The Demon, The Goddess, and The Cheerful {Open/NF}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ami woke up from a disturbed sleep. The Hyuuga had been having nightmares for a little while, not entirely remembering the details of them at all once she woke up. The girl sat up on her bed, beads of cold sweat trickling down her face. She looked out the window of her room, her eyes adjusting to her surroundings closely. The sun’s rays shining through the window, almost a little too blinding. It was a nice day, she thought to herself as she got slowly out of bed.

She brushed her teeth and washed her face before thinking about what she wanted to eat for breakfast. Her thoughts were either on food or training these days it seemed. The girl moved to the kitchen, searching for some food. Kuso..she cursed under her breath as she looked at the almost empty fridge. She always forgot to buy food and hated skipping any meal, especially breakfast. Heaving a small sigh, she would grab a coffee and leave her house. She needed to eat to function.

The girl made her way out of the Hyuuga compound, heading to the local market. The kunoichi was wearing a dark blue dress, her weapon pouched strapped around her waist. Her thoughts were concentrated on what she wanted to eat, which would involve something sweet. Ami had a big sweet tooth, eating chocolate, fruits and cake instead of proper food for most of her meals. She would make her way onto the main streets, where many vendors were preparing produce to be sold that day.

It was too early…

The young woman swore under her breath again as she turned onto a side street, away from the market. Breakfast was the most important meal to her and she hated to start the day on an empty stomach. Ami took a turn and found herself in front of the academy training grounds. Although it was still quite early, many of the academy students were already starting their day. She nodded her head at the teachers there, recognizing some of them as she passed. She remembered her academy days, which seemed to be such a long time ago now. She would stop for a moment, thinking and watching the students.

And that’s when her eyes stopped, seeing two strangers. Ami didn’t know who they were, but they didn’t look like teachers. A boy and a girl, she presumed, watching them as they talked to each other. The Hyuuga was a friendly girl but she was quite poor at initiating conversation as well as approaching strangers. She would simply stand where she was, studying them quietly, all the while, still thinking of food in the back of her mind. Her stomach started to rumble a little loudly now, to her annoyance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who might you be? I don't think I've see you around before." The white haired boy would say as he walked up to her. She hadn't actually expected to have a conversation so she was slightly taken aback but she then gave him a beaming smile. It was always nice to meet someone new and even better when she could meet more than one person at a time. The Hyuuga was about to answer when the other woman approached as well. Ami immediately noticed her chest and blushed slightly. She always felt a little inferior to women with a bigger chest than hers.

"Um...I'm Ami, Ami Hyuuga. Nice to meet you both too" she would say, diverting her attention back to the boy. She wondered what they were doing there. They seemed nice just by looking at them. She would hear Karite introduce herself as the daughter of the Akumu Clan, which she admittedly knew very little about. Ami had been focusing too much on her own clan lately that she rarely had any associations with other clans, which she felt a little embarrassed about now. The girl would nod her head and smile at the Akumu as well.

"Nice to meet you. I've never met an Akumu before so it's a pleasant surprise."

The young Hyuuga, as a daughter of the main branch of the clan, had been meaning to make connections with other clans since becoming a Genin. But she found it more difficult than expected to pay visits to other clans, especially since she practically knew no other shinobi. "What are you guys doing here?" It was slightly more direct than she had intended, although it was much better than opening the conversation which something stupid like the weather. Ami hoped that they wouldn't mind being her friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a moment Ami was a little confused. It wasn't what they said to her that was confusing. It was what they said to each other. The Hyuuga smiled a little at Shinigai's comment about Karite. She could guess that the two of them must be good friends or at least long acquaintances by how they interacted with each other. Ami wished secretly that she too had a friend like that, could harbor a friendship that lasted long. As a main Hyuuga member, many people at the academy knew of her family and was quite distant but at least polite when they interacted.

The troubles of having a long reputation in the village, she had guessed at the time. So she tried really hard to be extra cheerful to everyone she met, hoping that she could make a lifetime friend. But Ami somehow couldn't. She had wondered at some point whether it was something about her personality that made it impossible. The young woman was lost in thought and had only caught a little of the rest of the interaction between the two, excluding the mention of the name Kaguya.

"...We're here to find a teammate. Someone with strength to match our own. How about it!" she would hear Shinigai say. Her eyes widened a little, not expecting at all to be asked to join a team. Her face lit up at the thought. Gosh...she had been looking for a team for such a long time! It was true, ever since leaving the academy she had wanted to be part of a team but found that most of her other academy friends already formed their own teams. She had been about to give up on the thought. "R-really?! M-me?" she stammered a little. She was always a little skeptical about her own abilities.

"I don't know about being stars but sure!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hyuuga couldn't help but give a little giggle as she saw Jayy jump up and down, something that she definitely hadn't expected him to do. She was overwhelmed with happiness, at not only meeting two new people but also joining a team for the first time. She wondered if her father would be happy for her too, seeing as he had been pushing for her to join a team to go on missions since the day she became a Genin. The girl continued to smile, excited and content. Even though she had failed to find breakfast, she instead found two teammates.

Ami nodded her head at Karite's suggestion. It was true, she barely knew either of them and wanted to know more. In fact she had wanted to know more from the start but had merely bit her tongue. The kunoichi, remembering a certain moment when she had scared away some potential people by asking too many questions, became very cautious in front of new people. It had taken lots of practice until she could finally stop her curious nature from getting the better of her.

"Of course! I'm not good with asking questions so anything you want to tell me would be great knowledge!" she said, telling a little white lie. She was too good at asking questions sadly. The Huuga noticed that the students were getting ready to go back to their studies and wondered if the other two wouldn't mind moving to another place to continue the conversation. The sun was shining more brightly now, and her fear of tans was making her feel edgy under the sun. "Um..do you mind going to grab maybe a coffee? I'm hungry." she would admit, slightly embarrassed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ami couldn't help but laugh at Jayy's comment. She often did eat coffee actually, not something that she would usually admit to people though. When she couldn't get something solid in her system, she opted for coffee. She had a serious caffeine addiction which was as bad as her sweets addiction. Her teammates would come to find just how serious both of these addictions were the longer they knew her. "Sorry.." she'd say with a little blush. The Hyuuga would then be led to a restaurant by Jayy, a ramen and grill restaurant by the name of it.

She had never really eaten out, not wanting to look awkward eating by herself. It was often considered slightly embarrassing and awkward for a woman to eat out without at least a friend, especially at places like ramen shops. So she was glad for the invite and had gone along with them. Anything would be nice at this point. She realized how it must look when the trio entered the shop, which was immediately verified by who she guessed was the shop owner.

Ami heard Karite's response and immediately chimed in. "What she said." with a cheerful grin. She hoped Jayy would know that it was a joke. Then she heard the shop owner call out a different name that made her confused. But she didn't ask right away, keeping a mental note as the three of them sat down, waiting for their food. She couldn't wait to get more information about them, her curiosity peeking the more she interacted with them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ami couldn't tell if Jayy was joking or not about his sexual orientation but the look on his face gave it away that he was indeed serious. She also had caught what Karite's comment as well even though she had said it quiet softly. The Hyuuga had good ears after all. Although slightly stunned by the sudden revelations, she wouldn't dwell on them further, realizing that any continued talk about it may make both of them uncomfortable. Instead she turned her attention to Jayy's question.

"As a Hyuuga, we are Taijutsu users." she said simply.

Her clan was known for their Taijutsu skills, overall being higher than other shinobi without the use of their kekkei gekkai. But she hadn't been the best of students, slacking off during most of the training session after becoming a Genin. It was why she was still a Genin, at the age of 16. But she waved that thought away as quickly as it had formulated. It was no use pouting over something that she had chosen. "And I have an obsession with weapons." she would add, with a slightly evil smile on her face. She loved pointy things.

"What about you guys?"

She could smell the food, her mouth watering. By now it was almost lunchtime, perfect timing for food. Ami's glance would shift from her teammates to the kitchen every so often, her eyes filled with impatience. It was almost impossible to get her to concentrate on any one given thing if food was around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ami listened to both of them talk a little bit about themselves and smiled. She liked learning about people since her life was relatively boring. The Hyuuga noticed the sad expression on Jayy's face at the topic about his deceased mother. She sighed a little sympathetically. The kunoichi had never lost anyone on her life.

"I'm sorry to hear that Jayy"

And she meant it. She had always lived a happy life with her parents., having them dote on her. She wasn't really sure what to say so she just kept it simple. The girl would then turn her attention to Karite and beamed. For some unknown reason she felt kind of a warm feeling towards the woman.

"Questions..." she looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Why did you want to be a shinobi?" She would ask them both. A classic but safe question she thought for starting a conversation. she hated jumping the gun especially with people she barely knew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ami listened to both her teammates give rather...depressing responses to her question. She hadn't expected happy-go-lucky answers but for some reason she began to regret asking. Compared to them her answer was a lot less interesting, probably something people would even quote from a textbook. She took a bite of the meat and smiled, so satisfied that people would think she hadn't eaten for days. The meat was cooked just perfectly and she would finish her first bite before responding.

"It's expected of a Hyuuga."

Her lavender eyes rested on the sizzling meat on the grill as she spoke. It was true, she was destined to be a shinobi from the day she was born, to uphold a family name she knew very little about. And for her, as a main branch member, she needed to be stronger than everyone else in her clan, so that the history of conflict could possibly be resolved. She never once thought about whether she wanted to be a shinobi. It was simply expected.

The trio would eat in silence for awhile, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Ami could sense her new comrades were more than what met the eye. She would wait for the next topic of conversation, simply because she wasn't the best at conversation starters. She glanced at Jayy, eating slightly sloppily and giggled. It had been ages aince she'd gone out to eat with anyone and she treasured this moment.