Chapter 70
My heart was beating painfully fast, I stared petrified with fear at this silhouette, and whatever he was holding above his head.
"Setsuki!" The figure whispered in a raspy voice, I whimpered in response. "Setsuki I have something for you!" It stepped closer, I thought it was a ghost. Suddenly a flash of lightning lit up the figure for a brief second, it had a human face, the eyes were covered by the hood, and the teeth shined so brightly in a huge terrifying grin. A loud thunder clap sounded almost instantly after the lightning.
I screamed at the top of my lungs. My body was paralyzed in fear, and would not move.
"Setsuki!" the figure shouted in a more deeper and masculine tone than before. I was still screaming. The figure rushed to me, I froze even more, my whole life flashed before my eyes, I felt like crying.
The figure put its hand over my mouth, and my screaming became muffled. With its other hand, the one that was holding something, it removed the hood from its head, and another flash of lightning out up the room. My imagination went ballistic, imagining so many terrifying things, but as I so bravely looked at its head in the brief light, I felt like bursting into tears in relief. It was only Gai-sensei. My whole body was trembling.
"Setsuki, it is o-" he was cut off by a loud clap of thunder, which, again, caused me to scream. Gai-sensei quickly hauled me into a tight embrace. I felt safe in his grip.
I cried into his chest. I whined his name over and over.
"Setsuki, what ever is the matter?!"
"I'm so scared!" I cried.
Gai-sensei managed to calm me down, and sat me back on the couch. He lifted up what was in his hand, it looked ripped and utterly destroyed, whatever it was.
"I got your shoe back!" He said. I could've cried again. All this drama over a shoe.. Wait.. Those Inuzukas wrecked my shoe!
"T-Thanks Gai-sensei.." I whimpered.
"What on Earth is going on out here?!" Takashi's voice echoed as he entered the living room.
"Ah! Good morning Takashi-san!" Gai-sensei grinned, holding a thumbs up to his face.
"What the hell are you doing here at this hour?!"
Gai-sensei explained that he had 'hunted the hunters', hunters meaning Akamaru and Shiro, and it started to get stormy so he put on a huge coat so he wouldn't get sick. I cringed at that part, because I know he never allows Lee to carry an umbrella in the rain, or wear a coat, because it would mean he is weak. I glared at the coat he was wearing. He explained to me that the only exception to wearing coats (but strictly no umbrellas) was if there was a huge storm like this one. I have to remember those words next time.
The next morning after waking up a little later than usual, since I didn't get much sleep from the thunder, I attempted to steal Takashi's toast, but I saw Gai-sensei in the kitchen, cooking. I got worried.
"Gai..sensei? What are you doing?"
"Aha! Good morning Setsuki! About time you woke up! The sun is already shining brightly outside! You slept in way past sunrise, therefore! Your punishment will be 600 laps around the village!" he roared.
I whined at first, complaining about the whole having a punishment thing, but then I thought, 600 laps isnt that bad!
"... On your hands!"
My jaw dropped. "WHAT?!"
"There will be no breakfast for you until you've done it!"
"But-"
"Now get going, start burning those youthful biceps! You need to feel alive with the burning passion of youth sweating from your body, the overpowering adrenaline-"
"BUT GAI-SENSEI!" I screamed over him. He grimaced at my interruption of this speech he has probably rehearsed thousands of times. I caught a scent of his cooking and felt nauseous. I think I would rather do the punishment than eat whatever that is he's cooking..
"What is it?!" he questioned at my hesitance.
"N-Nothing, I'll go run those 600 laps!"
"Good girl!"
I was very lucky too, the entire village was still wet from the heavy rain last night, so not only did it give me a speedy advantage, I also saved a lot of energy!
I completed the laps in an hour and a half, and by then I was indeed starving. When I returned home, Gai-sensei was already gone and Takashi wasn't home either. There was no food in the cupboards, so I'm assuming Takashi was off to buy more.
After becoming severely bored of waiting for Takashi, I left the house in search of someone with food, since I had no money. The first person that came to my mind was indeed Choji.
I found him walking with Shikamaru.
"Choji-kun!"
"Huh? Oh hi Setsuki!"
Shikamaru hissed at the loud voices. "Quieten down! It's too early to be yelling!"
"Sorry Shikamaru." Choji apologized.
"Sorry.." I faced Choji again. "Choji-kun, can I have some chips?" I asked, eying off the chip packet in his hands.
Choji hesitated and stared down into the packet. "There is only one left.." he stated.
"I'll have it!" I grinned.
"Ohhh no you don't!" Choji growled defensively.
"Choji doesn't let anyone have the last chip.. Or really, the last bite of anything.. It's too troublesome."
"But.. I'm starving.." I whined. Shikamaru let out a loud sigh.
"We were on our way to the BBQ joint, you can tag along if you want.." He offered. I grinned, and held myself back from hugging him, because I know he doesn't like it.
"SETSUKI-CHAN!" Lee came out of no where, landing right beside me. "Gai-sensei said you were training! I wanted to join you!" he cheered.
"Training? Oh no, I wasn't training, I was... Yeah I was training, but I've finished now. I'm going to get breakfast with Shika-kun and Choji-kun! You should come along too, Lee-san! Shika-kun is paying!" I exclaimed. Shikamaru opened his mouth to retort, but Lee became excited about it and turned to Shikamaru.
"Thank you very much, Shikamaru-kun!" Lee cheered with a bow.
Shikamaru drew out a long groan, and muttered under his breath. "How troublesome.."
After our breakfast I felt just as sick as Lee did, we had an eating competition and Choji won, eating double the amount of Lee and I combined. I don't know how he did it. I'm pretty sure Lee and I were tied.
We thanked Shikamaru for paying for it all, then we set out in search of something to do.
"Setsuki-chan.."
"Yes Lee-san?"
"What happened to your shoe?"
I looked down at my feet and realized I've had one shoe on all this time. I sweatdropped. "Uh... Well it's a long story-"
"I know what you did!" Lee shouted, pointing his finger at me like I'd committed some sort of serious crime. I panicked. "You forgot to put it on! You are losing your mind, Setsuki-chan! We must help you regain your senses!" There was a distinct flame in his eyes.
"... No Lee-san, I'm not losing my mind-"
"Yeah, how can you lose something you never had?" Said a familiar Inuzuka's voice. Kiba.
"That is not a nice thing to say!" Lee exclaimed, now pointing his finger at Kiba.
"Bite me." Kiba scoffed. Suddenly, Lee slid behind Kiba and bit his ear. Kiba yelped and I was very surprised. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"
"You told me to-"
"You don't actually bite them you idiot! It's a figure of speech!"
I was holding back a laugh, and Lee noticed so his feeling of guilt disappeared. "Lee-san, it was Kiba and.. Uh.. That other girl who took my shoe last night! They destroyed it!" I exclaimed, again, forgetting that girl's name.
Lee looked astounded. "How could you do such a thing?! Especially to Setsuki-chan!"
"Hey, she just fell for our little prank, and Shiro liked her shoe so we took it." Kiba calmly explained.
"That is still not nice, to take something that does not belong to you!" Lee shouted. I kept nodding in agreement at everything Lee said, I was really admiring him right now, him standing up for me like this.. I really appreciated it.
Kiba merely rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah. Get out of the way now, I'm trying to give Akamaru a walk!"
"No!" Lee tapped his foot on the ground. "You can walk around us! We were here first!"
"What did you just say? Move before I bite you!"
I looked at Lee, we made eye contact, and we were both thinking the exact same thing.
"Dynami-"
"Leaf hurricane!" Lee cut me off and his foot smacked into my stomach as I was doing the dynamic entry kick. I went flying backwards with a grunt. As soon as he acknowledged his mistake, his eyes went wide with horror. I shut my eyes waiting for the impact when someone caught me, unexpectedly... No okay, they didn't catch me, I collided into them and landed on them.
I looked up quickly at the person, Daisuke. He didn't seem too upset about me crashing into him, he looked rather happy about it!
"My angel fell from heaven! She landed on me! Its a sign!" he cheered dreamily.
"Daisuke-kun?" I stood up slowly.
"Setsuki-chan!" Lee came running over to inspect the damage. Daisuke snapped out of his little daze and jumped to his feet, and brushed the dirt off himself.
"Oh god, there's four green freaks now.. What is with the gross fashion spreading?!" Kiba gushed.
"Hey!" Daisuke growled in a deep scary voice. He pointed at Kiba intimidatingly. "These are made of a very, VERY comfortable spandex, AND if you insult it ONE MORE TIME I will PUNCH YOU!"
Kiba didn't seem too threatened, instead he seemed even more confident. "Oh yeah? Well.. I think it's ugly.. And besides your handle is very much revealed.." he said with a snicker. Daisuke got an anime vein, but then looked down and his eyes widened in horror.
Lee and I looked too, Lee almost chuckled and I was very confused.
"D..Daisuke-kun.. Why do you have a scroll in your-"
"NO! IT'S NOT A SCROLL!" He quickly covered his crotch with both hands.
"What happened eh? Am I that attractive?" Kiba snickered. Akamaru barked in amusement.
I don't know why but I kind of felt like I should leave them to discuss whatever it is they're discussing.
"You wish you were!" Daisuke growled with a sense of high ego.
"Hey, I wouldn't talk dude, I have a girlfriend, and you don't!" Kiba scoffed.
"I'm working on it! ... Wait what?!" Daisuke questioned.
Kiba's eyes widened at what he just said, and he became flustered. "W-well I.."
"Pffft! You don't have a girlfriend, you're not cool enough!" Daisuke shouted.
"Cool?! You call those outfits cool?!"
"Yes! All three of us are way cooler than you, mutt!" Daisuke grinned. Kiba growled.
I thought I should say something, but I didn't think twice before speaking. "Kiba stole my shoe and destroyed it."
Daisuke immediately checked my feet. He then looked back at Kiba. "How dare you!" Daisuke immediately tackled Kiba to the ground. Kiba grunted and scratched at Daisuke. Akamaru went to bite Daisuke, and knowing how much his bites hurt, I had to stop him. But gently, I didn't want to hurt him. Suddenly Lee leaf hurricaned Akamaru and sent the poor mutt flying.
"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted. I would go after Akamaru to catch him, I would definitely have the speed to in this wet environment, but I didn't feel like it, so I didn't. Akamaru crashed into a dumpster.
Daisuke and Kiba were having a little cat fight. Lee jumped on them both, throwing punches and kicks, I didn't know if he was teaming up with Daisuke or just doing his own thing.
I stood there blankly watching. Do I cheer? Do I go and get ice cream? Oh! That sounds great! I picked up Daisuke's wallet that fell on the ground when I collided into him. "Daisuke-kun!?"
"Ye- OW YOU BASTARD! TAKE THIS! ... Yes, Setsuki-chwan?!"
"Can I use your money to buy some ice cream?"
"Of course you can my swee- OW! .. You can buy anything your heart desires my lo- OWW! BASTARD!"
"Aww! Thanks Daisuke-kun!" I ran off to get ice cream.
The ice cream shop was closed. I sadly returned to the fight. They were still going. I sighed.
Result: Lee and Daisuke bashed Kiba up, but they all had a black eye or two.
"You guys are so violent." I mentioned, walking over to them. Kiba was unconscious on the ground, the other two were sitting beside him, out of breath.
I said Daisuke's name to get his attention then I threw his wallet at him. "The ice cream shop was closed!" I complained.
"Oh.. Oh! Well never mind that, Setsuki! I can use this money to buy you new shoes!" Daisuke said. Lee grinned.
"Yes! That is indeed a fantastic idea Daisuke-kun!"
"You'd buy me new shoes? Really!?" I felt so happy. Takashi walked to us, carrying a few brown paper grocery paper bags.
"What are you lot up to today?" He asked, glaring at my bare foot.
"We're buying Setsuki-chan new shoes, Takashi-sama!" Both Lee and Daisuke chimed.
"... Alright."
"What's in the bags, uncle Takashi?" I asked.
"Food. You know, because your 'friend' burned all my ingredients and other food this morning when he was cooking."
"Gai-sensei?"
"Yes.. None of you, especially you, Setsuki, are to eat that man's cooking... It's inedible and will make you ill." Takashi stated.
"That's fine. I wouldn't even touch that glomp!" Daisuke said. Lee looked like he wanted to stand up and defend his sensei, but he already knew that Gai-sensei's food is inedible, so he stood there with an annoyed look.
"Well, off you go, stop standing around with naked feet, especially during this wet weather. I don't care if you can't feel it, but it doesn't mean you won't get sick, Setsuki." Takashi said. Suddenly Daisuke lifted me off my feet and grinned. My eyes went wide.
"I will protect her foot from the cold weather, Takashi-sama!" he declared, somewhat proudly.
"Do so quickly then!" Takashi grumbled, then started to walk away, Daisuke turned to walk and almost collided into Tekuno-sensei.
"Eep!" Daisuke squeaked, as he made himself quickly come to a halt.
"Woah, slow down guys." He said. Takashi half looked over his shoulder back at us.
"Teku-sensei, what're you doing here?" I asked.
"Eh, the Hokage has a mission for us." He said.
"Right now?!" Daisuke questioned.
"Yes.. is there a problem?"
"Well we were on our way to get Setsuki-chan new shoes!"
Without even looking at my feet, Tekuno-sensei shrugged his shoulders. "That can wait till after the mission, this mission is your squad's first A-rank mission."
"A-rank!? That sounds exciting!" I exclaimed. "Lets go!"
"Wait wait wait. I still haven't found Pineapple yet."
"Let me go in Pineapple-kun's place!" Lee shouted, not remembering who 'Pineapple' is. Tekuno-sensei looked at Lee, contemplating.
"Well.. I suppose it's up to the Hokage to decide that."
"Do you know anything about the mission?" Daisuke asked.
"Yeah, I got given some information, but not all of it.. now what was it?"
We all facepalmed. "You can't remember can you?" Daisuke grumbled.
"Oh oh! Wait, no, I remember!"
"Then tell us!"
"We are going to explore some ruins in search of traces of Orochimaru."
"O-Orochimaru!?"
"Yes, there was rumours that he was seen around this area, we need to gather as much information as we can."
"What kind of ruins?" Lee asked.
"An old village, got destroyed many years ago." Tekuno-sensei explained.
"An old village huh? Any idea of the name?" Daisuke asked. None of us realised that Takashi was still there, listening.
"Uhhm.. started with a K, I think."
Daisuke sighed. "Okay, well then, lets go!" Daisuke started to run, I clung to him so he wouldn't drop me, and Lee came running after us.
Takashi approached Tekuno-sensei before he turned to follow. "Just what is the name of this place, lad?"
"Huh? And, you are?" Tekuno-sensei asked.
"I am Setsuki's uncle.. you said this place was destroyed, how many years ago?"
"Uh, well, I'm not entirely sure to be honest. But probably like 8 or 9 years ago?"
Takashi tensed a little. "And started with a K, you said?"
"That's right. K-something Pass..?"
"K.. Kikyo Pass?"
"That's the one!"
Takashi's eyes widened.
"Thanks for reminding me, now I gotta get going, gotta catch up with those kid-"
"Wait!" Takashi lunged out and grabbed Tekuno-sensei's arm. He looked into Tekuno-sensei's eyes, sternly. "Do not let Setsuki go on this mission."
"Why not?"
"... Do not let her go on this mission." Takashi's eyes dropped. "I couldn't imagine how traumatised she would become at the sight..."
"Traumatised? Does she know of this place?"
"... I do not wish to speak of this. Bring Setsuki back to me, I will not allow her to go on this mission." Takashi looked back up, a more stern expression than before.
"Hey, I can't decide that. You can't either, you're not the Hokage."
Takashi clenched his fists.