Red Kunai Bolts
Here's chapter three with a few surprises. I'll be trying to put Asumi and Akemi in the same timeline during the story. So, it's the same day in both chapters of the girls.
Also, I thank everyone for reading and reviewing the story, I'm glad you like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. However, I do own Akemi, Asumi, the Amano clan, any other OCs that may appear in here, the nagare shogai and the plot. Enjoy.
Chapter Three
The Nagare Shogai
-o-
Neji deftly wrapped a new set of bandages around his forehead, covering his curse seal as usual. Afterwards, he tied the headband on the same spot and gazed at himself in the bathroom mirror. The blank expression of his reflection greeted him in return.
He'd spent the past five days showing Akemi around the village and making sure she knew exactly where she was standing whenever they stopped. He also checked she knew the routes to any of the places she might need to visit, such as the offices, the Hyuuga estate and the two training grounds he used. The day before he'd even made her take him around the village to the places he'd shown her. The silver haired girl had taken him without any objections, and had proved she'd been paying attention to what he had shown her.
Today he was to take her to meet his previous sensei and his teammates. Since he'd become a Jounin he had stopped the need to train under Gai and with his teammates, but every once in a while he went to train with them. That day was such occasion. The reason why he was going to introduce Akemi to the three of them was because Hiashi had thought it good for her to know whom to ask should she need him. After all, they were the ones that knew him best as far as knowing Neji could get.
As he tied his hair his thoughts wandered to the young woman he'd married five days ago. She had not said much during the time they'd spent together scouting the village. She only talked whenever he uttered something or she asked about a certain place or something of the nature. He didn't know much about her. But what he did know was that she had quite the powerful presence. Whenever the two of them walked into a room, heads turned to stare at her. Of course, her looks were quite shocking to the eye that had not seen her before, but the way she carried herself was with the grace of a lady. She was proper in both, manners and way of talking. He fully understood what the Hokage had meant when she'd said Akemi came from a very traditional clan; women in families such as those were expected to behave that way.
Her interaction with others was a little different from the one she had with him; she would converse with whom started the conversation and offer small smiles every now and then. To someone who had not spent much time with her she would seem shy; but he knew perfectly well she wasn't.
She's testing her surroundings, he thought as he picked up his sandals from a corner of his room.
He walked out of his room toward the front of the estate, where he'd agreed to meet with Akemi. As he came upon the stairs that led to the front pathway, he found her sitting on them while she slipped her sandals on.
"Good morning, Neji-san," she greeted with a small smile, gazing up at him.
He simply looked down at her and nodded. "Akemi-san."
He'd resorted to use the suffix –san on her after she'd politely asked him not to use the –sama on her name. He remembered he'd scowled after he heard her, because he thought she was having pity on him. He didn't need her pity; he didn't need her trying to appease the difference between the family branches to which they belonged. He didn't need the pity of a main family member, not even from other clans.
Neji sat down next to her in silence, and began to slip on his sandals. Soon after, he felt her sapphire gaze on him.
"Neji-san," she said, eyes drifting to his sandals, "how often do you get addressed like this?"
She saw his gaze rise to meet hers and noted his hands stopped working on the shoes. His expression seemed to harden a little, and so did his tone.
"Not so often," he answered before he turned back to work on his sandals.
Was she looking down on him because he didn't belong to the main family? It rather irritated him.
Akemi's lips pressed together into a tight line. That expression and tone he used on her came out of nowhere; she didn't like it.
"Don't call me Akemi-san," she stated, gazing ahead with a serious expression, "Akemi is fine. I'm not used to being treated so formally for long."
She felt his gaze glide over to her before he seemed to scoff. "Doesn't the rest of your family address you this way?"
Akemi knew where he was going; he was having issues over the difference between their families. Though, he had one thing wrong and she was up to clarify it with an attitude return. If he was going to be so arrogant around her then she was going to show him a few things in her personality that were not very polite. She disliked arrogance.
"No, they don't. They address me by my name alone. The Amano clan is a whole family; it's not divided into branches. The Amano main family exists for the sole purpose of protecting the family and taking decisions in an orderly fashion. Other than that, there's nothing else to the main family," she answered with slight irritation, turning to gaze at him with a slight frown. "If I insulted you by asking then I apologize, because that wasn't my intention."
Neji narrowed his eyes in slight surprise at her. Not only had she fired back at him with a retort, but also she had apologized and made clear her clan was different from his.
A clan whose main family protects the whole family? he thought as she turned her head back to the front gates, if what she said is true then the Amano clan is the opposite of the Hyuuga clan. Is it even possible?
His expression returned to normal as he observed the young woman's expression do the same. He'd never expected such a passionate reaction coming from her. But from what he'd figured out in the past five days, she would come out of her way to protect the name of her family.
As she tried to calm herself, Akemi felt her hair cascade down to her waist and heard the hairpin clatter on the wooden walkway. She turned to her side in search of it but found that Neji already had it in his hands. He seemed to be studying the shiny object, and she could only imagine what was running through his mind as he did so.
Gold, Neji thought as he studied the hair ornament, this is pure gold.
He wondered as to why a clan would waste money on buying such conceited things. Clans didn't need to show off their wealth and power. But as he gazed at the item, he couldn't help but think that perhaps there was another reason behind its expensive material.
"This identifies you as an Amano," he said as he handed it back to its owner. It was a statement, not a question.
"Yes. The material with which it's made is one of the three that identifies the Amano. The other two are silver and copper. Amano women wear one of these three materials in different ornaments. The three women of the main family wear them as hair ornaments while the others wear them as jewelry," she explained as she gazed at the hairpin. She was gradually calming down. "This hairpin has another function as well: it becomes a weapon in combination with the Amano kekkei genkai."
Neji seemed rather amused by the last part of Akemi's statement. "Do you use it in combat?"
"Not too often," she answered, placing it on her lap as she deftly began to put her hair up, "though it works very well. Perhaps I'll show you sometime."
She gently interlaced the hair ornament through the strands of her hair and made sure it was secure. After that, she rose to her feet and turned to Neji with hints of a small smile on her lips. She still felt a little angry about earlier.
"Shall we get going?" she said, gazing down at him.
He gave her a nod, and rose to his feet. Then he ran off and she swiftly followed him.
Soon after, they arrived together at the clearing. Gai, Lee and Tenten were already there; Lee was doing push-ups at a very fast pace while Gai exclaimed something about the power of youth and Tenten sweat-dropped. When the trio noticed Neji and Akemi they walked over to greet them. Lee and Gai introduced themselves with a good guy pose and a shiny grin, while Tenten smiled as she introduced herself. Akemi gave them a small smile in return as she introduced herself as well.
Neji wasn't able to precede the introductions; his former sensei and teammates had gone ahead.
"Akemi-san, it is so nice to finally meet you," Lee said as he gave her a thumb up, "we are very curious about you."
That was smooth, Lee, Tenten thought as her face fell, now she'll think we're all freaks watching her every move.
"So, Akemi-san," Gai said, clenching a fist, "are you ready for some good youthful training?"
I thought I would be watching from afar, where I could study Neji for the mission, but I guess training might not be so bad, Akemi thought as Lee jumped in excitement at having a new training partner. I might get to experience firsthand what he is capable of.
Apart from trying to settle in her new home, Akemi had spent the past few days studying everything around her for the mission. That included the village, people close to the target, and the target himself. When he told her about visiting his sensei and teammates, she instantly knew it was an excellent opportunity to gain more information for the future. Although she hated what she was doing, it had to be done…
"Why not?" she smiled her little smile.
"Excellent!" Gai replied as Lee celebrated in the background, "did you exercise before coming this morning?"
"Not much," Akemi responded as Lee kept on dancing in the background.
"Well then, how about you exercise with Lee, Neji and Tenten?" Gai suggested.
From behind Gai, Akemi saw Tenten wave her arms in a gesture to decline the offer.
"She will exercise with me," Neji stated from beside her, crossing his arms.
"Very well then!" Gai exclaimed, giving the two of them two thumbs up, "have fun! Now, Lee, Tenten, run fifty miles around Konoha!"
"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee replied before setting off at top speed, leaving a cloud of dust after him.
Tenten sighed, but followed him.
"Until some minutes!" Gai told Neji and Akemi before he gave them a good guy pose and ran after his students.
"Fifty miles," Akemi repeated, slightly smiling, "I understand why Tenten-san told me to decline. Gai-sempai and Lee-san are two very…interesting individuals."
After making sure they were gone, Neji walked over to a nearby tree and settled himself under it to meditate. Before doing so, he motioned Akemi to join him.
The sapphire-eyed girl took a seat to his right and followed suit. Even though she had meditated before going out of her room that morning, she would do it again. She didn't mind; it was good for her training.
Several minutes later, Lee, Tenten and Gai arrived at the clearing and announced they had finished their first exercise. Akemi and Neji were forced to break out of their concentration to pay attention to what Gai was saying.
"Um, Akemi-san?" Tenten said, turning to look down at her as Lee asked Gai what they would do next, "how about we spar?"
"Excellent suggestion, Tenten!" Gai said from the background, "demonstrate us the power of youth that runs through your veins!"
Akemi felt Neji's gaze over her the moment Tenten made the suggestion. She assumed he wondered if she would take the challenge. She was up to a spar, so the suggestion came like out of heaven.
"Very well," the silver haired girl smiled fully for the first time.
"Lee, let's watch this battle!" Gai exclaimed as the two kunoichi moved to the center of the clearing.
"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee replied as Neji came to stand beside him, arms crossed.
The Hyuuga prodigy wondered about Akemi's abilities. What was she capable of? Tsunade had mentioned her profile and references were very good, but she had not said anything beyond that. Exactly how good was she?
"What's the farthest distance we can move around the ground during the spar?" Akemi asked, glancing at Gai.
"You have all the clearing, plus several feet into the trees around you," Gai answered.
Akemi nodded. "Arigatou."
"Ready?" Gai said, observing the young women, "go!"
Tenten swiftly put distance between the two of them. The moment she moved, Akemi began to study her.
Her distance is quite good, Akemi thought as the other girl pulled out several kunai from the pouch on her thigh, here it comes…
Tenten rapidly threw the kunai towards her target, who tried to evade the possible hits. Akemi managed to evade four of the five with some difficulty, but one successfully hit her on the right arm. As she pulled the kunai out, she noted the brown haired girl was not where she had been several seconds ago. She quickly searched around for her chakra and was surprised to find her behind her. Before Akemi could turn around to face the weapon mistress, she slashed part of her lower back with a kunai. Then she aimed for another hit.
Neji saw Akemi move in a blur from her spot before Tenten could swing down another kunai at her. She stopped several feet away from her, and observed the other girl as she came upon the realization that her target was not there anymore.
She's testing Tenten, he thought as he watched Akemi press her slender fingers to her injury.
"You're fast, Akemi-san," Tenten smiled as she turned to gaze at her.
"So are you," Akemi smiled another full smile, "and you're an expert in weapons, aren't you? Your aim is excellent."
"She's the weapon mistress," Gai stated, gazing at Akemi, "now show us what you can do, Akemi-san!"
The sapphire-eyed girl nodded and adopted the taijutsu stance; she extended her left arm and stood to her side.
Taijutsu? Gai thought as he studied her, she will counter Tenten with taijutsu? She might not be able to get near her for Tenten's speed is quite amazing. What are you planning, Akemi?
Neji sensed the presence of a strange chakra on the clearing. Since he knew it didn't belong to Tenten, he assumed it had to belong to Akemi. But her chakra had been normal a few moments earlier. What was she doing that it changed so suddenly? He watched her carefully, but saw she was not doing any hand signs. So he came to the conclusion that she had activated her kekkei genkai.
That energy is not chakra, he thought with a frown as the energy increased.
The Hyuuga prodigy made the correct hand signs and activated his Byakugan. When his eyes landed over the silver haired girl, they narrowed slightly.
"What is that strange chakra I am feeling?" Lee asked, frowning slightly.
"It's not chakra," Neji answered, scrutinizing her chakra circulatory system, "it's something else."
"It's electricity," Akemi answered, glancing at Neji, "the Amano kekkei genkai, the nagare shogai (flow of life), is the ability to transform chakra into electricity and be able to channel it through the chakra circulatory system."
As she explained this, Neji watched the energy flow through her system and gather in her arms and legs. He knew she was preparing to attack. Just how powerful was the nagare shogai?
"How do you use your kekkei genkai?" Lee asked, gazing at Akemi as she pulled out a kunai from the pouch on the right side of her belt.
"Wait and see," Akemi said, turning her attention back to Tenten.
The bun haired girl smiled at her while drawing more kunai from her pouches, and Akemi knew she would be coming at her soon. She decided to make her move first. She used her speed yet again and quickly stopped behind Tenten, taking her off guard. She swung a right kick at her back, which quickly and painfully connected. The weapon mistress was sent flying a few feet away from her.
She managed to get Tenten, Gai thought, surprised, this is turning out to be more interesting.
Tenten rose to her feet, rubbing the spot where she had received the kick. As she tried to straighten, she noticed she couldn't. The spot felt numb.
What is this? she thought, slightly confused. I guess I'll have to use a scroll on Akemi-san…
She pulled out a scroll from a pouch, and gazed at the girl before her. When her eyes touched her, the silver haired girl placed more distance between them. She stood a few feet away from the trees.
Without waiting for another unwelcome thing to happen, Tenten used her scroll to summon more weapons and rapidly started to throw them at Akemi. The sapphire-eyed girl waited until the weapons were close enough to throw the kunai she'd been holding to the ground between her feet. Then she jumped backwards, in an attempt to evade any possible hits.
To everyone's surprise, except Neji's, several of the weapons Tenten had thrown to her target adhered themselves to the kunai on the ground instead of going straight for Akemi. The others flew by, and Akemi managed to dodge them with difficulty yet again.
"She poured some electricity into the kunai before throwing it to the ground," Neji explained as Tenten picked up her scroll with amazement, "since metal conducts electricity, the electricity managed to attract the weapons to it and caused them to adhere."
The rest was self-explanatory. Without the help of his Byakuugan, Neji might not have been able to figure out how Akemi's move worked. It was quite interesting to see how the energy rushed into the kunai at the mere touch of her fingers. If that was only a simple move, then how would the other ones be?
Tenten observed Akemi from where she stood. The sapphire-eyed girl had managed to turn the tide of the spar in her favor, but that was about to end. She was going to release her ultimate attack.
She pulled out two scrolls and placed them on the ground. Then she began to do hand signs.
Akemi sensed something big was coming. She quickly moved into the trees behind her and hid between them before the bun haired girl released her attack.
"That will be of no use," Gai commented as Tenten's Soshoryu (Rising Twin Dragons) shot up the air, "with Tenten's aim, there's not much Akemi-san can do by hiding between the trees to avoid being hit."
As Tenten began to grasp the weapons she had summoned, she became aware of the presence of various clones between the trees. Apparently, Akemi had made them to conceal herself.
But that won't work, Tenten smirked as she started her attack, I will hit them and make them disappear.
The weapons hit the clones straight on, but more began to appear. A slight frown touched her brow when she saw them multiply.
I'll search for the real one, she thought as she kept on throwing.
However, as she tried to find the real Akemi from the air, her eyes came across two shadow clones.
"Akemi has also made shadow clones of herself," Neji couldn't help but smirk as he watched the clones move around the trees, "she knew it would be difficult to tell them from the real one at such a distance."
His wife was proving to be quite an interesting fighter; but he would know at the end of the spar if she truly had any talent at all.
Tenten neatly landed on the ground and inspected the trees across from her. Different weapons lay scattered on the grass and stuck in various trees. The clones were nowhere to be seen. Had she hit Akemi in one of her throws? As she inspected the area more closely by approaching, she decried two shadow clones that looked a little battered, but uninjured. She instantly knew Akemi was in such a state. So she quickly pulled at the strings tied to her weapons and found that several of them did not move; they were stuck too deep in the tree bark.
I'll have to go in, she thought, undoing the strings from her fingers.
She took out several kunai from her pouch and ran to the trees at top speed. As she did so, the clones disappeared. She stopped at the place where she had previously seen them, and gazed around. No one was there.
"Don't move, Tenten-san," Akemi's voice said coming from the clearing.
The weapon mistress spun around to find the silver haired kunoichi standing in the clearing, two kunai in hand.
"I have shadow clones hidden amongst the trees with charged kunai, like these," Akemi said, showing the weapons she had in hand, "and you're standing between all your metal weapons. Should you move, the kunai will be thrown and you would receive an electrical discharge."
"Tenten has been trapped!" Lee said, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"No, she hasn't," Neji replied rather coldly as he gazed at his former teammate among the trees.
Tenten quickly moved, taking care of the shadow clones she had found among the trees, and threw her kunai at Akemi. The other girl retaliated by throwing the charged kunai to the ground and attracting the ones her opponent had thrown. At this, Tenten smirked lightly and increased her speed. She'd purposefully thrown her kunai with the thought of ridding Akemi from the charged weapon. Now that she had done it, she would charge at her straight on without worrying about the electricity. She pulled out another kunai from her pouch and attacked Akemi from the front. As soon as the weapon slid into the sapphire-eyed girl's stomach, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Another clone?!" Lee exclaimed, "then where is Akemi-san?"
The bun haired girl searched around for her opponent, but found her nowhere. She did not even sense her chakra. Where was she hidden? Suddenly the ground below her cracked and Akemi jumped out of it, her first drawn back for an attack. It connected with the weapon mistress' jaw, and sent her flying upward. Then she aimed a kick to the girl's side and sent her skidding on the ground.
Iwagakure ninja mostly use earth based jutsu, Gai thought as Akemi walked over to Tenten, Akemi won the spar.
She helped the other girl sit down just as Lee rushed over to see if she was all right. Neji remained rooted to his spot, but watched as Akemi's electricity changed back to chakra in her circulatory system. He then released his Byakuugan.
"Are you alright, Tenten?" Lee asked, kneeling beside her.
"I'm fine," Tenten managed to smile, "just a little battered."
"I'll help you collect your weapons, and then we can go to the hospital to do something about your numbness," Akemi said, smiling at Tenten in a friendly manner, "if you don't, then you might stay numb for several hours."
"So the numbness was caused by your kekkei genkai?" Tenten asked as she carefully rose to her feet.
Akemi nodded, also rising to her feet. "Yes, that's the lightest effect the nagare shogai has when little electricity is used on an attack. The more electricity, the worst the effect."
"That's an interesting ability you have, Akemi-san," Gai said with a shiny smile, "no wonder Tsuchikage-sama gave such a high recommendation of you. You must be one of the best ninja in the village, of the few it has."
Neji noted Akemi seemed to stiffen right on the spot the moment she heard Gai's comment. She turned to glance at the green clad Jounin with a rather hard expression, and lips drawn together in a tight line.
"I would appreciate it if you refrained from insulting my birth village," she stated seriously, her expression hard.
It was then that Gai realized the comment could be interpreted in two different ways. "That's not what I meant, Akemi-san! I meant Iwagakure has few shinobi."
"You mean after Konoha annihilated most of them in the war," Akemi replied, her voice returning to normal as she turned back to Tenten.
There were several things Akemi was not up to tolerate, and one of those was any possible insult to Iwagakure. She knew Gai had not meant it in an insulting way, but she truly couldn't help reacting to it like so. She didn't hate Konoha for the annihilation; the two villages were at war! It was inevitable.
Gai understood he had touched a sensible spot; he could see she had no hatred toward Konoha, but that she simply was trying to defend her village. He could not blame her for it. After all, shinobi should defend their villages.
"I apologize if I insulted you," he said as the two kunoichi silently began to retrieve the weapons.
"I apologize for my reaction," Akemi replied as she pulled a scythe out of a tree. Hints of a smile tugged at her lips. "I am still sensible about leaving my village. I'm homesick. So, how about we avoid this topic and we take Tenten to the hospital?"
She turned to Gai and smiled.
Sensing that the atmosphere had become as lighter as it was before the incident, Gai also smiled. "Let's go! We can eat lunch afterwards."
"All right, Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed, completely forgetting about the delicate exchange between Akemi and Gai.
The sapphire-eyed kunoichi tried to pull a katana away from a tree with little success. It was stuck.
Well then, let's try something else, she thought, gripping the handle harder.
Out of nowhere a pair of strong hands landed over hers and also grasped the handle tightly. Then they pulled the sword out of the bark with little effort.
Akemi's heart pounded harder the moment her back gently collided with a well-toned chest. Wisps of dark hair came into her visual field from the left and a hot breath caressed her neck. She held her breath when lips accidentally brushed against her ear as they emitted a message meant only for her.
"You are an arrogant kunoichi," Neji whispered before releasing her and walking away.
The young girl whirled around as soon as she was free to gaze at the young man who had just barely caused her to tremble. He was walking away, back to her, in silence. But then he stopped and gave her a slight smirk over his left shoulder. She stared as he continued his retreat. No one had ever touched her like that, much less caused her to feel weak at the knees.
He's arrogant and a little stoic, Akemi thought, seething lightly as she handed the katana back to Tenten, and he's trying to taunt me or something of that nature. Well then, if he's going to get on my nerves then I might as well retaliate in the same form.
-o-
End of chapter. This was really long! And I hope it wasn't boring…because I found some parts were. But I liked the ending very much. I would have melted if I was Akemi and Neji did that to me. Also, this chapter showed a little of how Akemi and Neji's interaction was going to be…I hope you liked it!
Please review and keep reading.