Ok… there is only one reason why this chapter is named "blood" and… well it's a twist when you find out ok? I love the twist ending to this chapter.
Enjoy!
Chapter 18
Blood
It's been a few months since Asuka sparred with Kakashi. All her team has done is C and D rank missions. The C rank missions seemed like they were getting easier and easier after each mission given. She felt her body getting stronger... maybe even taller... no, not taller. She hasn't grown in a while.
Hatsuharu grew stronger too and didn't have to carry as many medical supplies as he had to in the past. Asuka is less accident prone, improving her endurance and reflexes. She hasn't gotten seriously injured in about a month and a half... a new record. Hatsuharu was proud of his companion and showed it by not being as stubborn when it came to his baths.
Kakashi has even taught her the basics of her rapier, as it turns out, it will help her tremendously. The sword could channel five element chakras and enhance it well. The five elements are fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind. Whenever she tried using her wind chakra, the sword would expand its blade and turn into a fan that covered more than half of her body.
The rapier suited her well; it was black with silver and purple leaf patterns on it. The worst elements for her to use now was only fire and lightning. She'd either shock or burn herself, or hurt some defenseless animal. Guy has helped her with mastering the basics and teaching her a few things about the sword. She hasn't shown her new weapon to her teammates, wanting it to be a surprise when the time comes. For now though, she put it in a small summoning scroll.
ooOoO0OoOoo
"Here you go."
"What are these?" Neji queered as his team accepted the papers.
"Fill these out if you want to attend to Chūnin exams... I think you're finally ready." Guy gave them all the 'good guy' pose.
Lee's eyes were filled with glee and brimmed with tears. Neji just accepted it as any other normal thing. And Asuka... she was frozen.
"Asuka?" Lee nudged her with his elbow. "What's wrong?"
"..."
Hatsuharu nipped at her hand and whimpered.
"..."
"Should we worry Guy sensei?" Lee asked.
"No... We should probably take a few steps back though." Guy answered as he took a few steps back.
"Why?" Neji furrowed his eyebrows.
"..."
"Just uh... do it." Guy said as he continued to take a few steps back.
A spark ignited her then..." REALLY?! WE GET TO PARTICIPATE THIS YEAR?!" She jumped up and down like a giddy school girl and hugged Hatsuharu around his neck while continuing to jump around. "YAHOOOO! I AM SERIOUSLY LOVING THIS! I FINALLY MIGHT BECOME A CHŪNIN! YAH!" she kept jumping around with Hatsuharu in her arms and grabbed a hold of Lee.
"ASUKA!" Lee screamed, "I can't... breathe..." His eyes went hollow as he grabbed a hold of her arms to gain at least a little leverage as she continued to jump around.
"This is ridiculous..." Neji commented as he hid in a tree far away from his crazy teammate.
Guy knew how to calm her down when it came to situations like this. He swiftly knocked Hatsuharu and Lee out of her arms and made her fall to the ground. He pinned her there for a few seconds then let her back up.
Asuka was a bit wobbly, "Wh... what happened?..." She held her head and used the support of the tree. "I was just... happy." She smiled weakly and fell to the ground. Not soon after that, she fell asleep in the shade.
"Thank you... Guy sensei." Lee thanked as he got up and breathed fresh air into his lungs.
Guy nodded and looked over to Asuka. "She'll be out for a few minutes, after that, you three as a team go sign up." He said before walking off. "Good luck!" he vanished into the trees as he waved them off.
"How do we wake her up?" Neji queered as he looked down at his sleeping teammate.
"Last time I used a cold water bottle, but since she's only asleep..." he looked over to the giant wolf.
Hatsuharu sighed and went over to his companion. He looked her over and only bit her hand hard enough to only merely give her a blood bruise.
Her eyes shot open and yanked her hand away. Her eyes were full of shock as she took in her surroundings. She sighed and scratched her head.
"I fell asleep again, didn't I?" she looked over at her two teammates.
They both nodded and Neji jumped down from his hiding place.
"Come on, we need to go." Neji said as he started to lead the way. "Is everyone prepped and ready?" He looked over his shoulder to see Lee and Asuka behind him.
"Always." She said as she winked at him and gave him a thumbs up.
Lee nodded and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Good, let's go." They started jumping on the rooftops to their destination.
A minute or two past as they kept a slow pace hopping on the roof tops. Asuka let her eyes wonder to the ground and saw something that interested her immensely.
"Hey Neji, I need to go do something first, I'll meet you guys there." She told her group leader.
"Alright, don't take long." Neji nodded and kept going as she jumped down.
"Hey! Long time no see kid!" She raised her voice.
"Asuka?! What are you doing here?"
"I missed you too Konohamaru." She knelt down and hugged the little six year old.
"Get off!" He squirmed under her grip. "I still don't like hugs."
She giggled and let go of him. "Don't you miss me?" She teased as she pinched his cheek.
"No!" He said as he slapped away her hand.
"What the hell Asuka? You actually know this kid?" Naruto asked.
"Yah, I do. When I used to live in the Hokage tower I'd sometimes babysit little Kona here." She patted Konohamaru's head.
"Don't call me that!" He shouted as he yanked her hand off of him.
"I think it's time for another hair cut little Kona." She said while pulling out a kunai.
"NO!" His eyes turned hollow as his face was clearly mortified. He quickly turned on his heels and ran away.
"Why did you do that?" Naruto scratched the side of his head.
"Hm? Oh, I just like messing with him, it's cute." She smiled at him playfully.
"Hey! Let go!"
Asuka's eyes shot wide and looked over her shoulder towards Konohamaru's voice. She sped off to see a young teen in all black with purple war paint on his face.
"I hate kids." He said angrily as he held Konohamaru by the collar of his shirt to eye level.
"HEY! Let him go or you'll have to deal with me!" Asuka brought a storm of rage with her as she set her cold eyes upon him.
"Excuse me?!" He gave her the same cold stare she was giving him. Even though Asuka has grown about two inches over a year, she was still a good six inches shorter than him.
"Let. Him. Go." She crossed her arms, digging her fingernails into her arms as blood pumped faster and faster through her.
"Or what?" He smirked and tightened his grip on Konohamaru.
"No Hatsuharu, he's mine, come out." She demanded as she stomped the ground.
He gave her a stupid look, and then his face turned to shock as the giant wolf came out of the ground and glared at him with his stone blue eyes.
She grinned and lowered her head; then swiftly grabbed his wrist and squeezed.
"Gah! Let go!" He let go of Konohamaru and he ran off. The young teen glared at her and threw a punch at her.
She vanished before the punch could make contact with her and appeared above him, and then brought her foot down on his forehead. Making his back arch and stumble back holding his head.
"You should know better than to let your guard down, you're lucky I didn't use even half of my strength, your head would be in the earth's crust by now." She stared at him with daggers in her eyes and a cocky smirk.
"Kankuro! Are you ok?" A girl with light blond hair tied in four pony-tails spoke up, not sounding too concerned.
Kankuro straightened up and held his head, blood seeped through his fingers as his eyes filled with rage. "Why you little bitch!" He growled through his teeth as he reached for the bandaged item on his back.
"Stop." Kankuro turned around to see a guy, probably around her age with a giant gourd on his back upside-down on a tree branch. His eyes were cold with sea foam green, his hair blood red; short and unkempt.
"Gaara?... I-" Kankuro stuttered.
"Shut up." Was all he said, and Kankuro did as he was told.
"I take it you're here for the Chūnin exams, correct?" Asuka asked Gaara.
"Yes, we are here for the Chūnin exams." The blond answered for him.
"That was the Hokage's grandson, be carful whom you're messing with." She glared at Kankuro, and then gave him a soft smile. "Now hold still." She quickly got face to face with him.
"Wha-what are you do-..." He tried backing up, but then froze as she wiped the blood from his face and put some ointment on his wound.
"Your welcome." She backed off and smiled at him.
"Your weird!" Naruto shouted from behind.
She laughed and started to walk away.
"I wish to know your name."
Asuka turned around to a familiar cold voice. "If one wishes to receive, they must first give."
"...Gaara of the Sand." He stood in front of his team and had his arms crossed, practically staring through her soul and freezing it.
"Asuka, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I must be off." She nodded to him and his team before going back to her team. Shivers spread throughout her, starting with her spine, going to all the way to her head and toes.
I hope I never face him during the Chūnin exams. There's something off with him... his eyes... I'll see him in my nightmares tonight.
She rubbed her arms as the goose bumps formed under her sleeved covered armor.
A few moments passed as she did her jumping and silent thinking to the correct building for sign-ups. She entered and went to the room she read on the paper to go to. But stopped and entered a hallway to see the rest of her team there, and Lee was on the ground.
"Lee! What happened?" She asked frantically while helping him up.
"Those guys won't let us in." He answered as he wiped the blood off his lip.
"I told you a frontal assault wouldn't work." Neji stated.
"This doesn't feel... right." Asuka commented as Hatsuharu looked around and sniffed the air.
"What do you mean?" Neji asked.
"This is the second floor..."
"You think kids like you could pass?" One of the guys guarding the door who had long spiky hair spoke. "Those who pass the Chūnin exams become captains, and we've failed it three times."
"If you can't pass us," The other guy guarding the door wearing his headband over his forehead and covering his hair spoke. "Then there is no way you can pass."
Naruto's team came in; Sasuke had that cocky smile of his planted on his face.
"You will let us pass though," Sasuke told them, "because I'm going to the third floor."
"I knew it, this is genjutsu, and the room should be on the third floor." Asuka stated. "I'm going, coming you guys?"
"Hi," Lee walked to the pink haired girl. "My name is Rock Lee, and yours is Sakura Haruno, right?"
She gave him a questioning look but nodded anyway.
"Let's go out, I'll protect you till I die." He gave her the good guy pose along with that.
"Uh..." Sakura didn't really know what to say, except 'no'.
But Asuka quickly came up to Lee and wrapped an arm around his neck and slightly choking him.
"I'm terribly sorry for this." Asuka smiled at her while struggling to keep Lee down. "You don't say stuff like that Lee, you just don't, ok?"
"C-cant... breathe." He clawed at her arms at first, but she had an iron grip at times, and this was one of them.
"We will be leaving now, good luck in the Chūnin exams." She walked away with Lee flailing his arms and his face turning red. She finally let go of him after they were a few yards away from the fake room.
"Why did you do that?" Lee complained as they kept walking. "She might have said yes!"
"Believe me Lee, she wouldn't have, she's in love with Sasuke Uchiha." She kept the lead with her head down and arms crossed.
"Hmm..." Lee stayed back and stopped, looking at Sakura pulling her teammates along.
"What are you thinking now?" Asuka asked.
"There is something I must test, I will be back." He left her with Neji both in question.
"I don't like this..." Asuka commented. "Something bad is going to happen."
"Jealous?" Neji smirked evilly at her.
"What? No, of course not." She averted her eyes and rubbed her arm.
"Your lying."
"Well... I'm more hurt than jealous..." She sighed and leaned up against the wall.
Neji stood in front of her and tried making eye contact. "Why? It's not like you two are dating."
"I know... Its just..." She had trouble completing any of her sentences due to nervousness.
"You two nearly kissed, right?"
Her eyes shot wide and her mouth was slightly gapped. "How did you..."
"Remember the end of your date with Lee on your birthday?" She nodded, letting him continue, "I saw the end of it, when you and Lee were on your front doorstep, and you two would have kissed if it wasn't for Hatsuharu."
"You... saw that?" He nodded.
"And I think having any romantic relationships might hurt our missions in the future." He stated to her.
"Why?"
"Love is a weakness that can be used against us, for the good of the team, don't be his girlfriend."
"I'm too young anyway; I wasn't thinking that at all... I just have feelings for him... and I will NOT let that get in the way of any of our missions, I promise." She straightened up and was now only inches away from her team leader, making an electrical eye contact with him.
"You had better keep that promise." He told her.
She nodded and backed away then looked down the hallway. "I'm going to go check on Lee, make sure he's not doing anything stupid again."
Neji nodded and let her go with Hatsuharu by her side.
Lee... you better not be doing something stupid by the time I find you. She sighed and scratched the back of her head while looking at her companion.
He didn't seem to notice her stare on him after a few steps, so she averted her eyes and focused on what's in front of her. She slowed her pace a bit to let Hatsuharu take a slight lead to follow Lee's sent.
After a few moments, they had started hearing sound of fighting and ran to it.
It was Lee, and he was fighting Sasuke. Asuka wasn't too worried about it, but then she saw a similar pattern to Lee, one she has seen during training. She saw this and swiftly landed a kick on Lee while he was in the air. He was knocked to the ground and a small crater was left.
"Asuka! Why did you do that?!" Lee shouted as he rubbed his head.
"You idiot! Can you imagine was Guy sensei would say if he saw you doing that move!?" She whacked him over the head and started dragging him by the back of his jumpsuit.
"B-but..." He sighed and let her drag him. "Your right." He pouted and his face filled with embarrassment.
"Yes I am, sorry for disturbing you Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura." She left them and proceeded to drag Lee until they got to Neji.
"Must have been bad if you had to drag him." Neji commented while he was leaned against the wall. "What happened?"
"Lee was using a hidden move on that Uchiha kid." Asuka answered as she let go of him and helped him up.
"Is this true?" Neji narrowed his eyes on him.
Lee looked away and let his eyes cover with shadows. "Yes, it's true."
"Lee, you are reckless, you need to learn to control yourself!" Neji slightly raised his voice at him with an angry tone.
He just sighed in response and kicked at the ground.
Asuka patted his pack warmly, "Lee..."
He slightly tilted his head up to look at her with a spec of hope in his eyes.
"... Neji is right, you need to think before you act." She took her hand away and turned her back to him. "If you act up like this during the Chūnin exams, we are sure to fail." she lowered her head and let her bangs cover her eyes, refusing to look at her green spandex covered partner.
"Asuka..." Lee tried talking, but just couldn't form the words needed for this sentence. "What's wrong? You're not like this." Lee raised his head completely and put a hand on her shoulder; she merely shrugged it off and walked forward.
"Don't we need to go to the third floor?" She kept walking, not waiting up for them. "Let's get going."
Lee looked at Hatsuharu; he shrugged his shoulders too and followed after her with Neji beside him. Lee frowned and just thought to himself as he followed his teammates.
Neji quickly caught up to her and kept his voice hushed. "What's wrong? Your not acting like yourself, usually you at least try to cheer him up. You just made him feel worse."
She kept her voice low as well. "I don't know Neji... I just..."
"Are you mad at him? For him asking that pink haired girl-"
"No, it's not that." she interrupted him quickly.
"Are you sure?" Neji dogged her.
"Yes! Now let me think..." She kept her head low and crossed her arms. She looked over to her companion and he nudged her, wanting her to pet him. But she just ignored him and felt something... off.
"I need to go to the bathroom, I'll catch up." She fast walked to the nearest bathroom without waiting for a reply from Neji or Lee. Hatsuharu sat down and waited for her outside the bathroom.
She quickly got into the first stall and pulled her underpants down then sat. She sighed as a wave of warmth swept her while hearing the liquid exit her body. She wiped and looked at the tissue paper. She then dropped it in the toilet bowl and leaned back.
Great... I hit puberty.
Ha ha! What a twist! Right? If you're a guy and you don't know what puberty is for girls… go Google it. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
See you next week!
March 11, 2013
*Where's the Logic?*
p.s. dude… I'm getting the new Naruto game tomorrow… I CAN'T WAIT! 8D
Follow the arrow and review please! It helps me out a lot.
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