Hello, again! I think that it's time for a change of pace with my story here. I would tell you what it is, but that would be giving it away, so you'll just have to wait and see. Like me! Wait a sec...
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Kakashi leapt through Hokage's window. (A\N: Leapt is such a good ninja word.) He looked to Old Man Hokage's chair and, upon seeing no one there, walked out into the lobby. The hokage was standing outside, talking with a small group of anbu ninja. Kakashi strolled forward with his hands thrust deep into his pockets. The ninja stopped talking and turned to Kakashi. Hokage turned around slowly.
"The lead was a dead end, Lord Hokage," Kakashi said. "The were no signs of him anywhere." Old Man Hokage nodded. One of the anbu spoke up:
"The lead you were following may have been planted intentionally. The target was still in the village." Kakashi pulled his hands out of his pockets and walked forward quickly. "The ninja made another attempt on Disabled's life, but mercifully failed." Kakashi's eyes narrowed.
"She's a better fighter than you give her credit for, Gaga-shi." Kakashi looked at Hokage.
"I'm not a pop-singer, Lord Hokage," he said. He redirected his attention to the anbu. "Was she injured?"
"Not noticably. All she would confess to was her pride." Kakashi nodded.
"She is a prideful little bugger," Kakashi thought to himself. Out loud he said, "That is fortunate. Do you want me to attempt to find him again?" Old Man Hokage nodded.
"We need your skill, Kakashi." Hokage then picked up a newspaper and rolled it into a tube. He lifted his arm up, then smacked Kakashi with the newspaper. "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU NINJA AND WINDOWS, ANYWAY?" he wheezed. Kakashi stood looking polaxed while the anbu suddenly found somewhere else to be.
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Sakura drummed her fingers on the counter top. Maruha had planned a later training session for her and her team today, leaving Sakura with almost nothing to do for the day. Almost nothing. She stared out the window. Why had Maruha gotten so angry? Kakashi was older and more experienced than Maruha.
"I know I would have taken Kakashi's warnings to heart," Sakura muttered to herself. She drummed her fingers on the counter again. Almost nothing to do. Her eyes strayed over to a pile of books on chakura control, each of which she'd read three times over, at least. She stretched.
"Maybe I'll visit Iruka-sensei. Ask him about chakura techniques." She nodded to herself. That was the thing to do. She picked up her kunai pouch and walked to see Iruka.
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"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan," Iruja said. "I've got so much paper work to do. I don't have any free time." Sakura nodded sullenly.
"That's OK, Iruka-sensei. I'll just find something else to do." She smiled and waved goodbye to Iruka. He smiled and waved back. Perhaps Ino-chan would be around? Sakura hadn't talked to her for over a month now. Sakura began humming to her self as she walked faster. Ino would be just the person to talk to. What were friends for, after all?
Shortly after, Sakura knocked on Ino-chan's door. Ino's mother answered.
"Oh, hello Sakura!" the woman said. "How are you?"
"Oh, fine. Thank you," Sakura replied. "I wonder, is Ino-chan home?" Ino's mother shook her head sorrowfully.
"I'm afraid not. She left on a mission with her team earlier today. I'm sorry, Sakura." Sakura nodded and replied that that was OK, she'd find something else to do. Ino's mother bid her goodbye, and Sakura waved back.
Sakura sighed. She figured she'd just sit and wait at the training grounds until Maruha-sensei showed up. She walked into the training grounds then sat on a rock. She plopped her head down on her chin and stared at nothing in particular. She glanced up briefly as something exploded from a distant bush. Sasuke landed and held a kunai up in defense against an imaginary opponent.
"Sasuke certainly won't want to talk to me," she thought with a sigh.
Sasuke froze: his stalker alert senses were tingling. He turned his head around to glance at a sullen and dejected Sakura. She didn't seem to see him until she gave him a half-hearted wave. Sasuke's eyebrow rose off of his face. Sakura wasn't going fangirl all over him.
"What a pleasant change," he thought. He leapt, hopped, skipped, then jumped to land infront of Sakura.
"You look more emo than me, right now," he said with a faint trace of facetiousness. Sakura shrugged.
"No one ever has time for me. I just get in everyone's way. I'm just useless."
"Bing bing bing! Correct!" Sasuke thought, but only said, "Well, you have good chakura control..." Sakura looked up with sparkles in her eyes.
"Really, Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke looked slightly worried for a second, decided to blow it off, then sat next to Sakura.
"Yeah. You just need to apply your skills. Like, using your chakura to, I don't know, make yourself really strong? You just have to practice." Sakura was positively glowing now. She balled her hands into fist and held them close to her chest.
"I could be really strong? Yeah!" She punched a fist into the air. "Yes! I'll start learning how to do that!" She turned to Sasuke. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun!" She stood up and clasped her hands in to a concentration position. Her eyes closed and a faint chakura glow eminated around her.
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Naruto rolled out of bed and stared at his clock in disbelief for a minute. Surely he couldn't have slept that long. He shrugged his shoulders and stood up. He stretched up, then down, following this by several other stretches. He ate his breakfast, got dressed, then headed out to the training grounds. As fate would have it, Sasuke and Sakura had both beat him there. Sakura stood concentrating next to a tree, for a reason Naruto was unsure of, while Sasuke fought an imaginary foe. Naruto stood watching them for a minute until Sakura punched the tree. It wasn't really that much of a punch, but the tree seemed to think otherwise, as a sizeable dent was now where Sakura's fist rested. Naruto stared at her for a minute, then shrugged. At least she was learning to be useful.
"Sasuke!" Naruto bellowed. Sasuke turned towards him.
"About time you showed up, Lily of the Field." Naruto scrunched his face. He walked casually towards Sasuke, then stood looking at him for a while. Sasuke looked back. Sakura, who would have normally been watching the two with baited breath, instead punched the tree again, making it sway dangerously. Naruto and Sasuke began to attack each other. They fought and out-witted each other for quite some time. At the appointed time, Maruha showed up. She watched the three appraisingly, then clapped her hands.
"OK, guys! Since you're all ready warmed up, let's get started!"
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Kakashi sat in a tree, staring morosly off into the distance. He would never openly admit it, but he missed training his three students. It had only been a while, but still... But there was something else that he missed. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but whenever he thought of being back in his apartment, a bout of homesickness came on.
"Except I don' get homesick," Kakashi muttered to himself. "Haven't been for years now. But I miss something. Something I haven't seen for a while." Kakashi shrugged. He'd deal with that feeling later. For now, his thoughts were needed else where.
The ninja who targeted Maruha would be around here somewhere, presuming he couldn't change his chakura's feel. Kakashi strained his eyes. There. The ninja was walking casually down the middle of the lane. As if he didn't have a care in the world. Soon, he would never have a care in the world. Kakashi pulled out a set of kunai and shuriken.
"No one messes with Maruha," Kakashi thought. He paused, slightly surprised by the thought. He discarded it quickly. The ninja was now in range of a distance attack, but Kakashi wanted to make absolutely sure he died. A few steps closer and-
Kakashi froze. That was only a clone Jutsu. The ninja's chakura was currently behind him as well as infront of him. Kakashi flung a shuriken down at the clone ninja and flipped off of the tree branch, spraying knifes and shuriken on to where he had been and where the ninja now sat. The ninja leapt away just in time to avoid the worst of the weapons, but was scratched by those in the perifere. The ninja's eyes narrowed in pain. Kakashi smiled to himself. This would end soon.
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Kakashi woke to find himself in a very clean, white room. Kakashi pondered his situation for a minute, then remembered. The ninja hadn't been easy to fight, rather the opposite, in fact. But he'd been sure to give the ninja sometthing to remember him by. He'd fallen unconcious at the same time as the ninja. Kakashi silently cursed himself. Hopefully the anbu had gotten him while he hmself had lain unconcious next to the man.
A door opened, admiting not the expected nurses, but a petite girl with bright red hair that stood in morbid contrast with the white walls.
"Hello, Maruha," Kakashi said.
"How are you, Kakashi-san?" Maruha asked. Kakashi glanced at her face. Her eyes were slightly pink with dark lines underneath. With no answer forthcoming, Maruha continued talking:
"We've been worried, you know, since you've been out a couple days." Maruha walked over to Kakashi. "I'm glad, though, that you didn't kill Yamanosanaka." Kakashi looked at her.
"Who?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't answer what he feared she would.
"Yamano-" Maruha paused. "The ninja who's been targetting me." Kakashi sat up and stared at her. Maruha continued talking in a rushed manner. "I mean, he's been training with me recently and hasn't, you know, been trying to kill me. Just last night, in fact, he took me to a-"
"You realise he could kill you in an instant? That he's only playing nice with you to make it easier for him to kill you?" Maruha's face hardened.
"Should've known you wouldn't understand," Maruha mumbled. She held up a bunch of flowers with a card attached. "Here," she said as she threw them at him. "Get healthy faster." She turned away and walked out of the room. Kakashi watched her walk away, feeling a pang in his chest. He picked up the flowers and flipped open the card. There were several notes inside, ranging from Naruto to Iruka. Kakashi sighed. He dropped the flowers on to the table next to himself and rubbed savagely at his chest.
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Barely any Maruha, I think you'll have noticed. I wanted to develope the other characters a bit more so that I'll have more to work with when I need them. Take care, and until next time!