Alright we are back! I am sorry about the wait but one of our writers had personal issues that prevented them from writing, but we are back into the swing of things. This chapter is written by BeyondBirthdayYaoiFan. Now last we left you with Team Ashika leaving for their first mission as a team.
~~~~AKUMAS POV~~~~
"Alright" began Akuma. "The mission is to track down and dispose of a pack of wild animals, about 3-4 of them, that have been ruining this villages crops. The animals are herbivores but really quick. They are generally non aggressive so it shouldn't be too much hassle. However the village is a fair way away and we have had a late start so let's get moving"
~a couple hours later~
I sighed knowing that we weren't going to be home tonight. Thinking back I was glad I thought to leave plenty of food down for cat. At least he won't starve. I scowled realising that this mission was a complete waste of our time when we could be training and making ourselves better, ready for missions that are more worthwhile. I glanced over at Daichi, examining where the bruise was. I frowned, wondering what the fuck would have caused something like that. I looked away knowing it was none of my business. I moved conspicuously over to Amai, causing her to look at me funny when I started to walk next to her.
"What do you think happened" I mumble quietly to her, my eyes darting to Daichi and then away quickly.
"Maybe you hit him far too hard" she replied glaring at me.
"I apologised for that ok. I didn't mean to". Glancing at the floor I mumbled, "But seriously though". She just shrugged and we continued walking along in silence. Daichi and Ashika were conversing about his training and Amai moved over to join in the conversation. I held back from the rest, watching them as I usually do. I watched Ashika more carefully than usual as I couldn't usually get a reading on him, but today after what Amai's grandmother said to him I saw a flash of emotions other than the ones he displays for us. I found he was back to being his usual self and frowned, working the conversation over in my head and trying to think of what would have set him off. There were many confusing things today. Daichi's head, Ashika's reaction and why we still only get D ranks. I frowned, scuffing my shoes along the floor and shoving my hands in my pockets. It was starting to get late when Ashika stopped us.
"This area is safe so we can camp here for the night" he smiled then set us to work, setting up the campsite whilst he 'supervised'.
"You're a lazy bastard you know that" I grumbled as we finished setting up the camp.
"I'm teaching you the important life lesson of how to set up a camp site" he replied, looking at me smugly. Scowling since his logic made sense I sat myself by the fire and stared at it.
'I need to lengthen my fuse again' I thought. Grimacing at the thought of meditating in front of the others I continued glaring at the fire. The other two were sat across from me, talking about training and the mission and Ashika watched us and the area with a lazy sharpness. I scowled having no clue how he managed to look sharp in his lazy way. I sighed realising that wether I liked it or not I was going to need to meditate to get through the next day. Turning my back to the fire I repositioned myself into the lotus position and began my meditation session. Less than ten minutes into it Daichi calls out to me.
"Akuma? What're you doing?" he looked at me with curiosity. Sighing I turn to look at him.
"In case you haven't noticed, which is doubtful, I am a very easily irritated person. If I don't meditate, which is what I am currently doing, I get worse" I replied, staring him straight in the eye. "But it is a very embarrassing thing to do in front of people so I think I'm going to give it a miss" I smirked. Daichi frowned slightly then shrugged and sat down. We ate a simple dinner of dehydrated fruits and jerky. I listened to the conversation over dinner. They brought up Daichi's girlfriend and he got a dreamy look on his face. His eyes sparkled and his face came alight as they talked about her.
"Ah childhood romance" Ashika said grinning. "Always a fun experience".
"Did you have a childhood romance?" asked Amai, looking at Ashika with curiosity.
"Time to go to bed" Ashika said walking away. We all exchanged looks but shrugged and decided to go to sleep.
~In the morning… sort of~
Opening my eyes I sit up and look around. Scowling I realised it wasn't dawn yet, meaning it was before 6am. Sighing I glance around to find Amai curled next to the fire and Daichi sprawled nearby. Looking around I find Ashika sat up a tree watching for danger. I wandered over to him and climbed up next to him.
"For a young ninja you're an early riser" he said, keeping his voice low so as not to wake the others. He glanced back at me and I just scowled and grunted back. We sat in silence for a while watching the sun rise. "Wake the others now". I smirked and jumped off the branch.
"With pleasure" I murmured, walking over to where the others were sleeping. Picking up my water bottle I walked over to Daichi and dumped half on his head, causing him to jump up and call out in shock. He glared at me, shaking his head to get rid of the excess water. Before anyone could stop me I poured the other half on Amai. She leaped up with a shriek and punched me in the arm in reflex. Daichi froze staring at both me and Amai. Ashika watched lazily from the tree branch and I watched as the colour slowly drained from Amai's face. She looked at her fist, then back to me.
"Um…" she began, putting her hands up in a peace making sign. I could feel myself scowling at her even though I found her reaction hilarious.
'This is why I need to meditate' I thought to myself, inwardly sighing. "I suppose I deserved that" I said, turning my back to them and packing away my things. Behind my back Daichi and Amai looked at each other with surprised expressions, then shrugged and started packing their things away. Ashika smirked to himself from his tree branch, and the jumped down to join them when they finished packing everything away.
"What do you do to the remnants o a fire after camping?" he asked, looking at all of us.
"Put water and dirt on it so that there is no smoke and it's hidden" replied Daichi. Ashika nodded.
"Alright, get that done and let's get moving. We aren't far from the mission site now".
We all continued walking on the path we started on yesterday. I watched them all converse again and wondered to myself, not for the first time, why I couldn't bring myself to talk with them. I listened to Amai laugh at something Daichi said and watched how animatedly they talked to one another. As I caught snippets of what they were talking about I found myself growing increasingly bored and frustrated with my team mates. But mostly I grew frustrated with myself. Sighing I jogged slightly to catch up to the other two and see what the conversation was completely about.
"It just sucks that I have no major jutsu to learn and yet both you and Akuma have clan jutsu to learn" Daichi said looking at Amai. "It's just made training a lot more strenuous for me because I have to learn the basics before I can learn anything at all". He sighed kicking a rock off the path.
"But it means you aren't restricted, as such, to just learn what your clan expects you to learn. You have the freedom of choice, based within the boundaries of your chakra, to learn jutsu that you find interesting and worthwhile" I said, glancing sideways at Daichi. He seemed surprised at my input but smiled and nodded.
"I guess there's that to it. It just takes a while. I'm not complaining as in I'm not enjoying the training, I just didn't realise how much there would be". I nodded remembering how frustrating I found it when I was first learning. I glanced sideways at him again, eyeing where the bruise was. He had done his best to hide it, but without a mirror and adding another days' worth of healing to darken it, he hadn't done that good a job. I frowned, annoyed that he wouldn't tell his team mates what was up and annoyed that I actually cared at all. Scowling, I realised I had dropped back again to lurk behind the team while they chatted. 'Small steps' I thought to myself.
"We're here" Ashika had stopped and was looking over a small town. We fanned out around him to look down on the town below. It was a nice town with lots of fields and small houses. I scowled, watching children run about playing, and parents laughing. We walked into the village, getting lots of stares from the locals. We got to the town centre, where Ashika went inside and talked to the elders of the village. He came out and walked over to us. "According to the elders they live in that direction" he said pointing. "If we go and wait for them out there they should turn up and Akuma, you can slow them down and we can get them with a surprise attack, and maybe make it home tomorrow morning".
We all nodded knowing our parts to do and set off over there.
Look bonding time! Akuma is slowly growing to tolerate and trust his teammates, possibly even like them. Review?