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Kasumi: That's right. You should also review and check out Author-san's blog.
Me: *pouts* Kasumi-chan! You got to it before I could say it!
Kasumi: There, there...
Last time:
Tension leaching out of her body for what seemed to be the first time in days, Kasumi Fumei glanced up at the brightly shining sun and smiled.
She would be okay.
Bridge
Two weeks later, Kasumi very carefully suppressed her amusement while watching the spectacle of Inari and Naruto saying goodbye.
"Don't worry! We'll come to visit!" Naruto promised.
"You... better..." Inari replied, eyes suspiciously wet and bottom lip trembling.
"Inari... you're sad, right?" Naruto's eyes were suspiciously wet, too, and his smile was a tad shaky. "It's alright to cry!"
"But I'm not going to cry!" Inari declared determinedly. "But Naruto, you can cry, too!"
The blonde promptly spun on his heel. "Fine. Later."
"Ah!" Clearly heartbroken, Inari flung out a hand, as if trying to catch his newfound idol.
'Oh dear...' Kasumi smiled indulgently at the near identical looks of the two boys as Naruto walked off, tears streaming down their faces and snot running into their lips. 'It's almost like they're twins...'
"That boy changed Inari's heart and Inari changed the people's hearts... that boy gave us a bridge to hope called courage." Tazuna said with a proud smile, looking after Naruto gratefully.
"Grandpa? What are we going to name this bridge?" Inari piped up and interested, Kasumi lagged a bit behind her team, using a small amount of chakra to enhance her hearing.
"Oh yeah, we need to name this bridge." Tazuna hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I have a perfect name for this bridge..."
"Oh?! What is it?"
"How about... The Great Naruto Bridge?!"
"Hehe, that's a good name."
'The Great Naruto Bridge, huh?' Kasumi glanced at her grinning teammate, a small, contemplative smile curling her lips. 'Inari-san's right. That is a good name."
"Yay!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air, cerulean eyes sparkling. "Let's get home fast so I can have Iruka-sensei buy me some ramen! Oh, yeah! And I have to tell Konohamaru about my legendary feats!"
Legendary feats? Shaking her head, she laughed lightly, saying, "More ramen? I think we need to talk about your eating habits, Naruto-san."
"That and his wardrobe," Sasuke commented with a smirk. "All that orange."
Naruto looked blatantly horrified. "Kasumi-chan! Teme! You can't take away my ramen and my jumpsuit!"
"We're also going to have to do some more training..." Kasumi sighed, already going over the exercises that they were going to be going through later.
"Training?" If Sasuke wasn't the antisocial, perpetual brooder that he was, she mused, his eyes would be twinkling. Like Naruto's were.
"Mm-hm. We're also going to have to go through some tactics meetings, shock stimuli... ah, and probably some speed drills."
"Eeh?" Naruto complained. "That sounds boring, Kasumi-chan!"
"And perhaps we should get to that textbook you've been putting off..." She went on casually.
"Kasumi-chan!"
Kakashi eye-smiled and casually turned a page in his book. Kimi-chan was seducing Mizu-kun this chapter...
Return
"Yatta! I see Konoha!" Naruto announced loudly and rather unnecessarily, considering that they could all see the large gates coming up ahead of them.
Sasuke scoffed silently, but could admit, if only inside the privacy of his own mind, that he was glad to see Konoha, too. Their mission had taken less time than had been expected, but it had still been almost a month since they had left the Hidden Village of the Leaf and it was... refreshing to be back.
Thankfully, it hadn't taken their Team long to make the returning journey. Last time, Tazuna had slowed them down enough that they had to move along at an aggravatingly slow pace, not that Sasuke had let himself show his frustration. This time, moving at ninja speed with no one to drag them down, and with all of them proficient enough in tree-walking and water-walking to boost their speed, they had made quick time in returning home.
A gentle sigh from his right had the Uchiha flicking a gaze at his female teammate. She was staring at the tall gates of Konoha with a fond smile, brown eyes soft and liquid warm. Sasuke observed her out of the corner of his eye with faint fascination.
The cream-haired girl had always possessed a strange sort of composure, near permanently kind and patient. In all his years at the Academy, Sasuke had never truly seen Kasumi lose her composure, not even in highly stressful or irritating situations. No matter the circumstances, she would tranquilly take in the details, gather conclusions, and do what she deemed necessary to rectify the case.
Even after being placed on Team 7, she had maintained that effortlessly low-key, harmonious bearing - and Sasuke was well aware that the arguments between himself and the dobe could try even a saint's patience. Oh, that wasn't to say that she wasn't frustrated at times, or that she didn't take her own forms of revenge on them when they pushed her too hard - because, damn, Kasumi could be vengeful when she wanted to be - but her subtly warm equilibrium always flowed rhythmically beneath her exasperation.
It had been after they had arrived in the Land of Waves when Sasuke had first sensed that understated poise waver. It hadn't particularly been anything that she had done or said, but he had felt it, nonetheless, like a fine shift of the wind against his pale skin. And he knew the dobe had felt it, too, even if he hadn't showed it.
Against Zabuza, she had froze and in the wake of her nightmares, she had flinched, but until that day, when Haku had lain dead on the bridge, his blood crimson red against the white snow, Sasuke had never seen her serenity just... shatter.
Kasumi hadn't sobbed, hadn't let her sorrow impair her judgment, hadn't broken down weeping, hadn't... betrayed much of anything, really. If it weren't for the perilously devastated look in her bitter chocolate brown eyes and the silent tears that had treaded down her porcelain cheeks, Sasuke wouldn't have known that anything was wrong. Drawn by protective instinct and a hesitant desire to comfort, he had tugged her into his arms and watched as her composure fractured completely.
It had been the proudest, most self-possessed breakdown he had ever seen, and Sasuke had seen his fair share of breakdowns.
As they walked through the gates of Konoha, easily getting past the check point - he suspected Kakashi had something to do with that - he could all but see her quiet equanimity settle back over her, akin to the donning of a samurai's armor or the replacement of a queen's crown.
Kasumi glanced at him, sensing his gaze perhaps. "Something wrong, Sasuke-san?" She questioned softly, too soft for the others to hear, although he was under no delusions that Kakashi would be able to eavesdrop if he were so inclined.
"No. Everything's fine." He claimed coolly and after a moment of probing eye contact, she nodded gracefully, accepting the excuse.
"Ichiraku Ramen! I'm coming for you!" The dobe screamed, throwing his arms into the air.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. What an idiot.
Review
Sighing softly in relief, Kasumi completed the last step and stood in front of her house's door. Retrieving her key nonchalantly, she unlocked the door and stepped into her home for the first time in several weeks.
"KASUMI-CHAN!" A green and brown blur slammed into her milliseconds later. She gasped, rocking back on impact before finding herself trapped in a bear hug of the highest magnitude. "You're back! I was so worried about you!"
This time, her sigh was of exasperation. Her brother had always been a bit of a drama queen when it came to his beloved little sister. Then again, with what had happened to the rest of their family, she couldn't blame him. "I'm back, Onii-san." Kasumi confirmed, returning Hiroshi's enthusiastic hug, though with notable decreased force.
He finally pulled back with a wide grin, brown eyes a shade lighter than her own twinkling happily. "How'd it go? You're not hurt, are you? I swear, if you're hurt, I'm going to go track down that Hatake Kakashi and -"
"Onii-san!" Kasumi interrupted sharply. When he paused and blinked at her, she raised an eyebrow and calmly pointed out, "We're still standing in our doorway."
"Oh, right!" Grin unfaltering, he dragged her inside the house and all but forced her into sitting in a chair at the dining table. "I'll make us dinner while you tell me what happened, all right?"
Kasumi smiled sweetly. While her older brother could be terribly overbearing and protective, she knew he loved her. "Well... it started off with a client named Tazuna from the Land of Waves..."
Talk
"Eeh?!" Choji stared at her with wide eyes, a potato chip dangling from his fingers. "You guys went on a C-rank mission?!"
Kasumi played a senbon absently between her fingers, trying to get a feel for the weapon. She quickly smashed the natural inclination to tell her friends that they hadn't only gone on a C-rank mission - they had gone on an A-rank mission, fought Momichi Zabuza and his protégé, and came out alive. It was tempting to brag, to boast, to speak of her pride in her team, but this was classified information and she was all too aware of the consequences for a loose mouth. "Mm-hm."
"Troublesome." Shikamaru groaned, staring desolately at the clouds above. "Once Ino finds out about this, she'll want us to go on a C-rank mission, too."
"I-I th-think that's g-great, K-Kasumi-chan." Hinata smiled timidly, taking care not to tug too hard as she braided the other girl's hair.
"Was it a strenuous mission?" Shino inquired and, mildly surprised, she sent him a questioning look. "You appear to be more complacent. As no other major event has occurred to explain the change, it is logical to assume that your recent mission was the catalyst." He elaborated, adjusting his glasses.
Ah. Kasumi smiled thoughtfully, unsure how to feel about this new development. For all that her friends were all certainly observant in their own ways, for some reason, she hadn't expected them to be able to pick up on the toll the mission had taken on her. It spoke of a potentially fatal crack in her shields, but at the same time, it reflected well on her friendships.
Had it been a strenuous mission? Her immediate reaction was to reply in the positive - how could anyone say that it hadn't been a difficult mission for a genin? And even for a jounin as strong as Kakashi was? - but something stopped her and she took a moment to mull over the question.
"Yes." She said at last. "But... I think it was worth it."
Shino paused and although she couldn't see his eyes, she had the feeling that he was evaluating her. After a beat, he nodded and she wondered if she had passed or failed.
"A-Ah. D-Did anything bad h-happen?" Hinata asked.
Bad. How, Kasumi wondered, was she supposed to define such a word? Fighting against two chunin missing-nin and winning. Killing one of them without batting an eyelid. Meeting an A-rank ninja, an Anbu missing-nin no less. Almost getting killed by said missing-nin. Finding out that your first friend ever was your enemy... fighting that friend... almost getting killed by that friend. Watching that friend and his purpose for living die in front of your eyes.
Was that considered "bad"?
"It went as expected." Kasumi said, and it wasn't a lie. After being ambushed by the Demon Brothers, it had gone exactly as expected. Which was to say, horribly. "I'm fine. We're all fine."
She politely ignored the tomato red of the Hyuga Heiress' face she could see in the corner of her eye, as did everyone else. They all knew who Hinata had been worried about, especially after seeing for herself that Kasumi was safe and healthy.
"Well, I don't think Team 7 will be going on anymore C-ranks for a while." She murmured into the peaceful quiet.
"So back to D-ranks for you guys?" Choji looked sympathetic and she smiled reassuringly at him.
"Most likely. But it'll be a nice reprieve nonetheless." Kasumi looked up at the blue, blue sky and breathed out slowly. 'And yet... who knows how long this reprieve will last?'
She really needed to master the senbon quickly.
Encounter
"Sakura-san?" Startled, Kasumi blinked at the pink-haired girl she had met entirely by chance in the hospital. The other girl had almost bumped into her in fact, view obscured by the tall pile of medical files she held in her hands, but Kasumi had managed to swerve at the last second, avoiding a head-on collision. "You look... different."
It was an understatement. Sakura wore the highly distinctive medical robes that medical apprentices wore, her long, silky pink hair tied up into a practical ponytail, the near-perpetual love-sick look on her face that Kasumi had reluctantly grown used to in the Academy nowhere in sight, replaced by a clear, focused gaze and a look of surprised recognition.
"A-Ah. K-Kasumi?" Sakura stared back at her with wide green eyes.
Furrowing her brow minutely, Kasumi searched her memory for an answer to her confusion. The last time she had seen Sakura had been at the team placements, she realized. If she remembered correctly, the rosette had been placed in Team 3... but Team 3 hadn't passed, had it?
No, only Team 7 and Team 8 and Team 10.
So, following that train of thought, Sakura had most likely failed her sensei's exam, which should have sent her back to the Academy.
But, it was very clear that hadn't happened. So...
"The Medical Corps took an interest in you?" Kasumi asked softly, recalling the other girl's exceptional grades, memory, and chakra control. The only reason Kasumi had been number-one kunoichi had been because her taijutsu skills had been vastly higher than Sakura's.
"Ye-Yeah." Sakura smiled wryly, pushing a strand of pink hair behind her ear self-consciously. "They said that my chakra-control was good enough for me to be a medic and offered me the chance to be an apprentice."
Kasumi was silent for a long heartbeat, noting the way Sakura stood up straight, held her head up high, eyes steady and confident. "It looks like it's been treating you well, Sakura-san." She said with a sincere smile.
Apart from the regular surveillance that she had done for all of her classmates in those years, Kasumi had never particularly paid much attention to Sakura, attentive as she had been to the burden of the rosette's obsession with Sasuke. But that hadn't meant she had completely dismissed her. As Ino had once seen the strength hidden by insecurity, so Kasumi had seen the potential suppressed behind childish infatuation.
As a rule, Kasumi found fangirls annoying, if only because they lived their days by clinging to a boy that could leave them at any time, wasting their lives away. However, everyone made mistakes and if Sakura had managed to climb her way out of that wasteful pit, then Kasumi held no grudge against her.
Sakura's smile was genuinely pleased, green eyes lighting up happily. "Thanks." She halted to shift the folders about to slip out of her hand back into place and said slowly, "It's hard, you know. Medical work. But... I think I'm getting the hang of it."
"Where are you going?" Kasumi asked, gesturing towards the stack of folders.
"Oh. I have to file these," She explained. "These patients have left, but we keep track of everyone that's had a visit here, so..."
"Ah." Kasumi deliberated for a second and then said, "Would you happen to know a few books on pressure points?"
Simply because Sakura had been mostly useless in the Academy didn't mean she would be helpless and incompetent forever. And having an acquaintance in the hospital and was a skilled medic to boot wouldn't hurt. It helped that, aside from her rivalry with Ino and obsession with Sasuke, from what Kasumi had seen, Sakura wasn't a lousy friend.
Sakura gave her a curious look. "Sure. What for?"
"Training." Her smile had a sheepish edge, as if at a little inside joke. "I'm a bit of a workaholic."
The rosette laughed cheerfully, as Kasumi had intended. "Well, you always used to read those books back in the Academy..."
"Sakura-san!" She jibbed lightly. "You, of all people, should know just how essential books are." After all, Sakura had been nearly just as much of a bookworm as Kasumi was.
Sakura grinned, shaking her head. "Of course I do. Come on, I'll show you some medical books."
"Thank you." Kasumi replied courteously. "What stage are you in training?"
"Well, my sensei's recently gotten me started on tissue repairing and..."
Tension
"Kasumi-chan!" Said girl glanced to her left, pushing off from the railing, to see a familiar orange-clad blonde making his way to the bridge.
"Naruto-san." She smiled warmly. "How did you sleep?"
"Really good! I dreamt of ramen!" Naruto grinned sunnily, cerulean blue eyes sparkling.
"Really well." Kasumi corrected gently. "You haven't been eating only ramen recently, have you?"
"Umm... err..." He scratched the back of his neck, not meeting her eyes.
She sighed deeply, conveying her disappointment with ease, though she said nothing. She had been after the blonde to eat healthy for a week now - how in the world had he survived on ramen for so long and not had a malnutrition problem, no matter his status as a jinchuriki? - and he knew it.
Naruto squirmed guiltily. "I'm sorry, Kasumi-chan."
"Hn." Sasuke, leaning on the rail with his elbows on the opposite side of her, finally designed to speak up. Condescendingly. "Dobe."
Naruto flared up. "What was that, teme?!"
"You heard what I said." Sasuke said flatly.
Kasumi discretely narrowed her eyes as she watched her two teammates fight with each other. It couldn't even be called friendly bickering anymore. Ever since they had returned since the Waves mission, the tension between the two had skyrocketed, and their teamwork had suffered as a result. This couldn't be allowed to go on.
Frowning mildly, she considered several different ways to address this problem and without a drop of guilt - there was a limit to the foolishness she expected herself to endure without complaint - decided on a win-win situation. In her opinion, at least.
"Boys." She interrupted smoothly and scowling, they turned to look at her. Utterly unaffected by their annoyance, she raised a light eyebrow. "I have a new training idea."
Of course, that got their attention. Kasumi sniffed inwardly as she made her way to the training grounds, her teammates following behind her sullenly and, no doubt, glaring at each other behind her back. Boys.
Slipping a hand into her weapons pouch, she deftly grabbed several senbon and spun around, raising her hand to show it to her teammates. They blinked at her, momentarily distracted from their glaring contest.
"... Kasumi-chan?" Naruto's frown was worried, his eyes glued to the deadly weapon in her hand that, as of yet, she had little practice in using.
"I've decided," She declared calmly, "that I will be using senbon from now."
"Oh." Bewilderment melted into understanding and Naruto grinned at her, bright and open. "That's awesome, Kasumi-chan!"
The look Sasuke gave her was assessing, but he nodded subtly and she knew that, if he didn't outright approve, than he, at least, understood her decision.
Kasumi's returning smile was soft and sweet and just a little devious. "The thing is..." She drawled nonchalantly, "I have had very limited experience with using senbon as weapons."
Sasuke tensed abruptly, obsidian eyes dropping to bore into the innocent-looking senbon held between her fingers. Naruto cocked his head to the side, evidently not getting it yet.
"Seeing as all of our reaction times could use some work," She continued pleasantly, "I'm sure Naruto-san and Sasuke-san won't mind helping me refine my technique."
The color drained out of Naruto's face, horror stealing over his face as he finally understood what she was saying. His mouth opened, closed, opened again. "K-Kasumi-chan, I-I don-don't think th-this is n-necessary -"
Her smile was beatific. "Wonderful." Flicking her wrist casually, she threw three senbon with frightening speed and force at the boys, who blanched, darting away rapidly.
"Kasumi-chan!"
"Damn it, Kasumi!"
Her laugh was warm, sweet in the crisp morning air, the clouds above white and fluffy, the wind, ever so playful, blowing through her cream hair.
Prior
By the time Kakashi arrived at their bridge, a whole three and a half hours later instead of his normal three hours in a mandatory change of pace - in his humble opinion - he was greeted with a half-hearted, "Kakashi-sensei, you're late!", a lackluster glare, and a serene, "Good morning, Kakashi-sensei."
Blinking owlishly at his cute little students with his one eye, he found it prudent to ask, "What happened to you two? You look like crap."
The two in question, Sasuke and Naruto, did their best to kill him via glaring, but couldn't seem to muster enough energy to do so, much to his amusement. Lips quirking beneath his mask, Kakashi did a thorough lookover of his male students.
For one, both of them looked quite ragged, if he was honest. There were small holes in their clothing, particularly Naruto's jumpsuit. For two, they seemed wholly exhausted; shoulders slumped and all but collapsed over the fence of the bridge.
Then, there were the faint scratches on their face and arms and legs and...
"Kasumi-chan." His female, ultimately flawless, student looked up at him and smiled innocently, not a hair on her head out of place. Kakashi eye-smiled back, chirping, "Let's try not to kill the boys, alright? It'd be inconvenient to have to find replacements at this time of year."
She blinked, brown eyes angelic and chaste. "Kakashi-sensei!" Kasumi protested. "I'll have you know that I practiced on wooden dummies beforehand and managed to avoid all of the vital spots."
Sasuke's eye twitched and Naruto collapsed on the ground in a boneless heap, mumbling under his breath.
Kakashi sweatdropped and speedily whipped out his orange book. "Okay! To the Hokage's Tower, minions! The D-ranks await!"
Naruto's aghast cry of "KAKASHI-SENSEI!" scared all of the crows out of the trees.
Next time:
"You never did tell us about your bloodline," Sasuke reminded her, chin rested on his fist.
Me: Alright! The reviews!
Guest: Oh, thank you! XD
1XxKiraXx1: I'm so happy you think so! Sasuke and Kasumi are adorable. And, well, Kasumi-chan might want to use senbon, but it looks like it'll take her a while to get the hang of it... thanks for the review!
ShikiUploadz: :o. All weapons prohibited! Ah, and violence. As for Sakura... *shrugs* she seems to have changed slightly? Thanks for the review!
Rosy Fire: Err... no? Lolz, sorry to disappoint ya! But Kasumi did meet Sakura. And it was actually pretty peaceful. *peace sign* Thanks for the review, hun!
starrat: Here's the update! ^_^
lostfeather1: I think you may be right! That'll really be best case scenario, seeing as, like Sasuke, Kasumi's already lost the family she once had. Hmm... almost time for the Chunin Exams! But not yet. Some loose ends must be tied up first! Thanks for the review, dear!
Arcana The Wolf: Lolz, you got that right! Umm... did the meeting with Kasumi and Sakura fit your imagination? They were pretty civil, all things concerned. :D. Thanks for the review!
wookiee. cookie: Aww, thank you! I'm delighted that you enjoyed it! Hope you liked this chapter, too!
Nikita: Hmm... that was an awesome scene to write. I might slip some more in the future, though, for now, Kasumi's gonna be preoccupied with the Chunin Exams. After everything that's happened, I think Kasumi did need to find her center again. Lolz, Kakashi's a mother-hen in his own way - just like Naruto and Sasuke - so he was being a little hypocritical towards them. Not that he cares. Thanks for the lovely review, hun!
rinievermilion: Well... cliches are fun? Lolz, I don't think Sasuke's the type for direct romance anyways. Sakura... I don't think she even knows Sasuke sorta, maybe likes Kasumi. Wonder what'll happen when she finds out? Thanks for the review!
MylaUchiha: Next time, I promise~
Suki: Lolz, I'll try and incorporate them, though the Chunin Exams are coming up and being a bother, really. Thanks for the review, hun!
BurnedSpy: Here ya go!
TheQueenofGoodbyes: Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Serenity10116: Lolz, here's your update, dear! I hope you like it. XD
michi-nin: Aww, thank you! Yeah... Sasuke and Naruto are kinda taking the brunt of her training with senbon. Senbon in the Chunin Exams? Probably. Soon all the Rookie Nine will be together again! Thanks for your review, sweetie!
ArcticIllustrator: I'm glad to hear you think so! I hope you liked this chapter!
Marie: Lolz, you're very welcome, dear.
Anime hotty lover. 18: Alright, don't panic, here's your update!
Me: Kyaa! So many reviews! Thank you all! Ah, and thanks to my wonderful, glorious beta. She's awesome. Oh, review and take a look at my blog, please!
Question: What song comes to mind when you think of this story?