Me: I do not own Naruto!
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The very second that the Hokage dismissed them, Kasumi headed for home. She was vaguely aware of Naruto mentioning something about going off to see Kakashi-sensei, but she really couldn't care less at this point.
She wanted to be safe.
If only just for the night, seeing as Orochimaru was probably still in Konoha and that man wasn't at all safe.
Approximately ten minutes later, she stood on her doorstep and turned the knob. A warm embrace enveloped her seconds later, and sighing, Kasumi willingly leaned into her brother's hug.
The past few days had been trying, to say the least.
"Come on." Hiroshi murmured and led her to the kitchen area. Plates of steaming food adorned the table, most of which were her favorites.
Kasumi hesitated. "I'm not very hungry." No matter that she hated to waste the food her brother had prepared, she felt like she would drop to the floor if she stayed standing for much longer.
He shook his head, gently pushing her into a seat. She went, feeling her muscles scream with relief. "You'll feel better in the morning once you get some food into your system. Eat, Kasumi."
She made a face, but obligingly took the bowl and chopsticks he handed her. The minutes passed in a blur, her movements growing mechanic. Delicious as the food was, her mind almost couldn't process it, dulled with exhaustion.
Towards the end, vision growing black around the edges, Kasumi felt herself waver and start to fall from her seat. Strong arms caught her and then lifted her up. "Sleep, little sister," Hiroshi commanded as he started up the stairs, and she obeyed.
Hobby
The Tournament would doubtlessly be intense, lethal, challenging. The opponents would all have their own specialties, talents, abilities. Held in the stadium, hundreds of people would be watching, judging, condemning. One mistake would have the crowd hollering for blood.
Shikamaru and Temari were both powerful opponents in their own right. Regardless of who won that fight, it was unlikely that she would be able to defeat her foe without sufficient preparation and training.
After being a close friend of the Nara's for years, Kasumi knew full well just how intelligent, tricky, and troublesome Shikamaru could be. To date, she still had a mere 10% chance of beating him in shogi when they played. His shadow jutsu were highly versatile and he definitely knew the advantages of paying attention to his surroundings.
Temari of the Desert was an experienced, skilled wind type that would know better than to underestimate Kasumi because she was a kunoichi. She was fast, she was strong, and her wind jutsu were frightening in their force. Wind would be useless against her, as would weapons, as Tenten had proved. She would be a troubling opponent.
By every reasonable right, Kasumi should be training her butt off, going over possible scenarios and strategies, seeking out teachers and mentors for help. Instead...
Sasuke stared at her flatly from his hospital bed. "Is that... a puzzle?"
Seated at a small, fold-up table nearby on a small, fold-up chair, Kasumi taped a finger on the table, eyes narrowed at the half-finished pair-of-swans-floating-on-top-of-a-blue-lake-with-pretty-background in front of her. "Mm-hm. 5,000 pieces, too."
"... Why are you completing a puzzle, Kasumi?" Sasuke sounded a mix between very, very exasperated and very, very confounded. It was a very interesting combination.
She shrugged fluidly. "Why not? I like puzzles."
"Are you even supposed to be here?"
"Visiting hours are between 10 am and 10 pm." Kasumi said easily. "I believe I am well within my rights to be in my teammate's room."
"You came in through the window." He pointed out dryly.
"I'm allowed to take a leaf from Kakashi-sensei's book." She said a little defensively. "Where do you think this goes?" Kasumi held up a small piece of whitish, blackish, grey.
Sasuke squinted at her for a moment, before apparently deciding to just go along with the crazy. Smart guy. "Let me see the cover?""
She held up the cover, a small thing with not nearly enough detail. It did look quite nice, though, which was why she had bought it on a whim.
"Probably near the edge of the pond on the left."
"Thanks. How long are you going to be staying here?"
Sasuke looked disgruntled to her trained Uchiha-sensitive eyes. "The nurses said three days... at the least."
"And then...?"
"... Kakashi said he would take me training."
At that, Kasumi paused for a second, eyes flickering up. Sasuke wasn't looking at her, onyx eyes staring blankly at the wall and fingers plucking almost nervously at his blankets. As far as she remembered, he had never avoided her gaze before.
Kasumi leaned back with a sigh, mind whirling. So, Kakashi was leaving with Sasuke. That... that was... not entirely unexpected. She had known that Sasuke would most likely be dragged, if not out of the village, somewhere on the outskirts so as to lessen the danger of the mark.
Speaking of...
"Did you find out what that mark was?" She asked softly.
Sasuke snapped his head back to look at her, hand coming up almost automatically to clutch at his neck. "... Yeah. Kakashi said it was it was a 'Curse Seal'."
Kasumi frowned, trying to recall the art of fuinjutsu. A seal... yes, that would fit. But... "He sealed it away, right?"
"Yeah." He scowled, a storm brewing behind dark, dark eyes. "But he said something about the effectiveness of the seal being dependent of my own willpower or something."
Ah. She hastily suppressed a wince. That... might just be a problem later on, because...
"Revenge... do you know what they say about revenge, imouto?"
"Onii-sama? What's wrong? What's wrong?!"
"They say... before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."
Kasumi swallowed hard. "If Kakashi-sensei is training you, then what about Naruto-san?"
A flicker of unease crossed Sasuke's face. "I think he set him up with a private tutor."
Her sigh this time was deeper, wearier. "I see." And she did see. Despite herself.
Precisely because of who Naruto was, it was easy for Kakashi-sensei to hand him off to someone else, even reluctantly.
Uzumaki Naruto... the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi, Strongest of the Tailed Beasts. Heart of pure gold, grin of sunshine, morals of pure titanium. Naruto wouldn't ever bend in what he believed was right, he was already firmly set in his path, there weren't any problems with potential straying.
Naruto would survive, Kakashi-sensei or not.
Precisely because of who Sasuke was, it was too easy for Kakashi-sensei to focus solely on him, even unknowingly.
Uchiha Sasuke... the Uchiha Heir, user of the infamous red Sharingan. Heart tormented by hate, cynical smirk, temptations lined up like dominoes. Sasuke had the potential for darkness, he had the motive for a fall from grace, there were far too many problems with potential straying.
Sasuke might not be fine without intervention.
And as for her...
"Are you mad?" He questioned softly into the silence. "That Kakashi ditched you?"
Precisely because of who Kasumi was, it was pathetically easy for Kakashi-sensei to simply dismiss her, even contritely.
Fumei Kasumi... survivor of the Bloodline Purge, gifted with the Tentaiora. Heart soft with kindness, smile filled with patience, mind of sharpened steel. Kasumi had tangled with evil in the past, she had come of it with herself intact, there were little problems with potential straying.
Kasumi would be just fine without any help.
She breathed in, exhaled slowly. Sometimes, self-evaluation was a bit more painful than it should be. "No, it's fine." She assured her teammate with a faint smile. "I was planning on asking Onii-san for help anyways."
Sasuke twitched, glimmer of anxiety covered well away. "Hn."
Kasumi giggled, turning to look over her puzzle. "Well, if you're going to be staying here for the next three days, you can help me complete my puzzle."
And just like that, the strain of tension in the air was gone. The look he shot her was impressively deadpan. "And here I thought you were the sane one in our team."
"There is no one sane in our team, Sasuke-san." She said smoothly, shifting her table closer to his bed. "Do stop being delusional."
"I seem to recall you were much more polite before, too."
"Alas, I appear to have gotten used to you and Naruto-san." She held up a piece that was an odd mix of pink, red, and brown. "Ideas?"
Sasuke glared halfheartedly at her. "... Top right."
Kasumi smiled sweetly and pressed the piece into place.
Much, much later, they were nearly done with the puzzle when the door opened, and Kakashi swung in, orange book in hand and an excuse at the tip of his tongue. As it turned out, the latter wasn't immediately necessary, although he was at least two hours late.
He blinked one eye at the cozy scene that greeted at him: Kasumi sat on the foot of Sasuke's bed, legs dangling back and forth casually. Both of them were partially bent over the table pushed right up to the edge of the bed, murmuring to each other in quiet tones about the dozen pieces still littering its smooth surface.
Kasumi glanced up, barely a blink of surprise touching her face before an innocent smile lit up her eyes. "Hello, Kakashi-sensei."
"Hello, Kasumi-chan. I wasn't expecting to see you here." He said with an eye-smile, recovering quickly.
"You're late." Sasuke said bluntly, straightening up.
Ah, there it was. "Well, you see, I ran into an old woman who needed help with her groceries..."
Sasuke snorted in disgust while Kasumi smiled indulgently. Somehow, Kakashi thought that that should have been his default expression, but since when had his team been normal?
Since when had his Team been allowed to be normal? Kakashi's grip on his precious book tightened despite himself, and he began to think of ways in which to get his female student out of the room without rousing too much suspicion. Some information was confidential for a reason.
Not even half a beat later, Kasumi slipped gracefully to the ground and tugged out a sealing scroll. With a touch of chakra, she sealed the table and the almost finished puzzle, as well as the chair left abandoned halfway across the room, into the scroll neatly.
"It's almost sunset," She said nonchalantly, heading for the window, "so I'll be leaving now. Good night, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-san."
It was at times like these that Kakashi was, somewhat uncomfortably, reminded how perceptive Kasumi could be. He also wondered how much her reawakened bloodline had enhanced her already honed observation and intuition.
"Of course, Kasumi-chan!" He chirped, eye-smiling brightly. "Good night!"
Sasuke sighed gravely. "You're going to leave me with him, Kasumi?"
"Maa, I resent that, Sasuke!"
Kasumi laughed, hand on the window sill. "I'm sure you'll be fine, Sasuke-san. Kakashi-sensei, don't keep him up for too long, will you?"
"Certainly!"
"I'm not a goddamn five year old!"
"Now, Sasuke, language."
Sasuke did his best to kill his sensei through the Uchiha Death Glare alone. Sadly, it didn't work.
Shogi
The next day saw Sasuke blinking at a shogi board. After staring at it for a good minute, he glanced up to quirk an eyebrow at the kunoichi sitting - again - on the edge of the foot of his bed, looking as innocent as could be. He had realized That Look was fake five days after officially becoming a member of Team 7.
So had the dobe. It had been a painful realization, as they had been dangling from a tree branch, trussed up like a turkey, and rather nauseous as they had been hanging there for two hours. The actions that had led up that particular reprisal had thus become known as The-Wet-Book-Incident-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named.
"Are you just going to make me play games until I leave the hospital?" He asked incredulously.
She shrugged. "Sure."
"You came in through the window again." Sasuke said suspiciously.
Kasumi blinked, "Is there a problem with that?"
"... You know about the shinobi guarding my door, don't you?" He sweatdropped.
Her smile was dazzling. "No, I didn't know... before now. I just had a feeling I should come in through the window. But now that you've so graciously informed me..."
Sasuke groaned. "Shut up. I'm surprised they haven't come in and kicked you out."
"One of them is probably a Hyuga. He'll recognize me as your teammate."
"And you know that because...?"
"A feeling."
"That's going to get annoying really soon." He noted glumly.
"Probably." She agreed. "Ready to lose?"
Sasuke's shoulders slumped briefly before his competitive nature reared its head. A cool smirk tilted his lips, onyx eyes flashing. "Bring it on."
As it turned out, Kasumi remained the better strategist despite the many, many hours she'd spent hammering in planning skills into her boys' skulls. Still, Sasuke put up a good fight. They were at 8 to 5, in Kasumi's favor, when Kakashi arrived to kick her out.
Granted, not in such unpleasant words or manners. No, no, that wouldn't do at all.
Majan
The third day of Sasuke's forced bed rest, Kasumi idly dropped in with a set of majan tiles.
Sasuke wasn't even surprised or confused or disturbed or startled anymore.
Merely exasperated.
He sighed and said, "You do remember you advanced to the Finals, too, right?"
"How could I forget?" Kasumi asked archly, setting up her table and chair.
"If you remember, why are you here with me and not training?" Sasuke demanded, not harshly. For his standards anyways.
"You are my teammate." She said mildly. "And since Naruto-san is off training and Kakashi-sensei is off doing things I'd rather not know, I thought it was my duty to come and keep you company."
"I don't need company." Sasuke snapped, sounding annoyed.
"Of course not." Kasumi soothed calmly, sitting on his bed. "Now, you do know the rules for majan, right?"
Sasuke sighed and resigned himself to playing the game. Sometimes, there was just no use in arguing with Kasumi. A good eight hours later, Kakashi strolled in, not even the slightest surprised to see his female student in the room.
"Kasumi, Sasuke. I see you two are having great fun." He said, nose in his orange book.
Sasuke shot him a glare, frowning at the board. While Kasumi wasn't quite as skilled at majan as she was at shogi, he was still losing, 7 to 4. "No thanks to you."
"Maa, maa, so mean to your sensei, Sasuke! I suppose this means you don't want to learn that super cool jutsu I was planning on teaching you...?"
Sasuke perked up subtly. "What jutsu?"
"Should I leave now?" Kasumi questioned.
Kakashi waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Not at all. Feel free to stay and keep Sasuke from his usual grumpy self."
"I do think that you're overestimating my influence, Kakashi-sensei." She said, an amused smile curving her lips.
"Oi, I'm still here, you know." Sasuke pointed out flatly.
"Oh, we know." Kakashi assured him, leaning against the wall. "Kasumi-chan, your brother told me he was going to train you...?"
"He will." She replied. "Don't worry about me, Kakashi-sensei."
"In that case, Sasuke, I expect to see you at our agreed location tomorrow at noon."
"Hn."
"... I feel like I shouldn't be leaving Sasuke-san in your sole hands for a month..." Kasumi pondered absently.
"You're right." Sasuke deadpanned. "Kakashi, tell her where we're meeting."
"Maa... I think I should be insulted by your lack of faith in me." Kakashi paused for a moment, before adding cheerfully, "But I'm not."
"... We're going to be meeting by a cliff at the far northwest of Konoha." Sasuke told Kasumi directly. "Don't you dare leave me with him."
"Okay, I'm insulted now." Kakashi claimed with an eye-smile, still staring straight at his orange book.
"You'll live." Sasuke smirked.
Kasumi shook her head and laughed. "Alright, I guess I can come and visit after a week or so."
"You'd better."
Bloodline
"Onii-san." Kasumi said the next morning, folding her hands together at the breakfast table. "I think it's time you explain our bloodline to me better."
Hiroshi briefly looked surprised before he sighed in resignation and turned off the stove. The barely-cooked bacon was left to sit in the pan while Hiroshi took the seat across from Kasumi, brown eyes serious. "Yeah. I think so, too."
She waited patiently. The secrets of the Fumei Clan were great and varied, most of them connected to the Tentaiora. Kasumi herself knew few of them, but then, she had been a child when practically everything had imploded.
"The Tentaiora..." Hiroshi started slowly, "... is a type of chakra. I take it that you've noticed already?"
"Hai. It's not like normal chakra though."
"No." He shook his head, frowning slightly. "It's... a form of natural energy."
Kasumi blinked. "I've never heard of that before." Which... for her, was somewhat rare. "What is it?"
"It's not surprising that you've never come across it. Natural energy isn't something that most people know about." He told her. "It's defined as energy that can be collected from the atmosphere and terrain."
"Can normal shinobi use it?"
"No. Only special people can; they are known as sages. Senjutsu is what they use: the using and sensing of natural energy. They draw and mix their natural energy with their chakra to form senjutsu chakra. But that isn't what we do."
"Then what do we do?" She asked.
"The Tentaiora is natural energy, but it's a special kind in that it isn't primarily composed of this world's natural energy." Hiroshi said grimly.
Kasumi's eyes widened, gasping sharply in understanding. "You mean..." This was beyond what most people knew of reality.
"Are you familiar with the multiverse theory?" He asked, in an apparent non sequitur.
"Of course." She said automatically. "In its most basic aspect, it dictates that numberless universes exist, and the one that we inhabit is simply one among many."
Hiroshi nodded. "Yes. The Tentaiora is, to keep things simple, the unified, densely compressed natural energy of countless universes' natural energy. Okaa-san was fond of calling it dimension energy."
Kasumi was speechless for a long stretch of time, mouth hanging open slightly as her mind tried to comprehend that. Damn... how - what - where - "How..."
"We don't know." He said, shrugging carelessly. "There aren't any records on where our bloodline came from."
She shook her head, tugging at a strand of her hair. Kami-sama. She had never thought, expected this... there was potential. So much potential, she could almost see why Kiri had decided to off them. But...
"How are we not insane?" Kasumi whispered, hand coming to rest above her heart, where a ball of amber chakra hummed. Such power... was not one that mortals should wield.
Hiroshi's brow furrowed. "A lot of it is subconscious, Kasumi-chan. A trace amount of your Tentaiora is always being mixed with your chakra, so heavily diluted it's not dangerous. That's why you can sense danger no matter what."
"However, when you do draw on it directly... well, it isn't going to be pretty. There's a reason we warned you not to go too far. Small amounts are really all we're ever going to use safely." He smiled wryly.
Kasumi sighed, leaned back in her seat. Natural chakra... dimensional chakra. Yes, that was certainly dangerous stuff; she didn't have any plans to overstretch herself anytime soon. And yet...
"How does it work?" She asked, quietly frustrated. "This chakra that we have... why does it do what it does?" How did that contribute to that little voice in her head that told her when danger was coming, that a storm was on the horizon; how?!
Complex, almost uncomprehending questions, but her brother understood what she meant.
Hiroshi grinned, reaching out a hand to mess up her hair. "So analytical, imouto. I think that's enough explanations for today, alright? We'll talk about this more later."
Kasumi frowned, hesitated, but let the matter go. She trusted her brother's judgement, and this... this wasn't something she should mess with, no matter her curiosity. She had grown up hearing horror tales of those that hadn't heeded the warnings, after all.
"Okay. But you will tell me more later?" Her smile was quiet but insistent.
He chucked indulgently. "Of course! Later. Now, why don't you finish breakfast and practice your water jutsu? I'll watch over you!"
Kasumi sighed and took a bite of her omelet. Ah, this would be a long month.