CHAPTER FOUR: GOOD TEAM
"Oh my god…" Maki groaned as her head throbbed. It felt like someone was taking a hammer and repeatedly hitting her inside her brain! "What the hell happened last night?" But unwanted memories flooded her brain and caused her to curse at herself.
Being hung over and losing a boyfriend. What's next, she has to cut off her own leg?
While she mentally killed Hatori in her head, there was a light knock on her door. "Uhm…Maki? We kind of have to go. If you want, I'll tell Kakashi-"
"It's fine, I'll be out in a minute." Maki got out of bed and started to change into her ANBU uniform. Blankly, she stared at the wall and fought the urge to slam her head into it, in hope to get rid of her head ache. After she finished getting dressed, she opened the door to see a tired looking Sasuke playing with his fingers. "Why do you look so nervous?"
He jumped a little at the sound of her voice. "Nothing! Who's nervous?" Awkwardly, his lips pulled up into a crooked smile and Maki scoffed.
"You suck at lying Sasuke." It sounded bitterer then she wanted it to be, but she didn't care right now. Sasuke didn't say anything back, knowing Maki wasn't exactly in the mood these days.
They both walked towards the training grounds and Sasuke couldn't stop stealing glances at her. 'Does she remember?' He bit his lip when he thought about how much angrier she would be if she did know what happened last night. 'She would probably behead me with her own hands…'
"Why do you keep looking at me?" Maki asked without even looking over. It was obvious he was looking at her every two seconds, and he looked shaken too.
"I'm not!" Sasuke said the best he could without letting his voice shake.
"But you are." Maki plainly said.
"I'm just…Worried, that's all." Well, at least it wasn't a lie. Sure that wasn't the reason, but he really was worried about her. He's never seen her so down before. Maki would get mad and take out her frustrations by beating up a tree, but she never got depressed like this.
"Well don't be. They're my problems anyway." She walked ahead of him to greet the others who were waiting for them. Sasuke sighed, knowing Maki could be a little distant when she's upset. He made it look like nothing happened and walked over to the team.
"You having fun with Sasuke Maki?" Sakura sneered at Maki who didn't even bother to turn her head towards her. "Hey! I'm talking to you." But Maki walked over to Kakashi.
"Let's start." She said and Kakashi looked at her, raising an eyebrow. He knew something was wrong with her today. As he eyed his students, he stopped at Sasuke who looked over to Maki nervously. 'Something obviously happened between the two…'
"Alright, we'll be sparring today, and then we have a mission to go to tomorrow." Kakashi announced and Naruto cheered.
"Whooo, a mission! It's been a long time since we've been on one all together!"
"When do we leave for the mission tomorrow?" Sakura asked and Kakashi smiled.
"Three in the morning."
"Three in the morning?" Naruto groaned. "I never wake up before nine…"
"So we're sparring?" Sasuke asked Kakashi who nodded.
"Yup. All of you against me. Remember that test with the bells?" Kakashi took two bells out of his pocket. "The two who don't get one of these has to run around the village five times in total before going home. Let me warn you, this time it'll be more intense then it was years ago." He backed away from the four students. "You really have to want to kill me."
"Five times? But we need all the rest we can get!" Naruto whined.
"And you guys will be split into teams." Kakashi ignored Naruto. "Maki, Sakura, you two are together. Sasuke, you're with Naruto."
"What?" Naruto and Sasuke said at the same time and glared at each other.
Sakura just kicked at the ground in frustration as Maki held herself back from saying anything.
"Start already!" Naruto whined.
"Alright…" Kakashi took out his book and all the students smirked. "Go."
The four of them hid their selves immediately and Sakura elbowed you. "What's the plan?"
"We'll go in and rip Kakashi apart." Maki said without any emotion in her voice.
Sakura was taken a bit back at Maki's bluntness. "Hey, you okay?"
But Maki didn't reply. She didn't know why she was so upset. Actually, she did know, but she didn't realize it would affect her this much.
"Maki." The two girls looked over to Sasuke who walked over and bent down in front of Maki who was sitting on the ground. "At least act like things are okay. You're scaring the shit out of me." He said softly.
Maki and Sakura were both a bit surprised at Sasuke's concern.
"And that guy you were talking about," Sasuke stood up. "I saw him walking around on the streets last night, so I took care of him. He's probably in the hospital now." He smirked before leaving to find Naruto.
Maki's jaw slowly dropped in shock and wondered what Sasuke meant. 'Did he beat him up last night?'
Sasuke jumped from tree to tree to find Naruto. "There you are."
"Where were you?" Naruto yelled. He was about to continue but a wound on Sasuke's leg caught his attention. "Hey, you got hurt already?"
Sasuke looked down at the scar on his leg and scoffed. It was from last night.
After putting Maki to bed, he went out to find out more about Maki's boyfriend. He remembered her murmuring the name 'Hatori' right before she passed out. Right as he turned the corner of the street, he heard flirtatious giggles coming closer. He looked up to see a guy with his arms wrapped around a girl's waist.
"Hatori, you're such a sweetheart!" She giggled and snuggled closer to Hatori.
Sasuke clenched his fist when he heard that name.
"Ino and…What's that other girl's name? Mika? Well, whatever, they have nothing on you baby." Hatori kissed the girl and obviously didn't notice Sasuke walking over.
Once Sasuke got there, he pulled the girl away and punched Hatori square in the jaw. "What the fuck man?"
"Her name's Maki." He pulled his knee up to Hatori's stomach. Hatori gasped for air and tried to punch Sasuke but he dodged it. Hatori managed to take a knife out of his pocket and graze Sasuke's leg.
"What are you, Maki's boyfriend now?" Hatori wiped away the blood from his mouth.
Sasuke didn't answer the question and threw Hatori's body against the side of the building. He was unconsciousness now, and Sasuke walked home knowing his job was done.
So why did he do it? Maki was probably Sasuke's closest friend, right next to Naruto. She never bothered him much, and he owed her a couple of favors. Over the years, she became like a little sister to him, and it bothered him that she was so upset over that piece of trash.
"…suke? Sasuke!" Naruto snapped him out of his memory.
"Oh, sorry." Sasuke mumbled and peeked at the fight between Sakura, Maki, and Kakashi. "Hey, they're already fighting."
"What? We have to get in there!" Naruto exclaimed and ran down to the fight.
Meanwhile, while Sasuke was thinking about what happened last night, Sakura and Maki already went down to face Kakashi after discussing the plan. Maki didn't feel horrible anymore, and decided to take her anger out on Kakashi.
"I would expect Naruto to be the first one to come." He said and put his book away. "I probably shouldn't underestimate you guys."
"Girls." Sakura pulled her glove on and wrapped her arm around Maki's shoulder. "We might not like each other, but we can team up if it means kicking sensei's ass."
"Ouch, that was mean." Kakashi teased and Maki didn't wait. She already started to bend the water from the river. "Picked the wrong place to do this didn't I?" Kakashi said, causing Maki to smirk and drown the whole battlefield with water.
"Maki, just so you know, I can't swim." Sakura joked and Maki started to freeze the water around Kakashi's feet. He jumped just in time to get away but the ice shot up, taking him by surprise. Kakashi managed to dodge it and ran towards Maki. Sakura stood in front of Maki and fought him off while Maki made a bunch of hand signs.
"Water style, Hidora jutsu!" A three headed dragon soared out of the river and flew over to Kakashi at an amazing speed. He jumped away, but Sakura ran over and kicked him over. It was a success, but the girls saw it was only a clone.
"Damn it!" Maki and Sakura cursed and looked around for the real Kakashi.
Suddenly, he appeared behind Maki and kicked her forcefully. Sure Maki was excelled in ninjutsu, but she was completely useless when it came to taijutsu. Kakashi knew every single one of their weaknesses and strengths.
"Kakashi you asshole!" Maki yelled as she picked herself up. "Sakura, you ready?"
Sakura nodded and started to throw punches and kicks at Kakashi. He dodged them all and peeked over to Maki who started to make a bunch of hand signs. He couldn't recognize what Maki was trying to do but he didn't care at the moment. Being punched by Sakura could mean permanent damage to his face!
"Now!" Maki yelled and Sakura punched the ground as hard as she could and jumped away. The land beneath Kakashi eroded and he covered his eyes with his hands. As he looked up from the big hole, he saw a wave of water crashing in. It immediately froze, and he mentally sighed at how careless he was.
"Hah!" He heard the girls say as they walked over to look down. "Cold Kakashi?" Maki stuck her tongue out.
"Promise to hand over the bells and we'll let you go." Sakura ice skated around happily.
"Okay, okay, I promise." He managed to mumble. "Get me out, it's freezing!"
Maki and Sakura stepped off of the ice and Maki unfroze the water with a fire jutsu. Kakashi surfaced to the top of the water and threw the bells over to the girls sourly.
"Don't be a sore loser." Maki caught the bell and giggled.
"Since when do you know how to control fire?" Sakura asked, surprised.
"Since I was 19." Maki replied and smiled. "Since when do you know how to punch so hard?"
The two of them laughed together, a sight that's very rare to see. "Trust me, you seriously good. I practice taijutsu so hard but I still suck. They hesitated to make me an ANBU when they saw how weak I was." Maki sighed.
"I guess we make a good team then." Sakura looked over to Maki, smiling. "I suck at ninjutsu, I can only heal, but that's about it."
"You know Sakura," Maki patted Sakura on the back. "You're okay."
"You too Maki." She grinned and they both high fived each other.
"Sasuke, Naruto!" Kakashi called out. "It's time for you guys to run your laps!" Just then Naruto tripped and rolled down the hill.
"What? They won?" Naruto screamed as he laid on the floor in pain. Sasuke jumped down from the tree and stared at the battlefield in awe.
"What did you guys do, swim?" Sakura and Maki giggled at the shocked look on Sasuke's face.
"Well, we're going to go home and pack for the mission." The two girls waved at the boys who frowned. "Have fun running!"
"Gah!" Naruto screamed out in annoyance. "Five laps? Really?"
"You should start now if you want to get home before sun sets." Kakashi took out his book and walked home. "Don't try to get out of this one, I'll know if you guys cheat."
The two boys dragged their feet as they ran five laps around Konoha, wondering how and when the two girls got so strong.