Chapter XVII : Inconvenience
Learning to spit fire was harder that I first anticipated.
Not only did it destroy my self-esteem because apparently I was an Uchiha who was shitty at fire techniques – quite a feature if you ask me – but it left my arms covered all over with blisters. And hands. That's why Sasuke wears arm 'warmers'. And soon enough my face. Most likely. Which was not fun at all. Did I seriously think that learning a fire jutsu would be a piece of cake? Yes, I did. Yes, I was wrong.
But I didn't let the Fire Ball jutsu – or 'Furry Ball jutsu' when I was talking with Mikasa while burning my dinner – consume all my free time. And yes, now I had a busy time and a free time because I bullied Kakashi into letting me do missions. Or begged him. The last one might have been closer to the truth. I had to show him that I would lose what is left of my sanity if I didn't have to do something with my time. It worked. I was finally going to lame-ass missions with team seven again. Hurray.
It's good for teamwork. Not that I was part of the actual team. But still, it made the four of us grow closer and tolerate each other better, which was the whole point of the missions. I couldn't sit out of that if I wanted to socially, psychically and physically survive. I knew what was going to happen later on, and I had this revelation that I should really bond with people my age.
I knew shit was going to get down after the Chunin Exam and the key to survival, was to be tied to the people around you. Like the rookie nine. Or ten now, I guess. I remembered how everyone was helping everyone and how they shared the same feeling of belonging to something common. Community. Friendship. Nakama. Call it as you might, a sort of generation tie. That was my objective: being part of that thing, to assure my survival and well-being. World- saving and other astute aspirations could wait for now.
Ever sinceI figured out I wasn't exactly the strongest genin in my generation, it hit me how easily disposable I wasin the grand scheme of things. I only had a decent chakra control and an affinity to fire. Due to inheritance. Which is debatable. Based on my lack of progress with fire jutsu. Until this point everything that I had access to was my natural genetic skills. Again, debatable. An orphan and an ostracized one at that, who knew nothing about the actual ninja world. With the exception of what I have learnt in the Academy, but that did not compare with the real life stuff. Nothing you usually learn in school does. I wasted 12 years in this world learning nothing. I was the Jon Snow of Naruto. I knew nothing.
But that could be said about all the genin my age, with maybe a few notable exceptions. I almost forgot how fucked up this world was. If you taught a CHILD of to throw knives at a tree and place explosive tags on stuff, you knew your world is kinda fucked. Like, we were training kids not only to defend themselves, but also to kill people. In the Academy. And it was such a integral part of normality that I also sometimes forgot how fucked up it was. I was swept away with the here and now and forgot that there were world out there where kids didn't have to learn how to hold a kunai at 6 years and didn't have to go on missions to get accommodation such as a place to live and food to eat.
When I wasn't at the river practicing Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu – I was proud of myself for remembering the complete name, can you tell? – I was running around the village. If I wasn't running until I dropped dead, I was practicing taijutsu. Yes. Taijutsu. My most feared enemy: physical engagement in battle. I actually gathered my courage and swallowed my pride and asked Kakashi about it. After he decided I was shit at it, in other … not so frank words, he pointed out at the things I had to work on. He couldn't be bothered to stop his reading to actually train me, so I had to listen to his advice and do it on my own. Ass.
So, that was my everyday routine. Wake up, run, exercise, taijutsu, missions, going to the lake. And then drop dead until the next day. It was exhausting but it did make me feel more optimistic about the upcoming events. Aaand at the same time my daily schedule didn't allow me to socialize with the other genin or anyone outside team seven. Which sent me to square one, at my problem with bonding.
"You're not focusing."
No shit, Sherlock. I exhaled the breath I have been gathering with a lame tentative of the fireball that it was supposed to be. Then in less than a split second, I turned to the source of noise that made me almost slip into the river beneath the little bridge.
"Don't. Sneak. Up. On. Me."
Sasuke 'hn'-ed at me and stepped from the shadows of the trees. Dinner time. I walked from the lake toward the duckling with relief. I hated lakes. At least one thing changed in good. If my training schedule didn't allow me to socialize with other people, it definitely helped with the interaction between me and Sasuke. We weren't best buddies. But the awkwardness died down and I was positive the Duck was tolerating me better. I mean he did drop in and check on my progress, so hey. It was a definite progress.
I took a 'seat' on the grass close to the basket I brought with me and reached for the onigiri. I could tell the duck was staring at me, disapproval all over his face, but my hunger won that fight long time ago.
"That wasn't an invitation to stop." he huffed seating himself on the grass.
"I'm hungry." I shoved some tomatoes and onigiri in his face. "You are hungry. It's a win-win"
He took the food and shook his head. It was a lost battle. He disagrees. Now that was true progress. Usually I had to insist that he eats as well. He was right not to, because this was barely a snack before actually having a proper dinner and he was spoiling his appetite, but I felt weird eating alone. He's inspecting the food – son of a duck!
"It's bought, not cooked. It's safe." I assured and he nodded before taking a hesitant bite. Little piece of s-duuuuck. He either ignored or genuinely didn't notice me glaring. I only brought food cooked by me once. It did not end well for either of us.
I could tell from the way he gulped down the rice that he was either actually hungry or that the onigiri shop I went to earlier was a good one. He was so absorbed in his 1-on1 with the food that a train spontaneously passed us by and he wouldn't question the whats, the hows and the whys. Something was off, because usually he noticed when I did things just to annoy him. Like staring. While he's eating. I took a bite from the onigiri. It really is good.
As I was saying, the interactions with the duckling improved. The fact that we were eating a snack before dinner together was enough proof of that. It might have helped that I was spending more time with the whole team now that I was helping on missions again. And the fact that I was coming to the compound every day.
No. No indeed. It's not that. Of course, the fact that I was more present in the team dynamics – as much as Naruto's and Sakura's banters annoyed and got on my nerves more and more – was one of the reasons why I had grown closer to the trio, but the fact that I was neither as loud as Naruto nor as attention seeking as Sakura, was perhaps a plus. And I was bringing food.
It haunts him as well. The compound. The first week was a nightmare. Literally. Coming to the compound everyday gave me nightmares about that night. Details I missed or ignored now surfaced in my nightmares. Or perhaps I was imagining them. I no longer remembered clearly the night of the Uchiha massacre. The details always changed in my mind. The nightmares altered the memories and made me question everything until I no longer knew what was my imagination and what were fractions of reality.
"What a nuisance." I mumbled looking at the main house of the compound and the duckling sent me a sharp look. "The compound. No one is living here. This place is deterring slowly. The terrain could be used for other things. Maybe then it would serve more than a reminder of tragedy and a source of nightmares. It's not like there's anyone who's gonna live here."
Sasuke said nothing. Just looked at the compound still eating. I get the impression he doesn't agree. It didn't matter. The compound would always remain here. Until Nagato destroys the village. Way to go mind, waaay to go.
I had the bad habit of eating fast and then regret it later. I looked back at the duck, still eating, deep in thought. He looks like an innocent child. Well, he pretty much was an innocent child. True, an innocent child with the sole purpose of killing his older brother who'd murdered the entire clan. Traumatized, but still innocent. He looks so peacefully. Not that he particularly NOT looked peaceful in general, but something about Sasuke eating rice in the sunlight and grass made me appreciate the simple things in life. Also, it can't be that bad for him to get some vitamin D and shake the 'I just got out of my basement after 12 years of torture' look.
"What was that about me not focusing?" I asked breaking the silence again. Sasuke wasn't a person who felt he had to communicate through long periods of silence unless it had a practical or necessary purpose. He was aaall about pragmatism.
"You weren't paying attention to the jutsu." the duck answered after a short startled pause. Yes. I was the one always breaking his peaceful silence. He took a last bite of onigiri.
"Yes I was!" I complained. "Until you decided to deconcentrate me! It's been what? Two weeks. And although there is progress, nada results." I looked at the Uchiha. "How long did it take you to learn that jutsu?"
…
…
…
"One week."
Bitch, say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
"Itachi learnt it in an instant." he added not looking at me. It was the first time I actually heard him say Itachi's name without disdain or anger, just… void of any emotion. I stood and started towards the lake.
"Oh, my." I said, getting up. "I'm putting to shame the name of Uchiha".
This time I will get it.
Aaaand of course I didn't. Not on the next time and not on the other next time either. Hand signs and then breath. What am I doing wrong? I was in the same spot as before the food – dinner – thing break. Doing the same damn thing and failing again. Not to mention my legs were hurting badly, each muscle of my body sore because of training. I did again every hand sign and then inhaled deeply. There's something I'm doing wrong.. I'm missing something. The result was something remotely similar with a fireball. A very small one.
"You're concentrating too much on the hand signs".
"Can you please make up your mind?" I turned toward the bridge where the duckling stood observing me. "First you say I'm not concentrating and now you say I am concentrating too much. Do you realize how antagonizing that sounds?" My rant didn't affect the duck as he sighed exasperated.
"Instead of concentrating on the jutsu as a whole, you're concentrating on forming correctly the hand signs." he explained deadpanned ignoring my fuming expression. "They should be automatic by now."
Well, he's not wrong. They were stressing me out. The hand signs. I was afraid I would forget the order or miss a sign. Which wasn't something impossible to happen. We are talking about me after all. Hmm.
"I see." I turned towards the lake.
It was quite simple. Take for example Kage Bunshin no jutsu. You had only one sign. Replacement jutsu. The same. But this was something different. I was having difficulties with my first more advanced jutsu because I was focusing on the damn hand signs and only remotely channeling my chakra. But if I channeled too much chakra…the skin on my arms itched under the bandages. This was opposite to what I've done when facing Zabuza. When shooting. No hand signs, just channeling chakra. I have the predisposition and 'talent' to do this. But I must understand the mechanism behind it.
I cleared my mind then made the hand signs. And then inhaled building my chakra in my chest, just as I did back in the Land of Waves. Slow and steadily. There were chords in my chest, pulled like strings and then molded into matter. Or that's what I was visualizing. That's it. That's fire, I knew it. Actually… that's only chakra, only aft – shh, don't spoil the moment, mind. I performed the jutsu.
This is fire. Coming out of my breath. I could feel my face heat up but that didn't matter at the moment. There was a fireball caressing the surface of the lake. A fireball formed by me. Oh my vala. It didn't last too long. I didn't have enough chakra left after an evening of trying to nail this jutsu. And nail it I did. I was still staring into the lake, with the last hand sign in place,shocked.
"I did it." I vocalized finally. "You were right. I was focusing too much on the damned signs." I turned to the duck who was looking at the remains of my fireball which dissipated across the lake, with a rather weird expression. "What?"
"… you need to train" his eyes did not leave the lake. "badly."
"Give me a break. That was good!" I said getting away from the bridge as fast as I could.
"That was disorganized. Luckily, we're on a lake and it had no real power behind it."
"I just succeeded in doing the jutsu." You little shit. "The rest can wait for now. I'm off to bed. Kaya, out."
I did not look behind me to the duckling. I was tired. But excited. Kaya is out.
Ҩ
"Damn blisters!"
I've let go of the bow's string with a frustrated sigh. Damn this. My index and middle finger burned where the string pinched my skin. Coincidentally, that's where I had blisters. Why didn't I bandage them or something? Because it didn't occur to me until after I finished my daily running laps that I have blisters between and on my fingers. And by the time I finished my running routine it was already too late to go back home. So I've decided that archery was a good idea. With blisters covering my fingers. Yeah. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.
I inspected my fingers. Yeah. So much for archery today. The blisters were squishy and some liquid with no color was coming out of them. It was kind of gross, but nothing too serious, all I needed was some water and something to cover them up until the skin recovered. And to avoid any infection. I had the misfortune to have harmed the most 'serious' blisters I received due to my chakra molding training and that had been no fun. The others were almost healed.
I turned around and hung the bow back on the low branch I used as a hanging support. I wasn't worrying that one morning I would come here and discover that my bow and quiver magically disappeared, because apparently no one came here. I looked around at the old trees with their large and contorted trunks and the wide spread branches as big as twice my calves. I sighed, and started towards the river to my left.
I had decided weeks ago that this was my favorite place in Konoha. It was inside the Uchiha district. Which was funny, because at the time when there actually was an Uchiha clan, I used to seldom go as deep into the district as this. I reached the river and I leant down to wash the burning sensation out of my fingers in the cold water. The Naka river. I was very fond of it. But I'm scared shitless of the damn lake. I couldn't explain it. However, this place was perfect for my archery practice. The branches of the trees were decorated here and there with small, home-made archery targets and some even smaller for throwing kunai. And shuriken. And occasionally arrows too. Yeah, I don't like rules, I'm a rebel.
Ahhhh, this is good. I added pressure on the fingers and the pain disappeared when I washed my hand again. I looked at the clean water of the lake, sitting in a crouched position. I knew that farther from here, the river would open in a deep ravine. The river branched off into smaller tributaries before going underground and under the Hokage Rock. But that wasn't important. It was the deep ravine that held my thought's interest at the moment. That's from where Shisui jumped. Most likely.
I eyed the trees behind me again, feeling a shift of chakra rippling around. Or soothing along those lines. That's how I viewed chakra and had no other vocabulary to explain it. A rather small amount of chakra. Someone with a small amount of chakra was approaching. So, another genin found my spot? Hmm. I turned back to face the river, closing and opening my fist underwater.
"Hey Kaya-chan!"
Oh crap.
"Hey, Sakura." I said loud enough so that my voice could reach her over the sound of the river. What a surprise. I really wasn't in the mood to socialize, but I had a good idea why she was here and well, duty was duty. I decided that I would not let some blisters darken my mood. "How are you? What brings you here?" And more importantly, how the fuck did you know I was here?
I watched her from the corner of my eye. The pink haired girl stopped at a reasonable distance, her eyes trailing on the trees and then returning to me. Hm, observant. Her hair flipped when her head turned, observing my position and what I was doing. I hope her inspection turns out to be a fruitless as her taijutsu training. But this was Sakura. She was an expert at noticing details.
"We have a new mission." she announced brightly "and Kakashi-sensei said we should all be present."
Of course he did. I nodded. After I annoyed the hell out of the grey haired jounin about allowing me to participate in missions again and actually putting up with the ridiculous ones we were given, it would have been odd to be left out again. Although, I would have deserved it, seeing as I wasn't ever present at the team gathering to receive said missions. I pulled my hand out of the water, feeling my fingers as cold as ice, numb with no trace of pain. For now. I was counting on going back home and wrapping something around them, but apparently today really wasn't my day. I miscalculated my time.
"How did you know I was here?" I asked trying to move my fingers, again closing and opening my fist, with water dripping onto my black pants. It's not like anyone will notice. Or care.
"Um, Sasuke-kun suggested you might be around here, by the river."
I stopped, putting my hand down. 'Around here?' She must have wasted some time searching for me, if those were the only indications the duckling gave her. And there was my further curiosity as to why would Sasuke-kun suggested where I was. I was positive no one was around when I was practicing my aim, though I couldn't be 100% sure. Sometimes I got lost into training. So much for 'no one comes here.' Maybe Hinata wasn't the only stalker of our generation.
"Did he, now?" I said in a condescending voice, getting up and earning a confused look from the kunoichi. I walked over to her, grabbing my ninja tool kit and wrapping it around my thigh. "So," I began struggling with the tool kit "what is this mission about, exactly?"
"We have to plug out some weeds from a garden."
I swore my eye began twitching violently. And for this he needs all four of us…? I shook my head. I was going to kill the one who made the mission system. Hashirama is already dead, genius. Oh, yeah. I nodded in understanding to Sakura.
"Hey, do you have anything that I can wrap around this?" I said as we began walking and showed her my hand. "It's just blisters, nothing serious, but still annoying when I move my fingers. And I didn't grab bandages this morning."
"No I don't think I have anything." she said narrowing her eyes at the once blisters-now-wound-in-becoming. She began searching in her tool kit. Her face lighted up. "Oh wait! I think I have something."
Bless be her pinkish brain.
By the time we arrived at the garden in question, our wonderful sensei and the two idiots were at it already. Well, the idiots were, because the jounin was reading somewhere nearby and Naruto was complaining about the mission while struggling with some weeds that had large leaves. I raised my eyebrow at that and the large garden. Kakashi sent us a lazy look tearing his eyes from the book.
"Yo."
Naruto looked up and his eyes filled with frustration. To his right, Sasuke didn't seem any more enthusiastic about our mission than his blonde counterpart. At least there were trees around and we didn't have to deal with all that and with the sun as well. But this is one hell of a garden. Not to mention that I had to walk across the freaking village to reach it, while wrapping some elastic bandage around my wrists and fingers and putting up with a pink haired kunoichi who constantly asked me if I wanted her help. I didn't finish my archery practice, there were very slim chances of going to the lake in the evening judging by the amount of work we had to do today in this garden and there were this weird cramps I had since breakfast though I had no idea why. Yes, my patience was wearing very thin.
"Sakura-chan, Kaya-chan!" He really has to call us on our names everytime he sees us? Naruto waved at us with weeds in his hand while Sasuke glanced at us. If that doesn't scream 'Kill me now' then I don't know what does.
"EEEEh? Kakashi-sensei we have to take care of all the garden?" Sakura asked he eyes trailing all over the large patch of greenery.
"Yep. You do." the jounin replied smiling. Jerk.
"Naruto" I called looking at the crouched orange form of the blonde. "What… are you doing?"
The whiskered boy's head snapped up to look at me and then yelled, with the weeds in his hand. That sounds wrong. I kept watching the mortified blonde, while snickering inwardly. Look at him. The horror. His blue eyes went wide when he noticed my expression, eyes fixed on the green-yellowish weeds. He started waving his hands. He looked again at the weeds then at the herbs. Then at the weeds then back at the herbs. His distress was real.
"Oh, no! DON'T TELL ME I GOT IT WRONG AGAIN?!"
Don't laugh. Don't laugh. Don't laugh. Don't laugh. Don't laugh. Don't laugh. DON'T laugh.
"Stop waving your hands, idiot! She's messing with you"
I glared at the duckling. Naruto looked at me then at Sasuke and finally stopped making a mess around him. I could hear Sakura sigh to my right and I almost pitied all of us. Almost. The blonde automatically relaxed. Last time we had a similar mission he pulled out all the herbs. All of them.
"Spoil all my fun, won't you?" I mumbled dispatching my weapons kit and abandoning it somewhere on a chopped trunk after taking out a kunai. I didn't exactly need shuriken and kunai for pulling out wild weeds from the ground.
"Hey! That was RUDE!"
I ignored the blonde and started putting some real effort into our 'mission' without a word. I heard Sakura say something to the blonde, but I was already too immersed in the task to actually pay attention. I'm in a very good mood today. I had no idea why, though.
The earth was cold enough under my touch that I could feel it despite the bandages, contrasting with the warm fuzzy feeling in the air today. It was rather nice though. I could easily tell apart the useless weeds from the herbs and judging by the size of the patch, I concluded that this was the garden of someone who made a living out of commercializing medicinal herbs. Heh. This reminds me of Nekobaa and her garden.
Indeed. I haven't realized how much I missed playing with my hands in dirt until now. For some weird reason, putting my hands in the cold ground and pulling out the root of the wild weed, was calming. This is a newly planted row. The ground was smooth and the herbs were well tended to, no sign of the dry soil I was used to in some other regions of the village. It was a rather hot and dry weather this season, but today was colder than usually. Which is a relief.
"DAMN THESE WEEDS"
Again, this sounds so wrong. I turned to look at the blonde in time to see Sakura hit him behind the head telling him to shut up. I agreed with the whiskered idiot. Doing D-ranked missions was getting to me too. I was growing annoyed and bored of them. How is one supposed to accumulate experience if you don't give them the opportunity to? But then again, I suppose the ranking system of the missions was of such nature to protect the young starters on the path of ninja. So poetic.
Jesus H Roosevelt Christ. What's with these cramps? The cramps that made me want to stay two more hours in bed this morning after my alarms went off. Have I eaten something rotten? Seriously. I had a habit of eating food past its expiration date. If I couldn't get my archery training today, why should I be able to run either, right? This is slowly turning into a bad day.
From the corner of my eye I could see the duck looking over my shoulder from a reasonable distance trying to not get my attention. He failed. Obviously. I stopped, not turning yet and waiting for his reaction. Even he wasn't so thick as to not know that I've noticed him. … Right? Apparently he actually is. I had to turn around and look at him. He blinked, a little surprised like any child caught staring. That didn't last long though.
"Can I help you, duckling?" I asked lowly through my teeth. What's up with this splendid mood I'm in? The pain in my lower abdomen didn't help. And I still have no idea where that came from.
"Are you going to pull out those as well?" the Uchiha asked with a skeptical look his coal black eyes turning further to my right.
"Huh?"
I'm such an idiot. I looked to my right and beyond the portion I've chosen for myself, there was another portion washed in sunlight, full of the same weeds. I looked at my portion and realized that I've been pulling out the weeds from the parts of the garden that were under the cover of the shadows. I haven't put even one foot into the sunlight. Fuck that shit. I snapped my head to the left and looked behind the duckling.
"Sasuke" I said happily and the black haired almost flinched at my suddenly change of mood "do you hate sunlight?"
"Sunlight?" he said slowly, narrowing his eyes.
"So, do you?" I pressed on pulling out another weed and feeling how some soil got under my nails.
"How is that relevant?"
"YES OR NOT? GODDAMNIT!"
"K-Kaya-chan, can you please stop shouting?" Naruto asked from behind a very uncertain Sakura, one hand to his ear trying to regain is hearing I guessed.
"Hn. No."
"Perfect!" I smiled getting up and stretching my legs. "Switch places with me. I can't stand sun bathing. Besides, I've almost finished here, there's only that left and in your part there's still enough."
He looked at me deadpanned. I raised an eyebrow at him daring him to refuse. Apparently today he wasn't in the mood to argue, because he stood and walked over looking at me like there was something definitely wrong with me. That might actually be right.
"Thanks, duckie. I'm buying you some tomatoes" I said crutching over the weeds closer to Sakura. What's with these fuuuuucking cramps? I had to actually stop, then get back to work. Then stop again.
"Are you ok, Kaya-chan?" Sakura asked noticing my discomfort.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said looking at the pink haired. "It's nothing."
Her green eyes told me she didn't believe me, but said nothing more and we got back at pulling out weeds. I had to do something about these cramps, but at the moment, the faster we were done with this mission, the better.
It took us another hour after which all three of us were complaining of back pain and being covered in a thick layer of dirt. Naruto being the loudest, but he was complaining about our missions again, rather than standing crutched for two hours to pull out weeds. However, Sakura managed to make him shut up in her own personal way. Sometimes I really pitied the blonde. He was practically being abused by Sakura. I mean, holy shit. I knew she used to hit Naruto a lot in the anime, but this is straight up domestic abuse. Domestic because we were in the same team. One good thing is that it took us only two hours. Or something around that. I should really start gathering some money to invest in a wrist watch. I hated not being able to keep track of time.
"Well, at least it didn't take us too much time." I said putting a stop to Sakura and Naruto's bickering. Sasuke nodded, a long line of dirt across his forehead. That's why people usually get their hair out of their face, duckling. I looked at Sakura, her hair sticking out in random places, a mess of dirt. Never mind, duckie. I congratulated myself for braiding my hair. I always braid my hair. My point still stands!
"Aah." we turned to the grey haired jounin as he appeared near a tree still absorbed by his book. Where the hell has he been? Not that he usually hung around when we were having a very dangerous mission such as this one. "I see you haven't noticed the front of the house."
"… what?"
Naruto jumped on his feet and ran on the well-kept stone footway. I appreciated his care for the herbs and flowers. Knowing Naruto, I was expecting him to walk directly across the garden, over the herbs.
"OH NO! THERE'S A FRONT GRADEN!"
"You must be kidding me…" Sakura sighed exhausted, tracing her hand across her forehead, leaving a fresh line of dirt. This reminds me… that I usually touch my face quite. I was happy we were in a garden where there were no mirrors. Kakashi looked at us smiling at our distress and then turned to me.
"You don't have anything to say, Kaya?"
I glared to him and started walking. I could hear Naruto saying something like an uninterrupted flood of words destined to the sky perhaps, because no one was close enough to make out a word of it. I could hear steps behind me and I turned making sure it wasn't Kakashi. Nah, he's still over there. Sasuke sent me a curious look, but I was too annoyed to bother with him now.
"Fuck all kinds of ducks."
Ҩ
I munched on my dango stick with vengeance. Nothing useful. NOTHING. I wasted three hours at the library reading about fire jutsu. That was the first hour. The next two, I spent ruffling through history books and scrolls that I have succeeded in bringing down while doing acrobatics reaching for a much too high up shelf. Damn I was short. But despite my apparent dissatisfaction, reading about the Senju and the Uchiha was rather fascinating. Because that's how every history book started. I mean, why bother about the times before the two infamous clans? Well, there is some … uninformative information about the human settlements and minor clans.
Still, my research had been fruitless since my main objective was learning how to mold and manipulate elemental chakra. Apart from the basics for the Fireball jutsu and other like those, I found absolutely nothing. Nothing about Chidori or Rasengan or any fire based technique that could be considered their equivalent. And it made sense. You don't just put information about specific jutsu just like that, especially not secret jutsu or original ones. Or else it they wouldn't be a trump card in battle. imagine if every shinobi wrote down every jutsu they had in their arsenal. Pure stupidity. But molding and using elemental chakra should be easier to document since it was such a broad subject. Also, I had a suspicion that the lack of information regarding advanced fire jutsu, was due to the Uchiha's unwillingness to pass on their secrets. I mean, which other clan has a stronger and more prominent proclivity towards fire elemental chakra? At least in the Land of Fire. And they're all dead. What's the next best thing? The answer was rather simple: Kakashi. The Copy Ninja.
At least I did find something remotely interesting. I searched inside my pockets to find a folded piece of paper. Ha. As much as I enjoyed reading some history of the village, I was more pleased with my discovery. I smirked as I kept walking pass a weapons shop, some children running by. It was a replication jutsu. Or at least it would fall into that category. It's not a jutsu. It was a seal. And I really shouldn't have copied information from the books, but as long as no one saw, nothing happened. Right? I'll take care of this later.
And returning to my new found interest in history. I need more information. I always needed more information no matter how much research I did. I knew all about the Uchiha Massacre and more, but that wasn't due to research. That was because I came from a completely different world in which this whole reality is actually an anime and manga. I need another excuse for knowing so much. There was another thing fishy about the whole massacre thing. Why neither Itachi or Obito killed me. Well, I guessed it was actually Itachi who spared me. But why? Why indeed.
I hate dirt. No, what I hated were these shoes we were given as part of the shinobi gear. They were light and perfect for stealth but damn. I could feel everything I was stepping on. Buuuut I had to wash and take care of my boots which were currently bathing in sunlight back at my apartment. I scowled and stopped to throw my dango stick in a bin. Yeah, we had those here as well. One thing I enjoyed about Konoha was that you could walk around and be invisible. Or at least that's how I felt. Under the cloak of anonymity. Just like the internet. Only, in real life. Back to Danzo. Because when one says 'Uchiha Massacre' it's impossible for me not to think about the weirdo elder with Sharingan all over his body. Not that anybody knew that piece of information.
Then again. I had no logical reason to know this, unless I found a justification. A good one. Or… fabricated one. Though. The fact that Itachi's orders to kill the Uchiha were given by Danzo, was rather interesting, because given that I was spared then there were several possible implications. 1. I wasn't an Uchiha. 2. Danzo cannot kill me from whatever reason. 3.I am an Uchiha and Itachihas some reason for not killing me off. Either one, the mystery of my survival was gravitating around my parentage. And where else could I find more information about both the massacre and my parents if not - …
I stopped in the middle of the road clipping my sticky fingers, struck with a sudden realization.
"Oh shit. I have to join the ANBU."
Because there sure was no fucking way I could sneak into and steal information from the ANBU.
But that will take years! I needed to find an excuse now. Before the Chunin Exams. Before Orochimaru kills the Third Hokage. Before Itachi comes and fucks Sasuke up even more. Before the duckling decides that a life of being molested and traumatized is worth what little power he can gain from Oro. I have to find a way into the ANBU archives.
"Kaya-chan!"
I turned around puzzled recognizing the voice. Some people turned as well while passing me by, looking at the pink haired kunoichi waving her hand. Sakura? Wait, where the hell am I? I looked around suddenly aware that I wasn't in the part of the village where the swings and the park stood. That's what I get for walking around with my head in the clouds. I started walking in Sakura's direction and regretted it almost immediately. Ino was shooting daggers at the pinkie and when she looked at me her expression did not change. Oh. Now I know where I am. We couldn't be far from the Yamanaka Shop. I recognized another shop that sells sweets. Expensive sweets.
"Yo." I said stealing Kakashi's favorite word.
"What are you doing here?" Ino said scowling.
"You really need to find a new line when you see me, Ino-chan. That one is getting old." I shook my head in disappointment and looked at Sakura who was oblivious to the reference.
"You'd better NOT have fed those marigolds to your beast!" Ino pointed her finger at me like a five years old.
"… marigolds?" Sakura asked looking between the two of us.
"It's a long story. And ridiculous." I assured her. I sighed, addressing Ino. "Relax. Mikasa doesn't like bright flowers. She prefers the more neutral colors. Anyway, Sakura? You wanted to say something? I'd rather hurry up back home and make sure Mikasa does not chew on things with neutral colors like my books. Or jutsu scrolls. Or kunai. That would be tragic."
"Oh! We have a mission this after-noon. Baby-sitting the daimyo's grandchildren." Sakura explained.
"You're down right joking." I complained. At least it's not a field mission. Damn my cramps. I was beginning to worry about them. There were already 24 hours and I was still having them. "I'm sure Naruto and Sasuke were thrilled."
"Hmpf. I'm sure Sasuke takes care of 90% of your missions. He's that awesome." Ino exclaimed. She seriously said that? Like, in real life?
"Yeah. We're just sitting around while he's awesomely ripping out weeds and taking care of babies. Or doing someone's groceries." I commented rolling my eyes.
"Aren't you from the same clan?" Ino raised an eye brow skeptically. "Shouldn't you be on his side?"
"We are from the same clan. And I am on his side. But he would rather set himself onfire or put himself into a genjutsu while looking in the mirror then hear you 'flatter' him without reason." I explained exasperated.
"Yeah, Ino-pig! Sasuke will never stand for your pathetic flattery!"
"You talk, Forhead Girl?!"
I slapped my forehead. Hard. It's my fault. I instigated. I have to make my escape somehow. The two were already at it with arguments and insults. Arguments as in fictional scenarios that were borderline ridiculous.
"Enough." I finally said and something in my voice made them turn and more importantly stop talking. Ino run her hand along her long ponytail while Sakura 'hmpf' -ed. Oh boy. Something snapped in me when I noticed their attitudes. It reminded me of some 'friends' I head in middle-school, back home. "Since you two are so much at it with your obsession for Sasuke, let me tell you right now, that you have to wait at least one or two years if not more, for Sasuke to notice girls like that. If he ever will. He's more interested in tomatoes than he is in girls. If you weren't so ignorant, superficial and selfish you would know that having your whole family and clan murdered by your older brother while you are barely 8 years old and then forced to live by yourself, kind of leaves you traumatized for life. I'm pretty sure he doesn't think about romance and shit like that. We are 12! Also, you're sitting in the middle of the road like two gossiping cronies. At least go have some tea and debate this, oh so interesting subject. Have a good day."
I turned on my heels and stormed off well aware I've just made a scene. Kind of. I didn't shout. That's progress. No. I kept my voice as sharp as a knife and slightly louder than normal. Still loud enough to make people turn. I had no idea what was with the sudden anger spur. Mood swings. I'm having mood swings. And the cramps were back. That didn't stop me from walking like I wanted to crack open the ground. That's until I bumped into someone. Hard. Thankfully, that person had the courtesy to not let me fall and break my skull or something. Turning I caught sight of a very familiar basket. Just as I was going to open my mouth an apologize for being an idiot who bumps into people I realized that I was staring into a pair of pitch black eyes. Ugh. Wonderful. Isn't this supposed to be a BIG village? I swear Konoha isn't this small, gods dammit.
"You. Heard. Nothing." I accentuated every word in a murderous tone not breaking visual contact with the young Uchiha. Sasuke blinked at me with a confused expression. "Also, tell Kakashi I'm not up for babysitting. I'm not feeling well."
He looked like he wanted to say something. Well, fuck that. My cramps had gotten worse, two imbecile girls were wearing the same stupid and surprised and confused expressions the duckling had on his face, our missions consisted of some trivial activities the villages were too lazy to do themselves and WHAT WAS WITH THESE CRAMPS?!
I hurried home. More like stormed here like a madwoman. That meant almost running and ignoring any living form around me. First thing I did after locking my door was to collapse on the bed. I've spent more than an hour curled up in a ball trying to ease the pain. It felt as if my lower abdomen was teared apart from the inside. I was vaguely aware of some movement around my bed and the fat tabby cat that jumped on the bed meowing at my curled form.
"Mikasa, I am dying." I said at the little purring ball. "As a result, I can't exactly feed you right now, so fuck off."
Of course she didn't. I growled frustrated as if I actually thought the cat could understand me. I lost track of time, but at one point my mind tried to trick me into a déjà-vu. I blamed the exhaustion. The cramps were exhausting me and my mind was tricking me into thinking that I've experienced this pain before. I was losing my mind as well. Perfect. Just perfect. What's next? My shoulder acting up after all this time? But this pain was rivaling that of my shoulder when Zabuza cut into it. That had been a throbbing agonizing pain dubbed by numbness from blood loss. I would have given anything for numbness now. And in the end the only thing that remained after that gushing-red-pool-of-blood wound, was a white silvery scar, across the space between my neck and shoulder, lowering over my collarbone and my trapezius muscle, without sectioning the actual muscle. Calling it 'shoulder wound' was just me being lazy, really. As I was contemplating my old – not so old – battle wound like any legendary hero from the old, I felt it.
I jumped on my feet receiving a ripping pain below my navel. Oh yeah, I knew this pain. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. I knew this … sensation. I hurried to the bathroom as if Zabuza was after me again with his ridiculously gigantic sword. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm only 12. Too young. NOT AGAIN. I've been through this. Not agaaaaaaaaaaaaain. Only then I realized why being a child again was one of the best things that ever happened to me. The trauma, ostracization and derealization and having no family had been worth it. Um… no, not really. Shut up brain. How can I, as a woman, forget about periods? Well, to be fair, it's been 12 years of uninterrupted blissful ignorance. Then came the realization.
"I have no pads." Or tampons. Or anything.
"OOOOOOOOOOh shit."
Aaand it's been a while :)
Good news: I got a job. Bad news: It swallowed me up completely :(
I'll still be writing fanfiction, so don't worry, but it might take me some time to adjust and balance my time, schedule etc. I'm settling into my new job and I also want to write MORE. It's not the best combination ever :))) However, I can afford rent and food again, which is fantastic, haha.
It's a chill chapter and full of new realities for our young protagonist. I took the liberties to write about menstruation and cramps because sometimes we forget that if the characters are human…then they're going to have human bodies as well. However, I know some people don't want to read about that, so I dunno, some people might not like this. She's a girl and she's 12, yo.
Anyway, I think I'll get into the Chūnin Exam Arc next chapter. It might be a slow transition tho. Things are a little slow. Unlike my schedule which is CHAOS. But it will get better, in a few weeks ;)
Also, I'm planning on returning to my Tokyo Ghoul fanfic and start a new one about another anime. Which I will post once I have time and a few chapters written so I can juggle things a little bit better. I, however, can't promise dates, a steady schedule or anything really, right now. But, yeah. It's something I'm planning for the next month or so.
See you later!