A/n: Thank you all for the reviews and the fact that I made it to the 50 mark. Though, I have to thank Ghostfur for that. Oh and since I usually don't do this; the first chapter of the New Year is dedicated to Ghostfur, because she sent the fiftieth review and she loves winter!!
And to answer your question Ghostfur, to say winter in Japanese is fuyu(I think) and to say wolf in Japanese is ookami. Fun words aren't they?
To everyone else who reviewed, don't think I forgot about you.(That rhymed) After all, I write for your enjoyment as well as mine and I take pride in knowing that there are people who enjoy my writing. Well, continue reading on then.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own my ideas and all OC that has and will make an appearance in my story. Anyone who wants them has to go through a process to get them(jk).
Chapter 8: To the Land of Waves
"Kakashi-kun!!! Wait up!" Said Jounin looked up from his little orange book to see a hyperactive blonde running up to him. He paused his walking until she was near and continued walking as she caught up.
"Good afternoon Kyouka-chibi."
"Meanie, don't call me that! It's degrading!"
"Not when it's true…itai!" Kakashi winced as he held his head in pain. He looked over to the short blonde who stuck her tongue out at him.
"Shouldn't you be helping your students on their mission?"
"They don't need my help catching that demon cat. I'm sure they are doing just fine. What about you, shouldn't you be helping the Hokage?"
"Not when it involves paperwork. Gentou-kun and Aki-chan has that covered. And that pervert is by the bath houses."
"I'm about to pick up the brats. Care to join Aunt Kyouka?" He dodged another fist and picked up his pace in walking.
"Don't call me that!!"
At the Hokage's Office
Three scratched up students glared at the cat as its owner strangled it. Kakashi and the Hokage looked on in slight amusement as they saw the genins' satisfaction in the abuse of the cat. Aki silently worked on the bookshelf; acknowledging no one.
"Serves you right you damn cat." Naruto mumbled as he stuck his tongue out at the cat. It hissed as it was led out by its owner.
"Well Team 7 reporting another completed mission. We're ready for another one." Kakashi reported. His students glared at him in annoyance.
"You weren't even there to help us!! Where the hell were you?" Ino shouted. Kakashi winced at the volume and rubbed his head as he gave a quick excuse.
"That's bullshit and you know it!" She yelled back. She just came back from finding that damn cat for the fifth time and she wasn't happy go luck. That furball scratched her face in retaliation!
"Ino-sama, be more respectful to your elders." Aki pointed out as she spoke from her position by the bookcase. Ino scoffed in aggravation and before she even knew it, her shoulder throbbed in pain as a kunai whizzed by and cut her before it was imbedded into the wall. Ino winced before she slightly bowed in a strained manner.
"Forgive me for my rude outburst Kakashi-sensei; Aki-sensei." She spat out. Naruto growled as he stared at his friend being forced into submission.
"Who the hell do you think you are? You've only known Ino-chan for a month and she's your mistress! She should be ordering you around, not the other way around!"
"Her title means nothing to me. She is weak and she will be treated that way until she can beat me." Aki rose from her spot and glared at the boy.
"Stop acting like you are the strongest one. Ino, you shouldn't have to bow down to her. She doesn't deserve it." The Uchiha glared at the governess whose icy stare dropped a few more degrees. Her killing intent was gradually rising as she stared at the boys who defending her weak mistress.
"That is enough! There will be no fighting in my presence. Now Aki-chan, while you are here, you abide to my rules. And what you've done was unnecessary and uncalled for. Now resume your task." The Sandaime shot her a look and she stared at him before turning her back on him and went back to what she was doing.
"Thank you guys, you didn't have to stick up for me. She is right." Ino whispered dejectedly. The boys looked at her in disbelief.
"How can you say that about yourself? You know that isn't true! Even Sasuke doesn't agree with that, right teme?"
"Hn."
"Asshole…see? He thinks you are strong. Don't listen to that bitch!" Naruto was quickly silenced by a cuff to his head. Kakashi withdrew his fist and looked at Naruto disapprovingly before patting Ino on the head slightly. She scowled and he gave her a smile that she couldn't see any way.
"Hokage-sama, what is our next mission?"
"Well, you have several options to choose from. You can babysit, garden, deliver groceries, or paint."
"What the hell old man, I want a tougher mission! We're ninjas! Why are we doing other people chores for them? We deserve higher!" Naruto yelled out in frustration and received another cuff, this time from Ino and Sasuke.
"We apologize Hokage-sama, but we would like to request at least a C-Rank mission." Sasuke said and looked at Ino for her to continue.
"We, as Team 7, think that we are ready to take on a C-ranked mission for we train hard and our teamwork is …uh…up to standards."
"And I'm not doing any chores!" Naruto was sent to the ground again and the Sandaime laughed heartedly.
"Well Kakashi-kun, do you feel that they are ready for a higher mission?"
"I guess."
"Well, I'll probably have something for your team tomorrow. Stop by then, okay?"
"Yes Hokage-sama." Team 7 saluted and walked out of the office; Ino and Naruto talking animatedly about their mission.
"We get to leave the village!" Ino cheered as they exited the building.
"I hope we get to protect a princess from other ninjas! Then I can show the true might of UZUMAKI NARUTO!!!!"
"Oh please, what is a dobe like you going to do?" Naruto stopped cheering and glared at the boy.
"Shut up teme, I'm going to do a lot more than you will every do in this lifetime!!"
"Then unless I die this second that will never happen usuratonkachi."
"Now, now boys, no fighting before a mission. I want you all to go home and back your things for at least a month. Don't pack unnecessary things. Dismissed." Kakashi poofed away and left the genins alone.
"Well, I'm going home." Ino announced as she started walking east.
"Wait Ino-chan, what about your wound?" Naruto asked as he eyed the cut on shoulder. Without looking back, she raised her arm and waved it in dismissal.
"Don't worry about it Naruto-kun. I've had worse. I don't even feel that much pain. Bye boys, see you later." With that, she jogged until they lost her in the crowd of civilians.
"She doesn't seem fine." Naruto said as he continued to look in the direction she left in. When he got no reply, he looked and saw that Sasuke had left him alone on the street.
"You bastard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Ino walked silently as she made her way home. She wasn't in any rush to get home. She just couldn't come home to her parents in such a gloomy fashion. Their princess was a very happy girl with no worries in the world. And to think, that their little girl is going to actually become a princess in five years.
'Her title means nothing to me. She is weak and she will be treated that way until she can beat me.'
Aki's voice drifted in her head and she sighed dejectedly. For a month, she knew the woman and for a month, the woman hated her. She was quick to insult Ino and always found a way to bring her morale down drastically. And even though Ino keeps on striving to be stronger, she was starting to believe that she couldn't become strong enough to uphold her title as the Mistress.
"Ino-hime, it isn't good to space out on a busy street."
"Ahh!!" The girl jumped and quickly spun around to stare at a pair of amused violet eyes.
"Haru-kun?"
"Ah, my beloved princess deigns to speak with me, since she has been ignoring me for the past week."
Recalling the incident a week ago that involved her finding a coy looking cat while taking a shower flashed in her mind and she growled before turning and stomping off.
"Ino-hime, I said I was sorry!!"
"Who the hell sleeps in a shower?!"
"I do!"
"You're a cat! Cats hate showers or anything dealing with water!"
"But you taught me to love showers as soon as I saw your naked visage in the water!" Ino punched him and continued to stomp off. In minutes, Haru was back up and walking beside her.
"Did I get your mind off it's' path of depression?" Ino stopped and looked at Haru who grinned at her.
"You did that to make me feel better?"
"Did it work?"
"…Yes."
"So why were you depressed?" He was met with silence before Ino sighed and looked to the ground.
"Do you think I am weak, Haru-kun?"
"This has to do with Aki-chan do it?" Ino nodded and it was his turn to sigh in annoyance. Sometimes, that woman acts like a real bitch.
"I'm gonna tell you a secret ok? Promise me that you won't mention anything to the other council members, ok?"
"Why can't I tell them?"
"Because anything dealing with any of our past lives is confidential. Do you understand?"
"Why tell me at all?"
"Because, in order to be our Mistress, you have to have some knowledge of your protectors. Let's find a nicer place to talk, okay Ino-hime?" With that, he grabbed her and vanished in a gust of wind.
Sasuke entered his dark bedroom and began packing. As he packed, he looked at the golden bangle that lay on his bed. He hadn't looked at it in a week but now, he though about the offer he was given.
'But do I really want to give up my path as an avenger? Do I really want to give up my revenge on the man who destroyed my life?'
In truth, he didn't want to. That was what gave him the strength to continue after the massacre. He was told that in order to get stronger, he needed to give into rage, the anger, the darkness. But he was offered another way to get stronger and it was with a short blonde woman he just met. He thought about it and came up with two options: train himself and stay weak, or get a personal trainer and become strong. The choice wasn't difficult.
He grabbed the bangle and channeled chakra through it. In a poof the bangle was gone and Kyouka stood in front of him, looking confused.
"Where did you go Kakashi-kun?" She looked back and forth and saw Sasuke sitting there. She blinked for a moment before smirking at him.
"So you've decided?"
"I'm going to tell you the story of why Aki-chan is a bitch. It's not a pretty story. Out of all of us, I think she had the most traumatic life."
Ino and Haru sat on a pier that overlooked a small lake that reflected the setting sun. Ino sat with her head resting on her raised knees as she stared at Haru who was lying on his back.
"What happened to her?"
"Well, Aki-chan lived in a poor family as a child. As a way to get money, her mother decided to sell her into a brothel."
"What happened to her father?"
"He died of an illness. And since the mother couldn't work because she was also sick and pregnant, she was sold to a notorious brothel."
"How old was she?"
"Ten."
"What!? What kind of mother sells a ten year old child to a place where she is going to be sold to perverted men and raped constantly!?" Ino was absolutely horrified at what she heard and wanted to punch the mother in the face for doing such a thing.
Haru just laughed bitterly as his mistress silently fumed beside him. "You have to understand Ino-hime. Times were rough and her mother was getting ready to have another baby. So she wanted to make sure the baby was born and grown healthy. In her mind, Aki was already grown up and wasn't needed anymore. She was also a way to make money. So she came up with the easiest plan.
"When Aki was sold, of course she was distraught. She was only a little kid and she had no clue as to why her mother would sell her. So she went into the brothel innocent and depressed. Of course that got worse as she was raped constantly, beating, and still wondering why she was sold. It got to the point to where she became temporarily mute."
"When did she get out?" Ino asked, entranced by the story. She decided that she would take back all that she thought about Aki. Because if it was her, she would've turned out the same way.
"When she was nineteen, a man came and bought her for good. His name was Daisuke, the former governor of autumn. He took her in as his apprentice and taught her all that he knew. As time went by, she started to talk again. It seems like Daisuke had an effect on her. To what extent, I don't know. But when she was 29 years old, she was offered her position as governess. She refused."
"Then how did she become it after she refused?" Ino was puzzled and became even more confused when Haru started laughing.
"Apparently, she made a bet with Daisuke and lost. So she had to take the position."
"What was the bet?"
"No one knows but them. I bet it was something kinky." Ino punched him in the stomach and caused him to sit and up and curl up as he held his stomach.
"Pervert!" Both sat there for awhile, enjoying the silence until something popped in Ino's head.
"Wait, how do you know this?"
"I am the story keeper of the council. Each member has to tell the governor of spring their story and he records it in the history scroll. I know everything about everyone."
"Can you tell me more about everyone?"
"One story a day."
"Come on! Please??"
"Well…I'll tell you another story if you show me your youthful breasts." Haru grinned lecherously and Ino smiled.
"Okay."
"Really!?"
"Yeah. Close your eyes so I can take off my shirt."
"All right!" Haru quickly closed his eyes and Ino cracked her knuckles and punched him in the face. She then got up and dusted her clothes before walking off in the night.
"Well, I see that Team 7 is late to pick up their new mission…again." Sarutobi stared at the genins who were in turn glaring at their sensei. Kakashi smiled and went back to reading his book.
"Well for your C-ranked mission, you will be escorting a bridge builder, named Tazuna, back to his home in wave and help him complete the bridge. Gentou-kun please let our visitor in."
Gentou, who was currently working in the office, walked to the door and opened it and left. He then returned with an old man who was drunk and swaying haphazardly, occasionally bumping into Gentou. The man looked around the office and took a swig of his bottle before responding.
"These are the brats that are protecting me? What am I hiring you for? What makes you think a bunch of kids who haven't reached puberty yet is going to be suitable protection? Especially that short blonde haired kid with the stupid looking face!"
Kakashi quickly grabbed Naruto before he tackled the old man and held him by the collar.
"Well Tazuna-san, we are all ninjas here, so we would be more than enough for you. Okay kiddies, get your stuff and meet us at the front gate in a half hour. Dismissed."
When the thirty minutes were up, all genins were present and were waiting for their sensei once again. When he appeared thirty minutes later, he had to deal with two loud blondes, a glaring Uchiha, and an old man with a mean hangover.
Joy.
A/n: Well, the Wave arc has begun and you got to learn a little background information on Aki-chan. Also, Haru-kun finally makes a meaningful appearance and Sasuke has made his decision. Stay tune for more of my fic and review so I know that people actually read this.
Oh, and anyone who is interested in Inuyasha, try my first ever story Bad Transfer of Shikon High. It is about to end and it seems popular enough, so try it. (Beginning is bad, but I'm getting around to editing…soon…maybe later…probably never)
Ciao!
