FAITH

Chapter Ten

NARUTO WAS SILENT FOR A WHILE AFTER SHION HAD SNAPPED AT HIM like that of a wild animal. In her ever extending defense, Naruto had succeeded in pissing her off far too much the last couple times she had talked to him. Worst of all, he still wouldn't tell her what crawled up his ass and died, making him into such a moody dickhead. Shion was quite done asking, and decided that after all this, she was going to beat him senseless.

"What are we going to do?" Naruto asked, peeking over her shoulder as she prepared another trap in the form of a bomb. She glanced his way before grabbing his hand and ignoring the way his face inflamed in red as if he just ate a whole pepper.

Peppers sound so great right now, Shion thought with a longing sigh. "You are going to do nothing but stay quiet. No offense, Naruto, but you have like no fighting ability."

"That's not true, dattebayo," he defended, watching as Shion's brow raised past her bangs.

"Right," she replied, stretching out her syllable. "Look, Naruto, I'm not making fun of you. It's not a sin to suck a fighting."

Those were not the right words. Shion realized right away that negativity or criticism wasn't something Naruto took very well, and he stormed past her. "I'll show you, dattebayo. Then you'll regret ever doubting me."

Shion blinked, almost unbelieving his own pride as he stormed past her and triggered the bomb he watched her activate only thirty seconds ago. "Naruto, wait!"

She barely managed to grab him in time, tossing him into the grass as the explosion caught her side. She felt a burn travel up and down her leg. Her reflexes were always one step ahead of many others, so she rolled into the dirt. It didn't matter as she saw her leg was a red color, swarming with spots of dark red, charred skin that she could feel just as vibrantly as she could see it. Looking at it somehow made it hurt all the more. She had to bite down on her tongue to stop from making a sound that would give away their position. She pressed her palm against her mouth, as if she could keep it in, keep in that her entire body was shaking.

She attempted to stand back up at the sound of footsteps approaching, but her leg screamed at her in protest. She took deep breaths as if her leg wasn't moist and oozing with congealed blood. The pain wouldn't end, and moving was increasingly difficult. She tried to move Chakra to that leg, to add some strength to her muscles, a temporary relief.

"Shion..." Naruto's voice didn't break her out of her pain, but it gave her a new emotion of blinding rage as she moved her harsh gaze towards him. It was as if a powerful brush of cold air ran over him, and he dared not say another word.

"That looks painful." One of the enemy ninja crept out of the shadows of the trees, causing Shion to stand up despite the pain. "How embarrassing is a self-inflicted burn?"

"Is it as embarrassing as being bested by a nine-year-old? I'm sure you would know," Shion told him, attempting not to flinch as a gust of wind swept over the burn on her leg. Her eyes were wet, but she would not cry in front of anyone.

Antagonizing him didn't seem smart, but Shion always had a problem with getting the last word. It was her very inconvenient curse. She scanned her surroundings before an idea sprung into her head as she watched him ready to strike her.

"This mission was supposed to go under the radar?" Shion's words halted him. "I told my teammate before going after you. By now, she already alerted the council."

"Then I guess I'll just have to kill you fast then," he told her, rushing to strike her, but when he came at her with his katana, her body disappeared and in replacement was a log.

The real Shion grabbed Naruto, turning back to gloat. "I don't know how you alway manage to fall for that. Did you flunk the academy?" She stuck her tongue out to further annoy him. In the enemy ninja's anger, he didn't notice she had made another clone of both her and Naruto. The actual Naruto had to be a far enough distance away by now, thinking he was with Shion's actual body. He would never have left her if he knew she decided to stay behind.

All she had to do was buy time, however much she could with her leg in the state that it was. Naruto stood a better chance by himself now that she was such a hinderance. She barely managed to dodge his attack, simultaneously placing Chakra into her leg so as to soothe and strengthen it for as long as she could. He shoved her back with the back of his hand, smacking into her face. Her back hit the ground, but her hands stopped her from sliding when they dug into the grass.

"Children shouldn't fight grown up battles," he told her, grabbing onto Naruto. "Don't feel too bad, you fought well enough for a kid but-" He didn't finish as the Naruto in his arms turned into a small note with a smiley face.

Shion let out a struggled laugh, wiping off the bit of blood that dripped from her lip. "I have literally never met anyone who fell for the same trick this many times. Oh my god." She was laughing so hard, her sides were splitting. "I'm pissing." She was laughing so hard, it almost looked as if she wasn't moments from crying.

He took out his katana once more, any amusement he had for her had died off as he approached. "I'm going to gut you like a fish." The cold sweat on her skin, her damp hair, all of it was signs of the oncoming fever .

She let out one last laugh to stop the actual fear from surfacing. "You need to learn to take a joke, dude."

He raised his katana to strike her down, and when she tried to move, she felt her body had frozen up in fear. It was as if cold hands were holding her down with no escape and she was stuck in her sitting position on the ground. Her skin was cold and slowly her eyes dilated. The memory came back with it. She remembered everything. She remembered the hospital bed, the IVs, the knowledge that death was approaching, and the fear of not being ready for it.

Back with Orochimaru, she had killed someone to live. She wanted to live and he was going to kill her.

Her laughter was dead as a soft misery, a horrid sadness filled her as if she were a balloon filled with helium. She was going to float away. He dropped his blade mere inches from her body, letting out a banshee scream even though she didn't touch him. She was floating away, but his screams kept her here, on this earth.

"What are you doing to me?" He lowered to his knees as he begged her to stop. Slowly, she watched as blood gushed out of his eyes while his fingers dug into them to claw them out. He begged her to stop over and over, but she was frozen, unblinking as blood slowly pooled from her nose and he collapsed next to her.

His blood soaked into the grass and melted into her hands, slick like oil. She was frozen for a couple of seconds longer before she inhaled a deep breath of air and realized that she hadn't been breathing for those pivatol seconds. She felt her hands shake, glancing towards his body, dead and unmoving. It pried open every memory she had tried to shut out since the very beginning. She still saw the blood on her hands as a mirror of that woman, Mineko, who deep down she knew she had killed.

She glanced down at her hands with shallow breaths as they shook in her line of vision. Her gaze felt hazy, almost faded as she forced herself to sit up and stand. Her leg, burned and charred with oozing blood, felt forgotten as she limped away, stumbling as she did. Her lips were trembling and her eyes had begun to burn.

I killed someone...two people...She felt her nose burn with moisture and blood. She didn't know how that Iwa ninja died just now, but down in her bones, she knew that it was her doing. She rushed away, using the trees as support, and the further she escaped, the more her memory began to grow foggy. She dropped to her knees, everything a blur of sensation, of colors and thoughts she couldn't understand.

She had remembered something. Shion fell onto her back, her leg stinging and her eyes staring up into the sky as if she could see the stars despite the light. She had remembered something, but that something was horrible. It was as if someone had dropped a veil over her head and the first thing she saw when she came to was yet another enemy.

"Looks like you've give up," the Iwa ninja said, but Shion was disoriented. "Where's all that plucky attitude kid?" Something was wrong. She was going to die. She stood, forcing herself up, trying to remember. "Well, it's ugly business but I have no choice. Stay still and I'll make it quick." The Iwa ninja, looking reluctant, but resigned, pulled out a katana from behind him. Shion came back to life, and she stared at it, prepared to dodge, but he was fast and her leg made her slow.

She had to live. She didn't get further with the thought, with whatever malicious thing that lived in her, because Misaki shoved her out of the way. Misaki tackled her with all the grace of a sumo wrestler made of iron, making Shion wonder if the girl broke a rib along with it. Perhaps the blow was exactly what Shion needed because she awoke from her daze when she met Misaki pained gaze as the girls toppled over each other. Shion felt something wet and sticky drench her arm as she slowly realized the ninja's attack had hit Misaki instead.

Misaki's arm was drenched in blood and the girl attempted to stay awake, forcing Shion to carefully lift the girl off of her. The Iwa ninja began to perform another Jutsu. "You two can die together th-," he said but didn't get to finish his sentence as a silver haired man appeared behind him, knocking the man out with a nonchalant blow with the back of his hand.

"I told her not to run ahead of me," the silver haired man muttered, scratching the back of his head. Like Tsukasa, only one of his eyes was visible, and he had an air of superiority about him. Shion placed her hand over her head, fading in and out of consciousness, which seemed a little drastic for a burn on her leg. Maybe Misaki really had broken a rib. No, Shion realized with a creeping exhaustion.

It was Chakra exhaustion. She realized that with a distant frown. She couldn't remember what drained all her Chakra. She didn't care. "Is Naruto okay?"

"Yeah. You protected him well," the silver head man said, kneeling down next to her and Misaki. "It's okay to rest now."

She didn't need to be told twice. She just wanted to forget it all happened.

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Shion awoke to darkness. Beeping echoed next to her, and she craned her neck to see the source of the sound. The consistent beeps of her steady heartbeat were her lullaby, nearly urging her to close her eyes and continue sleeping. She did no such thing as an irrational fear entered in its place, forcing her to sit up.

Connected to her arm were many intricate wires, embedded in her flesh. She stared at it for a moment in a foggy distortion before she contemplated yanking them out. Instead, she laid back down, feeling the aftermath of a concussion and the need to vomit. She wanted out, but the walls were caving in on her.

She didn't know how long she laid there in the dark, trying to make sense of her mess of memories. She remembered bits and pieces, but the rest seemed so foggy. Finally, she remembered that silver haired man with one eye covered. He had saved her, but if only she were stronger, then she wouldn't need saving.

She covered her face with her hand that wasn't hooked up like a fishing rod. Her brain was pinging against every wall in her skull, unrelenting and painful. Shion rested like that, trying to sort through the confusion and nausea up until the very moment the sliding hospital door squeaked open. She slowly peaked through her fingers as light flooded the room in a soft glow. The light didn't make things any better and instead, it blinded her for a long moment.

"Nice to see you're awake," Tsukasa murmured, closing the door behind her as she dragged a wooden chair next to Shion's bed. Tsukasa, with her complete lack of bedside manner, paid no attention to the sound the wood made against the tile. It was a scraping sound that peeled away at Shion's inner ears for a long moment.

"Stop," Shion begged, but her sensei was never one for self-pity, even if it was deserved at the moment.

"What do you remember?" Tsukasa asked, cutting straight to the point that Shion had been trying to answer in her solitude.

"My head hurts," Shion muttered, and her teacher sighed.

"That's nice, but it wasn't the answer to my question," Tsukasa said, leaning forward. "What do you remember?"

"I remember," Shion's memory became less cloudy by only a bit, and she answered without hesitation. "I remember Naruto being a tool. Me saving him and then some silver douche stepping in to save me."

"That would be Hatake Kakashi." Tsukasa leaned forward. "And you're right. He is a douche. That's all you remember?"

"That's all that happened," Shion answered, and Tsukasa raised her brow, or maybe both of them, but it was hard to tell with her bandage covering one side of her face. "Wait...What happened to Misaki?"

"Ah," Tsukasa blinked a few times. "In the attack, a spike lodged deep into her upper arm, resulting in a comminuted fracture. Misaki will be out of commission for a couple of weeks to heal."

"She saved my life," Shion whispered, but Tsukasa had already started to stand up with a bored expression on her face. Her single eye was unreadable, but something about that comment made Tsukasa agitated. Shion could tell it must have been something serious if even Shion could see the emotion through her stoic sensei's usual monotone.

"She wouldn't have needed to if I were a better teacher," Tsukasa's voice was low, quick to blame herself for everything that went wrong. Shion opened her mouth to retort, perhaps defend, but Tsukasa raised her hand to stop her. "I have something to teach you. Can you stand?"

"Training? Now?" Shion's brows scrunched together in a slight sign of surprise. She shouldn't have been surprised, since Tsukasa always had a way of keeping the training going even in the worst of times.

"Is that a problem?" Tsukasa was testing her, and Shion was never one to fail a test. The girl sat up straight, ready to rip out the IV and wires, but Tsukasa stopped her. "Are you crazy?"

With intricate skill, Tsukasa unhooked her, glancing over Shion's chart one last time before nodding her head. Shion, who had been watching the entire time, slightly smiled into her palm. She didn't allow Shion to get up, instead, removing the bandages over Shion's leg and when Shion expected to see the red, swollen skin, even pus, she saw scales. "What the hell is that?"

Tsukasa's lips quirked up. "A way to treat burns. I implicated in practice a year ago. Fish skin, specifically that of the tilapia, has a collegen that is very close to human skin. It's suitable enought for a quicker heal. Do you not like the asthetic of it?"

"It's actually kind of cool," Shion said with a small smile. "I'm kinda look like a mermaid."

Tsukasa never looked amused by much, and Shion found that to be a huge drag. "It's going to take some time to heal, but," Tsukasa said, rewrapping the bandages, "Cosmetically, if that means anything to you, it will heal with minimal scaring." She paused, glancing away. "How did it happen?"

Shion squeezed her eyes shut, searching for the reason. For the why. Through the fog, she remembered, "Naruto. He tripped the bomb I made." Tsukasa's brows furrowed, her lips pulling into a frown.

"What a moron," she said, and Shion let out a laugh.

"Hey, that's our future Hokage," Shion told her, somehow more horrified at the prospect.

Tsukasa's entire face scrunched up, but something entered her eye, a sort of realization that Shion didn't get. "Far in the future. We can only hope."

"You're secretly a big softy, aren't ya?" Shion said with another laugh, and, as if realizing they were talking casually, Tsukasa's back straightened.

Tsukasa stopped in her tracks, her eye slightly narrowing in a way that made Shion regret ever saying anything. "Tell anybody else that and I will carve out your eye," Tsukasa warned, and Shion grinned, standing up and almost immediately falling onto the cold tile. Tsukasa halted by the door, watching as Shion struggled to her feet, her legs shaking as she moved. "Sure you don't want to rest longer then?"

"Nope." Shion forced her legs into obeying her, already feeling Tsukasa's scrutinizing stare on her figure. As if her legs were lead, Shion felt the difficulty in her ability to move with ease. Every move was a struggle and every breath was a fight, however, it only took one glance towards that hospital bed to make her continue standing.

For some illogical reason, those white sheets felt like a prison, shackling her down. Tsukasa watched this attempt before the woman held open the door with a bored deadpan. Shion focused on her sensei's headband towards her bandages around her eye with a growing smile when she noticed the very tiny smiley face drawn in the dead center.

"Did you draw that?" Shion asked when she limped closer, ignoring the crutches that rested next to a wooden stool by the door.

"Draw what?" Tsukasa reached up, grabbing her bandages and tugging it off. It was the first time Shion had ever seen underneath and she immediately saw why Tsukasa was so careful with it. Over her eye and around her lids were the distinct markings of fingernails, as if someone had pinned her down and scrapped out her eye with their bare hands.

Her left eye was closed, and Shion opened her mouth to ask if she could see inside. However, Tsukasa's angry tone broke her from that thought.

"Last time I fall asleep next to an asshole," Tsukasa muttered, rubbing her temples. Shion's giggle made Tsukasa's eye barrow. "They will never find your body." Shion stopped laughing immediately. "Meet me on training ground 5."

When Tsukasa began to walk away, Shion gasped. "You're not gonna walk with me."

"It's bad enough I have to spend my afternoon with you." Tsukasa's body disappeared in a cloud of smoke, allowing Shion to realize that she had been talking to a clone this whole time.

She limped out of the room with a sigh, finding it cruel that Tsukasa chose the training grounds literally farthest from the hospital. She didn't get far, however, as Naruto all but bombarded her with his presence when he turned a corner.

"Shion," he greeted, almost nervous and her brows furrowed. She was careful to hide her limp and come to a screeching halt as she realized that she was still wearing her hospital gown. Luckily, it wasn't backless, but it was still a bit too open since she didn't think she was wearing underwear.

Nope, no underwear, Shion thought with a sheepishly growing smile.

"Naruto, I'm so relieved you are alright!" Shion exclaimed, hoping to hide her own awkwardness. She briefly wondered if she succeeded, before she remembered how oblivious Naruto tended to be.

Naruto's eyes filled with tears and it caused her eyes to widen in surprise. "Shion-chan," he exclaimed in between hiccups. She took a surprised step back before she realized that the muscles in her quads were far more injured than she realized, causing her to slightly wince.

"Naruto, why are you crying?" Shion asked, watching as Naruto wiped away some of the moisture that had begun to drip from his nose.

"I'm sorry," he said in between sobbing and stuttering. Shion had wanted an apology for his behavior prior to everything, but a night's rest had already made her forget the grudge. She felt her lips curl as he continued to apologize. "I thought you left the orphanage to get away from me." If anything, she was more mad about the bomb.

"What?" Shion's smile disappeared and was replaced by an incredulous expression. Her brows knitted together, watching as he sniffed back up the snot that was beginning to drip from his nose. "Naruto, that's just dumb."

"Shutup dattebayo," he grumbled in between sniffs. She could only laugh, her shoulders shaking as she did. It was a laugh that hurt her bruised ribs, but it was worth it when she watched his smile begin to slip through his tears.

She leaned forward, pressing her thumbs against each side of his lips before she forced him to smile. His bright blue eyes were like a rainy sky, which reminded her that she loved his sunny aura so much better than this guilty and sad one. Hence why didn't ask for an apology about the stupid bomb.

"You need to have more faith in me, Naruto," she told him. "I was planning on moving out there the moment I became a Genin. It sucks there. The food is gross. The fruit is old. The funding is atrocious. The kids are assholes. The grownups are mean. I mean, if all adults grow up that mean then I don't wanna ever get old."

She let go of his face and watched as he glanced down at her badly injured leg, to the split lip and the bruise just below her eye. "I'm sorry Shion. I wasn't any help."

She blinked for a moment before shaking her head. "I'll admit, your lack of following my orders was annoying, but you weren't supposed to be able to help Naruto. You are younger than me and I am a Genin. You aren't supposed to know how to fight. You are supposed to cry and whine and be a kid." And I'm supposed to be a hypocrite.

He looked offended, his lips curling into a rather cute-looking frown as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Am not!" Naruto exclaimed, shoving his pointer finger in her face. She slapped it away with a roll of her eyes.

"Are too. I'm older and stronger and smarter," she retorted, and he grew more annoyed.

"Are not! I'm going to be Hokage so I'm stronger," he replied and her brows knitted together.

"That doesn't even make sense," she argued and he shook his head, reminding her of his very disagreeable personality.

"Yes, it does! I'm going to be Hokage, dattebayo," he retorted and she bit her tongue, her eyes narrowing in irritation.

"I'm older. I'll be Hokage and you can be my henchman," she replied, not voicing that she'd rather eat a pile of poopie than sit in a chair all day and run a village. Does the Hokage even get missions? Fuck that.

"Nah uh, I'll be the Hokage, dattebayo and then I'll fire you from being Hokage," he retorted and she gasped.

"You can't fire me from my hypothetical job," she exclaimed and almost immediately one of the hospital doors slid open and an old woman peaked out.

"I am trying to get my beauty sleep, will you two kindly shut the fuck up?" The woman's voice was snippy and almost immediately, Shion's face went from angry to excited.

"Naruto, we should use our inside voices, grandma obviously hasn't slept for years," Shion said, loud enough for the woman to hear.

Naruto giggled and it took the woman a couple of seconds after Shion had walked back into her room and slipped on a dress that Tsukasa had left for her for the woman to realize she had been insulted. By that time she had already stepped back into her room and got in bed.

Shion forced herself not to limp as she walked back towards where Naruto was waiting, rather impatiently. Her lips were curled into a bright smile that matched well with her curly pink hair, outlining her dimples. "I have to go meet my sensei, but how about we meet up tomorrow morning. Let's say seven. I'll train you."

"Seven in the morning?" His nose crinkled as if he just smelt something foul.

"Better get used to it. I hear the Hokage doesn't sleep," she informed him, watching his lips flap open like a fish out of water. "Sure you can handle it?"

He looked offended and almost immediately pointed at her with an angry expression, "just watch, dattebayo, I'll be awake all night."

Oh my lord, he actually might. "How about you just get to bed early and wake up on time?" He didn't hear her, too busy walking away, focused on staying up the entire night. Shion bit her bottom lip, whispering, "What an idiot."

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"Never fear! Shion is here," Shion greeted Tsukasa with an innocent smile that only earned an unamused deadpan in reply.

"Yes. Signified by how late you are," she retorted, rolling her eye. "Like always."

"You'd be late too if you had to hobble," Shion grumbled under her breath. Tsukasa's eye narrowed and she placed a delicate hand behind her ear, signifying the girl to speak up.

"I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that. Care to repeat-" Tsukasa didn't get a chance to finish before Shion interrupted.

"I said, you would be late too if you had to hobble," Shion exclaimed, her lips curled into a slight grin.

"Well," Tsukasa took a rather threatening step forward, and for a moment Shion grew worried that the training would suddenly involve running laps. "That's probably because the medical team in this village is trash." Tsukasa bent down, her hand glowing green as she hovered it over Shion's leg. "Even if with my research."

"You're not further messing with my leg, right?" Shion found that the green Chakra that the woman emitted was warm and soothing to her nerves. Almost immediately she felt the sensation of a warm bath, with that relaxing feeling spreading to the tips of her toes. Tsukasa's fingers moved the Chakra dancing in between them. Shion did notice, however, that the longer she used the Jutsu, the paler and paler Tsukasa got. She didn't get to observe it long, as the next second, the Jutsu was deactivated and Tsukasa's complexation came back.

"Burns aren't too difficult to heal if you know how. Did they even treat the sore muscles?" she said, standing up and taking out a pocket watch. "Did they just slap the fish leather on and then leave?"

"If you know so much, why don't you teach it to the staff?" Shion asked, but Tsukasa ignored the question as she dangled a watch out in front of her on a medium-length chain. "I don't get it."

"You have a knack for learning. Your Genjutsu skills at the moment are the weakest." The watch swished back and forth right before the pink-haired girl's eyes. At first, she didn't pay much attention, but soon enough, the ticking got louder until she could hear it pounding in her skull. The beautiful silver watch glinted in the small bit of sunlight that melted through the trees. Her eyes followed it back and forth, unaware of anyone else near her. "Listen to the sound of my voice." Shion couldn't not listen. It was everywhere and surrounding her in a cocoon. "Do you hear the ticking? How it synchronizes with that steady heartbeat? Now look into my eye." Shion's gaze snapped back towards Tsukasa, noticing the steady and emotionless eye. It was surrounded by a dark Chakra, but Shion took no notice of it. "Look directly into its center."

Shion's body was limp, but the woman's voice was too calm to make Shion panic.

"You are completely relaxed. Your eyes are heavy." The ticking was deafening, but Tsukasa's voice was louder. "When I snap my fingers, you will fall."

Shion fell to the ground when she heard the snap of Tsukasa's fingers, her slightly injured arm stinging in pain at the motion. It didn't bother her and the pain was empty.

Tsukasa closed the pocket watch and the ticking stopped. This forced Shion's consciousness to spill back in, and she blinked away the haze. "What was that?"

"Hypnotism," Tsukasa answered, kneeling forward. "With a bit of Genjutsu, I could essentially make anyone do whatever I want. Would you like to learn it?"

"I feel so violated," Shion said slowly, watching as her sensei's lips curled into a smile.

"Would you like to learn it?" she asked again, this time slower.

"Definitely!"