Here's another one! Hope ya'll enjoy it. And a shout out to all of my silent readers, I really love that ya'll seem to be enjoying it but I'd really really love it if you would post a review. Sagemode101 and sailorangelmoon1 can't do it all on their own, even though they are pretty awesome people. Oh and ya'll should totally listen to William Joseph – Beyond, I was inspired by that music to finish up with this chapter. But it's not he tune Meng Ka hums, that comes later in the story. Well, enjoy the show! 3
Kiba winced as he woke up and moved his stiff arms as his eyes opened to the glaring sun as it pooled into the room. He looked away from the bright outside world and looked beside him at Akamaru's empty bed. Panicked, he sat up suddenly and looked around but then smiled as his eyes landed on a sleeping Meng Ka. She was sitting in a chair next to his bed, curled up on the seat with Akamaru snuggled close to her chest. A soft chirp made Kiba look back to the window to see Tinktink flex her wings as she sat in the window. No wonder it had been so bright, he had been looking directly at Tinktink's firey feathers. She chirped again, sharper this time as she flapped her wings and landed on his bed, rubbing her firey head against his hand.
Kiba chuckled and ruffled her feathers just as Meng Ka moved slightly and opened her eyes. They were glazed over from sleep as she yawned and rubbed them. Sitting up, she gently moved Akamaru on her lap and smiled back at Kiba, "You're awake."
"How long was I asleep?" Kiba asked as he stretched his arms, getting out all the knots as his bones popped here and there.
"Just a day, nothing too serious." Meng Ka said as she lifted Akamaru and handed him over to an eager Kiba. He took Akamaru in his arms as Meng Ka sat beside him on the bed and smiled, "Your mother was here not too long ago but she needed to leave and do some things. She brought you lunch though." Meng Ka said as she pulled up a basket filled with sandwiches.
Meng Ka pulled a sandwich out and handed it to Kiba, "Is it alright for me to eat this? I know they usually want you to only eat what they give you." Kiba asked as he unwrapped it and took a big bight out of the meaty sandwich before anyone could take it away from him.
Meng Ka chuckled, "It's alright. They just do that because they're control freaks." She winked over at him as he chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"What did I miss while I was out?" Kiba asked as he finished the sandwich and took the other one that Meng Ka offered him.
"Not much really, as you know everyone is alright and on bed rest as well. Choji and Neji have woken up and are getting a lot better. Oh and they had to tie Naruto to the bed because he was sneaking out to get ramen." She chuckled and handed Kiba another sandwich.
Kiba laughed, accidently waking up Akamaru who barked softly at him and took a bit out of Kiba's sandwich. "Hey!" Kiba smiled down at him and rubbed his head, unable to be angry with him at the moment.
Meng Ka giggled and Kiba looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, you think that's funny?" He asked as he tore off a piece of bread from his sandwich.
"Yeah, actually I do." Meng Ka said as she stuck out her tongue at him but then gasp in shock as the bread came flying towards her and landed right in the middle of her forehead. "Hey!" she yelled as she grabbed a sandwich and did the same thing.
Kiba smirked and then started to throw the contents of the sandwich at her, Meng Ka following his lead as she did the same thing. All the while the two of them were laughing and dodging flying bread, meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato slices. Meng Ka then suddenly leapt towards him, making sure not to hurt Akamaru as she got Kiba in a head lock. Kiba laughed and started to tickle Meng Ka, making her squeal and let go of him as she rolled away. Kiba quickly put Akamaru down on the pillow and jumped on Meng Ka and continued to tickle her. Tinktink chirped as she grabbed some of the meat and brought it over to Akamaru who barked and wagged his tail as he watched the two fight each other.
"Uncle! Uncle!" Meng Ka cried out after a few minutes of not being able to get Kiba off of her and he continued to tickle her without mercy.
"Is someone calling for me?" A familiar voice said as the two froze and looked over at the door. Kakashi, Tsunade, and Shizune were standing at the door looking at the two as they were covered in sandwich material and their two companies sitting quietly on the pillows, nibbling at the meat.
"Uh, what's going on in here?" Tsunade asked as she crossed her arms and glared at the two. "You shouldn't be rough housing at the moment, Kiba. You need rest and now we have to change your bed sheets." She said irritably as she sighed and put a finger to her temple.
Kiba got up and helped Meng Ka up as well, "Sorry, Lady Tsunade" He stammered as he got out of the bed and held onto Akamaru, Tinktink flying over and landing on Kakashi's shoulder.
"Hmm, well looks like I'm going to have to rough house you for hurting my niece." Kakashi said as he narrowed his eye at Kiba.
"W-what?!" Kiba asked and then pointed at Meng Ka, "She started it!" He said and Meng Ka glared over at Kiba.
"A lady doesn't start fights," She put her hands on her hips, "But she sure can finish them." She said darkly at him as a look of terror formed on Kiba's face.
Kakashi walked over and chuckled, "Sounds like I taught you well, Meng Ka." He smiled down at her and put his hand on top of her hand. "Come on, we need to let Kiba rest and you're not helping."
"But-" Kakashi cut off Meng Ka's protest with a wave of his hand, "Come on, he needs to get more sleep." Meng Ka pouted but nodded her head, she gently hugged Kiba good bye and gave him some treats to give to Akamaru. Then Kakashi took her hand gently and lead her out of the room with an angry Tsunade.
"Why did you let him go?" Tsunade asked when they were back in her office. She was angry at Meng Ka for not bring Sasuke back but she was grateful that no one had gotten killed as well.
"Because it was his decision to leave. I wasn't going to force someone to come back to this village if they didn't want to be a part of it anymore." Meng Ka answered without hesitation as she stood in front of her desk, Kakashi behind her with his arms folded.
"Oh so once someone who was born in the village, taught the village's way of fighting and knows the village like the back of their hand wants to up and leave to be on the enemy's side it's just fine and dandy?" Tsunade said as her voice rose as she spoke, her glare hardening on Meng Ka. "You failed and because of that this village is in danger of being attacked once again. Because of you the people of this village will have to watch their backs until Orochimaru is dead!"
Meng Ka didn't back down as she glared right back at her, "This village is always in danger. That false sense of peace that you give the villagers is well and good but even during peace a village is at its most vulnerable to attacks. Orochimaru got in here just fine without Sasuke's help and Orochimaru is from this village as well, or have you forgotten?" She narrowed her eyes at Tsunade as she taken aback by her words. "If someone wishes to leave this village then let them, they are of no more a threat than anyone else. Rumors will spread, the villagers will be worried for a little while but then they'll look at their great hokage and see that she is calm and not worried and they'll move on and go back to their lives. It's something that has been done since your grandfather's times."
Meng Ka took a deep breath and shook her head as she bit her tongue and looked away. "I gave you a direct order to bring him back. You have no right to second guess my judgment, as your hokage, you must obey me."
"You are not my hokage." Meng Ka said softly, "The third hokage proved himself to me that he deserved to be in that chair but you haven't. Lord Hiruzen loved this village and saw everyone as his family. He knew every face and name and everything he did was for the village. If he were in that chair he would have let Sasuke leave because he himself knew that it was going to happen one day. He knew because he took the time to watch and get to know everyone in the village. And what have you done? All you care about is our ability to fight and how strong we are." Tears were forming in her eyes as she spoke and looked up at Tsunade, "The elders may have chosen you to be hokage but that gives you no right to force yourself on everyone. And to me at least you have to earn that right because-."
"Meng Ka!" Kakashi's sharp voice cut through the air and silenced Meng Ka before she could go on. Tsunade's expression had darkened as she looked over at Meng Ka. She was right about one thing, she didn't know the people in this village as well as she used to. For a young girl, she spoke much older than her age and Tsunade wondered what secrets Meng Ka' village held that would compel Orochimaru to be after her. Not only that but even the third hokage didn't have that much written down about Meng Ka. All she knew was that she was the last of her village and she wasn't even ten years old yet. Too young to have such an understanding of how the village is run like she seemed to now. Too young to have such a high rank among the ninjas as well, "Meng Ka, I cannot let this go unnoticed, you disobeyed an order and because of it this village is in even more danger. As punishment you are no longer a Jounin. You will no longer have a rank among ninjas but you will still be a medical-nin since even I can't deny that you have a natural talent for it. I hope you don't hate me forever for this but you are just a child."
Meng Ka shrugged, "They're just titles, nothing more." Then she turned around and left, tired of all of this arguing as she walked out onto the street, lost in thought. It was strange at how upset she was with the fact that she was no longer a Jounin. Maybe she wasn't upset but disappointed in herself as she really did want to make Kakashi proud of her but she couldn't help it as she was tired of the ways that Tsunade had handled things. Yes she was powerful and of a high enough rank to be a hokage of this village but Meng Ka had yet to see her care enough about each person in this village. Sure she healed Lee and Choji but in the end that will be to her advantage as they are very skilled ninjas.
This village is filled with all kinds of interesting and amazing people, but Tsunade only seemed to know those of high rank and people that she could use to protect the village. But how could you protect a village when you don't even know the people you are protecting, only those who are doing the protecting? It didn't make sense to her but she just sighed and shook her head as she didn't want to think about it anymore. Tinktink flew down and landed on her shoulder, rubbed her face against the side of her forehead to comfort her. Tinktink knew that Meng Ka was getting more restless as she grew and discovered knew things about her chakra but it couldn't be helped as she wasn't in her village, among people who were or had gone through the same thing. She didn't have people to explain what was going on or how to control her chakra, so naturally she was becoming restless. She would have to leave the village in search of her answers soon.
"Meng Ka?" Someone's voice trailed over to her, pulling her from her thoughts as she blinked, "You alright?" The voice asked as she looked over at Konohamaru with a blank expression. "Meng Ka?" He asked again as he place a hand on her shoulder.
That seemed to snap her away from her thoughts and she shook her head to clear it, "Y-yeah. I'm fine, Konohamaru. Thank you." Meng Ka said as she turned around to leave.
"Wait!" Konohamaru said as he held onto her shoulder, "How are you feeling? I heard about the mission and was a bit worried." He mumbled the last part and looked down as he kicked at the ground.
Meng Ka stared at him shocked as she watched him closely, still a bit uneasy with how nice he's been treating her lately. "I'm fine, just a few cuts here and there, nothing else."
"Oh, well that's good…" Konohamaru trailed off as he rubbed the back of his head and the two of them stood there awkwardly.
"Where are Udon and Moegi?" Meng Ka asked to finally put an end to their awkward silence.
"Oh! They're waiting for me at the school. We were going to go head out into the training field to get more training in." he paused as he looked the other way, "Would you like to join?"
A small blush formed over Meng Ka's cheeks and she shook her head, "Sorry but it's best that I get some rest for the time being." She mumbled as she looked away as well.
"Of course! I shouldn't have been so stupid." Konohamaru said as he straightened his back a little and smiled at her, "Well get better, Meng Ka. I'll see you around." He waved to her as he ran off in the direction of the school and Meng Ka was left alone.
She was happy for the solitude as she walked back home, lost in her thoughts and before she knew it she was back in her favorite spot in the woods. It was a small clearing with a river running through it. Yellow flowers popping up randomly during the summer as pastel colored butterflies flew around. Breathing in the sweet air, Tinktink landed softly on her shoulder and nudged her softly with her head.
Meng Ka petted her feathers and walked over to the river, watching as fish jumped out of the water, catching the bugs that flew on the water in their gapping mouths. The sound of the water lazily running along its path to the ocean soothed Meng Ka as she watched it and she stepped out onto the water, chakra flowing through her feet. Tinktink flew from her shoulder and landed onto the three closets to the river. It was almost as if she was in a trance as Meng Ka stood in the middle of the river, letting every muscle relax as she focused on her chakra, opening all of her chakra points and making goose bubs run along her body.
The wind was still as she relaxed more and then started to hum the same tune she'd been humming for as long as she can remember. It started off slow but soon became upbeat as she swayed slowly to the tune; she soon started to move around in almost like a dance only it was her ninja warm-ups. Her arms moved through the air gracefully as she began to focus first on her most natural chakra. Sparks flickered from her fingers as she spun around and then kicked a leg up, a bright red flame following her foot as it traveled in the air, the sparks still coming from her fingers. She then moved to the next most natural chakra for her, wind. The air stirred around her as she moved slowly and still humming the same tune.
By this point Meng Ka's eyes had closed as she put all her focus on controlling her chakra and the wind blew through her hair but then turned sharply and it was almost as if the wind was forming a blanket around her as it grew heavy and then light. Meng Ka manipulating the air to her will as her hands continued to move along with her feet in a graceful dance. As she stretched out her fingers far apart a sliver of electricity weaved its way through her fingers. The electricity flowed around her and through her hair as she moved, more sparks bursting from her finger tips as well. Suddenly Meng Ka dipped back, one foot on the river as her other knees kicked up in the air and her arms were held above her head as her fingers dipped into the water. Now focusing on the more harder elements, she shot back up as mud from the river's bottom followed her fingers in small spheres; looking almost like dark bubbles as they swirled around her.
Her movements became a bit faster as she let the chakra run through her and she got ready for the hardest element, water. Taking a deep breath and then starting the tune up again she brought her hands down to the water and pulled them back up with strings of water following her fingertips. She moved them all around her as she balanced on one long and spun around and around and then suddenly stopped as she let the water fall down. Still humming she rolled her shoulders and then went through the dance motions faster, only this time she was control two at a time, fire with water as she formed a cloud of steam around her then wind and earth as she shaped the mud and moved it with the wind. Then the hardest part as she paused and moved slower, lifting a leg high up in the arm and spinning in a slow circle as bubbles of water rose from beneath her and inside the bubbles were little lights of electricity as they flickered inside the bubbles. Moving them carefully around her as she came to the last part of the tune and then let a burst of wind run through the bubbles popping all of them.
She took another deep breath as she stood on one leg with the other folded beside her and her hands were pressed together in a water symbol in front of her. She was completely out of breath as she stayed like that and continued to calm her breathing but just as she opened her eyes she heard clapping and the scent of cigarette smoke filled her nose. "You've gotten better at that. Now control three at a time." Asuma said with a huge smile on his face as he looked over at Meng Ka.
Meng Ka pouted over at him, "Asuma, you know I can't do that." She mumbled as she crossed her arms, "It's hard enough to control water with electricity."
Asuma chuckled and waved her over to him. Meng Ka walked over to him and gave him a hug, "A curtain white haired know it all told me that you're little temper has been getting the best of you lately." He said as he looked down at her. "I think some time away from the madness will do you some good. How about you come over, Kurenai is making pork dumplings."
Meng Ka seemed to perk up at the thought and she smiled up at Asuma, "I won't be intruding will I?" She asked as she was walking thinking about Kurenai's cooking, making her mouth water.
Asuma chuckled and picked Meng Ka up, "It's time you start acting your age Meng Ka. As long as you're shorter than me you're never an intrusion. Now come on, kid. We'd best not be late, you know how Kurenai can get."
Meng Ka giggled and looked over her shoulder, "Come on Tinktink, I know you're tempted too." She smiled as Tinktink chirped in reply and landed on her shoulder as Asuma carried her out of the woods and back into the village life.