Every Rose Has it's Thorn

Jayden sat in his room looking through a book about the Terumi Lineage. It was thundering outside, but rain had yet to hit his window. It was quiet otherwise except for Jeordie talking to their mother in the hallway. He leaned back against his pillow as he heard a light tapping at his door. Before he could say a word, Jeordie walked into his room!
“Bro, I really need to talk to you! It's a between you and I type of conversation.” Jeordie said. He was dressed in his Jounin attire as though he had been at work, but was now home. Was it Monday? He usually worked the gate for guard duty on Mondays.
“Fine, speak your mind bro.” Jayden said to him as he stood up to face his brother.


“Not here, walk with me.” Jeordie said motioning for Jayden to follow him. “We are going to take a walk and talk and…you'll see!” He added walking out the door. Their parents sat at the table nodding to the boys as they left. Jayden found it suspicious but didn't question it. Their dad, Jameson Terumi, jumped up and followed them out the door, rushing to Jeordie as if to urgently tell him something!
“Remember what we discussed, Jeordie!” He said as he looked his eldest son Jeordie in the eyes. Now Jayden was concerned, this was very unusual behavior and quite an alarming message! 
“Trust me, I have this handled.” Jeordie said reassuringly before their dad turned to go in. Jameson patted his youngest son in the back. “See you both at dinner.” He said hoping to not alarm Jayden any further. 


They continued walking through town as the thunder overhead  began to move in closer to Kiri.
“Jayden, the other Jounin and I were talking yesterday and you know we know a lot of what the Genin groups are doing, we are becoming concerned for Team Fuku. You guys don't seem to be training as much and haven't done any missions in quite a while. There is a search for someone to lead your team, but until someone is found, me and the other three Jounin Who are connected to you guys have decided to help you!” He said as they stepped into the facility. An eerie feeling came over Jayden! Other three Jounin? Zeb Nara, Taki Hozuki and Kiken Tau…oh hell no! No...four clans that are dangerous and even more dangerous when teamed together! He would know considering those exact same clans make up his team! But Jounin level? He has to leave now, if Jeordie says HELP them, and leads him into the training facility…oh fuck…Jayden saw a evil grin come over Jeordies face as he turned to run!


Unfortunately as he turned to go out the door he saw Zeb Nara appear in front of the doors leading out of the facility. “Going somewhere?” Zeb asked as he crossed his arms standing in front of the doors blocking Jaydens exit. Jaydens eyes widened! He turned to the right and saw Kiken Tau leaning against a door frame, right next to him was Taki Hozuki! A genin standing in front of four of Kirigakures Jounin. He knew he was in trouble.
“Okay, what's the point? We know we need to train and do missions and we have! Maybe not enough but we are doing things! And why are you singling me out?” Jaydens heart was racing with fear, these guys were not ninjas you mess with! Kiri has some of the most dangerous Jounin, and like the other villages, they are trained to kill the enemy without mercy were the village to be attacked! 


“Don't worry, we aren't going to kill you, your family, however, we will hurt you pretty bad, you have to learn how to defend yourself little brother! And we aren't singling you out, you were just the first one we picked. This is for your own good!” Jeordie said as he looked at Jayden. Somehow Jayden could sense his brother charging up fire chakra…or Lava…damn it! Yes, Jayden had the lava as well, he was a Terumi after all, but Jayden unfortunately had a tendency to burn himself when using it! And unlike Jayden, Jeordie could use Boil! Ever see someone use steam or hot water? Yeah, put those two with Lava and boom…Terumi bloodline that Jayden was still in the process of learning!


“See, we won't kill you, or injure you beyond being able to heal you! However it won't be painless, like your brother said, it's time you learned to defend and protect yourself! Today we are just getting started, you will.have the others with you soon!” Zeb Nara said with a smile. Jayden knew his only hope at this point was to run into the larger part of the facility! 


“Oh go ahead, we love to play hide and seek! Can't promise you it's like you played as a kid though, considering if we find you…” Taki laughed as he said the last part! Jayden ran as fast as possible hiding in the ceiling of the facility behind a very thick barrier!


WC:856

Zim slept through the crashes of thunder that morning. He was fast asleep next to Primrose, only to slightly stir awake for a second as she got up to leave. Zim felt as she hugged him for a second then softly kissed him as she got ready to leave. Wait, wasn't he supposed to get up and do something this morning? Yeah he had a couple of letters beside their bed. Typical Nara behavior of procrastinating was strong in Zim! He heard Prim leave, then he heard Zeb’s door open, and he heard him whispering to someone! Alarmed, Zims eyes shot wide open! He sat up and got dressed and as he headed to his door and stopped! He could hear Zeb talking to their father. He stood still not moving a muscle as he listened in.

“I'm not comfortable doing this, unlike Jeordie I have a bond with my younger sibling. I don't want to severe that. I understand the concern that everyone has about Team Fukus status at the moment, but just because they aren't training or doing missions like they should doesn't mean they are weak or incapable of defending themselves!” Zeb said in Zims defense! He had always supported Team Fuku and yeah he was close to Zim.
“All the more reason you should be doing this, they aren't doing this to pick on them, but you know as well as I do if Zim stepped outside those gates and missing nin just happened to be there, he wouldn't be able to handle himself or protect the rest of the team for that matter, Zeb. Right now Jeordie is taking Jayden up there. Zims next. If you care about him, you need to do this. You're a Jounin, it's your job to do this! I work up there at the Kages office with Jeordie's dad and Taki’s parents, we have all been talking about this for a while. Amidst trying to squash rumors but that's besides the point.” Their father explained as he prepared to head out the door.
“Fine, but I'm not allowing any killing or hurting them beyond what we can heal, I'm against this 100% but if it's to help them I'll do it!” Zeb said with a sigh. Zeb was only a year older than Zim and two years younger than Taki and Jeordie. “Is Kiken Tau in on this?” He asked.
“Yeah why?” Their dad asked with a quizzical look on his face.
“Damn it, he's more…how do I put this politely…he's more old school…more dangerous!” Zeb complained.
“Well considering that's Kurais dad, I don't think he would hurt him. It's kinda hard to hurt a Tau, but he'd be more gentle with the others.” There dad said to Zeb.
“WAIT WHAT?!” Both Zeb and Zim said this at the exact same time, in a state of shock! Stein was considered their dad! They didn't know their parents and Karina and Kiken were the Aunt and Uncle of the Tau Twins.
“I thought you guys knew, you mean you still think it's Kurais aunt and Uncle? Does he know? Look, I got to get to work. You guys have a good day.” Their dad Zed said as he walked out the door. Almost instantly Zim appeared behind Zeb with his arms crossed.

“Seriously? Look, I'm going up there right now to help Jayden!” He said as he stared at his brother who sighed and didn't even look at him. It was as though he knew he was there before he said a word. “Zim Zum, I understand he's your friend, but this won't be easy for him and if you jump into this…I really don't want to …I'd be forced to fight you as well. I'm not comfortable with this. I usually hold back when we train, but I can't hold back during this event today! Do you understand that? Are you sure you want to do this?” Zeb asked Zim as he looked at him with a serious look on his face. Wait, was he insulting him? Zim felt offended for some reason. He holds back…then again, he's way stronger than Zim and Zim knew this.
“I can't leave Jayden like this, you know that. He's not only my teammate but he's my best friend. I know he'd do the same for me!” Zim was frustrated as he attempted to walk by Zeb who reached out and put his arm in the way to stop Zim. Zeb wasn't surprised at Zims reaction, he was actually smiling!
“I love you little brother, just know that despite anything I do out there today that I do care about you. Just…be careful alright? Don't underestimate any of us.” He said as he pulled his brother into a hug. He let go of him and let him walk out the door. Zim was shocked, he hadn't hugged him in ages! This made Zim even more on edge about the situation. He looked at his brother with a concerned look on his face before nodding and then heading out the door to the training facility.

Luckily he got there before Kurai. He had the idea he wasn't supposed to know about this or even be there. Zim entered the facility, staying in the shadows the best he could manage to make it up to the attic of the facility without being noticed! He hid inside the attic near the barrier where Jayden would end up hiding. He was close to the air vent Kurai was hiding in, and even though he didn't see Kurai, he could still hear everything going on! To be honest, he was frightened, Jeordie was, to say the least, showing a side to himself making himself seem more of an asshole than usual! This gave Zim mixed emotions, he was frightened yet beyond angry! Suddenly from his place in the shadows his eyes caught the movement of both Kurai and Jayden!

“Glad to see I'm not the only one coming up here to help Jayden!” He whispered coming out of the shadows. “This is a set up? Hmmm…well what should we do? We can't run, that would prove their point assuming we can't handle them! No…we can…. remember it's not about power or elements…it's about skill and ability! We were missing ninja at one point and we have trained under Prim and under Yen. Both who never gave up on us…we got this…we CAN win against them, but doubting ourselves, we can't.” He said as he approached his friends.
-wc:1088-

Miz was upstairs helping put his sister Kawa’s bed back together after her and a friend had broken it jumping on it! Kids, especially the ones who were little like her. She was Five, the other little girl was 8, both too big to jump on a bed, none the less it happened and he got stuck having to fix it. The male twins Daku and Damu, who were fraternal, were eight and playing with a remote control car they had put together and added some kind of listening device to, in the hallway. A huge boisterous laugh came from one of them as it did flips going down the stairs. Miz rolled his eyes knowing it was way too early in the morning to add this to his already aggravating day! The other twin yelled in fear of the car being broken! Unfortunately, If it was, it would be another item on his list to fix. Luckily it wasn't, and it was rolling around in the living room amusing his one year old little sister Rain who was in her playpen.

“Miz…you might want to hear this.” Daku whispered, walking into the room followed by Damu. He had just finished fixing the bed and was about to stand up. He slipped the headphones on and began listening to a conversation between Taki, their older sister Mizumi and their parents.
“I have been working at the hospital here in Kiri for a while now. The amount of Genin I used to see come in from being injured by former village ninjas is insane. I say former village ninja because the other phrase isn't one I like to use. Not all those ninjas are missing intentionally after all!” Mizumi said, pulling her long white hair back in a half ponytail. Since she was a Chuunin and a Medical Nin she had a bit of a different uniform she wore, and she was in the process of putting on a white coat over her current uniform. “And I really don't want to see Miz in there due to being injured or dead, so I am supporting this. Smartest thing you and Jeordie Terumi ever came up with, Taki.” She said putting her Kiri headband on.
“I didn't know I needed your approval or Support Zumi, but thanks anyway. Do you honestly think I would ever let anything bad happen to Miz or his team of misfits? No I don't think so, what you guys aren't realizing is that on top of what I do everyday I keep tabs on Fuku! For example Miz is upstairs right now. He has no idea I'm talking to you guys! This was Jeordie's idea anyways, he is taking Jayden up there and apparently we are going to all face off with Jayden. We are singling out each of them one by one. Rule is no killing or injuring beyond what we can heal!”Taki replied tossing a soft childs ball in the air using water chakra to make a path to the playpen to lead the ball to Rain who giggled. Suddenly, Mizumi slammed her fist down on the wooden table breaking it as she turned around to face Taki!
“If ANYTHING happens and I mean ANYTHING happens to Miz to cause him to land in the hospital, Taki Hozuki your ass is mine! Don't think I'm joking for one second! You may be a higher rank than me but you know damn good and well I could take your ass out boy! Do you understand me?” She asked and said adding a display of power as she backed him up against the wall! The fear he felt was already known by everyone in the house! Miz softly chuckled as did Daku and Damu. Mizumi was like a mama bear when it came to her siblings, she was the oldest after all!

“Mizumi, calm down and back away from your brother now!” Their dad said, stepping between them. Taki's eyes were wide open and you could see the fear in them. Sighing their mother Lotus finally spoke up. “I would rather the boys learn like this because even if they are injured, they are at least alive and this is something that the entire team needs. If they are going to learn to survive, I would rather them learn with Taki’s Jounin team than by, the gods forbid, being attacked by ‘Missing’ ninja! At least the Jounin know or are connected to them in some way and know what they can or can not handle.” She said as she picked up Rain to change her.
“See? Just trust me, as I said before I wouldn't let anything happen to Miz…take a chill pill already…write yourself a Xanax prescription or something before you kill someone! Fuck!” Taki said as moved towards the center of the living room.

Miz took the headphones off and handed them to the twins. “I'm going to leave using the balcony in your room. Don't tell anyone, for you to keep my secret, I have a box of candy under my bed, you guys can have it!” Miz said, stepping out of the room and quietly and quickly walking across the hallway as he heard Mizumi lecturing Taki again. Snickering, he exited the room to the balcony. Turning into a puddle he flowed gently to the ground and turned into his human form again! Gotta love being a Hozuki!

As Miz rushed to the training facility he had a feeling everyone else would be there to help Jayden as well considering they were a team and if they weren't there, well he would find a way to inform the rest of the team! The best hiding place? The attic in a puddle of water. Sure enough it wasn't long before He heard everything. He was in his puddle but considering the puddle was on the floor, he could hear everything. Well, shit, now he knew he had to formulate a plan! Was it wrong that he hoped the twins got a stomach ache for helping set him up? He knew that Taki already knew how to set him up and used the twins to do it. Kids! Oh well.

He heard Jayden and saw the others come out of hiding as well. After listening to his team, he knew what he had to do, he formed back into his human form from his puddle and began to speak to his team. “Zim is right, we have the upper hand if we play our cards right…I have an idea…”
(1,095)

Prim had been walking down the hall that morning when Zeb grabbed her arm as if he needed to urgently speak to her.
“Zeb- what the-'' Prim said, turning to him as he covered her mouth and shushed her.
“We need your help Primrose, meet the other Jounin and I at the meeting room in the training facility. Don't say a word to Zim or Fuku.” He said in a whisper. Prim nodded and shrugged her shoulders before heading out.
After a couple of hours she headed to the training facility. She saw the whole thing unfold with her team. Sighing she stood up and using her wind jutsu floated down off the nearby roof. She entered the facility, and headed straight to the room. She was quite irritated!Why would they assume her team couldn't handle themselves? She didn't train these guys, Yen trained Zim, Miz and Jayden. Stein had helped with Kurai. But to assume they couldn't handle themselves was an insult to Prim's leadership! She stepped into the meeting room and looked over each of them. Politely she decided to speak.
“And what is the point of me being here if you guys are going to terrorize my genin?” She asked with her arms crossed! Maybe she was also a little irritated because one of those Genin, happened to be her boyfriend, Zim Nara.
“Okay I can tell you know what's going on already, it's not what you think, they have gotten a little on the lazy side and a lot of what I said to Jayden was simply to motivate him, it was nothing against your team, I know you're protective of them! We aren't questioning your former leadership of Fuku. But we need your help with them, and Zeb said you could help us out.” Jeordie said as he walked towards Prim attempting to pull her into a hug.
“Fine, what do you want me to do?” Prim asked, hugging the Terumi. It had been a while since she's seen who she dubbed “The Jounin Brothers,” take that how you want to, but these four are typically always seen together.
“How good are you at being a damsel in distress? Not trying to insult you but if they figure you're in trouble and they have to save you that would probably motivate them even further! Besides you know you're safe with us, we wouldn't do anything to you.” Kiken Tau suggested as he remained leaning against the wall. The Tau had a good point. Anytime they knew she was in danger they ALWAYS jumped in to help her! No matter what. There were times she had to tell them to stop and stay away to save them.
“Very well, I will play along with this little game, but on one condition, no harm comes to Zim Nara, or else whoever hurts him will be engulfed in black flames, and I switch sides! Otherwise, I am all for this…now what do I do?” Prim asked as she blocked switching her blue eyes to 3 tomoe then EMS and blinking twice turning them back to her normal blue eyes. They all looked at Prim then back to each other before Zeb shrugged and spoke up.
“Agreed, no one will be killed or injured beyond what we are able to heal!” Zeb said as he looked at Prim. “Sit there and don't move.” Zeb instructed as she developed a quizzical look on her face. Suddenly SEVERAL threads came out of Kiken's arms tying Prim to the chair.
“Kinky, but you aren't really my type and you're married!” Prim said jokingly, unable to move due to the tight threads around her body. Everyone laughed!
“It's our secret love!” Kiken joked back and winked his eye as he walked over cutting the threads from his arm. These threads were all different sizes but a lot stronger than Kurais or Talon's were! Different levels must mean different sizes and strengths in their clan.
Now she had to sit here and wait…
“Are you the final boss Kiken?” She asked, scratching her cheek with her shoulder. He sat in the chair across from her as the others left. Zeb ran over and gave her a hug thanking her before he ran out of the room!
“You could say that.” Kiken replied.
“Remember what I said, I meant that…I could easily break these threads.” Prim said as she looked at him.
“Go ahead and try dear…” Kiken said with an amused look on his face and his arms crossed.
She was bluffing of course but she wasn't about to let them know she was actually stuck to the chair due to the fact his threads were a lot stronger than Kurais.
“Nah…I don't want to hurt your pride!” Prim said with a smile.
“It's because you know you can't! I told you I wasn't going to hurt you so you want me to loosen them?” He asked, trying to be nice towards her.
“Their fine, I'm just not big on being the Princess who needs saving.” Prim said as she leaned her head back hoping her team wouldn't give up and would show everyone they are a lot stronger then they are being given credit for.

WC: 873

Jayden was thankful to see his fellow teammates there, but he was full of different emotions. The rain poured down heavily on the ceiling causing them all to have to speak up. Jayden agreed they couldn't face them and win, but they had to try! They weren't weak but facing the older Jounin was not about to be an easy task to take on! However running from the situation would only make them look like weaklings, something they definitely were not!
Jayden stood up after everyone spoke up, but before he could say a word he heard his older sibling speaking from somewhere in the facility.

“Alright Fukus, we have your fearless leader Primrose tied up, your goal is to rescue her…thought that would give you some incentive!” Jeordie said as he walked through the facility. Zeb was behind Jeordie laughing as he seemed to support the situation. “We know you're in the ceiling but we are giving you time to process everything before we attack! You got 15 minutes, no more, no less.” Zeb added as they continued to walk and talk.

“ Now what do we do? We can't just walk away from this as you suggested, we have to keep coming up with a plan. Zim and Miz have a point, we have the upper hand, so now we need to come up with something in the next fifteen minutes to prove ourselves and save Primmy!” Jayden said slightly irritated that they brought her into this!

“We may not be as strong as them or have as many jutsus, but we are by far, more agile and smarter than they are! It's not power or rank getting us through this, it's our bloodlines and intellect getting us through this, so let's plot!” Jayden added trying to motivate his team! It was obvious they were smart enough to outwit the Jounin team if they applied themselves.
[317]

Kurai watched the others show up one by one. Turns out they had all shown up at practically the same time! Listening to everyone's comments, he realized maybe they had a point, maybe they could win.
“You don't understand, my uncle Kiken, has mastered all four basic elements and is as powerful as Stein was…we CAN'T beat him….there's no way…unless…we outsmart him…that…that may be possible!” Mentioning Stein's name still bothered Kurai. The memories…but yet maybe he did care about Stein, that was the only other he had ever known after all. Then he heard Jeordie, well fuck! Another pawn in their game, they had Prim! Great way to trigger Zim.
“Why- How- fuuuucckk! That's playing dirty! Dragging Prim into the sadistic game. We definitely have no voice at this point. Either outsmart them all or beat them at their own game, we ARE weaker than them but have the street smarts and book knowledge to beat them!” Kurai said, thinking about how to possibly defeat them.
“What if we split into two groups, one group creates a distraction and the other group rescues Prim? Because if we all focus our energy on beating each one of them we will lose, but distracting and taking action would probably work better, just a suggestion I'm throwing out there!” Kurai said as he looked over at his team mates. “I may be the weaker link here, but I'm not the idiot of the group!” He added with a smile. “We have 12 minutes left, any other suggestions?” He asked them.
258

Zim listened closely as his team mates spoke. They had to work together to beat their opponents in this challenge! The “Jounin Brothers” as his fiance Prim calls them aren't exactly weaklings, they could overpower them easily without even lifting a finger! Now yes as it had already been established they could win, but as suggested they would have to outsmart them because they couldn't overpower them.
“what…the…fuck…they have Prim?!” Zim said as he suddenly became quite enraged! He had to stay calm but that wasn't easy! Hell no they were playing dirty this time! Yes, Kurai and Jayden were both right.
“Jayden, you and Prim both have fire element, they are probably expecting you to Lava, I have wind. If you use fire and I use wind we could easily set the woods behind here on fire and keep it going long enough so Kurai and Miz could save Prim! By then they would be busy putting out the fire and we would already be gone. No one would know we started the fire and it would be in an area that isn't inhabited. No one would be in danger and on top of it they wouldn't be expecting it!” Zim explained coming up with an idea before there time was up. It was a good one and hopefully it would work. Even in the rain they could manage to pull off setting the wood on fire.
-238-

Miz had to agree, they needed a plan but wasn't sure exactly what to do. And now, he began to see red! After hearing they had Prim, he emitted a low growl! She had nothing to do with this, why did they feel the need to bring her in on this? That was just a bad move on their part! He sighed as he listened to all the ideas they were coming up with.
“Instead of Zim and Jayden, I'll go with Jayden. Fire can burn even in the rain, so you'll need me to help put it out. Zim can help Kurai rescue Prim. In no way do we need to sink to their level, stay strong no matter what!” Miz said as he looked around at his teammates. “This is low even for them! But if a fight is what they want, we may as well give it to them. At least we work smarter and not harder! Alright team, let's split, literally, I'm ready to watch a forest burn!”
Miz said with an evil smile, they can play dirty without sinking to their level.
Miz really could not believe his brother even allowed this. Taki typically followed any ideas Jeordie had but it wasn't abnormal for Taki to speak up if he didn't agree. So why would he allow Prim to be pulled into this and as a pawn to use nonetheless? It infuriated Miz. But he had to remain calm.
He led the way through a hidden air vent to the roof. Then he walked, hopefully followed by Jayden, to the forest that was a three minute walk.
“Let's watch it burn!” Miz said as he smiled sadistically at Jayden.

284

Prim sighed as she heard the voices echoing through the hallways. She knew her team and at this point, they were just getting pissed off! And that in itself was dangerous! Have you ever heard the old saying, if you can't beat them, join them? Prim trained her team a little differently…and Yen always supported this in his training of Fuku as well, if you can't beat them, outsmart them!
“Kiken, you might want to let them know that antagonizing them like that isn't smart. Of all people you should know them well enough to know they will find a way to win no matter what!” Prim said with a concerned look on her face. She went from worrying if they could win to remembering how they were trained.
“Don't worry we can handle anything they throw at us, don't underestimate us either Primmy.” Kiken said as he stood up and ran a hand through his chin length hair. Much like his son Talon, Kiken was about 5 '11 very built and had his head shaved on the sides and back but long on top. The only difference is she could tell where Kurai got his looks from. Kiken began to loosen the threads making it easier for Prim to move.
“Talon and Kurai aren't really the killing type, I suspect they got that from you. Even if I wouldn't have known I can tell by your mannerisms and looks that those are your kids!” Prim said, looking up at him.
“Guilty as accused, yeah I am. I was one of the few Tau that doesn't believe in killing unless it's necessary. Which is actually how I got my hearts. Only killed if I had to, which I have. I also don't use EGF very often, maybe once in a blue moon if necessary. Yeah Kurai seems to be more mouthy and sensitive than Talon. He's more quiet.” Kiken said as he sat back down across from Prim.
She sighed heavily as she began to worry about her team and what they were about to do. She didn't get to spend much time with TFK in the past so she didn't know them as well, except for Zim and well, when it came to her, Zim could be very overprotective!
“What are you guys planning? Prim wondered to herself hoping that whatever it was, The Jounin Brothers could handle it.
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