Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't care. Writing this for fee.

AN: I hope you like this chapter, on the last two there was too little development but I at least managed to move things forwards a bit. This chapter might be a little bit messier than usual (as far as typos and grammar errors go) but I wanted to publish it already. Also, this fic will take me a long while to be updated for reasons explained at the end of the chapter.

Now on with the chapter.

Unbetaed. Published on 24/7/2016

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Chapter 11: Doeminded

The doe getting free didn't develop into a battle royal or anything flashy. In fact, it ended on an underwhelming tone as the doe stumbled and almost passed out due to chakra exhaustion nearly as soon as it got free of restrains and teleported to a relatively better position in front of the wall... not that anyone in the room doubted that the ninja would win the match (had it ever started), but they expected at least to see the little doe displaying some offensive ability. So far, it had only sunshined around and gotten free of restrains. Not a big repertory, that is for sure.

Annoyed, Anko started to protest and bitch, but Shikaku was tuning her out as an idea came to life in his head. "Troublesome," he declared, before advancing towards the doe, that glared from where it stood with legs that trembled with exhaustion. "My wife's doe is smart. I believe we should try to communicate with it before trying anything else".

"Rai, you understood what we have been saying all along." It wasn't a question, the doe looked at her owners husband and nodded.

"Are you capable of speech?" the doe shook its head. A no then. Not a surprise there either, nin-animals didn't develop the ability to speak like a human until it reached puberty at the very least. On the other hand, said nin-animals could understand their human partners very fast. The discrepancy between learning to speak and understand was because the vocal chords of those animals were not meant for real speech, so they needed to develop the ability. How did they do that from a biological angle was hard to say, and such a question was probably answered somewhere in the Inuzuka library... but, right here and now it was irrelevant.

They would need to keep it simple.

"We are going to make yes or no questions then. Nod for a YES, shake your head for a NO: First of all confirm, are you a doe born in the Nara complex." Nod. "Have you ever gone out of the compound without the company of Nara Yoshino?" Head shake. "Do you know of a man named Orochimaru?" Nod.

Ibiki took over then, "Have you ever met him personally?" Head shake.

"How about..." questions came, a lot of which were apparently inane or repetitive, some of them anything but those. In the end, though, the group broke apart, leaving Shikaku standing next to the doe in a room. The lazy Nara was carrying a stack of papers Ibiki had vindictively delivered as he ordered outloud to the Konoha Strategist and temporary backstage Hokage to keep an eye on the doe (which Shikaku had no doubt it had been ordered out of spite and not because he thought the doe was a threat).

Inoichi, more intrigued about the animal mental defenses than anything else, asked his friend to keep tabs on the development of the herbivore. There was also the unsaid fact that Inoichi would have another reason to visit the Nara Compound, but, thankfully, the blond was a very nice friend and a lot less troublesome than your average ninja.

Then there was Anko, self-appointed as ANBU watch for the doe. Annoying, but not overly so: the woman when wearing the white mask was as silent and easy to miss as a sleeping snake on high grass.

All those reactions were rather predictable... very much so, in fact. But, sadly, the Toad Sanin decided to throw Shikaku a curve ball by declaring that he would be staying over at his place to keep an eye on the development of the situation. It was irritating for Shikaku, and he dreaded to think of the reaction his wife would have when he came home with Konoha's Super Pervert and his traveling companions (who he had let him know in advance he was bringing along).

Shikaku would probably get the nagging of a lifetime if Senju Tsunade-hime took down the walls of their house; worst still, his wife would probably make him fix the whole thing instead of simply calling some gennin to do the tedious menial tasks.

So troublesome.

"Let's go home," Shikaku spoke to the doe. The two of them disappeared in a vortex of spinning leaves.

...

Being in the Nara Forest was something Harry-doe had never appreciated before this very moment. The sway of the leaves and the abundance of green and browns did something to sooth the nerves that had gone highwire. Yoshino, God bless the woman, took the whole incident with a pinch of salt, not changing in the slightest in her attitude towards her "Rai-chan" as she delivered a bowl of vegetable soup... then threatened her husband with bodily harm and harsh work if the ninja that were going to come later did anything to their precious house.

To be honest, Harry felt vaguely guilty about Shikaku's situation. It had been largely Harry's fault that they were going to have "guests" at all, and he understood by the conversations that this people were not the kind of people Yoshino was happy to have around.

But beyond the guilt, Harry was just , after eating a bit of food courtesy of his favorite Kunoichi, Harry-doe went to his pillow on the floor on the living-room and went to sleep the exhaustion of what felt like the longest day he had lived in this life.

...

Yoshino watched her favorite doe, currently asleep, as she started setting the dishes on the low table. The food was not fancy and the amounts were very little per head given that she had shopped only to feed a family of three, but it would have to do. She tucked a bang behind her head, she was tired and her wrist was feeling a bit sore. It had been a long day, one that was clearly far form over: she was, yet again, left in charge of everything that needed to be done around her home. She felt upset. Don't get her wrong, she loved her family and she wouldn't change them for the world, but sometimes... on days like today she wanted to be the one to lay around and do nothing for the day. Getting the men of her life do anything was more work than doing it herself.

There was no wonder why she had become so attached to the little doe sleeping in the room.

Yoshino sighed, carefully picking up to put in the shed by the forest everything and anything of value, emotionally and otherwise, so it wouldn't get wrecked by Senju Tsunade-hime: she was very famous for breaking walls and furniture when mad, and, after the Sannin got dragged back to the village, Yoshino couldn't imagine her being in a good mood to begin with... The house looked quite bare now. Hopefully nobody would comment on it.

It started to smell like the food was soon to be ready, so she had to make her way back to the kitchen, but she didn't do so before taking one last look to Rai-chan; the poor thing looked very exhausted even in its sleep, curling into itself like a ball of brown fur. It was hard to believe that such a cute little doe could cause so much ruckus, and she felt annoyed on the paranoia of ninja. Hypocritically, though, she would keep an eye on the doe to make sure it didn't do anything that might harm Konoha. Yoshino didn't really thought it would but... well, she was a paranoid ninja too, no matter how much she might like Rai-chan, and she wouldn't hesitate if it became a liability to the village she lived in and served.

Unaware of Yoshino's thoughts, a reborn wizard slept dreamlessly.

...

After Jiraia got out from T&I and found his old teammate, her apprentice, the pig and the noisy brat in orange, he had taken the whole party to the grave of the Third Hokage, so they could pay their respects to the man that had given the Village Hidden in the Leafs the best years of his life, along with his twilight ones. There was no snipping fight from either of the blonds, not even when Tsunade complained with to his teacher's grave that she had to return. The tone in her voice, while steady, carried such sadness that even rocks would understand that she loved the old man as much as any shinobi could love a teacher. She had not cried, though, and there seemed to be a spark of fire in her eye when she finished her grieving insults.

Tsunade would cave and become the Hokage, Jiraia knew so for sure just then... he just needed to push her a little more so she could pretend to cave in.

"It's getting late. We should search for a place to sleep," Shizune spoke softly, but it was easily heard in the quiet.

Jiraia shook his head moved forwards. "I got just the place, let's just get the kid home, it's past his bedtime."

"Oi!" Naruto protested, loudly, telling the three adults that he needn't any escort because he was a great ninja "Believe it!". Then went away jumping from rooftop to rooftop without even asking where to find them the next day. Impatient brat.

With a shake of his head and a mental note to scold Naruto for that later, the Toad Sannin led the two lovely females and their pig to the Nara complex. They had a lot to talk about before Tsunade took the hat.

To Be Continued.

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AN: I had planed to make this a lot longer and bring it to you a lot sooner, but life conspired against it. It was, let me tell you, one of the worst months of my life (so many bad things happened). I had most of what you see here written for over two weeks, but I figured I would share it now since I won't be updating this for a while because I'm mourning the death of my grandfather who died this Tuesday. Don't get me wrong, I will still be around and working on other fics but this one... I don't think my muse will be of any use for comedy right now.

See you on the next one.

Chicaalterego.