The Melody of the Fox
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.
Chapter 26
Tayuya sighed as she gazed out into the deep, foaming sea beneath her, sea blue eyes dazed and unfocused in thought as she leaned on the metallic railing of the ship. Her short, dark blond hair blew powerfully in the breeze, wrapping languidly across her eyes and lips in a silky embrace. It didn't take a shinobi to see that she was lost in thought.
Her expression constantly shifted between anger and embarrassment; both emotions due to the surprise kiss Musashi had given her two days ago. Not only had he stolen her first kiss from a boy, but he'd had the nerve to ask her to abandon the training trip in favor of settling down with him in the Wave Country.
She had, admittedly, briefly considered what it'd be like to give up her life as a ninja and instead live as a housewife. They were right next to the beach, Musashi's family was pretty well off (for such a small town), and the town itself was pretty nice once you got used to it. She could actually see herself becoming a normal housewife -- maybe even raising a kid or two once she got old enough.
Luckily, though, her common sense kicked in just in time to remind her that this was the same boy whom she'd beat into a coma barely three weeks ago. Now, she'd dealt with her fair share of freaks in her short lifetime, and it didn't take much to notice the signs of a natural masochist. While she had been disturbed by this realization, she wasn't disturbed enough to let him off the hook with nothing less than a severe ass-kicking.
Because he was on their property and had called her out, no one had come down too hard on her for her actions -- especially since he was already beaten and bruised from her first attack. His new bruises easily blended in with the old ones, and she'd pulled her punches just enough to avoid putting him into another coma. Sure, she'd accidentally broken both of his forearms (which he had been using to shield his face from further harm), but she thought she'd done well; Naruto, however, apparently didn't share her view.
He'd barely uttered a word when she apologized for losing her temper again, something that was more than a little strange for the usually obnoxiously loud blond. Even stranger was the frown that seemed to be permanently etched into his face.
She'd never admit it, but it was a bit unnerving to not see the boy smiling. His anger didn't seem to be directed at her, per say, but she could tell that it had something to do with her. Every time their eyes met the genin would quickly avert his gaze, almost as if he didn't even want to look at her. Although it had only been a couple of days, it felt like she hadn't spoken to him in years.
Her thoughtful frown deepened into anger. She was getting a bit tired of dealing with Naruto and his rapidly changing moods. Unlike her former teammates whom only had one mood (pissed off), the blond could cycle through dozens within a period of twenty four hours. it was getting to the point where she wasn't sure of which Naruto was the real Naruto! One thing she could be sure of, though, was that he definitely wasn't the same boy she'd left with over half a year ago.
Her right ear twitched only slightly as the sound of footsteps reached her ears, and recognizing them as those of her bitch of a sensei, inwardly groaned.
She knew it'd only be a matter of time before she was found, but she didn't think it'd be this soon. There were three decks on the transport; all of which were packed with people on their way to the Lightning Country.
Along with her hair and eye color, she'd used the genjutsu to increase her height by a few inches and changed her skin color from a mildly orange tan to a very light peach. She'd modified her appearance shortly after boarding the ship, diving into the crowd in a desperate attempt to separate herself from the three other shinobi accompanying her. Both Anko and Jiraiya had been asking her the same exact question during their journey from the beach house to the Wave Country's main docks, and quite frankly, she was sick of it.
As if knowing exactly what the girl was thinking, Anko leaned her back against the railing, bristling slightly as the hot metal met the bare skin of her back. "Are you going to tell me what happened? I'd really like to know why you beat him up a second time."
Waving her hand, the genin dispelled the illusion. There was no use wasting her chakra by keeping it up now that she'd been found. She briefly considered using the shunshin no jutsu to put some distance between them and try it again, but Anko now knew that she was using a genjutsu to hide herself; it wouldn't be too hard for the woman to find her again.
"Fuck off already. I didn't beat him into a coma, did I?"
The jounin sighed. Dealing with teenagers and their mood swings was not her forte; things like this were better suited to gentle people like Shizune.
"Then, at least tell me this; did you have a reason for hitting him again? Did he physically touch you? You at least owe me an explanation for ending my vacation early." Tayuya froze. What did she think happened? There were many different ways the question could be interpreted, and she wasn't sure what exactly the woman was getting at.
She did, however, understand why Anko wanted an explanation. After she'd beaten the boy up for the second time, Jiraiya had decided that it'd be best for them to move on lest they tarnish Konoha's reputation further. Needless to say, Anko had been thoroughly pissed off about losing nearly two weeks of her precious vacation time, expressing her anger by constantly hounding the girl for answers.
Tayuya slowly turned her head to meet the kunoichi's eyes, deciding it was better to just get her off of her back for the time being. "...Yeah."
Anko nodded her head, seemingly satisfied with the answer. "Okay, I'll let you off for the time being. But...was it really worth the beat down you gave him?" The girl scowled, instantly giving her her answer. "I guess that's a yes." She leaned her head back to stare at the sky, blowing a long purple bang out of her eyes. "By the way, you might want to make up with Naruto while you still can."
The genin absentmindedly nodded her head, turning her eyes back to the sea below her. Things had gone well enough with Anko, so maybe when she talked to--
"Wait, what do you mean while I still can?!" she exclaimed, head snapping back around to look at the jounin.
Anko let loose a small breath, unsure of how to answer the girl's question. "While you were off brooding, Jiraiya called an emergency meeting. Turns out he and Naruto are going to infiltrate Kumogakure in an attempt to gain some information about their village. His data network had a large scale breakdown a couple of months ago, and since we were somewhat in the area, he decided to fix things himself."
The redhead glared up at her, pushing herself away from the metal railing. "What?! Why can't we go too?! If he thinks Naruto can get into the village undetected, it should be a hundred times easier for you and me!"
She frowned at the girl. "Isn't it obvious? The more people there are, the greater the risk of being discovered. I wouldn't pick Naruto as my first choice either, but apparently, he's the most vital part of the mission. In any case, once we reach the outskirts of the village, we'll be splitting up into two groups. That gives you just over a day to say your goodbyes and whatever else you need to do to him. Don't waste what little time you have."
Leaving Tayuya to her own thoughts, Anko stood up and walked towards the other side of the ship, easily blending into the large crowd of travelers on the wooden deck. She'd thought about forcing her student to talk to Naruto, but the redhead had never taken too kindly to being forced into things. She glanced over her shoulder one more time and sighed. Dealing with teenagers definitely wasn't her speciality.
--
"...Two-hundred and fifty-nine, two-hundred and sixty, two-hundred and sixty-one, two-hundred and sixty-two..."
Tayuya watched nervously as Naruto performed his daily training ritual, trying her best to find a good time to interrupt. As pathetic as it was, she hadn't been able to work up the courage to talk to him all day. His body language was obviously saying 'Stay the fuck away from me', and being unused to the standoffish aura he was emitting, she wasn't quite sure how to approach him.
Giving up for what seemed like the millionth time that day, she fell back onto her bed with a sigh, closing her eyes in annoyance. Watching the blond do pushups on the hardwood floor of the room was just making her more nervous, if that was even possible.
Since both Jiraiya and Anko were off attending the ship's complimentary dinner and ball, the two genin were pretty much left alone to do whatever they wanted -- which would normally be a good thing if Naruto wasn't acting like a grade-A asshole. Feeling slightly nauseous from the somewhat rough swaying of the boat, the redhead once again sat up to stare at her teammate.
"...Two-hundred ninety-seven, two-hundred ninety-eight, two-hundred ninety-nine, three hundred!" Naruto gasped, falling to the floor in fatigue. His tongue hung out of his mouth in an amusingly overexaggerated fashion, causing Tayuya -- despite her nervousness -- to giggle lightly under her breath. "Hey! Are you laughing at me?!" he scowled, childishly poking out his lower lip.
Feigning shock, she placed her hand over her chest in an equally exaggerated manner. "Why, Naruto, you know me better than that! Are you suggesting that someone as delicate and tender as I would laugh at your obvious exhaustion?" When a wry grin stretched across his face to match her own, her eyes blinked in surprise at how easily the tense atmosphere between them had been broken. She quickly recognized this as her chance, and subconsciously leaning towards the still gasping blond, furrowed her eyebrows into what she hope was a serious expression. "Are you mad at me for beating up Musashi again?"
Naruto blinked. "Wow, that was straight forward."
The redhead's concerned frown dropped into displeasure. "Well? Are you or not?" Suspiciously, his eyes quickly darted away from hers.
"I'm not. What makes you think I'm mad at you?"
If it was possible, Tayuya's jaw seemed to literally drop into her lap. "Uh, gee, I don't know. Maybe because you haven't said one fucking word to me in three days?!" When his eyes continued to stay focused on the invisible object to his left, she huffed loudly and shrugged her shoulders. "Forget it. I don't care anymore. If you want to beat around the bush like a pussy, that's fine with me." She angrily threw herself back onto her bed, glaring up at the spiraling pattern of the ceiling.
What the hell ever happened to communication?! He told her his concerns and misgivings, she acknowledged them and apologized, and bam; problem solved. What was he being so stubborn about?! It had already been established that the second time wasn't her fault, and he was supposed to trust her when she said she had a good reason. Isn't that what they'd talked about after the first ass-kicking? For him to get all moody and mistrustful over something as trivial as a couple bruises and broken bones was idiotic at best!
"...Hey, Tayuya-chan, you've kissed someone before, right?" Naruto mumbled, voice barely reaching the girl's ears.
Her eyes widening, she shot back up into a sitting position, giving "W-what?! How--why the fuck are you asking me something like that?!" She didn't have to see them to know that her cheeks were burning.
The blond stiffly shrugged his shoulders, eyes still solidly focused on that same goddamn nonexistent item. "I dunno, I just thought you would. I mean, just in case you have, what did it feel like? Did you suddenly like...fall in love with the person after you did it?"
Contrary to popular belief, Tayuya was not a very superstitious person. She didn't believe in fortune telling, omens, horoscopes, bad luck, nor fate. As such, and unfortunately for Naruto, she didn't believe in overwhelming coincidences either. "You followed me."
His face morphing into horror, he quickly hopped to his feet and waved his hands in front of his face. "N-no I didn't! I was just...wondering!" On the inside, the blond winced. He knew he sucked at lying when it came to his precious people; and next to Sakura-chan, Tayuya was by far one of the most precious.
Rather than immediately blow up like he expected, the girl's mouth simply formed an obviously displeased straight line. "Why?"
He sighed and hung his head slightly, finding his toes much more interesting than the intense glare he was currently receiving from Tayuya. "I don't know. I was just worried."
"You mean, you didn't trust me."
Surprised, Naruto snapped his head up to look at her with wide eyes. "It's not that! When I saw it was Musashi who came to see you, well, I didn't know what he'd do! I mean, you did put him into a coma."
"So now you're saying I'm too weak to protect myself from a fucking cripple?!" The slight irony of her words weren't lost on either of them.
His face descended into an annoyed expression, easily matching the one stretched across his teammate's face. "You know what I mean!"
An odd, mild burning sensation in the bottom of her stomach fueled her rage, pushing her closer and closer to the edge of sanity. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean! You followed me because you obviously didn't believe a goddamn word I said about not being the same person I was before!" Hot tears prickled at the back of her eyeballs, but she refused to let them fall. She'd be damned if she allowed herself to show weakness in front of him ever again; she should have learned her lesson after Orochimaru had tried to kill her all those months ago.
The blond's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and anger. She was flying off of the handle about nothing, and it wasn't making sense. "Why is it such a big deal?! Why can't you trust me when I say I was just worried about you?!"
"You know what?! Fuck you! Don't try to pass it off as being worried about me! That shit might work on stupid cunts like Sakura-chan, but I'm smarter than that! I can tell the difference between being worried and just being mistrustful!" she spat, making sure to put a little extra venom on the girl's name. She was angry, hurt, and betrayed, so she'd use anything and anyone to give him even a little bit of the pain she felt.
Naruto's eyes darkened. "Don't talk about Sakura-chan like that. You aren't even half as smart as she is."
The words barely phased her as she became more and more upset, and rolling her burning mahogany eyes, she choked out a pitiful laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry, you're right. I'm the stupid one for believing all that bullshit about trust and friendship in the first place! Every fucking one of you are the same! All of you! You act like you like me, like you fucking care about me, but then you do shit like this behind my back as soon as I feel like I can trust you! I fucking knew this shit would happen! I can't believe I let myself get pulled in by your fucking fake words about precious people and making everyone recognize you!"
"Well, guess what?! You don't have to hear them for a whole fucking year! Aren't you happy?! Now you can go back to Wave Country and marry Musashi like you wanted to in the first place! I saw you think about it, so don't let me hold you back; in fact, I support you!"
The girl's face morphed from anger into shock. She'd heard that he was leaving for a mission, but she hadn't heard that it'd be a year long. What the hell was he going to do for a year? What was she going to do?! Her heart thumped painfully in her chest, and she hesitantly stood to her feet. "Wait..."
"I guess this is the thanks I get for being concerned about someone I thought was my best friend. Maybe you're right; maybe my words are fake. Maybe it's just me trying to fool myself into believing that I can make up for all those years of being alone by surrounding myself with as many friends as I can right now. Sorry for assuming that you'd be one of the most important ones." When she didn't say anything, he scowled and walked towards the door. "Screw it, I'm going back to my room."
By the time she opened her mouth to stop the blond, the door had already slammed shut behind him. She stared at the dark slab of wood for what felt like hours, hardly believing what had just taken place.
It wasn't supposed to go like that.
Things were supposed to be fixed by now; they were supposed to be having fun and making the most of their last night together, not screaming at each other! She clenched her fists in anger, wishing that Musashi was in front of her so she could kick his ass to relieve some of her rage.
Things never went the way she wanted it to. She should've known better; she always hoped for too much, only to be let down in the end. Suddenly feeling exhausted, she plopped back down onto the bed and turned towards the wall, glaring holes into the brushed aluminum of the boat's walls. She didn't want to calm down.
In fact, she wanted to go into the next room and bash the idiot's face in for saying all that mean shit to her. He should've known that she didn't mean any of what she'd said; they had been together for over eight months, so it wasn't like he couldn't tell when she was being serious or not.
She wrapped her arms around her knees and deepened her scowl. It wasn't her fault at all. It was his fault for not trusting her. Wasn't that how this whole thing started? Because he'd followed her? It was only natural to be angry about something like that.
That's how Anko found her, pissed off and curled up into a ball with her back to the door. Sighing deeply, she shed her trenchcoat and sat down on the bed next to the girl. "You're hopeless, you know that?" Unsurprisingly, Tayuya didn't answer. "What did you do?"
Without so much as a twitch, a slow, wavering question floated from the genin facing the whitewashed wall of the room. "Why do you always assume it's my fault?"
The woman paused momentarily to consider what she was about to do. Very few people knew anything about her early life, and she didn't particularly like recounting the darker days of her adolescence. Shrugging a fishnet-covered shoulder, she tentatively decided that a cliffsnotes version should suffice. "Although it's embarrassing to admit, I was very similar to you at my age. After Orochimaru ditched me, I spent most of time blaming everyone else for my anger -- most often those closest to me. for awhile, I believed that everyone was an enemy, or had an ulterior motive. I lost a lot of friends that way."
The teenager grunted loudly, still refusing to look at her teacher. "Am I supposed to feel better about myself or something?"
"No, you're supposed to feel worse. Look, I won't pretend to know what your life's been like, and quite frankly, I don't give much of a damn. However, I don't want to see you do something stupid and end up regretting it for the rest of your life. I can't make you do anything, but I really do think it would be in your best interest to at least attempt to make up with Naruto."
Finally moving, she rolled over to glare at Anko. "Because I won't see him for a year?"
Anko blinked in mild surprise, a little put off by the girl's question. She'd been hoping to keep it as a secret; at least for the first couple of months until Tayuya got used to being without Naruto. "So he told you."
"Yeah, he did."
"Well, all the more reason to see him off on good terms. If you're not careful, some Kumo slut will dig her claws into him." Despite herself, a small grin appeared on Anko's face at the brief flash of anger that flew across her student's face. She was so dishonest with herself that it was almost cute. "Think about it, okay? I'm going to take a dip in the pool." Without so much as a warning, the woman stripped off her clothes and pulled on her bathing suit, causing Tayuya to turn her head away in disgust. Even if they were both females, she didn't like to make a habit of seeing Anko nude.
With a final, cheeky wave, the jounin slipped out the door and headed towards the deck below, glad to be away from the air of gloom surrounding Tayuya. She reached the pool in a matter of minutes, and not sensing anyone else around, carefully slid into the large, heated body of water. She considered swimming a few laps around the pool to work off the insane amount of food she'd eaten that night, but decided against it; it'd burn itself off after a good night's sleep anyway.
A light, mildly creepy giggle hovered from an especially dark corner of the pool area, instantly grinding against her nerves. So much for relaxing. Closing her eyes in annoyance, she glared pointedly at the shivering shrub to her left. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not naked right now."
Shortly after she'd spoken, Jiraiya appeared from behind the suspiciously placed bush, obviously displeased with her statement. "Damn. They should really install hot springs into these things."
"So, trying to get away from Naruto's depressing atmosphere?" she asked, not so subtly ignoring his statement.
The old man frowned deeply, crossing his arms over his chest. "As I thought, it has something to do with Tayuya. I'm far too old to be dealing with teenagers and their hormones."
Anko barked out a short laugh, remembering how she'd thought the same exact thing not even twelve hours ago. "Tell me about it. My guess is that Taya-chan started it; She was probably a bit anxious about being separated from her best friend." The mirth quickly leaving her face, she tilted her head back to look at Jiraiya with an equally displeased frown. "Does it really have to be a year?"
Already predicting the question, Jiraiya silently sighed to himself."Give or take a couple of months, yes. The truth is, I'm not expecting it to take more than seven or eight. Then again, one can never be sure when it comes to human emotions. They may even kill him outright under suspicion of being a spy."
She openly gaped at him, pushing herself away from the pool wall to turn around and look him straight in the eyes. "...And...you're putting him at that sort of risk...why?!"
"Like I said before, he's the only one I know that can do it. As you've seen first hand, he has the ability to win over practically anyone; even the most violent and ruthless of people will eventually come to like the boy. I'd even go as far as to say that Orochimaru would like him if they were given a few months together."
She brushed off his statement about Orochimaru with barely a blink, continuing to glare at the white-haired man. "I understand your reasoning, but Naruto's just a genin. You honestly can't expect him to fool an entire village of shinobi, can you?" she asked, unconsciously raising her voice a level.
"He won't necessarily be fooling them. He'll be living amongst them to get a feel for their ways, and most importantly, to find out if there are any jinchuuriki in Kumogakure."
Anko rolled her eyes in revulsion. "So you're using him as a demon radar device. Nice."
Jiraiya's eyes hardened in anger. "Regardless of how you feel on the matter, that's the way it's going to be. When we started this mission, Tsunade and I told you that--"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Geez, do you have to bring that up every single time I disagree with you?!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air.
"Yes, because it's the most effective way of ending the argument."
She huffed and looked away, crossing her arms under her chest. "Point taken." Realizing that she'd lost this battle, she sighed and turned her eyes on the toad sage once again, a pleading frown marring her normally mischievous face. "Can you at least promise me that you won't let Naruto get into anything too dangerous? If you don't, well, I'd hate to see what Tsunade-sama has to say about something like this," she threatened, knowing full how much Jiraiya feared his well-endowed teammate. Predictably, the old man's face visibly paled at the thought of the kind of damage the Hokage would do to him if something happened to Naruto.
"Fine, I suppose I can guarantee that much. Just remember that he's still a shinobi of Konoha, and doing missions like these is also a part of being a ninja." With that, the old man exited the pool area, effectively ending the conversation before she could get another word in.
As soon as she was sure that he'd left, she sunk down into the water with a scowl, leaving only her face above the surface. "Pompous asshole."
--
The trail leading to Kumogakure was deathly quiet as the four shinobi trudged towards their destination. Both Naruto and Tayuya were walking with obvious stiffness, eyes darkened with fatigue and anxiousness. It didn't take much more than a glance to see that the two of them hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before.
Frowning at the uncomfortably tense atmosphere, Anko pasted on a smile and threw her arms around the genins' shoulders. "Hey, why the long faces? It's only a year, and the next time you see each other, you'll both be older and stronger! I can't wait to see you two spar the next time we meet; I wonder who'll win?" Her eye twitched in mild annoyance as her question was quite ignored.
The redhead roughly pushed the woman's arm off of her shoulder, shooting her a glare that she hoped was menacing enough to make her back off. "What the fuck're you talking about? I'm gonna win easily, just like last time."
Naruto's eyebrows shot up into his forehead as he snapped his head around to look at her. "What?! Last time was luck, and I let you win!"
Tayuya snorted and crossed her arms, a small smirk appearing on her face as she did so. "Which is it? You can't say that it was luck and that you let me win. Dumbass."
He opened his mouth to retaliate, but quickly realized that she was right. With a frown, he shut his mouth and stuck his tongue out at her in a very Naruto-ish fashion, earning himself another snort from the girl walking on the other side of Anko. "Yeah well...you'll see! When I come back, I'll be way, way stronger than you! I'll know like...like a thousand jutsus! And I'll use five swords! No, ten!"
As the teens argued, neither one of them noticed the discreet smirks and thumbs up the two adults were sending towards each other. It would have been horrible for the kids to part on such bad terms, but watching them trade verbal blows made them both feel as if everything would be alright; well, as alright as things could be given the situation.
Fighting to keep from laughing at her teammate's 'fierce' declaration, Tayuya lifted an amused eyebrow. "Ten swords? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life, and you've said a lot of stupid shit since we've been hanging out." Her face immediately soured after spoke. She'd inadvertently reminded herself -- and apparently Naruto too, as his face also dropped into depression -- of the fact that the two of them wouldn't be seeing each other for a long time. Or, if things went bad with his mission, ever again.
"Geez, just when things were going so well," Anko mumbled to herself, lazily rolling her eyes. "Okay, okay, lets not get all bitchy and moany again, alright? We should be getting fairly close to the village border, so --"
"Actually, we're already here." The entire group paused to stare at the man.
Being the first recover from the shock, the jounin opened her mouth to speak. "...Are you serious?"
Jiraiya nodded his head, a mild frown on his face. "I'm afraid it's time that we split up. Going any further together could jeopardize the mission."
The woman sighed deeply. She was hoping they'd have another half hour together at the very least. "Fine. Then, let's give the chibis a few minutes alone to say their final farewells." She stepped forward and enveloped the blond in a quick hug, purposefully pushing his face into her fishnet-covered breasts with a smirk. "Later, Naru-chan. Don't cheat on Taya-chan while you're away!" With that, both Anko and Jiraiya nodded towards each other turned around and headed in opposite directions, leaving the teens to catch up whenever they finished.
The genin stared at each other shyly, melancholy and loneliness evident on their features. Now that they were actually parting for good, the weight of the situation was finally settling in. A year was a long time to be apart; hell, they hadn't even been together for that long!
To her surprise, the blond slowly wrapped his arms around her in an awkward hug, giving her a warm, pleasant feeling in the bottom of her stomach. "See ya...Tayuya-chan," he muttered into her hair. He knew she could feel his heartbeat against her chest, and if he didn't know any better, he'd think that Jiraiya and Anko both could feel it from their position a few yards away.
Swallowing heavily, Tayuya too wrapped her arms around him, gripping him tighter than she ever had before. "...Yeah, see you." She gave the mental command for her arms to let go, but annoyingly (and somewhat unsurprisingly), they refused to heed her demand. It seemed that Naruto was having the same problem, as he still hadn't managed to release his own arms from her waist. Finally, the blond moved -- though not in the way she expected.
Something smooth, firm, and moist brushed against her cheek, sending flames throughout her veins. Before she could figure out what had happened, he quickly slipped out of her arms and scampered a few feet away, face a light red with embarrassment.
Her own face heating up, she pointed a disbelieving finger in his direction. "Did you just--"
"Yep! see you next year, Tayuya-chan!" he called, waving his arm wildly as he backed away from his still shocked teammate.
She watched in a mild state of detachment as Naruto turned to follow his teacher down the path leading to Kumogakure, a suspiciously cheerful skip in his step.
AN: I don't think I've ever had so many death threats in my life. I now look over my shoulder every time I go outside. THANKS A LOT GUYS. ;-;