come here," Yukina said, bringing her other arm forward to wrap around her daughter.
Yukiko made a stifled noise of protest. "I'm eleven, Mom -- I'm not a baby."
"You'll always be my baby," Yukina said firmly, "even when you're a hundred years old. Listen, Yukiko -- Aoi and I are so proud of you for wanting to protect us and all of Konoha and Fire Country. But you're only one person. Nobody, no matter how strong or skilled, can be everywhere and do everything alone. You're not the only ninja in Konoha. You have to trust that the Hokage and the Council, the Anbu and the police, and all the other ninja are here to help you."
She pulled her daughter closer, hugging her tight. "You're going to graduate next year. I know you will. And then you'll have partners; you'll have to trust them."
"I'll trust them with me," Yukiko mumbled. "I don't want to trust them with you."
"I'll be trusting your partners and jounin-sensei with you," Yukina pointed out. "Yukiko, nothing is going to happen to me or to your father. We have far too much to live for. But if it makes you feel better, you can look over the building from cellar to roof and tell us whatever you think might make it safer. I won't promise to follow all your plans, but I will promise to listen. We'll trust each other to be strong and stay safe. Okay?"
Slowly, Yukiko relaxed into her mother's embrace, tipping her head up and back to offer a watery smile. "Maybe." Yukina raised one eyebrow. "Okay, okay, I'll try not to worry. Even if you and Dad are getting old and stupid, and you couldn't win a fight if the enemy tripped and knocked himself out with his own kunai."
"I'm going to ignore that last sentence, since I know you can't possibly have said something that would force me to make you miss your father's birthday dinner," Yukina said, and hid a smile at her daughter's suddenly abashed expression. She gave Yukiko one last squeeze, then let her go with a gentle push back toward the counter. "Now pull that knife out, find the wood putty, and fix the cut you made."
"But Mom! I'm supposed to be helping you cook Dad's special dinner, not doing repairs. Can't it wait for tomorrow?"
Yukina picked up her spoon and gave the soup an absent stir. "Are you too proud to take orders from a civilian, darling?"
"No. But-- oh, you're so unfair! I don't know why I worry about you at all!" Yukiko stomped out of the kitchen with all the normal aggrieved self-righteousness of an eleven-year-old girl.
As the door slammed shut, Yukina laughed.
---------------------------------------------
Inspired by the 2/3/10
15_minute_fic word #128: insecurity---------------------------------------------
...Well. I started writing with only the first sentence and no idea where the story was going, but that was interesting to find out. No wonder Yukiko was so hard on herself when her family and teammates died.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 01:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 01:40 am (UTC)(...I just really need to catch up on the manga before I get past, oh, chapter 14 of "The Guardian in Spite of Herself," because I want to make use of revelations about Itachi, Akatsuki, and the Uchiha, but I would prefer to read them myself rather than rely on
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 01:48 am (UTC)By the way, I love the background you've set up for Yukiko's parents, with her mom in charge of the business and her father as the "house-husband". It's a nice touch, even if it doesn't affect much in the main stories. Is there any particular meaning behind their names? Yukina sounds like Yukiko, but did you chose "Tachiaoi" for any particular reason?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 02:19 am (UTC)But more importantly, his nickname, Aoi, means blue (or sometimes also hollyhock? I am never sure I trust online translation dictionaries), and I am amused by a man named Blue marrying into a clan where everyone has blue hair.
As for Yukina, all children of the Ayakawa clan get personal names beginning with the syllable 'yu,' in honor of the hot springs they used to own and manage before Yukiko's great-grandfather, Ayakawa Yugao, sold the springs to the village as a public resource. ('Yu' can mean 'hot water,' though the Ayakawa don't usually write the syllable that way; Yukiko's name, for example, is 'Snow Child,' not, say, 'Hot Water Spirit Child.')
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 02:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-04 06:05 am (UTC)Oh, Yukiko. ;__;
Learning how many ways people could be killed made her aware of how easily it could happen to her parents, huh. *petpets* I like the practical thinking stuff in it too. So logical! XD ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-04 06:56 am (UTC)Yeah, learning how to kill people brings home how fragile we are, and I guess her father's birthday made her think about that knowledge in personal terms rather than abstract ones. Also, yay water tanks and logistics! (I mean, mostly the water tank is there so the showers in the upper floor apartments have enough water pressure -- I think this is true for a lot of real-world buildings, actually -- but as long as it's there, of course it can double as an emergency fire-fighting resource!)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-04 09:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 12:15 am (UTC)It's not the healthiest way of interacting with the world, but at least as an adult she's a little more objective about it -- by which I mean that even if something happened to her current 'people,' I doubt she'd retreat from the world for six years the way she did after Yukina, Aoi, Ame, Kasumi, and Hoshi-sensei died. (And even if she wanted to, Naruto wouldn't let her. *grin*)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-05 12:53 am (UTC)[Fic] "Resistentialism" -- <i>Naruto</i>
Date: 2010-02-05 01:13 am (UTC)Behind her, Naruto giggled. "Buildings aren't alive, Yukiko-neechan."
"That's what you think," Yukiko said, pressing her hands against the small of her back and wincing. Next time, she was making Yusuke do the repairs -- honestly, what was she paying him for if he disappeared on frivolous dates every time she needed him?
"That's what I know," Naruto said. He laced his hands behind his head and frowned at the heating pipes. Steam hissed briefly from the boiler's escape valve, and condensation trickled down the concrete wall behind the too-hot-to-touch pipes. "But if buildings were alive, maybe this one's mad at you."
"Tell me something I don't know," Yukiko grumbled, dropping the wrench into her toolbox. "I swear, I have never had as many problems with the heating system in my life as we've had this past year. I know the damn building's doing it on purpose. I just can't figure out why."
Naruto bounced on his toes and grinned, waving one hand like he wanted to be called on in class. "I know, I know! That's easy, Yukiko-neechan -- it's jealous!"
Yukiko blinked. Huh?
"You used to spend all your time thinking about the building, but now you've got me and Iruka and Naga and even the building next door you just bought, and I bet this building feels lonely. So it's breaking stuff to make you pay attention to it again. That's what I'd do, if I were a building." Naruto nodded decisively. "Yeah, yeah, that's 'zactly what I'd do -- 'cause it's working! Our building's smart!"
"...I thought you didn't believe buildings were alive?" Yukiko managed after a dumbfounded moment.
"Well, I thought so, but you're right -- it makes lots more sense if the building's breaking the radiators on purpose," Naruto said. He frowned. "Hey, wait, does that mean my refrigerator's mad at me when the milk goes bad?"
Yukiko leaned her head against the grimy, condensation-slicked wall and groaned.
Re: [Fic] "Resistentialism" -- <i>Naruto</i>
Date: 2010-02-05 03:25 am (UTC)Oh, that's so Naruto. X3
*snerks at last line*
Re: [Fic] "Resistentialism" -- <i>Naruto</i>
Date: 2010-02-05 03:44 am (UTC)Re: [Fic] "Resistentialism" -- <i>Naruto</i>
Date: 2010-02-05 05:34 am (UTC)Re: [Fic] "Resistentialism" -- <i>Naruto</i>
Date: 2010-02-05 05:50 am (UTC)Naruto is an old hand at acting out. *grin* I do not think Yukiko and Iruka will ever manage to completely cure him of the habit.
Re: [Fic] "Resistentialism" -- <i>Naruto</i>
Date: 2010-02-05 06:23 pm (UTC)Re: [Fic] "Resistentialism" -- <i>Naruto</i>
Date: 2010-02-05 11:19 pm (UTC)Re: [Fic] "Resistentialism" -- <i>Naruto</i>
Date: 2010-02-06 06:55 pm (UTC)Re: [Fic] "Resistentialism" -- <i>Naruto</i>
Date: 2010-02-06 11:28 pm (UTC)