Loads of altered text. Much smoother now. Much more realistic.
Chapter 9: Heading Out
Mika felt a warm hand on her cheek and instantly she reacted to it. Her eyes started to flutter open; she had a killer headache and then she saw, what she assumed was, a smiling Kakashi leaning over her. After all these years, I can still recognize him. She tried to sit up, but failed.
"Hey, now. Take it easy, Hana."
Hearing the old name stung slightly. "…Mika… My name is Mika.", was all she could say as he helped her sit up. "What happened?"
"What do you remember?"
The events of the past 20 minutes flashed through her mind. "…Rei is dead." She paused as she stuffed that pain away to be dealt with later. "I hate the Akatsuki… and then nothing.", she looked around. "What did I do?"
"You scorched a good amount of the village, almost killed Deidara, and then we stopped you."
"Did I hurt anyone, besides Deidara?"
"No, and you really didn't manage to hurt him much. He just fell to the ground from about 4 stories up. If you're lucky, maybe he twisted his ankle or something."
Mika rubbed her eyes. "Damn…"
The Raikage walked up to the two of them. Mika looked up with her eyes starting to brim with tears. "You have until sunrise to get out of my village and out of this country, fiend."
"Sir?", she was slightly confused by the request.
"Be glad I am showing you such mercy out of respect for the years you spent here. Do you understand me?", he condescendingly looked down at her.
"Yes, sir….I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize, it's in a monster's nature to destroy." Turning to Kakashi, "Be sure to take this creature with you when you go, I don't want it doing any more damage.", he stated as he walked away. Kakashi just glared at him.
"Come on.", she tugged at his arm, already mostly recovered from her 'episode'. "I have to get some of my things at my house."
As he helped her stand up, the others walked over.
"What now, Kakashi-sensei?", Naruto asked, though he was looking at Mika intently.
Mika started to laugh and they all stared at her. "What?", she tiredly let out.
"What's funny?", Sakura stared at her, shocked that she was laughing at a time like this. Laughing was a defense mechanism of hers; whenever she felt fear, sadness, or vulnerable in the least, she would laugh and make some kind of sarcastic remark.
"It's just weird hearing you call Kakashi, sensei. Him a teacher, ha, that is rich. Alright.", she took a deep breath. "I've got 6 hours to get out of the Land of Lightning and I'm not even packed."
Everyone turned and started toward her house, "So, do ya'll have names or something?"
-Later at Mika's house-
The group made it to her house and she glided halfway up the stairs before turning and calling behind her. "Sakura?"
"Yes."
"Could you help me pick something out? I haven't dressed for traveling in a long time and I don't know what is appropriate anymore."
"Sure.", she smiled and followed Mika upstairs.
Once in her room, Mika pulled out a scroll used to pack a lot of things in small spaces. "Just dig through everything.", she told the pink-haired girl. "The Raikage will probably burn down this building in the morning anyway."
Mika grabbed a few outfits and dresses that she just couldn't live without, along with some sheets, some money, some jewelry, and her notebooks that she wrote her books in. She turned and pulled a black cloth bag out from under her bed, taking great care to make sure she didn't forget it or to let the girl behind her see it. Sakura started to talk.
"How can you be so, I don't know, o.k. with everything that just happened?"
"I'm not o.k. I just know that there is no point in crying or striking out at anything anymore. Even though going through that rage is incredibly painful, it's a release." Mika tried to reason as much as she could. The real truth was that she would just push painful thoughts to the back of her mind in order to avoid them.
"Is that true for all the people like you?"
Mika turned around to look at her. "People like me?"
"Naruto has one of those bijuu in him as well. And I've seen him look similar to the way you looked back there."
The blonde turned back away from her. "I'm sorry that you saw me like that. I'm usually pretty good about controlling it, I guess I was just so overcome….", she stopped for a moment. "I don't know how it makes anyone else feel. I've never hurt anyone that I cared about, but I would image that would feel horrible."
Sakura thought about the time one of Naruto's tails struck her on the arm. "Here, I think this would look good on you.", the young girl dropped the thought and returned to her previous mission.
"Huh? Are you sure?"
"Yes, it's simple yet rugged and will show off all the right things.", she smiled at her.
"Alright, but I think I'm going to wear a jacket with it." Mika changed into the new outfit; a halter-top that came from under her arms, instead of the middle of the shirt, and had straps that wrapped around the whole top, a pair of shorts, light-weight black combat boots that went just past her ankle, a leather belt hanging loosely around her hips, and a thigh-length trench coat on top of everything, left open of course. Her hair was up in a half ponytail, enough to keep it out of her face.
"O.k., now did you want to wear your weapons on your left or right leg?"
"I'm not a ninja."
"But Kakashi-sensei said you were." Sakura moved forward with a spare weapons pouch.
Laughing awkwardly, Mika moved back, keeping Sakura and the sharp objects at an equal distance. "Emphasis on 'were'. I was, but not anymore."
"Why not? He said you were good."
Mika smiled widely. "Really? He said that?"
"Yea, so why are you not, anymore?"
"Well… I haven't used any weapon in a long time and just two hours ago was my first fight in that same amount of time. I'm just not anymore." She thought for a second, "Is that why, Tsunade wanted me back in the village, to be a ninja?"
"I don't know. Kakashi-sensei said all the information on this mission is on a need-to-know basis. So I don't need to know, I guess."
"I wonder if I qualify as a person who needs to know.", Mika said as she went to the bathroom to grab her comb. Oh yeah, it broke…hn, bad luck. That's for damn sure. She started to laugh silently to herself. A knot formed in her throat. Oh God…Rei. She quickly shouted to Sakura, "Hey, I'm going to me a minute, you can wait downstairs for me. O.K.?"
"Are you sure?", she asked walking toward the bathroom. The door was still open.
" Y-Yea. Now go!", Mika managed to stammer out, her eyes clouding with tears.
Sakura stopped in her tracks; she could see a corner of Mika's reflection in the mirror. "Alright…. Just don't be too long. I'll be downstairs if you need me." She had felt that kind of pain before, that loss.
Mika didn't respond to her. She was too focused on trying to keep it together and not break down completely with her still watching.
After Sakura shut the door to the bedroom behind her, it all came flooding out. Mika collapsed to her knees, her arms straight out in front of her, digging at the tile of the bathroom floor. Short deep breaths followed by irregular sobbing, "no,no,no." 'gasp' "I-I should have done something….what! What could I have done!?" She argued with herself. Blaming and defending her actions over the previous twelve hours. "I was so stupid. I shouldn't have asked her to go with me. I should have left her alone. It's my fault she's dead. I killed her."
Sakura silently walked downstairs to the living room and sat down in a chair. Her face was paled because she could feel Mika's pain as if it were her own.
Sai and Naruto were in the kitchen; Naruto looking for food and Sai just watching him, trying to understand. Yamato was in the dining room, just sitting at the table, his head in his hands looking bored.
Kakashi was poking through Mika's book collection in the living room; he seemed surprised by some of the choices that were in it, "So what's taking so long?", he asked Sakura.
She just looked up at him, her eyes telling him everything; That Mika was upstairs having a total breakdown probably contemplating suicide and she didn't know what to do.
He nodded his head and looked up at the stairs. Should I go see if she's alright?... She sent Sakura away. Still….
Mika continued to cry, now pulling her arms around herself and leaning against the doorway between her room and the bathroom. She reached up and took down her hair. I don't want them to be seen like this., she thought as her hair fell around her face, shrouding her in a mock curtain. "I'm so weak. I couldn't save her. I couldn't save my family and I couldn't save her.", she looked up and stared at the ivory box on the shelf. I've spent so much time trying to eliminate the anger inside of me. That driving force that made me a ninja, and now that it's gone all I am is this pitiful excuse for a human being… and I'm not even that. I'm a monster, strong enough to ruin my life but too damn weak to save those who mattered to me.
Yea, you are a monster. A girl after my own heart, or at least the girl whose heart I live in…. hehe.
Shut up, you!, she screamed at the voice inside of her head. Where did you come from? Huh? Answer me! I thought I got rid of you.
Please…. You can't get rid of me. Madara-sensei made the two of us work so well together. Then you stop talking to me all of a sudden for eight long years; you lock me up inside your mind, all alone. That wasn't very nice. Tonight was fun though, wasn't it? I finally got the chance to show that I still got it.
Go to hell, you piece of shit bijuu!
Only if you come with.
"What's in the box?"
Mika whipped her head around shocked that she didn't hear anyone come in. Kakashi was standing a few feet away from her, looking at the ivory box. "Huh?", her voice cracked out.
"That box, you were burning a hole through it with your eyes. What's in it?"
She took a second to focus on the new conversation, "…Namikaze Hana. Everything she was and didn't want anymore."
"Fascinating.", Kakashi commented as he walked toward the box.
"What are you doing?", she asked confused. "Hey, stop!" She shot up from the floor rushing to the small container.
He had already grabbed it and was about to open it when her hands clasped around the ivory torment.
"I just want to look, I swear.", he pleaded with her.
"No, I don't want to see it."
He reached forward and tilted her head up, catching her eyes with his one. "You're lying. If you didn't want to see, then why were you staring at it?" She just looked at the box again as he slowly slid her hands off of it. "Now, I'm going to open it, o.k.?"
She nodded slowly with a sniffle. Since he walked in the room she had stopped crying. Her eyes fell to the floor; she had a sudden feeling of shame and embarrassment over this tiny object.
He opened the box; she looked back up, and would have sworn he was smiling. "Wow,", he remarked, "Hana hasn't aged a day."
Mika giggled but abruptly stopped herself. Why am I laughing? More importantly, why am I questioning the fact that I'm laughing? I should just be glad that I'm not alone anymore. She muttered to herself, "I'm not alone."
"No, you're not.", he was looking at her with a soft expression.
She reached into the box and pulled out the headband. Staring at it she thought, This must be the reason for everything that has happened. Maybe I'm supposed to go back. Try again. "Just so you know,", she started, "my name is Mika." She spontaneously wrapped her arms around him. "It's not going to change back.", she said smiling.
He dropped the empty box and wrapped his arms around her; returning the embrace two-fold. She couldn't hear it, because her ears were stuffed up from the crying, but his heart was beating faster. "You ready to go, Sparky?"
Staring slightly up at him, "Yes, yes I am." She stuck the headband in her bag, not quite willing to wear it.
"We're going to have to hurry, to make it out of the country in time. Are you going to be able to keep up?", he asked as the two of them walked down the stairs.
"You know, I don't know. I haven't run through the trees in forever. I wonder if I still know how."
"I'm sure you do, but just in case someone will have to carry you.", he said implying something.
"Oh, well. I'm sure Yamato could manage my weight.", she replied as she carelessly walked past him. "Oi! Let's go!", she shouted from the living room. The boys started to trickle into the room, while Sakura glided next to her.
"Are you alright now?", she timidly whispered in Mika's ear.
She faced Sakura and gave her a reassuring hug. "Yes, I'm back and better than ever.", she whispered in response. She let her go and gave her a smile. "See."
"Good, I'm glad."
"I don't mean to rush you or anything but we need to leave. Now.", Kakashi stared at Mika.
"¡Vayamos ya!", she pushed past everyone, knocking over a glass vase given to her by the Raikage, and making her way to the door.
"What?", Naruto stared at her.
"Ha… Let's Go Already!"
Kinda sad, eh? Sometimes I wonder if I'm a better angst/despair writer than I am of humor/comedy. I really enjoy both, but angst/despair is so much more detailed and beautiful. While the humor/comedy is pretty simple… but it's funny and usually pretty clever so does that make up for its simplicity? IDK, IDC. Review!?