Part I | Chapter 7

After a month, team 9 would have their first mission with Gohama. They had met for training four times a week. During the first few days, Kisamaru and Nikato, for the better of team relationships, trained alone their chakra moulding, Gohama sparred with Hansuke. The second day had focused on ninjutsu. She performed jutsu from the most elementary to the most advanced, as Hansuke had asked her. With his water, earth and fire jutsu, Hansuke had only managed to win due to experience in battle. He admitted that his own ninjutsu skill was lower than hers was. The next day, a genjutsu fight. This one Gohama had easily won, as she had expected. Due to her special training with Osamu-hanshi in the Arms, she had gained an extraordinary ability to detect and free herself from most genjutsu. Since a toddler, she had been summited to virtual scenarios that would help her control and support the power inside her, for it was too reckless to let a child free such raw power with a fragile body and mind. Even with her small arsenal of genjutsu – only interrogation ones, needed for investigating her Village's massacre – Gohama had won by taunting Hansuke mentally and physically until he yielded. Whatever mind jutsu he set on her never had any effect. The following three days consisted of a mix of all jutsu type, including weapon handling and target practicing. She never used her bloodline limit and he never did ask her to. Gohama supposed it didn't fit in any stat of a ninja profile, so he didn't need to test it.

By the end of the first week, Gohama was sore but a sense of accomplishment kindled her spirit. In the monastery, it had been long lost and she had reached a stagnant point in her improvement. Now, she could pacify the uncertainty of her decision to leave the Snow. With the other two, the Hyuga had managed to make a simple water moulding justsu. Nikato had only glinted a few sparks with his breath. Hansuke had found it worthy of a celebratory drink. Gohama had said she had business to attend to and nobody tried to convince her this time.

After the drinking game fiasco, Gohama hadn't shared a word with any of her teammates, except for Hansuke. The redhead's nose was still swollen and purple, which meant their sensei had forbidden Kisamaru from healing it. At least Hansuke contributed with a little sense of respect to Team 9. Now, after a month of seeing each other almost every day, their team remained with the same tension and animosity; even if it was mostly one-sided. It was obvious Hansuke had given up on forcing a healthy dynamic between the three. Besides some comments while sparring, she didn't speak to the other two and they didn't speak to her. They resented her for filling the position of their dead teammate and Gohama didn't care.

Hansuke was hesitant about taking a mission with a divided team, even if it was a simple courier job to Sand, C-rank. Why a whole four-man team was needed hadn't gone unnoticed. Tsunade had probably assigned a basic mission for safety reasons. Having them get used to work with each other without compromising themselves and the Village.

Gohama arrived at the front gate with perfect punctuality. Kisamaru was the only one there. The same had happened during their trainings. First was the Hyuga, then the Kyura, followed by Hansuke and last, by long minutes, Nikato. The two would acknowledge each other with a hateful look and then ignore their mutual existence, while they both waiting for the others. This morning was no different from the other days.

The team set out through the trees right after Nikato arrived. Kisamaru would be the one carrying the scroll. Formation diamond shaped, Hansuke led them, Gohama and Nikato on the sides, and Hyuga took the rear. The journey until their first resting camp went smoothly. It was good to know the team could be professional during missions. At sun down, they settled near a small stream. Hansuke had assigned them their tasks. The redhead and she were to set the camp.

"I assemble the tent." he said "You start the cooking."

"I have to wait for the wood. I'll help you with that."

"I don't need nor want your help, Kyura."

Gohama shrugged. She could do nothing about his immature and resentful behaviour. Irrational really. Gohama had little fault over the death of their teammate, she had also no say on which team she was invading. Everything would have been simpler if only Kakashi had accepted training her. She waiting for Hansuke to set the perimeter and gather the wood.

"Why aren't you working, Gohama?" he asked when he arrived.

She leaped from a branch. "Had nothing to do. Now I have."

She took the firewood from his arms and gathered it on the ground. With a simple jutsu, the fire was burning. Another jutsu and the pot was filled with water. Noodles for dinner. They sat around the fire while eating. Nikato was more talkative, but, as expected, only with Hansuke and Kisamaru. Gohama wasn't interested in maintaining a conversation, so it was all the better for her.

"Gohama?" she hummed in acknowledgment "This is your first mission outside the Village, no?"

Hansuke was trying to bring her into the conversation. The other two had nurtured a sudden fascination with their noddle bowl.

"No. I did an escort to a town close to the Leaf."

"Solo?"

"Solo."

"As a genin that's impressive."

"It was simple, just accompanying a child. Came back the same day."

"Then I guess it's your first time camping. I hope Nikato doesn't keep you up with his snoring."

The redhead scoffed. "Like I care."

"You should care. A sleepless night lowers reflexes. If a teammate is down the whole team suffers. Have you learnt nothing for these past years?" his tone was that of a reprimanding sensei. He was a sensei to the other two, it made sense he had mastered the tone.

"No need to worry about that, Hansuke." Gohama said as she took the plates from each one of them.

"That's disrespectful." the Hyuga admonished "If you don't recognise him as your teacher, at least do as a superior, captain or senior."

"An honorific means nothing. It doesn't alter my skill as a kunoichi or teammate."

"It's about propriety."

"Propriety doesn't make good shinobi, it doesn't do shit in the field."

"Respect and honour are important in the shinobi code."

"And yet you've shown me none."

"You don't deserve it." Nikato asserted.

"Why?" the three stayed quiet for a while "This is a genuine question. Why? Because I was assigned by the Hokage to this team? Is that why I don't deserve any respect?"

"You smashed my nose on a table!"

"It had started before that. Actually, your complete disrespect over my Village was what made me smash your nose. You can resent me all you want. I don't care. But please do it internally. We have a mission." she started away "I'm going to clean thi—"

Her chakra sense tingled softly. The signatures were closer than her field. Jonin or higher, masking their chakra. She had already a kunai summoned onto her hand. "Four shinobi coming. Jonin level. Masking their chakra. 80 m."

There was no time to run. They would have to fight. Kisamaru activated his Byakugan. Hansuke was signalling them to hide on the trees, when recognition dawned on her.

"Wait!" she called. They did so. "Hatake Kakashi. One of them is Hatake Kakashi."

"How do you know?" Hansuke asked with doubt.

"I recognise his chakra."

"You sure?"

Gohama gave him a pointed glance and he chuckled and relaxed. The other two followed suit, but she still had a firm grip on her kunai. The four chakra signatures surrounded them high on the tree branches. With Gohama and the Byakugan, they no longer had the surprise element. Hansuke could also sense them easily, now that they were so close. Only Nikato continued oblivious.

"Come down and greet an old friend, Hatake." Hansuke called with mocking opened arms.

Kakashi landed in front of them, not a sound as his feet touched the ground. Sleeveless black shirt, grey armour, long gloves and a Kitsune porcelain mask painted in red. He was ANBU. The other three settled behind him. A snake, a bear and a cat. Kakashi was the Taicho.

"What the hell does ANBU want with us?"

Gohama's heart started beating fast. Where they here for her? Why would they be? Had the Hokage found something?

"Someone big is after the scroll. The mission is now A-rank. The Hokage assigned us as your backup."

"A whole ANBU squad?" Hansuke asked with an incredulous chuckle.

"Either there's something Kakashi isn't telling us, or Tsunade doesn't trust our workings as a team." Gohama commented.

The tallest and widest of the ANBU started walking towards her, Bear mask. Fire, Wind and Water chakra, aggressive and unruly. Gohama could feel the energy waves shoving through her front; he was boasting it. Bear stopped right before her, too close for comfort. She tilted her chin to gaze at him defiantly.

"I didn't know we would have the honour of meeting the Kyura girl." his rough voice betraying his hidden leer. "Such fiery eyes." he traced her jaw with the back of his fingers.

Gohama grasped his wrist and snatched it away. "Don't touch me."

"Get away from her." Hansuke ordered, his tone strict.

Bear scoffed. "You're out of your jurisdiction, Hansuke-sempai."

Sempai? If an ANBU treated Hansuke by that honorific, it had to mean he was also ANBU. They had no superiors, besides the Hokage, outside of their organization. That would explain his fighting skill and style.

"Do as he says." Kakashi intervened. His subordinate obeyed immediately, taking a few steps back. He looked back at Hansuke "This means we'll accompany you to Suna. You keep the scroll. We're just backup."

"Why would a "someone big" be after a C-rank mission scroll?" Gohama asked.

Kakashi turned his face to her, slightly tilting it to the side. "That's where the confidentiality part comes up, Gohama."

She shrugged and started walking away from the camp, dirty dishes in hand.

"Where are you going?"

"The stream." she explain while shaking the dishes on her hand.

"Clean them here. We can't afford to be separated."

"You do it, then, Kakashi." she said, throwing the tableware as disks towards him.

"My, my, on first name basis already. Know each other well?" Bear asked, innuendo clear.

"Kyura is on first name basis with everyone. " Kisamaru had meant to sneer on her lack of decorum, but it sounded like a harsher insult.

"Shut up, Hyuga. You're just too coward to stand up for yourself." Gohama retorted. "Honorifics just help keep all the branch Hyuga in their place."

Nikato raised himself, a pointing finger slicing the air, eyes raged. "You have no right to talk about the Hyuga! You talk about respect, but you don't respect us back!"

"When did I disrespect you?"

"When you took her place as if it was nothing! As if you could ever fulfil her stead!"

"Is this what it's all about? Your own childish grieving over the death of a teammate? Get over it. That's what shinobi do. They die."

"Like you could understand." Gohama's indifference washed over, her green eyes glowering. The rest of the nin tensed up. Nikato wavered for a moment, but pushed more. "You probably don't even remember losing your Vil—"

In an instant, Nikato was pinned to a tree, a thud and grunt echoing through the forest. The birds and insects turned quiet. She had him by the throat. His eyes wide, she could feel his speeding pulse through her forearm.

"Gohama." Hansuke called out. She ignored him.

"You think I don't remember?" she hissed "Do you think that's actually something someone can forget? Fucking Konoha. You talk about the Kyura but you're the ones that are so damn self-centred, so damn disrespectful."

"If you don't like us, leave." his voice was small, husky from the grip, hesitant.

"Unlike you, I can take annoying people if it means doing my duty."

Gohama loosened her grasp and he slid to the ground, coughing. She extended her arm in the direction of Kakashi, a field of chakra stretching through the distance and involving the dishes. She flicked her wrist in her direction and they were once again in her hands. Even in their defensive positions, no one had thought of stopping her from pointing chakra at the Copy nin. She left for the stream.

"I see why Tsunade-sama sent us." Bear commented with a chuckle.

Now, as Gohama scrubbed the dirty dishes with sand so the grease would come off easily, she wistfully remembered her life at the monastery. After seven years of almost solitude, dealing with other people could make Gohama absolutely exhausted.

At the monastery, she interacted mostly with Uncle. They trained together for at least four hours every day, however, there were little relationship complications during interactions as practical as training. From time to time, they would talk and socialise, none of them was a hermit. Still, Uncle Tsukate was a monk; the time he didn't spend training her, he spent praying, contemplating or doing chores; they talked little in terms of typical relationships, most of their time together was in silence. They were similar in that. For them, silent company was as comforting as speaking one.

Gohama also talked with monks, but very little. There were some that refused to acknowledge her existence, because she was a young girl and she had no place in a men's monastery. Others would only give her kind smiles and continue with their blissful existence. Her social life had been based on meaningless conversations with few old monks. Sometimes they shared some of their knowledge of life. Gohama had always found it hard to apply their teachings to her own life. But she appreciated their wise words. They seemed to come from an awareness of life above any plan Gohama intended to live on. Their mysticism was awe-inspiring, but it did not fit in her own existence. She saw herself as a practical person. Train to be the best and fulfil her duty. Her life had always been summed up to duty and that was a simple way that brought a complicated life. The monastery way of life was the simplest of paths, full in profundity and bliss.

Now, with all the team drama, he desperately needed a simple conversation about the perfected method of taking care of roses. Yamato-sensei talked about his roses with such love and affection it had never failed to warm Gohama's heart. He had his entire being in caring for his flowers. Gohama only dreamed of giving such devotion to her own duty.

Relationships were complicated and she was not used to nurturing them. Her social skills were meticulous and competent. As the heiress, she had needed to learn decorum and politeness. However, it could only bring her so far. A true relationship, especially with teammates, was rooted on trust not politeness. The Hyuga depended too much on honorifics, because his Clan used them to program the branch family. It was important for shinobi, since it defined through marked lines the chain of command, but it wasn't enough to make a working military. Gohama didn't trust any of her teammates and she honestly believed would never be able to. She would protect them, not because of affection, but simply because of her duty. Duty was powerful, but trust went further.

"Don't worry, I'm not dead." Gohama blankly said.

"It's impossible to sneak up on you, isn't it?" Gohama smiled smugly. She was kneeling by the stream, working on cleaning the plates. Kakashi settled behind her, hands shoved in his pockets. "You recognised my chakra. Even when I was hiding it."

"You don't need to feel self-conscious, Copy-nin. I do it with everyone."

"How does my chakra feel?"

"You're nature type affinity is to Lightning Release. You have Water, Earth, Fire, Wind, Yin and Yang Release. Jonin level. The personality, as the Kyura call it, is interesting: both wild and contained. But the last is probably something you forced." she tilted her head back to look at the white mask "Satisfied your curiosity?"

Gohama finished her task but wasn't ready to join the others. Kakashi felt the need to babysit her. If she had the energy to, she would complain about it.

"You do realise you could have been killed."

"When I attacked my teammate or aimed my chakra to you?"

"Both."

"You should be the one training me."

"Gohama…"

"I'm serious. It would probably be best for Konoha. They would have a capable three-man team and both of us would get the job done, without pitiful resentments in the way."

"I can see how the Hyuga and ginger are obnoxious, but Hansuke isn't so bad."

"He has this annoying thing where he can't make eye-contact, unless we're sparring. I suppose he's shy."

"Shy?" Kakashi asked staggered.

"I don't see any other possibility. He looks the other two in the eye." Gohama raised herself up "We should get back or they'll think we're doing something else other than running away from social interactions."

"I'm good here."

"Do as you wish. But I don't want to further taint my image with people thinking I fucked the Village pervert." she mocked.

"You have no shame in that tongue of yours."

Gohama raised her eyebrows and smiled at the possible interpretations. Kakashi seemed to realise it too late.

"Or m-mind." he added, but still couldn't hide his embarrassment.

Gohama had settled on a tree branch, her thoughts and eyes hazy with day dreaming about nothing in particular. The rest of the shinobi sat around the fire, sharing past missions and manly gossip. Bear was trying to impress her two teammates with gruesome ANBU stories and his conquests. He informed them that the uniform worked as a magnet, no woman could resist it. Gohama could agree with how some men looked appealing in it, its tight fitting and symbol showed-off strength and mystery and usually women were attracted to these, especially when accompanied by a perfectly fit and shaped body. It was, however, not enough to make women fall head over heels. Bear was the proof of this, unless you were into a cocky jerk with violent tendencies, he was repelling.

Gohama studied the men below her. The other two ANBU, beside Kakashi, did look attractive in their outfit, but nothing beat the Copy-nin. It wasn't only about his lithe and strong form, but his pose. As ANBU, his stance was surprisingly different from day to day life. Instead of laziness and slouching, he emitted prowess and menace, much more similar to the feel of his fierce chakra. Her gaze turned to Hansuke. He would definitely look irresistible in an ANBU uniform. Gohama found his larger frame to be the best proportionated of the men there. He was big but not enough to make her feel suffocated like Bear, on the contrary, it gave a sense of safety.

What the fuck was she thinking? Gohama had just spent too many minutes comparing and admiring male bodies. That didn't worry her much, she was only human, but since when had she started thinking of Hansuke as safe? That was the scary thought.

A bottle of whiskey had found a way through the campsite. Gohama decided it was time to drink. She dropped to the open space between Snake and Kakashi, snatching the bottle out of the former's hands.

"Oh, if I had known you'd join us for alcohol, I would have taken it out sooner." Bear teased.

"Shut up."

"So feisty. Tell us, as a woman yourself, how fuckable are ANBU?"

Gohama slid her eyes across the black ops operatives sitting by the fire. She gave Bear a coy smirk and eyed him up and down.

"Depends on the man wearing the uniform. In you, it doesn't help much."

Bear grunted in his rough voice and took the bottle, downing a generous amount.

"You're the only person besides Taicho that can keep Bear in his place." Snake commented with amusement beside her.

Gohama turned to study him fully. It was the first time he had spoken to her directly and she did consider what he had said a compliment. To have the same intimidation level as Hatake was remarkable. Strong chakra, typical of any ANBU, but it wasn't blatant like Bear or Kakashi, it creeped in on someone, hissing with its wind affinity, complemented with fire and earth. Gohama supposed they didn't chose the masks at random. With his chakra flow, he was probably specialised in genjutsu.

"I think that's any woman." Cat added.

They all laughed.

"Like women could ever intimidate me." the word wasspat with scorn.

"What did you say, Bear-kun?" Gohama asked, her voice sweet and glare menacing.

"I said I could never be intimidated by women. They are physically weaker and coul—"

"Shut up." Gohama cut in fiercely.

"What, Can't hear th—"

"I said shut up." she barked.

He obeyed. Gohama closed her eyes, concentrating on her chakra awareness, her skin prickling with an eerie feeling. Then, the chakra shadow was close enough for her to sense it. She stood with urgency.

"About twenty shinobi are closing in on us. They're coming from all sides. About 200 m."

The rest of the group followed her. Kisamaru activated his Byakugan. Cat and Nikato seemed a bit too affected by the alcohol they had drank and the group hadn't even started fighting. This wasn't going to go well. It really had been incredible irresponsible of them to be drinking on a mission. Why had the ANBU gotten too comfortable? Weren't they expecting anyone?

"Mostly chunin level, some jonin. I guess you weren't lying." Gohama said lightly "I can sense the someone big. Lightning affinity, wind, fire and earth."

"The big one is mine. Disperse." Kakashi ordered.

They hid in the trees. At least, the enemy wasn't going to have the surprise effect. The enemy group arrived to a deserted, but still set up camp. There was no deceiving them. A part stood in the small clearing. The other circled it, preventing them from running away. Twenty-two missing-nin. Fourteen chunin, eight jonin. With ANBU there they could make it, the problem were her own teammates.

The someone big started talking with a smug and amused tone. "Konoha-nin, no one has to get hurt. We just want the scroll." they didn't answer "Minamoto, how many?"

There was another sensing type.

"Seven. Two chunin, five jonin."

Gohama smirked, he couldn't sense her perfectly hidden chakra. Kakashi dropped to the ground, in front of the missing nin group. Hansuke did the same.

"Lin." Hansuke greeted through clenched teeth.

Hansuke had met the chief before. While the jonin wasn't happy, the missing nin seemed incredibly thrilled. His chakra rode through the air in electrifying waves, vicious and cocky.

"Oh my, look if it isn't Giranai Hansuke, the Void of Konoha." Gohama had never heard of his ninja cognomen. He was famous enough for one, which was impressive. "And, of course, the Copy Ninja. What a pleasure! I see you've become a sensei, Giranai. You always were too soft. And you did too, Hatake. But it didn't go so well with the Uchiha deserting and all. Your place has always been in ANBU.

"Maa, no matter how much I would like to catch up, we do have to get going." Kakashi mocked with his typical nonchalance "I wish I could say that it was nice seeing your ugly face again."

He pretended to leave when Lin spoke again.

"Not so fast, Hatake." his tone threatening "I'll have the scroll now."

Kakashi gave an exaggerated sigh. "This time we won't let you get away."

"Of course you won't. You'll be too dead to even try. Don't look into the fox's eyes and don't get caught in the brunet's earth dome. It absorbs chakra." he warned his men and signalled for them to attack.

That explained the name Void, his earth domes could drain the chakra from the enemies. A powerful jutsu.

The rogues encircling them closed in. One of the ANBU dropped to the ground to help Hansuke and Kakashi. Gohama stayed in the trees with the rest, fighting the inclosing enemies. She summoned her tanto, dispersing chakra around its blade. Evading thrown kunai and shuriken, she created five kage bushin that approached the enemy nin, jumping from branch onto branch.

The real fighting began. Gohama usually preferred a direct approach, but she decided it was more efficient to take advantage of the trees and remain stealthy. Her chakra signature was perfectly hidden, focussed on fighting her bushin, the rogues would never sense her coming. She pierced the first's heart with her tanto through his back and disappeared in an instant. The second died from a sliced carotid. The third a kunai to the forehead. Her kage bushin joined the battle below and she engaged the same strategy with the ninja fighting her teammates.

While Nikato was distracting an enemy with a taijutsu fight, she stabbed him through his back. With chakra-gilded weapons, the stench of burning flesh always accompanied the metallic of blood. Gohama pushed through the red tainting her pale hands. Next, she killed the one fighting Kisamaru. Always through the back. Her two teammates joined her in the killing of the last to confront them. The Hyuga blocked the chakra points in his arms, while Nikato exchanged blows with him, Gohama finished by thrusting her blade through his heart. Nikato and Gohama joined the others on the ground. Kisamaru, as a medic-nin, waited in the periphery. A team couldn't afford to have an injured or dead medic. Meanwhile, only two of her kage bushin remained.

Kakashi was fighting Lin. On the trees, Bear and Snake were battling five. There were seven missing nin left on ground level. Hansuke was handling four and Cat three. Gohama dispelled her bushin and went to help her team leader, Nikato the ANBU. The missing nin no longer stood a chance.

"Is that the Kyura girl?" Gohama heard a frantic and surprised shout. So, Lin had recognised her.

She could feel his signature approaching her; Kakashi's one trying to retaliate his advances.

"Come on, Hatake. I just wanna meet her, maybe fight a little. No. Actually, she's much better for something else."

The ninjutsu's on those two combat became increasingly greater. Gohama could sense Kakashi trying to contain the aftershock of jutsu that size in such a confined space as that small clearing. The Copy nin took a hard hit and flew across ground. The air from the wind release rushing through the trees, grass and Gohama's hair.

Hansuke stopped fighting. Gohama was ready to hit him with playful mocking when she realised why he was still. The Void of Konoha froze as he saw his student kneeling. A kunai tip pressed to his throat. The battle continued around him, but he was halted in time. His fear dripping from his eyes and mind. Gohama could only watch as she tried to kill her own opponents faster, preventing them from taking advantage of Hansuke's stupor and end him.

"Tell them to stand back or I'll kill him." Lin ordered.

Gohama wasn't the only one who had noticed Hansuke's dilemma. Kakashi chose for him. "Stand back!" he commanded.

The ANBU obeyed without hesitation, Gohama followed suit and so did Nikato. The missing nin, only six left, started grouping behind Lin, their positions taut, ready for an attack. How was the Hyuga stupid enough to get caught? It had been the sensory nin to discover him. Hyuga was the medic nin. He had the scroll. The Konoha shinobi stood together. Everyone tense.

"Give me the scroll or I'll kill your student, Giranai." Lin didn't know Kisamaru had the scroll. He was growing impatient. Most of his were dead. "I see, you choose his death."

He pulled the blade back a few centimetres to gain momentum. Her thoughts started working on a solution. Every possible scenario forming in her mind in mere seconds. She would see a teammate die on her first mission with him.

"Wait!"

He looked towards Gohama, with amused eyes.

"A Kyura is more valuable than a Hyuga." she asserted.

"Your point, girl?"

"I trade my place with him."

"This day gets better and better. The brother clans' reconciliation at last. A Kyura trading her life for a Hyuga. I very much accept. Take off your pouches and cloak."

"Gohama, what are you doing?" Hansuke asked as she gave him her cloak.

"He won't kill me right away."

She showed Lin she had nothing on her.

"All right, you can come."

"If you kill him, you lose your bargain chip."

Gohama started walking. A firm grip on her arm pinned her to the spot. "You're not going anywhere." Kakashi sternly said.

"You're not my team leader, you can't order me around." she refuted, while wriggling away from his grip.

"I'm you're superior. It's my job to order chunin around."

A crude laugh made them both look back at Lin. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Don't be jealous, Lin, it doesn't suit you."

"You're the one keeping me from going, Hatake. I'll use my chakra, so you better stand back, unlike Inuzuka did." she warned, searching in the dark holes of the mask for any understanding.

Gohama watched black tomoe swirling around a crimson iris. It was the first time she was seeing the Sharingan. For a moment, she lost herself in the disturbing eye. Its movements both captivating her with its power and mystery and forcing her to answer her basic instincts and flee. The most powerful kekkei genkai in the ninja world and there were only three people with it left, five eyes. Power always came with annihilation. The reluctant loosening of his hold pulled her back to the battlefield. She glanced over at Hansuke, who had his eyes fixed on the ground. He never did try to stop her.

Gohama turned her back to the Konoha nin. She straightened her shoulders and elongated her neck. Her graceful walk, full in majesty and poise. Her steps making no sound. The silence was expectant. The eyes of the men fixed on her flowing figure. When Keiko-san, her governess, had forced her to learn how to enter and pace a room, energized little Gohama had never realized how suitable it was for the ninja life. If Keiko-san knew about her use of "the walk", she would be either scandalised or proud. Honestly, Gohama couldn't imagine her governess truthfully. Her childish perception was certainly insulting, from what she could tell now, she had been a passionate teacher, perfectionistic and demanding. And those three characteristics, so loathed by young Gohama, allowed her now to walk towards the enemy nin, towards the chance of death, with the confidence and superiority of a queen, of the heiress of the Kyura.

She stood before Lin with the dignity of a girl, a woman, who had traded her life for her Hyuga teammate, renouncing to blind clan animosity. The enemy was the one pointing the kunai at her comrade. She was just Gohama and he was just Kisamaru. Lin threw him to the ground and he stayed there, hands clenching the soil below them. He stared upwards to her with wide eyes, she couldn't understand if it was fear or confusion. He just stared and wouldn't leave.

"What are you still doing here? Leave." she commanded.

The missing nin grasped her by her hair, pulling it back so he could better examine her face. This broke Kisamaru's frozen state and he ran to the Konoha side. The edge of a kunai rasped the skin of her neck. His leering gaze repulsed her, but she never wavered on her poised gaze and stance.

"Oh yes, much better than a Hyuga."

"Did you hear that, Kisamaru? He said it." she joked.

"So the rivalry isn't dead." he turned her towards the Konoha nin "Isn't she your student too, Giranai?"

Gohama scoffed, despite his rough manhandling. "I don't have a sensei."

He threw her towards the men behind him that locked her in place. Some of the filthy hands wandering to dangerous places. Despite common sense, she struggled against their invasion.

"Tonight we have gourmet dinner, boys. Unless..." he started turning towards her teammates "Giranai. Hatake. One more chance. The scroll or the Kyura heiress. It would really be a shame to have her porcelain skin covered in purple. You can understand how some men are, and I wouldn't stop my men from enjoying their own private pleasures."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Hansuke shouted.

Kakashi put a firm arm in front of his chest, trying to stop his rage.

She trusted her abilities completely. When she first shouted "Wait.", it had been only out of impulse, out of a need to prolong the choice, maybe even ease it. When she had made her walk, her darting heart imagined a risk much higher than reality. She was trading Kisamaru's life, but not for her own. She would not die. Gohama had the skill to complete the mission, but not alone. Her trust wavered when it came to the shinobi staring back at her, masks and hitai-ate's marking them. She hoped Kakashi was as smart as everyone thought he was and understood her next play. She hoped he had managed to put Hansuke on par. Then, she locked her eyes on Kakashi and he stared back, they confirmed their mutual complicity with a gaze. The enemy was done, Hatake knew that as much as her. She gave him a smug smirk.

Sharp scorching shot through all her pathways in an instant, making her entire body agonise. She couldn't grasp anything around her. She knew they had freed her, which meant they had fallen too, when she hit the ground limply. If it wasn't for the wide earthy support she lay on, Gohama would never have realised she had even collapsed. The pain from her chakra exploding from inside out dominated all her sensations. She couldn't force her head to tilt and confirm if the Leaf nin were alive. The sound of blades slashing through flesh, with no counter clash of metal, meant someone was dying without fighting. Then it stopped. She kept her eyes closed, trying to hold the pain, desperately waiting for it to stop.

Gohama could hear murmuring surround her, but the sound was too muffled for her to distinguish the words. She opened her eyes and was faced with a distorted brown haired man.

"I always forget… how much this hurts… " she wasn't sure if her words had even come out or died in her throat.

She gave into her exhaustion and closed her eyes.