Iryo-nin Kasa (医療忍傘)

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Roles We Play

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. A beautiful day for a neighbor! Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor?" I sang cheerily in my native tongue while resisting the urge to skip along the road.

Nothing could ruin my mood today and I mean nothing. The skies are blue, the day is beautiful and I have the most awesome friend in the world! Tenzo has given me the best gift anyone could've given to me in this lifetime and I was beyond stoked! To my travel companions, it probably seems like I lost my mind. What with the goofy grin and the cheery song in a whole other language. It must sound like I'm singing gibberish to their ears. But who cares? I'm way too happy to think much on the matter.

"…Anyone has a clue what's gotten into Kasa?" asked Santa warily as our group traveled. "She's been singing nonsense all morning… do you think she's possessed?"

"With her?" noted Tokuma dryly. "It might just be a bout of insanity. No spirit in their right mind would want to possess her."

"Probably," agreed Santa.

"I don't know," mused Zaji. "She looks more love-struck than possessed."

I'm ignoring that.

"Love-struck? This idiot?" noted Tokuma in a deadpan.

Still ignoring that.

"The signs are there," continued Zaji. "The cheery mood, the silly grin and the singing… I've seen plenty of girls act like that during our missions."

"Pft, I wonder who the poor soul that she's has her eyes on?" sniggered Santa.

All right, not ignoring that one.

"Hey Santa," I turned to him with a cheery grin. "When we get to Kiri, do you want to go for some dango?"

"…Why?" asked the Yamanaka, suddenly wary at my sudden attention on him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I pouted, latching onto his arm playfully. "Can't I just spend some time with my favorite teammate? You know, enjoy a cup of tea, and talk about training tactics. Go on a date."

Santa flinched away almost immediately. "Don't even joke about that!" said the boy in a panic as he ran behind Tokuma for cover. "Do you know what your father would do to me if he heard you say that?"

"But Santa, I loooove you!" I said in mock hurt as I chased him around Tokuma.
"Kurei sensei! Kasa's trying to get me killed!" shouted Santa as he fled from my creepy fan-girl routine.

"But we're meant to be together!" I shouted after him, a laugh bubbling at my throat as he ran away even faster.

"Can't you be quiet for a change? You're loud," droned Itachi as he walked pass.

Normally, I wouldn't have given his words a second thought aside from my default indignant retort, but for some reason, I got the feeling that Itachi was a little off today compared to his normal stoic self. Just as I was about to pounce him and find out what exactly was wrong with the Uchiha, a firm hand clasped onto my shoulder, keeping me from doing so.

"Maybe you should let Itachi be today, he's not feeling well," said Shisui as he held me in place.

"What, did he catch a cold?" I asked curiously. "Or did Sasuke give him food poisoning again?"

"I'm quite sure he hasn't eaten anything Sasuke made recently, but I wouldn't be surprised if he caught a 24-hour bug or something of the sort. He'll probably be fine later if you just let him be," said Shisui.

"You sure?" I asked. "I could probably whip up some remedies for him if that's the case."

"Nah, he just needs some space. He'll be back to his old self in no time," said Shisui with a faint grin.

I would believe him… if his smile reached his eyes. I turned my gaze to Itachi's back. There's something I'm missing here. I wonder what— A hand planted on my head before glancing up at Shisui.

"He'll be happy to know you're so worried about him," grinned Shisui, genuinely this time. "Will there be a happy announcement by the end of this exam?"

"I didn't think you hate Itachi that much to wish his early demise." I commented with a raised brow. "His demise?" confusion crossed his face. "Why would I want that?"

"Did you forget who my dad is?" I asked. "What do you think he'll do if we went home with that bit of news?"

"Ah, I suppose that's true," said Shisui cheerily. "But I'm quite sure Kushina-san wouldn't let that happen. She's quite fond of Itachi and I don't think Tesuri-san could go against anything she decides on."

"You're right about that." I sniggered. "Tou-san is helpless when it comes to Kushina-san."

"So, what exactly got you in such a good mood anyway?" asked Shisui.

I nearly squealed at his question. "You won't believe what I can do now!"

"Oh?" asked Shisui curiously before I proceeded to ramble about my new gift.

I should probably be suspicious of Shisui, him doing whatever he could to distract me from bothering Itachi, but at the excitement of being able to make seals, I didn't think much of it… At least until we were halfway to Kiri.

"Hey Ka—"

"...He hasn't said a word in three days." I noted, cutting Shisui off before he could distract me again. "And before you say he's under the weather again, I saw him doing his morning routine. He's not even the least bit fatigue compared to the rest of us. What's going on Shisui?"

"It's not—"

"You know what? I think I'm going to ask Itachi instead." I said before skipping ahead.

"Kasa! Wait!" Shisui tried to grab my arm, but I danced out of his reach before darting forward.

While Shisui and Itachi probably have the best speed among our group, I had the best evasive skill out of all of them. A bit odd, considering I'm not all that fast compared to the Uchiha boys, but speed has nothing to do with a well-timed dodge. After training with a weapon specialist like Kurei sensei, he practically ingrained dodge into a reflex action. It was either that or suffer lacerations or bruises depending which weapon he used.

"What do you want?" droned Itachi when I got within range of him.

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine?" I drawled.

"If you're bored, go bother Shisui, I'm quite sure he'll indulge you," said Itachi without sparing a glance at my direction.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" I joked, tilting my head forward a little so I could get a better look of his face. His face remained blank as he kept focus on the road ahead of us. "…Itachi?"

He said nothing ignoring any eye contact I made as he sped up his pace and walked alongside Shirakumo sensei instead. I found myself slowing to a stop, dumbfounded by the lack of reaction. That's odd… he always retorted with some sort of wisecrack if I joked like that…

"Did I… upset him somehow?" I said in puzzlement, almost reaching up to scratch the back of my head before I caught myself. Obito was rubbing off on me more than I thought.

"Lovers' spat?" commented Santa in amusement as he caught up.

"You really should separate your love life from work," added Tokuma as he came up from behind.

"Oh shut it, the both of you." I grumbled before turning my attention to Shisui, who smiled faintly at my gaze. "Shi—"

"I think I'm going to walk with Hizashi sensei for a bit, there's something I need to ask him," said Shisui with a wave before he darted ahead.

"…Okay…" I started uncertainly, one hand at my hip and the other running through my short hair. "This is… odd?"

Santa sniggered. "Trouble in paradise, how'd you piss off both of your boyfriends?"

"Wish I knew." I muttered with a sigh, swinging my arms behind my head as I continued walking forward alongside Santa.

"Wait, you serious?" said my blond teammate in surprise.

"You think I wouldn't say sorry if I knew what I did to upset them? Do I look that petty?" I made a face when I realized I just dug a hole for myself. "Don't answer that."

"Your pettiness only goes as far as harmless vengeance against meaningless things, but you're not that petty of a person otherwise," noted Tokuma. "Whatever reason the Uchiha are upset, I doubt it's your fault."

"…Thanks?" I said in surprise, not expecting such reassurance from Tokuma.

"Wow, are you falling for our rowdy teammate too Tokuma?" joked Santa. Our Hyuga teammate ignored his playful teasing.

"We'll be entering enemy territory soon, having her emotionally compromised is not favorable for any of us," reasoned Tokuma. "I'm merely assuring our survival."

"…Talk about cold," sighed Santa with his arms out in a careless shrug. "Should've known. You've always been one to be practical with everything you do."

"You rather I act like you?" drawled Tokuma. "Slothful and gluttonous."

"Oh, are those fighting words I hear?" challenged Santa.

After a volley of insults I found myself giggling. It wasn't often that these two bickered without me on either side. I could tell they're a little worried and doing what they could to cheer me up… Kind of odd, considering I think needed cheering up. Though, I guess it's the thought that counts.

"By the way, I wasn't calling you petty earlier," said Santa once he and Tokuma decided to finish their bickering.

"Huh?" I blinked wondering what he was going on about.

"What I was alluding to," continued Santa with a sly grin. "Was how you didn't deny it when I called the Uchiha your boyfriends."

"Oh that." I said with a casual shrug and a bright innocent grin. "I'm building myself a reverse harem. Want to join?"

"W-what?" spluttered Santa, not expecting my response. "The hell?"

"Let's see." I pressed a finger to my chin as I pretended to think. "Itachi has the stoic slot covered and Shisui has the charming slot covered… hmm, though, if I tweaked the rules a bit, I could probably get away with having them as twins or something and free up those slots, but what if I actually run into twins? Hmm…"

"You're… kidding right?" said Santa uncertainly.

"What?" I said, oozing every ounce of innocence I could muster from Hizashi sensei's acting lessons. "Some people collect coins and some others stamps. What's wrong with collecting boyfriends? They're way more useful and fun compared to coins and stamps."

"Tokuma, are you hearing this?" said Santa in disbelief as he tugged at the other boy's arm. "Our little Kasa is building a harem!"

"…Why is she ours?" said Tokuma in a deadpan. "Does Tesuri-san know you're trying to usurp his place as her father?"

"Do you know what he would do if I tried that?" said Santa, flabbergasted that Tokuma would even suggest such a thing.

"…You… want to be my daddy?" I said shyly, biting my lower lip as I shuffled my feet. And just to top it off, I held my hands behind my back and swung side to side in a child-like manner.

I could see the goose bumps on crawl his skin as Santa jumped behind Tokuma, using the Hyuga as a human shield.

"Don't do that!" said Santa from the safety behind our teammate.

"Don't do what?" I asked with a demure voice.

"Stop being a creepy pedo-bait!" said Santa as he shuddered. "If your father gets wind of you acting like this, you're not the one he's going to kill!"

"But, I thought you were my daddy." I pouted, inwardly cackling like a maniac as Santa squeaked in terror.

"All right! All right! I'll stop joking about you having boyfriends! Just knock it off already!" said Santa.

I kept my act up for only a second longer before I burst out laughing my earnest. "You should've seen your face! It was priceless!"

"Ha-ha, hilarious," said Santa bluntly. "All that training from Hizashi sensei and you use it act creepy and try to get us killed by your father."

"He'll kill you anyway if you kept joking about Itachi and Shisui being my boyfriends. In his eyes, if you encourage it, you're just as equally guilty. I was doing you a favor." I waved it off.

"Next time, a word of warning would be enough, I don't need a performance of your new acting skills," said Santa.

"As you wish." I sighed dramatically with a flourish bow as if completing a performance.

"By the way… why aren't you creeped out by her performance?" Santa turned to Tokuma with a suspicious glance.

"She practiced that act in the Hyuga compound under Hizashi-sama's guidance, it's hard to take her performance seriously when I could remember the countless failed attempts prior to her mastery," noted Tokuma before he glanced at me briefly. "Though, I don't believe Hizashi-sama meant for you to use it in such a lewd manner."

"Hizashi sensei said to use what I could to my advantage." I replied. "I'm well within—"

"Kasa," interrupted a stern voice. I grimaced, glancing towards Hizashi's back, he didn't even look back. "A word."

"Think he heard my performance?" I whispered quietly to my teammates.

"I'll make sure to buy flowers in commemoration," answered Tokuma with a wry grin.

"For my performance or my funeral?" I grumbled.

"Kasa," repeated Hizashi again.

"Coming!" I shouted as I darted after him, hoping he's not looking to give me another scolding.

"Don't you think it's about time you've gotten into character?" asked Hizashi once I walked alongside him. His eyes kept forward and wary of our surroundings.

I jolted in surprise at his question. "Already? But we're only halfway…"

"There's always a possibility of scouts, the closer we get into hostile territory. You remember what role you play, do you not?" noted the stern man.

Medic. Support. Backup. My mouth snapped shut as I nodded, wiping away whatever personality that didn't fit the role I was given. Anything that would draw attention to me, be it power or weakness was suppressed until further notice. As the group's only medic and a support fighter, my priority was to stay out of the line of fire and provide support wherever I could. That meant to stay in the background, to be insignificant and invisible to everyone.

In the first week of group training, we were all trained under the specialization for each team as a means to familiarize ourselves with each other. Hizashi sensei's training was particularly strict in regards to each of us being able to enact a different persona for the trip. Before we left the village, he assigned all of us a role to play. The reasoning behind it was to mislead our opponents and possibly stave off the more enthusiastic aggressors.

"Yes sir." I replied softly with my back straightened and my swinging arms drawn in front of me.

Hizashi glanced at me briefly as if assess my performance before he returned his gaze back to where it was before. "Could still use some work."

"Hizashi sensei is hard to please as ever." I said pleasantly with a smile. "I'll be up to standard by the time we reach Kiri, sir."

"See that you do," said Hizashi.

This made me wonder whether or not Itachi and Shisui decided to take up their assigned personas the moment we left the village, considering they were a part of the secondary assault team. Aside from group training in the specializations of or other teammates and persona training from Hizahi sensei, we were also reassessed by each jounin sensei for our individual specialty. With the amount of time we were given, it was impossible for each of us to get specialize training for one specific area.

What happened instead, we were regrouped into secondary teams that focused purely on the team specialties. Naturally, Itachi and Shisui fell under combat and were place with Shirakumo sensei for training. Santa was also placed in their team as he was the only one that could support the Uchiha pair and double up efficiently as a fighter. Izumo and Kotetsu on the other hand had practically mastered working as support while they were teamed with Itachi and with Zaji's sensor abilities they were even better under Kurei's tutelage. That left Tokuma, Muta and myself with the perfectionist Hizashi sensei.

Reconnaissance, those who are actually good in the field would not necessarily need to face direct combat, unless it's to remove the threat, i.e. assassination, or prove their loyalty to the group they're spying on. As we needed to be able to defend ourselves more so than gathering intel, he adjusted the regime that Team 13 normally follows to something more… misleading.

"Whatever issue you might have with the Uchiha boys, that will have to wait until we return to Konoha," stated Hizashi. "This is neither the time nor place."

"Of course." I agreed out loud before staying quiet for the remainder of the trip.

The persona Hizashi assigned me was one of a proper lady from a main clan. To exude an air of confidence to show I'm not weak, yet calm and soothing enough to not seem aggressive. This made me suspicious if Hiruzen had this planned all along when he assigned me to Hizashi, but… I supposed it's pointless to dwell on the matter. Since there's nothing I could do about it.

It's such a pain to have to act like a lady when the urge to grab either of Shisui or Itachi by the collar and demand to know why the hell they were ignoring me gnawed at my thoughts. I swear, once this stupid exam is over I'm going to unleash hell and give them a piece of…Oh, what the hell is wrong with me? I'm a grown woman for peak sakes! I shouldn't have these juvenile thoughts just because I'm being ignored! I'm not a child. I could handle being alone. I…

…I keep saying that… Yet, it feels like I'm losing grip on what little's left of my maturity from my previous life with each passing day. It never bothered me before, since it was a lot safer and easier to let everyone think of me as a harmless, silly little child… but as time went on, moments like these where I'm alone to my thoughts, I found myself hating the fact that I'm not only physically a child, but I'm mentally turning into one as well.

Being surrounded by prodigies didn't help the matter either. It was one thing to get outclassed by someone the same age, but getting outclassed by children? That's just a major blow to what self-esteem I still had. Man, I feel pathetic…

A firm hand rested on my shoulder before I spotted Kurei at the corner of my eye. His face betrayed no thought and he said no words, but I could tell he was concern just by the look in his eyes. Compared to Hizashi and Fugaku who were adamant about perfection, Kurei was concern with our survival. It didn't matter if we had perfect form, as long as we survived he was content. It warmed my heart and eased my mind a little. Even if I couldn't match up to everyone else, as long as I've done my best and made it out alive, he would be proud.

"I'll be fine Kurei sensei." I smiled at the man. "Thank you."

"State your business," said the guarding Kiri-nin stiff with a suspicious eye on all of us.

"I'm Kurei Yuhi, jounin. We're shinobi from Konoha," started Kurei as he along with Hizashi and Shirakumo pulled out their passports and motioned us to do the same. "Our teams will be participating in the upcoming chunin exams."

The guards took our passports, inspecting its contents before giving a stiff nod and returning our documents. "You'll be escorted to the administrative office."

Much like Ame, Kiri shared a similar despondent mood with the lack of sun and constant miserable weather permeating throughout the village. Every shinobi we passed in the village seem to be on edge, particularly when they noticed our village affiliation. Even the civilians were wary of us when we made our way to the hotel and checked in.

"We're not very popular huh?" noted Zaji quietly once we've settled in.

"Do you mean our presence here or just your popularity in general?" I replied dryly from my seat at the window in my shared room. To save on costs, each team shared a room. However, due to crowding issues, our jounin senseis shared a fourth room among themselves.

"Hey!" retorted Zaji as he stuck his head out to yell at me. Not that he needed to, the walls were so thin, it's impossible to not listen in on the conversations in the next room. "I'm being serious!"

"It's expected," said Shisui, brushing off his teammate's indignation. "With the situation between our villages, this shouldn't be a surprise."

"But…" Zaji trailed off, my gaze focused on him when his eyes focused and his forehead crinkled in concentration. Someone stepped into his sensory range.

"But nothing," continued Shisui, covering for his lapse in conversation. "It's not something you should be concern with anyhow."

"I guess," replied Zaji with a sigh, resuming the conversation with fluid ease, but his words were laced with double-meanings. "We're only genin, it's not like we could do any lasting damage. If anything, we should probably take this chance to rest and actually get some sleep before the exams start."

High chakra level, sizeable threat, non-threatening at the moment, but retreat is suggested if it turns hostile. Odd… High chakra levels isn't something that should be showed off needlessly… Unless they're doing it on purpose as a bait? But who are they trying to lure out? I glanced about, doing my best to stay discreet as I tried to see who stepped into Zaji's sensory range, but nothing stood out to my unenhanced eyes.

The village was quiet compared to Konoha, everyone went about their business, limiting their words and pleasantries to the barest minimum. With this amount of mist, it was hard to tell whether it's natural or someone was abusing the Hiding in the Mist jutsu.

"Rest is for the weary and sleep is for the dead." I droned breaking away from the window.

Stay cautious and be careful, that was all the warning I could give to my fellow genin without breaking character. We were in enemy territory now and we can't afford to show any weakness… Balls, keeping this act up is going to be a pain in the ass.

Author's Notes: Happy Holidays and a late gift! I apologize for the short chapter, but I'm still fighting off the last vestige of the chain of sicknesses I've fallen to the last month or so. Since I could barely get my brain into a coherent thought for more than a couple of minutes at a time, I ended up editing and cleaning up the smattering of grammar mistakes and odd typos in the older chapters for those who enjoys rereading. I'll try to do my best to get the next chapter started, but my brain is still fairly foggy. Thanks for all your awesome reviews! See you in the next chapter in 2014!