AN: Well, here is another promised chapter. This one is kind of short, but I ran out of ideas by the end. I am proud to say that this is the shortest chapter I have written yet. I'm already done with chapter 10 and I've started chapter 11.
Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, blah blah blah... Kazuki is mine, blah blah blah... you know, the usual drill.
Questions
Kazuki held her breath as she hid behind the tree.
'Did he notice me?'
As if right on cue, Itachi turned in her direction.
'Shit.'
Preparing for an attack, she lifted the kunai to the level of her eyes.
"Boo."
She suppressed the urge to yell and turned around to attack, only to find that it was Kisame who had scared her.
"Ne, what did you do that for?" she asked.
"Hehe, you're being way to serious," he replied with a grin. "You should relax a little. If you're so tense, you'll easily be sensed or spotted, and then its all over."
"That makes sense, I guess." She glanced back at the spot where Itachi had been just moments ago. "Where'd Itachi go?"
"I'm right here." Kazuki turned around to see that Itachi had been standing right behind her nearly the whole time. "Didn't those two teach you anything? You can't even sense an ANBU captain; how are you supposed to become a member of Akatsuki?"
"Gomen, Itachi...sensei. I'll try harder. I'm just a little distracted, that's all."
"Kisame, you should stop interrupting our spars, as well."
"But," the blue man stated, "she's so fun to mess with."
"Hn," was the only reply heard as Itachi walked to one of the trees. "We'll take a short break for a minute or two, but after that we'll be training until sundown, no breaks."
Kazuki nodded in understanding.
"Well," Kisame started, "I'm gonna go snack on those fish in the river again. There's nothing better around here anyway." With that, he walked off.
"Can I go find food too?" she asked Itachi.
"No, part of your training is also learning to adapt to feelings such as hunger and still be able to fight. If you can't do something as simple as that, you're weak."
"That makes sense, but I got to eat last week. Why do I have to fast now?"
"Just because you trained that way last week does not mean I train the same way. Sasori and Deidara have their methods, and I have my own."
'That reminds me... Deidara said that I should be careful of Itachi. He doesn't seem that bad... but maybe that's because I'm biased, because of his looks.'
"Itachi-sensei, may I ask you what happened between you and Deidara? He doesn't seem to get along with you very well..."
"Whatever is wrong between us is not my fault. He just dislikes me because I am stronger than him."
"Is that true?"
"As far as I've been able to tell. You have seen that scope he wears on his eye, right?" Kazuki nodded. "He originally installed it because he got caught in one of my genjutsus, and almost killed himself. The scope's purpose is to see through genjutsu."
"That makes sense."
'But he still doesn't seem like the type that would be jealous of power.' Suddenly, she felt a pain in her abdomen. 'Oh great, right now? It's a little early... Why can't it wait a while?'
"Ano, excuse me..." she said, "I'm going to be right back... I've just gotta go check on something."
Shuffling through her bag, she found extra clothes, her sketchbook, her picture – just about everything except what she was searching for.
'Shit... out of all the things I forgot, it had to be that...'
She inwardly groaned in frustration. Convincing Itachi to let her go to the town wasn't going to be easy, she already knew that.
"Hey, Itachi," Kazuki began, "is there any chance we could go to the town... just for five minutes?"
"Why?"
"I need to get something really fast..."
"What is it?"
"...do you really have to know?"
"Is it important?"
"...yes."
"Weren't you in town just the other day? Why didn't you pick it up then?"
"...I forgot?"
"I can't take you unless I know its important. Otherwise we are just wasting time when we could be training."
"Um, in that case... what if I said it was for... girl... things?" 'God, that sounded lame...'
He just blinked.
"You know what I mean, right?"
"Hn. If you train hard enough for the rest of the day, we might be able to go tomorrow."
"H-hai."
Kazuki turned away, her face turning red.
'That was definitely one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.'
Kisame happened to turn up just then, scarfing down the last bits of a fish. He saw Kazuki's red face almost immediately.
"Hey, why is your face so red? Are you sick or something.?"
"Kisame," Itachi began, "we might be going to town tomorrow. For now, you can just spar with Kazuki."
"Sure, whatever. You ready?" he asked her, getting into a fighting pose with samehada.
"As ready as I'll ever be," she mumbled, before getting ready to counter whatever attacks came toward her.
AN: Review please!
