Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and not me.

A/N: Hey guys! Wow, quite a response since the last chapter! Thankies so much for encouraging me to keep writing! It's been real fun, and also, I love replying to your comments! Remember, if you got any questions, ask away!

Chapter 11: Shaken

"Six o'clock..." Kita mumbled under her breath as she glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Hey Kita, let's go see Yanagi!" Sora suggested, returning from cleaning up breakfast (which had happened to be last night's leftovers, much to Kita's disappointment after she realised cooking was impossible when you didn't have opposable thumbs).

"But..." she protested, then stopped. Sora had his mischievous grin on. She sighed; when he had that face on, it was generally best to let him get it out of his system before even more mischief ensued. "Alright," nodded Kita weakly. "She'd still be asleep though, you know?"

"But that's the whole point!" Sora's grin widened.

Kita and Sora snuck silently onto the roof ledge in front of their team mate's room, which was on the second story. Yanagi's family owned a successful bookshop that was the bottom story of their house. The two genin peeked through the window, expecting to see her asleep. She was not. Yanagi sat on her bed dressed in a set of hot pink silk pyjamas with gold stars on them. A scroll was set up on her bed before her. The girl studied the scroll determinedly and furiously practised hand seals as she read. She didn't notice her two visitors.

Sora smirked playfully and popped up. "Good morning, my sweet Yanagi-hime!"

Yanagi's eyes slowly moved away from the scroll to him. She paused for a second before she gave a muffled scream. She threw a pillow at him, which bounced harmlessly off of the window.

Sora laughed.

The black-haired girl narrowed her eyes at him and packed up the scroll. She stomped over to the window, slid it open and bopped Sora over the head. She noticed Kita hiding beside him.

"Idiots! Both of you," she hissed venomously. "What are you doing here? Especially you, Kita! My parents would have a fit if they saw you. It barely took all I had just to convince them to let me stay as a genin."

Kita's feline ears drooped. "But... it was Sora's idea..."

Yanagi gave Sora a death-glare.

Sora scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, oh... So, what were you doing Yanagi-chan?" he asked, hoping to change the subject.

Yanagi's glare softened. "I was studying ninjutsu scrolls."

"Why?" questioned Kita, eager for the change as well.

Their questions worked. Yanagi flipped back some of her silky black hair, a sign she was either going to gloat and/or complain. "Well, unlike you two, who have ninja parents, I'm forced to teach myself. And at the moment, I'm studying earth ninjutsu. Because, if I'm to be the Tsuchikage, then I'll need to know every earth jutsu there is."

Kita jumped up and put her front paws on the window sill. "I would have thought you'd have just focussed on wind jutsu because of your fans."

Yanagi sniffed. "Well, I will look at that but-"

"A weapon doesn't make the ninja," Sora finished for her, grinning.

He received another bop over the head. The blue-haired boy pouted.

"Yeah, that." Yanagi frowned. "I'm going to try and study everything I can really, though I don't think I'll look at much genjutsu... I'll leave that to you, Sora."

Sora's grin returned. "Yeah, I'll protect you from any genjutsu attacks, Yanagi-chan!"

"And you can protect me from any rabid mice or kamikaze birds, Kitty." Yanagi joked at her feline team mate.

It was Kita's turn to give a death-glare. "Ha ha..."

"Those kamikaze birds can be a real pain," commented a voice.

All three heads turned to see Rosuto squatting right beside them. He gave a friendly wave, then looked into Yanagi's room. "You sure don't keep a clean room, Yanagi. I expected better from you." He stared at Yanagi in her pyjamas for a second and raised an eyebrow.

"Pervert!" Yanagi screamed and threw the pillow again, though without aiming properly. Without the window there, this time it hit its mark- Sora's face.

"Yanaaaagiii-chaaaan!" Sora fake-cried as the pillow slipped off of his face.

Rosuto glanced at Sora and laughed. Suddenly his laughs cut off. "Hide," he said simply. He disappeared in a cloud of dust.

Kita's ears twitched. She quickly grabbed Sora's jacket in her mouth and threw him up onto the second story's roof where she leapt up after him. The door to Yanagi's room flew open.

"Yanagi! Are you okay?" asked a frantic voice, her mother's.

"We thought we heard yelling!" said another voice, her father's.

"Uh... uh... there was this bird that flew at the window and I got startled!" Yanagi tried to explain. She waved her hands frantically. "But, it's okay now! You get back to bed."

"Are you sure?" asked Yanagi's mother (a beautiful woman with silk black hair and creamy porcelain skin. She was a well known celebrity around Iwagakure many years ago for winning the 'Miss Earth Country' Pageant. When Yanagi had been born, she and Yanagi's father had expected her to follow in her mother's footsteps... unfortunately not, but they did respect that their daughter wanted to take a different path).

"I'm sure, now go!" Yanagi squashed her parents out of the doorway. She sighed in relief.

Rosuto, Sora and Kita all appeared again at the window.

"Sorry about that..." Rosuto apologised. He went into his serious mode. "Okay guys. I know it's been a while, but we've got our first mission ready. I'll meet you in an hour at..." He took a glance at a piece of paper. "4 Pebble Lane. It belongs to a nice old lady named Akujo-san. Alright, see you in half an hour." He disappeared again.

Yanagi's jaw dropped. "Half an hour!" she screeched. "I'll never get my hair done in time! No!"

"Yanagi? Are you okay up there?" yelled Yanagi's mother. Yanagi gave an 'erk' of surprise as she ran to keep the door closed.

Kita and Sora ran from the scene.

Later...

Yanagi sprinted at top speed towards 4 Pebble Lane, her hair-ties in one hand, her other hand fixing her hair back. She gripped her Stone hitae-ate in her mouth. After a few complicated minutes, she finally managed to get her hair back and tie her forehead protector over the top of her hair-ties. She slowed to a halt as she approached the rest of her, standing in front of a well-to-do townhouse with a neat cottage garden out the front. Yanagi panted for breath, and then went in with the others up to the front door.

"Got here right on seven exactly," remarked Kita, a smile on her face. Finally, a mission that had absolutely no chance of going wrong! Kita promised herself she would complete it.

Sora saw a flash of movement inside the house beside the window curtains. He frowned slightly; something about this place was bothering him. The vibes coming from inside worried him.

Rosuto knocked on the front door. After the first knock, it opened. A tall old woman with thin lips, overly-neat hair, and a no-nonsense maroon dress stood in the doorway, her lips pursed tightly.

"Yes?"

"Ah, good morning, Akujo-san. Team Omega reporting for our mission." Rosuto bowed; the others followed suit.

The elderly woman scowled at them, though it was mostly directed at Kita, as the others noticed. After a few seconds of the expression, she nodded curtly and moved aside to let them inside. As Kita went to enter lastly, she moved back to block her. "I don't let animals in the house." She shut the door in Kita's face.

Kita stumbled back as the door narrowly missed her nose. She blinked. What just hap...? She'd been shut out! Kita's ears flicked back. There was an argument going on inside, fuelled by Yanagi. She could hear her team mate's muffled protests through the door. Rosuto said something, and Yanagi's voice ended. Akujo said something before the door opened again and Kita's team filed out. Sora looked cranky; Yanagi was fuming.

Akujo handed Rosuto a shopping list and some money, then looked down her nose at Kita. "I'll tell you what I told them: if you so much as put one of your dirty whiskers on my shopping, then I'll make sure nobody ever hires you again! The Tsuchikage was a fool for being weak enough to let you become a ninja in the first place."

The door slammed shut again. Kita felt absolutely dejected.

Yanagi stormed down to the street. "'Nice old lady'? 'Nice old lady'?" She turned and made a rude gesture at the house.

Sora put a hand on Kita's head. "Don't worry, she's just an old witch, that's all. I'm sure nobody else is like that."

Secretly, Rosuto gave them a worried look, knowing, just like Sora, that his words were a false hope.

Kita was the first one to notice the growing silence as she and her team entered the market square and headed towards the produce section. In hushed tones, people started to point and whisper to one another. Kita had no doubt that if Rosuto and her team mates hadn't been there, they would have done more than just stare and whisper to each other.

"You can always back out of this mission if you want to," Rosuto whispered to her.

Kita shook her head. "No, I'm going to see this through, even if I can't be a big help because of that old witch."

"That's the spirit!" Yanagi grinned, patting her on the head. "Don't let them get to you."

Though she tried to ignore the stares, they slowly got to her. Kita's ears drooped and her tail started to drag through the dust. Rosuto divided the shopping list into three parts; fruit for Yanagi, vegetables for Sora, and plant seedlings for him and Kita. Yanagi and Sora rushed off to get the items on their list. Kita tagged behind Rosuto towards a small nursery.

Rosuto looked down the list. "Okay, Ankujo-san wants some lavender, foxglove, and violet seedlings." He read the note further and scratched the back of his head. "And she wants good healthy ones... Maybe I should have given this to Yanagi instead; she'd probably know her plants better than me."

"Don't worry, I can help." Kita smiled, temporarily forgetting about the continued stares she was getting. "Mia-sensei taught us about plants in the academy."

"Alright then," nodded Rosuto. "I know what lavender and violets look like, but I must admit I'm not that good at remembering what foxglove is."

Kita padded over to a tall plant with soft-looking flowers sprouting up its length. "This is it, but it's an adult one. The seedlings are behind it."

Rosuto picked up a couple that looked well-off and put them in one of the cardboard boxes provided. Kita lead him around to the lavender and violet plants. She breathed in their scents, feeling calmer from then for a second. Rosuto picked up the box and took it over to the owner.

"I hope you're keeping an eye on her," commented the owner to Rosuto, giving Kita a quick glance as he added up the total.

"She's very responsible, much more than some other people," Rosuto said back calmly, paying the owner and taking the box back. He walked over to Kita and the two of them headed back to the centre where they were soon joined by Sora and Yanagi.

"I knew she was a witch, she likes broccoli!" Sora distastefully looked at the vegetables he carried.

"Yeah, she bought a bunch of apples! I bet she's going to poison them!" agreed Yanagi.

"Alright you two, that's enough," Rosuto warned. "You're not supposed to make fun of the person who's helping pay our wages. Let's just get back, and then we can have a training session. We haven't had one in a while."

The four of them started back. Without anything to take her mind off of it, Kita slowly became more depressed as people glared at her. She couldn't wait to get back and then go train with the others.

Rosuto knocked on a familiar door when they reached Akujo's house again. The door opened and Akujo took the packages in herself. She came back to the door.

"I'm not paying you for this," she said, shoving the box of seedling back at Rosuto. "They absolutely reek of cat. I told you not to let her touch anything!"

"Ma'am, but she-" Rosuto fumbled with the box and tried to talk back to her.

"Even if she didn't touch them, they still smell of cat, and I'm not having them in this house!" Akujo retorted. "And since you disobeyed my instructions, I refuse to pay!" She glared furiously at Kita, pointing at her with a long finger. "You're a disgrace to this village, even if you are one of the Mitsukai clan! Your family must be turning in their graves! Never in all my life have I ever seen something so deserving of going to Hell! I'm just glad your teacher is here to protect me from you in case you turn feral. But from now on, I'm not leaving the house without a knife. I'm sure everyone else is doing the same!"

That was it. Kita snapped; the weight of the morning made her finally cave in. She turned and ran, ran as fast as she can. She ignored the yells of her team mates to come back and just kept running.

She would have cried; but cats don't cry tears.

Almost home... Almost home... Kita looked up at the street name before putting her head back down.

"Ah! Watch out!" cried a voice.

Kita looked up, too late. She barrelled head first into a girl carrying a basket of flowers. Kita skidded across the ground on her back. The girl's basket went flying into the air as she was knocked down.

After regaining her senses, Kita shook her head and drowsily got to her feet.

"Kita?" asked the voice that had yelled before; it belonged to the girl she had knocked down.

Kita looked the girl on the ground up and down. She had long, dark green hair tied in braids and deep brown eyes. She wore a white t-shirt with a forest green wrap-around top and had a pair of three-quarter camouflage pants on with light brown boots. "Hana?" Though she had grown, Kita recognised the Tsuchikage's daughter.

"You remember!" Hana smiled serenely. "I knew it must be you! I heard all the townsfolk talking about you, and... uh..." Her face went red with embarrassment and she turned her gaze to the ground.

"It's okay..." sighed Kita. "I think everybody in the village knows about it now. But, aren't you... angry at me or anything?" Kita glanced away from her old friend.

"Oh, no! No, I'm not!" Hana replied quickly, turning her gaze back. Her face was flushed. "I'm really happy to see you! I really missed you a lot!"

"You are?" asked Kita, surprised.

"Of course! Dad always speaks so nicely of you, so I know you're still okay. I've been hearing what the other villagers have been saying. It's really not fair. I can't believe what they say, not after knowing you for all that time!"

Kita smiled, a warm feeling filling her heart.

Hana smiled again, a touch of sadness in her eyes. "I'm really glad they let you become a ninja. You must be really special."

It was then Kita noticed Hana lacked a Stone headband. "Didn't you...?"

Hana shook her head slowly. "I... I wasn't strong enough to pass... I failed everything. I don't like fighting, I'd rather help people than hurt them. I'm not special enough."

Kita's eyes widened. "But, in classes, you... Your dad was teaching you stuff before we even went to the academy! How could you not be special enough? You're the Tsuchikage's daughter!"

The green-haired girl turned away. "That's what they all said..." she whispered. She started to pick up the scattered flowers on the ground.

Kita frowned. There was something not right here. "Hana, something happened that made you lose confidence in yourself, didn't it? Whenever you were with me and Yanagi, you always did things perfectly, but whenever something upset you, you'd falter, but still... there's no way you could have failed everything unless something happened!"

"Kita, please... drop it?" Hana pleaded, dropping the flowers in her hand. Though she couldn't see it, Kita knew she was crying.

"But... I want to know..." replied Kita angrily. "What makes me anymore special than you? Why'd you fail while I passed? That's what's not fair. Screw what happened to me, what happened to you is even worse! And I want to know! Did someone say something to you before the exam!"

"No, shut up!" Hana yelled, turning back on Kita. She gasped at her outburst and covered her mouth for a moment. Tears trickled down her cheeks. "I mean, I'm sorry, I... I just can't, okay?" She stood up, then fell back down.

"Are you okay?" asked Kita, leaping over to her side.

Hana held her ankle. "I think I twisted it when we collided."

"I'll take you to the hospital. Can you stand up and put your hand on my back? I'll support you."

Hana nodded timidly and let Kita help her up.

"Hana..?" Kita asked quietly, getting the girl's attention. "I'm sorry, but you're still a friend to me... and uh, I'm sorry. Something upset me before, and I was still angry from it when we were talking."

"It's okay..." Hana replied. Her brown eyes trembled. In her mind, she could still hear those words: 'If you even dare trying to pass that exam, I'll kill you. I'm not going to let you surpass me, even if you are the Tsuchikage's daughter. So when the exam comes, fail it. Or else...'

A/N: I feel sorry for Hana-chan! She's such a sweetie, but she can become so nervous that it's a bad thing. But don't worry, I'm sure Hana will find her calling ;D I've already written the next chapter, so expect it soon. Just gotta go over it for spelling and grammar and that. But it's gonna be a good one, I promise. You might learn a little about what's going to happen in later chapters, so keep an eye out.

About the Names:

Akujo- In Japanese it means 'Wicked or ugly woman' Appropriate?

Jutsu Used:

None, sorry!

See ya next time!