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"Being alone never felt right. Sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right."
Charles Bukowski
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"Maiko, come."
On command, the girl went. She appeared in the crowded room with her black eyes and her skeletal body and watched the unfamiliar faces.
"What, Tobi?"
Gaara looked up at the girl with a confused expression. He remembered her… She was one of Kotone's teammates, once. She had been so lively and so boyish, but now she was skin and bones.
The masked man dumped the Uchiha into Maiko's arms and she took him obediently, repositioning him in her grip in order to remain comfortable.
He pointed to the red haired girl, Karin, and said, "Take her and make sure she heals Sasuke. I have a feeling she'll be a little… hesitant."
"Okay."
Leaping down to where the kages were gathered, the thin teen threw Sasuke over one of her shoulders like a sack, and picked up Karin around the waist, though she struggled visibly with shaky limbs.
When the Raikage threatened to pick up Maiko by her cloak, she hissed and revealed razor sharp teeth and her black eyes pierced the muscular man's soul.
"Back off, mother(curse.)!"
She went back to Tobi and nodded, letting him know she was ready. When he sucked them into the dimension with his Sharingan, she immediately dropped Karin onto the ground and threw the Uchiha with her.
"Heal him."
The redhead knew not to argue with the black-eyed girl, and went upon doing so, allowing Sasuke to sink his teeth into her flesh. It was silent in the realm of Tobi's jutsu, so Karin eventually stammered out a conversation.
"I-… I don't remember meeting you."
Maiko peered around her surroundings with her eerie eyes, answering in a shockingly semi-calm tone, "Tobi keeps me in the underground portion of the base. I like it. It's dark."
"W-what's your name?"
The green-haired imp turned towards Karin and smirked with sharp teeth, "Yami."
-:-
Tenten angrily smashed her hand into the neat, sturdy pile of wood beside her, causing a violent sound, "You're gonna fight Sasuke alone? And you think all of us are just gonna stand around and let you?"
Hiromi flinched at her friend's tone, but stood firm between Ino and Kotone. The white-haired teen had returned no sooner than Naruto and though her blonde teammate wished to speak with her in private, she asked for the smaller teen's patience.
"Tenten's right, Naruto," Shikamaru chipped in, "We can't afford to let you have your way on this one. This is a problem involving the whole village."
From atop the wooden pile adjacent to the one Tenten had punched, Kiba scowled, "So this is what you meant when you said you would explain once we got back? We're all prepared to kill Sasuke, man!"
The accused blonde who stood in the center of the unwanted attention responded equally, "I'm not trying to be selfish."
The genius of the group intervened, saying, "Naruto, you're not trying to convince us to let you handle this so you can turn around and defend Sasuke, are you?"
"No way!" Hiromi frowned, "Naruto-kun wouldn't do that. Right?"
"Trust me, I won't be defending him."
Leaning coolly against the wooden pile, Neji replied, "If Sasuke was so weakened from the Kage Summit and fighting with Danzo, why didn't you just finish him there?"
"Madara was there, too!" Sakura exclaimed, "You're oversimplifying things!"
"He couldn't have just slipped away!" Kiba debated, "Naruto, you're as strong as they come. You're already a legend for beating the crap outta Pain! Sasuke wouldn't have stood-"
"You're wrong," Kotone stated steadily, "I was also present at the Summit and came into contact with Uchiha Sasuke. His power is beyond any of ours, including you now, Naruto."
"I know," the blonde sighed, "I can't defeat Sasuke at his current level."
"What do you mean?" inquired Choji.
"What I mean is that I can't let any of you face him. I'm the only one who can fight him."
It was silent until Neji finally asked, "What in the world happened? You have to tell us."
"I will," Naruto answered, "when the time is right."
When no one else proposed an argument, he added, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm starving! I'm heading to Ichiraku's."
He left with his hands behind his head and the group of teens sat in silent contemplation. Hiromi, on the other hand, tugged on Kotone's sleeve desperately.
"What happened?" She whispered, "Why were you at the Summit?"
"Sabaku no Kankuro was there," the pale kunoichi responded.
Her smaller teammate sighed, "So, what did he say?"
"Nothing yet. I stole some of your measurements from one of the medical tents and sent it to him in a secret message. That way, he will be able to construct for you a false limb."
"M-my measurements?!"
The outburst caused a few heads to turn and Hiromi blushed. Upon hearing the term, Kiba perked up out of curiosity, and leapt down from his perch.
"What's goin' on?"
"K-kotone!" Hiromi whined, "Did you even check to see what kind of measurements they were?"
The elder shinobi paused for thought, and then answered plainly, "No."
The blonde threw her hands up into the air with a shriek of embarrassment. At this point, all of her previous classmates were listening with a sense of amusement.
"Why didn't you check, Kotone?! Now I'll never be able to be taken seriously by Kankuro!"
"Why's that?" Kiba curiously piped in.
Comical, fat tears fell from Hiromi's eyes as she responded, "Kotone sent him my measurements."
The young man's eyes widened for a moment in realization before his cheeks puffed out with effort to refrain from laughing and he was stuck in between being angry with Kankuro for knowing something he didn't about his girlfriend or laughing at the humorous reaction from her.
"I do not see the issue here," Kotone stated blandly, "He never specified which measurements he required, and thus I sent him all that I could find."
"Constructing a false arm doesn't require a bust size!"
Laughter broke out from the group besides a select few and Hiromi wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
"I'm already dead," she wailed, "Just bury me here and leave me to drown in my own tears…"
-:-
This here is a humorous segment for you to enjoy since there's a lot of depression in my story.
[Meanwhile, in the desert, as the meetings for war preparations took place, Kankuro was busily working on the favor Kotone needed. The letter beside him had all he needed.
So, as he required another measurement to be sure, the brunette stumbled upon something he hadn't expected at all. Bust size.
And thus, his nose bled excessively as he whispered to Temari, who burst into his workshop upon hearing his collapse, "I can't believe they're that small…"]
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"Hiromi!"
The blonde turned and gently smiled at her approaching teammate, who held tightly a message in her hand.
"Hello, Kotone. What's going on?"
The white-haired teen unraveled the paper in her hand enthusiastically, "I just received a response from Kankuro. I bear great news!"
"Really?" The shorter of the two females grinned, "What'd he say?"
Clearing her throat quietly, Kotone read, "'Hiromi-san, your arm is taking a lot more time than I expected. Thankfully, I will be able to deliver it during the battle preparations that will occur in Kumogakure. That will leave you with a day and possibly a half to get used to the new arm if we play our cards right. In any case, I want you to know that the limb is still a puppet arm. It can transfer chakra easily, but it can't move on its own, so battling with taijutsu is impossible. If a semi-experienced puppeteer were available when you needed taijutsu, then that would be perfect.'"
"Ah," Hiromi sighed, "I guess I can't fight using my fists, then."
"But you can still perform jutsus with miniscule effort."
"You're right! Go on, then."
"'Ninjutsu, anyways, will be easy for a kunoichi like you. The measurements were perfect, so don't worry about it not fitting. Kotone-san, Gaara also sends you his best wishes.'"
The letter was left open for a moment as the elder and taller of the two girls stared at the last line with a ghost of a smile.
"Kotone, this is great!" Hiromi laughed freely, "I'll be useful out there! Oh my gosh!"
"I'm glad that you're happy. You'll be perfect in battle, or in healing."
The Sato girl wiped a tear from her eye with a large smile, "K-kotone… You don't know how much this means to me…"
"I-!"
Before Amaterasu could even think of responding, the one-armed girl leapt into her friend's grasp with a happy exclamation.
"Y-you've always been so helpful to me, Kotone, and I've never done a single thing to show you my appreciation!"
"No, it's-… It's alright. You don't have to… Y-y…"
The young woman with milky white eyes turned away with a warm face and Hiromi's beam couldn't grow any bigger.
"Because you're… you're a sister to me, Hiromi."
"Don't you remember the oath we made before we entered the chunin exams?" The blonde giggled melodiously, but happy tears were overflowing from her blue eyes, "I will always love my sweet onee-san, Kotone!"
-:-
Five days. Five days had gone ticking by since Tobi's stunt at the Kage Summit, and Maiko felt sick to her stomach. While he was outside, investigating what he had called an "unwelcome visitor", she was stuck in the cave, babysitting Sasuke.
Since he was technically blind at the moment, he wasn't nearly as annoying, but he had somehow adopted the mindset that he was more important than Maiko, and bothered her with stupid questions at every turn.
"Where is Madara?"
"How the (curse.) am I supposed to know? I'm stuck here babysitting your sorry, blind (curse)."
The Uchiha scowled, and though his eyes were glazed over with blindness, Maiko felt his deathly glare piercing her.
"(Curse.) this! I'm going to find Tobi. You can (curse.)ing rot for all I care."
The green-haired teen stood, brushing off the dirt from her ripped Akatsuki cloak, and stomped out of Sasuke's room, glowering the entire way. White Zetsu was waiting at the entrance with a knowing smirk.
"We're trading off," she droned, "I'm going to ask Tobi how long I have to stay here."
Maiko shoved past him, and stamped her way to the entrance of the hideout, but her unhurried pace turned into a jog, and then into a sprint as her body tingled with the sensation of an unfamiliar chakra.
She rounded a corner with vigor and a disturbed smile, only to slow to a stop at the sight of Tobi and a cloaked guest.
"Tobi!" the imp exclaimed, "Who is that? I felt their chakra from the halls…"
"So this is who you're hiding underground... Your Dragon Eyes…" hissed out the visitor.
"Maiko," the man with the mask spoke as though speaking with a toddler on the edge of a tantrum, "Kabuto is our new ally. Contain yourself."
"But-! I never saw him in our future…"
"You did say you saw a snake, correct?"
"Yeah… Orochimaru, though."
"Don't worry," Kabuto assured with a conniving smirk, "I have something that will surely win you over, Maiko-chan."
The lanky teen glared at him, yet he simply ignored her, bringing his palms together in front of him.
"Kuchiyose! Edo tensei." (Summoning technique; impure world resurrection)
A single coffin rose from the ground behind Kabuto, and he stepped aside, motioning towards it as though inviting Maiko to open it, as the lid had stayed shut.
Tobi was at first doubtful of the snake's methods, until he realized exactly what the man's game was, and continued his trek deeper into the cave, with Kabuto following behind.
"You sure you want to leave the body with her?" the masked man asked.
The white-haired snake shrugged, "It'll disappear in a few moments. I just thought I may try to win her over. Her powers are quite… magnificent."
Their forms were no longer visible when Maiko pried the coffin open, letting the wooden cover fall to the ground. The dim light of the outside allowed her little visibility, so Maiko used a simple fire jutsu to light an unlit torch on the wall. She yanked it hurriedly, ignoring the flames that licked at her sallow skin, and held it closely to the innards of the coffin.
"Deidara-senpai!"
The young girl, who suddenly looked so much older, reached forward to touch the cracked, dead skin of the blonde man she had once known.
Just as she made contact, the coffin was shut, and she yanked her hand away out of alarm. It was buried back beneath the earth, and Maiko had yet to even respond many minutes later.
When she did finally come to her senses, the adolescent with eyes of pure obsidian spun around to face the direction Kabuto had gone, with her mouth still agape and her eyes glossy in awe.
The love of her life… he was going to be alive!
-:-
Hiromi leapt up from her crouching position, reaching into her weapons pouch and yanking out a kunai. There were four targets set up for her (painted exclusively by the students at the Academy) and she focused on them entirely.
"Balance is the most important component of battle. If you aren't balanced, how do you expect to defeat your opponent? Now that you've only got one arm you need to start from the beginning just like Akio and I."
"Okay! Hopefully, this'll be easy."
Aiko exclaimed from the sidelines, "Never except the expected!"
"Listen to Aiko, Hiromi," Kotone commented, her blade unsheathed and glimmering in the sunlight of Konoha, "Her wisdom is what you need in order to be prepared for war."
"Right!"
Turning her upper body to the side, Hiromi prepared herself before flinging the kunai, the effort noticeable as she fell to the ground from twisting too much, and watched as the knife weakly landed in the grass.
"It's not a Frisbee," Aiko advised, "You need to move your arm, not your entire upper body. Let's try again! Retrieve a weapon from your pouch."
"I don't see why you can't just give me one!"
"Because you also need to get used to the feeling of your weapon pouch on the side that it's on."
"Alright, so if I twist my arm like this?"
"No, no, that'll send it up. Akio," the female Akivi motioned towards the one-armed teen, "Show her."
The tan male nodded before going to Hiromi and repositioning her arm and upper body with his hands. When he used his own foot to relocate the blonde's, Kiba barked from the sidelines.
"HEY, WAIT A SECOND!"
"Calm down, Akio would never take advantage of a woman," Kotone defended.
"B-but…"
"Simply pay attention to the battle at hand. You and Akamaru need to be prepared for the war as well."
"Hey, are you implyin' we're not strong enough?!" Kiba and his large dog snarled.
"No, I am saying it. Now, I'm going to come at you with my blade; counter it!"
"UGHH!" Hiromi groaned, "This is impossible! I keep missing!"
"It's because you're trying to throw it as though you still have two arms. Your body isn't aware of the fact that it can't fight the same way," Aiko stated.
"How can you even tell? You can't see me at all…"
"My body has gotten used to my blindness. Now I use my chakra as my eyes. You need to at least be able to perform the basics of a kunoichi before you get your new arm. Who knows? It may be smashed to pieces in the middle of a battle and you'll have to fend for yourself with your weapons."
"I guess you have a point, Aiko-san."
"Aiko-sensei! Now, try again."
"Y-yes, sensei!"
-:-
"I'm so exhausted…"
"M-me too."
"You both have done marvelously under the training regimen of the Akivi!"
Kiba lifted his head from the grassy floor with a scowl, Akamaru releasing a growl on his owner's part, "But now we're too tired to do anything! Like, oh, I don't know, help the rest of the village prepare for war?"
Akio motioned, 'How so?'
The signal was general enough that Hiromi replied, "Like sharpening the weapons, and packing the kunai, and taking inventory of the medical supplies."
Kotone experimentally swung her blade, "I see. So, why don't we all go and provide assistance where it's needed?"
"But I'm so tired and sore!" whined Hiromi, "Can't we just sit for a little while?"
"Resting for too long will encourage laziness! If you go from intense training to intense workout, then you'll be stronger in no time!" Aiko smiled.
Akio frowned, 'Maybe we should just let them rest, Aiko. Just for a moment.'
His sister pursed her lips in thought, "But shouldn't we keep working? I mean, Hiromi may've mastered the one-arm kunai throw, but what about shuriken? And a blade? Maybe nunchucks?"
"I don't even own a blade! Or nunchucks!"
"Aiko, Akio," Kotone spoke calmly despite the playful argument occurring, "Why don't we go and provide some help to our fellow shinobi?"
"But sorting medical supplies is so… mundane."
"We can sharpen blades and test out kunai, if you'd like."
Aiko pursed her lips again before breaking out in a large grin, "Okay! It sounds like a lot of fun, Amatera-er, Kotone!"
The white-haired girl nodded to her before facing Akio, "Would you like to join us?"
He shook his head with a smile before gently scratching the message, 'I'll go and speak with the Hokage about allowing Aiko and I into the Konoha army. I have a feeling she won't be as resilient' onto her arm.
"Understood," Kotone turned to the drained and spent shinobi that lay on the ground, "Why don't you two spend some quality time together as a couple while you recover? Ah, I mean, three. I nearly forgot your dog."
"W-what?!" The two teens called.
"Farewell."
The three foreigners leapt off in different directions and Hiromi sat up, pouting.
"I can't believe them! Though, it is nice to see Kotone in a familiar environment."
"Yeah, she used to be such a formal bore!" Kiba smirked.
"Hey!" Hiromi playfully swatted at him, "She's really nice once you get to know her."
"Well, since she was kind enough to give us some time alone, why don't we go somewhere to eat?"
"B-but shouldn't we go and help the others?"
"You've done enough so far," Kiba stood and offered a hand to his girlfriend and tenderly pulled her to her feet.
"I really haven't done anything, though!"
Akamaru barked and his owner rested an elbow on his dog's muzzle, "We aren't gonna take no for an answer. So, where do you want to go?"
"Augh! Fine, let's, umm, visit Haru."
"What? That's what you pick for a romantic lunch date?"
"C-come on! I'm just worried about her, that's all…"
"Alright, well, hop on Akamaru; I'm sure a visit from us will cheer her up!"
"Ha-ha! I… I hope you're right."
-:-
War is approaching, and soon our favorite teens will be on their way to Kumogakure.
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"There was never a good war, or a bad peace."
Benjamin Franklin
A/N: Hey, all, okay, so the wait was shorter, but so is the chapter; sorry! :O I just wanted to start the next chapter at a certain point because it's going to be jumping right into the war, starting at Kumogakure. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll try and get the next one published ASAP! :)
Reviewers
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ShadowBloodNinja
I really appreciate your reviews, too :) They give me inspiration and make me all happy~
Kinda lots of Kotone, I guess? There's going to be more of her in the next one, trust me!
Maiko and Sasuke are brats ;P
That's kinda how I plotted out the characters. I knew that since almost no one in Naruto doesn't have a sappy backstory, so I figured I needed a normal person.
Aww, thank you c:
Okay! Thank you for reading and reviewing, love :)
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Fullmoon
Sorry I take so long! :O I do try my best!
I try to add a bit from each of the girls' perspectives, but it gets kinda hard sometimes.
Thank you for taking the time to read and review my story! :D
Followers
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The Ironwill
Thanks so much for following a lot of my stories! :D I hope you aren't disappointed by them, as I try to do my best!\
A/N: So, that's all my spill. I hope you all are enjoying the new year! :) Except where I am, it's totally unnaturally freezing. I like the cold more than the hot, though, so I guess I'm okay with it c:
Thanks for reading! Leave a review! :)