Melody of the Fox
Disclaimer: Don't own Gohan.
Chapter 5
Every part of his body ached. He trudged home on the dark, empty streets of Konoha, occasionally stopping to give his legs a quick break. After spending a few hours training (and "accidentally" splashing Tayuya with water), Gohan wanted nothing more than to get home, take a shower, and possibly get a few dozen hours of sleep. Alas, it was not to be.
"Gohan!" He almost groaned in agony as he turned around to greet the person that had called his name. Why couldn't people ignore him when he wanted to be ignored? His eyes widened in near disbelief when he saw a familiar tuft of pink hair running full speed in his direction.
"Sakura-chan? What are you doing out this late?" The girl panted briefly before grinning and standing up to her full height.
"Guess what?! I asked Tsunade-sama to teach me medical ninjitsu, and she agreed!" Sakura practically screamed, her green eyes bright with excitement. Gohan playfully pouted and crossed his arms across his chest.
"No fair! First Sasuke gets training from the snake bastard, and now you get training from Tsunade-obaa-chan! Everyone's getting trained by a sannin except for me!" His teammate stuck her tongue out mockingly.
"Looks like it'll be up to me to bring Sasuke back, ne Gohan? You can be my back up." The boy lifted his chin and shifted into a slightly heroic pose.
"Ha! I'll become stronger than both of you! I'm getting training from someone better!" Sakura tilted her head in confusion. She hadn't seen him hanging out with anyone except for the loudmouthed redhead. A feeling of dread settled in the bottom of her stomach.
"You don't mean that foul mouth, do you?" He shrugged his shoulders and started to walk home, motioning for her to walk with him. After the initial excitement of seeing his crush for the first time in three days wore off, he suddenly remembered exactly how tired he was. His knees threatened to give out on him at any moment, and the only thing he wanted to see was the back of his eyelids.
"Tayuya? She's not that bad. She even fixed my taijutsu stance!" Unfortunately, his teammate failed to share in his enthusiasm. The girl frowned and shook her head.
"Gohan, I don't like her. There's something...off about that girl." Gohan nervously scratched the back of his head. If she found out that Tayuya was one of the ninja who helped kidnap Sasuke, there's no telling what would happen. The entire village would be after the former sound-nin, and himself by association.
"What do you mean, Sakura-chan? She's okay once you get to know her."
"Don't you remember? She said we'd never be able to beat Orochimaru. I don't think you should hang out with someone that has such a negative attitude." The demi-saiyan resisted the urge to sigh in relief. Thankfully, she didn't even suspect that she was a former enemy ninja. "She also has a strange aura about her. Where is she from, anyway?" Of course, he spoke too soon.
"Ah...well, Kakashi-sensei found her on the outskirts of the village. Someone attacked her." He said, trying not to lie to his crush. Half the truth is better than none-Says Jiraiya, anyway. 'As long as she doesn't ask what village she's from, I should be fine.' With this resolve in mind, he picked up his pace a bit.
"Oh, that's horrible! What village is she from?"
Damnit.
"Uh...oh! There's my apartment building! Later, Sakura-chan!" Before she could answer, he gathered as much chakra as he could muster (Which wasn't much) into his feet and sprinted towards the safety of his apartment, ignoring the screaming pain in his legs to avoid the questions of his teammate. Sakura stood stunned in the middle of the street. This was strange behavior, even for Gohan. He scaled the stairs with practiced ease, not stopping until he was right in front of his own door. He felt bad about abandoning his crush, but brushed the guilty feeling off and moved to unlock his door. Once inside, the boy shed his clothing and trudged the few steps to his bathroom. The apartment was very small, only containing a bed, table, small kitchen area, and a bathroom. A few potted plants were hung haphazardly in front of the window, contrasting greatly with the shabby state of his living quarters. It wasn't much, but it was home.
He turned on the faucet of his shower and breathed a heavy sigh. If he can help it, Gohan never misses a shower. To him, showers are something sacred; the blistering hot water piercing his back always relaxes him, and somehow manages to push all of his troubles behind him. It is the only time he's able to fully let his guard down, and he wouldn't trade these fifteen minutes of bliss for all the jutsu in the world.
...well, that may have been stretching it a bit, but he wouldn't trade his shower time for anything less. He turned around and leaned his back against the wall, reveling in the comfortable atmosphere of the shower stall. His mind unwillingly began to drift to the day's events, briefly recalling every move or action he'd made during his training. It didn't take long for him to remember the grief-stricken face of Tayuya when he'd pretended to drown, nor the bone-chilling glare she'd given him when he emerged. He made a mental note to never play a prank on her again. At least, ones that involved faking death. Still, he wondered why she would even care if he drowned or not. In their time together, she barely seemed to tolerate him, let alone care for his well-being. Chalking it up as another 'girl' thing, he reached for his shampoo bottle and squirted a generous amount onto his messy mop of hair. He used his nails to fiercely scrub his scalp, although he doubted his hair was very dirty. Especially since he spent the better part of the evening submerged in a river.
'I have to do something to make it up to her.' he thought, quickly hopping out of the shower and slipping into his night clothes. It was a warm night, so he decided to allow his body to air dry. He dove under his sheets and attempted to quickly fall asleep. If he lie awake too long, he'd begin thinking of Sasuke. His brain would continue to replay their time together in his mind, searching for the point where he had gone wrong with his surrogate brother. As far as he could tell, Sasuke had been content working with he and Sakura-chan. Searching for lost cats, trying to find out what was under Kakashi-sensei's mask, catching a quick bowl of ramen after a mission; all of the things they enjoyed doing together as a team. He clenched his fists in anger. It was all Orochimaru's fault. That snake bastard was going to pay for taking away one of his precious people. He swore on his life, Orochimaru would die.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Tayuya grit her teeth in annoyance. After refilling her pitcher for the night, the nurse had failed to turn the water faucet all the way off. She'd had an incredibly hard time falling asleep; the only thing that calmed her mind enough to sleep was the image of her ogres beating the shit out of the neglectful old witch. Even after she'd constantly pushed the call button for nearly an hour, the elderly bitch hadn't come back to the room. The girl let loose a frustrated growl, banging her head back against the wall to block out the monotonous noise.
"Please don't do that. You just recovered from your head wound a few days ago." Tayuya snapped her head around to look into the amused eyes of the slug sannin's apprentice. Between the constant banging of her head and the dripping faucet, the genin hadn't noticed that someone entered the room.
"Off!" She screamed, her features dripping with desperation. Shizune tilted her head in confusion.
"Off?" The woman asked, lowering Tayuya's medical chart to glance at the girl.
"The faucet! It's driving me batshit!" With an understanding nod, the medical ninja quickly walked over to the sink and twisted the handle until the dripping stopped. The girl closed her eyes and sighed with relief.
"How long has this been on?" She asked, frowning slightly. It wasn't like the nurses to be so neglectful of their patients.
"All. Fucking. Night." Shizune's brows furrowed in disappointment.
"Do you know who the nurse was?" Tayuya lifted a curious eyebrow. She was certain the woman knew that she was one of the four Sound ninja who had an indirect hand in killing the Third Hokage.
"Some old bitch with wide-ass bottlecap glasses. Why?" The young woman lifted the medical chart and began scribbling away at a few things. Based on her description, it was the same nurse who'd lost her grandson in the joint attack by the Sand and Sound. Perhaps it wasn't so smart of the Hokage to let the veteran nurses know who the girl was.
"Tsunade-sama doesn't tolerate ill-treatment of patients. No matter where they're from." She said, purposely looking up at the genin. "Chances are, she'll be fired for prejudicial neglect." Tayuya smiled evilly at this statement. In the end, the last laugh would be hers. Nothing in life was better than revenge.
"Ha! Serves the bitch right." She yawned widely, not even attempting to cover her mouth. Now that the noise had stopped, she was finally able to get a few more hours of sleep. Her eyelids slowly began to droop, a fact which greatly amused Shizune. After giving the girl a quick checkup, she quietly slipped out of the room and headed towards her master's office. She was more than looking forward to the nurse's (literal) ejection from the hospital.
(Three hours later)
A small shadow crept along the halls, stealthily making its way towards the second floor of the hospital. It soon reached the door to room 223; the very same room that held the former young kunoichi from the Sound. Twisting the doorknob slowly, the figure slipped into the room and gently shut the door behind them.
'Finally, you get what's coming to you...' The person thought, grinning maliciously. The grin slipped momentarily as they noticed she was asleep.'Damn, I thought she'd be up by now. Guess I have to...'
"Gohan? What the fuck are you doing?" The demi-saiyan nearly jumped out of his skin when she spoke.
"Gah! I thought you were asleep!" She lifted an eyebrow and eased herself up into a sitting position. Eyeing him carefully, she noticed a small bag hanging from his right hand.
"Dumbass, just because I can't use my legs doesn't mean that my ninja senses have dulled any. I was part of Orochimaru's elite guard." Tayuya deadpanned. She narrowed her eyes a bit in curiosity as she noticed that he was snickering. "What?" Gohan pointed to his left cheek and grinned.
"You have a little something on your face." Her hand shot up to her cheek to feel a sticky wetness smeared all over the left side of her face. She realized in horror that it was her drool. Unwillingly, her face began to heat up in embarrassment and she turned around to wipe the fluid off with the hospital bedsheets. She also raked her fingers through her hair in a sad attempt at giving it some order. Her hand suddenly froze in mid-stroke.
'What the hell am I doing?'She wondered, quickly bringing her hand back down to her lap. For some reason, she felt humiliated that he had seen her in such a disheveled state. Her pride feeling somewhat bruised, she turned back around and practically snarled at the boy.
"Quit laughing at me, you lowlife cocksucking motherfucker!" Gohan blinked in surprise. She'd never used three insults in succession before. Something in the back of his mind told him that she was mad; perhaps it was his common sense. He held up his hands in a placating fashion.
"I wasn't laughing at you, it's just that you looked so funny that..." The boy paused in mid-sentence, briefly reflecting on his words. "Oh, I guess I was laughing at you." Before the girl could say a word, he held up the bag hanging from his right hand. "Wait! I brought food!" Her mouth snapped shut in surprise. He'd brought her lunch? She fought to say something, anything, but the words somehow managed to escape her. Instead, she settled on a questioning glare. Grinning, Gohan reached into the bag and (unsurprisingly) handed her a large plastic container of ramen. Luckily, it was still warm.
"Uh...thanks?" Tayuya mumbled, her anger temporarily forgotten. His grin widened as he pulled up a chair. He reached into the bag and handed her a pair of chopsticks.
"I didn't know what kind you'd want, so I asked oji-san to make me a Super Deluxe Gohan Special. It has almost everything in it!" The boy exclaimed. The redhead nodded and quickly broke her chopsticks. She was deathly hungry, especially since the nurse had "forgotten" to give her breakfast. Without wasting any time, she uttered a blessing and dug in. Gohan watched amazed as she voraciously inhaled the noodles, barely stopping to breathe. Every now and then, she'd stop to wipe her mouth (she had to maintain some sense of elegance after all) before returning full force to the food. Approximately two minutes later, Tayuya leaned back with a content sigh.
"Shit, that was good." She smiled and closed her eyes to relish in the warm feeling of the soup swimming around in her belly. She refused to acknowledge that the feeling could have possibly come from his act of kindness.
"Ne, Tayuya." The redhead lifted an eyelid to look at him.
"What?"
"I was wondering...about yesterday..." He muttered, looking anywhere but at her face. She opened both of her eyes and turned her head to look at him.
"What about it?"
"Nothing, just wondering if you were still mad." A grunt resounded from the back of her throat. It was hard to believe that he was still worried over something that happened a day ago.
"Why do you care?" She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Gohan shrugged and finally lifted his head to look at her.
"Just do." Tayuya fought the urge to growl.
"No, I'm not mad. I'm still going to kick your ass, but I'm not mad." He grinned in relief. If she was still mad, she might not teach him anything else. She pushed herself back into an upright position and set the bowl down on the tray next to her. "What are you doing here anyway? It's Saturday. You don't have to take me to the Academy." The boy gave her a confused glance.
"Aren't you still going to train me?" Tayuya blinked. She honestly didn't expect him to be able to train after the brutal exercise she'd put him through the day before. The girl sighed loudly. Though she was secretly glad to be leaving the hospital, she didn't want him to know it.
"Well, if you want me to go, you have to get my shit out of those cabinets." She said, pointing towards the opposite wall. He walked over to cabinets and began to open the various doors. He soon emerged with a few folded pieces of clothing.
"This stuff?" She nodded and took the clothing from him. Gohan pulled the curtain separating the room and plopped down on the other bed. Unable to help himself, he watched her silhouette in mild awe as she quickly pulled on her pants and ninja sandals. It was quite a feat considering that she only had one available hand. A small blush crept onto his face as he watched her pull the hospital gown up and over her head. He couldn't see much, but just the thought of her baring her chest in the same room was enough to get his heart pumping a fraction of a second faster. He shook his head ferociously and growled.'What am I doing?! I'm not a pervert like ero-sennin!'He thought, turning his entire body so as not to be tempted to look again.
A small curse floated from the other side of the curtain. While it was easy for Tayuya to slip on her pants and shoes, the long sleeved shirt required the assistance of a second person. She'd only been able to get her left arm through the sleeve, leaving the right side of her shirt hanging on her shoulder. Even worse, the bastards hadn't even given her a bra. Blushing mildly, she cleared her throat and glanced hesitantly at the curtain.
"Uh...Gohan?" She muttered, barely believing what she was about to ask him. "Can you uh, help me?" Gohan choked and nearly fell off of the bed.
"H-Huh? Why do you need my help?" The girl nervously bit her lip. He was the last person she wanted to help her, but with her nurse's head on the chopping block, she doubted that there was anyone around to receive her call. With a resigned sigh, she shifted around so that her back was facing the other side of the room. She'd be damned if he got a peek at her more "valuable" assets.
"Just get the fuck over here!" Gohan grunted and pulled back the curtain. "Help me put my arm through the sleeve. And be careful!" He nodded (although she couldn't see it) and hesitantly reached for her injured arm. Though he tried not to, he couldn't help but stare at the rich, ivory skin of her back. As he loosely grasped her arm, he briefly registered that it was his first time actually touching a female's skin; Getting punched in the face by Sakura didn't count. His thumb gently slid over the smooth surface of her arm.
"Soft..." Gohan whispered unknowingly, eyes wide with interest. Tayuya tensed in mortification, feeling her blush deepen and spread across her cheeks. He was only the second male to compliment her on her physical appearance; not counting Sakon's offhand comments about how disgustingly graceful she looked while sparring.
"W-What d-did you just say?" She stuttered, cursing her tongue for its impudence. Gohan blushed and quickly slipped her arm into the sleeve of the dark blue shirt.
"Nothing! Ready to go?" He asked, abruptly turning to grab the collapsible wheelchair from the corner of the room. His cheeks burned red with embarrassment at his unintentional confession. On the other side of the room, Tayuya wasn't faring any better. As it usually did, her bashfulness was soon replaced by anger. How dare he try to cop a feel when her guard was down? When he reached down to pick her up, she launched a (not so) fierce blow into his gut. "Oomf! What was that for?!"
"For tryin' to feel me up!" She screamed, more angry at herself for holding back on the punch. Her conscience was really starting to become a problem.
"I wasn't trying to feel you up! You're the one who asked for my help!" He retorted. She huffed and lifted her arm to be picked up, a silent acknowledgment that he'd won. For a dumbass, he sure knew how to make a good point. Even someone as argumentative as she couldn't come up with a plausible enough comeback. He reached down again to pick her up (Though warily) and set her down in the flimsy wheelchair. "Where are we going today?" Gohan asked as he wheeled her out of the room. She shrugged and leaned back in the chair.
"Who gives a fuck. I can't teach you anything else in this state anyway." The chair slid to an abrupt stop, nearly throwing her headfirst to the ground.
"What?! There has to be something you can teach me!" He yelled, eyes wide with desperation. If this was as far as she could take him, Sasuke was going to wipe the floor with his ass.
"Well, there is something...but, I don't think you'll be able to handle it."
"Tell me! I can do it!" Tayuya smirked.
'He's so easy to manipulate! Hell, I bet I could get the bastard to strip if I wanted him to!'She thought, her smirk growing a bit lecherous. She quickly dismissed that train of thought before it went places she didn't want to go. It's not like he had anything to show off anyway. "Alright, I'll tell you. But only on two conditions. One, you can't complain even once about the training." He snorted with amusement. As if he would complain about training. "And two, you're not allowed to quit. That means no taijutsu, ninjutsu, or genjutsu until you've completely mastered this exercise. Got it?"
"That's it? This'll be-" He suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence. Something didn't add up. If he wasn't going to be doing taijutsu, ninjutsu, or genjutsu, then what else was there to learn? He narrowed his eyes slightly in thought. Though he certainly wasn't a genius, he wasn't nearly as stupid as he led others to believe. Even he could smell a trap a mile away. "Wait a minute! This training must be something I won't like if you gave me those conditions." Tayuya's jaw nearly dropped into her lap. Since when did the dobe grow a brain? She quickly regrouped and attacked from another angle.
"Who gives a fuck? Either accept my conditions, or I don't train you." Gohan grimaced. While he had identified the trap, there was no clear way out of it. With a resigned sigh, he began pushing her towards the hospital elevator.
"Fine, you win." She smiled in triumph. At least that evened the score.
"Ne, Tayuya, what are you going to teach me?" Gohan and Tayuya were currently resting on one of the large, flat rocks sitting near the river. They hadn't moved since they had arrived; which was around fifteen minutes ago.
"Have you ever heard of Leaf Concentration?" She asked, resting her head on the rock. Her escort's jacket was propped up behind her head as a makeshift pillow. She still hadn't given him his jacket back, and decided that she would keep it until he asked for it. It's not like he didn't have others at home. Gohan gave her a confused look.
"Leaf Concentration? How does that work?" She grinned and reached onto the grass for a leaf. After finding one, she motioned for him to come closer.
"I'm surprised you've never done it. Orochimaru told us that it was taught in the Academy." She sat up and placed the leaf on her forehead. "The object of this exercise is to keep the leaf from falling off of your forehead. In order to do this, you must concentrate all of your chakra onto the leaf." The boy frowned deeply.
"Wait, you're teaching me that?! Iruka-sensei tried to teach me that when I was in the Academy! It's boring!"
"Did you ever learn how to do it?"
"Uh...no..." He mumbled, hanging his head in shame. Tayuya laughed.
"That explains why your chakra control is so shitty. You'll never beat Orochimaru if you can't use your chakra effectively." He snorted and crossed his arms.
"How does this help my chakra control?" She knocked him over the head with her cast.
"I was getting to that part, dumbass!" She cleared her throat and assumed the teacher role once again. "This exercise actually trains concentration. By concentrating all of your energy on the leaf, your mind is able to focus much more efficiently, thus improving your chakra control. Do you get it?" He nodded and plucked the leaf off of her forehead.
"It's kind of like when I was learning the Rasengan from Ero-sennin. When I drew a leaf onto my hand, I was able to pop the ball much easier than I did before." She blinked in confusion.
"Uh, sure, whatever. Just get to work." He stuck his tongue out but placed the leaf on his forehead anyway; only to have it slip off a moment later. He placed the leaf on his forehead again, achieving the same results. After twenty five or so failures, Tayuya sighed and slammed her head into her hand. "It's obvious that we're not getting anywhere. Look, try this. Cross your legs and close your eyes. Remember, this is an exercise in concentration. Block out everything except the leaf."
"This is too hard!" He whined, sticking his lip out in a pout. She bopped him over the head again.
"Remember the conditions? If you don't do this, I won't teach you anything else. Sasuke will fuck you up and make you his bitch without my help." Gohan grit his teeth in anger. Though he hated to admit it, she was right. There was no way he could get strong enough on his own, and she knew a lot about Orochimaru's training methods; the same methods he would be using to teach Sasuke. He sighed and did as she said, much to her amusement. 'Two for me, one for you.'Amazingly enough, he was able to hold the leaf on his forehead for three seconds before it finally floated down into his lap.
"I did it!" He screamed in triumph. She frowned and knocked him over the head again.
"Idiot, you have to hold the leaf on your forehead for at least an hour before we can move on."
"Nani?! That long?! But that'll take forever!" She shrugged and motioned towards her legs.
"I'm not going anywhere. The longer it takes you to master this exercise, the easier it will be for Sasuke to kick your ass. Now get back to work!" He mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'slavedriving bitch' before placing the leaf on his forehead and closing his eyes. Tayuya watched in mild awe as his time increase from a few seconds to a few minutes in only half an hour. When Orochimaru taught her this exercise, it took her the whole day to hold the leaf for ten minutes, yet he was going to beat her time in only an hour! Of course, she was much more impatient and fiery than Gohan was when she learned this exercise, but it was amazing progress nonetheless. With his eyes closed, she figured it was safe enough to finally examine his features in detail. The first thing she examined was his unruly, gravity defying onyx hair. She briefly wondered if Gohan was somewhat connected to the Uchihas but quickly waved it off. Instead of pondering his origins, she decided to ask him about it later and move on before he opened his eyes again to complain.
Her eyes slowly traveled down to his waist. She had never seen someone with a tail, or heard of someone with a monkey tail at all for that matter. Maybe he his clan were specialized in monkey/ape techniques. She snickered quietly at the thought and decided to finish looking at the rest of his features before she distracted him with her giggles. Tayuya leaned back again to take in his whole face.
Her eyes traveled up and studied his face; she took in his warm, innocent charcoal eyes, his strong, defined features, his prominent chin and cute-button nose. He was certainly handsome… She blushed at her thoughts. Her imagination could certainly be strange when it wanted to be. Just as she was about to finish her assessment of his appearance, Gohan's body suddenly slumped over, causing the leaf to float harmlessly to the rock below them. 'What the fuck?' There had been no visible indication that he was about to fall asleep, or she surely would have smacked him awake before he did.
"Gohan! Hey, shithead, wake up!" She yelled, smacking him a few times on the head. When he didn't move, a small inkling of concern wormed its way into the bottom of her heart. "This had better not be another joke, Gohan! Wake up! Hey!" She stretched her arm out and splashed a little water into his face, hoping to at least get a small reaction from the demi-saiyan. "This isn't fucking funny anymore! Wake-"
"Maybe you should let him sleep for a while. He looks pretty tired, don't you think?" Tayuya snapped her around to the tree behind them.
"Who's there?! Show yourself!" She yelled, reaching for Gohan's weapon pouch. She grabbed a kunai and held it in front of herself and Gohan defensively. Her eyes widened when a ninja sauntered out of the trees, a wide grin nearly splitting their face in half. "You!" The ninja chuckled softly and brought a kunai of their own out, spinning it nonchalantly by the ring.
"My, my. What will you do now, Tayuya?"
Melody of the Fox
A/N: Whoa! Over 100 reviews! Thanks! They really keep me motivated! As atinyside note, I'm extremely frustrated with this story. It doesn't have the effect I've been trying to achieve ever since I started writing seriously (About a year ago). I'mnotabandoning this story at all; just going to try some new things. Maybe write a few oneshots to test out different writing styles.
Disclaimer: Don't own Gohan.
Chapter 6
"Misumi," Tayuya snarled through clenched teeth. Out of all the ninja in the Sound village, he was the one she least wanted to see. Orochimaru had sent him, along with Kabuto and Yoroi, to infiltrate the Chuunin Exams and study all of the genin to find potential warriors for the growing village of the Sound. Only Kabuto had returned, so she'd long since perceived them as dead.
The Sound nin pulled down his face mask and grinned. He was wearing simple black ninja pants, a black long sleeved shirt, and a black Sound chuunin vest. "I'm pleased to hear that you remember me, Tayuya-chan," he said, readjusting his glasses. She felt her lip curl at his jeering use of the -chan suffix.
"What the fuck are you doing here? Orochimaru wouldn't send someone as pathetic as you to finish me off." He laughed and hopped down from the tree, continuing to spin the kunai on his ring finger.
"Still as lively as ever, I see. Actually, Orochimaru-sama didn't assign me this mission. I requested it." She narrowed her eyes and inched closer to Gohan.
"He still wouldn't send your feeble ass alone to kill a former member of the Sound Five."
"You're right; Despite my protests, he insisted that I bring Yoroi along with me." Tayuya cursed audibly, her eyes darting around in every direction. There was no possible way that she could defend against two ninja in her current state. Hell, she barely stood a chance with just one. As if sensing her distress, the Sound nin waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry, Tayuya-chan. After seeing your current injuries, I sent Yoroi on ahead to report our success to Orochimaru-sama." Satisfied for the moment, she glanced out of the corner of her eye at Gohan.
"What the hell did you do to him?" She growled, making sure to keep the contortionist in her sight. He chuckled loudly at her question.
"Genjutsu. According to Kabuto, the boy has little to no talent for it. It was easy to place him under a low-level sleeping illusion." She winced slightly at his words.
'If we get out of this alive, I'm going to spend a whole fucking month teaching him genjutsu,' She thought, quickly forming a seal to cancel the genjutsu. Before she could tap Gohan on the shoulder to wake him up, Misumi appeared behind them and picked the demi-saiyan up by his shirt.
"Tsk, tsk. Have you really fallen so far as to rely on an idiot like this?" He asked, grinning down at her mockingly. "Tell me, what is he to you?" She narrowed her eyes and scoffed. Thinking quickly, she concluded that it would be best for both of them if Gohan was able to live. Even if she died, he could at least fulfill her dream along with his own.
"He doesn't mean shit to me. I was simply using the fool to help me escape. Nothing more, nothing less." He stopped twirling the kunai and smiled.
"That's a relief, I thought you had finally gotten over me. You still love me, don't you, Tayuya-chan?" She grit her teeth in anger, greatly resenting his cutting remarks. Though she hated to admit, Tayuya had been quite smitten with the jounin. Granted, she was only nine at the time while he was practically an adult. The others had always teased her for her infatuation with the man, often calling her things like 'Reverse Pedophile' and 'Grave Robber.' It wasn't until he had ridiculed her for her ability to play the flute that she realized exactly how fucking stupid her admiration of him was. It was also the day when she resolved to squash all of her weaker emotions in favor of power.
"Fuck you." He shook his head in mock exasperation.
"You haven't changed a bit, Tayuya-chan." He glanced up at the sun before returning his attention to the girl in front of him. "While I'd love to catch up on old times, I really must be going. Yoroi's probably worried sick by now." With a sickeningly sweet grin, he stabbed the kunai into Gohan's heart and tossed him into the stream. Tayuya's hand went limp, causing the kunai to clatter harmlessly on the rock below her. She watched helplessly as blood-hisblood-turned the small stream a shallow shade of red.
"GOHAN!" She screamed, her eyes involuntarily tearing up. For the third time in her life, she felt all of her hopes shatter into a million pieces. All her plans of killing Orochimaru and parading his head around on a stick were sinking to the bottom of the stream along with her partner. She curled her hand into a fist and snatched the kunai up off the rock "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" With an angry swipe, she cut a large gash into the Sound-nin's thigh. He grimaced slightly and jumped back far enough to avoid any further attacks from the irate redhead. After making sure the wound wasn't too deep, he angrily stomped forward and picked the girl up by her throat. The condescending glint in his eyes was replaced by unbridled rage.
"That wasn't wise, Tayuya," he snarled, tightening his grip on her neck. She tried to stab at him again, but he viciously backhanded her hard across the face. The kunai slipped from her fingertips as her head snapped back from the blow. "I was going to kill you fast, bitch, but now I'm going to make you suffer." He knelt down next to the stream and plunged her head under the water. Tayuya didn't bother struggling; as far as she was concerned, she was already dead. Not only were her legs fucked up, but all of her hopes and ambitions for the future had died along with Gohan. Worst of all, he had died because of her. As the edges of her vision began to darken, she smiled and closed her eyes with deep remorse.
'I'm sorry, Gohan.'
"Gah...what the hell happened?" Gohan sat up and groggily opened his eyes. It took a few seconds for them to focus, but it took half that time to realize exactly where he was. He immediately recognized the dank, sooty walls and the dark, murky waters that made up the sewers of his mind. However, The broken pipes were dripping a little faster than they were before, and he noticed with some alarm that the area around him was slowly darkening. The only consistent light was the familiar red glow resonating from the Kyuubi's cage around the corner. He briefly weighed his options, and decided that visiting the Kyuubi was a much better idea than waiting to see what happens next. Sighing loudly, he reluctantly dragged his feet towards his prisoner. After what seemed like hours of walking, he finally stood before the giant golden gates that held the nine tailed fox.
"Oi! Baka-kitsune! What's going on?" He yelled, trying to see into the dark recesses of the cage. He was slightly worried that the nine tailed fox had somehow managed to escape, and was currently on another rampage through Konoha while he was trapped inside of his own mind. A pair of glowing red eyes appeared from behind the bars, putting his worries to rest.
"We're dying, brat." Gohan blinked in surprise. He wasn't expecting a direct answer from the fox, and he certainly wasn't expecting to hear that he was going to die.
"Nani?! What do you mean we're dying?! What the hell did you do?!" The Kyuubi growled lowly at the boy. It was just like a human to blame someone else for their mistakes.
"I didn't do anything. It's because of your own clumsy negligence that you were stabbed through the heart by the enemy." By now, Gohan was frantically pulling at his hair. Death itself didn't scare him; it was the thought of the people he would be leaving behind that worried him.
"Shit! I can't die here! I have to bring Sasuke back! I have to marry Sakura-chan! I have to become the Hokage!" He suddenly stopped in front of the cage and glared up at his prisoner. "You're supposed to be the almighty Kyuubi, right? Do something!" What looked like a scowl appeared on the demon's face.
"You've got a lot of guts to talk to the strongest of the Great Demons like that, brat." It narrowed its eyes in thought. Perhaps this situation could somehow work out in his favor. "Look, kid, we have to act fast. This seal prevents me from releasing enough of my chakra into your system to heal you. If you release the seal right now, it will be easy for me to rebuild your heart."Gohan felt himself sweatdrop.
"I'm not thatstupid." The Kyuubi made a movement that looked suspiciously like a shrug. Deciding to take what he could get, the demon fox attacked from another angle.
"Fine. How about a deal?"Gohan's ears perked up at this proposition.
"A deal? What kind of deal?" He asked, glaring skeptically at the beast.
"I want more power." Before the genin could speak, the Kyuubi quickly continued. "But it's not what you think. As you can probably imagine, it gets fairly boring in here after awhile."
"So what is it that you want? Hurry it up, baka-kitsune!" The monster growled with considerable annoyance. If all humans were this annoying, he might honestly reconsider the offer he was about to make.
"Silence, mortal!" He roared, effectively shutting the boy up. "What I want is freedom. I want to see, smell, hear, taste, and feel everything that you do. I also want to be able to communicate with you, so that I can prevent any more of the foolish predicaments you tend to get yourself into. In return, I'll tell you how to access more of my chakra and rebuild your pathetic human heart." Gohan frowned in thought, trying to figure out what the bastard fox was up to. He was just about to agree when he suddenly remembered Gaara's situation, and how the Shukaku would constantly taunt and torment the jinchuuriki in his mind. There was no way in hell he would let the Kyuubi drive him crazy. The mischievous grin that suddenly appeared on his face made the Kyuubi slightly nervous.
"Fine, I accept your deal on one condition; I'm allowed to silence your voice whenever I want to." An angry growl resounded from the other side of the bars, confirming the fact that he'd exposed the demon's plan. It was obvious that the beast didn't have time to come up with another angle, as the light in the room was slowly beginning to diminish. He smiled cheekily and clasped his hands behind his head. "Well?"
"Fine!" The beast roared, deciding to cut his losses and try again at a later time. Red chakra slowly began to seep out of the cage, bubbling up against Gohan's feet. Soon, the chakra hardened and grew, propelling him upwards towards the seal.
"Nani?! I already told you that I'm not removing the seal!" The beast sighed and shook his head.
"Idiot. You have to weaken the seal in order to receive more of my chakra. Hurry up, I can feel your body weakening!" Nodding to himself, the genin reached a trembling hand towards the seal. Very carefully, he made a miniscule tear on the corner of the small piece of paper. The effect was immediate. A torrent of chakra shot towards the opposite wall, drowning the entire room in a malevolent sea of energy. Gohan found it incredibly hard to breathe, let alone move in the fluctuating surge of raw power. The Kyuubi roared with laughter at his jailor's shocked expression.
"What...what was that?!"
"That," He started, grinning with conceited pride, "Was approximately one hundredth of my power, brat." The demi-saiyan's jaw scraped the ground. He knew that the demon was powerful, but this was fucking ridiculous! He suddenly had ten times more respect for the Fourth Hokage's strength; it couldn't have been easy to defeat a monster with such an insane amount of chakra. "...get going, and let me have some fun!" Gohan blinked, realizing that he'd completely missed whatever his prisoner had to say.
"Uh...yeah. Sure."
"...You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" The Kyuubi deadpanned. If he wasn't so disoriented, the boy would've laughed at the annoyed expression on the demon's face. A sigh escaped the beast, and with a swing of his paw, another wave of chakra shot Gohan out of the room and into the blinding light that made up his conscious.
Tsurugi Misumi was having a wonderful day. Except for the shallow gash he had received from Tayuya, everything was going perfectly. His target was basically a one-armed vegetable, and as an added bonus, he had just killed the boy that Orochimaru had been bitching about for the past two months. He smiled and readjusted his glasses with his free hand. Orochimaru was sure to promote him to jounin for such an exceedingly successful mission. Absolutely nothing could ruin his day; not even a large, glowing red claw protruding from the stream and heading straight for his face.
...Shit.
Before he could blink the claw slashed him vertically across the face, sending both he and Tayuya sprawling across the ground. "What the hell?!" He yelled, bewilderment clear in his voice. Tayuya, who had landed a few yards away from the chuunin, immediately began gasping for air. She didn't know what the fuck had happened, but she wasn't about to complain. After she regained a bit of her breath, she too began to look around the small tree-covered field for her savior. What she saw next astounded her. Gohan, who had just been stabbed through the heart by Misumi, was slowly rising out of the stream. A vicious swirl of red chakra surrounded him, turning the gentle water around him into steam.
"Gohan?" She asked, her voice wavering with fear and disbelief. A gasp escaped her when he turned his blood red eyes upon her trembling form. His pants were ripped off at the knees, and for the first time she noticed the spiraling seal on his stomach. The thin whisker marks of his cheeks now looked like abysmal scars, and his sharp pointy teeth were bared in her direction. If he didn't look so abominably scary at that moment, she might even say that he looked hot. Kami, she had some weird fetishes.
"Tayuya, Are you alright?" He asked, taking a concerned step towards her. As if moving on its own accord, her body quickly shuffled further into the forest, trying desperately to get away from rancorous looking boy. His voice was different; almost animalistic in tone. Immense pain flashed through his eyes at her actions. It was the same look the villagers gave him every day of his life, but it hurt ten times more when it was someone he actually cared about. Instead of taking another step towards Tayuya, he turned ferocious eyes upon the screaming man to his right. The Sound nin was viciously clawing at his face, desperately trying to put out the chakra induced flames caused by Gohan's initial blow. Gohan sauntered over to the fallen ninja with a furious smirk on his face. He was going to enjoy this. "Does it hurt?"He sneered, stopping in front of the man. He launched a powerful kick into the shinobi's gut, sending him back first into a tree. An audible crack was heard on contact.
"Stay back, demon!" Misumi gasped between breaths. The Kyuubi empowered genin laughed bitterly.
"Is that how you beg for your life?" Gohan grabbed his head and slammed it face first into the ground. "Is it?!" The man lifted his head and glared pitifully at Gohan.
"I'd never beg before a demon." The boy snarled and lifted him into the air by his neck.
"Wrong answer." He thrust a clawed hand through the Sound nin's chest, instantly killing him. He stood there for a few minutes in that position, feeling Kyuubi's chakra slowly begin to drain from his system. His hand was still sticking out of Misumi's back, and blood ran in torrents down his forearm. It briefly registered in the back of his mind that it was his first kill; However, he was more concerned with the shivering girl staring at him with wide, fearful eyes. With a forceful pull, he wrenched his arm from the man's chest. The wet squelching sound seemed to snap her out of her daze as she suddenly seemed to notice the gaping hole in her former comrade's ribcage. He threw the body as far as he could towards the stream.
"What...what are you?" She asked with fearful trepidation. Despite witnessing (And being the cause of) the death of over a hundred people in her lifetime, none had ever been as gruesome as this one. She unconsciously burrowed herself further into the tree behind her as he began to walk in her direction.
"Tayuya...please, I-" Before he could finish his sentence, his legs suddenly gave out on him, causing him to crumble into a heap on the ground.
"Gohan!" Tayuya screamed, immediately concerned about the demi-saiyan despite her fear. It took her a few minutes to stop her body from trembling, but she eventually managed to ease herself onto her stomach. Using her left arm, she slowly crawled her way towards Gohan. Her body seemed to be fighting against her every move, and it was through sheer willpower alone that she was able to reach him after what seemed like hours of crawling. She slid her body around so that she was leaning over the boy's head. It took her a few more minutes to get her nerve together, yet she somehow worked up enough to courage to reach a shaky hand towards his neck. She quickly checked for a pulse and let loose a small sigh of relief when it throbbed powerfully against her fingertips. At least he was alive. She gently lifted his head and shuffled herself under him, allowing him to rest against her lap. Her body still quivered a bit with fear, but she ignored her anxiety in favor of the boy sleeping deeply between her legs. She pushed a few loose strands away from his eyes and smiled. "Thank you."
The Godaime Hokage sped through the rooftops at an alarmingly fast pace. Nearly every ninja above the level of chuunin had felt the evil chakra, and were now heading towards the outskirts of the village.
"Tsunade-sama!" An ANBU Captain suddenly appeared to her left, his squad following closely behind him. His face was hidden by a mask, but his fear was evident in his movements.
"What is it?" She noticed he seemed to hesitate before he spoke. It was obvious that it was something she didn't want to hear.
"Tsunade-sama, the other captains and I feel as though it is in your best interest to return to your office. Please allow us to handle this."
"No." The Captain groaned from behind his mask. It was common knowledge to anyone who'd seen Gohan and the Hokage together that she had a major soft spot for the boy. There had even been rumors that she'd given him the First Hokage's necklace. Despite the obstacles, he was determined to make her see reason.
"Tsunade-sama, please try to understand, the boy could be dangerou-" Without breaking her stride, Tsunade threw a lightning fast fist into the ANBU Captain's face, breaking his mask and sending him spiraling towards the ground. The other members of his squad wisely slowed down enough to get out of striking range of the Slug Sannin.
"Temper, Tsunade," A voice chuckled. She snarled and threw another angry fist to her right. Jiraiya barely managed to duck under the blow. "Relax, I'm not trying to stop you!" He exclaimed, placing his hands into the air as a sign of peace. "On the contrary; I'm just here to help. He is my student, you know." The woman's glare softened.
"Do you think he's alright?" She asked, using chakra to gain a little extra speed. Jiraiya smirked confidently at his former teammate and matched her pace.
"I know he is." Seemingly satisfied with his answer, she turned forward and put all of her energy into reaching Gohan as fast as she could.
When they arrived in the clearing, the sight that met them was devastating. It wasn't the abnormally large craters or ruptured trees that surprised them; no, it was the copious amounts of blood and the mutilated body lying near the stream that sent a small sickening wave through their bodies. The Hokage slowly made her way towards the corpse, Jiraiya and a few ANBU squads close behind. She turned the body over and let loose a small sigh of relief. Judging by his headband, the man was from the Sound. She was immensely thankful that it wasn't one of their own shinobi, as that would've put her in an extremely difficult position. Except for the gaping hole in his chest and five large gashes across his face, there weren't many other injuries on the corpse.
"Tsunade-sama! We've found him!" Immediately forgetting about the corpse, she ran over to the ANBU officer's position.
"Where is he?!" The woman's eyes scanned the clearing until they landed on Tayuya. The girl had her back to them, but a small bit of onyx hair was peeking out from her lap. Fearing the worst, Tsunade rushed over to the genin. As she arrived, Tayuya slowly turned her head from Gohan to look up at Tsunade. Her face was eerily void of any emotion, but the woman noticed with some concern that she was trembling. She knelt down in front of Tayuya and placed a gentle hand against Gohan's jugular. "He's alright," she said, letting loose the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. She moved to pick the boy up, but the redhead only tightened her grip on his head, glaring weakly at the woman.
"We need to get them to the hospital," Jiraiya said, appearing behind her. His teammate nodded her head in agreement and began performing seals. The girl showed no signs of releasing the boy anytime soon.
"I'll have to knock her out. She's having a mild combat stress reaction, otherwise known as shell shock. It's probably her first time experiencing something as malevolent as Kyuubi's chakra. Right now, Gohan is the only thing she is familiar with and is acting as her security blanket. Moving him could worsen the condition." Her hands began to glow a mild green, and she placed her palm onto the girl's forehead. Tayuya's grip on the demi-saiyan immediately loosened as she fell forward into Tsunade's arms. She picked the girl up and motioned for Jiraiya to do the same with Gohan, causing him to raise an amused eyebrow.
"I thought you'd want to carry Gohan yourself," he chuckled, slinging the boy over a shoulder. "Don't tell me you've become attached to the girl already." The woman scowled and motioned one of the ANBU officers over.
"Clean this place up. I want absolutely no evidence of what happened here to get out to the public. Do you understand?" The female officer bowed her head in confirmation. Even she understood what would happen if the villagers found out about the genin using Kyuubi's chakra. The chaos would be insurmountable.
"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Tsunade nodded and turned towards her former teammate, whom she noticed had adjusted the boy into a much more careful and comfortable position when she wasn't looking. Smirking slightly, she nodded in the direction of Konoha.
"Let's go."