Hinata was next, and you found her training alone on her usual training grounds. "Hey Hinata, how you're doing?"
"Tetsuo-kun!" She said happy to see you before stopping her katas, "how your mission went?"
"Fought and killed a couple of bandits, then fought and killed a genin level missing nin lackey and interfered on a jonin battle."
She just stared blankly at you before sighing. "Context please."
So you told her what happened in the mission and her expression went from sad to alarmed really quickly as your tale went. She would have been fussing over you if you weren't standing well and good in front of her before she did something surprising and stepped on and hugged you. You blinked, confused for a moment before a light blush covered your face and you returned it, still confused but not really questioning her actions.
Some time later you two separated yourselves and she also was sporting a light blush on her face. "Better?"
For a single moment you wonder what she meant, when you remember that a first kill was supposed to be somewhat traumatic. It wasn't for you due to Gamer's Mind, but did the hug made things better?
Hell yes it did!
"Thanks Hinata, I didn't knew I needed that. Maybe I should have done that with my team mate instead."
"It helped because I'm your friend. It might or might not work with your team mate if you do this, but if you try at least give her some forewarning, some shinobi are naturally twitchy, even genins."
"Noted. Since this is your turn to choose were to eat I will be looking forward to it."
"I will think of someplace nice to eat Tetsuo-kun", she looked at the sun position and had an horrified look on her, "oh no, I'm late! Today I was supposed to train with father! Sorry Tetsuo-kun, but I really need to go. We will meet again alter alright?" You nodded and she made a handseal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"Do they keep leaves on their pockets or something? I never seen to do that part right..."
~~O~~
The Tenshin compound was quite big, though not nearly as big as the Hyuuga's, let alone the late Uchiha district. It looked more like a large mansion with several smaller houses attached in a traditional architecture. You approached the guards and asked for Ayane.
The two guards frowned. "She's currently busy right now. Who are you again?"
"Her team mate."
"Ah", he said realization hitting him, "of course. Though as I said she's busy right now, if you return later she will be available."
"That's fine by me", you said with a bow and turned to go back home, when you heard they whisper. Thanks to your increased wisdom your senses also got a boost, though not to the degree of being called a power on it's own.
"So the cursed kid's team mate is concerned about her?" Whispered one guard.
"She should be glad that they don't know about her disgrace and that the clan head has forbidden from speaking it to outsiders." Whispered back another guard.
"She could have just died on that mission and spare us the trouble." The first guard finished.
You only managed to keep walking calmly due to Gamer's Mind, but even then you were seething at what they said. Aren't they clan members? How come they can be so cruel to her? Due to her bio you doubt her status as a 'cursed child' is anything she had any control over, and yet they seen to both blame and hate her enough to wish for her death!
Quest Alert!
Learn the secret of the Cursed Child
Figure out what being a cursed child means for Ayane and heal her through this difficult ordeal.
Success: +3000xp, increased relationship with Ayane
Failure: +100xp, decreased relationship with Ayane
Accept Y/N
[ ]Accept
[ ]Decline
~~O~~
You spent the rest of the day just relaxing and going after the required reading materials for the medic nin program in the library. If you were to ask a copy of them all it would take a good chunk of your money. Screw that, it would put you into debt! Thank the heavens for public library!
At night you read the material and felt it was a heavy reading, but you soldiered on getting a couple of chapters done from most books, before turning off the lights and getting ready to bed.
~~O~~
Next day you continued reading the books until it came time to talk with Ayane, and you waited her in front of the gates. She came eventually, looking confused as to why you're there. "What are you doing here Tetsuo?"
"Can we talk a bit Ayane? It won't take long but I prefer to have some privacy to it."
She looked at you before shrugging. "Let's go to my room, it's the closest to the gates."
You nodded as the guards seemed to have a heart attack by their bulged eyes. Is something wrong with them?
As she was leading you to her room in the compound you passed an older girl with long brown hair and kind eyes. "Ayane-chan, good morning."
"Good morning Kasumi-neechan", your team mate said with a small bow, and you could detect her tone of voice had shifted slightly to something more chirper than usual. "Are you going on a mission right now?"
Kasumi shook her head, "no, just a later than usual team meeting. And who is this?"
"My name is Kurota Tetsuo, Ayane's team mate Kasumi-san", you tell the older woman, "it's a pleasure to meet with you".
"Huhuhu, polite too. It's a pleasure to meet with you Tetsuo-kun. Please take good care of my younger sister, would you?" She said before giving a small peck on Ayane forehead before going away, making Ayane blush.
"Neesan! I'm not a baby anymore!" She said before huffing, "honestly some times..."
As she said that she seemed to realize she had an audience, and blushed a bit and looked away, "anyway, let's get to my room before we get any more interruptions."
Not too long later you both are on her room and you couldn't help but admire it. It was a mix of both 'girly', or what you expected to be girly and typical shinobi quarters. There were some calligraphy and ikebana adorning one of the walls, and there was a table in the middle of her room. In her vanity there were some beauty products which you identified from observe as skin care products and hand creams. She also had a couple of plushy dolls scattered and a chokuto and tanto set on the opposite wall.
"So what did you wanted to talk about?"
"Well", you started, "I wanted to apologize back then during the mission. When I talked with you I believe it was too heavy handed and I made it about me instead of you. It was good enough that you had the peace of mind to seek sensei help, but I easily could had made things worse, something unacceptable, both as your team mate and well", at this you hesitated a bit, "as you potential friend?"
She blinked once, staring at you before slowly nodding. "Alright, I guess. Wasn't expecting that to be honest." She paused for a while before continuing, "I can see that you're sincere at least. Still you could have said that during the team meeting."
You shrugged, "I wanted to get that done as soon as possible, it would be rude otherwise, besides I had a lot of free time in my hands right now."
"Not doing some of your insane training regime on those day offs?" She asked, more curious than anything.
Yes. "No, just taking it easy for now."
"Alright, thanks for dropping by I suppose."
You nodded, before waiting for a few moments. There is that thing that Hinata did to you that made you feel better, and perhaps it might help Ayane? Besides she might need it even if she didn't had her first kill since you suspect that things are less than perfect on her home life.
[ ]Hug Her
[ ]Don't Hug Her
[ ]"Do you want a hug?"
===|> To Be Continued
