Author Notes: Here's is chapter 4 of TPB! To those of you that pay attention, the Third Hokage's quote about the perfect blossom may sound familiar. It's my way of giving a big, fat wink to one of my favorite movies: The Last Samurai (Kastumoto rulesss!!)...
Again, feel free to message and review. I'm open to anything that will help improve my writing. But if you just want to tell me how awesome the story is, that fine too! I'd really like to know how i'm doing so far...
A special thanks to mary for the review!! It is very much appreciated...
In chapter 4, Kitana finds some old keepsakes and Kiba welcomes an unexpected guest... Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Other than Kitana Izanaki, I don't own anything...
PS. A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! I hope that 2010 will be a creative and inspirational year for all of you...
Chapter 4 – The Past Revisited
Kitana closed the door of her house behind her, put her herb basket on the kitchen table and stood there for a while in front of the window, looking up at the stars.
That Naruto had some nerves to be talking to her like that, acting like he had her all figured out. Maybe there was a time when she had been a Shinobi, who had dedicated her whole being to serving and protecting the village Hidden in the Leaves, but those days had long passed. But even though the Shinobi world had cost her so much, she had to admit that at times she missed it. She missed the mission, the action, the sense of being needed, but most of all her friends.
She sighed deeply and slowly walked into her bedroom, opened her closet and kneeled down before it. She leaned forward as her hands searched the bottom until they found something in the far back corner and pulled it out towards her. Kitana lifted up a long box in her hands, blew off some of the dust that had gathered on top of the lit and sneezed as some of it twirled into her nose. She sighed again while she put the box back down, took off the lit and carefully grabbed the first thing she saw lying in front of her.
"You've called for me, Sensei?" Kitana asked as she walked into the Third Hokage's office.
"Yes, I have, Kita," the Hokage said, staring out of the window at the village before him. "I asked for you to come, because I have a gift for you," he continued and turned around to his student with a warm smile. "A gift? For me?" Kitana asked, anticipation radiating from her face. "Yes, Kita, go on and open it," he chuckled as he pointed to the slim, rectangular box lying on his desk. Kitana almost skipped to the desk and anxiously ripped open her gift.
"A katana? Sensei, it's amazing," Kitana beamed up at her teacher as she grabbed hold of the handle and slowly unsheathed the sword."Read the inscription," her sensei responded with an encouraging nod. Kitana frowned and read the words that were etched onto the base of the blade.
"'I belong to the perfect blossom'. I don't understand, Hiruzen-sensei. What is the perfect blossom?" she asked confusedly.
The Hokage smiled softly and motioned for his student to come to him. Kitana studied him carefully as she went to join him by the window.
"The perfect blossom is a rare thing, Kitana. A man can spend his life searching for it, and yet it would not be a wasted life," he spoke slowly. "But sensei, I still don't understand," Kitana argued. The Hokage sighed deeply. "We are all born as no more than buds, Kita. And during the course of life those buds are nourished by experience so they can grow and eventually blossom," Kitana watched as her mentor briefly paused before continuing. "We as people all have a natural tendency to seek out the most beautiful blossoms, and surround ourselves with them. A long time ago I nurtured a bud, taught it, cared for it, but it grew out of control and was eventually lost to me."
"I had had high hopes for this bud, but I was greatly disappointed. For years it haunted me, ate at me, until something happened," the Hokage said and looked sideward his student. "What happened?" she asked.
"You happened," he said with a smile as he placed a gentle hand on Kitana's shoulder. "You became my new bud. My hope now rests with you," he stated solemnly.
Kitana smiled up at her sensei and made a slight bow. "It is an honor for you to think of me that way, Hiruzen-sensei. I can only pray that I won't disappoint you as well," she said.
"That is impossible," the Hokage chuckled, "you can never disappoint me. You may not have fully blossomed yet, but when you do you will be nothing short of perfect."
Kitana smiled, holding her precious katana close to her chest. It had been her signature weapon during the many missions she had been sent on. As long as she had it with her, it felt like her sensei was right by her side. It made her step up her game, go that extra mile just to make him proud. Kitana unsheathed the blade and stared at the etching for a while. She then retracted the katana in the sheath and put it back in the box.
She flinched when her finger scrapped something sharp. She carefully took it out of the box, only to see a shuriken stained with a drop of her blood. Kitana sucked a small amount off blood of her index finger and smiled as yet another memory came back.
"Hey, Sasuke!" she called out to her friend in the distance.
The young Uchiha turned around and a wide smile spread across his face as soon as he saw her. "Hi, Kita," he replied as he waved at her.
"Sasuke, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out with me," she panted when she had finally caught up with him, her arms holding on to her legs as she leaned forward. "I can't," he said regretfully, "I have some more shuriken practice to do if I want to be as good as Itachi is." Kitana snorted and crossed her arms defiantly. "You are always practicing to be as good as Itachi is. You're all work, no fun. Even your brother loosens up every now and then. Even he has time for me between his missions. I'm starting to think he's more fun than you are," she retorted and stuck out her tongue.
Sasuke huffed and he pulled his lips up in a smirk. "Take that back, Kita," he said darkly.
"Why don't you make me?" Kitana provoked him, only to have her friend jump her as he started to tickle her.
"Ahh! Sa-Sa-Sasukeeeee! S-stop, you're k-k-k-killing me," she screamed in-between laughter while she laid out on the grass with Sasuke straddled over her. But Sasuke didn't stop. "Admit that I'm more fun than my brother," he pressed as he continued to assault the girl underneath him. "Okay, okay, you win. You are way more fun than your brother," she cried and finally the onslaught stopped.
They both laughed as they fell back onto the soft grass and just laid next to each other.
"I hope I'm not interrupting you two lovebirds," a calm voice came from behind them. Sasuke bolted up to see who it was and found it to be his brother.
"Lovebirds?" Kita asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Us?" Sasuke aided her.
"Ew!" they both exclaimed looking at one another.
Itachi Uchiha chuckled as he looked at his younger brother and the little girl that had more in common with him than anyone else in his own age group. Other than Shisui of course. "That's what you say now. Just wait until you're both a little older," he said with a smile, "and who knows, maybe in a few years Sasuke will ask you to marry him, Kita" Itachi teased as he poked his little brother in the head.
"Sasuke," Kitana whispered as she gently traced the edges of the shuriken in her hands.
For years she had tried to banish him from her thoughts, to forget the bonds they once shared together. She had loved Sasuke beyond her understanding at the time, but it was her love for his brother that had put a strain on whatever relationship it was they had had. It was because of the promise she made Itachi that she had broken her friendship with his little brother, who had never understood why she insisted on keeping her distance from him. He, however, had no idea that staying away from him had been just as hard on her as it had been on him. And the worst thing was that she would never be able to explain it.
Itachi stood by the pond out in the forest, waiting for his best friend to arrive.
"Itachi, there you are! You asked for me to come. Listen, I heard about Shisui and I'm so sorry. I know he was your best f…" Kitana started to ramble, but the Uchiha cut her off.
"Yes, what happened to Shisui is tragic, but there are more important things on my mind right now, Kita. You trust me, don't you?" he asked her pressingly. Kitana nodded vigorously. "And you love me, right?" Itachi continued. "Of course I do," Kitana giggled nervously. "And you would always defend me, wouldn't you? Can I count on you no matter what?" he inquired. Kitana squinted and crossed her arms as she frowned. "I'm not sure I like where this is going," she stated bluntly. Itachi sighed and looked at his friend intently with his Sharingan eyes.
"Kita, I need to tell you something important."
Kitana gulped and put the shuriken back where she had got it, when her hands touched something else. It was a picture. One of her and Kiba Inuzuka.
It was taken outside of his house at the Inuzuka compound by his sister. As Kitana was sitting on Kiba's back, he had turned his head to look up at her. They were both laughing and Akamaru, who hadn't been as big back then as he was today, held on to her shoulder for dear life. After Itachi had left her, Kiba had become her best friend. They did everything together. They trained, went out for food and had their mischievous streaks every now and then.
It hadn't been easy to cut her bonds with Sasuke, but she had done it knowing it was the best for both of them.
And she had had difficulty ending her friendship with the others as well some years later.
But shunning Kiba had been almost unbearable. At first he kept trying to approach her, pressuring her to tell him what was bothering her. But as she kept ignoring him, slowly but surely the looks he gave her started to change. First it had been pity, then hurt, followed by frustration and ending with anger. An anger that she continued to see in his eyes until earlier that night.
She thought back of Kiba's eyes when they had had their run-in in the forest and what he said to her.
'You had me. I tried to be your friend when you most needed one. I tried to reach out to you, to be there for you and you just bitchslapped me in the face,' she heard his words echo in her head.
And for the first time in three years, Kitana was overwhelmed with guilt. All this time she had considered it her right to be angry with the world and everyone in it. "I was so busy feeling hurt, that I didn't even care what I was doing to anyone else," she whispered to herself. But maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe, by some miracle, she was still able to fix this.
"Who do you think that could be?" Tsume Inuzuka asked her daughter as she heard someone knock on the front door. Hana Inuzuka stood up from the dinner table, where they had been sitting and talking, to see who it was. When she opened the door on a small crack and looked outside, her eyes grew big once she had recognized the girl in front of her.
"Hello, Hana. Is Kiba home?" she asked, her voice dead serious.
"He's upstairs sleeping. I think it would be best if you came back in the morning," Hana replied, surprise evident in her voice. The girl nodded in understanding and turned to walk away. But after a few steps she spun back around.
"On second thought, I don't think this can wait until morning," she answered.
Kiba had been sound asleep, but he slowly woke up as he felt a presence in his room.
"Who's there?" he asked drowsily as his eyes tried to adjust to the darkness surrounding him. He glanced at his alarm clock and saw it was only 3:13 in the morning. Who in the world would come see him at such an ungodly hour?
"Kiba…" a soft voice sounded from the dark.
It wasn't his mother's or his sister's, but it did sound strangely familiar. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" he snarled. He tensed up when he heard footsteps approaching his bed and felt the mattress dent slightly when the person sat down next to him and leaned closer towards him. His uninvited guest was so close, that Kiba was overwhelmed by a familiar scent. Kiba's heart raced in his chest and he pressed his back against the bedpost when his visitor whispered in his ear. "I'm sorry, Kiba."
As soon as he had caught her scent, he had known who it was. And even though he had dreamed for her to come for him on countless nights, now that she was here he couldn't believe it. "Am I dreaming?" he asked softly. "This is not a dream," she whispered back as she put her lips to his ear. "Then what are you doing here?" he replied, his voice sharper than he had intended it to be. But he wasn't going to feel sorry for her. She was the one that had some explaining to do.
"I'm here to apologize, Kiba. I've thought about what you said and you were right. What I did to you wasn't fair and I have no excuse whatsoever," she said with a slightly shaky voice, which wasn't like her at all.
"And why is it that it took you three years to figure that out, Kita?" he snapped.
Kitana sighed and stood up from the bed. "I've been a little lost, Kiba," she responded as she paced through the room. "More than a little if you ask me," he muttered under his breath, though it was loud enough for Kitana to hear. "Call it whatever you want. But the bottom line is that I miss us. I miss the fun we had together, the things we used to do. I miss you," she stated in a sad voice. And then she said the words Kiba hadn't thought to ever hear from her.
"I want you back. If you'd still have me, that is."
Kiba couldn't believe this was happening. He had wanted it to happen for as long as he could remember. And now that the moment was finally there, he didn't know what to say. Should he forgive her, be her friend again, or had that ship sailed for good? While he was contemplating the best reaction, Kitana interpreted his silence as his way of passing up on her offer. She turned away sadly and started to make her way to the door. "Where are you going?" Kiba asked as he quickly stood up from his bed. Kitana turned back to him confusedly. "When you didn't respond I figured you wanted me to…" she was cut off by Kiba, who held her tightly in hug that said all. At first Kitana froze up at his touch, but slowly she surrendered to relaxation.
"Stay with me tonight," Kiba whispered as he leaned his chin on her head.
"What?" Kitana replied with shrill voice.
"You heard me," Kiba chuckled and placed a kiss on her forehead, "stay with me. We have a lot to talk about."