Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just Takara and her family (not Anko(obviously, lol))
Chapter 2~ Friends
"This is Naruto, my new friend," I stated excitedly as I gestured wildly to Naruto. Anko sat, staring calmly with one eyebrow raised up in mild surprise. She motioned for the two of us to come closer, so I pulled the unsure boy to a chair.
"Well, nice to meet you," Anko said, handing a stick of dango to Naruto, who accepted the peace offering with little hesitation. He glanced at me first, as if to ascertain if this was a trick or not. But after seeing my utter destruction of a stick of dango, he smiled and ate up too.
Naruto, having accepted the dango, stayed sitting with us as we continued to munch and chat. Anko happily ordered Naruto more food as he continued to eat as if he never got a good meal before.
After observing that for a moment, I felt the need to ask him what he liked to eat, which was met with a resounding "Ramen!" I smiled at his enthusiasm as he told us about a ramen shack called Ichiraku that he frequented.
"Do you go there with your parents?" I asked, swinging my feet back and forth but I already had the sneaking suspicion that-
"No, I don't have any. Never have." He explained casually, but I could hear a smidge of resentment in his voice. Who wouldn't have some resentment after being alone for so long?
"Well, then you should come to have dinner at my house sometime! My Mama is an excellent cook!" I explained brightly. He smiled at me and nodded.
"So why do you want to be a ninja, Naruto?" Anko interjects, chewing on a wooden stick and seemingly enjoying the fact that Naruto and I were eating lots.
"I want to be Hokage so that people will respect me and look up to me! What about you, Takara?" He says, looking at me with excitement flickering in his eyes.
I didn't even need to spare it a thought. "I wanna be head of the T&I Division someday, just like my Mama!" I said, smiling and getting a dreamy look on my face. I notice Anko stiffens a smidge, but she relaxes quickly.
"T&I division? What's that?" Asks Naruto, furrowing his brow and puffing out his cheeks.
I giggled at his silly face. "The Torture and Interrogation Division is part of the Intelligence Division. I would gather information from bad guys to keep us safe. Also, my kekkei genkai works well with it." I said proudly, raising a dango stick over my head like a sword. I deflated slightly after a moment, "Although my kekkei genkai hasn't activated yet."
"Torture? Wow, that's scary." Naruto said, leaning away a bit, dramatically.
I giggled. "It's exciting for me!"
After a moment of silence between the three of us, I realize I may have been too much. "I have to use the restroom, I'll be right back," I said, standing up and walking stiffly to the bathroom.
I was a little embarrassed.
I am still not used to talking to other people outside my family, and I think I may have freaked Naruto out a bit. I paced in the bathroom, worrying about scaring away the one friend I may have.
After I had finished being flustered in the bathroom, I stepped out only to be cornered by some kids my age just yards from the table.
"Hi, can I help ya?" I asked, tilting my head to the side and smiling. I could see Anko just behind the boys, but she was still sitting down, drinking, and watching. The boys glanced at each other before one stepped toe to toe with me and leaned 'menacingly' over me. "You better stay away from that kid. He's trouble, my parents say so."
'Naruto?' I thought dully before looking over to Naruto and Anko, who were both staring at me from our table.
Naruto looked back down at his plate sadly. He was blushing, and… were those tears pricking in his eyes?
I turned my attention back to the boy standing in front of me, "You can't say that! You don't even know him, you bully!" I jabbed a finger at his chest, but the kid didn't seem like he was gonna back up.
Then I promptly smashed my forehead into his nose. There was a clear crackle sound, and his nose spurted blood like a hose, tears streaming down his pink cheeks.
"Leave Naruto and me alone, or next time it will be a black eye!" I yelled, waving a fist in his face. The boy stood up and ran away with his friends yelling, "Crazy violent girl!"
I grinned at the scene and slapped my hands together like I was getting rid of dust. I skipped back to the table and sat down next to Anko, who was laughing and saying something like, "Not ready for the academy, my ass!" And Naruto stared at me in shock. For a moment, I was afraid maybe I was too intense again, but then he began to smile.
"Ignore those idiots, Naruto. They aren't worth your sadness." I said curtly as I rubbed my forehead a bit.
"Yes ma'am," he said excitedly and ate another dango.
Afterward, Anko and I said goodbye to Naruto. I told him where I live so that we can train and play together. He smiled and nodded before leaving for his own place.
When we got home, Mom and Dad were already there, eating their own dinner. When Mom saw me, she let out a strangled scream and started pointing at the blood on my purple dress, looking back-and-forth from Anko to my Dad.
"Don't worry," says Anko with a smirk. "It's the other kid's blood."
My Dad gave me a silent nod, but Mom looked pale as she carefully pulled me into a hug and asked me to explain what happened.
"Well, I met this kid, and his name is Naruto. We had fun and were eating dango and talking, and then some kids cornered me and said, don't play with him, so I head-butted one of 'em!" I spoke fast and without breath as I shook my arms around in an exaggerated way.
I still noticed when my Dad visibly tensed up from the name Naruto and the quick warning glance my Mom gave him. He deflated slightly and turned to look out the window instead.
"Naruto as in Naruto Uzumaki," my Mom asked gently as she began to rub my forehead with a damp handkerchief.
I nodded hard, which wasn't helping my Mom's cleaning attempts at all, and said, "Yup! He's really nice and really funny. I don't know why the other kids are mean to him."
My parents glanced at each other before nodding to agree with me, as well.
"Anyway, I told him he should come by some time, and I told him where we live," I said as I began to notice the blood on my stockings and grimaced.
Once again, Dad visibly tensed and did not look pleased, but Mom smiled and said, "I'm glad you found a new friend, I was starting to get a little worried." She gently tugged on my curls.
"How could you be worried when you never let her out of here?" Anko snorted before walking out of the house, waving goodbye.
After I had cleaned up, I sat with Mama in her chair while she quietly read a book. Her chair is soft pink and rocks slightly. I like it because it's soft and cushy, but it's always been Mama's chair.
"Mama, why is Dad weird about Naruto," I whispered quietly.
The book was closed, and Mom looked at me. "Let me tell you a story." She said, pulling me more comfortably into her lap stroking my long, puffy, curly hair.
OK, off-topic, but I love Mama's stories, so I complied.
"A long time ago, when I was nine, me, your Dad, and another boy named Kota were in a genin group. Kota and your Dad were longtime rivals and best friends. It was kinda sweet. We went on a lot of adventures, the three of us. Escorting princesses, fighting bad guys, training till we dropped, surviving the war together, supporting each other when we lost friends. We were quite the team. Then one night, about six years ago, the demon fox appeared in our village. Kota never got the chance to meet you, or start a family of his own, he was 24 years old when the fox killed him and many others." Her words were thick with sadness as if she was reliving a trauma.
"What does this have to do with Naruto?" I ask in a sad voice, hugging my Mama harder.
"Naruto, while he had nothing to do with the attack, his family was more responsible than anyone. A lot of people have mixed feelings about what happened. Some think Naruto and his family are heroes, and some think they made a lot of mistakes." She said quietly.
"But, Naruto is an orphan," I said, thinking about our conversation earlier.
"Yes, both of his parents died during the attack as well." She began to rock the chair slightly.
"Oh," I said quietly, suddenly I was having images flash in my head of a blond man and redhead woman dead, and it was just all weird. I just sat there silently, mulling it over. Mom had a pained look on her face too, probably from thinking about Kota, so I rested my head on her chest and closed my eyes. We stayed like that for several minutes.
I looked up eventually and as the pained look on Mama's face got stronger, I got sadder. I felt bad that she lost one of her best friends. I was starting to think she would cry, and that made me want to cry, too, so I asked, "How did you and Dad meet?" to cheer her up. If there was one thing to know about my Mom, she loves to tell stories about her and Dad's life together. And to talk about how much she loves him.
She just laughed a bit before launching into how, when she was six, she met him in the academy. The first time she actually talked to him was in class-sparing. She swept him off his feet and then held out her hand to help him up, and instead of taking it to pull himself up, he pulled her down. Wrestling her until he had pinned her, he then said, "You should never help the enemy."
To which Mom kneed him in the crotch, called him a jerk, and stormed off. We laughed together and then sat in a happier state in the rocking chair.
"Takara! If you don't master this move in your next five tries, I'll make you run till you drop with an extra set of weights!" Dad said harshly as he dodged my pitiful excuse of a leaf gale(leg sweep). I huffed, pulling up my black training shirt to look at my hip, where I smacked on the ground. Yup red and bruising.
"Can't we take a break? I'm tired, Daddy!" I whined loudly.
"For whining now, it's in 2 moves, or I'll double the weights." He squinted at me, he's serious.
Fearing for my life, I quickly got into a turning position before I attacked Dad with the leaf gale. This time managing to hit his leg with mine, but the shin not the back of the knee. Meaning it felt like I hit a steel bar. I fell on my butt and clutched my leg, holding in the sound of pain as I rolled around.
Dad stood in the background, clapping his hands, saying, "Well, at least you hit me but hurry up and try again. You'll never improve if you just sit there sulking all day, and your accuracy is atrocious, so you better clean up your act now. Upon your feet Takara!" The man felt no pity.
I sighed, stood back up, and got into position. 'Last one,' I thought numbly, imagining me coughing up my lungs later from running around Konoha all day. I took one last deep breath and charged forward. This time faking him out to swing behind him and knock his knee out a little bit.
"Haha, I knew you could do it! Now, how about a little Ono-ha Itto-ru practice." He said, pulling out one of the katanas strapped to his waist, making me groan.
I was gonna go find Naruto to play, but Dad is never gonna let me leave. My Dad is a big guy, standing about 7 ft tall, and being a big-boned guy, he is intimidating. He carries around two katanas, and it is practically family law that I learn how to handle them. His family is known for its two katana attacks and physical attributes. The Gushikan brand lies in the Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu technique, which involves using one sword for attack and the other for defense. But he insists on practicing all the most common sword attacks so that I can switch sword techniques at any time.
He typically dresses in completely black attire, except for a green headband tied around his right shoulder bearing the Konoha symbol. He has another band on his left arm showing our clan symbol. It is a jagged horizontal line with a circle above it on its left and a triangle sitting on it, on the right side.
He hands me the white katana and holds the black in his hand. "You're holding the katana of Yang, and I'm holding Yin. You have to respect the weapon and use it with a firm hand and concentration." He said, giving me the same speech as always. He stood tall before swiftly swinging his katana towards my legs, blunt side down, of course.
I clumsily stopped it and went forward, aiming for the stomach. He easily blocked it and in a twist of his katana, disarmed me.
"Takara, if you continue to have loose hands and bad posture, you will never reach two katanas, now try again! This time I will attack you!"
I ran to grab my katana just in time to block his attack coming down on my head. Mama had always yelled at Dad for being too aggressive, but Dad retorted the same way every time.
"Someday, when Takara is a ninja, no one will go easy on her."
I brought my katana up to block another blow when I heard, "Takara! I found you!"
I stopped in my defense to turn around to see Naruto before Dad hit me on the head with the hilt of the katana. It hurt real bad and I reached up to rub the, would be, lump on my head. He sighed, and with a look over to Naruto, he took Yang back and waved his hand at me to leave. I smiled at him and waved goodbye.
"Hi, Naruto!" I exclaimed, grabbing his arm.
"Woah, that guy is huge!" Naruto yelled, pointing to Dad. Dad rolled his eyes painfully hard.
"Yup, Daddy is kinda big." I laugh.
Naruto gave me a last look of shock before I dragged him off, which made sense. I inherited my Mom's petite size, for now at least.
We ran through the village causing mayhem and playing ninja for a while before happening on two other kids. Two boys, one with thick brown hair pulled into a spiky ponytail and the other with light brown hair and spirals on his cheeks. They were walking down the street just in time to watch me try to jump over a fence, and instead, trip face-first into the ground. I gave them quite a fright.
"Hi, I'm Takara, and this is Naruto, it's nice to meet you!" I said enthusiastically, nursing my shattered pride. But, a weird bit of shyness made my voice crack. I was still getting used to meeting new people, and it was harder to be my full level of enthusiasm when I was socially stunted.
"Hey, I'm Shikamaru, and this is Choji." The brown spiky-haired boy said tiredly.
"Do you guys wanna play with us?" I asked, showing the paper shurikens we had been using.
The two glanced at each other, Choji wanting to play, but Shikamaru grumbled about being too tired. In the end, we all played together after Shikamaru finally gave in. Naruto looked super happy, and I was happy too. For the first time, I had real friends, not just my small family. Shikamaru was lazy, grumbly, and funny too. Choji was really sweet and caring, even if he wasn't the best at the game. Imagine my surprise to find out that they are also going to ninja school.
We played for an hour before I was running down the street, trying to hide from Shikamaru and Choji.
BAM!
I slam face-first into a boy.
"Owe, sorry I wasn't pay'n attention," I said, looking up to realize it was the guy from yesterday. Seeing it was me, he grabbed me by the mesh collar of my black training uniform, raising me off the ground, and shook me a bit.
"Ha found ya! Now I'm going to make you sorry for yesterday!" The boy spat, bandages covering his swollen nose.
"Do your worst." I spat back and prepared myself for a smack to the face. He raised his arm back to punch me when BAM he's tackled by... a scrappy looking kid and dog?
"You shouldn't pick on little girls!" The scrappy kid said, jumping to his feet, grabbing my arms, and pulling me up with him. At this point, the boys on the bully's side and my friends had arrived.
"Thanks for the assist but I got this!" I said, turning to the mean boy before pulling back my own fist and punching him in the face. His friends hissed in sympathy, and the mean boy cried out and turned to run away with his friends.
"I told you next time it would be a black eye!" I screamed after him.
I then turned around to face my friends.
For a second, I felt the fear that maybe I was too intense again, and they wouldn't like me anymore, but... they were looking at me amazed.
"Sorry about that, those guys have been a pain recently. And hey, thanks a lot for helping me! I really was not finding a way to get out of that one!" I said, giving a toothy smile to the scrappy kid and his dog.
The boy got a little red. "It's no problem, and they shouldn't have attacked you anyway." He scratched his head before remembering something. "Oh, I'm Kiba, and this is Akamaru." He pointed to his puppy.
"It's nice to meet you Kiba and Akamaru! I'm Takara!" I chipped and playfully punched his shoulder lightly.
So I played the rest of the day away with my new friends.
After all, school is starting soon.
Authors note:
Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it. Feedback is loved, but I won't fault you for not doing it. You guys reading it is enough. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me.
Thanks and have a nice day!
~ToL