A/N: Okay, this is the remade first chapter. I'm sorry to everyone who liked the original better, but I've decided since my original story was so unbelievably Mary-Sueish that I was going to rewrite it. The plot and basic story line is the same except that it's spell-checked and proofread, and quite a bit longer...If you're reading this before I redo the rest of the story than I'm very sorry that it doesn't quite make sense yet . Anyways, enjoy lovelies
"But you can't do that, Tsunade!" I shouted, as she finished giving me my briefing on my next mission. "You can't force me to take someone else with me; this is my burden to bear!" Tears were brimming around my emerald eyes, and I tried to cover it with my cropped hair.
"Keneko, I'm sorry, but I've already decided," she softly replied. Frustration welled inside of me, and I felt like screaming. "Besides," she continued, "these shinobi are more than capable of keeping your…condition…in check."
"So, now I have to be babysat?" I cried betrayal alight in my eyes. "Am I not to be trusted anymore? Is that what this is about?"
"No, that's not it at all," she replied sternly, indignation in her eyes. "You don't seem to realize that I'm trying to pass off an S-ranked mission as a mere B-ranked delivery. I can't let you go on that alone; you're only a chunin!"
"And well on my way to being a jonin, if you would only let me test for it," I shouted, anger welling in my stomach; it made me feel almost sick.
"Keneko Tsuki, what I say is final; you will be in charge of this mission and the two shinobi, so stop your complaining. You'll be in complete control. You're dismissed," she said with an air of decisiveness, and I knew that there was no more point in arguing. I clutched the manila folder in my hand and walked out of the room as normally as I could muster, the tears threatening to spill over. I couldn't let that happen, because if I did, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop it.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I got out onto the street, and covered my face with a mask of indifference. I was not going to let this bother me; I would get through this and by this time next week, I would be normal and able to finally relax.
It took less time than I thought it would to reach the apartment I shared with my foster-mother. She preferred to be my foster-sister because of the close range of our ages, but she was signed as mother on the adoption certificate. I was momentarily distracted from the problem at hand as I thought about it for a moment, and almost came close to smiling.
As I walked through the door, I heard the rifling of paper in the open spaced front room. I looked over and saw Mitarashi Anko shuffling through a large stack of papers. "Hey, Anko," I called, referring to her not as mom, but as what she preferred to be called.
"So, how'd it go?" she asked, barely looking up from her paperwork. I could feel the air become tense and uneven, and Anko wasn't really focusing on the applications for the upcoming chunin exam anymore. The familiar anger that I had felt in the fifth Hokage's office returned.
I unceremoniously slapped the folder down onto the coffee table, collapsing into one of the misshapen, overstuffed chairs. Anko roughly stuffed the pile of paperwork into an envelope, and picked up the folder on the table in front of her. She took a second to skim through it, and then quickly stood up, startling a quiet gray kitten off the couch.
"What is she thinking?!" she ranted, pacing up and down the aisle between the coffee table and the couch that much resembled all the rest of the comfortably lumpy furniture in the house. "How can she put this kind of thing on children's shoulders? She should be sending ANBU not another chunin and a genin!"
"What?" I shouted, snatching the folder away from Anko. I stared at the two profiles inside the folder with blank astonishment. I felt like screaming. Glancing at the latest date I was allowed to leave for the mission, I could feel my anger boiling inside of me; I was being forced to prepare for a mission of this magnitude in less than twelve hours. It just wasn't fair! I was seeing through red as I stormed to my room and slammed the door. I let the folder fall to the carpet as if it had burnt me. Ripping off my leaf head-band I threw it into the corner.
I lay fuming on my four-poster bed for I didn't know how long; it could have been minutes, hours, or days even for all I could tell. The curtains were drawn, and I lay in the darkness sulking. Sometime later, a light knock came to the door; Anko, seeing if I was hungry. I ignored her, and she didn't come back. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, my anger began to fade, my eyelids began to droop and my consciousness started to evade me. I fought against the sleep, but eventually my world turned off, and I found myself in a dreamscape.
A red sun began to rise on a tainted battlefield. An infant's cries were the only sound among the carnage and corpses. A young woman lay dead next to the small baby. A fox taller than the trees hovered over the death, and smirked down at the infant who squirmed next to her dead mother.
The fox with nine tails roared at the sky, and swiped a giant paw at the tiny babe. It was like an explosion, the girl's consciousness seemed to erupt and expand until it was big enough to fill two grown people. The child cried at the pain, and tried to find some solace.
"There, there, little one," a voice that would have given a grown man the chills said in a soothing tone from the other side of the consciousness. "Sleep now." The voice seemed to be trying to force the infant's soul into submission. Not realizing what was happening, the child fought against the pressure until it seemed to cleave her small mind in two. Finally after eternity, her mind rested, the hurtful force gone.
"I have given you a vessel; do not fail me," the large fox growled, bounding off into the trees as the noise of a search party was heard in the distance.
I bolted upright, a cold sweat covering my face. A dim light filtered through the curtains, slightly illuminating the wall clock. The hands slowly ticked by as 5:30 turned to 5:31. I ran a hand through my damp hair as I quietly crept to the bathroom. A scared girl stared back at me in the bathroom mirror as I splashed water on my pale face.
I looked at my hair, examining the blonde roots that were starting to show beneath the dark brown hair dye. Pieces of sky blue hair lay strewn throughout the roots. I turned away from my reflection; tearing my eyes from the glass as I turned the faucets of the shower on.
Undressing, I recounted the recurring nightmare. I had had this memory burnt into brain as far back as I could remember. How I could play every detail through my mind as if it were happening right then and there, I didn't know. I couldn't have been much more than a year old.
I quickly washed the sweat off my skin, and hopped out of the shower as soon as I was satisfied that I was clean. I wrapped a towel around myself, my hair dripping onto my shoulders, and made my way back to my room. I dressed in my usual clothes; a pair of black spandex shorts, a green tank top, and a green skirt that slit up the sides. I found the chunin vest in the back of my closet and put it on, not bothering to zip it up. With an exasperated sigh I went to the corner of my room and picked my headband back up, tying it securely around my forehead.
The manila folder still lay where I had thrown it, and I gingerly picked it up. I looked at my teammates, and gave a resigned sigh. This was something that had to be done, but somehow I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to either of them.
My feet absently carried me to the front door, and I tried to keep my back to Anko who was mildly sipping coffee at the kitchen table.
"Why so early?" she asked as I opened the door to leave. I could hear the air of nervousness in her voice as she addressed me.
"Why let everyone else sleep in?" I replied softly, trying to joke. I could feel my heart pound in my chest as I thought of the task ahead. I put my foot through the door, but paused as Anko's voice called me back.
"Keneko," she started in an uncharacteristically tender voice, "good luck."
"God knows I'll need it."