Homecoming
"Hey, aren't you that Sakuragi chick, stranger?" "And what if I am" Kaede responded to the man in the cold tone of voice that she usually gives to anyone she doesn't know. "Nothing, that's just good to know, that's all." The strange man said. "Rigghttt… well… I'll be leaving now." Kaede tried to keep walking, but she just couldn't help thinking that this guy was creepy, it made it even worse knowing that he was trailing right behind her. As she kept walking, she noticed a whole gang of strange men doing a poor job of hiding behind the bushes. Kaede tried to keep walking as if nothing was going on, but she just couldn't hide the fact that she knew exactly what was going on. As the men drew closer, a strong sense of fear crept up on Kaede, up to the point where she couldn't walk straight anymore. Before she knew it, there was already 6 men in front of her, all dressed in dark cloaks, and covered up so you couldn't see their faces. "Listen, I don't know what's going on here, but I just wanna go home, so if you could please step aside." Kaede's timid voice was very obvious, and served as a signal to the strange men to begin their assault. "Lady, do you know how much bounty is on your head?" one man said. "Bounty?" "Yes, most men would kill for that type of money, and that's exactly what we're doing." "What are you talking about, what do these people want with me?" As Kaede questioned these men, they only seemed to get closer. "We can't tell you that of course." As the men walked in closer, Kaede backed up; hoping to get some distance between her and them, but it seemed useless. Out of nowhere, another man grabbed her from behind, and rendered her backing up more useless that it already was. These men didn't seem like they weren't going to lose interest anytime soon. Kaede closed her eyes so she wouldn't see anything, but then she felt a gust of wind and the man behind her let go. She opened her eyes only to find that the men were face-down on the floor, as if they were knocked out. She looked up and found a boy, around her age, with his back facing her. The boy's hair was just long enough to reach his shoulders, and his right arm and leg were wrapped in bandages, she could tell that he obviously came back from a long travel. The guy wore a gray jacket and black shorts with a kunai holder strapped to his leg and an item holder on the back of his pants. "He's a ninja…." was all Kaede could say, for she was shocked in amazement. "You just took down all of these men, so fast…. who are you." The boy turned around as Kaede observed his black hair flip, and blushes came upon her cheeks. "I…" Kaede clenched the grass she was sitting on. "I can't believe you don't remember your best friend Kaede…" The boy said. Those words said to Kaede unlocked some memories that she had forgotten over the years, these memories took her back seven years before. "Kaede…. Slow down, I can't keep up." "No... I can't, my dad is becoming president, and I have to get there now." "Can you at least slow down, you know I'm frail, and I can't keep up." "Well I guess I'm just going to have to go without you." Kaede came back to reality, and put her head down. Tears came down from that darkness in her eyes. "That was the last time I saw you." Kaede mumbled. The guy looked down at Kaede, watching her lift her head, only to see her crying. "Yusuke! Where did you go!... I missed you so much… we couldn't find you." She was interrupted by the feeling that someone's finger was on her lips. "Don't cry, I'm here now." Even more tears filled Kaede's eyes, and she started to cry even more. Yusuke wrapped his arms around her, to comfort her and to calm her down. Later that evening, after Kaede had calmed down, Yusuke was walking her down the main road leading straight into town. By this time, Yusuke was looking around the place, paying attention to the scenery that he left behind years ago. He was going through nostalgic trips in his head, remembering the times when he was young, running around the town… trying to catch up to his friends… Yusuke had put his head down; he seemed to have his bad part of his memories. Kaede could see that clearly. "Where were you anyways, you just suddenly went missing and no one could find you?" Kaede asked. Yusuke had soon come back to his senses, and he looked up at the sky. "I've been training… all this time, three years catching up to you, and three years getting stronger than that." All Kaede could do was look at him in amazement. "By now you've probably gotten so strong… I wish I could be like that, but as the president's daughter, my training hasn't even begun." "They say it's because they have special training for me." Yusuke looked at her with the same amazement, but this time, with even more admiration that he did before, years back. As they both walked into the town, Yusuke was greeted by the fresh town air that he missed so much… only to be interrupted by a medium sized, 5'11 guy with long hair stretching down to the middle of his back. He didn't seem dangerous, but he knew what he was doing. The guy looked straight at Yusuke with an expression that didn't seem too friendly. He looked at Kaede and said, "where have you been, I've just received word that there's a bounty on your head, so you need to stay in the town." "I know, I just figured out now, I was attacked by some strange men that mentioned something about bounty, but Yusuke saved me" " Yusuke?…" the guy looked at Yusuke and stared, like he was looking at a ghost. "You're….. back…" "Hmm, it's been a while…Shiro." Yusuke said with a smirk on his face. "YUSUKE OKUMURA, I haven't seen your face in a while." Everyone's attention turned to a tall skinny guy with bright blue eyes, and a short haircut. Both of his hands were wrapped in bandages and he seemed like he was always fighting. "YO, Natsu is that you, it's been forever, I feel like I…" "LET'S FIGHT!" Yusuke was interrupted but Natsu's burning aspiration to fight him. "You heard him, let's fight, I would like to see just how strong you've gotten, or are you still a frail baby." Shiro said. Yusuke was paused in dead silence. "Two on one!" everyone looked at Yusuke with shock. "I didn't spend seven years doing nothing!" All the attention turned to Shiro as they all waited for his answer. "We'll do this at the forest clearing in five minutes." Shiro's response seemed to have gotten everyone's blood boiling. Later, everyone was gathered at the forest clearing. Shiro and Natsu were preparing to fight Yusuke in the heated foreseen battle. This battle was meant to test Yusuke's abilities, and to provide "entertainment" for them all. Everybody got into their battle stances, preparing for whoever makes the first move. Would it be Yusuke, of Shiro and Natsu? Shiro started the battle by throwing a kunai at Yusuke, only to find that Yusuke had deflected it with a kunai of his own. By this time, Natsu had already dashed off in an incredible speed, taking Yusuke's attention. Shiro took this as an opportunity to close in for another attack. Yusuke quickly looked around for any signs of Natsu's movements, and found slight chips in the leaves, and breaks in the flow of wind. Natsu's incredible speed had unfortunately become his down fall. Yusuke paused for a short moment, a concentrated. "There!" as Yusuke let off the signal that Natsu had been found he swiftly threw his kunai at the location the he believed his enemy had been headed. Suddenly, a large figure appeared behind Yusuke giving him no time to react. At this time, Natsu had blocked the kunai thrown at him, but stumbled and fell over, and was temporarily downed.
As the smoke cleared up, Shiro stood in the middle of all the debris, standing proud of his accomplishment. Natsu got up later, relieved that it was over; little did they both know that the body of Yusuke wasn't there. "It was a really bad idea to challenge us both Yusuke, but I suppose you learned your lesson." Shiro said. "At least we don't have to…. SHIRO, LOOK DOWN!" Yusuke's hand busted through the ground and grabbed Shiro's foot, and held on with a strong grip. Shiro couldn't move and he was constantly trying to break away. Before he knew it, he already had cuts on every part of his body. Shiro had fallen down from the sharp, intense pain that he had felt, and all that was left in his head was wonder, wonder in how a simple touch could hurt him so much. As Yusuke carefully pulled himself out of the ground, Natsu had been waiting for the perfect time to attack, and that time had come when he observed Yusuke hitting a snag. To Natsu it was the greatest time to attack because Yusuke didn't seem to notice him yet, and Yusuke was focusing on more important things, getting himself out of the ground. Natsu quickly engaged his opponent in the blinding speed that he used before; he was so fast that in less than 2 seconds he was already face to face with Yusuke. Yusuke was just in this situation… and he knew just what to do. As Natsu was throwing his first punch, Yusuke was weaving his first hand sign. カイ! (Release) As soon as that was said, the earth that trapped his foot exploded, and he was free. Some of the debris had made its way into Natsu's eyes, interrupting his attack. Yusuke took this as an opportunity to dodge his misplaced punch and jump away from the smoke cloud, throwing a kunai in on his way out. Yusuke landed with a smirk and satisfaction that he had defeated the one who started this battle, and because he had won it. That smirk was turned into an expression of disappointment and shock. A surprising face had appeared again, holding a kunai in his hands."I thought I already took you down." "I had some Ninjan pills, so I'm fine." Yusuke's expression of shock turned into a straight face, emotionless and totally serious. "Fine, let's get serious, I'm gonna end this in a minute, 60 seconds tops." As Yusuke said that, he was cracking his fingers and loosening up. "Yusuke…. How did you cut me up so fast… you didn't even do anything, just grab my foot." There was an awkward silence between question, and answer. "I simply inserted a small amount of chakra in you through your foot, and quickly released it through all parts of your body, causing the cuts that appeared."Yusuke explained. "Hmmm, I bet you won't do that again." Shiro prepared for round two and Natsu cleared his eyes. "I won't have time to, 60 seconds, remember, oh and, LOOK UP" Shiro and Natsu looked up and observed what appeared to be Yusuke throwing another kunai at them from that top. "(SHADOW CLONES)" Shiro thought. "NATSU! KUNAI SPLIT!" Natsu and Shiro separated Natsu to the left and Shiro to the right. Yusuke quickly threw four kunai, two going towards Shiro and Natsu, and two going where they were headed, cornering them in the middle. "(Shit, he's good I have no choice)" Shiro began weaving hand signs at frightening speeds. 同期革命 (Synchronized Revolution)
Suddenly, Shiro and Natsu began performing movements in synch. Shiro had used this technique block the two kunai for both of them. "So you think you're the only ones moving in synch." Yusuke said. Shiro and Natsu's attention had turned to the kunai they had deflected. They had noticed that the kunai had been moving in perfect synch, just like them. The kunai had instantly transformed into clones at the same moment that they had been realized. The clones suddenly kicked Shiro and Natsu so hard, a large explosion was created from the impact, ending the battle. "How's that for frail!"
Disclaimer: I don't own this story.