What Lies At the End of the Rainbow: Chapter 3
"Welcome, un." -Unknown
Minoku had never taught anyone in her life.
Ever. The most experience she had with teaching was when a kid tripped and she gave him a band aid. That was about it. Oh, and maybe that one class presentation she was given. But besides that, nothing. Now, standing on the nearest training field (Training Ground 15), surrounded by the most laziest, egotistic, emo, loud-mouthed, annoying, fan girling, hungriest kids in town, the sudden pressure of it all seemed too impending. She knew some of the kids in the crowd: Naruto and Ino for example.
Naruto, well, we all know how they met. But Ino and Minoku met when Inoichi had dragged Minoku to the family flower shop, where the young blonde had been working. The two took one look at each other before Ino thoroughly stated that "she absolutely knew her Sasuke-kun would never, ever like a girl like her!" When Minoku had heard the rumor that Sasuke liked girls with long hair, Minoku had asked Inoichi to the nearest hair salon. There, she had six to seven inches of her hair cut until it was to her shoulders (luckily she could manage to put it in a small ponytail). Ino had been speechless and Minoku told herself just not to provoke the self-proclaimed "Sasuke-kun's future girlfriend."
She shivered at the thought.
She and Inoichi, surprisingly, got along pretty decently. He still added the -chan to her name, despite her protest, but other than that and Ino, they got along well. A few days prior, Inoichi had showed Minoku to a sword shop, where he'd not only bought her her own katana, but a training dummy and a tutor to teach her the basics to teach her soon-to-be students. She'd gotten the basics and then some. Luckily that she took kendo only a few months ago. You know, before she ended up sucked between a time-space-dimensional rift, somehow ending up in an old anime/manga she used to like. Apparently per usual. Sadly.
Minoku cleared her throat, trying to gain her student's (she will never get used to that) attention. The only one who even bothered to look was a small girl with dark hair and lilac eyes and Naruto, but only for a second before turning back to argue with the boy with the dog. She cleared her throat even louder, gaining some of the others attentions, like the lazy looking one and the one who wouldn't stop eating. She felt her eye twitch and her free hand clenched as a growl came from her throat. This caught the attentions of the rest of the boys', like the emo, the one with the dog, and Naruto. Not any of the girls (besides the tiny one) paid attention as they argued about "Sasuke-kun." Minoku finally hit the point. She was annoyed to the brink of trying to kill someone, and a few of the others glanced back at her, realizing her sudden bloodlust.
"I will give you to the count of three," she muttered darkly. The boys' seemed to freeze over. "One." Some of the girls froze, while the others continued bickering. "Two." The small girl winced, as did most of the boys besides the emo-looking one. Why do I have a feeling that's Sasuke-kun? Minoku thought in the depths of her sane mind. "Three." All of the girls froze over, turning slowly to face Minoku, who had a small, achieved smile on her face. Ha, I can be scary, she told herself. Take that, Ryuu-kun! Minoku pushed the feeling of homesickness down as she stared at her students.
"My name is Minoku Susuki," she introduced. "I'm going to be teaching you about the art of swordplay." The little I know about it... One of the girls, one with bright pink hair (What, did she dye it?), raised her hand. Minoku signaled to her.
"How come we've never seen you here before?" she asked. Minoku chuckled weakly. "W-well, I'm new here," she answered vaguely. "No kidding," Ino piped. "You're like my father's new best friend. Your all he talks about, like some school girl crush. Honestly." Minoku's smile became strained. "Alright, I'd like you to all introduce yourselves to me," she stated through clenched teeth. Don't do anything stupid, she reminder herself. Inoichi-san will have to pay for it... Minoku smiled at the small girl, asking, "Will you give us your name, please?"
The girl nodded, her cheeks blaring red as she glanced at Naruto before stuttering, "M-my n-name is-is H-Hinata H-Hyuga." Hinata! Minoku remembered, giving herself an appreciated grin. No wonder I like her, she was the most tolerable out of the other two who graduated. "Alright, next person please!" Minoku called, feeling a lot more at ease. If there's one thing I want to do here is talk to Hinata, she decided. The lazy boy was named Shikamaru Nara (Cloud boy, right?), the emo one was, as she had guessed, Sasuke Uchiha, last of the loyal Uchihas to Konohagakure, the two loud mouths were Naruto and the one with the dog, Kiba Inuzuka the one who ate a ton was Choji Akimichi, and the two fangirls were Ino and Sakura Haruno, the girl who'd asked about Minoku earlier.
"Okay," she stated, clapping her hands for their attention. "I'm going to show you the basic stance for swordplay, though you can edit and revise for however comfortable you want." She scanned the crowd, looking for somebody who'd actually care, and sadly deduced that Sasuke seemed to be the only one actually sort of curious enough to actually know how to use a sword without doing something stupid. "Sasuke-san," she called, "would you like to demonstrate for the class?" The boy just, "Hn"-ed and walked up, grabbing the extra wooden sword and getting into position without being asked.
Sadly, the position was wrong.
"You need to move your feet out a bit, Sasuke-san," she stated, noticing his feet were right next to each other. He turned to glare at her in a strange form of shock. Naruto and Kiba broke out laughing in the background. "If your feet are too close, you could fall or loose your balance much more easily." Knowing the girls of the class were going to hate her, she bent down and signaled for Sasuke's foot to move where her hand was. He move it, begrudgingly, but he did. She nodded. "Is that easier to stand with than before?" she asked.
"Hn."
"I'll take that as a yes."
She glanced him over again, looking for anything else out of place. "Sasuke-san, can you move your right hand to the hilt of the katana?" she asked tenderly, knowing she treading very dangerous territory. He moved his hand and Minoku smiled. "That's the basic stance," she explained to the others as she turned away from Sasuke. "The feet have to be apart so that you don't get pushed back or fall too easily. Also, with your hands at the front and hind of the blade, you have better control. Even when or if you decide to adapt to a more suitable position, you always must have one of your hands at the hilt of the blade to have the best control over it." She turned to Sasuke and smiled. "Thank you, Sasuke-san."
She turned to the crowd. "Would anybody else like to try?"
Several of the boys' hands shot up, as well as a few girls (whose names she'd already forgotten) and knew that teaching kendo would be no easy task.
Minoku felt like she was on a ride she never wanted to get off of.
"Can I assume you had a good day, teaching the classes?" Iruka Umino asked as he helped pack up a few extra bamboo swords littering the ground (Did you honestly think she was going to trust them with real swords?). Minoku nodded with a smile. "I was really nervous at first, and even got a few stares from the classes my age at being their age and teaching, but soon after Sasuke-san went, I just sort of eased into it," she replied. "Sasuke-san?" Iruka repeated. "I haven't heard that one yet." Minoku shrugged.
"I saw it more fitting than Sasuke-kun. That'd just made me sound like Ino-chan and Sakura-chan."
"They're nice girls."
"I-I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that... I don't think Sasuke-san really is all that kid-like, like the -kun suggest."
Iruka nodded as he passed her the bag full of kendo sticks. "Where did you get these all anyways?" he asked. "Lord Hokage said he had some in storage from when he was in the Academy or so, apparently," Minoku answered as they walked to the Academy. "Thank you for offering to help me clean up, Umino-san," she added as she placed them in the supplies closet. "It would have taken me much longer had you not arrived!"
"No, it's okay," he replied smoothly. "It's your first day, and you're so young, I just wanted to make sure you got through all right." Minoku nodded and smiled, untying her small ponytail and ruffling her hair. Iruka seemed to hesitate for a moment, something she noticed, before asking, "How was Naruto?" Minoku smiled fondly. "He was loud, as usual, but seemed to pick up swordsmanship quite well. He got the stance the first time, though he had probably been paying attention the moment Sasuke-san was called up. He had a bit of trouble with finding a comfortable position that worked but he found one..."
"Anything else...?"
"He tried to attack Sasuke-san for a battle, but I stopped him."
Iruka sighed. "That's what I was looking for. I swear, that boy can never have a class without being called out on for something."
"Ironically, his attacking stance was flawless."
"Don't support him, Minoku-chan."
To Minoku, something felt... off.
Her apartment looked the same, it looked just as she had left it even. The bed was in the small room still, the sheets and covers still made. The fan was on, twirling softly and causing dust to erupt from the ceiling as well as the smell of some herb. Minoku coughed, fanning out the air in front of her mouth as she sneezed violently. The kitchen light was off and all the food she'd bought a day previous was still in there (even the dango, pocky, and chocolate). The cloths she'd set out to dry were finally dry (she really needed to find a laundry machine or something close to that) and the window sill was clean of dust.
The fan was on.
Minoku never left the fan on. And she didn't have any herbs, especially none that she was allergic to. The window sill was also clean of dust, and it was obvious by the ceiling dust that Minoku hadn't had a chance to dust yet. Her hands clenched and her whole body stiffen. Someone had been here. Recently. Today.
But were they still here?
Minoku turned around suddenly, horribly self-conscious to every little detail. I need to tell Inoichi-san, she thought stiffly. Her hand went to her katana, which was tucked safely behind her back. Her grip made her knuckles right. Maybe it was just some stupid ninja who wanted to check my apartment out, she tried telling herself. I don't have anything of real value here. Not besides my katana or flower... Minoku glanced by the kitchen window and saw her orange flower still there, basking in the sunlight.
Just as Minoku was about to leave, her open hand found something against the wall, on the fan switch. She stiffen as her fingers molded around the clay and lifted it up. She looked at the flat surface as terror rose inside her.
Welcome, un.
Minoku look like she'd seen a ghost when she'd entered the Yamanka Flower Shop.
Ino had been at the counter, trimming some flowers for a lady who was to pick them up later, when Minoku had stumbled in, her face ashen and white. She'd glared at the girl for a brief moment, only to realize that she wasn't tired or here to mock her for being able to be so close to her Sasuke-kun. She was honest to kami scare. "Ino-chan," MInoku whispered. "C-can you get Inoichi-san for me?" Ino nodded mutely, not to sure what to do. She gasped when her eyes unconsciously skimmed the dark-haired girl's body for anything unusual to find her left hand bleeding and blacken.
"You're hand-!"
"Go get Inoichi-san, dammit!" Minoku interrupted, causing the blonde to rush off. Less than a minute later, Inoichi rushed down. "Minoku-chan, what happen?" he demanded as he grabbed her left hand. She hissed in pain, unconsciously trying to pull her hand back as his grip tighten. "What happened?" he asked again in a quieter voice. "I-I don't know," Minoku whispered. "I just-it was-some had-" Inoichi grimaced, picking Minoku up as he held the sign for the Body Flicker Technique. "Ino, tell your mother I'll be back later!" he called before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
He reappeared at the hospital, checking Minoku in before teleporting to the Hokage's. "I need to see the Hokage," he told the secretary, making his way to the stairs. "Sir! He's in a meeting right now, can you pleas-!" the secretary winced as Inoichi interrupted with, "This is important!" The secretary seemed to understand as she said, "Can you at least let me tell Lord Hokage of your arrival?" Inoichi nodded hesitantly.
A few minutes later, with the O.K. to proceed, Inoichi entered the Hokage's office with nothing short of seriousness and anger. "Inoichi-san, what is it?" the Hokage asked, noticing the look in the blonde's eyes. "Someone else knows about Minoku," he stated simply. The Hokage seemed to stiffen. "Do you know who?" he asked. Inoichi shook his head. "Minoku wouldn't make sense when I confronted her. I admitted her into the hospital before I arrived, however."
The older man's brow furrowed in worry. "What happened to her? Was she attacked?" he demanded. Inoichi shrugged tiredly. "I don't know. Ino came running in stuttering about Minoku and her hand. Her hand seems to have been caught in a miniature form of an explosion of some sorts..." They were silent for a moment, mulling over their thoughts.
"Do you think it could be him?"
"There's no proof, but it could very likely be..."
"Yes. And the fact he may know Minoku is here in Konoha is never good. But I don't believe he was ever associated with bombs..."
"No. He wasn't. This could mean we have a much larger problem at hand than we first feared. There could be someone else who knows about her."
"Someone like Itachi?"
The Hokage didn't need to say any words. It was clear, that whoever had discovered Minoku was just like Itachi.
Wow. Poor Minoku. Barely a week or so in Konoha and shit happens. Kami I suck.
Oh well~! She can deal with it! Besides, Inochi-san is there~~
Speaking of which, did I even do Inoichi right? I've never really seen Inoichi and I haven't read the manga so... If I'm doing him wrong, please say so in the comments and let me change him to fit his personality! I don't want any of the characters wrong!
Long over due chapter but I think I did good...
See ya'~