Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any Naruto related characters. I own Kumiko.
Live, Laugh, and Love
Chapter Two
Fitting In
Kumiko stepped into the office and looked around. It was wallpapered in forest green, and oak bookcases lined the walls. There was a fireplace on the left wall, and one window on the ceiling. Across from the doorway, at the far end of the room, sat Lord Hokage behind his desk. The desk held a globe of the world, several stacks of papers, a desk lamp, and a crystal ball.
Kumiko frowned at the oddness of the window's placement, but she realized that seeing as the room was almost at the center of the building, with a hallway going all the way around, there would be no use for a window on the wall.
"Come, come, Kumiko." Hokage gestured to one of the two chairs.
Kumiko's nerves were on end. The room, which could have appeared ominous with its colouring, the glow of the fireplace, and the eerie gleam of moonlight through the window, all ended up feeling rather comforting. Every shield Kumiko had ever created around herself was up, as she approached the chair with the appearance of being laid-back.
She sat down in one of the cushy armchairs and gave Hokage her attention.
Hokage gave her a soft smile. "Kumiko, my dear, there is no need for this hostility."
She blinked, surprised. "Hostility? I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about."
"You seem to be anticipating an attack from some invisible foe that I have ordered to jump out of the woodwork as soon as you relax."
Startled, Kumiko wrapped her defenses around her more tightly.
"I am about to give you a name, a place to live, and a team to become a part of. Why do you find this suspicious?" he asked her curiously.
"Well, it is a rather good deal, don't you think? And what do you think you'll be gaining from this?"
"A good deal? I don't believe I really thought of it that way. As for me, I'll be gaining a new ninja for my country. All I'm going to ask of her is her obedience and loyalty, and that she does her best."
Hokage watched her face carefully as she sifted this information through her head. Her face was well-schooled at being completely blank, he saw very few smile lines around her mouth, but her eyes told her story. They were hard, but they betrayed her. They were lost, uncertain, untrusting, and hurt. They'd seen many things, death, pain, loss, and very little joy.
"How old are you, Kumiko?" he asked her.
She looked up from her thoughts, "Twenty one."
'Twenty one…' he thought with surprise. 'She has seen far too much for being only 21. Konoha will be a good place for her. Perhaps she will learn how to laugh again—if she ever knew how, that is.'
"Well, Kumiko, I have put some thought into your living arrangements, but I would like to know what level of a ninja you are."
Kumiko wore a baffled look as she pondered this information, and the expression quite amused Hokage for whatever reason. "I'm afraid the last exam I took was the chunin exam, but that was about a decade ago. I haven't really a clue to what my true level is."
Hokage eyed her peculiarly, "A chunin at age 11? I would like to see what you are capable of doing. Would it be alright if I matched you up against a few ninjas to get a feel for your skill level?"
"That would be just fine, I suppose. I haven't any plans, so the sooner, the better…"
Hokage smiled stood, and then stepped out into the hallway. He was there for less than two seconds before two ninjas appeared.
"Hokage-sama?"
"Send for Master Iruka. Tell him I've arranged for him to be in a match against our newest ninja."
"Hai!" And they were gone.
Hokage turned and closed the door behind him. "Iruka should be here soon. He is a chunin school master at the academy."
"Where will the match be held?" Kumiko asked him.
"I am thinking out in the woods. It would give the best natural setting," he joked and then laughed at his own joke.
Kumiko didn't quite see what was funny.
It was quarter to ten when Hokage-sama, Kumiko, Iruka, and two of Hokage's soldiers, were assembled in a clearing next to a lake. There was a memorial block with a flag, and between it and the lake, stood three tall logs out of the ground.
Kumiko stood twenty feet away from Iruka, and Hokage stood at an equal distance between them, forming a triangle.
"Here are the rules," Hokage said, "There is no time limit. The match will be over when one of the participants is knocked out. There is to be no permanent injuring. This is not to the death. I will interfere if I feel it is necessary. Do you both understand?"
Both participants nodded, their eyes never leaving each other.
"Begin!"
Kumiko vanished into the trees, and then watched her opponent do the same on the other side of the clearing. Iruka was a chunin, and while Kumiko had only taken the chunin exam and never gone higher, she knew she was far better than his level. The challenge for her would be knocking him out. For a very long time, the only matches she'd participated in had been real life ones and the only good enemy was a dead one. She wasn't after Iruka's death, so it was time for a little strategizing. She knew exactly where Iruka's position was. That was one of her talents. If the enemy had chakra, she could find them. He seemed to be waiting in the trees for her to make the first move, so she took her time in remembering some of what she'd learned a while back. She decided to do it head on, and use her speed as an advantage. She also decided that simply because Iruka was a chunin, Hokage may have matched them up because his level was more than what he seemed. Underestimating him would be a bad idea. Walking into obvious traps would be humiliating.
Being silent would be her best bet. Silent and careful.
She took off from the tree she was in, and ran in the branches around the clearing so she could be closer. She found Iruka camouflaged in a tree, focusing his chakra to find where she was. If she got much closer, he would find her, so speed was the key. She saw the rope hanging from his belt and made her decision. Zooming across twenty feet in less than two seconds, right for him, Kumiko grabbed the rope from his belt, right as he opened his eyes to discover her. He attacked her, and she blocked, punching him in the gut with her other hand, and then looped the rope around him. His eyes widened as he watched her block his attacks with one hand, and work the rope to do what she wanted with the other hand. If she needed two hands, she blocked and attacked with her legs for a bit. She was strong, and quick, and had his arms and legs pinned to his body within minutes.
"Hokage said knocked out," she said, as if in apology, and then tapped him hard at the base of his neck with her two forefingers.
He saw stars briefly, and the darkness.
Hokage clicked a stop-watch he'd been holding as he watched Kumiko enter the clearing with an unconscious Iruka slung over her shoulder, gift-wrapped in his own rope.
"Seven minutes and thirty two seconds." Hokage announced. 'And she's not even breaking sweat,' he added to himself.
Kumiko gently placed Iruka at Hokage's feet, as Hokage turned to one of his soldiers.
"Yû, I would like you to fight Kumiko next."
The soldier looked startled, but bowed his head, and he and Kumiko stepped back into the clearing.
Hokage then turned to his remaining soldier to give her instructions. "Go find Hatake, Kakashi. I have a feeling Kumiko will have no trouble with Yû, and I'd also like to find out how much stamina she has."
The woman disappeared, as Hokage announced the rules again and started the match.
Kakashi arrived at the scene, dressed and ready, to watch the end of the match. His eyes widened as he watched Kumiko and the soldier in the clearing. Kumiko slashed full out at the soldier, severing his head from his neck, only to watch it disappear with a poof. Another form of the soldier appeared behind her, and she readily attacked it, punching him first in his stomach, and then suddenly moving behind him, wrapping her arm around his neck. She'd moved so fast, his normal eye hadn't been able to follow. He watched dumbfounded as the soldier struggled against her, trying to breath, but Kumiko held her hand over his mouth and they watched the chakra wisp off of it, pry open the man's mouth, and enter him. It reappeared momentarily and they watched the man shudder against her, and then pass out. She released him, automatically, and quickly laid him on the ground and breathed into him. When she was satisfied he was breathing normally, she carried him to Hokage's feet.
Hokage looked at her from his stop watch. "Eleven minutes and fourteen seconds," he announced.
"What did you do to him?" the female soldier demanded from Hokage's side.
"Hm? Oh, I pulled his breath out of him. It would have taken too much time to wait for him to pass out, and there was the chance he could have escaped. It's a dangerous move because he may never have breathed again, but if you do it correctly, and perform a light CPR after using it, he is merely unconscious, which was the goal of the match."
Hokage smiled around a pipe he held in his mouth, and then said, "I'm now going to match you up against Kakashi. Would you like a break before your match?"
"I'm fine," Kumiko told him.
"I figured you would be," Hokage muttered under his breath before sending them to their places in the clearing. He announced the rules again and then shouted 'Begin!'
He watched Kumiko perform a seal so fast his eyes couldn't make out the forms she'd made, and then they both stood there. Perhaps Kakashi would reveal his eye. He doubted it, as Kakashi only liked to use it in life or death situations, but it would benefit him in this match.
"So," Kakashi said, "you must be pretty impressive if Hokage is pairing you up against me after you've fought against two others."
"Yes, I wonder who he'll give me after this match?"
He narrowed his eye at her, "Don't get cocky. You still have to get through me."
He lunged at her, and she blocked. They parried with each other across the grounds for a bit before he went for her neck. Her eyes widened in surprise before her form went 'poof' and transformed into a log. Kakashi was shocked and much unprepared. He took off into the forest to pull himself together and find her. But the trouble was, he couldn't sense her at all. Hokage, at the edge of the clearing couldn't seem to either, which made him frown.
Up in the trees, Kumiko used another of her little-known techniques, and completely masked her whereabouts. She found his energy with her undetectable chakra, and then felt little pieces of his energy break off and start to move. Doppelgangers. She frowned and then decided to play his game. She molded her chakra and then flung her doppelgangers away from her.
Before long, one of them spilled out into the clearing, following Kakashi. She could tell by his make-up, that her form wasn't fighting the real Kakashi, and went for a killing blow that dissipated his recreation in poofs of leaves and dust. Her doppelganger shot back into the forest, after Kakashi's real form and soon, she narrowed down most of his forms to two. She'd lost several of her own, and only had two left, plus herself. One of them attacked his doppelganger and took it out, and then turned to face the real Kakashi. This was her special doppelganger; her trap. And she was waiting to see if he'd fall for it.
They attacked, moved, tossed weapons, blocked, and her doppelganger eventually pushed him back to the water's edge. Giving him a strong kick to the chest she knocked him backwards and he splashed into the water.
She made a few quick seals up in the trees, and keeping up the charade, she made her doppelganger make the same seals down at the water's edge. The water swirled up to envelope him but not before he made a quick hand seal and another doppelganger appeared right behind Kumiko's form. It slashed at her with a kunai knife and she, carelessly with out a weapon, blocked with her arms and cursed blackly as the blood spilt and then turned into water. Her entire form splashed to the ground. The look on his and his doppelganger's face was priceless, though.
Sending her remaining leaf doppelganger out of the trees to defeat his last doppelganger, she dropped to the ground, as his doppelganger went out with a poof. She released hers, too, and then walked out of the trees to where the water was holding him. The water was coating him thickly so he couldn't move, except for his neck and head. It held him in place, and he could do no more.
"So, what now, my puppeteer?" he asked with the air of one who was sour with his defeat, as she approached him.
"I haven't won until you're unconscious."
"It was a good idea, making one of your doppelgangers different from the rest."
"I'm glad you fell for it," she replied softly.
"Would I have been so difficult to defeat, otherwise?" he teased lightly.
He noticed her voice became somewhat dejected. "I'm good at killing, Kakashi, not rendering someone unconscious. I know many ways of ending a human's life. It's very difficult to be creative with a KO."
"So what are you going to do?"
She seemed pensive for a moment and then looked him in the eye. "I'm going to see you later."
And with that, she hit him with her two fingers at the neck, and rendered him unconscious.
When Kakashi came to, he heard another person groan next to him. The female soldier was also waking up, cursing under her breath and was ruefully rubbing her head.
When Kakashi's head cleared and he found he could talk, he conversationally asked, "So, what'd she do to you to win?"
Massaging her scalp, she turned towards him, her face scrunched up in pain. "She threw me head first into a bloody tree. I'm surprised I haven't sustained any serious injuries."
"She was most upset when she discovered what she'd done."
They turned to find Iruka sitting up.
"Oh, I'll just bet!" the guard snapped back. "At least I wasn't subdued with my own rope!"
Kakashi gave Iruka a bemused look. "Do tell…"
Turning red, Iruka protested, "I remember nothing of the sort!"
"Oh go on!" the guard jeered, "She knocked you out the same way she did to Kakashi, and he remembers everything."
Their conversation stopped as Kumiko and her current opponent flew into the clearing.
Kakashi frowned at the two moving almost too fast for human eyes to follow. "Is that Gai?"
"Yep. The match has been going on for about five minutes." Iruka said.
"This is going to be the last match tonight."
They all glanced up at Hokage.
"I still need to assign her to a team and give her a new home," he said tiredly, "and it is currently quarter to twelve."
"I haven't been out that long, have I?" Kakashi asked.
"Your match lasted twenty-two minutes and forty-five seconds, and you've been out for almost half an hour."
Kakashi digested this information but was startled out of his thoughts when he heard a cry from the fight, and then watched Gai slump to the ground.
Kumiko flopped to the ground to catch her breath but then leapt up and walked towards the group, leaving Gai where he was on the ground.
"One of you can come and get him," she called, sounding slightly disgusted. "I don't want to touch him."
Kakashi raised his eyebrows at her statement and then his eyes widened. "He didn't try to…"
"Charm her?" Iruka asked. "Oh yes. She didn't take it too well."
"Charming? If he thinks that grinning stupidly and making ridiculous remarks is charming, he needs a lesson or twenty," Kumiko gagged on her way over.
"Oh, I don't know, you two looked like you'd make a cute couple," the female soldier crooned sarcastically.
Kumiko rolled her eyes, "Look, I'm sorry I threw you into a tree, okay?"
Iruka looked up at Hokage saying, "What are you thinking, Hokage-sama? Kumiko will never make any friends if you keep having her knock them out first."
Hokage smiled as Kumiko ignored the statement and asked, "So, who's next?"
"Next?" Hokage asked, "You've just fought five ninja's in a row without a rest and they weren't exactly rookies. You don't look like you're working hard either."
Kumiko shrugged modestly, "It took a bit of strategizing seeing as I couldn't just kill them…"
"I'm talking about your stamina, Kumiko," Hokage said. "You said you're only 21," the female soldier choked, showing her surprise, "and you have very good mastery of speed, strength, chakra, and also concentration."
Kumiko remained silent knowing it could be dangerous to mention where her strength was truly dominant. Hokage waited for her to say something regarding to his statement, but decided when she said nothing that perhaps she would mention it in private.
"Your match times and opponents were thus: Iruka, seven minutes and thirty-two seconds; Yû, eleven minutes and fourteen seconds; Kakashi, twenty-two minutes and forty-five seconds; Hisa, nineteen minutes and two seconds; and Gai, nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds."
Kakashi was momentarily surprised that Gai had done so poorly, but then figured that Kumiko may have been more motivated to defeat him when he started trying to make verbal passes at her.
"Kakashi, if you are in a condition to do this, please go to Kurenai's place and inform her of her new roommate. The rest of you are dismissed." Hokage told them. "Oh, Hisa, please take Gai to his place and make sure he wakes up. Kumiko, let's go to my office again to get you a place to live and a new name."
Her face lit up vaguely, and she followed Hokage back through the thick forest and into the city to the building they'd started out in.
Sitting at the desk after a good workout, Kumiko was feeling slightly more confident, if not laid back.
"So," Hokage began, "I am still unsure of what your level is, even after that. You certainly surpass even a jounin, of which Hisa, Gai, and Kakashi were, but I still do not really know you, so instead of assigning you your own subordinates, I'm thinking I'm going to attach you to an already existing team."
Kumiko frowned at this. She understood the importance of team work, but she was much better at working alone. However, if this would help her fit in better, she could suck it up and be a little social.
'Who knows. Maybe I'll actually make a few friends in this place,' she thought, trying to be optimistic.
"As for which team I'm adding you to, I am thinking team seven would benefit you the most. Kakashi is our strongest jounin and you have met and worked with him, so it would spare you the difficulty of trying to fit in with a completely new group. When you have gotten used to our system then perhaps we can talk of assigning you your own team of rookies."
Kumiko visibly paled. Rookies. Teaching preteens. Teaching. Not good.
Hokage pressed on, "As for your living arrangements, you will be sharing a home with Yuuhi, Kurenai. She has been living alone for a few years, since her last roommate moved out, and has been waiting for someone new. She is one of our few female jounins, and lower than your level, but I am sure this can be easily overlooked as you are merely living together.
"Now, regarding your name. It must be very irritating for you to be going around calling yourself 'Kumiko' without stating your clan name. So, seeing as we cannot randomly give you a clan, I think that because you are now a part of team seven we will perhaps call you Shichi. Shichi, Kumiko. Does that sound alright to you?"
'Shichi, Kumiko…my own name…my own room…heck, my own life!'
Kumiko's mouth twitched until her face was obviously adorned in a soft, grateful smile.
"And I think you'll want this," Hokage continued, presenting her a headband with the Konoha leaf symbol engraved in it.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," she replied with gratitude, "Thank you very much."
The guard in front of Kumiko rapped on the door of a small house a few blocks from Hokage's office. They waited patiently outside the door until a woman with thick, wildly styled hair and brilliant red eyes opened the door.
"Yes? How may I help you?" she inquired.
"Hokage-sama has given a room to this girl, Shichi, Kumiko, here."
The woman's eyes widened and then her face broke into a grin of delight. "Of course! Please come in!"
The guard bowed and then left as Kumiko stepped into entrance hall. There was a staircase to her almost immediate left that went up two stairs and then turned right and went up to the second floor. To her right was a living room that was a step down from the entrance hall. The living room was filled with a squashy armchair, a couch, and a loveseat with a coffee table in the middle. There was a TV on the far wall and the seats in the room were all more or less angled in that direction. Behind that was a little kitchen. The kitchen appeared to have two entrances; one large opening from the living room, and one doorway sized opening from the hallway that ran past both the living room and the kitchen.
"Kumiko's here!" Kurenai called up the stairs.
Kakashi's head poked around the corner at the top of the stairs, "Ah, konnichiwa, Kumiko!"
"You seem to be in good spirits for someone who was unconscious not an hour ago," Kumiko muttered.
Kakashi's head was shortly followed by another man's, one Kumiko did not know.
"I had the guys come over to clear out some of their crap from the spare rooms. I'm the only one living here in a house meant for three, and their dorm is full, so they dump their junk in my two spare rooms," Kurenai explained.
"This is Sarutobi, Asuma," Kakashi introduced as he began his decent down the stairs. "Asuma, this is Kumiko."
"Shichi," Kumiko corrected him, softly.
"Hm?" Kakashi asked.
"It's Shichi, Kumiko," Kumiko's face flushed gently.
Kakashi's eyes softened as he looked down at the twenty one year old, who had just royally kicked his and several other ninja's butts, glow with a soft pride of having her own self-named clan. She looked like a little girl; one who appreciated and cherished everything life gave her; one who steeled herself up against life's cruelties and dealt with them as best as she could. And maybe she had been a girl who had to live like that, and one who had grown up into a young woman that was still doing that.
He smiled, "Shichi, Kumiko. I see you got yourself a name. Why Shichi?"
"Hokage-sama has added me to your team because I've worked with you already and he doesn't know me well enough to give me my own team," Kumiko shrugged explained quietly. "Shichi because your team number is kind of like my first clan to belong to."
Kakashi grinned. "Eh, we're almost finished clearing out one of the rooms for you."
"Of course, now the other spare room is a mess, but I'm sure we'll get around to clearing it out…" Asuma smiled benevolently.
Kurenai's eye twitched, "More like, if we want it clean, we'll just have to do it ourselves."
"But for tonight," Kakashi cut in, "You have a place to sleep and store whatever you brought with you…" he glanced around at her, "…which would appear to be not much…"
"It was very pesky to have to keep packing up, making sure I grabbed everything, and then having to carry it all," Kumiko explained, "so I sold my things and now I carry the clothes on my person, my weapons, and my money."
"Well we'll fix that!" Kurenai grinned. "You get to live here, so we'll decorate your room to suit you, and I'll take you shopping sometime to fix that empty wardrobe."
Kumiko was at a loss for words. "I…um…well…" she gave a short laugh and sighed, "I have no idea how I'll be able to repay you…"
Kurenai scoffed, "Think of it as a house warming gift."
"I'd imagine Kumiko's very worn out and would like some sleep," Kakashi said softly and Kumiko's look of gratitude told him he was correct.
Asuma smiled, "We should be on our way then, Kakashi."
The ninja nodded in agreement and then two of them headed towards the door.
"Oh," Kakashi paused and turned towards Kumiko, "Tomorrow's Sunday, so no team meeting. You'll have time to shop."
Kurenai all but shoved them out the door saying it was way past their bed time and finally closed it behind them.
"Come on," she said to Kumiko, "I'll show you to your room."
Kumiko followed Kurenai up the stairs to the second floor. There were four doors: Two on the left side of the hall, towards the back of the house, one on the right side, towards the front of the house, and one at the very end of the hallway.
"That room's the bathroom," Kurenai pointed to the door at the end of the hallway, "This one's mine," she pointed to the one next to the bathroom on the left side of the hall, "and I think they cleaned this one out for you," she said while pushing open the door on the right side of the hall. She froze in her tracks and then turned and shut the door. "Perhaps I've made a mistake." She opened the door next hers on the left side and then quickly shut it. "I am sooo going to kill those two niiiice and sloooow…"
Kumiko softly opened the door of the room Kurenai had originally said was hers and stared with a dead expression. The bed in the corner was cleared off and so was the narrow pathway leading to it. The dresser, table, chair, floor, and window ledge was cluttered with books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, and even a dead plant or two.
Kumiko shut the door and then opened the other door next to Kurenai's room.
It was worse.
Not even the bed was cleared off.
"It's like they picked up the stuff off the bed and the floor where the little path is and tossed it in here," Kurenai looked like she was going to scream and start throwing things.
Kumiko silently shut the door. "I could sleep on the couch," she suggested helpfully.
"No, no, you'll sleep in a nice, comfortable bed, but not in these cluttered rooms." Kurenai's mouth was set in a grim line. "Come with me."
She took Kumiko out of the house and across the street. She banged on the door, loudly, and Asuma's head poked out the door.
'They live close…' Kumiko observed silently.
"Yes, Kurenai?" He asked a little dozily.
Kurenai grabbed Kumiko's hand and shoved Asuma aside. She left Kumiko standing in a living room that was nearly identical to Kurenai's and stormed upstairs. She returned very quickly and was dragging a protesting Kakashi by the ear and then sat him and Asuma on the couch and glowered at them. "YOU CALL THAT A CLEAN ROOM?? WERE YOU RAISED BY WOLVES?? HOW COULD YOU EXPECT ME TO MAKE KUMIKO SLEEP THERE???? YOU'RE BOTH TERRIBLE PEOPLE AND YOU KNOW WHAT??"
"You're going to turn us over on your knee and spank us?" Asuma ventured a guess.
You could see the steam billowing out of Kurenai's ears, "I'M GOING TO MAKE THE TWO OF YOU SLEEP IN THAT ROOM YOU "CLEANED OUT" TOGETHER!!"
"So…where will Kumiko sleep?" Kakashi asked.
Kurenai turned up her nose, "Well, seeing as Asuma's room is nearly as cluttered as the one he "cleaned out", I happen to know that your room is tidy. So she gets your room until hers is presentable."
Kakashi and Asuma exchanged disgruntled glances. "And how do you plan to enforce your idea?" Asuma challenged, standing up, pulling Kakashi up with him. "You can't defeat Kakashi alone, never mind with me on his team."
"I'll enforce Kurenai," Kumiko said.
Kakashi sat down very quickly and yanked Asuma down with him whispering, "You do not want that."
"She's fought, what, five ninja's tonight! There's no way she could stand up to two right now," Asuma scoffed.
"You really don't want to test that," Kakashi told him. "Let's go do what Kurenai says, and we'll have our rooms back in no time."
Shooting Kurenai dark glances, the boys filed out. Kurenai grabbed Kakashi by the collar of his vest, "Show your guest where her room is. See you at home."
She left shutting the door behind her.
Sighing, Kakashi started up the stairs saying, "Just so you know, it was my idea to put the stuff we cleared out into the other room. Asuma was ready to pile it up on top of the other stuff."
Arching her eyebrow, Kumiko asked, "So what exactly is it all? This…'stuff'… I mean, do you even use half of it?"
"Well…"
". . ."
Kakashi coughed and pushed open his door, which was the one on the right side of the hallway. "This is my room." He looked her up and down and then went over to his dresser and pulled out a baggy t-shirt and a clean pair of boxers. "You can wear this, seeing as you haven't brought any pajamas. I would have washed the sheets if I had of known Kurenai was going to do this, but unfortunately, you're going to have to sleep in used sheets."
Kumiko shrugged taking the clothing handed to her, "It's much better than the ground."
Kakashi snorted, "Yes, I suppose it is. Do you sleep on the ground often?"
"If I can't find an inn soon enough and it isn't raining."
Kakashi put on his carefree smile, "You'll have to tell me about yourself sometime. Sleep well." He closed the door behind him and she listened to his footsteps down the stairs and out the door. Kumiko peeked out the window, through the blinds, and watched him cross the road to find Kurenai standing in the doorway. She started barking at him again, dragged him in the house by the ear, and then slammed the door behind them. Kumiko's lip twitched and then stretched into a grin and she even began to laugh. These were the people she was going to be living with, and they didn't appear all that bad. She'd watch her back, but she hoped she wouldn't have to. If these people turned on her now, she feared it would hurt her more than she'd want to admit. She already felt like she was beginning to fit in, and that was always a mixed blessing for her.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she began to undress and pull on the clothing Kakashi had loaned to her. She left his room and entered the bathroom. She pulled her hair out of its bun and unbraided it, only to realize she had no brush to brush it with. Peeking into a few cupboards, she finally came up with a brush. Running it through her lengthy hair, she began to hum a tune under her breath until the brush ran smoothly. Flopping into Kakashi's bed, she frowned and then rolled over and inhaled the scent from his pillow that was tickling her nose. It flooded her senses and she was momentarily dazed until she took another breath. Her eyes were wide. It was like candy for the nose. Nose Candy. The only way she could describe what he smelled like was the forest, wilderness, a hint of laundry detergent, and soap. She remembered to place three kunai knives under her pillow and then stumbled out of bed to prop the chair at the desk under the doorknob. Falling back into bed, she wrapped herself up in his comforting scent by completely burrowing into the blankets. She fell asleep thinking that if someone could bottle this smell and sell it, they'd make millions.
The blood sprayed out of the wound, as she yanked her knife out of his body. He fell to the ground, eyes wide, as she spun around to meet her next opponent. He lunged for her with a knife, and she easily dodged him, sending her already bloodied knife into his stomach. He grunted and then slumped to the ground. A cry from above warned her of some one attacking from the top. She countered his blade with her own, and punched him between the ribs with her spare fist. He spat blood into her face and cursed wordlessly at her. She dropped her knife after flicking his out of his hand, and then grabbed his face and wrenched it to the left, breaking his neck. He fell to the ground and she pulled out a new knife. Spinning around she drove her knife in between a new man's ribs. His mouth opened in a silent snarl and slashed at her arms with his knife. She poked around with her knife, tickling his heart before piercing it in an explosion of blood. He fell, dead, with a splat. Reaching for a new knife, panic jolted through her as she discovered her knife pouch was suddenly gone. So were her shurikens and, she realized hysterically, her charka wasn't obeying her. It just wasn't there. She formed seals and nothing happened.
His laughter filled the space she was in, echoing off invisible walls, and her mouth went dry with fear.
"Kumiko-chan…why do you run? Can't you see, without me, you are nothing?" he crooned.
"Get away from me!!" she shrieked, "I don't need you, and I don't want you!"
"Poor Kumiko-chan has no idea what she's talking about," the voice whispered next to her ear.
Whirling around, there was nobody there. Kumiko trembled. "What do I need to do so that you'll leave me alone??" She demanded to the phantom voice.
"Once I have you body, mind, and soul, I shall be happy."
Kumiko calmed herself and forced her breathing to become even. "Then," she said evenly, "I'm going to have to kill you."
The knife appeared in her hand and she attacked. She couldn't see him, but she knew where he was. The evil surrounding him was unmistakable, and when her blade came in contact with him, the blood sprayed in every direction. Black blood. She went for the killing blow, when an echo pounded her head. Her eyes widened and she was ripped from the nightmare.
Kumiko's eyes flew open, and she sat up as soon as she was awake with a knife in each hand. She shivered as she realized she'd kicked her sheets off her and onto the floor. She sat very quietly and soon heard a knock on the door.
"Kakashi? Are you in there?"
Kumiko frowned, trying to remember the voice. She glanced around, slowly recognizing the room she was in, and then swung her feet to the floor and walked over to the door as the same someone knocked again.
"Kakashi?"
She opened the door, knife in hand, and looked up at the man.
"It's You!!" She yelled in horror.
"It's You!!" He yelled with joy.
Kumiko slammed the door in his face and held her body against it incase he tried to force entry. It was that horrible guy she had knocked out the previous night, Man, or something like that…Guy? No, Gai. That was his name.
"What do you want??" she called sharply.
"Please open the door so we may talk politely," he said.
"You promise not to do anything stupid?"
"Um…I guess."
She slowly opened the door. "Now, what do you want?"
He tilted his head to the side, as if in thought. "You…you're sleeping in Kakashi's bed…No!! He beat me again!! If he is to try to have you then, as his rival, I must compete!"
Kumiko checked her watch. Yep. It was waaaay too early in the morning for her to try and comprehend this nutcase. She'd try for nice and easy. "Kakashi and Asuma are staying at Kurenai's place—my place—as their punishment for doing a crap job of cleaning out my room. I got Kakashi's bed so I could have a place to sleep. It is five AM. I'm going back to bed. Good night," she closed the door on him again, propped the chair under the doorknob and went to the bed. As she was remaking the bed so she could hopefully sleep, she heard him thinking out loud in the hallway.
"So, if Kakashi's not here, that means that you are alone…which means he hasn't beaten me!! Ah hah! The battle begins here!! I shall now go across the road to challenge Kakashi for your affections! And I will not lose!!"
She listened to him stomp eagerly down the stairs and across the road to the house's unsuspecting occupants. Tiptoeing out of the bedroom, she entered the bathroom and splashed water in her face to clear the sweat that had accumulated from the most recent nightmare. The only way to make them go away was to kill the man causing them. He haunted the dark recesses of her mind and came forth when her mind was most unprotected. Now was not the time to go after him, however. She needed to train first, and she wanted to see if she could gather some reinforcements. Friends, perhaps. She'd see. She flopped back into bed, feeling slightly embarrassed for the condition of the sheets. They were crumpled and sort of damp now, and would definitely need to be washed before used again. She'd inform Kakashi before the day was through and perhaps see if she could wash them herself to repay him.
Rolling over, her nose found a corner of the pillow that hadn't been contaminated with her sweat that still smelled comforting. It was unnerving, but she kind of liked it; his smell massaged her sinuses and floated around in her head. Kumiko didn't really want to give in, but with no one around to watch her, she allowed herself to surrender to the security she felt.
Smiling softly, Kumiko drifted peacefully into a dreamless sleep.
"Kumiko…" Kakashi rapped on his own door for the third time. He'd tried opening it, but it appeared stuck, and if she wanted her privacy, that was fine…but it was ten AM.
Finally, he heard her stir, and then leap out of bed. The door suddenly opened and before him stood a slightly embarrassed girl with tousled hair, bags under her eyes, wearing a crumpled t-shirt and wrinkled pair of boxers.
"Sorry," she apologized, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, "I overslept. Give me ten minutes to be dressed." She shut the door in his face. Five seconds later she opened it again, "Right. I haven't any other clothes and I forgot to wash mine last night so I could wear them today…"
"Here, why don't you shower, then, and I'll go see if Kurenai can loan you something until you can get something of your own," Kakashi suggested.
Kumiko screwed up her face, trying to think clearly, "Right. Okay. Um, I'll wash your sheets for you sometime today, too. I didn't sleep well, so they're kind of a real mess."
"Oh, don't worry about it, I'll do it later. You've got more important things to do today than mess around with my sheets," Kakashi smiled.
"Riiight…Okay, then," she said while stumbling out of the room past him, and crashing into the bathroom. Kakashi noted that he liked the length of his boxers on her, and then peeked into his room to see how much of a mess was 'a real mess'.
Apparently, she was not far off. His cover was completely off of the bed, and the sheets were trying to follow it to the floor, but were still tucked in at the base of the bed. One of his two pillows was lying lengthwise at the head of the bed, as if she'd been lying on top of it, and the second one had ended up on the floor with everything else.
"Are you sure there was only one of you in bed last night?" Kakashi called to her in the bathroom.
"Sorry?" she called back.
"Nothing."
He scratched the back of his head and then started forward. May as well get the sheets into the wash as soon as possible so that they'd be properly dry for that night. He tugged out the sheet that was half on the floor and bundled it up in his arms before tossing it to the floor. He started to remove the bottom sheet when he stopped and gave the castaway sheet on the floor a second glance. Frowning, he bent over and picked it up. There was one smell on the sheets and it reminded him of roses, the forest of Konoha, and something else that he couldn't quite place but it was equally enticing…and he decided he didn't feel like washing it away just yet. Folding it back onto the bed, he pulled the cover up over the rest of the bed, rearranged the pillows, and voila. He'd change them later. He closed the door behind him, and left to find Kurenai for some clothing.
There was a knock at the bathroom door and Kumiko paused in conditioning her hair to listen. "Yes?"
"Eh…I'll just leave Kurenai's things outside the door, here. You can grab them when you're done. I'll be downstairs."
"Thanks, I'll be out in a few minutes."
Kakashi paused outside the door, wondering if he could time it right to come back up the stairs to grab something from his room right as Kumiko was opening the door for her things, but decided against it. That girl could kick ass, and after she'd had a long nights rest, he didn't feel like being on the receiving end of that.
Kumiko listened to him hesitate in the hallway briefly, wondering what he was thinking, before hearing him walk down the stairs. Resuming her washing, she noted that she'd buy her own shampoo soon. She smelled quite masculine, thanks to the boys not using girl's shampoos, and decided she'd find out if Kurenai had perfume she could overdose on until then.
Dipping her head back, the water spilled over her face and washed away the soap on her body and the conditioner in her hair. It ran in little vein-like streams down her body and pooled at her feet before running in the direction of the drain. When she was satisfied she'd rinsed away all of the soap, she wrung out her hair and shut off the water. She hunted around the bathroom for some sort of cream for her body. Normally, she didn't bother, but if she was going to treat herself to being clean, clean then she was going to do it right. That included, at least, some sort of Vaseline for her legs, as she'd shaved for the first time in too long (men's razors, as far as she was concerned, were the same as women's except they weren't pink, purple, or sky blue, and they were cheaper, so she stole an unused one from the package in the messy cupboard).
Eventually Vaseline was the only thing she found. She wasn't surprised, as this was a men's bathroom, but she certainly was disappointed. Something strawberry or vanilla smelling would have been nice, but in a pinch, Vaseline would do.
Finally, towel wrapped around her, Kumiko cracked the door open and bent down to grab her clothes. Her towel began to slip, but she was determined to grab everything, besides, Kakashi was downstairs, wasn't he? So, when the towel gapped, Gai decided that was the moment to open his door and head for the bathroom. He froze and stared, while Kumiko, reflex queen, threw her pair of socks at him, mashed everything to her body to prevent her towel from furthering its course off of her, and then slammed the door, quickly locking it. She could do without socks for now.
Gai remained frozen outside of the bathroom momentarily, replaying in his mind the image of the girl before him deciding there was no way she was merely human.
"Ka…Kakashi!!" he hollered, charging down the stairs, "We have an Angel in our bathroom! Come see!!"
Kumiko nearly snapped the bra she was fitting into as she listened to him thunder down the stairs. Was the man naturally on crack, or was he just that dumb?
Deciding to find out later, Kumiko focused on getting dressed. She was slowly feeling very self-conscious. Kurenai's bra pinched in places, but otherwise they were nearly the same that way, but her underwear pinched, too, her shirt was tight, and her pants were a little short. She didn't bother with the socks, as they were still out in the hallway, but staring at herself in the mirror, Kumiko felt huge. In fact, she felt massively uncomfortable. Sagging her shoulders, she opened the door, grabbed the socks, and then poked her head over the edge of the stairs.
"Um…Kakashi?"
Gai and Kakashi looked up. Gai pointed his finger, "See? It's the Angel!"
Kakashi smacked him upside the head.
Kumiko winced and tugged uncomfortably at the shirt, "I don't suppose I could borrow a pair of pants from you? And a shirt, maybe?"
Kakashi frowned, "How come? I placed them… You're wearing…"
Sighing, Kumiko placed her head in her hands momentarily before standing up and walking down the stairs to the landing. Kakashi took a good look at her.
'Well, her shirt hugs her figure nicely, if not a little close at the neck; her pants, if not a little short, outline her hips agreeably and cling to her toned thighs…I don't see the problem…'
"What's…the matter?" he asked.
All thoughts of embarrassment vanished and were replaced with popping veins and twitching eyebrows. "It's…too…tight…I…can't…move…!" she gritted through her teeth.
"It is? Oh…haha, sorry, it doesn't look tight, so I had to ask. Right, um, come with me."
Kumiko's embarrassment returned as she noticed Gai looking at her like she was a goddess and said, "Before you come up, could you smack him with a pillow?"
Kakashi glanced at him and then obliged her.
Later that night, Kakashi was lying in his bed, door locked, with his hands behind his head. He was lying shirtless, and therefore without his mask, in the darkness reflecting on the day. Kumiko and Kurenai had gone out and they picked up a few essentials for Kumiko, and then Kurenai treated Kumiko to a new outfit. He, Kakashi, had gone to visit Hokage and collected Kumiko's earnings from her first mission and one of the vests for her. She was getting her own clothing and she had her own weapon pouches, so all she needed was the vest part of the uniform.
When Kakashi caught up to them, he, at first, only recognized Kurenai. Beside her was a young woman wearing a very flattering top, a pair of capris, and her ebony, near waist length hair was hanging loose. When she turned to him, his eyes widened as he realized it was Kumiko he was looking at. He smiled and complimented her, saying she should wear her hair down more often, to which she blushed and mumbled something about it getting in the way. He handed her the vest and her money and watched her eyes widen.
"Ooh, now we can go back and get you that shampoo you liked!" Kurenai had exclaimed, and they had left soon after.
Next, he, Asuma, and even Gai cleared out Kumiko's room completely. The room was empty, and their stuff was stacked neatly in the other room next to Kurenai's. They were having a yard sale next week.
Kumiko seemed to be making an effort to warm up to them, but it also seems to be taking a lot of work on her part. She didn't trust anyone in the least, as far as he could tell, but it may also be that she was just unrealistically paranoid and shy. He also wanted her to understand that none of them were out to get her, except maybe Gai, but that was a little different.
Before falling asleep, he decided that the group of them would take Kumiko to the carnival that was coming to town in two weeks time. Perhaps she'd warm up to them a little more by then. Perhaps it would be fun.
He snorted. It wasn't like he liked carnivals, or anything, but, well, he hadn't been to one since he was young. It could be interesting.
Well…how was that for my second chapter? I'm kind of curious to how you all thought I did writing the fight scenes, so please let me know. Also, I'm not liking how Kumiko's nightmares are being written, but I don't really know how I can improve them. If you come up with any ideas, please let me know. As they progress, i'm either A.) going to write them better, or B.) merely make reference to the fact that she had them.
I'm also wondering how some of you thought I was working myself too hard (just in two of your reviews).Should I shorten my chapters? Make 'em longer? Structure them differently?Give me feedback!
Oh yes, and I'd like to say thank you to my editor (and sister) for all of her fabulous assistance. She helps with all of the touch ups, feeds me ideas, and gives me good suggestions, so huggles and kisses for her!
Cheers!
-Kirara
P.S. Merry Christmas, and Happy Boxing Day. Yes, I know I'm just a little late. Pretend I'm not.