Crossover With Non-anime Series Fan Fiction ❯ Seeking Peace ❯ Baby Steps ( Chapter 6 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"Listen kid, the technique I'm about to teach you requires much, much more than your normal amount of chakra. You too, Heiwa chick. So we need to be able to pull out and activate the huge amount of chakra that's sleeping inside of you both." I had learned the guy's given name was Jiraiya. I had done a bit of snooping around yesterday, and learned that amazingly, he was a former pupil of the Hokage...which meant he had been with Orochimaru at one point...I didn't know the details, but apparently they were still rivals after fifty years. At that, I decided there was probably no one better to teach me how to bring him down.Naruto had told me that Sasuke was up against that sand carrot top, Gaara, and that I was up against a lazy guy called Shikamaru, but really, I considered my true opponent to be that evil snake Orochimaru. I didn't really care about becoming a chunin or whatever, neither did Sasuke. When I said as much to Jiraiya, he just laughed at me."You??to take down Orochimaru? He has enough power to destroy a small country! What makes you think you'd stand a chance against someone like that?" He made fun of me.I crossed my arms angrily, "Idon't!...But I'm like you, I think. Remember, you called me a yankee once? That's not strong a word enough for what I am...Just like Naruto called you a pervert once, no, you're ten times worse than that! You even admitted it! So don't deny it!"I narrowed my eyes then, before he could respond, "But the difference between us, is that when I want something, I stop at nothing, and take down anything in my way to get it...In that respect I'm more likehim...and then there's the other part where I think I'm always right. As much as I hate to say it, I'm probablya lothim...Because of that...that's the reason I think I'd stand a chance...If you can get inside your enemy's head, then it's all over...Plus, it helps if you're small, fast, and have questionable morals, like me..."The sannin hummed thoughtfully, and nodded, "Alright kid...You may have a point...It's amazing you know so much about him after one encounter..."I smirked, "That, and I do my research...I did research onyouThe library here in Konoha actually has a lot of volumes on the legendary three. I really want to meet the 'slug princess', as that elder of the sand, Chiyo-baa, calls her. She sounded like a very...interestingJiraya roared with laughter, "You know what, Heiwa? You do remind me of him. Before he went dark. It's a bit scary actually.""Tell me about it..." I made a face, and he laughed again.That's about the point Naruto showed up, and Jiraiya told us to deplete our chakra by water walking first before attempting the technique he promised he'd teach us. Since I'd been here, I'd never felt my chakra depleted before...It was probably one of the strangest things ever, like your energy being sucked out. I'd felt something similar once when I'd joined a blood study for extra cash...They'd injected a type of medicine into my blood stream which was thicker and slower moving than blood itself...I could feel itmovingmy circulatory system...He had a strange conversation with Naruto about his two types of chakra, saying that he didn't need to do the same kind of training as others because of his huge stamina. I almost envied him as mine ran out at a constant rate..."You should train to release the highest amount of chakra possible and then use it to it's capacity." He explained, crouching down to Naruto's height and making exaggerated gestures, "When you do that there are tons of jutsu you can use!""Like what??" Naruto asked, enthralled."Like the one I'm about to teach you," The toad sage winked, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"(ŒûŠñ‚¹ :Kuchiyosemeaning "drawing in to speak" in real-life Japan refers to the practice of allowing spirits to possess one's body and speak through it like a medium.)"Kuchiyose?" I questioned from the water, confused."Yeah!" The sannin nodded eagerly, "You sign a contract with various life forms, and call them forth with ninjutsu when needed. It's one type of Jik?kan Ninjutsu."(Žž‹óŠÔ”Ep , Jik?kan Ninjutsu; Literally meaning "Time?Space Ninja Techniques") The name 'Time-Space' stuck in my head, causing my stomach to flip over at the prospects, "Wait, Jik?kan Ninjutsu? Can it be used for actual travel through dimensions?""Hmm," The sannin hummed thoughtfully, scratching his chin, "I guess so, but why would you want to do that? It's dangerous, and you might get stuck in some strange dimension filled with monsters and demons..."I gave him a deadpan look, "That already happened to me. I've been trying to tell people, but no one believes me. I'm from a different dimension! Some crazy idiot taxi cab driver with stupid dreadlocks dropped me in the middle of the exams here to punish me for some reason! Now I have no idea how to get back home! I need to get my sister!""Wait, wait, wait!" Naruto shouted, "I'm confused, I thought this jutsu was for summoning huge frogs and stuff, dattebayo. Ane-chan, I don't get it, you have a sister??""This actually explains a lot of things..." Jiraya murmured to himself, then said to me, "...The Heiwa clan wasn't just known for their uncontrollable kekki genkai, but for their Jik?kan Ninjutsu...If they found another dimension to call home, it would make sense how your chakra is so concentrated and how you even exist in the first place...Heiwa-chan, thisishome...you just never knew about it."I blinked, loosing my concentration, "...What?"I plunged directly into the stream we were practicing on with a sputter and a cry of dismay at getting wet.At this handy piece of information, I really didn't know what to make of my situation."God dammit!" I cursed, packing up my shoulder bag. I was going to the library to read up on the Heiwa clan myself. It was ridiculous that I didn't know these things. I thought of my mother and how much we looked like each other...She had never told me any of this! ...Had she even known? How many years had it been since my clan moved through the dimensions and started a new life? How many years since the irradiation of the ones here with the volatile kekki genkai?Why??could you just kill every single innocent man, woman, and child, just because of their bloodline...It sounded like something I should ask Sasuke's brother..."Demo, Ane-chan! You can't leave yet!" Naruto protested, shaking my shoulders, "We need to finish training, dattebayo!"I looked back at the sannin angrily. I didn't really know why I was mad at him. It was like shooting the messenger. He didn't ask to be the bearer of bad news, he just spit it out. I realized it was an error on my part to blame him for it...besides, were it not for him, I would have remained woefully ignorant of the facts...I smiled at Naruto then, "Yeah, you're right...Just remind me to go to the library, alright? I need to get to the bottom of this..."Jiraiya messed up my hair and I scowled at him again, because now it was even messier than usual. Sasuke would always tease me about the feathers that refused to come out, and I slapped his hand away, sticking my tongue out.After a while of chakra depletion, Naruto's eyes started to get droopy and he fell into the water. I had to drag him out."Strange," Jiraiya remarked, "Even Naruto struggles to control his chakra precisely and messes up after a while, so do you, but your chakra doesn't seem to be connected directly with your stamina...""Yeah," I gave him an odd look, "It just feels super freaky, like when you stay awake for so long, you start to get hyper and lightheaded...How did you know?""I'm a sannin!" He grinned as if for explanation and I deadpanned and rolled my eyes miserably.Said sannin looked down at Naruto cheerfully as he started to come to again, "Looks like you finally used up most of your chakra! Then I'll teach you the technique now.""Yes!! I've been waiting for this!!" The enthusiastic boy was immediately revived by the man's words, and again, I found myself jealous of his ability to recover so quickly."I'll show you first, so watch closely," Jiraiya brought his thumb up to his mouth expertly and bit it hard enough to draw blood and stuck it promptly to his tattooed left palm and slammed it down to the ground, hard. Strange symbols made their way out from the point of impact and the huge frog he had summoned before came out again. I wondered if they secretly synchronized stupid kabuki poses...The frog was orange with blue markings, and wore a huge pendent around his froggy neck with several large beads, the lagest, central one bearing the kanji ’‰ , ch? (meaning 'loyalty'). He also held a big green scroll wrapped up in his long, stretchy tongue and extended it to drop the scroll in Naruto's hands."This is the contract with the toads that has been passed down through many generations..." Jiraya explained from atop the large toad, "In blood, you write your name and below, press your fingerprints to seal the contract. That hand will be the one you'll summon with from now on."After Naruto signed his name, I went to sign my own eagerly. I used to think water walking was the coolest thing ever, but my expectations of this world just kept on being blown away by new things. I wondered if I'd ever be satisfied with my own power...probably not. I'd always be wanting to expand my horizons and test my limits...it was my nature.Before I could bite my own thumb however, Jiraiya hopped off his toad and scrutinized me carefully."What is it?" I wondered."Hmm," He tapped his chin thoughtfully, "on second thought, you may not have the right affinity for the toad summon..."I blinked, "What do you mean? What do I do now?""I know!" Jiraiya snapped his fingers, "Just do what I did when I was your age! It's a long shot, but summoning without a contract, summonsyouthe residence of a life form you have a natural affinity for. It could be dangerous though...I know Orochimaru's summon is the strongest colossal serpent, Manda...He sure had a fun time trying to control that thing...Anyway, the trip must be taken alone, and you shouldn't go unless you're ready\\"I slammed my palm down to the ground watching as the strange, unreadable, symbols traveled across the ground. I had enough time to look up at the surprised faces of both Naruto and Jiraiya before they were obscured by smoke...and I was gone.~*~*~When I woke up, it took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness that surrounded me. What made it easier was a large strangely luminescent pool. I was in a cathedral sized cave, it seemed...with no outlets...'Is this the residence of the life form I have an affinity with...? There's nothing here...' I thought conflictingly, wondering if Jiraiya was full of crap. If he was, I was screwed...I sighed, resolving that there was nothing I could do presently, and walked over the the huge body of water, and nelt beside it. I was immediately enthralled by the thousands of swirling koi fish of several varying sizes, colors, and shapes, that drifted and swam in schools. The pool was a rounded out, deep, tunnel like crater with colorful algae and drifting anemones lining the walls. The water seemed to glow with energy, and I leaned out over it, fascinated by the life that seemed to go on for miles down, even past the shadowy depths.Several of the playful creatures came up to the surface to meet me, and I stuck my hand in the water to let them nibble at my fingers, laughing joyfully in my delight. As soon as my fingers broke the surface of the cool tingling liquid, however, I felt a foreboding tremble go through the foundations of rock beneath me, and the beautiful fish all darted to various hiding places...I stood then, apprehensively, and took several steps back from the pool. Good thing too, with my aversion to water, because it was then that the pool suddenly erupted, the incandescent liquid spraying all about. Now, hanging suspended, as if floating above the beauty held within the pool, appeared two of the most graceful beings I had ever seen."Why have you come to our home, human...?" It was the largest koi fish I had ever seen, black, with opalescent markings around it's golden eyes and fins that drifted in the air like clouds. It's voice came in whispers that echoed off the cave walls like my laugh had earlier. I was amazed that it spoke."I...I'm sorry for intruding..." I managed to gasp out, "I didn't know...that anyone was here..."I stared at them mesmerized with wide eyes, and the other, smaller, but still huge, creamy white koi fish glided towards me with transfixing laughter, and said in an almost feminine but distinctly male voice "It finds us beautiful, La... What an adorable creature."Unable to help myself, I reached out to touch the silky whiskers that drifted along in the fish's slip stream. Shivering with glee I had to clasp my hands behind me to control myself from reaching out to embrace the warm entity. Its presence alone seemed to make me happy, and held sway over my emotions. I couldn't even begin to try and resist the greater influence over me and fell to my knees."That's enough, Tui...Haven't you had your fill of tantalizing the poor mortals...?" The whispery voice of the female, La, shot accusingly.I reached out in abandon as the creature of light sighed, and slipped away from me, twisting and turning its body through the air, "I was just teasing, sister...You never let me have any fun.""This 'fun' as you call it is not in my nature..." The dark koi fish rasped at her playful brother.As I got a hold on my sanity once again, I whispered, "...What are you?"Because they certainly weren't fish. They only took the shape of them, I could tell that now...These two were forms of pure energy."We are the spirits Tui and Lac" the dark spirit replied simply, "But you still havenft answered my question, young onecwhy are you here?"I blinked, "IcI was training, and my sensei told me a way to acquire a contract with a summon of the right affinity by traveling to that life formfs residencecI didnft mean to be rude.""So polite!" chirped the other spirit, Tui, who I had acquired a healthy fear of in a short amount of time, "I like this one, sister. Can we keep it?""Affinityc" La ignored her brotherfs request, to my relief, "the only ones with the affinity to summon the spirits were the clan of HeiwacTo my knowledge, theyfre extinctc"I shook my head, "My name is Heiwa AnekacMy senseifs theory is that some of the clan used their jutsu to transcend space and time into another dimensioncthatfs where I come fromc"La froze in her aimless drifting to regard me with a large, yellow eye, "We were not informed of thiscIt is an insult to our authorityc"I looked down at my knees humbly, "With all due respectcthe only ones left of our clan are my sister and Icand we were born long after our roots and clan had been forgotten in the otherworldcThe only reason I know of any of this is because of my senseicand the only reason Ifm here is by accidentcIfm sorry for any misunderstanding Ifve causedc""I seec" La whispered, "cThen I suppose we should be grateful for the return of our children of Heiwacyou say the only heirs are the two sisterscwhat a shamecI wouldfve hoped for morec"I remained staring down at my hands in my lap, "cbelieve me when I say that Ifm sorry to disappointc""In any casec" La continued, "you will have your summonscbut you must come here every full mooncwe have much to teach youc"I looked up eagerly, "How?"Tui giggled bubbly, "So avid to return, are we?"I frowned defiantly, "Yes."La smiled in a way that said she approved of my attitude towards Tui with her wide whiskered koi lips, "Wefll summon you, of coursec"She drifted toward me and I instinctively reached my minuscule hand out to touch her gargantuan snout. As soon as I did, I was enveloped in a flash of light.In that moment, I felt myself being summoned back. It was an odd feeling, as if being jerked around by your navel. When I opened my eyes, and the smoke cleared, I felt myself being tackled just as suddenly."Ane-chan!" Naruto cried out. I still couldn't get used to him calling me that. He reminded me so much of my sister that it made me smile."Tadaima..." I smiled at him lazily. Actually, I was just exhausted.(‚½‚¾‚¢‚Ü :Tadaimasaying, meaning 'I'm back' usually said when returning home. To be answered with ‚¨‹A‚èokairi means 'welcome back'.)"That was fast." Jiraiya remarked, "Last time I did that, I was gone for months...anyway, how'd it go?"I looked down at my right hand that I had reached out and touched La with to see a tattoo like marking, similar to the curse mark...except this was beautiful. It was a depiction of two twin koi wrapping themselves around my forearm. If I looked at them out of the corner of my eye, they seemed to move almost. Grinning, I held it out to Jiraiya to investigate.He grinned as well, "That's a summoning tattoo. They're only bestowed by powerful entities. You must've really impressed someone, kid...Let's see what it can do.""Hmm," I looked at the tattoo that ran length wise along my forearm and bit my thumb hard, squinting one of my eyes in pain. My teeth weren't sharp, so the bluntness didn't make piercing my skin easy. I wiped a line of my blood down the entire tattoo, not really knowing what else to do with it, and thrust my palm down at the ground.Naruto watched eagerly at the flash of smoke that materialized and from out of it drifted a small, amiable koi fish. The laughter of a child echoed around, strangely, considering there was nothing for it to echo off of."Heiwa!" The small thing chanted, "Heiwa has returned!"I grinned and reached into the fold of my top, procuring some crackers I had found in one of the spider free cabinets in Sasuke's kitchen, crushing them up into crumbs for my newest friend. I was originally going to have them for lunch, but the little fishy was so cute...Naruto was apparently freaked out by the way it swam though the air instead of water and ran away from it. And I had to laugh as he ran back and forth and it chased him playfully."I've never seen that kind of summon before..." Jiraiya mused thoughtfully, "What did it mean by youreturning?""It's a koi spirit." I smiled at it, "Tui and La said I have to go back to the spirit world at the full moon. They're my clan's summons. I think they can teach me things that I won't find in the library...""Come back to play!" the little fishy told me before disappearing."Tui and La..." Jiraiya tapped his chin, "Why does that sound so familiar...?""'Cause you're old, and senile, and pretty much everything sounds familiar?" I joked."OI!" He shouted at me, "Respect your elders!"Sasuke didn't come back home that night. And I was left alone in a creepy house. Damned if I was going along with that.I had hardly explored Konoha at all since I had been here. My morning routine was pretty much, make breakfast for Sasuke and I (if he managed to wake me up), go to the library, then training with Naruto and Jiraiya. But in the small amount of Konoha that I had discovered, I'd taken up the surly shinobi habit of roof jumping. I was now perched on a tall telephone pole just outside the Uchiha compound to see what I could see. There was nothing that really caught my interest besides a building with a huge statue of a koi fish in the distance, silhouetted against the full moon. With today's events, I found the sight too ironic to pass up.I smiled up at the moon when I got there, reveling in how huge it looked. I almost wished I had a camera."What are you doing here...?" came a dark voice from atop the koi's tail, which was adorned with several Chinese d?ng lanterns."Huh...?" Strange, I hadn't noticed anyone at all, but there he was, sitting right on the koi's til fin, staring at the moon as well."Oh, umm...Nothing really." I hopped up on the tail fin as well, "Lonely night, I guess. Do you mind if I sit with you?"He tore his gaze away from the pearly white moon to stare at me blankly. I shrugged and lowered myself onto the upper tail fin about three yards away. Hey, he didn't say no. I pulled my knees up and addressed the moon when I asked him, "You're the one that's fighting Sasuke right?""...Yeah" He answered, glaring at me with dark ringed eyes, "...Did he send you here to spy on me?"I laughed hard at the seriousness he addressed me with, "No. You've really got some things to learn about your opponent. Haha. He's not one to send others to do his dirty work...No...He didn't even come home tonight...Out training with our sensei at all hours it seems...His house is really creepy when you're in it alone.""You're afraid of being alone?" He questioned with superiority."Pfft," I snorted, "At Sasuke's house? Hell yeah, I am. An entire clan was massacred there. By his own brother no less...Yeah. That place creeps me out when he's not there. Whenever I hear ghosts or something I go find him. But I don't know where he is right now...""You'd admit your weakness to an enemy?" He gave me an odd look.I blinked at him, confused, "You're not my enemy. Why would you think that? I thought we were friends."Again, the look, and then the glare, "...We're not friends...and you're a weakling..."I rolled my eyes, brushing off the insult, "Geez, you don't trust anyone do you?""...No." He admitted without the bat of an eyelash."Why is that, I wonder..." I mused to myself as I looked at the moon.After a moment, I noticed the presence of someone else and looked down off the koi to find the oto nin with the furry thing on his back. I glared automatically at him. That sound village had something to do with Orochimaru...I knew it."What doyouI shot at him, jumping down off the koi with a glare to face him.The guy laughed, "Hostile, are we Aneka-chan? I didn't expect you to be here tonight..."I pointed at him accusingly, "You're in league with that god damn Orochimarufreak...So yeah, I'd say I'm a bithostile, for lack of a better word...""And smart too, apparently..." I couldn't see his face from under the bandages, but I could swear that he just smirked at me, "...So you figured it out, eh? I never did get a chance to fight you in the forest...Sasuke ended up dislocating both of Zaku-kun's arms..."I smirked, "Yeah, he does things like that sometimes...Listen, I don't care what you were planning to do with carrot top over there, but your plans are now officially being canceled byme...I want you to take a message back to your master...""Heh, I don't think so..." The annoying guy grated on my nerves, "You see, I was planning on taking out that guy during the night so I'd have a better chance at fighting Sasuke in the exams, but it's like the bastard doesn't sleep or something..."I glared at him, "First off, I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult my friend...Next, you're a weak ass looser if you need to wait 'til someone's asleep to take them out...And last, I told you before, you're plans were justcanceled. So quit running your mouth, and take a message...got it?"It was then that Gaara's voice grated out strangely behind us, "'He' get's blood thirsty during the full moon..."The sound nin and I could only watch as Gaara's shape morphed into something grotesque. The guy next to me took a tremulous step back, "W...what is this?! What are you??"I said nothing as I stared at the thing Gaara was becoming. I had known there was something strange about him by the way he acted before, but this...When he came flying at us, I knew I had to hightail my ass out of there...because he wasn't one to distinguish between friend and foe. And for all I knew, everyone was an enemy in Gaara's eyes...I hid behind the the koi fish and listened to the sounds of screaming and snarling and bones snapping and the roof cracking with my knees pulled up to my chin. When it was all over there was silence, and I wondered if coming here tonight had been the best idea after all."I know you're there..." came the sound of Gaara's voice. It was calm now, not stained like it had been before. It seemed as if killing took a load off of him, as funny as that sounded.I stood, and peeked out from around the mouth of the koi hesitantly at first, before going out to examine the body of the oto nin gingerly. I found he was literally torn to pieces, as I knelt to examine his form. With a morbid sort of fascination, I reached out to touch his bloody face."...Why didn't you run away?" Gaara questioned me from where he stood, hunched over and panting in exhaustion from whatever he had just done.I continued poking at the dead oto nin curiously, "I don't really know...I guess it probably would've been smarter, wouldn't it?"I sighed at him then, "I really wish you hadn't've killed him though..."I walked over to him boldly and patted his cheek, leaving a smear of blood on his pale skin, "People are much more useful when they're alive, you know...Now I have no one to\\"I stopped abruptly and looked away across some of the buildings, hearing distant voices...I recognized one of them distinctly.I smirked and gave the dumbfounded Gaara a look, "I'll be right back\\"It probably wasn't one of the smartest things I've done, but I went straight after the voices, arriving in front of the two conversing figures. They both stared at me blankly."Kabuto." I acknowledged him with scowl, "I've got a bone to pick with you."He blinked at me, giving me a bewildered look, "Aneka-chan? What are you doing here?""I could ask you the same question..." I replied, eyeing the other guy, a sand nin from the looks of it, and nervous as a whore in a church...He looked at Kabuto strangely, "Is she a spy as well?"He shook his head, "Just a prospective talent Orochimaru-sama's taking into account...She's not very happy with me at the moment...""So glad you can tell." I smiled at him venomously, "I want you to get a message to Orochimaru."He sent me a coy smirk, "Too bad I'm a spy, and not a messenger...""Oh, shut up," I shot angrily at him, "I don't care what the hell you are, you're with Orochimaru, and that's enough. Tell him I want my goddamn knife back, got it?""Would you like that word for word, or the revised version?" He still gave me that annoying smirk and I wanted to slap it off his face, but I knew that wouldn't be very smart. I may talk big, but I knew I wasn't strong enough to take on Kabuto...not yet...Instead, I smiled sweetly, disguising that murderous glare that I'm sure he could see clearly just below the surface."Word. For. Word, pretty please...Oh, and you should probably tell him to look into the Heiwa clan that was eradicated before the formation of the village and that I'm going to seriously kick his ass when I see him again..." I said without emotion and crossed my arms, pulling up the overlengthened sleeves of my kimono top irritably.My amber gold eyes wondered over to the sand guy again after that, "I take it the sand is working with Orochimaru, is that it?"The guy that I remembered as the sensei of the three sand candidates, meaning Gaara too, glanced nervously at Kabuto before making a hard face and replying, "It's none of your concern, little girl.""You know he's just going screw you over, right?" I raised my eyebrow at him, "I mean, come on, it'sOrochimaru. You seriously can't trust him as far as you can throw him...What were you peoplethinking?"I was then lost in a fantasy of throwing Orochimaru over a cliff, but then, that would be contradictory to my previous statement...There was suddenly a noise from behind the corner and all three of us jerked our heads to stare. The sand guy went after whoever had been there, and I smirked at Kabuto as he began to walk away."You know...whatever you guys are planning is totally going to fall on it's face in the end, right?" I said confidently to his back, "And you can tell Orochimaru that Sasuke and I aren't going to go along with any of it...""Whatever you say, Aneka-chan...you're the boss." He patronized me before disappearing into the night."Urgh!" I growled in frustration, hopping back over the roofs to the koi fish building.Gaara stood in the exact same place, not having moved an inch."The sand is collaborating with an attack on the leaf." I said to him abruptly, "Did you know anything about this?"He shook his head slowly, "...Why are you telling me this?""Because they werewatchingI stressed this to him, "That...thing...that you do... They're probably after that... They're most likely going to try and use you...Are you going to let them?""...That depends..." He answered cryptically. I didn't bother to ask on what.I sighed and stared up at the bright full moon, "Listen...The guy behind it all...Orochimaru...He's an expert at using people...It's like a game to him...You're part of it. Me. Sasuke. We're all pieces on his chess board...and I don't know about you...but I'm all for navigating me, and my villageoffit...If I were you...I'd do the same...because that snake will turn on you. It's not a question of 'if', really, but 'when'...""And don't even think about trying to take him on..." I continued, and he looked at me as if I had read his thoughts, "I've been told that he has enough power to take down a small country, single handed...I'm not sure even you could handle that much...""You seem to know a lot about what's going on..." He commented dryly.I smirked lightly, "Ilikeknow what's going on. It makes it easier to control things. Easier to know when to get what I care about, and get out. It's that simple, really..."When he didn't answer, I sighed, and folded my arms behind my head like I had seen Naruto do on occasion, "Any way...It's going to be a long night...So I hope no one comes looking to kill you again...""...They probably will..." he replied knowingly, staring up at the moon again.After a while I said softly, "you've had a hard life...I wish you luck."He gave me one of those odd looks again and I was off after that, weighted with the burden of what I had learned...I felt bad almost, because I had told Gaara originally that I hadn't come there to spy on him...But now that I knew what I did, I couldn't justnotl Sasuke about it...I wondered briefly about my own opponent, and considered the possibility of going to 'spy' on him tomorrow...At least it would give me something to do...Dawn eventually came and went, and I was still kind of hyped up on the odd feeling of sleep deprivation around noon, having. I guessed 'tomorrow' had come, and I still had no idea where Sasuke was...I supposed I should go through with my plan of 'spying' on the Nara kid.I sighed, and took in my surroundings blearily, wondering if I had been here before. I think I had surfaced a good portion of the village the last night, but things looked different in the day time, and I wasn't sure...I heard a loud cheer from a Yakiniku restaurant nearby and wondered in in curiosity. I think I must've been running on pure luck since last night when I saw four people sitting at the corner table. I ambled over surreptitiously and stopped at the table with a pretty girl with blonde hair (whom I think Sakura had called Ino), a rather...largeenthusiastically stuffing his face, a familiar looking jounin, and last but not least, the boy with the spiky ponytail that I was supposed to fight."Hi." I chirped, holding my hands behind my back slightly nervously. It was kind of an awkward situation. I mean, imagine someone who's supposed to be conspiring against you, coming up to you and all your friends and actingnice..."Um, I don't know if you remember me, but\\""You're Heiwa Aneka." The spiky haired Shikamaru said instantly, giving me an intelligent look.I rubbed the back of my head with an awkward smile, "Yeah...and you're Nara Shikamaru, right? We're supposed to fight during the finals...and I don't know, I sort of just saw you guys in here, and I thought it might be nice to introduce myself before we try to kill each other..."That came out totally wrong, and I cringed slightly, my eyes darting away awkwardly. To my surprise, the boy laughed, and their sensei smiled warmly, "Why don't you sit down?"I grinned genuinely, "Thanks..."I did as he suggested and placed myself next to the girl who gave me a curious look, "You're on Sasuke-kun's team, right?"I nodded, "Oh, yeah. They're great. I'm actually kind of staying at Sasuke's house at the moment, since I don't really have anywhere else to go...It's kind of creepy when there's no one there though, so I spend most of my time keeping busy with stuff..."Her eyes went wide, "You're staying at hishouse???""Unfortunately..." I cringed, "There are spiderseverywhere!!"She leaned toward me animatedly, "Are you nuts?? I'd bravehoardsspiders if it meant I got to stay at Sasuke's place!"I blinked, surprised, and slightly perturbed by this information, "Well, you're braver than I am. Every time I come across one, I just gethimto come and deal with it...unfortunately he didn't come home last night... I think he's on some secret training mission with Kakashi-sensei..."I looked at Shikamaru earnestly then, "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you and all, that I'm not looking for a death match or anything..."He smiled sardonically, leaning his chin on his fist lazily, "Good. Me either. I have to say though, I was kind of bummed when I found out I'd have to fight a girl..."I grinned good humouredly, then frowned, "Well, you might just end up having to fight two of them...That oto nin, Dosu, I think his name was,diednight..."The four at the table all stared at me in shock, "What? How do you know?""I saw it." I told them truthfully, "I was up wandering around, cause, like I said before, Sasuke's house is creepy when he's gone, and that idiot started provoking that Sabaku no Gaara...He kind of signed his own death warrant by doing that...He was trying to take out Gaara so he'd have a better shot at Sasuke or something..."The four looked at each other anxiously, and I continued quietly, looking around conspiratorially, "Listen...Just between us...There are things going down in the shadows of this exam...you know those marks that showed up on me and Sasuke during our prelim matches?"Ino hung on to my words avidly and nodded."Well..." I frowned, wondering how much I should really disclose to the other genin, "the truth is, we ran into this guy in the middle of the forest that wasn't actuallysupposedbe in the exams at all..."I sent a deliberate look toward the jounin, "He was thiscertain S-class missing ninthe village...come back for some dumb reason...now he's the one causing all kinds of problems for the leaf...""Does Hokage-sama know of this?" He asked wearily.I nodded, "Yeah...He and I had a long talk about it...But he's deciding to tip toe around the issue...he says it's kind of sensitive at the moment...you know, with the exams and all...?""That's some heavy stuff..." the robust boy had even paused in his eating to listen to the conversation.The Jounin, whom I remembered as Asuma-sensei, looked at me seriously, admonishing "If that's the policy Hokage-ama wishes to keep on the subjectcthen we should follow through with thatchI felt the slightest twinge of shame, and looked down at my hands in my lap, but upon seeing the now familiar bandages wrapped around my left hand and wrist, any amount of the distasteful emotion was evaporated by the heat of my anger. I ripped the yellowed wrappings off and plopped my marked wrist down on the table, finally sick of hiding it."See, now, I'd be happy to except that, Sensei, except for the existence of this...Anko-sensei told me I'm going to die because it's affecting my system badly...It's also one of the things I wanted to talk to you about Shikamaru...The fact of the matter is, I'm pissed off.""No," I revised my statement, "The truth is that it's much more than that...Although my loyalty is to the leaf by default, I can't help wanting revenge for this...""Shikamaru," I addressed him, and he looked at me seriously, "I need you to know, that if this thing starts to spread during our fight, you need to get the hell out...I have a volatile kekki genkai that becomes even more unstable with the mark. I've been told by a...reliable source that having it activate in the proximity of an ally could prove fatal...""So, hold on," Ino tried to clarify skeptically, "you're saying you can't use you'r blood line? It's dangerous?"I nodded, "Very much so, apparently. I just learned about it recently myself...It seems that it's uncontrollable, even in a normal state, so with this..." I held up my wrist, "Yeah...I don't even want to have to find out. I've been told not to try to induce itever, unless I plan on seriously hurting someone...that someone including myself..."Looking at the grim faces of my comrades briefly, I stood, not wanting to take away their happiness any longer, "Listen...I just wanted to make it clear that...I don't see you as my enemy, Shikamaru. My real enemy is the one who threatens this village...and took my life...even if it's not lost just yet. It was his mistake for not killing me to begin with. Because now, I'm going to spend the rest of the time I have left trying to bring him down...The most dangerous enemy is one with nothing to loose."With that, I nodded to each of them and promptly turned to leave. When I was about to reach the door, however, I heard Asuma call out my name, "Aneka-san!""Huh?" I turned around quickly, wondering if I had forgotten something."Nice talking to ya." Shikamaru smiled lazily.Asuma did the same warmly, "Come play shogei with us some time. Shikamaru could use a better opponent than me."People in konoha were so nice.I swelled happily and grinned, flashing a peace sign, "It's a promise!"I was still wondering around the village at sunset. I think I had at least mapped out half of it by now. I had even run into Naruto, which helped out a lot, considering he showed me his favorite restaurant ƒ‰[ƒƒ“ˆêŠy Ichiraku Ramen, and places where the team met up for missions on a normal day. Eventually, though, my exhaustion got the better of me and forced me back to the Uchiha compound as dusk settled on the horizon. I ran through the abandoned streets hurriedly, imagining shadows moving in the darkened alleys strangely."Where have you been?" I jumped violently with a yelp of surprise when Sasuke's deep voice sounded directly behind me."How do you keepdoingI shouted at him, dismayed.He coked his dark eyebrow at me and waved his finger tips in the air suggestively, "Ninja, remember?"I rolled my eyes, "No, duh...where where you anyway\\?"He cut me off by holding out a packaged wrapped in brown paper with my name written on it in slanted characters upon it to be abruptly, "This came for you while we were both out...It's weird...usually delivery guys don't come this far in, but it was sitting right on the doorstep when I got home..."I gave him a skeptical look. Of course deliveries didn't come this far in, the place was a ghost town. He shrugged uncomfortably, as if reading my thoughts.I sighed and took the long thin package from him gingerly tilting it sided to side, examining it curiously. Who could it possibly be from? It was weird, considering I knew so little people in Konoha...I stuck my finger under a seam in the sloppy wrapping and tore off one end of it, but by that time, my hands were shaking so hard that I dropped the object with the height of my nerves. A very familiar red wood mahogany handle stuck out of the rapper on the floor, and I had to take a step back in surprise.Sasuke gave me an odd look before bending to remove the long sword and sheath from the paper, "What's wrong with it?"I didn't answer because I was staring at it apprehensively. It was unmistakable. The tip of the handle was definitely mine, but the rest of the elongated hilt, the round, slate colored guard, and the polished, matching, wood sheath were as unfamiliar as any rocking horse shit I had ever seen.I reached down and proquired a folded, white slip of paper that had fallen to the ground in my anxiety. Inside were written words in the same slanted in writing as my name had been on the outside of the package.\\Dearest Aneka-chan,Congratulations on finding a way to contact me in such a short amount of time. You've ferreted out my plans quite thoroughly it seems...Even more quickly than I could've hoped. At the message you sent to me with Kabuto-kun, I took the liberty of having that dull blade of yours I had on me refurbished into something I believe you'll find much more useful...\\The note went on to tell the legend of a great sword smith's apprentice who placed the sword's blade against the current of a river and, in consequence, cutting the leaves, fish, even the air, and eventually splitting the river current itself in two, causing the river to fork into two different tributaries, all to out due his master. Later a passing monk called the sword evil and bloodthirsty, referring to its inability to differentiate between cutting the innocent or the wicked...The sword was called 'Juuyo'. (A variation of Juuchi Yosamu \ç–éŠ¦ meaning 'a thousand cold nights')\\It should suit you well...\\note went on to say.Thoroughly disturbed, I passed the note to the confused, if not slightly intrigued by the sword he still held examining, Sasuke. Still not knowing what it was or who it was from, he passed the sword to me casually as he took the note to read it as I had. I held it out away from me like a venomous snake...Morbid curiosity overtook me, however, as I examined the crimson wood sheath. I slid the blade out against my better judgement...It made a whispering sound as it moved through the groove of polished wood, seeming to promise bloodshed. It's shimmery blade was curved gracefully, and was excruciatingly sharp. Running my finger along the flat side was like stroking a blade of grass. It drew blood instantly. A deadly kind of beauty.'It should suit you well...'What the hell was that supposed to mean? He had gone through all the trouble to explain the sword's history and legend to me for some reason. Was he possibly insinuating...?I experienced a bout of hotheadedness and I felt Sasuke's callused hand on my shoulder, "You look like you've seen a ghost..."I searched his eyes briefly with my own. He must not've guessed who it was from yet. I spotted more slanted writing on the back of the leaflet and snatched it from him, letting the katana drop to the floor carelessly with a clang. Sasuke gave me a reproachful look before bending to retrieve it. I didn't pay attention though as he wondered out into the court yard with it though, I was pouring over the words of the enemy on the scrap of paper I held with strained fingers.\\I also took your sharp advise at looking into the Heiwa clan...I have to say, what I've found out is quite...illuminating...I'll thank you for acutely pointing me in the right direction in my research of your person Aneka-chan. It seems I was previously at a dead end...And at what I've discovered so far, I find myself quite fortunate to have stumbled upon you during the exams, considering you happen to be of a clan that was previously thought to be extinct...Additionally, the ability you demonstrated when I was testing yours and Sasuke-kun's powers, theHonshitsu...I find it extremely fascinating concept to consider...\\"Aneka!" Sasuke shouted from the courtyard, "You should come see this!"Numbly, pausing in my reading, I went over to the round shouji window and slid it open. I could hear birds chirping happily in the solitary sakura tree. It was the only thing that bloomed in the whole yard.Sasuke held the thin, silvery blade out in front of him beneath it with his dominate right hand, the mahogany red sheath in the left. It was a beautiful sight really, and I had to catch myself when I subconsciously included Sasuke as part of it...I had noticed several girls lusting over the Uchiha's good looks, including that Ino girl, and even sweet Sakura...I wanted to give him at least one female figure in his life that didn't go all gaa-ga and treat him like a piece of meat...I think I owed him that much, considering how he protected me during the exams, and now, letting me stay with him even...It was the least amount of common courtesy I could offer him...I didn't need to make it harder on myself by developing...feelings...for that kind of untouchable guy...He looked at me strangely then, "What?"I shook my head distractedly, trying to clear my troubled thoughts, "Nothing...You wanted to show me something?"He pointed the sword at the practice dummy, and looked at me briefly with an excitement in his eye, "Watch..."In a quick, single movement, he went from point A to point B with the katana like an extension of his arm. I didn't even see him slash at the dummy with much force, but as he ended in a crouch, the dummy fell to the ground in chunks...along with the wood post it had been tethered to...Slowly, I stepped out onto the veranda, reading the rest of the note with a foreboding feeling...\\Kabuto-kun also tells me you're...less than pleased with me of late...I want you to know that the two of us do not necessarily need to be enemies...I believe there is much we may learn from each other. I could help you, like I have helped dozens of others in the past. I try to make a habit of assisting others to find their true potential, those who have been...Overlooked, by their various institutions, like Konoha...Beware the council of elders...I trust you'll consider this information carefully, and pass it on to Sasuke-kun as well. Also, enjoy the gift...I hope you'll accept it as a token of good will...and that the next time we talk it will be face to face.\\It wasn't signed.With trembling fingers I passed the note to Sasuke again and sat on the edge of the deck with my knees drawn up. He gave me a weary look before settling beside me and handing me the mahogany sheathedJuuyo. I accepted the killing device passively, for, despite it's obvious beauty, that's really all it was. I stared out past the peaceful court yard towards the lone sakura tree just as blankly as before as Sasuke continued to finish reading the slanted lettered leaflet with a similarly blank expression. When he was done he looked off into the same direction as I did, as he was finally brought up to speed with the situation, he didn't say anything.we just sat in an uncomfortable silence until I finally turned to look into his dark eyes, panicky."Sasuke, what..." I shook my head in a hopeless way, "What should I do...?"He shook his head as well, "...We all have our own decisions to make...I can't make this one for you. I can't tell you what to do."I clenched and unclenched my fingers in frustration, "No, I mean, you don't get it..."I leaned my forehead on my palm stressfully, "...It's like...Ever since I met you, every time I get into a situation, I think 'what would that Uchiha do?' And then, automatically, I know the right choice. It's like magic or something..."He smirked mirthlessly, "I wasn't aware I made that much of an impression."I looked at him skeptically, "Do you even see yourself? Just look at the number you do on Naruto! I've been training with him for the last three days, and he's been telling me about how you two trained together before, and he raggs on you a lot and calls you a bastard all the time, but he knows a lot of the improvement he's made is because of his rivalry with you. He showed me this thing that he calls 'Naruto Rendan' that he used to beat that annoying Kiba guy in the prelims, and you know what he said he based it off of?You. He was trying to copy you, Sasuke, and he ended up coming up with something that was perfect for him...You do that to people, you know?""It's like your special talent," I continued, "You help people better themselves by just being around them. So what are you talking about, not making an impression? You're the biggest impression making person I've ever met."He blinked his eyes several times in surprise before looking away abruptly and muttering, "I didn't know that...""well," I told him soberly, "It's not an understatement when I say that I look up to you...You're sort of like...My island of reality in an ocean of chaos...Everything's just a mess...and I trust you."He gave me a searching look, "You've known me for little over a week. How can you just blindly trust someone like that?""I'm not blind." I cocked an eyebrow at him, "Keep in mind, we've also been through hell together...And if I had to do it again, I can't really think of any one else I'd rather have fighting alongside me. And despite your horrible attitude problem, I have to admit, you've grown on me. Guess there's no helping it now..."He sighed, and looked out at the sakura tree again, shaking his head, "I won't pretend to understand what goes on in that head of yours, but I guess we're in this thing together...whatever you decide, it's going to end up bitingmethe ass somewhere along the road anyway...Might as well take measures to prevent that beforehand..."I nodded in agreement, trying not to make a nasty comment on his last statement since he seemed to be considering my logic. He scanned Orochimaru's note again and he looked at me questioningly, "What's this about you having a clan? and a kekki genkai? Youtoldhim about it??"I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity, "I ran into Kabuto when I was hanging out with that Sabaku no Gaara the other night. Seems one of those oto nin was trying to off him under cover of night and he went berserk on the guy...he turned into some kind of giant monster sand tanuki...Left the poor, dumb bastard in pieces on the roof..."Sasuke twitched and gave me a look of disbelief, "Hanging outHe face palmed and gave me another look, "That's it. I'm taking you with me when I go to train with Kakashi. You get into too much trouble on your own otherwise..."I raised both my palms in surrender at his scowl, "Hey, you're the one who said training on your own was better! I was just trying to make concessions!""By concessions, do you mean almost getting yourself killed and fraternizing with the enemy??" He demanded."Ok," I glared at him, "first off, I don'tfraternizeanyone, and two, you're just just being ridiculous because you're jealous that I found out the sand are plotting against the leaf before you did!"He blinked in surprise at this new turn of events, then shook his head as if I had nothing to say should effect him anymore, "Go grab some provisions. We need to go see Kakashi about this. It's the last time we'll be coming back here for a while, so make sure you bring everything you need...""Yeah, not a problem, but..." I held up the Juuyo, "what should I do with this...?"Sasuke shook his head again, "It's yours now. You might as well get some use out of it.""But..." I protested, "It'sevil..."He rolled his eyes, "That's probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard...A sword is only as good as it's master, so ifyouit...then it's not evil, stupid..."I looked down at the mahogany sheath darkly, "...He said it wouldsuit me...What if\\Gyah! What the\\!?"He had interrupted me violently by banging me on the head swiftly with his fist, "Oi, did you hear me, stupid? The sword's not evil, you're not evil. Bring it and let's go already..."I looked up at him, massaging the growing bump on my cranium, eye twitching in irritation, "...Why,of course, Your Highness,silly it was of me to doubt yourunparalleled wisdom..."He held up his fist again with shadowed eyes, and I took it at that to high tail it into the house and grab my stuff."Urgh\\!!" I clutched my calf painfully as I was once again flung to the ground by one of Kakashi's kicks."As I thought," he said calmly, "your skills in common taijutsu are unorthodox at best...You can't even take a fall correctly..."I glared up at him, "If you already knew, then why are we even doing this in the first place?"He looked genuinely bored, "To prove my point.""Point proven..." I grumbled at him, "Can we move on now? Like, 'solution to problem' might be a good place to start...""Well, you have many problems..." He said remorselessly, then walked over and crouched down to my level on the ground and held out what seemed to be a flat, round disk of lead, "Too many to fix with one solution, but this will solve a great many of them."I eyed him suspiciously, moving to receive it with quick, agile fingers, "What's this thing supposed to\\Gyah!"As soon as he had relinquished the disk, the weight of the object had my fingers pinned beneath it. It was like someone had scaled down a horse and squashed it inside. I hunched forward and, with tremendous effort, was able to eventually lift it with both hands."What the hell is this??" I gasped, trying to hand it back to him.He didn't take it. On the contrary, he seemed to be amused by my struggle, "It's a weight. If you wear it until you can move as if it weren't there at all, you'll become extremely fast...""I'm already fast!" I argued, finally dropping the horrible thing on the ground, stirring up a small cloud of dust with the impact it made."Exactly," Kakashi explained, "At this point you should focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses..."I looked from him, to the disk on the ground, and back, confused, "That doesn't make much sense...""It makes perfect sense, you're just too dense to realize it." He insisted, "You have what's left of a month to perfect your skills. Now's not the time to go off learning new things when you still have things to learn...""Heh," I laughed humorlessly, "That's not what Sasuke's doing...""You're not Sasuke, you're you." He rolled his one visible eye at me, "...Don't worry Aneka-kun, I've got something a little different in store for you...""Just out of curiosity, though..." he rummaged around in his hip pack for a moment, emerging with two slips of what looked like rice paper between his two fingers.He passed me one, and directed, "Put your chakra into it."I blinked, confused, the looked at him skeptically, "What?!""Just do it, and don't argue for once." He sighed, resting his masked chin on his palm.I eyed him irritably, but did as he said, channeling my chakra quickly to my fingertips. I'd like to think I'd become much more proficient with the strange stuff since my training with Anko. I now used it on a daily basis for multiple tasks. (Mainly avoiding spiders at Sasuke's house.)However, what happened when my chakra touched the paper was instantaneous and alarming. First, the paper crumpled in my fingers with a crack of what seemed to be electricity. I gasped next, as a flash of something ripped it in half, leaving it to flutter down to the ground, oddly singed and smoking..."What the hell just happened?" I uttered, pointing a trembling finger at the remains of paper on the ground."...There's a saying I heard once..." Kakashi mused, staring at me dubiously, "There are two kinds of people in the world...those thatmakehappen, and those thatwatchhappen...I'd sayyoua third category, Aneka-kun...""Huh?" I squinted at him suspiciously, wondering where this was going."You're the kind of person that just stands there andwondersjust happened..."I blinked at him then narrowed my eyes irritably, "I don't get it, you're telling me what I already know. What I want to know, is what it was I just made happen! \\Why are you staring at me like that?"Kakashi: looks at camera for sympathy after a drum roll and the tap of a pair of symbols"It's chakra paper," He explained to me, making his won sheet crumple up as well, although it didn't chop in half, or singe, or anything like mine had, "It gives you and idea of what nature your chakra is of, and what jutsu you have a better affinity for.""But," I wondered, "why did mine do all that weird stuff?"He held up his crumpled piece of paper, "You're a lightning nature, like Sasuke and I, which is good for what I'm going to teach you, but it seems you're also a wind type, which is odd...One, because I only know of one other person in Konoha with that type of chakra, and also because the two elements clash...it's strange.""But I could practicallyseestatic on mine," I insisted, storing this information somewhere for future reference, "Why didn't you rs do all that?""Because," he told me thoughtfully, "although I have a larger capacity for chakra than you, due to my experience, yours is much more potent...every bit you exert is explosive, like a bomb..."I blinked in recognition, "Oh yeah! That's like the same thing that big, stinky, Jiraiya-pervert told me before."Kakashi stilled slightly in surprised, "Jiraiya-sensei's back??""Hm? You know him\\wait..." I interrupted myself, remembering something Naruto had said about knowing those books, then choked on my own spit briefly while backing away in crab-walk from Kakashi."Of course you know him!! You're the perv that reads his books!!"Kakashi flipped a familiar looking orange book out of his hip pack routinely and opened it up, it seemed, just to bury his slightly blushing face in it."I'm not like that," He protested, "...I'm just an admirer of good romance novels...""Romanceass...you know he looks at naked people for inspiration, right?" I dead panned.He blinked, seeming a bit surprised, then, not so much. I had to give him credit for looking slightly sheepish before shrugging indifferently and going back to reading.I face palmed, "Why is everyone exceptSasukepervert??"(This is the chapter where I get proved wrong on that point...Everyone\\and when I say everyone, Imean\\is a pervert. Always.)When Kakashi finally tore himself away from his pervy book after a couple of good hours of me attempting to drag my sorry ass around with the multiple weights he had installed in various places on my person, he deemed it time to finally go check on Sasuke's progress.He had tried to go ahead in his training, despite Kakashi's warnings that it wouldn't work and he'd just end up wasting time."Had any luck?" He questioned knowingly.Sasuke scowled his trade mark scowl at him, panting with exhaustion, until he spotted me.I had finally made it to where they were, dragging my legs and trying to pump my arms for extra momentum. Ecentually I had to fall to my knees and then flat out onto my stomach, arms out in front of me, due to my own exhaustion.Sasuke blinked, having watched my entire procession, not knowing about the weights, "What's the matter with you?"I looked up at him in exasperation about the whole situation, "I've lost my faith in the male population of the species..."He snorted at first, but then flat out laughed at me, "That'syou're like that?""No!" I shouted angrily, pushing myself up with great effort, "It's these god damn weights!"Sasuke looked to Kakashi in confusion and he tossed him a few of the round disks. I shouted out to him too late not to catch them but he ended up in the same situation as me except worse...He had tried to save it from landing in the water and ended up getting pulled in after it. He didn't resurface. My eyes widened exponentially."Crap!" I shouted, and hauled ass towards the water, pumping chakra to my legs desperately and dived in after him, my weights sinking me even quicker. I got hold of the similarly sinking Sasuke and grabbed the weight he held in his hands, tossing it aside roughly. Problem was, we were still sinking...Sinking because of me...I attempted valiantly to help kick our way out of the water, but no matter how hard I tried, down, down, down...I was running out of air, when I remembered it like a light bulb ticking on in my head, the water walking technique.It took a hell of a lot more chakra than normal to float us to the top, and that wasn't even walking on the surface, but it was enough to get us out. I shook Sasuke violently until he coughed up a bunch of water and he slapped my hands away weakly."...What the hell was that?" He coughed, hunched over."Goddamn weights!" I repeated like a curse, the stood and shouted furiously, "Kakashi-sensei!!"The tricky Jounin was nowhere to be found."Argh!" I stomped my foot in a rage. He hadknownwould happen and he justtook off. Some reliable guy he was..."No..." Sasuke coughed again, "That technique you used...what was it?"I shot him a look of disbelief, "You almost drown, and you want to start training again??"I rolled my eyes and answered my question before he could, "Of course you do...typical Sasuke."I sighed exaggeratedly, "So you wanna learn water walking, huh?""That's what it is?" His eyes lit up with excitement, despite the drowning incident.I huffed and yanked my stupid parachute sleeves up irritably, exposing the wrapped up weights on my arms before walking out onto the water backwards, facing him. It took a lot more chakra than usual but somehow, it was almost bearable when I saw the look on Sasuke's face. I motioned for him to follow me with a coy smile."How is it done?" He asked when he stood directly across from me on the bank of the lake, looking me in the eyes seriously."It's like the tree climbing exercise Naruto told me you did in Nami." i smiled encouragingly, "Only, in order to walk on the water, the amount of chakra you channel to the bottom of your feet, collates directly with your weight.""Basically," i continued, holding my hands out like a scale, "the chakra makes you float and gives you balance.""Um, here," I held out both of my hands to him as he started to build up his chakra, and he eyed me wearily.I shrugged, remembering how I had to hold onto the bridge as my lifeline and take baby steps until Naruto had clobbered me, "Sometimes it helps to hold onto something..."He tilted his head curiously, "Won't you sink?"I shrugged again, with a half smirk, "...We'll see.""It's not as easy as running up trees," I reminded him as he gripped my forearms forcefully, "It's more...calculating. So try taking baby steps first."He scowled, "I know that already."He had fallen into the water several times before he accepted my help. Needless to say, he was not pleased."Obviously you donnn't..." I mocked in a sing-song voice.He began to sink again with an angry look on his face that reminded me momentarily of a wet kitten. I had to laugh, and that's when he fell the rest of the way in, eyes widening before the impact in surprise.I rolled my own eyes and hauled him up, "You know, if you'd stop getting so annoyed at me, you'd be able to concentrate better...""I'm. Trying." He grated out, his spiky hair going flat from being so soaked."Obviously you're noooot..." I mocked again in my sing-song voice.He slapped my hands away angrily and started to sink again, but I couldfeeldesperate surge of chakra he exuded to try and stabilize himself...it felt warm...I was literally awe to silence when he pulled himself up onto the surface of the water by himself. I think it was the smug look he gave me afterwords that made me do it.I leaned into his face and shouted, "Ahh!"He splashed into the water without pause and looked enraged when he resurfaced, "Dammit Aneka! Why'd you do that??""I was testing your concentration skills." I grinned impishly, "They suck."He gritted his teeth then and splashed a huge barrage of water at me, breaking my spotless record of not getting wet once yet. (Almost drowning didn't count...)I stood there on the water, dripping wet and frozen solid. I smiled slowly as he manged to once again make his way up onto the surface, "Ohoho...Forget the baby steps, Uchiha...You're going to have to learn how to run reaaal fast."His own face paled when he recognized the familiar look of revenge on mine. I had grown used to the weights, but they still slowed me down exponentially. Sasuke's former alarm was soon replaced with that stupid smugness that was uniquelyhimhe ran circles around me on the water with a smirk."Oh yeah? You'll be sorry tomorrow!" i pointed at him angrily, "Kakashi-sensei says you'll have to be under even more weight than I am.""That's right." Came Kakashi's voice from behind me, causing me to jump in surprise.I swung around to bombard him, "You!wereYou just left\\!!"He held a plastic bag up in front of my face, "I come with food."Instant hug time."You forgive others too easily..." Sasuke told me from across the fire where we all sat eating happily.I rolled my eyes, pausing in my ravenous eating habits, "And this is coming from someone who'd hold a grudge against an old lady for accidentally stepping on his foot. Besides, it becomes an entirely different matter when food is involved.""What is it with you and food?" He questioned in disbelief, trying to ignore my last statement about the old lady.
I leaned back against the tree behind me and told him, unabashed, "Food's a total turn on for me. When I loose my virginity, I'll be thinking about food."Kakashi choked, and started laughing, while Sasuke just stared at me as if I had spontaneously combusted right in front of him."...I think the two of you should switch genders." Kakashi laughed and Sasuke glowered at him accusingly."What's that supposed to mean?" he shot at him."Don't worry, I think that joke was mostly at my expense..." I smiled at him, "Key word there beingmostly..."He scowled, "He's right about you, youshould'veborn a guy..."I snorted unladylike, "You're one to talk! Have you even kissed anyone in yourlife?? Your mom doesn't count, you know."He was about to retaliate with something nasty when I noticed the tell tale absence of a certain spiky haired sensei, "Where's Kakashi?""who cares..." Sasuke griped, "And just for your information, Ihavesomeone, so shut up about it already..."I rolled my eyes, "Who?I highly doubt that. Poor girl probably would've died from pure joy..."He shivered in disgust, "...It wasn'ther...""Who was it then!?" I asked again, "I'm not going to believe you until you tell me!"He crossed his arms in a huff, "I'm not telling you, because you'll laugh everytime you think about it for the rest of your life..."I moved closer to him from across the fire, eager for a story, "Aw, come on please? Now I really want to know, I promise I won't laugh."He let out a long sigh, and flicked his metal headband with a ting, "It was the first day after graduation...Some how Naruto was there, even though he failed the exam twice..."I nodded along, wondering where this was going."...That was the day we all got put on teams...Anyway, Naruto sat up on my desk for some reason and got all up in my face yelling something or another about Sakura...Then somedumbasshim ended up shoving him into me\\Oi! You promised!""It was a lie!" I fell onto my back laughing my ass off, "I'm sorry, it was a lie, I admit it, but\\Naruto?? That's too much.""Fine." He grated out angrily, "then I get to laugh after you tell me yours...""Who said I had to\\"He glared at me witheringly, and I sunk two sizes, "Ok, ok...That's fair..."He leaned back then, and rose his brows at me, a signal from your highness meaning, 'You have my permission to proceed'I let out a long sigh, similar to the one he had at the beginning of his story, "...So I was at this used book store down town and I was trying to lift this awesome mock Galilean astrology book...I'll always remember it, because of the illustration of the Scorpio constellation, my sign. Everyone has one, you know. What's your birthday?""July twenty third..." He frowned in confusion."Hmph," I smirked, being an avid believer in the zodiac, "that's fitting. you're a Leo. It' means 'little king' in Latin. The sign of the lion. Look."I pointed up at the sky. Directly diagonal from Scorpius, Libra, and Virgo, sprawled the congregation of stars called Leo."It does look like a lion...if you squint at it hard enough..." Sasuke remarked dryly.I snorted, "Everythinglike a lion if you squint at it...You know...It's funny...Everything here is so different, but the stars are always the same. My dad would take us away from the city lights sometimes and all the way out to the country, just to go gaze at the stars...He was an astronomer... Obsessed, was probably a better word for what he was actually...""You know all of them?" he asked incredulously.I nodded, "Just about...They're the only thing I have left of him since Orochimaru decided to make a 'work of art' out of Dad's knife...There's Scorpio." I pointed."It's said to be the most powerful among the twelve signs of the zodiac," I stuck my tongue out at him, "looks like you're coming up short, 'little king'.""If you believe in that sort of crap..." he popped my bubble abruptly, "...you're off topic again."I sighed again and rolled my eyes, "You really wanna know that bad?"He crossed his arms resolutely, and I groaned, "Fine...""So I had my pretty picture book and I was just about to walk out with it when this dude who worked there grabbed me from out of nowhere..." I cringed at the memory, "He startedtouchingand said he'd call the cops on me for shop lifting if I screamed...Good thing Yuu was there...I don't even wanna know what would've happened otherwise..."Sasuke stared at me with a look of both horror and confusion, "Why didn't you knock his lights out?"I gave him a dark look, "You know, despite all evidence to the contrary, Iamgirl...And with that kind of situation comes a certain amount of mental confliction for a girl that's never been kissed before...In other words, I was scared shitless...""I know you're a girl..." He mumbled, staring down at the ground with an odd look on his face."Oh yeah?" I leaned towards him on one hand with a taunting smirk, "Prove it."He looked up at me strangely, then pulled my startled looking face up to his own, and, with no further ado, moved his sculpted lips over mine gently. It was warm. Devastatingly so. And I think my stomach was practicing for the Olympic gold metal in gymnastics. My heart beat was in an even worse state, and felt like it was jumping all over my rib cage."That thing before..." he told me after he pulled away too soon, "...it never happened.""this is your first kiss from now on." He decreed before once again caressing my lips with his own, and I realized then with a jolt, that I didn't want him to stop...That was...until I heard a voice gushing, "...Just like in the book~~~"My face went out of proportion with wide eyes and Sasuke twitched in irritation at the untimely return of the spiky haired jounin. He was just sitting therewatchingwith love in his single visible eye."Y-you!" I stood, pointing a shaky finger at him."You...Stupid, PEVERT-SENSEI!!!" At the word 'pervert' I stomped over and pulled his dumb stretch mask over the rest of his head violently, "You-you didn't see anything! I-I hate you both!!"At that, I stood awkwardly for a moment as nobody moved then stalked off into the trees furiously."So..." Kakashi said to Sasuke, muffled from beneath his bask, "Do you like her?"He gave his sensei one last look of aggravation before staring absently back at the place I had disappeared."...Yeah." he replied softly, "I sort of do...""There is no 'sort of', you either do, or don't ..." He pulled his mask back down to it's normal position and regarded Sasuke dubiously, "But from what I just saw, 'sort of' is no longer a part of the equation..."Sasuke raised his eyebrows in his own dubious expression, "I wasn't aware you sawanything...Baka hentai-sensei..."Kakashi sighed, "Right...She's never going to stop calling me that, is she?"He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, "Never.

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