The Melody of the Fox
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.
Chapter 25
"Oi, chibis, speed it up! If you keep running that slow, I'll say you were cheating!" Anko yelled, flipping through her magazine in boredom. She looked up long enough to see if they had increased their speed any, and satisfied that they actually had, returned to her choice of reading material.
The large umbrella above her perfectly shielded her from the blisteringly hot sun, keeping her from being scorched by its unforgiving rays. The hesitant shuffling of someone approaching drew her from her reading, and glancing out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the young grandson of Tazuna holding a large glass out to her.
"U-um, Anko-san...h-here's your lemonade," he murmured, cheeks colored a deep red. The oversized bucket cap that he wore was pulled low over his eyes, perfectly masking which way his eyes were looking -- at least to the unskilled observer.
Unfortunately, for the boy, she was far from unskilled.
Casually adjusting the strap of her bikini bottoms, she pulled down her shades and shot the boy a seductive smile. "Thank you so much, Inari-kun. You've been really helpful!" she said, playfully patting the boy's hat covered head.
Inari audibly gulped and nodded. "Do...d-do you want anything else?" he stuttered, fidgeting nervously under her mischievous gaze.
Anko placed a delicate finger on her chin in thought. "No, I'm fine. But how about you take a seat right here next to me?" She patted the small, empty area on the beach chair with an enticing smile. Unsurprisingly, the boy instantly appeared at her side, causing an even wider smile to appear on the jounin's face. Kids were so cute when they had a crush. Speaking of kids with crushes...
Her eyes unwittingly rolled towards the redhead sprinting along the beach. Tayuya had all the classic signs of a girl with a crush; constant staring, jealousy when talking to other girls, and just always wanting to be around the object of her affection.
Then again, she thought with a frown, those were also the signs of a person who had never had a true friend before. Shrugging her shoulders, she leaned back in her chair and returned to her magazine, resolving to think about such troublesome things another time.
Noticing the woman's relaxed pose, Tayuya scowled with animal ferocity. "Look at that bitch, drinking lemonade under an umbrella while we're over here sweating our asses off!" she panted, legs burning with exertion. She and Naruto had been running suicides up and down the beach for the past twenty minutes, and looking at her asshole of a sensei, it did not look like she felt guilty at all about making them kill themselves.
Normally, twenty minutes of suicides would not have been such a big deal. Hell, she could run them backwards if she had to. However, running twenty minutes of suicides in hot sand, under the blazing hot sun, with twenty pounds of added weight to each limb, was nothing short of abuse bordering on torture. She immensely regretted asking to have their weights upgraded by another five pounds the day before.
Although she had never used training weights prior to this training trip, she was surprised to find that they were ridiculously easy to adapt to. Just slip on the training bracelet, snap in a five-pound bar or two, and then wait a week or so to add another. After moving from five to ten pounds in a week and ten to fifteen pounds in two more, she and Naruto both had felt they were ready to upgrade to twenty only five days after that -- hence their current predicament.
Anko had been vehemently against them adding so much weight so fast, claiming that they would only injure themselves by being impatient. Fed up with the constant bickering and fighting between the three shinobi, Jiraiya had proposed a contest; if they could run suicides for thirty minutes straight with the twenty pounds added on, they'd be allowed to continue wearing them. If not, they would have to wait until the jounin deemed them ready before they could move up again. While the idea had seemed fair at the time, the two genin had quickly realized just how badly they had been screwed over.
"C'mon, Tayuya-chan, it's only five more minutes! Hang in there!" Naruto grunted, chest heaving with exertion. Tayuya tugged angrily at the black forearm sleeves concealing her weights, wishing more than anything at that moment that she could drop the both of them right here and now. Every time they took a step, their feet would automatically sink into the soft, loose sand of the beach, making it that much harder for them to run. Moreover, since the sun's rays had already heated the sand, it felt as though she was putting her bare feet into the burning embers of a dying campfire.
Suddenly, the kunoichi became painfully aware that Naruto was beginning to go faster; or, to be more accurate, that she was beginning to go slower. Her legs felt like lead, and she was certain that her heart was two seconds away from bursting into little, slimy bits.
"I can't make it! Not everyone has monstrous stamina like you, you know!" She glared at the back of his head, watching as he steadily pulled ahead of her. "Some of us have to be content with being normal humans!" Her frown deepened as he continued to move ahead of her, completely ignoring her words. "Oi!" Rather than answer her, he turned his head and flipped her off, angering the redhead further. What ever happened to friendship? Going down while fighting together? He was planning to upgrade his weights without her! "You mother--"
Using all of her remaining strength, she sprinted until she was neck and neck with the jinchuuriki, intent on kicking his ass at that moment. She felt hurt, betrayed, and pissed off, but most of all, she felt absolutely exhausted.
Her knees instantly began to buckle, and despite noticing that the ground was coming towards her at an alarmingly fast pace, she was barely aware that she was falling. Before she could land face first into the sand, a pair of strong, warm arms enveloped her, saving her from receiving a mouth full of sand. His relieved face suddenly appeared in front of her, eyebrows furrowed together with exertion.
"We made it, Tayuya-chan. Thirty minutes, without a doubt." To prove his point, Naruto lowered his watch to her face, showing her that it was currently thirty-one and a half minutes past the time they had started. Her eyes widening, she looked up into his mischievously dancing orbs with surprise.
"You bastard! You knew I'd try to kick your ass!" she breathed heavily, a smile spreading across her face despite her ire.
He matched her grin with one of his own. "Of course; I know everything about you." Just as quickly as it had come, her smile disappeared. She hesitantly averted her gaze, face shifting into an expression he had never seen her wear before.
"If you knew everything about me, I doubt you'd be touching me right now." The blond blinked down at her in confusion. Just as he was about to ask what she meant, Anko appeared behind them, clapping her hands to get their attention.
"Okay, okay, break up the love fest. You win; you can keep your weights at twenty pounds. Though, after all that running, I wouldn't be surprised if you were nearly used to them by now." At the positively evil grin on the woman's face, both Naruto and Tayuya's faces fell into realization. They had been fooled.
Although she was tired, thirsty, and on the verge of passing out, she still managed to form one last sentence before fatigue overtook her:
"...I fucking hate you."
--
For the fifty-third time in a row, Naruto formed the five handseals required to perform the ikazuchi no dageki, and for the fifty-fourth time in a row, he failed.
"Looks like your only affinity is wind after all," Jiraiya murmured, scribbling something down in his notepad. "With some practice and better chakra control, you may be able to perform earth and water jutsus, but fire and lightning jutsus are most definitely out." He glanced over his notes and smirked, turning his gaze on the redhead watching from her spot next to Anko on the beach. "It's funny now that I think about it; Tayuya shows considerable talent in earth, fire, and lightning jutsus, but completely lacks skill in both wind and water. If you two stick together, you'll have all five elements covered." He paused for a second, smirking as he put together his next sentence. "In other words, you two complement each other perfectly."
In a rare show of intelligence, Naruto instantly noticed the double meaning of the man's statement. He scowled deeply, eyes narrowing into slits as he stared up at Jiraiya. "Tayuya-chan and I are friends; I'm in love with Sakura-chan, remember?" he asked, the question coming out as more of a statement.
Annoyingly enough, the man's smile only widened. "What are you talking about? I didn't say you weren't friends. All I said was that you two made a great team; you're the yin to her yang, the dawn to her dusk, the peanut butter to her jelly, the--"
"Minato to her Kushina?" Anko cut in, striding up to them in a pair of shorts and a bikini top. Jiraiya's eyes immediately shot over to the jounin, displeasure evident on every feature of his face. She shrugged innocently, eyes twinkling with poorly contained mischief. "Hey, I couldn't think of anything else. Sue me."
Naruto glanced from Jiraiya to Anko uncomfortably, instantly taking notice of the tense atmosphere that had developed between them. "Who and who?" he asked, attempting to calm things down a bit.
Never removing his gaze from the woman in front of him, the man answered. "Two characters from one of my books. Apparently, Anko here is a fan." When she rolled her eyes in disgust, he waved a hand towards the redhead still watching curiously from under the beach umbrella. "Naruto, go tell Tayuya the results of your training."
He didn't have to be told twice. The words were barely out of the sannin's mouth before he was already jogging towards his teammate, glad to be away from the death match that would undoubtedly take place as soon as he had left.
"What do you think you're doing?" Jiraiya snapped; face showing not even a hint of amusement. "Before we started this mission, Tsunade and I both made it clear to you that Naruto's lineage was not to be revealed to anyone until he was ready; not even himself."
The twinkle in her eyes was gone, replaced by a mixture of disappointment and anger towards the Sannin. "And when is that supposed to be?"
"Whenever I say it is."
Exasperated, Anko crossed her arms under her chest, unable to believe the bullshit logic he was using to address the situation. "How do you think Naruto's going to feel when he learns that you've known who he and his parents were all along? Don't you think he would feel hurt? Betrayed? He may never want to see your face again!"
Jiraiya shifted his gaze towards the teenagers. "Keep your voice down. What he thinks of me is after the fact. Right now, it is for his own good. The last thing we need is for him to let slip that he's the Fourth's son. For the time being, he only has the Akatsuki on his ass, but if Iwa and Kumo catch wind of his hidden lineage, they'll be after his head as well. Do you really want to put him -- no, strike that, them -- in that kind of danger?"
Her eyes never wavered for a second, continuing to bore into the older man's as she expressed her displeasure with the situation. "Do I have a choice?"
"Not unless you want to be locked up for revealing village secrets."
Her frown deepened in disgust. "He'll find out eventually. I figured out his identity the first time I saw him, and although they don't act like it, I know some of the other villagers have as well. Minato was well known and liked while he was alive, and the older Naruto gets, the more he begins to look like his father. You can't hide it forever, and when the shit hits the fan -- and believe me, it will -- I'm going to be one of the people saying 'I told you so'." With that, she turned on her heel to walk back towards the teens, easily schooling her face into one of neutrality.
Jiraiya watched her go with an obviously displeased frown. He couldn't refute any of her points; Yes, Naruto deserved to know who his parents were, and yes, the boy would be pissed as hell when he finally did find out. However, he was also right.
Only he knew exactly how angry Iwa still was about the war. Even though it had happened over fifteen years ago, most -- if not all -- of the village held a bloody grudge against Konoha. Or, to be more specific, against the Fourth Hokage.
He had no doubt that Iwa would instantly attack the village if they found out about Naruto, despite having overall lower numbers and skill than Konoha. Luckily, it wouldn't be that big of a deal since the combined power of Suna and Konoha would easily crush the Hidden Stone.
However, if Kumo joined the war, that fact could easily put them all on equal footing. Their numbers were not especially large, but according to his data network, they housed two especially strong shinobi; so strong, in fact, that they were rumored to be jinchuuriki. While Konoha and Suna had a jinchuuriki each, there was no telling how much more skilled Kumo's were as compared to theirs. It was a risk he was just not willing to take.
His frown deepened considerably as he remembered another one of his many mission objectives. Infiltrating Kumogakure was not that big of a deal; the hard part was what came after that. Sighing deeply, he ran a tired hand through his hair, staring up at the sky in an attempt to clear his mind. There was no use worrying about all of this now; he was a man who prided himself on being relaxed and poised at all times, and he'd be damned if he let Anko's irresponsibility get in the way of that.
"What's up?" Tayuya asked as Anko approached. "You guys sounded like you were about to beat the shit out of each other or something."
The jounin's eyebrows shot up into her forehead. "You actually heard us?"
She slowly shook her head, wondering if she should tell Anko the truth or not. She could probably worm out a bit more information if she lied and said that she had heard something. "Only bits and pieces. Between me and Naruto, we figured out that whatever the fuck it was concerned him," she said, choosing her words carefully. She knew a little more, but didn't want to give up too much -- at least not until she had a bit more info to barter with.
"I'm surprised you guys got that much. We were at least a few dozen feet away, and the sea is pretty damn loud, too. You have good ears." She bent down to pick up her gear, tossing the items into the knapsack that she had borrowed from Tsunami. As she stood up to leave, she glanced over her shoulder to shoot Tayuya an evil smirk. "Nice outfit, by the way. Glad to see you've become comfortable with showing off what Kami-sama gave you."
Predictably, the redhead immediately closed in on herself, covering as much of her torso as possible. Although she was wearing a bikini top and shorts like Anko, it was obvious that she wasn't quite as confident about it as she had initially seemed. The girl looked over to see if her teammate had noticed, only to find the boy uncharacteristically lost in thought.
"Minato..." he murmured, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, "Why does that name sound familiar?" Confused, Tayuya tilted her head as she too tried to remember where she had heard the name, unconsciously allowing her body to relax into its original position.
"Minato? Isn't that the name of the Fourth Hokage?"
Naruto's eyes instantly widened in excitement, and he turned to her with a positively glistening smile. "You're right! That's where I've heard the name before! I remember Iruka-sensei mentioning it a few times when I was actually paying attention in class." His smile dimmed a bit as he remembered something important. "Then, who's Kushina? She's somehow related to the Fourth if what Anko said was right, and Ero-sennin seemed really upset when she brought them up." The girl scrunched her face up in thought, but she disappointingly failed to put a face to the name.
On the bright side, she had gained a little more information. Whatever they had been talking about obviously involved the Fourth Hokage, this Kushina person, and Naruto. Filing this information away for later, she stood to her feet and brushed off the excess sand on the seat of her shorts. "Don't know; anyway, we should probably head up to the house, too. It's getting late." The blond slowly nodded his head, following her up the wooden path leading to their temporary home.
--
Easily ducking under a particularly pathetic swing by her teammate, Tayuya frowned and hit him -- quite powerfully -- on top of his head with the edge of her wooden bokuto. The poor blond fell to the ground, desperately clutching his throbbing head in pain.
For her part, Tayuya was pissed. He just wasn't getting it! Instead of doing what both she and Anko had told him, he seemed insistent on emulating a move he had seen on that shitty sword-fighting cartoon he liked to watch so much. She barely noticed that the thinner her patience became, the harder she was starting to hit him.
The style Orochimaru used really wasn't that hard to learn; There were only five basic stances and twelve different forms that they knew of, all of which were open to personal interpretation. While learning the stances went well enough, the forms seemed to be giving them problems.
Or, to be more accurate, they were giving Naruto problems. She sighed and viciously scratched at her hair, wondering how to go about teaching the idiot how the style worked. Unfortunately, both Jiraiya and Anko were out shopping for supplies, so she couldn't ask either one of them for help. She was on her own.
"Look, watch me; play close attention to how low my center of gravity is, and if you don't get something, feel free to stop me at anytime. Okay?" she instructed, doing her best to keep the anger from spilling into her voice. The blond slowly nodded his head. At least he was being obedient, even if he did suck with a sword.
Tayuya settled into the first stance, spreading her legs wide and holding her bokuto above her head facing her opponent. Her arm was bent at a perfect ninety degree angle, and her other hand clasped the empty area where her sheath would be had she had a real sword.
Before he could blink, the girl stabbed the sword forward and brought it back, impaling her invisible opponent with absolute precision. She then released the sword in mid-air, spinning quickly to catch the weapon with her left hand and bringing the sword around for a deadly swipe across her opponent's torso, finishing the job in case he'd somehow managed to survive her first attack. Her breath came out in perfectly timed huffs, and smirking slightly to herself, began to settle into the second form of the first stance. This one was a little tricky, and --
"That was fucking awesome!" A shrill voice screamed, instantly breaking her concentration. She averted her eyes towards the hill of sand overlooking their training area, woefully unsurprised to see the troublesome trio staring back at her. Her eye twitched in annoyance at the word troublesome; the last person she wanted to remember was that pineapple-headed brat who called himself a shinobi.
"Aiko!" a second, older male voice yelled in horror, "Watch your mouth! How many times have I told you not use words you pick up from that harlot?!"
Tayuya's jaw dropped. Harlot?! She was a lot things: violent, ruthless, a bitch; but a harlot wasn't one of them. Clenching her weapon tighter in her small hands, she purposefully marched up the hill towards the dark-haired teen glaring back down at her.
"You say something?!" she seethed, pushing her face as close as she could to his. She reveled in the fact that the boy -- otherwise known as Musashi -- wavered slightly under her glare. It amused her that such a supposedly tough guy could be intimidated by a girl three-quarters his size; and she wasn't even releasing any killing intent!
A small, exasperated voice quickly cut into their staring match. "Quit it, Musashi! She's Naruto-nii-chan's friend, and you promised you'd be nice if I let you meet him. Remember?"
The teenager huffed, staring down at Inari with indignation. "That was before she corrupted my little sister." The sneer he regarded her with pushed her dangerously close to the edge.
When they'd first started training here, she didn't mind having an audience; when it only consisted of Inari. She'd even go as far as to say that she liked having him around -- and that was a pretty big compliment coming from her, considering that she preferred to train without the distraction of having someone watching. He was pretty helpful as far as brats went, bringing them food and water from the house when they were far too tired to do it themselves. The only downside was that he was an avid Anko fan, something she still couldn't understand.
Soon, however, he began to bring a young, dark-haired girl from his class with him to visit. Aika had initially wanted to meet 'The Great Hero Naruto,' but annoyingly enough, she'd become more entranced by Tayuya herself; something that still mystified her to this day. The grade schooler had followed her around every chance she got, rambling on about how cool she was and how she wanted to be just like her when she grew up -- which, admittedly, helped to swell her head a bit. Despite the mild annoyance of never having any time to herself or with Naruto, she decided it was a fine trade-off for her own personal cheering section.
Angrily adjusting her sleeve-covered arm weights, she began to think about when he'd first arrived. Apparently, Aika's language had taken a turn for the worst at home, so being the responsible big brother that he was, he started to accompany his little sister on her visits to the beach.
Also being the idiot that he was, he'd first assumed that she'd picked up her language from Naruto -- which was, she had to admit, a fair assessment given the situation. It had admittedly been amusing to watch the teen follow Naruto around like a hawk, but once he'd realized that she was the reason for Aika's bad language, things had taken a turn for the worse.
The bastard never left her alone! Every time she so much as burped he was there, chiding her for one stupid thing after another. It was getting to the point where she was actually afraid to even swear for fear of him bitching and moaning about how society was doomed because she was spreading her foul language amongst the younger generation; including his sister.
She was certain that she'd never met anyone more infuriating in her life. Sure, Kidomarou pissed her off with his constant pranks and the fatass Jirobou annoyed her with his constant sweating and huffing, but they weren't even close to the amount of anger this lowly civilian managed to instill in her on a daily basis. The fucker just didn't make any sense!
She couldn't, for the life of her, understand why he kept bringing his sister back every single day, despite knowing that the grade schooler would pick up one or more of her most colorful phrases. The level of his stupidity even surpassed -- dare she say it -- Naruto's!
Unable to take it any longer, she held the sword up in her right hand. "This," she said, nodding towards the long piece of wood, "is going up your ass." If she weren't so angry, she might've found his expression hilarious. Before she could make good on her threat, Naruto quickly slipped his arms underneath hers and pulled her backwards, literally saving the boy's ass.
Unfortunately, this didn't sit too well with her. "Let me go! I've had it with this asshole!" she screamed, fighting in his grip. She struggled for a few more seconds, but after realizing that his hold was annoyingly solid, settled for shooting the older teen a venomous glare. The glare seemed to work on the two grade schoolers standing next to them, as they wisely took a cautious step back.
However, some people just never learn.
"Ha! That's just like a woman, all talk and no action! Just like I thought; only a man can be a real ninja! Why don't you give up and do what you were born to do; take care of men!" The air surrounding them became noticeably tense. The blond's face became comically horrified as he stared at the dark-haired boy, unable to believe the words that had spewed from the idiot's mouth.
Shifting his gaze from Musashi to Tayuya, Naruto put on a nervous smile. "Ah...Tayuya-chan? What do you say we call it a day? It's getting late, and --"
"Naruto." The way she spoke sent chills up his spine. He'd only had the displeasure of hearing this particular tone of voice once, and hearing it again brought back painful memories of foot-to-balls induced trauma. "Let me go." When he didn't let go, she channeled her chakra into her arms and literally wrenched herself out of his grasp. As he was forced to release his hold on the girl's arms, he shot a wide-eyed stare towards the soon-to-be deceased civilian and mouthed one simple word:
'Run.'
The words had barely left his mouth before the redhead was on the poor young man, her fists a blinding typhoon of anger and hate as they descended upon his much larger frame. As blood began to appear on the girl's fists, the boy's screams gradually became less and less until there was nothing but horrified silence on the hill.
--
"No trips into town, no visitors, and outside of training, you're confined to your room for as long as we're in the Wave Country."
Tayuya's jaw dropped open in shock as she stared up at the purple-haired woman. "What?! This is bullshit! He started it! Ask Naruto, it wasn't my fault!"
Anko sighed angrily, pinching the bridge of her nose with a forefinger and thumb. "You beat the boy into a coma, Tayuya! God, are you even aware of how serious this is?! It's one thing to get into a fight with a shinobi or bandit, but to get into an altercation with a civilian? And a teenage boy no less?! You were wearing thirty pounds on each arm! You could have killed him!" She angrily chewed on her bottom lip, glaring down at the genin sitting on their temporary living room couch. "If it weren't for both Tazuna and Naruto vouching for you, they could have locked you up for something like this!"
Tayuya glared up at the woman in frustration. Was she even listening? She'd put up with the boy's shit for weeks; longer than she'd ever put up with anyone in her entire life! Shit, they were lucky she didn't wring the ugly fucker's neck like she'd originally planned! What was the big deal? He didn't look that particularly bad off when they'd taken him away, and she'd seen plenty of people come back from much worse injuries. Granted, they were all shinobi, but that hardly made a difference. Even shinobi were human.
The girl's face hardened into a scowl. "If I was still with Orochimaru, this shit wouldn't have even been brought up." The temperature in the room noticeably dropped ten degrees. She regarded Tayuya with an ice cold stare, mouth drawn into a tight line of anger.
"If you think you're better off with him, go ahead and leave. I'll kill you before you can take even one step outside." The air in the room seemed to get even thinner as the kunoichi held each other's glare. Except for the occasional blink, neither one of them moved.
Finally, after nearly a full minute of silence, Tayuya stood to her feet to stare directly up into the jounin's eyes, face barely five inches away from the older woman's. "Fuck you." She turned and stomped her way up the stairs, making sure to slam the door after she had entered her room.
She was surprised to find that her heart was threatening to burst out of her chest; a feeling she'd come to associate with being within two feet of Orochimaru. While she'd like to think that she could escape the house if she really wanted to, she wasn't completely sure. Anko was the famous snake sannin's apprentice for awhile, and she'd never really seen the woman fight outside of training. It was quite possible that she did, in fact, possess the skills to make good on her threat.
She plopped down on her futon in an attempt to get her temper under control. Despite her earlier statement, she really didn't want to go back to her former leader. Not only had the bastard tried to kill her, but Naruto...
Her mouth twisted into a grimace at the thought of her knuckleheaded teammate. She couldn't imagine what he'd do if she decided to return to Orochimaru's side. He'd already lost one close friend to the man, and losing her might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. She could see it in his eyes every time they spoke; he trusted her. Trusted her to always be there for him no matter what the circumstances. It was the first time anyone had ever really relied on her, and she wasn't sure if she could forgive herself for letting him down like that.
She felt her eyebrows draw together in annoyance. No wonder shinobi laws discouraged becoming attached to others. Having friends really did make you weak. A deep sigh forced its way out of her throat as she realized that it was too late to do anything about it now. A deeper sigh escaped her as she realized that she wouldn't do anything about it even if she could. Naruto had already manage to sink his claws into her a long time ago, and admittedly, just the thought of him not being there at all was enough to make her heart give a painful lurch in her chest.
"What do I do now?" she murmured to herself. Of course, she already knew the answer to this question; behave like a good little girl until her sentence was over. Her face dropped into another scowl at the thought of submitting to Anko's whims so easily. It wasn't her fault the pussy couldn't take a few punches, and it wasn't like he'd died or anything. As far as she was concerned, it was rightful justice for all the torment she'd endured since the bastard had arrived. Her body tensed up as the familiar feeling of someone approaching reached her senses. She hesitantly watched as one Uzumaki Naruto opened and closed the door behind him, a tired smile marring his normally energetic face.
"Hey, Tayuya-chan," he chirped, voice sounding a little more forced than usual. His normally perfect posture was obviously stooped, giving him the appearance of an old man with far too many troubles.
She felt her heart lurch again at his defeated form, feeling the beginnings of guilt beginning to pour into her soul. "Hey yourself." She winced lightly at how badly the words had come out. "So...how is he? Musashi, I mean." The brief flash of pain on his face told him all that she needed to know. "That bad, huh?" she asked, lowering her eyes towards her lap.
Noticing her depressed attitude, he quickly straightened up and waved his hands out in front of him. "He's fine, really! The doctors say he'll wake up in a few days; a week tops. In fact, they say he should be good as new in about a month. It's just that..."
The way he bit off his sentence alarmed her, and she snapped her eyes back up to his face. "What?"
"...Well, I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to go into town for awhile. Actually...maybe we should just hang out around the house for a couple of weeks. We've been to the beach every day since we got here, so it might be nice to take it easy indoors for a change." Tayuya's eyebrows arched in surprise. Anko had said nearly the same exact thing not even fifteen minutes ago, leaving her wondering how much the woman had said was out of concern for her safety as opposed to just being an over reactive bitch.
Glancing at his expression, she winced at the uncharacteristic seriousness he was regarding her with. "Are you mad at me?" she hesitantly asked, her eyes boring into his for an answer. The strained look she'd seen on his face earlier reappeared as he considered her question.
"I'm not mad," he started slowly, plopping down on her futon next to her, "But I'm kind of...disappointed. I didn't think you were like that anymore, you know?" With each word that left his lips, the redhead felt as if he was driving a metal stake deeper and deeper into her body.
"I'm not like that anymore! He just kept pushing and pushing me and I kept getting madder and madder and then I -- well, hit him." She was a bit amazed that she was actually explaining herself -- and to Naruto of all people! But she wanted him to understand her; he had to understand her. And in that regard, she wasn't let down.
A small, relieved smile stretched across his face. "I believe you," he said, instantly putting her fears to rest, "It's just that sometimes, I get worried about you. I know you had to give up a lot when you became a Konoha shinobi -- and a genin, no less -- and sometimes, I feel like you might want to go back to how you were before. Like, back to being a feared, high-ranking shinobi who didn't have to worry about things like holding back or being careful of peoples' feelings." If she thought his previous disappointment hurt, his last statement had killed her.
Did he really think of her that way? That she'd willingly go back to her old life for a little power? What else did he think about her? How much did he know exactly? What wasn't he telling her? She placed a frustrated hand against her forehead, attempting to stop the stream of questions running through her mind. She needed to use her brainpower for better things right now.
"You're right, I did give up some things when I become a shinobi of your village. But you know what? I got a whole lot more. For one, I got my legs back. I also gained a new perspective on life, happiness, some people who actually give some sort of a shit about me, and...a really good friend. A friend that I hope can trust me when I say that I'll never go back to being the person I was before, and a friend that I plan to one day tell all the things I've never told anyone else."
By the end of her speech, her eyes had quickly drifted from his eyes to the hands resting in her lap. There was no way she could say such embarrassing things while looking into those large blue eyes of his. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, and she was certain that even her toes were blushing by now. Then it happened. The feeling of two arms wrapping around her both surprised and scared her, but she instantly forced herself to relax in his embrace.
"Thanks," Naruto mumbled, leaning his chin over her shoulder. Oddly enough, she found the hug to be, well, comfortable. She leaned more heavily into his body, allowing her head to also rest gently on his shoulder. Her last coherent thought was that despite her earlier misgivings, hugs were actually kind of nice.
--
"Checkmate. I win. Again," Tayuya grinned. "That makes twelves games in a row; are you sure you don't want to give up?"
Naruto frowned deeply, mouth twisted into a thoughtful scowl. "One more." The redhead lifted her eyebrows at the simple declaration but shrugged her shoulders, already resetting the chessboard with practiced skill.
"Sure, why the fuck not? I'm still on house arrest, so it's not like I have anything better to do." She sighed sadly, glancing out the window at the beautiful blue sea below them. It'd only been a couple of weeks, but she was already missing the cool, refreshing water of the sea. They were forced to train in either the woods or beach directly behind the house; mostly because of the people periodically stopping by to voice their...complaints for her thorough beat down of one of their own.
The first day after the incident had been especially bad. There were at least two dozen people crowded outside the gates of the summer home, all of them demanding a piece of the culprit. In a surprising show of people skills, Naruto had been able to talk them down, using words she didn't even think he'd heard before to defend her name. Though she'd never admit it, he had actually looked kind of cool; it was almost like getting a sneak peek of the new Hokage.
Of course, after they'd seen that it was a fifteen year old girl who had put the boy into a coma, their displeasure had quickly turned into a mixture of astonishment and embarrassment.
She could understand why; At four foot ten and ninety-eight pounds soaking wet, she didn't look particularly threatening. Especially when the boy she'd fucked up was nearly six feet tall and weighed every bit of one hundred and eighty pounds.
"Your turn," Naruto murmured, drawing her from her thoughts. She blinked and stared down at the board, surprised that they'd both already made five moves each.
She couldn't remember making any of them, and shaking her head, randomly moved one of her pawns towards the opposite side of the board. Even if she wasn't paying attention she could still beat --
"Checkmate!" Tayuya's jaw dropped in surprise. Quickly surveying the board, her face morphed into one of dread as she realized that she'd practically given him the win on a silver platter. Her last move had left her king entirely trapped and undefended, allowing him to easily place his queen in a position to make the kill.
Eyes narrowing, she immediately set about rearranging the board, intent on regaining her winning streak. Before she could make one move, however, Anko's voice wafted from the first floor of the house.
"Taya-chan, you have a visitor!" she yelled, a hint of amusement in her voice.
Raising her eyebrows in surprise, the kunoichi stood to her feet, shrugging lightly at Naruto's curious stare. "How the fuck should I know? I'm not supposed to be allowed to have visitors; not that anyone would want to see me anyway." The blond frowned at her statement, earning himself another shrug. "What? It's true. Be right back."
She exited the room and slowly walked down the stairs, curious as to who the hell would want to pay her a visit. Her question was answered as soon as she reached the last step, and widening her eyes, she stared in surprise at the person waiting for her."...Musashi?!"
Anko smirked and walked off into the living room, leaving the teenagers alone in front of the door. "Make sure you apologize properly, Taya-chan!" Tayuya scowled at the woman's back, using her middle finger to pull down her lower eyelid as she stuck out her tongue.
"Vulgar as usual," the young man sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.
Her frown deepened. "Did you want something?" Despite what Naruto had told her before, she wasn't expecting him to look quite this bad. The skin on his face that she could actually see was discolored with bruises and cuts, and the amount of bandages covering his head were astounding. In fact, he vaguely reminded her of Orochimaru when he'd first transferred into that random underling's body.
The teenager motioned for her to follow him outside, holding the door open so that she could step through it first. Although his face was a horrid mess, the rest of his body seemed to be perfectly fine.
"I don't need you to hold the door open for me; besides, how do I know you won't try to stab me in the back or something?" Not that it was possible. She'd impale him with his own knife before he even had a chance to pull it from his pocket.
"Hey, I'm just doing what my mother taught me -- even though you're not exactly a girl." While most females her age would be insulted by the comment, Tayuya felt an odd sense of pride welling up within her. The further she was from a normal girl, the better; at least in her opinion.
Shaking his head, he led her down from the house to the beach, being sure to keep a cautious eye on the kunoichi walking behind him. While he was confident that she wouldn't beat him up again, he also wasn't stupid. As he'd found out first hand, the redhead was a ticking time bomb just waiting to blow up, and the slightest sound or movement was more than enough to set her off. However, that didn't change what he was about to do.
Turning abruptly, he stopped on top of the hill overlooking their training area, eyes narrowed into thin slits. The girl barely managed to avoid running him over, and taking a cautious step back, met his glare with one of her own. "What, you wanna fight?" she asked, raising her fists in a mocking fashion.
Musashi's frown deepened. "You ruined me. With my size, I've never been beaten so badly in my life; worse, it was by a girl. They try to act like they're not, but I know everyone's laughing at me behind my back -- and it's all your fault." He took an angry step forward, lifting his arms to roughly grip her upper arms in an attempt to keep her from moving.
An amused laugh choked its way out of her throat. "You think holding my arms will keep me from kicking your--" before another word escaped her lips, the older teen lowered his slightly bruised lips to hers in an awkward kiss, shocking the kunoichi into stunned silence. He pulled back a few seconds alter, grinning a bit at the wide-eyed expression on her normally scowling face. Realizing that she wasn't going to beat him up (at least yet), he took a deep breath and uttered the one phrase Tayuya thought she'd never hear in her life;
"I love you."
--
Ikazuchi no dageki - Thunderstrike; Strike of the thunder.
AN: Many thanks to Kouryuo Sabre and Shelby for proofreading! It probably shaved DAYS off of the update time xD