Part II | Chapter 3

The night was peaceful and quiet. The soft moonlight allowed them to walk the periphery of the house without a light. In that moment, there were three civilian chakra signatures on the rooms at their left. Gohama had the poisoned senbon ready in her hands. She signalled Nikato to open the door. The woman brushing her hair in front of a mirror flopped back. The redhead caught her limp body before it had hit the ground. After a quick search, they moved on. The rest of the rooms were searched and the civilians set to sleep. Nothing. They continued onto the next floor.

"This is so boring…" Nikato whined

They were searching a wide gallery full of vases, statues and paintings. If the stolen token was somewhere in that mansion it had to be that room.

"Just be thankful we're getting an A-rank pay for a B." she replied while studying every precious object in the shelf before her.

"Why did Hansuke-sensei had to par me up with you? Why suddenly change?"

"Maybe Kisamaru is tired of your whining."

"Or maybe Hansuke-sensei is tired of you being so uptight."

She finished probing her side and turned to him. "Are you even looking for the box?"

He pulled himself away from the wall he was leaning on. "Yeah." at his answer Gohama moved to his side of the gallery, he quickly snapped into action "I don't need your help, Kyura."

Now was her turn to slouch against a wall, attentive to the chakra signatures moving around the building.

"Nothing…"

Gohama pressed the radio's button on her neck. "Hansuke?"

"Go ahead." came a deep static distorted voice.

"We found nothing on our side. Over."

"Copy. Move out to the meeting point. Over."

"Copy that."

Nikato followed behind Gohama. She was the sensorial type, she could discern the best path. For the past two months, the team had completed different missions between B and A-rank. They worked well together, however Nikato's and Gohama's dynamic was still strained. Usually, when they had to divide themselves into two pairs, as sensory nin, the Hyuga and Kyura always stayed apart. Hansuke with Gohama and Nikato with Kisamaru. Now, the team leader had decided it was best to train the least friendly teammates' duo on a less risky mission. She liked working with Hansuke, but, in the end, it was rather indifferent whom she pared up with. The redhead, however, hadn't been pleased with the order. His mood and laziness showed it. She agreed with him in one thing - the mission was boring. Even the nin guarding the rich merchant's mansion weren't enough to spice things up. They were low level and with her sense and Hyuga's byakugan breaking in was pathetically easy. At least, they were finally moving out.

"I mean, it makes no sense to shove us together when I've teamed up with Kisamaru for years now." he kept complaining as they leapt from branch to branch, the mansion disappearing behind them "And you seem to work well enough with sensei. Although, I don't see how he can stand you. You're all work work work, don't even let a guy breathe. We were just searching for some stupid box, there's no need to be so uptight. Is it part of the Kyura to have a stick up their asses all the time?" he chuckled "It actually reminds me of the Hyuga. Ironic, isn't it? What's more ironic even is how Kisamaru is head over heels over you. Not in a romantic sense, though. I actually think he might be asexual. But he's all, you should respect your teammate;" he copied Hyuga's poised speech" it's unbecoming of a shinobi to whine all the time; she's perfectly competent and reasonable, even amiable if you take the time to know her. Yeah, I know you all right. You come in here, thinking you own everything. Disrespecting the Hokage! Who in their right mind stands up against Tsunade-sama? Think you're all protected because of your bloodline limit" if only he knew she might have a target marked on her forehead, maybe he'd stop ranting with an insufferable irked tone "Do you think someone would actually miss you if you died? You've got no one to miss you if you die."

She jabbed her hand into his throat. Gohama was faster than him, he never had the time to react, as he fell back first onto the ground. The soil cracked beneath him and a layer of dust rouse around the two. His eyes were wide in surprise and uneasiness at her sudden attack. She could feel the fastening beat of his pulse on her palm.

"What do you have against me?" she asked with a curious tone. He didn't answer. "I do appreciate that you admit it to my face, but what is it that bothers you so much? In your little rant you never once gave an actual reason to hate me."

"I said you act like you own everything." he answered hesitantly.

"Good. More reasons."

"And you attacked me out of nowhere" he continued, now fighting against her hold. "I'm you're teammate and you just pin me by the throat? For the second time!" he shouted and kicked her hard on the stomach, throwing her away from him.

Gohama took a fighting stance, arms bent in front of her, ready to defend. "Come on, ginger," she provoked "that's nothing."

He lunged towards her with his fist pushed back, ready to strike. She could have evaded it, but decided to take the hit with her forearms.

"You're…" another punch "…good at…" another hit "…every…" a kick to the stomach "…fucking…" another punch "…thing…" hit "…and it's…" kick "…nothing…" punch "…for you…" his hits kept getting intersected by her arms or legs, every word accompanied by another attack "You feel so superior, so entitled just because of your stupid dead clan. No one cares what your clan is!"

Gohama finally started attacking back. "That's all they care about!" she punched him in the jaw and he flew backwards.

This only encouraged his rage. With a shout, he continued with his hit-showered words. "What do you care! You don't care about anything! You don't even care about your own fucking team! If we died in this mission you'd leave us without looking back!"

Their yells were coming more ragged and interrupted because of their thinner breathing.

"You say that when you don't give a shit about me."

"How can I? You just do our stupid missions, annoy some more people and train! You have no fucking life here, you should have stayed at the monastery! Why didn't you?"

"Because I have to be a better ninja."

"You don't deserve to be a better ninja! You don't deserve your fucking bloodline limit!"

At that last shout, Gohama froze. Nikato was right. She didn't deserve it, she didn't deserve to be a Kyura, she didn't deserve the power locked inside her. Not when she failed her entire Village. When his fist shot towards her face, she didn't dodge it. Pain spread through her jaw and cheek, running down her spine. She didn't even fight the momentum that threw her against a tree. Watching his perfect hit, Nikato started chuckling victoriously, curved with his hands resting on his knees.

"Leave Konoha and leave our team. You don't belong here. You're stealing someone's place."

She let herself slide against the rough bark onto the ground. "That's why you hate me. But I'm not stealing anyone's place. She's dead."

Gohama never thought Nikato could express such a frightening glare, pure rage, hate and pain. He ignored the risk of flaring his chakra so close to the mansion. Forming the hand signs, he focused all his anger in the force of his ninjutsu. The attack was made to kill. As she saw the blades of wind cutting through the trees, Gohama thought it would be so easy to accept the blow. She still had most of her chakra reserves, but her muscles weighed too much to move, her chakra cemented into its pathways. All her energy robbed from her by the destructive sight. So easy to let the blades cut her in half. No pain. No more anything. But her duty reigned higher in her heart. And Hansuke's reaction if he found his student had killed her, Kisamaru's reaction if he found his friend had killed her, Nikato's reaction when he found he had killed her. She was their teammate after all.

A kage bunshin took her place. She protected herself with a chakra shield and fled high up the trees. As Nikato watched her body sliced in two, a look of radiant triumph lit his face. In a flash, panic overpowered it and then regret. Gohama stepped down behind him, fast enough to hear his frightened curse.

"You didn't think you could get rid of me so easily." she joked.

The body sliced in two vanished with a puff and smoke. He spun around, another punch ready to smash her. This time she defended it. They continued with their taijutsu fight, a frantic and ruthless pace.

"We were so much better without you!"

"Why?"

"It hurts so much more now!"

"It's not my fault."

"It is!" he yelled with a kick to her side.

"Why?"

"You're taking her away from me!" his yells were changing into screams.

"I didn't kill her."

They were panting hard from the long, brutal fight. Both of them hurting from some injuries. Gohama was certain her arms had fractures from defending instead of dodging. Maybe a broken rib from that one kick to her stomach. Nikato had his jaw purple and swollen. She hadn't attacked him as much as he had, but he still took some strong hits to his stomach and chest. Besides, his stamina wasn't nearly as high as hers was. His blows were becoming weaker and slower.

"You make it so real…" his ragged voice exhaled. "If you're here she really is gone…"

"It's not my fault."

"I know it's not your fault!" he screamed, surprised at his own admission "But I… I… I'm so angry… and it hurts so much…" he fell onto his knees "it hurts so fucking much…"

Nikato started crying, his tears running freely from his cheeks onto the soil below him. His cries mingled with his tired breathing. Gohama didn't know what to do. She fell onto her knees beside him, trying to slow down her own tired breathing. Suddenly, he threw her another punch. His movements were strained and clumsy, almost drunk like. She let it hit and fell backwards from the force. He fell onto his front with the drive of his blow, unable to balance himself.

"I miss her so much… Ayame… I miss her so much…" he continued mumbling while crying. "Because of me… The kunai was for me… But she… she… It's my fault… she's dead because of me…"

A pang of sorrow hit Gohama. Hansuke hadn't told her the details around the girl's death. She knew how much that guilt weighed, she knew how unbearable it was to drag it day after day. To have the kunai destined for her stab into a friend. She didn't know what to say. She felt awkward hearing his pained tears and words.

"It's not your fault." she started hesitantly "You weren't the one to throw the kunai. She chose to take it for you. It's not your fault that she died."

Sobs continued to rack his breaths and shoulders. "Then why do I feel so guilty…?"

"I don't know…" she answered truthfully.

The two teammates stayed silent while looking at the dark sky between tree branches. From time to time, Nikato let out a sniffle.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered lowly, almost afraid she would hear it "I've been an asshole to you. Gohama… You had to leave your home to come here and I've been making things even harder for you… I'm not usually such an asshole, I just guess you being on the team meant that… that Ayame…

"I understand." she tilted her head towards him "If it makes you hurt a little less, you can be an asshole to me all you want."

He chuckled. "That's nice… But I don't think it helps. And Hansuke-sensei is right, Ayame-chan wouldn't want that. I'm actually ashamed… Even a Hyuga was nicer to you."

"Don't worry, there's a whole clan that still hates me."

"I'll kick their asses if they do anything stupid."

Now was her time to chuckle at his masochistic tendencies. He gave a deep, shaky sigh and started talking. Much like his previous rant that had led to this whole fight and make-up, once he started pouring out words the current didn't stop. Nikato explained how Ayame had been one of his childhood friends since his time at the Academy. They had been inseparable and were really happy when they stayed in the same team. She had been great in genjutsu, which complemented their team. She was so kind and smart and attentive, carrying about everyone. She had been Hansuke-sensei's favourite, but, according to Nikato, she was everyone's favourite. After she had died, Sensei had gone on a solo mission. When he had come back, he had told them the guys who had killed her were dead. Nikato had wanted to kill them himself, but could understand why Sensei didn't want to put their student's lives at risk again. It had been a hard time for their team, the grief and guilt weighing on all of them. They thought they were going to be just the three of them, until Gohama had come along. It still hurt him to have Ayame-chan's place filled, but he shouldn't have hated her for it. She was good for the team. He could see that now. Then, he started sharing stories of his and Ayame's time in the Academy and as a team.

She was being torn apart. Her eyes kept showing images of Kunimaru dead on the ground, three kunai piercing his chest, three kunai that were meant to stab her instead. She could no longer remember the details of his face, only his dark blank eyes and the three holes on his too young chest.

The radio set crackled. "Where the hell are you two?" Hansuke's voice demanded.

"Shit." the two of them hissed when they remembered they were in the middle of a mission and halfway onto the meeting point.

"You can talk to him." Nikato said.

"Why me? It's your turn now."

"Please, he'll kic—"

"Answer me!" the radio growled.

Gohama promptly pressed her finger on the piece. "We got detoured. There's no need to worry. We're on our way now. Over."

"Detoured?! We've been looking f—I don't care anymore. Just get your asses back to the Inn. Now!"

"Copy."

The two rose quickly, but stopped mid movement with a grunt when they felt the effects of their fight. They turned to each other, feet against feet and holding each other's hands. With the force balanced between the two, they got up with shared effort, pain and groans.

Nikato looked at her and gave her a goofy smile. "I'm going to hug you."

She stepped back and rose her hands. "I'm not a fa—"

Before she could protest, he threw himself towards her and grasped her shoulders in a painful hug. "Okay." she whispered in resignation and discomfort, awkward pats tapping his back.

When he pulled back, they shared a concerned look and flew away towards the Inn, despite their bodies' complaints at the struggle.

When the room door burst open, on the other side was a livid Hansuke. His expression quickly changed into one of worry when he saw their trampled state.

"What happened to you?" he ushered them in and closed the door behind them "I thought you said there was no need to worry. Did you come across someone?"

Kisamaru moved to Nikato and began examining his body with green chakra.

"We didn't find anyone." Gohama started. "We did this to ourselves."

The anger was back on his face. He was ready to admonish them when Nikato spoke.

"We're good now." he said softly, with a smile directed to Gohama.

Both Hansuke and Kisamaru froze at the friendliness between their two teammates. Hansuke shook his head slightly with wide eyes. He brought his hand to his face and sighed. "We'll talk in the morning. We have the box, and need to meet the client tomorrow morning. Kisamaru, heal Gohama first. Then get Nikato's ass to your own room and take care of him there."

Hyuga told her to sit at the edge of the bed. She only had a small fracture in a rib, a broken cheek and broken forearms. When it came time to heal her arms, Kisamaru asked her to take off her right's guard. "Can't you do non-contact healing?"

"It's just your arm, there's no need to waste extra chakra."

She couldn't argue with that. Ribs sometimes meant exposing her chest and Kisamaru respected her non-existent modesty (he was the one uncomfortable about seeing her breasts or bindings), so he healed her through her clothes. With her arm, there was no need to be cautious. Gohama took of her arm guard. Her pale skin was marred with dark and purple bruises, the swell finally free from its constraint. Hyuga gently held her wrist and extended her limb. A dark blue dragon with ten-tails was painted on the inside of her forearm.

"Wow." Nikato commented "That's so cool."

As professional as always, Kisamaru averted his eyes from her tattoo and began healing her bone and ripped vessels. Gohama could feel Hansuke's attentive gaze. Uncle and she knew it was a matter of time until someone saw the ten-tails beast marked on her skin.

"Why do you hide the tattoo?" the redhead asked.

"I don't know… I guess it's such a personal symbol of my clan I don't want to showcase it to everyone." she lied.

Soon the healing was done and the boys left their room. When they stayed in Inns, Hansuke and Gohama shared a room while Kisamaru and Nikato shared another. It was rare to have rooms for four people available. She went for a quick shower to get the dirt and sweat cleaned from her skin. When she came back into the room, Hansuke was laying on the bed and the leftovers of take-out waiting for her on the low table next to the window. Her stomach rumbled at the sight of cold food and he chuckled. She sent him a glare and sat down on the floor, her back leaning against the bed.

"Why didn't you dodge Nikato's blows?"

"Who said I didn't?"

"Your arms. Even when you spar with me they're never that bad." she continued chewing her food, so he pressed more "So… why didn't you?"

"He needed to punch someone."

He laughed at her nonchalance. "How do you even go from beating each other up to making up?" his voiced had an amused tilt to it.

"Nikato just needed to let some things out."

"Yeah, I know… Good thing you helped him with it."

Had she helped him? Gohama was mostly trying to get a rise out of him. It ended up doing wonders for his resent for her, but when she grabbed him by the throat and shoved him into the ground, her drive was to shut him up. It surprised her how light she had felt when he apologized. Gohama thought she didn't care what the loud redhead was to her, as long as he didn't bother her too much. However, hearing the warmth and regret in his voice as he finally rid himself of misplaced hate had made her own chest coil. It wasn't practical, but in that moment she indulged herself in it. After all, it was essential to have good relations with teammates. When the time would come to follow her duty to her Village, she would follow it with no hesitation.

She remembered what Nikato had told her. "Hansuke," she called quietly.

"Gohama?" he answered lightly.

"Nikato told me how you went after the men that killed Ayame."

"Yes?" he warily asked, as she didn't elaborate.

"Did it help?"

The cheap mattress's springs squeaked behind her. The moving sheets ruffling against her back. "No, not really."

It had been a long pondering time for such a simple answer.

"Why did you do it?"

"Because I wanted to. Because I could give the kids some closer. Because I had failed her and I thought maybe if I killed them I would give her justice. But I didn't. They were shinobi from Iwa, they were doing their duty, just as we were doing our duty. It was brutal murder that felt triumphant for a second and disgusting for the rest of my life."

"Do you regret it?"

"No. I spared the kids that worry and obsession, that burden. But no matter how much I crave for vengeance again it will never be worth it to actually have the blood of someone else in my hands."

"We're shinobi, we're made for coldblooded murder."

"But then it's for duty, it's to protect our Village. Avenging is for our own need."

"Avenging can also be a duty. We're still dutiful to the ones that are dead."

"Yes, we are, but to live, not to kill."

Hansuke wasn't right. She had the duty to honour the Arms, her family and her friends. They had been massacred, trampled over, crushed, mutilated, degraded. She wouldn't avenge them just because she craved their killers blood, she would do it for honour. Gohama would endure the burden of disgust if it came to her. Her path didn't belong to her, it belonged to the Arms.

A hand settled on her shoulder. "They wouldn't ask that of you, Gohama."

"Take your hand off me."

He kept it there defiantly. She shook it off and stood up, ready to leave the room. Who was he to think he could comment on that? He grasped her wrist, she winced slightly as it was still tender.

"I didn't want to offend you, Gohama. I said it because I truly believe it."

She glared at him. He was kneeling on the bed, an arm extended to catch her own before she left. Gohama twisted her hand so it was now her grabbing his wrist. Her other hand shoved him hard by the throat against the bed. He could have prevented it, if he really wanted to.

"You have nothing to do with this." she growled "So keep you prying beliefs to yourself."

"It's my business if it affects my team. It affects you and you're part of my team."

She was too tired to argue with him, so she rolled to the side and plopped down on the bed, a limp arm draping over her eyes. "Just leave it alone, Hansuke…" her tone was almost pleading.

"But you were the one that started it." at his words she grunted in annoyance "Okay. I'll leave it alone. For now." another grunt. He chuckled and propped himself on an elbow, facing her "You do realise you just attacked your team leader. I should punish you."

"Do you realise how inappropriate some things you say sound?"

"Maybe you just have a dirty mind."

"What is my punishment, sensei?" she said coyly, he blushed at her words and she laughed "See, inappropriate."

"So, I'm only your sensei when you mock me."

"It's called roleplaying."

"Shut up, Gohama. You're clearly the inappropriate one, not me."

She somersaulted out of the bed and went for the bathroom. When she came back into the room, Hansuke was already laying down inside the covers. She did the same, her back to him. He broke the silence with a grave tone, "I'm serious, Gohama. It won't solve anything, it will only hurt you more."

"I don't care about that."

"I do…"

She clenched her teeth in irritation for his entitlement. "It's none of your fucking business."