So, been reading a lot of OC stories lately and got a bit of inspiration to try it out for myself. Don't know how far I'm going to go with this, if at all, and I kinda ended it on a good note so it can even be taken as a oneshot possibly.
Honestly, I guess it all depends on how I'm feelin' at the end of the day. If you like it or hate go ahead and share your opinions. I can take it, promise.
Disclaimer: Why do I need a disclaimer? The entire site is a disclaimer. Fanfiction. It's fan. fiction. Oh well. I, Navatii, don't own Naruto, it's story, or characters. I do, however own my OCs, their back story, clan, etc. You get it.
"Again. Get up."
Nikita shuddered, tremors shaking down her small form as heated puffs of breath came out in ragged pants. The child's sides felt like they were full of stitches, each intake of air more painful than the last.
It had been nearly five hours since the preciously young ninja in training had a break. As a result her body was paying for it in full, painful fatigue and overexertion raking her lithe form as she struggled in the sun kissed training courtyard.
Above her stood Tsume, her father, a monstrously built man with scars that seems to grace him from head to toe. His head was shortly shaven on either side with a long, spiked, blue Mohawk that started off short and rugged, but due to it's length, finished braided down to his mid-back.
He wore a silk black kimono, improperly dressed, to show his muscular and scarred chest. His left hand, which should have normally slipped right through the sleeve, instead laid in the open part near his stomach, lazily resting against a half-assed tied sash. On the back of his black kimono, in-between his massive shoulder-blades, was the clan symbol- a set of three jagged marks that resembled claws- offset in white and highlighted in a blue tint. Resting against his hip was Saigo no hōkō, the katana of the First Taigākurō, passed down to Clan head since the beginning of their family.
The man was perhaps one of the most intimidating ninja in Konoha. And yet, the blue long-haired youth near him glared pitifully up at the ex-Anbu captain with everything she could muster, a snarl etched onto her pretty, but very dirty, round face.
"Up, Nikita." Tsume growled, the toothpick in his mouth splintering in half as his icy blue eyes glared fiercely down upon his child.
"Make me, you old-" Before she could even finish, her father reached down, grabbing the collar of her sweaty shirt and pulled upwards, staggering the child who precariously wobbled on exhausted legs.
Nikita, much to his amusement, tried swiping at him with her bruised hands, missing by a long shot and nearly toppling over again. Not that it was her fault, really, her entire body felt like pins and needles.
"Pathetic. Look at you, you can barely stand up straight. How do you expect to beat the Uchiha boy like this?"
"I can beat him any day of the week!" There was an underlying snarl in her voice that did not go unnoticed by the Taigākurō clan leader, who smirked savagely back.
Her words, though holding a surmount of confidence, were not completely true. All the Uchiha boys were getting stronger by the day. Shisui, Itachi, and even little Sasuke...How long until any of them surpassed her in strength?
Already Shisui was becoming a master of genjustu, a talent that Nikita would never be able to learn considering her own clan's specialization of Nintaijutsu and Senjutsu. Not to mention she did not have the right type of chakra, nor the real imagination to attack the mind as he seemed to.
Though, admittedly, she did have him beat at the body flicker technique, but that was only because the Taigakuro literally excelled in speed and chakra flow. And funny enough, he was even gaining on her in that regard. The one thing she prized herself in all else, for him to beat her in that...
'It cant happen!' She thought, almost panicking at the idea. The clan would disown, or worse, kill her. Okay, maybe kill was a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly, if she didn't have the clan it would pretty much be the same thing.
"Maybe if you taught me another jutsu or two-" Nikita began, but was immediately cut off by Tsume's loud gruff of condescending laughter.
"A new Jutsu? You can't even deal with the training I have you doing now, brat."
"You-! I only meant-Shut up! If it weren't for these stupid weights you have me wearing, I'd take you on right now." Nikita's fists clenched tightly, impatience and pain clear in her posture, which continued to protest the longer she stood in place. Despite her bravado, there was clearly no way she could move even an inch if it came down to it. Not that she would let HIM know that.
Dark, slitted blue eyes glared down at Nikita, almost thoughtfully, as he scratched the scruffy hairs on his scarred chin. "You think you can take me, brat? What a big mouth. I'll punt you over the compound wall."
Nikita bristled at the remark, shielding herself in anger to cover up the embarrassment she felt at his nonchalant tone.
"O-oh yeah, well I'll-!" A large, callous hand, quicker than she could even see, fell down, smacking her roughly on the top of her head before she could finish the stubborn threat.
The small girl looked up confused, her eyes shifting from the appendage on her head to the man who stood, crouched, next to her. His eyes were focused off to the left before slowly, after several moments, shifted back to the child that was on the verge of no doubt attacking him.
"That's enough for now." He paused, giving the girl a lopsided smirk. "Your little friend is here. Wouldn't want to let him see you training, do you?"
Nikita's eyes widened at the information, no longer quite caring how Tsume ruffled her hair as he stood back to his feet in an attempt to rile her up further.
There was no doubt in her mind that when Tsume refereed to, 'little friend' he was talking about Sasuke Uchiha. There was no one else she really talked to, not because of shyness or anything, but more due to the fact she simply just didn't have the time in the day. There was too much training to be done that to do anything else in her day was nearly irresponsible.
A fact that seemed to irk the Elders to no end.
'Why don't you play with the other children like a normal child?' They would rattle. 'Some of those children are heirs to their own clans. Getting to know them would benefit ours greatly.'
Old bastards. If they were so worried about it maybe they should make friends with them and play ninja. Besides, they only said such so she would slack on her training and their own bastardy children could swoop in and steal her right as heir.
No way was that going to happen.
Hell to the No.
Unlike other clans, who sometimes had civilians allowed and bred into their family, the Taigākurō were born ninja and married only ninja. Refined for espionage, they were the silent and quick assassins of the great shinobi wars in the past and continued to hold the same mentality and pressure on it's youth even into the present.
There were no choices. You were ninja. If a child survived the clan training, which had a 67%-80% chance of fatality depending on the teacher, they then went through the process of becoming Anbu- usually receiving their promotions at the age of twelve to thirteen. Raw power was a sign of one's worth and if you did not have it, you were less than worthless.
You were trash.
This mindset was not discouraged among the Taigākurō, and in fact, especially in regards to Nikita who was the current standing heir, was greatly encouraged. At any given time, if she did not uphold her strength among her peers she would be thrown to the bottom of the totem pole and lose her right as heir. Then, eventually, after suffering the worst humiliation known, stripped of name and status and tossed out to live on the streets in a lifetime of shame.
It was a fate worse than death, but accepted nonetheless.
For power and strength was prized upon all else. If you were not strong, what use were you to the Taigākurō?
Nothing. That's what.
It was perhaps this mentality of being discarded at any sign of weakness that Nikita spent most of her waking hours training and her high tolerance of the Uchihas. For as annoying as they sometime could be, the boys did train a lot, and that common interest between them was enough to form a initial though the Taigākurō in general were not known for wearing their hearts on their sleeves, it was a known fact that loyalty and friendship were regarded highly within the clan ranks almost to the point of extremes.
In fact, a Taigākurō by the name of Denichi, in the past had been a close friend of Madara Uchiha back before Konaha was established. He had killed his own daughter at Madara's word, no questions asked, due to their friendship. The man had never questioned it, never asked why, he had simply did.
Naturally, the Elders sentenced him to death for kinslaying and to hide their own faults, but his acts lived on, spread to others as rumors and ill advised fact.
From one crazy man's devotion an entire clan suffered.
Those who had heard of Denichi's betrayal believed all those in the clan held the same devotion as he did. Whether true or not, greedy lords took great lengths to buy, earn, and push their way into superficial friendship in an attempt to abuse such blind devotion for greed and selfish gain at the expense of pain of the Taigākurō in question.
Some took the long con, pretended affection with marriage proposals, while others simply tried to catch them while they were young and naive. Naturally, this effectived the clan in the very worst way.
They grew so paranoid of any kind act they would downright refuse it, wary of ill intentions. Thus the saying it was easier pulling out ones own teeth than gaining the friendship of a Taigākurō was born.
Whether the saying held any truth was something to be said, but it was worth mentioning none in the clan sought to disprove it having grown a habit of keeping to themselves long ago.
The Uchihas seemed to be the exception, considering no matter how cold one was they came around anyway. Frustrating, yet tolerable.
The blue haired girl's icy eyes narrowed, an exact replica of her father's as she re-examined her seemingly nonchalant parent. If Sasuke was here, then so were Itachi and Fugaku, which meant...
"Try not to cause to much trouble, kid. I don't need the Hokage yelling in my ear again cause you decided to run around the Forest of Death."
"That was one time-" Her protests went on deaf ears as the Taigākurō clan leader turned on his heels, leaving his mischievous child alone with only partial concern his frosty gaze.
Nikita's huffed in mock anger after the man, a slight grumble escaping her lips as she turned back to the dummy. She wanted to sit, desperately, but knew better than to do so, especially now that she could sense the familiar chakra of Sasuke slowly making its way towards the training courtyard.
'Weak! I should of been able to sense them at the compound gate.' She thought in anger, her tiny fists clenching at the very thought. The Elders would mock her if they knew.
'I'm not making any progress at all, am I?' Nikita bit her lip harshly, mindlessly drawing blood.
"Are you okay, Nikita-chan? Tsume-sama said you were here." An wary voice asked, followed closely by the sound of small shuffling feet that stopped just next to her left.
She didn't need to look up to know the owner of the voice, having heard it enough in the last few years to be able to pinpoint it in a crowd of shouting people. Nevertheless, the small konochi in training peeked from underneath choppy bangs to glare half-heartedly at the boy.
"No, Sasuke. I'm pretty sure I'm dead." Nikita groaned, once more reminded of her overtaxed body as the Uchiha poked her in the shoulder playfully.
"Hey, dont call me that. It's Sasuke-kun."
"Okay then, chan it is." She amended immediately, smirking. It wouldn't take long to get under his skin, he was far too easy to tease.
"Kun!" His lower lip stuck out in a pout, his dark eyes widening in a puppy-dog like stare.
"Chan." She was so not going to fall for that again.
"It's. Kun." Impulsively, the young Uchiha darted forward, tackling the taller girl with a childish and mischievous laugh.
"Ack, Sasuke!" Nikita cried, far too tired to even attempt to dodge the boy as they tumbled to the ground, his arms wrapping around her in a friendly hug.
She fell limp in defeat, more than use to the abuse, often times seeing him do the exact same thing to his brother, who was older and strong enough to take the brunt of his affectionate attacks without pause.
"Get off." The not quite angry girl growled coldly, already knowing he would more than likely ignore her anyway.
"You smell funny." He murmured into her clothes, refusing to move despite his words.
The girl sighed at the predictability, before tensing as she realized what he had said.
"Shut up!" She scowled, "You smell funny."
"How come you didn't visit yesterday?" He asked, tightening his grip, a hidden smirk rising on his small lips as he heard her wheeze in mild pain.
"I was training." Nikita remarked tersely, eyes twitching.
"You're always training!" Sasuke muttered bitterly, finally relinquishing his hold to sit cross-legged in front of her, head turned away and arms folded. "We never get to play."
"How childish." Nikita grimaced immediately regretting her words, but refusing to apologize, as she stubbornly clenched her jaws.
To his credit, the black haired boy did not cry at the cold words like the young girl would have assumed, instead turning his head away, his lower lip sticking out in a silent pout.
The blue haired child watched wearily, excepting him to attack her, yell, do something, but was met with the frosty shoulder of quietness. That made Nikita unnerved above all else. He was effectively ignoring her.
The several moments of silence stretched on, the longer it lasting the more uncomfortable Nikita became. She hesitantly rose a hand up to poke the young boy, but before she could even touch him, his hand had come down smacking her softly away like she was a unruly pup on punishment.
Sasuke glared up at the sky ignoring the sulking girl next to him as he crossed his short arms over his black shirt, his expression changing very little despite the looks Nikita continued to throw at him, which were hardly discreet.
She wouldn't apologize. She wouldn't.
Yet, it just didn't feel right not to hear the Uchiha talking about some nonsense in her ear, whether about his dislike for sweets or his near obsession over his brother Itachi. She envied the two brother's closeness, even if the girl didn't say it out loud. Nikita didn't have any siblings of her own. Nikita's mother died bringing her into the world, and her father never found another woman after. She did have cousins, of course, but they were like sharks in a tank full of blood.
"Did..." She began with effort, more than a little uncomfortable with the seeming reversal of their roles. He usually spoke enough for the both of them and she never really had to make an effort to keep their conversations. He was a far more outgoing child than she. He even smiled more.
"Did Itachi train you yesterday like he said he would?" Nikita ventured, immediately falling on what she knew. A bit pathetic, but not totally unsurprising. Even Tsume talked about her emotional constipation and lack of people skills. He told her countless times it was something she would need to seriously work on if she wanted to become a ninja.
Though, honestly she wasn't too worried about it, if you were to ask her. If Nikita trained enough her power would be plenty to overlook her flaws. Or so she thought.
Sasuke frowned slightly, ignoring her for another few moments just to punish her a bit more before tilting his head in her direction, taking in her rugged appearance and bruised body. He could make out the light scars on her arms and shoulders from last year when she had fought against her cousins in a Elder arranged free for all bout.
He had worried the entire day when he visited her in the hospital, her body wrapped in bandages from head to toe, only to scowl at the large grin of victory on her face. He couldn't understand how the girl had been so happy, considering how the Elders deemed monthly bouts after she recovered just to make sure she continued to hold the title as strongest. It was clear that to even those outside of her clan that none of the Elders wanted her as heir. Yet despite that she still fought them tooth and nail.
"Yeah, I guess I could show you." He began, letting it be known she was forgiven. He was far kinder than she, by far.
"Great." Nikita muttered, turning her head to watch him, hair flattened against her head and tinged a lighter brown among her light blue locks from the dry dirt she had been tossed repeatedly into thanks to her father.
"Watch this!" Sasuke grinned, scrambling to his feet as he moved to the training dummy Nikita had been using earlier. Taking several measured steps back, the young boy pulled out three Kunais from the small pouch on his leg and flung them quickly at the dummy, hitting it square in the target area upon it's chest, one after the other with clumsy grace.
The girl blinked.
He turned to look at her, chest puffing slightly in pride, as a small smile formed on his face. "Well?"
Nikita glanced from the dummy back to Sasuke with slightly furrowed brows. "Good, I guess, but it's no jutsu."
"I didn't say it was! Is that all you got to say? Good?" Scowling at her, Sasuke's lower lip stuck out in a slight pout, making Nikita scowl back with vigor. What was with that look? She complimented him, didn't she? What more did he want her to say?
"Your form was sloppy, you lean to far to the left, and you held the Kunai to tightly in your hand." She rose weakly to her feet, moving towards the shorter boy, correcting his form as she spoke.
"Make sure you hold your weapons lose enough to let it go with ease, yet strong enough that you dont let it go prematurely or drop it...Dummy." Nikita muttered, feeling more than uncomfortable under Sasuke's gaze as he stared at her with wide, onyx eyes.
"Thank you, Nikita-chan." He said earnestly, making said girl's eyes widen in shock as she immediately took several steps back.
"Don't thank me!" Nikita protested, crossing her arms over her chest in defense a blush of embarrassment rising onto her cheek. "I expect only the very best from my rivals."
"Right!" Sasuke grinned, not believing her for a second. Despite her stubbornness, she was slowly showing herself as his friend. And Itachi-neesan said it would be impossible!
"Where's Denka and Hina?" Sasuke asked suddenly, taking note of the absence of the almost constant ninneko. They usually hung around after Nikita trained. "I thought Tsume-sama summoned them to help you with chakra control."
"They're at the Cat Fortress with Nekobaa." She groaned, "They didn't like the progress I was making and said they wouldn't appear again until I could summon them myself." There was a bitter and angry tone to her voice that nearly made Sasuke step back in surprise.
"But-" He started, watching as she bent her legs experimentally. "You've been training so hard! We even went with Itachi-neesan to the Cat Fortress and you talked to Nekomata while I helped get paw prints. The ninneko love you, you're a Taigākurō!"
Nikita winced at the memory, a tiny sigh escaping her lips. "Yeah well, when Otosan was my age he could summon Denka and Hina as a pair no problem. I can't even summon a kitten."
"So...Your going to continue to train nonstop until you can summon them?" Sasuke glared as the Taigākurō who shrugged unabashedly back.
"Probably."
"Idiot!" There was a slight quiver of frustration in Sasuke's voice that he didn't even try to hide. Nikita always pushed herself to the point where her body nearly broke in strain, no matter what he said. The Uchiha would have to watch her closely to make sure she at least got rest.
"Wha-You're going to start now?!" He fretted, watching her stretch her arms out and shake each leg, wincing in the process. He sometimes reminded Nikita of a mother hen.
"Stop worrying so much, Sasuke-chan. I'm just going to climb that tree." She said, nodding towards the towering Oak behind him with a grin. The tree's base was as wide as he was tall, it's length making the surrounding house dwarf in comparison. It was easily the largest tree in the Taigākurō compound.
Sasuke sweat-dropped, but moved out of her way none-the-less, watching wearily. There was no arguing with the girl when she was like this, besides he had a sinking suspicion it would be over fairly quickly anyhow.
True to his hidden thoughts, it took exactly three attempts at climbing the tree with only her feet before the girl passed out from exhaustion at it's base.
The young Uchiha moved forward, lifting his friend's head up to rest on his lap, his back resting against the bark of the large tree. It was nearly habit by now, her pushing herself to collapse and him there to watch over while she slept.
Sasuke looked down at the sleeping girl, her long hair splashed across his lap and onto the undisturbed dirt nearby as her face was for once relaxed and peaceful- a sight that seemed to only be observed when Nikita was unawares.
Being the friend of a Taigākurō was difficult. There was no denying that.
Sighing softly, his dark eyes glanced up towards the sky, catching the first pink and oranges of the impending sunset.
Soft tiny breath escape Nikita's parted lips, before a tiny mumble fell from her tongue. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun." The words were followed closely with a few deeper inhales as the young girl succumbed deeper into unconsciousness.
Yet, this friendship certainly had its moments.