[Graded] Domestic Disturbances

[TyDie]

It was a normal day in Konoha for Ibakuro Aiya, the young girl strolling down the streets with her staff on her usual route to a training ground to blow off some steam and pick up a new weapon skillset. She'd been favoring her tonfas as of late, developing a style of her own she called "Tekken no Genbu". But she couldn't practice new techniques on an empty stomach, and so her path brought her through the market district as always, grabbing a couple sticks of Dango to bring with her on her walk. Once she was out of the market district, she took a right down the street and found herself in a residential district.

But halfway down this road she stopped, her ears perked up as her sensitive hearing picked up on a sound not far away... yelling. Screaming, actually. But not out of fear, it was anger. Like a really bad argument. She couldn't help but take a walk towards the building in question, in search of answers without getting too deeply involved herself. "rubbernecking" was the term, if she was getting that right.

[Kabu]

Thus far the day had been going pleasantly enough. Kureha had dropped by to visit with her parents, mother really since dad was out at the time and had been for quite some time, something that allegedly had been happening a lot of late. The pair had tea and Kureha excitedly told her mother about recent happenings, the woman being more than happy to listen.

And then her father came home, a bit drunk but seeming to be in a good mood as he pleasantly greeted his wife and daughter and for a time it seemed as if peace had come. However that peace was apparently not to last, Kureha sitting alone cheerfully humming to herself and petting her tarantula Roku, when she heard her parent's voices from the kitchen, quiet at first but rapidly growing louder. She frowned as she realized another argument was about to erupt, Roku climbing up onto her head as she got up from her seat and ran towards the door, not wanting to be around for the eventual explosion.

Luckily she reached the outside just in time and ran down the street fast as she could, pausing to catch her breath once the screaming had quieted in her ears, though the tears were still flowing. The day had been going so well but they had suddenly gotten so angry. Allegedly mom thought dad had been up to no good but what did that even mean? She was far too young to know but surely it couldn't have been that bad.

Letting out a sigh she resumed walking down the street, thinking to herself all the while. Spending time with her parents was out of the question now, so now what did she do?

[TyDie]

Aiya peeked her head around another street corner in time to see a young girl running from the source of the yelling. And having gotten closer, she could hear with decent clarity the content of the argument, which made her shudder in response. "Ugh... Domestic Disputes are the worst." She shook her head and was about to walk off, but noticed that the running girl had slowed... and was clearly crying. That was something that Aiya couldn't just walk away from. The situation with what she assumed were relatives or even parents wasn't any of Aiya's business, but a crying girl in the middle of the road was something she could try and help with.

"Hi there." Aiya said with a chipper smile. When Kureha looked to her, she'd find that Aiya was holding out one of the two sticks of Dango out to her. "I shouldn't eat so many sweets anyway... And I think you need this more than me right now. I'm Aiya. What's your name?" She let out a small giggle, trying her best to raise the girl's spirits by being cheery herself, even if she could still hear the shouting with relative clarity given her enhanced senses. Happy is contagious... keep the happy face on.

[Kabu]

Kureha sniffled as thoughts of her ruined plans went through her mind. How could things have gone so horribly wrong? Distressed as she was, it took her a moment to recognize the very tall, odd-eyed girl in front of her, letting out a nervous eep upon doing so. How long had she been around? Had she heard anything of what was going on? Was she... trying to cheer her up? This had never happened before... and it wasn't the first time she had ran down the street crying. Most people it seemed would rather not get involved...

"Th...thanks, I'm Kureha. I... It's nice to meet you." she responded to Aiya's introduction, accepting the dango and putting on the best smile she could muster. Roku at that moment choosing to pop out of the nest he had made in her hair and scuttling forwards a bit as if to see what was going on, Kureha giggling in response to the sudden movement. Roku, stop it. It tickles when you do that.

[TyDie]

Aiya kept her chipper attitude up while the girl sniffled and took her Dango from her, introducing herself as Kureha. "It's very nice to meet you too, Kureha." Aiya's big green eyes searched Kureha's face for a few, tilting her head as she tried to get a bead on who this girl was. She seemed sweet, cute even, but she didn't have the appearance of anything more than a civilian at first. But all of her thoughts about the girl's status were swept away as Aiya belted out a small squee, seeing the little Tarantula emerges from a nest of Kureha's hair. While some may have squealed with fright, Aiya's was very clearly a squeal of absolute delight.

"Oh I love him!!! He's absolutely precious, look at his little paws!!" Aiya immediately set to ooh'ing and ahh'ing over the large furry arachnid, desperately fighting the urge to reach out and touch it herself.

[Kabu]

Kureha blinked in surprise at Aiya's incredibly positive reaction to Roku. Most others her age and even some older would run in fright even despite Roku being totally harmless. Still though... it made her really happy, not to mention being an adorable sight. "Thank you. His name is Roku, I raised him myself and well.. I guess I would say that he's my best friend. We've been together ever since he was a little hatchling. If you want, you can touch him, he won't bite." she said with some amount of pride and a genuine smile, Roku meanwhile seeming to sense something in Aiya as he stepped even closer, staring intently at her.

"So um... did I interrupt anything?" she suddenly asked. Aiya didn't seem like she lived in the area and folks usually only passed through on business. And then she let out a gasp as it clicked. The extra height and the odd eyes... perhaps this girl was a clan member which meant...

"Oh, would you by chance be a shinobi? I am myself, though both of my parents are civilians and I graduated the academy only very recently."

[TyDie]

Aiya was beyond elated that the girl's tarantula had a mild temperment and seemed amiable to touches and pets. With a wide grin, she had to take a few deep breaths to calm down so that the creature would sense her calmness and respond in kind. Sure enough, after she calmed down a bit and held her hand out to Kureha's head, the furry spider put out one leg, then two, to check and make sure the hand was a stable platform. Once that was clear, Roku scuttled happily onto Aiya's hand, raising it's front legs up slightly as it moved as if to show that it was pleased. "I've never owned one myself... Which is funny, when you consider who I am. But gods above, I do love these little creatures." Roku began to move between Aiya's hands, the woman folding her hands over each other to make a sort of never ending bridge. All the while, Roku left behind little strands of webbing, and Aiya chuckled as the sticky strands began to gunk up her hands slightly.

Kureha spoke up and asked if she had interrupted Aiya, to which she shook her head. "Not enough to be an inconvenience. I was just on my way to train a little. The Dango was for energy, but I meant it when I said I get a little too excited about eating those sweets. I'm happy you took it." The conversation continued to her asking about Aiya being a shinobi, while also identifying herself as one, and Aiya took her eyes off of Roku to stare at the girl in silent bewilderment for a few moments.

"Wow, you're a shinobi as well? I never would have guessed. Although, I suppose that makes you a good shinobi, huh? Haha." She giggled as she commented on the girl's skill at going undetected, but in truth she just seemed really plain. Not that that was a bad thing, sometimes the best thing to do was to not stick out. Knowing that she was a shinobi though, gave her a perfect opportunity to bring the girl with her and away from the argument she was still hearing in the distance. "Maybe you and Roku would like to come with me? Never a bad time to brush up on your skills, maybe I can give you a few pointers if you're open to a little criticism. Or if not that, I could always take the day off and we could do... literally anything else! I'm happy to spend a little quality time with another budding shinobi."

In reality, her main goal here was getting this girl away from the negative energy emanating from wherever she had come from. Whatever was going on over there, it was by no means a good environment for a girl Kureha's age... whatever that age actually was. Her height was throwing her a little, she was almost as tall as Aiya, and given the Ibakuro traits that was saying a lot.

[Kabu]

Kureha was more than a little surprised by how friendly Roku was being with Aiya. He had always been fairly docile and didn't object to pets but this was a first. She did however have to admit that the interaction was pretty cute. It was almost as if there was some kind of connection and familiarity between them, but of course there was no way that was the case. That said however... there was a strange remark Aiya had made that left her puzzled. Could there be some kind of connection after all? Well, there was no real use in thinking about it too hard.

"Well, I am only 12 years old and neither of my parents were shinobi soooo, I'm not really sure what a shinobi should look like." Kureha responded to Aiya's observations, head tilted as she pondered the girl's offers. She hadn't actually had much opportunity to practice yet and she did have her tools on her, having been very eager to show off to her parents before things had gone sour...

"Sure, we'll accompany you for training. But I should say before we go too far, Roku is just a normal pet. I might train him someday but he's still just a baby." Kureha finally responded with a smile. Really she was grateful for this opportunity, a chance to make a new friend while also making her escape. She would be a fool to pass this up.

[TyDie]

Aiya would hold her hand back out to Kureha, Roku standing tall on her hand, so that the spider might scurry back to it's owner. And once it had done so, she clasped her hands together happily, a warm smile crossing her face. "Perfect! Training always goes better when you have someone to do it with in my opinion. After all, it's hard to see your own flaws and shortcomings; an outside eye is practically required to improve upon forms and such. If you'd like, go ahead and follow me then, Kureha!" Aiya would then be happy to lead the way to her usual training ground, with Kureha towing along behind her. As she walked, she'd reach for her staff and pull it out to use as a walking stick, the two shinobi trekking through the streets.

"Oh no, I couldn't bring myself to swing at such a beautiful little fuzzball! Roku is too cute to fight." She said with a smile, watching the little spider do it's thing as it moved around on Kureha's person. As she studied the girl closer, she noticed something strange... or rather, she didn't notice something strange. "So... where do your skills lie, Kureha? I see very little weaponry on your person, so I can only assume you're primarily dedicated to casting techniques of some kind. Perhaps a Fire specialist?" Of course, it would do well for the two to understand each other's skill set if they were going to help each other improve. The difference is, with all the weaponry Aiya wore, her specialty was kind of worn on her sleeve.

[Kabu]

Kureha giggled as Roku returned to her, crawling up her body and returning to his nest in her hair, promptly falling asleep once comfortable, Kureha letting out a sigh at just how carefree he was. And then Aiya posed her question, Kureha unable to help a giggle at the very wrong guess. It was very clear that Aiya herself was a weapons user and Kureha had to admit she wasn't exactly physically imposing so maybe it was only natural that such an assumption would be made. "I specialize in Genjutsu and Taijutsu actually. I've been training in the use of knives, making use of them in Yoshin Kenjutu and razor wire specifically. Though I do one day intend to learn some Ninjutsu." she responded, a thought suddenly coming to mind as she followed behind.

"So um, do you actually use all of those weapons you carry? And doesn't it get uncomfortable or tiring? I suppose at the very least it's good exercise."

[TyDie]

Aiya was shocked to learn that the girl used taijutsu at all, her frame was so skinny and lithe that tai fighting was totally beyond what she felt the girl was capable of. But she had clearly graduated, so she must have had some skills. "Well you're just full of surprises aren't you? Now I'm eager to see how you use those little blades of yours! But uh, you can keep the illusions and stuff out of my head thanks, haha." She rubbed her head sheepishly, having a particular disdain for such manipulative tactics as those usually employed by genjutsu users. But of course, if she needed a guinea pig, she'd be willing to allow herself to be used that way... but only if she promised to release her from the illusion immediately.

Kureha was curious about Aiya's weaponry now, and she grinned as she flourished her staff a little, twisting it above her head one handed like a sort of propeller. "Ha, yeah I use them all to some extent, and they're heavy but I've gotten used to them by now. If I had to put them in order, my staff is definitely my favorite. My bow is a close second, and admittedly I've slacked a bit on my tonfa use. But I have some plans in mind, lots of other weapon ideas and styles to go alongside them. Just never enough time to learn it all, yknow?" She sighed for a moment as her other hand reached down to grab one of her Tonfa, spinning it a few times in her palm before putting it back. "But I'll get there. Just a matter of time."

Speaking of 'time', the two finally made their way to the training ground that Aiya frequented; a simple, 40 meter circle of dirt and grass with a few trees and rocks scattered about. Nothing major, in fact it was used by Academy students from time to time, but it was her main training area for certain. "Here we are! So, you mentioned razor wire... it's not my thing, yet anyway, but the founder of our clan was famous for his ability to use wires as his main weapon. If he can do it, you can too!" The girl grinned as she took her staff and began to twirl it at breakneck speed, the sound of it wooshing through the air clear as day. "I should really work on my ninjutsu too. Our clan has a unique style, a derivative of Suiton, that would be incredibly useful..."

She'd been dancing around the subject thus far, but she'd brought up her clan more than once; it was only a matter of time before the truth of her spider heritage came out

[Kabu]

"Wow, I'm very impressed. I can't even imagine the amount of training and dedication it would take to even learn how to use all of those, much less with some degree of skill." Kureha responded to Aiya's affirmation, truly in awe at the amount of skill and talent the girl must possess. It was enough to make her want to work that much harder in her own training, though she knew she would have a very long ways to go herself.

As they walked and talked they came to their destination, Kureha recognizing the area from her academy training. It was certainly a nice enough spot, wide open with things to hit and being away from prying eyes.

Having taken a moment to take in the surroundings, she opened her mouth to speak only to close it as Aiya spoke up first, bringing up her mentioned use of wire, connecting it to yet another mention of her clan. It bought her a strange sense of pride to know she was practicing a weapon that was the specialty of a man as important as a clan founder but she still had to wonder... Which clan?

In truth it had been gnawing at her for a while. What clan had traits like those that Aiya possessed? Well... there was only one way to find out.

"Say Aiya... if you don't mind me asking... What exactly is your clan? I've honestly never seen nor heard of a clan with features like yours. I've honestly been wondering since we met but I guess I was a bit worried to ask.'"

[TyDie]

Aiya blushed a little as the girl revered her for her weapon prowess, scratching the back of her head with slight embarrassment. "I try to stay humble..." was all she could say, a nervous laugh ending the sentence. But as the girl asked her the next question, she let out a small sigh. "We're a fairly new clan to Konoha. Only really growing to prominence within the last 10 years or so. The Ibakuro clan. It's not surprising to me that you don't recognize the clan's traits, but the green and black eyes are the biggest giveaway." She pointed to her own eyes in reference, the green sclerae and big black pupils standing out like a sore thumb.

She thought to stop there... but as she saw the little spider in Kureha's hair again, she realized that maybe... she would understand. "Our power is... kinda spooky. I know a lot of people that refuse to talk to me after seeing what we can do, but... You have Roku. You like spiders, right?" She'd wait for her answer, knowing already that it was probably a yes given the girl's attachment to her pet tarantula. "Well, our clan... we bear spider blood within us. It causes a lot of strange occurrences within us; we age rapidly for our first few years, our females are much, much taller than our males, we grow excessive amounts of body hair... But of course, the most prominent feature is our transformation. We can... become spiders, basically."

She wasn't going to just up and show it to the young girl without knowing for sure she'd be okay with it. The little tarantula in her hair was far different from a 5'9 spider girl standing in front of her. "...You want to see it, don't you?"

[Kabu]

Some part of Kureha had expected to be shocked at the sudden revelation, but she was more amazed that such a thing was possible. At the time it had been a wonder that Roku had grown so immediately friendly with Aiya but of course.. he had been sensing essentially one of his own kind. There had been an entire clan of spider people right under her nose and she had not one realized. It was so sad though that whatever their power was would cause them to be so heavily rejected by those around them...

Having already made up her mind she grabbed one of Aiya's hands with both of her own, looking her right in the eyes, letting her know it was okay. "I... it's different still but I know what that kind of rejection is like. You wouldn't believe how many people are immediately repulsed by the mere sight of Roku. Even mom nearly had a heart attack when I first found him in my room. Me though, I love spiders. Big, small, hairy, venomous.. you name it, I love them all, and I'm sure a humanoid spider would only be added to that list." she paused a moment, a smile creeping onto her face.

"I guess that's a long way of saying, I would love to see it."

[TyDie]

Aiya could sympathize with the girl's plight of course. And so she breathed in a deep sigh, closing her eyes before letting it out and reopening them. "Alright. I'll show you." As she spoke, her skin began to blacken before Kureha's eyes, turning almost jet black, and a moment later every hair on her head fell to the ground in a pile. Next, all along her now bald head, six additional slits would form and open up to reveal that they were eyes, looking every which way and taking in sensory information. From her mouth, two large black fangs would emerge, hanging down to the middle of her chin. The hairs lining her body would grow even longer and thicker than before, something that Kureha was no doubt familiar with as long itchy hairs were a common defense for Tarantulas like Roku.

But of course, the most eye catching part of all of this was the sudden emergence from her sides; blackened flesh that quickly took the form of arms. And lastly, all of this exposed flesh was quickly covered by a thick, black carapace of chitinous armor. This was it; the Spider Form of the Ibakuro clan. Aiya would give a quick turn around, showing all angles of the form, revealing the red hourglass shape on her exposed back. "Well... Ta da?" She spoke nervously, her voice a little deeper than before but overall still clearly her own. "As you can imagine, there's a ton of benefits to this form. Armor, extra vision, fangs... And of course, four extra arms opens up a lot of options in a fight."

She still felt incredibly insecure about showing her form off like this, she was practically waiting for Kureha to turn tail and run...

[Kabu]

As the transformation occurred, Kureha's eyes grew wide not in fear but rather in amazement, practically sparkling as she watched the process unfold. She couldn't even begin to understand why others could fear spiders in the first place, much less a power amazing as this. Until recently she hadn't had much exposure to the world of shinobi so she was sure there were many wonderful things yet to be seen but this would be hard to top.

"Whoa, that's so cool. And there's an entire clan of people that can transform like this." she muttered in amazement as she took in every detail of Aiya's transformation, practically dancing as she circled around her, happily humming away. Armor, extra arms and eyes, not to mention fangs and long thick body hairs, the latter she indeed knew firsthand to be especially useful. It so far seemed to be a truly wonderful transformation. The hair loss seemed a bit unfortunate but she imagined it would grow back easily enough and all the benefits gained were more than worth the temporary sacrifice.

"Honestly I'm a little jealous." she truthfully said, making one last circle around the transformed girl before coming to a stop, a grin on her face.

"Thank you so much for showing me. I can't imagine it was an easy thing to do."

[TyDie]

Aiya felt like a piece of meat for a seconds, Kureha circling her and analyzing each and every aspect of her spider form. But her reaction was a far cry from what she had gotten used to from others. It was... positive? Very positive in fact, she loved it. One of her many arms came up and rubbed the back of her head, her extra eyes closing so as not to poke herself by accident. "Heh... thanks. You're one of the few who have had a nice thing to say about it, besides "well it's scary, so it's useful against other people". I get tired of that one to be honest... Yeah, fear is good. But I don't always want to be feared, y'know? Especially not by my comrades..."

She could watch as Kureha circled her, following her as she moved through the field of vision of each of her eyes, each eye focusing on the young genin as she walked around Aiya's form. Her jealousy earned a quirked eyebrow from one of the eyes as Aiya chuckled. "Heh, jealous huh? Maybe you should join us sometime then." The girl said with a giggle, stretching out all of her arms to the sky as she grunted with effort, tensing her muscles and letting out a few pops and cracks from her body. "No, it wasn't easy... But at least you kept true to your word and didn't run off." It might've been difficult to see with her form being what it was, but the girl smiled at Kureha and gave a small bow.

"Thanks for that. It's nice to not feel like a monster for once."

[Kabu]

"You're very welcome. It truly is an amazing ability that you possess. In comparison I'm just so ordinary that of course I feel a little jealous." Kureha responded to Aiya's thanks with a small smile. She hadn't missed the girl's remarks about joining them but surely it was just a tease and that such a thing wasn't really possible. But... what if? What if she truly had a chance to get away from the fighting, away from her broken family? Would she even be able to bring herself to do such a thing?

...Maybe she would. She kept waiting and wishing for her parents to make up but she couldn't keep hoping for a divine intervention forever.

She was silent for several moments, taking a deep breath as she made up her mind. She had to know. "Umm.. what exactly did you mean about joining you? Surely there's no way that could actually happen." she spoke. Even despite her doubts and inner turmoil she still had to know. She had to know if she was simply being teased or if the possibility was truly available.

[TyDie]

Aiya tilted her head as the girl seemed genuinely curious about the prospect of joining her as an Ibakuro. Though, perhaps it wasn't common knowledge. After all, you'd have to know about the clan first to know about their "Rapid growth" initiatives. "Well... Yeah actually. It could." As she spoke, her skin color returned to normal, and her extra eyes closed and vanished before her long black hair regrew. Her chitin receded, as did her extra arms, and a moment later Aiya looked normal again. "You see, the clan is remarkably new. Rather than waiting over a hundred years for the clan to generate enough numbers, our progenitor worked out a deal with both Hokage Takeo-sama and Takamori Saigo, the latter of which is the reason our clan even exists."

She would spare her the details on the rapid aging of the Ibakuro clan for now; one step at a time. She was interested in the gene transferral, so Aiya would expound on that. "There's an initiative in place... if a konoha shinobi who has no clan affiliations passes the proper psyche evaluations and willingly volunteers themselves, Saigo has Yosuke's blood. He's authorized to transfer the Ibakuro gene into other people, and make more Ibakuro that way. The catch is... you have to become an Ibakuro. In body and name. You can of course have ties outside of the clan, but your surname has to change."

It wasn't an easy decision for many to make. Family meant a lot, and this basically meant you had to shed your family to become an Ibakuro.

[Kabu]

As Aiya returned to normal Kureha was relieved to see that she was right about the hair loss simply being a temporary effect of the transformation but she didn't pay it much mind otherwise, focused on Aiya's explanation of the gene transferral. She remembered Aiya having mentioned something about the clan not having been around for long, and she vaguely knew about Takamori Saigo as well. She did wonder about the circumstances leading to the clan's creation but now didn't seem like the time for such a question.

"I see... so it is possible for outsiders to join so long as they're sound of mind and willing to leave behind their family ties." she muttered, a mix of expressions surely present on her face. This was the first time in her life she had ever felt so conflicted over anything. This truly was a chance to escape but did she truly want it? Or was it simply a tempting notion to give up on her family's issues.

"Aiya I... I need some time to figure things out but I might want to join you. I need to sort my thoughts out and figure out if I truly want it or if I'm just trying to run away." she finally spoke after a moment's silence. Surely she wouldn't need to explain. Somehow she was certain that however briefly Aiya had caught an earful of what her home life was currently like.

[TyDie]

Aiya could sense the girl's mind moving a mile a minute on the subject matter. The prospect of joining into the Ibakuro clan was clearly tempting for her, but it also meant casting aside her family. On the one hand, based on what Aiya had heard earlier, that seemed like a good thing. But even still, it wasn't a decision to be made lightly. "Hey, no worries, Kureha. It's not an easy decision to make, in fact making that choice so quickly would likely be a red flag on the psyche evaluation. It's purely voluntary, and only you can make the choice for yourself. If you are considering it, give it some serious thought. days, weeks, months or even years if you need it."

She'd walk over to the girl and place her hand on Kureha's shoulder, tilting her head and smiling at her. "And whatever you decide, you still have a spider friend. And no, I don't mean Roku... Although he's adorable too." She'd chuckle as the little spider was barely visible in Kureha's hair, likely snoozing at this point. "Come on... How about we get some food before I take you home? Training can come some other day."

[Kabu]

"I would like that very much, both going out for food and being friends. And who knows, maybe one day we'll be something more. I'll be thinking very hard about what I want to do." Kureha responded to Aiya's remarks, playfully hugging the other girl's arm. Honestly amongst a mix of other emotions she was feeling absolutely giddy. This day had started well enough before going to crap but it had ended on a much better note than it had even begun. She and Roku had made a new friend and the possibility of a new life was now hanging before her.

There was no telling what the future would hold now but it was looking brighter by the moment. For now there was one very important thing to do as she began pulling her new friend along back towards the village proper.

"Come on, thinking can be done on a full stomach. I'm starving!"