Koji still couldn't believe what Yuki had said, the way she teased him all the time, for weeks now, no, entire months she had teased him relentlessly.
Part of him enjoyed it, being called partner, but he wished he didn't have to make do with only that; he wished he could truly be her partner. The part where it wasn't real, that was the less nice part of it all.
Not to mention, Kuro would take every moment to make it worse; he was enjoying this as much as Yuki was, and he couldn't do anything about it.
But really, hearing her talk like that… like his lover, fuck, it make him want to just push her down, but he knew that should he try, she would kick his ass. Not that she didn't do that already when they sparred.
He couldn't help but sigh as he put the letter down. Nothing big, just well, the war, it wasn't pretty, people died, good people, strong people, they either died or got hurt.
He was just glad he had Yuki around, she was strong, like really strong, way stronger than he was, and able to keep them safe.
Thinking about Yuki, he couldn't help but look over at her again, sitting there, cross-legged on her bed. She was checking her gifts, supplies, and weapons; he got that too. Plus some other boring stuff, clean clothes, which was nice.
He needed it; he sure felt that some of what he had was beyond saving. Too many cuts and tears, some sets were more patched than anything else.
Not to mention, washing it in cold water, and he wasn't good at that. Yeah, it was about time.
Yuki reached for the final scroll of her lot and started pulling items out one by one.
This one seemed to just be more clothes.
New, fresh outfits.
He was just lazily looking when suddenly the item she unsealed had him freeze for a moment.
Because she started pulling underwear out of the seals, and not all of it was the overly practical kind.
He couldn't tear his eyes away as he looked at those tiny bits of cloth and even silk; he couldn't help but imagine her wearing that and replay her earlier words.
Her, wearing that, calling him her beloved, pushing herself against him, his arms, hugging her tightly. Fuck! His pants grew tight again.
-----
I couldn't help but shake my head as I finished going through everything my mother had sent me. Honestly, here I am, crawling through mud day and night, and she sends me fine silk lingerie.
I knew she wasn't a shinobi, but still, that isn't something I could use before I returned back home to Konoha.
Thankfully, she did send me plenty of normal clothes, which was good, before some of my clothes were getting a little tight even if I did wrap my chest to keep it out of the way during combat.
"Alright, I'm gonna laze about in the hot bath for a while, you know, enjoy it while I can, you guys, well, you just do your own thing," I said as I stood up, not even bothering to really look at them.
…
"Ahhh, you guys have it too good here, a hot bath like this?" I couldn't help but say as I sank into the warm waters.
"Well, its not free." One of the other Kunoichi said as she too enjoyed it.
That made me curious because I hadn't paid anything for its use.
"Oh? And what does it cost? Besides chakra, that is?"
I had long since noticed that the water and heat weren't natural; it was artificial. Not that I minded, it was still close enough to the real deal to be heavenly compared to cold streams and rivers.
There were some big seals under the bath, charged with chakra; it was nothing fancy, but it worked.
"He, well, I'm not sure if I should tell you that Miss Hyūga, might harm your clan sensibilities." The same Kunoichi teased, causing me to open my eyes and look at her.
She was a good bit older than I was, which wasn't too shocking; I was still pretty young, not a child anymore, but young still. I would estimate her age to be in her early thirties.
A bit old for a Kunoichi, but this was war, so yeah, I guess her retirement was put on hold for a bit. She would likely try to settle down once it ended, have a few kids before she got too old for that.
Not everyone wanted to end up like Tsunade.
"Please, I'm in an assassination unit; there isn't anything I haven't already had to deal with."
She looked me over again, impressed and shocked by my claim. She didn't doubt me; who would lie about such a thing, after all? But she was just shocked that someone from the Hyūga Clan, and a young Kunoichi at that, would get such a job.
"Well, if you are sure, but I don't think you will be able to enjoy these baths the same way after hearing it, so you can still back out." She warned me.
"Please," I scuffed. "After crawling around in mud for a month or two, there isn't anything that could get me to stay away from here."
She giggled in response, "We will see." She clearly enjoyed this. "So far away from home, staying here a long while… people have needs, you know, and well, to get this benefit for us Kunoichi, we had to pay the price, in privacy. Rules are simple, guys can look at us bathing, but if we do catch them, we can beat them up."
Now that had me pause, because that made a ton of sense!
In the anime, Jiraiya had been spying on women bathing all the damn time, and he kept getting away with it. Sure, he was beaten up at times, but that was it. Nothing was done to change it, to stop it.
He was allowed to continue, and surely people must have known about it, so why didn't they do anything?
Well, it was likely that this current situation wasn't unique to this camp; it was possible that every camp had it, to keep up morale for all shinobi. Kunoichi got to enjoy hot baths, and Men got to enjoy sneaking peeks at them.
And with how perverted the Third Hokage was, I could totally see him not just approving of this in the name of morale, but making it a permanent rule for all bath houses in Konoha, maybe even beyond that.
He would likely have to provide additional compensation for that, but perhaps he did. I could see it happen.
Now that I knew that, I couldn't help but sink a little deeper into the water. Something the Kunoichi found amusing.
"I told you that it wasn't something you wanted to know, now you probably can't rest easy, can you?" She laughed, no shame or care at all.
She wasn't wrong. Knowing that right now, random men could be watching me bathing was something I didn't enjoy. It took everything I had just to stop myself from using the Byakugan to check.
Because if I did, and if I found someone, I'm not sure I could hold myself back from starting a massacre.
Indeed, it is as they say, ignorance is bliss.
"I admit, I am torn between whether or not knowing is better than not… so, you just like allow it?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Well, we didn't like it at first, spent a lot of effort and time making sure anyone who tried got punished for it, had our fun punching and kicking some perverts, but really, we all have our needs, you know." She said with a shrug.
I was shocked at what she was saying… because, indeed, everyone had their needs, even I couldn't free myself from that.
But what really shocked me was the fact that it seemed like this little arrangement had awoken some kind of exhibitionism kink in the entire camp. And likely, the entire Konoha Kunoichi population!
That would be the only way to explain why everyone would be so okay with it in the future, to the point that Jiraiya was confident in spying on everyone so openly.
"Damn… I'm… shocked… so you just allow it to happen now?"
"Well, if someone is a bit too brazen, we still kick them around for a while, but if people do it carefully enough. Well, we don't use sensors to check anymore." She said so matter-of-factly, as if she were talking about the weather.
"So, no Byakugan, but if I see someone, or hear something, I can beat the shit out of them?" I asked, mostly just to understand their strange rules.
"That's the deal we got going, and it's not half bad, makes the guys way more sufferable to be around." She paused. "Say, I hear that gentle fist of yours can cause a ton of pain without causing any real harm, is that true?"
"Yeah," I replied, raising an eyebrow. "Closing the wrong tenketsu can hurt a ton, but unless the person tries to use chakra for something like a ninjutsu, there will be no harm."
That had her laugh, "I would love to see you do that to someone, a few of the guys here keep just asking for punishment, and well, they don't fear our punches and kicks at all."
"I guess most people get used to that pretty fast while training. I got smacked around plenty learning the gentle fist for sure."
"Yep, all that anti-torture training makes everyone really hard to break, figured something new like your fancy fists might do a better job."
She did make some sense there, though. I wasn't sure I wanted to be part of that.
I had no doubt that the reason those guys allowed themselves to get caught was because they enjoyed the sight of naked Kunoichi beating them up.
Seeing their bodies from up close, all while fresh out of water, still dripping wet.
All that moving around, trembling in anger, and well, gravity.
That was what they wanted, and I wasn't about to give them that.
"Well, I'm not saying around for long, so I doubt I will be able to help you there. Having to go out into the mud soon enough again." I said with a sad groan as I sank deeper into the water, leaving only my nose above the surface.
"Suit yourself, but I promise, it's really calming to kick a squirming pervert in the junk," She said with a shrug.
Damn, so they both became exhibitionists and dominatrices all from this one rule? It sure seems like this generation has been twisted by more than just war.
…
After finishing my soak in the warm water, I quickly moved to get the thin, white yukata they offered and covered myself.
I might not be willing to shake up this little arrangement they had going, but I wasn't going to let people have their sweet time looking at me.
I would have body flickered back to where my team was staying, if that wasn't against the rules. Using that to move around in the camp would trigger the guards, as it's hard to judge who is using it.
It could be someone not wanting to be seen in a state of undress, or it could be an enemy assassin trying to reach their target.
When someone moves that fast, you have only a split second to react. Which means there is no time to think about it, so yeah, I still had to walk the normal way back to our little tent.
"Hey Kuro, where is Koji?" I asked as I entered our tent, hoping he wasn't out spying on the bath.
Kuro just barked at me, coming over and rubbing himself against my legs.
"Hey Kuro, I'm all wet here, don't do that." I gently tried to push him off.
Honestly, it's strange dealing with the ninken of the Inuzuka clan. Because they are pretty damn smart, treating them like a normal dog is wrong. However, I don't understand what he is saying, so I don't know how to deal with that.
Kuro didn't listen, he just barked a bit, trying to tell me something, and well, I understood nothing. "Alright, whatever, do as you please, just don't get into my bed while all wet."
Kuro, however, wasn't done; he bit my yukata and dragged, making me follow him. "Careful, this isn't mine."
He ignored me, and pulled me over to Koji's bed, and barked a few times as he patted it.
It took me a moment, but I quickly understood that he was telling me to use this bed, since I was wet, to avoid getting my own wet. "This is Koji's bed Kuro, I can't just leave it all wet."
I might tease the guy, but I knew how much it sucked sleeping in a wet blanket, so I didn't want to do this to him.
Kuro though? He didn't care and just butted his head into my crotch, finally making me just sit down. "Fine, but you explain it to him."
He did nod at that. So I decided to just give up, and turned around to lie on my stomach, letting my hair just dry in the air.
With my face down in his bedding, I couldn't help but notice the smell when I breathed in. and well… it wasn't bad.
(End of chapter)
A bit of my way of explaining some of the strange things around Konoha, like how everyone spies on the women, but apparently do jack shit about it.
So I figured, having them go through the horrors of war, well, it's probably easy enough to get them to accept something like that.