~The will to fight~
A week had passed since the late third Hokage's funeral. It had rained that day, the sky a dark greyish blue coating the hidden leaf village in shadow. It had been the first autumn downpour they had had and since then there had been nothing but clear blue skies every day. All throughout the village construction noises could be heard as the town's people and ninja teamed up to reconstruct the damage caused by Orochimaru's invasion attempt.
Akari strolled down the streets in her casual attire smiling and waving to people she passed. Normally she'd be up on the rooftops helping but today she was on a grocery run. Since the Chunnin exam had been cancelled and because she was running low on food she had run out of reasons to keep putting off going to the market. Even though Kakashi was hardly at home due to the increasing number of missions being attended by the Chunnin and Jounin she figured she might as well fill the fridge for herself.
A clash of blonde and orange caught her attention and she proceeded to make her way over to the ramen stand. Stepping inside she saluted her teammate and sat down beside him patting him on the back when he choked on his noodles in his enthusiasm to say hello.
"Calm down idiot, wouldn't want you dying over a bowl of noodles now would we?" she joked to which he just chuckled back sheepishly.
"Oh Akari-san, you helping in the repairs too?" asked Teuchi happily walking out from the kitchen. She politely declined his offer for a bowl of food before responding.
"Perhaps this afternoon, right now I'm out shopping for food. What about you Naruto? Got any plans for today?"
He gave her one of the widest grins she had ever seen him wear before replying, "As a matter of fact, Ero-Sennin is taking me of town. He said he's going to carry on training me. When we get back I'm going to be stronger than Sasuke for sure, maybe even stronger than you."
"Don't go getting ahead of yourself there, I've still got it in me to take down a knucklehead like you," she teased. He laughed before wolfing down the remains of his lunch. Paying for his three bowls Akari went to accompany him out of the food stand when Teuchi called her back.
"Would you mind taking this to Giriko-kun seeing as you're going into the market, I'll invite you to a free bowl anytime you like," he asked handing her a take away box.
"Giriko-san the butcher right?" she asked picking up the box handed to her. Teuchi nodded calling her a lifesaver.
"The poor man had his house destroyed during the invasion and he's been working himself into the ground since then. I'm worried he's not eating properly."
"I'll be sure to get it to him then," she smiled before leaving the restaurant. Naruto was waiting for her outside. At some point Jiraiya had shown up and was scowling at the blonde boy. Looking up he grinned at the sight of her.
"How's it going kiddo?" asked the white haired sannin cheerily ignoring Naruto's discontented scowl.
"Can't complain, keeping busy helping here and there, the usual," she replied raising her eyebrow at the unusual way her teammate was acting. "I hear you heading out; don't go wasting all your time writing that junk of yours and be sure to train Naruto understood?"
"See I'm not the only one who calls you out on those perverted books of yours!" Muttered Naruto. Akari couldn't help but smirk at the older man's mumblings which sounded something remotely like "kids these days" and "no appreciation what so ever" as he turned and started walking away.
"So, why are you heading out of town to train? Not trying to weasel your way out of construction work are you?" asked the brunette following the pair of males, her voice changing from curious to suspicious in a matter of seconds.
"As a matter of fact, we are going on a very important mission which I should have you know, is top secret" replied Jiraiya puffing his chest out indignantly as if offended by the young girls accusations. Akari just glared up at the man who proceeded to ignore her. They had made it to the East gate of the village and most if not all neighbouring towns in the Land of Fire in that direction where mainly tourist oriented or well-known gambling towns. She decided to give Jiraiya the benefit of the doubt as she bid farewell to both of them and proceeded to the market where she spent most of the morning picking up an assortment of foods and delivering Giriko the butcher his bowl of ramen.
The sun was high in the sky by the time she was making her way back home with two crammed paper bags cradled in her arms. As she rounded a corner a familiar patch of black spiky hair some thirty meters ahead of her caught her eye making her yell out her teammates name.
Sasuke turned and stared at the approaching girl nodding slightly before falling into step with her. He took the paper bag she held out for him frowning slightly as she attempted to make small talk.
"So what brings you to this part of town?" She asked genuinely curious.
"I met up with Kakashi earlier on which was strange because he invited me to a dango store knowing full well I hate sweet food. Anyway our meeting was cut short by some rubbish excuse he made up on the spot. I was hoping to catch him in the Jounin estate," explained Sasuke adjusting the paper bag in his hands so its contents wouldn't fall out.
"Hmm strange, I wasn't aware he was around town," thought Akari, her face scrunching up in concentration. "Are you sure it was a dango store?"
"Yeah why?"
"It just doesn't seem like Kakashi to meet up with someone in a place like that, let alone invite them to eat with him," mumbled Akari under her breath. "He doesn't like sweet food either," she added at Sasuke's questioning look.
"Either way I figured if he isn't doing anything useful he might as well train me," replied the stoic Uchiha a light aggravation creeping into his voice.
"You know if you've got nothing "useful" to do you could help repair the village, I'm sure many people would be grateful for the extra pair of hands," she said frowning down at her teammate slightly. He may only be thirteen but he was growing taller every day. She was pretty sure by the time he was her age she'd have to be looking up at him.
"Hn."
They carried on the rest of the journey to the Jounin complex in awkward silence. Akari didn't really think it was her place to scold her teammate but she also didn't think it was right that Sasuke deemed helping the townspeople reconstruct the village as another lousy D-rank mission. Konoha was his home after all.
Opening the door to the Jounin estate she waited for her teammate to enter before following him in. Sasuke smirked lightly but said nothing which she was grateful for. It was no secret to her teammates where she lived at this point but it still opened up awkward conversations.
Half way up the third flight of stairs while fumbling with her keys to find the right one for the front door she decided to break the silence.
"If you really want to train with someone and if no one's available you could always invite me along… I mean I could do with sparring every now and the-" she was cut off by the hand held out in front of her. Glancing at her teammate and following the general direction he was looking in her eyes widened slightly to see the nearest door to them slightly ajar, the brass nameplate beside the door etched with the name Hatake Kakashi gleamed in the sunlight.
Realizing this wasn't a usual occurrence by the look his teammate had on her face both sprang into action in unison by flanking the door, the paper bags lying on the floor forgotten having been left there soundlessly.
Sasuke made to retrieve a kunai out of his holster when Akari lifted a hand signalling him to stop. She was straining her ears to make out any noises from the inside and after a while her shoulders relaxed slightly as she signalled him to follow her in.
Once in the hallway voices could be heard coming from the far end of the flat. Akari was slightly put off for more than one reason. The first; was that the voices where coming from Kakashi's bedroom a place she rarely entered without invitation. In fact rarely anyone was ever in that room without the Sharingan users consent. This led to the second thing bothering the blue eyed girl. Of all the voices she recognized coming from the room her roommates was not one of them. Deciding she should at least go and find out what was going on she walked down the hallway closely followed by her brooding teammate.
Entering the room her eyes swept over the faces of Kurenai, Gai and Asuma before stopping on the unconscious figure of Kakashi laying on his bed. She heard Sasuke gasp slightly before giving every individual an accusing glare as if it were their fault his teacher was in his current condition.
"Why the hell are there so many Jounin here? And what happened to Kakashi huh?" he snarled aggressively. Akari knew this was her teammate's way of proving that he did really care for every member on his team and had the circumstances been different she would have inwardly cringed at the way he disregarded ranks when speaking to his superiors so coldly. However right now she was trying hard to bottle down the worry and anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach.
"Nothing, nothing," began Gai not meeting Akari's eyes, "he just wasn't feeling well so we brought him home." It was a poorly manufactured lie.
"But why would he lie?" thought Akari, her brow furrowing as she glanced briefly at each Jounin. "He knows Kakashi is my roommate and that I was bound to find out the truth…"
The answer to her question came bursting through the door a split second later in the form of another Konoha Jounin who always donned sunglasses and went by the name of Aoba.
"Is it true?" he asked slightly out of breath as every individual in the room turned to stare at him, "is it true that Uchiha Itachi has returned and is after Naruto?"
For a brief second everyone just stared shocked at Aoba, then Kurenai face palmed and mutter "idiot" under her breath while Gai stood up and berated the spectacled ninja. Akari was about to ask what the hell was going on when out of nowhere an intense chakra filled with hatred and fear washed over her making her slightly nauseous. It took her longer than it should have to realize the chakra had belonged to her teammate and by the time she had he had already run out of the flat at an alarming speed.
"Someone had better stop him," muttered Asuma standing up straight.
"Will someone tell me what is going on? Who is Uchiha Itachi and what has he got to do with Naruto?" growled Akari not bothering to be polite anymore. The four Jounin glanced at one another briefly as if wondering whether or not it was a good idea to get her involved. She scowled impatiently before sighing heavily to calm herself down, "I'm going after Sasuke either way, I just want to know what kind of dangers I could run into…especially if it's because of those dangers that Kakashi is in that state."
Sighing Gai turned to regard her fully before answering, "Itachi is an S-class criminal who also happens to be Sasuke's brother. He murdered all of his family at the age of thirteen and has been on the run since then."
Akari couldn't help her eyes widening slightly in shock. For someone to be ranked an S-class criminal at the age of thirteen was highly unusual. She knew Kakashi had been a prodigy kid ranking Jounin at the same age and had at some point from then become known as the Copy ninja. Itachi however was a pure blooded member of the Uchiha clan. He was someone who was capable of using the Sharingan to its full potential. It struck her then how Kakashi and her were similar in the way that neither of them were pure blood members of the Kekkei Genkai they possessed.
"It just never occurred to me…because he is strong…he doesn't let the restrictions of the Sharingan bother him even if it means harming himself as long as he can protect his comrades…" she thought to herself sadly while observing his unconscious form the guilt of not being stronger building up inside her.
"Akari, track Sasuke down and bring him back, whatever happens you are not to confront Itachi head on understood?" asked the spandex clad ninja observing her. "I'm going to the Hokage's office to see if anyone knows of Naruto's whereabouts and send out a rescue team," he said to the others.
Remembering her teammate was the objective of an S-class criminal had the adrenalin pumping through her veins furiously. Sasuke had gone to aid their friend and she wasn't going to be caught not doing anything. Dashing out the door she jumped over the railing in the corridor pumping chakra into her arms and legs to break the three story fall. Landing gracefully on all fours she pushed herself of the ground hard and ran, jumping onto the roof tops towards her blonde teammate's house.
If Sasuke was looking for him apart from the ramen stand his house would be the first place he would look. Akari had the upper hand of knowing where to go and soon enough she caught Sasuke yelling at an extremely confused Sakura who was exiting Naruto's apartment.
She called out the black haired boys name causing both teenagers to turn and stare at her. His usually unreadable onyx eyes were swimming with despair, worry and anger. "He's not in… if Itachi finds him he'll kill him," he began ranting in broken pants.
"Kill who, Naruto?" asked Sakura her worried face glancing from Sasuke to Akari searching for answers.
"I know. Jiraiya took him out of town to train him. They went east. If they are going stop anywhere today it'll be in Otafuku town…if we run we can make it there in quarter of an hour," she informed all thoughts of keeping Sasuke away from his brother leaving her mind. She couldn't lie to her teammate not with the amount of worry he was in and if he was going to save their friend then she would be there to back him up.
Sasuke nodded gratefully not bothering to ask how she knew the whereabouts of their blonde companion. They both turned and ran along the corridor only briefly stopping when Sakura called after them.
"Wait why is Naruto being targeted?"
"Sakura do me a favour and get a medic team dispatched to Kakashi's place, with all the commotion I don't think anyone has done it yet," yelled Akari preparing to jump over the railing onto the streets below.
"But wait if Naruto is in danger I want…" she began before being cut off by the very impatient Uchiha.
"Sakura just stay out of this and do what you are told!"
With a last apologetic glace toward the pink haired girl Akari jumped over the balcony after Sasuke both of them breaking into a fast pace jumping over the rooftops heading towards the East gate of the village.
XxX
Otafuku town was a small outpost town around twelve kilometres away from Konoha. At a walking pace it took roughly two and a half hours to get from one destination to the next. However at the breath-taking speed both Genin had been running at they had made the journey in just under eighteen minutes. Gripping onto the railing that led down to the town they both looked around fruitlessly while catching their breath.
"There are too many colours… what kind of place is this? It looks like a never ending theme park," grumbled Sasuke impatiently scanning the dense crowds for some sign of their orange clad teammate.
"It's basically a gambling town, people come here to spend money and have a good time," replied Akari. She had been hoping they would run into Jiraiya and Naruto on the way here seeing as they didn't know for sure if they would actually be stopping in Otafuku. "Listen, we should split up, you take the right side of town and I'll take the left. Make sure to check in every onsen, bar, brothel and food stand, don't ask," she added seeing the highly befuddled face of her friend at the mention of the word brothel. "He's with Jiraiya, he's a really tall man with long spiky white hair he's virtually impossible to miss."
Sasuke nodded and began running in the direction she had pointed him in when her call had him turning to look at her impatiently. "What?" he growled.
"Just don't do anything rash understand? I won't be able to back you up if you do." She said sternly. His scowl and lack of an answer worried her, as he turned around ignoring her but that was why she had given him the right side of town. While he knew who he was looking for she was lucky to know them both personally. The right side of town was comprised of mainly food stands and game parlours a place where Jiraiya wouldn't bother to visit unless he had already checked into a hotel and even then, the left side of town had more appealing attractions to the old sage such as the onsens, brothels and in case they hadn't checked in yet, loads of hotels and inns. Akari knew this from experience. The last time she had been here was on a C-rank mission months ago the day she had first met Team 7.
Making quick work of the onsens and making sure to scan the food stands while running she began interrogating the receptionist's at full speed of every inn and hotel she ran into. She had to find them before Sasuke, she just prayed Sasuke didn't find Itachi before running into Naruto. With no friends to anchor him down he would charge into a fight stupidly. The hatred filled chakra she had felt emanating off of him earlier confirmed that. Ignoring the disheartening feeling she felt every time she was told that Naruto and Jiraiya hadn't been seen she ploughed on into another inn praying that this one had to be the one they were staying in.
"Excuse me, have a tall white haired man and young blonde boy booked in here today?" she asked quickly.
"I'm sorry, miss I couldn't really say, I've just changed shift…" began the young receptionist before she jumped at being yelled at.
"Well find out, this is really important," spat Akari. She didn't have time for formalities. She had already cleared the right side of the town and any minute now she was expecting to run into Sasuke who should also be finishing his side.
"Unless he's already found them…" she thought worriedly. If he had found them were they alright? Or would Itachi be there as well?
A loud explosion had her whipping around and running back out onto the crowd filled streets who were all looking up worriedly at the fourth floor of a hotel a couple of buildings away. Said building now had a huge hole in the side of it with clouds of dust swirling around it.
She ran in through the main door of the hotel taking in the looks of fear of the staff and clients that were in the reception area. "No stop!" she yelled effectively stopping the security guards who were about to run up the stairs to see what the commotion was about.
"If there is anyone staying on the fourth floor I want you to call them and tell them to stay as far away from their doors as possible, under no circumstances are they to leave their rooms. Everyone else on the floors below is to be evacuated and send a telegram to the Hokage's office informing him that Uchiha Itachi is here, understood?" she said sternly to the pale faced receptionist who nodded furiously before picking up the phone. With the rest of the staff also jumping into action upon hearing her words she ran up the length of the stairs calmly informing the clients who were on their way down to stick to the right hand side of the stairs while jumping the steps three at a time.
Making it onto the fourth floor she didn't need to strain her ears to make out the voices that were talking around the corner. One of them belonged to Jiraiya which relieved her slightly. He was talking to voices she didn't know. Rounding the corner making her presence known she was pleased to see Naruto being shielded by one of Jiraiya's toads. Sasuke on the other hand was sprawled on the floor at the feet of a man she presumed to be Itachi mainly because of the huge resemblance between them.
The other man who resembled a shark turned his head slightly to regard her. "They just keep turning up like flies," he smirked. Just then the summoned toad disappeared in a puff of smoke all eyes turning to the sage master.
"I won't let you take Naruto," he said firmly. "I'm going to take care of both of you right…"
"D-don't interfere," muttered Sasuke getting to his feet swaying lightly on the spot. It didn't take a genius to see he was hurt. "The only person who's going to kill him is me!"
"Sasuke don't be an idiot you can't take him head on," shouted Akari down the hall.
"Hn, you should listen to your friends Sasuke. I'm not interested in you right now," muttered the older Uchiha turning his back on his younger brother.
"Well then get interested," shouted Sasuke aiming a punch with his right hand at Itachi. In the brief second it took Akari to run a few steps forward to try and stop her teammate she suddenly found herself grabbing his limp figure as he was kicked in her direction hard. Feet skidding across the tiled floor she held on to him hoping to keep him somewhat standing.
"That's enough!" shouted Naruto preparing to jump into the battle stopping in his tracks when his friend called out to him.
"Don't meddle in other people's business Naruto!"
Realizing what Sasuke was trying to do Akari grabbed him around the arms immobilizing him. "Damn it Sasuke I told you not to do anything rash," she scowled at the pressure of having to restrain him.
"Let me go," he growled, his Sharingan eyes still starring daggers at his brother.
"I can't let you do that Sasuke, I told you I won't be able to back you-ow" she released him abruptly grabbing her nose in pain instinctively. The jerk had gone and head-butted her in the face. Once free he ran as fast as he could down the corridor. He was like a bull charging towards a red flag, no other cares in the world, not even his own safety. No sooner had he made it to his brother than was he flying back towards her this time however the force he came with was much stronger then the first time and she found herself involuntarily breaking the hit between him and the wall. Small lights jumped in front of her eyes as she was momentarily dazed by the impact.
"Exactly how hard did he hit him?" she thought feeling Sasuke's trembling form in her arms. It was clear now that his left arm was broken and had he been the one to be thrown against the wall he would probably have a couple of cracked ribs too. He was in no condition to fight. Not with his hatred blinding him like this.
"I'm not finished yet…this is still my fight," she heard him mutter weakly.
"Fine," Itachi muttered slowly making his way down the hall towards them.
Akari's eyes widened shocked. They were in a terrible situation right now. "Damn it this is why I told him not to do anything stupid…there is nothing I can do to help…I can't fight on my own… I can't…" she stopped herself abruptly suddenly feeling slightly confused as an onslaught of memories came crashing back to her.
"I know Team 7 is only a recently formed team but my teammates are talented in their own way and I think with Kakashi-san and myself on the team for backup experience on top of the fact that we are a five man cell team I think we could easily cope with a C-rank mission."
"It's precisely because I have an array of techniques that it's going to be difficult. None of my attacks are really harmful, on a team I specialize on being a backup for the rest of my team members who have much more damaging techniques than mine… I'm not really cut out to be a solo fighter but that doesn't mean I won't give it my all."
"At what point in time…" she started thinking panic stricken taking little notice of each resounding step Itachi took closer to them.
"Akari you taking up the rear or backup?" asked Kakashi looking over his shoulder wearily.
She raised an eyebrow at his question turning her back on the two Jounin. "Backup of course, you know I'm not an effective solo fighter."
He gave her a somewhat sour look before returning his gaze to the approaching ninja. "Let's do this," he said receiving a brief nod from his two companions.
She couldn't help remembering in minute detail every instance she had repeated the same words over and over again. "When exactly did it become an excuse? A reason to stop fighting?" And just as the eldest Uchiha was a few paces away from them a sense of total calm and relief washed over her. Acting on instinct she set her features into a determined look before placing Sasuke gently against the wall and turning to stand between the two brothers.
Itachi stopped in his tracks and stared into the depth of her purplish blue eyes. The time he had spent on the move and his brief period in ANBU gave him the knowledge to know who he was up against.
"You're a member of the Seishin clan," he stated matter of factly. "You have nothing to do with this, I'd suggest you move out of the way but I doubt you will listen to me."
"I can't let you harm my teammates anymore," she replied calmly.
She was determined that much he could tell. The lack of fear in her eyes was surprising. What exactly was she aiming to achieve? He sighed lightly closing his eyes. He was tired but he still had one more thing to do before they could leave.
"Very well," he muttered opening his eyes, tomoes swirling changing shape as he pierced her with the power of his Mangekyo Sharingan.
Akari felt a sudden overpowering feeling sweep over her making her clammy and feverish. If she had to describe the push she had suddenly felt in her head she would say it was the equivalent of getting hit in the face with a brick. Nauseated and shaking slightly she was too slow on the uptake when Sasuke sidestepped her and attacked his brother. The exchange of blows was pretty much one sided and at some point Itachi had managed to shove her against the wall out of the way.
She watched extremely dazed as Sasuke received hit after hit and then he went extremely still before bursting out screaming as his brother whispered cursed words in his ears. She wanted to do something but found the ringing in her ears to be unbearable. Swaying she slid down the edge of the wall breathing heavily. And then as abruptly as it had all started it stopped as the tables were turned and both criminals were force to flee.
Naruto and Jiraiya were inspecting the huge hole the Akatsuki members had created in order to escape the Sanin's technique and soon after Naruto was fussing over Sasuke's unconscious body while the white haired man approached her.
"You okay kiddo?" he asked gently handing her a tissue. After her questioning gaze at the object he added, "Your ear is bleeding."
True to his words upon inspection it seemed her right eardrum had burst, red hot liquid gushing out of it. At least that explained her sense of vertigo.
"Did he trap you in a Genjutsu?" he asked worriedly wondering if she was mentally stable and understanding him.
Now that she was more aware of having a burst eardrum she realized she was hearing him slightly muffled. "No that's the thing, I'm immune to Genjutsu because of my Kekkei Genkai but whatever he did still rendered me useless. It felt horrible, I could feel him trying to penetrate my mind so forcefully…I can't imagine what he made Sasuke see," she mumbled looking over at her teammate concern evident on her face.
Suddenly out of nowhere Gai burst forth effectively kicking a bewildered Jiraiya in the face. As the two Jounin conversed she found herself tuning out their voices.
"I'm immune to Genjutsu…I made sure of that by training with Kakashi arduously every day when I got back and yet… I didn't even see anything and his technique had this effect on me. Who exactly is he?" she thought clenching her fists in despair.
"I want you to take Sasuke back to Konoha to the hospital I'm afraid he may have been tampered with psychologically," said Jiraiya to the Taijutsu master.
"It's probably the same thing he got Kakashi with. We don't know when or if he will wake up," he replied trailing off sadly. Ignoring Naruto's cry of surprise he continued. "It's times like these I wish we still had her around."
After a brief pause Jiraiya turned to regard them all. "That's why we are going looking for her."
The surprise that ran around the group at his words was instantaneous as they all stared at him grinning at them.
"You mean…" stammered Gai.
"Yes. Another legendary Sannin like me who is known as the healing specialist and master of slugs the legendary gambler Lady Tsunade."
XxX
It was late afternoon by the time Akari was trudging up the three flights of stairs to her flat. She had walked back from Otafuku town with Gai whom she tuned out for the most part not really interested in anything to do with the spring of youth.
She was still concerned with the fact that she didn't make up a good solo fighter and now that she really realized what the words she had repeated to herself over and over again meant it was bugging her immensely. While it was true her array of techniques did prove useful to the team on a normal level it rendered her useless if her teammates could fend for themselves on their own. It made her even more useless if they couldn't fend for themselves and she was too weak to help with the opponent they were dealing with.
So the question now was: where did this leave her? She couldn't perform Genjutsu or Medic Ninjutsu to help her team so that instantly crossed supporting the team as a backbone off the list. She didn't have the strong techniques Kakashi and Sasuke had to damage opponents with either and because she was a half-blood the more she used her clans techniques the weaker she got so she couldn't even compete with Naruto stamina wise. To make matters worse she wasn't even as smart as Sakura.
She was forced to squeeze herself flat against the wall on the third floor landing as a group of medics carried Kakashi down the stairs on a stretcher. Gaping aghast at the situation she turned when she heard a male voice behind her.
"There you are, I just got back from a mission and heard the news…are you okay?" asked Genma clicking his senbon in his teeth noticing the patch of blood on her shoulder.
"Yeah, just a burst eardrum I've got to go and get fixed, I just wanted to make sure everything was in order here before going to the hospital. You know I sent a message for a medic team to come here hours ago," she said glaring down at the retreating figures angrily.
"Don't take it the wrong way. Ever since the invasion the hospital has been full of patients, ninja and civilians alike. It has taken a while to be able to get a room ready for him," replied the older man. "I put away the groceries by the way, I figured they were yours," he added.
Akari's face fell guiltily. Of course the hospital was full. Many people were hurt after Orochimaru's invasion attempt. Sighing she thanked the Jounin before closing the door to her flat and locking it.
"It's your birthday in four days isn't it?" he asked in an attempt to distract the young kunoichi. The flicker of surprise on her face let him know he was successful. "What are you going to do?"
She remained silent for a while thinking. With the Chunnin exams and the invasion and constantly helping with the reconstruction of the village her rapidly approaching birthday had been swept out of her mind. On the eighth of November she would turn fifteen years of age becoming a legal adult in the Shinobi system. It was also the time when she could freely leave Kakashi's household and go and live on her own and yet now that it was right around the corner the prospect didn't have the appeal it used to.
"I think…"she began choosing her words carefully staring at the now closed door determinedly avoiding Genma's eyes. "I think I'll stick around for a while…Kakashi has looked after me basically since I was twelve. He helped me get back on the mission roaster early… heck if it wasn't for him I don't even think I'd still be able to be a kunoichi, and now…now he's hurt possibly in a coma and I want to be here for him…at least until he gets better. I'm not going to abandon him after everything he's done for me.
Genma smirked before turning his back and making his way towards the stairs leading up to the fourth floor. "Go get that ear checked out before it gets worse," he said lazily as he walked away. "You got yourself some really great students Kakashi," he thought to himself.
XxX
She walked out into the corridor the smell of disinfectant heavy in the air as she thanked the medic who had attended her. The sun was setting now casting dark shadows all down the hospital corridors bathing the walls a warm orange. Just as she was about to make her way to the lift a noise down the hall had her turning to check out the source of the sound.
Gai was exiting a hospital room. To be more precise he was being shoved out by a nurse who was claiming his student needed to rest and that he could visit him again tomorrow.
"Don't worry Lee, your youthful Sensei will be here tomorrow to help you out with your exercises!" he grinned giving a thumbs up to the closing door Lee was presumably in bed behind. It was then that an idea struck Akari. Just because she was of little use to her team now didn't mean it had to stay that way. In fact now that she knew what the problem was she was going to put an end to it once and for all. Turning in the opposite direction she called down the hall allowing the tired looking nurse to retreat from Gai's insistent gratitude.
"Gai-Sensei!"
He turned perplexed as to who had called him and beamed upon seeing the girl approach him. "Ah if it isn't Kakashi's youthful student. How's your ear? Sasuke got placed into a long term ward along with Kakashi but you don't need to worry they will both be looked after excellently. Why, all the time Lee's been here he…"
"It's fine thanks," she said cutting him off before he could start rambling. "Listen I was wondering…well, with Kakashi being in a coma and…well I don't really know anyone else I can ask for help with this…I was wondering if you would help me become stronger in Taijutsu."
He stared at her bemused for a while before speaking, "While I am pleased you have decided to take the wonderful route of Taijutsu I must ask what brought this on?"
"My techniques are no good to anyone if I myself don't get stronger. I need to increase my resistance and stamina to be able to fight on my own and to also not fall behind my teammates. I believe Taijutsu is the best option I can train. It suits me because I have always been classified as a mid to close range fighter. I want my close range to be better than it is now," she answered truthfully.
She had thought about it carefully on her way to the hospital. When she first started training with Kakashi he always complimented her on her flexibility and the amount of strength she could pack into her kicks. If she could refine her combat skills she could also become stronger with her clans technique and use her nature bending to back up her teammates. She was tired of being left on the side-lines.
Gai looked slightly crestfallen as he replied, "You see Akari… I would love to help a fellow lover of the martial arts but…ever since the invasion the Chunnin and Jounin are constantly being sent out on missions…and when I'm not out I'm here helping Lee get better."
Akari sighed lightly in resignation her shoulders drooping slightly. "It's okay, I understand." Living with a Jounin really did help her understand just how occupied they were being kept. The village had to keep up appearances after all so they couldn't afford to let the amount of missions coming in dwindle.
"If it's Taijutsu you want to brush up on I can help you," said a calm masculine voice behind her causing them both to look at the boy approaching them. Akari couldn't mask the surprise that adorned her face.