[X] Decline rival mode
-> [X] by telling her something rather personal. Fair trade for the moment of weakness you got to see earlier.
"This is insane!" You have a habit of talking with your hands (a side-effect of taking Nyango lessons with no whiskers or tail), and it tends to get more pronounced the more agitated you get. At the moment, you're talking with your arms.
"I'm not after Sasuke! He's my friend and that's it!"
You aren't sure why you started yelling. All you know is that this whole line of conversation... bothers you, for some reason. The longer it goes on, the less funny it gets. At first you were just annoyed with Ami's threats and posturing, but...
"Why should I believe you?" Ami demands. "He's the nicest, handsomest boy in class, and he likes you."
A breeze drifts by, carrying with it the scent of roses and well-oiled steel and incense, his clothes always reeked of it after one of those pilgrimages and my god, her perfume...
"Because I'm in love with someone else!" you yell.
Oh.
Oh no.
Ami looks floored. Whatever she expected you to say, it wasn't that.
Some Yamanaka I turned out to be, you think miserably. Maybe there're some people in Kiri who didn't hear that, but I doubt it.
"... who?"
You give her a hard look. This is really, seriously, none of her fucking business.
But...
You sigh.
The damage is done. If you clam up now, she'll just say you were lying, and... you're not sure what you'd do to her if she said that.
"If I tell you," you say, voice low to keep it steady, "you can never tell anyone else. Just like I won't tell anyone you cried in front of me." You look her dead in the eye. "Okay?"
She looks you over, as if trying to decide if this is a setup to another joke. She must be satisfied by what she sees, because she finally says, "... okay."
The two of you find a bench, and sit down. Taking a deep breath, you try to figure out where to begin. You can't tell her about the lady; you don't think you're ever going to be ready to tell anyone about her. That pain is... complicated. Besides, Ami's not the kind of girl who'd get it, you don't think.
So. Instead of ripping your heart out of your chest, you opt to give the little chick a full-body x-ray instead.
You tell her about the Man with the Sword.
Half-remembered dreams trickle down from your mind and spill out your mouth. You tell her how his hair falls in his face when he sleeps sitting up, how noble and stalwart he looks when he's serious about something important, and how beautiful he can look on rare occasions when he really smiles and the slight bags under his eyes crinkle up.
He wanders the world with his companions, like one of the Sannin; his village gave him a mission to kill one of them, but he refused out of friendship, and his Kage, having no jounin strong enough to bring him down, was forced to accept the man's decision. Now, though loyal, he is free, and his sword is dedicated to the defense of his dearest comrades.
You tell her how he doesn't make jokes often, but when he does you can't help but grin at his dry delivery. Blushing slightly, you confide that when he laughs, your heart sings.
You talk about how he seems to have an infinite store of bizarre, old-fashioned skills, and how he dresses and talks like an old-timer even though no one around him does, and that he doesn't seem bothered by any of this at all.
"That's why I dress the way I do," you admit, plucking wistfully at the sleeve of your haori. "Even if he's... not real, or if he's a ghost... at least this way I can feel close to him, somehow." You laugh, embarrassed. "It's silly, but I almost hope that if, by some strange miracle, I do meet him... he'll know me, if I'm dressed like this."
Ami doesn't say anything, and you go on.
You tell her about how he's a perfect gentleman - a little too perfect, in your opinion; he's so solemn! He needs a lady who'll muss up his hair and get him to relax. And hopefully not scam him - he has terrible luck with women because he's a little bit naïve about them. ^__^;
You tell her about the sword. You tell her of the man's grand boast: "With this sword, and my skill, there is nothing in this world I cannot cut." You describe how the blade comes alive in his hands, dancing with a precision and speed unmatched by any fighter you've ever seen in the waking world. How with the slightest and fastest of movements, he can block every kunai, shuriken, bullet, arrow that comes his way, beating down a storm of metal like it's nothing. How you have seen him cleave in two a flying monster of steel, the size of a city. How it's only when sword and man are together that they seem complete.
You don't tell her that you're sure, if he truly fell in love, he'd be the same way about his lady.
"... I don't know what else to tell you," you say finally, smiling bitterly. "It's kind of funny, really. I sort of envy you." Ami flinches at this, but you continue regardless: "The one you care about is right in front of you; all you have to do is win his heart." You look up at the sky. "My 'handsome prince' is someone I'll never see when I'm awake, and I'll never be able to speak to when I'm asleep. I'll never even have a chance to have a chance with him."
You fall silent, and wait for her to laugh at you.
=
You are Kuwabara Ami, and you have vanquished the witch.
... you thought you'd be happier about it.
If she didn't just make this whole thing up (and given all of... that, you really doubt she did)... she isn't really much of a witch at all.
Oh, she's still a freak, and still kind of a bitch. But...
"I don't accept your envy," you say, crossing your arms.
She smiles crookedly. "Okay. Don't."
"But..." you add, "... I accept your friendship with Sasuke-kun - provided it stays a friendship." Dad may be a prick, but he didn't raise a sucker.
You stand, and stick out your hand. "And I'll help you find your prince. Deal?"
A world where a girl sees her true love only in dreams, never to hold him... that's too cruel. You cannot forgive it. You will not permit it.
Yamanaka Ino blinks at you in surprise and laughs, but not in a mean-spirited way. She slips her hand into yours; its callouses lend a weight to her firm handshake. "Deal."
You are Kuwabara Ami, and you have just accepted a quest to free a fellow princess from a terrible curse.
=
The next day at school, Sagara-sensei calls you into his office at lunch.
"I hear you wrote the principal about skipping a grade," he says with no preamble. That's Sagara-sensei for you; always right to the point.
"Just in the normal classes," you say, "not the shinobi ones."
He shrugs. "Either way, it's all at the discretion of your teachers in each course. Which is why I called you in here. I've recommended to the principal and your father that you be moved to my second-year taijutsu class."
You blink. "But... I suck at taijutsu."
"No, Ino, Shikamaru sucks at taijutsu. You are just stuck in a rut." Your teacher gestures at the kids playing outside. "The other students are benefiting from having you as a challenge to overcome, but you aren't learning anything worthwhile because no one but Sasuke can even touch you once you get going. Sparring with the older kids will let you reach your full potential."
[X] Join the second-year taijutsu class
[X] Thank Sagara-sensei for his interest, but say you don't intend to be a taijutsu-focused fighter and you'd rather stick with your friends.
I feel kinda like I railroaded you guys via momkra assault. Damn it, I shouldn't have told you.
