Melody of the Fox
Disclaimer: Don't own Gohan.
Chapter 4
Ten minutes and one beat down later, the genin made a quick retreat out of the Academy.
"Ow...who knew kids that small could hit that hard?" Gohan asked, rubbing at a bruise on his cheek. Thankfully, he'd managed to protect his more sensitive areas from the irate kindergarteners. Tayuya snorted.
"Serves you right for being late, bastard." He grunted in response. They walked along in silence, a fact which didn't go unnoticed by the redhead. Unable to suppress her curiosity, she glanced up at Gohan. Amazingly enough, all of his bruises and cuts had already healed from his earlier beat down.'Holy shit, no wonder he survived after facing Orochimaru!'Her eyes traveled from his injuries to his deep, cerulean eyes. While he was certainly aware of what was going on around him, his mind was quite obviously somewhere else. She could see the faraway look in his eyes, and couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about.
Gohan on the other hand was deep in thought, completely oblivious to the curious stare of the ill-tempered girl. His hands tightened around the handles of the wheelchair as he thought of his fight with Sasuke. He hadn't had much time to think about it, only briefly reflecting on his feelings before falling asleep or while training. However, Sasuke's words constantly reverberated in his head. 'You are my closest friend, Gohan...and that is why I must kill you.'It just didn't make any sense! Why would he want to kill his closest friend? His blank gaze hardened slightly as he thought about his training. While he would try his hardest to become strong, it was hard to deny the cold hard fact that he would never be able to match Sasuke if they met again. The bastard was getting training from one the Legendary Sannin, after all. For the first time since he became a genin, Gohan felt weak.
Tayuya was getting a kick out of the emotions playing over his face. First, he looked angry, then sad, then confused, then angry again before his face finally settled on depressed. She sighed and rolled her eyes in disgust. The idiot was probably thinking about Sasuke again. An odd feeling of jealousy resounded in her heart. If there was one thing she hated in life, it was being overlooked. Orochimaru had done it plenty of times with issues regarding the Sound Five, especially when it came to Kimimarou. After he'd arrived, her leader couldn't stop talking about how great his bloodline limit was, or how easily he would crush Konoha when the time came. Hell, if the bastard hadn't fallen ill before Orochimaru could transfer into his body, she doubted the snake would have given her any decent training at all. She'd be damned if Gohan overlooked her in favor of the faggot Uchiha.
"Oi, shithead! Wake up!" A few of the older villagers stared in shock at the girl's random outburst, appalled that the new generation of ninja had such filthy mouths. Much to her chagrin, the boy made no movement to show that he'd heard her. She scowled in annoyance. How dare he ignore her? Using all of her strength, she launched an elbow straight into his unsuspecting gut.
"Ouch! What the hell, Tayuya?!" He yelled, rubbing at his stomach. She noticed with some satisfaction that the pain didn't seem to disappear as quickly as it did when their temporary students beat him up.
"If you'd stop dreaming about your gay lover, maybe I wouldn't have to elbow the shit out of you!"
"I-I'm not gay!" Gohan yelled, eyebrows furrowing in anger. Just the thought of being with Sasuke sent a disgusted shudder through his body. Tayuya was more than amused at the reaction she got from him. She made a mental note to insult his sexuality more often.
"Hey, you don't have to prove it to me. What you and the faggot Uchiha did before he turned traitor is your own damn business. Where the hell are we going, anyway?" She asked, cutting him off before he could come up with a retort. A strange smile appeared on his face, almost as if he was never thinking about the Uchiha or her insults to his manhood.
"The best place in all of Konohagakure!" He exclaimed, pumping an energetic fist into the air. The corners of her mouth involuntarily twitched upwards at his upbeat expression. Though she'd never admit it to anyone, his smile was extremely infectious.
When Gohan said he was taking her to the best place in all of Konoha, she thought he was taking her somewhere truly magical. A secluded lake, an extremely upscale restaurant, or hell, even the local park. Never in a million years would she have ever guessed a ramen stand. Her eye twitched in annoyance.
"Oji-san! Two bowls of miso!" The demi-saiyan yelled, wheeling Tayuya into the small ramen stand. He didn't notice her clenching hand or her viciously annoyed expression; not until she attempted to jab him in the balls, anyway. Luckily, he was just quick enough to take a hasty step back.
"Baka! I thought you said we were going to the best place in all of Konoha?!" She complained, slightly irked that she'd missed her target. Gohan looked dumbfounded at her question.
"But...thisisthe best place in all of Konoha! The people here are really nice, and the food is the best! Just give it a chance, I swear you won't be disappointed! Please, Tayuya?" He whimpered, using the infamous puppy dog eyes. The redhead sighed harshly and hung her head in defeat. Between his pitiful expression and large, pleading eyes, it was hard to deny the boy his ramen. She doubted that she could hate him anymore than she did right now. Wait, scratch that. There was no possible way that she could hate him anymore than she did right now.
"Fine. This shit better be damn good, or so help me I'll..." She said, allowing the ominous threat to hang in the air. Gohan grinned brightly and picked her up out of the wheelchair, setting her down on an empty stool.'Well, at least it smells good.'She thought, staring hungrily at the variety of toppings spread out behind the counter top. After a few days of eating nothing but hospital food (Otherwise known as shit), ramen was a much welcomed change. Drool slowly began to seep out of the corner of her mouth, and her stomach began constricting painfully in hunger.
"Uh, miss?" Tayuya quickly snapped out of her hunger-induced coma to see a teenage girl with brown hair staring at her in concern. She didn't look like a ninja, so she was obviously a civilian. But why the hell would a civilian be talking to her? Caught off guard, the genin said the first intelligent thing that came to her mind.
"Wha?" The civilian girl smiled brightly and lifted her notepad.
"I asked if you were ready to order."
"Oh, uh, sure. I'll have whatever the hell he's having." She said, jerking a thumb at the spikey-haired boy sitting to her left. Ayame nodded and relayed the order to her father, an old man with a seemingly gentle disposition. She could almost see why her escort liked the place. Despite its small size, the restaurant had a very cozy feel to it. It wasn't until a few seconds later that she realized Gohan was staring at her with something akin to shock. "What the fuck are you looking at?" She asked, suspicious of the awe-struck expression on his face.
"You...you don't want veggie ramen?"
"Veggie ramen? What the fuck would I want that shit for?" He continued to stare at her as if the answer was obvious.
"Well, aren't you watching your figure?"
"ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT?!" Tayuya exclaimed, causing the old man to grimace in sympathy for the poor boy. Though he seemed like a pretty good ninja, the boy clearly had no skill with the ladies. Gohan on the other hand waved his hands in front of him defensively and subconciously inched his way onto the opposite edge of the stool.
"N-no! It's just that well, Ino and Sakura-chan are always on diets, and they always say that ramen's too fattening and that Sasuke-teme won't like them if they eat it and that if Sasuke-teme won't like them they'll never be happy and if they're not happy then I won't be happy cause then they'll want to beat me up for making them fat and-" He rambled, hoping to avoid another beat down. Even if she was crippled, a woman scorned was still dangerous. She almost smirked at his fearful expression.
"I get the idea, dipshit. I just think it's stupid. Why the fuck would a kunoichi need to be on a diet? Shit, we jump through trees and train nearly every day of our lives."
"That's exactly what I said! But then, Sakura-chan would just hit me on top of the head for being stupid." He said, shrugging and turning to the freshly made ramen the chef had just set down in front of them.
"Itadikimasu!" Gohan exclaimed, wasting no time in grabbing his chopsticks and eating. He shuddered in pleasure as the noodles slipped down his throat. "Ohhh, that's good." His partner watched in mild horror as he slurped, sipped, and gobbled his way through the entire bowl while at the same time relaying the gory details of his latest mission to the old chef.
'Damn, and I thought Jirobou could put it down fast. This guy puts the fatass to shame!' She thought, jaw nearly scraping the counter top.
"Ne, Tayuya, you should eat before your noodles get cold. They're not as good when they're all soggy and stuff." He said, already halfway through his second bowl. She was slightly amazed that he even remembered she was there. After all, it seemed as if he was in his own little ramen-filled world judging by the stupid grin plastered on his face as he ate. Deciding to take his advice, she broke her chopsticks and dug in with a quiet 'Itadikimasu.' She placed a few of the noodles into her mouth, swishing them around a bit to get a good feel for the taste. She chewed the noodles slowly and swallowed. An eager Gohan watched nervously as the girl inspected and thoroughly examined the noodles. "Well? What do you think?" He asked, trying not to look too interested.
"Hm. Pretty good." Tayuya shrugged and grabbed a larger serving, stuffing them haphazardly into her mouth. Okay, so she wasn't the most refined eater in the world.
"Really?!" The girl nodded and swallowed again.
"Yep, best damn ramen I ever had." Of course, she neglected to mention that it was her first time ever eating professionally made ramen; cup ramen didn't count. Her escort grinned widely.
"I think I can like you." He said, slurping a mouthful of noodles down his throat. The redhead sputtered noisily and choked on her ramen.
"W-what?!" Gohan turned Tayuya and gave her a wide toothy grin. A grin that looked disturbingly similar to Rock Lee's.
"I said, I think I can like you. There are no bad people among ramen lovers." The girl scowled and bopped him over the head with her good hand, sending him plowing face first into his half finished bowl of soup.
"Dobe, don't say shit like that when I'm trying to eat!" She angrily stabbed at her noodles and swallowed another large mouthful. Her escort grumbled and picked his face up out of the now empty bowl.
"Why do girls always hit me when I give them compliments?!" He whined, wiping at his face with the collar of his shirt. She grinned into her soup at his pitiful expression. Even if he was a dumbass, he was at least an amusing one. Drinking the last of her soup down, she glanced at the demi-saiyan out of the corner of her eye.
"Who's payin' for this stuff anyway?" Gohan reached into his pocket and pulled out Gama-chan.
"I am, of course!" Tayuya snorted slightly at his extremely goofy purse. Just when she thought he couldn't look any stupider, he pulls something like this.
"How can you even afford this shit? I thought you were dirt poor." He pouted and crossed his arms in front of him with a very childish expression his face.
"Hey, I'm not poor! I still have a lot of money left over from when we fought Zabuza and Haku. And then that mission where I went to beat up Gaara, when I brought back Tsunade-obaa-chan, and then when we tried to bring back Sasuke." He shrugged and motioned for another bowl of ramen. "I haven't even cashed in my other mission payments." Tayuya blinked stupidly at the boy.
"So why the fuck are you wearing clothes that make you look a goddamn kunai target?!" Gohan grinned weakly.
"I like the color orange… it's the same colors my father-"He stopped himself from speaking any further, "Never mind, that doesn't matter I just like orange, okay?"
She narrowed her eyes, but let the subject drop; for now. For some reason, that explanation didn't quite fly with her. It didn't matter to her though; eventually, she'd make him get some new clothes. Maybe if he actually looked like a ninja, she'd have more faith in his ability to beat Orochimaru.
Tch. Yeah right.
(fifteen minutes and five bowls of ramen later; one for Tayuya, and four for Gohan)
"Ahh, I'm stuffed!" Gohan exclaimed, patting his stomach contentedly as they walked (and rolled) down the street. Nothing made him feel better than five or so bowls of Ichiraku Ramen; not even being able to land a hit on Sasuke when he had his Sharingan activated. He faltered momentarily at the thought of his former teammate. Even when he wasn't here he managed to haunt his thoughts.
"Where the hell does it all go?" She asked in wonder. While Jirobou could probably (She couldn't judge how much Gohan ate after only meal with him, after all) stuff down twice as much as her escort, for his reasonably small stature he'd eaten quite a load. The boy shrugged again, an action which was very quickly annoying the former sound nin. He'd shrugged, grinned, or completely brushed off nearly everything she'd asked for the past few days. She pushed those thoughts aside and glowered up at Gohan. "Go somewhere with water."
"Huh?" Tayuya bit back a groan, instead opting to roll her eyes.
"Fuck, you're slow. We're going to train aren't we? Find a place with some water."
"Yes, Tayuya-hime." He grumbled under his breath as he made a sharp left turn into the residential district.
"Stop calling me that, jackass."
"You call me way worse names!" She gave him a rather unladylike snort.
"That's because you deserve it, dumbfuck!" Her breathing had become shallow, and her face was lightly flushed with rage. Screaming at the top of your lungs does that to a person. She couldn't help but feel extremely annoyed with the demi-saiyan. There was just something so...annoyingabout him! Not even Kidomaru could piss her off to the point of screaming; well, not every day at least. She'd usually just break an arm or three to get him off of her back, but she couldn't do the same to Gohan in her current condition. Unfortunate, that.
"We're here!" Gohan yelled after what seemed like a minute later. Tayuya snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head in disbelief. Either he'd put on a major burst of speed since she'd screamed at him, or she really needed to stop zoning out. Taking a quick look around, she noticed that they were standing near a small stream set well into a large cluster of trees. There was plenty of shade from the tall trees in the area, and a few large, smooth stones littered the bank of the river; perfect for a picnic or quick break between training sessions. The place looked relatively undisturbed, and she couldn't stop the curiosity that welled up inside of her. Damn her uncanny need to understand everything about the world around her. Damn it to hell.
"How the fuck did you find a sweet ass place like this?" She asked, fighting to keep from sounding desperate. "And if you shrug one more time I'll rip your motherfucking spine out." Okay, so much for not sounding desperate. He frowned slightly at her words. He didn't so much mind the language as he did the threats and insults that came along with it. It was starting to remind him of Sasuke (though he'd never actually used the word "dumbfuck").
"This place? Ero-sennin brought me here when he was teaching me water walking." Tayuya bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smirking at the nickname.
"Ero-sennin?"
"Yeah. He's really strong, but he's a super pervert. Why'd you want me to find a place with water?" The girl frowned slightly in thought.
"Well, since you already know how to walk on water, the only thing I can think of right now is training on the water." Gohan cocked his head in curiosity.
"Train on the water?" Tayuya nodded and lifted her good arm into the air, a signal that she wanted to be picked up. After he walked over and picked her up out of the wheelchair, she pointed towards one of the larger flat rocks resting by the bank of the river. He (not so gently) set her down and jumped back to avoid her deadly left hook.
"Careful, idiot!" She shouted, rubbing lightly at her rear end. He crossed his arms in indignation.
"Tell me what to do." Shooting one last piercing glare at her escort, she cleared her throat and raised her chin a little higher, subconciously assuming a teaching role.
"I already did. Walk onto the water, get into the stance I showed you yesterday, and fight against a shitload of Kage Bunshin." Gohan blinked dumbly at her.
"What the hell will that do?!" Tayuya sighed loudly. Maybe if she could slip into the water and drown before he noticed, she could end her prolonged torture. She almost wished that she had chosen to go with Ibiki; at least they'd only annoy her a few hours a day.
"Are you stupid, or are you just trying to piss me the fuck off?" She asked, giving him her most even glare. When he cocked his head again, she decided that he was just stupid. They'd definitely have to work on his brainpower over the next few years. "Okay, you know that you have to expel a certain amount of chakra to stay afloat, right?" Gohan nodded. "Now, imagine expelling chakra for nearly an hour straight, while at the same time staying focused enough to fight one of your own kage bunshin and trying to remember the stance I taught you yesterday." A little light bulb seemed to appear above his head.
"I get it! I can improve my chakra control while at the same time working on my taijutsu! Man, I wish someone had taught me this before!" He exclaimed, pulling off his shirt and shoes. As soon as he'd rolled his pants legs up to his knees, he hopped onto the water-and immediately sunk to the bottom. The redhead sweatdropped and shuffled closer to the edge of the rock.
"Oi, dobe! I thought you said you could walk on water!" She waited for a few seconds before speaking. "Hey, Gohan! Did all that ramen make you too heavy to float?" She yelled again. A slight feeling of worry began to make its way into her stomach. He'd been under for at least a minute by now. "Gohan! This shit ain't funny!" By now, she was right on the edge of the rock, peering down in worry at the water. If he drowned, she'd be pretty much stuck alone in the middle of nowhere. She couldn't walk, and crawling would be too dangerous considering she didn't know the area well at all. Hell, she didn't even know if she was safe here! If the Forest of Death had giant snakes, tigers, and poisonous insects, who's to say that they weren't inhabiting these woods too? Just as she was about to panic, a sudden blast of water hit her square in the face, followed by a laughing demi-saiyan.
"Hahaha! You should see your face!" Gohan shouted, rolling around on the grass next to the rock. "Oh man, I can't believe you fell for that!" While he was laughing, he didn't notice Tayuya's clenching fist, or the fact that she'd shuffled her way within a foot of him. That is, until she punched him so hard he rebounded off of an adjacent tree and fell right back into the river.
"Don't you ever.Ever. Do that again!" She practically screamed through clenched teeth. His grin immediately disappeared as he crawled back onto the bank of the river.
"I was just playing around..." He stated, keeping a few feet away from the seething redhead. Tayuya struggled to calm down, even going as far as to dig her fingernails into the palm of her hand. His 'joke' brought back painfully alarming memories of being abandoned as a child. It wasn't until Orochimaru found her that she had finally felt a glimmer of hope for the future. He'd offered her protection, power, and best of all, an escape from her own desperate loneliness. It wasn't until he had used the cursed seal against her that she realized exactly how much she meant to her leader; absolutely nothing. After a few seconds of deep breathing, she finally managed to calm down enough to just glare coldly at him. Gohan stifled a gasp. Her eyes were the same as his own; laced with loneliness and pain. As quickly as it had appeared, it vanished. "Sorry."
"Just start training. It's going to get dark in a few hours." She shuffled back onto her rock and lie down, already tired of dealing with the many personalities of Son Gohan. 'Shit, guess I'm still not at full health yet.' The girl almost laughed out loud at the irony of her statement. The familiar sound of kage bunshins coming into existence reached her ears, signaling that the boy had finally decided to start training. She opened her eyes briefly to make sure that his form was correct, and was surprised to see that it was flawless. For a dead last idiot, he was an extremely fast learner. Perhaps she could even teach him a few jutsu when she got her right arm out of the cast. Granted, most of her jutsu were related to her flute, but she at least had a few defensive doton jutsus for back up. They would come in handy if Orochimaru decided to bust out some of the heavier katon jutsus he had in his vast collection. Tayuya watched as he ducked, weaved, dodged his shadow clones, every minute or so dispelling them one at a time. He'd started with five to warm up with, and after he easily took those down he doubled the number of clones to ten. A few minutes after, he had nearly twenty different shadow clones fighting him at once,all of them managing to stay afloat. Hell, most jounin couldn't even create twenty kage bunshins without suffering from chakra exhaustion, and here was a mere genin creating them by the buckets without even breaking a sweat. Despite being loud, annoying, and downright obnoxious, he truly was a remarkable kid. A small, pleasant feeling made itself known deep down in her heart-something she hadn't felt in years.
Hope.