Chapter Eight
I grabbed Rafus feet, pulling him down into the dirt and raised myself out of the ground a moment later. I activated my dojutsu and ducked just as Akari threw a wave of fire towards me, I rolled under it and did a kip up to get to my feet.
"Watch it, Akari!" Rafu shouted as he felt the heat from the fire blast above his head. "I'm on your side here!"
"Sorry." Akari called out, throwing her senbon towards me. I spun in the air, my body only inches away from the senbon, and when I landed on my feet Akari kicked my stomach hard. I fell back on my rear, hands up to catch her foot as she performed an axe kick. I tackled her feet and landed on top of her, reaching for a shuriken to hold to her throat, but she hooked my leg and flipped us over so that she was on top. I froze when I felt her senbon against my neck and sighed, letting my head hit the dirt behind me.
"I surrender." I said sullenly, causing Akari to grin through the pants as she tried to catch her breath.
"Finally." She said, rolling off me, laying on her back and spreading out on the ground. "I'm freaking exhausted."
"Uh, guys." Rafu's irritated voice sounded up from behind us. We both lifted our heads and saw him stuck in the ground, one hand wiggling fingers at us. "Did you forget something?"
We both burst out laughing at him. I clutched my stomach, the intense workout we had just gone through not doing me any favors with the laughs wracking my entire body. It probably wasn't that funny, but when you're tired it really was. Rafu was normally so composed and he had dirt everywhere, it blended in with the rust color of his hair, and the way his fingers were waggling out of the ground like pale, little worms just completed the hilarious picture.
"Sorry, Ra-Rafu." I said, still chuckling as I lifted myself from the ground and walked towards him. I used my earth release technique to grab his shoulders with my hands and yank him out of the ground, both of us falling back with him landing on top of me, and causing Akari to burst out in a fresh wave of giggles.
"Not exactly graceful there, boys." Akari commented, a hand in front of her mouth to try and stifle the noises coming out.
"Oh shut up." We both said at the same time, and then I shoved Rafu off of me. He groaned in pain as his back hit the ground, and I threw a lopsided grin at him when he opened his eyes again.
"My entire body is sore." Rafu complained, trying to sit up. "When is the torture going to end!"
"Training never ends." Takeshi-sensei said, finally speaking up from where he had sat observing our two-versus-one fight. We had been doing this for a few hours now, first Rafu and I versus Akari, then Akari and I versus Rafu, and finally the one we had just completed. After every fight, Takeshi-sensei told us what we could have done better and what we did well.
"Alright, everyone circle up." Takeshi-sensei demanded, pointing in front of the stump he was currently sitting on. We all gathered around him; Akari was shaking dirt out of her hair while she sat on her knees, Rafu had his legs sprawled out in front of him, and I was sitting with my legs crossed as we focused on our sensei. "Ren - good job making them get in each other's way, that's hard to do with teammates who work together so well. You relied on your dojutsu a little too much and you know Akari and Rafu can usually get around it at least a little. I wish you would've used the new taijutsu moves we have been working on, I saw a couple of opportunities you missed, but we'll work on it."
"Alright, Akari." Takeshi continued, looking at said girl who stopped fiddling with her hair as soon as she was addressed. "You did awesome today. I like the mixture of projectiles you sent and the fire, you really kept Ren back for most of the time and you know he's better at taijutsu so that was a smart call. I can tell your speed has gotten a lot better, but you need to be careful about how much chakra you're using. If Ren hadn't gotten careless towards the end, you would've been done for - especially with Rafu out of the way."
"Rafu." Takeshi said, looking towards said person. "You should've used some genjutsu on Rafu; I know your chakra was low and you were saving it in case someone got hurt, but you know it's his weakness and you guys would've finished a lot faster. We are close to the hospital so I want you to practice with your all - but that was great control and planning for the future, I would've done the same in the field knowing you have Akari as a powerhouse backing you up."
"Alright, Team Eleven." Takeshi-sensei concluded, looking all of us over. "You have the rest of the day off."
"Yes!" Akari cheered, punching the air. "I am so going to take a shower."
"Can we still.." Rafu started, his cheeks tinting red a little. "I mean, do you still maybe want to grab some food?"
"Sure." Akari said, grinning at him and tucking her hair behind her ear. Rafu turned to me and asked if I wanted to join them, making Akari's face drop instantly and behind his back she was making the gesture with her hand across her neck and mouthing that she will kill me. Just to rile Akari up, I pretended like I was thinking about it before rejecting the offer.
"I'm good, Raf." I said, smiling encouragingly at him "You guys go have fun."
"Okay, Ren." Rafu said, looking slightly relieved and solidifying the idea that he had only asked to be polite - Rafu was always worried about excluding me when Akari and he hung out together.
"Alright, Alright." Takeshi-sensei said, looking at us pointedly but with a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. "You guys enjoy the rest of the day and night, no need to be on alert; training starts at seven am tomorrow morning, so get a good night's rest. Dismissed."
Takeshi used the body flicker technique and left the three of us. We all got up and stretched a little before walking away from the training ground in pretty high spirits; training was hard, but we could honestly see an improvement in our stamina and I had just recently learned the earth release instantaneous body skill that allowed me to travel in the earth - it was now my favorite jutsu. That with the quicksand and my ground shockwave technique boosted it up to three different jutsu I could use. I still needed to conserve most of my chakra for my dojutsu, but it was comforting to have another jutsu in my arsenal.
"So, what are you going to do for the rest of the day?" Akari asked, bumping my hip with her own as we walked towards Akari's house.
"Well, after I get okaasan to make me some lunch" I smirked at this, winking at Akari who just rolled her eyes in response. "I'm probably going to meditate some at our place."
"You're so boring, Ren." Akari complained "We were just there a couple days ago and you meditated for a few hours."
"It's relaxing." I replied, smiling at her. "You guys have fun on your.."
"Dinner." Rafu filled in for me
"Yeah, your dinner..Alone." I said suggestively, trying to get it in his head it was a date. Realistically, I knew they both knew it was a date, but I wanted one of them to finally say it. Hopefully it was Akari so I could collect that money from Takeshi, but as long as it happened soon; I think okaasan and I were both about to lock them in a room until they confess.
"I'll pick you up in a couple hours?" Rafu asked Akari, and when she nodded in agreement, he bent down and gave her a hug, clapping me on the shoulder, before walking towards his own house. He called back to us over his shoulder "Tell Hatori-san I said hello!"
Akari replied she would and we walked down the street towards her house. We both walked in the front door and called out, hearing okaasan reply from the kitchen, and Akari told me to let her mom know she was going to shower. I agreed and Akari dashed up the stairs to get ready for the shower, leaving me to meander towards the kitchen where a heavenly smell was coming from.
"Hello, okaasan." I greeted, flashing my teeth at her and sitting down at her table. "This smells heavenly."
"Oh, Ren-chan, you always flatter me so." Aya Hatori replied, giving me one of her gentle, motherly smiles. "How are things with you?"
"I'm well!" I replied cheerfully, thanking her as she put a plate of food in front of me. After basically growing up here from the time I was seven, I had gotten used to Aya Hatori constantly feeding me - it helped that the food was amazing. "Akari is going to bathe, Rafu and she are going to dinner tonight, you know."
"That's lovely!" Aya commented, giving me a conspiratorial grin "Do you think tonight is when they stop being silly and fess up how they feel?"
"We'll see." I said noncommittally, not willing to bet on it or anything.
"And how is your love life going, Ren-chan?" Aya asked gently, sitting down at the table. "Akari told me about what happened at the restaurant the other day."
"I'm fine, okaasan." I assured her, frowning a little as I thought about that day. "I probably shouldn't have thrown my tea on him, but he just gets me very frustrated."
"I understand." Aya said, nodding "I think if you see him again, that maybe you should explain how you felt and maybe he will understand better."
"No, okaasan." I said, covering my face with my hands for a moment. "That's too embarrassing."
"Sometimes, Ren-chan, you have to put yourself out there in the truest way you can." Aya told me gently, bringing my hands away from my face and pushing the braid behind my ear as she always does. The familiar gesture filled me with warmth, even though the braid fell right back where it was before.
"What if I get humiliated?" I asked her, already feeling a little exposed - which was ridiculous, Aya Hatori had basically raised me.
"All you can do is hope that when you do put yourself out there, that other's will do the same." Aya said, her hand over my own which was on the table. "Either you'll connect or you won't, but at least you did what you could."
"I guess." I murmured, frowning down at my food and thinking over what she said.
"Now, eat up!" Okaasan commanded me, smiling "You're too thin."
"Okaasan, I'm not that thin." I complained, but started eating the food in front of me anyway. What I would do without this wonderful woman in my life, I wasn't sure, but I reminded myself to thank Akari for the thousandth time for opening her family up to me when she did.
The two of us chatted as we ate; she spoke of the neighbors, about how excited she was her husband was coming home soon from another mission, and how she couldn't wait until Akari and Rafu would finally get together. I told her about training, how I was only a little nervous for the exam's, and she told me that she would be there, cheering Akari and I on in the stands. Pretty soon, Akari came down the stairs with her curly hair wrapped up in a towel and sat down at the table, eating only a little bit so she didn't spoil her dinner with Rafu and talking with us as well. As soon as they began talking about what Akari was going to wear, I excused myself and told them I was going to our favorite place and I would probably be there until the sun set. I snagged one of my favorite books and walked at a pretty slow pace, breathing in the fresh air and stretching my slightly tired limbs. It was truly a beautiful day to be outside, the sun was warm but not hot and the sky was blue with fluffy clouds spattered in the sky.
I had been sitting under the big tree for a little over an hour, enjoying the breeze on my face and the warm sunlight on my face as I meditated with my eyes closed. I was enjoying it until I heard extremely light footsteps coming up the hill from behind me and I tensed, wondering if I should turn around and acknowledge the person, but I was hoping that they would see that this spot was occupied and go away. Occasionally, Akari and I ran into people here but it was pretty rare that anyone came out this far to this particular spot - Konoha was a beautiful place, there were plenty of amazing places to relax or do activities, this just happened to be my personal favorite. Akari and Rafu had come out here so much to find me or just to spend some time, the three of us together, that after a couple of years back in our academy days it became our very own spot.
I got a little irritated when I heard the person stop a few paces behind where I was sitting and I could feel their eyes looking at my back - it gave me that peculiar feeling along my spine. I sighed, slouching for just a moment as the air left my body in a less controlled manner than it normally would, and opened my eyes. I didn't look back to see who it was, but I did speak up when I figured they weren't going to say anything.
"You may take a picture, it might last longer." I said dryly, and I heard a quiet snicker as a response.
"Maybe I will." A familiar raspy voice responded, making my spine stiffen in discomfort. "As long as there aren't any hot drinks around."
"No promises." I muttered, closing my eyes again. Why did it have to be him?
"Can I sit?" He asked me, coming along beside where I was sitting with my legs folded.
"If you must." was my reply, not feeling particularly kind. I felt a small twinge of guilt when I remembered Aya's words from earlier, however, and so I promised myself I would at least be polite if he was going to sit down.
"Can we start over?" Shikamaru asked, his raspy voice cautious. "People can be troublesome. I didn't mean to offend you or anything."
I opened my eyes and glanced over at him. One of his legs was out in front of him, the other bent and had his arm resting on it - his face was turned towards the sky and his eyes were just gazing out to the skyline. I thought for a moment, letting the silence hang between us, before thinking that his idea was probably the best. It would be the mature and the right thing to do to just let this whole thing go and move forward, especially if he was going to keep popping up like this.
"My name is Ren." I told him, making this the third time I hand introduced myself.
"I'm Nara Shikamaru." He replied, his lips twisting up into a small smile. "I like watching clouds, napping, and playing Shogi."
"I enjoy singing and meditating." I told him, smiling a little myself. "I play the occasional game of Shogi, as well."
"We'll have to play sometime."
I hummed in agreement, closing my eyes and going back to meditating. After a minute or two, I felt my body relax; we were both silent, but it was a comfortable silence. One where you didn't feel any pressure to speak, because there weren't really any words to say, and we sat like that for about half an hour. I felt him lie back completely, and I opened my eyes to look at him, shaking my head and smiling when I saw he had taken his short-sleeved jacket off to use as a pillow as he stared up at the sky. Thinking for a moment, I mentally shrugged, and then laid back as well with my legs spread out on the warm grass and my arms behind my head. The clouds were drifting slowly in the sky, and I entertained myself by seeing what shapes I could imagine in the white depths.
"So." Shikamaru said, and I noticed his smirk out of the corner of my eye. "You like me, huh?"
"I tolerate you." I corrected him after I let his sentence hang in the air for a moment, hoping he wouldn't notice the little dusting of red on my cheeks.
"I guess I could handle that." Shikamaru said, making the corners of my lips turn up a little.
"So, how is training going?" I asked curiously, wondering if his sensei was as crazy as mine. I didn't know much about Asuma Sarutobi except that he was the son of the Hokage.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru replied, exhaling a little. "Asuma isn't too bad though. I wouldn't tell him this, but he's actually pretty cool."
"Takeshi-sensei is crazy." I said flatly, enjoying the way he chuckled quietly. It was a slow laugh, as though it really had to work it's way up from his throat, and I thought it suited him perfectly. "I wouldn't trade him for anyone though. He's really great."
"Yeah, I'm the same way with Asuma." Shikamaru told me, a fond look on his face as he talked about the Jonin in charge of his team.
"Hey, Shikamaru?" I asked, finally asking something that had been bugging me a little after he had sat down.
"Yeah?" He responded lazily, his eyes half-lidded like he was about to fall asleep.
"Did you know I was here or did you just wander up here?"
He laughed that slow laugh, a tiny grin begging to stretch his lips, before he replied to me. "Akari and Rafu send you their best, and told me to let you know not to kill them tomorrow."
"I thought so." I said, sighing a little bit at my nosey, interfering friends.
"They're almost as bad as Ino." Shikamaru told me "She can be pretty troublesome."
"Yeah, she looks like a handful." I told him, picturing the girl in my head; she seemed extremely high energy and high maintenance. I could imagine how a lot of the interactions between Shikamaru and her went, their personalities must clash quite a bit.
"She has her moments." He replied, the same fond look on his face when he was talking about Asuma. I think he was as close to his team as I was to mine, and for some stupid reason, that made me a little bit happy. It was nice to have people you were close to; people who were precious to you.
"I'd like to meet them properly one day, maybe." I told him, thinking about how friendly Choji seemed. They weren't so bad. "After I beat you at Shogi."
"A little cocky, aren't we?" Shikamaru asked, a smirk on his face as he threw the words I had said to him back at me.
I shrugged, laughing a little bit, and we were silent for the rest of the time we laid there, watching the sun go down and the way that it burst behind the clouds, scattering it's rays along the cloud and highlighting the white with orange, pink, and red. It was a wonderful end to a beautiful day. When the two of us got up and walked back towards town, separating when we were found out we were going opposite directions, I thought that it would be easy to be his friend with how laidback he was. We made plans to meet up in a couple of days and play that game of Shogi, and I was honestly looking forward to it. I made a mental note to stop at the Yamanaka's flower shop and get some flowers for Akari's mom; she definitely deserved them.
A/N: I updated twice in one day.. I had to write this. It's a little fluffy, I needed it before things start to go downhill for everyone - tensions will be running high, with the third exam and the invasion coming up. Pretty soon you'll start to meet more canon characters - I'm excited to add them in, now that I've got Ren a little more established and you see how he's interacting with other people a little more. You also will see a little more of his past come up in the next few chapter, so hang on ladies and gentleman - the ride is about to get bumpy :)
Please don't forget to review!
Much Love,
~Rache
-Amikotsu: I know, I know - I just don't think Shikamaru really think's about that kind of stuff, s I figured it might be like him to just ask what's on his mind. He thought that the flirting had been a joke, so he wanted to clarify what had been going on and the only way was to ask - it was just bad timing. Your reviews are a highlight of my day, so thank you for them all!
-Guest: Thank you! I absolutely will, I have quite a bit of this already planned out and the story is just kind of writing itself right now. I'm trying to get as much down as I can before I, knock on wood here, get some kind of writer's block or something comes up where I can't write as much as I have been.
-Sarahgri: Your reviews make me smile! I'm so glad you like Ren, I love him to bits and pieces. Let me know what you think now that the two have made up ;)
-Shis23: I'm glad you've enjoyed the story! I haven't heard from you for awhile, so let me know if you are still enjoying the direction it's going in!
-Paulavara140: Thank you! I'm excited as well, as you can probably tell by host fast I've been updating! Keep following the story, it's going to get pretty bumpy for Team Eleven soon.