I'M BACK! Yes I got my comp fixed (sort of) so I am back to writing the fic. So here is the long awaited ch. 6
Much love and enjoy.
Chapter Six
Kohana cracked her eyes open and was immediately reward with a beam of sunlight shining directly across her face. With a moan and some dark grumbling she rolled over in the bed. Hang on, she thought, this isn't my bed in the inn. She shot awake instantly and sat up. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she looked around the room to try and identify where she was. As everything came into focus she found that she recognised the room.
It was Gaaras.
How did she end up in here though? Last thing she remembered was Gaara talking about a student he once had whilst she was sitting on the couch. She must've have fallen asleep. They had stayed up late whilst Kohana had talked about her childhood and her training and Gaara had talked about his more happier memories. She stretched out her arms, hearing joints pop in a satisfying way, then threw back the blanket. Swinging her feet out she stood up and walked out the door. As soon as she hit the hallway a delicious scent hit her nose, making her stomach rumbled loudly. Following her nose she padded her way to the kitchen. Gaara stepped out of the kitchen just as Kohana was about to enter and they almost collided with each other.
"Sorry." Kohana said with a sleepy, sheepish grin, "I wasn't really paying attention to what was in front of me."
"It's alright; I was coming to wake you. These... these are for you." Gaara offered her the plate that he had in his hands. Sitting on top was a pile of pancakes, the source of the delicious smell that had drawn her to the kitchen, topped with a drizzling of honey. Gleefully Kohana took the plate with a grin and took a deep sniff.
"Thank you." she said.
They heard footsteps and a zombie-walking Naruto with mussed blond hair and half closed eyes shuffled over to them, his own nose taking a deep sniff of Kohana's pancakes. She moved her plate out of reach as Naruto tried to take the top one off the stack.
"Mine." she said in a grumpy little voice. Naruto's bottom lip stuck out in a pout as he was denied Kohana's pancakes. Gaara just grabbed his shoulders and steered him into the kitchen where another plate with a stack of pancakes waited.
"These ones are yours." he said, amused.
Naruto's pout disappeared to be replaced with a grin as he sat down on the stool that was in front of the kitchen bench where his pancakes sat and immediately started to gobble them down. Kohana walked in and sat on the stool on the opposite of the bench and started to consume her own breakfast. When he was done Naruto gave a loud burp and stretched his arms over his head, eyeing off the last of Kohana's pancakes as she finished up. Deliberately she stuffed the last bite of her pancake into her mouth, leaving nothing for Naruto to scavenge off her plate.
"Those were fantastic," Kohana said giving her own arms and back another stretch, "did you make those yourself?"
Gaara nodded as he rested a mug of tea on the bench and cleared away their plates, "Yes. Temari used to do all the cooking before she moved out. She taught me how to make a few things so that I could eat 'real food' as she put it."
"Did you sleep here last night?" Naruto suddenly asked Kohana.
"Apparently so. I woke up in Gaara's bed." Naruto's eyebrows shot up, "Alone." Kohana finished, shooting Naruto a quick glare.
"Then where did you sleep?" Naruto asked Gaara, twisting around to look at him.
Gaara picked up the mug that he had rested on the bench and took a sip of the drink, "I slept in Kankuro's bed. He is away on a mission at the moment so I took advantage of that."
Naruto wrinkled his nose, "Kankuro's room smells funny."
Gaara finished off his drink and placed his mug in the sink, "I doubt yours smells any better." he said.
A snort of laughter escaped from Kohana. Naruto turned to her.
"And I suppose your room smells like roses?" he asked, a grin hanging from the corner of his mouth.
She gave a wide smug grin of her own, "Lavender actually, I keep a potted plant of it in my room back home."
Naruto just scratched the top of his head, "Damn." he muttered, "I can't really keep any plants, I always forget to water them so they end up dying."
Kohana giggled again as a knock sound on the door. Gaara left the kitchen to find out who it was. A few moments later he returned, Kuro in tow. The crow demon gave a grin at the sleep mussed pair sitting on the stools as they gave him a wave of greeting.
"I have come to collect Kohana. Sensei wants to talk to you." He said.
Kohana gave a grimace as she looked down at the rumpled clothes that she was wearing yesterday, "Hmm, I should probably get dressed whilst I'm there as well." she jumped off the stool, "Well, thank you for breakfast. I'll drop by later." She gave the two boys a cheery wave before hooking her arm through Kuro's.
"Good bye." Gaara said.
"See ya." Naruto added, resting his cheek in his hand and giving an absent wave with his other hand.
Back at the inn Kohana quickly showered and changed before going downstairs to the dining room to sit with Azami who was finishing up her own breakfast with Grey. Patiently she waited for her Sensei to finish. A few minutes later Azami put down her cutlery and pushed her plate away, turning her attention to Kohana and Kuro.
"I want to stay here for a few days." She said resting her chin atop her folded hands, "I want to visit their hospital and learn whatever new techniques they might have developed. The fact that someone had managed to come up with a technique to restore life to the dead leaves me curious as to what else they may have discovered. Would this be alright for you two?"
Kohana and Kuro looked at each other for a moment before nodding.
"I don't mind staying for a bit longer Sensei." Kohana said.
"It would give Jet a few more days to recover from the frantic flight up here." Kuro added.
Azami smiled, "Excellent. Another thing, Kohana I need to see the Kazekage and I have no wish to battle my way through his PA again just to get an appointment to see him."
Grey's shoulders started to shake as he silently laughed whilst consuming his large plate of bacon and sausages. Azami just rolled her eyes and shot a quick glare at him.
"When could you get me in?" she asked Kohana.
"Well we could go now if you want." Kohana said with a slight shrug of her shoulders.
Azami gave a little clap, "Perfect. Grey hurry up and finish your food."
Like the wolf he was Grey polished off his plate at top speed. When he was finished he licked his lips.
"I was trying to eat politely." He said.
"Thank you." Azami said with a small smile as she stood up, "Well let's go."
With a scraping of chairs they all stood up and left the dining room of the inn. Ten minutes later Kohana was knocking on the front door of Gaara's house. Gaara opened the door and waved them inside and into the lounge room. Naruto was sprawled out on the floor with a book, his hair still wet from the shower he had. Azami and Grey settled on the couch whilst Kohana and Kuro settled themselves on the floor next to Naruto whom had closed his book when they walked in. Kohana flashed a grin at Gaara as he sat down in his usual armchair and gave an inquiring look at Azami and Grey.
"Sensei didn't want to have to go through your PA to see you." Kohana said.
Gaara massaged the bridge of his nose as Naruto sat up.
"You have a PA?" Naruto asked, surprised.
"Yes." Gaara's voice was slightly muffled from his hand, "Not by my choice, mind you. She was assigned to me by the council. I make special effort to avoid her when I can." He couldn't keep the note of exasperation and disgust from his voice.
The three on the floor started to chuckle. Azami just threw them all a dirty look before turning to Gaara.
"I just wanted your permission to study some of the healing techniques that are employed in your hospital and by your medical ninja's."
A thoughtful look crossed his face as he considered the request.
"The methods used by the normal doctors can be easily studied at the medical school." he replied after a moment, "I believe they will be happy to show you anything you want, just be prepared for them to ask the same of you. As for the chakra techniques used by our medical shinobi, that is a different matter." He gave a slight frown, "That will have to be put forth to the council for consideration." He spread his hands in apology, "You have to understand that we shinobi have techniques that are unique to our village and as such we guard those closely. If another village would get hold of any of those techniques they can be turned against us."
Azami inclined her head, "I understand. Would it help my case if I offered to teach some of the techniques that we have at home?"
"It might. I will let them know of your offer."
"Thank you." Azami said as she stood up, "Come now Kohana, the holiday is over it's time to go back to your studies. You can come with me and learn what I learn."
Kohana gave a groan as she climbed to her feet. Grey stood up and hauled Kuro bodily to his feet by grabbing the back of his shirt and lifting.
"You too crow." he said, "Your fighting form as a human is still sloppy. You need more training."
Kuro's shoulders slumped but he stayed standing. Naruto's attention perked up at the word 'training'.
"You train?" he asked the demons.
Both Grey and Kuro nodded.
"It is so that we can protect our partner in any situation as best as possible." Grey said as he turned to Gaara, "Speaking of which, do you have a training field we can use?"
Gaara nodded and Naruto chirped up, "I can show them!" He looked over at Gaara for confirmation. Gaara gave another nod.
"That would be helpful considering I have to go into the office."
With a wide sunny smile Naruto scrambled to his feet, "Hang on a minute." And with that he scrabbled off to the spare room. Ten seconds later he returned, fastening a pouch to his right thigh. "Ok, let's go" he said grabbing Kuro by arm and dragging him out the front door. Grey followed, an amused expression on his face. Kohana watched them go with a little giggle before Azami hooked her by the arm.
"Come along, o' student of mine. We have our own work to do."
Kohana gave a grimace, "Fine."
The side of Azami's mouth twitched up in a smile, "If you could give us directions to the medical school?"
After obtaining directions the two women left the house. Twenty minutes and a wrong turn later they arrived at a two storey building that, like the rest of the village, was the colour of sand. A sign above the door announced that they had reached their destination.
"It's not very big." Kohana commented looking up at it.
"Likely they do most of their teaching at the hospital, like we do at home." Azami replied walking forward.
She entered the building with Kohana behind her. Inside was a spacious room with a receptionist at one end. They made their way across the floor and over to the woman on duty. She looked up from the book she was reading and gave them both a warm smile.
"How can I help you? Are you looking to enrol?"
They shook their heads and Azami explained what she wanted. The receptionist pursed her lips in thought.
"Hmmm, most of the classes are at the hospital today." she clicked her fingers, "But Sensei Soji is in his office at the moment. He doesn't have a class until later this afternoon, so he should be free to talk. Just go up the stairs and it's the last door on the right."
"Thank you." Azami said.
Minutes later they were knocking on the dark wood door.
"Come in." A deep rich voice said.
Opening the door Azami stepped in followed by Kohana. Sensei Soji looked up from his desk where he was working. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were a dark green-brown with skin that was dark golden tan colour. His eyebrows shot up a bit at the sight of the two women.
"How can I help you?" He asked gesturing to the seats in front of his desk.
They sat down as Azami introduced herself and her student and explained what she was after. Soji listened to her with interest, absently nodding his head every so often.
"Well," he said when she had finished, "I'll be happy to let you two sit in with my class this afternoon and observe if you wish." he gave a wide smile, "I would be curious to hear how our teaching methods might differ."
"Oh, I imagine they wouldn't differ that much, especially the basics." Azami replied with a wave of her hand.
As he and Azami launched into a discussion about training techniques Kohana let her mind wonder. This wasn't exactly her idea of fun so she just let her thoughts drift about aimlessly. But inevitably her thoughts wandered to Gaara and what he was doing at that moment. She thought about breakfast that morning and the fact that he made her breakfast. A smile crept over her face, it may have only just been pancakes but she thought the gesture extremely sweet. Her smile started to grow silly as she thought about what she could do with pancakes, honey and a very naked Gaara.
A tap on her shoulder bought Kohana out of thoughts with a start. She looked Azami with wide-eyed surprise. Both Azami and Soji were looking at her expressions of deep amusement.
"You really should've have seen your face." Azami said to her student, "it looked like you were thinking some happy thoughts."
"No doubt she was thinking of the same thing that most of the young women in this village think of, our young Kazekage Gaara." Soji added.
Kohana flushed a bright hot red and sunk down into her chair a little bit as Sensei Soji hit the nail on the head. He looked like he was suppressing a laugh. Azami had no such control and was openly laughing at her students' embarrassment. Kohana sunk a little further and struggled to get her blush under control as Azami calmed down enough to continue talking to Soji. This time Kohana paid attention to what they were saying.
She hated to get teased and she was damned if she was going to let Sensei get another opportunity to do so. Even if it did mean having to listen to this conversation.
***
Naruto watched in interest as the two demons did stretches to warm up their bodies. Once they had finished Grey gave a grin and crouched down. With slow deliberate steps he started to circle around Kuro. Kuro followed his movements carefully his body ready to move at the slightest action.
Suddenly Grey lunged at him, charging right for him. With one smooth movement Kuro jumped up and over allowing Grey to pass underneath. Grey instantly slid to a stop and in one quick movement turned and leapt up landing right on top of Kuro. They grappled with each other for a few moments before Kuro kicked Grey off, sending him sprawling on the sandy ground. He bought his foot up in time to catch Kuro as he was about to slam him, and toss him over his head before jumping back to his feet. Kuro hit the ground with his hands and rolled forward coming up to his feet only to get tackled from behind by Grey.
With an 'oof' Kuro went down with Grey on his back pinning him down. With some effort Kuro managed to get his feet underneath himself and with a grunt pushed up, letting Grey fall forward over his shoulder and to the ground. Quickly he stood up and jumped back to put some distance between them and crouched into a defensive posture, waiting for Grey to make the next move.
Grey got to his feet in one smooth move and gave a toothy grin at Kuro, looking in that moment every inch the wolf he was. Again, he suddenly lunged at Kuro. Like the first time, Kuro again jumped up, but Grey twisted and grabbed one of his feet bringing him sharply back to the ground. Shaking his head a bit Kuro tucked his arms in and rolled, making it difficult for Grey to keep a hold. As soon as he was free he got to his feet and leaped for Grey. But the Grey reacted quickly and simply ducked, letting Kuro go overhead. But something flashed from Kuro's hand as he passed over and imbedded itself into Grey's back, causing a slight quiet hiss.
Kuro landed on his hands and rolled over his shoulder to absorb the impact before springing to his feet and grinning at Grey.
"Gotcha." he said triumphantly.
Grey just gave a grunt as he reached over his shoulder and pulled the object out of his flesh. The wound healed as soon as the thing was removed.
Naruto, meanwhile, had watched the entire thing from the sidelines with open-mouthed fascination. They were so fast. The entire fight hadn't even lasted ten minutes. The glint of metal in Grey's hand drew his attention.
"What is that?" he asked pointing at Grey's hand.
Grey looked over at Naruto, a bit surprised, he had forgotten the Jinchuriki was there. With a flick of his wrist the object imbedded itself in the post next to Naruto. Naruto yanked it out and examined it. It was metal, about the length of his first finger and shaped like the petal of a daisy. Turning it over in his hands he could see that the entire edge was sharpened to razor sharpness. His eyebrows lifted, he had never seen any weapon like this before.
"Can I keep it?" He asked.
Grey pulled off his shirt and poked a finger through the hole that was now in the shoulder.
"Tell you what," he said as he wiggled the finger in the hole, seeing just how big it was, "why don't you have a match with Kuro. You win, you get to keep it."
"And if I lose?" Naruto asked, a little eagerly.
Grey gave a shrug, "You don't keep it. You give it back to Kuro."
"Done!" Naruto said, "What are the rules?"
Kuro walked over to Naruto pulling off his own shirt with a grin, "Anything goes, first to draw blood wins."
He dropped his shirt onto the ground next to the post. Naruto noticed that Kuro had a belt around his hips with more of the petal-shaped blades tucked into individual slots. Grey pulled a brief face as he joined them at the post. He should have thought to take his shirt off before the match, Azami always got quite irate whenever he ripped or cut his clothes during training. Which was fair because she was the one who did all the repairing when they were on the road. He had offered to repair a shirt of his once only to get a glare and some dark muttering about how he would only end up with more rips and tears and that mere men shouldn't be trusted with such a delicate and precise operation. He flopped himself down on the ground in the meagre shade that the post offered and shrugged his shirt back on as Naruto and Kuro moved out onto the training field.
"Begin." Grey said.
Naruto began by throwing three shuriken straight off. Quickly, and with a bit of surprise at Naruto's reflexes, Kuro twisted to the side slapping the stars away from him. Naruto followed up his initial attack by charging at the crow and swiping at him with a kunai. Kuro caught his hand and twisted it behind his back to avoid the punch that Naruto was aiming with his other fist. Naruto twisted himself out of Kuro's hold and was put on the defensive blocking and redirecting Kuro's attacks. Finally he dropped to the ground to deliver a ground sweeping kick, sending Kuro to the ground.
Grey just grinned. He could see that Kuro was a little off balance now that he was fighting with a real human warrior. One who's fighting style differed greatly from any of the humans back at home.
Naruto's hands moved as he quickly formed the signs for his shadow clone jutsu. Kuro got a look of disgust as four more Naruto's appeared and all five charged him. He crossed his arms in front of him and a shield of blue-black chakra snapped up around him. All five Naruto's slammed into it, four of them disappearing in puffs of clouds. The chakra shield dissolved as Naruto picked himself up off the ground, that was the last thing he was expecting.
"That's cheating." he said feebly, a little dazed from his collision.
Kuro just gave him a look, "and five against one isn't?"
"Anything goes."
"Exactly." Kuro gave a grin, "shall we continue?"
Naruto held up his kunai and gave a grin of his own that mirrored Kuro's.
"Let's go."
This time Naruto took a defensive crouch and waited for Kuro to make a move. Kuro started to step backwards putting distance between himself and Naruto. When he was several metres away he stopped. Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Suddenly Kuro burst into a sprint straight for him. At about three metres in front of Naruto he leapt into the air and straight over the top of Naruto, three glints of metal showed that he was pulling the same trick that he had done to Grey. The petal blades all hit Naruto only to have him disappear in a puff of smoke leaving a log with the blades imbedded in it.
On the sidelines Grey burst out with laughter.
Kuro landed, rolled and was back on his feet all in one smooth movement. He walked over and kicked the log, twisting his torso to the side as a shuriken whizzed past. In a childish gesture Kuro poked his tongue out at Naruto.
"Missed." he taunted.
Naruto pointed to the log, "You missed first."
Kuro's only response was to throw one of his petal blades which Naruto deflected using a kunai. Kuro charged at him and punched. Naruto blocked and countered with a punch of his own. They continued to trade blows, blocking and deflecting each others moves.
Grey studied both the boys as they fought and he had to admit that the human was good. Naruto had reflexes and stamina that spoke of long hours training and years of experience, not just the influence of the demon housed within. Whilst Kuro had training and the added benefit of being a demon, he had no real experience in proper battle. This made for an interesting match between to two.
They pulled apart for a moment, each one breathing a little heavier. Naruto's hands flew as he performed a jutsu. Suddenly, instead of five, there was at least a hundred Naruto's. Kuro gave a curse as he quickly called up his chakra shield. Again the Naruto's all slammed into it, the clones disappearing into puffs. Once they were gone Kuro was left with just one Naruto standing in front of him. Kuro gave grin, so he had learnt not to throw his actual self into the shield. He allowed the shield to dissolve, but instead of fading it collected around his right arm to form a vague wing shape. Throwing his arm out in front of him, the chakra 'feathers' extended rapidly to slice through Naruto's arm.
Only to have him disappear in a puff leaving a surprised Kuro to whip around a fraction too late. The shuriken whizzed past, scoring a cut on his cheek as he bought his arm up to deflect it.
"Gotcha!" Naruto yelled triumphantly.
Grey stood up and walked over to the pair.
"Very well done." He said holding out the petal blade. Naruto opened his hand as Grey dropped it in.
Kuro wiped off the blood off his cheek with the back of his hand, the cut already healed, before running his hand through his hair.
"That was tough." He suddenly grinned, "but fun. We have to do that again sometime."
"Defiantly."
A slow clapping drew their attention to the side of the training field. A woman was walking over to them, with blue eyes and her short blonde hair tied up into four bunches. Naruto gave a wave.
"Hi Temari."
Temari gave a wave as she up to them. "Hello Naruto."
"Did you see the fight?" Naruto asked.
"I caught the last of it, very impressive. But I came here because I wanted you to do me a favour."
Naruto gave a shrug, "Sure."
Temari pulled a folded piece of paper from her pouch, "Could you give this to Shikamaru when you get home?"
"Yeah, sure." Naruto said as he took the letter, turning it over as he peered at it, curious. Temari wasn't really the letter giving type. "What's it about?"
Temari went a light shade of pink, "Nothing really."
Naruto gave her a suspicious look. Kuro looked at her, curious despite himself. Temari finally threw up her hands.
"Oh fine, he will tell you anyway so you might as well know. I'm pregnant."
A slow grin crossed over Naruto's face, "And Shikamaru is..."
"Of course." Temari said rolling her eyes.
Naruto grabbed her in a bone breaking hug, "Congratulations! We have to celebrate!"
"Erk, no, I would rather you didn't..." Temari said as the breath was all but squeezed out of her by Naruto. But Naruto wasn't listening to her.
"We'll all go out, you, me, Gaara, Kankuro, even Kuro and Kohana and Grey and Azami." Naruto babbled.
"Yeah!" Kuro said enthusiastically. Temari shot him a look.
"Your not helping." she said as she detangled from Naruto.
"Let's go find Kankuro and Gaara and tell them." Kuro said, really excited now.
"Yeah let's go now!" Naruto took off over the fields with Kuro following close behind.
"Wait! No!" Temari yelled taking off after them.
Grey gave a shake of his head but he was smiling. He set off on a slow leisurely walk back to the inn to wait for Azami collecting Kuro's forgotten shirt as he left.
