Chapter 4 You Guys!! Be proud; I haven't written this much in a long time, and the school year has started for me and I've written three chapters in two days. Naruto does not belong to me but the plotline/story/Original characters are! So keep 'em off your stories or I'll get my dinosaurs to eat you!! On with the story!
CHAPTER FOURWhen she woke up that morning, she knew Kakashi was gone. She also knew she had to work today with the horses and Jounins. She had gotten up just at daybreak, wanting to warm up the horses before the Jounins arrived at noon. She pulled on a white kimono, knowing she would stain it, but not caring, and pulled her butterfly necklace over it. She pulled on her ninja sandals, (yes, she still wore those) and headed for the barn with an apple in her hand. She took one step out the door and saw the one pink rose with a note underneath it. "It's just a game." She smiled and pulled her hair into a ponytail, lacing the rose through it. She ran to the barn, giving her long legs a warm up of their own and feeling good about being able to run and not worry about anything. She was in a surprisingly good mood, all considering. She saw the training grounds and kept running. The blurs of Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and their sensei watching her run by.
She ran to the barn in record time, and took out her horse. She put on his rope halter and led him out to the round pen, making him lunge. He started in a trot, making circles around his rider. After a few minutes, she worked him up into a lope and a run, getting him good and warm. Once they were done, she saddled him up and tied him to a post inside the barn. She went through that with all the horses, seeing which would give her problems and which would fall into line. After they were all saddled, she got onto each one in the round pen one by one, feeling their gates, and watching their movements, strengths, and weaknesses. She got finished just as a few of the first Jounin arrived. The first were the lady with the long black hair and red eyes, a bigger guy with a cigarette, and one that looked like a big version of the booger in a blender she had met with Kiba on her first day back in the village.
"Ok," Kaiya said from atop her big red horse, "I need your names."
"Kurenai Yuhi."
"Asuma Sarutobi"
"Might Gai."
"Alright," Kaiya said, grabbing a clipboard from a nail on the outside of the barn. She crossed off their names, put the clipboard back, and got off of her horse. She crossed back to all of them, who were looking wearily at the horses.
"As you all probably know by now, I'm Kaiya Kaniwa. I'll be teaching you and your horses how to work as a ninja team. The first day I was here, I saw all of you, and I immediately connected you to a horse here in the barn. Can you find your own horses?"
They looked at each other in bewilderment, "Oh, and Asuma-san, put out that cigarette please. I don't need a fire in the barn."
He dropped the cigarette on the ground and stomped on it. Kaiya rolled her eyes. They walked into the barn slowly, looking at each of the horses, studying them. Kurenai's horse was the easiest by far. She found the black mare with red eyes and stood beside it, petting it wearily, wondering what to do next. Asuma eventually found the blue roan horse that was to be his and stood beside it. Gai looked around, confused, and Kaiya had to guide him to the little sorrel horse with the goofy look on its face.
"Ok, I'm only going to work you for a few hours, and it's best that we work now, so we don't have to wait on the others and you can continue on with your day. As you can see, I've already saddled and warmed up your horses. After I'm confident in these horses, that will change. Soon, you will all be saddling, unsaddling, warming up, riding, and performing on these horses."
Asuma spoke up cautiously, "How are horses going to help us be better ninja?"
At this, Kaiya found great enjoyment, "You want to see?"
They all nodded. Kaiya clicked her tongue and her horse followed her out of the barn and into the round pen.
"Asuma, come in here with me. You're going to be my guinea pig."
He walked in slowly, unsure of what would happen to him if he got too close. Kaiya jumped onto the horse's back.
"Now, try to come closer to me. Try to run at me, attack me."
He gave a confused look, but did as he was told, running at her full speed trying to catch her. Of course, the horse evaded him every time. Then he thought ahead, an aerial attack. He jumped in the air, trying to get her, the horse reared up, she did a back flip off of him and the horse grabbed him by the pant leg and drug him down to earth. He did it gently, so as only Asuma's pride was damaged, but there could have been much more to it had that horse really wanted to hurt him.
"Any questions?"
"You've been working with that horse for years. How do you expect us to be able to do that?" Kurenai said.
"Easy. I expect you to come work when you don't have to. You have to build an actual bond with the horse, and that takes more than just the few hours of training that I give you. You'll have to go through all of being the owner of a horse; feeding them, mucking stalls, riding, training, and bonding with them. If you don't have a bond with a horse, they will not protect you. Horses are prey animals; they're actually going against their own nature to protect us as ninja. They'll leave you to die if you don't have a strong bond. You don't have to know how to do everything that I do; ha, half the stuff I do is just made up on the spot. As long as you know the basics and have a good bond, your horse will protect you and you can manage any situation."
"I see! So you must have an amazingly strong bond with your horse then!" Gai said, giving the thumbs up and stupid smile.
"That's right, Gai. And that's our first lesson, creating a bond. For the first few days, we'll be doing a lot of groundwork. And here's your first lesson. My horse can read what I want him to do without me saying a word to him. I'll bet you, right now, he would let Asuma on his back, but not Gai. Just because that's what I want him to do."
They all gave somewhat unimpressed looks, "prove it."
"Gai, try to get on."
Kai tensed her wrist as she held the reins for a split second before Gai came up to the horse as though he knew what he was doing. The horse moved his back end to keep parallel with his rider. Kaiya let go of his reins and let them stay loosely on his neck as he sidestepped, backed up, and skirted sideways, never letting the booger like man anywhere within three feet of his stirrups. After about ten minutes, Kaiya clicked her tongue again, and the horse trotted happily to her side, where she took the reins again. Gai sighed, defeated by a horse.
"Asuma, now you try."
Kaiya's wrist and hands stayed easy and relaxed, and as she let go of the reins, Asuma stuck his foot into the stirrup and hopped on within a few seconds. Gai looked bewildered, dumbfounded, and embarrassed, while Asuma looked accomplished atop the bulky red animal. At the sound of Asuma's cocky chuckle at Gai's stunned look, Chipper Doc's ears went back and he gave an unhappy snort.
"Easy, Boy. Now, pay attention to this, all of you."
Kaiya pointed to the horse's ears, which were poised towards the back of him and held flat to his head.
"When a horse's ears are back in that manner, they're angry. For instance, Chipper Doc can already tell that Asuma is getting to comfortable too quickly in his saddle. He's not used to that, and doesn't like it. If I weren't standing here right now, telling him to cool it, he could and would buck you. You have to respect the animal underneath you; from the start, you're in control, but that's no reason to get cocky. You have to have a mutual bond with these animals so that they respect you and you do the same. Otherwise you're going to hit the ground running and fall on your butt."
She gave a kissing noise and Chipper Doc's ears perked up. Coming around him, she came up next to Asuma's leg, petted the horse's neck, and pointed to his ears again, which were up and facing ahead.
"This, on the other hand, means that the horse is comfortable and confident. Because I'm the one that has my hand on him, he feels comfortable even though Asuma is the one sitting on him, because he and I have a bond, and he trusts my judgement in the ones that ride him."
Once she began to talk, Chipper Doc's ears turned facing back, but still perked up.
"This isn't the same as being mad," she said, pointed at his ears once again. "You see here, his ears aren't flat against his head; he's listening to our conversation right now. He knows we're talking about him. This doesn't mean he's angry or anything, this just means he's being nosy."
Kaiya started walking to the gate of the round pen, and her horse followed her, Asuma still seated on his back. Asuma grunted unsteadily, and Kaiya giggled a bit. Chipper Doc stopped at her back, and Kaiya said, "Asuma, you can get off now."
He unsteadily half-fell off the horse and fell a few steps backwards once on the ground. They walked out of the round pen, and her horse walked obediently behind her as she came out. Asuma took his place beside Kurenai, very much humbled.
"Now, you see," she directed at the three of them, "the type of bond you'll have to have to do the things I do with a horse. Just getting on and off is a challenge if you don't know what you're doing. Take up your horses and bring them here."
They did as they were told, taking the horses by the bridles they had on and leading them uncertainly back to where Kaiya stood patiently.
"Alright, before we get started; Kurenai, you're horse's name is Star. Asuma, you're horse's name is Aai, and Gai, you're horse's name is Chance. What I want you to do is to make the horses back up. All you have to do is make a "shush" sound, like you're telling a child to be quiet."
She took her horse by the reins and said, "Shh, shh, shh, shh" and he backed up. The others followed suit behind her. Most of the horses were at least seven, which wasn't the best thing for ninja trainees, but they knew the basics backwards and forwards.
"Very good, now take the reins and lead them forward. Make sure they stay behind you and stop when you do."
She gave the example with her horse again, and they followed suit. After showing Gai how to work with his horse, whose head was steadily over his shoulder, she stood still.
"Alright, come inside the barn and unsaddle your horses."
Guiding them step-by-step on what to do, they followed the instructions and all the horses were put in the barn, brushed out, with fresh water and feed.
"You've all done very well for your first day; you're dismissed."
All three of them bowed and poofed off to somewhere that wasn't the barn. Kaiya unsaddled the horses that were left unridden by the Jounins that didn't show up, fed them, and locked the stalls up. Taking Chipper Doc out of the barn, she hopped on his back and took off at a run out in the pasture. Feeling the wind rush through her hair, the high of being out in a straight run gripped her tight and didn't release. It was a straight shot through the pasture, with very little if anything to get in her way. The pounding of hooves and the sharp panting of the horse's thick breath matched his riders sharpening breath through the crisp air, feeling the absolute easiness in matching strides and togetherness in a run. This was the ultimate partnership; no one would ever get closer than these two as a pair.
Just as they were settling into an easy walk-down against the barbed wire fences, Kiba ran through the barn until he met with the gate at the other side of the barn that led to the pasture Kaiya was now walking through.
"Kaiya!" He called.
She kicked up her horse into a lope and ran to the gate, "Yeah?"
"Sakura's having a sleepover at her house tonight. Want to come?"
"Was I invited?"
"Duh!"
"Alright then! Let me unsaddle and I'll head out."
She quickly unsaddled, much more efficiently than the Jounins previously. Leading him into his stall, which had been previously filled with fresh water and feed, he stuck his head into his bucket happily and she locked up his stall. Looking around, she did a double take of the barn to make sure nothing was out of place, and then left with Kiba to go to Sakura's house.
"Can we make a quick stop first?" she asked.
"Sure; to where?"
"The farms where my dad's helping out. He'll want to know where I'm going."
They took off, and as Kaiya's long legs took lead over Kiba's shorter ones, he grabbed her hand once again to keep up. This didn't at all deter her; she didn't see it as anything more than simple friendship. Coming up to the lands where her father had mules plowing up the fields, she called him over.
"Sakura's having a sleepover. Can I go?"
He gave her a tensed look for a moment, "You're friends will be there?"
She nodded excitedly, for a moment holding Kiba's hand tighter without realizing that his hand was even still holding hers. Her father gave a short nod and told her to keep careful.
"Thank you Daddy!" she said, jumping up and down before turning to Kiba and asking where Sakura's house was.
This time it was his turn to lead her, and with her hand still enveloped in his, they ran off into the village. After a few minutes, they reached a decent sized house and Kiba knocked on the door. Kaiya finally let go of his hand, just as a girl with pink hair opened the door with another girl with long blonde hair beside her. Kiba walked in easily, introducing her to Sakura and Ino, who gave her death glares as she entered. Feeling a little tense, she looked around the room, hoping to find someone she knew. She stuck close to Kiba, before finding Hinata and Shino in the back of the room, and Sasuke in the front, giving her a smirk. She smiled at him, feeling at the top of her ponytail the pink rose, still in place. Sakura, Ino, and several other girls were staring in awe at the boy, and, seeing his glance at Kaiya, giving her a death glare of their own. They knew she was the one Sasuke kissed, and they were not happy. Nonetheless, she took a spot by Kiba on the floor opposite Sasuke and began to talk with whoever decided they wanted to make conversation. They were mostly guys, and she felt special in the fact that all of them seemed so interested in her.
"SEVEN MINUTES IN HEAVEN!!" Sakura yelled, grabbing a glass bottle and setting it in the middle of the room. Everyone gathered around it and waited in anticipation of what would happen.
"Who's going to spin first?" Sakura asked.
All the guys yelled Kaiya's name, hoping to end up in the dark closet with her. She blushed a little, and as the other girls glared, she giggled, "Ok, I'll go."
She spun the bottle and giggled again as it spun, knowing someone was going in that closet with her. She watched it in nervous excitement as it slowed….slower….slower….slower….as it came to a stop. She looked up to find that, of course, she would be in the closet with Sasuke. He gave a smirk at her, as she gave a small blush at him, and they both stood up and headed for the closet. They both came in to the small dark space, and the one source of light quickly vanished from their eyes as the door was slammed and they were left alone in the closet. There was no caution as Sasuke came into her personal space. The feeling of closeness between the two of them made her blush hotly, but Sasuke couldn't see it.
She could feel his hot breath against her neck as he made his way up to her face, before kissing her deeply, though gently, and she melted into him easily. Thinking nothing more of it than just a game, she let him do as he would, giving him entrance into her mouth as he backed her up against the wall. His hands tangled themselves in her hair, pulling her ponytail, and the rose wrapped into it, out, so as she was left with a cascade of her black hair down her back and a boy at her mouth.
She's a really good kisser… Sasuke thought, grazing one hand across her cheek, while the other was still firmly around her waist.
Just before the door was opened, Sasuke locked eyes with her for a good few seconds before going in for one last, gentle kiss. And as the door opened, Sasuke came out with a smirk on his face, and Kaiya sat back down next to Kiba and acted as though nothing happened. But as the game continued, Sasuke glanced more than once at the girl, while she was looking towards the game. He knew even more than before; she wasn't the same as the other girls, and he wanted her. But she was too enraptured in the game.
Bao Chicka Wah Wah! Chapter 4 is done!
R&R Lovelies!
ShelbyCole