Wow... I can't believe how many reviews I got on the first day 19 was
posted... 12!!! Well, as you can probably tell I'm in a good mood. What a
great way to celebrate a birthday. Thank you everyone.
I guess I'm doing okay by your standards... and I got a review that I'm going to have to try to remember... said something about 'stop worrying if it's cliché and write the damn thing'. Of course it wasn't that rude... but that was the general message. I'll try.
Oh and to morphy-yamc I never actually thought about Kashiya's chest... it was just that Tsunade-hime was blonde... heh heh...
I hope no one expects Sasuke to fall in love with Kashiya... I can promise you he won't, though I can't guarantee his reaction to Naruto. If you hadn't already noticed... he's beginning the long and tedious process of falling in love with the boy...
Chapter Title: 20. Walking on Water
"Sasuke, Sakura, meet Kashiya, Tsunade-sama's niece." Sasuke looked up at the entrance of a new team mate and the first thing he noticed was how startlingly similar to Naruto's Oiroke no jutsu she looked. He glared lightly at the girl, not trusting for a second who she was claiming to be, but kept his mouth shut for the time being.
Sakura, on the other hand, was wondering if this new girl would be after Sasuke. She may have become more lenient with him in the last couple of years, but there was no way she'd just roll over and let some new girl steal HER Sasuke.
Seeing the double glares from her team mates, Shiya shuddered, wondering if she was really that recognisable. Ignoring her insecurities, she decided to keep up with her charade.
"Konnichiwa, minna-san." She bowed respectfully.
"She'll be joining us for a little while." Kakashi explained. They both nodded, resignedly, and greeted their new team mate. Shiya hesitated, knowing Sasuke didn't trust her one bit, but the mask on her face reminded her that outwardly she wasn't the same person anymore.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted, still seemingly upset. "That dobe should have stayed here." Everyone looked at him for an explanation, and Shiya had to bite her tongue to keep from retorting. He had to be testing her. "It was his birthday today and we never even got the chance to wish him a happy birthday." Sakura looked at him, confusion written all over her features.
"It was his birthday today?" She asked. "Is that why he pranked us all? He thought we forgot? I didn't even know." Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Baka!!" Sasuke rolled his eyes at her. "He was born the day they sealed the Kyuubi."
"Oh, yeah." She whispered, ashamed that she'd forgotten that. Shiya started to feel a little guilty for all the pranks she'd pulled that morning, but got an idea.
"So, who is this Naruto person?" She asked sweetly. Kakashi smacked her in the back of the head for asking, but Sakura answered before the question could be taken back.
"He's a friend and team mate of ours." She explained.
"Friend?" Shiya repeated. Sasuke nodded, deciding to ignore his doubts about her. He figured that there was no way Naruto would have gotten past Kakashi so easily so she had to be telling the truth. He trusted their teacher to never lead them astray without good reason, and Naruto's tricks would never be a good reason.
"Hai, he's loud-mouthed, obnoxious and dead last in our graduating class, but he's one of my closest friends." He explained. Kakashi held in his sigh of relief, and Shiya grinned broadly to know that they actually considered Naruto a friend of theirs. She was glad even the anti-social Sasuke still considered him his closest friend. Kakashi had been worried that they would say something about the boy while he was 'gone' and it would spark Kashiya to do or say something to give herself away. He was surprised that she'd had enough self-control to avoid the usual comebacks when Sasuke had called Naruto all those things.
"So are we just going to stand here?" Shiya spoke up suddenly. Kakashi nodded and lead them off to another training session.
***
Sasuke clutched his chest, struggling with his breathing. Kakashi had told him to start trying to concentrate his Chidori into a more controlled precise jutsu, but he was still having a little difficulty focusing on his chakra. Sitting down on the soft grass, he looked over to where Kakashi and Shiya were talking in private. He still had his doubts about her identity, but had decided to just shrug them off. Maybe he was just training a little too hard in the last few months and the stress was starting to get to him.
Taking a deep breath and standing back up, he straightened his back and looked at the tree he'd been attacking. It was already toppled over and he was still using it to practice. He looked at his hand, feeling it itch slightly and saw a slight burn developing in his palm. He winced, realising he was way too uptight and his control over the jutsu was too tightly reigned in. He was 'way too' a lot of things.
Focusing on what remained of the tree stump, Sasuke continued with other aspects of his training.
***
Shiya frowned watching Sasuke try to work off his stress and didn't notice Kakashi's impatience until he snapped his fingers in front of her face to get back her attention.
"When you've finished drooling over Sasuke, I'd like to talk about what sort of jutsus you can and can't do in front of these two." He'd been lecturing her for the last ten minutes and her mind began to wander.
"I was not drooling over that bastard." She muttered under her breath. He ignored her comment and continued on.
"You can't do Kage Bunshin or Rasengan, because they both know those are Naruto's specialty moves. They'll only serve to get you in a lot of trouble, and I won't be the one to help get you out of it." Shiya nodded, not really listening. "If you can figure out a way to use Rasengan in another way then by all means try. There's also Kawarimi, and Henge..." She nodded, getting an idea.
Crouching in to herself, in an attempt to cover her hand, she tested out her theory with a little amount of chakra. She smirked when she found the limit to how far from her palm she could have the ball without losing control of it. She straightened up and added more chakra to the spinning orb. Before Sasuke or Sakura could recognise the move, she added a few shuriken to the mix and threw the ball as hard as she could at the nearest tree, putting all her weight into the lunge. The trunk of the tree imploded and the shuriken were blasted through the tree and into the one directly behind it with a loud crack. Kakashi smiled, impressed with the quick development, and the other two stared at the girl in amazement.
Shiya turned around at the silence and chuckled nervously, wondering if either Sasuke or Sakura had remembered the move and figured her out.
"Sugoi desu!!" Sakura exclaimed and, forgetting her earlier jealousy, ran up to the girl eagerly. "Do you think you can help me with my training?" She asked. Shiya looked at Sasuke for a moment to see his reaction but all she got was a shake of the head as the boy got over his amazement and moved on to another tree. It looked like he had stopped doubting her identity. Grinning, she accepted her team mate's request, marvelling that she was even talking to the pink-haired girl.
"There's a lake just a little bit away from here, if you wanted to try something Perv- er... one of... my aunt's friends helped me learn." Shiya offered. She'd have to watch how she talked from now on. She almost screwed everything up with that one stupid nickname for Jiraiya and even as a girl she would never admit that Ebisu had taught her anything. Sakura nodded, not even noticing the blunder and, with Kakashi's permission, the two girls went to the lake to train. Kakashi's only catch was they had to stay within hearing distance, just in case.
After a couple of minutes they reached the water's edge and Sakura called back to Kakashi to make sure they were still close enough. When they heard the echoing shout she turned to the blonde, looking attentive.
"Well, it's actually like walking up trees." Shiya started.
"You know about our training?" Sakura interrupted, causing Shiya to nearly choke.
"Ah... yeah. I was... speaking to Kakashi before we got here. He told me about it." She explained quickly. The pink-haired girl thought about it for a second before nodding. Shiya almost sagged in a sigh of relief. She'd have to kick herself when she got home. Too many close calls.
"Okay, let's see what I remember from that closet-pervert, Ebisu." She muttered under her breath. Raising her voice, she beckoned Sakura closer to the water. "The point of it is to be able to control how much chakra you use... or something like that. You just need to use enough chakra to keep yourself floating." Sakura nodded, waiting for her to continue. "So first you gather your chakra to your feet and then while you walk and expel chakra, you match the amount you use to the weight of your body... so then you use enough to keep you walking right at water level." She stepped up to the water's edge and stepped confidently onto the surface of the water and walked out a little bit. When she turned back, she grinned proudly (though Sakura could only see it in her eyes) and did a little spin to show off. Over the years, Naruto had practiced this technique so many times that he'd become quite the expert in it and used little to no thought in his chakra control. Everything just was instinctive.
"Yanno, it's almost like using your chakra like stilts... or something... maybe it's like making the chakra into little shoes to..." She trailed off, noticing that the more she spoke the less sense she was making to herself. She laughed and put a hand behind her head nervously, waiting for Sakura to come out and try it.
She looked at the blond who was half way out onto the lake and decided it wouldn't hurt to try it, not to mention between her and the other two boys on her team, she'd always been the best at chakra control and she did reach the top of the tree faster than either of them. So, she took her tentative first step onto the water, remembering what Shiya had told her about matching her chakra to her body weight. She let out a whoop when her foot didn't immediately sink. Because she'd already gained so much control over her chakra throughout the years, this was actually fairly easy for her, and realising this, she walked out confidently to the middle of the lake to join her new friend. Her steps were still slightly awkward, but she had the basics down.
"Wanna spar out here?" Shiya asked after a few minutes of silence. Sakura looked up, surprised and tested her footing on the water.
"Why not?" She replied with a slight smile. "It should be interesting." Shiya grinned and pulled out a kunai.
"To tell you the truth, I've never actually sparred with anyone on the water." She exclaimed. Sakura nodded in agreement, and pulled out a couple of her own knives.
"You do realise we're probably going to lose a lot of weapons this way?" The pink-haired kunoichi asked, only slightly worried.
"Nee, we'll just get Hinata or Neji to find them for us later." Shiya chuckled and lunged before the words could settle into Sakura's brain. Though Shiya hadn't ever used that body to fight, she found out quickly that movements that before might have looked clunky and slow now flowed with liquid grace. She smirked to herself realising that puberty wasn't a hindrance anymore since she'd done the jutsu so many times she was comfortable with the familiar limbs. They weren't any longer or wider or any different than they had been three and four years ago.
She attacked her team mate with everything she had, before noticing too late that Sakura still wasn't very comfortable walking on the water. A quick kick to the gut had the girl sent splashing into the water with a sharp yell.
Within seconds the other two guys came bursting out of the bushes, expecting to see a number of enemy ninjas attacking the two girls. They only found Shiya walking calmly towards the land, with Sakura swimming not too far behind her. The blond girl had offered to help her back onto the surface of the water, but Sakura was still a little shaky from her fall and had decided on getting out of the water the old-fashioned way.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked with a bemused glint in his eye.
"I was just doing a little bit of training with Sakura-chan." Shiya explained. "I didn't expect her to be so shaky on the water. I accidentally kicked her and she lost her balance." Turning to the soaking girl who was just climbing out of the lake, she offered her hand in apology. "Sumimasen. I heard that your other team mate, Naruto, knows how to walk on water, too, just in case you wanted to train with someone when I leave." She offered. Sakura nodded and smiled back, taking the hand.
Deciding not to let the opportunity pass her by, Shiya kept a hold of Sakura's hand and led the girl back to the little clearing where they were originally training so the poor girl could dry up a little before they went back.
"Arigatou, Shiya-chan." Sakura whispered.
"Do itamashite." The blond grinned back through the fabric of Kakashi's facemask. Of course, she didn't notice the sudden look of interest that flashed across Sasuke's face. It wasn't the look of love, but Kakashi smirked, knowing that Naruto as Kashiya had still managed to spark Sasuke's desire for a good challenge and a strong opponent. It didn't matter to the young boy whether she was a girl or not; she was strong, was powerful, and that alone was something he still lusted after, even knowing that same craving was the one thing that ended Orochimaru's life.
***
"Sorry for using so much force in that kick, Sakura-chan." Shiya repeated, glancing guiltily at the girl who was huddled shivering under Kakashi's big stuffed vest. The girl looked up and smiled.
"Stop worrying, Shiya-chan. You can't be so worried every time you kick an enemy into the water, so training shouldn't be any different. I just need to get used to the balance thing." She was about to argue that Sakura was far from an enemy when Sasuke grabbed her by the arm.
"OI!" She yelled, narrowing her eyes at the boy. "That hurts!" She would have said more, but a slight clearing of Kakashi's throat reminded her that she wasn't Naruto anymore and she couldn't respond that way to Sasuke.
"Hn." The dark-haired boy replied, ignoring the tight hold he had on her. "Let's have a quick match, Kashiya-san." Her eyes brightened considerably and Sasuke let go of her, taking her reaction as a yes.
"Go easy on her, she's a girl." Kakashi warned Sasuke, causing Shiya to narrow her eyes at her sensei this time.
"Why should he go easy on me just cause I'm a girl?!" She retorted. "I'll have you know I could beat him any day, any time." Placing her hands on her hips smugly, she went to stick her tongue out at them both, but the fabric got in the way, forcing her to settle with pulling down her eyelid. "NYAH!"
"What a child." Sasuke deadpanned, irritating her even more.
"Oh yeah?!" She yelled, running at him and pulling out a kunai. He smirked and tensed himself for her attack, but before he could receive her attack she collapsed into a cloud of smoke, just a mere clone.
Kakashi was surprised that Shiya was refraining from using her Kage Bunshin and only relying on the regular Bunshin. Another Shiya jumped at the boy right beside the remaining cloud only to disappear just as Sasuke lunged at her. It took three more clones for the boy to finally start getting really irritated.
"Any day, any time, ne?" He taunted, seeing another clone coming at him. He thrust his kunai into the clone, but instead of disappearing in a poof of smoke, like all the others, his kunai made contact and went in deep. He almost gasped in shock, afraid he'd done some serious damage (he'd aimed for the heart), when he saw and felt another poof of smoke. When the smoke cleared, he found his kunai deeply embedded in a piece of wood. Growling loudly, he cursed himself for letting the girl's tactics get to him when something tackled him from above, taking him totally off guard.
Both he and Shiya landed in the dirt and began rolling around, trying to get the upper hand. The blond had landed squarely on Sasuke's back and wrapped her limbs tightly around his body to prevent herself from getting dislodged easily. During a quick pause in their wrestling Shiya leaned over and put her lips as close to Sasuke's ear as he'd allow.
"Want to go out with me?" She whispered softly, and pressed her body closer to his. He hesitated before replying.
"Iie, you're not my type, Kashiya-san." He grumbled politely. She laughed, not letting him get off that easily. She'd make Sasuke suffer for tricking her with her own jutsu.
"And just what is your type? Pink hair and green eyes?" It came out much more bitterly than she'd wanted, but it was too late to take back the words.
"No... male." He smirked, jumping up from the ground, causing Shiya to fall off his back in surprise. She hadn't expected THAT answer. He turned to her, a smug look etched into his features. "It was a joke, Shiya-chan." He snorted at her shocked expression.
No one else had heard their conversation, and Shiya cursed inwardly, knowing she'd never be able to use this against him in the future when she returned to her normal, MALE body, else he'd know who she really was.
"Baka!" She exclaimed, both to him and herself, and stood up, dusting herself off. She just wasn't used to Sasuke's jokes. "Don't expect me to ask you out again!" She shouted to him as he began walking to the main part of the village. "I'm not like your stupid fan club; next time it'll be YOU asking ME, no, BEGGING me for a date." She grinned proudly and rushed to Sakura's side to help her back to the village.
Kakashi smirked, watching his students' dramas unfold in front of his very eyes. Even as a girl, Naruto was still trying to upstage the young prodigy. He would have laughed out loud, but then he wouldn't want to have to explain to a very angry Kashiya why he was making fun of her... even if he knew he wasn't.
***
After watching Sasuke drift off towards his house and making sure Sakura made it safely to her own warm home, Shiya and Kakashi began walking to her apartment.
"Tsunade was talking to me earlier," Kakashi began, walking ahead of the sulking girl. She was still upset that Sasuke had surprised her so much with such a simple comment. "And she believes it's best to say that Naruto allowed you to use his apartment while he was away on his mission, just in case anybody asks." He looked out the corner of his eye to see the blond nod her head in agreement. She didn't look to happy, and usually Naruto was always full of energy. Maybe something that happened during her fight with Sasuke put her off. He shrugged off the idea as they finally reached her apartment and bowed politely to her.
"Happy Birthday!" He said quietly, offering the girl a wink, before he turned around to go, disappearing around the corner. She sighed deeply, not really caring that it was her birthday and opening the door to her house.
"Tadaima." She muttered to the dark and empty house and slammed the door so hard the frame shook. She wanted to do nothing more than flop down onto her bed and sleep away all her worries. Who knew, maybe sleep would be enough to get rid of Ebisu's seal. She didn't know if she could handle being stuck in a female body for a whole week, let alone a full month.
"Welcome home, Naruto-kun." A deep voice chuckled from the darkness. "That jutsu's not fooling anyone, dobe."
~~~~~~~
To kkoganei about the whole concealer and make-up option, it wouldn't work. For one, there's the fighting which would probably mean close contact... and one smudge could end it all for Naruto. And the second... if you were a boy... would YOU want to wear a pound of concealer to hide your whiskers? Another thing is, I read an interview with Kakashi (via Kishimoto) and they asked him about the facemask and he says it's very comfortable and VERY breathable...
Yeah, I know I talk too much. I hope everyone enjoyed a long chapter. I'm glad a lot of you noticed the first clump was dark... It's going to get a lot darker, so I'm trying to squeeze little bits of light fluffy moments here and there.
TEASER!! (cause I haven't done that in so long)
Next Chapter: 21. Follow the Sun
"What are you doing here, Hatake-san?" He asked in a clipped tone. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the formality.
"We're back to family names, Umino-kun?" He retorted. Iruka's body was tense, and Kakashi's relaxed tones were starting to make him even edgier.
"Don't put this on me. You were the one acting cold to me." Kakashi sighed and turned his gaze to outside the window.
"Even though there are no actual battles, we're still at war. Konoha versus Suna."
"But WE are not!" Iruka snapped. "You make it sound like we're enemies, and then expect me to continue to follow you around like it doesn't hurt me."
"Where's Shiya?" He changed the subject, calling out to the girl.
"Stop avoiding it, Kakashi." Iruka spoke up. "You can't keep taking me for granted like this. There may come a day when I just give up and move on. Then you'll find out where your aloofness is taking you. The war will end, Kakashi, but don't expect me to be waiting for you."
***
Hee hee. I like torturing these two. And there's no hints as to how the whole Sasuke-Naruto confrontation went either. :D Later days...
(Oh! I wonder who can guess my reasoning for that (21) chapter title... and where it came from)
WAHAHAH!! CLIFFHANGER!!!
I guess I'm doing okay by your standards... and I got a review that I'm going to have to try to remember... said something about 'stop worrying if it's cliché and write the damn thing'. Of course it wasn't that rude... but that was the general message. I'll try.
Oh and to morphy-yamc I never actually thought about Kashiya's chest... it was just that Tsunade-hime was blonde... heh heh...
I hope no one expects Sasuke to fall in love with Kashiya... I can promise you he won't, though I can't guarantee his reaction to Naruto. If you hadn't already noticed... he's beginning the long and tedious process of falling in love with the boy...
Chapter Title: 20. Walking on Water
"Sasuke, Sakura, meet Kashiya, Tsunade-sama's niece." Sasuke looked up at the entrance of a new team mate and the first thing he noticed was how startlingly similar to Naruto's Oiroke no jutsu she looked. He glared lightly at the girl, not trusting for a second who she was claiming to be, but kept his mouth shut for the time being.
Sakura, on the other hand, was wondering if this new girl would be after Sasuke. She may have become more lenient with him in the last couple of years, but there was no way she'd just roll over and let some new girl steal HER Sasuke.
Seeing the double glares from her team mates, Shiya shuddered, wondering if she was really that recognisable. Ignoring her insecurities, she decided to keep up with her charade.
"Konnichiwa, minna-san." She bowed respectfully.
"She'll be joining us for a little while." Kakashi explained. They both nodded, resignedly, and greeted their new team mate. Shiya hesitated, knowing Sasuke didn't trust her one bit, but the mask on her face reminded her that outwardly she wasn't the same person anymore.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted, still seemingly upset. "That dobe should have stayed here." Everyone looked at him for an explanation, and Shiya had to bite her tongue to keep from retorting. He had to be testing her. "It was his birthday today and we never even got the chance to wish him a happy birthday." Sakura looked at him, confusion written all over her features.
"It was his birthday today?" She asked. "Is that why he pranked us all? He thought we forgot? I didn't even know." Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Baka!!" Sasuke rolled his eyes at her. "He was born the day they sealed the Kyuubi."
"Oh, yeah." She whispered, ashamed that she'd forgotten that. Shiya started to feel a little guilty for all the pranks she'd pulled that morning, but got an idea.
"So, who is this Naruto person?" She asked sweetly. Kakashi smacked her in the back of the head for asking, but Sakura answered before the question could be taken back.
"He's a friend and team mate of ours." She explained.
"Friend?" Shiya repeated. Sasuke nodded, deciding to ignore his doubts about her. He figured that there was no way Naruto would have gotten past Kakashi so easily so she had to be telling the truth. He trusted their teacher to never lead them astray without good reason, and Naruto's tricks would never be a good reason.
"Hai, he's loud-mouthed, obnoxious and dead last in our graduating class, but he's one of my closest friends." He explained. Kakashi held in his sigh of relief, and Shiya grinned broadly to know that they actually considered Naruto a friend of theirs. She was glad even the anti-social Sasuke still considered him his closest friend. Kakashi had been worried that they would say something about the boy while he was 'gone' and it would spark Kashiya to do or say something to give herself away. He was surprised that she'd had enough self-control to avoid the usual comebacks when Sasuke had called Naruto all those things.
"So are we just going to stand here?" Shiya spoke up suddenly. Kakashi nodded and lead them off to another training session.
***
Sasuke clutched his chest, struggling with his breathing. Kakashi had told him to start trying to concentrate his Chidori into a more controlled precise jutsu, but he was still having a little difficulty focusing on his chakra. Sitting down on the soft grass, he looked over to where Kakashi and Shiya were talking in private. He still had his doubts about her identity, but had decided to just shrug them off. Maybe he was just training a little too hard in the last few months and the stress was starting to get to him.
Taking a deep breath and standing back up, he straightened his back and looked at the tree he'd been attacking. It was already toppled over and he was still using it to practice. He looked at his hand, feeling it itch slightly and saw a slight burn developing in his palm. He winced, realising he was way too uptight and his control over the jutsu was too tightly reigned in. He was 'way too' a lot of things.
Focusing on what remained of the tree stump, Sasuke continued with other aspects of his training.
***
Shiya frowned watching Sasuke try to work off his stress and didn't notice Kakashi's impatience until he snapped his fingers in front of her face to get back her attention.
"When you've finished drooling over Sasuke, I'd like to talk about what sort of jutsus you can and can't do in front of these two." He'd been lecturing her for the last ten minutes and her mind began to wander.
"I was not drooling over that bastard." She muttered under her breath. He ignored her comment and continued on.
"You can't do Kage Bunshin or Rasengan, because they both know those are Naruto's specialty moves. They'll only serve to get you in a lot of trouble, and I won't be the one to help get you out of it." Shiya nodded, not really listening. "If you can figure out a way to use Rasengan in another way then by all means try. There's also Kawarimi, and Henge..." She nodded, getting an idea.
Crouching in to herself, in an attempt to cover her hand, she tested out her theory with a little amount of chakra. She smirked when she found the limit to how far from her palm she could have the ball without losing control of it. She straightened up and added more chakra to the spinning orb. Before Sasuke or Sakura could recognise the move, she added a few shuriken to the mix and threw the ball as hard as she could at the nearest tree, putting all her weight into the lunge. The trunk of the tree imploded and the shuriken were blasted through the tree and into the one directly behind it with a loud crack. Kakashi smiled, impressed with the quick development, and the other two stared at the girl in amazement.
Shiya turned around at the silence and chuckled nervously, wondering if either Sasuke or Sakura had remembered the move and figured her out.
"Sugoi desu!!" Sakura exclaimed and, forgetting her earlier jealousy, ran up to the girl eagerly. "Do you think you can help me with my training?" She asked. Shiya looked at Sasuke for a moment to see his reaction but all she got was a shake of the head as the boy got over his amazement and moved on to another tree. It looked like he had stopped doubting her identity. Grinning, she accepted her team mate's request, marvelling that she was even talking to the pink-haired girl.
"There's a lake just a little bit away from here, if you wanted to try something Perv- er... one of... my aunt's friends helped me learn." Shiya offered. She'd have to watch how she talked from now on. She almost screwed everything up with that one stupid nickname for Jiraiya and even as a girl she would never admit that Ebisu had taught her anything. Sakura nodded, not even noticing the blunder and, with Kakashi's permission, the two girls went to the lake to train. Kakashi's only catch was they had to stay within hearing distance, just in case.
After a couple of minutes they reached the water's edge and Sakura called back to Kakashi to make sure they were still close enough. When they heard the echoing shout she turned to the blonde, looking attentive.
"Well, it's actually like walking up trees." Shiya started.
"You know about our training?" Sakura interrupted, causing Shiya to nearly choke.
"Ah... yeah. I was... speaking to Kakashi before we got here. He told me about it." She explained quickly. The pink-haired girl thought about it for a second before nodding. Shiya almost sagged in a sigh of relief. She'd have to kick herself when she got home. Too many close calls.
"Okay, let's see what I remember from that closet-pervert, Ebisu." She muttered under her breath. Raising her voice, she beckoned Sakura closer to the water. "The point of it is to be able to control how much chakra you use... or something like that. You just need to use enough chakra to keep yourself floating." Sakura nodded, waiting for her to continue. "So first you gather your chakra to your feet and then while you walk and expel chakra, you match the amount you use to the weight of your body... so then you use enough to keep you walking right at water level." She stepped up to the water's edge and stepped confidently onto the surface of the water and walked out a little bit. When she turned back, she grinned proudly (though Sakura could only see it in her eyes) and did a little spin to show off. Over the years, Naruto had practiced this technique so many times that he'd become quite the expert in it and used little to no thought in his chakra control. Everything just was instinctive.
"Yanno, it's almost like using your chakra like stilts... or something... maybe it's like making the chakra into little shoes to..." She trailed off, noticing that the more she spoke the less sense she was making to herself. She laughed and put a hand behind her head nervously, waiting for Sakura to come out and try it.
She looked at the blond who was half way out onto the lake and decided it wouldn't hurt to try it, not to mention between her and the other two boys on her team, she'd always been the best at chakra control and she did reach the top of the tree faster than either of them. So, she took her tentative first step onto the water, remembering what Shiya had told her about matching her chakra to her body weight. She let out a whoop when her foot didn't immediately sink. Because she'd already gained so much control over her chakra throughout the years, this was actually fairly easy for her, and realising this, she walked out confidently to the middle of the lake to join her new friend. Her steps were still slightly awkward, but she had the basics down.
"Wanna spar out here?" Shiya asked after a few minutes of silence. Sakura looked up, surprised and tested her footing on the water.
"Why not?" She replied with a slight smile. "It should be interesting." Shiya grinned and pulled out a kunai.
"To tell you the truth, I've never actually sparred with anyone on the water." She exclaimed. Sakura nodded in agreement, and pulled out a couple of her own knives.
"You do realise we're probably going to lose a lot of weapons this way?" The pink-haired kunoichi asked, only slightly worried.
"Nee, we'll just get Hinata or Neji to find them for us later." Shiya chuckled and lunged before the words could settle into Sakura's brain. Though Shiya hadn't ever used that body to fight, she found out quickly that movements that before might have looked clunky and slow now flowed with liquid grace. She smirked to herself realising that puberty wasn't a hindrance anymore since she'd done the jutsu so many times she was comfortable with the familiar limbs. They weren't any longer or wider or any different than they had been three and four years ago.
She attacked her team mate with everything she had, before noticing too late that Sakura still wasn't very comfortable walking on the water. A quick kick to the gut had the girl sent splashing into the water with a sharp yell.
Within seconds the other two guys came bursting out of the bushes, expecting to see a number of enemy ninjas attacking the two girls. They only found Shiya walking calmly towards the land, with Sakura swimming not too far behind her. The blond girl had offered to help her back onto the surface of the water, but Sakura was still a little shaky from her fall and had decided on getting out of the water the old-fashioned way.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked with a bemused glint in his eye.
"I was just doing a little bit of training with Sakura-chan." Shiya explained. "I didn't expect her to be so shaky on the water. I accidentally kicked her and she lost her balance." Turning to the soaking girl who was just climbing out of the lake, she offered her hand in apology. "Sumimasen. I heard that your other team mate, Naruto, knows how to walk on water, too, just in case you wanted to train with someone when I leave." She offered. Sakura nodded and smiled back, taking the hand.
Deciding not to let the opportunity pass her by, Shiya kept a hold of Sakura's hand and led the girl back to the little clearing where they were originally training so the poor girl could dry up a little before they went back.
"Arigatou, Shiya-chan." Sakura whispered.
"Do itamashite." The blond grinned back through the fabric of Kakashi's facemask. Of course, she didn't notice the sudden look of interest that flashed across Sasuke's face. It wasn't the look of love, but Kakashi smirked, knowing that Naruto as Kashiya had still managed to spark Sasuke's desire for a good challenge and a strong opponent. It didn't matter to the young boy whether she was a girl or not; she was strong, was powerful, and that alone was something he still lusted after, even knowing that same craving was the one thing that ended Orochimaru's life.
***
"Sorry for using so much force in that kick, Sakura-chan." Shiya repeated, glancing guiltily at the girl who was huddled shivering under Kakashi's big stuffed vest. The girl looked up and smiled.
"Stop worrying, Shiya-chan. You can't be so worried every time you kick an enemy into the water, so training shouldn't be any different. I just need to get used to the balance thing." She was about to argue that Sakura was far from an enemy when Sasuke grabbed her by the arm.
"OI!" She yelled, narrowing her eyes at the boy. "That hurts!" She would have said more, but a slight clearing of Kakashi's throat reminded her that she wasn't Naruto anymore and she couldn't respond that way to Sasuke.
"Hn." The dark-haired boy replied, ignoring the tight hold he had on her. "Let's have a quick match, Kashiya-san." Her eyes brightened considerably and Sasuke let go of her, taking her reaction as a yes.
"Go easy on her, she's a girl." Kakashi warned Sasuke, causing Shiya to narrow her eyes at her sensei this time.
"Why should he go easy on me just cause I'm a girl?!" She retorted. "I'll have you know I could beat him any day, any time." Placing her hands on her hips smugly, she went to stick her tongue out at them both, but the fabric got in the way, forcing her to settle with pulling down her eyelid. "NYAH!"
"What a child." Sasuke deadpanned, irritating her even more.
"Oh yeah?!" She yelled, running at him and pulling out a kunai. He smirked and tensed himself for her attack, but before he could receive her attack she collapsed into a cloud of smoke, just a mere clone.
Kakashi was surprised that Shiya was refraining from using her Kage Bunshin and only relying on the regular Bunshin. Another Shiya jumped at the boy right beside the remaining cloud only to disappear just as Sasuke lunged at her. It took three more clones for the boy to finally start getting really irritated.
"Any day, any time, ne?" He taunted, seeing another clone coming at him. He thrust his kunai into the clone, but instead of disappearing in a poof of smoke, like all the others, his kunai made contact and went in deep. He almost gasped in shock, afraid he'd done some serious damage (he'd aimed for the heart), when he saw and felt another poof of smoke. When the smoke cleared, he found his kunai deeply embedded in a piece of wood. Growling loudly, he cursed himself for letting the girl's tactics get to him when something tackled him from above, taking him totally off guard.
Both he and Shiya landed in the dirt and began rolling around, trying to get the upper hand. The blond had landed squarely on Sasuke's back and wrapped her limbs tightly around his body to prevent herself from getting dislodged easily. During a quick pause in their wrestling Shiya leaned over and put her lips as close to Sasuke's ear as he'd allow.
"Want to go out with me?" She whispered softly, and pressed her body closer to his. He hesitated before replying.
"Iie, you're not my type, Kashiya-san." He grumbled politely. She laughed, not letting him get off that easily. She'd make Sasuke suffer for tricking her with her own jutsu.
"And just what is your type? Pink hair and green eyes?" It came out much more bitterly than she'd wanted, but it was too late to take back the words.
"No... male." He smirked, jumping up from the ground, causing Shiya to fall off his back in surprise. She hadn't expected THAT answer. He turned to her, a smug look etched into his features. "It was a joke, Shiya-chan." He snorted at her shocked expression.
No one else had heard their conversation, and Shiya cursed inwardly, knowing she'd never be able to use this against him in the future when she returned to her normal, MALE body, else he'd know who she really was.
"Baka!" She exclaimed, both to him and herself, and stood up, dusting herself off. She just wasn't used to Sasuke's jokes. "Don't expect me to ask you out again!" She shouted to him as he began walking to the main part of the village. "I'm not like your stupid fan club; next time it'll be YOU asking ME, no, BEGGING me for a date." She grinned proudly and rushed to Sakura's side to help her back to the village.
Kakashi smirked, watching his students' dramas unfold in front of his very eyes. Even as a girl, Naruto was still trying to upstage the young prodigy. He would have laughed out loud, but then he wouldn't want to have to explain to a very angry Kashiya why he was making fun of her... even if he knew he wasn't.
***
After watching Sasuke drift off towards his house and making sure Sakura made it safely to her own warm home, Shiya and Kakashi began walking to her apartment.
"Tsunade was talking to me earlier," Kakashi began, walking ahead of the sulking girl. She was still upset that Sasuke had surprised her so much with such a simple comment. "And she believes it's best to say that Naruto allowed you to use his apartment while he was away on his mission, just in case anybody asks." He looked out the corner of his eye to see the blond nod her head in agreement. She didn't look to happy, and usually Naruto was always full of energy. Maybe something that happened during her fight with Sasuke put her off. He shrugged off the idea as they finally reached her apartment and bowed politely to her.
"Happy Birthday!" He said quietly, offering the girl a wink, before he turned around to go, disappearing around the corner. She sighed deeply, not really caring that it was her birthday and opening the door to her house.
"Tadaima." She muttered to the dark and empty house and slammed the door so hard the frame shook. She wanted to do nothing more than flop down onto her bed and sleep away all her worries. Who knew, maybe sleep would be enough to get rid of Ebisu's seal. She didn't know if she could handle being stuck in a female body for a whole week, let alone a full month.
"Welcome home, Naruto-kun." A deep voice chuckled from the darkness. "That jutsu's not fooling anyone, dobe."
~~~~~~~
To kkoganei about the whole concealer and make-up option, it wouldn't work. For one, there's the fighting which would probably mean close contact... and one smudge could end it all for Naruto. And the second... if you were a boy... would YOU want to wear a pound of concealer to hide your whiskers? Another thing is, I read an interview with Kakashi (via Kishimoto) and they asked him about the facemask and he says it's very comfortable and VERY breathable...
Yeah, I know I talk too much. I hope everyone enjoyed a long chapter. I'm glad a lot of you noticed the first clump was dark... It's going to get a lot darker, so I'm trying to squeeze little bits of light fluffy moments here and there.
TEASER!! (cause I haven't done that in so long)
Next Chapter: 21. Follow the Sun
"What are you doing here, Hatake-san?" He asked in a clipped tone. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the formality.
"We're back to family names, Umino-kun?" He retorted. Iruka's body was tense, and Kakashi's relaxed tones were starting to make him even edgier.
"Don't put this on me. You were the one acting cold to me." Kakashi sighed and turned his gaze to outside the window.
"Even though there are no actual battles, we're still at war. Konoha versus Suna."
"But WE are not!" Iruka snapped. "You make it sound like we're enemies, and then expect me to continue to follow you around like it doesn't hurt me."
"Where's Shiya?" He changed the subject, calling out to the girl.
"Stop avoiding it, Kakashi." Iruka spoke up. "You can't keep taking me for granted like this. There may come a day when I just give up and move on. Then you'll find out where your aloofness is taking you. The war will end, Kakashi, but don't expect me to be waiting for you."
***
Hee hee. I like torturing these two. And there's no hints as to how the whole Sasuke-Naruto confrontation went either. :D Later days...
(Oh! I wonder who can guess my reasoning for that (21) chapter title... and where it came from)
WAHAHAH!! CLIFFHANGER!!!