To Ease the Pain Chapter 8: Nonstop, a naruto fanfic

Dropping the dishes with a clang, I stalked over to the grouping of lighted tents with the confused gazes of the sensei following me closely. As I came closer, most of the genin were sitting outside their tents, putting off retiring for the night as long as possible.

"Which tent's mine?" I mumbled, glancing at each of the shinobi postponing sleep; each one of them were staring at me, none of them bringing up the nerve to ask what had happened even though it was obvious that they wanted to by their facial expressions.

"What the hell happened to you?" Hiro asked, raising a questioning eyebrow. Staring angrily at the ground, I trudged over to Hiro, balling my fists up in the front of his shirt. His eyes widened as he had asked, not realizing how much he really should have just kept his damn mouth shut. Lifting him to my eye level, I glared at him and tried to keep my voice under control.

"I said, which tent is mine; don't make me repeat myself again," I hissed. Hiro only glared back, but there was a glimmer of fear in his eyes as he glowered, resilience blending in his other emotions.

"Over here Kyoko!" Mai called, gesturing me over to a tent at the far end. Dropping Hiro, I ducked into the tent, the smell of old pine and dirt filling my head. Mai glanced over at my dirt-coated figure and pulled a few stray leaves from my hair before handing me my travelling bag.

"Thank you," I sighed, searching through my bag for the weapons holster I had left behind. Many different textures passed my palm as I searched deeper inside my bag, still having no luck with finding the holster.

"No problem," Mai grinned, returning to reclining on her sleeping bag and contorting something in her hand, "I grabbed this tent while you were out cleaning the plates. How did that go by the way? Looks like it went down the shitter pretty quickly…" she murmured, pointing to her own hair where yet another leaf refused to stop ruffling in front of my face.

"Damn Uchiha…I fell in the river and broke a plate," I mumbled, showing her my marred palm. She took it gingerly setting down the molded material, only to drop my hand quickly.

"Ouch," she exclaimed, rubbing her bare palm. Shaking my head, I sighed again as Mai returned to molding the substance in her hand. Finally finding my holster, I withdrew my roll of pale wool gauze and bound the still leaking would, staining the white crimson.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I apologized, balling up my hands into fists causing blood to rush out in a short spurt onto the gauze.

"I would be pissed too," Mai sympathized, "That river's cold." Falling back onto my soft sleeping bag, I brought my hands over my eyes, the gauze rubbing against my skin coarsely. Allowing my hands to fall back from my head, I glanced over at my friend.

"What are you doing?" I asked Mai, who was intently focusing on whatever was in her palm.

"New jutsu," she stated, moving her fingers more delicately. Glancing closer, I watched for a minute as she contorted the white material, focusing on something about the shape of the matter. She finally placed the folded paper on the floor of the tent, moving her fingertips carefully as if directing the crawling item.

"What the hell is it?" I wondered, leaning in closer to examine the thing more thoroughly. Tiny creases in the paper created moving joints while short expanses of paper created a small body; Mai's novice to this jutsu was hardly obvious.

Mai smirked as the animal scuttled about the tent floor, searching with miniscule alabaster claws that scratched lightly on the canvas floor. The folded animal finally found the door and slipped in between the flaps to reach the airy outdoors.

"It's supposed to be a mouse," she huffed, pressing one hand to the ground, the other into a number of hand seals. The scuttles of the tiny creature in between the sun dried leaves could still be heard faintly just outside the tent.

"And it does what?" I asked, falling back onto my sleeping bag with a plush whoosh. Mai created one last hand seal, her hands frozen for a moment. An enormous crash echoed out in the clearing outside the tent, along with the screams of many shinobi and kunoichi. As I propped myself on my elbows, warm air carrying shreds of paper rushed into the tent brushing my blonde hair out of my face from the force of the explosion.

"It blows shit up," she smirked, dropping her hand seal, "They seriously would not shut up about not wanting to go to sleep. Now they'll definitely be awake for a while." Laughter bubbled out of my mouth as I clutched my sides, glancing back at a giggling Mai.

"Who taught you how to explode shit like that?" I exclaimed.

"Itaru taught me," She giggled, molding more crumbled paper in her hands as I picked up my towel and soap, preparing to go wash.

"I'll be back in a bit; I'm gonna go wash off. You need anything?"

"Nope but thanks anyways," Mai replied, resting the paper on the floor and gazing at the nondescript roof of the tent.

Without another word, I ducked out of the tent and back into the area where all of the shinobi were still encouraging insomnia now because there was a large crater in the center of them. All of their appearances were utterly disheveled and askew, some of them having bits of the paper mouse in their hair or on their clothes. I swept past them quickly, laughing lightly under my breath as I went. A few low strings of curses emitted from a select few of them as I left, their confusion not be cleared at all from my laughter.

Two jounin sat about the fire pit still, two excluding Rika and Kakashi, talking and chattering with each other. I slipped past them silently, hoping not to alert them of my disappearance. My efforts were thwarted with a rush of silver that swept in front of my vision as I was swiftly stopped by a tight grip on my shoulder.

"Kyoko? Where are you going?" Rika questioned, grasping my shoulder with a bit more force. Twisting around, I glanced up at her.

"Shower," I muttered, ripping away from her grip. Rika only pulled me back as she gave me a bright grin.

"You need to come with me to training," she beamed, dragging me in the direction of the training session.

"But I hate this damn training. And anyways, we've been walking all day. So just let me go take a shower and go to bed," I mumbled, trying to pull free of Rika's iron like grip. Rika only dragged me with more strength, my feet leaving lengthy, shallow trails in the dirt.

"Now come on Kyoko. Sasuke agreed to train tonight!"

"Well, Sasuke will do anything to get his ass kicked or piss me off," I hissed, "With this training, he gets both." Rika only continued on, ignoring my complaints as she dragged me off.

"So all that matters is what Uchiha agrees to? What about what I agree to?" I protested, seeing brute force would help me in no such way.

"You don't agree to anything we ask you to do!" Rika told me, grinning as she finally stopped, plopping me down on the ground with my towel and soap still clutched to my chest. Muttering curses under my breath, I stood, Uchiha only a few feet before me with Kakashi to his right reading from a small orange book. With his arms crossed over his navy clad chest, Sasuke stared at me quizzically, raising an eyebrow at my cleaning supplies.

"What, never seen someone forcibly dragged to training before?" I snarled, tossing my items to the side where they clunked at the roots of a tree. "So what are we doing?" All three shinobi gazed at me, two of the gazes a dark brown, the other a coal black.

"You will be climbing trees," Kakashi stated, pushing his orange book into a pocket. Both Sasuke and I sent him bewildered glances and odd glowers. His one eye glanced over us casually before he continued to explain, "You have to climb the tree without using your hands."

"How are we supposed to do that? From what I know, gravity applies to everyone," Sasuke questioned, his voice straight and monotone even with the added sarcasm. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, approaching the tree closest to him.

I watched Kakashi intently as he resided his hands in his pockets, placing his first foot on the taupe bark. My vision followed Kakashi as he placed his next foot down on the bark, taking solid and pinpoint steps vertically up the tree as if he were walking down a flat and gravity regulation street. It was odd, watching Kakashi stride up the tree until he reached the lowest branch and easily stride along the underside of the wooden arm.

"Now it's your turn, both of you," he stated, lifting his head to look at us. My mouth opened to speak but Kakashi cut me off, "No complaining either. Just do it." Sending him a quick glare, I turned to the closest tree. Rika cleared her throat before we had a chance to begin.

"All you have to do is spread your chakra to the soles of your feet. But it has to be balanced; mark your progress by scratching a kunai across your highest point of each try. Since neither of you have done this before, I would get a running start," Rika suggested.

I glanced up at Kakashi again; my eyes searching for something in the way he stood on the tree. Confusion yet also recognition swept in a wave over me as I remained gazing at the upside down shinobi. He reminded me of someone, but I just couldn't place my finger on whom. The answer was there, somewhere, in my mind; I could feel it swirling just out of my reach.

*CLICK*

It was a click, dull and with no reverberation; none of the people around me seemed to have heard it. But it also didn't seem as if it was coming from anything. I could almost feel my eyes glaze over as my vision of Kakashi flickered like a dead light bulb. When I blinked, a young kunoichi with an odd symboled hitai-ate stood, gazing at me from the lower side of a tree branch.

"Kyoko?" she called, her voice smooth as her one indigo eye flooded with worry. I shook my head vigorously, the image disappearing for a fleeting moment and then flickering back to life. Her bronze hair swished about her face as the kunoichi dropped to the earth lightly and approached me, placing a calloused hand to my forehead. As if caused by her cool touch, my whole vision changed and our temporary training grounds disappeared.

"Kyoko? Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, flicking her hair out of her face with a twitch of her head; a clean white bandage hid one of her eyes from my view. I swore I knew this woman, yet how or why, I didn't know.

"Yeah, I'm fine but I don't think I can do that," I said, my voice much higher and more childish. I seemed to say it yet it was as if I didn't have a choice if I said it or not. I glanced back up at the tree which seemed much taller than it should have. Anxiety shivered down my spine as I noticed how truly high the lowest branch was.

"You can do it! Just balance the chakra in your feet, Kyoko-chan!" Reina encouraged, gesturing towards the tree. Anxiety flooded my limbs, making them feel as if they were created of lead. My thoughts swirled with unnecessary worries: worried of failure and worries of injury. My chest felt tight and breathing seemed less easy to me now, as if it was something new to me. But taking a deep breath, I darted at the rough tree, only making it up a few feet before crashing back to the ground. My head crashed with green grass as my vision went from tree bark to blue sky.

"Ow…" I mumbled as I stared up at the clear sky, Reina glancing down at me anxiously. Sunlight encircled Reina as her shadow cast down over my face.

"Kyoko?" she called, as her and the world about me flickered like a dying candle. When she called again her voice had changed dramatically.

"Kyoko?" Rika called, shaking me so that my eyes fluttered open. The sky darkening directly in front of me, I saw that all three of the shinobi who had been training with me were leaning over me. My eyes narrowed at all of them.

"Back off," I muttered, pushing myself into a sitting position and grasping my head as it pulsed with pain. "What happened?"

"You fainted," Sasuke huffed, pressing his hands into his pockets with disdain. A pained glower was direct towards the Uchiha as my eye twitched in reaction to the thudding in my head.

"I didn't ask you," I hissed back at him.

"What did you see?" Rika asked curiously, glancing at me with wide eyes. Shaking my head, I forced myself to my feet and sighed loudly, a kunai encircling my finger. How did she know that I saw anything?

"I've done this before," I stated, ignoring her questions and quizzical gazes. Taking my withdrawal of my weapon as a signal of our starting, Sasuke pulled out his own kunai and aimed himself towards the adjacent tree. The pain was still there, a dull pulse of ache continually probing my skull. I was pulled out of my trance by a mocking laugh.

"I can't wait to watch you fail at this," Uchiha murmured, a smirk only those of the Uchiha heritage seemed to be able to pull off breaking across his pallor.

"Ha, that's a good one, Uchiha. But you really shouldn't lie knowing that I'm gonna kick your ass at this like I do at everything else," I mocked, crouching down as close to the brush as I was able to in preparation. Sasuke shook his head and allowed another chuckle to escape his lips haughtily.

"Now who's the liar, Tanaka," Sasuke chuckled, darting at the tree. I followed suit, pushing chakra to my feet as I came nearer to the wood trunk.

I managed to rise a few meters off the ground, only to fall back as my chakra snapped away from my soles like a tight rubber band. Pressing off the tree, I swept my blade through the thick bark, revealing the light colored wood beneath. I landed lightly at the base of the tree, sparingly glancing at Uchiha's tree. He too was crouched at the base of his tree, an incision in the bark just inches above my own mark. Heated irritation rose in my body as I pushed off the ground, pressing more chakra into my feet. I noted that I passed my previous mark and then the bark caved in under my chakra induced step. Gravity retook over as I hung back, my shoe still sunk within the tree trunk. Biting my tongue, I pulled my upper body up to the height of my shoe and slashed the bark. As an irritated sigh left my mouth, I wedged the thin blade under my shoe and pried my foot from the stubborn trunk and, growling lowly to myself, I finally fell back to the tree roots.

"Dammit!" I cursed, seeing that Uchiha was right on my tail. A string of curses came from the raven haired shinobi himself as he viewed how even we still were. Our eyes connected as we glowered at each other, charges of rage and heated competition passing between us.

I pushed myself back up the tree again and again, each time the balance of chakra coming closer and closer just before my grasp over my chakra slipped up and the energy slid through my fingers like water. Slowly but surely, I remembered tricks but getting up a tree without hands was still difficult to work.

Each time I forced myself up, the lowest branch came nearer and nearer to my reach; the last time, my fingertips brushing the rough bark as I shot up to wrap my hand about the girth of the wooden arm. Plummeting back to the earth, I landed first on my feet before rolling onto my back panting. The harsh breathing of Sasuke reached my ears as he landed, crouching to keep himself up. Both of us compared our marks, swearing under our breath.

"Fuck; we're dead even," He muttered, bowing his head from lack of energy. His dark hair hung over his sweat slicked face as I forced myself up, grunting in effort. My chakra was waning and its harsh effects were starting to overtake my competitive drive. Now, I was still dirty from splash in the river and I was sweating and tired. But I would rather have my eyes gouged than allow that bastard Uchiha to get the better of me. That included if we tied. I had to prove that Uchihas weren't always the best.

"Not for long," I muttered, charging up the tree. Sasuke followed behind me and as I reached past the branch and sliced the tree one last time. Pulling down my eyelid with my pointer finger, I stuck my tongue out at the raven hair shinobi, mocking him as I dropped. His scowl darkened as he changed directions, instead aiming to ram into me. We both plummeted to the earth, him landing on top of me. Shoving him off, I pushed myself up and smashed my feet into his chest, forcing him back down to the dirt. Sasuke grasped my ankle tightly, twisting it off his chest and pulling me back to the ground. As we both jumped up, I retracted my fist back to punch the Uchiha. But my punch wouldn't accelerate forward. As I glanced back, Rika pulled me into a tight hug constricting my body as she walked away from her sibling who was holding back Sasuke. I twisted my head around to continue snarling at Uchiha; he glared just as darkly, his deep and malicious glare burning into me before the two disappeared from my sight.

The forest around us seemed like a huge circle of the same vision, over and over again; all of the trees seemed identical, the sky never changing from through the thicket of leaves. It was calming, walking through the silent forest, the scents of dripping tree sap and dried leaves filling my head as Rika lead me about. The adrenalin that had been rushing through my veins was depleting but there were still lingering emotions; raw anger and an itching need to punch something. The memory kept running through my head like a broken tape, just repeating and repeating, mocking my confusion.

"You are a handful, that's for sure!" Rika giggled, finally stopping before a river's edge, "But it's definitely interesting!" Rika's voice bounced off the trees of the forest about the clearing, "Now, would you talk to me about the memory you unlocked?" Rika's dark gaze was worried and concern flooded her pupils, an apprehensive frown creasing her face.

I held my tongue: this was something I would deal with on my own as I always had. The rustling of bushes announced her withdrawal from the riverside. Sighing, I jumped in the river fully, clothes and all. The cool water flowed past me, its massaging torrents easing my burden as I closed my eyes, focusing only on the memories.