Yet another chapter of Tanabata. I know that I should finally get around to updating Ichi Henko, but oh well. Hope you guys enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review telling me what you think-yada yada yada. Enjoy!
A week passed without much incident.
What more was there to it? It was a time of peace and prosperity, and there were no crises to be had-at least, for now. So, Hanabi settled into a routine, and she got used to it rather quickly.
She elected to go ahead and read the book that Sasuke had given her, and she actually managed to complete the second chapter in two days flat. When she did seek him out-as he had instructed her to do-she was met with a rather strange turn of events.
"I finished the second chapter, Sasuke-sensei." Hanabi said, her hair fluttering in the wind. The sound of the crowd around them nearly drowned out her voice; perhaps it hadn't been the best idea to try and talk to him when he had been in the middle of such a populated street.
"I see." Sasuke said, and Hanabi frowned at that oddly blank tone that carried with his words. "Well, go ahead and read the third chapter then; after that, get back to me and I'll teach you a jutsu."
She blinked. "Bu-"
"Third chapter." Sasuke said, and he turned and walked away-before she could blink again, he was gone, and she was left to despair at the realization that yet another set of nights to spend reading ahead of her.
The next chapter took three days this time.
"I finished the third chapter, Sasuke-sensei!" This time she was at the door of his apartment, though she still stood outside.
"I see." Sasuke said. "Finish the fourth chapter; after that, get back to me and I'll teach you a jutsu."
"That's what you said last time!" Hanabi protested.
"I know," Sasuke said, and he closed the door before she could say anything else.
She let out a huff of irritation. "Stupid sensei!" She cursed and kicked the door-which she instantly regretted, because trying to kick a wooden door in sandals was a bad idea. She was left to hop away, her big toe red, possibly swollen, and another few days of reading ahead of her.
The fourth chapter she finished in two days.
This time, she actually went ahead and barged into his apartment-thankfully for her, he wasn't half naked this time. Actually, he didn't even look surprised at her intrusion. Instead, he merely glanced at her from over a cup of tea and beckoned her to sit down in the chair opposite him.
"Did you finish the fourth chapter?" Sasuke asked, once she had sat down.
Hanabi nodded fervently. "I got it done, and I swear to the kami and all of their mothers that if you say 'come back when you're done with the fifth chapter', I will fight you right here and now!" A pause. "Even if I know that I would lose that fight!"
The corners of his lips quirked up. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that." Sasuke said, and he took a calm sip of his tea. "That little trick has played its role, and I think it worked rather well."
"Trick?" Hanabi said.
"I think that you would call it the 'bait and pull'," Sasuke said. "I offer you a jutsu in exchange for finishing a chapter; then, when you do finish the chapter, I tell you that you have to finish the one after that while still dangling the prospect of learning a jutsu in front of your nose."
"He- hey!" she exclaimed. "That's totally not fair, that's abusing your powers as my sensei!" Hanabi huffed, and she fumed; Sasuke was mildly surprised that her face didn't turn as red as a tomato, as it normally would. Instead, a grin spread across her face. "Hah, but the joke's on you, Sasuke-sensei! Now that I know about your little trick, there's no way it's going to work on me!"
He shook his head.
"Why would I tell you what my 'trick' was if I had any intention of using it on you again?" Sasuke said, and suddenly Hanabi felt like an idiot-because really, why would someone as smart as Uchiha Sasuke do something like that? "Give me a few moments, and I'll take you out and teach you a new jutsu."
She was struck still for the briefest moment.
A moment later, however, the brightest smile he had ever seen spread across her face; Sasuke felt as if he were looking straight at the sun for an instant. "Awesome!" Hanabi chirped. "Come on, hurry up then, sensei! We don't have all day, y'know!"
Sasuke surpassed all expectations, and actually… smiled. It was faint, so faint that Hanabi hardly noticed it, but it was there-and if possible, her own grin grew even wider to compensate.
He took one long sip to down the last of his tea, before he set the cup back down on the table with a soft clink. Sasuke stood, and Hanabi suddenly realized that he was dressed casually, extraordinarily casually; it was so weird to see him clad in a tank top and a pair of sweatpants, yet at the same time it felt so right. Hanabi couldn't help but grin nervously.
Sasuke walked out of the kitchen without another word, and she heard the door to his room open. The sound of rustling cloth, a clink or two of metal, and then he stepped back out-the illusion was broken, and he was back to regular old Sasuke sensei. He finished fastening his cloak around his neck as he stepped back into the kitchen.
"Let's go." Sasuke said, and with a swish of his cloak, he made for the door. Hanabi scurried out of her chair, she followed close behind him slipping beneath his sole arm as he opened the door.
He locked it behind them.
It took less than twenty minutes for the two to make their way to their usual training grounds; the clearing was empty, the grass green and grown almost out of control. The sun shone through the canopy above them, and Hanabi basked in that lovely warmth as much as she could.
They took up a position in the center of the clearing.
"This jutsu is rather simple," Sasuke began. "It's what you would call your 'second', in other words, the technique in your arsenal that you would use the most after your 'first'."
"What's the first?" Hanabi asked.
"The Great Fireball, at least that's how it is with the majority of fire users," Sasuke said, and that was all that needed to be said about that. "This is the Phoenix Sage Fire technique, and it's a good deal more complicated than the Fireball. You start like this…"
Sasuke was quiet as he explained the intricacies of the jutsu to Hanabi, but she hung onto every word regardless. Bolstered by the knowledge she'd gained from reading that accursed book, she actually understood maybe two-thirds of what he said. Actually, maybe a little less than that… actually, a lot less, but it was still an improvement on her previous state of ignorance.
"Build the chakra up in your lungs, and use short, miniscule bursts of chakra to separate it into however many different balls of chakra you want. This will determine the number of fireballs that you spit out, but the more sections of chakra you split your jutsu into, the weaker each ordinary fireball will be."
Truthfully, if he had told her that a week ago, she would have had no idea what he was talking about. Separating chakra into different sections? Building it up (intentionally) in her lungs? It had all been gibberish to week-ago Hanabi; but she wasn't week-ago Hanabi-this was today Hanabi and she perfectly understood it. Mostly. Enough so that she could figure out what he was talking about at the very least.
"There's quite a bit more complexity to this one than the Fireball." Sasuke murmured. "So I expect you to take much longer to learn this one in particular."
"Okay, okay," Hanabi said, and she readied herself. "Can- can you show me the hand seals? Just one last time, to make sure I got it down packed."
Wordlessly, Sasuke went through the seals again. It was a good bit more difficult to translate him, as he had to vocally tell her which hand seal to do, etcetera; his lack of a second arm prevented him from showing her them himself.
"-then you finish it with a Tiger seal," Sasuke said. "Most if not all jutsu end-"
"With a tiger seal because that's the hand seal that allows the most fire chakra to be harnessed in the most efficient manner!" Hanabi recited, word for word from Chapter Four of that book.
He gave her a nod. "Let's see your first attempt then," he said, and took a step back, presumably to give her the proper space to practice.
Hanabi took a deep breath, one that reverberated throughout her entire body and left her light headed for a moment. Her heart thumped against her chest, her fingers felt clammy as she began to go through the hand seals, and she found that her knees were shaking beneath her.
'Calm down.' she told herself. 'It's just a jutsu, right?'
Maybe it was the fact that Sasuke was watching her so intently; after all, this was the first test to see whether she had truly learned anything under his tutelage. The Fireball had been her trial, and now the Phoenix Sage Fire would be her quiz.
She took another deep breath, but this one was to build up the chakra. She followed his instructions to the letter, and instinctively, she called out the name of the technique in her head. 'Katon: Phoneixs Sage Fire no Jutsu!'
The result was pitiful.
One fireball escaped her mouth, but it was no more the size of a grapefruit, and it puttered out less than a meter in front of her without even hitting anything. The next fireball caught in her throat, and she doubled over. Smoke blasted out of her nose, ash clogged up her mouth, and Hanabi fell to the ground.
Sasuke stepped up to her.
"Look up," he said, and he casually pointed a finger at her. "Open your mouth."
She did so, though it took quite a bit of effort. Sasuke murmured something under his breath, and a small jet of water sprouted from his fingertip-it went into her mouth, cold and refreshing, and Hanabi gratefully used it to wash the ash and such out.
Sasuke lowered his finger after a moment, though a few drops of water still fell from the tip. Hanabi swished the liquid around in her mouth, before she spat it out onto the grass-the water black and tainted, it pooled in the dirt and looked thoroughly revolting.
"That was bad," Hanabi muttered. "Was that supposed to happen, Sasuke-sensei?"
"I don't think I've seen a poorer first attempt," he said.
She cast an indignant look at him. "Hey!" Hanabi exclaimed. "What do you mean by that? Wait, wait, wait-how many first attempts have you even seen?"
Something that resembled a chuckle fell from his lips. "Just my own," Sasuke said. "And I didn't do nearly as poor as you did there; clearly, you still have some work to do."
"Ugh." Hanabi groaned. The taste of ash still clung to her teeth and tongue, and all she smelt was an odor similar to burnt wood. It was horrid, and she couldn't help but cough every now and then, even as she clambered onto her feet. "I guess I'll give it another go…"
"Wait a moment." Sasuke said. It was almost as if he was giving her a breather-then again, she was sure she looked pitiful: lips blackened and the pool of mucky water still at her feet.
Hanabi breathed, and she breathed heavily-her throat stung, and she noted that some of her hair had gotten caught in that sole fireball, and had gotten slightly singed. Her fingers still clammy, she yanked her hair up into a messy bun, though it was very makeshift as she had nothing to hold it in place with.
He gave her a minute or two, and the seconds ticked by in silence.
"Alright," he said. "Go ahead and give it another attempt."
Hanabi swallowed. "Ok- okay." she said.
Her fingers went through the seals once more. She inhaled, she followed all the steps, and-
The same thing happened.
One fireball escaped her mouth, yet the other got caught in her throat for reasons unknown. Again, she found herself writhing on the ground until Sasuke graced her with that wonderful Suiton jutsu that allowed her to cleanse her mouth.
"This one's a lot harder," Hanabi panted.
"I noticed," Sasuke said. "Maybe you need another chapter or two from that book before you attempt this jutsu again."
"No!" Hanabi shouted, and she leapt to her feet again. "I can do it, I know I can do it!"
Sasuke sighed, and he pursed his lips together. His instincts told him that it would be best to put a stop to this right then and there; but Sasuke paused for a moment, and put himself in her place. Would he at that age want to stop?
He shook his head, and took a step back.
Hanabi's fingers flew through the hand seals, she drew up the chakra, and she-
Failed; miserably, because sometimes you could learn a jutsu in an hour and other times you could try again and again with no improvement. It didn't take a scientist to figure out which one this time in particular was.
She fell to the ground again. This time, she knew what to do-and soon, that same stream of water from Sasuke's pointer finger was bringing her the relief she needed. The small pool of black and murky water had become a puddle.
"You're not ready for this," Sasuke said. That implied that he thought that she had been ready for this-and apparently, he had thought wrong based upon her pitiful state.
"No, I-" This time, when she climbed to her feet, Sasuke did put a stop to it.
With ease, he picked her up, and slung her over his shoulder. She was so thin and lithe, like a ragdoll even, and nothing short of her suddenly developing Tsunade-like strength would manage to free her.
"Let me go!" Hanabi insisted-voice raspy, she sounded and looked like someone who had smoked for three decades straight, with her blackened lips and ash stained tongue. "I can- let me go, Sasuke-sensei!" She pounded at her back in that classic manner, but it was to no avail.
"You read four chapters, and yet you couldn't manage the second simplest Katon jutsu there is," Sasuke said. He didn't sound angry, he didn't sound disappointed, he sounded-she couldn't find the word for what he sounded like, it just wouldn't come to her.
"I tried, sensei," she insisted.
"I know you did."
Hanabi went limp over his shoulder. Her brown hair hung in her face, swaying from side to side as he walked. "Where are you taking me?" she asked.
"We're going to my apartment," Sasuke said. "I think we'll take a different approach to our normal training sessions for today-and we'll adjust it more later, if this works out."
She blinked. "It's kind of weird taking a girl to your apartment, isn't it?" Hanabi said.
Sasuke shook his head. "You're eleven," he said, and left it at that. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind that other people might seem it as strange-to be frankly honest, he didn't even care. Other people's opinions had long since stopped mattering to Sasuke.
Hanabi flushed-why had her mind gone there? She hadn't thought of it in a sexual manner or anything, she was only eleven, but more of a 'playground' thing; boys and girls didn't mix at that young an age, and it was weird socially to have girls over at your house; just like it would be weird for Hanabi to have boys over.
He disappeared in a flicker hardly discernible to the human eye. It was waste of chakra, sure, but he'd rather not deal with the annoyance of people wondering why he had the Hyuga clan head's daughter lugged over his shoulder.
Sasuke stopped just in front of his door, landing with a swish of his cloak and no more. No one noticed him arrive-by the time anyone would even have a chance to glance at his door, he had opened it and taken both him and Hanabi inside.
He set her down on his couch. "I have another copy of that book," he explained, before he ducked into the other room for a moment. Hanabi sat and waited, until a minute later when Sasuke returned with that familiar textbook clasped in his hand.
Sasuke sat down next to Hanabi and began to leaf through the book.
"Chapter two," he began. Hanabi opened her mouth to talk, but Sasuke stopped her with a firm look.. "I know you said you already read it, but there's a difference between reading it and knowing it. Sit back, and listen."
And she did.
Once he was done with the first three paragraphs, Sasuke turned to her. "What did that tell you?" Sasuke asked.
"Uh…"
He shook his head. "I suppose we'll go over it again then," he said, as he looked back down at the book. He repeated the first three paragraphs, then turned his attention back to Hanabi. "What did that tell you?" he asked her once more.
Hanabi tapped her chin.
"I guess it told me that, er, the key to performing Katon jutsu is to keep your concentration…?" Hanabi said, and there was a nervous grin on her face as she looked at her teacher.
Sasuke clicked his teeth.
"What, was I wrong?"
"No, you got most of it right," Sasuke said, "but there was something I think you missed. Let's go over it again."
Hanabi groaned, but still listened attentively as Sasuke repeated the first three paragraphs of the chapter for a third time.
It hit her.
"Oh!" Hanabi said, sitting up. "It's- uh, I got it I swear, uh…" She rubbed her chin. "It's trying to say that Katon jutsu requires a lot of concentration, but if you concentrate too hard you'll use more chakra than what's necessary, or even cause the jutsu to fail." Her eyes widened. "Wait, is that what-"
Sasuke nodded. "You got it," he said, and those three words meant more to Hanabi in that moment than the years of the batty old elders of her clan rambling on about her 'genius' and 'skill'. "Now, onto the next three paragraphs."
This time, she listened harder than she had before.
Time seemed to pass by at ten times the normal rate, and all they did was go over a chapter that Hanabi had already read. Yet, she felt as if she were learning so much more, because Sasuke would add in little bits of information to go along with the material that made her head spin at just how complex jutsu theory could be.
They only went through about twenty pages in two hours, but Hanabi felt as if she learned more from those twenty pages than she did from from three chapters worth of material.
"That's enough for today," Sasuke said; he closed the book, and set it down on the table beside his couch.
Hanabi blinked her eyes, glancing outside at that beautiful village she called home. It was not quite dark, but from Sasuke's apartment window she could see the sun threatening to dip below the horizon, the sky a brilliant mixture of pink and red, orange and blue.
She stood up. "I-" With a pause, she realized how she must look; the ash that stained her lips and clothes, not to mention the fact that she had singed some of her hair on top of that. It looked as if Sasuke had set her on fire.
"You can't go home looking like that," Sasuke said.
"What should I do then?" Hanabi said. "Sneak into my room?"
He chuckled. "Sneak into the Hyuga compound?" Sasuke murmured. "Your clan has a kekkei genkai that lets them see in perfect three-sixty vision; I have no doubt in my mind that someone as young and inexperienced as you would be discovered by them."
She ran a hand through her hair-when she looked at it, there were several strands of burnt and blackened hair in her fingers. "Can I take a shower here, then?" she said. "I can scrub off the ash and stuff I bet, the main problem is, well-" Hanabi gestured at herself.
Sasuke sighed. "Fine," he said, "so long as you don't make a mess of my bathroom; it's the third door on the right. Towels are in the closet on the left. Don't take too long."
That was that, and Hanabi went to her shower with a hop and a skip.
Sasuke's bathroom was like the rest of his house-orderly, spartan, devoid of the things that made up Hanabi's bathroom, though to be fair many of those things won't have been becoming for a male like Sasuke. It wasn't quite as luxurious as the Hyuga compound's bathrooms, but it was utilitarian and the water was more than hot enough for her needs.
She scrubbed off the ash and the dirt, the grime and the filth. Her hair was a tad uneven-it would take a few days, or maybe even a week, before it grew back sufficiently. She might have to pay a visit to the hairdresser at this rate.
There was no brush, neither was there a comb; that probably explained why her sensei's hair was so unruly. Hanabi made a mental note to buy him one, because seriously, who on earth could live without a brush? She had to haphazardly fix her hair with her fingers, and though it looked a little messy, it was the best she could do considering the circumstances.
Her clothes were easy to fix, as she had predicted. The ash would stain, but if she wet the material it would blend in and allow her to remain (mostly) incognito until she could get home and put something else on.
About twenty minutes after she had entered, Hanabi left the bathroom.
Sasuke was seated in a chair that he had pulled up to the window. He stared out at the village, a blank look in his eyes.
Actually, Hanabi amended, it didn't look like he was staring at the village, but rather the hardly visible forest that went on long past Konoha's walls.
"Sensei?" she said, and he started.
"Hmm?" Sasuke said.
Hanabi frowned. "What are you staring at?"
In turn, a frown appeared on Sasuke's face as well. "I wasn't staring at anything," he said. "I assume that you can find your way out on your own."
"I can." Hanabi said.
"We'll meet again for training tomorrow," he said, "and if your attempts at using that jutsu turn out as they did today, we'll have to do more reading in order to polish up your theory; I'm sure that you won't want that."
"I'll get some studying done if I can," Hanabi said. "Goodbye, sensei." The atmosphere seemed tense-Hanabi couldn't help but feel as if he was thinking something a little more than 'nothing' when he gazed past the village with that look in his eyes.
"Goodbye, Hanabi." Sasuke said.
She left.
And he returned to staring out of the window, not at the village, but just as Hanabi had thought-at the great forest that stretched out far beyond it.
He rubbed the skin beneath his eye, and murmured something unintelligible under his breath.
The sun gently drifted beneath the horizon, and his apartment was bathed in darkness.
Yet, he did not turn the lights on.
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