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Fascination: Sequel

Part 4

"Oriko," The voice called again, although she wasn't really able to pinpoint who or why they were speaking to her; "Oriko!" Forcing her eyes open at the sound of such a desperate voice, as well as pressure on one of her shoulders,

"Huh?" The confusion was almost as thick as the sleep in her voice; she opened her eyes to the sight of almost blindingly shiny teeth, "W-Wha- Gai?"

"Oriko! You were asleep on the grass this fine morning... were you here all night?" Oriko tried to sit up and was easily pulled to her feet by a cheerful – but concerned looking Gai – she swayed on her feet for a moment; trying to overcome the sickly feeling that came with sleeping restlessly,

"Y-yea I suppose I must have done... what time is it?" She looked over to see Neji and Lee behind him, both looking a little concerned,

"It is almost ten in the morning, would you like to me escort you home? You do not look very well," Oriko blinked forcefully, trying to get her mind to adequately focus before shaking her head,

"N-No, I'm alright, thank you Gai... besides you all look as though you're off somewhere," She finally took notice of their packs, as Gai kept a hand on her forearm, certain than if he let go, she'd fall over;

"Yes, we have a mission... but I am certain Kakashi would understand the delay if I paused to ensure your safety," Oriko took a deep breath, her head clearing and her body feeling more like her own by the second; it did always surprise Oriko just how chivalrous Gai could be – it struck Oriko at first, that he looked like the sort of man too busy being 'hip' to be honourable, but that really couldn't have been further from the truth;

"Eh? Kakashi? Is he in trouble?" Gai gave her a merry 'thumbs up' and grinned broadly,

"You are indeed kind to care so much for your ex-sensei, but you should know that my eternal rival is not to easily defeated! Our presence is merely a security measure and provide additional strength should it be needed," Apparently Gai was also one who didn't know of Kakashi and Oriko's change in relationship, the Kuniochi nodded,

"Good, well, if the situation is as serious as it sounds, I don't want to keep you... thank you for waking me up but I'm sure I'll be fine; you guys are needed elsewhere," She flashed a grin in reassurance and took a step away from Gai, unfortunately her knee almost buckled as she didn't tense it properly, Neji stepped forward to prevent her hitting the deck.

"Oriko-san, your Jounin exam is in three days, you should not be so careless with your body,"

"I know, Neji, thanks, it just took me a moment to wake up, was all... sleeping on the ground with no protection or fire as a result of charka depletion tends to make me a little groggier than usual." She stood up again, more successfully under her own steam this time and turned to walk away, having thrown in another smile for good measure;

"Neji, see that she gets home safely, we'll be waiting by the gate," Neji nodded at Gai's instruction, stepping beside Oriko and holding out a hand as though to direct her,

"Neji, you really don't-"

"No, there is no use arguing, I insist upon Neji accompanying you," Oriko sighed, knowing that there was no way she'd win this battle,

"Very well, thank you, Gai, Neji," She nodded to each in turn as she set off towards her home, with Neji keeping a close pace.

As she bid farewell to Neji and closed her front door, she made her way to her shower to wash away the fatigue, grime and chill of her body. She reflected on the past four days of training, her space-time ninjutsu still not having really improved much, her reaction time was much faster, but she was still constantly being hit by the leaves. She knew that it was a problem of physical space – the distance between the leaves simply wasn't enough to cope with the physical space her body occupied. Sighed again heavily, she stripped off her kunai pouches and haitai-ate before wandering into the bath room, her mind still unable to focus on how she could rectify the situation as she set about brushing her teeth. Pulling off her shirt, trousers, knickers and wrappings from around her chest, she turned on the water and waiting a moment for it to heat up, huddling her arms around her naked body to conserve what little body heat she had left. Stepping under the water, the heated spray was welcome and she found herself relaxing, after a few moments, into to delightful warmth; Oriko held her hands out under the spray, feeling all of the drops which collided with them, even if I was to flicker my hands, they would only miss one 'wave' of drops, the next 'wave' would still collide with them... haa... the only way it seems to put my space-time Jutsu to use would be if I could alter the physical space I take up... which is, of course, impossible.

Oriko grabbed the small bar of soap and began to lather it fiercely over her skin, as though she were able to scrub off her frustration – it wasn't very effective – she was now mostly clean, but reluctant to get out of the shower. Her fatigue and slight chill to her bones still hadn't left not to mention that as she still hadn't reached a conclusion about how to proceed with her Jutsu, she was unwilling to do anything else which may distracter her from thinking about. Taking a deep breath and allowing it to escape as a large sigh, she forced herself out of the shower, scrubbing away the worst of the moisture and dashing off to find a fresh set of clothes (she still wore her dark jinbei and trouser set, finding them the most comfortable to work and train in), giving one last shiver as she tied the last string at her hip, (the time taken to dress after the shower successfully cooled her again) and she wandered off to make a late breakfast-cum-lunch.

As she waited for the rice and dumplings to steam, too lazy to make anything with more effort, she turned her mind back to her current concern, holding her palm out again thinking how the water had fallen on it, subconsciously clenching it to a fist and spreading out her fingers she could almost feel the idea on the tip of her tongue. What if... What if... What if I- she quickly attempted to direct her chakra to her finger tips, sure she was onto something, but a sharp stabbing sensation and almost blinding pain told her that her chakra was NOT to be disturbed yet,

"Shit, fucking...shit," She cursed as she almost leapt out of her seat to find a pen and paper to make a note of her thoughts, her body not moving quite as fast as she wanted it to, as she struggled to scribble – legibly – her train of thoughts. Satisfied that she had written enough to go back to it later and understand what the hell she was on about, she set it down; upon a moments reflection Oriko decided to drive a kunai through the top of the paper and into the wood of the table below it (the cynical side of her expecting that if she didn't do anything to secure it, somehow a gust of wind or other unfortunate event would do away with the paper and she'd loose the opportunity to advance).

Lifting the now cooked rice and dumplings out of the steamer, she set them on a plate and woofed them down as fast as possible, not really bothering to allow them to cool and yet managing to avoid scalding herself; she felt the warmth of the food now in her stomach begin to spread throughout her body. Feeling now more comfortable and sleepy, she decided that it would be a good idea to take a nap whilst the allowed her chakra to replenish; placing her plate in the sink she wandered over to her sofa (which she found surprisingly comfortable) and pulled a blanked over herself – falling a sleep just as she closed her eyes.

~~/********/~~

Oriko took a deep breath in as she awoke from her decidedly more fitful slumber than earlier in the day, looking around she could neither see or feel that anything was amiss and so was unsure what had awoken her – the small clock on her coffee table telling her it was now mid afternoon. Finding her feet she felt considerably refreshed, stretching her hands over her head to click her shoulders and back, she walked over to the kitchen table meaning to make herself some tea, when she spotted an 'addition' to the note she had left herself.

Yo! What the hell is this shit? [A small arrow had been drawn up to her previous musings on her space-time ninjutsu] That perfectionist-brain of yours searching for the answer to complete your space-time ninjutsu now and why did you bother to write it down? Damn, maybe I should request you for all of my missions then I won't have to bother so much! Anyway, I popped over to see you (I only just got back yesterday) but you looked knackered and didn't want to wake you... I'll be in the Shushuya from around seven, I'd like to see you again, spending two and a half months around people who's taste buds demand not only a properly balanced meal but also one where all flavours actually compliment each other got a little too weird!

Bring your taste buds, an appetite and Kakashi if you like, I wouldn't mind saying hi to the war-horse!

See ya!

Anko

P.S. Glad to see you're still as lady-like and gracefully subtle with your ideas as ever! It can be difficult to maintain femininity when out in the field! ;) [Another arrow had been drawn up and around to where the kunai was holding the paper in place]

Oriko couldn't hide her grin as she had sorely missed Anko too, both of them being on long haul missions was getting ever more frequent and Anko seemed to get sent further a field each time. Oriko rolled her eyes at Anko's nickname for Kakashi, leaving the paper where it was; she set about getting some water to boil before fetching a small pot and cup.

Settling herself back at the table, she concentrated and found that a significant portion of her chakra had returned, smiling to herself, she began to work over the principle she'd thought of earlier. Moving the kunai along with the piece of paper further up the table to allow her forearms to comfortably rest on the top, she began to focus her chakra to her finder tips. Creating chakra threads and reaching out to touch onto the kunai and connect them, Oriko focused on what exactly was happening to her chakra.

After a few minutes she confirmed what she'd previously thought was true; with a small portion of her chakra focussed solely at her fingertips, she focussed the rest to her opening points on her arm. She was rewarded a few attempts later (her excitement kept interrupting the smoothness of her chakra flow) and she carefully lowered her arm through the table but it was halted from going the entire way through due to her fingertips. It was truly an odd sensation , in the same way the pressure is felt if pushing down on the wooden table with her finger tips, she could feel the resistance of the table behind them – a feeling her brain struggled to make sense of.

Rather than risk breaking her concentration and having her arm stuck in a table, she lifted her arm completely clear and halted her chakra flow, lowering her arm again, she found it rested on the table as normal – the resistance of the wood feeling exactly as it should be. Her 'misplaced' or 'hollow' limb was a bizarre sensation too, it was as though she wasn't able to genuinely feel it as a part of herself, but rather she instinctively knew it was there and what it's parameters were. Suddenly grinning with glee, she was sure now that her idea for how to escape the leaves was right; she, forgetting about her tea, set about focussing her chakra to every part of her body and alternately shifting it in and out of 'touch' with reality.

A few hours later, she wandered into the Shushuya, an eerie sense of loneliness creeping over Oriko; she was so used to drinking with Kakashi, or at least see him around the day after or so, but his almost too quick departure after her return made it feel as though he were far father from her (both in physical distance and time taken until they were together again) than she really wanted to be reminded of. Sighing and shaking her head slightly, she tried to put the thought out of her mind as she walked over to where she could see Anko was sat;

"Yo, how's it going?" Anko flashed her trademark childish grin as Oriko slid into the seat opposite her,

"Hi! Not bad thanks, tired from my long-ass mission but pretty good overall... it was a long and boring mission with the occasional attack thrown in at the most inopportune times rather than when I really wish they'd occur to keep things interesting," Anko gave a mildly exasperated grin which Oriko nodded in response, completely understanding. "How've you been?" Oriko opened her mouth to answer, but a waitress appeared instead and they both ordered a drink to start,

"Ok I suppose, I got back from a month long mission myself not quite a week ago, unfortunately Kakashi was sent out two days after I got back... I suppose it's good in a way as I don't have him distracting me while I'm training for my Jounin exam, but..." The waitress return with their drinks (a large warm sake for Anko and a large Asahi for Oriko);

"Ah, yea, that must really suck... wait, your Jounin exam? When is it?"

"In three days... I have another two days left to train and damn, I thought I was never going to get there,"

"Oh, is that what all your notes on the space-time ninjutsu were about?" Oriko nodded carefully, taking a hearty swig of beer,

"Yea, I've been knackering myself trying to resolve some of the issues I've been having with it and I finally figured it out but as I didn't have any chakra left I couldn't test it out so I had to write it down to remember later when I had recovered enough,"

"So da... that explains it..." Oriko grinned, knowing that Anko didn't really think twice about letting herself into Oriko's apartment, "I knocked pretty loudly before letting myself in, but I guess that's what chakra depletion does to you,"

The waitress returned and they set about ordering for their meal, Oriko, living up to her friend's expectations of her and ordered the unagi [grilled eel], a meat bun, shiitake mushroom, some octopus balls and a side of egg fried rice (all of Oriko's chakra manipulation earlier had left her with a supreme hunger and neither did she want to get drunk), whilst Anko opted for the slightly more modest selection of a sushi platter. Oriko's thoughts, in the momentary silence again turned to Kakashi and she couldn't help but wonder how he was and if the mission was going well; she really was unable to help but feel sometimes incredibly distant from him – more so than when she was his student and went on regular missions with him, there seemed to be such a distance between them, that she wasn't entirely sure that she knew him well.

What typically troubled Oriko the most about her thoughts on this specific subject, were that whenever she laid eyes on him (specifically in a private setting), all her fears were immediately dispelled – yet seem to find a way to return and ask difficult questions when she was away from him for a long time. Some part of her, deeply missed the days in the past where she had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the man – how unrushed and un-stressful those days seemed to be, and so far in the past. It wasn't to say Oriko didn't enjoy her life and current rank, but there seemed to be an awful lot more to do in a shorter space of time which, in a sense made her and Kakashi's time all the more precious - but she couldn't remember when they didn't feel rushed.

"Hey!"

"Huh?" Oriko suddenly looked up to meet Anko's exasperated eyes,

"'Huh' she says, I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes!"

"Sorry, I got a little lost in thought,"

"Geeze! Well, I was wondering if you know when Kakashi is supposed to get back?"

"No... I only know that he left with his old team four or so days ago and team Gai was sent as backup to him earlier today, so to be honest, I probably don't expect them back for another week at the least," Oriko sighed, dipping on of her octopus balls in a soy sauce and ate it before taking another glug of beer, "You seem to have been taking many long range missions at the moment, Anko, is village life tiring you?" Anko stared for a moment, before cracking out her signature grin, but a little more matured (typical for Anko when she decides to actually answer a question seriously)

"Hmm... nah, I guess I just love being out in the field, the longest time I've spent consistently in the village, apart from when the Chuunin exams are held, was for the months you trained under Kakashi when you first arrived... of course I had you to hang out with then, but being in the village for long periods of time really does tend to wear me out," Oriko nodded carefully,

"So da... well it's good to have you back for now at least!"

"Yea!" Anko poured out another cupful of sake, "Oh, and I'll still be in the village by the time you finish your Jounin exam, or at least I should be, so we'll go out for a good drink and enjoy ourselves! Hell knows I think we'll have definitely both earned it by then, if nothing else!" Oriko heartily agreed, as she joined Anko in a silent toast to many things.

Oriko had trained extensively for the last two days and as she ambled slowly towards the intelligence department, she was fully stocked with kunai, shuriken, her fan, sebon needles, kibakufuda and her body was fully rested (luckily Anko knew where it was and could accurately direct her). She had worked tirelessly on her space-time ninjutsu and was now able to control it well if she was given enough time to gather her chakra.

Admittedly the time needed was only about fifteen or so seconds, but long enough to render it almost impossible in mid-battle, Oriko wasn't too worried, she previously assumed that her Jutsu would always prove its full value as a defending/escaping measure rather than as an offensive tactic. Oriko walked slowly up to the main office door, her apprehension starting to rise (her tiny, paranoid inner-self was fussing over things: if she was in the right place, was she late? What if Ibiki changed his mind? What if she managed to make a complete fool of herself here?) It wasn't helping very much to calm her nerves. Just as she approached the door, it opened for her and she set eyes on the heavily scarred man who was her first examiner for the Chuunin selection exam: Morino Ibiki;

"Oriko, you're right on time... please come in for a moment," He stepped aside and allowed her to walk in, the room was small and the only thing it contained was a desk, a sheet of paper and a pen.

"Please take a seat and read carefully the release form... its procedure just to make sure you understand and take responsibility for the risks," Oriko sighed heavily, really? What sort of Shinobi is going to turn around crying after a bloody nose and claim that Ibiki or whoever is responsible? Fuck, the world's gone mad... I can understand for the kids who take the Chuunin exams but Jounin? Damn... "You'll need to sign it at the bottom and we can then get started," Oriko could hear the amusement in his voice, although it was very well covered, whatever this test was going to involve, Oriko was sure that it would be beyond gruelling.