Friday, December 15, 2006

   Naruto Story
Okie dokes. I'm closing polls. Number 1 won. So Kamija will go after Sasuke. I've actually started writing that part... I think you guys are going to love what i've come up with. ^-^ but i still have a damn writter's block on where i am. I'm still taking 2 more OVs.
1)Hikari
2)Keiko
3)reserved

For those who haven't been reading my story, i'm gonna post the whole thing right now, and it'll be a nice refreasher course for those who have been following it!! (sorry its long!!)

I sat on a near-by tree stump, watching three genin train. I leaned forward, resting my chin on my hands. It was hard for me to believe everything good my sister said about them. My sister, Riika, was a Jounin who was out on a long-term mission, leaving behind her three trainees, Kanima, the only boy, and Mikiiya and Tinaya, the two girls. Even though I was a Chunin, she asked me to train the kids in her absence… and now I was starting to regret agreeing to training them. Either these kids weren’t being serious since their real sensei was away or they were just three REALLY sorry ninjas. I scoffed. What did Riika see in these kids?
After watching them attempt to climb trees with no hands… and failing miserably… I had enough. I grabbed two of my kunai from the pack on my right thigh and threw it at two of the trees they were climbing. They flew true, lodging themselves right next to Mikiiya and Kanima’s feet. Both of them saw the kunai just barely miss their legs and lost concentration and fell to the ground. Tinaya stood on a branch about half-way up the tree, laughing. I raised my eyebrow at her then sent a kunai at her. It just missed her, lodgeing itself in the tree right behind her head. She lost her balance in an attempt to dodge it and went falling down the tree. In one bound, I reached the tree and ran up it and caught her, without missing a step or messing up my chakra flow. I set her down on the branch and grabbed my kunai and looked disappointedly at the kids.
“Real ninjas wouldn’t let things like flying kunai disturb them so much that they loose control of their chakra.”
I tossed the kunai down to Kanima.
“When I’m almost to the top of the tree, throw the kunai at me… and watch.”
I put my foot on the trunk of the tree and started to walk. I could feel their eyes stare at me in awe of something so simple. I rolled my eyes. My ears then picked up the sound of a flying kunai. I leaned my head to one side as the kunai flew by. At least he can throw a kunai with perfect aim. I continued to walk up the tree, grabbing the kunai on the way up. When I reached the top, I leapt down, going branch to branch. Awe reigned on their faces. Didn’t Riika teach them this stuff? I looked at the three of them.
“Didn’t Riika teach you how to control the flow of your chakra?”
All three nodded. I looked at their faces closely. They weren’t lying and I believed them. Chakra control was the first thing my sister taught me.
“Then why is it so damn hard for you to climb up the trees.”
Mikiiya looked sheepishly at the ground. She spoke up softly.
“I’m afraid of heights.”
Well, that was pretty ridiculous.
“Any other excuses?”
Tinaya raised her hand. “Kamija-Sensei? Was I doing better than them?”
“You got half-way up the tree and decided to quit. When you’re in the middle of a mission or fight, you can’t decide to just quit.”
I pointed to her headband. “When you put that on, you promised to be a true ninja. Never give up or quit because you feel like it.”
I held up the kunai. “When you throw a kunai, does it just stop half-way to its destination because it feels like quitting?”
Kanima looked up with a smile on his face. “But a kunai doesn’t think. It’s just on object. Dead as a door knob.”
The girls laughed at his smart-aleck comment. I threw my hands in the air.
“That’s it. Training is over for the day.”
“But it’s not even noon yet!”
I turned to Tinaya. “Thank your smart-aleck team member.”
Mikiiya elbowed Kanima.
“Nice going idiot.”
Kanima turned to hit Mikiiya. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.
“ENOUGH!!!!!!”
They all froze at the angry tone in my voice. I glared at them.
“My patience level has hit zero. If it wasn’t my sister who asked me to train you, I wouldn’t have agreed. Now, I want you three to go home and get your act together. I want you meet with me at the Academy at 7 p.m. and I want to see some serious work tonight. Work that will make the Hokage proud to say that you are ninjas from Konoha. If not,”
I pointed in the direction of the Academy.
“You’ll spend the rest of this week training with the academy students.”
All three gulped visibly. I pointed for them to leave and they shuffled off, muttering to each other. Late night training might get their act together. Plus, I looked at the sky, It’ll a lot cooler. I sat back down on the tree trunk I was sitting on earlier. I sighed irritably. I looked over at some bushes across the clearing. My voice softened as I spoke.
“Hey, Sasuke-kun”
I watched Sasuke’s all-to familiar form appear from the forest. He had that cool, mysterious demeanor that caused my heart to speed up. I bit my lip, trying to subdue the annoyance that still raged in my blood. He sat down next to me on the large tree stump. I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder.
“Remind me again why I agreed to train these idiots.”
A small smile flashed on his face, then quickly disappeared. I waited a moment for an answer, but none came. I closed my eyes, letting his presence calm me down.
“Sooo… I had a completely aggravating day. How was yours?”
My voice dripped in teasing sarcasm. Sasuke looked at me.
“Naruto was an idiot, as usual. Sakura was bugging the shit out of me. And Kakashi-sensei spent the entire time on our mission reading Come Come Paradise.”
I laughed. “How many times has he read that dumb book?”
He looked up at the sky, counting in his head. “I’m thinking about 10 times. At least since I was assigned to be his trainee.”
I smiled. “He’s always reading it during a meeting. So, I’d make it about 15.”
My heart skipped a beat when I felt his arm wrap around my waist.
“You’re tense.”
I was always amazed at how in-tuned to my feelings he could be. I lifted my head off his shoulder and looked at the ground.
“About a week ago I got a letter from my sister.”
Sasuke turned to look straight at me. “Any news on the Akatsuki?”
I shook my head. “Another false lead.”
I hit my fist against the tree trunk, ignoring the splinters that lodged themselves in the side of my hand.
Sasuke took my hand and started to pull the splinters out.
“Is Riika on her way home now?”
I heard the second part of his sentence in my head, “So you don’t have to continue to deal with these idiots”
I shook my head.
“No. There’s one more lead she’s going to check out before she comes home. Probably another false lead, like all the others.”
Pictures of the slaughter of my parents and brother flashed through my mind.
“How long was it going to take to avenge their murder? How many more stupid wild goose chases will we go on before we find those cursed murderers.”
Anger welled up in me again. I raised my fist to hit the trunk again, but Sasuke stopped me. I grabbed one of my kunai and threw it angrily at a tree. It buried itself deep into the tree.
“Why is it they can get away with this shit? Kill my family…”
I looked over at Sasuke. His dark eyes were clouded over, his face like stone. Like me, he was thinking of his past. One of the things I loved about Sasuke was that he understood what my sister and I went through and the pain we shared and I understood his pain, although at times it seemed like he had a greater amount of pain in his heart.
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on his chest. Automatically, his hand started to mess with my spiked hair. His body trembled with anger. I grasped his shirt in my hands, hoping my touch would bring him out of his miserable memories. I listened to the curses that he uttered under his breath. I pulled away and looked at him. I grabbed another kunai and threw it at him. As if sensing it, he stopped it from hitting his shoulder. I walked over to a tree and yanked my kunai out from the trunk.
“Come on. Let’s get our anger out.”
I don’t remember how long we fought. I just remember that the sky was painted with the late sunset. I laid on the grass, completely out of breath and chakra. Fending off an angry Sasuke always used up my chakra, but each time we fought, I was always able to learn how to save my chakra and still do complex jutsu. While fighting him, it was easy to tell he wasn’t fighting me. In his mind, he was practicing the fight between him and Itachi. I had quickly learned that the only way to stop the fight was to let him win. Although I never did that until I had no more chakra and energy. Because of that, fights sometimes went on for a long time. Not today though.
Sasuke leaned against a tree, breathing heavily. Now that he had fought all his anger and frustration out, he finally relaxed and noticed me stretched out on the grass. I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face in the cool grass. I heard him lay down on his back next to me, his hands acting as a pillow. After an annoying training session and a long fight, this was all I wanted to do. Stretch out on the grass and relax. I sat up and scooted over towards Sasuke and rested my head on his chest. The heat of the day was finally giving way to the cool night breeze. The sweat that had covered my body after the fight was starting to cool and caused me to shiver. Sasuke sat up, causing me to. He reached around me and drew me close, holding me. He held me in one arm and used his other hand to tilt my face towards his and leaned in.
“Didn’t you tell those kids to meet you at the Academy at seven?”
“Mmhmm”
I reached up and wrapped my arm around his neck. I whispered gently as his lips brushed mine.
“They can wait.”
My heart soared as our lips met. All the stress and insanity of the day disappeared. We held onto each other, as if we were trying to melt together. Sasuke leaned back until he was lying down on the ground, with me on top. He held me close, as he had done so many other times in the past. I clung to him, never wanting to let go. We were together in our own world. So much so, we didn’t notice another presence in the clearing until he spoke.
“Ah! There you are Kajima.”
We swiftly parted at the sound of Kakashi’s voice. I grinned slightly at the small curse that escaped Sasuke’s lips. He was ticked at the interruption as well. Sasuke remained on the ground, staring at the sky and watching Kakashi out of the corner of his eye. He was thinking the same thing I was thinking. How long has he been watching? I stood up, hiding my very red face by brushing the grass off my skirt and straightening my rumpled clothes.
An amused look was in his eye as he waited for me to finish. I looked up at him when my face was back to normal.
“Kajima-chan” The seriousness in his voice caught my full attention.
“Hokage-sama wishes to see you.”
My heart, which was just a moment ago soaring through the heavens, crashed down to my stomach. My second sight told me something wasn’t right. I closed me eyes and bowed to Kakashi is respect.
“Then I am off to see him. But I told my sister’s students that I would meet them at the Academy at seven, I’ll need someone to either cover for me or tell them the training session is off.”
“Didn’t seemed like you cared a moment ago.”
I stared at him, irritated. Sometimes Kakashi could be so annoying. He held up his hands.
“Fine, I’ll tell them to head home.”
“Dono Arigato.”
I turned to leave the clearing. As I left I heard Kakashi speak to Sasuke.
“You guys should do that stuff in a more private place. I’ll let you borrow Come Come Paradise for inspiration.”
I turned around and threw a pine cone at his head.
“KAKASHI!! YOU PERVERT!!”
I walked into the Hokage’s office, noting the number of ANBU ninjas in the room. Not good.
As I entered, all conversations ceased and everyone turned to look at me. The Hokage motioned for everyone to leave. Once everyone was gone, the Hokage spoke.
“Miharu, you might want to sit down.”
I silently obeyed.
“Have you heard from your sister?”
I nodded. “About a week ago. She told me that the lead was false and she was on her way to investigate another one.”
He sighed. “And so she did. Except…”
He paused for a second and looked at me as if he was gauging my temper.
“Except… this one wasn’t false.”
I froze, staring at him. “Riika. What happened to my sister? What happened to Riika?”
“Miharu, calm down!”
I stood up and slammed my hands against his desk.
“Not until you tell me what happened to my sister.”
He sighed and leaned back.
“She was scouting ahead of the group alone. There as an ambush. There’s evidence that it was the Akatsuki who attacked her.”
My legs shook, causing me to sit down. “Where is she?”
He moistened his lips. “I’m sorry Kamija. She’s gone. The other ninjas didn’t get to her in time.”
My sight clouded over as a vision of my sister lying dead in a forest invaded my mind. My hands curled into fists.
“Where is her body?”
“You don’t want to see it. Not yet.”
I banged my fists on his desk, my voice dripped with poison.
“WHERE-IS-MY-SIS-TER’S-BODY?”
As if on cue, Anku walked into the room. The Hokage sighed and motioned to her.
“Anku, take Miharu to see the body.”
I followed Anku to the basement, trying to control my rage. We entered a dark room lit with a several candles. My eyes fell upon a body covered in a white sheet. I ran up to it and ripped the sheet off the body. A scream choked in my throat when I saw my sister. Her long blonde hair was bloody, stained by the many head wounds. Her face was pale and distorted, her body bruised and cut. If I didn’t know my sister so well, I wouldn’t of recognized her. I sank to the ground, gripping the edge of the table.
“No, Riika. NO!!!”
My screams echoed in the room. Just a moment ago I was happy and in the arms of my love, now my heart was torn from me and shredded into a thousand pieces. Riika was the only family I had really ever known. After our family was slaughtered ruthlessly by the Akatsuki, she raised me, cared for me, trained me. She helped train me for the Chunin Exams. If it wasn’t for her, I would have never passed the Exam and become a Chunin.
I never noticed Anku leave. I was lost in my memories of my sister. I banged my fist against the ground.
“Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.”
I grabbed a nearby kunai and spun towards the door, throwing the kunai at it.
“DAMN-FUCKIN’-IT!!”
The kunai split the wood of the door. I turned back to my sister’s body.
“You said you’d be there for me! You said we’d never be apart! You said we would avenge our family’s murder together! You said you’d teach me everything you knew. You said…”
My rage broke into crying. I ranted on until everything I said was choked out with the sobs, making my words impossible to understand.
“Damn the Akatsuki! Damn them all! Damn them all to hell!”
I suddenly felt weak and sat on the ground. Footsteps rang on the stone floor. I knew who it was without looking up. Sasuke spoke quietly when he saw Riika.
“Damn”
He knelt down next to me. “Kamija.”
I barely heard him or felt his hand take mine. My world spun and grew dark. The last thoughts that ran through my mind before I fainted was this.
"'I’m just like him. Alone in the world. With no family. No one to go home to. All we have are our memories… and the heart of an AVENGER."'
I don’t know how many days I spent locked up in my room, not eating, not sleeping, seeing no one. The entire village must have stopped by at least once, offering help. I didn’t let any of them in, nor accept their gifts. Even when Sasuke came, I didn’t let him in. The day I finally emerged from my room was the day of my sister’s funeral. I dressed in all black with a long cloak and a large hood to hide myself. I stood in the family’s traditional spot, near the coffin. Across from me, I saw a tall man stand there. “That’s right. Riika was engaged to him”. I looked away and stared at the coffin. No emotion showed on my face, no tears were spilled. I had already shed them all. I couldn’t cry anymore.
I didn’t hear anything that was said about her. I didn’t even notice when it started to rain. I stood there, motionless, even after everyone left. Even after she was buried. I stood there lost in my thoughts, staring at the fresh grave that would forever hold my sister’s body.
That night I finally slept, it was dreamless, until the end of my sleep. Riika appeared, her arms held out as if to embrace me.
“Kamija”
Her soft voice echoed in my head.
“Live on, sister. Live on and avenge our family’s death. Grow stronger and live. Mourn me no more. Grow and train. Someday you will be a great ninja. Then you will be able to face my murderers.”
She paused for a second.
“Remember, dear sister, even if we are parted in this world, I will always be with you.”
The vision started to fade away.
“Live long, sister. I will be with you… always.”
When I woke up the next morning, the vision remained fresh in my mind. I sat in bed for a while, pondering what Riika told me. I sighed. One thing was clear from the vision, I wasn’t strong enough to take on the Akatsuki. This made me slightly irritable. My heart longed to pack up and leave the village and search for my sister’s murderers. I held up my hand, looking at it. My hands weren’t exactly soft. Years of training and ninja missions had seen to that. I closed my hand into a fist, feeling and watching my muscles flex. “’Grow stronger… then you will be able to face my murderers. “’
I shook my head and stepped out of bed. Without Riika around, the house felt so quiet… and lonely. I slipped into my house coat and walked to the kitchen. I looked around mournfully. Around this time, Riika would already be up and about, making breakfast and singing to herself. I made a cup of coffee to wake me up. I still had very little appetite, so I decided to skip breakfast.
When I finished my coffee, returned to my room to get ready to shower. My heart still wouldn’t let me wear my usual blue tank and gray skirt. I grabbed my black tunic and leggings that cut off right above the knee. Right now, I felt most comfortable in black. Part of me said that my sister wouldn’t approve, but the depressed side of me won out. The warm shower did nothing to raise my spirits.
After a while, I was finally ready to go out into public. Once I left the house, my feet seemed to just lead me to the cemetery, straight to where my sister was buried. I knelt on the ground and gently touched the fresh grave. At my touch, a bright light filled my mind. An unseen force knocked me back. I sat up, staring in awe at the figure in front of me. My sister’s spirit stood there staring at me. She held out her hand, calling to me.
“Kamija.”
My hand seemed to act on it’s own. It reached out, touching the spirit’s hand. Upon contact, a light surrounded the both of us. I quickly recognized that I was in the spirit world. Weird.
“’Kamija”’
She called out to me again. She took both my hands. A stinging was felt on both of them. I gasped in pain and looked down. On both hands, a dragon was burned into my palms. I looked back at my sister. She touched the dragons. “I will be with you. Always. I will never leave you. No matter what.”
The two dragons glowed and my sister’s spirit seemed to drain into them, becoming one with me. Her voice echoed in my mind.
“In your greatest and deepest time of need, I will appear and aid you in your quest. Call out to me. I will hear you.”
The light disappeared and I was back at the cemetery in front of my sister’s grave. The two dragons were still there on my palms, a reminder that it was not a dream. I bowed in respect to the dead and left the cemetery.
I figured I should probably get back into the swing of things. I headed straight to where we were assigned our missions. Many people seemed surprise to see me up and about. I guess they figured that I would stay secluded from the world for a bit longer. I did what I could to hide the dragons on my palms. Later on I would buy some gloves. As I waited in line for my turn to be assigned a mission, I over heard a familiar voice up ahead, whining… loudly. Kakashi stood near the front of the line, apparently trying to ignore Naruto’s loud voice. Sakura was scolding Naruto and telling him to shut up. Sasuke stood over to the side, ignoring the whole thing. I laughed softly at what Naruto was complaining about.
“But I want a REAL ninja mission!! I don’t wanna go chasing after some old lady’s dumb cat.”
I rolled my eyes. Some days, I wished that was the kind of mission I was given. Spying and scouting missions were often given to me. Every now and then, they would send me and Riika on an assassination mission. They had quickly learned that the two of us worked at our best together. I wonder if they’ll still give me assassination missions with Riika now gone.
The whining had come to a stop. Apparently, they were now inside. Now the Hokage had to deal with the whining. Wonder how long? After about five minutes, they came out. Naruto looked please. Apparently, he got his wish. I decided to find Sasuke later and find out what went on in there.
My turn finally came. Everyone seemed shock when I walked in. Iruka stuttered a bit before he finally spoke.
“Kamija! What a surprise. We didn’t expect to see you here so soon.”
I remained silent aware that the Hokage was watching me. He turned to Iruka and the others. After some conferring, Iruka finally spoke to me.
“We understand that Riika asked you to train her trainees while she was gone.”
I nodded my head.
“We would like to ask you to continue training them. I know you’re a Chunin and not a Jounin, but right now, there are no Jounin to spare to train the youngsters. We ask that you be their sensei until we can find a permanent one for them.”
I tried not to show my annoyance. I smiled and nodded.
“I’d be happy to take the place of their sensei. Even if it is temporary.”
Iruka smiled and looked relieved.
“Well, that’s settled then.”
I bowed, then turned to leave.
“Oh, Kamija!”
I turned back. The Hokage smiled warmly at me.
“Welcome back.”
The moment I left the room, a look of annoyance immediately reigned over my face. And I agreed to this WHY???????? I sighed and looked up at the sky. It was early afternoon. After a bit of thought, I decided to start the three Genins’ training tomorrow. I headed to the market. First, I need to buy some gloves. I entered a tanner’s shop. A familiar voice greeted me.
“Kamija!! What are you doing up and about.”
I smiled as my friend, Mesínayä, ran over to me, catching me in a hug.
“Mes-chan… I.. need… air…”
Mesínayä let go of me, apologizing.
“Sorry. It’s just, I haven’t seen you around lately. I was missing your company.”
“yeah, well. I’ve been busy…”
Mesínayä led me to the cashier counter.
“So, what can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for some gloves.”
“Gloves?”
I looked down at my hands, pondering if I should show her the dragons. I stuck my hands in my pockets and lied.
“Ummm… yeah… You know, ninja missions and all, not exactly easy on the hands. Thought I should get something to cover them up. You know, try to keep them from getting ugly.”
Mesínayä grinned mischievously. “You’ve got your eye on someone.”
I glared at her. “No I don’t.”
She grinned. “Sure.” She turned and headed into the store. “Follow me.”
After an hour of convincing her that I wasn’t doing this for some guy, I finally found a pair I liked and left. Mesínayä was a good buddy, she could just be aggravating at times… and nosy. I headed for the training field, deciding to get in some training and see how well the gloves worked with me.
As I reached the field, a voice reached my ears.
“All right Lee! That’s how you do it!! Use the power of your youth!!!”
I stopped dead in my tracks. Gai. The dude always freaked me out. He was really… well… WEIRD! On top of that, he’s been trying to get me to go out with him for a while now. I quickly turned around before he noticed me.
“KAMIJA!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”
I groaned… too late. I turned around, faking a smile.
“Hello Gai.”
“Kamija! Why don’t you join us? You’re not doing anything, are you?”
I opened my mouth to lie and try to get out of it, but he didn’t stop talking.
“Hey TenTen, Neji, Lee, look who’s here to train with us!”
All three looked up from their training to acknowledge me. Of the four, Neji and TenTen were the only ones who seemed… well.. normal. Lee adored Gai and dressed and acted just like Gai. As if one Gai wasn’t enough.
“Kamija! Why don’t you show TenTen that water jutsu you just learned.”
“I’m sorry, Gai. I’m actually busy. Love to help, but, not today.”
“Then, we can take a raincheck!”
I really needed to watch what I said.
“Heh, sure. Some other time.”
I started to walk away.
“Kamija! Wait up.”
I looked at the sky. Here it comes.
“If you’re not busy tonight…”
“Gai, I’m sorry. Not right now. Too much going on.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Not exactly over your sister’s death yet?”
I decided to let that be my excuse.
“Yeah. Well, gotta go.”
With that I took off before he could say anything else. Why couldn’t the moron get a clue that I wasn’t interested in him?? I’d rather turn lesbian than go out with him. I decided I might as well head home
sat at my desk, scrolls scattered all across it. Each one was labeled with a chapter number. I dug around in them, looking for the one I had been writing in recently.
“Ah, here it is!”
I opened it up, scanning what I had previously written for my fantasy.

‘Starspray put down the large tree limb she used to knock out Röhnan.
“Sorry. Can’t let you kill all the goblins for me.”
A goblin from behind jumped on her back. A quick jab in its stomach caused it to go limp and fall down.
“Trath, Minth. Take Chos and Crith to a nearby stream and get their wings washed so they can finish this fight.”
Two soldiers ran over to Chos and Crith and helped them up and together stumbled into the forest.
Mathé set upon the goblins with fury. He had lost Bance on the way here, his best friend. The goblins would pay, and pay dearly. He swung his two swords in all directions, decapitating several goblins, relieving them of their arms and legs, and chopping them in half. Hincket was swinging his great battle-ax to the left and right. Blood squirted from the goblin’s stomachs as the sharp ax slit open several stomachs. Jathiné and Jenáy stood back to back shooting starbolts and energy blasts at the goblins as they popped their heads out from the bushes. Melch ran over towards Kenthy and the unconscious Röhnan. He grimaced when he saw Röhnan’s fangs and claws. It was probably best to not wake him. Melch did plan on living longer. He picked up Kenthy and moved her to where Ravyn was. Tenk walked over to him, slapping him on the butt.
“Come on man, you can have fun with her later. We got business here.”
Melch shot Tenk a dirty look.
“You have a dirty mind, you know that?”
“And a fact I’m proud of.”
Melch stood up. “Come on man, help me guard them.”
Tenk turned his back towards Melch.
“No problem man.”
Melch grinned. Tenk could be dirty at times, but he had a good side too. Melch turned his back a towards Tenk. They stood back to back with the girls in-between them, fighting the goblins. Melch’s massive body tended to scare goblins. But his massiveness came in handy when he fought hand to hand, his specialty.’

I picked up my pen and started to write. I felt thrilled that the writer’s block that had recently made it impossible to continue my story, was finally gone.
A knock at the door brought me back from the world of my story. I looked up, realizing that it was getting dark.
“Door’s open!”
I blew on the ink so it would dry quickly. I heard the door open and closed as someone entered the house. I leaned back in my chair.
“In my room!”
I returned to rolling up my scrolls and organizing my desk. A moment later, Sasuke appeared in my doorway.
“Writing again?”
“Yeah. That writer’s block I’ve been having has finally lifted.”
I stood up from my desk and walked to the windows to close the blinds. Sasuke leaned against my desk. Once I closed the blinds and turned on some lights, I sat down on my bed.
“So what happened today? Naruto was making a racket this morning!”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. “He was sick of all the missions we’ve been assigned lately. He wants ‘a real ninja mission’”
“So I heard.”
“He convinced Iruka-sensei to give us a “real mission”. That’s why I came.”
Sasuke sat down next to me.
“First thing tomorrow, we’re leaving the village. We’re escorting this old dude to the land of waves.”
“A ‘C’ rank mission, eh?”
“Yeah”
“How long will you be gone?”
“Shouldn’t take long. We’re just escorting him. Nothing special.”
I nodded. “Estimation?”
“A week or so. Were you given a mission? I saw you in line.”
“I went to receive one, instead I got assigned to continue training my sister’s genin. At least until they find a Jounin who can take them under his or her’s command.”
Sasuke grimaced. “That sucks.”
I nodded. “Big time.”
We fell quiet for a moment, just enjoying each other’s company. I was the one who finally broke the silence.
“Shouldn’t you go get ready?”
“Yeah, I should.”
We stood up and I started to walk to the door, Sasuke following.
When we reached the door, Sasuke took my hand.
“Why are you wearing gloves?”
I felt reluctant to show him the dragons. “Take them off.”
He gently slid them off my hands, revealing the dragons on my palms.
“When did this happen?” He gently traced them.
“This morning. I’ll explain later when we have time.”
Concern shown in his dark eyes. I gently squeezed his hand.
“Don’t worry about it. Nothing’s wrong.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck to hug him. He gently wrapped his around my waist. At the touch of his embrace, a vision clouded my mind. Sasuke laid in Naruto’s arms, pierced by many throwing needles. Naruto put him down on the ground, shaking with anger. Sasuke laid on the ground motionless, like he was dead. I gasped sharply. The mission was apparently more dangerous than any of them thought. I gritted my teeth, pushing the image from my head. Damn these visions. Sometimes I hated my ability to see into the future.
Sasuke must of heard my gasp since he now cupped my chin in his hand, bringing my eyes to meet his.
“What is it?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
He looked as if he doubted what I said, but said nothing. He kissed me gently, then pulled away. He squeezed my hand and slipped out the door. As I watched him leave, the vision continued to raid my mind. I turned away and slipped into my room, pushing the vision to the back of my mind.
The next morning, I sent messengers to tell Kanim, Mikiiya, and Tinaya to meet me at the training field at 7 a.m. I sat at my desk, looking over their files. Iruka had given them to me the night before, a bit after Sasuke had left.
Mikiiya was of the Hyuuga clan’s main branch. Apparently, at the Academy she showed as much skill as Neji. I wondered if the Academy teachers had over-exaggerated.
Kanim was of the Inuzuka clan. That would explain why he was always a mess. First day I met him, I wondered if he ever heard of the word, “shower”. Apparently he hadn’t been given a puppy yet. A note at the bottom explained why.
“Kanim is yet to be given a dog companion. He has an aura that scares many of the dogs. There is a Siberian Husky puppy who has taken to Kanim. Unfortunately, the puppy is only a few weeks old. We must wait for the puppy to be of an appropriate age to begin training with Kanim.”
I looked at the date at the bottom of the note. It had been written about 2 months ago. By now the dog should be old enough. I decided to visit Kanim’s parents later that day.
Tinaya was of a clan I hadn’t heard of. Takasumi clan. As I dug through her files, I discovered why. Apparently the Takasumi clan is new Konoha. Tinaya would be the first in her clan to become a shinobi. Interesting.
I sighed and leaned back in my chair. I removed the gloves from my hands and stared at the dragons.
“Riika. What am I supposed to do? I really don’t know anything about training them! For pete’s sake, I became a Chunin a few months ago!!”
“Let me guide you.”
I sat up as the voice rang in my head. Riika? She could contact me? That freaked me out. Voices in my head. If anyone found out, I’d be sent to a hospital for the insane. She spoke to me again.
“Let me guide you.”
I sighed. “Okay.”
I looked at the clock. It was about 6:45. I should be going. I sat there for a second. One thing I learned as a Genin was patience. First test: let’s see how patient they can be.
I sat back and looked over their files once more. Another vision flashed through my head. Sasuke stood in what looked like a room of mirrors. Behind him was Naruto, down on the ground. A close up of Sasuke caused me to see his eyes… red.
The vision resided and I gained my sight again. So, on this mission Sasuke will finally gain the Sharigun. But the vision from the night before still hung in my head. He looked… dead. I breathed deeply, clearing my mind.
A knock on the door caused me to jump. I sighed and got up from my desk.
“Mesínayä, you can come on in.”
Mesínayä opened the door, laughing. “How do you do that?”
“Everyone has a different knock. Riika taught me that. We would screen our visitors and decide if we should let them in or act like we weren’t home. Sometimes we made a game of it.”
I laughed softly and looked down at the ground. It still hurt to think of Riika and the fun we had. Mesínayä touched my shoulders.
“You okay?”
“It just… it still hurts to think about her.”
“Time will mend your broken heart. In the mean time, when you think of her, don’t do it with sadness, but with joy. With happiness and laughter at all the times you spent together.”
I looked at Mesínayä. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
I turned to head to the kitchen. “So, why are you here?”
“I heard you’re now the new sensei for Riika’s Genin.”
“Yup.”
I opened a cupboard and pulled out a box of tea. “What some?”
“Sure.”
Mesínayä talked about her life as I made the tea. I watched the time, trying to decide when I should finally meet up with the genin. I poured two cups of the tea then headed to the living room, Mesínayä following… still talking.
We sat on the floor on some mats.
“So, Kamija. How are the gloves working?”
“Fine. I haven’t tried them out yet in training. I was going to do a bit of training at the training field yesterday, but it was already occupied.”
“Oh, yeah! TenTen had come in to talk with me. She told me they would be doing some training there.”
I glared at Mesínayä. “And you failed to mention that bit of information with me, WHY??!!”
“Sorry, slipped my mind. So… what did Gai try to do? Did he ask you out again?”
“He asked me to train with them.”
“You immediately said ‘no’, didn’t you?”
“HELL YES!!!”
Mesínayä laughed. “You still didn’t answer my question. Did he ask you out again?”
“Yes, but I cut him off.”
“What excuse did you use this time? Training with Kakashi’s team again?”
I groaned, remembering the last one. Riika and I just got back from a mission and I was tired. We were headed home to rest when Gai stopped me. Riika walked across the street to watch with an amused face. She was of absolutely no help. Then Sasuke walked by with Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto. Sasuke over heard Gai asking me out and almost threw a throwing star at him. I backed away, telling him that I promised Kakashi that I would help Sakura train that day. Gai’s face was… well… hysterically funny. He turned away and started muttering on and on about Kakashi’s cool attitude and stuff. I walked over to Kakashi’s team. I eyed Kakashi with a piercing look, “Help me out, or else.”
Kakashi was apparently trying to quell the laughter that was building up in him. Naruto was pointing at Gai and laughing out loud at him.
“HAAAAHAAAAA!! Bushy brow’s sensei got denied!!”
Sakura hit Naruto on the head telling him to shut up.
Sasuke moved to walk behind me in a protective manner. Then Kakashi asked me to help Sakura with her training. I turned to find Riika, but she already left.
“Traitor”
I sighed then agreed to help. Least I could do for Kakashi, since he helped me escape Gai, was help.
The rest of the day I spent with Sakura. She wouldn’t shut up about how cool Sasuke was and how one day they would marry and so on. It took everything I had to not beat the shit out of her and tell her to back off. Naruto and Sasuke spent the time competing and all Sakura wanted to do was watched Sasuke. I eventually had to take her elsewhere to do the training. And all the freaking time, Kakashi was reading that perverted Come Come Paradise book. I almost threw a kunai at the damn book in my frustration with him.
I looked over at Mesínayä. It was obvious she could tell what I was thinking about. The big grin on her face gave it away. I sighed.
“Yes, he tried to ask me out… a-freakin-gain!”
“AND….”
“I told him no. He figured I was still in mourning over Riika. I let that be my excuse.”
Mesínayä laughed. “I wonder how long it will take for him to realize you’re not interested.”
I shrugged. “Who knows. He must be as stupid as those retarded clothes he wears.”
Mesínayä was beating her hands on the floor because she was laughing so hard. I glared at her.
“NOT FUNNY!!! The moron won’t leave me alone!!”
Mesínayä sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I’m glad you still have you’re sense of humor.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned against the low table in front of us.
“But seriously Kamija. How come you don’t have a boyfriend? You’re 17! Riika was engaged at 20! You’ve never even been out on a date.”
I grinned inwardly. Never been on a date, huh? All the evenings with Sasuke flashed through my mind.
“Yeah, kinda sad isn’t it? I’m 17 and never gone out with a guy.”
I suddenly longed to see him. I sighed and looked down. Sasuke said about a week, but my visions were telling me it might be longer. Sure, there had been many times that we had been parted. But I was the one on the mission and he was back in Konoha. Missions outside of Konoha took my full attention, so I didn’t have time to miss Sasuke. But since it was the other way this time… I sighed.
Mesínayä thought my sigh meant that I wanted a boyfriend, but couldn’t find one. She patted me on the back.
“Don’t worry. I know a bunch of guys.”
“Let me guess, you’re ex-boyfriends?”
“So? I know from experience which ones would make a good boyfriend for you. OH!!! You remember the tall guy with long, red hair?”
“Rick?”
“Yeah him!! He would make a perfect boyfriend for you!! Oh!! I’ll call him tonight and hook you up for a date tomorrow!!
“No thanks. Mesínayä.”
“Not him… okay… how about… OH!! Hakaru?”
“The really tall, blonde, spiky hair dude that you broke up with a month ago?”
“Yeah!! And he had a tattoo on his ass!”
I looked at Mesínayä. “How do you know that?”
She opened her mouth then shut it. “His… uh… brother told me?”
“His brother is 3 months old.”
Mesínayä looked away. “Right.”
I rolled my eyes and stood up. “Whatever. Look I’m not interested right now.”
Mesínayä looked at me. ”Cuz you have a crush on someone.”
I looked at the ceiling. “Mesínayä. Will you stop playing matchmaker!!”
“Fine. I’m just trying to help you out.”
I sighed and shook my head. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
I looked at a near-by clock. It was starting to reach 10 a.m. I decided to head to the training field.
“Mesínayä, I’m sorry to run, but I gotta meet up with the Genin and start their training.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks for the tea. And it was great talking with you again!”
I followed her to the door. As she stepped out of the room, she turned around.
“What about Ton-“
I shut the door in her face. She never gave up. I walked to my room to grab my gear and then headed to the training field.
I headed to the training field, wondering who all remained. As i neared the field, i lept into the trees. More fun to suddenly appear from no where and scare the shit out of them. I stood on a tree branch and observed the trainees. "So only the girls remained. NO surprise" Mikiiya sat on the ground watching Tanaya throw Kunai at a target. I lept down in between them. MIkiiya jumped off the ground and squeaked with surprise. Tanaya fell over in shock.
"Where did you come from?" Tanaya stood up and brushed off her skirt.
"The trees." I walked over to the target and unlodged the kunai. "Here." I tossed it over to her. She neatly caught it and slipped it into her pouch.
"Sit down, both of you."
The two sat on the ground and looked up intently at me. I sat on a nearby target.
"So, where's Kanim?"
"He left about an hour ago. He got tired of waiting for you, so he left."
"Why didn't you two leave?"
Tanaya picked at a piece of grass. "I have nothing else to do today."
I flicked a piece of bark at her.
"Is that what being a ninja is to you? Something to do to pass the time?"
"No! It's just, i didn't have anything else planned for today. I saved today for training!!"
I turned to Mikiiya. "So, why'd you stay."
"My dad always taught me to be patient. THat it is an important virtue for a shinobi."
"Very good! Tinaya, you could learn something from Mikiiya!"Mikiiya beamed happily at the compliment. Tanaya turned away and pouted. i shook my head.
"Too bad Kanim left early. He's gonna miss out on an easy training day."
Tanaya turned around and looked at me inquisitively. "Easy?"
"I just want to spend today getting to know you guys better. I want to figure out how to train you best. Everyone has a different learning style. If you guys want to become stronger, you must also learn your learning style. It will help you learn quicker and understand everything you learn."
"HOw you going to do that?"
"Simple exercises and Q&A's"
I stood up and walked towards them.
"Just tell me a bit about yourselves. Tanaya, you first. I know you're the first in your clan to become a ninja."
"Yup! My parents are really proud!!"
"So, what's your favorite jutsu?"
She winked at me and lept into the trees.
"Uh-Oh" was the first thing to run through my mind.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu"
I lept out of the way as a fire ball came flying into the clearing. Mikiiya jumped up and threw water from her pack at the fire. Tanaya landed in the scourched area. I hit her hard on the head.
"You moron!! I told you to tell me not show me! You could of sent the whole forest up in flames! Next time you practice any fire jutsu... DO IT BY WATER!!!"
"Sit down!"
Tanaya sat down, rubbing the cheek i slapped.
"How about this, let's do something simple, not requiring a show and tell!"
"Like what?"
"Tell me about yourself. I'll start. I'm Komija Miharu. I'm 17 and a chunin. I enjoy writting fantasy stories, training, and playing Rock music. My dislikes... Gai-sensei!"
The two laughed hysterically. "Gai is weird!"
I grinned at them. "That's the reason i turn him down every time he asks me out!"
Mikiiya spoke up when she stopped laughing.
"Is it also 'cuz your going out with someone?"
"What makes you say that Mikiiya?"
"Well, shouldn't you?"
"I'm to busy with training you guys and missions to have a boyfriend."
"Oh... well, you're pretty. I'd think you would have a boyfriend."
I blushed at that comment. "Uhh.. okay... let's get back on track. Tanaya, tell me about you."
"Ummm... well... I'm the first in my clan to be a ninja. I want to be the next Tsunade, she's amazing!!!"
"Indeed she is. Anything you like?"
She looked around then leaned towards me.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
I forced a smile. "How... nice... Anything you don't like."
"Sakura."
I laughed at that. Every girl who loved Sasuke despised Sakura since she was on the same team as him. Even i was slightly jealous when I found out who all was on his team. Later that day, Sasuke removed all doubts in my mind.
"Okay, Mikiiya, you're turn."
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