I'm soooo happy that many of you are regularly reading this story... I think I have a little over 200 regular readers... thank you so much to all of you... I'm really glad that I'm getting a lot of positive reviews, please continue sending your reveiws, even if they aren't all positive...
Sorry for taking so long to update... really... I've been extremely busy... but I promise I'll keep trying to post the chapters of this story on a weekly basis... I've made this chapter extra long as a sort of apology... so enjoy!... :3
Oh yeah... I remember one of my reviewers, Siean Horoc, telling me 'bout the meanings of kunoichi and shinobi... thanks for telling me the difference, I thought they meant the same thing... hehe...
Akari's POV
"I still can't believe that the kage wouldn't let you train me..." I said scornfully, looking at Takeshi as I went down the stairs, Akki close behind...
"Well, you know that he must have his reasons... We can't argue..." he replied, I could sense that even he felt a bit disappointed that he couldn't be my official sensei...
It had been about a week since I got out of the hospital... I was supposed to meet new sensei today at eight o'clock, but that would still be in about an hour...
"But Takeshi-san..." I whined slightly, acting like the child that I looked like...
"I'm sure that you'd be a waaaay better sensei..." I said, pouting...
"Come on Kari-chan... there's no use whining..." He bent down in front of me, ruffling my hair...
"Give your new sensei a chance, maybe you'll get to learn to like her..." Takeshi said, smiling...
"Yeah... I guess..." I said, thinking...
... but then...
I didn't really get a good feeling when I first met her at the hospital...
she reminded me of someone... I think I must have met her before... or I could have at least seen her somewhere... I just couldn't put my finger on it...
"Anyway... I have something for you..." Takeshi said, producing two small pouches from his pocket...
Were those what I thought they were?!...
"I was thinking that now that you're gonna start your official training, you might need some of these..." he held out the pouches to me as I held out my hands...
One held a couple of shuriken, and the other held a set of kunai... the kind that you "bandage" to your thigh or strap on your belt for easy access... When Takeshi and I had target practice in the past, I'd only borrow a few shuriken and kunai from him...
Now I had my own... my very first set... I was going to take good care of them... maybe I'd separate a kunai and a couple of shuriken and keep them, since they were from Takeshi...
"Thanks, Takeshi-san!!..." I grinned, jumping up hugging him tightly...
"It's nothing really..." he replied as he set me back down on the ground...
I bandaged the shuriken pouch to my thigh, and fastened the kunai pouch to my belt...
I checked myself out in the mirror, the fact that I had razor sharp weapons on hand gave me a more "dangerous" look...
Maybe it would help keep those bullies away, or at least I had weapons to use if ever they tried to ambush me again...
"They really suit you..." Takeshi said, nodding, with a contented look on his face...
Even Akki yipped in approval...
"Now come on, I'll walk you to where you're supposed to meet your sensei..." He said, smiling....
We all left the house, Takehsi about to lock the door behind us...
"Hey... Akari, are you sure that you're fine with Akki coming along?... He won't distract you, will he?..."
"I'm sure he won't, Takeshi-san... you know how obedient he is..." I said, bending down and scratching Akki's chin, causing the bell around his neck to ring...
"Ok then... If you're sure..." he said reluctantly as he locked the door...
We all began walking side by side towards the training grounds...
... they were apparently some distance near the edge of the village, I was supposed to meet my sensei there... Takeshi knew the way...
It took us about twenty minutes to get there, and when we did, my sensei still hadn't arrived...
"Hmmm... Why isn't she here yet?..." I wondered out loud...
"Well, it seems that you're a bit early... It's still thirty minutes or so until the time you're supposed to meet... she'll probably be here after a little while..." Takeshi said, looking around...
"You just wait for her here, ok?... I need to get going... Kazu, Hideki, and I have a mission briefing with the kazekage..."
"Alright..." I said, giving him one more goodbye hug before he stood up...
"Take care of yourself, alright?..." he said...
"Hai, Takeshi-san!..." I replied, giving him a salute...
He laughed a bit before ruffling my hair...
"Yup... that's my girl..." he said, before he waved goodbye and left...
That was Takeshi-san for you... for the short time that I was here, despite not knowing so much about me, he treated me like I was his baby sister...
He didn't even know that I was from another world... or the fact that I was really eleven and a half years old...
I sighed at that thought as I sat down under the shade of a tree... Akki jumping onto my lap, falling asleep...
'Should I tell Takeshi?...' I mused... I felt that I had to... After so many years of fending for myself, trying to keep myself from breaking down... I finally had someone who could protect me for a change...
He was the big brother I never had... he had the right to know...
Besides Takeshi... I knew I also had to tell Gaara... He was my friend after all... They both deserved to know the truth...
Gah!... all the stress from thinking about all those difficult things was making my head hurt!...
"Well, no use stressing around..." I said as I got up, picking Akki up off of my lap and laying him on the sand, careful not to disturb his sleep...
... maybe I could stop thinking about it for now if I had a little target practice or something while waiting...
I took out a couple of kunai and began training...
Takeshi's POV
"Do you think she'll be fine, Kazu?... I don't even know exactly who her sensei's going to be... Do you think they'll get along?... She might be too harsh on Kari-chan, you know that she's still a kid, right?-"
"Takeshi! Stop!... I'm sure that the Kazekage knew what he was doing when he picked out another sensei for Akari-chan... You don't need to worry so much! You're not her father or anything..." Kazu said, slightly annoyed by all my rambling... I had met him on the way to the kazekage's tower, and now we were both on our way...
I guess Kazu was right... I wasn't Kari's father... I was just her guardian, nothing more... but somehow, I felt like more than that... I felt that I had the duty to protect her... she was like a baby sister to me... and she reminded me of someone special... but then- she had died several years ago...
I cringed at the thought of losing another one that I cared about so much...
The tower loomed in the distance as we approached...
'Where could Hideki be?...' I wondered... he would usually meet us at the main doors... but this morning, he wasn't there...
Hideki hated me, that was apparent... but it wasn't always like that...
Now... we were always fighting... but no matter how mad he got at me, I couldn't stay mad athim...
Kazu and I climbed the stairs to the kage's office...
'Maybe he's already there...' I thought...
but when we entered, Hideki was nowhere to be seen...
The kazekage must have noticed my confusion...
"Hideki's not here, if that's what you're wondering..." he said...
I just looked at him questioningly...
"I noticed that the two of you can't seem to avoid having arguments among yourselves, so I reassigned him... another jounin will be taking his place on your team... He has already been briefed on the mission... he will be meeting you at the village gates..."
It was strange, why the sudden change?... Kazu had tried several times in the past to convince the kage to replace Hideki, but he never approved... why now?...
All I could do was ponder on that thought as we went through the briefing...
Why?...
Normal POV
Yes... why indeed...
Hideki was now on his way to the training grounds...
From the side of a building, near the grounds, Hideki carefully looked around the corner...
He spied Akari who was engrossed with hitting a target that was roughly fifteen feet away... Akki was fast asleep under a tree at the other side of the grounds...
'Good...' Hideki thought...
He took a step back, well away from a Akari and Akki's range... making sure that he wouldn't be noticed when he transformed...
He made a hand sign and there was a puff of smoke...
There stood the woman who Akari had previously met at the hospital...
The one who called herself Kaede...
Hideki checked himself over, making sure that he got the details right...
He didn't want Akari to find out who he really was... not yet at least...
She then walked towards the training grounds...
Hearing foot steps, Akari turned around, holding a kunai in front of her defensively...
"Whoah there, squirt!... Kaede said, half smiling and half smirking... (A/N: I'll be referring to Hideki as Kaede whenever he's in his female form, alright?...)
"Kaede-sensei!..." Akari said, surprised, dropping her kunai and bowing deeply...
"Gomenasai, sensei!... I just thought that-"
"No, that's ok... It's fine..." Kaede said dryly...
"Besides..." she said, smiling slightly, "... that shows how sharp your senses are... that's a good start if you're going t be a ninja..."
Akari stood, beaming at Kaede...
"So, you've had a little target practice while waiting..." Kaede said, looking at the target that now had several kunai and shuriken on it...
"You're pretty good with your weapons... but let's try and see where you stand with your chakra..." Kaede said...
"Chakra..." Akari mumbled to herself... she knew how to make a couple of hand seals and a couple of techniques, but she never tried them before... she really hadn't thought about it until now...
"Uhmmm... I know a few techniques... but... I.. I haven't really practiced so much..." Akari said hesitantly....
Kaede sensed that Akari was unsure... she must be lying, but what was there to lie about?...
"*sigh*... Let's see then... I'll show you a simple jutsu, and you try it..."
"Hai, sensei..."
"Ok... this jutsu is called the transformation jutsu... you make this hand seal and..."
"Henge! (transform!)"
*poof*
Kaede had transformed into a perfect replica of Takeshi...
"Okay, you got it?..." Kaede/Takeshi said...
Akari nodded in response... in truth, she already knew that jutsu...
but...
Would it work?... She was from another world... and where she came from, as far as she knew- chakra didn't exist...
She slowly clasped her hands together, forming a hand seal...
'Please... let this work...' she prayed silently...
If she couldn't use chakra, that would be a huge disadvantage to her path to becoming a skilled ninja...
She did remember Rock Lee though.. even if he was unable to use ninjutsu techniques, he became a great ninja, skilled in taijutsu...
'Fine...' Akari thought, trying to concentrate... '... if I can't use chakra, then so be it... I'll find another thing to make up for it...'
"Henge! (transform)"... Akari said out loud...
*poof*
Akari kept her eyes closed... she was afraid to see what had happened...
'Did I do it...' she wondered...
"Hey, come on squirt, open your eyes already..." Kaede said...
Akari slowly opened one eye, then looked down at her hands...
They were different...
She checked herself over...
She seemed to have done it!...
She could use chakra!!!...
But did she get it right?...
"Good job, squirt... You got it...." said Kaede, looking at Akari with a satisfied look on her face...
Akari smiled happily...
"Arigato, Kaede-sensei..." She said in Takeshi's voice before there was another puff of smoke when she changed back...
"Ok... you seem to be alright with your chakra, weapons... now let's see how good you are with your taijutsu... then we can assess where we need to start with your training..." Kaede said...
---
Later that afternoon...
It was nearly three o' clock...
Akari felt sore all over... she was still training even if Kaede had left over an hour earlier...
She made the performed the same hand seal that she had been repeating probably thirty times already...
Closing her eyes, she concentrated and channeled her chakra into the soles of her feet...
'Concentrate... con-cen-trate!...' she chanted in her head...
Sharply opening her eyes and breaking into a sprint, ran up the side of a tall tree...
She was determined to get to the top this time...
Near the top of the tree, she jumped sidewards, grabbing the tree branch with one of her hands...
The force caused her to flip over the branch, finally landing on top of it...
"Woah..." she said, nearly slipping...
"Phew..."
She smiled widely... she was satisfied now, she had finally reached the top of the tree...
She didn't know that it was this hard....
Jumping down, she whistled, calling Akki...
"Akki... let's go home... I'm tired..."
Akki nodded in agreement...
--
Akari held a sleeping Akki in her arms, heading towards the bakery...
Takeshi said that he'd pick her up there after his mission... but who knew if he and his team would finish their mission so quickly... it would probably take them a few days at best...
He was a jounin after all... he'd be assigned to the tougher, more dangerous missions...
Akari was constantly worrying about him whenever he went on his missions...
Entering the shop, she waved to Takeshi's parents, flashing them a tired smile, as she went through the door to the back of the shop entering the living room...
She immediately slumped onto the couch, exhausted...
Akki jumped beside her, lying down, before falling asleep again...
She petted him gently as her eyes slowly started drooping...
"I have a long way to go... don't I, Shiro..." Akari said sleepily...
Akki's eyes flashed green as he let out a worried whine, licking her face...
"No need to worry, right?..." she continued, yawning...
"I'm... going... to get... stronger..." Akari said, barely above a whisper before her eyes finally closed, enabling her to get some much needed sleep...
A few hours later...
Akari's eyes fluttered open...
She looked around as her eyes started to focus...
When her vision cleared, she looked at the clock, it was past eleven...
By this time, both of Takeshi's parents were asleep...
And there was no chance that Suki (A/N: if you forgot, that's Takeshi's younger sister...) would drop by this late...
Akari had regained most of her energy and didn't feel like going back to sleep...
She knew what she wanted to do...
Even if it was this late, she was sure that she would be able to sneak out and visit her best friend...
She was sure that the red head was probably extremely worried about her, especially if he hadn't been able to hear any knews about her after the incident with the kids at the playground...
Akari got up, off of the couch, the blanket that had covered her had slid onto the floor... Takeshi's parents probably didn't want to wake her by carrying her to bed...
She rubbed her eyes, walking to the kitchen, where the pastries were made....
She looked around and was able to find one of her favorite treats, the chocolate bun...
She grabbed two of the buns, putting them into a brown paper bag...
She wanted to share them with Gaara...
Just as she was about to leave the kitchen, she stopped, turning back...
She grabbed another three extra chocolate buns...
Leaving the paper bag on the table in the living room, she slowly crept up to the stairs, past the room where Takeshi's parents were sleeping, into the guest room where she usually slept when she stayed while Takeshi was on his missions...
She opened the cabinet, grabbing one of her small backpacks before quietly creeping back to the living room...
Akari stuffed the paper bag into her backpack, then slipped on her sandals...
As she was strapping on her kunai pouch, she noticed that Akki was awake, looking earnestly at her...
"You wanna come too?..." she whispered...
Akki whined in response...
"Alright... let's just hurry..."
Akari sneaked out of the back door with Akki right beside her...
Once out she stood for a moment before forming a hand seal...
"Let's see if this works..." she said to herself...
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu..."
poof...
the jutsu had worked perfectly, because now, a perfect replica of Akari stood before her...
"I need you to stay here and take my place on the couch... make sure that Takeshi-san's parents don't find out that I snuck out... make sure to unlock the door for me when I get back in a couple of hours... got that?" Akari said to her clone.
"Hai...." it replied before going back inside and closing and locking the door behind her...
Akari looked up at the sky, it was full of stars and the crescent moon was beautiful... she wanted to share some time with Gaara so that the two of them could enjoy the night's beauty... He would surely either be at the playground, or at the rooftop that he had told her about once before...
but before that, she and Akki had to make one more stop...
At Takeshi's house...
--
Reaching the house, she used her own key to unlock the door...
"Wait for me here, alright..." she told the puppy, he sat down obediently...
Quickly running up to her room, she grabbed the teddy bear that sat on her bed before carefully placing it in her backpack and leaving the house for the playground first...
--
Gaara wasn't at the playground, so there was only one place left- the rooftop...
She was sprinting, channeling chakra into the soles of her feet as to keep the sandy roads from slowing her down, amazingly, Akki was able to keep up...
That was only because of Shiro....
Akki somehow was able to use chakra because of Shiro's soul...
The puppy was able to use Shiro's chakra...
It was a mystery, but Akari had a theory...
Since Shiro can see everything that Akki can, he must have picked up a couple of tips from Akari's training....
--
Akari and Akki were nearing the building, Akari could see a familiar silhoutte on the rooftop...
She sprinted even faster, excited to see her friend...
Akki barked, trying to keep up...
--
Gaara was sitting by himself...
The kids have been saying things even more painful than ever...
It was even worse because he was really worried about Akari.
His uncle had told him that she was fine and had already been released from the hospital a week ago...
but he just couldn't stop thinking if she was alright...
In fact, he whenever he thought about her, there was a strange feeling in his chest...
It was similar to what he felt when he hugged her, but even better... warmer....
Just then, he heard the door to the roof open with a creak.
He quickly turned around, when he did, he was met with the force of someone knocking him to the ground...
He closed his eyes, putting his arms in front of his face defensively, half expecting that whoever knocked him down must have been another assasin...
Those thoughts were soon pushed out of his head when he heard a familiar voice...
"Gaara-kun?... Why are you covering your face?... I thought you'd be happy to see me..."
He quickly lowered his hands to reveal Akari who was giving him a fake pout...
"Akari-chan?..." he said softly, the situation still only starting to sink in...
Was this real?...
Akari stopped her pout, replacing it with a soft smile as she hugged her best friend tightly...
"Come on... I missed you soooo much... and no he-"
She got cut off as Gaara returned the hug, hugging her twice as tight...
"I'm sorry... I missed you too.." he said softly after a few moments of silence...
They both pulled away and smiled at each other, slowly sitting up...
"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner... I just had to find the right time..." Akari said apologetically...
"It's ok... at least you're alright..." he replied... he said, scratching his arm...
Gaara's gaze fell on the small puppy beside Akari...
Akki barked happily, wagging his tail before jumping onto the boy's lap...
He began rubbing the pup's head and behind his ears...
"He likes you..." Akari said, giggling...
"Is he yours?..." he asked smiling...
"Yeah... he's one of my best friends..."
"He's really cute..."
"Come on, let's just sit down for a while and enjoy the night while we can..." Akari said, tugging his hand and leading him to the door, Akki followed right beside them...
She sat down, putting her backpack on her left side while Gaara sat on her right... Akki lay on her bag, using it as a pillow...
They all looked up at the sky, admiring the stars and the crescent moon...
"The stars are so beautiful... even better than back home..." Akari thought out loud...
"Yeah..." Gaara agreed... "... and... about your home... you never did tell me about it..." he said, turning his gaze towards her...
He was curious... especially because the last time the two talked, Akari only said that Takeshi was her guardian... What about her real family?...
"Oh..." Akari said her previous smile slipping from her face...
She closed her eyes, tightening the hold on her knees... Akki whined...
"Akari-chan?..."
Her memories flooded back... Causing her shoulders to shake...
... Her dad was dead, her mom died in front of her, and Shiro...
"Sh... Shiro..." Akari said softly, her voice cracking...
Shiro died in her arms...
"A-"
Alone... left all alone...
"Akari-"
The pain... the hatred... all caused by those people... just because she was different...
"Akari-chan!..." Gaara said loudly, grasping Akari's shoulders tightly, trying to shake her out of it... Akki also barked loudly...
Akari inhaled suddenly, hyperventilating, as if she had just seen a ghost...
"Akari-chan..." Gaara said, his voice full of concern... Akari didn't react for a few moments.. she continued to look down at the ground until tears suddenly started streaming down her face...
Akki padded nearer and tried licking her hand, doing his best to give the girl a sense of comfort...
The red-headed boy was scared out of his wits... he didn't know what else to do...
He just moved forward and hugged Akari tightly, doing what he could to calm her down...
After a short while, her breathing started to slow down and she hugged her friend back...
She continued crying...
He rubbed comforting circles around her back...
After several minutes, her sobs reduced to sniffles...
A few more minutes passed before Akari pulled back and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand...
She smiled sadly...
"Sorry..." she said...
"You don't need to say that..." Gaara said simply...
Akki stood on his hind legs, licking Akari's face affectionately...
" (sniff)... I guess I've just been keeping it bottled up for too long..." She let out a sad laugh... Putting Akki down and wiping her eyes again before continuing...
"I think it's time for me to let it out... I can trust you, can't I, Gaara-kun?..."
"Of course..." he said softly...
Akari took a deep breath... she was praying that it wasn't too early to tell Gaara the truth... or at least part of it....
"Some time ago... My family got involved in an accident... My dad was already dead when help arrived, and they rushed my mother and my little brother Shiro to the hospital..."
'... so Shiro is Akari-chan's brother...' Gaara thought, remembering the name that Akari had mumbled moments before...
"... It was just a week before my birthday, they let me stay at home while they went to buy Akki..." Akari continued, looking down at her puppy and rubbing its head...
"My mother died after a few hours... but before she did, she made me promise to take care of Shiro... and she gave me this pendant..." she held out the half ruby half moonstone pendant for her friend to see...
"My dad gave it to her... When she gave it to me, she told that one day..." she paused clutching it tightly...
"One day, I'll give it to someone special to me... just like she did..." She smiled softly...
"But then..."
Gaara looked at her with concern, her mood had swayed into depression again...
"I could never keep my promise..." Akari said, her smile immediately disappearing...
She hugged her knees tightly again... burrying her face in her arms...
Gaara scooted closer and put a hand over hers...
"What happened?..." he asked gently...
Akari raised her head slightly, a pair of glistening red rubies peeking out from behind her arms and a curtain of dark brown hair , tears threatening to fall again...
"Shiro didn't last..."
Gaara held Akari's hand tight... he knew that it must have hurt, because from what he could tell, the two were very close...
"He was on life support, and they.... had to pull the plug... I stayed with him... until the end... He was the last family I had, my only friend..."
A tear slipped down her cheek but she quickly wiped it off...
"Akki was the only other thing left of my family, besides the pendant my mother gave me... That's why I named him Akki... it was the name Shiro liked... It was really hard without him... he was the only one who stood by me when the other kids kept bullying me and calling me names.... there wasn't a single person who wanted to be my friend... there was no one left to lean on..."
"But why!?..." Gaara said, a hint of shock and anger in his voice... "Why wouldn't anyone want to be your friend?... you're a really great person!... why would they bully you?..."
"It was because I was different... I think it was just because of my eyes... where I come from, red isn't really a natural color... they kept calling me... a demon...." Akari cringed at the word...
Gaara squeezed her hand tighter at her last statement...
"You're just like me...." He said softly...
He didn't realized how similar they were...
They both went through a lot... just because they were different...
Gaara was amazed at how Akari could still smile and keep giving off her bright aura despite what had happened to her...
Akari heard his whisper and forcefully shook her head...
"I don't think so Gaara-kun... I may have been through a lot, but my pain is nowhere near yours..." she said...
Before he could say anything, Akari continued...
"That's the reason why I ended up here..." she said, getting ready to tell Gaara her secret...
"What? My pain... is the reason you're here?... I don't understand..." he said, wrinkling his forehead as he looked questioningly at his friend...
"I don't exactly come from Suna..."
"I know..." he said simply...
"No... it's not that simple..." Akari said, her anxiety obvious in her voice... "Gaara... how can I put this... I..."
He looked earnestly at her... waiting for the big secret...
"I come from another world... it's completely different from this one..." Akari said it clearly and directly... she didn't want to repeat the same awkward statement again...
"What?!... What do you mean?..." Gaara said, clearly confused...
"You see... before Takeshi-san found me in the dessert, I was at home with Akki... We were on the roof of my grandfather's house... in my world..."
The boy continued to stare at Akari with a bewildered look plastered on his face... when he didn't say anything... Akari continued...
"It was night time then, and the memories of my past experiences kept flashing in my mind...."
"Remembering all of that... I made a wish...." she said slowly, picking her words...
"I wished.... that.... if there was any other person... going through what I had experienced.... I wished that I would be able to ease their pain... even just a little bit..."
"I'm not exactly sure what happened after that... all I know is I blacked out and the next thing I knew, I was in the middle of a dessert... Takeshi-san and his team found me unconscious a little ways off from here... and they brought me to the hospital... Your father agreed that Takeshi-san could take care of me, and while I was here... I met you...so here I am now...." Akari said, finally ending her tale... She looked at the red headed boy, waiting anxiously for his reaction...
He was silent for a while and she wasn't sure if he believed what she had just said...
"That's the truth... I hope you'll believe me..." Akari said, afraid at what would happen next....
Gaara slowly turned and looked at her... he smiled, his eyes watery...
"Of course I do!..." He declared, he knew that Akari had no reason to lie...
He then hugged her tightly, as if she would disappear... She returned the hug...
He couldn't believe that someone like her had gone through so much trouble just to ease his pain...
He was lucky...
It was as if God had known that he needed a friend, and sent Akari to fulfill both his and her wishes...
She was a special friend... like an angel...
She was a one in a million friend...
He knew that he had to take good care of her...
Because if he didn't, it was sure that the same thing wouldn't happen again if he lost her...
Phew!... this is one loooong chapter... I hope this'll be able to make up for the delay... I'll try to update more often, just as long as you guys keep reading and sending in your reviews... the more reviews I get, the more encouraged I'll be to update... until then, just tell me what you think about this chapter and give me your suggestions about what you want to happen next...
Ja ne! :3
Moonstone...