Chapter 46
Spear & Shield
Chapter 44.5
The first leg of their walk was quiet, her and Tenten taking the lead with Neji and Lee trailing behind them. Yaus noticed Tenten’s quietness. “Don’t look so sour,” she told the younger girl. “You still got Gai-sensei in the end. You accomplished what you set out to do, and that’s something to celebrate.”
The girl continued to sulk.
“If it had been you and me, you would have taken my head off in a second.”
Finally, her pout curled into a defeated half-smile, “But I didn’t win.”
“You tied. So what? I’ve never won anything in my life. Even Gai-sensei only wins against Kakashi-san half the time.”
“...I just don’t think I’ll ever be a great kunoichi like Tsunade-sama…” she sighed.
“You are a great kunoichi, Tenten-chan.”
Tenten still didn’t look convinced.
Yasu gently placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. “I told you that when we first met.”
She watched as her words slowly sunk into the young kunoichi. The girl's face softened slightly and Yasu saw Tenten’s eyes began to fill with a childish sort of glee. “Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, Mom--”
The girl stopped short, freezing as she caught herself a second too late. The word had slipped out unconsciously, but shocked her to horrific realization once spoken.
Yasu’s heart stopped, too, but for a different reason. She was split between her sisterly reflex to immediately tease the younger girl for her slip of the tongue and an embarrassingly genuine sincerity that made her heart swell.
She took the middle road, slinging an arm around Tenten’s tiny shoulders, pulling the furiously blushing teen into a rough side-hug, “You make your mother so proud.”
“Sempai, stop!” Tenten whined, weakly struggling to break Yasu’s hold.
“It’s okay, Tenten-chan,” she cooed, “You can call me Mom if you want.”
“Can I call you Mom, too?!” Lee asked eagerly, jogging up to Yasu’s other side.
“No!” Tenten answered for him, combatting her embarrassment with aggression.
“How about Nee-san?”
“...Yasu-nee?”
Tenten's flush lightened. “I’ve always wanted an older sister…” she giggled.
“Me too!”
“Lee, I’m nine months older than you,” Tenten irked.
“Yes, but you are four centimeters shorter than me. That would make me your big brother.”
“That’s not what that means!”
Yasu, having plenty of experience both being and having younger siblings, slowed her steps enough to fall back next to Neji. “Are they always like this or do they mostly just argue when I’m around?”
The Hyuuga didn’t acknowledge her right away. “They argue more around you,” he answered vaguely. “And to be clear, I will still be referring to you as Sempai.”
Yasu only grinned at him in a way that was getting all-too familiar, “I’ll take it!”