Spear & Shield

Spear & Shield
Chapter 46

Tracking Yasu was almost second-nature to him by now. He knew her scent, her presence, how her chakra felt… It was shocking to think that he had never noticed her before their unsuspected meeting a few months ago. She was so ingrained in him, he had difficulty remembering a time before they met.

When he found her, she was on the outer side of the border wall, patching up a spot that looked like it had been used as target practice for an overzealous earth jutsu. He indulged in a moment of just watching her, therefore allowing her one more moment of peace to practice her craft.

Gai enjoyed the view for a short moment, burning the sight of her into his mind best he could. He shut his eyes.

Then his senses took over, and Yasu was no longer simply doing her job. She was a chunin of Konoha, and she had left herself wide open for an attack. And that was just unacceptable.

He felt her, honing in on her chakra with laser-like precision. She was alone in the clearing, and she definitely wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings. 

Thank god he wasn't some crazed lunatic who would just attack her out of nowhere.

“Dynamic…” he breathed deeply through his nose, “Entry!!”

To his surprise, he felt the familiar push of her chakra just as he made contact. The kick that would have knocked a better shinobi through the wall, Yasu took in stride. Gai ricocheted off her, spinning back into the treeline before recuperating. It wasn't so long ago that she would have merely absorbed his attack instead of re-directing it. Her technique had really come a long way.

Gai bit back a grin of pride as he came at her again.

They matched blow for blow and parry for parry. Their feet barely brushed against the grass as they flitted around at unseen speeds. It was almost like a dance. 

Their images blurred as they picked up speed, meeting in unseen strikes like two eagles battling in the sky. 

But he knew her too well, and she did not know herself well enough. The next time she came at him, Gai dodged sharply to the left and suddenly appeared behind her. She had no time to react to his arms wrapping around her shoulders, and pulling her tightly against him.

Yasu’s chakra technique couldn’t help with grappling.

He heard her grunt in frustration as she thrashed against him, but all she managed to do was wrestle them to the ground in her struggle. The worst part is, Gai really wasn’t putting too much effort into holding her down. Instead, he was enjoying her scent of sandalwood and sawdust coupled with the feeling of her soft hair tickling his nose. 

He easily managed to pin her underneath him, arms twisted behind her back and his weight holding down her legs. 

He allowed himself in one smug moment, smiling down at the poor woman with a mixture of pride and adoration as he shoved her face into the dirt.

“Tell me, Yasu-chan,” he demanded in his teacher-voice, “What is the best maneuver to counter this hold?”

Yasu’s mouth twisted into a scowl. She threw her weight back, twisting and wriggling her body until she hooked a knee around his. 

She smirked as he slammed into the ground, “A reverse lateral throw. Now, you tell me; are you ready to beg for mercy?”

“Never!” he declared, grinning up at her.

Their little spar quickly turned to play as they rolled through the grass. Yasu’s delightful shrieks and giggles were music to Gai’s ears. 

It was only when things got a little too rough (and the wall ended up with a newer, much larger hole in it) that they decided to end the fight.

"Are you okay?" she asked, breathless and grinning as the dust settled around them.

"Yosh," Gai grinned back, "I Am Overwhelmed With Fiery Pride!"

"Good!" she breathed, finally turning to assess the damage they made. Yasu tutted at herself, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’m having déjà vu,” she sighed, already reaching for her tools once more. “Why is it that every time we’re together, property damage occurs?”

Gai hummed thoughtfully, “Even the most youthful endeavors can end in unfortunate destruction. It’s a consequence of being young and full of energy.”

Yasu nodded in agreement, hiding a smile as she examined the damage. 

“You’re able to repair it, aren’t you?”

Yasu snorted, “Of course I can. ...Want to help me mix the plaster?”

His eager grin was all the answer she needed. Before she knew it (and with little heed to her instructions), Gai was vigorously stirring a shallow pan of the traditional earth-clay mixture. “So how was the mission?”

“A great success!” he beamed, haphazardly sloshing the plaster in the pan. “We managed to capture several feral rabbits that had been terrorizing a local farmer’s garden. With minimal casualties, too!”

Gods, Yasu missed being a genin. “I’m glad Team Gai was able to face down such a treacherous task.”

“I have even better news,” he continued, allowing Yasu to take the lumpy mixture from him so that she could start applying it, “Your elder brother Saburo-san has secured me an invitation to the Ushi family dinner Tuesday night.”

The plaster mixture contacted the wall with a loud squelch. Yasu stood perfectly still, her heart freezing as she envisioned Saburo and Gai co-conspiring against her. 

“H-he told you about that?” the wad of plaster fell from the wall, landing in a forgotten pile by Yasu’s feet. The trowel in her hand was all but useless as she blindly patted away at the hole in the wall.

“I believe he was looking forward to introducing me to the family as your boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?!” she echoed dropping the trowel altogether, caught somewhere between overjoyed and overwhelmed. 

Gai’s heart sank with disappointment, “Was he misinformed? Am I not…?”

“No, no!” she quickly interrupted, derailing his insecurity with a sincere look of amazement, “It’s just… I dunno, I thought we would talk about it more or something. Or that we would go on a real date, you know? Something that doesn’t involve sparring.”

“Would you prefer a grander gesture?” he asked quickly, mind already firing away at thoughts of flowers, and gifts, and jewelry, and balloons, maybe even a public broadcast announcement, and a ceremony in their honor--

“Not at all!” she smiled though an exasperated sigh, “You don’t need to do anything. You don’t even have to go to dinner.”

Gai frowned, “Why not? Saburo-san told me they were important to your family.”

Yasu merely shrugged, kneeling to grab the trowel once more. She focused solely on the work in front of her as she mulled over her words, “Well, yeah… But it’s not that big a deal. There’s no obligation to be there. We can skip it.”

There was something about her nonchalance that worried Gai, “Won’t all of your brothers be in attendance? Saburo-san told me it was rare for all of you to be together at once.”

“I guess so,” she frowned pensively. “But really, it’s not that big of a deal. I don’t think they really care whether I go or not.”

“Then would it be alright if I attend your family dinner… as your date?”

“I mean…” she shifted nervously, “Do you even want to go?”

Gai took a few beats of silence to choose his next words carefully, “I want to get to know you better. I want to know everything about you. Your family is a large part of your life. I would like to see more of them.”

Of course he had a righteous and heartfelt reason that left Yasu with no room for argument. 

“You do know me,” she tried, sounding tentative and unsure even to herself. “You probably know me better than anyone.”

Gai shook his head, baring a troubled frown, “I didn’t know you had five brothers.” Even when he had met Ichiro and Megumi, it seemed like Yasu had been dead-set on hiding her family from him. 

Yasu raked her memory. She was sure she had brought it up before. To her, the size of her family was a very trivial thing. She was the fourth born, so her house had been full all her life. She frequently forgot that the majority of her peers were only children and orphans. Having a family was an infallible thing to her.

“...You know the important things. You know my likes and dislikes, and even my hobbies... You know when I’m upset and you know how to make me feel better. That's all that matters.”

“Yasu-chan… Everything about you is important.”

He couldn’t tell, but his words knocked the wind out of her in the best way possible.

"And I would like to know all of it."

Her heart skipped a beat. “... I wanna know everything about you, too,” she mumbled.

"So why don't you want me to go to dinner with you?"

Gai didn't say it in a way that seemed pushy or manipulative. He was being genuine, simply asking because he wanted an answer. He opened himself up to Yasu, merely requesting honesty in return. And Yasu knew deep down that if she was vehement about him not going, he would respect that. Problem was, that only made her feel worse about it. If there was anyone in her life that had earned a place at her family's table, it was Gai. 

Yasu leant against the wall, arms crossed with a thoughtful look on her face. “I… I don’t know why.”

He stared at her profile, silently begging her to meet his eye. “You can say no, Yasu-chan. I understand… I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Yasu’s eyes snapped up to meet his at the affirmation, worry reflected perfectly in those warm brown irises.  

Gai saw her troubled look and his stomach sank slightly, "You're not… embarrassed of me, are you?"

“No!" she responded immediately, "No, that’s not it! That’s not it at all…” She took a deep breath, “I’m not ashamed of you or anything like that. You’re…” her mind raced through words like ‘wonderful,’ ‘kind,’ and ‘amazing.’ “... You’re Gai.”

She never had someone she was close to like Gai. She never met someone who went from stranger to “more than a friend” so quickly. Someone who was able to pry her out of her little doldrum life and attach himself to her so quickly and with such enthusiasm. 

Not even Iruka or Mizuki had carved out a space in her life so easily. She accepted that Gai was special, and one way or another, he was part of her life now. But her family was also part of her life, and a big one at that. She couldn’t keep them separated forever. There was bound to be some overlap.

Yasu kicked off the wall, shuffling a few steps before turning back to him with frustration. “Look… My family is weird. We’re not like other ninja families. We don’t care about nobility or respect or status. We’re loud, and we like to annoy one another. And most people just don't get it. Besides, my brothers… Well, they can be total jerks! Sometimes they’re rude… Or they get rowdy. And they never listen to me. Especially when we’re all together. And I know if I bring you, they’re just gonna spend the whole time making stupid jokes and picking on us.”

Her feet scuffed into the dirt as she spun away from him again. All of a sudden, the world seemed too big yet too small at the same time. That familiar icy feeling began creeping up her ribs again, so she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to shove it back down.

“It’s them,” she finally said, melting the ice with a steady breath. “I don’t want you to have to deal with them. I don't want you to think that their opinion of you matters to me. You’re so special to me… I’m just not ready to share you yet.”

Expressing feelings did not come easy to Yasu. Growing up in a household full of boys had her conditioned to smash emotions down and bottle them up until they burst. Was it healthy? Absolutely not. Being around Gai was slowly making her more comfortable with acknowledging and sharing her emotions, yet there was still a deeply-instilled barrier that she had to push past.

Still, she was unprepared to meet Gai’s eye through a wall of thick, watery, youthful tears.

His eyes glittered and his lip quivered, causing her to groan at his blubbery display, “C’mon, Gai-sensei! It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Y-yasu-chan!” he wailed, drawing her close and holding her (a little too tightly) against his chest as he wept into her hair, “I Will Cherish You Forever, My Most Beautiful Azalea!”

She struggled to squeeze her arms between their bodies, and still only managed to push herself away enough to only prop her chin on the hard muscle of his chest. Something about the way he held her made her give in. With Gai by her side, standing up to her family suddenly didn't seem like that big of a battle. “I’m just being selfish,” she grunted sheepishly, “...We can go to dinner if you want.”

“Are you certain?” he sniffed.

“Yeah,” she sighed, finally giving in and relaxing against him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I guess we shouldn’t put off the inevitable, yeah? Besides, If they act like jerks, you can just beat them up.”

“I am a formidable opponent,” he boasted, smiling down at her, all traces of his tears suddenly disappearing.

“Damn right you are,” she smiled back just as their lips met for a kiss.