After the sincere moment I had experienced with Naruto we had started training again, but there was a different mood to it. I didn't feel so closed up and unstable and yes I was still sad about Jay but... I accepted it. I let it out and I had allowed myself to picture it and eventually I would be at peace with it.
Naruto returned to training his aim, which seriously needed the work to raise from normal ninja to hokage level. Sakura and Sasuke ended up joining us too, Sakura seemed to be more eager than Sasuke. The ravenette didn't pass down the opportunity to beat Naruto at something though, accepting the offer to compete with kunai throwing.
I take a deep breath, blocking out the whooshing of a kunai as Naruto and Sasuke compete, Sasuke winning by a land slide obviously. I ignore Sakura's grunts as she did pushups and sit up and I block out any other natural sounds that came from the forest. I was completely at peace.
"Raikodan!" I shout, breathing deeply and calmly. The blue chakra feels bigger, stronger and more controlled as it gathers at my fingertips. Slowly it forms the shape of a tiger and I mentally aim it to a light brown leaf falling from a dying tree. The chakra made creature looked to be around 20 cms tall, which is a real fucking accomplishment for me. The lightning tiger shoots off at a speed which was hard to follow, what I could see was pure elegance, like a real tiger. Sadly all good things must come to an end, as the blue tiger reaches its destination it detonates, blowing up the tree which the leaf fell from. A feeling of pride and joy starts bubbling in my stomach, it grows through my body and soon I can't help but let out a loud cheer.
"I'm all fired up now," I cheer, punching a nearby tree as hard as I can. I punch it nearly forty times, letting out all my energy and adrenaline. Said Adrenaline was hiding the pain in my fists and the incoming headache of the sudden loss of chakra that came with any big moves. The tree was reduced to splinters by the time I pulled away and climbed off of the now fallen tree.
"Mika..." I hear a confused Sakura ask, I look at my team, a blush creeping onto my face. The whole squad was staring at me, Sasuke looked away and scoffed nonchalantly whereas the other two were gaping like fish out of water.
"Ahh, sorry, everything is ok," I reassure them both, sending a closed eye smile to the duo. After 10 more minutes of training everyone's stomachs were grumbling, mine and Naruto's especially. A good 'ol dramatic scene always brought on some hunger spikes.
"C'mon, its probably around lunch time, I'll teleport everyone back," I offer with another smile. After Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura collect their scattered kunai, everyone, yes even Sasuke, group around near me. It was a bit harder to get the sand to wrap around four people but I managed, and soon the four of us are standing on the floor of Tazuna's kitchen.
Tsunami, Tazuna's Daughter, screams and drops a pan full of cold water on the unsuspecting Sasuke, the metal banging loudly against the Uchiha's head. Naruto starts howling with laughter. Sakura donks him on the head and starts calming down poor Tsunami, Sasuke storms off to the bathroom silently. I start laughing loudly too, leaning against a wall and covering my masked mouth as I snigger with Naruto, who got up after rolling around with laughter. He smiles at me and pats my shoulder gently, after he had finished cackling like a witch.
"Good to have the old Mika back!" He cheers before continuing to giggle at what had just happened.
As if my laughter had a switch, I stopped. It didn't die down, it just stopped completely. Naruto took no notice, of course. I stood there, staring at the floor silently. I want Jay to be alive yes, but more than anything...I want to forgive her. I want to understand why she let herself die. Why she broke her promise like it was nothing. I feel a hand on my shoulder and I blink slowly, tilting my head in the blonde's direction. Naruto smiles cheekily, making my eyebrow lift slightly and my face turn a soft pink.
"Lets try to see what's under Kakashi's mask!" He grins evilly, sneaking around like some sort of mouse. I roll my eyes, following him in a more leisurely pace. Sakura runs past me, saying something about hating masks. Hm, I wonder if I should get rid of my mask. I mean I've had it all my life, but I also had my robe too and my best friend inspired me to get rid of that. I spare a look at my hands and reality slaps me in the face. I wear my mask for everyone else's sake. The green scales had grown, I now have a small trail decorating my wrist, almost running along my veins. I sigh, pulling my gloves out from my weapon pouch. I guess I'll have to wear them more often. Whilst I walk towards the room that Kakashi was resting I can't help think about the first time I asked about the scales.
Mika is 9 y/o
"Raizon-sama" I whisper gently, my small feet gently tip toeing towards the old graceful man. Raizon looks away from his book, staring at me with mild disappointment, not even trying to hide it.
"What do you want child?" He hisses, his tone ice cold and rock hard. I flinch, trying to gather the strength to speak to him was hard, this was why. I pull my sleeve up, revealing small but bright green scales trailing across my bicep, they shone under the light of the moon. They felt cold and hard, exactly like that of a snake.
"Wh-what is this?" I ask timidly, Raizon frowns and gestures for me to come forwards. I gulp nervously and talk a couple shaky steps towards him. He looks at my arm and then at my face with furrowed eyebrows. His eyes widen and he slaps me across the face, making me flinch, I bite my tongue and stay silent, I barely react. They like it that way. Silent. Lifeless. A tool.
"Do you think that your mother will want to see that? You look like an abomination!" He shouts and my head drops in shame, tears building in my eyes.
"They're on your face too, Raizon-sama knows exactly what it is," He smacks the top of my head and I look up, a book is instantly shoved into my face. My eyes skim over the words, eating up any opportunity to use the skill of reading.
"Wh-whats a side effect?" I ask, the green eyed man glares at me and smacks the top of my head again.
"Idiot, that means your body failed to handle the new chakra Raizon-sama got-"
"W-where did Raizon-sama get the chakra from-"
He grabs my face, a dark glint in his eyes. He punches my stomach and I try to stay silent but a small whimper falls from my mouth.
"Never interrupt your Raizon-sama, runt, the chakra was from a monster," He scolds, looking away from me, he then leans back in his chair. My eyes widen moderately, a monster?
"Mama said that I am the only monste-"
"Damn, you're right, well Raizon-sama got it from a giant snake," He says and my jaw drops. Its...its his fault.
"These scales are your fault Raizon-sama-"
He throws his book at me, my forehead starts bleeding and I cry, falling to my knees.
"You're too weak, if you didn't have the Kaguya kekkei genkai you'd be killed just like your brothers and sisters," He says darkly. My eyes widen and I quickly climb to my feet, apologising and running to the back yard. I stare at the tiny twig built tombstone. My twin sister wasn't as lucky as me, when we both turned 7 we were tested for the kekkei genkai. I wish I had failed. Her death was my fault too. Leaving the sand village, leaving Gaara. I'm such a failure. I haven't been a good protector...I'm of no use.
"It was all Raizon-sama's fault..." I comfort myself softly as I push the door open, only to see Kakashi dramatically staring at nothing. Well that is new.
"Zabuza is alive," He deadpans and my eyes widen, I nervously tap my foot on the ground before walking in.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?!" Naruto screams, I flinch and tilt my head in his direction, my eyebrows furrowed. What are they talking about?
"YOU CHECKED HIM YOURSELF AND SAID THAT HE WAS DEAD!" Sakura adds and my eyebrow twitches, yeah we get it, its a surprise. We don't need to shout anymore though.
"Yeah I did, but that was most likely a momentarily death," Everyone goes silent as Kakashi looks down at the fox still sleeping on his lap. Stupid Noir, its almost lunch time already, is she planning to sleep the whole time Kakashi is paralysed? Plus how the hell did she sleep through all the shouting? Lucky punk.
"The needle that hunter nin used, unless it hits a vital organ it has a low probability of actually killing you. It can even be used as acupuncture therapy..."
Zabuza had a back up plan. Smart. Well, we're all doomed, especially if Zabuza attacks within the next few days. I could probably distract him for a while and let everyone go but I doubt that would work since no once left when Kakashi basically did the same thing. So our only option would be to team up, use our brains and outsmart Zabuza. I could use Sasuke to take out the hunter nin and the other two would be great at keeping Zabuza busy whilst I deliver the final blow. Or maybe Sakura and I could be the ones who keep Zabuza busy, since Naruto is all about brute strength. Mine and Sakura's intellect combined would easily overwhelm even the likes of Zabuza...right? I hear Naruto giggling with excitement and I look at him, his blue eyes were shining and he looked well...excited. Is he happy that Zabuza is alive? I guess he'd want to prove himself but...he's weird, theres like a 70% chance we die. An even higher chance if he doesn't do what he's told... we are so doomed.
"Sensei, what do you mean? 'Preparing before its too late?' I mean you can barely move," Sakura breaks the eerie silence. I give Kakashi a once over, my eyes observing his movements before I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest. He'll be fine in a few days or so.
"Who saved me while I was struggling? You guys are growing rapidly, especially Naruto, you've improved the most," He says with a closed eye smile, Sakura observes Naruto silently as the blonde cheers at the praise. I wonder what she is thinking..
"You guys will receive training," Kakashi muses with a hidden smirk. I frown, looking away from him. None of his stupid training would be of use right now, he can probably walk for a few minutes in this state but other then that he'd be useless. I should just go work on my-
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Naruto screams and I flinch, almost punching myself in the face. Thankfully no one was watching me, but lets just say its going to take me a while to calm down. I look at the small boy which caused Naruto to shout and I bite the inside of my cheek. He's so tiny and adorable.
"Ohhh Inari where were you?" Tazuna asks and the boy runs up to him and embraces him, I can help smile at the sight, warmth creeping into my stomach. Nothing was cuter than a family moment to me, probably cause I never had many to experience myself.
"Welcome back grandpa," He says, hiding his face in Tazuna's shirt. The bridge builder seemed to loosen up around the boy, his drunk and disrespectful exterior was long gone. He is a good grandfather, he might be a crappy person towards us but he respects this little boy. Who wouldn't find such a scene sweet?
"Inari say hello to these people, they are the ninja who protected your grandfather," Tsunami says with a stern tone. My eyes drift to the tiny boy who seemed to be hiding under his hat. What he says next leaves me completely dumbstruck.
"Mum...they are going to die," He steps away from Tazuna, not daring to look at any of us, instead his eyes were set on his tiny feet. I should've felt angry but instead I felt pity. He's clearly not a normal kid, something has made him turn this way. I just feel kinda sad-
"WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Naruto shouts and for the third time today I flinch, but this time I let out my irritated growl.
"Inside voices Whiskers," I try to stay calm but even Tazuna could sense how pissed I was with the blue eyed ninja. Naruto looks at me, for half a second before completely dismissing what I said. My eyebrow starts twitching and a few irk marks appear on my forehead. Somehow I manage to suppress my anger, deciding to save it for my training.
"There's no way you can win against Gatou," Inari adds calmly and I end up feeling even worse. Its almost certain now, he lost someone he looked up to.
Maybe I'm wrong bu-
"YOU BRAT I'M GOING TO-" Naruto is interrupted by Sakura. His screams made me flinch again. Suddenly a deadly aura feels the room and Sakura's scolds fade away, everyone looks at me with fear, besides Naruto. Slowly I step up behind the boy, putting my hand firm on his shoulder, he turns around with a glare.
"WHAT?" He shouts and thats when I snap, before I behead Naruto I manage to teleport myself out of there, quickly doing some familiar hand signs. I needed to burn off this energy and rage.
"RAIKODAN!" I shout as loudly as I could, gasping when a huge two metre sized tiger appears, the huge creature takes down like 5 tree before vanishing. I let out a low growl teleporting back and heading downstairs before I was noticed. With the small look I shot when I tilted my head, everyone had their faces pressed against the window, even Inari. I smirk under my mask and before they turn around I continue walking down the stairs. Tsunami rushes down the stairs and sends me a tight lipped smile.
"Lunch is on the table Mika-san, eat as much as you need," She says nervously and I glance to the left, indeed seeing a large layout of delicious food. I look back at her and dip my head in response. Then again almost any food looks delicious when you're starving.
I turn around and walk towards the table, only just catching what she mutters under her breath. Bipolar people are scary. I can't help smirk at that as I take my seat, thanking her again before grabbing my chopsticks and eating by myself. Sooner or later Sakura joins me, she sends me a weary smile and I nod back. Sasuke comes down next and sits next to Sakura (who asked him like 20 times prior to sit there). The three of us eat in silence. I wasn't planning to talk, I needed to regain strength, as I said before, I'm starving and that huge move did not help.
"Mika...how did you-"
"Rage, Sakura." I deadpan with a deadly calm voice, she shivers but calms down and sends me a stubborn glare.
"Whiskers is often too loud, isn't he?" I note whilst pulling my mask down to eat. Sakura kept her eyes on her food as she replies.
"You weren't so calm about that a couple seconds ago, if I didn't know any better I'd say you're bipolar," She teases with a smirk and I roll my eyes. Twice in one day. Ouch.
"Takes one to know one," I muse, I look up to see her and Sasuke staring at me with shock, well Sakura had visible signs of shock. Sasuke had mumbled something about how I looked more like a girl without my mask.
"Y-your face," Sakura exclaims and my eyes widen, I inhale quickly as I pull my mask back up but then I start choking, so I pull it back down again to drink some of the water.
After I finish dying I look up to see that I now have an audience of awestruck people. Everyone, including Kakashi in his crutches and not including Inari (who had vanished), had wide eyes as they stare at my face. I don't blame them, the scales are really bright and noticeable once I get rid of the mask. Slowly I pull my mask back up over my bright red face. Naruto starts cheering.
"SO COOL, YOU GOT EVEN MORE SINCE LAST TIME!" He shouts, then he instantly slaps a hand over his mouth, remembering my previous actions at his shouting. I wave my hand, dismissing his fear before I am bombarded with questions.
"Why are you hiding your face if you are you so pretty?" That one was Tsunami, this makes me roll my eyes.
"No answer," I mumble calmly, continuing to eat whilst I have the chance.
"How'd you get those scales?" Kakashi obviously was most suspicious, which irritated me.
"Evil uncle," I smile slightly when I see his deadpan expression towards my stupid reply. Ask a dumb question, get a dumb answer.
"What kind of scales are those?" Tazuna had asked.
"Snakes,"
"Why can't you get rid of your mask?" Naruto asks and I roll my eyes yet again.
"Not everyone is so calm to seeing a human with scales," I say slowly, to tease Naruto. He puffs his cheeks out and glares at me, making me grin.
"No more questions, lets go train!" I shout, jumping up and fist bumping Naruto before turning around and watching the team, slowly, get up. Suddenly Naruto screams with horror.
"I HAVEN'T EATEN YET-"
SMASH!
"Hehe, sorry Tazuna, about the hole in the wall," Kakashi laughs sheepishly, scratching his neck as the old man glares at my back. Naruto groans from the other side of the broken wall and I smirk to myself. Kakashi sweat drops, Sakura anime falls and Sasuke rolls his eyes.
"Definitely Bipolar," Sasuke and Sakura say at the same time, to that I shrug and sand teleport out of the room, making everyone collectively sweat drop.
timeskip
My eyebrow twitches furiously as Kakashi forces us deep into this forest. Why the hell did I have to tag along? Noir seemed to be having similar thoughts, but hers probably had to do with the fact that she was just sleeping a few minutes ago.
"Ok we will now start the training," Kakashi drawls out lazily, earning the attention of Noir and I. Noir stops walking and sits down, licking her paw whilst staring at the spiky haired sensei. I yawn and adjust my gloves whilst Naruto cheers.
"Ok, before that... I want to talk to you about the shinobi ability, chakra," Kakashi begins and my eyes widen. This is such a waste of time.
"Umm umm whats catra?" Naruto asks and I sweat drop, staring at him with disappointment.
"How can you be so stupid?" Noir and I ask in harmony, obviously Noir barked but he seemed pissed anyway. Naruto rolls his eyes and start snickering.
"YOU'RE A NINJA AND YOU DIDN'T LEARN THAT? WHAT DID YOU DO IN SCHOOL?" Sakura screeches at Naruto and I sigh, taking a seat on the floor. This is going to take a while if we have to start from square one.
"Heheh Mika and I skipped most of the boring classes" Naruto sends me a grin and my eyes widen, I glance at Kakashi who was tsking at me disapprovingly.
"Hey now, I was tutored on all of that shit-"
"SO WHY DIDN'T YOU TEACH ME, MIKA?" Naruto cries and I groan, falling onto my back and gesturing to Sakura.
"Do your thing beautiful," I smirk when the pinkette squeaks but starts explaining it anyway.
After sakura's explaining
"Wow that took longer than it needed to," I mumble to Noir, Sasuke must have thought I was talking to him 'cause he 'hns' quietly. I glance at him with disgust and side step away, resting my hands behind my back. The Uchiha looked visibly wounded at the gesture, well he didn't but I could see the subtle change in his expression for like a millisecond before he just glared back with fury.
"Prick," I growl and he mumbles 'Bitch' under his breath in response. Kakashi sweat stopped at the two of us.
"You guys are not properly using chakra all that often," Kakashi insults, referring to all of us, that pissed me off. Kakashi explains chakra control and I stare at the floor with a bored look in my green eyes.
"What are we going to do?" Sakura asks and Kakashi smirks.
"Tree climbing,"
"What kind of training is that?" Sakura asks at the same time I say 'this is pointless'.
"Maybe if you wait till the end-" Kakashi sent us a pointed glare. "-you'll know. This isn't normal tree climbing, you need to climb this tree without your hands," Kakashi explains and Sakura gasps.
"How?" She asks at the same time I sweat drop. Kakashi starts walking up the tree. The rest of my squad watches with awe whilst I just lean comfortably against a nearby tree. Soon Noir and I fall asleep, only waking up when Kakashi throws a kunai at us, which Noir easily deflects.
"What?" I growl, peeking one eye open to see my sensei glaring at me.
"Think you're too good to join in?" He asks and I smirk, getting up and taking the kunai out of the tree.
"You are wasting my fuc-"
"Swearing is immature, Mika," Kakashi interrupts with a smug smirk (I couldn't see it but I could sense it and that was enough) and I glare at him, turning around and easily climbing up the tree, yawning as I reach the highest that I could be bothered to go.
"Well I say fuck you," I smirk, sitting on a tree branch and pointing at Kakashi.
"And your stupid hair style."
Naruto starts laughing and I hear Sakura giggle, I glance at my pink haired team mate to see her at the same height as me.
"Wow Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouts, Sakura pokes her tongue out and I smile, standing up and pointing my thumb to my chest.
"Listen up, my name is Mika Kaguya, I like sand, lightning and fire, I dislike the ocean and being underestimated, my hobbies are pranking people and training and my dream for the future is to protect my friends. Don't underestimate me!" I shout, Naruto cheers, Sakura smiles, Sasuke rolls his eyes and Kakashi sends me a closed eye smile, still mad about the hairstyle thing no doubt. Noir barks from below the tree and starts walking up too, this earns shocked gasps from everyone asides the sensei.
"YOUR FOX HAS CHAKRA!" Naruto shouts and I smile, picking up my furry partner and setting her on my head.
"Yeah, I gave it to her," I shurg and Kakashi sighs.
"You can do that too?" He asks and I nod, doing a peace sign before back flipping off the tree and landing on my feet. Noir still laying comfortably on my head.
"Permission to go?" I ask in a smug tone and Kakashi stares at me before sweat dropping.
"Fine, but take Sakura with you to protect bridge builder," Kakashi waves at Sakura who walks down from the tree and stands next to me. She cheers and Noir barks something sarcastic.
Kakashi rolls his eyes but gestures for us to leave, saying stuff about Sakura being the closest to being the hokage and how the Uchiha's aren't worth much.
"Actually Sakura stay back, you still have room to improve," Kakashi changes his mind and Sakura whines but walks back over to her tree. I hum, giving everyone one last smile before sand teleporting back to the bridge.
SOON AFTER
"That was such a waste of time Kakashi-sensei," I growl, teleporting back to the training grounds almost 5 minutes later. Kakashi turns around and stares at me with irritation.
"Did you just leave Tazuna to defend for himself?" He asks and I smirk, sitting down next to him and stretching my arms, letting out a loud yawn.
"No, he's got Noir, if anything happens she will teleport me to her," I explain and Kakashi nods, satisfied with my simple answer.
"I want to see you do that Raikoden move again Mika, at 100 percent," Kakashi mumbles, taking his eyes off the failing Naruto and Sasuke and glancing at the improving Sakura. I groan loudly, which he ignores.
"Finee," I mumble, getting up and cracking my knuckles before looking for a big enough target. A large rock earns my attention and I sigh, getting into my best stance and letting out a deep breath as my hands begin their magic. Out of the corner of my eyes I see Kakashi watching me, probably wishing to use his sharingan. When I near the final hand sign I completely clear my mind of all my thoughts but one.
"RAIKODEN!" I shout, at the same time a 3 times bigger than last blue tiger comes flying from my extended hands, it lets out an almost deafening roar as it slams into the rock. I quickly covers my eyes as dust and rock debris goes flying everywhere. When the dust clears I drop my hand to my side and let out a loud gasp, the rock had been completely destroyed. That same excitement started attacking at me when suddenly a wave of exhaustion struck and I grab my aching head, falling to my knees. Naruto rushes towards me and Sakura calls out my name, I wave my hand at them, lifting my head when I was sure the pain had passed and sending the blonde a smile.
"That was terrible," Kakashi mumbles and my eyes widen and I turn around to face him. He had his eyes closed and I have a feeling he was doing one of those you-have-no-Idea-how-mad-I-am smile, I do those all the time. Its a masked people thing.
"What? How?" Naruto shouts and Kakashi sighs.
"Even without my sharingan I saw how sloppy your hand signs were, which by itself makes the move harder on your chakra and body but what's worse is that half the chakra you lost wasn't even in the attack, you probably only used 40% of the chakra that you lost just then," Kakashi scolds me and I look down, nodding whenever I needed too. When he finishes scolding me he sighs and pats my head slightly.
"Do you think you could handle teaching yourself to walk on water?" He asks me, none of the other students had been paying attention which surprised me, I guess they are really dedicated. I send Kakashi a sheepish look as I scratch my neck.
"I know we are on an island surrounded by the ocean and all but would now be a good time to tell you about my fear of the ocean?"
Memory from Mika's past
"I don't want to see your damned faces anymore, don't come back until tomorrow!" Raizon, an elderly man that had the strength of a lion slams the door shut on the two children. Barely even old enough to be considered as mature, they were only six! The tanned twin tightens her grip on her sisters thin boney hand, her eyes held tears but she kept a strong smile on her face.
"Mikano-nii are you ok?" The older twin wraps her arms around the other and she hugs her tightly, they were both trembling but she still acted like she was braver than her. It was their sixth birthday today and Mikano asked if they could sleep inside for the night. Mika thought it was a stupid idea, they weren't humans, they were tools. Mikano just didn't understand. But she loves Mikano, more than herself, as a protector she was who MIika wanted to protect. This is because she knows her grandfather will kill the twin who doesn't have the kekkei genkai...and Mika had it. She wants to protect her sister and she was constantly trying to find a way to save her.
"Lets go see if we can play with someone," Mika suggests, she shows her all too familiar smile and Mikano tilts her head curiously, her sightless eyes looking ghost like in the sun. They hold hands and Mika starts walking, leading her introverted sister along behind her. Everywhere they walked people glared at them. The twins knew they were messed up, yet all they were told was that they were monsters. In reality people just didn't trust the Kaguya clan, especially since they were supposedly extinct.
"RUN AWAY ITS THE MONSTER-"
A screaming child slams into Mikano and knocks her over, Mika quickly pulls her sister up and checks for threats. Mika is also the stronger twin, the smarter twin. The screaming kids had all disappeared by now, all that was left was this small red haired boy, Gaara. All the boy wanted to do was show them his new teddy bear.
He had tears spilling from his face and his teddy was clutched tightly in both hands. Mika looks at Mikano, and then glances at the boy. Even though their Raizon-sama warned them not to go anywhere near the boy, Mika wanted to talk to him. The kekkei genkai holder is very kind but disobedient. That's the opposite of Mikano, well behaved and weak. Mikano is her first priority. She lives to protect the smaller twin. Mika tugs lightly on her sisters arm and walks up to the boy, a huge warm smile on her face.
"Hey, are you ok? Would you like to play with us?" Mika asks, squeezing Mikano's hand tightly. Mika gulps, looking up and locking eye contact with the boy. She couldn't help but blush, she found his eyes to be so enchanting. She wanted to draw his face, just as an excuse to stare at his eyes for hours. They remind her of the ocean, which she didn't yet hate. Her whole life was desert at the moment and the idea of an ocean blew her mind.
"A-ano h-hi. My name is Mikano." Was all the blind girl could get out before looking down quietly. Raizon had predicted that the kekkei genkai had horrible side effects, sicknesses and probably death so having twin probably meant that one got all the good effects and one had gotten all the bad ones.
The boy's sea-green eyes widen and he hesitantly points to his chest, then he looks behind himself and all around before sending her a questioning look. Gaara could not believe they were talking to him.
"Y-you're talking to m-me?"
"Yes you, My names Mika and this is my twin sister," Mika explains and the scared boy smiles weakly.
"I'm Gaara- aren't you scared of me-"
"The real question is, are you scared of us?" Mika asks and Gaara frowns with confusion. Mika points at the two circle marks on her forehead then at the two circles on Mikano's.
"We're the ka-kag-we're from a scary clan of monsters-"
"I'm a monster too," Gaara says and Mika laughs, clapping her hands together as if this were the most casual conversation in the world. Mikano was tense next to her sister, jealousy and hatred hiding behind an innocent smile.
"That's good, we can be monster friends, right Gaara?" Mika smiles warmly at her sister and turning and smiling even more at Gaara whilst saying as such. She slowly reach her hand out, Gaara tries to hold it but instead sand wraps around his hand and her. Mika's eyes widen with shock and a sparkle glows in them,.
"Cool," she admires and the Gaara's soft pale face heats up.
"It's not cool, its scary," Gaara mumbles bitterly. Slowly a small smile grows on Mika's face as she looks up at him, genuinely smiling now.
"I like scary, Gaara."
This memory is a gift from yours truly
Mika's pov
"You are scared of the ocean? That makes things difficult-"
"I-I can try to face it but-" I look away from Kakashi's judgemental eyes, instead I stare at the bright green trees. I don't finish my sentence, not really knowing any excuse that was good enough.
"That would be more helpful, I need to supervise these guys," Kakashi nods and sends me his typical lazy wave. I take a deep breath, nodding and teleporting to the edge of the docks. I stare down at the water and the panic builds up in me again, after all, I've almost drowned so many times.
Slowly I sit down on the edge, I press my foot against the water and it instantly slips in. Ugh this is already annoying. Slowly I push my chakra to my feet, eventually my foot stays up. Or not. I tried to stand up and my whole leg ended up being submerged, if it weren't for my fear/attentiveness combo I would have fallen in.
"This is truly the biggest known drag of the century," I grumble, the ice cold water eating at the leg. It feels like its already attacking me, it burns more than fire. Maybe my nerves are on edge because of all this adrenaline- no, no more thinking. I jump into the water, the first thing I feel is that same burn. Its worse now. Its everywhere. All around me, inside me. Outside me. I'm dying. I'm freezing to death. The ocean is pulling me down, the ocean hates me. The ocean hates me. I'm going to die. The ocean will kill me.
My eyes snap open and at first the water burns but I quickly push it to the back of my mind. As mental instinct I had curled into a ball, to keep myself warm. Slowly I regain control, it felt like minutes but it was barely seconds. Ok, I am ok. It's not so bad. It's only the ocean. Alright Mika, time to stop sinking. Slowly I stretch my arms out, and the ice cold burn gets worse, but I stop sinking. Now I start floating up. I kick with my feet and pull myself up with my arms. My body manages to carve an opening and I get to the top, bursting through the barrier of my fears. My head emerges first, I quickly doggy paddle to the edge. I'm alive. Everything is-
Rumble
Is that- a wave? No! I CAN'T DO THIS! I open my mouth as the wave of pure evil smashes against me. The salty and rough water rips my throat to shreds. I'm dead, no I'm dying. Theres no hope for me. I'm cursed. NO-NO I CAN'T DIE NOW! I need to protect my team! I need to find Gaara. I start flailing with my arms before quickly gaining control and swimming up as fast as I can. I gasp to breathe the second my head hits the surface. My body acts on instinct, pulling me onto the docks instantly. I fling myself on the wooden planks, the air even colder than the water. What is this feeling? Its like my body is...urging me towards the water. But why? Why would my body want to swim again? Maybe the battle set off some sort of competitiveness inside me. I can't believe it, but maybe I want to beat this stupid ocean. At what? No idea. Still, I won't let it scare me. I'm the scariest thing here. I smirk and take off most of my clothes, leaving myself in only a bra and my bike shorts. Then I take a deep breath and dive into the ocean.
Timeskip
"Where the hell did she go?"
"Oh! I fou- MikAH! SASUKE NARUTO GO AWAY YOU CAN'T SEE HER!"
"SHE IS A GIRL!-"
"PERVERT!"
Slap!
What the hell is going on? I fell asleep for one second. I slowly roll onto my side and open my eyes, letting out a loud yawn, damn this napping habit of mine. I sit up and stretch, slowly focusing on what was going on. Sakura was holding Naruto by his shirt and was repeatedly slapping him in the face, her own face was slightly red. Naruto was..I'm not sure what he was but his eyes were closed and he was blushing, then there's Sasuke whose face was a shade similar of that to Sakura's hair. The Uchiha mumbles something quietly about me, definitely something insulting, before rushing away.
"What's the big deal?" I ask Sakura, who drops Naruto and laughs awkwardly.
"Oh they're big, but it doesn't mean its a big deal," Sakura grumbles before throwing something green and black at me. Whats this? My clothes? Huh? Why am I not- oh shit. I took it off to train. So that means. Shit.
I turn bright red, steam practically pouring out of my ears. I put my clothes on in records times before teleporting to the Uchiha and zapping him with enough electricity to pass him out but not enough to leave any actual damage. Sakura screams and drags him back to the docks and lays him next to the also unconscious Naruto.
I just fix my hair and clothes whilst she does that, putting my gloves and boots and ma- oh my god. The scales. I quickly put my mask on and face Sakura, who was already standing in front of me.
"You have so many scales all over you Mika-chan, they're like stars," She admires and I blush, looking away. The pinkette stares at my mask with distaste.
"You shouldn't hide them, a few green spots are nothing compared to your pretty face. Hm you better not use your charms on Sasuke, in fact I hear he likes flat chest-"
"If you ever mention my chest and Sasgay in the same sentence again I will end you," I grunt with a blush, making the pinkette laugh so much that she wanted revenge by pulling me into a head lock.
"Seriously, he's mine!" She jokes and I easily escape the headlock, in return I sling my arm over her neck and send her a cheeky grin.
"He's all yours, look I already knocked him out so now you can totally have y-"
"HEY NOW, THATS NOT RIGHT! I DON'T EVEN HAVE HIS CONSEN-"
"Hahah~" I let go of the girl and start laughing, grinning under my mask once I finished. Sakura tries to punch me but I easily catch the green eyed girls fist, I send her a smirk and she pouts childishly and pulls her hand away.
"You seriously shouldn't wear that mask, it is kinda misleading. You look like a cute boy," The pinkette sneers and I nod sheepishly, taking my mask off and throwing it at her.
"I'll take my mask off forever if you promise me this one thing,"
Sakura catches it and sends me a confused look.
"What?" She asks and I smile as kindly as I can, my face red as I felt really stupid and naked without a mask.
"Never give up on us, you're honestly the most sane person here and I'm proud to call you my fr-"
Suddenly the pinkette has her arms wrapped around me and is laughing and crying by the sounds of it. What a drama queen.
"Shut up, idiot. I'm supposed to be the one calling you my friend,"
"Huh? What?" Sasuke groans, sitting up and rubbing his eyes lazily. He looks at us with confusion and I start sniggering, his eyes widen when he notices I had no mask. I separate from Sakura at the same time the two boys stand up. Naruto blushes and rubs the back of his head.
"I heard what you guys were saying, can I be your friends too-"
"We're already friends dork," I put my arm around the blondie, looking at the other two expectantly.
"Not a chance," Sakura and Sasuke say in harmony. Naruto pouts and I pet his spikyn yet soft beautiful blond hair, sending them both a glare.
"Rude, we can't be squad seven if we aren't friends." I pout, Sakura looks away and Sasuke crosses his arms. Naruto's expression drops to the floor, he shrugs my arm off of him.
"It's not you they don't want to be friends with Mika," Naruto sighs and suddenly Sakura starts giving the blonde a woogie (aka she pushed her fist against the top of his head and messed up his hair.)
"Naruto's more like an annoying little brother but if he stops trying to ask me out, we can be friends." She decides and Naruto's eyes light up, he giggles and slips out from under the girl. He and Sasuke lock eye contact and they both look away with a slight blush.
"Hn,"
"We're all friends!" Sakura shouts, pulling us all into a hug whilst I preform the teleportation. We get back to the house, Inari, his family and Kakashi all sitting at the table waiting for us. The non-ninja's shout with shock at the group of teenagers now decorating the floor but Kakashi just sighs and continues to pet Noir, the two seemed to get along well now.
After separating everyone we all sit down, Sasuke sitting as far away from all of us as possible. Aka he sat right in front of Naruto, the two boys glaring at each other as they compete to see who could eat more. I was still really anxious without my mask but I didn't say anything, even though I could feel both Kakashi and Inari's stares on me.
I eat the food silently, cursing my decision to sit between Sakura and Kakashi. Sakura was shouting like a lunatic at the two boys and Kakashi was silently interrogating me. Suddenly a pair of hands slap against the table and I sigh, of course, there is never a dull moment. Inari starts shouting but I tune it out, as much as I find the small child to be interesting I find good food to be far more important. I did learn from the best.
Naruto shouts something back and I roll my eyes, excusing myself and teleporting to the roof. I thankfully didn't miss the sun setting, there were still a few clouds out too. They glowed orange and yellow shades, making the sky its own piece of art. Shikamaru loved this time of day. I close my eyes, biting my lip slightly as I remember the last time I was at his house. The marks on my back... Did Sakura see that too? I hope not.
I left Shikamaru on a bit of a bad note, we didn't speak once when I set out a pillow and blanket on the floor and laid on it silently. I didn't sleep though, I hadn't been able to since that incident.
I shudder from the cold air, remembering where I was and biting my lip softly. That was really awful of me, I should apologise when I see him next. Poor sleepy idiot. My mind trails back to when I first properly met the heir to the Nara clan.
My second night staying in the village and I was once again looking for Naruto, prepared to ask for his permission to stay at his house again. I caught him playing with a fairly plump boy and spiky haired boy, the same ones that he got into trouble with earlier that day. They were running away from some blonde girl, I had recognised her face from the classroom. Without a word I grab Naruto by his arm and pull him into the alleyway that I was hiding in, he quickly pulls the other two boys too and the pant for breath. The spiky haired one and I were tightly pushed against eachother and I pulled my hood tighter over my face.
"Mika! You saved us! Shikamaru, Chouji, This is my best friend Mika!" The blonde giggles and puts an arm around my shoulder once we leave the alleyway, he starts to brags about our friendship. The two boys look at each other and send Naruto a judgemental look.
"Naruto, That is a girl. You can't be friends with girls." Chouji states stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest and stepping away from me, Shikamaru stares at my forehead and I gasp. The marks. My clan. I look down and bite my lip, maybe I will just sleep in the forest for tonight.
"I'm sorry for embarrassing you, Naruto-kun, I will see you tomorrow." I say softy, turning around to walk away quietly. Only stopping when I bump into Iruka-sensei, who was preoccupied with a bunch of girls. The three boys snigger among themselves and when the dolphin named man turns around, Naruto turns into a busty naked woman. My eyes widen as a blush grows on Iruka's face and he soon passes out with blood leaking from his nose. I giggle softly, blushing a bit myself, and poke the overly large boobs on the chest of Naruto's transformation, snickering when I notice the lack of nipples.
"Naruto I think you're exaggerating the size a tad, these are almost as big as my head," I deadpan before doing a more accurate transformation of the same blonde woman, smirking when he transforms back with a huge blush on his face, the two boys behind him blushing too. I look back to notice a fuming at the mouth Iruka and I gasp, turning back to my normal form and grabbing all three boys by their collars, dragging them away as quickly as I could before doing a sand teleportation. We all wind up standing in front of a bench with a streetlight behind it, providing us with light. I start giggling softly when I notice the blushes that all three boys had as they looked at me with pure shock.
"Mika-san is so awesome!" Chouji and Naruto shout, making me turn into the blushing one. Both boys high five me and Shikamaru shrugs lazily.
"What a pain, I guess she can hang out with us," He decides with a small smirk, he and Chouji walk away from us after saying their goodbyes. The quieter boy rests his hand on my shoulder for a second before they start discussing food, the chubbier offering the other to stay with him for the night to have some curry. Naruto watches the two, a look of pain passing through his eyes before he looks at me and sends me a smile as bright as the sun.
"You need a place to stay again?"
"Only if you always be my bestest friend," I grin and the two of us hug tightly.
"Mika stop going missing, geez," Sakura kicks my side lightly, smirking when I sit up and look at her with a dazed expression. The sun was shining as it finally finished rising, the warmth against my face was greatly appreciated compared to the biting cold of night. I stand up and stretch, the roof was not actually that uncomfortable. I glance at the girl and smile, giggling when she rolls her eyes and sighs with exasperation.
"Naruto has vanished too, Sasuke-kun has gone looking for him and Kakashi-sensei wanted me to find you before guarding Tazuna-san. So cya!" The chirpy girl skips off of the roof and heads towards the bridge, so I am assuming that sensei needed my presence for something?
I teleport into the room and bow my head apologetically at the reading male who glanced at me with his one coal coloured eye.
"Morning," He calls lazily, and I grunt in response, grabbing a seat and eating the small amounts of food left over for me. Noir rubs her head against my side and I pet her gently with my free hand.
"How did the water walking go?" Kakashi asks softly, his eyes not trailing away from the words on the book as he spoke. I lower my head, blushing slightly as I finish eating and reach for my no-longer-there mask. My hand rests on my chin for a second, marvelling at the feeling of the scales before landing on Noir's soft head.
"Awful, I almost drowned, Mattaku. Though I did manage to counter my fear and teach myself how to swim. Don't expect me to ever want to go to the ocean though." I complain, ignoring the fox below me that snickered at my fear. The grey haired man rolled his eye and finally looked around the room, silently noting that it was empty before looking at me with intensity.
"Ibiki-sensei was the one to interrogate you, right?" He draws out lowly and I nod, consciously sliding away from him a bit. Kakashi visibly tenses for a second before sighing softly.
"I want to spar you, but with my body like this I would likely lose. Ok, I got it. I want to watch you and Sasuke spar, since he is the most capable of taking you down. I want you to hold nothing back, if it gets too intense I can stop you both."
A spar, with Sasuke- wait even better, nothing held back. A to-the-death like fight. Oh I am so in.
"Absolutely-"
"Good, now go piss him off. He'll have to fight you with the urge to kill you for me to correctly measure y-"
"Ohohoho sensei I like the sounds of your teaching ways, piss off and destroy. On it," I was gone in seconds, the only thing left behind being a small pile of sand.