A bit of a shorter chapter today, I'm trying to power my way through a writing slump! Thank you for your reviews!
"Ne, why were you late this morning sensei?" Minoru asks as he opens his bento box. I feel my cheeks heat up as I turn away to grab my own lunch from my backpack. I hadn't had the chance to tell my teammates about what direction Oda-sensei went last night after he dropped me off.
"I didn't get to sleep until pretty late last night, Minoru." This is the first time sensei has sounded sheepish in front of us. I bite my lip to stop my laughter at his wording. He didn't say that he got to bed late. Ensui is a bad influence on me.
"Oh, okay," Minoru shrugs his shoulders, going back to his food. I finally pull my bento out along with my chopsticks and start digging into my own food. I feel sensei's eyes on me and look up at him. He raises an eyebrow at me and I can't hold my smile back. He narrows his eyes at me, almost breaking me. I purse my lips before looking away and back to my food.
It's so easy to rile him up.
"Finish eating and then we'll get started on tree walking." I look up and pout at him before going back to my food. I force myself to eat the entire bento, mainly because of the worried looks I get every few minutes from at least one member of my team. The last thing I want is for them to be worried about me all the time.
"Alright, do you all still feel warmed up from earlier?" Sensei asks after we all put our bentos away. We all nod as he begins to stand. We follow him over to some large trees in the training ground. "The tree walking exercise helps practice your chakra control."
"Kind of like the leaf sticking one?" Minoru asks.
"Exactly," sensei nods. "With this exercise you will channel your chakra to your feet to climb the tree without using your hands." Sensei goes up to a tree and begins walking up it like he was just walking down a street. "If you channel too little chakra, you will not stick to the tree and fall. If you channel too much chakra, you will be pushed away from the tree and leave a mark in it."
"Do you have any tips, Oda-sensei?" Minoru asks, looking up at the tree as he fiddles with his thumbs.
"Try to figure out how much chakra you need to use before trying to run up the tree." Sensei hops back down to the ground in front of us. "Also use a kunai to mark how far up you go. I'll be here to assist you if needed."
Reiji moves to his tree first. Unlike me and Minoru, he isn't nervous. Instead he puts one foot against the tree confidently and begins walking up it with ease. Just like Oda-sensei had done a couple minutes prior.
I look at Minoru who has a determined look on his face. He nods to himself before going up to a tree and placing his foot against it just like Minoru. Instead of it sticking, he's pushed away from the tree and barely lands on his feet. There's a small knick in the tree where his foot had been.
"This isn't going to be that easy, is it?" Minoru turns to ask me.
"No, I'm sure Reiji's family starts training with this from a young age which is why he's so good at it."
"That's correct," Reiji says from his branch up in the tree. "It took me a few days before I was able to do this with confidence."
"That's enough talking, time for more walking," sensei says as he walks up the same tree Reiji had. He sits on the branch Reiji stands on to watch us try. I take a deep breath before walking up to a tree of my own. I pull a kunai out from one of my weapon's pouches before I raise up my foot.
I pause for a second, thinking about how it feels when I walk on water, and place my foot on the trunk. I hear a crack before I'm sent back through the air. I barely manage to land on my feet in a crouch before I stand up. Minoru looks at the trunk of the tree with a mixture of awe and fear. I managed to make a deep dent in the tree from just one step.
"Keep trying," sensei says from his spot up in the tree. "I'm taking Reiji to a small pond nearby to work on his water walking."
"Yes sensei!" Minoru yells before going up to the tree again. Sensei turns to me and I nod in agreement before walking back over to my tree. My hands are shaking. I'd tried this for weeks off and on, but I was never able to get it myself.
I try to channel less chakra to my foot this time, but it's still the same result. I watch as Minoru shakily manages to make it a few feet up before he slides down. I take another deep breath before trying again.
And again.
And again.
I've lost count of how many times I've tried by the time Minoru makes it up to the top of the tree. I see the joy on his face fade when he realizes I haven't made it up my tree as well.
"Congratulations Minoru!" I yell up to him, a bright smile on my face. Despite not being able to make it myself, I feel nothing but pride for my teammate. He gives me a small smile in return before carefully walking back down the tree.
"Ne, Kiku-chan?" He asks as he comes to stand beside me.
"Yeah?"
"Maybe you should touch my foot when I'm standing on the tree."
"What?" His face turns red as he begins to stutter out an answer.
"You're a chakra sensor, right? You should be able to feel how much I'm using and then use a little less to be able to hold yourself up, right?" I feel my eyes go wide as I look at him.
"Let's try it!" Before I know it, Minoru is on the tree once again. I carefully reach out to feel how much chakra he's putting in his foot before I pull my hand back. "I think- I think I can try it now?" He grins at me as he hops down from the tree.
"You can do it, Kiku-chan!" He says as I walk up to my own tree. I take a deep breath before putting my foot against the tree slowly. I close my eyes as I focus on my chakra. I take a wobbly step forward. And then another, and then another.
And then Minoru is cheering and I open my eyes. I'm as far up as I can go! I grin before turning around carefully and walking back down the tree. Minoru moves to come close to me when my feet touch the ground, but I hold out my hands to stop him.
"I want to try it again to make sure it's not a fluke," I tell him honestly. He shakes his head at me, his smile still in place as he motions for me to go again. I turn back around, take a deep breath, and start walking again. And I'm able to go up and down the tree again!
I may or may not repeat this process three more times until Minoru hauls me away from the tree and pulls me into a tight hug.
"You can do it, Kiku-chan," He says firmly. I finally give a small smile that turns into a wide grin before we're both laughing in a heap on the ground. Sensei and Reiji find us like that a few minutes later as the sun starts to set. Reiji is soaking wet while sensei gives us the signature eyebrow.
"We did it!" Minoru yells as soon as he sees them.
"Of course you did," sensei smiles at us.
"I couldn't have done it without Minoru," I say. "He had me feel his feet on the tree to see how much chakra he used-"
"And then she changed it so she was able to do it!" Minoru finishes for me.
"That's good! We will continue with these exercises for our next few sessions before we move on to water walking." I smile at the mention of the idea of water walking. With everything going on I haven't been able to do any lately.
"Time for food?" I ask quickly.
"Time for food." Reiji and Minoru say immediately, wearing matching grins. And for some reason, everything seems to click into place at that moment.
A few days after learning to tree walk, I finally pulled my hair out of the intricate braids Hiroto-ojichan gave me. Without the braids and without my team around me, I felt so alone. Since Minoru and Reiji come from clans, they need one day a week to train on their clan jutsus with their families. Which left me alone until Oda-sensei came up with a training schedule for me.
I decided to put my hair up in my matching twin buns as I had before. But this time, they're kept in place by a couple of my dolphin pins. After fixing my hair I visited Arashi at the weapons shop for a couple hours before needing to leave so he could actually get some work done.
But then I was alone again.
So I do the obvious thing and go bug the busiest person in the village.
"Hey Jiji!" I say as I enter through the window.
"What did I say about using the window, Kiku-chan?" He asks as soon as I'm fully in his office.
"Uh, not to?" He lets out a quiet laugh before looking over at me.
"I suppose that's only going to happen when you come here with your team?"
"I can corrupt them into using the windows too, ya know."
"Please don't," he drops his head on his hand as he looks at me. "Have you already done your meditations for today?"
"Yup! I did it as soon as I woke up."
"Ah, then I suppose you would like to join me in the fuinjutsu room?" He smiles as he stands from behind his desk.
"Duh," I roll my eyes at him before latching onto his robes. He pats the top of my head, careful not to mess up my hair as we walk towards the sealing room.
Soon we're both sat at our respective fuinjutsu tables. I have no clue what Jiji is working on as he makes me work on my exploding tags again.
"How has your team been?" Jiji asks after a few minutes of quiet.
"Amazing, Jiji!" I smile over at him.
"Even after breaking your ribs?"
"Especially after breaking my ribs." Jiji snorts at that as he sets up a new piece of paper. "No, really." I say as I slow down my lines.
"What do you mean?"
"The nurses wouldn't treat me at the hospital-"
"I'll be sure to look into that." Jiji says, cutting his eyes over to me briefly.
"It's okay, the Nara clinic always takes care of me!" I say, trying to ease the bit of killer intent that flows out of him. "Minoru got mad at the nurses and dragged us all the way to the Nara compound. Aki-san took care of me."
"I'm glad that they did-"
"Did you know Aki and Oda-sensei like each other?" I ask as I start a new tag.
"Well I would hope my shinobi get along."
"No, Jiji! They like-like each other!"
"They do?" He asks, looking over at me. He's such a gossip. He even pauses in his seal work.
"Aki called Oda-sensei Oda-kun."
"She didn't," he says, leaning closer.
"She did," I say as I nod my head.
"There's more," his eyes narrow as he looks at me.
"Well, Oda-sensei dropped me off at Shikaku and Yoshino's house for dinner that night, and when Shikaku was closing the door I saw him going towards the clinic."
"No me diga!" He says under his breath. I can't help but laugh at his reaction. Jiji only knows a few phrases from Uzu, he said the language died when the island fell. Despite that, he made sure to teach me all the phrases he did know.
Of course the ones he knew best were related to gossip.
"Ya lo sé," I manage to say between my giggles.
"Es un escándalo," he says, not helping me calm down.
"And Minoru asked about why he was late to training the next morning 'ttbane!"
"¡Madre mía!" Jiji shakes his head. We fall back into our earlier rhythm in our fuinjutsu. That is, until a few minutes later when I start talking again.
"Thank you for my team, Jiji," I hate the way my voice cracks as I say it. "They- they're really good for me."
"You deserve it, Kiku-hime," he smiles as he continues his seal.
A few minutes after finishing my last seal Jiji got called back to his office.
And that's how I ended up back at the river with Ryūjin as my only companion. I quickly went into doing my stretches before doing all the katas I could remember for Ryūjin.
And just as I finish my last kata, I'm pulled into another vision of Uzushiogakure.
This time, I'm not at the docks where I'd been before. No, this time I'm in front of a long bridge. Music fills the air unlike the quiet I'd heard the last two times I saw the island. I turn around from the bridge and see so much greenery. The trees are tall like those in Konoha, but the ground is also covered in foliage. Instead of the bushes I'm used to seeing in the village, there's so many different types of plants with large leaves.
And there's so many flowers! Different shades of red, orange, blue, and pink fill the grounds and vines that make their way up the trees. I start following the sound of music, up a small hill through the trees on a path of mossy stone.
And then I see them.
Large gates, similar to Konoha's. The symbol of Uzushiogakure is painted in a sea blue on the front of them. I walk up to them and put my hands on one of the large doors. They open immediately.
There's an empty booth to the left as soon as I enter. I walk over to see papers filled with names. I feel my throat tighten at the thought that they're all gone. The music stops when I realize that. And the scene of an empty street lined with various shops changes to the sight of a massacre. I hear a scream echo in the empty village and barely recognize that it's my own.
Bodies line the streets. I try to look away and look at my feet instead to only see my sandal covered in blood. I fall to my knees, tears obscuring my vision of what's in front of me. I feel a hand on my arm and suddenly my vision goes black.
"Kiku-chan," a voice says. Fingers run through the hair that's not confined in the buns on top of my head. "Kiku-chan are you awake?" The voice asks again and I force myself to open my eyes. The first thing I see is Oda-sensei's eyes filled with fear.
"Oda-sensei?" I croak out. My voice sounds raw. Had I screamed outside of that vision?
"I was looking for you to talk about your goals with our training and found you frozen in the river with your sword in your hands," he shakes his head before looking in front of us. "And then you screamed. Kiku what happened?"
"Sometimes-" he looks back down at me. "Sometimes when I use Ryūjin, I get these visions."
"Visions?"
"Yeah," I say, closing my eyes. "Jiji- the Sandaime, he-he knows it happens sometimes."
"Do you know why these visions happen?" I shake my head, the vision flashes in front of my eyes again and I open them quickly.
"It might be 'cause my sword is from Uzu, but we don't know for sure. The first vision I had was really nice, the second one wasn't as nice, and this last one-" my voice cracks as I shake my head again.
"What was the first vision of?" He asks softly, wiping away the tears that started to flow down my cheeks.
"Uzushiogakure." He pauses for a moment before I feel his fingers move on my cheek again. "It was really, really pretty. The water was so nice, I could see the ocean go on for miles."
"Can you talk about the second?"
"It was like seeing the island after it was attacked. They-they-they-"
"Breath, Kiku-chan." He reminds me, placing a hand on my forehead.
"In Uzu they would put the crest above the doorways of each house. The houses that weren't d-destroyed already- they tore them down and broke them on the streets."
"Oh Kiku-"
"And in this last one I saw the b-bodies," I whisper. One breath, two, and then I feel my body shake with my sobs. I feel Oda-sensei move me from lying down to sitting up in his lap, his arms wrap around me as I bury my face in his flak jacket.
I don't know how long I sit there, barely hearing his whispered reassurances. I cry so long that tears don't flow as I continue to sob into sensei's chest.
"Breathe, Kiku," sensei says. I feel two more bodies press against my back and side. I feel the hum of Reiji's kikai and the warmth that is Minoru's chakra. I finally relax into their holds and lay limply against sensei's chest.
"We're here," Reiji says, running his hand up and down my arm.
"I know you said you wanted to talk about my goals, sensei-"
"We don't need to speak about this now, Kiku-chan," he whispers. I shake my head and grab a silencing seal Jiji gave me before I left fuinjutsu practice. I slap it on the ground, the invisible barrier immediately comes to life around us.
"You can't tell anyone this," I say, shifting in sensei's lap so I can see both of my teammates. They both nod in agreement and I feel sensei nod against the top of my head. He rests his chin on top of my head, pulling me closer to his chest. "When I become chunin, I'll be allowed to go to Uzushiogakure."
"But my dad said no one's been since Uzushio fell," Minoru says.
"I know, my mom and Mito-baachan both wanted to go but they couldn't."
"But you will," Reiji says.
"A-and I want you guys to be able to visit while I'm on my training trip."
"Kiku you don't have to-" Minoru shakes his head.
"I know, I want you guys to come." I tell them firmly. "We-we're family, ya know?" I whisper, looking down at my lap.
"It's about time you realized it," Minoru teases. I look up to see him grinning at me.
"Time for ice cream?" Reiji asks and I can't help but smile at him.
"It's always time for ice cream 'ttbane!"
I do not have the energy to come up with a new language (as much as I'd like to be Tolkien, I'm not). I'm most comfortable with Spanish, so it will be used in certain parts of the story, more so when Kiku gets to Uzushiogakure. Whenever I use Spanish, I'll put the translation in the end notes!
Translations~
No me diga - don't tell me/you don't say?
Ya lo sé - Yeah, I know
Es un escándalo - it's a scandal
Madre mía - my goodness/oh my