Crimson Stained

Chapter 25

An Interesting Day

"You three, I have very bad news…" Moyasu began, looking down at his three students. All three were worn out from helping around the village to rebuild the various places that had been destroyed in the attack a few days earlier.

"Can I soften the bad news with good news?" Nikushimi questioned. Moyasu felt his tense mood lighten a bit at Nikushimi's question.

"Go ahead." Moyasu nodded. Nikushimi grinned.

"I finally healed my hand! Although, it's not the prettiest hand in the world… it's completely healed though." Nikushimi announced, unwrapping her usual bandages from her once injured hand to show it to everyone. Nikushimi had not been lying when she said that her hand wasn't very pretty. Her hand was covered in viscous burn scars, giving the hand a grotesque appearance.

"That's good Nikushimi, I'm glad your hand is healed." Shogai whispered. He had been in the hospital for a day longer than Tatakau, but now he was fine. His throat was just raw. As it had turned out, the smoke from the various explosions and then him being thrown around had made things difficult on his throat and lungs, making his coughs more violent than usual.

"Did the medicine I had your mother give you help?" Moyasu asked Shogai. Shogai nodded.

"Yes, but I have to stay quiet for a few more days so that I don't cough and ruin the healing done on my throat and lungs." Shogai replied quietly. Moyasu nodded.

"Alright, now, any more good news? Or should I get to the bad news?" Moyasu asked, looking at all the students. When no one replied, Moyasu sighed.

"The attack was a sign of war. But all the nations are already at each other's throats, and war was declared. This is marking the start of another great war." Moyasu explained gravely. All three students looked at each other with widened eyes.

"War…" Tatakau muttered.

"It was feared it would come to this." Shogai agreed, somberly.

"Sensei, what's war like?" Tatakau suddenly questioned.

"It's… brutal. I… You guys won't be on the battlefield for the most part. You could still be sent on dangerous missions though. I'm going to be training you guys harder than usual, starting tomorrow. Today, I think we should just take it easy." admitted Moyasu.

"…War brings a lot of death." Nikushimi finally whispered. All attention suddenly turned to her. She looked up, a shadow covering her eyes.

"It does, but I'm your sensei. So you don't have to worry, I'll protect you Nikushimi. And you two also." Moyasu said, trying to comfort Nikushimi. Nikushimi clenched her fists.

"My dream is to protect everyone I care for. And war is a time of death. I will protect you guys. And Obito, and Rin. You don't have to worry about me, Moyasu-sensei." Nikushimi announced, determination burned in her eyes.

"I believe you, Nikushimi. But I'm going to protect you guys too." Moyasu ruffled Nikushimi's hair, much to her chagrin, "Now like I said, let's relax today. How about the hot springs?"

"It would be nice." Shogai agreed, Tatakau nodding beside him. Nikushimi frowned.

"But I would be in the womans bath. How about you three go, and I go find Obito and get him back on his senbon training with me since I haven't been able to teach him with a bad hand." Nikushimi suggested.

"It's a group bonding activity, just sit next to the fence in the woman's bath." Moyasu chirped.

"Eh, sensei, can I please go train with Obito? Please?" Nikushimi almost begged.

"Nope." Moyasu grinned, enjoying the torment on his only female student, "You have to come with us."

"But…" Nikushimi shuffled her feet and nodded.

"Great! Let's go!" Moyasu cheered and he led his three Genin towards the hot springs.

"You don't seem too happy about the hot springs, Nikushimi." Shogai murmured to Nikushimi. Nikushimi looked at her arms.

"I'm not comfortable around even my friends without these bandages, and don't I have to take them off to go in the hot spring?" Nikushimi replied, tugging at the bandage around her arm that was slipping.

"Why do you wear those bandages anyway?" Tatakau suddenly butted into their conversation. Nikushimi looked down at her feet.

"I'm not comfortable without them." she answered vaguely.

"What could you be hiding?" Tatakau questioned. Nikushimi frowned.

"Just drop it, Tatakau. Okay?" Nikushimi snapped. Tatakau went to retort, but a look from Shogai made him nod. The two boys hung back so that Nikushimi walked in front of them next to Moyasu.

"She's a very bold person normally." Shogai muttered to Tatakau.

"So why is she so worried about those bandages coming off? Why is she so insecure about it?" wondered Tatakau. Now, both boys had their interest piqued at Nikushimi's bandages. And what better time to find out what she hid under them, than at the hot springs?

Upon arriving, Nikushimi split from the boys and made her way into the female changing room. A few civilians were in the hot spring, and Nikushimi stood there awkwardly, looking around. Finally, she stripped herself of her tank top and shorts. Then she pulled off her underwear, leaving her covered in bandages.

Nikushimi stood there for what seemed like forever to her, debating on how to get out of the situation.

'I could make a run for it… but sensei might come and get me when they realize I'm not here…' Nikushimi thought. Finally, she grabbed a towel, pulled all her hair into a bun, and slowly entered the hot springs.

Sitting around in the hot springs gossiping were women, all gossiping with each other. Nikushimi slowly shuffled around the spring to the side that was up against the fence that separated the male bath from the female bath. She looked at the water, before looking at her bandages.

"You're not really going in like that, are you?" she heard a woman ask. Nikushimi blushed slightly, and she hugged her towel to her.

'Think of an excuse! Lie!' Nikushimi automatically thought.

"I recently had an injury, and I shouldn't remove the bandages. But the hot springs are good for the injury." Nikushimi lied smoothly. The woman who asked looked like she believed Nikushimi and turned back to her friends. Nikushimi breathed a sigh in relief and slowly touched the water with the tip of her toe. Then, deciding the warm water felt nice, she slowly slid into the bath.

"Bonding my ass." Nikushimi muttered to herself a few minutes later as she eyed the wall behind her, "I could leave and they wouldn't know until they got out." But the water did feel nice; Nikushimi was willing to admit, so she wasn't going to leave.

Meanwhile on the other side of the wall, Tatakau, Moyasu and Shogai sat in the water, thoroughly enjoying the hot springs.

"This feels great sensei!" Tatakau announced, turning to look at his sensei. Then, he felt himself resist the urge to facepalm.

"What the hell are you doing, sensei?" demanded Tatakau upon noticing his sensei, head to the wall peering through a hole.

"Are you a pervert, sensei?" Shogai questioned simply.

"No, I'm spying on Nikushimi." he retorted.

"So you're a pedophile instead." Tatakau concluded, Shogai nodding in agreement.

"No, I am not. I'm curious about the bandages, just as much as you two are." Moyasu huffed; too busy spying through the hole to really care about what his two students were saying. Tatakau and Shogai both looked at each other in realization.

"Sensei, you're a genius!" Tatakau stated, and both he and Shogai looked through the fence through holes they could find. Then all three found their eyes trained on Nikushimi.

Nikushimi sat in the water submerged to her chin as her strange red eyes watched everything around her carefully. Her long black, red and silver hair had been tied up in a bun.

"Can you see?" Shogai asked Tatakau, frowning because he couldn't see because of his glasses.

"No, she's in up to her chin." Tatakau huffed.

"Nikushimi is twelve, I wonder how her body is developing?" Moyasu wondered aloud. Tatakau and Shogai both threw their sensei irritated looks.

"Sensei! Stop being a pervert!" Tatakau almost yelled. However he kept his tone down so that the girls on the other side couldn't hear him.

"It's an honest question!" Moyasu defended himself, "I mean, look at the other women in there!"

"Pervert-sensei." huffed Tatakau, turning away from the wall.

"I am not a pervert! I am merely an observer and a curious person!" Moyasu argued, looking away from the peep-hole to glare at Tatakau.

"Pervert-sensei." Tatakau and Shogai both stated simultaneously.

"Like hell." retorted Moyasu, leaning against the fence. This was a bad idea. The weight from Moyasu, plus the weight of his two students, was too much for the fence. The fence fell over and Moyasu, plus the two Genin with him, both fell into the woman's bath where all the women screamed. Moyasu, Tatakau, and Shogai looked up when a shadow passed over them. Standing before them was Nikushimi, in her soaked bandages.

"Perverts." she accused them flatly.

"It's him who's the pervert!" Tatakau blamed Moyasu while pointing a finger at him.

"Like hell!" Moyasu repeated.

"You three are idiots." Nikushimi informed them before exiting the bath and entering the change room. Moyasu, Shogai and Tatakau shared a look.

"Damn, she's still wearing the bandages." Tatakau growled.

"Won't she change them when she goes inside so she doesn't have soaked bandages all day?" Shogai suggested. Moyasu grinned at Shogai.

"Great idea! We need to peek into the woman's changing room!" Moyasu announced, standing up and fixing the towel around his waist.

"You're going to be caught, Pervert-sensei." Tatakau informed Moyasu as he entered the hot spring building, sneaking through to the woman's area. Tatakau and Shogai followed behind him.

Inside, Nikushimi was having issues. She looked between the new roll of bandages and her soaking wet body.

'But all the women here will see if I change them here.' Nikushimi thought, biting her lip.

"Aren't you just the cutest thing!" Nikushimi suddenly heard before she was face to face with a middle-aged woman with bright red hair and a round face.

"Oh Nikushimi!" Nikushimi turned to see Uchiha Mikoto, Obito's aunt, smiling at her as she finished dressing.

"Oh? You know her Mikoto?" the red haired woman asked, looking down at Nikushimi.

"She's a friend of Obito's, Kushina." Mikoto informed her. The red haired woman's eyes suddenly sparkled.

"You're the girl Obito had me make a cake for!" Kushina realized before her smile widened.

"I'm Ketsueki Nikushimi." Nikushimi greeted her.

"I'm Namikaze Kushina. I'm Obito's sensei's wife." Kushina told Nikushimi cheerfully.

"Nice to meet you." Nikushimi replied brightly.

"What are you doing here by yourself Nikushimi? Usually someone brings a friend to chat with." Mikoto wondered. Nikushimi gave her a sheepish look.

"Um, I don't actually have any girl friends. And my teammates kind of made me, but Moyasu-sensei, Tatakau and Shogai are guys… so they were on the other side." Nikushimi explained.

"Moyasu?" Kushina repeated, before her eyes narrowed dangerously, "That pervert who's always peeping on the women's bath?"

"Yes." Nikushimi nodded, quite sure that Kushina was describing her sensei.

"Nikushimi, I'm curious. Why did you go in the bath with your bandages on?" questioned Mikoto. Nikushimi looked down at herself.

"I'm not comfortable even around my friends without my bandages with my clothes on, never mind a public bath." Nikushimi answered, looking down at her bandaged arms.

"I see. Well, there's a bathroom here you can change your bandages in." Mikoto suggested, pointing over to the door. Nikushimi smiled at her and hurried over to the door.

"She's so adorable." Kushina remarked to Mikoto. Mikoto smiled and nodded at her friend.

"She is, and from what I've heard, she's very determined." Mikoto added. As the two gossiped, Shogai, Moyasu and Tatakau made their move.

"This is a horrible idea, sensei." Shogai muttered as they entered the girls changing room, henged into girls. Moyasu grinned down at his student.

"It'll be fine." he admonished.

"Shogai is right." grumbled Tatakau, folding his arms across his chest, glaring down at himself and not liking the changes the henge gave him.

The three entered the changing room looking unsuspicious, that is until Kushina saw them. Her eyes narrowed in on Moyasu, having seen this trick from him before.

"Moyasu you pervert!" Kushina screeched, and Moyasu turned and paled upon seeing her.

'Oh, this is bad. Kushina just had to be here today!' Moyasu thought as Kushina dove towards him, driving her fist into his face. Moyasu was knocked out of his henge and onto the floor from the power the red-haired woman's punch had held.

"Sensei!" The two boys chorused, only watching as the red-haired woman continued to injure and yell at their sensei while he was down.

"Moyasu-sensei?" they heard and they turned to see Nikushimi in new, dry bandages and her clothes.

"Eh, Nikushimi, can you maybe… help me? Please?" Moyasu begged. Nikushimi was silent for a moment, before a grin came over her face.

'Revenge for making me come.' Nikushimi decided.

"Pervert-sensei." she stated as her grin turned to a smirk, before looking to Tatakau and Shogai, "You two are perverts too." The two boys removed their henges and quickly left the room before Kushina could beat them up. Then Nikushimi left, not caring that her sensei was being mauled by Kushina.

After leaving the hot springs, Nikushimi headed to the training field she and Obito shared. Shortly after arrived, Obito arrived. Nikushimi was glad that she had been just on time, even though Obito was late. It would have been embarrassing for her to get there after Obito.

"It feels like forever since we've trained with senbon." commented Obito. Nikushimi nodded.

"Yeah, I'll have to go over everything with you again if you don't remember. What were you doing?" questioned Nikushimi.

"I think I… I don't remember. So much has happened I haven't really thought about it." admitted Obito. Nikushimi nodded. A lot had happened since they had last practiced.

"Well, let's start you with throwing senbon from that log. Because I do think that you were taught how to throw them. Now throw them from that log." she ordered, pointing to the log he had first learned to balance on.

"I remember that log!" Obito announced, hoping onto it as Nikushimi handed him her senbon pouch. About a minute later, he threw a senbon at the bulls eye that Nikushimi had set up. He promptly fell off the log from the force him throwing the senbon had caused.

"…I also remember I hated this log."

Nikushimi didn't know why, but she laughed so hard it hurt.

When Nikushimi's training with Obito ended, she wasn't sure what she was going to do. Obito left because he had training with his team he was late for. Nikushimi sat at the training grounds, wondering what to do, when there was a fiery flash before her and her sensei appeared with a large grin on his face.

"Sensei?" Nikushimi questioned. Her sensei had a bandage around his head, most likely from where Kushina had beaten him.

"I forgot to mention this morning from all the excitement, but I got you someone to train you specially." Moyasu explained, holding a hand to the side of his head.

"Specially?" Nikushimi repeated, confused.

"I got someone who is a great ninja, but also can't use chakra. So I figured that she could help you." Moyasu elaborated.

"Really?" Nikushimi asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, we're supposed to meet her in… it's almost time to meet her!" Moyasu exclaimed looking at the sun to calculate the time, "Where did my day go?"

"The hospital maybe?" Nikushimi suggested. Moyasu gave his student a look.

"You could have helped me, you know." he deadpanned.

"It's your fault for being a pervert, sensei." huffed Nikushimi.

"Tatakau and Shogai were just as bad as me." Moyasu defended himself as they started towards the village. However the place they were meeting Nikushimi's new mentor was not a place Nikushimi wanted to be in.

"I can't go in." Nikushimi admitted to Moyasu, stopping in front of Randebu. Moyasu looked back at his student.

"Why not?" inquired Moyasu. Nikushimi shook her head.

"Akane was killed in there, and I didn't do anything to stop it. I can't face it." Nikushimi whispered. The friendly look of the café didn't look so friendly to Nikushimi anymore. All she could see now was a dreadful place full of death.

"You'll have to get over that fear, as a ninja you'll have to face death." Moyasu advised Nikushimi. Nikushimi shook her head.

"I don't mind facing death but, I want to protect those I care for! And I failed by Akane dying!" Nikushimi cried. A few people in the street paused to watch the spectacle, but one heated glare from Moyasu would send them on their way.

"You can't let Akane's death get you down. Besides, she died a painless death and you managed to stop Uragiri before anyone else was killed and you saved Obito." Moyasu reminded her.

"But, Akane died. I just stood there, I couldn't do anything! Don't you care she died? Didn't you like her sensei?" Nikushimi looked up at Moyasu. Moyasu ruffled her hair, giving her a small, sad smile.

"I did, I liked her. But I can move on, and so can you." Nikushimi was silent for a few minutes, before she started towards the door.

"This is my favorite place to eat." she murmured humorously, opening the door. Moyasu followed her in and Nikushimi's eyes landed on the new waitress, a busty blonde woman whose eyes were running over a magazine.

Moyasu and Nikushimi took a seat over in the corner. The waitress ignored them, and they sat in silence. About five or so minutes of silence later, the door opened and Tamashi entered. Upon seeing Moyasu and Nikushimi, she walked over to them. She sat down and looked between them.

"What's with the atmosphere?" she asked, shattering the silence while eyeing Moyasu's bandaged head with an amused look, "And what happened to your head?"

"It's nothing, so Tamashi, you're going to train Nikushimi right?" Moyasu responded, changing the topic. Tamashi looked to Nikushimi.

"Well, I can't really say I like kids that much. But, you seem like you're a decent kid. I'll train you as long as you can promise me a few things." Tamashi drawled.

"What are they?" questioned Nikushimi, looking at Tamashi curiously.

"One, you listen to me. No matter what. If I say something, I say it for a reason. We're entering a time of war, and I'll be damned if you get killed on my watch for doing something stupid. Two, don't be a little brat like all the other Genin. I don't give a shit about boys your age, I don't care about your clothes, complain about anything like that and I'm not going to be pleased. And three…" Tamashi explained harshly before pausing.

"And three?" Nikushimi inquired.

"You said that your dream was to protect your comrades, and you said you were willing to die for your comrades… Your dream is a good dream, promise me that you'll train for that dream and try your hardest to succeed that dream." Tamashi ordered. Nikushimi nodded.

"I promise," Nikushimi agreed, "But not because it's a condition for you to train me. I promise to protect those I care for, because I want to. Because I will, no matter what." Tamashi and Nikushimi stared at each other intently, and Moyasu stayed out of the conversation, eyeing the busty blonde waitress who had yet to come over and ask them what they wanted to order.

"Looks like I will be able to stand you after all, brat." Tamashi grinned. Nikushimi frowned, not pleased at the nickname.

"Brat?" she huffed.

"Brat isn't a good nickname for her, she's too nice to be a brat. Squirt is a better name because she's short." Moyasu argued lightly.

"I don't like either very much." Nikushimi muttered.

"Shush brat, Moyasu is about to get his ass kicked in an argument." Tamashi shushed Nikushimi before looking at Moyasu, "Like hell. All kids are brats."

"And your proof? Nikushimi is too nice to be a brat, brats are little assholes. Nikushimi can be mean at times, and she likes to scream back and forth with Tatakau, but she can be an angel at other times." Moyasu snorted.

"All kids are brats. Have you seen all the Genin these days?"Tamashi huffed.

"I have a Genin team, and the only student who could be a potential brat is Tatakau, but that's because he's an Uchiha and it's in their blood." Moyasu dismissed.

"Like hell." Tamashi growled. Meanwhile, Nikushimi toned the argument out, looking out the window.

This sure was going to be interesting, wasn't it?

AN

So, Tamashi and Moyasu… fun people.

Fun Fact- Moyasu is a bit of a pervert, he's not afraid to announce his thoughts either. Even in a fight he'll announce his thoughts on the female he is facing.

I myself liked some of the chapter, but got lazy at some points. I should be doing AP homework now… buuuuuut, procrastination is my life. Also, check out my YouTube! I've got one video on there as of now... Link is on my profile.

Sayonara!