Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Our Lives in the Hurricane Chronicles ❯ Chapter 21
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Hello lover 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy / Adventure / Action | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 10.12.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 12.9K | Visits: 237 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy / Adventure / Action | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 10.12.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 12.9K | Visits: 237 | Status: Work In Progress
In Tenten’s Flashback italic words are Tenten talking outside of the flashback. So she’s talking to Yasmine.
"But you... can't... blame... me... IF I SET THIS STAGE ON FIRE!!!"- Lil Wayne (Playing With Fire)
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Feeling suddenly sober, Yasmine sat up and stared wide-eyed at Tenten. The brown-eyed kunoichi backed up. A pink blush appeared on her face as she averted her gaze. "Ah-" Yasmine opened her mouth, but it was quickly closed before any other sound came out. This action repeated for several moments. "Wha...?! Wait...! This is...!" Yasmine couldn't complete one sentence. She clutched her head. Her brain seemed to throb painfully against her skull. Taking in such information while drunk was not a very good idea. “Okay… okay… okay…” It took her awhile to get her thoughts together. “Okay… so you mean like, I accidentally missed your cheek kinda like, like Mayu did… or full blown out, I like you?”
Tenten looked confused for a moment. "Uh... The second one?" she answered, but it ended up sounding like a question. Yasmine pressed her lips together in a thin line.
“So you’re… gaaaaay?” she drawled out.
“Not… fully gay… I’m bisexual.”
Yasume: OMG…! It’s Tila Tequila!
Yasmine shook her head repeatedly. Tenten finally put a hand on her shoulder. “Mine-chan, calm down. You’re going to get a headache,” she told her. The foreigner looked a bit dizzy before her back hit the couch.
“Tooooo laaate!” she groaned, holding her head. The kunoichi sighed before sitting beside the drunken girl. The two teenaged girls sat in an awkward silence. “Soooo…! How did–I mean, when did you realize that you… went both ways?”
“I’m assuming that you mean when I actually did ‘it’ with another woman,” Tenten looked down at her lap. “I remember… it was my first solo mission as a chuunin. Neji and I were still dating at that time…”
“Flashback…?” Yasmine asked. Tenten sighed before answering.
“Flashback,” she confirmed. She had gotten used to Yasmine’s words for certain things. For instance, to the foreigner, young people were considered chibi. “It seemed like it happened so long ago, I’m surprised I can still remember like it happened just yesterday.”
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Tenten’s POV (about one year ago)
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“A solo mission…?” I could feel myself grin at their incredulous stares. I had just finished explaining the reason the Fifth Hokage requested my presence. That was over twenty minutes ago. Shizune’s apprentice, Sakura, had interrupted my team’s training session, telling me to come with her. She had changed drastically since a year ago. Her hair had grown longer–not as long as mine; I think she kept it a certain length–and was kept in a high ponytail. Her outfit had also changed.
She no longer wears red or pink colors. Now, she was in an outfit similar to Shizune-san’s, except Sakura’s had a few modifications. Like, there were still long sleeves–probably to hide the needle launchers on her arms–but it ended at her mid thigh. She had skin tight dark shorts on underneath. On her feet, she wore standard sandals, but they were black. It wasn’t just her appearance that changed though. The way she saw others also changed. She even had started dating Lee a few months back! I, as well as everyone else, was truly shocked by this. But I digress…
“Yup, that’s right. I get a solo mission. I’m leaving the village early tomorrow morning,” I told them. By this time, Lee and Gai-sensei had gone into overdrive, saying how ‘youthful’ my first solo mission was going to be. Gai-sensei then goes on and says how he remembers his first mission. I mentally shake my head as I watched Lee intently listen to our sensei about the ‘springtime of his youth.’ I decided that I’d ignore them for awhile. It’s safe to say that they’d be like that for more than twenty minutes. My attention turned to my other male teammate.
I let a grin stretch across my face. It was hard to believe that Hyuga Neji and I have been dating for almost a year now. I’m actually surprised that it lasted this long, not that I’m complaining. He, my boyfriend, was in his standard thinking position. Arms crossed, eyes closed, and his head tilted towards the ground. I shook my head, and then went over to him. I nudged his side with my elbow, causing his eyes to open and look towards me. “If I remember correctly, you still haven’t had your first solo mission as a chuunin,” I teased. Neji, after all, had become a chuunin before anyone else, and yet he still had not gotten a solo mission.
Neji scoffed at my comment. I almost rolled my eyes at his action. He never gets riled up by my teasing. I guess he wouldn’t know that that’s part of the fun of having a girlfriend. He was as cool as a cucumber. Hyuga Neji doesn’t know that he’s supposed to flirt back. I mentally shook my head at this sudden revelation. “So what’s the mission?” he finally asked. I shifted my eye sight to my other teammates. They were still crying in each other’s arms. I shook my head and sighed before turning back to Neji.
“Here,” I began, pulling a photo from my pocket. I handed it to him. “Take a look at this.” Neji’s eyes scanned over the photograph for a few seconds before his eyes focused on me. He raised one his eyebrows.
“And why, exactly, are you giving me a photo of yourself again?” he asked. I mentally sighed. When we first began dating, I gave Neji a picture of me. I had to explain to him that couples exchange pictures of each other. Even after my explanation, he still questioned me and the point of exchanging pictures, especially since we ‘already know what we look like.’ I think that was the first biggest headache I got because of Hyuga Neji, who was also as stubborn as a mule.
“Actually, Neji, the woman in the photo is not me,” I told him. He looked momentarily confused by my statement. “For one, she’s wearing make-up, something I don’t wear often. Two, she’s wearing a traditional kimono, another thing I don’t wear. Third, she’s older than me.” I was finished with my little observations, but Neji had to tack something on.
“And her hair is longer,” he murmured. His eyes went back to the photo, so he didn’t see my frown.
“My hair is long, Neji, maybe even longer than hers. I just don’t wear it like she does,” I muttered, crossing my arms. He looked up at me again. “Anyway, that’s my client for the solo mission.”
“Really…?”
“Yes, somehow, she heard that I looked just like her. Her name is Tsubaki. She’s a princess from a small village, east of Konoha. Recently, there have been attempts to kill her. So her father has hired me to take her place and deal with the problem,” I explained. “We might be a few years apart, but the resemblance is almost exact, so Tsunade-sama, instead of sending a ninja to transform into her, is sending me. Only a few people will know that we’ve switched places. Her father being one of them.”
Neji opened his mouth to respond, but Gai-sensei beat him to it. “How long will you be gone, Tenten?” he asked. I looked up towards the sky with a thoughtful look.
“Hm… It depends how fast I take care of Princess Tsubaki’s attackers,” I said. “After that, it should take only two days to get back to the village.” I suddenly felt large hands on my shoulders. I looked up only to see Gai-sensei’s crying face mere inches from my own. So this is what torture feels like…
“Tenten, my beautiful, youthful student…!” the man began, not wiping his waterfalls away. He held me in his iron grip and refused to let go, no matter how many times I tried pushing him away. “Your first mission away from us! I’m so proud of you, yet so…” He began crying, sobbing. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that my boyfriend is smirking. I narrowed my eyes, hoping that he’d receive the same treatment when he got his first solo mission. After a few minutes of heart-wrenching–annoying and pointless–sobbing, Gai-sensei finally–no, wait, he’s hugging me now. Great… Note the sarcasm, please.
“Gai-sensei, pl-please let me go!” I managed to choke out. I don’t think my lungs can take the strain. I’m not sure how Lee manages to do it. It’s been three years since I’ve joined this team. You’d think I would know when to get out of the way by now. Thankfully, he released me from his iron-like grip. I sucked in as much oxygen as possible once I was free. Once my breathing became normal, I continued with the details of my mission. “As my team, you three are to treat her as if she was me, but you are also going to protect her. That’s why you are to stay here in Konoha.”
“I understand fully, Tenten!” Lee saluted. I smiled lightly.
“Now that I’ve explained the mission to you, I have to go home and pack my things,” I said. Before any of my teammates could respond, I jumped away.
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I sighed heavily, and then tossed my bag over to the front door. It was packed and ready to go. All I had to do was pick it up on my way out of the door tomorrow. Walking towards my bedroom, I yawned loudly, not bothering to cover my mouth. After all, no one was around to see. I stared out of the nearby window. The sun was in the process of setting. After I yawned again, I flopped down, face first, on my bed.
I should be excited about my upcoming mission. Really, I should. “But…” I lowered my eyelids a little. “It’s going to be weird being without my team. And this mission is going to last until I catch the people trying to kill Princess Tsubaki.” I closed my eyes and yawned once more. Pretty soon, I’d be dreaming away reality…
…
…
…
Knock, knock, knock
My head snapped up. I looked around through blurry eyes. My eyes, they stung. I guess I never turned off the lights. I rubbed one of my eyes, and then looked over to my alarm clock. It read 8:30. “Only an hour and a half…?” I murmured, and then yawned. I massaged my arms because they felt cold. I didn’t realize that I was that sleepy. I didn’t shut off the lights, or change out of my training clothes. Heck, I didn’t even fix myself something to eat. I yawned again before snuggling up to my pillow. I really don’t know how it gets from me laying my head on it to it being held in my arms like a stuffed animal.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK
My head snapped up again. “Huh…? Oh, it’s the door…” I thought. I forced myself up and out of bed. Stumbling all the while, I made my way over to the door. I leaned against it for a moment before the knocking could be heard again. I am a very heavy sleeper, and when I’m suddenly awakened, I am quite sluggish. “Hold–hold on…!” I muttered, unlocking the door. Swinging it open, I prepared a glare. “Whaaaat…?!” I blinked in surprise at the familiar smirk I was met with. “Neji?”
“Are you just going to keep gawking like that or invite me in?” he asked. I forced myself from rolling my eyes as I stepped aside.
“Of course, come on in,” I told him. I had to stop myself from giggling because Neji had practically strutted past like he owned the place. I mentally shook my head as I closed my door. While doing this, I noticed that it was now dark outside. The sun had gone down while I was sleeping. By the time I turned around to face Neji, he was already sitting on my comfy couch. “Neji, you already know that I have to be up early. Why are you here?”
“It is our last night together for a while,” he almost sounded hurt. “I’m truly surprised that you sound annoyed by my presence.”
“Well, unlike you, sweetie-kins-” He grimaced at the pet name, causing me to grin. “-I have to get up early tomorrow morning. Earlier than normal, this is why I was trying to go to sleep early. So be a dear for me and speed up this little process of yours.” This, as I said, little process of his consisted of annoying the hell out of me when I’m sleepy. I don’t know why he feels the need to do this, he just does. Neji scowled at me, but that was ignored. “Well…?”
He continued his look, but then he smirked. Oh, boy… Perhaps I should have let him do his process. “Come here,” he said. I wordlessly walked over to his sitting form. You see, Neji was… demanding. I did not realize this at first. When we first started going together, he was shy, if not awkward about our relationship. I thought it was cute. I mean, hard, cold, ruthless Hyuga Neji acting all docile and meek… What girl wouldn’t just squeal at the sight?
A couple of weeks into our relationship, he starts changing. It was like… after we shared our first kiss, he became insistent on certain things. Like kissing, hugging… things like that. Out of nowhere, he’d say ‘Kiss me, now’ or ‘I want a hug.’ I was–am okay with it, but it’s still slightly annoying. Oh, and don’t even get me started on how he behaved after we had sex for the first time…! Neji raised his arms, grabbed my wrist, and then pulled me down on to his lap. I was now straddling him. “Nejiiii…!” I sorta whined out. “I have to wake up early tomorro-”
“Kiss me,” he, of course, interrupted. I gave a mental sigh before doing his bidding. By the time I felt the need to breathe overpower the pleasant feeling in the pit of my stomach, I had realized that I back was now against the cushion of the couch. Neji was hovering over me, panting, only a little, though. He pressed his nose against the side of my neck and breathed in. It tickles, but he knows that I like it a lot. Neji might have been demanding, but he was still affectionate.
“Do you… want sex?” I asked. It was a stupid question, but Neji did not ever look at me as if to say ‘Do I really have to answer that, dumbass?’ Those looks were usually reserved for Lee. His skin turned slightly red, and then he nodded. He leaned forward and kissed me again. All the while, I felt his fingers undoing the buttons to my shirt. He completely ignored the bra and started to massage my–what’s that, Yasmine? You want me to stop? Oh, alright… We’ll jump ahead.
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I glared at the nervous looking feudal lord with all my might. He had the nerve to yell at me for being two minutes late to the rendezvous point. We were currently in a small end; the main lobby to be precise. This is where I’m supposed to make the switch with Princess Tsubaki. The feudal lord, her father, cleared his throat and stared warily at the kunai in my hand. “Would you be so ki-kind as to put that away?” he asked. “You might dr-draw attention and I, for one, am not comfortable at the moment.”
I scoffed before I put my weapon away. The place was deserted. The only reason I pulled it out in the first placed was to scare the man by placing it near his throat. Yes, I was that irritable. “Stupid sex-crazed idiot keeping me up…” I thought darkly. “So where are we doing this? Where is the princess?” I asked, looking around. Come to think of it, there was not a hair or hide of a single guard or any type of security. As if the man read my thoughts, he answered my unspoken question.
“I wanted only a few people to know of this meeting place, and even then, they do not know what is to happen,” he stated. “There are two guards upstairs, protecting my daughter. I expect you to do your job quickly, ninja of Konoha.” I raised an eyebrow. “Er… not that you won’t, anyway, I mean…”
“Fine, take me to her,” I grumbled, still aggravated. It was, after all, a few minutes past 2:00 in the morning.
“Here, put this on first,” he handed me a straw hat that would probably cover my head completely. The straw hat had thin, paper-like strings dangling from its edges. “As I said before, I only want a few people knowing about the arrangements and the guards aren’t a part of the ‘few people’. You understand?”
“Perfectly,” I snapped, snatching the hat from his hand. The man flinched and muttered something about ‘kunoichi… damn,’ whatever the heck that means. Eventually, we made it to the correct room. I wasted no time in opening the door. Because of this, one of the two body guards almost attacked me. I was quick to fling multiple kunai and shuriken at him. His burly body was now stuck to the wall. Guard number 2, seeing the way his comrade ended up, decided not to take a chance.
It was then my eyes shifted over to the smaller body in the room. Judging from the body type, it was most definitely a female. She had yet to turn around to face me. I couldn’t see her face, but her hair is what got my attention. It was styled up in two buns, similar to mine. The only difference was that it was done sloppily. It was as if someone tried to copy my style and messed it up without a second thought.
The lord stepped in behind me. I could practically feel his eyes surveying the room. He made this ‘tut tut’ sort of noise, and then clapped. The man stuck to the wall gave a heave, but he couldn’t move. I tie wire around all the weapons I throw out, so with a yank, the shuriken and kunai came back to me. The man, unceremoniously, fell to the floor with a thud. Without a word, he stood and dusted himself off. “Your services are not required at the moment. You may go downstairs and wait for the princess and me to come back. We will head back to our village as soon as possible.” The two brawny men nodded, and then exited the room. The lord shut the door behind him. “Now, let’s get down to business, ne, Tsubaki-chan?”
The girl stood from her stool without turning around. “I hope you still look just like me,” the girl spoke. Her voice was similar to mine, though it was slightly higher. “When I first saw your picture, it was two years ago.” She finally turned around. And I have to say that I was stunned. I think she had only a minimum of make-up. I almost thought I had looked into a mirror. She was seriously like my spitting image even with the added enhancements. If I hadn’t known any better, I could say that we were twins. But that couldn’t be. According to her file, she’s three years my senior. Hm…? I know you’re drunk right now, but try to keep up, Mine-chan. She’s eighteen while I am fifteen at the time. … Of course it’s common for ninja to have sex at a young age! We’re considered adults when we become genin, after all. Now, let’s get back to the stor–flashback.
I felt myself smirk. I slowly took off the hat and revealed myself to the princess. She gasped loudly. “My name is Tenten, Tsubaki-sama. I will be your replacement,” I stated, bending my body at an angle. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The princess looked positively ecstatic. She clapped her hands with a delightful smile playing her on lips.
“Perfect!” she cheered. She ‘shooed’ her father out of the room, and then turned to me again. “Well, let’s get started! I’ll tell you important things you have to know while we’re fixing you up!”
The process of turning into a princess was tough. I had to learn to walk and speak ‘properly.’ Princess Tsubaki told me again and again that I had to sway my hips when I walked. It was annoying! She painted my nails, fingers and toes, and applied a bit of make-up to my face. All during this process, she went on and on about suspicious-looking servants in her home. Really, they just sounded like people that she didn’t like. Her statements sounded biased to my ears. “Finally…!” I thought once she took her hands away from me.
I was now dressed in the same attire that she was–had been in. She had dressed me in–shocking–a Chinese style dress, which was silk, I think. It was green and it came to my mid-thigh. But the slits that were on the sides came up to my hips. Luckily for me, she also gave me dark green shorts–very short shorts–to put on. The collar came open in a circle, below my clavicle. This was the sole purpose, I believe, to lure men’s eyes towards my cleavage. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw green flats–the same green as the silk dress. I almost sighed loudly. Those were probably for me, meaning I was going to have to wear them. They seemed like they were going to be uncomfortable…
I felt myself suddenly being twirled around. The princess, of course, had done it. Once I shook the dizziness away, I narrowed my eyes at her. She just waved off my glare and clapped. “My, my… Someone looks extremely sexy right now!” she giggled. I felt myself flush. No one had ever called me sexy before. It was somewhat of a foreign word.
“Not even Neji…”
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I felt Princess Tsubaki’s hands on my wrists. I looked up, only to realize that her face was inches–no, centimeters away from mine. I felt my eyes grow completely wide. Up close, I realize that even her eyes match mine. “If you didn’t have my face, I would so do you right now,” she smirked. Gradually, I felt my face rise in temperature. “So that’s what I look like when I’m blushing.”
“N-Nan-Nani…?!” I pulled my hand away from her grasp. “What are you doing?!”
“Oh nothing…!” she grinned, dancing away. She went towards the bed, and then held up my ninja outfit. “So how do I put this on?” She waved it around a little bit. I sighed and then walked over to her. “Oh, and I forgot to mention… Under no circumstance will you go anywhere near one of my servants. Her name is Asuka-chan. Stay away from her during your stay.”
“Why?” I asked an obvious question.
“Because I said so, damn it!” she gave an obscure answer. I glared heatedly at her, but she started humming, completely ignoring my fierce look.
“This is going to be more of a mess than I thought, isn’t it?” I thought, frowning.
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“I’m exhausted…” I murmured. I fell back and landed against the soft futon. A servant had already come into the princess’s room and laid it out. I stared blankly up at the ceiling. About two days ago, the feudal lord, the two guards, and I had left the real princess at that inn. I had told her that she had to go to Konoha, which was about a twenty-four hour walk from the inn. Her facial expression was priceless when I told her that. Actually, another ninja would be escorting her back to the village. He was scheduled to arrive at the inn a few hours after we left, so hopefully, Princess Tsubaki is now in Konoha.
By the time we reached the castle, it was nighttime. I know that I should be on guard at this time, but not getting enough sleep makes me… unpleasant, which is why that servant ran away from me when I snapped at him earlier. I hadn’t felt this tired this that first few weeks training with Gai-sensei. “I wonder why I feel so out of it lately…” I mused, and then closed my eyes. I stayed in this position for what seemed like hours, and yet my body still had not shut down. No, I don’t mean die, Mine-chan. I mean sleep! Anyway…
I heard the door slide open. The sound caused me to sit up. In stepped a girl–no, a woman. Like all others here, she was a stranger to me. She looked a bit younger than me. I’d say she was a year younger with that childlike face of hers. Her emerald eyes were big, bright, and innocent-looking. Her cream colored face was sporting a pair of flushed cheeks at the moment. She looked side to side in the room, causing her tightly coiled red hair to bounce at her movements. She looked a bit nervous as her green eyes focused on me again. She held her thumb up to her bottom lip. “Ano… Tsubaki-sama…” she began. Her voice was soft and… sweet. Her unoccupied hand fiddled with the hem of her kimono. “Gomennasai…”
“For what…?” I asked hesitantly. I still did not know her name. I didn’t know anyone’s name here. I wish the princess would have told me something other than how to be a ‘proper’ lady.
“Ano… that is…” she stammered out. This girl reminded me so much of how Hinata used to be, especially around Naruto. “Asuka-chan is–Asuka-chan wasn’t there to greet you when you came home…” She looked to the ground almost as if she were embarrassed.
“Third person…?” I thought. I’ve never meant anyone who spoke in third person. It was kinda cute. It made me smile. “Nah, its fine, Asuka-chan, I-” I stopped mid sentence, only because I remembered what the real princess had told me. Stay away from Asuka-chan, she said. “Could this person be suspicious?” I thought. The girl was still looking towards the ground, so she didn’t notice my narrowed eyes. “Is she only acting innocent? It’s a really good act if she is…”
“Tsu–Tsubaki-sama…!” Her voice snapped me to attention. I squeaked out a ‘yes,’ causing me to mentally glower. Did I really just get scared by that? “Asuka-chan really missed you while you were away…”
“Why…? I mean, it’s only been a few days,” I teased. The girl actually looked as if she might burst into tears. And then her face turned slightly angry.
“Tsubaki-sama, please don’t be mean! You know that even a minute away from you is torture for Asuka-chan!” she exclaimed.
I reeled back in shock. This girl, Asuka-chan, sounded really passionate about what she just said. I narrowed my eyes slightly. “They must have a close relationship… Perhaps they think of each other as sisters…” I thought, frowning. Being an only child, I wouldn’t know of her feelings. She looked towards the ground with a frown on her face. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Gomen, gomen… I didn’t mean to upset you, Asuka-chan.” I gestured for her to come closer.
She blinked, and then hurriedly hobbled over to me. It was almost funny the way she made her way over. “Tsubaki-sama… Asuka-chan hates it when you tease…” she whispered. Her head was currently in my lap. I ran my fingers through her red hair and apologized once again. I wondered if this is what if felt like to have a younger sister. That’s when I made the mistake of asking how old she was. She sat up with tears in her eyes. “Tsubaki-sama…! How could you be so cruel to Asuka-chan?!”
I could only was stare at her angered form. “Ma-Matte…! Don’t get angry! I-” I tried to get her to calm down, but she seemed too far gone at this point.
“You forgot Asuka-chan’s age! Asuka-chan is very angry!” she ran out of the room, shouting her age as she went. The door was slammed shut. I stared incredulously at the spot where Asuka-chan had been previously.
“Tw-Twenty…?! She was twenty?!”
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I awoke to the sound of a jiggling noise. I opened my eyes and without moving my body, I turned my eyes towards the door. Someone was trying to come into the room. I, for a precaution, locked the door with a hook and nail. I saw that a piece of paper slide through the crack in the door. I turned over to my side so that my back was facing the door. Really, the lock wasn’t to keep intruders out. It was to actually wake me up. Luckily, it did its job or I wouldn’t have detected an enemy coming from that point. As I said before, I am a heavy sleeper.
I slowly slipped a hand under my pillow. My hand gripped the handle of the kunai that was hidden. I heard the door open slowly. It was painfully slow. I guess the assassin is trying not to make a sound, not knowing that they’d already alerted me to their presence. I heard the door shut again. For a moment, I thought someone was just checking the room because I heard not one footstep. That’s when I focused my hearing and because of this I heard the faint sounds of breathing. “They’re hesitating…” I realized. Could they see my hidden weapon? No, that couldn’t be it. But what type of an assassin hesitates?
I heard the person move closer to the futon. I noticed that their footsteps were light. But then again, a good assassin would have to be light on their feet. I clutched the handle with anticipation. The closer they got, the further I pulled the kunai out from under my pillow. “Tsu-Tsubaki-sama…” The voice was nothing but a whisper, but I recognized the soft voice almost instantly.
“Asuka-chan…?!” I thought with my eyes wide.
I felt her hand on my shoulder. She couldn’t be the assassin, could she? What an act, if she was… Against my better judgment, I released my weapon. I turned over, so that I could see her face, and that’s when I realized that it was completely dark in the room… “Tsubaki-sama… did I disturb your slumber? If I am, then I apologize for doing so,” she whispered. That’s weird… She was no longer talking in third person. “I feel bad about getting angry with you. May I sleep with you?” I rubbed my eyes, though it did little to help them adapt to the darkness of the room.
“Sure…” I muttered. Of course I said yes. After all, they had a sibling relationship, even though they were not related. I had to keep in character as much as possible. She thanked me, and then she lay down by my side and pulled the covers back over our bodies. She pulled my body closer to hers and turned me so that I was facing her. It was a little strange, but who was I to call it strange? It's not my relationship. “Comfortable…?” I asked in the nicest voice I could muster. Yes, I was a bit irritated that I was woken up for nothing. Oh well… I suppose that this means I don’t have to worry about anyone trying to kill me tonight. The princess told the Hokage that she only gets attacked when she’s alone.
Asuka nodded her head and smiled. I’m guessing she smiled, anyway. It was still too dark to tell. The only reason I knew that she nodded was because I felt her forehead against mine. I closed my eyes in hopes of going to sleep. I believe that I was asleep for a few minutes before I felt something soft and… wet probing my ear. I felt myself giggle lightly. The feeling was foreign to me. It felt so weird, and yet… so good. The soft, wet something slid from my ear and to my chin, and then the feeling disappeared. I could still feel the tingling sensation it left behind, though. Suddenly, I felt it again, but this time it pressed against my lips until it finally went into my mouth. It felt as though thunder had struck me, yet the feeling was so surreal. It was a tongue, I realized, and it was moving my tongue in slow rhythmic motions. “Neji…” I thought still half asleep.
I felt his hand enter my sleeping garments. His hand slowly massaged my breast, causing me to gasp out. Never before had Neji been so gentle, not even during the first time. He suddenly parted from me and I thought this magical feeling was over. That is until he pulled the night shirt off my body. He wasted no time in ‘attacking’ my breast, licking, nipping, and sucking. Neji never did this before either! I felt his hand slid down my torso towards my panties. He pressed his thumb against my wet underwear and began to rub. This only caused me to moan while I felt his soft thumb caress my right nibble, which by now, was harder than normal. “Wait…” I thought as my body began to unconsciously buck against the warm touch down below. “Soft thumb…? Neji’s hands aren’t soft, are they?”
I put my hand on his shoulder and made it go down. Imagine my surprise when instead of feeling the familiar chest of Hyuga Neji, I grabbed a fist full of boobies. This touch caused a cry of pleasure to reach my ears… a very womanly cry of pleasure. It took awhile for this information to process. “Ahh… Tsubaki-sama… harder, please…”
“What the hell?!” I couldn’t help but shout as I pushed the person away and scooted far away. I didn’t stop until my back hit the wall. By now I had realized that it wasn’t Neji who had been touching me… and that my night shorts were now around my ankles. I quickly pulled them up–probably blushing all the while–and covered myself, even though she probably couldn’t see anyway.
“Tsubaki-sama…? What happened? Where did you go?” Asuka was calling out to me. Her soft voice only caused to me to press my back against the wall as if it would hide me from her eyes. I heard her shuffling about, trying to find me. I shook my head over and over.
“This is a… dream! A dream! A dream…!” I thought, shaking my head back and forth. “I’m definitely dreaming! I did not just make out with a twenty-year-old woman! I’m dreaming! Dreaming…!”
A hand touched my shoulder, which caused me to squeal. Some kunoichi I am, right? “Oh, there you are, Tsubaki-sama…” Asuka’s voice stated. She rubbed my shoulders soothingly. “I’ll make you feel better.” I felt, what I assumed was, her lips press against mine. For some reason, I didn’t push her away. The kiss was soft and warm. It was similar to my first kiss. It caused another foreign emotion to well up inside me. Realizing that I was actually kissing this woman back, I finally pushed her away.
I could feel her questioning gaze on me, but I ignored it. I covered my mouth with my hand. Just what the hell was wrong with me? Why did I willingly kiss her?! And why the hell did she kiss me in the first place?! That’s when it all came together. Princess Tsubaki and Asuka didn’t have a sibling relationship… “They’re in love with each other…!” I thought with wide eyes wide in shock. What the hell did I just stumble myself into?!
I felt her lips again, but this time they were pressed against my ear. “I’ve missed you so much… Make love to me, Tsubaki-sama…” Asuka pleaded. She guided my hand across her chest. What shocked me is that my fingers grasped her breasts without my brain telling them to. Soft moans filled my ear as I began to–unconsciously–rub against her at a faster pace. “Tsubaki-sama…!” Asuka wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me on top of her. I wasn’t sure if it was the sudden feeling of being in command or not, but something made me take the initiative and kiss her. Our tongues intertwined as our hands played with each others bodies. It was then I realized that Asuka had removed her clothing long before hand, underwear and all.
I parted from her and panted heavily. I had no idea why my body responded in this way. I couldn’t believe that I was doing something like this… with another female. I listened to her breathe heavily, moaning for more. “I’m kissing a girl… and I like it…” This sudden thought caused me to blush in embarrassment, but I realized that I wasn’t necessarily ashamed of it. Mine-chan… why are you singing?
********************************
Tenten watched her friend dance around, singing a song in her own language. She was giggling immensely, completely disregarding the kunoichi’s question. “I kissed a girl and I liked it…! The taste of her cherry chap stick! I kissed a girl just to try it, hope my boyfriend don’t mind it!” Yasmine fell to the floor in a sniggering heap. It almost sounded like the foreigner couldn’t breathe.
“She doesn’t seem to realize the full extent…” Tenten thought, watching her calm down.
Yasmine finally settled down and looked at the kunoichi with mirthful eyes. “So what happened afterwards?” she asked. Tenten closed her eyes and sighed.
“Afterwards, Asuka-chan came to my room every night during the course of my stay,” she answered truthfully.
“And how long was that?”
“Two weeks.”
Yasmine could not stop her eyes from bulging nor stop the blush from appearing on her face. “And wh-what sappened with Neji?” she asked, still a little drunk from the sake.
“When I got back to the village, it didn’t take very long for me to wind up in another relationship with a woman,” Tenten said. “Neji found out about me cheating. Instead of getting angry, we talked about it and we agreed that our relationship wouldn’t have worked out, anyhow, so we split up.”
“What about the attacks on Princess Tsubaki?”
“Oh, that… The princess apparently wanted a vacation, so she made that up in hopes of getting one.”
“No kidding…?”
“Definitely not kidding. Her father, as well as the Hokage, were furious.”
The two then sat in a somewhat awkward silence. That is until Yasmine suddenly stood up. “Well, that was a… good bedtime story, but now I’ll turn in for the night!” She headed for the stairs, fully prepared to climb on her hands and knees to reach the room she was to share with Neji and Tenten. The foreigner blinked in surprise. One minute she was on the first step of the staircase, the next she was in the weapon master’s lap. She blinked again. She felt Tenten squeeze her torso in a hug. “T-Ten-chan…?” she stammered.
The kunoichi didn’t seem ashamed that she was rubbing her face against the foreigner’s cheek. “Oh, come now, Mine-chan… Did you really think that I would keep holding back now that you know?” Tenten asked with a grin. Yasmine gulped as she felt the kunoichi’s finger slide up and down her stomach, leaving goose bumps behind. She visibly sweated.
“But… Ten-chan…! I’m straight, totally straight!” Yasmine stated. “I think…” she added in thought. Truth be told, the foreigner had yet to be sexually active with a man or woman. Tenten just giggled. After that, Yasmine found herself with her back pressed against the cushions of the couch with the weapon’s mistress hovering over her form. She leaned down close. Yasmine felt a bit dizzy. “T-Ten-chan…”
“You know what else is straight?” she asked. Their noses were within centimeters of each other. Yasmine slowly shook her head, really not knowing where Tenten was getting at. “Noodles,” she answered. “That is until… you heat them up. Let me… heat you up, Mine-chan.” Yasmine squealed as Tenten’s lips moved closer to her own. Her dizziness became increasingly overwhelming. The foreigner pushed the ninja away and emptied the contents of her stomach over the side of the couch. After doing that, the girl promptly fainted.
Tenten blinked in slight surprise. She had almost forgotten that the foreigner was drunk out of her mind. “Hm… I suppose that means there’s a fifty-fifty chance that she won’t remember a thing I’ve told her come tomorrow,” the kunoichi almost huffed in disappointment. She scooped up her client in her arms and carried her towards the stairs, careful to avoid the mess Yasmine had left behind. “Nevertheless… Tomorrow’s going to be quite fun!” she thought, smiling lightly.
************************
“Why… are you staring at me…?” Sai and Nakatsu looked up from whatever it was that they were doing. Sure enough, their female teammate was staring intensely at the Uchiha. She was lying down on her stomach. Her head was prompted up by her hands and elbows. The four were crowded in a room. Mayu had decided that she was going to sleep in the same room as her teammates for this night. Sasuke smirked as Mayu’s blue eyes continued to watch him. “I know I’m sexy and all, but damn.” The Ishikari gave a small chuckle, and then frowned.
“You know something, Sasuke… You used to be so innocent and naïve…” Mayu began. “So cute and pure… It was like you were a blank piece of paper.” The girl sighed as if she had come to a depressing conclusion. “Now you’re just one big tainted pervert.” Sasuke glared at her. The glare was ignored. “Damn you, Jiraiya-sama, damn you!”
“What the hell makes you say that?!”
“You want the obvious, or would you like to hear another answer?”
Sasuke scoffed and turned away. Mayu chuckled again, and then turned to her other two teammates. She gave them the same stare that she had given to Sasuke. “Is there… something on my face?” Sai asked as he rubbed the back of his hand against his cheek. Mayu shook her head, and then chuckled again.
“Hey, Sai-chan, do you know how to play Rock-Paper-Scissors?” she questioned. The pale ninja gave Mayu a blank stare before answering.
“I have heard of janken and read the rules for it,” Sai admitted. “However, I have never played it before.”
The sounds of two gasps were heard. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Nakatsu and Mayu could be so overdramatic sometimes. So the guy never played janken before–so what? Big deal… Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows together. Thinking back, he’d never actually played the game either. He mentally shrugged as he watched Mayu and Nakatsu pester Sai about playing the game with them right now. The pale ninja smiled and agreed. “Oi…! You come play, too, Sasuke!” Nakatsu called over. With a sigh, the Uchiha went over to the group, unknowingly completing the circle.
For hours, the team played janken. It was childish, but each had to admit that it was nice. Especially since their team might fall apart due to a certain uncle. That thought alone put a damper on their thoughts, so it was forced in the back of their minds. They played to forget. “Yes…!” Nakatsu cheered, holding up a paper sign. Two of his teammates glowered at their rock signs. Sai only shrugged. He had also picked rock for this turn. “Now you all have to take one piece of clothing off!” He wiggled his eyebrows in Mayu’s direction. The girl scowled as Sai began to peel off his glove. The game had somehow turned into strip janken.
Currently, Sai was only in his dark boxers, having just removed his glove. As it turns out, the pale ninja wasn’t that much of a player of janken. Sasuke was sitting there in a fishnet top and his blue boxers. Mayu, blushing, only had one more layer of clothing on; a black tank top–no bra–and panties. Nakatsu, only the other hand, was fully clothed. Since their rounds of strip janken began, he hadn’t lost a single round. He was a pro. The Uchiha looked in Mayu’s direction. Sooner or later, she would have to remove one or the other.
Mayu, feeling two pairs of eyes on her, covered her chest in embarrassment. Those eyes had belonged to Nakatsu and Sasuke. “Wait a minute…! This isn’t fair!” she protested.
“Oh, no you don’t! You must remove something, Mayu-chan!” Nakatsu gave her a cheeky grin, causing her to glare at the older male. “Paper beats rock, remember?”
“No, no, no, no…! I understand that Scissors can beat Paper, and I get how Rock can beat Scissors, but there’s no effin’ way Paper can beat Rock! Is Paper supposed to magically wrap about Rock causing it to become immobile? If so, why doesn’t scroll paper wrap around ninja and the Hokage as they attempt to write and approve mission reports?” Mayu ranted. Yeah, she was really trying to get out of it. “I’ll tell you why… It’s because Paper can’t beat anybody! A rock would tear it up within seconds!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah… Just hurry up and take something off!” Sasuke muttered as he removed his fishnet top. He tossed it to the side and stared at Mayu expectedly. The kunoichi scrunched her face up, obviously uncomfortable about her situation.
“Yeah, yeah, Mayu-chan!” Nakatsu hadn’t lost his grin yet. “Follow the rules.” Sai looked to Mayu, wondering what she would do.
The girl clenched fist pressed against her folded knees. Her shoulders visibly shook. The male members of the team could still see the blush on the girl’s face. Without warning, Mayu punched Nakatsu in his right eye. The older male fell over backwards, groaning in pain. “Oh, I’m sorry!” Mayu stood up, hands on her hips. “I thought paper would protect you!” Sasuke sighed at Mayu’s apparent win. There was no use fighting with the girl now. He would not be seeing her body tonight.
“Ma-Mayu-chan… that was cruel…!” Nakatsu whined as he sat up, rubbing his bruised cheek. The kunoichi only turned her head away, crossed her arms, and smirked.
“That’s what you get for thinking you were going to see my goodies, my goodies, my goodies, not my goodies! Ow!” Mayu snickered before putting Sasuke’s extra boxers back on. On more than day long missions, Mayu would never bring her own pajamas, so she took one of her teammates’ extra ones. Sasuke just happened to be the one she ‘stole’ from for this mission. “Hey, you guys wanna hear me play something?” Without waiting for an answer, the girl crawled over to her guitar and picked it up.
“Isn’t it kinda late, Mayu-chan?” Nakatsu yawned loudly.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Nakatsu-kun. It’s only three hours past midnight!” Her three male teammates stared at her with narrowed eyes. Her cheeriness was unreal. Anyone could tell that much.
“It is possible…”
“… that Mayu…”
“… is nervous…?”
Mayu grinned as she began strumming her fingers over the strings of her guitar. She looked up at the ceiling in thought, wondering what she could play for her team. A steady beat touched the ears of the team. Mayu had finally found a song. “When we’re like this… I feel happy. It’s a shame that…” The girl shook her head as she smiled. “It doesn’t matter now.”
"But you... can't... blame... me... IF I SET THIS STAGE ON FIRE!!!"- Lil Wayne (Playing With Fire)
**************************
Feeling suddenly sober, Yasmine sat up and stared wide-eyed at Tenten. The brown-eyed kunoichi backed up. A pink blush appeared on her face as she averted her gaze. "Ah-" Yasmine opened her mouth, but it was quickly closed before any other sound came out. This action repeated for several moments. "Wha...?! Wait...! This is...!" Yasmine couldn't complete one sentence. She clutched her head. Her brain seemed to throb painfully against her skull. Taking in such information while drunk was not a very good idea. “Okay… okay… okay…” It took her awhile to get her thoughts together. “Okay… so you mean like, I accidentally missed your cheek kinda like, like Mayu did… or full blown out, I like you?”
Tenten looked confused for a moment. "Uh... The second one?" she answered, but it ended up sounding like a question. Yasmine pressed her lips together in a thin line.
“So you’re… gaaaaay?” she drawled out.
“Not… fully gay… I’m bisexual.”
Yasume: OMG…! It’s Tila Tequila!
Yasmine shook her head repeatedly. Tenten finally put a hand on her shoulder. “Mine-chan, calm down. You’re going to get a headache,” she told her. The foreigner looked a bit dizzy before her back hit the couch.
“Tooooo laaate!” she groaned, holding her head. The kunoichi sighed before sitting beside the drunken girl. The two teenaged girls sat in an awkward silence. “Soooo…! How did–I mean, when did you realize that you… went both ways?”
“I’m assuming that you mean when I actually did ‘it’ with another woman,” Tenten looked down at her lap. “I remember… it was my first solo mission as a chuunin. Neji and I were still dating at that time…”
“Flashback…?” Yasmine asked. Tenten sighed before answering.
“Flashback,” she confirmed. She had gotten used to Yasmine’s words for certain things. For instance, to the foreigner, young people were considered chibi. “It seemed like it happened so long ago, I’m surprised I can still remember like it happened just yesterday.”
***************************
Tenten’s POV (about one year ago)
***************************
“A solo mission…?” I could feel myself grin at their incredulous stares. I had just finished explaining the reason the Fifth Hokage requested my presence. That was over twenty minutes ago. Shizune’s apprentice, Sakura, had interrupted my team’s training session, telling me to come with her. She had changed drastically since a year ago. Her hair had grown longer–not as long as mine; I think she kept it a certain length–and was kept in a high ponytail. Her outfit had also changed.
She no longer wears red or pink colors. Now, she was in an outfit similar to Shizune-san’s, except Sakura’s had a few modifications. Like, there were still long sleeves–probably to hide the needle launchers on her arms–but it ended at her mid thigh. She had skin tight dark shorts on underneath. On her feet, she wore standard sandals, but they were black. It wasn’t just her appearance that changed though. The way she saw others also changed. She even had started dating Lee a few months back! I, as well as everyone else, was truly shocked by this. But I digress…
“Yup, that’s right. I get a solo mission. I’m leaving the village early tomorrow morning,” I told them. By this time, Lee and Gai-sensei had gone into overdrive, saying how ‘youthful’ my first solo mission was going to be. Gai-sensei then goes on and says how he remembers his first mission. I mentally shake my head as I watched Lee intently listen to our sensei about the ‘springtime of his youth.’ I decided that I’d ignore them for awhile. It’s safe to say that they’d be like that for more than twenty minutes. My attention turned to my other male teammate.
I let a grin stretch across my face. It was hard to believe that Hyuga Neji and I have been dating for almost a year now. I’m actually surprised that it lasted this long, not that I’m complaining. He, my boyfriend, was in his standard thinking position. Arms crossed, eyes closed, and his head tilted towards the ground. I shook my head, and then went over to him. I nudged his side with my elbow, causing his eyes to open and look towards me. “If I remember correctly, you still haven’t had your first solo mission as a chuunin,” I teased. Neji, after all, had become a chuunin before anyone else, and yet he still had not gotten a solo mission.
Neji scoffed at my comment. I almost rolled my eyes at his action. He never gets riled up by my teasing. I guess he wouldn’t know that that’s part of the fun of having a girlfriend. He was as cool as a cucumber. Hyuga Neji doesn’t know that he’s supposed to flirt back. I mentally shook my head at this sudden revelation. “So what’s the mission?” he finally asked. I shifted my eye sight to my other teammates. They were still crying in each other’s arms. I shook my head and sighed before turning back to Neji.
“Here,” I began, pulling a photo from my pocket. I handed it to him. “Take a look at this.” Neji’s eyes scanned over the photograph for a few seconds before his eyes focused on me. He raised one his eyebrows.
“And why, exactly, are you giving me a photo of yourself again?” he asked. I mentally sighed. When we first began dating, I gave Neji a picture of me. I had to explain to him that couples exchange pictures of each other. Even after my explanation, he still questioned me and the point of exchanging pictures, especially since we ‘already know what we look like.’ I think that was the first biggest headache I got because of Hyuga Neji, who was also as stubborn as a mule.
“Actually, Neji, the woman in the photo is not me,” I told him. He looked momentarily confused by my statement. “For one, she’s wearing make-up, something I don’t wear often. Two, she’s wearing a traditional kimono, another thing I don’t wear. Third, she’s older than me.” I was finished with my little observations, but Neji had to tack something on.
“And her hair is longer,” he murmured. His eyes went back to the photo, so he didn’t see my frown.
“My hair is long, Neji, maybe even longer than hers. I just don’t wear it like she does,” I muttered, crossing my arms. He looked up at me again. “Anyway, that’s my client for the solo mission.”
“Really…?”
“Yes, somehow, she heard that I looked just like her. Her name is Tsubaki. She’s a princess from a small village, east of Konoha. Recently, there have been attempts to kill her. So her father has hired me to take her place and deal with the problem,” I explained. “We might be a few years apart, but the resemblance is almost exact, so Tsunade-sama, instead of sending a ninja to transform into her, is sending me. Only a few people will know that we’ve switched places. Her father being one of them.”
Neji opened his mouth to respond, but Gai-sensei beat him to it. “How long will you be gone, Tenten?” he asked. I looked up towards the sky with a thoughtful look.
“Hm… It depends how fast I take care of Princess Tsubaki’s attackers,” I said. “After that, it should take only two days to get back to the village.” I suddenly felt large hands on my shoulders. I looked up only to see Gai-sensei’s crying face mere inches from my own. So this is what torture feels like…
“Tenten, my beautiful, youthful student…!” the man began, not wiping his waterfalls away. He held me in his iron grip and refused to let go, no matter how many times I tried pushing him away. “Your first mission away from us! I’m so proud of you, yet so…” He began crying, sobbing. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that my boyfriend is smirking. I narrowed my eyes, hoping that he’d receive the same treatment when he got his first solo mission. After a few minutes of heart-wrenching–annoying and pointless–sobbing, Gai-sensei finally–no, wait, he’s hugging me now. Great… Note the sarcasm, please.
“Gai-sensei, pl-please let me go!” I managed to choke out. I don’t think my lungs can take the strain. I’m not sure how Lee manages to do it. It’s been three years since I’ve joined this team. You’d think I would know when to get out of the way by now. Thankfully, he released me from his iron-like grip. I sucked in as much oxygen as possible once I was free. Once my breathing became normal, I continued with the details of my mission. “As my team, you three are to treat her as if she was me, but you are also going to protect her. That’s why you are to stay here in Konoha.”
“I understand fully, Tenten!” Lee saluted. I smiled lightly.
“Now that I’ve explained the mission to you, I have to go home and pack my things,” I said. Before any of my teammates could respond, I jumped away.
***************************
I sighed heavily, and then tossed my bag over to the front door. It was packed and ready to go. All I had to do was pick it up on my way out of the door tomorrow. Walking towards my bedroom, I yawned loudly, not bothering to cover my mouth. After all, no one was around to see. I stared out of the nearby window. The sun was in the process of setting. After I yawned again, I flopped down, face first, on my bed.
I should be excited about my upcoming mission. Really, I should. “But…” I lowered my eyelids a little. “It’s going to be weird being without my team. And this mission is going to last until I catch the people trying to kill Princess Tsubaki.” I closed my eyes and yawned once more. Pretty soon, I’d be dreaming away reality…
…
…
…
Knock, knock, knock
My head snapped up. I looked around through blurry eyes. My eyes, they stung. I guess I never turned off the lights. I rubbed one of my eyes, and then looked over to my alarm clock. It read 8:30. “Only an hour and a half…?” I murmured, and then yawned. I massaged my arms because they felt cold. I didn’t realize that I was that sleepy. I didn’t shut off the lights, or change out of my training clothes. Heck, I didn’t even fix myself something to eat. I yawned again before snuggling up to my pillow. I really don’t know how it gets from me laying my head on it to it being held in my arms like a stuffed animal.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK
My head snapped up again. “Huh…? Oh, it’s the door…” I thought. I forced myself up and out of bed. Stumbling all the while, I made my way over to the door. I leaned against it for a moment before the knocking could be heard again. I am a very heavy sleeper, and when I’m suddenly awakened, I am quite sluggish. “Hold–hold on…!” I muttered, unlocking the door. Swinging it open, I prepared a glare. “Whaaaat…?!” I blinked in surprise at the familiar smirk I was met with. “Neji?”
“Are you just going to keep gawking like that or invite me in?” he asked. I forced myself from rolling my eyes as I stepped aside.
“Of course, come on in,” I told him. I had to stop myself from giggling because Neji had practically strutted past like he owned the place. I mentally shook my head as I closed my door. While doing this, I noticed that it was now dark outside. The sun had gone down while I was sleeping. By the time I turned around to face Neji, he was already sitting on my comfy couch. “Neji, you already know that I have to be up early. Why are you here?”
“It is our last night together for a while,” he almost sounded hurt. “I’m truly surprised that you sound annoyed by my presence.”
“Well, unlike you, sweetie-kins-” He grimaced at the pet name, causing me to grin. “-I have to get up early tomorrow morning. Earlier than normal, this is why I was trying to go to sleep early. So be a dear for me and speed up this little process of yours.” This, as I said, little process of his consisted of annoying the hell out of me when I’m sleepy. I don’t know why he feels the need to do this, he just does. Neji scowled at me, but that was ignored. “Well…?”
He continued his look, but then he smirked. Oh, boy… Perhaps I should have let him do his process. “Come here,” he said. I wordlessly walked over to his sitting form. You see, Neji was… demanding. I did not realize this at first. When we first started going together, he was shy, if not awkward about our relationship. I thought it was cute. I mean, hard, cold, ruthless Hyuga Neji acting all docile and meek… What girl wouldn’t just squeal at the sight?
A couple of weeks into our relationship, he starts changing. It was like… after we shared our first kiss, he became insistent on certain things. Like kissing, hugging… things like that. Out of nowhere, he’d say ‘Kiss me, now’ or ‘I want a hug.’ I was–am okay with it, but it’s still slightly annoying. Oh, and don’t even get me started on how he behaved after we had sex for the first time…! Neji raised his arms, grabbed my wrist, and then pulled me down on to his lap. I was now straddling him. “Nejiiii…!” I sorta whined out. “I have to wake up early tomorro-”
“Kiss me,” he, of course, interrupted. I gave a mental sigh before doing his bidding. By the time I felt the need to breathe overpower the pleasant feeling in the pit of my stomach, I had realized that I back was now against the cushion of the couch. Neji was hovering over me, panting, only a little, though. He pressed his nose against the side of my neck and breathed in. It tickles, but he knows that I like it a lot. Neji might have been demanding, but he was still affectionate.
“Do you… want sex?” I asked. It was a stupid question, but Neji did not ever look at me as if to say ‘Do I really have to answer that, dumbass?’ Those looks were usually reserved for Lee. His skin turned slightly red, and then he nodded. He leaned forward and kissed me again. All the while, I felt his fingers undoing the buttons to my shirt. He completely ignored the bra and started to massage my–what’s that, Yasmine? You want me to stop? Oh, alright… We’ll jump ahead.
*****************************
I glared at the nervous looking feudal lord with all my might. He had the nerve to yell at me for being two minutes late to the rendezvous point. We were currently in a small end; the main lobby to be precise. This is where I’m supposed to make the switch with Princess Tsubaki. The feudal lord, her father, cleared his throat and stared warily at the kunai in my hand. “Would you be so ki-kind as to put that away?” he asked. “You might dr-draw attention and I, for one, am not comfortable at the moment.”
I scoffed before I put my weapon away. The place was deserted. The only reason I pulled it out in the first placed was to scare the man by placing it near his throat. Yes, I was that irritable. “Stupid sex-crazed idiot keeping me up…” I thought darkly. “So where are we doing this? Where is the princess?” I asked, looking around. Come to think of it, there was not a hair or hide of a single guard or any type of security. As if the man read my thoughts, he answered my unspoken question.
“I wanted only a few people to know of this meeting place, and even then, they do not know what is to happen,” he stated. “There are two guards upstairs, protecting my daughter. I expect you to do your job quickly, ninja of Konoha.” I raised an eyebrow. “Er… not that you won’t, anyway, I mean…”
“Fine, take me to her,” I grumbled, still aggravated. It was, after all, a few minutes past 2:00 in the morning.
“Here, put this on first,” he handed me a straw hat that would probably cover my head completely. The straw hat had thin, paper-like strings dangling from its edges. “As I said before, I only want a few people knowing about the arrangements and the guards aren’t a part of the ‘few people’. You understand?”
“Perfectly,” I snapped, snatching the hat from his hand. The man flinched and muttered something about ‘kunoichi… damn,’ whatever the heck that means. Eventually, we made it to the correct room. I wasted no time in opening the door. Because of this, one of the two body guards almost attacked me. I was quick to fling multiple kunai and shuriken at him. His burly body was now stuck to the wall. Guard number 2, seeing the way his comrade ended up, decided not to take a chance.
It was then my eyes shifted over to the smaller body in the room. Judging from the body type, it was most definitely a female. She had yet to turn around to face me. I couldn’t see her face, but her hair is what got my attention. It was styled up in two buns, similar to mine. The only difference was that it was done sloppily. It was as if someone tried to copy my style and messed it up without a second thought.
The lord stepped in behind me. I could practically feel his eyes surveying the room. He made this ‘tut tut’ sort of noise, and then clapped. The man stuck to the wall gave a heave, but he couldn’t move. I tie wire around all the weapons I throw out, so with a yank, the shuriken and kunai came back to me. The man, unceremoniously, fell to the floor with a thud. Without a word, he stood and dusted himself off. “Your services are not required at the moment. You may go downstairs and wait for the princess and me to come back. We will head back to our village as soon as possible.” The two brawny men nodded, and then exited the room. The lord shut the door behind him. “Now, let’s get down to business, ne, Tsubaki-chan?”
The girl stood from her stool without turning around. “I hope you still look just like me,” the girl spoke. Her voice was similar to mine, though it was slightly higher. “When I first saw your picture, it was two years ago.” She finally turned around. And I have to say that I was stunned. I think she had only a minimum of make-up. I almost thought I had looked into a mirror. She was seriously like my spitting image even with the added enhancements. If I hadn’t known any better, I could say that we were twins. But that couldn’t be. According to her file, she’s three years my senior. Hm…? I know you’re drunk right now, but try to keep up, Mine-chan. She’s eighteen while I am fifteen at the time. … Of course it’s common for ninja to have sex at a young age! We’re considered adults when we become genin, after all. Now, let’s get back to the stor–flashback.
I felt myself smirk. I slowly took off the hat and revealed myself to the princess. She gasped loudly. “My name is Tenten, Tsubaki-sama. I will be your replacement,” I stated, bending my body at an angle. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The princess looked positively ecstatic. She clapped her hands with a delightful smile playing her on lips.
“Perfect!” she cheered. She ‘shooed’ her father out of the room, and then turned to me again. “Well, let’s get started! I’ll tell you important things you have to know while we’re fixing you up!”
The process of turning into a princess was tough. I had to learn to walk and speak ‘properly.’ Princess Tsubaki told me again and again that I had to sway my hips when I walked. It was annoying! She painted my nails, fingers and toes, and applied a bit of make-up to my face. All during this process, she went on and on about suspicious-looking servants in her home. Really, they just sounded like people that she didn’t like. Her statements sounded biased to my ears. “Finally…!” I thought once she took her hands away from me.
I was now dressed in the same attire that she was–had been in. She had dressed me in–shocking–a Chinese style dress, which was silk, I think. It was green and it came to my mid-thigh. But the slits that were on the sides came up to my hips. Luckily for me, she also gave me dark green shorts–very short shorts–to put on. The collar came open in a circle, below my clavicle. This was the sole purpose, I believe, to lure men’s eyes towards my cleavage. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw green flats–the same green as the silk dress. I almost sighed loudly. Those were probably for me, meaning I was going to have to wear them. They seemed like they were going to be uncomfortable…
I felt myself suddenly being twirled around. The princess, of course, had done it. Once I shook the dizziness away, I narrowed my eyes at her. She just waved off my glare and clapped. “My, my… Someone looks extremely sexy right now!” she giggled. I felt myself flush. No one had ever called me sexy before. It was somewhat of a foreign word.
“Not even Neji…”
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I felt Princess Tsubaki’s hands on my wrists. I looked up, only to realize that her face was inches–no, centimeters away from mine. I felt my eyes grow completely wide. Up close, I realize that even her eyes match mine. “If you didn’t have my face, I would so do you right now,” she smirked. Gradually, I felt my face rise in temperature. “So that’s what I look like when I’m blushing.”
“N-Nan-Nani…?!” I pulled my hand away from her grasp. “What are you doing?!”
“Oh nothing…!” she grinned, dancing away. She went towards the bed, and then held up my ninja outfit. “So how do I put this on?” She waved it around a little bit. I sighed and then walked over to her. “Oh, and I forgot to mention… Under no circumstance will you go anywhere near one of my servants. Her name is Asuka-chan. Stay away from her during your stay.”
“Why?” I asked an obvious question.
“Because I said so, damn it!” she gave an obscure answer. I glared heatedly at her, but she started humming, completely ignoring my fierce look.
“This is going to be more of a mess than I thought, isn’t it?” I thought, frowning.
************************
“I’m exhausted…” I murmured. I fell back and landed against the soft futon. A servant had already come into the princess’s room and laid it out. I stared blankly up at the ceiling. About two days ago, the feudal lord, the two guards, and I had left the real princess at that inn. I had told her that she had to go to Konoha, which was about a twenty-four hour walk from the inn. Her facial expression was priceless when I told her that. Actually, another ninja would be escorting her back to the village. He was scheduled to arrive at the inn a few hours after we left, so hopefully, Princess Tsubaki is now in Konoha.
By the time we reached the castle, it was nighttime. I know that I should be on guard at this time, but not getting enough sleep makes me… unpleasant, which is why that servant ran away from me when I snapped at him earlier. I hadn’t felt this tired this that first few weeks training with Gai-sensei. “I wonder why I feel so out of it lately…” I mused, and then closed my eyes. I stayed in this position for what seemed like hours, and yet my body still had not shut down. No, I don’t mean die, Mine-chan. I mean sleep! Anyway…
I heard the door slide open. The sound caused me to sit up. In stepped a girl–no, a woman. Like all others here, she was a stranger to me. She looked a bit younger than me. I’d say she was a year younger with that childlike face of hers. Her emerald eyes were big, bright, and innocent-looking. Her cream colored face was sporting a pair of flushed cheeks at the moment. She looked side to side in the room, causing her tightly coiled red hair to bounce at her movements. She looked a bit nervous as her green eyes focused on me again. She held her thumb up to her bottom lip. “Ano… Tsubaki-sama…” she began. Her voice was soft and… sweet. Her unoccupied hand fiddled with the hem of her kimono. “Gomennasai…”
“For what…?” I asked hesitantly. I still did not know her name. I didn’t know anyone’s name here. I wish the princess would have told me something other than how to be a ‘proper’ lady.
“Ano… that is…” she stammered out. This girl reminded me so much of how Hinata used to be, especially around Naruto. “Asuka-chan is–Asuka-chan wasn’t there to greet you when you came home…” She looked to the ground almost as if she were embarrassed.
“Third person…?” I thought. I’ve never meant anyone who spoke in third person. It was kinda cute. It made me smile. “Nah, its fine, Asuka-chan, I-” I stopped mid sentence, only because I remembered what the real princess had told me. Stay away from Asuka-chan, she said. “Could this person be suspicious?” I thought. The girl was still looking towards the ground, so she didn’t notice my narrowed eyes. “Is she only acting innocent? It’s a really good act if she is…”
“Tsu–Tsubaki-sama…!” Her voice snapped me to attention. I squeaked out a ‘yes,’ causing me to mentally glower. Did I really just get scared by that? “Asuka-chan really missed you while you were away…”
“Why…? I mean, it’s only been a few days,” I teased. The girl actually looked as if she might burst into tears. And then her face turned slightly angry.
“Tsubaki-sama, please don’t be mean! You know that even a minute away from you is torture for Asuka-chan!” she exclaimed.
I reeled back in shock. This girl, Asuka-chan, sounded really passionate about what she just said. I narrowed my eyes slightly. “They must have a close relationship… Perhaps they think of each other as sisters…” I thought, frowning. Being an only child, I wouldn’t know of her feelings. She looked towards the ground with a frown on her face. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Gomen, gomen… I didn’t mean to upset you, Asuka-chan.” I gestured for her to come closer.
She blinked, and then hurriedly hobbled over to me. It was almost funny the way she made her way over. “Tsubaki-sama… Asuka-chan hates it when you tease…” she whispered. Her head was currently in my lap. I ran my fingers through her red hair and apologized once again. I wondered if this is what if felt like to have a younger sister. That’s when I made the mistake of asking how old she was. She sat up with tears in her eyes. “Tsubaki-sama…! How could you be so cruel to Asuka-chan?!”
I could only was stare at her angered form. “Ma-Matte…! Don’t get angry! I-” I tried to get her to calm down, but she seemed too far gone at this point.
“You forgot Asuka-chan’s age! Asuka-chan is very angry!” she ran out of the room, shouting her age as she went. The door was slammed shut. I stared incredulously at the spot where Asuka-chan had been previously.
“Tw-Twenty…?! She was twenty?!”
********************************
I awoke to the sound of a jiggling noise. I opened my eyes and without moving my body, I turned my eyes towards the door. Someone was trying to come into the room. I, for a precaution, locked the door with a hook and nail. I saw that a piece of paper slide through the crack in the door. I turned over to my side so that my back was facing the door. Really, the lock wasn’t to keep intruders out. It was to actually wake me up. Luckily, it did its job or I wouldn’t have detected an enemy coming from that point. As I said before, I am a heavy sleeper.
I slowly slipped a hand under my pillow. My hand gripped the handle of the kunai that was hidden. I heard the door open slowly. It was painfully slow. I guess the assassin is trying not to make a sound, not knowing that they’d already alerted me to their presence. I heard the door shut again. For a moment, I thought someone was just checking the room because I heard not one footstep. That’s when I focused my hearing and because of this I heard the faint sounds of breathing. “They’re hesitating…” I realized. Could they see my hidden weapon? No, that couldn’t be it. But what type of an assassin hesitates?
I heard the person move closer to the futon. I noticed that their footsteps were light. But then again, a good assassin would have to be light on their feet. I clutched the handle with anticipation. The closer they got, the further I pulled the kunai out from under my pillow. “Tsu-Tsubaki-sama…” The voice was nothing but a whisper, but I recognized the soft voice almost instantly.
“Asuka-chan…?!” I thought with my eyes wide.
I felt her hand on my shoulder. She couldn’t be the assassin, could she? What an act, if she was… Against my better judgment, I released my weapon. I turned over, so that I could see her face, and that’s when I realized that it was completely dark in the room… “Tsubaki-sama… did I disturb your slumber? If I am, then I apologize for doing so,” she whispered. That’s weird… She was no longer talking in third person. “I feel bad about getting angry with you. May I sleep with you?” I rubbed my eyes, though it did little to help them adapt to the darkness of the room.
“Sure…” I muttered. Of course I said yes. After all, they had a sibling relationship, even though they were not related. I had to keep in character as much as possible. She thanked me, and then she lay down by my side and pulled the covers back over our bodies. She pulled my body closer to hers and turned me so that I was facing her. It was a little strange, but who was I to call it strange? It's not my relationship. “Comfortable…?” I asked in the nicest voice I could muster. Yes, I was a bit irritated that I was woken up for nothing. Oh well… I suppose that this means I don’t have to worry about anyone trying to kill me tonight. The princess told the Hokage that she only gets attacked when she’s alone.
Asuka nodded her head and smiled. I’m guessing she smiled, anyway. It was still too dark to tell. The only reason I knew that she nodded was because I felt her forehead against mine. I closed my eyes in hopes of going to sleep. I believe that I was asleep for a few minutes before I felt something soft and… wet probing my ear. I felt myself giggle lightly. The feeling was foreign to me. It felt so weird, and yet… so good. The soft, wet something slid from my ear and to my chin, and then the feeling disappeared. I could still feel the tingling sensation it left behind, though. Suddenly, I felt it again, but this time it pressed against my lips until it finally went into my mouth. It felt as though thunder had struck me, yet the feeling was so surreal. It was a tongue, I realized, and it was moving my tongue in slow rhythmic motions. “Neji…” I thought still half asleep.
I felt his hand enter my sleeping garments. His hand slowly massaged my breast, causing me to gasp out. Never before had Neji been so gentle, not even during the first time. He suddenly parted from me and I thought this magical feeling was over. That is until he pulled the night shirt off my body. He wasted no time in ‘attacking’ my breast, licking, nipping, and sucking. Neji never did this before either! I felt his hand slid down my torso towards my panties. He pressed his thumb against my wet underwear and began to rub. This only caused me to moan while I felt his soft thumb caress my right nibble, which by now, was harder than normal. “Wait…” I thought as my body began to unconsciously buck against the warm touch down below. “Soft thumb…? Neji’s hands aren’t soft, are they?”
I put my hand on his shoulder and made it go down. Imagine my surprise when instead of feeling the familiar chest of Hyuga Neji, I grabbed a fist full of boobies. This touch caused a cry of pleasure to reach my ears… a very womanly cry of pleasure. It took awhile for this information to process. “Ahh… Tsubaki-sama… harder, please…”
“What the hell?!” I couldn’t help but shout as I pushed the person away and scooted far away. I didn’t stop until my back hit the wall. By now I had realized that it wasn’t Neji who had been touching me… and that my night shorts were now around my ankles. I quickly pulled them up–probably blushing all the while–and covered myself, even though she probably couldn’t see anyway.
“Tsubaki-sama…? What happened? Where did you go?” Asuka was calling out to me. Her soft voice only caused to me to press my back against the wall as if it would hide me from her eyes. I heard her shuffling about, trying to find me. I shook my head over and over.
“This is a… dream! A dream! A dream…!” I thought, shaking my head back and forth. “I’m definitely dreaming! I did not just make out with a twenty-year-old woman! I’m dreaming! Dreaming…!”
A hand touched my shoulder, which caused me to squeal. Some kunoichi I am, right? “Oh, there you are, Tsubaki-sama…” Asuka’s voice stated. She rubbed my shoulders soothingly. “I’ll make you feel better.” I felt, what I assumed was, her lips press against mine. For some reason, I didn’t push her away. The kiss was soft and warm. It was similar to my first kiss. It caused another foreign emotion to well up inside me. Realizing that I was actually kissing this woman back, I finally pushed her away.
I could feel her questioning gaze on me, but I ignored it. I covered my mouth with my hand. Just what the hell was wrong with me? Why did I willingly kiss her?! And why the hell did she kiss me in the first place?! That’s when it all came together. Princess Tsubaki and Asuka didn’t have a sibling relationship… “They’re in love with each other…!” I thought with wide eyes wide in shock. What the hell did I just stumble myself into?!
I felt her lips again, but this time they were pressed against my ear. “I’ve missed you so much… Make love to me, Tsubaki-sama…” Asuka pleaded. She guided my hand across her chest. What shocked me is that my fingers grasped her breasts without my brain telling them to. Soft moans filled my ear as I began to–unconsciously–rub against her at a faster pace. “Tsubaki-sama…!” Asuka wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me on top of her. I wasn’t sure if it was the sudden feeling of being in command or not, but something made me take the initiative and kiss her. Our tongues intertwined as our hands played with each others bodies. It was then I realized that Asuka had removed her clothing long before hand, underwear and all.
I parted from her and panted heavily. I had no idea why my body responded in this way. I couldn’t believe that I was doing something like this… with another female. I listened to her breathe heavily, moaning for more. “I’m kissing a girl… and I like it…” This sudden thought caused me to blush in embarrassment, but I realized that I wasn’t necessarily ashamed of it. Mine-chan… why are you singing?
********************************
Tenten watched her friend dance around, singing a song in her own language. She was giggling immensely, completely disregarding the kunoichi’s question. “I kissed a girl and I liked it…! The taste of her cherry chap stick! I kissed a girl just to try it, hope my boyfriend don’t mind it!” Yasmine fell to the floor in a sniggering heap. It almost sounded like the foreigner couldn’t breathe.
“She doesn’t seem to realize the full extent…” Tenten thought, watching her calm down.
Yasmine finally settled down and looked at the kunoichi with mirthful eyes. “So what happened afterwards?” she asked. Tenten closed her eyes and sighed.
“Afterwards, Asuka-chan came to my room every night during the course of my stay,” she answered truthfully.
“And how long was that?”
“Two weeks.”
Yasmine could not stop her eyes from bulging nor stop the blush from appearing on her face. “And wh-what sappened with Neji?” she asked, still a little drunk from the sake.
“When I got back to the village, it didn’t take very long for me to wind up in another relationship with a woman,” Tenten said. “Neji found out about me cheating. Instead of getting angry, we talked about it and we agreed that our relationship wouldn’t have worked out, anyhow, so we split up.”
“What about the attacks on Princess Tsubaki?”
“Oh, that… The princess apparently wanted a vacation, so she made that up in hopes of getting one.”
“No kidding…?”
“Definitely not kidding. Her father, as well as the Hokage, were furious.”
The two then sat in a somewhat awkward silence. That is until Yasmine suddenly stood up. “Well, that was a… good bedtime story, but now I’ll turn in for the night!” She headed for the stairs, fully prepared to climb on her hands and knees to reach the room she was to share with Neji and Tenten. The foreigner blinked in surprise. One minute she was on the first step of the staircase, the next she was in the weapon master’s lap. She blinked again. She felt Tenten squeeze her torso in a hug. “T-Ten-chan…?” she stammered.
The kunoichi didn’t seem ashamed that she was rubbing her face against the foreigner’s cheek. “Oh, come now, Mine-chan… Did you really think that I would keep holding back now that you know?” Tenten asked with a grin. Yasmine gulped as she felt the kunoichi’s finger slide up and down her stomach, leaving goose bumps behind. She visibly sweated.
“But… Ten-chan…! I’m straight, totally straight!” Yasmine stated. “I think…” she added in thought. Truth be told, the foreigner had yet to be sexually active with a man or woman. Tenten just giggled. After that, Yasmine found herself with her back pressed against the cushions of the couch with the weapon’s mistress hovering over her form. She leaned down close. Yasmine felt a bit dizzy. “T-Ten-chan…”
“You know what else is straight?” she asked. Their noses were within centimeters of each other. Yasmine slowly shook her head, really not knowing where Tenten was getting at. “Noodles,” she answered. “That is until… you heat them up. Let me… heat you up, Mine-chan.” Yasmine squealed as Tenten’s lips moved closer to her own. Her dizziness became increasingly overwhelming. The foreigner pushed the ninja away and emptied the contents of her stomach over the side of the couch. After doing that, the girl promptly fainted.
Tenten blinked in slight surprise. She had almost forgotten that the foreigner was drunk out of her mind. “Hm… I suppose that means there’s a fifty-fifty chance that she won’t remember a thing I’ve told her come tomorrow,” the kunoichi almost huffed in disappointment. She scooped up her client in her arms and carried her towards the stairs, careful to avoid the mess Yasmine had left behind. “Nevertheless… Tomorrow’s going to be quite fun!” she thought, smiling lightly.
************************
“Why… are you staring at me…?” Sai and Nakatsu looked up from whatever it was that they were doing. Sure enough, their female teammate was staring intensely at the Uchiha. She was lying down on her stomach. Her head was prompted up by her hands and elbows. The four were crowded in a room. Mayu had decided that she was going to sleep in the same room as her teammates for this night. Sasuke smirked as Mayu’s blue eyes continued to watch him. “I know I’m sexy and all, but damn.” The Ishikari gave a small chuckle, and then frowned.
“You know something, Sasuke… You used to be so innocent and naïve…” Mayu began. “So cute and pure… It was like you were a blank piece of paper.” The girl sighed as if she had come to a depressing conclusion. “Now you’re just one big tainted pervert.” Sasuke glared at her. The glare was ignored. “Damn you, Jiraiya-sama, damn you!”
“What the hell makes you say that?!”
“You want the obvious, or would you like to hear another answer?”
Sasuke scoffed and turned away. Mayu chuckled again, and then turned to her other two teammates. She gave them the same stare that she had given to Sasuke. “Is there… something on my face?” Sai asked as he rubbed the back of his hand against his cheek. Mayu shook her head, and then chuckled again.
“Hey, Sai-chan, do you know how to play Rock-Paper-Scissors?” she questioned. The pale ninja gave Mayu a blank stare before answering.
“I have heard of janken and read the rules for it,” Sai admitted. “However, I have never played it before.”
The sounds of two gasps were heard. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Nakatsu and Mayu could be so overdramatic sometimes. So the guy never played janken before–so what? Big deal… Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows together. Thinking back, he’d never actually played the game either. He mentally shrugged as he watched Mayu and Nakatsu pester Sai about playing the game with them right now. The pale ninja smiled and agreed. “Oi…! You come play, too, Sasuke!” Nakatsu called over. With a sigh, the Uchiha went over to the group, unknowingly completing the circle.
For hours, the team played janken. It was childish, but each had to admit that it was nice. Especially since their team might fall apart due to a certain uncle. That thought alone put a damper on their thoughts, so it was forced in the back of their minds. They played to forget. “Yes…!” Nakatsu cheered, holding up a paper sign. Two of his teammates glowered at their rock signs. Sai only shrugged. He had also picked rock for this turn. “Now you all have to take one piece of clothing off!” He wiggled his eyebrows in Mayu’s direction. The girl scowled as Sai began to peel off his glove. The game had somehow turned into strip janken.
Currently, Sai was only in his dark boxers, having just removed his glove. As it turns out, the pale ninja wasn’t that much of a player of janken. Sasuke was sitting there in a fishnet top and his blue boxers. Mayu, blushing, only had one more layer of clothing on; a black tank top–no bra–and panties. Nakatsu, only the other hand, was fully clothed. Since their rounds of strip janken began, he hadn’t lost a single round. He was a pro. The Uchiha looked in Mayu’s direction. Sooner or later, she would have to remove one or the other.
Mayu, feeling two pairs of eyes on her, covered her chest in embarrassment. Those eyes had belonged to Nakatsu and Sasuke. “Wait a minute…! This isn’t fair!” she protested.
“Oh, no you don’t! You must remove something, Mayu-chan!” Nakatsu gave her a cheeky grin, causing her to glare at the older male. “Paper beats rock, remember?”
“No, no, no, no…! I understand that Scissors can beat Paper, and I get how Rock can beat Scissors, but there’s no effin’ way Paper can beat Rock! Is Paper supposed to magically wrap about Rock causing it to become immobile? If so, why doesn’t scroll paper wrap around ninja and the Hokage as they attempt to write and approve mission reports?” Mayu ranted. Yeah, she was really trying to get out of it. “I’ll tell you why… It’s because Paper can’t beat anybody! A rock would tear it up within seconds!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah… Just hurry up and take something off!” Sasuke muttered as he removed his fishnet top. He tossed it to the side and stared at Mayu expectedly. The kunoichi scrunched her face up, obviously uncomfortable about her situation.
“Yeah, yeah, Mayu-chan!” Nakatsu hadn’t lost his grin yet. “Follow the rules.” Sai looked to Mayu, wondering what she would do.
The girl clenched fist pressed against her folded knees. Her shoulders visibly shook. The male members of the team could still see the blush on the girl’s face. Without warning, Mayu punched Nakatsu in his right eye. The older male fell over backwards, groaning in pain. “Oh, I’m sorry!” Mayu stood up, hands on her hips. “I thought paper would protect you!” Sasuke sighed at Mayu’s apparent win. There was no use fighting with the girl now. He would not be seeing her body tonight.
“Ma-Mayu-chan… that was cruel…!” Nakatsu whined as he sat up, rubbing his bruised cheek. The kunoichi only turned her head away, crossed her arms, and smirked.
“That’s what you get for thinking you were going to see my goodies, my goodies, my goodies, not my goodies! Ow!” Mayu snickered before putting Sasuke’s extra boxers back on. On more than day long missions, Mayu would never bring her own pajamas, so she took one of her teammates’ extra ones. Sasuke just happened to be the one she ‘stole’ from for this mission. “Hey, you guys wanna hear me play something?” Without waiting for an answer, the girl crawled over to her guitar and picked it up.
“Isn’t it kinda late, Mayu-chan?” Nakatsu yawned loudly.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Nakatsu-kun. It’s only three hours past midnight!” Her three male teammates stared at her with narrowed eyes. Her cheeriness was unreal. Anyone could tell that much.
“It is possible…”
“… that Mayu…”
“… is nervous…?”
Mayu grinned as she began strumming her fingers over the strings of her guitar. She looked up at the ceiling in thought, wondering what she could play for her team. A steady beat touched the ears of the team. Mayu had finally found a song. “When we’re like this… I feel happy. It’s a shame that…” The girl shook her head as she smiled. “It doesn’t matter now.”
This place is many things, but I’d never it home
It’s just a building in a village everywhere I go
This place is many things,
But I can’t call it home
Home is the place you are
And I just want to let you know
That I’ve done a few things
I wasn’t proud of
Might’ve said a few things that hurt you
But you’re still the only one
Who fills me up
And every night spent alone
Was worth it…
You are my home
You are my everything
When I feel so alone
You are my heart
You are my shelter
When all my hope is gone
And I’ve seen many things
But they don’t look like home
They’re just the bright lights
From a village
Glowing all night long
And I’ve seen many faces
But they all look the same
Home is the place you are
And I just wanna let you know
That I’ve done a few things
I wasn’t proud of
Might’ve said a few things that hurt you
But you’re still the only one
Who fills me up
And all the tears that we’ve shed were worth it…
It’s just a building in a village everywhere I go
This place is many things,
But I can’t call it home
Home is the place you are
And I just want to let you know
That I’ve done a few things
I wasn’t proud of
Might’ve said a few things that hurt you
But you’re still the only one
Who fills me up
And every night spent alone
Was worth it…
You are my home
You are my everything
When I feel so alone
You are my heart
You are my shelter
When all my hope is gone
And I’ve seen many things
But they don’t look like home
They’re just the bright lights
From a village
Glowing all night long
And I’ve seen many faces
But they all look the same
Home is the place you are
And I just wanna let you know
That I’ve done a few things
I wasn’t proud of
Might’ve said a few things that hurt you
But you’re still the only one
Who fills me up
And all the tears that we’ve shed were worth it…
Mayu had not seemed to realize that tears leaked out of her eyes as she continued to sing. The strain of what could happen had been on her mind since she left her uncle. How could her uncle do that to her? Why would he try to take something so precious away? It didn’t make any sense. Ishikari Mori always favored his niece. People could change, that fact is certain, but… to change so drastically over the course of six years…? Why…? Without Mayu knowing, worried looks from her teammates were sent her way. Of course they noticed the tears running down her face. Nakatsu bared his teeth, and not in the friendly way. “Damn it…! Can’t he see that pulling us apart will only hurt Mayu-chan?!” he thought, glaring at the ground. The other two looked on in silence, waiting for the girl to finish. The kunoichi suddenly stopped playing, but did not stop singing. Her voice began quieter, softer–it was almost soothing.
You are my home
You are my everything
When I feel so alone
You are my everything
When I feel so alone
She began to play again.
You are my home
You are my shelter
When ALL my hope is gone
You are my heart
You are my everything
When I feel so alone
You are my heart
You are the one…
When it all comes undone…
You are my shelter
When ALL my hope is gone
You are my heart
You are my everything
When I feel so alone
You are my heart
You are the one…
When it all comes undone…
Mayu finally stopped playing. It seemed as if she still hadn’t noticed the tears. “So…” she sniffled. “How was it? Has my voice gotten better?” The three looked at each other, and then turned to the girl. They did not respond, causing her to frown. “Hey… You could at least answer!” Sasuke gestured for her to come towards him. Mayu blinked, but obeyed nonetheless. As soon as she was in the Uchiha’s reach, she found herself in his embrace. Her nose was invaded by the familiar scent of her teammate. It was the type of smell that brought back memories of open fires in the winter months; it also calmed her nerves. It was a mixture of spices and amber. Thinking back, Mayu realized that Sasuke had always smelt this way. Unconsciously, the girl nearly inhaled the aroma of her teammate. “Nani…?!” She snapped out of it and pushed him away. “Wh-What the hell are you doing?!”
“Your voice really hasn’t gotten better,” he said, smirking. Mayu stuck out her tongue.
“May I do the same?” Sai asked. Before Mayu would reply with a ‘huh…?!’, she found herself in Sai’s hug. Unlike the first hug from Sasuke, Sai’s hug came from behind. He literally pulled her into his lap.
“Eh…?!” Mayu could only wonder why she was receiving such treatment from the pale ninja. Sure, Sasuke had done it, but Sai only did his ‘monkey see, monkey do’ thing when it concerns greeting new people. Sai’s grip began slightly stronger. “S-Sai-chan…?! What are you-” She stopped. This was the longest time that Mayu had actually been this close to Sai. She realized that he, too, had a relaxing smell. It was different from Sasuke’s, though. He smelt of pine and herbs. It was surprising that he didn’t smell like ink and paint.
“Oi, oi…! Cut that out, you two! Mayu-chan looks like she has a fever!” Nakatsu ordered, tugging on Mayu’s arm. The pale ninja did as he was told and released the flustered-looking kunoichi. She shook her head slightly as if she was dizzy.
“What is with you guys all of a sudden?” she questioned, rubbing at her face. She felt the wetness on her cheeks, but chose to ignore it; most likely thinking it was drool. Her teammates did smell mighty fine. Before her question was answered, however, she was pulled into Nakatsu who pulled her into his lap. “For the love of…!” Mayu didn’t even bother to struggle this time. Whatever the heck was wrong with her teammates, it could become clear… hopefully. Nakatsu smelled a lot like citrus flavors. It had to be cologne. Nakatsu didn’t naturally smell like that, right?
“Mayu-chan… we will always be here for you!” Nakatsu stated. “No matter what happens, your uncle cannot tear us apart like this!”
“Of… Of course…” Mayu replied. “I won’t let it happen.” The girl pulled away from her older teammate. “It won’t happen, okay? So you guys should stop worrying about it.” The three males were silent. She is the one worrying about it, they thought. “Anyway, I think we’ve stayed up long enough. Let’s get some sleep, ne?” She lifted the covers up of the futon and quickly got under. Her teammates eyed her carefully before doing the same.
“Mayu-chan…”
“HmR 30;?”
“You’ll definitely win, right?” She didn’t answer. “Mayu chan…?” There was still no response from the Ishikari. Her voice just wouldn’t come out.
There were no reassurances given.
***********************************
It was a bright and sunny day. This lovely scene clashed with the mood of the area. The four members of Team Sawatari stared apprehensively at the older of the Ishikari. He lazy stared back at them. His smoking cigarette was clenched between his teeth. He suddenly grinned at the four. “Well, shall we get started, Mayu-chan?” he asked. The girl slowly nodded, and then stepped forward. She glanced back at her teammates.
“You guys should stand over to the side. Don’t get involved… This is my fight, alright?” Mayu turned back to her uncle. Her three teammates silently did as they were told. They were still worried–more than worried. And with good reason… Mayu had been acting weird all morning. Now, into the afternoon, she had suddenly become serious. They knew that the fight wasn’t a regular spar, but…
“You are aware that… I won’t hold back, right?” Mori asked. He took his cigarette from his mouth and put it out. He tossed it away. Nakatsu unconsciously gasped at the sight. He was a lover of nature, after all. Mayu didn’t reply to his question. She merely slid her foot back, pushing most of her weight to her front leg. Mori did the same. The battle was set to begin.
For several tense moments, the two Ishikari only stared at one another. Mori smirked. “You’re hesitating, Mayu-chan… That will only be your downfall.” The older ninja disappeared from her line of vision. Mayu narrowed her eyes as she watched her double turn into a log when her uncle elbowed her in the back.
“Uncle has gotten way faster…” she thought. “Hopefully not faster than I am…”
Mori scoffed, and then made hand signs. He disappeared, leaving only a cloud of smoke behind. Mayu stiffened, having just noticed the presence behind her. “Hiding, are we, Mayu-chan?” her uncle whispered in her ear. “That’s not how we Ishikari fight. Have you forgotten our ways? This is only another reason that I will not allow you to be with them.” Mayu frowned, and then tried to backhand her uncle, but he leapt out of the way. His feet touched the ground. He looked up with a grin. “Come down here, Mayu-chan. Fight me like the Ishikari you are.”
Mayu glowered as she stared down at her uncle. She remembered how he had always mocked her like this when she was younger. She stood up, and then jumped far from the tree branch. Her three teammates stared at her as she landed. Her back was still to them, though. Mori walked out of the shade of the tree, still grinning. “I… can not lose this!” Mayu thought, running towards her uncle. The two Ishikari met in a clash of kicks and punches. Fast-paced and relentless, neither Ishikari had landed a hit yet.
The younger of the two Ishikari dropped down into the splits. Surprised by this, Mori did nothing to stop his niece from hammering at his torso with her fists. With one final punch, the girl succeeded in knocking her uncle away from her. She stood up with a smirk on her face. “It would see that your body is not as tough as it used to be, uncle… Or is it that smoking has taken its toll on you?” Mayu asked. Mori laughed, but the laughter soon turned into coughs. The man spit blood from his mouth.
“Maybe, maybe…” he replied. He ran a thumb over his bloodied teeth, and then began to form hand signs. “You’re a lot stronger than I thought. This isn’t going to be as easy as when you were seven.” Mayu’s eyes widen as she recognized the hand signs. She quickly bit her thumb, drawing blood. At a much faster pace, she began to make the hand signs as well.
“Summoning Jutsu…!” Both Ishikari slammed their hands on the ground. Two massive clouds of smoke appeared in front of them.
“She summoned Nana-chan…?” Nakatsu muttered in surprise.
The black leopard was clearly visible, beside Mayu, once the smoke dissipated. Three pairs of eyes moved over to see what Mori had summoned. A deafening roar filled their ears, causing one of the three to cringe. Mayu visibly shook, seeing her uncle’s feline partner. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. He had… certainly gotten bigger from the last time she had seen him. He was twice as big as Nana was now. A deep chuckle seemed to shake the very ground.
“It’s been quite some time since I’ve been summoned, Morino,” the voice seemed to come from the giant feline. A pink tongue slithered out of its mouth and licked its equally pink nose. Its ice blue eyes focused in on Mayu and her feline partner. “Oh, so they’re still alive, are they?” Mori frowned as his partner shook his white fur. Its black stripes seemed to become jagged. “This should be an interesting battle.” The white tiger had a blue Konoha headband tied around its waist. Bandages were wrapped around its left front leg. There seemed to be some sort of… collar around the beast’s neck. It held a black staff there. The tiger’s ice blue eyes shifted over to the leopard. “Ah, Nana… It has been some time.” Nana growled.
“Up yours, asshole!” was the leopard’s retort.
“Oh, so you finally got enough chakra from your partner to speak the human tongue, did you?” his response was mocking. “You speak just like your human, I’m guessing!”
“Oi, oi…! Stop it, already, Mizuiro. Just what type of relationship do you have with Nana?” Mori asked. The white tiger, known as Mizuiro, chuckled again.
“Oh, we go way back,” he answered. “So… are we fighting your own kin?”
“It’s only for the best,” the man reached for the staff. He slammed the end of the staff against the ground. At the top of the staff, there was a clear gem, and in that clear gem was the Ishikari crest. Mori climbed on top of his feline partner. He looked at Mayu to see that she had already done the same with her partner. She had her bow and arrows out, aimed and ready. “Mayu-chan isn’t messing around. She is our enemy and needs to be beaten. You already know how a challenge between members of the Ishikari clan goes, right, Mizuiro?” A chuckle was his answer. “Alright then, let’s go!” The giant cat bounded forward. Nana did the same towards Mizuiro.
Their clash would prove to be nearly fatal…
*******************************
Too bad I’m not writing it! Hohohohohoho
*******************************
“Mayu-chan& #8230;” Nakatsu whispered, covering his mouth with his hand. The battle had turned bloody as soon as the feline partners were let out. The female Ishikari was lying on the ground, panting heavily. Red claw marks riddled her arms and legs. Nana, a few feet away, looked in worse shape than Mayu. Meanwhile, Mori and Mizuiro barely had a scratch on them. Blood and arrows littered the battlefield.
The man hopped off his tiger and dropped his staff. He slowly walked over to his niece’s tired and beaten body. Mayu tried desperately to stand; she failed miserably. Mori stopped a few inches away from her. He lowered his eyelids as he gazed at her broken body. She had fought hard and with such passion that rivaled her mother’s. It made him both proud and angry. “Why did you continue to fight me, knowing that you wouldn’t win?!” he murmured. “Perhaps if you had given up when I told you, you wouldn’t be in the state you’re in now! Give up now and save yourself more injuries!”
Mayu slowly turned over. Blood slid down her chin, both dry and fresh. She kicked her legs out, trying to take her uncle down. The man only hopped over her legs as they swung by. He glared at her, and then kicked her side. A pained gasped escaped the girl’s lips. “Why do you continue to fight me?! Do you want to die?! Would you die for them!?”
The kunoichi’s blue eyes were glazed over, yet she still gave a crooked smile. “… Yes… I-I-I wou-would…” she whispered. Tears trailed down her face, but they were ignored by the man. Mori practically growled before kicking his niece again and again. His last kick was so hard that the girl was lifted into the air. She came crashing back down not a moment later.
“MAYU…!” Nana rushed over. Claws extended, she was ready to strike the man. Bloodlust appeared in her eyes as she moved closer and closer.
Mori quickly jumped away, but Nana still went after him. The black leopard lunged at him, only to be tackled to the ground by Mizuiro. Nana’s neck was encased in the bigger cat’s mouth. “Don’t move.” Defeated, Nana’s body went limp. Mori looked towards the two beasts before his eyes returned to his niece’s body.
Even with her battered body, Mayu shakily stood up. Mori snarled at her action. The girl grabbed her right arm. Her teammates couldn’t believe what they were witnessing. It all seemed like a battle to the death. But that could not be… They were family, right? Sasuke almost averted his eyes. Why did he suddenly feel guilty?
“Stand down, you stupid girl! Can’t you see you’re fighting a losing battle?” Mori shouted. “Give up!”
“I-I-I-I-I-I-” Mayu coughed. “I won’t do th-that. They… They are m-my… THEY ARE MORE THAN JUST TEAMMATES TO ME!”
“Fine… If this is what you want…” the man frowned. He began forming hand signs for his final attack. He held out his hand, palm down. A small flame flickered in under his palm. It flickered again before growing bigger. It continued to grow as the man slowly turned his palm up. The flame consumed his entire hand as well as his forearm. Instead of the normal orange and red color, this fire was blue. “FLAME IN ALL OF US!” Mori yelled, and then raced towards his barely standing niece. Three pairs of eyes widen.
“Master Ishikari…?” Sai asked, blinking in confusion. Mayu nodded rapidly. He was half surprised her head didn’t fall off. “What does that mean?”
“A Master Ishikari, or M.I., are Ishikari members that have mastered every single technique belonging to the Ishikari clan,” Mayu answered. “In our history, there have been only about twenty-five masters, my mother, grandmother, and uncle included.”
“Aren’t there only a few Ishikari techniques?” Sasuke asked. “Why were there only twenty-five masters in all?” Mayu gave the Uchiha a sour look.
“No, stupid, there are not ‘only a few’ techniques of my clan. There are variations of our Mind Transfer Jutsu,” she replied in a ‘duh’ tone. Sasuke returned her sour look. “But the hardest to learn of all our jutsu is the Flame in All of Us.” She got ignorant looks in return. “Or the Flame for short… It is a very powerful fire jutsu. It’s the only fire jutsu in our arsenal, actually. Rumor has it that in order for a person to carry out this attack, they must use the chakra from past masters. No one knows exactly why it appears as fire, but it just does.”
“Could you learn it?” Nakatsu asked.
“Maybe when I was younger and actually believed that I could use other’s chakra,” Mayu shrugged. “Now that I’m older, I couldn’t do it if I wanted to. I’d probably just end up killing myself.”
“Why?”
“Ya’ll sure are asking a lot of questions…” the girl muttered. “But I’ll answer anyway. All of the Ishikari Masters had a child’s mentality when they began to learn the jutsu. In their minds, they believed that their ancestors were helping them in battle. But since I’m older, I don’t believe that stuff… Kinda like Santa Claus.”
“I don’t understand…”
Mayu patted Sai’s back. “Oh, you poor deprived lil guy!” she cooed, giving him a hug. “Anyway, depending on how much chakra is gathered, this attack could incinerate a target even if it’s just glancing blow.” An envious, scared looked appeared on the girl’s face. “I would never want to tangle with a master even if we were just sparring.”
After recalling that certain memory, Nakatsu’s mouth dropped open. “He’s… he’s going to kill her…” Sai stated. Even though he said this with no emotion in his voice, cold sweat slid down his face and dripped off his chin.
Ishikari Mori did not stop running towards his niece, who looked every bit as shocked as Nakatsu. “How could he want them away from me this much?” she thought as her uncle closed in. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the blow to come. It never did. Mayu felt herself being lifted in strong arms. She slowly opened her eyes. She realized that she was in Sai’s arms. The pale ninja had moved her away from her impending doom. Her other two teammates, Nakatsu and Sasuke, had held her uncle at bay; the fire had been extinguished, probably from a water jutsu from Nakatsu. Mayu was really glad that the ANBU operative had been learning something other than wind jutsu. She noticed that Sasuke’s sword was held at Mori’s neck, daring him to move. The Uchiha’s Sharingan eyes glared at the older male. Nakatsu’s dagger was pressed against Mori’s abdomen. Mayu slowly closed her eyes as a small smile spread; never mind the blood. She slipped into unconsciousness, never losing the smile.
Everything was going to be okay, after all.
“What the hell were you about to do to her?!” Sasuke growled out. A chuckle came from the white tiger, but the four males paid no heed to it. The white tiger released Nana from its mouth and spoke.
“Well, it seems that the tables have turned on you, Morino,” Mizuiro said. “I shall take my leave now.” The giant feline disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Soon after, Nana also disappeared.
Sasuke pressed his blade harder against the man’s neck. “Were you really trying to kill Mayu??” he demanded to know the answer. Mori relaxed his body before answering the Uchiha boy.
“No, of course not... But it was vital that you and she believed that I was going to take her life,” the man answered. Nakatsu stood up straight and looked at the older male in confusion. He removed the dagger as Sasuke removed his sword. “To put it bluntly, this was a test.”
“Test…?! You put Mayu’s life on the line for a test?!” Sasuke angrily asked. Mori closed his eyes as if he were deep in thought. He sighed.
“She put her own life on the line, not me,” he said. “It hurt so much to see my precious niece fighting for you, fighting to be with you. I am her family and yet she chose you three over me. I had to know–I had to see if… you were right for her.”
“What… do you mean?” Sai asked, walking over; Mayu was still in his arms. Mori’s blue eyes focused on Mayu’s body.
“Only true family members would do anything for each other. They would do anything to help them… even at the risk of throwing their own life away.” Neither teen spoke. They did not fully grasp what the man’s words meant. “I… am dying. I needed to know that my niece was in capable hands. That is all. That’s what this test was about. It is because of your reactions that you and she have passed this test.”
“Wait, wait, wait…! You’re dying?!” Nakatsu asked. Mori nodded his head.
“Within a few short years, my time will come. I’m not sure how I contracted this illness, but because of it, I’m getting weaker…” he murmured. “I’m surprised I lasted this long in battle without blood spurting from my nose.”
“So what you’re saying is… if we wouldn’t have stepped in, you would have-”
“Never allowed Mayu-chan near you? Yes, that was my intention,” Mori finished. Sasuke sheathed his sword. “That won’t be happening now, of course. Please… take care of my niece when I’m gone. I’m not returning to Konoha with you, so tell her I said goodbye.”
“Nani…?”
“Doushit e…?!”
“I’d rather have Mayu-chan thinking I’m still alive rather than dead,” Mori replied. “Don’t try to stop me. I may be weaker, but I’ll still kick your asses. I’m way above your level.” Sasuke frowned at his words. “And besides that, that guy is still after me and with Mayu-chan hurt like this, it could be critical to the entire team.” Nakatsu and Sasuke stepped away from the man.
“Mayu isn’t going to like this,” Sasuke muttered. Mori grinned as he rubbed his chin.
“Yea…If she’s anything like her mother, you guys are definitely screwed when she wakes up!” said.
The team did not find anything funny about his accurate statement.
**********************
Vertically challenged due to lack of inspiration.
Inspire me, please!
“Your voice really hasn’t gotten better,” he said, smirking. Mayu stuck out her tongue.
“May I do the same?” Sai asked. Before Mayu would reply with a ‘huh…?!’, she found herself in Sai’s hug. Unlike the first hug from Sasuke, Sai’s hug came from behind. He literally pulled her into his lap.
“Eh…?!” Mayu could only wonder why she was receiving such treatment from the pale ninja. Sure, Sasuke had done it, but Sai only did his ‘monkey see, monkey do’ thing when it concerns greeting new people. Sai’s grip began slightly stronger. “S-Sai-chan…?! What are you-” She stopped. This was the longest time that Mayu had actually been this close to Sai. She realized that he, too, had a relaxing smell. It was different from Sasuke’s, though. He smelt of pine and herbs. It was surprising that he didn’t smell like ink and paint.
“Oi, oi…! Cut that out, you two! Mayu-chan looks like she has a fever!” Nakatsu ordered, tugging on Mayu’s arm. The pale ninja did as he was told and released the flustered-looking kunoichi. She shook her head slightly as if she was dizzy.
“What is with you guys all of a sudden?” she questioned, rubbing at her face. She felt the wetness on her cheeks, but chose to ignore it; most likely thinking it was drool. Her teammates did smell mighty fine. Before her question was answered, however, she was pulled into Nakatsu who pulled her into his lap. “For the love of…!” Mayu didn’t even bother to struggle this time. Whatever the heck was wrong with her teammates, it could become clear… hopefully. Nakatsu smelled a lot like citrus flavors. It had to be cologne. Nakatsu didn’t naturally smell like that, right?
“Mayu-chan… we will always be here for you!” Nakatsu stated. “No matter what happens, your uncle cannot tear us apart like this!”
“Of… Of course…” Mayu replied. “I won’t let it happen.” The girl pulled away from her older teammate. “It won’t happen, okay? So you guys should stop worrying about it.” The three males were silent. She is the one worrying about it, they thought. “Anyway, I think we’ve stayed up long enough. Let’s get some sleep, ne?” She lifted the covers up of the futon and quickly got under. Her teammates eyed her carefully before doing the same.
“Mayu-chan…”
“HmR 30;?”
“You’ll definitely win, right?” She didn’t answer. “Mayu chan…?” There was still no response from the Ishikari. Her voice just wouldn’t come out.
There were no reassurances given.
***********************************
It was a bright and sunny day. This lovely scene clashed with the mood of the area. The four members of Team Sawatari stared apprehensively at the older of the Ishikari. He lazy stared back at them. His smoking cigarette was clenched between his teeth. He suddenly grinned at the four. “Well, shall we get started, Mayu-chan?” he asked. The girl slowly nodded, and then stepped forward. She glanced back at her teammates.
“You guys should stand over to the side. Don’t get involved… This is my fight, alright?” Mayu turned back to her uncle. Her three teammates silently did as they were told. They were still worried–more than worried. And with good reason… Mayu had been acting weird all morning. Now, into the afternoon, she had suddenly become serious. They knew that the fight wasn’t a regular spar, but…
“You are aware that… I won’t hold back, right?” Mori asked. He took his cigarette from his mouth and put it out. He tossed it away. Nakatsu unconsciously gasped at the sight. He was a lover of nature, after all. Mayu didn’t reply to his question. She merely slid her foot back, pushing most of her weight to her front leg. Mori did the same. The battle was set to begin.
For several tense moments, the two Ishikari only stared at one another. Mori smirked. “You’re hesitating, Mayu-chan… That will only be your downfall.” The older ninja disappeared from her line of vision. Mayu narrowed her eyes as she watched her double turn into a log when her uncle elbowed her in the back.
“Uncle has gotten way faster…” she thought. “Hopefully not faster than I am…”
Mori scoffed, and then made hand signs. He disappeared, leaving only a cloud of smoke behind. Mayu stiffened, having just noticed the presence behind her. “Hiding, are we, Mayu-chan?” her uncle whispered in her ear. “That’s not how we Ishikari fight. Have you forgotten our ways? This is only another reason that I will not allow you to be with them.” Mayu frowned, and then tried to backhand her uncle, but he leapt out of the way. His feet touched the ground. He looked up with a grin. “Come down here, Mayu-chan. Fight me like the Ishikari you are.”
Mayu glowered as she stared down at her uncle. She remembered how he had always mocked her like this when she was younger. She stood up, and then jumped far from the tree branch. Her three teammates stared at her as she landed. Her back was still to them, though. Mori walked out of the shade of the tree, still grinning. “I… can not lose this!” Mayu thought, running towards her uncle. The two Ishikari met in a clash of kicks and punches. Fast-paced and relentless, neither Ishikari had landed a hit yet.
The younger of the two Ishikari dropped down into the splits. Surprised by this, Mori did nothing to stop his niece from hammering at his torso with her fists. With one final punch, the girl succeeded in knocking her uncle away from her. She stood up with a smirk on her face. “It would see that your body is not as tough as it used to be, uncle… Or is it that smoking has taken its toll on you?” Mayu asked. Mori laughed, but the laughter soon turned into coughs. The man spit blood from his mouth.
“Maybe, maybe…” he replied. He ran a thumb over his bloodied teeth, and then began to form hand signs. “You’re a lot stronger than I thought. This isn’t going to be as easy as when you were seven.” Mayu’s eyes widen as she recognized the hand signs. She quickly bit her thumb, drawing blood. At a much faster pace, she began to make the hand signs as well.
“Summoning Jutsu…!” Both Ishikari slammed their hands on the ground. Two massive clouds of smoke appeared in front of them.
“She summoned Nana-chan…?” Nakatsu muttered in surprise.
The black leopard was clearly visible, beside Mayu, once the smoke dissipated. Three pairs of eyes moved over to see what Mori had summoned. A deafening roar filled their ears, causing one of the three to cringe. Mayu visibly shook, seeing her uncle’s feline partner. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. He had… certainly gotten bigger from the last time she had seen him. He was twice as big as Nana was now. A deep chuckle seemed to shake the very ground.
“It’s been quite some time since I’ve been summoned, Morino,” the voice seemed to come from the giant feline. A pink tongue slithered out of its mouth and licked its equally pink nose. Its ice blue eyes focused in on Mayu and her feline partner. “Oh, so they’re still alive, are they?” Mori frowned as his partner shook his white fur. Its black stripes seemed to become jagged. “This should be an interesting battle.” The white tiger had a blue Konoha headband tied around its waist. Bandages were wrapped around its left front leg. There seemed to be some sort of… collar around the beast’s neck. It held a black staff there. The tiger’s ice blue eyes shifted over to the leopard. “Ah, Nana… It has been some time.” Nana growled.
“Up yours, asshole!” was the leopard’s retort.
“Oh, so you finally got enough chakra from your partner to speak the human tongue, did you?” his response was mocking. “You speak just like your human, I’m guessing!”
“Oi, oi…! Stop it, already, Mizuiro. Just what type of relationship do you have with Nana?” Mori asked. The white tiger, known as Mizuiro, chuckled again.
“Oh, we go way back,” he answered. “So… are we fighting your own kin?”
“It’s only for the best,” the man reached for the staff. He slammed the end of the staff against the ground. At the top of the staff, there was a clear gem, and in that clear gem was the Ishikari crest. Mori climbed on top of his feline partner. He looked at Mayu to see that she had already done the same with her partner. She had her bow and arrows out, aimed and ready. “Mayu-chan isn’t messing around. She is our enemy and needs to be beaten. You already know how a challenge between members of the Ishikari clan goes, right, Mizuiro?” A chuckle was his answer. “Alright then, let’s go!” The giant cat bounded forward. Nana did the same towards Mizuiro.
Their clash would prove to be nearly fatal…
*******************************
Too bad I’m not writing it! Hohohohohoho
*******************************
“Mayu-chan& #8230;” Nakatsu whispered, covering his mouth with his hand. The battle had turned bloody as soon as the feline partners were let out. The female Ishikari was lying on the ground, panting heavily. Red claw marks riddled her arms and legs. Nana, a few feet away, looked in worse shape than Mayu. Meanwhile, Mori and Mizuiro barely had a scratch on them. Blood and arrows littered the battlefield.
The man hopped off his tiger and dropped his staff. He slowly walked over to his niece’s tired and beaten body. Mayu tried desperately to stand; she failed miserably. Mori stopped a few inches away from her. He lowered his eyelids as he gazed at her broken body. She had fought hard and with such passion that rivaled her mother’s. It made him both proud and angry. “Why did you continue to fight me, knowing that you wouldn’t win?!” he murmured. “Perhaps if you had given up when I told you, you wouldn’t be in the state you’re in now! Give up now and save yourself more injuries!”
Mayu slowly turned over. Blood slid down her chin, both dry and fresh. She kicked her legs out, trying to take her uncle down. The man only hopped over her legs as they swung by. He glared at her, and then kicked her side. A pained gasped escaped the girl’s lips. “Why do you continue to fight me?! Do you want to die?! Would you die for them!?”
The kunoichi’s blue eyes were glazed over, yet she still gave a crooked smile. “… Yes… I-I-I wou-would…” she whispered. Tears trailed down her face, but they were ignored by the man. Mori practically growled before kicking his niece again and again. His last kick was so hard that the girl was lifted into the air. She came crashing back down not a moment later.
“MAYU…!” Nana rushed over. Claws extended, she was ready to strike the man. Bloodlust appeared in her eyes as she moved closer and closer.
Mori quickly jumped away, but Nana still went after him. The black leopard lunged at him, only to be tackled to the ground by Mizuiro. Nana’s neck was encased in the bigger cat’s mouth. “Don’t move.” Defeated, Nana’s body went limp. Mori looked towards the two beasts before his eyes returned to his niece’s body.
Even with her battered body, Mayu shakily stood up. Mori snarled at her action. The girl grabbed her right arm. Her teammates couldn’t believe what they were witnessing. It all seemed like a battle to the death. But that could not be… They were family, right? Sasuke almost averted his eyes. Why did he suddenly feel guilty?
“Stand down, you stupid girl! Can’t you see you’re fighting a losing battle?” Mori shouted. “Give up!”
“I-I-I-I-I-I-” Mayu coughed. “I won’t do th-that. They… They are m-my… THEY ARE MORE THAN JUST TEAMMATES TO ME!”
“Fine… If this is what you want…” the man frowned. He began forming hand signs for his final attack. He held out his hand, palm down. A small flame flickered in under his palm. It flickered again before growing bigger. It continued to grow as the man slowly turned his palm up. The flame consumed his entire hand as well as his forearm. Instead of the normal orange and red color, this fire was blue. “FLAME IN ALL OF US!” Mori yelled, and then raced towards his barely standing niece. Three pairs of eyes widen.
“Master Ishikari…?” Sai asked, blinking in confusion. Mayu nodded rapidly. He was half surprised her head didn’t fall off. “What does that mean?”
“A Master Ishikari, or M.I., are Ishikari members that have mastered every single technique belonging to the Ishikari clan,” Mayu answered. “In our history, there have been only about twenty-five masters, my mother, grandmother, and uncle included.”
“Aren’t there only a few Ishikari techniques?” Sasuke asked. “Why were there only twenty-five masters in all?” Mayu gave the Uchiha a sour look.
“No, stupid, there are not ‘only a few’ techniques of my clan. There are variations of our Mind Transfer Jutsu,” she replied in a ‘duh’ tone. Sasuke returned her sour look. “But the hardest to learn of all our jutsu is the Flame in All of Us.” She got ignorant looks in return. “Or the Flame for short… It is a very powerful fire jutsu. It’s the only fire jutsu in our arsenal, actually. Rumor has it that in order for a person to carry out this attack, they must use the chakra from past masters. No one knows exactly why it appears as fire, but it just does.”
“Could you learn it?” Nakatsu asked.
“Maybe when I was younger and actually believed that I could use other’s chakra,” Mayu shrugged. “Now that I’m older, I couldn’t do it if I wanted to. I’d probably just end up killing myself.”
“Why?”
“Ya’ll sure are asking a lot of questions…” the girl muttered. “But I’ll answer anyway. All of the Ishikari Masters had a child’s mentality when they began to learn the jutsu. In their minds, they believed that their ancestors were helping them in battle. But since I’m older, I don’t believe that stuff… Kinda like Santa Claus.”
“I don’t understand…”
Mayu patted Sai’s back. “Oh, you poor deprived lil guy!” she cooed, giving him a hug. “Anyway, depending on how much chakra is gathered, this attack could incinerate a target even if it’s just glancing blow.” An envious, scared looked appeared on the girl’s face. “I would never want to tangle with a master even if we were just sparring.”
After recalling that certain memory, Nakatsu’s mouth dropped open. “He’s… he’s going to kill her…” Sai stated. Even though he said this with no emotion in his voice, cold sweat slid down his face and dripped off his chin.
Ishikari Mori did not stop running towards his niece, who looked every bit as shocked as Nakatsu. “How could he want them away from me this much?” she thought as her uncle closed in. She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the blow to come. It never did. Mayu felt herself being lifted in strong arms. She slowly opened her eyes. She realized that she was in Sai’s arms. The pale ninja had moved her away from her impending doom. Her other two teammates, Nakatsu and Sasuke, had held her uncle at bay; the fire had been extinguished, probably from a water jutsu from Nakatsu. Mayu was really glad that the ANBU operative had been learning something other than wind jutsu. She noticed that Sasuke’s sword was held at Mori’s neck, daring him to move. The Uchiha’s Sharingan eyes glared at the older male. Nakatsu’s dagger was pressed against Mori’s abdomen. Mayu slowly closed her eyes as a small smile spread; never mind the blood. She slipped into unconsciousness, never losing the smile.
Everything was going to be okay, after all.
“What the hell were you about to do to her?!” Sasuke growled out. A chuckle came from the white tiger, but the four males paid no heed to it. The white tiger released Nana from its mouth and spoke.
“Well, it seems that the tables have turned on you, Morino,” Mizuiro said. “I shall take my leave now.” The giant feline disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Soon after, Nana also disappeared.
Sasuke pressed his blade harder against the man’s neck. “Were you really trying to kill Mayu??” he demanded to know the answer. Mori relaxed his body before answering the Uchiha boy.
“No, of course not... But it was vital that you and she believed that I was going to take her life,” the man answered. Nakatsu stood up straight and looked at the older male in confusion. He removed the dagger as Sasuke removed his sword. “To put it bluntly, this was a test.”
“Test…?! You put Mayu’s life on the line for a test?!” Sasuke angrily asked. Mori closed his eyes as if he were deep in thought. He sighed.
“She put her own life on the line, not me,” he said. “It hurt so much to see my precious niece fighting for you, fighting to be with you. I am her family and yet she chose you three over me. I had to know–I had to see if… you were right for her.”
“What… do you mean?” Sai asked, walking over; Mayu was still in his arms. Mori’s blue eyes focused on Mayu’s body.
“Only true family members would do anything for each other. They would do anything to help them… even at the risk of throwing their own life away.” Neither teen spoke. They did not fully grasp what the man’s words meant. “I… am dying. I needed to know that my niece was in capable hands. That is all. That’s what this test was about. It is because of your reactions that you and she have passed this test.”
“Wait, wait, wait…! You’re dying?!” Nakatsu asked. Mori nodded his head.
“Within a few short years, my time will come. I’m not sure how I contracted this illness, but because of it, I’m getting weaker…” he murmured. “I’m surprised I lasted this long in battle without blood spurting from my nose.”
“So what you’re saying is… if we wouldn’t have stepped in, you would have-”
“Never allowed Mayu-chan near you? Yes, that was my intention,” Mori finished. Sasuke sheathed his sword. “That won’t be happening now, of course. Please… take care of my niece when I’m gone. I’m not returning to Konoha with you, so tell her I said goodbye.”
“Nani…?”
“Doushit e…?!”
“I’d rather have Mayu-chan thinking I’m still alive rather than dead,” Mori replied. “Don’t try to stop me. I may be weaker, but I’ll still kick your asses. I’m way above your level.” Sasuke frowned at his words. “And besides that, that guy is still after me and with Mayu-chan hurt like this, it could be critical to the entire team.” Nakatsu and Sasuke stepped away from the man.
“Mayu isn’t going to like this,” Sasuke muttered. Mori grinned as he rubbed his chin.
“Yea…If she’s anything like her mother, you guys are definitely screwed when she wakes up!” said.
The team did not find anything funny about his accurate statement.
**********************
Vertically challenged due to lack of inspiration.
Inspire me, please!
QOU:
“Oh, I’m sorry! I thought paper would protect you!” –Ishikari Mayu
Beta’s QOU:
“You know what else is straight? Noodles, until you heat them up,” –Tenten
--Beta’d by UKELICIOUS--
--Beta’d by UKELICIOUS--