„No shit...I'm so sick of this."
„Now come on Tora. One more round, and without you sowing half the pool."
„Drinking up?!...swallow...I'm sorry, but I'm doing this completely involuntarily. Not to mention the swimming lessons. Besides, Naruto..."
„Naruto's on a mission and if this keeps up, I'm going to get uncomfortable...Tora," the jonin growled.
Suppressing an angry grumble, I gathered all my remaining strength and paddled towards the opposite edge of the pool, which still seemed far too far away. Then the water suddenly got a lot warmer and seemed to heat up at breakneck speed. Was he seriously going to make his threat come true? He couldn't be serious.
Against my will, I began to reach out with my arms, let my legs kick regularly and crawled swiftly towards the other end, heaved myself up and brought my sweating body out of the heated water. Puffing heavily, I sat there and looked at the almost bubbling, chlorine-smelling liquid.
Two feet appeared in front of my lowered gaze and I raised my head a little, only to look into Kakashi's narrowed eyes. He held out his hand to me and I let him help me up.
„Look, you can do it, so what was that all about?"
I looked away, he should know that I hated water, which was probably because I had almost drowned several times. It was so deep, dark, dragging you down...
„But we're far from finished. And since I figured it would take a while for you to take a liking to swimming... I've thought of something."
A confused blink was all I could manage. How was he trying to make swimming appealing to me, there was nothing...
Loud laughter broke through my thoughts, something splashed and I looked past Kakashi. The last thing I could make out were seven tufts of hair disappearing under the surface of the water. A barefoot Shino stood at the edge of the pool, snorted briefly and then turned towards the deckchairs.
He didn't seem to be in the mood for the water any more than I was... or maybe his bugs were...
Kakashi, who had apparently left unnoticed, came back. In his hands were lots of diving goggles, which he apparently handed out to the others, who were eagerly snapping them up. Only Neji waited until the end before taking one for himself. I watched the hustle and bustle motionlessly before the grey-haired jonin held out a pair of goggles to me.
I hesitantly grabbed them and put them over my eyes.
„So, listen up, everyone. That goes for you too Lee...no...this isn't going to be a relay swim...and you don't have to prove the power of youth now."
He sighed briefly before picking up the actual thread again.
„I will now give each participant a bag of these stones. These are your lives. In other words, if you are caught, you must give one of them to the person. And the first person to lose their stones is out. You give the opponent's stones to either Shikamaru or me."
„Yes, just like me," I said, but Kakashi grinned slightly.
A few seconds later, I knew why. Because from then on, I couldn't move a muscle. Damn. What a load of crap.
„Y-you're not serious, Shikamaru," I growled, but the Nara laughed softly and, to my displeasure, didn't seem intimidated at all.
„Come on, you're not going to chicken out, are you? Don't be such a coward. That's not the Tora I've come to know."
Was he right? Was I really just too much of a coward? Maybe it really was worth overcoming my inner coward here, just like when I fought my father. My lip hurt when I bit it.
All right, now he had me. After all, I would always face different challenges in life. I had run away enough. It was time for something to change completely. The fight with my father had shown that I had become stronger. But not strong enough. I couldn't just hope to get better.
Training and willpower were the solution.
Shikamaru, who had noticed my change of heart, released the jutsu and I walked resolutely towards Kakashi to take the pouch from his hand and tie it around my waist. Inhaling deeply, I took a running start and jumped into the water.
The others had already started playing and so I had to get to safety when Tenten, followed by Hinata, shot past me. The young Hyjuga moved so elegantly and skillfully through the element as if she had never done anything else. Tenten seemed to have difficulty escaping her.
An overzealous Lee pursued a panicked Kiba, which made for a truly amusing picture. Choji paddled desperately away from Ino and... wait... where was Neji?
Out of the corner of my eye, I recognized a light, delicate hand fishing for my bag. I couldn't row to the side in time and realized that I hadn't taken in enough air because I was running out. Meanwhile, Neji was holding one of the small stones in his hand and started to follow me to get the others.
I whirled around on the spot and shot off. At least I tried to, because the speed that Neji brought to bear made me seem slow as hell. Damn. Since when could Hyjuga members swim so well? I hadn't even known about that.
I dodged Tenten in a panic, but Hinata grabbed her bag and the blue-haired girl took out one of the stones. Her eyes turned to me and I stared straight into a glowing Byakugan. Great. Now I was really screwed.
I pushed myself violently off the edge of the pool with my feet and barely managed to escape Hinata's outstretched hand. Through the veil of my dark brown hair and a swirl of air bubbles, I realized that she had already grabbed my heels again and started swimming as fast as I could. Even though that didn't seem at all promising. But wait, if Hinata was using her Byakugan, then I could too...
And then, in the middle of the movement, I made myself invisible. The hyjuga blinked in irritation and seemed a little disappointed that I had disappeared so suddenly before her eyes. Taking advantage of the surprise, I shot towards her and fished one of the stones out of the bag in a flash.
It was now really time to turn the tables.
Ino, who was concentrating far too much on Choji, was my next victim. The more I swam, the more adrenaline and excitement flowed through my body. And I actually started to enjoy the game. No one could escape me here. Even though I couldn't swim quite as well as the others, my ability to steal was something that had to be imitated.
Even though it didn't really seem real, it felt strangely good to see the shocked expressions on the faces of the others when they realized that they had become one stone poorer.
Whenever I took a breath, I also brought a stone to Shikamaru at the edge of the pool, who grinned to himself. He didn't seem to be bored by the game at all, which was quite an achievement.
A draw.
That was the result between Hinata and me. We were both huffing and puffing. The others were already sitting on the edge of the pool watching us. We were now back above the surface of the water. I still couldn't quite believe that she had managed to talk her cousin out of almost all the stones. She had really made progress.
Finally, the hyjuga held out her hand.
I looked at her in surprise, as I hadn't expected this gesture.
„I'd say that's a good result," she said with a smile and I grabbed her hand, still taken by surprise.
„If only all fights could come to an end like this, where the opponents shake hands, the world would be a much more peaceful place," I said quietly and Hinata smiled sadly.
Thoughtfully, I blow-dried my hair. Kakashi had put three weeks into swimming training and now it seemed to be crowned with success. Maybe it would actually help me in the future to have taken this step and overcome some of my fears.
„That went better than I thought ... little one," said a deep voice in my ear.
I whirled around, completely forgetting that the hairdryer was still running and held it protectively in front of me, which only made Kakashi's hair even messier than before. Startled, I turned it off and noticed the amused look on my sensei's face.
He slowly ran his hand through his gray hair, grabbed a comb and brushed it back.
„Why are you still combing it? It's no use anyway," I said uncontrollably and the jonin paused. He sauntered a little towards me and scrutinized me. A grin formed under the mask.
„You must be saying that right now. Your hair is literally exploding."
And he was unfortunately right. I growled, slightly annoyed. Why? Why always me?
Annoyed, I reached for the brush and tried to comb my unruly hair, which turned out to be not so easy. I tried to ignore Kakashi's amused snort as best I could.
„It's your 14th birthday in two days, if I remember correctly."
Kakashi's loud reasoning literally dragged me from one misery to the next. Damn. He was right. Again. And I had actually forgotten... What else was I going to do? Bake a cake? Thinking about who I wanted to invite...
I wanted to invite...
It sounded so strange and familiar at the same time. ... The first time with Naruto, in a small meadow in the forest, next to a river. He had baked me a chocolate cake, the first one he had ever...
„Naruto has what?"
Just now I realized that I had probably spoken my thoughts out loud and nodded slightly.
„It's crazy that it's been almost a whole year, isn't it?"
The jonin smiled slightly.
„And I think we should celebrate that thoroughly, after all, a lot has happened in the meantime, hasn't it?"
„I guess you could say that."