Sweat fell from her forhead as she felt her body coming to exhaustion.
"Again." A brash voice barked.
Her sea blue eyes looked over to her sister, who was on her hands and knees panting.
"Dad, we can't. Our chakra is practically depleted." The red haired female spoke, a frown creased her lips.
"You're both pathetic excuses as daughters of the Inuzuka."
Clentching her teeth together, the girl's nails dug into the dirt. "And you're..."
The large, spikey haired male narrowed his emerald eyes at his daughter. "I'm what, Nahoko?"
Nahoko's aqua eyes looked over to her panting sister who was now struggling to get up. "Nothing, father."
The Inuzuka male cleared his throat and looked over at his second daughter. "Get up, Sukie. You need to show the strength of the Inuzuka Clan."
The young girl looked up at her father and with shaky legs she began to slowly stand, but ended up falling back onto the ground.
"You both disappoint me. Sukie." His attention turned to his red and black haired daughter.
Nahoko began to slowly stand as she watched her father begin to walk over to Sukie.
"Leave her alone, father." Nahoko growled, putting her hands on her knees as her father snatched his youngest daughter up by the arm. "STAND."
Watery blue eyes looked up at the man who she had admired for so long.
"F-father. I can't. I-I'm too tired." She winced as the grip on her arm began to tighten.
"Ow! Father, please let go of me!" She begged the large man who pulled his hand back as the anger welled within his chest.
"I'll show you what happens when you're weak!" "FATHER STOP!" Nahoko's voice yelled as she raced towards her father and her sister.
The force she slammed into the large man caused him to loosen his grip which gave Nahoko the opportunity to grab Sukie's arm and pull her free.
As soon as she did, she suddenly found herself on the ground, the right side of her face stinging furiously. Her right hand rose to her cheek and placed it gently upon it.
Her aqua eyes watered with tears, but she didn't dare allow herself to cry. Glaring at her father, who was fuming as he began to walk back to the house in silence, she noticed the dirt beside her stir.
"Sis? Why did you do that?" The younger sister quietly said, tears falling from her eyes. Removing her hand, Nahoko winced as the cool air didn't have the desired effect on it that she wanted.
Despite the pain that still radiated throughout her cheek, Nahoko smiled gently at her sister. "Because I promised you I'd never let him hit you again and you know I keep my promises."
The girl before her stretched her lips in a thin line as she tried to stop the tears from falling.
"Are you okay?" Nahoko asked carefully, adjusting her exhausted body to gather her younger sister in her arms. Sukie sobbed quietly into her sister's shirt, wrapping her arms around Nahoko's body. The eldest gently rubbed her sister's back as she allowed her to cry it out.
Once Sukie was finished crying it out, Nahoko looked towards the house and grabbed her sister's hand to help her stand up. She, herself, was still a bit shaky on her legs, but she was able to keep her sister on her feet as well. "Come on. Let's go rest." Sukie sniffed softly and looked up to her sister. "T-to our place?" Nahoko nodded and smiled.
Dipping her feet into the cool water causing Nahoko to shiver slightly. "Ahhh, that feels. Amazing. After the day we've had."
Lowering her hand into the water, the female gathered a small bit of it in her hand and lifted the cool liquid to her cheek, which still slightly stung. Wincing slightly at the feeling of the coolness against her heated cheek.
Her eyes traveled to her and her sister's "special place". It was a large clearing with a rather good sized pond that ran into a small stream that lead to the south of the village. The clearing was surrounded by trees and not many people knew about this, except for Nahoko and Sukie. She and her sister had found this place when they were running from their father when he got unbearably angry one night. It had been their place ever since.
She sighed softly as she looked over to her sister, who was laying on her back staring at the sky.
"Nahoko.." Her soft voice spoke. "Hm?" The eldest answered, looking over to her sister. "Why..does father always yell at us..and get so angry at us?"
The question caused the red haired female to purse her lips and look down at her reflection in the water. Her cheek was red and slightly puffed up.
A soft sigh escaped her as she tried to come up with a reasonable explination, but there was none. There never was.
"..He thinks...we're weak. He thinks we'll never live up to his expectations of a true Inuzuka. It's..complicated. We're not weak, not at our age."
Her eyes looked from her reflection to her sister who was still staring at the sky.
"You're strong, Sukie. I'm strong. Together, we're even stronger."
Slowly Sukie's lips turned from a frown, upwards into a small smile. "We'll be amazing Kunoichis one day..won't we?" She asked, turning her head to look at her sister.
"We'll be some of the strongest in the village." Nahoko gave her sister a smile and nodded to reassure her.
The sun had been in the middle of the sky when they arrived, but now it slowly lowered behind the trees.
"Well, I guess..we better head home." Nahoko sighed, looking over at her sister, who had been fiddling with pieces of grass. Pushing on her hands to help her up, Nahoko walked over to her sister and offered her hand. "Come on."
Sukie's eyes widened slightly as she took the out stretched hand. "D-do we have to? Nahoko, I don't want to go home. I'm scared.." She whimpered. Squeezing Sukie's hand, Nahoko attempted to smile, but it ended up frowning slightly.
"..I...If you want to you can sleep in my room tonight. I won't let him touch you."
The shorter sister merely nodded and remained silent as they made their way back to their house. It was dark by the time they got home.
The Inuzuka household was rather large, considering their father was married to their mother, who was one of the bigger branches of the clan.
Breathing in a deep breath as they reached the front steps, Nahoko slipped her shoes off first as she slid open the door. The noise caught the attention to a woman who appeared in the hall just from the kitchen.
"Nahoko! Sukie! My goodness I was so worried! Where were you two?"
She raced to the two girls who were seemingly mirror images of herself. Crouching down she gathered the girls in her ams and hugged them both. Pulling back, bright blue eyes widened as she looked at Nahoko's cheek, which was still slightly swollen.
"Nahoko, what happened to your cheek?!" She gasped, using her hand to carefully turn the girl's head left and right.
The young girl frowned slightly and avoided eye contact with her. Her mother's eyes welled with tears as the realization came upon her.
"Your father.." "Where were you two? I expected you to follow me directly home after I left." The sharp, deep voice asked.
Both daughter's eyes looked upwards to gaze upon their father who was dressed in a long grey robe held together at his waist with a large sash.
"We w-" "They were just visiting their friends after training, Broshi." Their mother interupted as she stood to smile sweetly at her husband.
The emerald eyes of the male looked down at his daughters then to his wife.
"They should have told me where they were going. Do not do that again." He warned, turning away from them and making his way to the kitchen.
Once he had closed the door to the kitchen, the anxious woman turned back to her two girls. "Go get cleaned up, dinner is almost ready, okay? You two deserve a big dinner for your hard work!"
She bent down and gave each of them a kiss on their heads before returning to the kitchen quickly.
"Come on, Sukie." Nahoko said quietly, leading her sister up the stairs and into the bathroom.
Closing the door behind her, the eldest turned on the warm water and stuck the plug in the bath tub. Reaching for a bottle, she poured it into the water as she waited for her sister to undress for the bath.
As she pulled back up, the female noticed something on her sister's shoulder. It took her a moment to realize the discoloration on her sister's shoulder was a bruise.
"Sukie..where did you get that bruise on your shoulder?" The sister asked, moving closer as she moved her sister's hair to get a better look at the discolored skin.
"...No where." "..Father did it when I was...God Sukie..I'm so sorry." Her voice cracked slightly as she bit her bottom lip.
Quickly shying away from her sister's touch, Sukie's hand went to cover the mark, but it was far too late. "I..It's nothing! I swear. It doesn't hurt anymore."
Nahoko sighed softly and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "No more. I'll get stronger and be able to protect you, Sukie." Determination shown brightly in her eyes as she looked at her sister.
"Never again."