I think it's now safe to assume that even if you are an old reader, you should still read these rewrites. I keep adding to the scenes and dialogue. Like I promised before, the main storyline will not change, but I'm adding bits and pieces that I think are going to strengthen the relationships in the story. Plus I'm making it more coherent. There were parts that seemed dull and out of place.


Chapter 10: Abilities

Oh dear lord God! My feet! My calves! My back! My heart!, Mika screamed out in mental anguish.

"Alright, we just passed the border, and there is the Sun.", Kakashi pointed to the horizon.

"Really, so soon?", Mika tried to sound disappointed but she still stopped running when the group reached a river.

"Yea, we should rest here for a few hours."

Few Hours! What the hell man! I freaking tired! I need 8 hours of beauty rest and another 4 for the ordeal I went through last night! "Great, and then we can keep moving.", she replied as she collapsed under a tree.

Kakashi started to order around the others, like to get firewood or some food or make sure we weren't being followed. He walked over to Mika's half conscious body. "So…how are you holding up?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy.", the sarcasm dripping off her words.

He tilted his head and winced at her sharp speech. It would only be fitting to give her a proper reply, he thought. "You look horrible."

She stared at him with a blank expression. "Well, jeez, no need to sugar-coat it, eh?" She took off her jacket and rolled it into a ball for a pillow so that she could lie down comfortably in the grass. There were some rocks but she was too tired to care how completely uncomfortable it actually was. Stretching out her legs briefly she yawned. "You know, I used to love sitting outside. It was my favorite part of missions, getting to go camping." She yawned again; this time deeper. "I guess I got too used to the comforts of…civilian… life." She was out like a light.

Well, no need for you to suffer now. He thought as he watched her subconsciously readjust herself on the uneven ground.

-A Few Hours Later-

"Are you sure she is going to be o.k. with that?", Sakura questioned skeptically.

"She said she was uncomfortable. But she seems happy now.", Kakashi replied, noting Mika's smiling, sleeping face.

"I bet she'll be mad and beat the crap outta you.", Naruto laughed very loudly.

"We're friends and she would never hurt me."

"Is that so?" Mika's eyes were wide open, staring him down. "Funny… I don't remember falling asleep here. In fact, I'm just about positive that I was asleep on the ground over there.", she said pointing to a spot closer to the forest. "But I'm sure there is a perfectly good reason for my being asleep here… on your lap, besides that at some point during your life you became a pervert."

"Yes, there are several good reasons actually."

"Please…. enlighten me.", she said glaring at him.

He briefly cleared his throat. "One: You were uncomfortable, Two: we made camp all the way over here, and Three: it wouldn't have been safe for you to be so far away from us."

She looked around at everyone just lounging around the campsite. "…You're still clever. I'll give you that. But seeing where I am right now, I wanted to ask you some questions."

"Alright." He nodded in a cool, uncaring manner.

"Your mission was to come and get me, but why?"

Kakashi gestured toward Naruto. "You are going to help him control the Kyuubi."

Mika rolled her eyes. "And why, pray tell, would I care." Glancing over at the whisker-faced boy, "No offense Naruto, but you're not my problem. I defected from Konoha."

"You'll care." Kakashi shook her slightly to regain her attention.

"Why?" She incredulously scoffed at his blunt statement.

"Can't tell you."

"Why?" Mika shook her head, not understanding why he couldn't tell her something as simple as a reason.

"Tsunade-sama will tell you when we get back home."

"Why?" Now she was just messing with him. Hehe, its funny watching him squirm.

"Because she wants to tell you herself."

"Why?"

"Because she has a sick sense of humor."

She paused for a second. A sick sense of humor? "Why?"

"…. Stop asking 'why'."

"WHY?", she asked again in the most annoying way possible.

He just closed his eyes and squeezed his arms around her tighter; making it so she couldn't move.

Mika scrunched up her nose as she realized the dimensions of her chest had changed. "You do realize that I could electrocute you, right?"

"Do it!", Naruto yelled.

She sent a quick jolt through his arms, making them twitch and loosen up enough for her to punch him in the stomach as she abruptly stood up. He acted like it hurt, but she knew it couldn't have. It felt like she had just punched a brick wall. The kids just laughed at the little show.

"Hey, Sakura."

"Yes, Mika-chan.", she replied.

Reaching for her bag, Mika asked. "Did you still want to read the first chapter to my new book?"

"Ohmygosh! Yes!", the fan-girl squealed rushing to her side.

"If everyone is up, then shouldn't we get going?", Yamato asked.

"Yea, come on let's get moving.", Kakashi said, standing up.

Mika pulled out her notebook and handed it to the salivating girl. "Now, this is just a rough draft. It's not done yet. O.k.?" She was already on page two.

Yamato and Kakashi were walking in the front, Sai was behind them, and behind Sai were Sakura and Mika walking side-by-side, with Naruto in the back. Sakura was completely absorbed in the notebook. So the walk was quiet until Naruto caught up beside Mika.

"So you used to live in Konoha?", he asked timidly.

Mika grabbed his chin and made him face her. "Yes, and look up when you talk to me. Being indirect is a real pet-peeve of mine.", she said with a smile, letting go of him.

He smiled back and continued. "So, why exactly did you leave?"

"Well, my family died."

"Oh, sorry." He rubbed the back of his head. "What about your friends?"

"Well, one seems to have forgiven me.", she said pointing to Kakashi. "And the other, well, he's older and he couldn't recognize me the last time I saw him."

"That's it, two friends?"

"Best Friends from Konoha, yes; I have several other acquaintances all over this continent though. Now, why don't we talk about you some? Like, who are your friends?"

"Everyone in my village! Believe it!"

Mika stared at him. She just couldn't get over the fact that he looked so much like 'him'. It was driving her crazy. "O.k…. that's a lot of people. Do you have a favorite; a best friend?"

He looked away, "Yea, I did."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did he pass away?"

"No, he left. I couldn't stop him, and he left."

She was possessed to put her hand on his shoulder. For some reason, she wanted to comfort him. "So he's still out there?"

"Yep, and I'm going to bring him back!", he shouted. "I swear!"

"Me too!", Sakura piped up.

"I promised to help also.", chimed in Sai.

"Yes, we are all going to do our best to bring Sasuke back.", noted Kakashi. Yamato nodded as well.

"Uchiha?", Mika asked. Didn't Madara say something about his descendant? What did he tell me? Damn it I can't remember, and it was probably important too.

"The one and only.", he replied.

That's not true, she thought. Really, there are three. "I heard about that kid. The Raikage said he was some kind of a genius."

"He is, he was using complicated fire jutsu straight out of the academy and Kakashi-sensei even taught him the Chidori.", Sakura seemed to be basking in the memories.

"Hn.", Mika tried and failed miserably at sounding interested.

"So, Naruto? What special techniques do you have?", she turned her attention back to him.

"Hehe… I'll show you!"

The group stopped walking and looked at him. Instantly there were hundreds of shadow clones standing around.

"Oh, just shadow clones?", she honestly asked.

"What do you mean, 'just shadow clones'? Look at how many of us there are!", they all shouted.

"Well, yes. In sheer numbers, that is impressive but not very efficient for a combat situation.", she intelligently observed. This seriously annoyed him.

"Fine. I'll show you 'efficient for a combat situation'.", he threatened. All but one clone disappeared, and that one disappeared soon after a blue sphere of chakra had formed in his right hand. She was in awe; not because it was a Rasengan, but because it was like staring at her brother. Her knees locked up and she was about to pass out. "How do you like this!", he shouted at her.

"Yea…that's….gr-…", she couldn't finish her sentence, so Kakashi did it for her.

"Great job, Naruto. Now can we keep moving, I would like to go home.", he told him while grabbing Mika's shoulders and stopping her from collapsing on the ground. No one else seemed to notice, thank god.

Naruto stopped and the blood started to come back to Mika's brain. "Thanks.", she whispered to her friend.

"Are you going to be o.k.?" He steadied her as she started to walk.

"Yea, yea. Just….tell me that you see it too. The resemblance I mean.", her eyes pleaded with him.

"Yes, there is a definite resemblance there.", he said looking away from her. "Let's go."

Mika went back to walking on her own, but she didn't take two steps before Naruto jumped on her case.

"So what can you do?", he asked with some attitude; obviously convinced that he had her beat.

"I write novels.", she responded cleverly.

"That's not what I meant!"

"Oh, you mean back when I was young and was a ninja? Well, I did a little bit of everything, particularly lightning and earth element stuff."

"Don't those two combine to make something else?", Sakura commented absently, still entranced by the notebook.

"Yea, but I hadn't really put much effort into practicing the metal element. It was just easy enough for me to use electricity." Liar, liar, liar…., her conscience screamed at her.

"Metal element?", Naruto asked.

"Yea, it's complicated and I don't feel like explaining, really." He gave a 'please' look. She gave in. "But in short, metal counts as anything that comes from the ground that isn't dirt." He stared at her with a completely lost look on his face. "O.k. iron, copper, bronze, gold, silver, and precious gemstones for example."

"Hn.", he responded.

She waved him off. "Whatever, it may not sound cool, but it's very lucrative."

"You used it to make money?", Sakura sounded stunned.

Mika laughed in a mockingly, malicious way. "It would take me some time, but yea. How do you think I could afford the house I had in Kumo? It was fun to disguise it. I would buy some land in the middle of nowhere, use the technique to fill the ground with gold or silver, and then send some miners to mine it out. I just looked like a lucky investor.", she laughed again at her sly ways.

"So have you gotten any better at that diamond technique you were working on last time I saw you?", Kakashi asked.

She took a deep breath. Don't lie, don't lie, don't lie. "No,", dammit, I lied "diamonds are really hard to manipulate. I needed lots of the Rokubi's chakra to use it and it was safer to just not try. I didn't want it to get out of control."

"Why don't you try to at least make a diamond?" He asked somewhat challengingly.

She shrugged her shoulders and stopped walking. "I guess I could." She reached down and picked up a rock and cupped it in her hands. Mika started to focus her energy on the rock, trying to compress and heat it into a diamond. There was a bright glow coming from her hands with sparks shooting out of the space between her fingers. O.k., if I screw this up correctly… You shouldn't hide what we can do. That would be deceitful.

"Ah!", she dropped the now white hot mass; half from wanting to purposefully screw up and half from the shock of hearing the Rokubi's voice. "Son of a Bitch! That hurt!", she shouted bringing her hands to her chest.

"Language.", Kakashi seemed to be scolding her.

"Oh, so you're a pervert and a prude.", she laughed that nervous laugh that people make when they are guilty, but her hands throbbed with pain again. "Ah! Damn it that burns." Looking up at him, "Don't you dare say anything. I'm in pain."

"Here, let me see.", Sakura reached out and took her hands. She started to heal them.

"Cool, you're a medical nin. That is really convenient.", she smiled at her.

"Yep, Tsunade-hime taught me everything I know.", she gloated a bit.

"So Sai? What is your special talent?", Mika faced him as Sakura still worked on her hands.

"My paintings come to life."

"Cool.", she nodded, noticing a small ink mouse on her shoulder.

"Alright next question, Naruto.", she resumed the original conversation.

"Go for it!" He was up for any question.

"What is your favorite color?" Everyone rolled their eyes.


I'm actually happy that I got to rewrite these early chapters now. I think I got better over the course of my writing this story and now I get to bring these first attempts up to par with the later chapters. Reviews? Comments?