"Again!"
"Ha!"
"Again!"
"Ha!"
The sound of flesh and fur hitting wood was as normal to me now as the screech of a tuning clarinet and the moan of the bagpipes were to my old life.
"Ha!"
"Okay, that's enough."
I sighed and tottered over to the shade of the trees on weary paws before falling on my side and panting.
"Why are you always the one giving out orders when you don't do them yourself?" I groaned to my trainer.
"Because I already did this with Kiba!" he snapped.
I glared at the little brown-and-white dog sitting as cool and collected as a cucumber a couple feet away. The truth was, though, I needed the little nuisance. He was my only guide in a world dominated with a magic I could only guess at.
So I only mumbled under my breath, "Huh, I doubt that." before flicking my ears toward him as he started to speak.
"You are getting along very well with your chakra training, Haruka." He said, using his 'wise master' voice, "Yes, very well. I do believe you can be trained in actual ninjutsu now."
"Woo!" I shouted, jumping up and down, new power restored to my limbs.
"Shut up, I'm telling you how to do it!" he growled. "Okay, first you... um..."
"Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog." I said, "That is, if you know how to do it."
I didn't think his eyes could have gotten more flinty without setting the trees on fire.
"Clone Jutsu: Tora-I-Ushi-Inu!" He shouted, his paws moving in a blur. There was a faint poof-ing noise, and a small white cloud engulfed the brown-and-white dog. The white smoke drifted away, leaving the dog looking exactly the same as before.
"Nice job." Ah, sarcasm, my second language.
"Shut up! It's hard doing jutsus without Kiba. And I'd like to see you do half as well!"
"Sounds like a challenge."
"It is!"
Alright then. I thought, focusing my chakra in my paws. I knew the signs and I knew the names, but so far I had not actually tried to do a jutsu. I looked down at my paws. And nearly screamed. Two ghostly insubstantial hands surrounded my paws. In almost a surreal way, I moved my paw-hands into the first sign, Tora, or Tiger. The hands moved seamlessly into a perfect sign, my pinkie and fourth finger folding over one another, the index and middle finger pointing straight up in the air.
"Tora, I, Ushi, Inu." I whispered, taking more time in between the seals than Akamaru did. Finally, my hands moved to the last sign, Inu, a flat hand placed over a clenched fist, and with my chakra twisting inside me, I was ready to unleash the jutsu. Right as someone called my name.
Yes, I could have completed the jutsu and then went to the voice, but the honest truth was that the hands that Akamaru apparently didn't seem to see, and the fact that performing that jutsu seemed almost too easy, scared me, I stopped my chakra before it could burst out of me. I ran to the voice.
"Haruka." The voice was quiet, and, to the outside listener, dead. But I knew the speaker well enough to know that his voice was of one who is turning over the world, examining it, and gently shaking it at its corners. It belonged to Shino.
"Mrow." I told him as he bent down, offering me his shoulder to jump up onto.
"We're going to the weapons store."
"Mow?" the covered half of his face offered no answers.
"My father instructed me to take you there. He said that if you're going to be my nin-cat, then you will have to be treated as one. You remember our conversation." It was not a question.
Yes, I do remember your conversation with your father. I answered to myself. His father had walked into Shino's room unannounced, and looked at me. His eyes were cold and dark, and I remember felling a chill run along my spine. 'A cat.' I remember him saying, 'You did not tell me you have a cat.' 'No.' Shino replied. Shino's father just stood there, his hands in his pockets, staring at Shino, and Shino sitting cross-legged on the bed, staring back. The silent battle of wills continued for a full minute before Shino's father spoke. 'If it is to be your nin-cat, then you must treat it as one.' Then he left.
"So I am taking you to the weapons store." He walked with his smooth, long stride down the street. "Also..." He hesitated and glanced at me sideways. "The Chunin exams are coming up. In a week. People from other villages are already starting to turn up."
He stopped to look at another ninja with a strange symbol on his headband walk past in the opposite direction.
"The chunin exams." he started talking again, "The chunin exams are extremely dangerous, many people die each time it is hosted. But the question is..." Shino stopped and turned his head to look at me perched on his shoulder. "Will you accompany me on it?"
His eyes were as serious as ever, with a hint of sadness in them. He knew that if we entered, there was no guarantee that we would come out alive. No guarantee at all.
"I will come." All he could hear was a meow or two, but that was enough. Shino could always tell what I was saying.
"Good. You shall be my nin-cat."
Twenty minutes later I was standing on the dusty ground outside the weapons shop. I had a tight-fitting, black leather vest on that sucked close to my body but still allowed complete ease of movement. Pockets all over the vest held kunai knives, shuriken, explosive tags, and smoke bombs. My favourite, however, were the senbons. The small, sharp needles attracted my attention almost immediately and Shino bought me a basic pack of them, as well as five specially made senbon small enough to be hid in my mouth. The vest was made in such a way so that the tip of my tail could reach every pocket and its contents. I couldn't stop purring as I wound around Shino's legs, giving him my thanks in the only way I was able to.
Hello, readers. Sorry I was gone for so long. I'm also sorry if I tweaked Shino a little for my own needs. But, yeah, I'm probably going to post another chapter later in the week, but don't hold me to it.