The next day Kate woke up early, so early in fact that everyone else was still asleep. The first thing she was aware of, as she opened her eyes, was a heavy warmth surrounding her hand. Glancing to her left hand, she was shocked into a jolting motion. There was Sasuke, sleeping right next to her, his hand gently covering hers. Kate honestly didn't know what to do or how to react. A good part of her felt like having a good old fashioned fan-girl squeal at having the Uchiha Sasuke holding her hand willingly, but the other part paused. She'd never seen him, never imagined him, this soft and relaxed. She smiled. Forget fan girl ways, she thought, I'm going to live in this world as it is and look at the people as they are. Sasuke, she sighed mentally, enjoy the quiet while we have it.
Soon after she fell back to sleep, enjoying the warmth in the center of her palm and the feeling of safety that accompanied it.
The next time she woke up, it was to the noise of Karin and Suigetsu quarreling while the group got ready for breakfast. Kate sat up and rubbed her eyes, while sneakily peaking at Sasuke.
"What are you staring at?" Karin snapped at her.
"What?" Kate stuttered. She had thought she'd been subtle but then again, she was in a room full of ninjas...
"Get up, and fold up your tatami mat."
"Um, my what?"
"Your bed roll, you idiot!"
"Oh!"
By the time Kate had folded her bed roll and breakfast had arrived by way of a small woman in a kimono from downstairs, Kate was red in the face with embarrassment. Ugh! She thought, this whole handholding ordeal has left me so girly around Sasuke! I must get this out of my mind! But how? HOW? She franticly looked around the room and noticed that breakfast was rice with eggs and some other things she was unfamiliar with. RICE! She thought. And proceeded to eat her morning crush away.
Sasuke woke up feeling wonderful. Which wasn't good. It meant his guard was down. Which meant he could be dead any second. He instantly went on the defensive and put all of his senses to work, figuring out why he was feeling so unguarded. No, it wasn't where he was, he distinctly felt the chakra of his team, Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu. No, his sword wasn't missing, it was right there by his side. No, he wasn't in a genjutsu, he'd feel the chakra signature. But... what was that tingle in his hand? That warmth? He cracked an eye open to see a hand in his. And it all came back to him.
Keito.
He quickly withdrew his hand while surveying the room. Everyone else was asleep. Good. No one needed to know of his weakness. His unguarded state. Mostly anyone in this room. As a ninja those closest to you were always those you kept nearest and farthest as well. It was an unspoken rule.
Looking back at her, he hated to wake everyone, most of all her, but he knew he needed to. Today was going to be an important day.
Sasuke woke everyone up and everyone got moving. By the time breakfast came around, everthing was moving smoothly except for Keito blushing around him. It frustrated him to no end. Had Karin done something to her? They were acting like twins now. Then, came the rice incident. The maid came in with the breakfast he'd had ordered for everyone and as soon as Keito saw the rice she dove for it, sitting down promptly and digging into it like she hadn't eaten in days. The room fell silent and watched as she finished her bowl of rice and two eggs so fast she made Suigestu sick just watching her. "You have some on your face." Sasuke had said to her, and all she did in reply is "meep" and blush so red she looked like a beet. Breakfast grew quiet after that.
And that led to now.
Now, Sasuke sat wondering how he could do this, but knew he had to.
"Sasuke," Suigestu called to him quietly, "what's today's agenda?"
"Today, we test Keito." Sasuke spoke calmly.
"T-test?" Keito stuttered out.
"Yes. You need to prove your worth. If you're not worthwhile you'll be thrown away. Yesterday, I received word of a group of missing-nins in a province North of here. There are 12 of them. Thirteen if you include the animal user's canine partner. Our goal for today is to kill all of them. Keito, your goal is to kill three. If you fail, you forfeit either your place on this team or your own life. It depends on how you do. Do I make myself clear?" Sasuke spoke calmly. He looked at Keito, who looked calm, but anxious.
"Yes, Sasuke." She said. "Very. Will I be given any weapons?"
"Are you proficient in any?"
"I like kitchen knives." She said calmly. "But other than that, I don't know anything."
"Then we'll get you some knives."
And with that, the day began.
After having packed their weapons and gotten ready from the inn, they left. Kate walked towards the back of the group as they walked into the town around the building. It was a large down, but not large enough to be considered a city. After walking past different shops and stands for what felt like a good 30 minutes they finally came upon a small stand that had weapons. Small knives all the way up to katanas and long swords and bows with arrows. Sasuke stopped at the stand for a few minutes and then called Kate over. Kate walked over hesitantly but then skipped over the last few steps.
"Yes?" She asked.
"How about this?" Sasuke asked. He held out his hand that was holding a knife that was around 10 inches long with a 4 ½ in handle. It was simple and came with a simple leather holster that would wrap around her hips. Kate could hardly contain her excitement.
"Perfect." She told him, eyes shining.
"Hn." He answered back, and turned back to the vendor to buy it. Soon, the knife was in it holster around Kate's hip and Kate was in Juugo's arms, being carried to their destination. Kate decided that while hopping from tree to tree looked clean and easy in the show and comic, it wasn't quite so comfortable and natural in real life. There was a lot of zig zagging and leaping and near missing of branches and all sorts of things going on. Plus everyone was traveling on chakra, so it was hard on the body. After Sasuke's decision that she was going to be tested came up, Kate was terrified. She didn't know anything about ninjas or kung fu. Hell, she didn't even know how to land a punch or kick on someone. And she'd already been raped once in her life and had to go through therapy to get over that. She wasn't going to relive feeling helpless again. Never again, she decided. She wasn't worthless. So she agreed. She wasn't going to run away. She felt safe with Sasuke and his team. She was part of Team Hawk. And it was going to stay that way. Even if she had to kill three missing-nin men with her knife.
The up down over and under of the whole tree-leaping fiasco was getting to her stomach. She hoped the stopped soon... soon, she'd have to kill those men, and earn her place among the ninja.
