Chapter 4
Akari's POV
I force my eyes open, heart pumping too quickly. I rip anything on me, off. The room I'm in is dark and cold, two kids sleeping on the chairs next to the bed. 'A hospital,' my mind supplies me with.
I grip at where my heart is, noting that my clothes were changed with others. 'Oh? Looks like you fucked up. Again. Shut up.' I shake my head, silently grabbing the folded pile of clothes that I assume are mine.
Sliding open the window, using my - 'our- my,' chakra to soften the noise, I slip out into the night. The cool breeze ruffles my clothes, eyes looking up and finding the moon, full and glowing. 'I need to train. I'm still way too weak. But we could read instead, or people watch. No, I need to get stronger.'
I jump from roof to roof silently, not using chakra. My feet softly land on the last house near the forest. I take a deep breath, the crisp air resting calmly in my lungs. Gritty tiles dig into my feet as another presence makes itself known.
"Hello again, Akari-chan," A deep but familiar voice says, causing me to tense up. My tail twitches and my cat ears pull back to lay flat against my head.
"Oro-chan. Long time no see. I thought I told you not to call me that. I'm not at all a light," I hiss, "Then again, you don't like me calling you Oro-chan. Anyways, I see you heard about it. Kabuto really scared me with that news. You'd never come here without reason, after all." I slightly ramble, showing just how uneasy I am.
Orochimaru looks at me with curious eyes, a smirk playing at his lips.
I never had fear around him before, so why should I now? Unless, it isn't him you're afraid of. But then what would I, Akari the awesome, be afraid of? Maybe you finally found my sense of self-preservation and actually is afraid of him. That could be the only explanation.
I sigh, looking around. A frown tugs at my lips, easily being turned into a grin. "Oro-chan, does anyone else besides you and Kabuto know I'm an Uchiha?"
Orochimaru's eyes glitter, 'So that's what she's afraid of. Interesting.' He shakes his head, causing me to sigh in relief.
My eyes wander upwards, looking at the full moon once again. It's so captivating, the beauty and mystery radiating off of it. Orochimaru cuts my thoughts in two when he pokes me to get my attention. A habit that I'm proud to say came from me.
"So, when are you leaving Konoha? I'd have thought you would leave by now," Orochimaru comments, taking a step back once my eyes snap to his.
"Oh, uh. Yeah. I'd thought that I'd leave soon too," My tail flickers in irritation, "But somehow the Jinchuuriki, the Uchiha, and the Mutt are under the impression that I care, and would chase after me unless they thought I was dead," I look blankly at Orochimaru, who frowns at me.
A few minutes pass, neither of us blinking. Eventually, Orochimaru sighs, closing his eyes. "Of course you'd include me on your plans without telling me." I pout, crossing my arms in defense.
"Hey! This was unplanned! I just realized it when I woke up in the hospital," I mumble, kicking at the roof we were both standing on. Orochimaru rolls his eyes, another thing was I totally an influence on.
I shrug, grinning. "So, it has to be when they're the only witnesses, or where there are a lot of witnesses where I get killed. How about we plan an invasion? Your village can 'ally' with like, Suna or something and at that time you can get to the Uchiha and pretend to kill me," I explain, seeing Orochimaru's eyes light up at the plan.
"This happened in your foresight, didn't it?" I nod, smirking when Orochimaru frowns. "And I thought you actually came up with a plan. What next, have Kabuto join the Invasion acting like a loyal Konoha ninja?" I glance away, scratching my arm as he sighs.
"When does it happen?" My breath comes out in a fog and I watch it slowly vanish as it floats away.
"Chunin exams that are in a few months. I thought you already planned it, but it really was a last minute thing, wasn't it?" I comment, shivering as the cold finally seeps into my skin. I circulate some chakra to thaw myself out. When I look back to where Orochimaru was, I notice he's gone.
I sigh, hopping down from the roof and starting to run my thousand laps around Konoha. I smirk as a naive yet determined voice echoes in my head, 'If I cannot do a thousand laps around Konoha, then I shall do two thousand pushups!' I shake my head fondly.
Normal POV
Sasuke and Naruto find Akari and Sakura doing situps in Training Ground 3, running over and yelling at her. Sakura collapses, her entire body shaking.
"Nee-chan! You should be in the hospital! Why are you training, the doctor said you shouldn't be moving, let alone training for a week!" Naruto screams as Akari finishes her sit ups. 'Two thousand nine hundred ninety nine, Three thousand.'
Akari pouts, flailing her limbs as Sasuke and Naruto pick her up. "Awww, but Otoutooooo! It's so boring in the hospital, and the food sucks major ass!" Sasuke rolls his eyes as Naruto easily counters her complaints. Sakura struggles to rise and join them.
"Then I'll get you Ichiraku's for every meal, believe it! Sasu-teme and I will get stuff for your boredom, just don't reopen the wound!" Akari's lips form a straight line.
"You mean the wound that I already healed? It's fine Naru-chan! You wouldn't stay in bed either, would you? Neither of you would." Sasuke and Naruto blush, not able to deny her claims. Sakura says something, but they all ignore her as she struggles to keep up with them.
Akari struggles, weak when compared with the grip Naruto and Sasuke have on her arms. They stop only when they were in front of the hospital. She laughs, smiling sheepishly at the people glaring at her.
"Where was she?" The nurse asks, mouth turned downwards.
"Training," Sasuke replies, a smug air exuding from him. Akari pouts at him, doing the puppy eyes. Sasuke pointedly doesn't look at Akari, mourning the fact that he's the most mature in their squad.
Akari sighs, seeing that she won't get out of this. "Sakura, the next thing you need to do is eat three bowls of ramen at Ichiraku's- ask for the training special. Don't look at me like that, it's healthy. I'll know if you don't do it, too. The punishment is more weight." Sakura blanches, stumbling off towards Ichiraku's Ramen.
Sasuke stares at Akari, eyes wide. He quickly looks away when Akari turns her puppy eyes on him. "She didn't eat dinner nor breakfast, Asshat." Kakashi walks up from where he was glaring at Akari with the nurse.
"Neko, why were you using dangerous jutsu without adult supervision?"
"Because I haven't activated my dojutsu yet," Akari deadpans. Naruto coughs, hiding his snickers. Sasuke smirks, looking away so Kakashi doesn't notice it. Kakashi glares at Akari, not appreciating the pun. The nurse walks up, confused.
"What does a dojutsu have to do with adult supervision?" She snaps at Akari, missing the facepalm that Naruto and Sasuke do.
"Uh, Genin are considered adults, and a dojutsu like the byakugan or sharingan gives the people using them what some people would call 'supervision'." Akari explains, incredulous. Realizing that Sasuke and Naruto let her go to facepalm, Akari grins ferally before shunshinning to Kami's, fuin-henge in place.
She never used this henge before in front of her squad, but it resembles a civilian with shoulder-length messy dark blue hair and soft brown doe-like eyes, one she uses whenever she wants to be alone.
"Welcome! What may I get you today?" Akari smiles softly, glancing at what Sakura was eating. The ramen stand is homey and welcoming, stools worn yet comfortable and counter smooth.
"What's that? It doesn't look like the normal ramen types," She says, voice smooth as silk as she points at Sakura's ramen. Teuchi chuckles, the only one who knows that the woman is Akari.
"That's called the Training Special, it's healthier than all the other choices, is filling, and cheap as well. It's meant for ninja who just got done training, or really hungry civilians. Most of my ninja customers try it and like it more than the other flavors, too." Akari nods, making a decision.
She herself has never had the ramen, though she's the one that suggested (read as: complained about) delicious and filling food that's good for your health with everything a person could need for the day in one dish. Naruto was the one to ask Teuchi if he could make something like that.
Akari smiles at the memory.
They were just done with Akari's insane training, at Ichiraku's because Sasuke was too exhausted to cook and none of them had enough money for much else.
"Ughh, this is so good," Akari said, stuffing more in her mouth. Sasuke rolled his eyes and Naruto looked at her in confusion.
"Why are you saying that like it's a bad thing? Of course this is delicious! It's filling and cheap too!" Naruto manages to yell before Teuchi puts his order down and Naruto can no longer speak.
"Exactly! But it's unhealthy, and doesn't give us the nutrients we need after training! If only there was a food that was both delicious and healthy while also being filling! I need to figure out who sells a dish like that, with all the nutrients one would need for the day as well! I'd most definitely eat there every day-" She dodged Sasuke's hand, raising her own in surrender.
"Okay, okay. Unless Sasuke's cooking," She added, grinning at Sasuke's scowl. Naruto puts on a thinking pose, eyes closed.
"There's that one fancy rest-" Sasuke started, only to be cut off by Akari.
"No! Naru-chan's not allowed there, it's extremely expensive, and we have to wait forever for the food to be finished!" Akari groaned, slamming her face into the counter. Naruto's eyes snapped open as he jumped up.
"Hey, Tabemono no Kami-sama- ack," Naruto rubbed his head, correcting himself, "Teuchi-san, can you make something like that? Ramens delicious, filling, cheap, and it could be healthy too, right?" Teuchi nodded after a moment of thinking.
"Yeah, I think so. I'll have Ayame help me. The recipe will be done by the end of the week, you guys can be it's taste-testers."
Akari blinks when the bowl is placed before her, whispering an 'itadakimasu' while digging in. Her world bursts into colorful, deliciousness. She can't help but devour the entire bowl in seconds, wondering how Teuchi made the ramen so good and healthy.
Akari follows Sakura when they're both done eating to Training Grounds 3, unhenging when they arrive. She stays hidden when Kakashi arrives, Naruto and Sasuke with him.
"Hey, Sakura. Have you seen Nee-san?" Sasuke asks, looking around as if he could see her. He doesn't, eyes returning to Sakura as she answers.
"No, not since the training. But you don't need her, why don't you join me, Sasuke-kun?" Akari rolls her eyes.
"It's a team meet up, she's not here." Akari shifts, appearing behind Kakashi and grinning as he tenses.
"Maa, isn't she?" Kakashi eye smiles, stepping aside to show Akari.
Sorry it took so long and is so short, I realized that I needed a time skip and didn't want to do it partway into a chapter. Anyways, please tell me if you like the new development with Akari or not... Even if you're reading this months from now. This was kinda planned from the start though, so yeah. Any suggestions I'll take to heart and probably include in my story, if only in a dream or later in the series.
Names for Akari:
Iruka's- Uzumiha
Kakashi's-Neko-chan
Hokage's- Neko-san
Sasuke's- Nee-san
Naruto's- Nee-chan
Shikamaru's- Fuwa
Ino's- Otenba
Chouji- Fuwa
Orochimaru- Akari-chan
Librarian- Yami Youkai
Translations:
Shunshin- Body Flicker
Ojii-gramps/grandpa
Teme-bastard
Baka-idiot/stupid
Dobe-deadlast
Ninjutsu- Like in the airbender, except more magical and with less(ish) limits
Taijutsu- hand-to-hand combat
Genjutsu- illusionary techniques, controlled hallucinations forced upon a different person, technically
Sharingan- A special ability those from the Uchiha clan, and-or implanted with, have that allow the user to see through nin, tai, and genjutsu, and gives perfect memory when activated. Look it up, if you want more.
Mangekyou Sharingan- OP level of Sharingan that can be activated by seeing someone you love dearly die in front of you
Fuinjutsu- written-out ninjutsu, except absolutely no limits, as long as you know how to make what you want. From storage to weight, dimensional travel to time travel, you name it you can do it.
Kenjutsu- sword fighting
Konohagakure no Sato- Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha
Genin- Low-level ninja
Chunin- mid-level ninja
Jonin- high-level ninja
Anbu- like the FBI/CIA/Black ops, combined
Hokage- Military leader of Konoha, the president of the village, basically.
Hitai-ate- forehead protector
Kawarimi- Substitution jutsu, you switch yourself with something else, easy enough to understand.
Henge- Transformation Jutsu, you can change your appearance to absolutely anything you can imagine, literally.
Kunai- ninja-knife-thing
Shuriken- ninja-star
Nawanuke- Rope escape jutsu