By the time Ash was nearing the end of his third week in a new home with new folks around, Temari and Kankuro had fully accepted his presence during training, but neither of them went out of their way to fraternize with him outside of that. When the three children returned home, they almost always went their separate ways and hardly ever saw each other before the next day of training forced them to.
The two actual siblings were perfectly okay with that, considering the fact that they had almost no similarities and usually ended up arguing before anything else. On the other hand, Ash felt like he was just as alone as he had been on the streets before. He spent every afternoon alone, occasionally incinerating small things like scrap paper or other garbage when his boredom became unbearable.
Even though he did that, he still had no clue how to command the blazing blue and green fire at will. When his emotions became potent enough to ignite something, the beautiful fire seemed to mock the very child that had summoned it, laughing at his inability to control the thing. And of course, there was the fact that every time the flames were created, Ash was met with a burning sensation in his body.
The core of the problem for the young ninja-to-be was really the fact that he was too timid to approach either of the other children in the house. The trepidation he felt at the mere thought of it was enough to prevent him from ever knocking on one of their doors. Ash already knew that they weren't necessarily fond of him… it was more like they tolerated his presence, and even a little begrudgingly at that.
So when burning miscellaneous objects at random intervals became as boring as sitting around was, Ash resorted to roaming the residence he had been forced to call his own, although he was happy to do so. Being the Kazekage's children, even though he hardly filled a fatherly role, Temari and Kankuro lived in a rather large and comfy place. Not only that, but they lived alone here; Baki dropped in from time to time (More so now that Ash was around to pose a fire hazard), but he lived elsewhere and didn't care much for what the kids did in their spare time outside of destroying the house or anything.
That being the case, Ash felt more isolated than ever as he waltzed through a building obviously meant for far more than three children alone. The vast place seemed emptier than it should have been, with a whole floor above the first completely devoid of human residence. Ash would have felt more comfortable in the small one room home of a peasant.
The young blonde investigated just about every room he came across, except the ones he knew belonged to the only other people in the house, and found them all as empty and dreary as the ones before them. Room after room of storage or dust and nothing interesting even in the slightest degree.
It was during one of these dull house exploration forays that Ash was returning to his favorite couch to mope. To return to that piece of furniture, he had to pass by Temari and Kankuro's rooms, which, if the past three weeks were anything to go by, were always closed off to him.
However, this time, he noticed that one of the forbidden doors in the hall was slightly ajar, either by mistake or because its occupant had left the room for some undoubtedly mundane purpose. As curiosity got the best of him, Ash realized it was most likely the prior, as Kankuro was still within his room at his desk, his back to the door, messing around with something in front of him that Ash couldn't see from his spying location.
It was this same curiosity that led Ash to stick his head in the doorway to get a better view, even though he would have been better off sneaking away while he was still undetected. But since he hadn't done that, and since he wasn't the sneaky ninja he was supposed to become just yet, Kankuro heard his door being pushed slightly open and whirled around to face the intruder.
The first thing the young blonde thought was that the older boy had been clocked in the face a few times, leading to some ugly bruises. But upon a few moments of observation, it became clear that what was on Kankuro's face was actually some weird purple stripes. The two children stared at each other in silence for a most certainly awkward amount of time, until the older broke the verbal stalemate.
"You're judging me, aren't you?"
Ash cocked his only visible eyebrow at the boy. "I'm actually just confused about what you're doing, more than judging you. So… what are you doing? Trying on makeup? Isn't that a girl thing?"
Kankuro was immediately filled with indignation. "I'll have you know that this is a part of my ninja art! It's customary for ninja who use puppets to do this kind of thing, you little twerp! Who are you to criticize me!?"
Instead of what the puppet enthusiast had expected, Ash seemed genuinely intrigued, in that way that only young kids could be. "That's pretty... interesting? I mean, I don't get it, but you must know what you're talking about since you wanna use puppets later and stuff. What kind of puppet are you gonna use anyway?"
Kankuro was genuinely surprised, since he had expected the little kid to think his choice in ninja arts was as weird as his sister did. "You uh… don't think this is strange? Or silly?"
Ash shook his head, making his long blonde bangs swish with the motion. "There are a bunch of ninja arts, right? I wouldn't call any of them weird, just different. I bet there are a lot of cool things you can do with puppets. I don't know what, but I guess you probably do."
Having someone other than himself appreciate the merits of puppetry, even if Ash knew absolutely nothing about it, was a nice change of pace for Kankuro. He was sure he would be ridiculed throughout his entire life for his style, but now things might be a little different. Ash even wanted to learn more about it. He was asking questions and everything.
"Well well, allow me to show you just what you can do with a good puppet! C'mere and I'll show you the one I'm working on now. He'll be able to do a bunch of cool stuff when I'm done with him!"
Ash balked at the thought of spending time with another person besides his lonely self. "B-but… are you sure?"
"What are you talking about? Sure I'm sure! You are literally the first person to realize how cool this all is. That's more than enough for me."
Ash beamed before dashing into the room. "Alright then, show me everything! I wanna see all the cool stuff your puppets can do!"
Said display consumed the final hours of the evening for the two boys, breaking down a huge obstacle in the unity of the team, and more importantly, the loneliness in the heart of its newest member.
---
By the end of the fourth week, Ash had almost learned the first year of standard Academy curriculum. His absurd learning speed was causing Baki to wonder if he truly did have a prodigy on his hands…though it was worth noting that the first year of curriculum wasn't actually anything terribly impressive. Mostly just the basic building blocks of ultimately becoming a shinobi. Lots of theoretical knowledge, but not a lot of practical skill.
Besides, the boy's physical development was slow. He had learned absolutely nothing in regards to controlling his flames, and he still had no useful information about his own special ability, leaving Baki frustrated to no end.
Fortunately, the kid did learn most of the simplest ninja traits quite easily. Molding chakra and using it to enhance his physical capabilities was already within his power, even though his young body's underdeveloped chakra coils meant his potency was very weak. He couldn't leap to the rooftops or sprint much faster than any other kid his age, but being able to enhance himself at all with chakra was a big milestone for someone so young. So all in all, things were going better than expected, yet also worse.
The most important thing had been to identify the presence of a Kekkei Genkai in the child, but so far that had been fruitless. Baki had even gone to ask some of his colleagues in the village if they had ever heard of anything like Ash's ability, but no one had. The Jonin had no idea where else to turn to find information on it at this point.
But at least, if the kid's learning curve was consistent over the next few years, there was no doubt that he would catch up to his future teammates in time to form a Genin squad. Given enough time he may have even surpassed the Kazekage's children, although that was purely speculation on Baki's part. After all, all three of his pupils were quick learners, even if it was in varying degrees. He was more worried that Ash's learning would slow to a snail's pace when his childish curiosity wore off in later years. He had made it no secret that he was against becoming a ninja at all, and only bore with it because of the advantageous deal involved.
This was the kind of thing Baki usually thought about as he taught these three little squirts to be hardened, vicious ninja. His reputation was on the line, and if the Kazekage was ever in a really foul mood, maybe his head would be too. He knew that Temari and Kankuro would likely be excellent shinobi regardless of his teaching effectiveness, but if Ash merely grew into a weak link because of his lack of motivation, it would be his fault as the teacher for producing such a flawed team…
"Ash, that throw was pathetic! Your kunai began dropping halfway to the target!"
Ash was practicing with various throwing weapons in the oasis the group of four was training in, but he wasn't putting much more than minimal effort into it. Half of anything that left his hand lost their velocity before reaching the target, another quarter missed entirely, and the final twenty-five percent of the weapons hit the furthest reaches of the bulls-eye painted on the tree Ash was aiming at.
"So did forty others, where have you been?"
Baki gritted his teeth, wondering where such a young child had gotten such a smart mouth. Was this the kind of thing living on the streets did to kids? "Kunai, shuriken, senbon, and the like are all very basic tools of a shinobi; you will never find anyone, not even a Genin, who can't use them properly. Do you want to be inferior to every other child in the Academy? Imagine the disgrace!"
Ash shrugged nonchalantly, the 'disgrace' clearly not fazing him. He was so used to being on the very bottom of the social spectrum that the idea of remaining there was hardly a motivator. That, and perhaps Baki wasn't very good at motivating speeches.
The Sand Jonin wouldn't have been above threatening the child, but he was afraid of how many things Ash would incinerate if he was pushed in that direction. He'd already gotten into the habit of using his nickname instead of Rōzeki, simply because the blonde got annoyed if he didn't. But surprisingly, one of the two older children took it upon themselves to remedy the situation, and it certainly wasn't who Baki had expected it to be.
"Let me see one, Ash. I'll show you how to do it."
The slightly younger blonde looked up at Temari, who had approached his training zone, in confusion, wondering why she would offer him help. Other than the one time she had cooked for him, she hadn't really gone out of her way to be nice. And even that time, she was really just letting him have her leftovers. Needless to say, the young blonde hadn't expected any sort of exceptional friendliness out of her at this point. Nevertheless, he was more than happy to hand the next kunai in his hand to her.
"H-here…"
Baki watched in fascination as Temari demonstrated the proper throwing motion to the boy, who actually seemed interested in doing it right now that she had shown him. Just like that, the kid was motivated, and all of a sudden he began seriously practicing what had been exemplified.
I'm not sure if I should feel insulted over him only being motivated by another child. What kind of teacher am I, unable to put a little spunk into a six or seven year old kid? Either way, this could prove useful…
The rest of the morning's training went exceptionally well after that, considering that Ash had decided to actually do his best, for what Baki believed was an attempt to impress his peers. Even at this young age, nothing motivated a boy like a girl…
Which was why, as the group walked through the village on the way back to the house once the day was done, Baki pulled the only girl in his team aside to tell her about the 'new' training regimen. He was not surprised when she exploded at him.
"What?! Why me?!"
Baki had expected Temari to react badly, but he had a plan. If she didn't accept his logical reasons, he'd just have to use his power as her sensei. "Obviously I'm not enough to motivate him. I'm sure you noticed that Ash's performance improved significantly after you stepped in. So you're going to take on the duty of motivating him to practice efficiently."
Temari scowled at the thought of such a job. "What am I, his babysitter? You're the sensei, why can't you teach him alone?!"
Baki must have been some sort of fortune-teller, because he had predicted this failure as well. "That's right; I am your sensei, so this is non-negotiable. And to prove that you're off to a terrible start...where is he?"
The two village natives looked around the street they were on, looking for the diminutive blond child that was nowhere to be seen among the crowd. It was ironic that he should disappear at such a moment, but irritating, nevertheless. Ironically enough, Kankuro had likewise disappeared, but neither individual questioned his absence at all, even as they voiced their disappointment in each other simultaneously.
"Good job."
---
Ash cradled a rather large ball in his arms as he looked at the group of children that were playing on a street across from the one he was on. The ball had rolled down an alley when one of the kids playing with it landed a particularly bad kick. Apparently the children had lost sight of the thing, and had no idea some stranger six year-old had picked it up a whole street away.
Ash felt as though he should return it, but decided to alert his caretakers that he was going to do so first, to avoid confusing them and all. But as he looked around the street for them, Ash realized he had spent too much time standing around and thinking, and that he had lost his companions in the crowd.
That kind of thing usually worried little children, but Ash was so used to being alone at this point that he just shrugged nonchalantly and waltzed down the alley to return the ball that had mistakenly rolled his way.
Still, that carefree attitude shifted to nervousness as Ash approached the group of kids. As always, being around other children turned him into a bashful wreck. He couldn't care less what adults thought of him; it was the other people his age that he wanted to get along with, and never did, for one reason or another.
Sometimes it was because he was a dirty urchin. Kids that were better-off were either dragged away from him by their parents, or willingly avoided him. Sometimes it was something stupid, like his hair being too girly or some such. And sometimes it was just because young children could be the cruelest things alive.
But Ash figured his odds were a little better this time. He was dressed in far more decent clothes than he used to be, and he bathed regularly now that a bath was actually available to him, so the 'dirty urchin' excuse couldn't be used against him. And although his hair was still long, he was returning their lost plaything; should he be kind enough about it, the group of kids should have been more than willing to allow him a place in their number.
"Um… excuse me… this is your ball, right?"
The group of children, seven of them to be exact, all turned to eye the new arrival. There were four boys and three girls, all most likely within a year or two of Ash. The young blond noticed that they all had very dark hair, and mindlessly wondered if that was just a coincidence.
The oldest looking boy with jet black hair glared at Ash with distaste, although the reason why was unclear. "Yeah it is; what are you doing with it?"
Ash could already detect the accusatory and hostile tone he was being accosted with. This kid had some sort of problem with him already. "It rolled down this alley here, and bumped into my feet while I was walking… so I, er… came to give it back…"
For some reason, the boy didn't seem to believe it, but he just held out his hand for the obvious sign of 'give it.' Ash did so, tossing the ball towards the boy, who caught it and turned back to his friends without a word of thanks.
That irritated Ash a good bit, considering he could have just been spiteful and kept the thing to himself. Still, he wanted to be on their good side… "Um… I've seen kids play this game a few times. Could I join...?"
Ash could've sworn he heard the apparent leader of the group, that black-haired kid, snort as he held back a laugh. He turned to face Ash with a derisive sneer on his face. "What, you? No way, get out of here!"
Ash frowned as he was met with the familiar feeling of rejection, but unlike the times in the past, now it was laced with a fair deal of anger. "Why not? Your teams are uneven anyway! You need another player!"
"Yeah, but it sure isn't gonna be a yellow-headed weirdo like you!"
Ash had to seriously exert himself to avoid torching anything or anyone. "Seriously? What idiot would have a reason that stupid?"
The older boy stopped in his tracks to glare at the stranger that had insulted him. "What did you just call me?!"
Now suitably irritated and angry, Ash smirked cruelly at his fellow kid. "What, too dumb to even know what that means? I called you a moron! Do you know that one?"
The boy he was picking a fight with did indeed look ready to do just that, tossing aside the ball and punching a fist into the palm of his hand. "You're the only moron here, twerp! I'm a student at the ninja academy!"
Admittedly, Ash should have been worried about that. Baki had told him that his learning progress was remarkable or something, but it wasn't like the blonde had actually learned much of anything about fighting yet. Baki had taught him a few really basic moves, but he was a total novice. Still, he couldn't help but give into some feeling of bravado. He lacked the wisdom to know better.
"Yeah? So what? Come on, I can take you!"
The boy he had practically made mortal enemies with grinned even wider as some of his friends formed up around him. "You really are the stupid one here. There's way more of us than you."
While objectively able to read a bad situation even at his age, Ash didn't act scared or worried, mostly because he wasn't. The idea of thrashing these assholes, however unlikely that may have been, kind of excited him. Of course, there was also the very high possibility that they would beat him to a pulp, but he refused to entertain that idea.
"Bring it, I can take all of you. You're not the only one being taught how to kill around here!"
Before Ash could get into a situation that probably wouldn't have ended very well for him, the voice of a girl he recognized intervened on the escalating situation. "Gotta say, this isn't what I was expecting. I never would have thought that you would go out of your way to pick a fight."
Ash didn't know whether or not to be relieved at the fact that Temari had found him. She'd probably yell at him for getting lost and forcing her to come back and find him and waste her time. On one hand, he was kind of glad she had showed up, since the situation at hand obviously wasn't in his favor. And yet, on the illogical side of things, he was kind of disappointed he wouldn't get a chance to even try and beat up this brat and his cronies.
Honestly, he hadn't known before now that the prospect of a fight would excite him this much. Or maybe it was the idea of showing up people that thought they were better than him. He wasn't sure which was accurate.
Either way, Temari jabbed a finger at the other kids when Ash didn't give her an answer. "And you! What, were you seriously about to gang up on a six year old and beat him up? Do we need to relive the old days again?"
Ash wasn't sure what 'the old days' referred to, but by the expressions on the faces of his almost enemies, they hadn't been pleasant, and their leader was quick to sound the retreat.
"W-whatever! Let's get out of here guys! There's a better place to play down the street."
The troop of brats turned in unison to follow their leader, leaving Ash and Temari in the alley alone, with the latter letting out a disappointed sigh. "There's always something…"
Without uttering a word, the girl in the duo bopped Ash on the head, albeit rather lightly. The victim rubbed his head and glared up at the girl. "What was that for?!"
"Getting lost. What were you doing over here anyway?"
"I wasn't lost! I just…wanted to play with them for a while…"
The obvious pain at an all too familiar rejection caused that sympathy from weeks before to surface in Temari again. "Really? Because it really looked like you just wanted to fight when I showed up."
"Well I didn't plan on that. It was just such a stupid reason to say no..."
Temari shrugged, familiar with the situation. "Was it because you're blonde? That was the stupid reason why they harassed me all the time a couple of years ago."
Ash cocked an eyebrow at her. "What changed? He didn't say a word to you. He ran away pretty fast, actually..."
"Well, it takes a special group of idiots to pick on someone for a reason that dumb, but they were brave idiots back then. They used to pick on me."
"Used to?"
"I got fed up and punched his face in, of course. Worked wonders really."
"B-but I was gonna do that too! I was gonna punch his face in and you stopped me!"
Temari smiled, amused that he was irritated over this and more than a little surprised about it. "Hey, I didn't mean to. I didn't think you'd be so eager to fight a bunch of older kids. I mean, you're usually so shy... but you've got more guts than I gave you credit for. It's a pleasant surprise."
Ash cocked an eyebrow at her, confused as to whether he should actually be pleased with the assessment. "So are you just... really violent? I mean I figured you were kinda mean but..."
Naturally, Temari was offended. "Hey! It's not like I chose violence first you know! I tried other things!"
"Other things?"
At this desire for extrapolation, Temari's face reddened. "Y-y'know, other things... But I was young and all..."
"You're definitely still young and all."
"Younger. But even then I still didn't go picking seven on one fights with people older than me!"
This judgment on Ash's decision brought a defeated frown to the boy's face. She was kind of calling him stupid after all. "O-oh... I see..."
For the third time, the dejected look of the diminutive blonde elicited an unusual desire to fix the problem for Temari. She didn't know why, but maybe this was that sisterly instinct she'd never gotten a chance to exercise.
"Yeah, well… I did some stupid stuff when I was your age too... it's just a thing kids do."
"I can't see you ever doing something stupid."
The girl grimaced as she thought of how untrue that was. "Well, I did. Like I said, kids used to make fun of me for being blond too, and before I just started punching them over it, I tried to fix it."
"Uh... fix it?"
"Yep. Staying out in the sun usually darkens your skin, right? So I, uh… decided to go sit out on the roof of the house at noon, and I stayed up there for a few hours, hoping it would make my hair brown or something…I, uh... thought it would work the same way."
Ash, in his vast knowledge as a six year old, didn't understand that sun exposure actually bleached hair rather than darkened it. "Did it work?"
"I got a really, really bad sunburn that lasted for a week and a half, and Kankuro kept slapping me like the little twerp he is… I never did that again."
Ash tried his best to hold back his laughter, but the thought of this girl sitting on a roof for hours and pointing her head at the sun like some sort of flower was too much. Temari looked like she wanted to hit him all over again.
"Hey, don't laugh at me! I was trying to make you feel better, you know!"
"I'm laughing, right?"
"Yeah, at me!"
Ash quieted down after a few brief seconds, and a look of contemplation that looked a little too serious for his age overtook his features. "Thanks for that, but... why do you care anyway? You don't really like me that much."
With Ash outright confirming that he felt unwanted by her, Temari reconsidered whether or not she should try and explain her issue to him. Frankly, he did seem a lot more mature than most kids his age. Well, in some ways at least. And though she still had some hang ups, Temari couldn't deny that he genuinely seemed like a good kid who just wanted to fit in. Maybe she could at least give him the benefit of the doubt.
"It's not that I hate you or anything, it's just... you showed up at a really bad time…"
"What do you mean?"
Temari wondered if she should tell Ash about Gaara, but quickly decided that it wouldn't really hurt anything. "I had a little brother about your age, but he was kept away from Kankuro and me, so I never got a chance to know him. He was going to be the third member of our ninja team, so I was looking forward to getting to know him and be his big sister and all… but then he ran away a little while before you showed up…"
Ash stared at the girl intensely, taking in everything being said and measuring it very seriously. He felt like this was a pivotal conversation that needed to be handled with care. Still, he was silent, so Temari continued.
"And look, I know it's not your fault or anything, but… I feel like… like you came along just to rub things in. I lost my chance to be close with my little brother, and then someone who is nearly the exact same age as he was shows up to be the third member of the team. I just feel like the universe is mocking me. And I just... I don't know, it makes me upset. It's not like any of this happened because of you, but I can't help but think about it all whenever I look at you."
Ash closed his eyes as he seemed to focus on something very important. Then he nodded solemnly and looked up to the girl next to him. "Why not me?"
"H-huh?"
Ash stared right into Temari's eyes, to let her see his sincerity and know he was being completely serious. "You said that you were really happy to be a big sister, and you also said that your little brother was around my age. I'm not him, but… if it would make you happy, I could be your little brother instead."
Temari was stunned by the very much unexpected proposal. "A-are you kidding me?! You don't even like me, why would you want that?!"
"I never said I didn't like you. I just thought that you didn't like me."
The oldest child of the Kazekage frowned in consternation. To say this proposal was sudden was an understatement. "I… I don't know, this kind of thing is… I mean, we've barely known each other for more than a month, and it wasn't a really friendly month..."
Ash likewise frowned in thought for a moment. "Yeah, but you just said that was because of something else. You don't really hate me right?"
"Well, no..."
"And I think you could actually be pretty nice if you felt like it. We could just... I dunno, try it? We can stop later if you don't like it."
Faced with the somehow wise logic of a six year old, Temari couldn't deny that giving it a try wouldn't really hurt anything. It was true that she was still longing for that missed opportunity to be a big sister (not the kind she was with Kankuro, being barely older than him), and Ash actually did seem like a sweet kid when she was being fair to him.
She didn't know if that would make this experiment any less strange, but giving it a shot could be interesting, and she kind of owed it to her little blonde next to her after being a bit of a jerk for four weeks.
Temari nodded slowly, a little put off by the idea of what she was accepting. "A-alright… I guess… I guess we can try it? Just, d-don't make it weird, alright?"
Ash nodded, a glowing smile on his face at the prospect of something nicer between himself and the girl he'd probably be spending a large part of his life with. "I'll try. Um... should I call you Sis?"
Considering that she hadn't actually had a chance to be a sister in this type of dynamic, Temari wasn't sure if that was the kind of way a littler brother would normally address her. But as she prepared to give an answer, she found that it didn't really sound all that bad.