I would like to start off with an apology:
I'm sorry I haven't updated in like… a year.
But I can explain!
I've been preparing for relentless auditions, as well as entering my senior year of high on some of my compositions…
And for your benefit, working on my writing skills!
So please, don't hate me, and allow me to show you just why I think I have improved!
(Though as side note, please forgive me if I spell something Naruto related incorrectly, I stopped watching the show after a certain event, which I won't name just in case it spoils something for some people. I still have a deep love for the characters though, I did grow up with them after all!)
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Chapter Seven:
What Are We Going To Do?!
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Ino wept outside her modest home, head resting on her knees as she pulled her legs close. Shikamaru sat beside her, looking gloomy as well. Ryou and Diro sat on the roof, all concerned for their friend, who was now at home with her mourning mother. They all knew what happened, though none wanted to say it.
Diro jumped down from the roof, looking his sensei's in their eyes, "He's dead. She's in grief… can she still participate? It will undoubtedly make her unable to think straight…" Even though he was being curt, the words stung. He looked up at Ryou, who should be home packing instead of sitting here unsure of what would happen. This still didn't feel that this could be real.
Shikamaru cleared his throat and straightened up slightly, someone had to take charge of the situation, "They were sick for a long time, she's clever, I'm sure she knew this would happen eventually." He paused to let his thought catch up with him. Just think logically. "We'll have to see how she'll react at training, though right now, she needs to calm herself and her mother down. Looks like it'll be just you tomorrow morning Diro."
Diro gazed at his sensei, who even though she wouldn't speak, she was nodding. They couldn't stop training all together because of this. He would just have to push forward by himself. He rested his thumb on his chin to think, he need to know everything he could do. If the team still competed in the exams, Yume and Ryou would have fallen behind. So in the team portion of the exam… He would have to be perfect, he couldn't fail his friends, or his family, what was left of it anyway, and just hope Yume and Ryou would be able to pull themselves together on the individual portions. They would, he knew it. "You said 'they', does this include her mother?" He asked, finally forcing himself back to the conversation, of course it hadn't slipped by him.
"I-I did." Shikamaru blinked and looked at the boy perplexed, surprised that he caught the pronoun.
"Father and Mother,... Does she as well?" He looked up at him, with for once a gaze of pure empathy. He was genuinely concerned, and it unnerved him, though he couldn't help but feel that way.
Ryou gasped in shock from the roof, "Sensei, please tell me! Tell me she doesn't!" He looked as if he were about to cry, eyes red and filling with water, stinging him as he fought to hold back the tears.
Ino sighed and finally spoke up, "They, and we, hope that she doesn't, though it's genetic… There's a very good chance that she-" Ino broke down, and rushed inside, knowing the inevitable. What killed Yume's father would one day kill her too.
Shikamaru wanted to rush in after Ino, but was well aware that she need some space, "Ino's right… It's almost certain that Yume would have it if bother her parents do. Hopefully a cure will be found, though it seems low scale, I don't even know what it's called… So all we can do is stall it. Though right now, both of you focus on your training. Ino and I will work something out on how to deal with Yume. She may or may not participate." He stood up, forcing a smile down on the younger boys, even though he knew all too well that they both would see through it immediately. "Go home, rest up."
Both boys nodded solemnly as they headed off together, as a team.
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After a while, Ryou and Diro stopped at the pond by their training grounds, sitting down. Neither of them wanted to go home, it just felt too wrong, even though it was lights and songs all seemed so mocking, so cruel. How could this have happened?
"What do you know that I don't." Ryou cautiously asked, they hadn't spoken the entire trip to the pond. It just didn't feel right. But they both just knew that this was the place to be, at this very moment.
"A lot of things." Diro replied with mock sarcasm, which somehow made him feel slightly better at the situation, making demeaning jokes at Ryou like he did on a normal day. Normal, that's what they needed, they need everything to return to normal. To just be out here, on a sunny afternoon, getting yelled at for doing something incorrectly. Having to balance heavy objects on their shoulders while walking across the water. That was what they needed.
Ryou sighed, knowing he set himself up for the joke, "No seriously… We both know that we, for once, agree that something has to be done, and that something is going to happen, and I think you know what that something is."
Diro raised a brow in surprise, was he calling him psychic? Or perhaps just merely more intelligent, which was a fact, good to know Ryou had finally come to terms with it. "I think her mother will pass soon as well, though I don't know when. Her and Yume's father were around the same age, with the same disease, though now she has to cope with grief as well."
"Oh that's just a guess… I hope." Ryou sighed, hoping that just this once, Diro would be wrong. For everyone's sake. "But what would happen if…?"
"Yume would be put into an orphanage, and removed from our team, then if she got adopted, her new parents could decide whether or not she should continue training. Unless they're a family of shinobi, it's unlikely they'll send her back." It was a grim prospect, but no doubt Yume hadn't already realized it. "Though yes, I hope it is just speculation."
Both looked towards the setting sun, it was going to rain soon. A fitting end to such a gloomily 'cheerful Christmas'.
Both stood up in tandem, until Diro cleared his throat to speak again, "I think it is time for us to head home, good luck with your trip tomorrow." Without further ado, he spun off, marching in the direction of his 'home.'
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Yume stared out her window, watching the raindrops race across its surface, cuddles between her copious stuffed creatures. Her books were nestled beside her, and yet, she didn't feel like reading, not even Wuthering Heights.
With a long sigh, she plopped down on top of her pillow, barely moving, staring intently at the roof as if it were her life line. Her eyes were red from crying, cheeks stained with salty tears, with almost seemed permanent. They would come off with a shower, but she just didn't feel like one.
She rolled over and gazed at her nightstand, at her grandfather's Kunai. "You died of it too, didn't you Papa?" With another sigh, she pulled open the drawer, and shuffled around its contents until she found a black leather bound journal, and shuffled around a little more until she found a suitable pen.
She sat up, and strolled haphazardly over to her desk, sitting down there. She flipped the pages of the journal open until she found the next spot available, and in red pen, she began to scribble:
Dear Dad,
I'm sorry, I never wished you a Merry Christmas did I? Well Merry Christmas Daddy, I'm also sorry I didn't get to spend it with you.
While no one has told me, I know where you've gone, you're with Papa aren't you? Tell him I miss him, and know that I miss you already.
But don't worry about a thing Dad! I won't let you down, I'll pass the exam, I'll do everything you ever wanted me to. I'll take care of mother too, while I can.
I've always known you were sick, and Mommy. I know you tried to hide it, and I thank you for doing that. And I know, with the way everything is going, I may be alone soon. But I'm not scared. I have friends now father! I have Ryou, and Diro, and Ino-sensei, and Shikamaru-sensei! They're my friends, you always told me I would have friends one day, if I put down the books, and I did. You were right.
I know what happened, and I know what will happen. I know… It makes me sad, but I know you and Mommy will be happier with Papa, where there's no disease to hold you back.
I would like that too.
But Dad, I won't let you down.
So I guess this is goodbye for now,
I love you Daddy.
Yume smiled as she closed her journal, relieved to have gotten her words out. It wasn't always bad to be alone, but it was even better to have friends with you. While she lost her father, she had her friends with her now. And together, they could overcome the challenges that they would have. With the exam drawing near, the first challenge they would have:
Working together.
So the story is going along exactly as I originally planned, thank goodness I remember!~
I hope it lives up to your expectations, you did have a year of waiting.
Though I'm starting the next chapter-
Right now! :D
So let me know what you thought, I hope my writing style hasn't changed too much!
