Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chipmunk and Cougar- Chapter two
She finished her second rice-ball. The rest of her lunch lay on the ground twenty feet below. Still in the tree her piercing gaze turned back to the village. A little chipmunk had come out of its hole and began to scurry into a box full of lunch. He did not know who the lunch belonged to. He also did not care. It was the beginning of fall and he had to gather food for his mate and new children. The lunch belonged to the assassin twenty feet above him. The assassin that could kill any man or women or child if there was enough money involved, she had to survive, just like the chipmunk. She had all the lunch she wanted she did not need any more to survive, so the chipmunk remained ignorant of the predator above his head. She let him have at least one more day to survive.
Iruka appeared in the tree next to her. She continued to watch the chipmunk. Iruka followed her gaze wondering who this dangerous boy was. He was still a bit shocked at how easily the boy had beaten Kakashi. He was also still even more shocked when he completely healed Kakashi's nose, but left Kakashi's broken body to heal on its own. The chipmunk bolted away back into his home hole.
She stood up on the slim branch and nodded for Iruka to lead the way back to the village. Iruka ran from branch to branch in a ninja fashion. She hated that as she ran on the ground in a straight line as possible. She took out a small throwing star that she had stolen from Kakashi. (She did not know the proper name, though she had been taught to use them correctly.) She quickly with a sharp wrist thrust threw the star at a branch. The branch that Iruka was placing his foot on the exact moment. Naturally the branch was cut in half and Iruka fell ten feet onto the ground. Landing thankfully on his feet. "I guess that branch couldn't handle your weight" she said with no emotion. He continued running toward the village. Stupid ninja pretends to act like nothing happened. They kept running the village coming nearer and nearer. Iruka picked up the pace, so did she. They wanted to race; both of them could feel it. The muscles in their backs and legs stiffened each one not wanting to lose this competition. She breathed "Lets have a bet". Iruka huffed already tired "What now?" "Last one back to the school has to clean Kakashi's wounds." She said. Iruka and her mind both flashed back to the horribly beaten body and all the bruises that were actually bleeding and his nose filled with blood. They both thought of how disgusting and picked up the pace again.
The roof tops of the village proved the perfect race track, no people with plenty of space. Of Course she won. She in-fact won by several yards. Iruka was puffing and even she was breathing rather hard. She was taught endurance not sprints. They both dropped down into the front of the school huffing. Iruka had never seen anyone so fast. The boy utterly astonished him. He asked between long gasps of air "Who, Are, you?" The boy suddenly straightened. His back toward Iruka. A cold and deadly silence filled the front yard.
I'm not going to tell the ninja anything, he is the enemy, I will not give in, stupid ninja, I hate ninjas. These thoughts rushed through her head a wave of prejudice, and dislike for their kind. Iruka's shadow was cast next to her. He was very close to her. "Come on man tell me." She did however like him as a man, he was nice, he even to say the least was friendly. "I'm just…" a long pause and the boy breathed again "someone who you can trust." She squirmed under his gaze; she had already told him she trusted Iruka. Stupid Ninja, stupid Iruka stupid Kakashi, stupid me. Iruka placed himself in front of her. He could see the boy squirm at least that was a relief. The boy could feel discomfort at least he was human. "I'm called Tanar" she finally said, she bunched up her eyes. She had told him her name, her real name. Not even her assassin alias but her real name. What surprised her even more was Iruka's next question "Can I tell Kakashi?"
He was asking her permission, no boy had ever done that before and she knew her disguise was excellent, but he was asking anyway. What kind of ninja school was this? Some of the ninjas here are different. Kakashi however was not different; he was just another cocky ninja. She would not reveal herself to him, at least not yet. She shook her head. Iruka accepted Tanar's statement without question. She led the way back to Kakashi's room. Kakashi was still in the same place as before. There was however something different about the room. A bowl of apples and a cup of water along with medical supplies were placed on a table next to his bed. The apples were not there before. Kakashi's breathing was not ragged or strained, but Tanar was sure that he was in considerable pain. He after all had deserved it.
"You lost the bet you get to clean Kakashi's bruises, Ninja" she said in slight contempt. She sat in the chair glaring at Kakashi's still form. She had thankfully only beaten him around the stomach and chest. Iruka removed Kakashi's shirt. His eyes widened at the damage done to Kakashi's body. "I should banish you from the village for doing this to him" Iruka said in slight horror. She said nothing; they both were after all ninjas they deserved everything that came at them. Iruka was by no means a healer so he stumbled over trying to cut bandages the length of Kakashi's torn body. Every time he looked at Kakashi's black, blue, green, yellow, and purple skin he looked away as quickly as he could. Tanar knew it was a hard job to bandage anything when the patient was more useless then a dirty rag. "You should wipe the blood off his skin first" She advised. When Iruka gave her a look of profound exasperation her conscious gave in. She took out a cloth and soaked it in the water. Then she gently pushed Iruka away and told him to watch her carefully. She began to clean Kakashi's broken body. She had to know how to this, she herself was not invincible despite popular belief and had to heal herself many times. This was different Kakashi one she had only met this morning, two he was a ninja, three he would probably kill her as soon as he was well enough. She also had to be careful every time she rubbed too hard or applied to much pressure to his wounded skin would break causing a new bloody hole to appear. Iruka had to fetch more water three more times before she was satisfied that she had mopped most of Kakashi's blood of his own body. "Now for the bandaging part"
She started by calling his name softly. Trying to wake him. He did not stir either because he was a heavy sleeper or he couldn't recognizer her voice, or he was just a heavy sleeper, or he was a heavy sleeper. She tried shaking him gently, that did not work either. It only caused his mouth to hang open. She then resorted to insulting him calling him stupid ninja and lazy ninja until she evolved into more colorful language. She wondered what would cause a ninja to wake up. She picked up a throwing star. Iruka tensed and grabbed her hand. He thought Tanar was going to kill him. "It's alright Iruka You overexcited ninja" she reassured him. Iruka reluctantly let go. She slowly placed the cold metal star on his chest and pressed down its flat end. (The star must have been really cold or A Ninja was trained not to have a weapon poised at him like that) His eyes snapped opened and he saw Tanar poised over him with a weapon pointed right at his chest. (If you were ever in a situation that was scary with no hope of getting out of it you would now how Kakashi felt) His fear of her quickly evaporated when she pulled the star away from him. "I need you to sit up so I can bandage you properly" She said. First he moved his arm in a sweeping motion again trying to hit her. (He remembered now that Tanar had beaten him in a fighting match and had burned his favorite book.) The blow was weak and the back of his hand made a resounding smack as it came in contact with her neck. Tanar knew how a woman slapped someone; she had actually witnessed one being used on her once. (You must remember that Tanar did look like a boy) The woman had misinterpreted an action and had thought that Tanar was in love with her. Actually Tanar was sent to kill the woman and she did later on that same night and left. Kakashi did not move his hand away, in fact he expected her to dodge it. When she didn't his look of surprise then not triumph but questioning his hand quietly slipped away from her neck back to his side. She kept gazing at him wondering if he could in fact sit up, did he even have the strength. He tried to push himself up with both arms. (Kakashi was not strong enough for this and fell back against his bed)
He breathed awhile not looking at Tanar but keeping his eyes strictly on the ceiling. He felt vulnerable (You must remember he had no mask on covering his nose mouth and neck, his mask was like a child's favorite stuffed toy) He began to bend his arms in another attempt. He pushed more weak then the last time, but Tanar caught him by the arms. She gave an encouraging smile behind her mask. Tanar gently pushed him into a comfortable sitting position. She took the role of bandages and slowly began to wrap them around him, from stomach to mid chest. This would hopefully stop the bleeding bruises. After she had bandaged him Tanar sent Iruka to grab some chairs for her and Iruka. She propped up some pillows and with her help Kakashi scooted back against them wear he could sit comfortably.
She whipped out a knife from her belt and Kakashi nearly made a fighting stance sitting down in his bed. "Do you intend to kill me while I am defenseless" He said. Tanar blew a puff of air right in his face. She retaliated by saying "Killing the defenseless is your game Copy Ninja." Kakashi was surprised that she knew him by his prowess as an assassin. He lowered his arms that were bunched into fists. She stuck the knife into a nearby apple in the bowl. She picked it up and began to cut it. "Oh, I forgot do you like skin on your apples or no Ninja." Just like when she had asked him about his favorite book she had later burned the question about the apple left him off guard and unprepared.
The poor silly ninja has no idea what's going on around him. She wondered why the ninja Kakashi remained so stunned. She kinda liked that about him, he always acted so surprised. (You must realize of course Tanar was the only person in Kakashi's lifetime that could ever make him off guard on an hourly basis.) When he didn't answer she simply continued cutting the apple into thick slices. Kakashi now had his first real chance to get a look at the boy that had beaten him so easily and burned his favorite book, and fixed his nose and now was cutting apple for him.
The first thing he noticed was his laid back stature on the chair. Then he noticed that in fact the boy was not relaxed at all. His back was slouched but tense as far as he could tell under the baggy clothes. His shoulder muscles that connected to his neck had the appearance of tight cords that supported a bridge. His pale white skin had a hint of olive in it. Then the black mask that only covered his mouth and nose made the red undertone of his face sharper. His eyes were a pale but deep blue with white slashes and black in-circled them. The dark brown bandana was like nothing he would normally see. A slanted piece of the bandana had doubled back and was tucked neatly behind his head revealing nothing about the color or length of the hair beneath. He must have been really popular with the ladies he thought. (For he was after all a young bachelor Kakashi couldn't help but wonder)
Tanar finished cutting the apple and ate a tiny piece, she didn't taste any poison, but she waited for it to go done her throat before she finished off the rest of the slice. She offered Kakashi a piece. For an answer he closed his eyes and shook his head. She looked over her nose at him and said "Look I only beat you in the stomach, last time I checked your stomach does not affect your ability to chew, Ninja. Eat it you haven't eaten all day." That made sense to him at least so he took the slice from her and chewed it down. When he finished he said with a sneer "You act like an over protective mother." She laughed quietly (She did not chuckle she hated people who chuckled)
Her laugh made her squint her eyes in amusement "Then you act like a boy who just got caught stealing cookies before dinner." It really wasn't all that funny but that made her laugh a little louder. (Like all laughter it is contagious like when a persons makes the first noise in a quiet room everyone else has the sudden urge to do the same in the shape of shifting in your chair or coughing) Kakashi smiled the boy was quick witted he would give him that. The laughter he heard was the first in a while the smile broadened until he to was quietly laughing. He knew that if he laughed to hard his laugh could turn into a cough. Iruka came back into the room to witness Tanar and Kakashi smiling, the laughter subsided into silence. He gave Tanar a chair and he sat in his at the foot of the bed. Tanar's was by Kakashi's head.
Tanar then reached into her pocket and pulled out something dark blue. She gave it to Kakashi. It was Kakashi's mask. "We should fight again sometime Kakashi." She said as he took it and placed it on himself. The silence that followed was not awkward it was just a time of realization. He responded slowly "You called me Kakashi, you didn't add Ninja" Saying what she had said was a big step for her new view on ninjas. She had always thought of ninjas as a lower race, non-human. Iruka and Kakashi knew this from the moment she had nearly beaten Kakashi with a stick to an inch of his life. She always thought of ninjas as being a category of their own. Maybe this category was not as different from her-own.