Whiskers

Chapter 3

And we're back!

Tsunade was right, people are scared of me. I decided that knowing where everything in the village is would be a good idea, but everybody that sees me either stares, glares and look away, or finds an excuse to avoid me. I'm not a bad person, but people still see me as a threat. Could I change their minds about that?

"There you are!" I jumped as somebody landed next to me. I was ready to defend myself, but I relaxed when I saw that it was Naruto. "What did Tsunade say?"

"I'm free to stay." We both smiled. "She's going to look into reverse engineering the... justu that brought me here." I think I used that right.

"I hope that isn't soon." Meeting his eyes didn't work, because he started to look around. What did he mean by that? "Man... I know these looks."

"What looks?" As I turned to see, I saw a lot of people glaring at me.

"I used to get them." Before I could ask, Naruto gripped my hand and started to run. I almost tripped over, but fell into step behind him, determined to not look weak.

"Where are we going?!" Naruto laughed and glanced back at me.

"Somewhere quiet!" I'm not the kind of person who blushes easily, but that made my cheeks redden. We ran for another few minutes, past the huge gate at the front of the village, and into the forest. When Naruto finally stopped, I dropped to my knees and started gasping for air. "Oh yeah... You're not a ninja, are you?"

"What... difference... does... it... make?"

"I use chakra to run like that." He started, kneeling in front of me. "All ninjas do. It also lets us jump through the trees." I gasped a few more times before I could breathe normally. "Don't you use chakra for your fire?"

"My foxfire is magic." He looked confused. "I use magic for my abilities, not... 'chakra'."

"Maybe it's the same thing?" I met his blue eyes. "We just have different names for it."

"How would we be able to tell?" Naruto cupped his chin and closed his eyes, thinking hard about something.

"Well, Chakra is the energy you need in order to perform a Jutsu. They all combine chakra with spiritual energy, and hand signs."

"I don't use hand signs for magic." We stared at each other for another moment before Naruto patted his fist against his palm.

"Try doing this." He held two fingers up and gripped them loosely with his other hand. Why is one of his hands covered in bandages? "It's one of the hand seals." It was easy to copy that. "Okay, now try and focus your chakra." How would I even do that? I tried to focus on my hands, but I didn't feel anything happen.

"I don't think it's working." Naruto put another thoughtful look on his face.

"Okay, try this one." He made a fist with his bandaged hand, and put his other hand flat on the back on it. I copied it and focused again. When a few wisps of blue came up from my hands, I threw myself back, wide-eyed. What the hell was that?! "That's it! Chakra!"

"Why is it the same colour as my foxfire?!"

"You must have been using chakra for that, too!" Naruto pulled me to my feet, glee on his face. "Next, you need to learn how to focus it!" I don't understand why he's teaching me this, but he's so excited! I don't want to ruin that! "Okay, okay, watch this." He placed his foot on the trunk of a tree, and then started to walk up it.

"How are you doing that?!"

"Chakra!" With a grin, he backflipped off of the bark and faced me again. "You need to focus your chakra into your feet so you can walk up the tree." I stared at my feet for a few moments, and stepped over to the tree. "Wait, wait, try taking a run up."

"Why?" I turned around, still trying to focus energy into my feet.

"If you use your chakra right, you'll use less of it by running up the tree, and you can go further." Giving him a nod, I tried to walk back, and then ended up on the floor when my foot wouldn't move. I pushed myself up to look, ignoring Naruto's laughing. I glared at him, but he was doubled over, holding his stomach as he wheezed out more laughter.

"Hey!" I looked up, meeting eyes with a guy who had wide eyes, a bowl cut, and some impressive eyebrows. Also wearing... all green except orange arm and leg warmers. "Are you the new person in the village?"

"Lee, Lee, hang on." Naruto wheezed, waving his arm.

"What happened?" He asked, kneeling next to the blonde and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I... I was trying to teach Ahri about chakra, and she stuck her foot to the ground..." He wheezed again and waved his arms backwards so he could sit down. "That's the best thing I've ever seen."

"I'm afraid that I can't help you with Chakra." Lee grinned. "But I am a master of Taijutsu!"

"What's that?" I put more focus into my hand and managed to move my foot forwards, but then stuck my hand to the floor.

"Hand to hand combat!" Both of them watched me trying to pull my hand off the floor.

"Do you need some help?" Naruto asked, getting up and standing over me.

"Chakra is stupid." I mumbled, looking up when he squatted in front of me.

"Just focus on me." I focused on his face, my eyes flicking between his whiskers and eyes. When he lifted my hand off of the ground, I flinched and looked at my palm. "Everyone struggles with control at first." My eyes shifted to Lee, who froze in the middle of his step.

"Did you struggle with it?"

"In a way." He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "I don't have any."

"The odd ninja out." Naruto said, pulling me to my feet and walking to Lee, putting an arm over his shoulders. "All ninjas need Chakra, but not Lee!" He laughed. "The Taijutsu master!"

"Years of training!" They obviously didn't see me wince at the yelling. I turned away from the aggressive compliments and looked back at the tree.

~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tsunade watched, her arms folded over her chest. The three below hadn't seen her standing in the tree close by, and she had seen Ahri's attempt at controlling her chakra. There was a conflict in her head about the newcomer to the village. There was no way to tell what could happen if she became a Kunoichi; especially one trained by Naruto.

"It's hard not to know who the newcomer is." She looked to the side, where Kakashi was now squatting, watching Lee and Naruto spar, shouting things to Ahri at the same time. "Cute, huh?"

"I guess." Kakashi looked up at Tsunade, frustration on her face.

"Are you alright?"

"Just thinking." He looked back at the small group below them. "I'm not sure if Naruto is trying to train her or not; and what would happen if she does try to become a ninja."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Kakashi stood up and adjusted his headband. "She could become quite a powerful Kunoichi, but loyal to the village."

"I'm not sure that having a Gumiho here would keep our relationship with the other villages solid."

"Well, we still have Naruto." Before Tsunade could shoot him a glare, Kakashi jumped down to the floor, shoved one of his hands into his pocket and started walking towards the group. "Afternoon!" He called out, holding one hand up in greeting.

"Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto grinned widely, then got knocked off his feet as Lee threw a palm strike that hit him in the cheek.

"Naruto! Are you okay?" Ahri called out, running over to him and kneeling next to him.

"I'm fine!" He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. "That was a good hit, Lee!" The worry on Lee's face vanished, replaced by a grin.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked, sighing when he got a nod. "We haven't met before." He turned to Ahri and hand his hand out. "Kakashi. I was Naruto's squad leader."

"I'm Ahri." The Gumiho smiled and shook his hand.

"I like the whiskers." Kakashi smiled, closing his eyes since his face was still half covered. "Are they drawn on?"

"Nope! I've had them forever!" He looked between her and Naruto, making comparisons in his head.

"What about fangs?" Kakashi pointed both fingers to his mask. "Naruto, show her your fangs."

"These?" He opened his mouth and pointed to his sharp canines.

"Yeah!" Ahri copied him, and after a second, they both laughed.

"Are you here to help with training, Kakashi?" Lee asked, walking over to them.

"Training?" He raised an eyebrow at Ahri. "What are you training for?"

"Naruto was showing me Chakra. I'm not very good with it." The Joniin paused, looking between the teenagers and Gumiho.

"I'm afraid that I can't help with that right now, because Naruto, it's time for your lesson." The blonde gasped and cursed.

"I can't believe I forgot! Lee, can you hang out with Ahri for a few hours?" Both of them looked at each other, then smiled, nodding to Naruto.

"Come on, then." Kakasi smiled again, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Race you there?"

"You're on!" As they left, Tsunade left too, silently hoping that Ahri wouldn't do anything crazy.

Little short, but that's because I'm getting back into the feel of things. I hope to have more excitement soon. I'm also hoping that I don't do plot too quickly.