The day after we brought Kakashi to Tazuna's house I took off to do some solo training, well I was planning on going by myself but then Naruto insisted on tagging along. Sasuke didn't want to be left alone with Sakura so those two join me as well. This leads to me sparring against Sasuke with an audience.
"I think someone has a little too much tension-" I pause and dodge his kunai, which was thrown expertly at my forehead. I dodge some more punches from him and he manages to land a hit, I guess it can't be helped, he's an Uchiha after all. I jump back and start some hand signs and Sasuke does the same, doing his own ninjutsu of course.
"Tornado shockwave!" I shout, he shouts some fire style jutsu and Noir barks, I follow what she commands and send the tornado against his move instead of getting it to dodge, successfully cancelling out both of our Jutsu.
Sakura gasps and Naruto cheers. I roll my eyes and catch a few Senbon needles that were sent in my direction. God I hate needles. They're so gross. I glare at Sasuke, who smirks and throws 5 kunai at me. I use his senbon to redirect the kunai, they only just miss Naruto, who screams and jumps onto Sakura. The pinkette yelps and shoves the blonde off of her.
"WATCH OUT FOR US!" Naruto shouts and I roll my eyes again, Sasuke and I start attacking each other with Taijutsu, most of the time we just dodged each others punches and kicks.
"GO SASUKE!" Sakura shouts, making my eyebrow twitch.
"GO MIKA!" Naruto shouts and I grin lazily, managing to catch Sasuke's fist with my left hand. His eyes widen a fraction when I bring my right hand around and punch him hard in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. Whilst he couldn't see, I know from experience that if you're punched hard enough it is very hard focus, I start some new hand signs.
"Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu," I whisper lowly and the ground pulls me down almost instantly. I smirk and start walking around below the ground, listening to what everyone was saying. This jutsu lets me walk around underground as if I wasn't underground, I could move through solid earth like it was nothing.
"Did-did she leave?" Sasuke coughs out, I smirk, moving around so I'm below him. I get ready to jump out from the ground I hear Sakura ruin my plans.
"SHE IS UNDERGROUND!" Sakura shouts and Noir start barking to me from above the ground. Apparently either Sasuke is in a tree or he's gotta pee. I can't hear very well from down here. I growl, moving around and following her directions to get behind the tree he was in. I silently climb out, hiding myself in the shadows. Sakura and Naruto were watching the ground and Sasuke was frantically looking everywhere, somehow keeping up a cool facade. I smirk and do a sand teleportation to get on the tree branch that he was on, except I'm hanging upside down, using Chakra control to keep myself steady. Sakura gasps and Naruto laughs loudly.
"SASUKE LOOK OUT-"
I quickly grab his foot and jump off the branch, pulling him down to the ground with me. I slam him onto the floor face first and I land on my feet, staring at him. He slowly sits up, wiping some blood from his lip. I do some more hand signs and I smirk, turning the stone around Sasuke into mud, he sinks down to his waist and I quickly change the mud back to stone.
Noir barks and I sigh, walking towards Sasuke and offering him a hand.
"I win, plus Kakashi is awake so we should go see him," I suggest with a fake closed eye smile. Sasuke stares at me with a look of pure disgust and irritation, just like the first time we met.
In the dark I was practising my kekkei genkai yet again, standing in the middle of an abandoned training ground. It was during my second year living in the village and I tried to practice as much as possible. A nearby presence makes me quickly return to a casual fighting stance, the bones returning inside of me. Trust me, it is as painful as it sounds.
"Are you stalking me?" A very quiet and reserved voice comes from the shadows and I tilt my head slightly to the left, jumping when the angsty boy himself emerges from the shadows. Jay's loverboy. Or so I'm told.
"Actually riddle me this um.. Sasgay was it? How long does it take for a stalkee to become a stalker? I was here first sunshine," I smirk, sarcasm drenching my words as I place a hand on my hip. I was usually fairly kind and reserved but this boy practically screamed asshole. At that moment I got his 'digust and hatred' glare. I roll my eyes and raise my hands in defeat, smirking behind my mask as I leave. Before I did though, I turned all the solid ground into mud. After that we were arch enemies for life. Though we were both too angsty to do much more than glare.
"It is ok! I can help you Sasuke!" Sakura's loud sing-song voice breaks me from my thoughts and I glance back at her as she mumbles about not knowing any jutsu.
Suddenly Sasuke grabs my hand and I use the reversed jutsu to turn the stone back in to mud, pulling him out and turning the mud into stone again.
"Good try, maybe next time fight me somewhere where I can't control the floor." I sneer before turning away from the punk, Sakura runs to Sasuke and starts complimenting him. Naruto jumps towards me and wraps an arm over my shoulder, I lean into his embrace and smile warmly.
"You're so awesome Mika-chan!" The blonde shouts and I blush all over, doing a sand teleportation jutsu on Naruto and myself. The sand cloud clears and Kakashi looks up at us slowly.
"Mika, Naruto..where are the others?" Kakashi draws out and I smirk, Naruto laughs evilly and nudges me softly.
"I see what you did there Mika-chan," my favourite boy giggles and Kakashi sighs irritably, sending me an annoyed look and I shrug, listening to Noir's loud barks. Sasuke, Noir and Sakura burst through the door at the same time Naruto pulls us into an empty closet.
"Kakashi-sensei someone kidnapped Mika and Naruto!" Sakura shouts with despair and Kakashi sighs.
"I won't be able to move for at least a week," He informs the two Genin calmly. Naruto starts shaking with laughter and I notice our predicament, squished up in a tiny little closet. My face heats up and I try to move but Naruto got the wrong idea and leant forwards.
"Do you think they know we're hiding?" He whisper shouts and my face heats up even more, I seriously am so happy I have this mask. His face is ridiculously close to mine, our noses basically touching.
"NARUTO, MIKA I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Sakura shouts and the door to the closet is ripped open, the two of us fall onto the floor, Naruto above me. Kakashi hums with amusement and Sakura gasps, giggling evilly and pointing at us. The blonde looks down at me and his entire face turns bright red whilst I just laugh sheepishly.
"YOU TWO WERE KISSING?!" Sakura shouts childishly, Naruto jumps off of me and apologies whereas I simply smirk and make kissy sounds as I slowly get up myself.
"No Sakura, we were not kissing. You and I could t-" Kakashi coughs loudly and I shut up. Noir starts barking insults at me, Kakashi seems to smirk as he listens to what she says. I glare at Noir and she ignores me, continuing to bark obnoxious insults. One of which was particularly offending.
"Did she just-" Kakashi stops himself when he notices the dark death glare I was sending Noir. Kakashi covers his mouth to most likely mock me and I growl, the fox stops barking and notices my deathly aura. Sakura and Naruto were backing away from me and Sasuke had a frown.
"What did she say?" He asks Kakashi who sends Sasuke a closed eye smile.
"Sorry, I don't speak fox," He deadpans, Sasuke's eyebrow twitches and Noir sweat drops. After I calm down and return to a seated position, Tazuna, who had been there the whole time, starts talking and everyone joins in on a conversation about the masked ninja. I sit down on the edge of Kakashi's futon, Noir sat on the opposite side. Kakashi sends me a closed eye smile and I blush, looking away from him, instead choosing to look out the window. Whilst they talk I start meditating, my legs crossed and my eyes now shut.
"No sound no smell" Kakashi starts and I open one eye to watch him, his face was blank.
"That is a ninja's end," He says softly, I stare at him for a while, taking in his features silently. All whilst I was trying my hardest to ignore Sakura and Naruto's antics. Kakashi was watching those two argue with humour, Tazuna and his daughter left to do their own things and Sasuke was cleaning his all of his kunai. Someone calls my name and I blink a few times, looking away from Kakashi with a slight blush. Sakura held the blonde in a head lock and Naruto was asking for my help.
"What did he do now?" I ask Sakura, she smirks at Naruto who whines in betrayal.
"This idiot was trying to offend Sasuke-kun!" She then lets go of Naruto and he face plants, I smile ever so slightly at her, not caring if my mask covered it.
"You're asking the wrong person for help, Sasuke is a bag of dicks," I mumble, Naruto cheers and pulls me into a hug, rubbing his face against mine, my face turns bright red instantly.
"Thanks Mika-chan, I knew you'd stick up for me~" He sings, Noir barks something quietly and I roll my eyes, letting go of the blonde.
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SO GROSS DUMBASS!" Sakura punches him on top of his head and he falls over, anime crying again. I rub my temples, an irk mark growing on my forehead.
"Sensei, can I please leave?" I ask, everyone looks at me with stars in their eyes, apparently I'm the cool new toy that everyone wants to play with. I'd probably be fine with that too if I'm honest, I smirk and blush at the thought and stand up quickly.
"Alone," I add, glaring darkly at Sasuke who must've wanted to try to spar me again, I could tell since he was now standing. Kakashi blinks slowly, yawning but nodding.
"Yeah sure, be back by lunch t-"
I had already sand teleported away, bringing Noir with me.
Time skip to 8pm
I wipe some fresh blood from my lip and climb to my feet, my knees feeling wobbly and jelly-like. After successfully standing up and regaining balance I glare at Noir who starts barking/laughing. She says 'bow down to me weakling'. I glare at her as she jumps down from her branch and trots towards me, I start the familiar hand signs with a weak nod. I'm not actually being beaten in a genuine fight. I'm only aloud to use one jutsu against her, the one jutsu I haven't even started. The one jutsu that blows up in my face...literally. I finish my hand signs and Noir quickly gets ready go dodge, her legs tensed and her ears twitching.
"RAIKODAN!" I shout, slapping my hands together. This move is a lightning missile in the shape of a tiger. The chakra infused lightning grows from my hands and grows to the size of around 7 centimetres (the average size I can get it at so far) in a weird ball shape. I close my eyes tight, trying to form it into a tiger. I hear a familiar pop noise and I look at the ball of lightning and chakra to see it slowly going out of control. My eyes widen, and before I could try to reverse the jutsu it explodes, again. I get slammed back into a hard tree and I gasp, pain throbbing through my entire body.
The jutsu had done this thirteen times out of thirteen, my body was getting exhausted and it was incredibly painful. Before I started working on this move, Noir and I made up a Taijutsu combo for us to use in a future battle. That took maybe 50 minutes to basically perfect, afterwoods I did 30 minutes of simple physical training and since then we've been doing this.
"Damn," I grunt, remaining seated with my back against the tree. I lean my head back and let out a loud sigh, watching the clouds and letting my mind drift to home. Noir pounces onto my lap, licking my hand and pushing her head underneath my hand as she laus down. I glance down at her, she purrs, probably bored or tired. I watch her eyes droop closed and I listen to the beat of her heart. It makes me feel even more drowsy. I knew my body wasn't able to get me back to the house by foot, I'd need to do a sand teleportation. Although, I'm sure that where ever I end up I will pass out the second I finish the teleportation. I look around at the forest and sigh, it can't be helped. I put Noir on the top of my head and I slowly do my hand signs, sand starts covering me and I think hard about Tazuna's house.
A familiar feeling grows in my body and it slowly leaves when the jutsu ends, I try to keep my eyes open, but I only really saw some grey hair before passing out.
Time skip again~
"Why'd she teleport here?"
"She was probably too tired to think of somewhere less..."
"Embarrassing?"
"Awkward?"
"Lets stick with awkward, hey maybe shes waking up, that means we won't have to lift her after all,"
"Oh oh! I saw her eyes twitch, Mika-chan WAKE UP DATTEBAYO"
"Shut up dobe, you know some of us are still trying to sleep."
"Hehe sorry teme-"
"DON'T CALL HIM THAT NARUTO-"
"You guys sure know how to wake a girl up," I mumble weakly, my eyes still closed. I don't want to wake up.
"Is she...sleep talking?" Naruto asks, I hear Sasuke tsk and Kakashi sigh, I actually felt the male moving next to me but my mind was too drowsy to process a proper reaction.
"Baka, your ugly face makes her want to keep her eyes shut probably," Sakura sneers and I feel some weight lift from my stomach.
"Were you sitting on me?" I ask with some embarrassment in my voice and I hear Naruto laugh, Sakura seems to giggle.
"Thats easy for you to say," Kakashi says, his voice sounds like its coming from right next to me. That doesn't make sense, I'm laying down. Wait, didn't they say something about awkward.
"Oh crap," I mumble, my eyes shoot open and I'm met with the cheeky face of Naruto. He instantly picks me up and hugs me tightly. My aching bones start hurting even more and I hiss in pain.
"Naruto," I whine loudly, he pulls me off whatever I was sleeping on and stands me up. It was a weird process, but my body felt too weak to fight. My legs almost collapse from under me but Sakura quickly grabs my arm.
"So, what was so awkward about how I was sleeping?" I ask, Sakura smirks and Naruto laughs loudly.
"YOU TELEPORTED NEXT TO KAKASHI-SENSEI-OOF!" A pillow slams against Naruto's face and he goes flying across the room, Sakura and I turn to the attacker, standing there was Sasuke, a dark look in his eyes.
"Everyone shut up." He commands and Sakura instantly lets go of me, jumping into her futon on the far end of the room and faking sleep. I quickly balance myself and look around. I lock eye contact with Kakashi, who seemed deflated.
"Yo," He says lazily and my eyes widen, Naruto said I slept next to him. I blush and quickly look away, thanking the darkness for hiding my face.
"Ew," I mumble, turning away from him and walking to my own futon, between Naruto and Sakura. Kakashi sighs loudly.
"What do you think I was saying when you were cuddling up against me? Actually, Mika-chan be a dear and remove your fox from my stomach," The male commands lazily and I smirk, laying down and pulling the blanket over my still tired and aching body.
"Nah," I mutter, rolling over and facing Naruto who was creepily staring at me in the dark.
"Why did you come back from your training so late? And what were you doing out there?" He asks, his eyes wide with interest.
"I was trying to perfect a jutsu," I explain sleepily and he grows stars in his glowing blue eyes.
"What is it called?" He asks and I frown slightly, sick of saying the name of the jutsu.
"Its called Raikodan," I whisper back, Naruto frowns, not understanding the name. Oh and by now I had deducted that I slept for around 2 hours whilst everyone was eating and Kakashi was reading, so right now its probably 10 pm.
"No way," Kakashi says from the other side of the room, I close my eyes, my eyebrow twitching with my anger.
"Yes way, punk." I grunt irritably, my body basically begging for sleep by now.
"Where? How?" Kakashi asks, too lazy to actually say a full sentence.
"I left the sand village when I was 7, by then my tutors had me at maybe Genin level, then my mum took me to the village hidden by the clouds and the tutors there had me learning crazy hard moves, most of them I wasn't able to do, but I remembered the technique and then when my mum died I left and started travelling for 3 more years," I yawn and roll onto my back, my eyes staring at the roof.
"And then?" Sakura and Naruto ask, making me sweat drop, those two are ridiculous. This isn't story time.
"I came across a really cool team from this village and they helped me learn a lot of the moves I couldn't understand, they taught me some other techniques too, eventually they had to go back to the village as they had finished their mission and thats that," I finish.
"What next?" Naruto asks and I growl.
"I went to some more villages and earned a passport to the village hidden in the leaf then I met you, then end good-"
A pillow is thrown expertly at my face and I groan loudly, removing the pillow from my face and sitting up. I look at the pillow in my hands and I growl. I could see Sasuke laying back down, I could also practically sense his smirk.
"You trying to start a fight pretty boy?" I growl, throwing the pillow back at him with more strength. Sasuke shouts out and gets up, I do the same, ignoring my sore body. I pick up my two pillows and glare at him.
"Next one to throw a pillow gets put to sleep by force," Kakashi says calmly and my eyes widen, Sasuke and I look at each other then at Kakashi.
"Next time," I declare before laying back down and closing my eyes. Sasuke 'hns' but I can practically sense his irritation from here. My eyes drift shut and my finally I manage to fall asleep.
4 AM
"WAKEY WAKEY-OOF" Naruto is interrupted by about 5 pillows being slammed at him, one from me, one from Sasuke, one from Sakura and two from Kakashi/Noir. The impact makes him fall unconscious, I pull his passed out body close to me and hug it for warmth.
"Thank kami for that," Sakura yawns and everyone goes back to sleep.
8 AM
"Good morning," I state with a stretch, a loud yawn escaping my lips, Naruto glares at me and Sakura soon copies my actions, except she adds a 'Sasuke-kun' at the end of it. The Uchiha was already up and dressed, he had just finished brushing his hair. Kakashi was fast asleep, still needing 5 more days to recuperate. Well around about 5 days. I get out of my futon and look down at my outfit, I forgot to change into some pyjamas. I sigh loudly and take off to the bathroom, showering and getting changed back into my gear. I go into the room where everyone had slept, Tazuna's house was barely big enough to fit us all so we were grateful for even one room. I was planning on camping on the roof. I hang my towel up on the door and dodge a pillow.
"Train with me Mika!" Naruto demands, snapping out of his uh thoughts? If you'd even call the whirlwind in his mind thoughts.
"Fine, but training doesn't mean sparring," I smirk and Naruto groans loudly but quickly grabs his weapon pouch and his forehead protecter.
"Oh oh, Sasuke can we train together?" Sakura asks Sasuke who frowns and pushes the door open, probably on his way to train alone.
"No, train yourself, thats how I trained," He finally snaps, walking away. Sakura sighs loudly and I copy her, knowing whats coming next.
"Mika-"
"Yeah fine," I interrupt, the Haruno cheers and I roll my eyes. She totally ignored what Sasuke said.
Time skip
"Gosh, you're meaner than Kakashi-sensei," Naruto coughs out, his face pressed against the floor by my foot. I frown slightly, easily dodging a hit from Sakura. With my other foot I kick her in the stomach, sending her flying back. I jump away from Naruto and sand teleport to a tree.
"You two...I said I didn't want to spar," I ignore their apologies, instead I sand teleport behind them and backhand them both.
"Mika, if we aren't sparring what are we doing?" Sakura asks and I smirk, taking two kunais from my pouch and handing one to each of them.
"Practising your aim," I casually state, sand teleporting to a couple metres in front of them and pointing at my forehead.
"Aim for here," I muse, Sakura gasps and Naruto's eyes widen.
"No way, you might be strong but you aren't Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouts and my eyebrow twitches, I pout slightly and cross my arms over my chest, offended by the statement.
"C'mon whiskers, hit me with your best shot and find out how good I am," I smirk, watching Sakura throw the kunai at me with curious eyes. The kunai which was meant to hit the middle of my forehead is heading towards my throat, well, it could be worse. I catch it before it hits me, lightly cutting my hands in the process. I move the weapon so that I'm not holding the sharp end and I look up at the pink haired girl to see her staring at me with shock. I make the smart decision of putting my gloves on so my hands don't get cut again, these gloves are basically like Kakashi's but longer, going up to my elbows. This made my whole arms covered, which could be good and bad depending on the situation.
"I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU!" She shouts, I throw the kunai back and it lands in front of her feet, I smile warmly at the cutey.
"C'mon flower girl, that ass can not be the best thing about you."
"CHAANARO YOU'RE IN FOR IT NOW!" She shouts, she starts throwing her kunai rapidly, about 4 of 8 were actually going to hit my body somewhere. I quickly take my own kunai out, deflecting them at the last minute. I was also humoured by the huge blush that covered her entire face.
"Lower left thigh, Stomach, right shoulder and hand? Now you're just getting worse Haruno," I tease, the girl growls and I smirk at Naruto, not that he saw it.
"Whiskers c'mon, I wanna see determination in those big blue eyes," I cheer, flinching slightly when a kunai whirls right past my head and thunks into a tree a little ways off from me. The pinkette scurries around collecting her kunai whilst the blonde and I have a short stare down.
"What is that look for?" I ask, getting sick of the pity filled stares he gave me.
"Why are you acting like it is all ok Mika? I mean your best friend is dead, the least you could do is be bothered by it. Or do we not mean anything to you?" His eyes were stone hard and his face was filled with fury and sadness, it made me take a slow shaky step backwards. My hands clenched into tight fists.
"NARUTO DON'T SAY STUFF LIKE THAT!" Sakura tries to punch Naruto but he jumps back, a kunai in his hand.
"Mika, do you care about anyone?"
Do I?
"Naruto how could you say that?" Sakura asks, sending me a pity smile. I look at the ground silently.
"You're not being the Mika I became friends with, you're not Mika at all!" He throws the kunai and I easily catch it, thankful for the gloves. I look at him with cold eyes, alas behind those green eyes was a waterfall of tears and weakness. So I bite my tongue, holding back my weak apologies.
"My chest, closer but not enoug-"
"THAT WASN'T FOR YOUR DUMB TRAINING!" Naruto shouts and my eyes widen, was he trying to hurt me? The tears hidden behind my eyes grow heavier, my whole body wanted to let it out. My stomach churns and my knees feel weak. I don't want to lose my friend...
"Naruto..." Sakura says, watching him with shock and tear filled eyes.
"Why?!" Naruto shouts, I see tears built in his eyes, I look away from him, my eyes finally giving in and tearing up.
"Naruto, everyone copes differently, don't you understand?" Sakura attempts yet again.
"No, I don't understand! I care about her and I know that she is hurting so, Mika.. can spare me those bullcrap smile, because I know you better than that. Stop lying to yourself, you're hurting," Naruto shoots me a glare and I choke back a sob, my whole body was shaking.
"No," I manage to choke out, Naruto looks at me, Sakura seems to stare at me too. My eyes refuse to let the tears fall, but I think the weakness in my voice showed them how pathetic I am already.
"You're my best friend Naruto..," I manage to say, slowly looking him in the eyes. When I see the tears in his blue eyes and the pain on his face I finally break. My own tears start spilling, the tears I've held back ever since I left that interrogation room. Sakura gasps when she sees the tears spilling from my face, soaking into the soft fabric of my mask.
"I just want you to be happy! I know that if you, my closest friend, is happy and safe that there is some hope in the world. I can't waste any moments with you because I don't know how much longer I can spend with anyone anymore! Everyone dies!" I shout, falling to my knees and crying. I look at my hands to see them shaking viciously as I took deep and heavy breaths.
"You want me to let it out? Maybe I can't because whilst I was being tortured I was told to do the opposite. But you know what, fuck it- I watched my best friend smile at me as she fell to her death! SHE'S GONE AND ITS HER FAULT! SHE COULD'VE LIVED BUT SHE LET GO OF ME! I COULD HAVE- WOULD HAVE SAVED HER! BUT SHES DEAD OK? SHE IS GONE- she promised me!" My voice breaks as I whisper the last part, my whole body shakes viciously and a huge weight lifts from my chest. I couldn't stop talking or crying.
"It is her fault but...I still blame myself...every single time." I whisper, I look at Naruto, his eyes were wide with shock and he was watching me silently.
"Why can't I just pretend that everything is ok?" I whisper, looking at the ground, my sight blurry from all of the tears.
"Mika," Sakura sighs softly, patting my shoulder.
"Its not your fault-"
"What happened?" Naruto asks and Sakura gasps.
"Naruto don't make her-"
"I was never told the story," Naruto continues, I look up, my shaking finally calming down slightly. He walks towards me, and sits in front of me, reaching for me, asking silently for a hug.
"I- I don't feel like I should be a part of this," Sakura admits, I look at her with a concerned expression.
"Do you want me to teleport you to Sasu-"
"Yes!" She shouts and I smile slightly, doing the teleporting jutsu. After shes gone I look at Naruto, he had a mix of emotions showing on his face but I push it down as I let him embrace me.
"You want to know...how Jay died?" I ask and he nods. I take a deep breath and close my eyes.
Time skip
...she put me in a genjutsu, showing me the moment we first became friends the moment when she promised me she wouldn't let herself die, then when I left the genjutsu she had managed to make me let go, instead of crying she smiled-"
Naruto hugs me tighter and shushes me, the notion bringing in a whole load of even more tears. I cry onto his shoulder and he just pats my back comfortingly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know, Mika...I'm so so sorry." He sobs like a guilty toddler and I laugh lightly, pushing him off of me, my hands on his shoulders. I send him a closed eye smile and his eyes widen.
"No, Naruto, you helped me realise that crying isn't weak,"
"Mika-chan!" Naruto cries out, hugging me again. I smile to myself, Naruto is kinda bipolar.
"Never blame yourself again Mika-chan, its not your fault, its those stupid twins!" He shouts and I tense up, pulling away from him. Wind starts blowing between us and it makes my hair flow with it.
"I know that, more than anyone else. I want to kill them but... revenge is a scar that no one deserves to bare."
Naruto glances at me with a cheerful grin, he pulls me towards him and hugs me tightly, not noticing the blush that covered my face.
"Dumbass cute little shit," I grumble into the hug.