As with all my writing, it just happens. I put my fingers on the keys of my laptop and the words just start coming out. Only main plot points are planned. Minor events and conversations are random, thus making relationships develop with curious outcomes. In short, Naruto fangirls are gonna love me.
Sorry if some parts seem a bit like déjà vu from previous chapters. I needed other characters to hear some of Kara's background… you'll know it when you read it.
Chapter 10: Shy Sparks
Guruko skipped along happily at Kara's side. He was always her favorite of Kakashi's dogs. His cheerful disposition and innocent features complimented Kara's better qualities perfectly. "So where are we again?" The little canine bounded a few steps ahead and then waited for the two humans to catch up.
"We're in the Land of Waves." Kara repeated herself. "We are here protecting Tazuna," she pointed to the grumpy looking old man walking beside her. "And he's building a bridge that our enemy doesn't want to get built."
"Awesome!" He crouched down, ready to jump out at the nearest enemy. "Where are the bad guys? I can take 'em!" Kara laughed when the little dog pounced on a stray wrapper fluttering in the breeze. "No, seriously." He stared up at her. "I'm ready to fight. Where are they?"
"They're recuperating in an undisclosed location. We have a few more days until they are expected to strike again." Kara made it sound like an official report. "You and I are just here as a pre… cau… tion." Her attention drifted off as they passed a group of street performers. "Who…?" She pointed in their direction. They looked as fascinating as a grand circus; minus the creepy clowns.
Tazuna rolled his eyes and trudged onward. "Just a bunch of lazy bastards that don't have a real job. They prance around begging for coins while the rest of us try to actually get some work done. What are they doing to help? Nothing! That's what!" He turned around when he realized that Kara wasn't following him anymore. "Oi! The bridge is this way!" She was gliding toward one performer in particular, the fire-breather.
"Kara-chan… come back." Guruko stood at the midpoint between the bridge builder and the performers. "We have to stay with Tazuna-san." The dog cocked his head to the side as she continued to move forward.
The young girl wasn't listening to either of them anymore. All she could see and hear was the fire. The bright, awe-inspiring display the fire-breather put on reflected back twice as brilliant in her eyes. "Hey there, darling." The man rinsed his mouth out and spit to the side. "Did you like my little performance there?"
Kara nodded her head furiously. "How do you do that?" Her blue eyes glistened with a yearning to understand. "Could you teach me?"
Her request caught the man a bit off guard. "I… I don't know. It's pretty dangerous and you're such a delicate thing." He noted the scowl on Tazuna's face a few yards away. "Plus I think you're grandpa there wouldn't be very happy with me if you got hurt."
Kara swiveled around and saw the same dissatisfied frown. "Wait one second." She told the street performer and ran over to Guruko. "Hey. Go with Tazuna. I'll be there after awhile. Thanks. Bye." She kissed him on his forehead and pushed him toward the grumpy old man as she ran back to the fire-breather.
"But… but, Kara." The dog mumbled after her. He sighed dejectedly and plodded over to the bridge builder. "Come on, Tazuna-san." The old man stared at the dog with a mixture of anger and confusion. "Kara says that she'll catch up. Don't worry," Guruko added. "I'm a ninken so if there is any real danger I can probably handle it."
Grumbling something indiscernible, Tazuna walked on with the small dog leaving Kara to her newest learning endeavor.
"Oh man…" Naruto huffed as he sat at the base of the tree; his legs sprawled out before him. "This is hard!" His gaze went up to the twenty nine foot mark that he had just barely reached. It then shifted over to see the forty one foot mark that his teammate had just attained. Damn you Sasuke!
Hehe…. Sasuke lay out on the ground, staring up at his progress on the tree trunk. Take that Kara! I beat your stupid prediction for Naruto. Bet you didn't think I could, huh?! Ha, I am so awesome. He rolled his head to the side and glanced at Naruto and his measly twenty nine feet. "I guess whatever advice Kara gave you wasn't good enough, eh?"
"OH YEAH!?" The blond shot up to his feet and stood before his tree. "I'll show you…" He whispered under his breath. Sasuke just continued to stare, unimpressed.
Very slowly, with the utmost concentration he was capable of, Naruto took several deep breaths; focusing all his chakra to his feet. Then, with a quick burst of speed, he raced up the tree trunk, lowering his center of gravity as best he could to aid his attempt. Just… a little… further! He urged himself in his mind. Ugh! NO! He felt himself lose control and quickly lashed out with a kunai to mark his place.
Naruto fell to the ground panting heavily, but smiling widely as he noted the large gap between his latest mark and his much lower ones.
WHAT!? Sasuke stared, open-mouthed, in disbelief. His haughty attitude all but evaporated now.
"Woo-hoo! Would'ja look at that! I made it higher than you!" Naruto fell back into the dirt, pleased with his accomplishment. "I guess Kara is good enough… or her advice… or whatever it was that you said… What did you say again?" He rolled over onto his side to get a better look at his rival.
Sasuke's features had transformed from ones of shock to those of pure rage. "That doesn't count, loser!" He growled. "You made it barely six inches higher than me!"
"A few inches can make all the difference." Naruto grinned wider. He was too high on adrenaline to let the sore loser get to him at the moment.
Without another second of hesitation, Sasuke sprinted up the tree in an effort to surpass his competition. Whether that competition was Naruto's mark or Kara's near constant superiority, was significantly blurred in his mind. It's like they were one person combined to make the most irritating duo whose sole purpose was to make him feel like an idiot. Damn her… damn them!
"Kara-chan! Where have you been?" Guruko sprinted toward her as she walked out onto the bridge. "You've been gone for hours!" He leapt into her waiting arms.
She snuggled him close. "Oh, I was just learning the most awesome-est thing ever. Sorry it took so long though." Kara walked back to the pile of crates that the dog had been sitting by. "Hey Tazuna-san! I'm back!" She shouted.
The old man grunted in reply and continued on with his work.
Guruko licked her face and then spat to the side. "Yuck! Why does your face taste like burnt lighter fluid?" He squirmed around and Kara dropped him to the cement while she sat up on one of the wooden crates.
"I told you. I learned how to fire-breathe. It's not exactly katon-jutsu but it's a start. Wanna see?" Kara excitedly pulled out a bottle of paraffin wax, a lighter and an unlit torch.
The information and procured items effectively scared the small dog senseless. "NO! Oh my god! No, Kara! Do you have any idea how mad Kakashi will be if he finds out I let you do that!? You could blow up! You'll be burned!" He jumped up onto the crates and examined her closer. "Look at you. You're skin looks burned already!"
Kara looked down at her arms and legs. "Oh it's no big deal. I'm just a little sun-kissed, is all. I've been around giant balls of flame all day." She hopped off the crate with a small laugh and skipped a few paces away from Guruko and the construction that was going on. "Just watch."
Kara lit the torch and set the lighter on the ground, picking up the bottle of flammable liquid and taking a swig of it. She paused for dramatic effect, smiled and then spit up at the torch that was held high above her head. Though the fireball was not as impressive as the professional they had seen earlier; for a beginner it was amazing.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Tazuna rushed over and knocked the torch out of her hands. "This is a construction site not a circus! What if you lit one of my workers on fire?" Kara wiped the excess wax off her mouth with her sleeve, hardly noticing the old man's anger. "Just wait till your sensei hears about this!"
Heh, if Gai-sensei found out, he would probably just call me rebellious and then hug me. The young girl stared up at him with mock confusion. "You know Gai?" Tazuna's eye twitched before he stormed off to continue his work. "Hmph." Kara bent down and collected her things and went to sit with Guruko again. It slowly hit her. "… Kakashi's gonna be really mad now, isn't he?"
"Yup." Guruko laid his head down in her lap. "You might have gotten a warning if you had just showed up with a sun burn. But now… with Tazuna pissed off…" He sighed. "We're both in for it."
"Hmmm…" Kara gingerly stretched her right hand; finger by finger. "Maybe not." The dog's eyes followed her movements. "Maybe if I learn that lightning thing he showed me, he won't be mad that I wasted time learning to breath fire."
He'll be mad about 'breathing fire'. Not 'wasting time'. Wait… what? Lightning? Guruko sat up and looked at Kara with a near catatonic stare. "Lightning?" The corner of his mouth twitched. "He showed you 'lightning'?" It twitched again. Kara nodded as she slowly moved her right hand into position for the hand signs, fearing that if she went any faster it would cause further damage to the ligaments. "Chidori?"
"Is that what it's called?" Kara closed her eyes and tried focusing on the sound the technique made. "He said I could learn it if I wanted to. I figure it'll make him happy if I do. So…" She took deep breath and focused as much of her chakra as she could into her left hand. There was a sharp, tingling sensation. Kara opened her eyes and looked at her fist. There was nothing there. Gosh, that's weird. No lightning, but it feels like I have my hand in an electrical outlet. I wonder if that's normal. If it is, then I wonder how I get the electricity to come out.
"Wow…" Guruko was also staring at Kara's fist. "You're real close to getting it. When did you start learning it?"
"A day or so ago." She stopped flooding the spot with chakra. The building pressure was beginning to hurt without an outlet to escape. "Why?"
You just don't know how amazing you are! You really are a Hatake at heart. A natural born genius! The dog jumped up and licked her face. "I love you, Kara-chan." He kept licking her, despite the lighter fluid taste, until she pried him off of her.
"Well, I love you too, silly puppy." Kara rubbed her forehead. She felt a slight headache coming on.
"Move it, loser!"
"You move, jackass!"
The two boys pushed and shoved past each other as they stumbled into Tazuna's kitchen. "I said, get out of my way!" Sasuke threw an elbow and made it to the quiet table first.
"Owwww…" Naruto nursed his injured ribs and sat down next to him. "You don't have to hit so hard, Sasuke-kun. Geez." He looked around the table and noticed that the only person missing from the room was Kara. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei. Where's Kara-chan?"
"She wasn't feeling well." The man answer seemed rough and slightly frustrated.
Naturally, Naruto did not notice the tone of his sensei's voice. "What's wrong with her?" He dug into the food set before him.
"What do you care, baka?" Sasuke was closer to finishing his food than his teammate. "She's not feeling well, get over it. Most likely she just did something stupid and is paying the price for it." Like with her wrist. Completely idiotic.
Kakashi shared his student's sentiments right down to the letter. "You're not too far off from the truth, Sasuke-kun. Kara decided it would be fun to learn to breathe fire." She was just too impatient to ask me to show her how, the right way with chakra… not combustible fluids. "Apparently, it's not the healthiest thing to inhale large quantities of smoke or to ingest a moderate amount of flammable liquid." His voice was thick with sarcasm and irritation. "She's sleeping it off."
"Poor Kara." Naruto finished his food and filled a glass with some water. "I'm gonna take her some water."
"I'm sure she'll be grateful, Naruto." Kakashi called after him as he left the room. "She'll also be unconscious but it's the thought that counts." He muttered in a lower tone before turning his attention back to his remaining student at the table. "How's the training going?"
Sasuke's eyes slowly looked up at his teacher. "Fine. I'm about halfway up the tree. Naruto's still behind me at about fifty feet."
"Hmm… That's good. I guess Kara underestimated how quickly the two of you would progress." He idly spun a chopstick around in his hand.
Grrrrrr….. Always! Kara this! Kara that! What the hell man! Sasuke fumed silently. "Well, I guess Kara doesn't know everything." His voice ground out.
The comment caught Kakashi a bit off guard. "I didn't mean to say she did." He took a closer look at the boy sitting across from him. "Is everything okay, Sasuke-kun?"
Aside from the fact that picture-perfect Kara gets to have everything?! She gets to have family and I don't! She thinks she just so damn special; walking up trees and learning how to fire-breathe! Screw her, I don't care anymore! "Yea. Just a little worn out. I'm going to bed." Sasuke stood up and excused himself quietly.
As he walked past the washroom, he could hear voices coming from Kara's room. Huh? His steps faltered for a moment. Wait. No. I don't care anymore; remember? He tried to force himself onward to his shared room with Naruto, but couldn't quite manage. The teenager knelt down and pressed his ear against the wall and listened intently. Just for a minute. Sasuke compromised with himself. A minute and nothing more.
Kara chugged down the water. "Thanks Naruto-kun." She wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
"No problem." He took back the glass and set it down next to him on the floor. "Hey, guess what."
"What?" The fourteen year old girl nodded her chin up, curious.
Naruto crossed his arms proudly. "I made it all the way to fifty-two feet on the tree."
Kara smiled widely and threw her arms around him. "That's wonderful! I knew you could do it!" She released him with a slight blush. "Heh, sorry." There was a slight awkward silence. "Yea… I'm glad you're doing so well. I'm sure Sasuke is getting better at it too right?"
"Oh sure." Naruto was glad the room was dimly lit. He couldn't wipe the blush off of his own face as quickly as Kara had. "He's ahead of me, but I'll pass him up soon." There was another moment of silence. "So you know how to breathe fire now?"
Instantly, Kara's mood picked up. "Yea! It's awesome! I'll have to work on not swallowing the wax though." She patted her stomach sheepishly. "You should see me. I look as good as Sasuke and his fire jutsu."
Oh, I seriously doubt that. Sasuke scoffed as he continued to listen to the conversation.
"Only it's a lot more dangerous." Kara added.
What the hell? My jutsu is plenty dangerous! … grrrr…. I'll show you dangerous…. The young Uchiha continued to listen closely when he felt something jab him in the side. "Ow…" He whipped around to see Kakashi standing over him.
"What are you doing?" His sensei asked him.
"… um. I dropped my toothbrush." Sasuke slowly slid up the wall to stand.
"That makes a lot of sense." Kakashi glanced down at the boy's empty hands. He turned his attention to the wall. Eavesdropping, eh? I wonder what's so interesting. "Go to bed, Sasuke." The thirteen year old nodded, slumped down the hall to his room and shut the door. "Now then…" Kakashi switched his crutch to his other side and leaned against the wall, listening in on the second half of Kara and Naruto's conversation.
"Wow that sounds so cool." Naruto fidgeted around where he sat. "But how did you learn it?"
"I saw this street performer near the outskirts of town. And well… promise not to tell anyone?" The blonde nodded fervently. "Well, I've been kinda jealous of Sasuke. Fire is just so exciting and risky and he's just so good at it. And when I saw that fire-breather, I thought that I could learn it and be like him." Naruto stared at her blankly for a moment. "Remember, you promised not to tell anyone."
He came back out of it. "Oh don't worry. I won't tell a soul. Lord knows that bastard doesn't need anymore fangirls."
Kara glared at him. "I'm not a fangirl."
"Sure you're not."
"Out." Kara stood up, grabbing him by the hair and dragging him to the door. "Just get out, Naruto-kun."
"OW, ow, Owww!" She let his hair go. "Aw, Kara-chan! I was messing around! I know you're not a fangirl of his. Hell, if anything he's you're fanboy!"
Both Kara and Kakashi, listening in from outside, twitched at the mention of the word.
"What?" Kara's eyes turned into narrow slits. "Ew, gross! Are you kidding me?! Fanboy? I don't want one of those!" She retreated to the center of her room and rubbed her arms in a consoling fashion.
"Well, he is… kinda… I think." Naruto stood up and shook out his hair. "He's always staring, well… glaring at you. I figure he either really hates you or really likes you."
Kara's shoulders relaxed. "Oh. Gosh, that's a relief. He hates me. I can accept that. It makes more sense anyway."
"Why would he hate you?" The blonde took a step toward her. "You're smart, talented… pretty." He glanced off to the side, tense and afraid of how his compliment would be taken. Sakura usually responded with physical violence.
And here I thought the boy was deaf, dumb AND blind. Kakashi rolled his eyes at his student's nearly inept flirting with his niece.
"Heh, thanks." Kara scratched her cheek, a bit unsettled by his words, but she stayed focused on his leading question. "But, um… how much do you know about him? About Sasuke?"
"I… um… what about him?" Nothing could bring him out of his blushing stupor faster than mentioning the one boy whose personal mission was to make him look bad… all the time.
Kara brushed her hair back behind her ears and found a spot on the floor she was comfortable staring at. "His family. It's why he has good reason to hate me." Naruto remained silent. He already understood the basics of this story.
… his family? He can't possibly blame Kara for what happened, can he? The copy ninja silently readjusted himself to hear the discussion better.
"You see…" Kara picked up her end of the conversation again. "His brother… he…" The words were proving hard to come by. "Well, to over simplify it, Sasuke despises his older brother and I don't." She looked back up at Naruto. "He hates me because I kinda… admire his brother."
What?! She what?! It took everything in Kakashi to hold back and contain his shock. He massacred his entire family and she ADMIRES him? How can she ADMIRE that? How could I have overlooked something like this?
Naruto looked back at her, stunned. "But he…"
"I know." The girl snapped back to her usual cheery self. "I don't approve of 'that', but 'that' isn't the only thing he ever did." Her smile was nostalgic. "You know, he saved me once." She shook her head back and forth, pushing the strong emotions to the side. "He saved me when no one else would."
Kakashi leaned away from the wall. I had no idea Kara felt that way. She can overlook and forgive so much. … Maybe there's hope for me yet. He gracefully took his leave. The kids on the other side of the wall wouldn't have noticed the sound of his departure anymore than that of a roach scurrying across the floor.
"I am who I am and Sasuke is who he is, because of him." Kara walked forward and caught Naruto by the shoulder leading him to the door. "So, does that answer your question?"
"Meh." Naruto shrugged his shoulders, ready to be done with the overly-depressing topic. "I still think Sasuke's into you." He tapped his chin. "In fact, I'm sure of it now. You're the only girl he starts conversations with; instead of just ignoring them… like he does with Sakura and Ino." The boy paused for a moment as he fumed over the undue attention his rival always got instead of him. "And you're the only girl I know that he grumbles about when he thinks no one is listening." Kara slowly and deliberately blinked at him. "It's true. Most people don't think I catch things," he wagged his finger at her. "but I do."
Kara did her best to restrain a grin as she pushed him out the door and into the hall. "Sure ya' do, Naruto-kun. Sure ya' do." She rolled her eyes and leaned against the door frame. "The day you catch on, the day you really impress me, will be the day that I believe all that dribble that just came tumbling out of your mouth. Night."
Hmph! She doesn't believe me. Well, at least the only girl that Sasuke is obsessed with, for whatever reason, doesn't obsess over him. Naruto thought smugly as he walked back to his bedroom.
Kara slid the door shut with her bare foot and wormed her way back into her bed. 'sigh' Oh boy… too much to think about. Kara held her hands above her and started running over the hand signs for Chidori, as Guruko called it. It worked the same way as counting sheep, only she gained experience instead of just wasting time. Ox, Rabbit, Monkey… Ox, Rabbit, Monkey… Ox, Rabbit, Monkey… She repeated over and over again. Her right hand didn't hurt anymore when she moved it, but she was still careful not to push her luck.
"I wonder…" Kara whispered to herself. She made the hand signs again, only this time, she gradually allowed chakra to flow into her left; she was still a bit hesitant to include her right hand in any serious work. Her eye doubled in size upon seeing her hand in the dark. Faint, rapidly moving, red and white electric currents were twitching and flashing just beneath her skin. "… wow." She could feel the lightning burning and snapping, but still refusing to come out. "Ow, okay. That's enough." Kara whispered for her own benefit and stopped her flow of chakra. She rolled over on her side and yawned deeply. Guess it's just gonna take some time till the sparks are less shy.