This one's about my favorite made up team.
The mission they had been sent on had gone perfectly fine -flawless even- the three of them able to find their mark and get the information needed and their package. They had started on their way back to Konoha and had made it to a split in the road, and really, that had been like divine symbolism for what was to come.
She had asked a question, just a simple and innocent question, and it had turned into a full out war.
"Which way should we go?" She had asked, looking either way with her hands on her hips and a happy smile on her lips. This mission had been great. Mio and Sora hadn't fought, they were going back right on time, no one had approached them and there had been no attacks on them or their cover.
Mio brushed her hair out of her eyes, her long manicured nails tapping her chin as she pondered their situation. "Well, I do believe that the quicker way is left." Kori nodded and had just barely taken her first step before Sora stopped her.
"What are you talking about? We need to go right." Kori nodded again and turned. "Alrighty then."
"No, It's left." Kori turned again.
"To the left is a city that we'll have to go through. The right is quicker." Kori stopped and sighed, already able to see where this was going.
"But to the right is a huge forest that we'll have to fight through. The left is obviously the better option of the two."
"What, do you have something against forests?" Kori moved over and sat down on a large rock that was beside the road. "I mean, we live in a forest. There's obviously something wrong with you if you've developed a sudden aversion to trees."
"Oh, look at you! Using your big words! I'm so proud." Kori pulled out the little book she had brought with her and decided to finish reading the last few remaining chapters while she waited for the argument to hopefully blow over. "What's that supposed to mean?! Are you saying I'm not smart?!"
"Oh no," Mio said, pulling her fan out of the sleeve of her jacket and opening it with a flick of her wrist, lazily stirring the air and looking over the edge of it at Sora superiorly. "You're able to say that just fine yourself."
Sora's face became violently red as he clenched his fists at his side and hissed. Glancing up at the pair, Kori could almost see steam coming out of his ears. "I'll have you know I was one of the top students in our class on the written tests. I'm very knowledgeable."
"Oh?" She said, flicking her painted eyes over him in a disinterested once over. "Well if that's true, then why don't you know that the left is obviously the right way?"
"Because it's not!" He shouted, his long red-gold braid practically twitching with his frustration and fury. Mio sighed and looked at him blandly and continued to fan herself, unphased by the spectacle the boy was making.
"Really now, shouting is very unbecoming Sora-chan. You'll still be saying the same thing if you speak more respectfully, the only difference is that people might actually attempt to listen to your thoughtless babble." Sora raised his fist threateningly at the girl, his amethyst eyes blazing with righteous fury.
"Do not," He growled, "CALL ME SORA-CHAN!"
Wincing at just how high pitched his scream had been Kori flipped to the last chapter, rubbing her temple as she tried to pretend that she lived in a world where her teammates weren't about to murder each other. It was such a nice and happy world.
"Really now," Mio sighed, knocking Sora's fist away with a flick of her fan, "What do you want me to call you? Sora is your name, isn't it?"
"Yes, but you can't add the chan! I'm a boy, God damn it! A man! And so are you!" He screamed, pointing an accusing finger at Mio. "So stop dressing like this! It's disgusting!"
"No. You spit when you yell. That's disgusting." Mio grimaced, wiping her cheek dry. Sora stuck out his tongue and blew, making spittle fly and forcing Mio to raise her fan to protect her face. Narrowing her eyes dangerously at the now grinning boy she snapped her fan closed and ran at him, coming in low on his left side –his weaker side. She slipped behind him, seemingly disappearing from sight as she did so.
She swept her leg out and made as if to trip him, watching as he predictably flipped backwards with a smirk on her face. One of her long and thin needles slipped effortlessly out of her sleeve and into her waiting hand, and she stabbed upwards with it, slipping it into the boy's braid and jerking out, pulling out the hair tie that had held it together.
Sora stopped himself mid flip with one hand, twisting towards the thief with amazing balance and dexterity and a murderous look in his eyes.
Blocking the kick he sent her way Mio jumped back, holding the hair tie high back above her head with one hand while she held the other out in front of her to hold off the boy. "Now Sora-chan," She scolded, "You need to watch your temper and share. Being too stingy and selfish is a huge turnoff."
He gritted his teeth, his unraveled hair hanging down to brush his thighs, the strands quivering with his rage. "Why the hell would I care if I turned you on?"
"Now now, I never said that. And Honey," She said, dismissing and belittling him with a look and an amused tone, "Trust me when I say that you'd have to work a hell of a lot harder to even grab my attention. After all, I do have standards."
"WHAT?!"
"I mean you're cute and all, Sora-chan, but you need more in life than just sweet looks." Sora gaped at her before his face contorted with uncontrollable rage.
"I. Am. Not. Cute." He bit out, "And my name isn't SORA-CHAN!" He screamed, moving quickly and throwing a punch, the anger it carried sure to break a few bones. Mio narrowed her eyes and threw a punch of her own, both fighters putting all of their feelings into their fists.
"That." Kori said, finishing the final page of the book and snapping it closed.
"Is." She pushed off of the boulder, moving faster than any mortal could ever dare attempt to see, dashing to her two teammates with narrowed eyes and gritted teeth.
"ENOUGH!" She shouted, stopping each of their fists with her immovable iron hands.
She tightened her grip fractionally and twisted, making them both flip and fall to the ground on their backs and knocking the wind out of the both of them.
She put her hands on her hips and glared down at the now repentant pair. "What the hell do you think you two are doing? We are on a mission, one where you are being a serious threat to the dignity of the name of the Konoha Leaf ninja. What if we had been in the middle of a town with witnesses, or even with civilians that could have gotten hurt in the ensuing fight? What would you two have done? And what if Lee-Sensei were here and not with his wife on her sickbed?" The two sighed and got up, dusting themselves off as they saw the truth of what she said.
"Mio, give Sora back his hair tie." Mio looked around for it, unable to find the item. She smiled sweetly at the blonde, wondering if she was going to kill her. The words on her headstone would be pretty pathetic if she did:
Tsubaki Mio.
Beloved child and friend.
Will always be missed.
Like how she missed the hair tie that could have saved her life.
"Sorry, but I think it must have gotten lost in that whole little scuffle." Kori sighed and rubbed her forehead while Sora bemoaned his fate. It was going to take forever to get all of the tangles he would get on the way home out of his hair, and that had been his last spare since he knew Mio had been stealing them from him. He just had to catch her doing it.
Kori sighed at the boy and pulled her own ponytail holder from her hair, letting her hair tumble free around her shoulders. "Here." She sighed, passing it to the boy as she tried to figure out how they could get home without another one of these time wasting and headache causing arguments. He gratefully took it and moved to the vacated boulder to sit down and braid his hair, his nimble fingers quick as he went through the familiar and soothing motions.
Kori stopped her pacing suddenly as a terrible thought occurred to her. She dug in her bag and pulled out the map that they had declared useless at the beginning of the mission -after all, what kind of ninja needed maps?
Apparently, their kind of ninja.
"God." Kori groaned, clutching the offending document in her hand and then raising her fist to hit her head as if that would beat some sense into her stupid brain.
"What?" Mio asked, concerned over how Kori was reacting. She had never gotten this upset over one of their arguments before, and there had been a lot worse before. "What's wrong? Is it the hair tie? Do you want me to search for it some more?" Kori shook her head and groaned again.
Sora came over, his hair now perfectly groomed, and looked at his team leader concerned. "Kori? What is it?"
"We're going the wrong way." The two blinked at her, dumbstruck.
"What?!"
"The wrong way! We're supposed to go the other direction." Mio groaned and covered her face with her hands -though she made sure not to mess up her makeup.
"This sets us behind an entire day! Our first solo mission and we're going to be late!" Kori hit her forehead again.
"God, we suck." Sora growled. Kori suddenly jumped at him and clutched his shirt desperately. "No. We do not. We are going to go and we are going to make it and you will not fight no matter what. Do you under stand me?" He nodded and she turned her white glare over to Mio, narrowing her eyes threateningly.
"And you? Do you understand me?" Mio nodded, saluting the girl. "Yes Ma'am!"
She nodded and turned, dashing off in the correct direction and trusting her team to keep up with her rigorous pace as only they could do.
I made sure to show Kori's stronger side in this one because I wasn't able to show all of her character before. She's used to fighting because of Leo and Yuki, so these two don't really bother her when they fight, but it does get a bit tiresome at times.
And yes, Mio and Sora are actually -somewhat- friends. I guess the way to explain it is that they trust their lives with each other and know they can always depend on one another. They just have a lot of fun when they fight. (And I'll be looking more in depth into this relationship because I love it)
And instead of Mio being into girls (I say lesbian in my head, but I guess it would be straight since she's technically a he), She's bisexual. I like this better, so I'm keeping it.
Oh, and guess who got her driving permit? This girl right here did! Though I'm not to be trusted on actual road yet. (We tried that today. I don't think my father has completely recovered yet)
Love you all! Stay off the Kentucky rural roads if you wish to survive to read the next chapter! (Because I can give you no assurances)