Author's note: Hey guys! two D's, one break up, and a crap ton of stress later, I'm finally back from my the hell we all know as school. Again I apologize for the extremely long hiatus as I didn't expect things to get as crazy as they did (I needed June to kind of process and recover from whatever the heck I just went through lol). So now that my head is clear, let the writing continue!
-Chapter 8-: Mind and Body pt.2
"Mommy! Guess what I found !"The woman picked the small girl up in her arms as they walked back to shore.
"What is it Kairi ?" the woman's voice was smooth a silk, giving Kairi a sense of comfort whenever she spoke. She held up the shell for her mother to see. As Leucosia smiled, the turquoise in her eyes slowly faded to pure gold.
"Why it's lovely darling..." she cooed, Taking the shell in her own hand to examine it. The predominantly white conch shell was decorated in swirls of different shades of blue, briefly reminding Leucosia of the ones she found during her own childhood.
"Back in my homeland, we called these 'Aureliana', for their blue swirls." Kairi frowned slightly at the foreign word.
"Ah-rey-la-na?" she tried to sound it out. Her mother chuckled at her daughter's attempt to speak her mother tongue. She would learn in time, especially after her abilities matured.
"Yes darling, it means 'Blue beauty ' ..." she looked lovingly into her daughter's crystal blue orbs.
"Just like you, my sweet Aureliana."
Kairi awoke with a start, eyes flashing open. She sat up momentarily confused on where she was. Blinking, she realized it had to be early morning, as the sun had yet to fully rise over the horizon.
"Ah, you've awakened" Itachi acknowledged, putting out the last of the campfire from last night.
Kairi grunted in response, looking over to see Kisame sitting with his back turned, presumably checking all of his gear before they left. She stretched and yawned, rising to her feet, still puzzled by the strange dream she had that night.
"Aureli-ana?" She frowned at the thought. She had never recalled her mother calling her that as a little girl and yet, the nickname sounded vaguely familiar. Yet the more she thought about it, the more the events of the dream began to fade. She shook her head in defeat, deciding to focus on more pressing matters. As she began to get ready, Itachi filled her in on their schedule for the day.
"We'll be taking a boat to the mainland, it should take us the majority of the morning to get there, after that we'll break and Kisame will begin your physical training." Kairi glanced over at the shark man just as he turned to look at her. They both made a face, turning away immediately. Kisame grumbled as he put away the last of his equipment, still annoyed the raven haired man had stopped him from ripping that girls head from her body. She was just a whiny brat that would slow them down on missions. Plus she had insulted his appearance.
"At least I look human…" remembering her words Kisame tightened his grip on a kunai, bending its handle in the process. How dare she?! He had long put an end to that kind of disrespect years ago by breaking every single bone in anyone's body that dared to make fun of him back at the academy. No one dared to insult him now. But this girl… His grip on the kunai eventually caused the tool to snap, catching the attention of the Uchiha.
"Kisame-san?"Itachi raised an eyebrow at the broken tool. Kisame turned away and shook his head.
"Its fine." he muttered, quickly but discreetly hiding the redness threatening to climb up to his cheeks. Unsure of what to make of the weird sensations in his chest, he scratched the back of his head vigorously. It felt like anger, but with a hint of something...different.
He sigh heavily, frustrated with himself. Whatever these weird feelings where, they were definitely going to affect his performance on the mission if left unchecked. He tried to focus.
"Teach the girl to fight, bring her to base, move along. That's all you have to do" he thought, mentally repeating his words as he joined Itachi on the road.
"Let's go. I don't want to waste anymore time here than I have to."he mumbled.
"Itachi-san!" Kairi walked up to the two men, bag in hand. She shot Kisame a wary glance before continuing.
"So...where exactly is our final destination? "she questioned, her mind drifting towards the shadow man's mention of a base.
"Our headquarters lie in Amegakure..." Itachi began to explain as they made their way down the trail.
It was mid afternoon by the time they fully made it to the small inn they would be lodging in for the evening. Set on the outskirts of the port town , It was perfect place for two criminals and their captive to spend a night. Kairi plopped down on one of the beds, releasing a huge sigh.
"Aw man…" she laid back on the bed and closed her eyes, feet still on the floor aching. After a pretty uneventfully journey from the islands that made up the land of water, they had finally reached the mainland. Slowly settling into the comfort of the bed, Kairi suddenly found herself being jolted awake by a flying object hitting her in the face.
*THUD*
"Wake up kid. This is no time to be sleeping."
Kairi peeled the pillow off of her face, growling at Kisame. The tall man simply walked back over to the door.
"Your training with me begins in an hour." he spoke, not bothering to look back at the grumbling girl . "If you're late, I'll make sure to take a finger for every minute of my time you waste."
Kairi rolled her eyes at the threat. As if he would really cut off her fingers. Then again, you really didn't need ALL of your appendages to be a successful ninja... She quickly began to get ready.
Itachi had told her Kisame would be waiting near the river further down the road. What he failed to mention was how far off the trail she would have to walk to get there. After a twenty minute battle with trees and underbrush, Kairi arrived at a small clearing. Peering through the branches, she spotted the river a few feet ahead of her at the edge of a rocky beach.
"Kisame?" she called, stepping into the open. The shark nin was nowhere to be seen. "That's strange…" Kairi frowned. She was certain he said to be here by this time…
A sudden rustle of the bushes shook Kairi out of her thoughts. She turned just in time to see a sword thrust inches from her nose.
"WOAH!" she screamed leaping backwards, her eyes flashing turquoise. Kisame wasted no time in striking again.
"That was too slow, shorty." He jabbed at Kairi once more, making her fall backwards onto the ground with a thud. Wincing at the sudden impact with the ground, she opened her eyes to see the edge of the sword pointed at the edge of her neck.
"In a real battle that would have been your head." Kairi managed a scowl, desperately trying to ignore the fact that the man basically towered over her in this position. She let out a small huff.
"Look, can we just get this training done so we can both go home?" she asked, sitting up and brushing off the dirt. Kisame leaned back from his offensive position, lowering the sword.
"Fine by me. You should be ready by the looks of it anyway." Kairi shot him a questioning glance.
"I talked to Itachi before I left, He said your abilities generally surface when you are under stress..."
"O-Oh right...that." Kairi frowned, slightly embarrassed that Itachi had divulged what had happened at the campfire to Kisame. "I wonder if he knows what happened in the genjustsu…?" she thought to herself, face glowing a faint red.
"...though its a wonder you didn't simply crack under Itachi's genjutsu." Kisame's words immediately snapped Kairi out of her thoughts.
"And whats that supposed to mean?" she crossed her arms over her chest defensively, causing Kisame to roll his eyes.
"Must you get defensive about everything?"He muttered. Walking closer towards the river, he picked up a small stone on the shore.
"I meant, for someone who's never so much as set foot in a ninja academy, you did pretty well against a genjutsu of Itachi's caliber. It takes years or training and hard work to become a even the lowest ranking of ninja. Anything higher requires god given genius..." He turned around to give Kairi a quick glance over, lingering on her eyes.
"Lucky for you natural talent is not so much the problem…" he playfully tossed the stone in and out of his hand as Kairi followed him over to the river.
"...But like I said earlier, you're too slow" casually he threw the rock at full force in Kairi direction, making the young woman flinch. As she opened her eyes, she saw that the stone had become lodged in a small shield of ice in front of her arm. As the initial shock of the the throw subsided, the ice rapidly began to melt.
"Wait! no!" As if obeying her thoughts, some of the water stayed in its lopsided shield form. "huh..?" Kairi blinked. She didn't think the water would listen to her on the first try. However, her thoughts caused her focus to falter, resulting in the water splashing at her feet anyway. Kisame shook his head.
"...you have no form, your hand-eye coordination needs work and...can you even throw a kunai?" Kairi shot him a sheepish grin. Kisame groaned and sighed. "great. just GREAT. I'm stuck with a 23 year old academy kid. Why doesn't he just give me a 'fucking-best-teacher-of-the-year' award!? " he thought. A moody new partner and now THIS? This wasn't even supposed to be part of their mission. Pein would seriously owe him one when Kisame got back. Big time.
"Um...Kisame?" Kisame pulled himself out of his pit of grief and turned to Kairi.
"I...uh...I want um..." she stammered, face slightly red from embarrassment sighed, taking a deep breath before mustering the bravest voice she could.
"Please, teach me!"she said suddenly, bowing at a ninety degree angle.
Kisame sweat dropped at the sudden outburst. "Well its not like I have a choice…"he grimaced inwardly. Nonetheless, it was amusing to see a sudden change in attitude from the little brat.
"Oh! So you finally show me some respect now ,eh?" he smirked. A small anger vein noticeably popped from Kairi's head.
"Look, this doesn't change anything," she narrowed her eyes at the tall man. " I still don't like you, shark breath-" Kisame frowned at the insult. He always brushed his teeth twice a day thank you very much.
"-BUT, I understand that this...is for my own good." She stared at the ground, trying to ignore the fact her cheeks were still red from embarrassment. Though she hated to admit it, Kisame was her only chance at learning to master her powers, at least until she was able to decipher her mother's journal on her own. If she ever wanted a chance to escape back home, she would need every ounce of training she could get.
"I want to become stronger so…" she sighed reluctantly. "I'll cooperate... just this time okay?"
Kisame raised an eyebrow. A smirk emerging from the corner of his mouth.
"I won't go easy on you, shorty." he said mischievously. Kairi tried not to gulp.
"I'll do whatever it takes." she said bravely. Kisame read the determination in her eyes."So she means business..." he thought.
"Well alright then…"he smiled darkly, shark teeth and all. he flashed a couple of hand signs and disappeared in puff of smoke, catching Kairi off guard. A loud thud caught her attention. She turned around to see Kisame standing in the middle of the river...literally. Crouching on the water's surface, Kisame summoned two katanas from a scroll that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Kairi mentally sweat dropped."What have I gotten myself into…?" she thought, dropping into defensive stance. Concentrating on the battle at hand, she managed to gather two small orbs of water around each of her hands. They were unstable but it was the best she could do.
Kisame moved into the attack position, a evident smirk on his face.
This was gonna be so much fun.
This was not fun at all.
Kisame huffed as her enter the inn, ignoring the questioning stares of the other patrons as he carried a scraped and bruised Kairi on his back. While he'd admit it was fun to see her try and attack him with those little water orbs of hers, he should have realized how much of a toll they would take on her body way before they began. She ended up passing out … leaving Kisame to carry her limp body all the way back to the inn.
"Why does someone so small weigh so much!?" he thought, struggling to get up the narrow staircase towards the rooms.
Opening the door to Kairi's room, Kisame laid her down on her bed, checked her pulse one more time to make sure she really wasn't dead, then left to join Itachi in their room.
He opened the door to see the Uchiha drinking tea near the window, a plate of onigiri on the table.
"How did it go?" he questioned, nonchalantly taking a bite from one of the triangles. Kisame stretched and sighed, taking a seat across the room.
"So far, she's not much for stamina…About two hours in, she passed out from over exertion..." Itachi raised a skeptical eyebrow, making Kisame groan and roll his eyes.
"Oh come on, I didn't let her do it on purpose. I know we need her alive..." Itachi nodded in response, taking another bite.
"She's very aware of her surroundings for a newbie. She dodged my attacks a lot more than I expected, but her water control..." Kisame sighed and continued.
"The ability takes up too much of her energy as of now, its too unstable. I don't think she can control it very well, not that I would expect her to, but it slows her down..." he looked over towards his prized sword in the corner "She wouldn't last a second in battle with samehada…but.." He thought back to the determination in her eyes and sighed.
"...I see some potential..." While there was no doubt that Kairi was no where near battle ready, there was so much possibility and power in coursing through her veins. Kisame could sense it in every attack she threw at him, and despite not having a full grasp on using her chakara, she could one day be a force to be reckoned with… provided she survived his training.
"Hn." Itachi acknowledged, taking the last bite of his meal.
"I take it you two are finally warming up then?" he questioned, casually taking a sip of tea. Kisame grimaced.
"Don't get the wrong idea, she's still just a brat" he replied unamused. It was annoying enough to be stuck with a girl like her for a student. She was moody for one thing, and stubborn. Not his type of person at all. Training her would possibly be one of the most difficult missions Kisame would undertake in his life. Though he had to admit, it would be interesting to see what kind of ninja she would become.
Maybe this wasn't such a waste of time.
-Chapter 8 END-
R&R!