Wooo! XDD chapter three! woah, uploading two in one night! Ren's feeling ambitious! XDDDD anyways, yeah. Thank you for reading this:3
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto
"Arata," It had taken me a while to find him, but sure enough, there he was pacing a bamboo grove bandages in hand. He'd been muttering to himself, most likely "damn it" again, and was now thoroughly soaked. The rain had only gotten heavier.
His focus snapped to me, upon hearing his name, and he gave a flicker of a smile, before looking back down at his arm, and frowning. "Takeshi. Didn't wake you, did I?"
I shook my head, watching him. "Hachiro Kun did."
"Oh." That usual half amused half confused Arata look on his face. As though he didn't know whether to laugh of frown. "Weird little guy, isn't he?" He seemed to have decided to smile, but it was unusually half hearted, and his attention seemed to be on a nearby puddle, who's surface jumped as the rain fell. "Do you enjoy it?" He asked finally, distracted.
"Enjoy what?" Though I had am idea what he was talking about.
"Teaching genin."
I sighed. "Arata...You know... maybe you should ask again. For a teaching position. They'll probably reconsider, I mean, there'll be a new batch of genin soon. They'll need a sensei. A break from the field would probably do you a lot of good."
"They won't.," He shook his head, chuckling weakly. "You kidding? You know why I didn;t get that job, Takeshi. No one wants to leave their kids with me. I'm crazy, remember? I'll kill them all in their sleep-"
"Arata, stop it." I decided to cut him off, before he could go any farther into his sleep-deprived, self destructive speculations. "It'd be good for you. You could spend more time with Miu, you know she keeps you level, and Gin... Rest more? When was he last time you slept?"
He did a little half-yawn."Not since we left the village."
"You see? There you go...When you're tired like this, you know how easy it is for..."
"Yeah." He pushed his bangs from his face, only to have the rain push them back. "Yeah, I know Takeshi." He winced, as examined his other, damaged forearm. I motioned for him to show me, which he reluctantly did. My frown deepened. His left arm had been completely mangled, this time.
"It's getting worse."
"Nah... Same as ever."
"It would have had to be out for quite a while to do all this."
He shook his head emphatically. "No. It's fine, really..."
"You shouldn't ignore this, Arata.." We rarely discussed it, let alone argue. But perhaps something could be done. It was only a matter of time before Arata's injuries could, potentially, kill him. "What if you'd died? You're bleeding everywhere..." In the darkness, it had taken me a while to notice the watered down blood pooling along where he'd have been pacing.
Another frantic shake of Arata's head. "I always wake up right away..."
A momentary lapse in judgement, and words I'd heard from the other jonin countless times spilled carelessly into the night air. "What if it'd been one of us? Or Miu, or Gin?" He stopped, and dead silence fell between us. I realised I had definitely hit a nerve.
"It won't."
"What if it is?"
Arata opened his mouth to reply, but nothing seemed to come out. He blinked, fighting to keep his eyes open. His shoulders shook sharply, and I recognized it as a bad sign. A very bad sign. "Arata... You need some rest..." He wasn't listening, but I took a few cautious steps back.
His eyes were turned towards the ground, before, suddenly, snapping forward to meet mine. In the same moment, his hands, suddenly forgetting the injury, flew to the weapon at his belt, as he bolted forward.
My eyes widened in disbelief. There was no time to move. There was no time to escape.
All I saw were those two cold, silver eyes I had come to know so well. Those eyes that were not my friend's.
And that's all I had time to think before the Kama connected with my skin...
And everything went dark.
Um... Yeah! So there;'s chapter three.. thank you for reading this! Please review, and have a nice day. :3
