Okay, heads up! This chapter is in third person! HOPE YOU GUYS WILL ENJOY IT!
Chapter 15: Onwards to the Land of Waves
"You'll be bodyguards.", the Hokage explained and Naruto leaned forward in anticipation, "Really? Yes! Who? Who?! Are we guarding a princess? Or some sort of important person?"
"Don't be so impatient. I'll bring him in now.", the Hokage said, his smile hidden in his pipe. "Send in our visitor." All of them turned to the door. Mononoke sniffed the air. Smells like alcohol and stubborn will. That seems like an interesting combination.
The door slid opened and Mononoke couldn't be more disappointed.
An old man, reeking with booze, drunk a big gulp from his bottle, strands of alcohol flowing around the sides of his mouth. Mononoke wrinkled her nose and shakes her head, snorting, trying to get rid of the smell. But it was too potent.
Kakashi looked over at her worriedly as Mononoke covered her nose with her left long sleeve. If Mononoke's sharp nose is going to be affected, it will lessen the effectiveness of the job. But then again, he's a Jonin, and this is a C-ranked mission. It should be fine.
"What? A bunch of snot nosed kids?", the old crone asked, wobbling a little. "Huh?", Naruto remarked, a little confused. "
And you! The little one with the idiotic look on your face! You really expect me to believe that you're a ninja?"
Naruto laughed loudly, looking around, "Hahaha, who's the one with the idiot look?!" For verification, Mononoke, Sasuke and Sakura stood closer to him, revealing that he was the shortest amongst them.
"I'll demolish you!", Naruto yelled, racing towards the snotty old man.
"You don't 'demolish' the client, Naruto. It doesn't work that way.", Kakashi sighed as he held Naruto back by his collar, which caused the latter to shout insults and flinging his arms around in vain.
Mononoke gave up trying to clear the scent and decided to accept it instead. She didn't mind the smell of alcohol much, since she's been exposed to the smell many times when Shikaku came home from a boy's night out. But Mononoke noticed that this man was drinking cheap whisky due to its slight rotten smell, it must be around two years old. It's scent differs a lot from the exotic whiskies that Shikaku drank. Maybe he's cutting cost. Mononoke snorted again, the smell overpowering her nose. It'll wear off soon enough. Or so she hope.
The man took another swig from his bottle before he continued grandly, "I'm Tazuna, the master bridge builder, and I must return to my home country. I'm building a bridge that will change our world, so I expect you to return me home safely. Even if it means giving up your life."
XX
"'Even if it means giving up your life'. What a load of butt crack.", Mononoke complained obnoxiously as she walked back to the Nara household. They were supposed to pack up for the journey and meet at the gate in two hours. Knowing Kakashi, it might take him three. So she's taking her own sweet time.
As she unlocked the front door, she saw Shikaku reading the paper in the living room, whereas Yoshino was busying herself with the laundry in the porch. Shikaku looked up and smiled a greeting, "Back so soon?"
"Nah, I'm going to pack up. Got a C-ranked mission.", Mononoke grinned proudly. Shikaku whistled, "Sounds like you got yourself an adventure. Take care of yourself out there."The girl nodded, her smile never wavering, and rushed to her room to pack.
"Hey, Shika!", she greeted after spotting the boy who was in the next room, lying on his bed while reading. Shikamaru looked up from his book, only to see the girl's hair disappear as she zoomed into her room.
He shrugged and continued reading the Shogi tactics book. Hmm, maybe he just found another way to beat Asuma agai-
"AHHHH!", a loud shriek sounded in the next room and Shikamaru got up, startled.
Loud footsteps sounded outside. Curious about what could have happened, Shikamaru got up to look.
But before he could get to the door, Mononoke rushed into his room with tears in her eyes.
"SHika!", she cried as ran into his arms, hugging him with all her might. The force caused them both to fall to the ground. Mononoke wasn't hurt of course, thanks to Shikamaru for cushioning her fall, but the boy underneath was quite sure he pulled a vein somewhere. Shikamaru sighed as he tried to prop himself up with one arm, the other around Mononoke.
"What a drag, woman. What did you do wrong this time?", he asked and she looked up, her face comical with fear. (Just imagine her face like this, (OAO) with tears running down in waves...i mean, if you can see it.)
"T-Th-ere's.. There's a... in m-my room!", she stammered, almost beside herself with fear. Shikamaru looked up just in time to see his dad standing at his doorway. The man sighed and waved a hand at his son, "Yeah, I got it. Stay with her."
Shikamaru let out a deep breath before he looked down at the shivering, stuttering mess in his arms. He never saw her this timid in the past. Funny, this never happened before but at least he's taking it in a stride. Guess he was used to seeing her freak out and cry.
Just not hugging him while she freak out and cry.
Before he could say anything to comfort her, a large bawl of laughter came from Mononoke's room.
Shikamaru couldn't help raise an eyebrow at this. Is every person that enters her room going to overreact? He waited patiently as his father stumbled at his room door again, wiping the tears from his eyes. Shikamaru gave his father a questioning look and the man shrugged, "It's the mating season, I guess." He opened his palm towards his son and Shikamaru felt his cheeks puffed out with laughter.
Two fat slugs sat on his dad's open hand, their eyes poking around and outwards innocently.
That's what made Mononoke the Fearless freak?
Trying to hold back a chuckle, Shikamaru looked down at Mononoke, who had her eyes screwed shut and her head buried in the crook of his neck. "Are you for real? Slugs?", he couldn't help but ask her incredulously. He never knew she had the ability to feel such intense fear over anything. She certainly wasn't afraid of heights, worms or anything else. Heck, she even plays with cobras. Mononoke's so impulsive, it's as if she was missing the fear gene in her DNA.
"T-they creep me out.", Mononoke shuddered and tightened her grip on the boy. She never knew why but slugs scared her shitless. "I'm not afraid of anything from heaven to earth, but I'm afraid of slugs, okay!?"(*trivia), she squirmed, her face tinted pink with embarrassment. Shikamaru couldn't help but grin as he patted her head, "Whatever you say, scaredy cat."
Shikaku, however, had other ideas.
"Mononoke, look."
As naïve as she was, Mononoke obediently turned towards Shikaku's voice. It took her half a second to realize what she was looking at and she shrieked like a banshee on a roller coaster, almost deafening Shikamaru. The slugs were only inches from her face.
"GET IT AWAY DAMMIT!", Mononoke cried as she tried to bury herself further into Shikamaru. If Shikaku didn't know better, the duo had probably moulded into a single creature.
"Dad, knock it off! She's creep out enough!", Shikamaru scolded his childish father as he held an arm protectively at the squirming girl's head, trying to calm her down. Dammit, this is getting troublesome. Shikaku began hooting with laughter as he smacked his knee, unable to control himself. The movement caused the slugs to fall on a very unfortunate spot.
Mononoke's leg.
The girl froze stone cold, utter terror in her eyes at the touch of the cool mucus. Shikamaru could feel every hair on her body standing up like waves. She shivered from top to toe as she dared not even move, much less breathe.
"G-g-get it off...", she whispered, her cheeks pale as if the blood was drained from them. Shikamaru obliged, peeling off the slugs quickly before she went into a full loco mode. He threw them at his father's feet with a little spite but it didn't fazed the man.
Shikaku, who was still laughing, tried to justify himself when his son glared daggers at him, "S-sorry. But I couldn't pass it up. This is too precious."
"You scared Mononoke half to death.", he said pointedly, still holding the traumatized girl. Poor kid was still frozen solid. Shikaku wiped his eyes before sobering up, "Well, it's not every day you get to do this."
At first, Shikamaru didn't understand what his father meant until the Nara leader grinned at the shivering ball in his arms. When it finally dawned him, Shikamaru felt his face burn as if he just set himself on fire, "DAD!"
Shikaku gave him a dismissive wave as he bent over to pick up the slugs, "I'll get rid of these two. You hold on to Mononoke." Shikamaru felt his cheeks flared even more when his father gave him a wink and a mock salute before he departed the room, leaving the duo by themselves. The Nara boy bit his tongue to keep from hurling insults at his dad. It's too troublesome to do so. Besides, he's got enough to handle.
"S-Shika?", Shikamaru looked down, meeting the girl. Mononoke's sea foam eyes stared into the dark chocolate ones of the Nara as she muttered fearfully, "Can you help me pack?"
XX
After she tried to recover from the unfortunate slug attack after half an hour of shivering in Shikamaru's comfortable blanket, Mononoke managed to drag herself out of the bed.
She felt a little embarrassed to have panicked like a five year old kid but it's not her fault she has a phobia of slugs. Sighing in defeat, Mononoke got up and went to her room. She'd better apologized to Shikamaru about this. It's better if she did that. And polite. Like Kakashi always says, you must always be polite. (Note the whiny sarcasm)
When she got to her doorway, Mononoke felt her face flamed. Shikamaru was literally going through her dresser with all her underwear!
"U-um...", Mononoke was at a loss for words at the sight. The amount of awkward in this situation was choking her. Shikamaru looked up lazily at the blushing mess of a girl, "Oh, you're here. So how many of these do you need?"
"U-uh, a-are you okay with touching that?", Mononoke stuttered, unsure of what to do. I mean, how do you react if a guy is helping you pack your undies?
Exactly. Flabbergasted.
Shikamaru shrugged indifferently, "You need to change your underwear sometimes. And I'm helping you pack. So how many?"
"Um... Maybe four or five? I'm not sure how long it'll take.", Mononoke answered and she mentally slapped herself. Why did she reply for? She could just walk over like it was nothing and pack her own panties! Why is she letting Shika do all her packing anyway? Oh right, because she was a pussy. Being a wuss even after she saw the slugs humping like rabbits on her bed. Some badass ninja.
But as she stood there lecturing herself in her mind, Shikamaru was already done.
"There.", he got up and stretched his back, before taking her bag to her, "I got you three pairs of clothing and your pyjamas, just in case. Your ninja tools are in the smaller pack inside. You can find food in the forests but I snuck in some of your candies, so you can have them if you wanna."
Mononoke just watched him in a daze as the boy just stuffed his hands in his pockets, secretly pleased at the look on her face. It's not everyday you get to see Mononoke at a loss for words. The girl's always got a comeback for everything.
Until now.
"Don't you need to meet your team? You've got a C-ranked mission ahead of you.", Shikamaru smirked at the girl. Mononoke shook her head, snapping out of the trance. Her face was still flustered as she stuttered, "Y-yeah. Right. Thanks, Shika." She hesitated for a moment before giving him a quick hug.
He smiled at her, "Yeah."
It's nice to get a hug after all that packing. He was actually worried he might have left something behind. He's not a girl, how should he know how to pack like one? But Mononoke has a flexible personality and she really doesn't mind these things much, he guess.
Mononoke grabbed her bag, she shot one last look of gratitude at him before rushing out. He could hear bidding her farewell to his parents. Watching her filled with so much excitement, Shikamaru couldn't help but wish her luck on her journey, to and back.
XXXXXXX
"Yeah! Alright!", Naruto whooped with enthusiasm as they exited Konoha's gate.
"What are you so excited about, Naruto?", Sakura asked in an annoyed way. Seriously, why is he so worked up about? The blonde kid is always on high. Sakura secretly thinks that he might have lost a marble or two.
Shannaro, I'm going to kill him if he does it again! The brat! (Oh looky, its ebil Sakura. Mweheheh)
"This is the first time I ever left the village! I'm a traveller now, dattebayo!", Naruto exclaimed, looking this way and that. Mononoke noticed that Sakura and Sasuke were also looking around curiously. Well, it must be their first time out too. She couldn't help but smile. Thanks to Kakashi, she has seen some of the outside world.
"Hey! Am I supposed to entrust my life to this runt? He's a joke!", Tazuna so rudely pointed out, his finger at the boy. "He's with me and I'm a Jounin, so you don't have to worry.", Kakashi explained. Well, this old man certainly is a handful.,Kakashi thought as Mononoke trotted to his side and she smiled at him knowingly.
Well, he's got the scamp with him and she's pretty useful even when she was a runt. Quick ears and a sharp sense of smell, she can even spot danger faster than he ever did. Another reason why he was glad he managed to get her on his team.
"Hey! Never insult a ninja! That's a big mistake! And I'm the greatest ninja there ever is! Someday, I'm going to be the Hokage and you'll look up to me! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, dattebayo! Remember it!", Naruto claimed at the bridge builder, a glare in his eyes while he pointed at Tazuna.
The old man didn't seemed impressed at his large mouth as he took a deep gulp of alcohol, "Hokages are powerful and wise. You're puny and brainless. The day you become Hokage, I'll sprout wings and fly."
"Ah! Shut up! I'll do whatever it takes to become Hokage! No matter what it takes, cause when I do, everyone's going to admit I'm the top ninja, including you!", Naruto said, trying to prove his point. But of course, the old man just chuckles, obviously not buying it, "Heh, you can be Hokage ten times over and I'll still think you're a nobody. A loser."
"Argh! You're going to pay for that!", Naruto roared and tried to charge at Tazuna. Kakashi caught the boy just in time, before Naruto did something he's going to regret. "I told you. You're supposed to protect the client, not attack him.", Kakashi reminded dully.
"But sensei, do you think we might get attacks by rogue ninjas?", Sakura asked worriedly, her hands on her collarbone. Kakashi looked over to her and smiled. He patted the pinkette's head comfortingly, "No, this is a C-ranked mission. There's not much of a possibility for us to encounter any attacks." "Oh, thank goodness.", Sakura smiled in relief.
Mononoke however, was glowering behind them. Why is he patting Sakura's head anyway? The silver haired girl bumped her head against Kakashi's back. Caught by surprise, the Jounin lifted his arm to look down and saw the little girl looking up at him with puffed up cheeks and glaring eyes.
Aw, she's jealous, Kakashi thought to himself, biting back a smile. He guess that she's hung out with the Inuzuka too much that she became quite protective of her close ones. He watched in amusement as she nudged his arm away from Sakura with her head and planted herself in between them, her body close to Kakashi.
Sakura watched, a little bewildered. She was wondering why Mononoke suddenly got so protective when she remembered that the clanless girl had told them that she lived with Kakashi-sensei. The pinkette looked over with mirth at the kid.
Mononoke was shorter than her and had a baby face so she looked like a little kid when she pouted. Somehow, Sakura couldn't bring herself to hate the girl. Instead, she felt a little sisterly over Mononoke. Well, she did disliked her when Mononoke talked to Sasuke-kun and they seemed to be quite friendly to each other. Sakura wasn't blind. But Mononoke was an endearing person and always looked out for her comrades. She even managed to save Sakura's precious hair from those dratted cows.
The whole time they were walking later, Mononoke stayed by Kakashi.
XXX
Mononoke yawned and stretched her arms. This is such a bore. Smacking her lips, she sidestepped a puddle.
Wait, hold up. Puddle? But-
Mononoke looked up at Kakashi but he blinked once before turning his attention forwards. Obediently, Mononoke followed after quickly to catch up with the others.
There was something sinister with the little pool of water but if Kakashi asked her to stand down, then she'll obey. He's the boss anyway.
A minute or two later, a build up of killing intent caused Mononoke to turn backwards defensively, despite herself. She only got to see two men wrap Kakashi in spiked chains. She gritted her teeth when she saw the men yanked against the chains, splitting Kakashi into pieces.
"Kakashi-sensei!", Naruto exclaimed with fear and Sakura watched, frozen.
"Now it's your turn!", one of them laughed, suddenly appearing behind Naruto. They were fast but she was ready. Mononoke raced to defend Naruto, "Duck!" The command was so unlike her usual tone of voice, which was happy and teasing whilst now it's so deadly and serious, Naruto obeyed without another thought.
A sickening thud echoed as Mononoke punched the man in the face, frost covering her fist, doubling the damage. But she didn't realized her opponent's counterpart was behind her.
Sasuke reacted immediately and threw a kunai at him, the knife burying itself into the man's arm. Mononoke heard the impact and twisted around, grabbing onto the chains. Ice sheathed the chains into the ground, trapping the duo.
"Uchiha!", Mononoke called but he already got to them. Grabbing the two by their arms, he kicked outwards, his feet connecting with their jaws with a satisfying crack. But the chains split, releasing the duo from the ice. Once freed, one aimed at Sakura and Tazuna, the other went to Naruto. Without a single exchange, Sasuke rushed to the bridge builder and Mononoke went to Naruto.
Before she could reach him, a shadow caught the man and rushed to the other one. Mononoke stopped before smiling widely. He's done watching in the side-lines.
"Hi.", Kakashi greeted casually as he hooked the man's neck with a firm arm. That's the two of them.
'Kakashi-sensei! He's alive!', Sakura thought in relief.
'Show off.' , Sasuke groaned inwardly as he watched the Jounin.
Kakashi looked over at Naruto, who was still unable to wrap his head around what happened, and said apologetically, "Sorry, Naruto. I didn't get to help you. I didn't mean for you to get hurt, I just never thought you would freeze up like that. I'm glad that Mononoke managed to step in to help."
"Took you long enough.", Mononoke remarked as she walked over to Kakashi. He greeted the girl with a smile. Honestly, he was quite proud to see her so fiercely protecting the others. He glanced worriedly at the chains that were frozen to the ground. He wondered how strong Mononoke got after all this years. And he wondered how is he going to protect her if she would go the wrong way... No, Mononoke understands the difference between moral and immoral. She would never.
Kakashi pulled his eyes away from the ominous V shape ice sculpture to his team.
"Good teamwork, scamp, Sasuke. Very smooth. You too, Sakura.", Kakashi praised the three of them. Mononoke blinked and noticed that Naruto and Sasuke were having a stare-down. What's that all about?
"Hey.", Sasuke spoke up to Naruto, who was startled, "Y-yeah?" The Uchiha boy smirked at him teasingly, "You're not hurt, are you?" His smirk twitched a little.
"Scaredy cat."
A vein popped from Naruto's forehead, "Sasuke!"
"Naruto, don't move! These ninjas have poison in their claws. We need to take it out of you quickly. You have to open the wound and remove it. It's in your blood now, so don't move around, that spreads the poison.", Kakashi explained and Naruto looked at his hand fearfully.
Just as he was about to ask Mononoke to tie the two intruders up, Kakashi noticed something was wrong.
"Mononoke. Your arm."
The girl looked over at her right arm and blinked in surprise. A large gash slashed her bare arm, inches from her Konoha armband. It was bleeding and looked pretty ugly. Weird, she never realized she got hurt in that short skirmish.
"Oh.", she said rather indifferently, "This is just a scratch. Don't worry about me. I'll survive."
He was about to protest when Mononoke hovered her left palm above the wound. Everyone watched in surprise as frost started covering the wound. Slowly, Mononoke's fingers danced and teased, pulling out the poison from her body. It came in a small little ball at first, but soon more dark purple drops detached themselves from her skin. Once she was sure that the poison was mostly removed, she raised the small sphere of swirling poison with both palms. She allowed some of the poison to remain in her body to strengthen her immunity. It's one way to train her body to be able to take it.
As she observe the foul thing, she wasn't aware that everyone's eyes were on her, all in their own private thoughts.
Sakura was watching her in admiration. Mononoke didn't even freak out when she saw her own wound. Sakura was quite positive she might faint, if she was in the girl's shoes.
Naruto was just beating himself up, thinking how cool Mononoke was when she pulled out the poison like it was nothing.
Sasuke was looking at Mononoke's face as she turned the sphere this way and that. She's a talented kunoichi, no matter how many times she said she was a just another lousy ninja. He wondered why she would put up such a façade. Mononoke is a prodigy, and is probably better than him in every way. He bit his lip at this. How the hell is he even going to avenge his clan if he's not strong enough like her?
Kakashi, however, was watching closely to the other three's reaction. He knew Mononoke was pretty stable and she can fend for herself easily. And of course he noticed Sasuke's look. Guess she just charmed her way into all their hearts. Good for her. Kakashi snorted mentally.
Once she was done, Mononoke wrinkled her nose in disgust, "This poison is not as harmful as a cobra's. Even if I left it inside my body, the most I'll get is a migraine." She looked over the two men in disdain. Such a disappointment.
"Right, since you've handled yourself just fine, tend to Naruto.", Kakashi nodded at her before turning his attention to the bridge builder, who was trying his best to be as invisible as possible. "Oh, by the way, Tazuna-san?" The man started as he stammered, "Y-Yeah?"
"We need to talk."
XX
"They're Chunin from the Kirigakure (Village Hidden in the Mist).", Kakashi explained as everyone crowded the twins, "Their specialty is relentless attack. They keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice."
"How do you know about our ambush?", one of them asked, looking quite impressed.
"A puddle, no duh.", Mononoke said, who was sitting in front of them, poking their feet curiously. The ball of poison she pulled out from her body was floating beside her head. She was wondering if she should force their poison down their throats. Let them have a taste of their own medicine. Or poison. Whatever.
Kakashi nodded, "A puddle. In harsh daylight. When it hasn't rained for weeks."
"You guys could have think of some better way to do it. I mean, there isn't even a water source in this parts. No river, no lake, not even a stream.", Mononoke leaned forward teasingly, "And you say you're Chunin. What jokes."
"Mononoke.", Kakashi warned and she leaned back, biting her lips.
Right, manners. Well, it wouldn't hurt to bash their ego a little more. They wounded her, for crying out loud! It's the most revenge she could take since they're tied up like caught prey.
"If you knew they would attack, then why did you left the Genin to do all the fighting?", Tazuna accused, causing Mononoke to roll her eyes.
Is she the only one who understands Kakashi? Oh right, she is. My bad.
"I could have taken them out easily, but I would have learned nothing.", Kakashi's visible eye slid to Tazuna, who stiffened, "I need to know who their target was, and who they're after."
"What are you getting at?", Tazuna asked nervously and Kakashi proceeded to explain, telling him how the ninjas were after him, the master bridge builder, and not us, Genin, so it wasn't just an encounter of ninja fighting ninja. Instead, it was a planned assassination.
Sakura, worried, began to freak out a little, saying that this is beyond the scope of their abilities. Kakashi agreed with the idea.
"There's no other choice.", Kakashi hummed and he glanced at Naruto, "Naruto's hand could pose a problem."
Mononoke managed to get most of the poison out but she said there were still some lodged inside and she couldn't get it out unless she cuts open the wound.
She was almost immune to poison, thanks to all those times she played with snakes for no apparent reason and got bitten a few times. Mononoke was sure Naruto didn't have her bad habit so the effect might be worse for him.
Kakashi sighed and lifted his shoulders, "Guess we'll just turn back."
Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration. Why was he so weak? Why couldn't he catch up with the others? Before anyone could react, Naruto grabbed a kunai and stabbed it into his hand.
Mononoke gaped at him, "Idiot! What are you doing?!"
"Why am I so different? Why am I always...!", Naruto got cut off by the shot of pain from his hand. "Naruto! Stop that! What do you think you're doing?", Sakura asked as she stepped closer to him.
"I worked so hard to get here. Pushing myself until it hurt, training alone for hours, anything to get stronger, to reach my dream. I will never back down, and I will not let someone else rescue me... I will never run away, and I'll never lose to Sasuke... Upon this wound, I make my pledge, dattebayo!" Naruto looked up to Tazuna, a fire burning in his eyes, "Bridge builder, I will complete this mission and protect you with this kunai. A real ninja never gives up, and neither will I! You guys don't worry about me! I'll be fine! Let's go!"
Mononoke shook her head and laughed under her breath, "Silly donut."
"Uh, Naruto? That was really cool and all, taking the poison out and everything... But if you're going to lose anymore blood... You're going to die.", Kakashi pointed out. Everyone was silent for a moment as his comment sank in. Naruto began to panic, his face blue. Kakashi appeared behind him, his eye in an arc as he smiled, "Good idea for you to stop the bleeding now... Seriously.", Kakashi said sarcastically, sending Naruto into a full panic mode.
"AHHHHH! Nooo, noo, no! I'm too young to die like this! No, no! Ahhhh! Help!", Naruto flailed around and Mononoke couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke was watching the girl gripping her stomach, as if her laughter was fascinating.
"Mononoke, could you come over?", Kakashi requested and she nodded before walking to them. Holding Naruto's hand close to inspect it, she blinked in surprise. 'It's already healing?', she thought to herself, a little bewildered. Fancy, she heals pretty fast as well. Something they have in common.
"Umm...", Mononoke looked up to see a shivering Naruto, "Both of you have a serious look on your faces. You're scaring me... Am I ok?"
"Uh, yeah. You'll be fine.", Kakashi beckoned Mononoke, "Do your thing." The girl rolled her eyes and held her hand out, "Ice only works for me. I might accidentally ice his artery or something."
Oh, right. he remembered that. Once she got the bandage, she turned back to Naruto with a cheerful voice, "Don't worry. I'm not letting you die today, buddy."
Carefully she wrapped his wound, all the while Naruto was looking at her sea foam eyes. They looked like they glow from the inside, as if her eyes were made of starlight. Naruto felt comforted by the fact Mononoke was such a good friend. Now that he thinks about it, back at the Academy, she always tried to defend him when she could. She would even squabble with Kiba because of him. Naruto knew about that incident.
He snapped out of his thoughts when Mononoke tore off the bandage, "There we go!"
"Thanks, Mononoke-chan!", Naruto grinned at her gratefully and she ruffled his hair, "Anytime, floppy head."
Sasuke was watching them silently, a few ways off. He felt a little uncomfortable seeing them so close together, though he wasn't sure why. It was clear they had a sibling like bond between them, nothing more, nothing less. So why is he so worked up about it? "Kakashi.", he called the man, who was watching him from the corner of his eye. The fact that the young Uchiha was watching his kid in such an unusual way did not escape him.
"Hmm?", Kakashi answered casually. "We should get moving.", the boy remarked, hoping that the suggestion would separate the other two. The sensei nodded and scratched his head, "Right. Let's go, team."
Mononoke and Naruto got up quickly, trying not to get left behind as the others began to move.
To Sasuke's satisfaction, Mononoke walked by Kakashi's side the whole way later.
XXX
AHAHAHAAHAHA SOMEONE HAS JEALOUSY ISSUES. All of them have jealousy issues. BUT THAT'S WHAT MAKES THIS FUN. This is adorable, right? Tell me what you think! /throws confetti at the readers . And I have a feeling Momo is becoming, i dunno, a little Mary Sue? Maybe? /winces I HOPE NOT. But tell me if she does. AUTHOR-SAN IS TRYING HER BEST, CUT ME SOME SLACK HAHA
*Mononoke's statement is actually a loosely translated Chinese idiom. If I directly translate it, it would be, "I'm not afraid of the sky, nor the earth, I'm most afraid of slugs." Makes little sense, I know. It's directly translated. Direct translations make no sense. (Which you guys would realize by now, Author-san is Chinese. LMAO.)
Fact#11: Mononoke secretly shoved the poison ball into the Demon Brothers underwear. Don't tell anyone. (This is an important fact, you guys. Stop laughing. /snorts . Not funny, I'm being serious. /SNORT)