Hi guys, I'm posting this right before I head out to work so no time for a long intro. Thanks everyone who reviewed and favourited, i appreciate every single one. I hope you enjoy the chapter.


EASY TIMES

I leaned back against the bench and looked out over the expanse of the village. I couldn't see the faces of the statues I sat on but I could see what they had all given their lives for. It was a poignant moment. Two months had passed since I first woke up in the village and at last my life seemed to be entirely mine again. I took a languorous lick of my ice cream.

"You have a training session with Hatake san in twenty minutes, Erica. We should probably leave now." Crow said climbing down from the tree behind me. He bunched up the empty napkin that had held his double chocolate squash ice cream cone and tossed it in the garbage.

I sighed but got up. A deal was a deal after all. I glanced at Crow who slumped casually as though reclining on an upright cushion of air. Thanks to him I'd spent the last two weeks visiting all the wonderful tourist sites that Konoha had to offer. In return, I didn't try to ditch him and I was on time for my lessons (even when it was clear that my teacher wouldn't be). It didn't stop me from complaining though.

"But Crow, we both know that Kakashi is going to be at least half an hour late. Why don't we stay here a bit more? You can tell me about..." I searched the village for something of interest that we hadn't already covered "that building. What the heck is it, anyway?"

"It's an herbalist but you're not finding out anything more till after we meet with your sensei. Come on." He said walking ahead of me to the walkway.

I sighed and rushed to catch up. Crow walked fast. As I walked behind him, I admired the view. Okay, I couldn't see his face but he had the body and the attitude of an extremely smexy man. I sighed again and jogged to take my place at his side. What felt like several thousand stairs later, I was standing at the bottom of the Hokage monument and Crow, as usual, had vanished. I took a moment to stretch and then started jogging to the training ground. I hadn't been in bad shape before I'd gotten here but there was a huge difference between doing an hour of aerobics and training with a bunch of gravity defying super-humans. When I'd started sessions with Kakashi he had commented on my lack of strength and stamina. When I protested, he'd asked me to run five laps around the training ground. If I could make it then he would forget about the strength training stuff. I made three before I the pain in my side overwhelmed my desire to prove him wrong. As I sat on the grass trying to catch my breath, I got a lecture on the necessity of having a strong body to having a strong mind. I also got a list of tasks that were designed to help me get stronger. One of them was to run, rather than walk, wherever I had to go.

I made it to the training ground and immediately began the process of cooling down and stretching the soreness out of my muscles. That first day, I had thought that Kaksahi was being way too hard on me. After all, I was a civilian learning to cope with an ability I didn't need or want. I was right too. He was meaner and more sarcastic than I had ever seen him in the anime or the manga. The only thing that came close was when he'd talked down to Iruka during the chunin exams but then I remembered that I'd tried to kill his friends and I couldn't be mad. Instead, every time he said something caustic I used it as fuel to work harder and get better. There wasn't anything I could do except to try to prove to him that I wasn't a complete waste of space. It was only in the last week or so that he had really seemed to warm up to me, which means that he was funny and sarcastic in addition to being blindingly handsome...just my type.

Pushing such unproductive thoughts out of my mind, I sat down and began the slow process of gathering my chakra into my core. I had been doing this for weeks and my chakra still fought me. I forced myself to be patient and captured it strand by strand, before balling it up and tucking it away under my skin. Once I had it all under control, I extracted a strand and fed it into my hand. I focused on keeping it on the surface of my skin before slowly extending it and allowing it to make contact with a small shrub not five feet away from myself. I split the tendril and wrapped hair-like strand on the trees essence. I pulled. There was brief resistance and I increased the amount of chakra. I was sweating by now and I could feel a fine tremble in my limbs. Extending my chakra outside of my body was difficult. The distance of the plant made it even more challenging. Plus...no one had actually taught me how to do this. Kakashi had been teaching me how to gather my chakra and how to keep control of it. Why Kakashi? He was the only one who could tell if my chakra was escaping my body. I realised that my mind had drifted again and when I opened my eyes, the poor shrub was brown and withered. I facepalmed and flopped back unto the grass. It was only then that I realised that I wasn't alone.

"Oh hey Kakashi..." I said

'Hello. What was that?" He asked not making any effort to stop looming over me

"I was working on controlling my pesky ability, just like you said." I said sitting and then standing up.

"I don't remember you mentioning that you could control your chakra quite that well, actually. How long have you been able to extend it outside of your body?" he asked

I couldn't quite meet his eye "For a while. I suspect that I've always been able to, at least unconsciously." He frowned at me "I wasn't sure for a long time and before you even think it, I haven't been trying this out on anything more sentient that shrubbery."

"Uh huh..." he said

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" I asked trying to change the subject

"Well...I was going to have you try extending your chakra outside of your body but..." He rubbed the back of his head "it seems like you can already do that so I guess we can skip training today."

"Wait, what? You made me wait here for an hour and a half and you're not going to teach me anything? I could have been having another ice cream right now."

"Yes but are you sure that you'd want to do that." He gave me an appraising squint "On that note, have you been keeping up with the exercises?" he asked

Did he just call me fat? "Yes...yes I have."

"Well, we'll end your lesson for today. Keep up the good work. Bye!" and then he went poof!

"That motherf..."

"Well.." I turned to see Crow standing beside me

"This is your fault you know." I said

"How so?"

"If I was late, then I wouldn't have had time to practice extending my chakra. If I didn't try to extend my chakra Kakashi wouldn't have seen me do what he was planning to teach me and I wouldn't have wasted precious moments of my life waiting for him. I also would have been learning something instead of standing in the middle of a training ground wondering if he's just called me fat and contemplating Kakashicide."

"Hmm...I agree."

I turned to stare at him, shocked. Since when did Crow agree with me on anything?

"I know what would cheer you up though...How about we grab some dinner? I was thinking Udon noodles or Ichiraku."

"Are you paying?" I asked immediately, knowing where this was going

"Well, I would like to but I seem to have left my money at home. If you pick up the check, I'll surely pay you back." He said and I could tell the bastard was smiling

I grinned. He was transparent and he knew it.

"Fine, I'll spend some more of my hard earned cash but under one condition."

"Hmm?"

"I want you to teach me the hand signs that ninjas use. I wanted to ask Kakashi but since he's disappeared on me, I guess that leaves you."

"Why do you want to learn them?" he asked

"I want to try out jutsu, obviously. I don't know if I can use them but I have to try." I looked at him imploringly. I had a moment of wishing that I could tell what he was thinking. Well, you could try using your chakra on him. He'd never even know. I dismissed that idiotic thought and added "Please."

"I get to order what I want?"

"Yes, but it has to be under 500 yen." I countered

"Deal." He said

The signs were easy enough, in principle but memorising twelve signs in the space of half an hour proved difficult. I kept getting flustered when I tried to do them quickly.

"What the hell!" I said throwing my hands up in frustration after mixing up two of the hand signs for the fourth time "A regular clone shouldn't be this hard. I've seen Naruto do this...Naruto..." I said archly "What was the sequence again?" I asked

He tilted his head in thought "hmm, it's not that you can't remember the sequence. Your hands seem unable to remain coordinated long enough to complete it." He said tapping the chin of his mask

"Have I told you that I hate you?" I asked

"Yes, at least three times a day for the past three weeks."

"Good, cus I mean it." I said "This is going nowhere."

"Well, maybe you should call it a day, try again tomorrow?" he asked and behind him I could see the sun sinking in the sky.

I sighed deeply and sadly. Another day gone, another day spent here.

Crow followed my gaze and turned back to me with a sigh. "There is one more thing we could try but I'm not sure if it will work."

I turned to stare at the black slits that were his eyes. "It can't hurt to try it, I guess." I replied

"Close your eyes." He instructed and I did. I was suddenly very aware of the world around me. The breeze was cooler than usual as it rushed along the grass tugging at it and making the trees chatter and complain. I could feel it tug at my clothing. A moment passed without him saying anything. I was about to open my eyes when I felt someone move in just behind me, close enough to feel their body heat but not actually touching. I would have pulled away but he spoke.

"Relax." He said and I felt his gloved hands enclose my own. They shaped my hands into the first sign of the set. "Stop thinking so hard about how the sign should look, try focusing on how it should feel." He shaped my hands into the second sign. "It's not hard. I learned the hand signs when I was very young. I would sit in my mother's lap and she'd hold my hands like this and make the signs one by one." He said and shaped the third sign.

I took deep breaths and focused my attention away from the sensation of his hands on mine and focused instead on the shape he guided them into. He repeated all twelve signs three times before running through the combination for the regular bunshin twice. As I breathed in and out, I caught a slightly sweet scent that tickled at something in my consciousness. It didn't take me long to realise who the smell was coming from and it wasn't me.

"Crow, are you wearing perfume?" I asked

He pulled away and came around to face me.

"No." he said "Run through the sequence again."

"Huh." I replied but followed his instructions

I closed my eyes and did the full sequence and then the bunshin sequence just to prove that I could. "Wow, I can't believe that worked." I said, stretching out my fingers "But I guess if it worked to teach a kid then it should work for me too, huh?" I turned to him as I dusted myself off "How about that dinner then? What do you think, shower or no shower?" I asked rotating to get a second opinion on my appearance

"No shower," he said and I heard his stomach gurgle "and I want a 1000 yen dinner. Before you say anything, I already know you can afford it." He added sternly

"Sure, you deserve it. I know hand signs, yay!" I said tidying my hair as he turned to lead the way

"By the way," he said without turning "that whole story was false. I learned the hand signs in the academy like everyone else but I didn't want you to think that I was trying anything weird. Plus, it's a better story isn't it?" he asked finally turning and tilting his head at me.

I sighed and shook my head. "Damn ninja." I muttered


Review?