Chapter 12 – A Helping Hand
Morning, Third Day of Training
"So what do you want me to do?" Kakashi asked Miyuki as the two of them stood in the forest, somewhat close to where Naruto and Sasuke were practicing their tree climbing. Kaminari was not with them since Miyuki had asked her to stay near Sakura and Tazuna.
"For now I just want you to replicate the Mist jutsu that Zazuba used. There's no doubt that he'll use it again the next time we meet," Miyuki answered with a shrug. "Once I can pick up the scents around me easier then maybe try moving around some while trying to make as little noise as you can. I know you're having difficulties moving your body right now but I know you can do this. If you get tired or something just tell me."
Kakashi stared at his student lazily. "You're acting as if I'm an old man…"
Miyuki blinked before giving a teasing smile. "Now what ever gave you that idea?" Kakashi opened his mouth to speak but Miyuki cut him off. "Now, be a good sensei and do as I say."
Kakashi rolled his visible gray eye playfully while he started to make necessary hand signs for the mist jutsu. The mist that hung in the air grew thicker, making it difficult to see anything. "There."
"Thank you," Miyuki muttered before she began to focus on the smells around her. She could pick up the smell of the trees and the dewy grass; She could even smell Kakashi as he stood just a few feet away from her, leaning against a nearby tree. However, it was much more difficult for her to catch the scents of the wildlife that scurried around the forest.
"So what are you smelling?" Kakashi asked after several minutes of silence between the two of them.
Miyuki opened up her eyes and glanced over at her sensei. "Well, besides the obvious…I've picked up the scent of a family of rabbits, a few birds here and there, and I believe I smell Naruto and Sasuke not to far away…."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "I thought you had a hard time picking up scents? You seem to be doing pretty well to me… And how do you know it's them?"
"I am having a hard time…Typically when I smell something, I can pin point its location without any trouble, but the mist messes me up. It's like having your vision blurred…" Miyuki explain to Kakashi. "And for your last question…I smell the distinct scent of ramen…and tomatoes…"
Kakashi chuckled, "Definitely Naruto. Now that I think about it, I do pick up the scent of tomatoes when around Sasuke."
"I guess it's his favorite, just like ramen is Naruto's," Miyuki pointed out.
"What's your favorite food?" Kakashi asked, hoping to learn a little more about his student.
Miyuki raised an eyebrow at the question. Wonder why he's so interested? I doubt he'd ask the others…Then again, nobody has to bother asking Naruto. He makes it a little too obvious. "Well, rabbit is pretty good…" Kakashi gave Miyuki an odd look, but she ignored it as she kept on talking. He did ask, she snickered to herself silently. "But then again most meats are pretty good once you get passed the fur. Though I can't say I'm too fond of snake. Oh, by I also really enjoy dango and sweet red bean buns. I also like various fruits like apples, strawberries, plums, and watermelon."
Kakashi blinked, not saying anything for a moment. Well, that was more than I expected. "I'm guessing you're not much of a picky eater?"
"Not really," Miyuki shrugged. "What about you?"
"Eh, I guess I like boiled saury with salt, and also miso soup with eggplant."
"Those don't sound too bad..." Miyuki commented. She closed her eyes once more before saying, "Now let's get back to work. You can start moving around the area now."
"Alright," Kakashi sighed as he started to walk as silently as possible in his condition, thus ending their conversation.
A few days later, Sixth Day of Training
"Good morning, Sakura-chan," Miyuki greeted Sakura as the pink haired girl entered the dining room. Sakura yawned and stretched before looking towards Miyuki with a smile.
"Good morning."
"Naughty Naruto stayed out all night again, didn't he?" Tazuna noted as he saw everyone but the goofy blonde ninja.
"Ever since you told us that story, he's been in the trees training all alone, night after night…" Sakura revealed to the aging bridge builder. "If he exhausts his chakra, he could kill himself…and be lying dead somewhere right now."
Tsunami looked towards Sakura in concern as she neared the table with a tray of food. "I hope he's alright. It's not good for a boy to spend night after night alone outside!"
"He'll be okay. This is Naruto-kun we're talking about," Miyuki smiled, reassuring Tsunami.
Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Miyuki-chan is right. There's nothing to worry about. Naruto's a goofy kid…but he's also a full-fledged ninja." Everyone seemed to lighten up a bit at the thought that Naruto was okay.
Then, Sasuke decided to comment. "Is it possible he could have killed himself?" Worry seemed to creep back onto the faces of Tsunami, Tazuna, Sakura, and even little Inari. Miyuki felt her right eye twitch while holding back the urge to reach over and smack Sasuke on the head. Idiot! Just because you're still worried doesn't mean you have to voice it just when the others start to calm down!
The Next Morning, Seventh Day of Training
Kakashi, Kaminari, Miyuki, and Sakura stood in the woods where they knew Naruto and Sasuke had been training on their tree climbing. They looked around, not seeing either of the two male genin. "Where did Naruto gothis time?" Kakashi sighed. Miyuki sniffed the air and caught Naruto and Sasuke's scents up in the trees they had been training with. She gave a small smile but said nothing to the others. "Pushing himself beyond his limit, going out by himself again last night…"
"And at breakfast time…Sasuke-kun says he's going for a walk…and he disappears too!" Sakura added.
Miyuki gave a small laugh causing Kakashi and Sakura to glance at her questioningly. "I don't think you have anything to worry about…" Just as she said that, a kunai landed in front of her feet, just inches away from Kaminari. Kaminari jumped back with her teeth bared and growling. Miyuki sweat dropped what the little she-wolf was saying. She was thankful no one else but her could actually understand her at the moment. The black wolf tended to have a bit of a potty mouth at times. Miyuki switched her gaze from the growling pup to the one who threw the kunai. "See. What did I tell you two? No need to worry!" Miyuki smiled when she saw Naruto laying on a tree branch high above their heads.
"Naruto-kun can climb all the way up there?" Sakura asking in amazement.
Naruto grinned at his team, "Well?! Well?! Did you see? Lookit how high I can go!" Naruto stood up and began to slip off the branch.
Miyuki felt herself pale and tensed up, ready to jump into action to catch the boy before he hit the ground. However, it seemed it wasn't necessary as Naruto caught himself using his chakra to stand on the underside of the branch. Miyuki sighed in relief, knowing that he was okay, but that didn't stop her from feeling aggravated at the boy's antics.
"Hah…Gotcha suckers!" Naruto laughed.
"You…You almost gave me a heart attack, you jerk!" Sakura shouted at Naruto.
Miyuki shook her head, "I have to agree with Sakura-chan! Don't think for a second you're going to go unpunished for worrying us like that! Understand!?" Naruto must have lost focus because the next thing anyone knew, Naruto was falling once again.
Panic set into everyone's faces once more. Thankfully, Naruto was caught by none other than Sasuke, who had been on the next tree over by Naruto's. "You loser."
Naruto glanced up to see who caught him. "Sasuke!"
"Yessss!" Sakura cheered, "Sasuke saves the day! He gives me the shivers!" Sakura looked over at Miyuki. "What about you, Miyuki-chan?"
Miyuki blinked, "What?"
"Does Sasuke give you shivers too?" Sakura asked but with a bit of glare.
Miyuki smiled and gave a small laugh, waving her hands in front of herself. "No, no, no! I'm not interested in him like you are, Sakura-chan."
"Eh? Really? Why not?" Sakura questioned. "Not that I'm not happy about your answer, but most every girl likes him!"
Miyuki gave a shrug, "For one, he's not my type."
"What do you mean he's not your type? Do you think something's wrong with him?" Sakura glared once more. Miyuki sweat dropped at where this conversation was going. From beside her, Miyuki could feel the gazes of the male portion of her team. They know how to put someone on the spot. Now I really have to be careful with what I say. Think Miyuki, think!
"I just mean that I don't believe that we are compatible in a romantic sense. Okay?" Sakura nodded, accepting her answer. Nice save, me! Miyuki glanced over her shoulder to the rest of her teammates after she still felt their stares. "What?" They shook their heads and mumbled "nothing" before looking away from her. Miyuki raised an eyebrow at them but said nothing. Then she suddenly remembered something. "Naruto!"
Naruto jumped in surprise. "Y-yes?"
Miyuki walked up to him and grabbed him by his ear, dragging him back towards Tazuna's house. "OW! Stop that hurts!" Naruto whined.
"Your punishment for scaring us starts now! You'll be helping clean Tazuna's house." From behind them, they could hear snickering coming from their team.
"What?! Why do we have to clean that old man's house?!"
"Because they are being kind enough to house us all for a while. The least we can do is help out with some of the chores! I would typically do this on my own, but this will be a good punishment for you." Miyuki heard Naruto grumble as they continued down the path to Tazuna's. "And don't even think about trying to weasel your way out of it! You'll be allowed to leave when I decide enough is enough. Is that understood?!"
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
"Good," Miyuki nodded. "The sooner we start, the sooner we can get done. Maybe if you're lucky there won't be too much to do today."
A couple of hours had passed by when Miyuki had decided that Naruto could go back to training. When she released him from his chores, Miyuki swore she had never seen the boy run so fast. Surely the chores I had him do were not that bad? Miyuki thought to herself. I only had him clean the bathroom, scrub the floors, and wash the windows.
Miyuki shrugged as she continued dusting around the house. When she entered the room the main room, she saw Kakashi performing one-finger push-ups with Kaminari on his shoulders, Tazuna sitting on his back, and Sakura on his legs. Miyuki gave an impressed look before she started to dust around the room. "…I keep meaning to ask you…" she heard Tazuna start, "You know I duped you about how dangerous this mission was to get you to come here…so why do you stay?"
" 'To know what is right and choose to ignore it is an act of a coward.' 'Like master, like man!' Those are the words the teachings of some of our previous Lords Hokage," Kakashi answered. "This is the shinobi way of life…True shinobi do not merely dance to the tune of whoever pays the piper." Tazuna and Sakura got up off Kakashi as he sat up. Kaminari, however, stayed snuggled up on his shoulders.
Miyuki looked over and saw him flex his hand. "Looks like you're coming along nicely."
Kakashi glanced up at Miyuki and nodded. "Yes. It looks like I'm almost completely healed."
"That's good, but that probably means Zazuba is too," Miyuki commented.
"I know."
Miyuki stopped her dusting and made her way over to Kakashi. She knelt down in front of him and smiled. "Don't worry about us, okay? You've done a great job in training us. So just have faith that we took that training to heart." Kakashi stared at the white haired teen in amazement. She always amazed him on how it seems like she knows exactly what he's thinking and to say exactly what he needs to hear at those times.
Kakashi smiled at Miyuki from under his mask. "Thank you."
"Hehehe…No thanks needed!" Miyuki laughed as she stood up. She looked out the window and saw is was only two hours from diner time. "I need to go get groceries for Tsunami before diner. See ya later!" Miyuki dashed out of the room and went to grab her bag. She went by Tsunami and called over her shoulder. "I'm going to get some groceries! I want to cook tonight, alright!"
"Okay!" she heard Tsunami answer as she went out the door.
"That will be twenty-five ryo," the cashier stated as he rang up Miyuki's groceries. Miyuki dug out her money purse, which happened to look like a full moon, and gave the man the right amount of cash. "Thank you and have a nice night."
Miyuki smiled, "You too!" She grabbed the grocery bags and headed back towards Tazuna's house. Along the way, she saw a little girl sobbing. No one payed the girl any mind as they kept on walking by her. Miyuki frowned at this. She walked up to the little girl and knelt down before her. "Are you okay?"
The little girl jerked up in surprise that someone actually paid any attention to her, much less care enough to see if she was alright. "I-I'm f-fine…"
Miyuki tilted her head, "I don't believe that."
"W-Why not?"
"Because, if you were alright, you wouldn't be here crying your beautiful eyes out now would you?"
The little girl blushed at the compliment Miyuki gave her. She had never thought her green eyes were beautiful before. The little girl then decided to tell Miyuki why she was crying. "I…I was c-crying because I-I lost my f-family. I-I don't k-know how to g-get back h-home…"
Miyuki was silent for a moment. She was trying to think of what she should do in this situation. Finally, she came up with an answer. "Okay. How about this…I'll help you find your family if you come back to where I'm staying for supper. You see, I just bought all these groceries and I promised to cook tonight. Once we're done, I'll try to take you home. Maybe Tazuna-sama or Tsunami-sama will know where you live."
"W-Wait…D-did you say T-Tsunami-sama? L-like I-Inari-kun's mommy?" the little girl asked.
Miyuki nodded happily. "Yes! That's the one!"
"She'll know where I live!" the girl cheered in excitement.
Miyuki giggled, "You didn't stutter this time. Now are you going to give me a name? I'm Tukiko Miyuki!"
The girl blushed in embarrassment. "My name's Kurosawa Suki. It's not as your name…"
"Nonsense! You have a lovely name!" Miyuki stood up with her groceries still firmly in her arms. "Now let's get going! Shall we?"
Suki stood up as well and nodded her head, her black curls bouncing around her face as she did so. "Yeah!" Miyuki chuckled and held out the hand that was not holding onto any bags. Suki took hold of Miyuki's hand and the two walked off with a smile on both their faces.
A/N: I want to apologize for taking sooo long to update! I'll try not to take so long again, but I make no promises! Anyways, I'm so happy everyone is enjoying this story! I love hearing your comments! I find them encouraging. So please keep commenting! So tell me what you thought about this chapter!
Also about my poll on if this story should be a love triangle or not, so far it appears to be going towards it being one with yes at 43 votes, no at 23 votes, and well, it doesn't matter at 2 votes. But seeing as Gaara has not shown up yet in my story, I'll be leaving it up until the chapter he does appear. Which I think may be about maybe two or three chapters, depending. Well, that's all so, until next time folks!
