Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Blah blah blah etc. etc. etc.
Author notes : Yea, so three months later… I'm sorry about the gap between chapter's two and three. I've had a very busy three months, between finals and grades and working two shows. One of the shows is (thankfully) finished, so now I'm just stage managing a musical that will finish at the end of April. Otherwise, I need to balance homework with working so updates will be few. They will not, however, be short. I never like posting a short chapter because usually that means it's a little unfinished, kind of rushed, and that makes me unhappy.
The beginning of this chapter is kind of dry, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that as soon as I finish a chapter, I like to start a half a page to a page of the next chapter to keep my train of thought. Let me know your point of view when you review.
Live, Laugh, and Love
Chapter Three
Mission!
The sun streamed in through Kumiko's window and she groaned as it woke her. Rolling over, she groaned again as her muscles strained, reminding her to treat them with care. The past week had been filled with training and Kumiko had known most of the exercises Kakashi was teaching his students, so she was able to assist them. Afterwards, however, the two of them had been fighting matches so that they could both improve on skills they wanted to work on.
Kumiko was slowly finding it more difficult to pin Kakashi, because the more moves she showed him, the more he learned and the sooner he learned to counter them. He was without a doubt one of the best jounin in Konoha. He was learning quickly and Kumiko often found that her plan to defeat him in a match was usually trashed because of something he pulled and more often than not she was flying by the seat of her pants trying to pull something out of the air to regain her control of the situation so she could beat him. Wednesday, Kakashi had spent time showing her secure ways to pin someone without killing them or severely injuring them. They practiced them, and then before parting, he reviewed with her new ways to knock someone out (they didn't practice knocking each other out. Heaven knows that would have been irritating). On Thursday they'd had one heck of a work out. Just when one thought they'd pinned the other, the other would pull an illusion trick and it would start all over again. In total, they'd only had two matches, both very long, with Kumiko barely being the victor of the first one. The second Kakashi insists he won, but Kumiko declared it a draw because they had both ended up panting on the ground and calling it quits for the night. Today was Friday, and Kakashi had said that they were going to sign up for a mission and that they were to meet him outside the red building at nine.
Kumiko glanced at her clock and groaned for the third time as she read '8:10' in blaring red numbers. She could make it in an hour if she hurried, but she also had to make lunch for her and Kurenai.
Rolling out of bed, she stumbled into the bathroom to start her day.
It was five minutes to nine when Kumiko was placing Kurenai's lunch into the fridge and her own into her day pack. She could hear Kurenai getting out of the shower, and Kumiko wandered up to the second floor to let Kurenai know she was leaving.
"Oh!" Kurenai looked at her in surprise, "You're hair is down!"
"Eh, not really," Kumiko said, fingering the long braid she'd left it in.
"But it is a nice change from its braided knot."
"Thank you. You're lunch is in the fridge, and I need to get going, otherwise I'm going to be late."
"Well, don't rush. It's not like Kakashi's going to be on time," Kurenai called as Kumiko left.
'We'll see about that,' Kumiko thought as she strode across the road to his dorm. She rapped on the door and was greeted by Asuma.
"Good morning, Kumiko. Would you like to come in?"
"Actually, I'm just wondering if Kakashi's almost ready to go," she told him pleasantly.
Asuma frowned, "I think he's still in bed."
Kumiko's pleasant face thinned. "…Really? Well last I checked, he's supposed to be meeting us in…" she peered at her new watch, "one and a half minutes."
"Really! Well, I shall give you the pleasure of waking him," he beckoned her in.
She skipped stairs up to his room, and before knocking, she poked into Asuma's room and snatched her weapon of choice for the fight: his pillow.
Knocking pleasantly, she waited. No response. She knocked a little louder and was rewarded with the sound of ruffling sheets and footsteps to the doorway. A sleepy Kakashi with tousled hair poked his head around the door wearing his shirt with the mask, his Konoha headband, and a pair of flannel, green pants decorated in sushi patterns.
"Eh? Kumiko? You look nice today," he said sleepily.
She buffed him in the face with the pillow.
"Oi!" he exclaimed, waking up a little faster, "What's this for?"
"What time is it, Kakashi?" she asked him sweetly.
"Um…" he glanced at his clock. "Nine?"
"And what pressing engagement did you have at nine?"
"Uh…?"
He was rewarded with another thwack from the pillow.
"I believe you were meeting your subordinates somewhere at nine, weren't you?"
"Oh…right…"
"This will be the third time you've been late, this week," she reminded him, her voice a little frosty, while slowly backing him into his room, brandishing the pillow.
"Alright, alright, I'm going."
"You're going to be very late if you don't leave right now."
"Well, I'll be a little late."
"No, you won't," she said, still charming.
At his questioning and disbelieving glance, Kumiko seized his vest that was draped over the chair in his room, threw it at him, and grabbed him by the wrist and began to drag him down the stairs.
He twisted out of her hold with a simple flick of his wrist, and tried to escape back up the stairs to the safety of his room. Putting two hands around his ankle, Kumiko brought him down with a crash and then began to drag him down the stairs, his chin thumping against each step. Using his stomach muscles, he twisted himself around and used another grab release to get his ankle out of her grip.
Kumiko realized this wasn't going to work to her advantage…until she spotted a certain red book lying so innocently on the coffee table next to the couch in the living room. The book was, of course, anything but innocent…
'I wonder how much these mean to him…'
She plucked it off of the table, glanced at the cover to make sure she wasn't making a mistake, and then sang, "Kaka—ashi!" her voice holding all the innocence of a mass murderer holding a chainsaw.
His head appeared at the top of the stairs. "What?" he snapped.
"I think I'm going to go find a pond and see how this floats," she called, waving the book at him, other hand on the door knob.
His eye widened, "You! Don't you dare!"
"Bye!" She whipped open the door and slammed it behind her in her haste to put more distance between them.
She barely heard the door close before it opened again with Kakashi hot on her heels.
'Excellent…' she thought. 'We'll be there in no time!' Bounding up onto a rooftop, she continued to run on top of the village, but became worried when she noticed him catching up. He wasn't usually faster than her and she glanced at the book in her hand. Flipping open the cover she noticed messy writing that read 'Property of Hatake, Kakashi' and in scrawling red ink under it was the author's autograph. An autographed copy. Well that would do it, perhaps.
Plunging suddenly from the roof, she landed in a back alley and then changed her direction, throwing Kakashi off.
'Now where's she going? I thought she was going to the meeting spot. Darn it, I was catching up, too!' he thought furiously. 'If anything happens to that book…!'
For having lived there less than a week, Kumiko had a pretty good idea of the layout of the village. She kept taking turns to throw him off, but her goal was the red building.
They reached the building at ten after nine.
"I could have just gotten dressed, you know," Kakashi panted, his hair now wind blown and tousled from bed, his pants slightly wrinkled. He held out his hand for his book.
"Yea, right," she slapped the book against his chest. "After you showered, ate your breakfast, combed your hair, and brushed your teeth."
"Kakashi-sensei, you're early," Sasuke said dryly, checking his watch.
"Whoa! He's up before eleven!" Naruto exclaimed.
"We soo owe you one, Kumiko-chan," Sakura gave her sensei a deadpanned look and then started giggling. "Kakashi-sensei, is that sushi?" she coughed pointing at his pants.
Kumiko pretended not to notice the murderous look the said man was shooting her. "I believe our mission is inside," she said matter-of-factly, starting into the building.
"Hey, I'm not going in there wearing sushi," Kakashi stated flatly.
Kumiko turned and gave him arched eyebrows. "Oh, you're not, are you?"
He clutched his book protectively, "No, I'm not."
She sighed, turning her back to him, formed a quick number of seals, and then turned back holding another of his books. He didn't have to know it was an illusion. She waggled Volume Two at him, just out of his reach.
"You! When did you get that?" Kakashi demanded.
Her eyes danced with mischief as she flung open the door to the building saying, "I'm going to go see if Hokage-sama has some kerosene and a match or two…"
"YOU—!"
"Bye!"
"ARGH!"
He chased after her into the building and Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke trailed eagerly behind.
The two of them crashed into the Request Room, Kakashi tackling Kumiko to the floor, her hand outstretched away from him.
"Mine!" he growled, stretching himself out as far as he could go to get it.
"Never!" she replied, grunting with effort at keeping him away from it.
"IT'S THE ANGEL!"
The two of them froze and slowly turned to see Gai with is subordinates.
"Kakashi, you pig, unhand her!" Gai demanded, scrutinizing them on the floor. Their position had gone unnoticed between the two of them as there was something larger at stake (to get or not to get the book), but with Kumiko underneath, lying on her back, one hand on Kakashi's wrist to drag him down, the other arm reaching way past her head with the book, and Kakashi on top, one arm struggling against Kumiko's grip, the other reaching as far up her as it could in attempt to snatch his prized possession, there was nothing PG about it from a bystander's point of view. Not to mention their legs were sprawled.
The two of them instantly became aware of themselves, froze, wondering what the heck to do, and then they both scrambled to get up. Kumiko was blushing profusely, completely embarrassed in a room full of strangers, and Kakashi was ticked for the same reason, his cheeks flushed. He snatched the book from Kumiko and she stuttered with slight surprise but let it go. He popped it into his pocket, and buttoned it closed. Kumiko dropped the spell and the book disappeared, without him noticing. Gai marched over to them, concerned for Kumiko and irritated at Kakashi.
"You aren't hurt, are you, Angel?" he asked, worried.
"Fine, fine," she waved him off.
"Kakashi, you should know better than to try and ravish a woman in plain sight!" he accused, hands on his hips.
"Oh get over yoursel—Ravish? You think I was? Oh please, I was not! And if I was, she bloody well deserved it! Why, she was almost asking for it!" Kakashi spluttered in response, failing to regain his composure.
"You are acting very uncool, Kakashi. I hope you improve this so that you are still worthy enough to be my rival."
"Oh, go run a lap around the village, or something," Kakashi scowled.
Kumiko's chilly voice cut through their petty argument, "I believe Hokage-sama is waiting for us with our mission." She then turned her attention to Lord Hokage, who was watching the spectacle with a blank expression.
"I hope to see you around, Angel!" Gai said, loosing his disapproving attitude and trying to grin….charmingly, perhaps…
"Ugg…run me over with a tree…" Kumiko muttered.
The group approached Hokage-sama's table for their mission.
Hokage assessed the group. "…sushi, Kakashi?"
"Give us a damn mission," he snapped moodily.
Hokage gave a graceful shrug and hid his smile behind a cough and then looked down his list. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then looked up at them, all jokes gone. "Team seven, with the exception of Kumiko, you have accomplished 15 D rank missions and four C rank missions. You have all greatly improved and with the Kumiko's strong addition to your team, I have decided to assign you a B rank mission. You may of course think this over and let me know."
Naruto, in front, instantly whirled around to face Kakashi, begging and pleading loudly. Kakashi looked over every one of his teammates, from Sakura's nervous and excited eyes, to Sasuke's dark, challenging ones, to Kumiko's guarded ones. She stood back, indicating that she wanted no say in the decision, as it was entirely up to his evaluation. Kakashi thought it over briefly, knowing that Kumiko could possibly take on anything that came at them almost single-handedly and then nodded to Hokage-sama.
"We will accept this mission."
Naruto let out a victory cheer, and Sasuke's face held a satisfied smile. Sakura looked nervous, but Kumiko was sighing with relief. No more babysitting for this ninja!
Hokage nodded and then gave them their details. "Mr. Yamasashi, Kano is transferring something of great value from this country back to his, and I'm going to have you escort him to Kumogakure, the land of light and shadows."
"Why is it a B rank mission?" Sasuke asked.
Hokage nodded. "I was getting to that. The sand ninja are not friends of the ninja of light and shadows, however because they are our allies, they will not attack until you are outside Konoha. The level of attack is expected to be high, but I believe that your team is capable of handling this task." When nobody said anything, Hokage continued. "I suppose now would be a good time to introduce you to him," and at a nod of his head, a ninja standing next to the door, opened it, left briefly, and then returned, escorting a young man in his mid-twenties into the room.
"This is Mr. Yamasashi," Hokage told the group.
"Kano," corrected the man while smiling at the group. The first thing Kumiko noticed about the man was that he carried a sort of charm with him, from the short, blonde hair, to his cheerful hazel eyes, to his wide smile. His teeth gleamed white and they were surrounded by a pair of lips that seemed to know exactly how to give his face the right look. Right now his mouth was wide in a friendly grin, but when he favored Kumiko with another glance, his lips twisted to give her a more meaningful look. Kumiko blandly ignored it.
After you got over the fact that this man appeared to be comfortable being close to the center of attention, you noticed his height. He was taller than Kakashi's 5'10", but it didn't appear that it was because he had long legs or a large torso, he just seemed perfectly proportionate. Kumiko received the impression that Kano was used to having people scurry to do things for him, especially women, and she suspected that his friendly aura could also turn imposing and perhaps threatening if he saw it fit.
"Mr. Yamasashi," Hokage continued, "This is Hatake, Kakashi, the jounin leader of team seven."
Kano took his eyes off of Kumiko and tossed a smile at Kakashi while offering his hand to him, "A pleasure to meet you."
Kakashi smiled professionally back at him and shook his hand, "Indeed; allow me to introduce you to my team. This is Shichi, Kumiko," he said and Kano shook her hand too. She decided to give him a friendly handshake, but he ruined it by holding it longer than necessary. Strike two.
Kakashi finished his introductions. "This is Uzumaki, Naruto; Haruno, Sakura; and Uchiha, Sasuke." Kano shook each of their hands in turn.
"Mr. Yamasashi is a chunin ninja, since this spring," Hokage informed them.
Kano's smile thinned, and Hokage, deciding he'd perhaps mentioned a touchy subject, moved on. "He is hoping to leave before eleven, so, Kakashi, I will allow you to organize your team so you may depart."
Kakashi led the group out into the sunshine where the six of them formed a circle.
"Right," he addressed them, "what time is it currently."
"Time for you to get a watch," Kumiko muttered darkly, "with an alarm on it."
"Twenty after nine," Sasuke informed him.
"That leaves us just about an hour and a half to meet at gate 52," he calculated. "I'm going to estimate that our journey will be approximately four days there and another four days back."
Kumiko frowned. "Four days? I didn't think it was that far."
"Have you been there before?" Kakashi raised an interested brow.
"Well, no, but comparing it to other places I've been and the distance and time it takes to travel, I thought…"
Kakashi smiled, reminding her, "Ah, but we are traveling with genin, first of all, and second, with a chunin carrying something of value. We will not be traveling at your regular pace."
Kumiko nodded in understanding so Kakashi concluded the meet. "Gate 52 at 11:00," he said.
Sasuke's lips twisted into a smirk, "Are you sure you'll be ready on time, Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi gave him a cool look but Kumiko answered for him. "He will be."
The group dispersed and as they were walking, Kakashi glanced at Kumiko and asked, "But will I be dressed?"
He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw mischief in her eyes as she said, "That, Kakashi, will be entirely up to you."
He shifted uneasily. "You won't be dragging me out of the shower," he stated. "That would be unfair. Sushi is one thing. Being stark naked is entirely another."
"I'll be sure to grab a towel before I haul you out into the streets."
Kakashi really didn't like how serious she sounded. He'd be showering first.
With that resolved, he decided that the best thing for his sanity would be to ignore her. Flipping open one of his pockets, he fumbled around for his book…only to discover it wasn't there. Glaring at Kumiko suspiciously, he possessively growled, "Where's my book?"
"What book?" she asked.
"Volume two," he gritted.
"Oh, that. There was no volume two," she replied honestly. There was something in her voice, he noticed, that he couldn't place it.
"What do you mean there was no volume two?" he demanded.
"I mean your eyes must have been playing tricks on you."
Ah, he placed it. Amusement. She was amused with him.
Wait.
"It was an illusion," he stated, disbelieving his own idiocy.
"It was an illusion," she confirmed.
"I'm going to kill you one day."
"You just keep trying," she smiled, patting him on the arm.
Pulling together his lunch, Kakashi cursed. It was running late and he'd taken such a leisurely shower that he didn't have time to dry his hair. Well, normally he would have, but being forced to leave with out a lunch would be bad. He could handle it, but it wasn't something he wanted to endure if he didn't have to. So most of his hair was still wet to the point of flopping down into his face, and he hated it when it did that. Kumiko was going to pay, he thought, scowling. Oh yes, someday she'd regret dragging him out of bed, stealing his book, and forcing him to run after it while still in his pajamas. His sushi pajamas, no less! He'd managed to keep the secret to his dorm mates, but nooo! Anybody could blackmail him now! He could see it: The infamous Hatake, Kakashi! The Copy-ninja who has learned and copied over 2,000 moves and deals them back at his foes! Armed with his weapons, his deadly sharingan eye aaaand…sushi pajama pants… Oh yea, Kumiko was going to pay…
Almost on cue to that thought, there was an ominous knock…knock…knock…
Kakashi rolled his eyes and called, "Ha, ha, ha, very funny. Just come in; the door's unlocked."
The door opened soundlessly and he watched Kumiko poke her head around it, braid falling over her shoulder, blue eyes sparkling mischievously.
"Dressed?"
He glared.
"I hope you're almost ready," she told him, removing her shoes and entering the living room.
"You better not attack me. I'm armed and dangerous, so there!" he smirked and waggled the butter knife in his hand at her.
She gave him an exasperated look. "It's a good thing I know you know that a measly knife like that isn't actually going to stop me," she said while she stepped up into the kitchen.
He twirled it with his fingers before running it under water and dropping it into the sink. He figured trying to prove her wrong would waste time and be childish (not to mention the possibly embarrassing outcome). Wrapping up his sandwich, he changed the subject, asking, "So where's your pack?"
"Pack?" She looked up from her glance out the window.
The one eye that wasn't under the mask slid its gaze off of the sandwich and on to her. "Yes. Pack. It's what people carry their things in when they're going somewhere for an extensive period of time."
"Ooooh…" she nodded up and down as if this was an entirely new concept to her.
"Tell me you brought at least one pair of extra clothing? A pair of pajamas? Toothbrush? Comb?"
She rolled her eyes. "Relax, it's in the hall."
His eye slid its attention back to watching what he was doing with the sandwich. "I was only wondering because you showed up in Konoha with nothing except for what you were wearing. How was I to know that you didn't travel that way all of the time?"
She gave him cool eyes. "Well, I did have to borrow Kurenai's bag because I don't have one of my own, but yes, I do like to pack if I can."
There was a moment of silence as he zipped up his pack and pulled it over his shoulders. "There. I'm ready."
Her face showed mock surprise, "It's a miracle!"
"What now, huh?"
She laughed as her eyes flicked to the clock on the wall. "It's a good thing because in another thirty seconds you'd have been leaving either way," she smiled brightly.
He rolled his eyes but couldn't help finding himself grinning and shaking his head at her expression. "Let's go."
She grabbed her bag and slid her shoes on, and then they left for gate 52.
Kakashi cocked his head in thought as they headed out the door. They'd gone from laughing at each other to laughing with each other. It was weird and it seemed to happen now and then. Well, as much as now and then can happen within a week. He was taking his time deciding whether or not he liked it. It was like certain things, motions, sayings could disperse Kumiko's mood to something completely different at times when you'd least expect it. He still didn't know what buttons to press to change her mood. But it was almost becoming a game to figure it out. She was so different and almost fascinating that he wanted to learn about her, to find out what she was really like. It would have been easier if she didn't have her distrusting guard up all the time and he almost wasn't sure if her expressions were real or not because he knew so little about her, but the way her mood changed had to be real. Something that appeared so random and almost without explanation could not be controlled like that, he thought. So how did he expect to find out who she really was? Time. Only time would reveal all along with patience and practice.
"We'd better hurry up," Kumiko spoke, interrupting his thoughts.
He nodded and together they started into a jog that ended up a race to the gate on the other side of town.
The two of them fell into the clearing surrounding the gate struggling and fighting to gain the upper hand. Kakashi suddenly flipped around and kneed Kumiko in the stomach, winding her, and then he scrambled for the gate exit, crossing it while cackling loudly.
"HAHA! I WON! I BEAT YOU AT SOMETHING! I AM GOD!" He bellowed.
"Very nice, Kakashi-sensei," a dry Sasuke said from his seat next to the gate.
Kakashi turned, saw Sasuke, cleared his throat, and then packed his glee inside of him so as not to embarrass himself further.
Kumiko, her breath returning to her steadily, clapped for him. Of course, her clap was mocking, and the rotten look she was sending him left no room for doubt about that. Something protruded from the mask and Kumiko frowned at him.
"Kakashi…are you pouting?"
His eyes widened and then he grinned, saying, "Wow, you're the first person to get that."
She arched her eyebrow, "You know, everyone would get it if you didn't wear that mask. Why wear it, anyways?"
"…I have a permanent case of the mumps. My face below my nose is bumpy."
"Uh huh, try again. The mask is skin-tight. I don't see no mumps."
"Err, there are red splotches all over my mouth and it's, uh, horrifically embarrassing."
She smirked at him, "Well, suffocating your face can't be healthy for them."
Sakura entered the clearing, followed by Naruto and Kano as Sasuke said, "He's just a prude. He doesn't want anybody to see his face. Sort of the same way that you wouldn't take off your shirt for everybody."
Kumiko gave Kakashi a look.
He sniffed. "It's my face."
"A prude who reads porn?" she asked.
"I never said I was consistent…and I can show it to whomever I feel like. And so far, that would be Asuma, and the two people who work at the ramen stand. They are sworn to secrecy because they know that if I find out they told anybody, I won't eat ramen at their stand."
"So basically, you're just trying to make yourself appear special and significant because only a select few people have seen what you look like when in reality, you're just a spoiled, immature grown-up who feels insignificant."
"Ouch," he told her.
She gave him an 'I'm-a-pain-in-the-ass' smile.
"And yet waaaay too close for comfort," he added.
"That's what makes me special," she said flippantly. "Okay, everybody's here. Let's go."
"Kakashi, just look at a friggen map," Kumiko berated him.
"We are not lost!" he insisted.
"Yes, we are! Look, it's not going to bite you."
"It might."
"Then why'd you pack it?"
"Because I knew you'd be ticked off if I didn't."
"Well, I'm pretty ticked off that you aren't using it!"
"Back off! I'm your leader! You will obey my every command!" he told her while pointing his finger at her.
The entire group raised an eyebrow.
"Dream on," she rolled her eyes. Smacking him over the head, she relieved him of his pack and rummaged through it. A minute later, she was frowning. "Please, oh please tell me this isn't your 'map'." She pulled it out.
He glanced at the tiny, palm-sized card in her hand and began to sweat. "Um…that isn't my map?"
"Then where is it," she delivered him a withering glare.
"Eh heh heh…heh…heh?"
Kumiko stopped and counted to three. When a map didn't materialize in front of her after that, she decided to go to ten.
Kano interrupted her count to smooth things over. "I brought a larger map that you may find of use, Kumiko-san."
Kumiko opened her eyes and gifted him with a grateful smile. She walked over to where he was pulling it out.
Kakashi sent a glare in their direction as Kano and Kumiko figured out where they were.
Sakura wandered up to her sulking teacher. "Kakashi-sensei…it was just a map, you know."
"Yea, well, I actually forgot to pack one. The itty bitty one was in there by pure chance."
"…oh…" She returned his glance, "how very 'always-be-prepared' of you."
He pursed his lips and shrugged as he got up. "So?" he asked the two who were pouring over the map, "where are we?"
"We are…estimating…that we're right about…here," Kano stabbed his finger at the map.
Kakashi frowned. "We can't be all the way out there!"
"I told you we're lost," Kumiko said.
Kakashi glared at the map as if it was all its fault. Then he clapped his hands and said, "Great. Let's adjust our directions and get going."
Kano rolled up his map while Kakashi swung his backpack over his shoulders.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully until seven o'clock when they were setting up camp.
Sakura had been assigned first dinner so as she was preparing it, everyone set up camp.
While her face remained blank, Kumiko's insides were beginning to boil with frustration. Anywhere she moved her sleeping bag to, Kano found some sort of reason to lay his close to hers. It was really beginning to grate on her nerves. First, she laid it next to Sakura's and he plopped it down next to hers. When she decided she didn't like the location, she moved it to the other side of the fire pit and settled. When Kano moved next to her, she became suspicious. She scooted twenty yards away while Kano sat on his bag. She sighed with relief as she found her suspicions were just her imagination, until he stood, lifted his bag, half-heartedly kicked at a stone that had been underneath him, and moved next to her again. Screwing up her face with irritation, she announced she was going for a walk and left before anybody could protest.
She took off at a run and allowed her body to navigate itself through the forest. Releasing her anxiety, she allowed herself to breath and focus on the run. She loved the forest and if she opened herself up to it, it accepted her. She flowed between the trees, dodging branches, weaving around trunks, until she leapt up into the branches. The wind was stronger up in the leafy tops of the forest, but she allowed it to dance around her and used it to improve her speed. Pushing herself, she cleared the treetops and was rewarded with a million dollar view of the multicolored sunset.
The pure sky was interrupted with scattered blobs of clouds that were reflecting the sun's color to the best she'd seen in a very long time. The oranges, yellows, peaches, and reds surrounded the sun, while the clouds glowed purple and were surrounded by a rosy-pink hue. The shades stretched back in the sky until they faded into an approaching midnight blue.
Kumiko landed her jump and then headed towards a tree that rose above the rest. Draping herself across the high branches that would support her, she sat with her back against the trunk and took the scenario in. The villages, with all of their electric lights, didn't allow anyone to appreciate the beauty that nature gave them anymore. The cities just didn't give that kind of opportunity.
WhileKumiko sat up there, lost in her thoughts, Sakura was beginning to serve dinner.
"Someone should go find Kumiko," she announced, "cause I'm serving now."
"I'll go," Kano offered. "I'm an excellent tracker."
Kakashi shook his head. "No, I will. It's not that I doubt your tracking skills, it's just that you're the client and we're the ninja. It actually is in my job description to keep my team together. I'll be right back." He turned towards Sakura, "Don't wait up for us. Go ahead and serve."
With that he left in the direction Kumiko had gone in, and he followed her trail.
Kano shrugged and then turned for his food. Sakura politely served him first, after shoving Naruto aside, and then he sat against a tree.
"So, what do you know about Kumiko?" he asked the three genin, "If you don't mind my asking, that is."
The three of them glanced between each other in silent agreement of being wary of him before Sasuke shrugged and said, "Not much. She's new to Konoha."
"Really?" he raised his eyebrows, "Where's she from?"
Frowning, Sakura replied, "We don't really know. She showed up about a week ago and Hokage-sama attached her to our team. She's really nice."
"What's your background?" Sasuke asked, wondering if he'd be helpful or evasive.
He shrugged. "I've grown up in Kumogakure and lived there for most of my life," he said. "I understand Kumiko hasn't ever been there before. Do you know where she has visited?"
When the three of them innocently shook their heads, he inwardly growled, 'So much for milking information out of the kids. Maybe Kakashi knows more about her…'
When Kakashi finally found Kumiko, he spotted her from a distance. She was sitting in a very tall fir tree facing the last rays of the sun, and she seemed to be…well, he couldn't quite say. She would make hand seals of different sorts and then things would appear in the palm of her hand. First, small, narrow ribbons of light, like the northern lights, appeared to be floating around in a ball, just hovering above her hand. The ribbons would shift length or color until the image eventually changed completely into a ball of rainbow colored flame. The fire was raging inside of the ball and it slowly changed to solid colors from blue, to green, to red. When it flickered and died, she frowned.
Without giving it further notice, she formed another set of seals, and a tiny, translucent dancer appeared in her palm. The dancer had ribbons and was twirling around until the dancer became a ballerina. The ballerina became a gymnast and the gymnast morphed into a cat, which rolled around in her hand. She had been staring at the images with such concentration but when the cat appeared, she gave it an affectionate look but the image abruptly dropped. Pouting, she yet again formed seals and a butterfly materialized.
She seemed to be having fun and her exercises appeared to take a great deal of concentration, but, well, he was hungry and it was twilight now. The color-changing butterfly was shifting into a beautiful bird with long tail feathers and a broad wing-span when he landed next to her, nearly giving her a heart attack.
He was very startled at the speed she'd pressed him against the tree with a kunai-knife at his throat.
Her eyes widened five seconds later as he made gargling noises in his throat and she pulled the knife away. "Geeze, Kakashi, don't do that to me!"
"Don't do that to you? I was the one with a knife at my throat!"
"That's because you startled me."
"What, so if anything gives you a shock, they have the possibility of becoming impaled?" he demanded.
"Look," she explained, "we're in the woods, it's dark now, I really wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, so yea, I'm a bit jumpy."
"Jumpy? Try knife-happy."
She rolled her eyes somewhat miserably, "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to almost slit your throat. I'll try to not do it in the future."
"Great. I'm sorry I startled you. I'll try to not do it in the future."
"Wonderful."
He nodded, collecting himself. "Okay. Sakura is serving dinner."
She frowned, "Oh yea. Dinner. Right. Okay, let's go."
"You forgot about dinner?"
"Well I don't often eat regularly when I travel. Money's an issue, there isn't often a sandwich stand lying around in the middle of a bog or a desert, you know. That kind of thing."
"Ah. Well, you should also make it a general rule to be back at camp by dark, okay?"
"Sure. I just got carried away," she explained.
"Yea, what were you doing there, anyways?"
Shrugging, she said, "Burning chakra."
He widened his eyes, "Why on earth would you want to do that?"
"It's kind of private," she muttered.
"Ah, well as your team leader I solemnly swear not to share this information with anybody except for Hokage-sama."
She gave him an incredulous look. "Whoa, what makes you think I'm going to share this information with you?"
He faltered. "Well, you got as far as saying that you were burning chakra, so I was presuming you were going to go on…And when you informed me it was private, I thought that meant I wasn't to tell anybody else."
She sighed exasperatedly and then narrowed her eyes seriously at him. "Fine. Understand, however, that if I find out you've so much as breathed a word to someone else about this, I may just have to hunt you down."
"Hunt me down and do what?" he teased.
"Kill you," she told him, and looked him in the eye when she said it.
He blinked and then said, "I'm not so sure I'd like to know what it is now… …Of course that was likely your intent, correct?"
She pursed her lips. "Correct."
He smiled, "Good, so what is it?"
Glancing around nervously, she mumbled, "I have a bit of a disability."
His eyebrows rose in surprise, "A disability? What sort of disability?"
"A chakra disability."
He motioned for her to go on.
"My chakra doesn't stop building," she explained. "It's constantly recharging so if I don't use it up and just keep its level down, my body itches and aches."
"And this is embarrassing/terrible…why?"
"Kakashi, you don't know a thing about the kind of life I've lived. The kind of toothpaste I use could be dangerous information. Actually, it nearly killed me once, but that's a story for another time."
"Oh. So if I ask you how much chakra you use up to burn and how much you can hold, you likely won't tell me?"
"Correct. The only person who knows is me. And one other person, but that other person doesn't know because I wanted them to know. And I'm not going to tell you who it is, before you ask."
He pouted. "So basically, you think that if I had that information, I'd use it to plot your demise?"
"You could."
"Why would I want to?"
"I don't actually know you that well to be able to tell."
"Ah."
"Anyways, I'm hungry, so let's go back and eat," she concluded. "And please don't tell anyone."
He smiled softly, "I promise."
When Kumiko woke the next morning, she felt things were…wrong… Casually, with her eyes closed, she scooted her arms further under her pillow until she grasped both hands around the two knives she had laid there the previous night. Slowly opening her eyes, she glanced around; the fire was out, Sakura was leaning dozily against a tree, waiting for the end of her watch and for the day to start, and the rest of the group was still sound asleep.
Groaning, she pulled herself out of her sleeping bag, waved a 'good morning' to Sakura, and then stumbled into the foliage towards the closest stream to wash up. 100 yards from camp, she could hear the water gurgling and in a few minutes, she was upon it. Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out two throwing stars.
"Right," she called out loud, "I know both of your locations exactly, so you can either pretend you didn't hear me, or you can come on out."
Any bystander would, of course, assume she was talking to herself, and by the silence that the woods rewarded her, so would anyone who was involved.
She sighed, "Fine. Have it your way."
Whipping the stars into two different locations, she followed one into a leafy tree, already forming a doppelganger jutsu. Pulling out a knife, Kumiko was ready for the punch that was aimed at her. She blocked it, thrusting her knife with her other hand, only to have it countered. The two of them fell into a close combat of punches, kicks, and weapons. When she pinned him, she tipped him backwards and slammed his head into the tree. She felt her two doppelgangers go out when they were both hit, and she was ready for the other opponent.
Working with her illusion techniques, she soon had him dodging around imaginary trees, and then dropping them when he tried to land on them. He surprised her when he began countering the illusion and she found he was getting close to her. It was then that she saw his forehead protector. She had thought it odd that they were being attacked while still in Konoha, but when she got a look, she found that her opponents were not of the sand. What was etched in the gleaming metal made Kumiko turn pale and she decided to stop playing around. Dropping all the illusions she had created, she charged at him. He was surprised at her sudden change of tactics and was scared when he found himself pinned to the tree, next to his partner's dead body, with a knife poking at his jugular vein.
"Okay," she hissed into his ear, "I'm not even going to bother asking who sent you because it's pretty obvious. When I let you go, you're going to go back to him, and tell him that I don't appreciate him sending assassins after me. If he chooses to ignore me, I'll come after him, and I'll kill him. Do I make myself clear?"
He gargled, trying to get her to lighten the pressure on his throat, but she sneered, "Don't be silly. You can still talk."
Glaring at the tree he was facing, the ninja said, "We were sent to recapture you, not kill you. Soon there'll be too many of us. You won't prevail."
She poked his throat with the knife, resisting the urge to laugh at his rehearsed line, making him hiss as she said, "But until then, you're going to give him my message."
When he nodded, she released him, ready to fight incase he changed his mind. When he took off, however, she relaxed feeling his presence slip away from her radar.
Kakashi opened his eyes to the sound of Sakura preparing breakfast.
"Where's Kumiko?" he asked her, rubbing the sleep out of his eye.
Sakura pointed out to the woods.
He nodded and then wandered out to the stream after her. When he got there, he paused. Kumiko was bent over, washing her face in the stream, which could have been normal. But there was a dead body lying twenty feet away at the base of a tree.
She looked up then, and whipped her head around. When she spotted him, her eyes lost the tension that had been there but she didn't smile. "What time is it? Is the group up?"
"Kumiko…there's a dead ninja over there…"
She ignored him as she thought about things. "Crap, let's go back to camp, Kakashi."
"We shouldn't be receiving any attacks yet." He walked over to the body and frowned. "Wait, this isn't a sand ninja…Kumiko, what—?"
"It's a personal attack, Kakashi, and soon there'll be more of them. We need to break up camp and move, now."
Well, there you go. Part of the reason this chapter took so long was because I hit a short bout of writers block half way through and then also because I had no idea how I was going to creatively end the chapter. So, finally I figured it out and there it is. Please let me know how you think Kumiko's character is developing. Do you like her? Is she consistent? What can I do to improve her and the other characters? Let me know; drop a review!
Kirara