Okay guys, two announcements about extra content for those interested:
-I have started to post in my tumblr the scenes that I can't fit into the chapters but I still like, you can think of them as Omakes I suppose.
-I've also started writing some of my headcanons that I have implemented into this fic in a compilation that I call The Codex. (You'll see an example at the beginning of this chapter but from now on they won't be added within chapters anymore.)
This extra content isn't necessary to understand the story, although it will be mentioned in passing. For those of you interested, the url can be found in my profile or in the last chapter.
[Codex Entry: Tora the Cat
The entity known as 'Tora the cat' is formed by an amalgamation of various cats.
It all started with the first Tora, a few years even before Konoha was founded.
As legend goes, while the carriage of a noblewoman passed through the fire country, which was being ravaged by the constant war between the ninja clans, it stopped to rest near a calmly flowing river.
The noblewoman, resting under the shadow of a tree then saw a cat, a little thing no bigger than her own hand. Pitying the poor animal, and seeing that it was alone, the woman fed it the leftovers of her lunch.
During the course of her journey, the cat would follow the carriage, growing strong thanks to the constant feeding the noblewoman provided and the never-ending travelling.
/Note scribbled in the margin of the historic record by a scholar: though Tora's fur has been described in many stories as luscious, flowing and long, we should take into account that the Fire country most common breed is the longtail cat, known for its short mottled fur and brownish coloration. The long-haired breeds, such as the whitecoats from Mist country, wouldn't be introduced to our country until years later, thus making it almost impossible for the first Tora to have had long fur./
After months of travelling together, the carriage was attacked by bandits. The woman, already pregnant by then (though the story never states why she was travelling while pregnant, where was she going or where was her husband), could only run a meager distance while the bandits and her guards massacred each other.
In the end, only one badly injured bandit remained, though he was more than enough to end the life of the defenceless lady. However, when all seemed lost for her, the feral cat valiantly leaped onto the attacker, hissing and clawing at the man, who desisted his attack in fear of the wild beast and ran away.
The noblewoman would then be miraculously saved by ninjas in passing, who had heard the ruckus but were too late to the fight. Grateful towards the noble animal, she would decide to adopt the cat and, in future years, the tradition of adopting a feral cat into the noblewoman's family and name it Tora would be established.
The child that the woman bore would grow to become the ancestor of the Daimyo's wife, who would continue with her family's legacy.]
This, Reishi decides, is bullshit. Of course the damn cats keep escaping from her, you can't just capture a feral animal and not expect it to run away. Of course, no one has had the balls to tell this to the Daimyo's wife, so her reign of terror will probably go on unhindered.
This Tora is the ugliest thing Reishi has seen in all her life. It has long black hair full of dirt and matted in a way that makes it look like it has dreads in some parts of its body. The stupid vermin is also missing an eye and has a limp on its left hind leg, like a cat pirate. It also has a flattened face and its only eye seems full of hatred.
All in all, it's a fucking ugly cat. And it's their mission to catch it.
Or it had been, ten minutes ago.
Remembering what team seven had gone through to capture 'their' Tora, she had almost been expecting to chase the cat all over Konoha to finally drag it 'kicking and screaming' into the Hokage's office.
What she hadn't been expecting was for the cat to leapt to her arms and, emboldened by its new position of advantage, proceed to hiss at Ibiki and Shirakumo every time they tried to edge closer. It had been hilarious to see it scratch Shikaku's hand when the man had tried to grab it by the neck like a kitten.
Reishi, meanwhile, had frozen like a statue with the cat awkwardly in her arms, afraid that any move would make it turn on her. Which leads us to the current situation.
Reishi stares at the cat, the cat stares back with it's lone yellow eye.
Honestly, if the Daimyo's wife was looking for the grumpiest, most mangled cat in the streets, they could have just sent Danzō.
"I think..." says, Shirakumo, whith a tone both uncertain and amazed. "I think it likes you..."
"I don't know man," answers Ibiki, "I think he looks like he hates." They are both talking in an almost whisper, trying not to disturb Reishi's staring match with The Creature.
"Hates," Shirakumo asks in a flat tone.
Ibiki makes a vague hand gesture. "Yeah just- Hates. Generally." Shirakumo humms and nods, as if understanding a very serious matter.
The cat's ear twitches and Reishi tries to stretch her arms – slowly – farther, making a strangled sound. The cat looks offended. "Uh, guys, could you just be useful for a second- Just for a second, and get this thing off me?"
"It doesn't look like it's going to attack you, why don't you try giving one step and see what happens?" Shikaku, who has had his injured finger in his mouth up until now, suggests.
"Fuck no."
Ibiki sniggers while Shirakumo frowns at her choice of words.
Shikaku insists. "Maybe it won't do anything."
"Or maybe I'll lose an eye, you don't know. It's easy to talk from a safe distance," she says bitterly.
Ibiki starts rummaging in his pouch, looking for something, and pulls out one of those camouflage cloths to blend in with walls. He holds it up with a triumphant grin. "I have an Idea."
Shirakumo looks at him skeptically. Shikaku, whose whole teaching method is to watch from the sidelines and offer advice and corrections when needed, stays quiet and looks on curiously.
"Okay, so hear me out. Shirakumo and I will grab the cloth so it's spread wide," Ibiki says, Shirakumo and Reishi nodding along. "And then you throw-"
Reishi interrupts him, shaking her head vehemently. "Oh hell no. I don't like this plan."
"It'll just be a moment-" Ibiki insists.
"This thing will gut me, I see murder in its eye. Look at it, it's already planning how to hide our corpses," she yells-whispers.
"Reishi-san," Shirakumo cuts in. He has learnt to be tired of their constant bullshit during the last few D-ranks. "With all due respect, it's not like we have any other plan."
"Ugggghh, fiiine."
Shirakumo grabs two of the cloth's edges and Ibiki keeps the other two, opening it wide and angling it diagonally in front of Reishi, while Shikaku discreetly takes a few steps away for good measure. Ibiki clears his throat. "On three. One... Two... Three!"
Reishi throws the cat as fast as she can towards the makeshift cloth-trap and her two teammates close it as soon as the animal touches it, tying the four edges with a rope so it can't escape again. The Creature yowls, enraged, trying to escape. They can see it's claws piercing the cloth, though luckily it doesn't seem able to cut through it. That would have been terrifying.
"That isn't a cat," says Reishi, breathing heavily. "It's a monster."
"I'm not carrying that," says Ibiki, and the three genin share a Look of understanding. A moment of connexion, of mental transcendence.
Ibiki picks the bag by the rope and throws it at Shikaku.
The jōnin is able to grab the cat only by sheer reflexes and curses loudly when the sharp claws of the animal dig into him.
"Thanks for offering Sensei!" Ibiki yells over his shoulder while the three run towards the Hokage tower.
"It's very nice of you to do this for us poor, weak genin!" Joins Reishi, barely concealing the laughter.
"It is very honorable, indeed," adds Shirakumo, surprising the other two with his complicit smile. They thought he would be displeased at throwing an animal at their sensei. It seems that the boy has finally relaxing around them, Reishi decides.
Hiruzen has seen many things in his years as a ninja, which is why he doesn't bat an eyelash when three giggly genin enter his office with a very grumpy jōnin full of scratches – and holding a screaming bag? – behind them.
Shikaku Nara glares at his students for a millisecond before squaring his shoulders, clearing his throat and stating the purpose of their visit. "Tora," he says, lifting the rabid bag in front of him. The three genin dissolve into a fit of silent giggles behind him and his left eye twitches.
"I- uh, well done," says Hiruzen, looking warily at the bag now that he knows that that demon cat is inside it. This has to be the worst Tora the Daimyo's wife has picked until now, and his team was the first one to catch a Tora when he was a genin, so he should know.
With a flick of his wrist, an ANBU appears and carefully takes the bag from Shikaku's hand, trying to keep it as far from their body as possible. When the ANBU leaves, the office seems eerily silent, now that the infernal yowling has stopped.
Hiruzen clears his throat and, for the first time, he notices that the girl in the genin team is actually the little girl that he assigned to Fugaku some time ago. He lifts an eyebrow and she seems to sober up instantly, pursing her lips in apparent distaste but giving him a nod of acknowledgement. She has never bothered hiding her distaste from him or the council, has she? What an interesting little girl.
However, he has things to do, so he can't stay here thinking about some side puzzle he found until he resolves it. "You have been doing D-ranks for a few months now..." he trails off, scratching his chin. Shikaku quirks an eyebrow.
Hiruzen nods to himself and pulls out a scroll from a drawer in his desk. "I have a C-rank for your team, should you think they are prepared for it," he says, extending the scroll towards Shikaku, who frowns and starts reading it. The two boys behind him seem to simmer with excitement as they watch their sensei read, while the girl stares at Hiruzen with an unreadable expression.
"Huh," comes Shikaku's voice, snapping him from his sudden stare contest with the girl. "I think we can manage it," he says with a smirk.
Hiruzen nods. "Then it's yours."
The boys start cheering, as the girl looks at them with an exasperated but fond smile. Then, as if remembering where they are, the boys bow and so does the girl, albeit reluctantly. After bowing too, Shikaku ushers his team out of the Hokage's office, uttering a quiet 'don't you think I've forgotten about the cat' to them while he does so. One of the boys groans, the sound becoming muffled as the door closes behind him.
Hiruzen sighs, feeling very old. Someday he will have to send these children to fight in the war.
"What's the mission about, sensei? Come on, spill it!" Ibiki is practically bouncing on his feet, unable to contain his excitement. Understandable, Shikaku supposes, this will be their first 'real' mission outside the village. However... "I'm not telling you anything until you run ten laps around the village." There's a chorus of undignified complaints. Shikaku can feel a vein start to swell in his temple. "No buts! Next time, think it through before throwing a demon at your sensei!"
The three genin snigger a little, trying to stop smiling when Shikaku glowers at them. Eventually they start running, and Shikaku uses this time to read through the mission scroll more carefully. It seems like it was tailor made for his team, considering that he was planning on making them an information gathering unit.
The part that he doesn't like that much is the placement. He was hoping that he wouldn't have to take his genin outside the first patrol ring at least in another year, but it seems like that was too much to hope. They are stretched thin and barely have enough chūnin to run the village as it is, so he supposes he can't be picky. At least it's not the seventh ring. The third isn't that bad, is it? It's not like anyone could get past the first four rings, right? Right.
His genin are back, thankfully, before he can start hyperventilating. They all look at him expectantly, barely containing their excitement. Well, it's not like Ikotsu ever shows any emotion that is not anger or annoyance when he's around, but he supposes that deep down she is excited.
Deep, deep down.
There must be a reason why the demon cat seems to like her, he's just saying.
"Very well kids, our mission consists on investigating the disappearances in Tomogui village. As per the procedure, we will interrogate the people that were close to the villagers missing and see if we can find anything suspicious about their behaviour," he explains. Shirakumo rises his hand.
"How many people have gone missing?"
"Five up until now."
Reishi scrunches her nose. "Why had nobody issued a petition of investigation yet? Five seems like a big number in this case."
Shikaku nods with approval. That is a good question. "It's not unusual, during war, for people of the smaller villages to flee the country in search of safety. They must have thought that these people left on their own volition. However, we will have time to ask all those questions when we arrive there, that's what the investigation is for."
"What should we take with us? Is it far?" asks Ibiki.
"The mission will be taking place in the third ring, about a day and a half from here. The weather is not cold enough to warrant a tent yet, so a bedroll should be good. We will likely be there for two to five days, so prepare accordingly." Shikaku dismisses his genin after the explanation, they have to be ready to leave tomorrow morning, so there's no use in busying them with training this afternoon. They must be rested for the journey.
Reishi decides that it is time she buys some decent ninja gear. Up until now she has been wearing sports clothes, which are comfortable to move in and give enough protection for D-ranks, but are not adequate for real missions.
Besides, what Shikaku said about her sleeves has been bothering her; it's no use having a jutsu that makes your enemy practically blind if they can still hear you. Either she magically acquires the stealth level of a jōnin or... the sleeves have to go.
Luckily, the lessons at the academy taught them to manipulate their body temperature at will so the weather wouldn't be an obstacle. Of course, that doesn't mean that they are immune to snowstorms all of a sudden; the body still needs the pertinent caloric input for the energy spent, and it's an exercise that uses chakra (if by a minimal amount with the right control). It should be enough with an energy bar though.
She had always wondered how could the women of the Narutoverse wear outfits meant for summer in the middle of winter and now she knows; apparently, this technique is perfect for making Fashion Statements.
With this in mind, and the need to find a better place than her forehead to wear the hitai-ate (because wearing it in the forehead is horribly uncomfortable, let me tell you. It slides right off! How is she supposed to keep it from sliding off?), she sets course for the shopping district.
The shopping district is different from what she expected. She thought that the normal stores and the ninja stores would be in different sectors, sepparated for the commodity of the civilian perhaps. However, what she found was a completely heterogeneous street; ranging from fruit vendors announcing their wares, to stern blacksmiths working on the new batch of kunais.
It is towards one of these last shops that she goes first, hoping to get her hitai-ate modified into a, more comfortable for wear, version. After a little bit of consulting with the blacksmith, in which he asks about her fighting style and dominant hand, he decides that the best place she can wear her hitai-ate for now is her neck. As he takes her measurements, he assures her that it will fit snugly, not hindering in any way any jutsus that come out of her mouth (the smoke, as the fire, generally generates in the back of her throat, so it isn't like it would bother her too much anyways), and asks her to come back in two to three hours.
Next is the clothing, then. She has already eyed a store not far away, it was where Ryouji used to buy his ninja clothes when his old ones got torn and the woman was always very nice to her while she waited. Besides, the prices aren't too high.
Entering the shop brings back memories of her time with Ryouji and Fuhaku here. Ryouji seemed to take great pleasure in embarrassing his wife and daughter by being as silly as possible. Twirling as he came out of the fitting room and making the most ridiculous poses. Fuhaku still laughed back then.
Imagine her surprise, when she finds none other than Rin inside.
"Rei-chan?" the girl says, clearly not having been expecting her.
Reishi gives her an awkward wave as way of greeting. "Hello, it's been a long time."
Rin smiles sadly. "About two weeks, I think."
"How is training going?" Reishi moves to examine the clothes to the left of Rin, holding a pair of pants up and discarding them after a brief moment.
"It's... good."
Reishi frowns. "Just good?"
"I- do the boys on your team get along well?" Rin asks.
"Yeah? I mean Ibiki likes to tease Shirakumo about being too formal and such, but they work well together. Why do you ask?" Reishi knows that Obito and Kakashi must be getting along like water and oil, but she isn't supposed to know yet, and hearing Rin complain about it seems like a fun enough way to entertain herself while looking for a new outfit. Huh, that shirt looks good.
"Well, Obito and Kakashi... they aren't very nice to each other..." Rin explains, unaware of Reishi just lending half an ear. Reishi gives a non-committal hum.
"Does it affect the teamwork?"
"It does!" It's obvious that this distresses Rin greatly. Curious, Reishi thought that she was more or less oblivious to the boys' rivalry. "And the worst is..." Rin bites her lip, looking uncertain. "It's really affecting Obito, you know?"
Reishi's attention snaps from the skirt in her hands to Rin. "How so?" she asks, trying to sound nonchalant.
"He's been training non-stop, even out of our training sessions. You know how bad that is, he can't push his body like that! It's not healthy!"
It is quite disconcerting how vehemently Rin waves her hands when she is passionate about something, and she is quite passionate about her teammates' health, Reishi realizes. "Uh, have you talked to your sensei about this?"
Rin sighs. "Minato sensei already told him that training too much isn't good, but he just keeps saying that he doesn't want to be left behind, you know? I think... I think that seeing the level gap between Kakashi and himself, and then you... that must have been hard..."
Reishi frowns at a pair of knee high socks reinforced with mesh. "Me? What about me?"
"You got into the academy two years after us, and still graduated before us! You progressed so quickly!" she says, excited. Then she adds in a quieter tone, "I think he feels like you're leaving him behind."
Reishi huffs. She didn't chose any of that. She didn't chose to be forced to kill a man so she could survive. If he wants the blood on her hands for himself then she'd be happy to oblige. "I'm not the one that keeps cancelling plans or coming up with excuses." It's hard to recognise it, but it bothers her that he would choose training over spending time together.
Rin looks at her with a saddened expression, but doesn't rebuke it, she knows better than anyone that he has been getting more and more distant lately. "I just miss the old Obito..."
Reishi purses her lips. "I miss him too."
In the end they both part ways with new clothes but the same old problem. Reishi wishes that she had known about this earlier, and not the day before she leaves for a mission that will take a week or so to complete. She had merely thought that he wanted to spend more time with Rin, being as he was smitten with the girl, and though it bothered her, she hadn't paid it any mind. Things hurt less if you try to forget that they exist.
Besides, she had been so caught up with what had happened during her test and her new training sessions with Bear that she had almost managed to forget Obito. Almost.
The damn boy is always in the corner of her mind, like the shadows in the corner of someone's eye. Persistent yet easy to lose the sight of. Elusive.
She hates that she can't just forget it. She hates that she has ended up surrounded by dead people and she is too weak to do anything about it. She had lost sight of the greater picture some time ago, blinded by the nostalgic feeling of a long lost family and evenings plagued by the clanging sound of metal against metal.
The death of Obito gets closer every day she spends drowning in her new life, and she still doesn't know what to do about it.
She goes home to change into her new clothes; a black, sleeveless, kimono-like top part, simmilar to what Kushina had worn as a kid. Except for the pants, the slits at the sides of the 'skirt' and the stuffy-looking (but actually comfy) grey and purple obi with an orange front bow. The obi is perfect for hiding weapons in it and, being tied in the front, it doesn't make having her katana in the back uncomfortable.
Speaking of which.
"Hey Bear!" she calls. "Bear!"
No response.
"Agent Bear likes big, fat co-!"
"Alright, alright!" comes a voice from somewhere in the roof above. Reishi laughs and opens the window, giving Bear a smug look when he perches on the windowsill. "What does the bratty, bratty lady of the household want?"
Reishi sticks out her tongue, which earns her a huff of a laugh while he shakes his head. "I have the rest of the evening free," she says, "entertain me."
Despite her demanding tone there's a wicked smile on her face. Bear, still on the windowsill like a glorified bird, attempts a bow that threatens to make him lose his balance. "As the lady wishes, would her highness accept a very much needed training session? Or would she rather empty my wallet as usual?"
Reishi snorts. "Hey, I'm not that bad at using the sword!"
Bear makes a so-so motion with his hand, if she could see his face, he would probably be grinning like an asshole.
They have been growing closer lately, training together seems to be the ninja way to bond or something. She would have rather gone to a bar together and drink their worries away, but alas, she is but a little girl, and she is not allowed anywhere near her forbidden love: beer. So training it is.
Her swordsmanship, though she doubts it can be called that with a wakizashi so small, has improved greatly since she started having her daily training sessions with Shirakumo and some extras with Bear. (For someone his size, Bear is surprisingly agile, she expected him to be a 'smashy smash' kid of guy, to be honest.)
She is still a beginner, but at least now there's no risk of poking someone in the eye with it by accident. A pity, she thinks, Shikaku would look just lovely with an eyepatch.
In the end she takes Bear's offer of a training session, if only to test her new clothes and see if he can hear her in the midst of her smoke. The results are immediate, and Bear spends at least half an hour whining about a scratch in his shoulder afterwards.
"Look at this!" he complains. "It's right on the ANBU tattoo! It looks terrible!"
"Bo-hoo, what a terrible tragedy. At least I could have had the decency to pierce your neck!" she mocks back. The joke makes her wince, reminding her of the blank face of the man she killed; a red eye and a white one looking at the void, but he doesn't seem to notice.
"You. Are. Terrible."
Reishi places a hand on her chest. "Me? I'm not the one fighting a little girl. What will the people say! What a bully!"
Bear grumbles for a while, probably pouting under his mask, if his tone is anything to go by. A comfortable silence makes itself at home between them as they stretch.
Reishi forgot to stretch once and it is not a mistake she wants to repeat. Ever.
"So," he says after drinking water, then pokes her shoulder with the bottle. Reishi, who had been looking away in an effort to respect his privacy, turns to get it and take a gulp herself. "Have you named it yet?" he asks.
Reishi wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. "Name what?"
"The wakizashi, duh."
"Ah, no. Should I?"
Bear splutters indignantly. "Of course you have to name it! It's not a kunai that you're going to lose sooner or later!"
"I have no idea what to call it though, any ideas?" Reishi looks up, trying to come up with a good name, but only finds the night sky. She hadn't realized that it was that late.
"Hmmmm... What about 'Slasher'?" Bear proposes excitedly.
"Hell no."
"What about 'Gasher'?" Bear accompanies the name with jazz-hands. He is ridiculous.
"No."
"Pokey?" he asks, sounding hopeful. Reishi looks at him with a deadpan expression. "Alright, I give up. Just tell me if you ever come up with something yourself, Miss Picky."
They part ways and she goes home to a very pouty Mikoto, who whines about her not having called her to go shopping together. Reishi shudders, remembering the last time she went with her and Kushina; the orange frilly dress is still in the back of her dressed, waiting to be worn. (It will never happen.)
She has dinner in a hurry – lest Mikoto ropes her into going shopping with her again – and goes to sleep, exhausted. Once in bed she tries not to cringe remembering that past evening's encounter, she will never be able to look at Gai or Kakashi in the eye.
The ending of the chapter is a little bit weird because I've been struggling with it for days :/ I'll fix it someday I guess.
Did any of you get the Dragon Age reference?