"You and Hinata both genderswapped," said Toltiir. "I wonder if anyone else did."
"I'm a GIRL?!" yelped Naruto.
"Yup, and Hinata's a boy, well - that's a change right there," said Toltiir. "See there. Instead of going loud and demanding notice from being ignored, as a girl you're more sensitive to the hate and you get quieter."
"Hinata's a guy?" asked Naruto, trying to picture that.
"Yeah, see here, this is because a male Hinata still has a protective instinct - it's just a little more active with the male instincts even at that early age."
"Gomen nasai, gomen nasai, gomen nasai," whispered the little boy as the bigger boys forced him down before them.
"You don't sound like you mean it!" said the oldest boy.
"Make him sorry!" said the second of the three boys.
"Knock it off!" growled a voice not belonging to any of the three boys.
"Eh?" asked the three boys as they turned.
"It's a girl," said the lead boy with a sneer. "You telling us what to do?"
"Yeah, I can't stand bullies," said the blonde girl. "Leave him alone!"
"You gonna make us?" asked the lead boy, raising a fist.
"Hey, it's THAT girl, the creepy one nobody likes," realized kid #3.
"Yeah, the one that gets stuff thrown at her," said the second child.
"Her!" said the lead kid, recognizing her now.
"The name's Naruko Uzumaki! Someday I'll be Hokage! Believe it!"
The three kids standing thought that was hilarious, judging from their laughter.
"A girl? Girls can't be Hokage! Girls can't even fight worth anything," said the lead boy, stepping forward and swinging out a hand to backhand Naruko.
Naruko swayed back, then stepped forward with her hand snapping out. Her dainty fist smacked into the lead's nose. "Don't dismiss me that lightly damn it!"
"Get her!" said the lead as he picked himself back up.
Naruko turned to run, and was quickly tripped and sent to the ground where the three started beating on her.
Hinata would have hesitated, as a small girl against three older boys was in trouble. Still, there were instincts in there, there was the cultural roles, and there was the natural response of a young boy seeing a cute girl getting beaten on.
"Leave her alone," said Himatsu Hyuga.
"Oh, what's the big baby going to -" said one of the boys, leaving off beating on the girl to get back to their original activity.
"Two palms!" The first jyuken strike was to the already-bloodied nose, the second to the now-exposed throat. The boy went down choking.
"Huh? What?" asked the second boy, realizing from the sound something was wrong.
"Jyuken! Serpent's grace!" said Himatsu as he wove a hand under the second boy's guard and struck once in the solar plexus. "Two palms!" The second strike went to the boy's temple as he folded around the first strike.
"Holy shi-!" said the third boy as he turned and tried to run, only for the girl he'd been beating on to suddenly grab one of his legs. "Let me go!"
"Himatsu-sama!" yelled Ko as he ran towards the fight, only to stop as he realized that Himatsu was standing triumphantly over four children. Wait, he was helping one up. Oh no it was THAT girl! "Himatsu-sama! You mustn't associate with this girl!"
"Why not?" asked Himatsu, blinking and staring at the fallen boys - one of whom was still choking and wheezing and the other was puking up something.
"I..." Ko stopped as he realized the girl was listening intently too.
"That's a secret," said Ko. "It will have to wait till later. But this girl is nothing but trouble! Come away!"
"It's okay," said the girl. "Better not get in trouble for hanging around me. Can't have that."
Himatsu frowned, looking back and forth between Ko and the blonde girl before Ko just went ahead and grabbed his hand and started dragging him off.
Naruko sighed and dusted her clothes off. "Too bad. He was cute."
Ko and Himatsu both stumbled as they were using their Byakugan at the moment, and both had been able to read the blonde's lips as she said that.
"Th-that demon!" said Ko, whose outrage seemed to go off into left field as the thought occurred to him that a demon might want to corrupt an innocent Hyuga - but regarding one as 'cute' didn't quite seem to fit.
Himatsu, on the other hand, was feeling very odd at the concept of someone thinking HE was cute. That just didn't seem possible. Him?
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(Posted Sun, 22 May 2011 16:34)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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