Chapter Twelve

Recap:

"Um, I said...that um, I healed my friend with medical ninjutsu and then he said my eyes did this glowy thingy..." I say slowly, my gaze flickering between my mother and father's face.

"Oh, no...Yuri..." My mother said, in an almost panicked voice as she turned to my father.

"I know, I know, Madoka," My father sighs, still staring at me as if I told him I could fly. "I just didn't think she would obtain it this young."

"What? What is it?" I ask, confused.

"Well she has! And you know how many doors this opens!" My mother says, sounding slightly more frusterated.

"Yes, I know, Madoka!" My father shouts back, turning to look at her. He turns back to me. "Takara, you have nothing to worry about-"

"Don't lie to her!" My mother yells.

"Madoka!"

Father turns back to me. "I need you to tell me which boy it was that saw your eyes?"

I furrow my brow again. "W-what?"

"Who saw your eyes, Takara?" He says a bit more forcefull. "Was it the Hamasaki boy or the Tsukuda boy?"

"Uh..eh, neither..." I reply, still confused as to why I had to give them the name. My eyes just glowed and as far as I know, he could have just imagined it.

"The who was it?" When I didn't reply fast enough, he snapped, causing me to jump. "Takara, who was it!? Who saw your eyes!?"

"Sasuke," I finally answer, looking between the two, "Sasuke Uchiha."

Takara's POV

My mother is the first to react. "Sasuke Uchiha! Uchiha! The damn Uchiha boy saw it! Well she couldn't have picked anyone worse, that's for sure!"

"Madoka!" My father turned on her. "Calm down. I think you should go upstairs and calm down. I'll clean this up."

"How do you expect to clean this big of a mess in such little time!?" My mother yells and suddenly, she looks much older.

"I'll handle it!" My father growled. Mother reluctantly sighed and went upstairs, thankfully, taking my stuff with her. At least I know my stuff won't get thrown away any time soon.

I turned back to father. He was running his hands down in faced. He's stressed. But from what? I don't understand how this is such a problem? "Father, what's wrong? What's going on?"

When my father removed his hands, he was smiling. But he looked old too, like mother had a moment ago. He places a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'm sorry for yelling at you so much earlier. I was just so worried about you during the mission. Your mother and I thought it was a simple training exercise and when you didn't come back for dinner, we started to worry. I'm sorry."

I nod. "It's okay," I say, even though I don't know if it is. "I'm sorry too."

My father turns and heads towards the front door.

"Wait. Where are you going?" I ask. "Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

"I'm going to talk to the Hokage," he says slowly, ignoring my last question.

I immediately panic as I recall his words from earlier.

"We decided we're pulling you from the program. Tomorrow, we are going to the Hokage and you will no longer be a ninja."

I take a step towards my father. "What are you going to talk with him about?" I ask cautiously.

He stares me down long enough for me to know that he knows what I'm really asking: Are you going to pull me from being a ninja?

"I'm only talking to him about the problem at hand," he says, which could mean either thing.

"Dad!" I groan, annoyed.

"Go to bed, Takara."

I close my eyes as I begin to feel tears well up due to the fact that I'm getting no where. They won't listen to me! Everything I say goes in one ear and out the other! It's as if my opinion doesn't even matter! "Daddy, please don't pull me from the program," I say quietly.

There was a pause. "Go to bed, Takara."

I left out a frusterated scream and march upstairs, rather childishly. But hey, that's how they're treating me.

"Wait," I hear my father say, causing me to stop halfway up the stairs. Is he going to take it back? Does he realize how wrong and unfair this is? "You can't tell anyone, Takara."

I scoff when I realize he's still talking about the stupid eye thing. It was nothing! Sasuke just thought he saw my eye glow! Nothing else.

"Takara, look at me," he saws in his 'father voice'.

I reluctantly turn around, avoiding his eyes and crossing my arms.

"You can't tell anyone about this. Do you understand, Takara?"

I nod, "Whatever."

"Good," he says and leaves without another word. I spin around and head back upstairs.

I can't believe he's not considering my feelings! He's completely ignoring me. He thinks he's doing what's best for me, but all he's doing is ruining my life. Being a ninja is all I want to do with my life. I can't picture doing anything else. Not to mention the eye thing. My parents completely overreacted with that. And what are they going to do about Sasuke?

When I get into my room, I stop to find it trashed and half of my belongings missing. Of course, how could I forget. My mother took out all of my ninja-related stuff since my parents are apparently no-ninja. She must have been upset and in a hurry and just ripped everything apart.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist. It probably only took my mom seconds to do this, but it'll take my at least an hour straight to clean it. She literally tore it apart.

I was suddenly fed up. I was angry at my parents for getting so upset with me, I was angry at them for threatening to pull me from the ninja program, and I still think they're content on doing it, I was angry at them for not telling me why they were reacting the way they did, and most of all, I was angry with them for not listening to me. I hate being ignored.

I turned right around on my heel and headed back down the stairs. I wasn't staying here tonight. Not until they started treating me fairly. I get I'm their daughter and that I'm only twelve, but I'm a ninja and I deserve to make choices in my life.

I still had my bag from the mission. It had overnight clothes and stuff for me to use while I was staying some place else.

I peeked around the staircase corner, making sure my father wasn't here anymore. He was gone.

I headed out the front door and even before I made up my mind on where I was going, my feet were already taking me there.

In ten minutes, I showed up infront of Naruto's apartment and knocked on his door. Just like how Naruto had been to my house, I'd been to his. We 'tend to go to his more often since it's more private and we can do whatever without parents scolding us. We used to have cooking competetions when we were younger to see who was the best chef. The stray cats acted as the judges. Unfortunately, neither of us were very good chefs. I think we actually killed one of them. I remembered we cried about it for days and we even hosted a funeral for it.

The door swung open. Naruto stood there, dressed for bed. His pajamas consisted of a matched baby blue cotton pants and long sleeved shirt. He discarded his forehead protector for a walrus-like sleeping cap. He looked younger this way, more Naruto.

"Takara?" He asked in surprise.

"Hey, Naruto," I wrung my fingers together, suddenly nervous. "Do you mind if I stay here for the night?"

I have stayed the night at his house before, just as he has at mine. But of course, my parent's knew where I was all the times before.

"Uh...Ya, ya. Sure," Naruto said, opening up the door wider so I could slip in. He closed the door behind him once I was inside.

His apartment wasn't small, but it wasn't big either. But since it was only him, it didn't need to be big. It was a one bedroom, one bathroom, and a kitchen apartment. He always had it cluttered. Whenever I came over, I always cleaned it for him.

Currently, his kitchen table and counter was covered in a variety of empty food containers.

"Uhhh," Naruto scratched the back of his neck as he looked at the mess. "Sorry, I wasn't really expecting any company..."

A smile broke across my face. "No, no, this is just what I needed. I wouldn't have expected anything else from you."

"Was that an insult?"

I rolled my eyes, but kept the smile. "No, Naruto," I say and find myself unconsciously making my way to clean up the mess.

"Takara, you don't have to do that," Naruto starts, but I wave him off.

"No problem. It's like old times, right?" I haven't been over at Naruto house for at least four months. That might not seem like long, but considering we spend all that time together, it was a little odd. "Besides I kind of need a distraction right now," I mumble quietly.

But of course, Naruto being Naruto, heard it. "Why's that?" He asks, clearing off the table. Before I can answer his first question, he shoots another one at me. "Hey, do you want some ramen. I was experimenting with some different flavors. I think I've finally won the best chef contest. But I cooked too much. I was gonna save some for leftovers, but you can have it now that you're here."

I smile when I hear that Naruto hasn't forgotten about those cooking contests either.

"Sure. I would love some," I say as I sit down at the table across from him. He hands me a tub of ramen and I smirk up at him. "Are you sure this is safe to eat?"

"Of course it is! I may not be the best cook, but it's not deadly!" I open my mouth to remind him about the cat we killed, but he seems to rememeber himself. "Oh, wait. That one time with the cat...nevermind."

I laugh and pick up a bit of the ramen with the chopsticks the same time Naruto does. We look at each other before simultaneously stuffing it into our mouths. I chew at bit. Not that bad. The noodles are cooked just right, maybe a little too soft. But other than that-

My eyes suddenly buldge from my head as the aftertaste hits me, the same thing happening to Naruto. We both immediately spit it back out into the whole, coughing and hacking up anything left over.

"That was horrible!" Naruto chokes out.

"Worse than eating one of Shino's insects!" I cry out.

Once we get the taste out of our mouths, we look up and each other and start bursting out laughing.

"You're still a horrible cook!" I laugh.

"I'm still better than you!"

"In your dreams, Uzumaki!"

"No, in your dreams, Mizushima!"

We finally decide on just cooking up some quick instant ramen.

"Ya, this is much better," I say through a mouthful of noodles. Naruto's already on his second bowl. For someone who so small, he sure does eat a lot. I would even be willing to bet he eats about the same amount Choji does

"Mhmm," Naruto agrees. He seems to be rather intent on stuffing his face.

I was full after one bowl of ramen. But Naruto ate a total of five before he was satisfied. We were throwing away all of the scraps and trash when he started asking questions about why I was here.

"So, uh, not that I don't want you here or anything, but, um, why are you here? I mean, I know I asked you if you wanted to hang out tonight, but you said you probably couldn't because of your parents." Naruto says after throwing away his chopsticks.

I sigh and turn to him after putting my bowl in the sink. "My parents are ticked."

"Ya, I could tell from the way your parents looked in the Hokage's office. Not to mention the way your father pulled you away, totally uncool."

"Oh, I know right? And when I say they're ticked, I mean really, really ticked." I feel my fists clench, "They even-" I stop, remembering what my father told me.

"You can't tell anyone about this. Do you understand, Takara?"

I paused, debating on whether or not I should keep talking about it. Wait, what am I thinking? This is Naruto. He's my bestfriend. I can tell him anything.

"They even threatened to pull my from the ninja program," I finish.

"What!" Naruto exclaims, "They threatened to pull you!? As in, you wouldn't be a ninja anymore!?"

I nod and suddenly feel the urge to rant. "Ya! They were all upset about me leaving without telling them! Like I know they were worried, but still!"

Naruto sat back down at the table, "So, what happened when you got home?"

"Okay, my father was already yelling at me on the walk home, but he really started yelling whenever we got home. He was going on and on about how I wasn't ninja material and then my mother took my ninja stuff - even my katana! She was going to throw it all away! She said she never wanted me enrolled in the academy and then my father said he was going ot go talk to the Hokage and pull me from the ninja program-"

"That's bull!" Naruto interupted, "He can't just do that! It's your choice!"

"That's what I said, but he didn't listen! Neither of my parents were listening to me." I lowered my voice back down to regular volume, ignoring the warning going off in my head about telling Naruto what I was planning on telling him next. "Then, something weird happened. On the mission to the Land of Waves, whenever we were fighting Zabuza on the bridge, my eyes, like, glowed. At least that's what Sasuke said. I didn't think it was a big deal. I thought he just imagined it or something. But as soon as I mentioned it to my parents, they freaked out. My mother got all upset and went upstairs over it and my father went to talk to the Hokage."

"Is he pulling you from the program now!?" Naruto asks, alarmed.

"I don't know! They won't listen to me! I'll ask them questions and they'll ignore me! I don't even know why they're freaking out!" I groan in frustration and lean back in my chair so I'm looking at the ceiling. So many things could be going on right now. These could be my last moments of a ninja.

"Hey, Takara! Don't let him control you! You've got to stand up to your parents and tell them how badly you want to be a ninja!" Naruto encourages.

"I tried that, but like I said, they won't listen."

"Then we'll make them listen. They have to see for themselves how good you are."

"Naruto, I'm not even that good. I mean, I'm not horrible and I do have my strong points, but I don't know if that's enough to convience them to change their mind," I sigh.

"Then you're going to have to train harder. Come on, Takara! Don't give up on your dream!"

"Well what am I going to do if they do go to the Hokage and get me pulled? They don't realize that they're ruining my life," I groan and cover my face with my hands.

I hear the chair scrape back against the floor and footsteps. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up to see Naruto smiling at me.

"Don't worry, Takara. Remember when I told you about the Nine Tails inside of me?" I nod. "Well, you told me not to worry about it and that we would work it out. That's what I'm going to tell you now. We'll work it out. I'll be by your side. Don't worry, I'm sure your parents will pull through and keep you as a ninja. I've seen the way they are around you. They just love you."

I smile up at him. "Geez, Naruto. When did you get so smart?"

He puffs out his chest. "I've always been smart. I just choose not to waste it on school."

I roll my eyes. "Suuuuree." As soon as I say that, a yawn suddenly escapes from my mouth.

"I'm ready for bed," he yawns after me, stretching his arms over his head.

"Ya, me too," I agree, standing up from the table. We both make our way towards his room after shutting off the kitchen lights and that's when I realize something.

"Hey, Naruto. I didn't bring a sleeping bag or anything." Whenever we were younger and had sleepovers at each others houses, we always brought sleeping bags.

He stops, noticing the problem too. He doesn't have a couch or anything and his floor isn't carpet.

He shrugs. "I guess we could both sleep on the bed..."

"Are you sure?" I ask him. "I know it isn't that big."

"Ya, but neither are we. It'll be fine," Naruto explains as he shuts the bedroom light off and sits on one side on the bed.

"Thanks, Naruto. Again. Thanks for letting me stay here tonight. I just don't think I could spend it back at home."

"Ya, no problem," he says, but it doesn't really sound like he's paying attention. He lays down and just like that, he's out. Guess he was exhausted form the mission.

Suddenly, my brain seems to remember the mission and I finally realize how tired I am too. I slip under the covers next to him and soon enough, I'm passed out too.

(SKIP)

Like I've mentioned earlier, I like my sleep. I am not a morning person. So it doesn't shock me when I wake up and the clock shows that it is almost eleven.

I also notice that the bed is empty, meaning Naruto's gone. Which is weird because I know Naruto is no early riser either. He must of had a mission or training. Something ninja related. That would be the only thing that he would get up early out of bed for.

I yawn and throw the covers off, then neatly make his bed. I'm not exactly a neat freak, but if something is dirty right infront of me and it's easy to fix, I fix it.

I grab my bag and walk out into him kitchen, planning on writing him a note to thank him, yet again, for letting me stay the night. I think I'm going to go out and train for now. Even though Naruto and I have been friends for years, I don't want to feel like I'm overstepping my boundaries with staying at him apartment all day long.

But whenever I get into the kitchen, I find that there's a not already written. It's from Naruto.

Dear Takara,

You're still sleeping and I didn't want to wake you. I'm just telling you that I left around nine to go train with Sakura and Sasuke. It was suppose to be just Sasuke training, but Sakura invited herself, so I invited myself. Anyways, you can stay as long as you want. See you later!

Naruto

I smile and turn the paper around so I can write him a note back.

Dear Naruto,

I noticed you were gone when I woke up - which was around 11. Thanks for letting my stay last night, but I think I'm going to try to talk with my parents and sort things out later on today, so I probably won't be back. I hope you had fun at training. I'm going off to do some training of my own right night.

Takara

I leave his apartment and head into the woods closest to it. Ever since I got lost in the woods and Naruto meet me for the first time, he's shown my every way in and out of these woods.

I didn't want to go to my father and I usually training spot. I was afraid he might be looking for me and find me there. I'm actually surprised he didn't show up at Naruto's last night.

So I wandered around the woods for awhile, trying to find a decent sized, open training ground. I finally found one, but it already seemed to be occupied for a team of four. My first thought was Naruto's team, but once I looked at them for a while longer, I realized the seemed older.

There was three men and a women, or should I say: two boys, a girl, and a man. They were a ninja squad, no doubt about it. They looked close to my age, but since they weren't in the my class, I guessed they were a year or two older.

The man, who appeared to be their sensei, was cheering on one of the boys rather enthusiastically. Their sensei was tall and slender. He was wearing a green jumpsuit when the typically jounin jacket over it. He has on orange leg warmers and blue ninja sandals. His black hair is in a bowl cut and he has a rather blinding smile.

The boy he's praising looks exactly like him, exactly. The only difference is that the boy doesn't have a jounin jacket and isn't as tall. Other than that, his sensei and him and twins. He wears his Hidden Leaf headband around his waist.

The girl in the group has her brown hair up in two buns. Her bangs slightly run over her own Hidden Lead headband. She's wearing a pink, tight-fitting, sleevelesss shirt that is held together by three red bands on the front. She wears baggy green pants that go to the middle of her shin and blue ninja sandals.

The last boy reminds me of Sasuke. He has long brown hair and wears his forehead protector on his forehead, like the girl. He has on a tan shirt that is attched with three straps in the middle and black ninjs shorts. His right arm and leg are bandaged completely so you can't see any skin. Did he have a bad accident of something? He too, is wearing blue sandals.

I was going to turn around and head back through the woods, looking for another place to train, but one of their voices causes me to freeze.

"If you're done spectating us, you can come out now?" A smooth, deep voice says.

Oh shoot! They caught me. But how? I wasn't being loud at all. One of them must be a sensory ninja.

I smile sheepishly and step out from behind the bushes. "Sorry," I laug nervously, scratching the back of my neck, "I was looking for some ground to train on and ended up here. But as I can see, it's already occupied. '

"Oh, I know you!" Their sensei shouted, rather loudly.

I jumped and turned to their sensei. I was really hoping to just apologize then get out of here. "You do?"

"Of course! You're Yuri's daughter! I knew Yuri back when I was in the Academy! His team and my team where pretty close! Not to mention your sensei is Masaru!" Their sensei laughed as if that was the funniest thing in the world and I just stared at him, my sweat dropping.

"Uhh...how do you know that?" I ask hesitantly.

Their sensei places a hand on my shoulder and gives me a closed eyed smile. "Masaru's been bragging about his new team. Says that have some real potentenial."

That catches my interest. "Really?! Masaru-sensei said that?"

He sends a blinding smile my way and gives me a thumbs up. "You bet!"

"Uh, Gai-sensei?" A new voice says. So that's their sensei's name. His twin student steps forward. "Who is this girl?"

"Why I just told you, Lee! She's one of the new genin this year!" Gai-sensei pats me on the back like we're old friends.

The other boy, the one who pointed me out in the first place rolls his eyes. I just now notice that they're tha weird lavender color tht only belongs to the Hyuga clan. So he's realted to Hinata. "You claim you know her, but do you know her name?"

Their sensei opens his mouth, but pauses. He turns to me. "What's your name?"

"Takara. Takara Mizushima," I say slowly, debating on whether or not I really should've given it to him.

The boy scoffs and the girl turns to him. "You don't have to be so rude, Neji. She probably has a horrible first impression of you."

The boy, Neji crosses his arms. "Why would I care about what she think of me?"

"Tenten is right, Neji!" Lee steps in, "She was just looking for some training grounds."

"Riiiiiight," I say, taking a step back and evaluating the situation. "Ya, I was looking for traing grounds. It was great meeting you guys and all, but I think I should get back to that."

"Nonsense! If it's training grounds you're looking for, you can just stay here and train with us!" Gai-sensei exclaims like it's the best idea in the world.

"Gai-sensei!" Neji cries out in protest.

"Oh, come on, Neji! A little friendly competetion never hurt anyone! The more the merrier! Right, Lee!?" Gai-sensei gives his twin student a thumbs up and a smile.

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaims, returning the smile and thumbs up.

"Uh, that's not neccessary. I'm way behind you guys in training. I should-" I begin to back up, but Gai-sensei grabs my shoulder and brings me closer to the group.

"Okay!" He calls, "To start off this training session, I want twenty laps around the village!"

My eyes practically pop out of my head. My father and I ran around the village sometimes, but not that much. The most we ever did in a row was seven.

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee says enthusiastically. He seems to be the only one who's happy about it though.

"Get a move on! If you're not back in by one, all you four will have to climb the great stone faces!"

I blanch. I do have pretty good chakra control. But that's a long way up and it's pretty windy up there. Not to mention the huge stone that would be in our way.

He's trying to kill me.

So she ran into Gai's team! Lol. I decided this was going to happen pretty recently because Lee is a good match for her taijutsu and Neji jas his ocular jutsu...Anyways, there isn't much I have to say. Please keep reading and reviewing!