"Tie your promises to the sky in a ribbon,
Filled with all sorts of wishes!
The spring wind blows at your heart,
But in the hand you make promises with, floats down a sakura!"
The sound of cheering children soon fills the air as I tried my best to catch my breath. Yes, I was singing just now…except I wasn't the only one—no. I got like a dozen children with me—all orphans. Why are there so many orphans with me? Well, orphans are a common sight at the Konohagakure orphanage, which was where Team 7 was.
After we finished had finished our week babysitting Kazuichi and Michiko, the Sandaime decided that we had had enough experience to move us onto the orphanage, where today marked our seventh week of working here. We have not seen a return to Masamune's, after Iwai and Masamune decided to help each other out with Michiko and Kazuichi after we had finished babysitting them. And Tae has not been in need of babysitters, so she was, presumably, doing fine.
Meanwhile with Team 7, we were dealing with pure hell during our first two weeks at the orphanage. The caretakers kept glaring at Naruto, even though he wasn't doing anything wrong. And some of the orphans were just being mean to the poor boy.
Sasuke just got swarmed by a bunch of smitten little girls. I kept getting my hair pulled because long braids plus children equals pain. I'm not even gonna mention how many times my glasses were taken from me…
And Kakashi did nothing but watched!
…
Okay, maybe he did step in when some of the orphanage's caretakers were gossiping about Naruto behind his back. He was also there to retrieve my glasses for me whenever the children stole them. And Sasuke was on his own, because he usually resorted to a transformation technique and became one with the orphans until they discovered one of them just didn't belong.
Then I managed to pull a successful One Thousand and One Nights with the orphans during story time, in which everyone was being a little shit, and since then, everyone has mellowed out a bit. They had to, if they wanted to know what happened next.
Things got easier after that, now that the orphans gave Naruto a chance and actually got to know him. They were pretty friendly to him after that and some have actually defend Naruto from the caretakers.
The little girls gave Sasuke his much-needed space, but they still followed him like a bunch of ducklings. Aaaand I got stuck with the impatient ones who kept bugging me to continue the story for them. I decided to do something else and that's how singing time with Chōko became a thing. Because I had nothing else to show children that doesn't involve me spitting balls of condensed water into the air or at random targets the children gave me to shoot at.
That was pretty much how it has been for us after the beginning two weeks. Naruto had a following amongst mischievous children, who he would teach how to prank the caretakers. Call it getting even with the caretakers. They were only lucky that it wasn't Naruto pulling said pranks…
As for Sasuke, more often than not, he was seen with his ducklings (as we liked to call them). He was usually coloring with them or playing house. Sometimes it turned into an intense game of hide-and-seek, in which everyone got involved.
During our days off, Kakashi decided to start training us and by training us, he kept making me climb up a tree to fetch a kunai of his and each time I returned it to him, he kept aiming it higher and higher until I got stuck. I would then get left in that tree for a good fifteen minutes (sometimes, longer than that), while Kakashi focused on Naruto and Sasuke. Kakashi was trying to help Naruto improve his chakra control, because it was shit. And Sasuke…was just practicing, because Kakashi really had nothing much to teach him…not yet, at least. Kakashi wanted Naruto to catch up with us, in terms of chakra control, and also wanted to slowly phase me out of my fear of falling.
I came close to crying many times. A few times, I did cry. One time, it was because my glasses fell off when I was actually trying to climb down the tree after I got stuck. It was a pretty horrifying experience for me, because like hell I trusted my shitty eyesight when I was trying to climb down a fucking tree at a high height!
Another time, it was because my braid got stuck on a branch and I was in a position where I couldn't fix that. It was somewhat painful and just plain scary to be in such a position, just standing on the middle of a branch, with the end of your braid stuck on the branch a few feet above you. I have since contemplated on cutting my hair, as its long length was starting to become an inconvenience for me. I mean, I'm no Bayonetta, so I really can't do anything with my long hair. I seriously wondered how Ino did it, with her long blonde hair in a ponytail. Then again, my hair was longer than hers was, but I digress.
And a third time, it was because of an unfortunate encounter I had with a random snake I came across while climbing down a tree. I just freaked out and let go of everything. I was falling, with my arms flailing in the air because I just finished having bad flashbacks of my encounter with Orochimaru and being plunged into one fear after another was not good for one's mental health.
In all of those cases, Kakashi was the one to bail me out, as it was his job to make sure his Genin were safe. He called it a day after that because the health of his Genin mattered to him. It's the one reason why he put limits on Naruto, despite his immense stamina. The same went with Sasuke, who was rather annoyed, but understood that Kakashi meant well.
Hanabi and Sakura's birthdays came and went, with little Hanabi turning seven years old and Sakura being the third person, out of our circle of friends, to turn thirteen (excluding Neji, who was thirteen going on fourteen, and Gaara's siblings). The month was almost over, and, all together, we had spent at least two months doing D-ranked missions.
Come the next day, the Sandaime finally relieved us of our caretaking duties and allowed us the freedom of choosing our D-rank mission. And it just so happened that Naruto picked the one that sent us all over Konoha, looking for Tora the Cat. I should have expected this day to come, but two months of watching over children can do a lot to a person.
I didn't even bother questioning the wireless radios we had to use to keep in touch with each other while we searched for Tora. I had enough headaches trying to understand how technology even works in this damn world, thank you very much. It was just best to leave it be.
"What's the distance to the target?" Kakashi spoke to us via wireless radio.
"Five meters." Naruto responded. "I'm ready anytime-ttebayo."
"So am I," Sasuke remarked.
"Me too…" I said.
Honestly, this entire mission was just ridiculous. We went from looking throughout town for a fucking cat to eventually finding ourselves in the forest. This was where our search led us to, and we've been at it since this morning. It wasn't even noon and I already wanted to call it a day.
"Okay…go!" Kakashi gave us the signal.
Sasuke, Naruto, and I reacted immediately, jumping out of our hiding spots in an attempt to catch the stupid feline that kept avoiding us. This was our eighth attempt already, and if we didn't catch that cat now, I was going to scream. Thankfully, a well-timed tackle from Naruto apprehended Tora successfully.
"I got you!" Naruto loudly exclaimed.
The light brown cat in his arms yowled loudly and tried to claw her way out desperately, but to no avail.
"Does it have a ribbon on its right ear?" Kakashi asked us. "Are you sure this is the target, Tora?"
We might have caught the wrong cat a few times, so Kakashi had every reason to ask us that question…
Sasuke took one look at the cat scratching at Naruto's face and said, "Yeah, we're sure."
"Owowowowow!" Naruto yelped as Tora continued to scratch his face. I'm honestly surprised he managed to keep his hold on Tora. I do not envy him one bit.
I've had enough experiences with cats in my past life to know how much it hurts to get scratched. And while I could have helped Naruto out, I didn't want those claws getting stuck in my bandages or messing them up.
"Good," Kakashi said. "'Operation Capture Tora the Lost Pet' complete."
About a few seconds afterwards, Kakashi, Sasuke, and I were treated to Naruto's loud voice blasting our ears as he yelled, "Isn't there a more exciting mission we can work on?!"
The knucklehead forgot that his radio was still on…fucking oww.
…
…
Fast-forward to twenty minutes later, and Team 7 was greeted with the sight of the Fire Daimyo's wife, Madam Shijimi, rubbing her cheek against Tora's face as the cat yowled and struggled to get out of her grip.
"Ohh, my cute Tora-chan!" Madam Shijimi was quite oblivious to her cat's distress. "I was so worried about you!"
My expression was blank as Sasuke treated the scratches on my arms, with Naruto laughing at the sight of Tora getting what she very well deserved…in his opinion. Meanwhile with me, I was resisting the urge to slap Naruto upside the head for flinging Tora at me on our way back to the Academy. He couldn't take Tora's scratching any longer and I happened to be the closest to him at the time. What happened afterward was the very thing I wanted to avoid, and that was Tora's claws getting stuck on my arm's bandages.
I was only fortunate that the Academy wasn't that far off, because until we arrived, I was stuck with this stupid cat on my arms. Kakashi had to use a kunai to cut my bandages off so we could free Tora, who was then promptly handed off to her owner.
"How much longer?" I asked Sasuke.
"A little more…" If there was one thing I was glad about Sasuke, it was that his curiosity led him to using his Sharingan to copying a medic-nin technique Sakura had used to heal a scrape Ino had gotten during sparring practice back in our Academy days. The outcome from that was that Sasuke learned the technique, which was the Mystical Palm Jutsu.
It doesn't end there, as actually using it was a different story, because for Sasuke to use the Mystical Palm Jutsu, he needed a shit-ton of practice, of which Sakura was happy to help with. And it was thanks to Sakura, as well as Natsu, that Sasuke had some basic medic-nin training. Sasuke still had a lot to learn, but it was enough for him to apply simple first aid, as he is now, healing the scratches on my arms.
In hindsight, I find it funny that Sasuke is basically the Sakura of this Team 7, in the sense that he is capable of healing. At the same time, I'm extremely glad that it was his freaking curiosity that got him this far into learning something that I probably should have considered, but never got around to because I was too busy putting focus into my taijutsu and shurikenjutsu. And like hell anyone was trusting Naruto to learn medical ninjutsu, as that alone requires advanced chakra control, which he does not have.
"Hey, Jiji, what do we do now-ttebayo?" Naruto looked at the Sandaime for a response.
"Can we please get something that doesn't involve cats?" I asked, almost pleadingly.
"Well…you could try and babysit the chief counsellor's three-year-old, or would you rather go back to the orphanage—" Sarutobi was cut off as Naruto, Sasuke, and I yelled, "NO!"
"No more babysitting missions, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.
Sasuke nodded his head. "We've done enough of that already, give us something new!"
"I swear, if I have to tell the story about the flying carpet again, I am going to snap!" I have limits, dammit!
…
"Well, in that case, how about messenger duty?" the Sandaime suggested. "Or what about shopping in the neighboring village? I see that some farmers have put in request for help in digging up the potatoes…"
"No, no, no!" Naruto crossed his arms in front of himself in an X-shaped formation. "Find us a better mission, dattebayo!"
I wasn't that surprised to see Iruka slam his hands down on the table when he stood up from his seat to reprimand Naruto.
"You idiot, you're still just a rookie!" Iruka snapped. "Everyone needs to start with the easy missions to gain experience!"
Naruto growled. "I know that already, but we've been doing D-ranks since we graduated!"
"It's been almost three months since then…" I muttered under my breath. By now, Sasuke had finished healing my arms, so I was now in the process of re-bandaging them.
Sasuke sighed in exasperation. "At least give us a C-rank! I'm sure we've done enough for one!"
…
"Maa, it seems my adorable Genin have made their decision," Kakashi remarked, catching Naruto, Sasuke, and I by surprise. "Are there any available C-rank missions that are of their level?"
Seconds after saying that, Naruto, Sasuke, and I latched onto Kakashi, hugging him as tight as we could, in an attempt to show him our gratitude. Kakashi just sighed and patted each of us on the head.
"Well, there is a C-rank mission that we have recently received," the Sandaime said as he pulled out the correct mission scroll. "You are to be bodyguards for this client."
Naruto was quick to let go of Kakashi as he turned to face the Sandaime. "Bodyguards…? Who are we gonna watch?! Is it someone important, like a princess, dattebayo?!"
"Now let's not get too hasty." The Sandaime chuckled. "You'll eventually get there—just not now."
"Damn straight!" Naruto nodded his head. "So…who are they-ttebayo?"
"I'll introduce you to him." When the Sandaime asked for our client to be sent into the room shortly after saying that, I was hyped up.
Then our client walked into the room and hype turned into regret because our client was Tazuna, the master bridge builder from the Land of Waves. I have no idea how long Team 7 was doing D-ranks in canon before the C-rank mission to the Land of Waves. At this point, it doesn't really matter because all of that is irrelevant, now that Tazuna is here.
"Motherfucker…" I swore, earning a light bonk to the head from Kakashi.
"What? They're all kids!" And it seems Tazuna has finally realized who his bodyguards are. Coming from a civilian, such a comment wasn't as insulting as it could have been.
"Uh, sir, are you drunk?" I asked as I watched Tazuna take a long drink from his bottle of sake.
"No." Tazuna let out a puff of air after that, his face somewhat flushed from drinking. "Not yet, at least."
Joy. "I'm not carrying you if you pass out."
"You probably couldn't, even if you want to, little girl." Yup, typical response from a civilian.
I am so done, you don't even know…
…
…
When Mama found out that my team received a C-rank mission, shortly after I returned home to pack, she wasn't surprised or anything. She just hugged me, wished me good luck, and directed me to the sealing scrolls I was most likely going to need for this mission. I was oddly calm as I went to my room, carrying five scrolls in my arms.
I might have went heavy on the amount of ration packs I stuffed into my backpack, but only because I'd rather my teammates not depend on the nasty-ass ration bars that were usually sold at the market. The Akimichi made their own ration bars, which were certainly far more tasty than the average ration bar (trust me, I know), while still being nutritious as ever.
I packed in an extra set of clothes in my backpack, and stored two more sets in a scroll, just for a good measure. It was going to be a looong mission, so it would be nice to alternate, for the sake of hygiene. I also added a roll of bandages to my backpack, just in case I needed to replace my bandages, as I had to earlier after my encounter with Tora the Cat.
I may or may not have started to get a little paranoid when I stored two sets of kunai and shuriken into a different scroll, adding in a set of senbon afterwards, just in case I needed to rely on precise hits. My heart started to speed up when I noticed I was running low on smoke bombs, but I quickly focused my attention on storing an adequate amount of soldier pills into another scroll, that I had dubbed the first aid scroll, as there was definitely a first-aid kit in it.
I deliberately left two of the remaining five sealing scrolls unused. I would find use for them later. For now, into my backpack they go! I made sure my backpack was securely closed afterwards, because it would be a shame for anything to fall out because of my negligence.
With my backpack packed and ready, I took the time to take a bathroom break before changing into a clean set of clothes. I refilled my weapon holster, making sure it was full of sharp shuriken and kunai. I have never felt so happy to see something so sharp and deadly in my possession, but I consider that a sign that the paranoia was starting to take its toll on me.
I checked myself in the mirror afterwards, adjusted my glasses and scarf—looking good Chōko! Boost in self-esteem accomplished. It's always nice to feel good about yourself, especially in such a situation as mine.
I made an attempt to wear my hitai-ate on my forehead, since my scarf mostly hid it. I thought it would be better if my hitai-ate was visible at all times, but wearing it on my forehead felt too awkward with my glasses, so I back to my neck it went. I could just tie it around my arm like Shikamaru, or wear it like a belt, but I honestly felt safer with it around my neck (I hate leaving my neck exposed). Otherwise, I'd worry about it falling off without me noticing. I'm like that…
I grabbed my backpack and put it on, its weight moving me back a few steps. While it doesn't feel heavy (to me, at least), it certainly has enough weight to throw me off my balance. I considered that a good thing, but that was probably the nostalgia talking. I was used to hefting a heavy backpack on my back in my past life, thanks to school. Ahh, good times…
I looked in the mirror once more, gave myself another boost in my self-esteem, and then left the room. I made my way over to Mama, who made sure to double-check my backpack for me. She didn't question my reasons for excess weaponry, nor the many ration packs. In fact, Mama ended up packing another sealing scroll into my backpack, saying that it was full of ration packs.
"Make sure to eat whenever you're hungry," Mama told me as she closed my backpack. "Stay hydrated and don't hesitate to use full strength whenever the situation calls for it."
"I w-won't!" My voice was a little shaky, if only because I was nervous. "I love you."
Mama blinked and smiled as she picked me up in a warm embrace. "I love you too!"
It feels nice to be loved… I almost feel like crying right now because of how fucking scared I am.
"Give Tou-chan and Chōji my love," I said after Mama put me down. "B-Bye!"
I ran out of the house after that, my heart pounding as I made my way to the marketplace district. I still had some time before our meet-up time with our client at one of the gates. I was quick to pull out a sealing scroll from my backpack in order to store the numerous smoke bombs I bought from one of the stores. I made sure they were the good quality kinds, ones that lasted longer in obscuring vision, with some of them containing sleeping gas. Cheap smoke bombs were good for quick getaways and small distractions, good quality smoke bombs were good for battles due to their duration.
I ended up paying the Munehisa weapons shop a visit to buy another set of kunai and shuriken, because having two sets of each was STILL not enough for me. My mind was literally repeating the word, "Nope!" over and over again. Even as I approached the specified gate, where Naruto, Sasuke, and Tazuna were already waiting at, the word continued to repeat.
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!
"Are you okay-ttebayo?" Naruto asked me, looking somewhat concerned.
I was noping so hard, mentally, that I nearly told Naruto, "Nope!" as my response to his question. Luckily, I managed to allow myself a moment to compose myself before saying, "I'm fine!"
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!
You know, like a liar, because my mind is still saying otherwise. I'm surprised Sasuke and Naruto haven't caught on, or maybe they have, which is why Sasuke is patting me on the back, saying that everything is going to be okay.
"You know, this is gonna be our first time out of Konoha like this-ttebayo," Naruto brought up. "Aren't you excited?"
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!
Please ask again later when I'm not noping.
"I doubt it when she's this tense…" Sasuke remarked. "Seriously, it's going to be fine! Kakashi will make sure of that!"
"I will, too!" Naruto exclaimed. "And Sasuke, too!"
"No crap." Sasuke huffed. "Where the hell is Kakashi, anyways?"
"Yo." It took every fiber of my being to keep myself from screaming when Kakashi suddenly appeared behind us. "Sorry if I was late, I was making sure the house was locked up and secured."
That was not a fucking lie. Kakashi was being honest for once with his excuse. Though, he may have taken a small detour afterwards to pay the Memorial Rock a visit, but yeah, Kakashi was not lying.
…
"Did you water Shisui?!" I quickly turned to Naruto, who was quick to nod. "What about your other plants?"
"They're all fine, Chōko-chan!" Naruto reassured me. "Wow, you're really tense-ttebayo."
"Here, have some daifuku," Kakashi said as he handed me a pack of green tea daifuku. "Try to eat slow and calmly. Wouldn't want you throwing up, now would we?"
I shook my head and slowly opened the pack of daifuku. It was honestly comforting, just seeing that Kakashi was trying his best to ease my nerves. He ended up doing the same with Sasuke, just placing a ripe tomato into the Uchiha's hand. Sasuke didn't even wait to take a bite out of his tomato.
As for Naruto, Kakashi just ruffled the blond's hair and said he had a few packs of instant ramen on him. Naruto was ecstatic to hear that and just pulled Kakashi into a spine-cracking hug. I was amazed at how well composed Kakashi appeared despite the hug Naruto gave him.
"Hey, am I really going to be safe with these brats?" Tazuna suddenly asked Kakashi.
Kakashi just smiled at Tazuna and said, "You couldn't have asked for a better team!"
I felt my face heat up as I chewed on a piece of daifuku. Did Kakashi have that much faith in us?
"Damn straight, dattebayo!" Naruto agreed with Kakashi.
Sasuke just stayed silent and took another bite out of his tomato.
"I am a Jounin, in case you're still worried!" Kakashi assured Tazuna. "Now I trust everyone has packed correctly?"
"You wouldn't let us leave the house until you were sure we did, dattebayo!" Naruto complained. "Now let's go, let's go, let's go-ttebayo!"
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!
Someone get me out of here!
…
I spent the entire afternoon scouting the ground for any suspicious puddles, because fuck—I was paranoid!
This earned me a few stares from Sasuke, who had been keeping a close eye on me since he noticed I was inwardly freaking out. Naruto was too busy enjoying the view, as this was his first time outside of Konoha. Kakashi kept a close eye on all of us, while Tazuna seemed to make a drinking game out of every little thing Sasuke, Naruto, and I did that was worth questioning our status as shinobi. Considering his current position, I wouldn't blame him for drinking.
I was on edge the entire time, even up to the point when we were setting up camp. It was some time before dusk, and I was just looking at every bush around us with the highest suspicion. It got to the point that when I heard something rustle, I immediately flung five kunai into the bush and, well…I hit a rabbit. So, ah…dinner was on me?
Kakashi ruffled my hair before going to fetch the rabbit I accidentally killed. He was probably telling me to calm down. And dammit—I was trying. but I was still freaking out over the fact that we could die at any given moment because this C-rank will eventually escalate into something else.
Tazuna was setting up the fire, Sasuke managed to keep a straight face as he skinned the rabbit Kakashi had handed him, and Naruto was doing who knows what. He just up and left without saying anything. This was before I had killed the rabbit (Elmer Fudd, eat your heart out), so I assume he's hunting for dinner.
About fifteen minutes later, Naruto came back with a rabbit and nearly dropped it when he saw that we already had a rabbit on us. He almost asked where we got when Sasuke just pointed at me, like the rude little boy he was.
"She freaked and accidentally killed a rabbit," Sasuke explained.
"How do you 'accidentally' kill a rabbit-ttebayo?!" Naruto was baffled.
"I just did, okay?!" Get off my case, dammit! We're only lucky that it was a rabbit I had killed, because if it wasn't…yeesh, I just got goosebumps.
"What matters is that Chōko-chan helped with dinner!" Kakashi tried to change the subject. "Now go help Sasuke out, Naruto."
Naruto muttered under his breath and walked over to Sasuke, who just held out his hand for the rabbit. Meanwhile with me, I was sitting down on the ground, with my knees brought up to my chest. I was munching on a ration bar, trying my best to seem calm and failing horribly. Then again, I don't like watching animals get skinned in front of me (eww, eww, gross, gross).
"Let's try turning away from the gore, Chōko," Kakashi said as he turned me around. "Now is there anything you want to tell me that's on your mind?"
Oh crap, English…he definitely doesn't want Tazuna listening in on us. "I'm fine."
"Chōko, you've been holding that kunai for the past thirty minutes," Kakashi said before taking the kunai out of my hand. "You're starting to worry our client."
"I'm sorry, I'm just worried about everything going wrong…" A huge understatement, but I'm not lying. "I mean, this is our first time out of Konoha. The last time we've even approach the gate was when Itachi-san…"
"No need to say anymore," Kakashi stopped me.
"I need help…" This is seriously not good for my mental health. I took another bite out of my ration bar and just looked down. I wasn't paying much attention after that, because the next thing I knew, I was face-to-face with a pug.
"Chōko, meet Pakkun," Kakashi said as he held out the pug in front of my face. "Pakkun, meet my cute little Genin, Chōko—"
My loud squealing interrupted Kakashi as I just latched onto Pakkun and embraced him. "Puuuuuuuuuuuug!"
Oh my god, I love pugs so much, you don't even know—aaaaahhhh~!
"Not so tight!" Pakkun's gruff voice nearly caught me off-guard, but I was too ecstatic over the fact that I was hugging a pug. Though, I at least loosened my embrace on him, since I didn't want to be harming the little guy.
I honestly should be taking Pakkun seriously, since he is a ninken, but dammit, he just looks so cute~! Oh you are so cute, yes you are— "Yes?"
I am vaguely aware of the strange looks I'm getting from everyone, excluding Kakashi, who just seems like he wants to say something. He cleared his throat, ignoring a very vocal Pakkun, who was now struggling to get out of my grip. I'm starting to think that my brother-in-law from my past life had a point about me being like Elmyra from Tiny Toons…
"Now I trust the two of you will get along—Pakkun, don't bite her." Kakashi flicked Pakkun on the nose before his teeth sunk into my arm. "I need you to behave and maybe let her touch your paw pads."
Pakkun only muttered in annoyance as I began to nuzzle him. I dunno about you, but ever since Kakashi gave me this little guy, I certainly feel a lot better. Pakkun is not a battle-type ninken, and I am very much aware of that. I am also aware that he possesses a sharp sense of smell and that alone just gives me the reassurance I need to stay calm. I won't have to worry about anyone sneaking up on us with this little guy out here!
Dinner was honestly better than it could have been, had Kakashi not taken out Pakkun. Naruto kept trying to pet Pakkun, only to get his hand nearly bitten by the pug. Sasuke tried the same tactic and just when he managed to successfully pet Pakkun, his hand got bitten…hard. This earned him laughter from Kakashi, Naruto, Tazuna, and I, while he healed his bite.
"Just so you guys know…I hate you." Oh Sasuke, we know you don't mean it!
"We love you too!" I nearly got slapped for saying that, but Pakkun came in for me and bit Sasuke again.
"I'm gonna kill that mutt!" Sasuke yelled before promptly getting restrained by Kakashi.
And so came an end to our first day doing a C-rank mission. It's gonna escalate eventually, but I'm gonna try to enjoy the peace there is right there before shit hits the whirling device. Hopefully, night watch isn't as stressful as I assumed it would be. I doubt I'll be able to sleep at all, tonight…
Stupid insomnia…
…
…
…
A/N Chōko may or may not be paranoid for the first few days of the C-rank mission. Expect her to go into attack-mode when prompted to, like with the rabbit. Again, she's got everything to worry about, especially considering her past. Naruto is currently on a high that is seeing new sights, which he considers exciting after those two months of caretaking.
And Sasuke is just being Sasuke, as usual, but blame the childcare as a result of that. He just wants to go on a mission that doesn't result ANYONE developing a crush on him. Oh, and he may or may not have a future career as a medic, since stuff happened and yeah...
By the by, someone else also did me a thing! Sainganin . San (remove spaces) drew a cute picture of Chōko with bed hair! The link to the picture is on my profile and just, I'm happy. Like, so happy, I can't even word right. Thank you so much! I really appreciate the effort put into it! ^^
Moving on, Chōko's ophidiophobia may also have traces of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Let me just say this as someone who has had experience with PTSD. Flashbacks are scary…they just are and I've nearly freaked out a couple of times when I got them.
If anyone is concerned about what happened to me, nothing serious really happened. It was just a minor car accident where I bumped into the back of someone's bumper, nothing else. The entire accident was just emotionally distressing for me, but really, no one got hurt.
That's enough about my life, let's get on with the shout outs, shall we? Okay, Lucky Reviewer #300 is Megami-san! And shout out to KeiGinya for being reviewer #310!
By the by, it's like 6 AM and I haven't slept at all, so please excuse any mistakes you might see in this chapter. I just REALLY wanted to get it out and I promise a much longer chapter come next update! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, so until next time, everyone! KD out! XD