I am sorry for the slow beginning, but hopefully the next chapter will be more interesting.
I do not own any of the Naruto characters or story elements from the show that right belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I do own Kimi and her family.
When Normal Becomes Interesting
A girl of around 18 laid her forehead against the dark chilled window. While waiting for the voice which would ruin her peaceful silence, she started to ponder if there was something more to the vicious cycle of her life. Then right on queue she heard her father call, "Kimi get down here it is almost time for our training session." So like every other morning since she became a genin she dressed quickly in her grayish purple tunic like shirt with light green accents, tight shorts, and instead of the normal ninja sandals she wore sandals with a thinner sole and wrapped around her ankle. Just as she was leaving her room she secured the sheath of her katana to her light green belt and then continued on her way to greet her father. When Kimi reached the final step, she saw her father leaning against the door frame with his eyes closed and arms crossed waiting patiently for her like every other morning. He then opened his piercing aqua eyes and said, "Grab your kunai and shurikens because you drastically need to improve on your aim."
A sigh left Kimi's lips before she replied, "But dad we have been working on those skills everyday for the last week straight."
"Well if you would put as much effort into this training as you do when working with your katana. Your skills would be better than that of a newly graduated genin by now," her father mocked her.
The sad thing was that it was true when it came to throwing or long rang weapons Kimi was all but useless, but if you put a katana or another close range weapon in her hand you would wonder if it was the same girl. So begrudgingly she strapped the kunai pouch to her right thigh and followed her father out to the training grounds. When they arrived she saw the bane of her existence known as moving targets. On her best day she could hit all the stationary targets provided she herself wasn't moving, but once movement was added either on the target or her part her best day decreased to 75%. To her father's dismay her best days were far and few between. Kimi readied herself for the morning full of disappointment and punishment exercises. See if she didn't come close to the goal her father set not only did she have to redo said training exercise, but she also earned herself anything from extra laps to his specialized survival training.
After the basic warm-ups, her father instructed her to start throwing the kunai at the targets. In all actuality, he watched every movement she made from the noticeable snap of her wrist to the minute twitches of her muscles as she took aim. Before she could reach for another kunai he grabbed wrist to stop her. He then looked at her and said, "I don't understand it your form and aim are fine, but yet you almost always seem to miss the target. You don't happen to need glasses?"
"Hmph, I don't need glasses. It is hard to explain, but once the kunai leaves my hand I can't feel the connection anymore which throws off the release and trajectory," Kimi replied haughtily.
Her father closed ran his hand through his hair in order to calm down and just sighed, "I knew I gave you that katana too early into your training."
"What does that have to do with my throwing skills?" questioned Kimi.
"True or false you can fight with a kunai as a close range weapon?" her father asked.
"Of course I can use a kunai in close range battle because it could be used like a dagger," she said not fully understanding why that fact mattered.
Her father stared at her like he couldn't believe that she still hasn't grasped the concept he was getting at. After waiting a while to see if the light bulb was going to go off, he finally said, "In order to wield and master a katana the user must make a connection to the sword to the point it becomes a part of them. Once a bond like that is formed it becomes easier for one to make that connection with any weapon that can be used similarly. There is where the problem lies because subconsciously it unsettles you to deliberately sever a bond like that, and that feeling causes you to hesitate which makes for poor throwing skills."
All Kimi could do is stare at him for a while as she processed that theory, and once she really started to think about she noticed how true it was. She never liked to go anywhere without her katana because without it she felt like part of her was missing. So after mauling over her father's word she inquired, "So what am I going to do about it? One does not simply overcome something like that in a day let alone a year."
"I have an idea, but let leave that for tomorrow because we need to get back home before we are late for breakfast," her father said as he placed a gentle but callused hand on her shoulder. Kimi looked up at her father and smiled it amazed her how ninja's in general could switch personalities so easily she herself was included in that observation. She couldn't help but think that her sister, Hikari, stated it best, "Ninja's come with a personality switch which allows them to quickly change from the interactive social person to the serious emotionless shell." Her father was a good example of how severely those personalities could differ because at home he was the kind caring father who would do anything to protect and keep his family happy, but as soon as he left the house it was time to become serious and even more observant. See Kimi's father was almost always observant, but when it came to his job no movement went unnoticed especially facial movement or body twitches. Kimi attributes this to the fact that he was Second in Command of the Interrogation Squad Daisuke Asano trained by Ibiki Morino in the art of mental tortures and body language.
Upon entering the house, Kimi was greeted with the smell of eggs and bacon, and she loved this part of the routine especially after training leaves one hungry. Daisuke greeted his wife, Chie, with a simple kiss to the forehead. Noticing the one missing body he called up the stairs, "Hikari, it is about time to get down here." After a few minutes, the sounds of shuffling feet could be heard as Hikari slowly tried to wake herself up. As Hikari entered the kitchen, Kimi noted that she was wearing an outfit similar to that of their mother's outfit, and this meant only one thing it was Hikari's day to work at the tea house alongside their mother. Kimi was the only one who decided to follow the way of the ninja, but in all honesty she thinks that her parent would have had a meltdown if her younger sister also decided down that path. She honestly couldn't blame them, especially her father who has saw some of the worse people and what they are capable of doing, and that translates into how hard he trains her.
Kimi was lost in her own thoughts, but when her sister stated that Naruto was finally coming back all Kimi could do was blink. That statement brought many thoughts and mixed emotions to the surface for her. Kimi had nothing personal against Naruto, but she never liked the fact that trouble seemed to follow him. When there was trouble, her boring routine became broken, but the trouble that follows him was not the sort that she wanted to break up her routine. His sort of trouble increased the probability of one of the few people left that she cared about getting hurt significantly, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to continue if anything would happen to those she holds dear.
