Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shikotsumyaku ❯ Daily Life ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters therein. They are all owned by Kishimoto Masashi.

 

 

 

Hwoo. Hwoow. Woow… Whehw.

`Mmn-Owl…'

…Whoo--hoo-hoo-hoo-hoow.

Sakura shifted in her half-sleep. She turned her head to a more comfortable angle, and discovered that she had been lying in an uncomfortable position for a little too long.

`Tc-kuckck-ctk' said her neck, and a few other joints agreed.

`…Aaah…!'

Then she began the normal process of waking up; who am I? What am I? My head is up there. I'm wearing clothes. There's hair in my mouth…my hair. My feet are cold. What is this I'm lying on? And finally, where am I?

As an after-service her brain ran through the previous day's events to make sure nothing… well, nothing she might regret had happened. It found nothing of particular interest, but it did manage to figure out where she must have been. Her eyes did a quick sweep of the room, and managed to catch sight of Kimimaro looking at her through a doorway. She had been half expecting him to be doing something like that, so she managed to not yell in shock.

`…'

`Umm…hi.'

`Good morning.'

`Have I been…uh…'

`Yes.'

`For how long?'

`Most of the night.'

This was bad. She didn't know why it was bad, but she knew it was.

`Why didn't you wake me up?'

`…' Kimimaro gave one of his “it's difficult to explain” or “various reasons” looks.

 

-----

 

`So…' Ino began, her voice radiating slyness. `How far have you gotten with your new boyfriend?' Ino had tried to time the question in such a way that Sakura would be in the middle of drinking her water by the time she finished asking. It was, generally, quite funny when you could make people gag from embarrassment. In fact, Sakura would have spat the water all over Ino, so it was fortunate that she swallowed before Ino could finish.

`I told you, we're not going out!'

`So you say- but what were you doing so early in the morning? I saw you going home, which was kind of strange.'

`I was just helping him move some furniture-'

`-Woah, so you are serious!'

`What?'

`You're moving in with him already, things must be going well!'

`His furniture!'

Seeking to keep Sakura on the defensive, Ino took a conversational step back to exploit another part of the story. `Oh? And why were you there that late?'

`I…' Damn she thought. `…Fell asleep.'

Ino said nothing. She didn't have to. All she needed to do was cover her mouth with her hand and widen her eyes in an accusing mix of amazement, pride, and amusement.

`No- not with him! Just asleep!'

Ino's expression remained the same, although her eyebrows raised themselves a little, and she leaned further back.

`Nothing happened!'

`Really…?' Ino drew the word out gleefully.

`Yes, really- nothing happened.'

`Coward.'

Sakura gritted her teeth and glared at Ino darkly. `Eh?'

`I mean, you could have at least fallen asleep in his arms like “Kimimaro-kuuun~”' she used her most syrupy girly voice and hugged her own shoulders. `But then again, if you're really not interested in him, I might still have a chance' she beamed, before she once again fell victim to a Sakura Headlock.

It did occur to Sakura that Kimimaro had come at a time when a lot of people were still coming to terms with the fact that Sasuke had betrayed Konoha. He was fairly attractive, and Ino seemed to have seen him as a chance to forget about Sasuke. And it couldn't hurt to help a friend, namely Sakura, do the same thing, could it?

It was thoughtful of her, but that didn't change the fact that she was being an annoying bitch!

`Aggheh- lhe me gho!'

`Shut up! You were asking for it!'

 

-----

 

Logs are, by nature, pacifists. They never actively seek out combat of any kind, and this is not necessarily because they are dead (or at least half way there). In fact, prior to being a log, any given part of a tree is also naturally inclined to pacifism (apart from Gum trees, which are sadistic, and tend to drop branches with no warning at all). However, this does not necessarily mean that a log will never find itself the target of some physical abuse. Kimimaro was observing this happen. To most people it would be called “training.” To a log, it might be called “brutality” if logs could speak, or feel, or think and all that. As Kimimaro was a person, he tended to agree that it was “training.”

The person inflicting the “training” on the log in question was a girl that he didn't recognise. From the look of it, she was trying to improve the level of shock her arms could withstand or increase her overall strength. Or both. She was repeatedly and consistently hitting the log, which showed extensive signs of “training,” with open palm strikes. It was probably the fighting style of a clan that he wasn't overly familiar with.

He had come here, after seeing the place a few days beforehand, with the intention of doing some taijutsu training of his own. However, it seemed that someone had beaten him to it. The “early bird,” as it were, catches the log. For no particular reason, he had decided to stay out of earshot (which wasn't all that far since he wasn't in the habit of making any noise if he could at all help it) and watch her practice.

Since she was attacking a non-living, and more importantly; stationary, target he couldn't really critique her style or form with any degree of accuracy but he got the distinct impression that she herself was not at all happy with her skills.

After a while she decided to have a break. Kimimaro made no attempt to hide, since her stopping removed the possibility that he might interrupt her, and also made no attempt to conceal the fact that he had been watching her, since he didn't care. She spotted him very quickly, and immediately hid behind the vertical log she had been hitting, her face turning red.

`Ah…um…uh…' she said in an anxious, altogether too quiet voice. Kimimaro stood up and walked a little closer. The girl moved further behind the log so that only half of her face was visible. Kimimaro, not of the particularly sociable persuasion, didn't really know what to say. Voicing some weaknesses in her form might have been a good conversation starter, but he didn't really have anything to say on the matter.

There were two heavily worn logs beside the one the girl had been practicing on. He walked over to the furthest one without a word and started practicing simple kicks and punches to get a feel of to what degree his body had recovered. He didn't need to worry about his Shikotsumyaku abilities, but if he was going to have to go on missions for this village, and he didn't have his Earth Seal anymore, he at least wanted to have his taijutsu up to scratch.

The log, although being quite thick, vibrated slightly when he struck it particularly hard. The girl, still mostly hiding from view two logs away, watched him with a mixture of caution and awe.

 

-----

 

Tsunade leafed through the stack of paper that had just been placed on her desk to see if there was any particular part she could skip reading. It was a detailed observational report from the ANBU team assigned to Kimimaro. Without even looking at it, she was pretty sure she didn't need to see “Recommended Action” and “Suspicious Behaviour” would probably only needed a skim through. Of particular interest were the clearly underlined sections about each time Kimimaro had the opportunity to escape or harm the villagers but failed to do so, which the team leader had grudgingly agreed to underline. It was ANBU's not-so hidden agenda to kill him, so it wasn't much of a surprise that they were reporting everything he did in the most negative way possible. It had been extremely useful to have Sakura be a less biased source of information after all.

However, in several places in the report the team leader raised concerns that his behaviour was “too good to be true.” Unfortunately, she had to agree with at least a few of them. His readiness to betray Orochimaru begged questioning, and Sakura's own descriptions of his positive personality changes were at least a little suspicious. Then again, the fact that he didn't appear to be at all interested in escaping made the whole thing even less clear. It could have indicated that he really did intend to stay, or that he was doing his best to deceive them into thinking he was.

The situation still needed to be handled carefully, and with a knife at the ready. Tsunade's train of thought was then interrupted by a knock at the door.

`Come in… Oh, Sakura. Good timing.'

 

-----

 

Kimimaro poked at the meat and vegetables grilling in front of him, making a point of ignoring Rock Lee. He was sitting a few tables away with his team mates and Jounin instructor. When Kimimaro had come in and walked past their table, Lee had recognised him instantly but said nothing because of Tsunade's orders. And he had been taken aback when Kimimaro had totally ignored him.

`Someone you know?' asked Tenten while trying to decide whether or not it was too early to flip some of the meat. Lee was about to explain about the time they had fought each-other before he remembered he wasn't supposed to do that.

`Well…I don't know his name…'

`But you've met him before?'

Lee wasn't the greatest when it came to making up stories, so it came as a relief when someone provided what seemed to e an explanation. Sakura entered the restaurant and made her way over to Kimimaro. If Lee had been taken aback when Kimimaro ignored him, seeing him with Sakura made him positively livid. But, it did seem to explain to Tenten and Neji why Lee knew Kimimaro, saving Guy (who was being uncharacteristically quiet) the trouble of making up a story for Lee.

`Oh, that's too bad Lee…' Tenten decided it was more-or-less time to flip everything over.

`Why, Sakura-san? Why with him? What's going on?'

`Don't worry, Lee! Don't give up!'

`…Guy-sensei…?' Guy's sudden outburst raised Lee's hopes, until he dashed them again in one fell swoop.

`There are plenty more fish in the sea! A real man knows when to give up!'

`You're saying I have no chance against him?'

`Hmmm…I wonder what they're talking about…' said Tenten, watching Sakura explain something. Then she turned back to the conversation that had been happening at their table. `…Lee? Are you crying?'