Chapter 9
She stood carefully poised. Time to strike. Strike clean, remove it from the ground, another victory for Tomo. She sighed as she clipped the flower, pulling the flowering head away from the stem. She dropped it into the basket beside her. Sakaki moved gracefully among the plants, removing the heads for use as herbal medicine.
"You're enjoying this aren't you?" muttered Tomo.
"Maybe." Beats thinking about throwing shuriken to kill your teacher. The plants were so pretty. Sakaki enjoyed herself as she moved among the tall plants. A short distance away Osaka was transfixed at the collage of colours that surrounded her. Tomo turned to Kimura.
"Do we really need to do this?" she asked.
"It is our job to provide the village with our service and skills to help the village as a whole."
"Then why don't you help Kimura-Sensei?"
"It's my job to overlook and help you. Besides, this is below my skill level anyway" said Kimura, sitting down in a chair. Tomo wasn't sure about the three girls turning their backs to him as they writhed around with the plants. He just sat there watching. Watching them. Unmoving and in silence, that fabric mask covering much of his face.
Tomo turned back to the plants. "Damn it, the next mission better be more interesting then this."
---
Her hands finally clean of dirt, and with numerous thorns removed from her thumbs and fingers, Tomo followed the tall Sakaki and spacey Osaka as they walked behind Kimura. He pushed open a door and stepped inside, the Third Hokage sitting in peace. He glanced up, lit pipe resting in his mouth.
"Hmm, so Team five returns?" he asked aloud to himself. "So Kimura I take it your mission was a success."
"Yes Lord Hokage" said Kimura. "We retrieved the herbs at quite a fast pace. Tomo can move fast when offered the temptation of something interesting to her."
"Yeah like an interesting task!" shouted Tomo.
Kimura bowed his head. That's what I meant. But you could have tried to be less blunt about it.
"Hmm, I see. Well since you are so interested in performing an important task for the village I will give you a bonus."
"Really?" asked Tomo, her eyes lighting up.
"Indeed. You may choose from one of the two missions we currently have available."
"All right!" said Tomo clenching her fists in celebration.
Sakaki looked across at the girl. We're going to let her choose? That doesn't sound good to me. Even Osaka seemed to have a faint look of fear about her. Kimura appeared to be turning from the Hokage to Tomo, questioning the logic without speaking.
"So here are the two potential missions Miss Takino. Choose wisely as it will not just impact upon you- it will also affect the entirety of Team Kimura."
"When did we become Team Kimura?" muttered Sakaki to herself.
"I don't mind! We're a team. We'll be able to work together."
"Very well then. Here are your two possible missions. Your first choice- finding a hermit reported missing within the sewer system. Your second choice is to recover a prize cat reported missing."
The look of determination and pride dissolved from Tomo's face. "Excuse me?"
"Tomo I don't ask much from you, but please could you choose the choice that doesn't directly lead to the sewers please?" asked Kimura.
"Please?" added Osaka.
Sakaki glanced down at the floor. Cat…She blushed slightly. Please choose the second mission.
Tomo paused for a moment. "I think I'll have to choose the second mission."
Behind her the other three members of the team sighed in collected relief.
"Very well Tomo. And do not forget to treat each mission, however trivial with importance. The people have trusted you to do this. Do not let them down."
---
Osaka and Tomo sat beside Kimura who was deeply engrossed in his latest paperback book. Sakaki was nowhere to be seen.
"Wow, Sakaki's really keen on making sure we don't fail this mission isn't she?" asked Tomo.
"I suppose" agreed Osaka.
Kimura slowly leant back in the chair he had borrowed from the academy. He flicked through the book as silence fell over the group. Osaka turned from Tomo to the reading Kimura, and then lay down on the grass with a smile on her face. She watched the clouds slowly pass by. Tomo sat picking up grass. She leant back and yawned loudly.
Kimura placed a small piece of paper in his book and then closed it. He leant towards the girls.
"Do you want to see something interesting?"
"That depends on what you mean by interesting" said Tomo. "Nothing that would land you in jail."
"Oh no, nothing like that" stated Kimura. He took off his opaque glasses, and gently rested them on his lap. Tomo gasped as Osaka looked up.
"Ooh."
"You see, Kimura was my father's last name. My mothers surname was Uchiha. She was a former member of the Uchiha clan, until she attempted to start a new life with my father. As you can see, I have received what we call a Kekkei genkai" said Kimura, pointing towards his eyes.
"What the heck is that?" asked Tomo.
"A Sharingan" muttered Osaka.
Tomo turned to the girl in shock. "What happened to the real Osaka?"
"Correct Osaka" said Kimura closing his eyes, winking, evidently smiling under his mask. "The allele for the Sharingan appears to be dominant. Shortly after my fifth birthday I developed the condition in both of my eyes." One of his eyes held three tomoe, a fully developed Sharingan eye. The eye that was on the side that had a scar running down it only had one tomoe in the eye.
"What's with the one eye with one thingy?" asked Tomo.
"As I said. I have an old battle wound. A knife almost blinded me in one of my first missions. We were caught by surprise…it was supposed to be a routine Genin level mission. My eye was able to recover but the Sharingan was unable to develop further."
"What does it do Kimura-sensei?" asked Tomo.
"I'm glad you asked. It allows me to see through all articles of clothing."
"Wh-arrgh?" yelled Tomo, covering her breasts. "Are you serious?"
"Of course I am. Why do you think I always wear these glasses when the Hokage, Yukari on Minamo can keep an eye on me?"
"Arrgh!"
"I kid, I kid. It can't do anything like that. Minamo would have killed me long ago if that was true. The Sharingan offers me a lot in battle. But you'll have to research it yourself."
"I see."
"Why do you wear the glasses?" asked Osaka.
"Not being pureblood the Sharingan can tire me with prolonged use. The glasses give me a way of stopping them, allowing me to preserve chakra. Also I only like to show three types of people my eyes. My close colleagues, my trainees, and enemies who will only see it once. I don't like people to get an advantage by knowing my secret."
Osaka lay back down on the grass, holding a small flower in her hand. Tomo stretched. Where had Sakaki got to? She'd disappeared a short while, having muttered something about finding the cat.
Tomo leant forward, resting her head on her knees. So Kimura has a Sharingan. That sounds interesting. I wonder what it does thought. And he's joking with us too. Perhaps he isn't so bad. Though he is a bit of a pervert still…
"Look Sakaki's come back" said Osaka sitting up.
"She has?"
"Yeah. And she's got the cat too."
Sakaki slowly walked forwards, a muted look of pain on her face. A small cat currently had its jaws wrapped around her fingers. She held up her hand, the cat hanging from it. Kimura approached her and gently placed his gloved finger in the cat's mouth. Sakaki glanced down as the cat growled, uncomfortably. Finally it released its grip, Kimura holding the cat in both of his hands. Sakaki looked up to thank the man. Only to notice his eyes.
"My special little thing" he said. "I mean my eyes" he added as Sakaki blushed slightly.
With the mission completed Tomo and Osaka stood up, as Kimura took a grip of the cat, and released it from Sakaki's finger. Slowly they walked away.
"By the way, nice bra Tomo" joked Kimura, winking.
"Jokes on you, I'm not wearing a bra."
A few seconds too late she realised what she had said. Kimura almost dropped the cat as Osaka looked across at the girl in horror. Tomo turned away while Sakaki stared at the girl in surprise. Kimura slowly placed his glasses back on.
"Time to return Twinkle to her owner" he stated. "Another important ninja mission completed huh?"
"Race you back Sakaki?" asked Tomo.
"Well no thank…" Sakaki stopped in mid sentence. The girl was already gone. Kimura gripped the cat which was busy attempting to claim at least one of the mans fingers as its own. Moaning slightly he walked after Tomo, dodging cruel slashes from the enraged creature.
"Good job Sakaki" said Osaka loudly.
"T-thanks." She paused for a moment. "Do you want to see something?" she asked.
"Ok."
Sakaki gently placed her pack on the ground. Most of its prior contents were now missing. Instead she pulled out a bundle of soft clothing- just in case it had gotten cold. She slowly unravelled it, revealing a kitten. It lay, unmoving- exhausted. Osaka studied the creature.
"It's a cat."
"I found it looking for the other cat" said Sakaki blushing. "It was all alone and weak…I…I." I had to help him.
"Wow, now you can have a pet."
"I don't know. My mother has allergies and it wouldn't be…"
"You could take him with you."
"Huh?"
"Some ninja have animals which aid them in both battle and information gathering. You could have the cat come with you."
Sakaki looked at the small cat. His eyes slowly opened and he mewed at Sakaki, who buried her face beneath her hands. Osaka turned away and slowly walked away, humming.
Could I…should I take this cat with me?
She reached out tentatively, and patted him on the head. He brushed his head against her hand affectionately, purring slightly. No-no signs of biting me at all! With Osaka's back turned, Sakaki picked up the clothes and cat, and gripping it carefully, but caringly, twirled around in celebration. Osaka turned back, Sakaki stopping in an instant. She gazed at the ground, hiding her wide smile.
"We'd better get going. Tomo could be halfway into the next land by now knowing her."
Sakaki nodded in agreement and placed the empty pack on her back. She joined up with Osaka, the cat resting in her hands.
"What's his name? Wait till Tomo sees him."
Sakaki came to an abrupt halt. Tomo. The cat didn't stand a chance.
