Chapter 2!!!
A/N: Kari a very lonely person by the looks of it, apart from Kakashi who stays with her. Well, this is chapter two; there are more explanations in this chapter, so here you all are!!!
'Thoughts in Italics'
'Demon Talk in Bold italics'
Kakashi walked through the less busy streets of Konoha, and Kari stood closely by his side, looking left to right at all of the villagers that gave her an evil glare, or even the 'cut throat' gesture. She didn't really let the glares and looks get to her, but she often got worried or concerned when a person actually threatened with some sort of blade, or even approaching with a weapon of some sort.
Kakashi could see this in her movements, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, I won't let any of them harm you" He whispered to her quietly and she nodded, and ignored the villagers as they continued to hate her. The only reason they didn't attempt to kill her was because the copy ninja was by the Konseigo's side. She closed her eyes, and flinched as she heard voices.
'What a freak! I can't believe she's even allowed to let live!'
'Can't the copy ninja see the monster that walks with him?'
'The sooner she dies the better'
She shook her head and opened her eyes again. Damn the ability to read aura and hear thoughts. It gets annoying after a while.
"NARUTO!!!"
A loud screaming could be heard at the end of the street. Kakashi stopped in his tracks, Kari bumping her face in his back as he suddenly halted, and they both turned around. Sakura had broken into an extremely loud argument with Naruto, who was arguing with Sasuke, who was ignoring them both.
They were being so loud; literally every villager in the street turned their heads to see what was going on. Naruto was screaming at Sasuke, but was being ignored, while Sakura was screaming at Naruto, and belted him in the head every time he wouldn't listen.
"Kakashi-sensei! Can you tell Naruto to leave Sasuke-kun Alone?!?!" Sakura yelled, fake tears in her eyes and pointing an accusing finger at the blonde.
"What?! Sakura-chan! Sasuke was the idiot that got us into that trouble!!!" Naruto yelled back, pointing a finger at Sasuke.
"Will both of you SHUT UP!!!" Sasuke yelled at the top of his voice (which wasn't as loud as the other two)
"Don't tell me to shut up TEME!" Naruto yelled back, but Sakura whacked him hard on the back of the head.
"You BAKA! You NEVER talk to Sasuke-kun Like that!!!" Sakura screamed out even louder than her voice before, her hand rising up and a loud smack could be heard as she hit him hard on the head. Small tears of stinging pain welled up in Naruto's eyes as a large red bump swelled on his head.
Just before they were about to scream at each other again, they all fell silent when Kakashi cleared his throat to get their attention, and stood there quietly. They all looked at Kari, who was standing firmly next to Kakashi, and she made no movements or gestures and waited for Kakashi to say something.
"Alright Team; I will pretend that I saw none of that. You guys can be so embarrassing..." He sighed, and the 3 of them only turned red with embarrassment, agreeing with him as they heard some of the other villagers muttering things about their 'loud encounters'.
"Hay, Kakashi-sensei, who's that?" Naruto suddenly cut the silence, pointing at Kari. She looked up at him, and then looked at Sakura and Sasuke. She looked back down to try and avoid their eye contact.
"Oh yeah. Team, this is the 'addition' to the team that I told you guys about before. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, this is Kari. Kari, this is my team" Kakashi said with a smile, nudging her towards them but she refused to move from her spot.
Kari simply raised a hand and waved briefly before dropping it again and looking away from them. Kakashi just sighed.
'Forgot she's shy around other people' He thought, and shook his head as she ignored her timidness. Sakura looked at the girl, and growled quietly, so no-one else could hear her frustration. She clenched a fist, and immediately began to get jealous about the fact that there was another girl on the team.
'Oh Hell no! There is no way I am going to let a new girl get Sasuke's attention!!!' She screamed mentally, and only smiled evilly as Inner Sakura began to think up a few plans to humiliate her. Naruto glanced at the look on Sakura's face, then looking at Kari, who didn't really look interested in meeting them at all. As he heard a crack of knuckles from the pink haired girl, he stepped away from her to avoid getting hurt again.
Sasuke looked at Kari, and then turned away again, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking anywhere but in Kari's direction.
'It is bad enough that there are 2 idiots on my team, now I have to put up with another person to drag me down' Sasuke thought selfishly. Well, anyway, that's what all Uchihas are like right? But Sasuke seems to be a little more egotistical than normal.
Kakashi looked at the four of them and then sighed. He was expecting them to be friendly and approach her with reasonably positive attitude, but he could already tell that they were beginning to get annoyed with the 'new girl'.
"Um, why don't you guys introduce yourselves to each other formally? We have to get ready for our next mission soon so we better not make it too long" Kakashi asked, and was finally relieved when Sakura straightened her venomous face and exchanged it with a smile and piped in formally, to try and look 'good'.
"Hello Kari, my name is Sakura Haruno" She said with a weak, fake smile and waved before shuffling closer to Sasuke, who tried to get away from her.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, hi there!" He said cheerfully. Unlike Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto already seemed to have quite a cheerful attitude towards Kari, who stayed quiet and just listened.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke said flatly, and as soon as she heard that last name, her expression changed from neutral, to a slight shocked look. Kakashi noticed the sudden difference in her emotion when the flowers next to him suddenly folded away and drooped.
"You mean, the Uchiha Sasuke?" Kari said quietly, and the said boy raised an eyebrow at her sudden curiosity.
"What, a little Genin I haven't seen before has heard about me?" He asked, beginning to get really annoyed with this kid. Kari looked away from him, and clenched a fist, but relaxed it as she noticed the small flower at the windowsill shudder and grow spiky vines. As soon as she gained control and relaxed to a neutral emotion, the small vines slithered away and the flower bloomed again.
"Unfortunately..." Kari muttered, answering to Sasuke's question, and he growled, taking that answer as an insult.
"Why You-"
"Let's, leave it there guys" Kakashi cut in, taking a step forward just in case Sasuke was about to attack her. The Uchiha relaxed himself and stepped back to his teammates, and then looked away from the girl. Kari just ignored his anger and listened as Kakashi began to talk again.
"We are going to set off on our next mission in an hour. Pack your gear because this mission might take a few days, or even a couple of weeks. Meet me at the gates in 50 minutes, and be sure to be ready to leave by that time. Don't be late" Kakashi explained, and Kari was the first to turn and quickly dash away from the group into the closest trees and disappear into the bushes.
"That girl is such a freak" Sasuke growled, and Sakura's face lit up.
'Yes! He hates her too!!!" Inner Sakura screamed in victory, and Sakura's cheeks turned pink as she looked at the one she admired.
"You're right Sasuke-kun! She is such a weirdo that it isn't funny!" Sakura complimented in a flirtatious way. The Uchiha ignored her, turned around, and walked down the street towards his house. Sakura and Naruto also parted to head home to get ready too.
40 minutes didn't really seem to be long, because it only felt like 10 had passed when Sakura and Sasuke arrived at the Gates, Naruto followed shortly after. Kakashi was no-where to be seen, and Kari wasn't there too. Naruto looked over at Sasuke who was standing casually near the post, while Sakura stared at him in absolute wonder. Naruto growled, and marched over to him.
"You are a complete jerk, you know that?" Naruto suddenly spoke out, getting Sakura's and Sasuke's attention.
"What are you on about this time Naruto?" Sasuke asked flatly, looking over to him and ignoring the fact that he was getting insulted.
"You didn't have to talk to her like that back there. She is a member of our team now, and you should treat her like you treat Sakura and me!" Naruto raised his voice without realizing it.
"Do you like her?" Sasuke asked with a smirk, but wasn't so impressed when Naruto didn't react like he would if he asked the same question about Sakura.
"No, but she is a teammate, and a friend. You shouldn't treat a new member like a piece of trash!" Naruto piped up again, and Sasuke just hung his head with a smirk. Sakura just listened to the growing argument.
"I don't really care if she is the 'new kid'; a ninja team consists of 3 people and a sensei. She is a fourth genin, so therefore, she doesn't count as an official 'teammate'" Sasuke smirked and Naruto couldn't help but get frustrated, and extremely angry with this egotistical moron.
He took a step forward, ready to whack Sasuke into his senses but Sakura held a fist up to his face.
"You don't ever talk to Sasuke-kun like that again Naruto!!!" She screamed, still taking the Uchihas side even though he was rather selfish at the moment. Naruto took a step back, clenched a fist as he looked at the selfish smile on Sasuke's face, and then turned away, trying not to get too angry.
"Sasuke-kun has the right to act like that. She insulted him, and therefore got what she deserved" Sakura stuck up for him, and smiled at Sasuke, who just ignored her. They all stopped as they noticed Kari walking up to them slowly with her bag, and stared at the ground as she approached them. Naruto glanced over at Sasuke and Sakura, who had immediately turned their backs to her, and then rushed over to his new friend.
"Hi Kari! Welcome to the team!" He said cheerfully with a welcoming smile, and held out his hand. Kari stopped and looked at it for a second.
'This guy is so cheerful...' She thought silently to herself. He did welcome her, and she couldn't really ignore that friendly gesture.
"Thanks Naruto-kun" Kari responded, and took the hand in her own to shake it.
SUDDENLY, Naruto's and Kari's expressions changed from smile to absolute confused shock.
'What the hell is that?!'
'Damn It Kit, how did that happen?!'
In Naruto's mind The blondenearly screamed out when he looked at the huge space in front of him. In the centre was a huge dragon, towering above him and chained to the floor of its 'concealment room' with seal tags on the chains. Naruto stood before it, with the gate sealing the Kyuubi behind him. The dragon was fierce, huge, and seemed to be at rest until it saw the blonde. It thrashed about and Roared, throwing itself against the walls to its 'chamber', and the blonde noticed 8 long snaky tails thrash about behind it...
'Kari, what the hell did you do?!?!'
'...'
'Kari!!!'
In Kari's mind: The girl stood in absolute shock as she looked at the huge gate that stood before her, with multiple seal tags along the centre. She looked past the bars into the Inky darkness until a huge wave of red energy pulsated from the gates, and a huge red eye appeared behind the gates. The dim red light illuminated the area and it showed a giant red fox roaring and scratching at the gate and walls. She looked over her shoulder at the large dragon chained to the floor, and as the dragon roared, she looked back at the fox that was in frenzy, its 9 long bushy tails smashing against the gate and walls...
With a gasp, they both released their hands and she took a small step back as she looked at Naruto at confusion.
'What the hell was that I just saw?!' Naruto screamed at himself, when Kari was thinking the same thing, only not screaming it to herself. They looked at their hands, then at each other, and were about to ask each other a question when Kakashi suddenly appeared and caught all of their attention.
"Well, it seems you are all here now" He sighed and pulled out his book.
"W-What is this mission about sensei?" Naruto stuttered slightly, still confused and shocked about what he had just seen.
"Well, we are going on a list recon mission. Do you remember Tazuna?" Kakashi asked finally, and then all of the Genin (Apart from Kari) looked up at him when they realized the mission.
"There have been a few minor bandit scares in the land of waves, so we are going there to 'clean up' some of the mess, and clear out the bandits" Akashi explained, and Naruto jumped with Joy.
"Yes! I get to see Inari again!" He smiled cheerfully, and looked over at Sakura who had cheered up, but Sasuke just smirked. He looked over at Kari, but he could tell with the expression on her face that she was just as freaked out as he was on what just happened.
The trip to the land of waves was uneventful, and rather boring, but they got there safely without any attacks or ambushes by anyone. As they arrived, Kakashi led the four of his genin through the streets and saw Tazuna waiting at the end of a rather busy street.
"Kakashi! Long time no see!" He said with a big smile, and Inari jumped out from behind him and ran up to Naruto, flinging his arms around the blonde.
"Inari! Whoa! You've grown since the last time I saw you!" Naruto cheerfully added, and Inari just smiled at his 'hero'. Sakura smiled and patted Inari on the head, while Sasuke just gave him a smirk and an affirmative 'hn'.
"Well, it is rather late now; I'll lead you back to our home!" Tazuna said cheerfully, and then led the team down the street towards their house.
Ever since the bridge was finished several months ago, the business and trade had been going rather well, and it was obvious in the homes and the accommodations that everyone owned. The place didn't even look like it was poor before.
AS they entered the now large house that Tazuna owned, Tsunami was already putting dinner on the table. Naruto was the first to jump to his seat and begin eating. Sakura and Sasuke put their things down and took their shoes off like normal people would, and headed to their seats and waited for Kakashi.
"Oh Hello, Who's this?" Tazuna cut in, and looked over at Kari. Everyone looked over at her to see what she would do.
"Oh, Everyone, this is Kari. Kari, this is Tsunami, Inari, and Tazuna. We helped them defeat some ninja a few months ago that were trying to destroy the town" Kakashi said with a smile, and Kari smiled weakly with a wave of her hand, and Tsunami, Tazuna, and Inari smiled back.
"You should've been there Kari! It was a difficult time, but we managed to defeat Zabuza, a grub named Gato, and an elite ninja guy called Haku!" Naruto yelled out with a mouthful of food. Kari was listening with a smile, but then her smile dropped when she heard that last name. Kakashi suddenly noticed this change of emotion when the flowers at the dining table droops, and nearly died.
Kari stood there, frozen, with a blank face. "Come on guys! Your dinner will get cold!" Tsunami called out to them, but it was as if Kari had completely forgotten about everyone, and stood there.
Kakashi suddenly felt a little sympathetic for her. He knelt down in front of her so he was at the same height as the girl.
"Kari, the memorials are just down the path east of here, and are on a small ridge facing the water" Kakashi explained the directions to her. Kari gently gripped his hand without looking anywhere.
"Th-Thankyou..." She said quietly, and picked her bag up again, and headed out the door. Everyone had fallen silent in the kitchen and at the table, and had listened to everything.
"What was that all about?" Sakura suddenly spoke out after swallowing her food, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he quickly thought of an excuse.
"Not to worry, Kari cares a lot about people who die in battle, and likes to pay her respects to the fallen shinobi" Kakashi lied. There was a silent pause, and everyone began to eat and talk again. He sighed with relief. 'Good. They bought it...'
Kari bolted through the trees with small tears in her eyes, and every time a tear fell to the ground, the surrounding plants of the fallen teardrop would shrivel up and die or dry up if it was a bush. 'No... Not you too...'
It didn't take long for her to get to the site, and she gasped quietly as she saw the 2 memorials. A wooden cross with Haku's scarf around it, and the headband tied around the head of the cross. A huge, blade stood next to it with a small bask of dried flowers below. Dropping to her knees in front of the symbol, she felt a huge heap of sadness wash over her. She felt as if some part of her dignity, and her heart had been torn out. Dirt and water had dirtied the clothing, and she brushed off the dust and twigs which had fallen onto the memorial, and knelt down in front of it. Some writing had been written on the head of the cross, and she looked at it closely.
Haku . the fighter with a heart as pure as snow...
Kakashi must've written it, because the writing was too neat for Sasuke, Naruto, or Sakura. There was a blank space next to it because the last name of this ninja was unknown. Kari knew it though. She would never forget it either.
Pulling out a kunai from her holster, she reached forward and etched the last name onto the wood, now completing the sentence.
Haku Mitsukai. The fighter with a heart as pure as snow...
Kari smiled to herself as she looked at the name, and then slowly took the headband from the shrine and held it delicately in her hand. A crack of a twig caught her attention and she turned around, and Naruto was there with a small plate of food.
"Hello Kari-chan, I thought I'd find you here" He said quietly before placing the food down onto the floor next to him and crouching next to the girl. He looked closely at the cross and noticed the newly carved name in the message.
"Mitsukai? How do you know that's his last name?" He asked with confusion written all over his face. Kari just smiled and sighed.
"It's my last name too" Kari answered, and Naruto stopped suddenly to think about what that meant. Kari looked at him from the corner of her eye, wondering how long it would take Naruto to notice.
Naruto suddenly gasped and looked at Kari. Record time of 2 minutes.
"He's your brother?!" He suddenly asked, looking at the headband she was holding and back at her face. Kari shook her head with a so-so look.
"No, my cousin. My mum's sister left our clan to see what it was like in another country. We got a message that she decided to live in the water country since it suited her. She fell in love with a farmer there, and that was when Haku was born. He didn't carry all of our clan's traits, since his father didn't have any powers. He visited Konoha every year, but when we received a report that aunt was killed by the father after realizing the destructive power they held, Haku never visited us again after he accidentally killed the man" Kari explained, and Naruto just listened with a look of intent on his face.
"He told me about that... in our battle. A rogue ninja called Zabuza fled his country after a failed mission and found Haku along the way" Naruto explained, and Kari listened in thought.
"Aunt must've died when Haku was still a little young, because I remember him mentioning something about a 'new teacher'" Kari answered, and Naruto nodded.
"Well, Zabuza trained and raised him, but they both died in the final battle" Naruto finished with a hint of sadness in his voice. Kari just looked back at the cross, and hung her head.
"But, He was a really good fighter Kari-chan. A really good one, but, he didn't really seem to try and seriously hurt us though" Naruto added onto his sentence, and looked up at the sky as he remembered that long, difficult battle. Kari smiled.
"He was always too soft you know..." She smiled, and looked back at the headband in her hand. Naruto looked at her, and then remembered that Zabuza had mentioned that too at the end of their lives.
"So, was he strong?" Kari asked, not so upset anymore. Naruto nodded with a smile.
"He was very powerful, and he could've killed us easily but an awesome ninja like me won't be taken down so easily!" His voice piped up, and Kari smiled.
'He's really good at cheering people up...' She thought, feeling a lot better after having a talk with the blonde.
Flowers grew quickly around them and some lilies crept around the Cross to bloom into white flowers. The grass surrounding them suddenly became a bright green colour, and the flowers lay near Zabuza's sword had regained life and bloomed beautifully.
Naruto was shocked and surprised at the sudden plant growth surrounding them, and he looked at Kari, who was smiling. He smiled back, and then payed their last respects to the 2 ninja before heading back to the house.
Kakashi waited at the door, and nearly fell over when Naruto suddenly bolted into the house and dived into the kitchen to snatch a glass of water from Sasuke's hand and gulp down the liquid. After that, they both broke into an argument again.
Kari walked in slowly, and looked up at Kakashi with a smile. Kakashi smiled back as he knelt down to her height again.
"Well?"
"I feel heaps better now. Naruto knows about Haku too" She finished, and pulled her cousins headband out of her pocket, and showed him before she put it into her bag.
She looked at the obnoxious blonde argue with the Uchiha and smiled. She seemed to be comfortable around him, and seemed to warm up to him quickly too.
That night, the team was led upstairs to their rooms. Since there were 5 people now, they had to discuss who would be alone and such and such. There were a lot more rooms than before since it was a bigger house but they still had to be civil and decide who was with who in what room.
Sakura begged Kakashi to be in the same room as Sasuke, but he gave her the 'one gender' talk about the rooms, and Sasuke was put to go with Naruto. Sakura had the choice of sleeping in the same room as Tsunami, or on her own, since Kakashi ordered Kari to stay with him in the same room. Sakura slept in her own room, with Sasuke and Naruto in the room next door. Kakashi and Kari were across the hallway opposite Sasuke's and Naruto's room.
Just as everyone was getting ready for bed, Kakashi went out, and said he would be back in a few hours. Something about some 'scouting' and 'night patrol in the streets'.
Naruto unfolded the mattress and threw the pillow onto one side, and flopped his tired body onto the blankets as he lay down on his back. Sasuke was at the other end of the room, and sat silently as he stared out the window into the inky black sky. He closed his eyes, and tried to relax himself, but something was seriously bugging him. Every time he tried to get to sleep, that same image of that ferocious dragon kept on appearing in his head. It only happened when their hands made contact, and it only happened when it was her. He always felt a little different about her, and then made a decision. He lay there silently and waited for the Uchiha to get to sleep as he stared at the ceiling.
The clock on the wall read 9:00pm, and Kakashi had only left a few minutes ago, so there was plenty of time until he got back. Naruto silently stood up, and carefully folded up the mattress and grabbed his pillow and blanket as he quietly slid the door open, trying not to make any loud noises for the Uchiha to hear.
Sasuke's eye's shot open as soon as he noticed that Naruto wasn't in the room. Swiftly standing up in one movement, he ran over to the door silently and looked outside the crack in the sliding door to see what he was up to.
Naruto crept across the hallway, and knocked on the door to Kakashi's and Kari's room. A few moments passed until the door slid open to reveal a very undressed girl, who didn't really seem to have a problem with the way she looked. Sasuke felt his face heat up, looking at Kari with barely any clothes on apart from a crop top (boys, it looks like a bra) and a pair f short shorts.
"What is it Naruto?" She whispered, looking at him through half lidded eyes, probably because she was asleep until the blonde woke her up.
"I wanted to have a talk with you" He answered with a whisper, looking at the girl, trying to fight down the blush on his face. He wasn't used to seeing people dressed like that either.
Kari looked left to right in the hallway to make sure no-one was looking, but was unaware of Sasuke who was spying from the door behind Naruto.
"Is it to do with that freaky thing that happened earlier when we shook hands?" Kari asked, her voice not really a whisper as she noticed that no-one was listening. Naruto nodded. She sighed, and let him in. Naruto dragged in the mattress and pillow, and slid the door shut behind him.
Sasuke frowned, and closed the door to his room.
"What freaky thing?" He whispered quietly to himself. He had the room to himself now, and he was curious about what was happening between the new kid and Naruto. He would have to get it out of them in the morning.
In Kari's room, Naruto threw the mattress on the floor next to Kari's, and then sat down on the pillow as he waited for Kari to sit down.
"What's with the pillow?" Kari asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat down on her mattress facing Naruto.
"Well, I might fall asleep before I get back to my room" He smiled, and she just sighed with a nod, and waited for him to begin talking.
Wow, that chapter is a little longer than the previous one. Another info gain on Kari, Haku's her cousin!!!
(She has a lot more to be honest, but that'll have to wait)
What's going to happen? What do you think will be spoken of in the next chapter?
ALSO, THIS IS NOT A NARUTOxKARI STORY. THEY MAY ACT NICELY AND ALL THAT TO EACH OTHER BUT THEY ONLY BECOME BEST FRIENDS!
In later chapters, things might get a little more interesting and my intended pairings may change.
That is all I can do for this chapter, and I'm working on the next ones!