Caranril: Aaaaaaaand here's Part II! This is really going to be much longer than I intended, but I lurvs the world of Naruto, so it's okay for the distraction. Don't be afraid to review, please, even if you're reading this, like, years in the future. I still occasionally get reviews on my Legend of Zelda story, which I published...a while ago. I don't recall when. Ahem. I stopped with the alliterative titles because it's a lot harder than it looks to do them that way. Um...and this one's rated M because later will be some situations and such. I'd rather not say it's T and freak some kid out. Yeah.
Legolas: I cut my hair.
Caranril: No, I cut it.
Legolas: And I had to even it out because you suck.
Caranril: shifts eyes Wheeeeeerrreee are my fireworks when I need them?
disCLAIMER: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul
Chapter 1: Going as Planned?
"Chakra control is essential in the life of a Shinobi," Kakashi said as he put his book away. "Perhaps the most common use is during travels, particularly in Konoha; focusing Chakra to your feet allows you to run through the trees without slipping and falling to the ground. Water walking is very common too."
"You can walk on water?" Kaori stared open-mouthed.
"Yes."
"That could have saved me some embarrassment all those times I fell..." she muttered.
"What?"
"Erm, nothing. Sorry."
"Anyway, as seen in your demonstration four months ago, you have excellent Chakra control already. What you lack is strength and stamina. I noticed you've improved in both areas in your work with Naruto, but you will find your capacity to be much higher when I'm done with you."
"So what are we working on first?"
Kakashi pulled out a bow staff and tossed it to Kaori, who caught it clumsily.
"Strength."
"But I use swords."
"Not yet. You will learn to fight and defend with a staff first, then we'll move to katanas, and eventually you'll use two short swords. But the easiest part comes first."
"Easiest part?" Kaori said quietly. The bow staff felt strange in her hands.
"Use both ends to defend and attack." Kakashi demonstrated with his own bow staff, swinging it impressively. "You'll use this tree to practice the positions I'm about to show you." For the next three hours Kakashi showed her positions of defense and attack, reminding her that her legs were weapons too.
Several meters away sat Sasuke and Neji in a tree, casually observing the training.
"This has to be the lowest point in my life," Sasuke mumbled, burning a dead twig in his hand.
"Even compared to serving Orochimaru?" Neji asked.
"At least he feared me. Everyone did. There's something...riveting about being feared."
"I once wished for the fear and respect of others, but now...I find more meaning in life trying to be myself. Not tied to a destiny."
"You can't run from destiny forever," Sasuke warned, unconsciously touching the faded curse seal on his shoulder. It still stung when he focused a lot of Chakra.
"That's what I used to think," Neji admitted, looking past the dead branches into the clear sky. "But Naruto helped me see past all that. I realized that destiny is something others force upon you when they're afraid. They might not know they're afraid, but they seem to know that it's necessary to create the illusion of destiny. And almost like it proves my point, since I've rejected that destiny created for me, I've had better relations with the rest of the Hyuuga clan, including Hiashi-sama."
Sasuke smirked as Kakashi smacked Kaori's shins with the bow staff for some comment she made.
"What do you think her destiny is? Or would be, if you believed in it?" Sasuke added.
"Byakuugan!" Neji's eyes crinkled as he peered at Kaori. "It would almost seem she's not meant to be a ninja."
"I knew it."
"Her Chakra flow is...well I wouldn't say slow. Perhaps...leisurely? Maybe when she uses Chakra the flow changes." His eyes relaxed. "But if you notice in the time we've been sitting here, she's already picked up on the positions and is learning quickly."
Sasuke stared at the pair and had to admit that Kaori was efficiently forming positions as Kakashi called them out.
"That's just luck," he shrugged, laying down on the branch.
"Sometimes luck is a fair thing for a ninja to have," Neji said cryptically.
Like how lucky Sasuke had been that Tsunade had allowed his return to Konoha. She had every right to put him through ANBU's interrogation and then turn him out or even have him executed. But she said he could come back, though not without several restrictions and ANBU checking up on him every week.
"She could have had me executed," Sasuke said absentmindedly, closing his eyes tightly.
"Sasuke..." Neji spoke hesitantly. "I was one of the ANBU members who saw to your interrogation. My Byakuugan provides an excellent insight during questioning. What I saw...what I felt...was that your heart is good."
Sasuke opened an eye and peered at Neji, who helped up his hands defensively.
"I realize this sounds weird, especially from another guy," he confessed. "But you have to know that Tsunade trusts my insight immensely. Part of her decision was based on the fact that I believed you could never again hurt those you care about. What drove you to do what you did was your belief in a destiny Itachi created for you. With your destiny destroyed, what more could you live for? And that's why..." Neji jumped to the ground, "you have a friend like Naruto who reminds you that you are in control of your destiny." He walked away silently, leaving Sasuke deep in thought.
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Kaori panted, sweat dripping down her face. She was going to be so sore by the end of the week, but she forced herself to keep attacking and defending against the tree. She had come to feel a sort of affinity for the staff, though she still longed for two short swords.
Daylight was fading fast, despite the fact that the days had been lengthening, but Kaori kept training. She wiped her forehead on her sleeve and prepared for another bought with the tree.
"Gonna call it a day yet?"
Kaori yelped and whipped around, bow staff ready. Kakashi was behind her, chuckling.
"I suppose not."
"Gotta keep training," Kaori said quietly, turning back to the tree.
"There's a little light left. How about sparring?"
Kaori turned excitedly. "Really?"
"No." Kakashi smiled at the face she made. "Yes. Why would I ask if I didn't mean it?"
"Where have you been?"
"Doing a little one-on-one with Sasuke. Don't want him getting lazy while we catch you up," Kakashi said, his eye smiling at her.
Kaori smirked at him, then held her bow staff up. Kakashi revealed his hidden bow staff in a flash and brought it down upon her. She was startled but instinctively brought up her staff to block his. With each attack and defend Kakashi continued putting her through, Kaori grew more comfortable with the arrangement. She hadn't had a real opponent yet. Besides having not yet been whacked by Kakashi, she felt a rush from her first real spar. Kakashi was way better than the tree.
The day's hard training began taking its toll as Kaori slowed down and found it difficult to hold up her aching arms. In a moment of either inspiration or stupidity, she sent Chakra into the staff to collect on the end and sliced Kakashi's bow staff in half. Then she swung the dull end up and stopped just below his chin. Kakashi stood frozen, breathing hard. Kaori shook slightly and panted from her efforts, focusing fiercely on Kakashi.
"Didn't see that one coming," he chuckled. He grabbed the end Kaori held under his chin and pulled it away. She tried to jerk it back, but his yank was harder. He tossed her staff to the side.
"Congratulations. Tomorrow you'll start training with a katana." Kakashi smiled his one-eyed smile. Kaori tried to smile back, but she only ended up plopping on the cold, hard ground. Then she flopped on her back and stared at the fog forming overhead.
"I suppose we could have a day off before we start the next level," Kakashi said wryly.
"Nnnnno," Kaori groaned as she sat up. "I have to keep going. Hafta catch up so Sasuke can join us and we can go on missions."
"He'll join us when I say it's time," Kakashi said, offering her a hand. "Ramen?"
"Hell yeah," Kaori sighed, grasping Kakashi's hand and heaving to. "Your treat."
"What? You're the genius noodle-maker..."
"I don't work at Ichiraku anymore," Kaori sighed. "And I don't have a steady income like the rest of you."
"You will soon enough. At this rate you'll be ready for real combat in several weeks."
"Shall I mention how warped your sense of time seems to be?" came a voice from above.
"Hey, Sasuke. Come join us for ramen."
A shadow dropped from the trees next to Kakashi. His dark eyes slitted, he smirked at Kaori.
"Uchiha," she said coldly.
"Akumako."
Glare. Kakashi slowed his pace slightly to watch the exchange between the two on either side of him.
"How's the thing in your world lately?" Kaori said mischievously.
"Bigger and better than ever."
"That is, in the eye of the beholder."
"I've had no complaints so far."
Kaori's blinked, then after a beat, "Man-whore."
"Bitch," Sasuke shot back.
"Enough!" Kakashi stuck his hands between the two as they stepped toward each other viciously. He resumed his position between them.
"Geez. How old are you guys? It's like Sasuke and Naruto all over again when they were twelve. Except now you guys have the means to seriously hurt each other. Why can't you get along?"
"He tried to kill me." Kaori jabbed her finger at him.
"She kicked me in the nuts!" Sasuke retaliated.
"You tried to kill me before I kicked you in the nuts!"
"I said I wouldn't have!"
"How the hell was I supposed to know that!"
They continued their bickering, neither noticing that Kakashi was gone. When he had heard the start of the argument, he decided only one person could help him.
"Tenzou-san, I need your help."
Sasuke had Kaori by the scruff of her shirt. "...you say you'd never do that to a guy, yet the first thing you did instead of fighting was-"
"There's no way in hell I could have fought you!"
"You didn't even try!"
"The only things I'd learned by that time were-"
Kaori's retort was cut off as a wooden prison sprang up around them. It was hardly three meter long on each side; no doors could be seen and the only holes for light and air were centimeter wide slits near the ceiling. Kaori looked at Sasuke.
"What did you do?"
"I didn't..."
"Well, now that you two are trapped together for the rest of the night, I'll enjoy a nice, quiet bowl of ramen all by myself," Kakashi's muffled voice came through the solid wood. "Sweet dreams!" They could hear his footsteps depart.
"Kakashi! Kakashi!" Sasuke snarled. "Son of a bitch!"
"Your fault, you know." Kaori crossed her arms and legs as she sat on the wooden floor. No chance of digging her way out. Sasuke glared at her evilly and quickly formed signs. Kaori started sliding away, seeing the ferocity in his eyes and afraid he was really going to kill her this time. He gripped his left wrist and stretched his left palm to the ground.
"Chidori!" Sasuke growled, blue chirping light emanating from his left hand. The effect made his and Kaori's hair stand on end. With speed quicker than Kaori could follow, he threw himself against the wall, his fist plunging into the woodwork. There was a screaming of shattering wood, and a cry of triumph from Sasuke. Kaori sheltered her head from debris, then stood as everything fell silent. Smoke filled the small space, and Kaori choked on the stench of burning wood. She waved her hands about to clear the air, seeing Sasuke's figure in the midst of the smoke.
"I know this jutsu," he said bitterly. "At least I've heard of it."
Kaori stood next to him, staring at an apparently undamaged wooden wall.
"That tweeting thing didn't break it? I thought you were powerful."
"That 'tweeting thing' is called Chidori, and it's a low-power technique compared to others that I do. It did destroy the wall, but the technique covers it up so quickly that it looks like I didn't do anything. He's good."
"He who?"
Sasuke shook his head. "I've never met him, but he is somehow a copy of sorts of Shodai."
"A copy? Of Shodai Hokage?" Kaori stared at the wall in awe. "How's that possible?"
"I don't know. But I think he had something to do with it..." Sasuke clenched his fists tightly and ground his teeth. He slid a hand under his collar and rested it on his left shoulder. Kaori didn't know much about Sasuke, but there were distinct waves of hatred coming from him. She felt relieved that he wasn't angry at her anymore.
"I can't use that jutsu here, unless I wanted to kill you."
"So we're stuck?"
"We're stuck." Sasuke turned and gave her a smirk. "Unless you have a jutsu that could shatter this prison."
"You know very well that I don't. I'm a freaking Genin."
Sasuke allowed himself one last smirk before sitting cross-legged with his hands on his knees. He rolled his shoulders to relax, then closed his eyes in meditation.
The last thing on Kaori's mind was relaxing, much less meditation. She'd really been hankering for that bowl of ramen. Now it was too dark to see much in this stupid prison Kakashi had sprang on them. Like that would keep them from fighting. Hell, it was giving them permission to kill each other in private. Or, more likely, giving Sasuke permission to kill her.
Her stomach growled ferociously. Kaori didn't have to be able to see to know that her shivering breath was leaving white puffs with every exhale. She'd been hot and sweaty earlier, but now the sweat was practically frozen in its droplets. Sasuke wore his typical black cloak, but all Kaori had on were her sandals, pants and tank. And the temperature was dropping quickly. She knew there was no way that she could escape on her own, but the idea of asking Sasuke for help was making freezing to death look more attractive. She could imagine Iruka finding out she'd died during her first week of training with Kakashi. The eye would twitch, then he'd explode like a cannon. And that would suck. She would have liked to show him how much she had learned. Even in just a week. He would be so proud, and probably treat her to ramen, and maybe even give her a little gift to say how special he thought she was and...
Damnit. Kaori stood next to Sasuke and kicked his leg. He didn't move. This time she kicked harder, receiving a grunt and an evil eye.
"We're going to freeze to death if you don't do something."
"I can't stop the jutsu. He will probably do as Kakashi says and keep us here until morning."
"You really do suck, Uchiha."
"I'm too relaxed right now to fight back."
"Why are you meditating at a time like this?"
"I'm slowing my blood flow and keeping myself warm. You can do that with Chakra, you know."
"Well that's fabulous for you. So excuse me while I go freeze myself to death." Kaori stalked to the corner farthest away from Sasuke, sat and huddled against the wall.
"I'm also getting a sense of this jutsu," Sasuke sighed. "It's draining Chakra, or at least keeping it in check, which might have been why Chidori didn't work. This is the best I can do."
Kaori harumphed, yet couldn't help watching as Sasuke formed a single seal, then blew a small amount of fire onto the floor. Instead of consuming the entire prison, the fire fed off of one small area that kept regenerating itself.
"I have to maintain control, but at least we won't freeze." Sasuke smirked again. "So I don't suck."
Kaori wanted so very much to beat that annoying smirk off his face. But that would mean getting close to the fire, which she vowed to avoid since it would only be giving in to the Uchiha. Manipulative son of a bitch. And many other things entered her mind that she wanted to scream at him, but even from three meters away she could feel some of the warmth from the small fire. She looked down at her hands. She couldn't feel her fingers anymore, and it was getting colder. Her toes looked dangerously blue as well. Damnit, damnit, daaaaamnit.
Sasuke was watching her. She felt his piercing eyes before she looked back. He wasn't smirking anymore, but he didn't look inviting.
"As much as it is against either of our wishes, I suggest you get warm. Despite how I feel about you, you're my teammate, and if you died and I survived that would make me trash. Actually, lower than trash. So please, don't freeze to death because you hate me."
Kaori couldn't hide her surprise, but she did stand and hobble to the fire. In its pale light, she could see the odd shade her skin had been taking on. She sat down and held her fingers and toes near the flames, realizing as they heated up how painful they were. Her pain must have been obvious because Sasuke was staring at her. He quelled a spasm, but not before Kaori noticed the slight shaking.
"What?" she said as snottily as her chattering teeth would allow. Sasuke looked away, only to barely stop another spasm. As Kaori felt a spasm of her own, she realized Sasuke was shivering. Stupid bastard was as cold as she was! And then Kaori laughed. Sasuke stared at her again.
"We're real idiots, Uchiha," she said, shaking her head. "We'd rather act tough than let each other know we're freezing our asses off!" She chuckled again, this time allowing her shivers to travel. It kind of helped.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sasuke stuck his nose in the air in a very Ino-like manner. "I'm fine."
"Liar." Kaori circled the fire, and much to Sasuke's surprise grabbed his wrist and shoved the cloak and his sleeve away from the arm. His pale flesh was riddled with goose bumps. He jerked his arm away and glared at her. Kaori was about to flip out on him again, when she felt a strange feeling come over her. It was almost...motherly. Kami-sama forbid she should ever feel motherly towards Uchiha Sasuke. She knelt beside him.
"Listen, Uchiha. I heard what you said earlier. About me hating you? Truth is..." Kaori sat down. "I don't hate you. I mean, sometimes I do, but..." She paused and looked up at the ceiling. Words about her past were always difficult. "I used to beat up people like you. They'd piss me off, calling me Akumako and lots of other awful things. I got used to it when I got older, but still...there was always one person who knew how to piss me off just right. 'Course later they wished they hadn't. I think why you irritate me so much is..." Kaori looked at him, "I know I can't beat you up. You call me Akumako and know how to piss me off, but I sure as hell can't hold a candle to your ninja skills. I know I suck, and I know you don't suck, but that doesn't mean it's like that in my little world."
Kaori shook her head with an ironic smile. "Yup, I have to have my own little world. That's just the way I've adapted to...things. And honestly, I'm a little scared of your world. My world inside doesn't work so well here. What with you, and Naruto, and Iruka, and even Sakura...I'm just scared. Still. After four months I'm still scared. It's like 'I'm a ninja...but what do I do now?' So...I'm not telling you to stop harassing me. Hell, I might not even stop bugging you myself. Just know that I'm a big liar in my own little world." Kaori drew up her knees and rested her chin on them. As much as she disliked Sasuke, she felt so good after saying all that. It might have meant absolutely nothing to Sasuke, but it was, well, all the world to her. Perhaps it was her first step towards letting go of that place she'd made for herself.
Sasuke stared into the fire, letting Kaori's words digest. She seemed like a very private woman, yet in the short time he knew her she'd revealed a lot about herself that he suspected even Naruto didn't know. He was never known as a person one could talk to. If anything, he often wondered if he needed a therapist for his own troubles. It hadn't even occurred to him that his friends might be the ones who could listen. Even though Naruto and Sakura were his closest friends, he couldn't imagine them understanding what he felt. What he needed was an unbiased ear. He surreptitiously glanced at Kaori, who was still shivering and entranced by the fire. Now wasn't the time, but perhaps she would be his first step towards letting go of his haunting past.
Without a word, Sasuke removed his cloak and tossed it on Kaori's bare shoulders. She grasped the warm cloak in surprise, looking at him curiously.
"You need this more than I do," he said, referring to both the cloak and the talking. Kaori's face relaxed, then contorted as she thought.
"It would do us both good if we share," she replied, indicating she got his underlying meaning. She held out an end of the cloak towards Sasuke, who hesitantly took it. He scooted next to Kaori and pulled it around his shoulders. It was a somewhat tight fit, but they managed. Her bare arm was hot against his sleeved one, despite the fact that they were both freezing. Kaori was wriggly, but in a few minutes their combined warmth drew the wracking shakes to tingling shivers.
"Uchi-...Sasuke? Thanks," Kaori sighed, closing her eyes as the warmth brought drowsiness.
"You're welcome," Sasuke said quietly. He felt his own lids grow heavy, but he kept a mind on the fire. The longer it lasted them the better. He doubted they'd die from exposure, but they certainly wouldn't be chipper in the morning. Kaori was nodding off beside him, and her stomach growled audibly. She smelled of sweat, but he found he didn't really mind. She was radiating much more warmth than he had by himself. She snorted as her head fell forward suddenly, then blinked and lifted it back up. She gave him a tiny, tired smile.
Shaking his head at her goofy expression, Sasuke touched her neck and bent it towards his shoulder. The gesture was understood, and Kaori nestled her head down. A sudden thought hit Sasuke, and he felt he'd better say it before it was too late.
"Akum-...Kaori. I don't hate you either."
"Hm, that'ssssss good."
