Chapter Ten 💫

                                    

                                          
"Why can't I find them?" I asked to nobody in particular. For the past month I had felt like the background character in my own life. The most exciting thing I had done was spar against my own clone, whom I had given a whole half of my chakra to. It was quite embarrassing to saw it was a draw.
                          
I felt like my entire team was avoiding me, and it was giving me a small bit of anxiety. 
                          
I hadn't stayed at Sasuke's house anymore. I slept on the stone statue of the fourth hokage. I snuck sheets up there, I guess it was kind of my new home.
                          
My attitude shifted when I looked around, going from bad to worse. I noticed that there were a trail of eyes following me. I looked down, and started to walk faster. Thankfully, the watching feeling disappeared.
                          
Sashibi walked in front of me, taking me by complete surprise. I tripped over myself so that I didn't punt her into the land of the waves, and fell face first into the dirt.
                          
Sashibi laughed, and I grabbed her by the scruff. Raising her to my face, I scowled. "What's the big idea?"
                          
"You should'a seen yourself!" She ignored me.
                          
"Next time, I'll just kick you." I grumbled, setting her fuzzy little tail back on the dirt road. I had noticed she was growing very fast, her head reached up to my knees now.
                          
"Where have you been?" I asked, noticing I was beginning to sound a little pathetic. I didn't really care. It felt nice having her talk to me. Having someone talk to me.
                          
"I was gathering intel on how to get to the village hidden in the sand."
                          
"Oh."
                          
She sniffed, then paused. She sniffed again, then furrowed her fuzzy eyebrows. I paused too, and turned towards her. "What is it?"
                          
"Sand Ninja, three hundred meters to our left. In the upcoming alley. Oh! Maybe they can take me back with them?"
                          
"How were you able to smell that? What specific scent do sand ninja have?"
                          
"..sand."
                          
Ok, I admit, that was a really stupid question. We continued walking, and I peeked down the alleyway out of simple curiosity. My eyes widened when I saw Naruto and Sakura, and I looked the other way. They were together, without me. They've probably been avoiding me.
                          
I couldn't ignore the fact that that the face painted one looked like he was holding something, but Naruto was in my way, so I couldn't see what it was. I stepped to the side, looking past him, and my breath caught in my throat.
                          
He was choking someone.
                          
Konohamaru?
                          
Memories flashed before my eyes. I saw a younger version of myself in Konohamru's place, at the mercy of someone's choke hold. I saw my brother run and knee the attacker in the face, catching me in the process. I let out a shaky breath. Something was wrong with my sight. I looked down, inhaling slowly.
                          
When I looked back up, the face painted kid was on the dirt, and I had a sniffling Konohamaru in my arms. I blinked three times, and my warped vision turned back to normal. I must have had something in my eyes.
                          
The kid got back up, and I noticed that I had broken his nose. He wiped the blood off of it, and I glared. I set Konohamaru down, and he hid behind Naruto.
                          
"You're going to regret that, leaf Ninja.." He made a lunge for me, and I stepped back out of instinct. I watched as he got nailed in the head with a rock, and followed the trail to find Sasuke, sitting on a tree. 
                          
He turned the next rock to dust, and I refused to allow myself to blush. Even though he looked cool, he was definitely showing off.l and doing it on purpose.