In no way do I own any part of the Naruto universe. I only own Sora.
Once again, Sora was running late. She was sprinting to the field and her body was not happy with the intense movements. It ached and pleaded her to stop moving. But she needed to get there. She made into the clearing to come face to face with an irritated Iruka-sensei. Sheepishly Sora rubbed the back of her head.
"Uh, Goodmorning?" she tried. Iruka broke.
"Goodmorning!? It's 9!" He raged. She flinched. She didn't mean to oversleep, she was exhausted.
"I am sorry, I overslept. Those laps killed me." She said pouting. Iruka's face froze.
"What?" He asked in disbelief.
"Those laps you had me do." Iruka started sputtering.
"I didn't think you'd actually do them!" He finally managed to get out. Sora almost fell over. "But since you can, you can do about the same amount today after training." Sora groaned.
"370?" She sighed accepting her fate. Iruka smiled.
"How about 200?" He said. Sora's face lit up. That was much better than before. She'd take it.
"Yes, sir!" She smiled. Iruka grinned a bit.
"Okay, lets get started. It's Ninjutsu today." She nodded eagerly and they got started.
Hours later
Sora was sprawled out on the ground panting again. Ninjustsu was easier for her than Taijustsu, but it still wore her out. She had just finished her 200 laps as well. She was grateful that it wasn't as many as the day before. And she didn't have to run too far. It could have been a lot worse, and for that she was thankful. It was currently late evening, her body ached all over. She huffed and stood up, it was time to begin practicing. She got into the basic stances she was taught and began slowly going through the motions. Sora connected them together as smoothly as possible yet still stumbled over every few moves.
"SORA!" The sudden yell made her fumble and fall onto her butt. She looked up at the offending person and wasn't surprised to see that the one who scared her was none other than Might Gai. Sora sighed and rubbed the back of her head.
"Hello, Gai-Sensei." She smiled wearily. Gai flashed her one of his 'famous' smiles and gave a thumbs up. He is such an odd person. A small pull had Sora look over to the left. She didn't see anyone but she felt like she was being watched.
"Why hello there, Sora! Are you ready for your lesson of youth?!" He belted. Sora flinched at his loudness but nodded and turned towards him. "Great! That's the spirit! Now copy everything I do." He ordered. His face became much more serious. Sora nodded and stood up copying everything he did. Along the way, he pointed out small hints at keeping a stronger stance along with balance. The idea was to be firm in your stance, and yet still maintain flexibility. It was grueling. Gai was patient with her but she struggled. They started alternating Taijutsu forms with strength building exercises.
"Gai-Sensei, can you show me that once more?" Sora asked, on a particular stance. It was different than what Iruka had shown her. Gai smiled and formed stance slowly putting his right foot in front. He bent his left leg and had it almost facing perpendicular and a few feet behind the right foot. "Remember, you need to keep most of your weight on the left foot. But do not completely balance on just the left." Sora nodded and tried to mimic the stance.
"Yes, that's it." He praised. Sora smiled lightly.
"What is this stance good for, sensei? I know something similar from Iruka, but not exactly the same." Sora asked.
"This stance is a simple one, for a complex fighting style," Gai answered. Sora frowned. "This stance incorporates speed. Intense speed. Because of the weight on the back foot, you can fire yourself forward in an immediate attack. It is very useful, especially for someone your size. You may be forced to face someone much larger or stronger than yourself. This also allows your attack to be much stronger due to the velocity at which you may travel." Gai explained. Sora's eyes widened. This was perfect.
"However, you need to gain speed, so let's run suicides as fast as we can!" Gai yelled and started to run the lines. Sora began sprinting as well. She needed to be able to do this.
A few more hours passed by and it was completely dark outside. Sora was shaking with exhaustion and covered in sweat. Gai stopped and looked at her.
"Good job today, Sora. Keep this up and you'll be a taijutsu master!" He laughed.
"I doubt that sensei. But I do feel a lot better about the forms. Your lesson helped a lot." Sora thanked him.
"Here, put these weights on your arms and legs. We will up the weight every other day or so." Sora groaned a bit. But then grinned.
"Yes, sensei." She responded.
"You are so youthful!" He cried. He began running around even more in joy. Then spun around quickly.
"Let's get ramen to celibrate!" He roared, then pointed into the trees to the left of them. "Kakashi, my eternal rival! You should come as well!" Sora frowned and looked over into the trees where she had felt the presence. Kakashi appeared under one of the trees. Sora narrowed her eyes. 'Why was he there?' She didn't know why he was interested in what they were doing. 'Maybe you aren't allowed two Sensei's?' Either way, she wanted to know.
"Yes, Kakashi-san. I would also like to know why you hid out in a tree for such a long while." Sora said smiling, devoid of humor. Kakashi laughed and rubbed the back of his head.
"Naw, I think I'll just head home." He responded. Sora's eyes glinted.
"Oh no, I insist." She said with another eye-closed smile. Kakashi sweat dropped.
"Well, okay then..." He consented. Gai pumped a fist in the air.
"The youth in this area is astounding! I love it!" He said once again throwing a hand in the air. Sora had picked up her things and was waiting for Gai. The three of them walked the short distance to the Ramen shop. They all sat up at the bar.
"What can I get for you?" The man asked. Gai ordered Shoyu Ramen, Kakashi ordered Shio ramen, and Sora got Miso Ramen. The man hurried off and soon there was three steaming bowls of ramen sitting in front of them. Sora had never really tried ramen so she was skeptical. She was sitting in between the two and just stared at it. Gai immediately began to eat. She looked at Gai then Kakashi and saw that he hadn't eaten yet either. A thought occurred to her. He hadn't started because of his mask. She immediately turned away. Kakashi made a small questioning noise.
"Sorry, Kakashi-san, I completely forgot about your mask. I will face this way until you have finished." She said smiling slightly. Kakashi was taken aback. Normally people were crawling over each other to see his face. It was refreshing that this woman didn't.
"Why haven't you eaten yet then?" He asked her. She watched her ramen again.
"Well, I've never had ramen before." She answered truthfully. All sound stopped next to her. She looked over at Gai, who was staring at her now. "What?" She asked.
"You have never had ramen before?" He said. Sora shook her head.
"Before, I couldn't ever afford it, and recently I have only bought a few groceries." She hesitantly took a bite. It was very good. She wished she had this experience earlier on in life. Kakashi and Gai felt bad for Sora. Ramen wasn't very expensive at all. It was cheap. For someone to not be able to afford ramen, meant that they were extremely poor.
"This is good." She mumbled taking another bite. Kakashi laughed lightly and Gai had a huge smile spread across his face. "So, Kakashi-san, why were you watching Gai-sensei teach me today?" Sora asked still facing her ramen. She heard him cough lightly.
"I was in the neighborhood and stopped by for a few minutes." He responded smoothly.
"Hm. Is that so? Then why were you there for more than an hour if it was just a few minutes?" She asked again. He sputtered a bit. He didn't realize at what point she noticed him. He didn't think to disguise himself to well because she was so inexperienced. The fact that he did arose questions about why she would be so alert, even when training. That wasn't normal for young students. Even at her age.
"Ah, haha. Got me. I was curious of our new prospective, genin." He answered, holding his questions for a later date. Sora nodded taking this answer. Sora had finished her ramen and got up and thanked the man for the meal.
"Gai-sensei, thank you again for working with me. I'll see you guys tomorrow!" She said and turned around to head home.
"Goodbye, my studious student!" Gai wailed waving his arms back and forth. Kakashi just lazily threw a hand up in the air. Sora chuckled to herself and continued on her way home.
Once there she threw her stuff on her bed and jumped in the shower. The dirt and grime needed to be washed away. She scrubbed diligently and eventually was satisfied. She took a moment to contemplate how she got where she was. It was incredibly lucky. She could have died in the woods before ever getting to Kahona. Or she may have not been able to make it out of her village. She got out and turned off the shower. Looking into the mirror, she could already see that she was losing a bit of that starved kid look. Not much but just a little bit. Shows how much food and good sleep make someone better. Sighing she dried off and slipped into her bed clothes, a simple black shirt and some red shorts. She covered up and laid in her bed, and soon was lost to the world of the conscious.