29 A Deal With a Demon

A Truce is Reached between the Nekomata and its Host, and Team Takeshi Reunites!

Being careful to maintain the flow of chakra through the net of threads supporting the giant toad, Naeko slowly inched her way back up the wall of the ravine to get a better look at the scenario. "If I may say so, sir, it wasn't my idea to have you drop down on top of me either. If you want to blame anyone for your predicament, blame him." She pointed with her free hand to Naruto, who was still marveling at his work from his perch on top of the toad's head. I'm just amazed that a nobody like him could summon a monster like this! What kind of power does he have? She listened to the toad and the boy argue for some time, bickering over who was more in control of the situation, and stared in amazement when the toad identified itself: Gamabunta, chief of the toads – that's amazing. Then fatigue began to set in, and Naeko felt herself beginning to lose her grip. Well, no matter how important he is, he's heavy. I can't keep this up for much longer.

Finally, after the power dispute had been settled, the toad glanced back up at the female genin in her precarious hold. "And I suppose I should thank you for doing me a favor, little spider. I guess I can give you a ride back to the village, but don't expect any more out of me."

"That would be wonderful," Naeko replied, using the last of her strength to rappel down to a point where she could fall down onto the toad's head next to a woozy yet still triumphant Naruto. "I'll untangle us and we can go." She barely had time to call the thread fragments back to her before the toad caught both genin up in a long, flexible tongue-grip that she was too tired to complain about and then leapt up out of the ravine with a single flex of its massive legs.

-------

"It seems like I can't scrub myself clean no matter how many baths I take," Kotori muttered as she eased herself down into the hot water of the public bath. "After what that cat did, I just feel... dirty..."

But you have to admit that some part of you enjoyed it, the demon reasoned, shifting from its sleep in the depths of Kotori's subconscious. You protest too much, my dear.

"I would have preferred to do that on my own timing. Thanks to you, I'm not a virgin anymore, and at an embarrassingly young age too!"

And you probably would have waited a long time to change that status had it not been for me, the Nekomata mused smugly, grinning sharply at its host's grumble of complaint. Besides, if not with him, who would you rather it have been with – that silver-haired pervert?

"Hell no."

Convince me, dear... my point being, I could have picked someone slightly less to your liking, like that helmet-haired one with the eyebrows...or maybe even that angsty boy whom you have the fervent desire to punish for nothing other than having an ego.

"Or you could have not picked anyone at all! Did leaving me alone ever occur to you?"

It has, but the simple fact is that I get stir crazy locked up in this body without being let out to play every once in a while. I'll tell you what, Kotori – if you let me out once in a while, say once a month, your body is yours for the using at any other time. The only catch is that whatever I do, you cannot question. You may complain all you wish, but it won't change a damned thing.

"How generous of you,"Kotori muttered. "So you won't intrude except for once a month?"

Then and only then. Oh, and if that doesn't sound good enough for you, I can do something about that nice little monthly unpleasantness that you human females seem to have... I think you're crazy enough without it, and no doubt anyone else would agree. Do we have a deal?

"We have a deal." Kotori then glanced around the bathing area, noticing that the other patrons had edged away and were now giving her dubious looks. "What are all of you staring at? Haven't you ever had to make a deal with yourself before?"

-------

Each member of the team received a summons to the training field early the next morning, and to show up in training clothes with no extra equipment. You won't need it, the note had said, and Kotori rolled her eyes as she crumpled the paper and tossed it in the garbage. "I wonder what he could possibly have in mind for us."

The trio appeared one hour before dawn, as ordered, and found their mentor leaning up against one of the practice posts. "I trust you all have had sufficient time to rest," Takeshi called out to them by way of greeting. "From this day on, though, we start fresh! Any old resentments or problems you may have been hiding, get rid of them, because there's no place for them here. Out on this field, you aren't citizens of Hidden Leaf, Mist, or Cloud – you're a team, and you'll learn how to work like one. Is that clear?"

All three made some form of acknowledgement, and the jounin continued. "All right. Since this is our first time working together in almost a month, I'll go easy and only keep you here for some minor calisthenics. Once we're all done, the rest of the day is yours to do with as you please. First up, give me thirty laps around the field!"

The group limped back almost forty-five minutes later, Takeshi silently noting that out of the three Naeko was most visibly tired. "Good work for now, but I'll expect better out of you in the future. Next up is a little drill I learned as a genin fresh out of the Academy, and you'll like it as much as I did then. One of you will run a lap around the field and the other two will stay here with me, one jogging in place and the other doing an exercise that I'll name. The two with me will not stop until the runner gets back, at which time one of you will take their place." Ignoring the looks this got, Takeshi gave the assignments. "Naeko, you go and run first. Taiki, jog in place, and Kotori, push-ups, starting... now."

It was nearing noon and the peak of sweltering summer heat when Takeshi called off the exercises, noting the exhaustion plainly showing in the frame of each student. "Anyone care to guess what today's lesson was?"

Naeko shakily raised her hand. "Teammates come first, even if it means sacrificing your own comfort."

Takeshi nodded once in approval. "Very good. And, as a reward for your first breakthrough as a team, I brought you all lunch!" He reached behind the post and brought out a cooler that he had concealed there during the exercises. "Don't thank me yet. I don't think you have the strength to walk far, not that any decent establishment would let you in with the way you reek. Eat up."

Each student dug into the simple meal of rice cakes and cold tea like it was the last thing on earth, only Taiki stopping when he realized that Takeshi wasn't joining in. "Aren't you going to eat something, sensei?"

"Nah, that's all right. I'll pick something up on the way home." Taiki traded a look with Kotori, and Takeshi briefly scowled. "But enough about me. What did you all do during your break?"

"I'd like to know too," Naeko cut in. "I didn't see either of you the whole time, and you looked exhausted even before today's exercises."

"Stamina training," Taiki answered quickly, ignoring the venomous look shot his way by Kotori and the familiar dubious eyebrow raise from her uncle.

"Indeed," Takeshi muttered, but chose not to comment further. "Anything exciting in your corner, Naeko?"

"Oh yes," the third genin answered, brightening. "I did some improvising with one of my family's techniques, and I got it to work, just not in the way I'd hoped. You see, I went to visit the canyon – the one with the waterfall and the jagged spiky walls, you know? - and I was using my family's duskfiber thread as sort of a climbing rope to see what I could accomplish. I would demonstrate, but you said not to bring any extra equipment, Takeshi-sensei, and besides that I'm really tired."

The jounin waved this off dismissively, shaking his head at the girl's sudden enthusiasm in spite of physical fatigue. "But anyways, I'd gotten about four hundred feet down the cliff face and I stopped to figure out what to do next when all of a sudden there was this yell above me. I looked up and there's that Uzumaki goofball falling almost as if someone'd thrown him. Being the nice person I am, I would have thrown out some line to catch him, but he does this weird set of hand seals and poof! There's this giant toad! It's only after I set up a net to keep it from falling that I overhear the conversation between Naruto and the toad and find out that he summoned Gamabunta, the chief toad. I don't know how he did it, but he did! It was so amazing! Oh, and in exchange for catching it, the toad gave me a lift back to the village afterwards. Isn't that cool?"

Speaking in low tones that only Taiki could hear, Kotori muttered, "Is she on drugs? If so, I want some."

"Look at her though," Taiki whispered back. "I know that look of obsession. She's found herself a new lust-object..."

Kotori rolled her eyes. "Isn't that just wonderful. At least it'll get her focus off of you..."

"Why, Tori-chan, is that saying you're jealous of all the attention I get?"

Making a face at her teammate, Kotori punched him in the arm. "Who, me? Never."

Takeshi could not help a chuckle at the small telltale behaviors of his students, and once again he shook his head ruefully. This is where things will get really interesting. "Well, folks, no rush here, but make sure you get rest tonight because we're starting for real tomorrow! Same great time, same great place. I also thought I'd remind you that the finals for this round of chuunin exams are coming up in four days, and you will be there. Nothing motivates like a little taste of the future, huh?" He rose from his seat on the grass and packed up the cooler, giving his students a farewell wave before vanishing.