A/N- Well, I finally got this up. Sorry for the wait, if anyone actually read it. I hope you enjoy it. I will eventually get the next chapter up. Read and enjoy.
Chapter Two
I groaned as I rolled out of bed. Well, at least it was a bed and not the ground. I would have been in worse pain then. I looked at the hotel room I had: four walls painted green, a bed with cream sheets and a green coverlet that matched the walls, rugs in more green strewn over the hard wood floors, two windows curtained with more green and one door leading to the hallway, another led to a bathroom, which I dragged my sorry butt over to. Thankfully this room wasn't all green it was just plain old white with cream tiled floors.
I shucked out of my clothes revealing mottled black and blue bruising over most of my body. No wonder I was sore, I was a walking blackberry. This was why I shouldn't use Sage mode in the middle of a battle. I was lucky all I had gotten was some bruises, if I had done that against someone who actually wanted to kill me, I'd be dead now. I made a mental note to activate it before I started a fight or at least use an ice clone or two as decoys.
I stepped into the shower, and hissed as the hot water hit my battered body. Slowly, the torrent of water desensitized my body and actually jump-started the healing process, as I pulled nature chakra from it slowly, healing myself.
When, I was clean and my bruises had faded to yellow and green splotches, I got out and dressed. Pulling a black shirt over my slim frame, and a pair of loose black pants on to cover my long, strong legs. I brushed my long, blonde hair back into a ponytail and jumped out the window onto the porch roof below.
I heard a quiet woof from above and looked up to see Eboni looking down at me, a wolfish grin on her black face. Her coat of pure black fur shimmered in the sun and her fluffy tail waved a greeting.
"Hey! Did you figure out where we can get food?" I asked.
"I believe we need money for it, or we could steal again?"
"I have no money, so stealing it is," I told her with a mischievous grin.
"I don't think that will be necessary," a voice said from behind us.
I turned around to see Sho sitting on the chimney. "And why not?" I asked feeling a little disappointed. I enjoyed testing my skills to see how good I was at the art of subterfuge.
"Because I have money, so we can buy food. It's a good thing the Suikage sent me to look after you or who knows how much trouble you would have gotten into." The black ponytail flipped back and forth as he shook his head despairingly.
"We wouldn't have gotten into any trouble!" I protested, after all you can only be punished if you get caught.
"I highly doubt that." He muttered under his breath. I was about to saw something when he interrupted me. "Alright, lets feed you and that wolf before she eats somebody."
"Don't worry," I said. "She only eats annoying guys with ponytails."
He rolled his eyes at me and then sushined off towards the market area I had walked through on my way to the tower yesterday.
I followed, and a minute later we were standing in front of a stall that sold buns with a sticky red jelly filling. I ate five, and Eboni ate seven, Sho only managed three. By the time we were done both Eboni and I were covered in the sticky filling, and Eboni looked like she had just eaten something particularly bloody, so we were getting strange looks. Sho was perfectly clean and I have no idea how he did it.
"So, now that I'm fed, what are we doing to day?" I asked curiously. After all the Suikage had promised that I wouldn't get too bored.
"I was told to bring you to the training ground once you'd eaten."
"Alright, lets go. I'm getting bored, anyways." I told him with an air of unconcern, although I was actually very curious to see what was waiting for me at this training ground.
The training ground was a grassy field dotted with a few trees surrounded by a high wooden fence. When we arrived there didn't appear to be anyone else there and I was a little disappointed. I was expecting something more interesting than a field.
Suddenly there was a puff of smoke and a green clad figure appeared. I arched an eyebrow at the flashy arrival, if it had been me, I would have just walked in or jumped out of a tree, a lot more discreet and less smelly.
The woman who had appeared wore tight fitting green clothes; she had long, slightly wavy, black hair and had green eyes that matched her out fit.
What is up with green, today? I wondered.
"So, this is the other person we're supposed to form a team with? She's pretty scrawny, I could snap that little neck with one hand." The woman was looking me over critically, so I studied her in return. She had long legs, and I could see the lean muscles that ran through most of her body, but the thing that caught the eye first was her very ample chest, which she called more attention to by wearing a very low cut shirt.
The woman looked over at Sho and stuck out her upper lip in a pout. "Does the Suikage think we're babysitters?"
I frowned at that and was about to protest that statement when Eboni came to my defense. "She doesn't need one, she can take care of herself, and anything she can't handle, I can, so don't worry about Kasumi."
The woman's green eyes widened in surprise, "Is that a wolf? Where on earth did you find one that could talk?"
"Yes she is, and she can understand every word you're saying so don't talk about her as if she isn't there." I replied testily. This woman was already getting on my nerves and I had only just met her.
"Well, I got that from what she said earlier, but where does she come from? I've never heard of a ninja wolf before." She sounded sincerely interested, but she still annoyed me for some reason.
"Why don't you ask her?" I retorted.
"Well?" the woman asked directing her question at Eboni.
"I come from mist, and that is all the information you need to know at this time," Eboni replied primly.
I hid a grin. What Eboni said was true in a manner of speaking, because all Mist Hunters did supposedly come from mist originally, but I knew that that wasn't what Miss Green had wanted to hear.
"That wasn't really what I…. Oh never mind." She had obviously given up on getting anything out of my mysterious friend. "So, obviously you have some skill, but you're still tiny, and I doubt you can handle much of a beating."
Again, I was about to protest but this time it was Sho who stepped in for me. "Actually, Kasumi can handle herself fairly well in a fight, and as for taking hits, she survived a nice beating from Arashi yesterday and is moving about just fine today."
"You got in a fight with Arashi and lived?!" Miss Green stared at me, her mouth hanging open.
"She didn't just survive, she would have beat us if, the Suikage hadn't stepped in." Sho said, sounding almost proud of his near death at my hands.
"What?! Are you saying that she fought both of you and nearly won, that the Suikage actually had to stop the fight, so you guys would be okay, not the other way around?" she sounded extremely suspicious.
"Yep, she's really good, she froze Arashi solid almost immediately, if she hadn't accidently hit him with a kunai she probably would have beat us without a scratch."
"So, wait how does her hitting Arashi with a kunai make it so that she gets hurt, you aren't making any sense."
So, then Sho had to tell her the entire story from the moment they walked into the room and my attacking them to after when the Suikage had recruited me to the village. She gasped when she heard about my use of Sage Mode and growled something unintelligible when she heard about Soulless Blueberry and the rest killing Ayame.
"So, Shin and Sendo have resurfaced, this is good news. Now I can find and kill those jerks for rejecting me!" she growled under her breath.
"Ummm, Kana? Can you please not talk about killing my brother in front of me? It makes me want to destroy something and to be honest that might not be the greatest thing to do right now." Sho asked, sounding a little hesitant.
"Fine, but usually when I feel like destroying something I just go…" Kana, she must have been named Kana, broke off and looked over to our right. A young boy of about 8 or 9 was running towards us. Actually he was going at such speed that he couldn't stop in time and barreled straight into Sho. They both went flying and the kid ended up sitting on Sho. It took all my self-control to not burst out laughing. Obviously Kana didn't have as much self-control because she let loose with a raucous cackle that made several birds in nearby trees take flight.
"Hikaru! Get off of me!" Sho complained, as he tried to shift the dazed boy off. "And shut up Kana!"
"I… can't…help it! Its just to…" She burst out laughing again and couldn't speak any more.
"Hey, are you ok?" I asked, pulling the dazed boy off of Sho.
"I'm ok," the boy said. He looked up at me with big tear filled eyes and rubbed his head, and I could tell he was actually in pain. I reached out and touched his head, using my chakra to inspect the injury, he had a slight concussion and would have a nice bruise on his forehead but otherwise he was fine.
"Of course you are," I replied, smiling down at him. He was a really cute kid. Black hair fell messily down into his giant, watery, brown eyes and his cheeks, which were red from unshed tears, were still round with baby fat.
"Hey, who are you? I've never seen you around before."
"My name's Kasumi, and you are?"
"I'm Uchiha Hikaru." He told me, sounding as if he were bragging about something although I wasn't sure what.
"Well, its nice to meet you, Uchiha Hikaru." I replied, trying to sound a little impressed at the name.
"Hey, Hikaru what are you doing here?" Sho asked, while he rubbed his stomach where Hikaru had head butted him.
"Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to deliver a message to team 13, which I think is you guys, although I'm not entirely sure."
"Yes, we are the newly appointed team 13," Kana told him.
"Great! Uncle wants you to come quick so he can give you your mission." Hikaru told us grinning, broadly, revealing a missing canine.
"What? But we haven't even had time to get to know each other's skills!" Sho protested loudly.
"I can't help that. Uncle does what he wants, don't take it out on me." Hikaru's eyes were filling up with tears again.
"Hey, don't cry! I wasn't trying to.. I didn't mean that…" Sho appeared at a loss as to what he could do to stop the imminent flow of tears.
"Oh, ok then!" Hikaru grinned the tears vanishing as quickly as they had come. "Hey, where's Arashi? Isn't he a part of your team as well?"
"Oh, him." Kana's tone was rather sarcastic sounding. "He's over there, sleeping in that tree."
"I am not!" an indignant voice called down. "I was meditating. I think I found that inner stillness you were talking about, Kasumi."
I froze and then moved as fast as I could to him. In a few seconds, I was up the tree and by his side. I studied his form, and caught wisps of mist curling off of him. "Crap! Eboni, I need you."
My wolf friend was crouched on the branch next to me in a few seconds, studying him as well. She leaned forward touched her nose to his forehead and a light began to glow around them, then it was gone as quickly as it had come. Arashi's misty edges had sharpened and returned too normal.
"What was that?" Arashi asked.
"Eboni was pulling the nature chakra out of you, if you had let much more in, you would have been just a scrap of mist to be dissipated by the sun." I glared at him. "I wouldn't suggest you do that again. It was incredibly stupid."
"Yeah, well, that's what Arashi is good at, doing stupid, reckless things." Sho said from right next to me. My arm shout out and slammed into his chest, knocking him out of the tree. "What was that for?" he groaned out once he had gotten his breath back.
"Don't sneak up on me! You're lucky all I did was punch you, I've stabbed people by accident for less." I had actually. After growing up with the Mist Hunters and Wave People and being taught how to survive in the wild jungle and ocean, I was sent out with Eboni, at age seven, to find my own kind. Along the way, I learned that most things that could sneak up on me were dangerous and should be treated as an immediate threat. Ending up in a ninja village hadn't done much to curb that little habit of attacking anything that startled me. It wasn't so much habit as a survival instinct.
"Good to know…." Sho said, picking himself up off the ground.
"So, can we go now? Uncle will probably be waiting." Hikaru asked sounding bored.
"Yeah, lets go. We wouldn't want to keep Tatsuya-sama waiting." Kana replied sounding a bit sarcastic.
I jumped out of the tree and we were soon at the Suikage's Tower. As we entered Rina looked up from behind her mountain of papers, it seemed to have gotten even bigger then the day before. "Oh, good you're here. He's been roaring down about how he needs you here this instant, for the last half hour and it has begun to interfere with my work." She looked over at me then and said, "Kasumi, I have you head protector here somewhere…." She began rifling through her desk, and I was afraid that she would be buried in an avalanche of paper.
"Here it is!" She held up a dark blue headband triumphantly. I reached out and took it, but didn't put it on. Instead I turned and proceeded to tie it around Eboni's neck, as if it were a collar. I got several bemused glances but otherwise nobody questioned my choice as to where the forehead protector should go.
The Suikage looked as if he hadn't moved since the last time I had seen him, his feet were still up on the desk and he had a book in his hand. Hikaru proceeded to speed across the room and fling himself at the Suikage, screaming, "Uuuuuunnnklllleeeee!"
I was a little surprised. The Suikage didn't look old enough to have a nephew, especially not one that old but when Hikaru was about six inches away from head butting the Suikage in the chest, he grabbed him out of the air, getting up as he did and swinging him in a circle before setting him back on his feet. Hikaru was giggling uncontrollably and the Suikage was grinning and laughing himself. It totally transformed him from an unreadable adult into a carefree teenager. I decided I liked the new look; it was a lot more natural.
"Hey, Hikaru, I see you brought them, as promised. Although you are a little late."
"Sorry. I couldn't find them at first and then Arashi was being stupid, so it took longer then I expected…." Hikaru explained, looking down at his feet, one of which he was scuffing on the ground.
"It's alright. At least you found them, and it isn't your fault Arashi acts stupid." The Suikage said, ruffling Hikaru's hair, and smiling down at him.
"Hey!" Arashi protested.
The Suikage ignored him, "So, now that you're all here we can begin. First of all, you are now officially a team, Team 13, and Kasumi, you are now a member of this village." He studied me for a moment, and frowned slightly, "Where is your headband? Didn't Rina remember to give it to you? I told her to, but sometimes she…"
"No, she gave it to me." I said, interrupting him. "I just put it on Eboni, since that's easier on both of us."
"Huh. You do realize that they are called forehead protectors for a reason right?" The Suikage asked.
"Yes, but they itch and slip down into my eyes and it gets annoying. So, if you don't mind, I would prefer to leave it the way it is." I explained, sighing inwardly. I had made this same argument to both Ayame and The Mizukage, when I was a ninja of Hidden Mist. It had taken quite a lot of wheedling before I finally managed to convince Ayame.
I smiled sadly at the memory of Ayame's worried face, her blue green eyes narrowed in concern and her full lips pulled down into a frown, as she impatiently pushed her curly auburn hair away from her face. She had constantly reminded me of how the headband showed pride in my village. And that I should wear it, because it would probably save my life as it had her's many times. I had always told her that it could keep Eboni safe by protecting her neck, instead of bothering me. She would laugh at that and then give in for a little bit saying it was pointless trying to argue with a stubborn brat like me.
I felt a cool touch on my hand as Eboni nudged me with her nose. "It can protect me as well, and I do not mind it."
"Alright, that's settled then. On to more pressing business, I have a mission for you. I know this is soon but it needs to be competent people and the only ones I can send right now are you guys. There are reports of a group of people who use lightning based attacks harassing some of the northern villages. I need you to check it out. The last group I sent up into that area hasn't reported back yet and they were supposed to do so nearly a day ago. I want you to go up there, figure out what is going on and put a stop to it. I'm sorry I can't give you any more information then that but I haven't had time to send more scouts. This is an A ranked mission so be careful. I want you to leave as soon as you can gather the supplies you will need. Dismissed."
I grinned. So the Suikage hadn't lied after all, this really was going to be an interesting place to live