Darning

By IdamariaKenglish

1K 117 8

The line between right and wrong had become blurred, she only cared about what she felt regardless of how muc... More

Untruth
Candor
Daze
Disjointed
Shift
Stubbornness
Superfluous
Relapse
Denial
Beyond
Coincidence
Weakness
Quarrel
Attack
Conformism
Kage's Council
Shock
Luck
Causality
Cares
Convergence
Approach
Nadeshiko
Closeness
Justification
Serenity
Return
Bond
Encounter
Friction
Strategy
Purpose
Effort
Solace
Breakage
Limit
Relief
Truth
Epilogue

Ambivalent

14 3 0
By IdamariaKenglish

She was completely uncomfortable when she had to be alone with the Hyūga in the middle of the forest, that's why she had managed to mark as much distance as possible between them and not to be careless when it seemed to her that he was getting too close. Besides that she had felt his white eyes riveted on her person analyzing her completely, and then he had pronounced that he saw something strange about her, to which she didn't answer anything. Time was moving too slowly for her liking and she had barely put in two sensors when he grabbed her arm and pulled her close.

He didn't say anything to her, just held her against a tree while she again internally reproached herself for her inability to react at once and push him away as she should have, not to remain motionless almost at his mercy and then try to excuse herself that even if she had tried it wouldn't have done much good as Neji outstripped her in strength. The seconds passed one after another slowly as she felt his nose run down her neck at the same time her skin bristled, to say she hated herself more than she hated him at that moment was an understatement. And like an answer to a prayer she hadn't made, footsteps were heard, so he turned away and scowled all at once at the newcomers.

"Who gave this order?" Neji asked them in annoyance when they explained why they were there.

"It's a strategy from the intelligence squad," a 'damn Nara' was uttered in a hiss that the others didn't hear, she didn't care who had thought of that, she was just thankful that they would be accompanied for the rest of the day.

"Well, quickly show them the ones that are already in place and let's move on."

From there at least the clock deigned to hurry and when the sun was setting they all left the forest, because the two additional shinobi didn't leave her side for a moment and were writing down many things regarding the different places she chose. So she was satisfied that she had survived for the day. The next day she technically had it free as it would be the written exam, she wouldn't stay in the apartment, even if she wasn't from the village surveillance squad, they all had to keep an eye out for any possible news or mishaps that might occur given the amount of people swarming everywhere. While these were peaceful times and the whole continent seemed to be mostly in harmony, one could never be too cautious.

She stood at the entrance of the academy waiting for all the participants to enter, again teams of three would be divided into different classrooms. The halls were a hive of shinobi of all ages throwing in each other's faces which village was better and similar nonsense, she was definitely thankful that in her day to day life she didn't have to surround herself with teenagers or such immature people, because it would make her job a thousand times worse. With a click of her tongue she entered the observation room where Shikamaru was already listlessly watching the screens and pointed to the empty chair next to him.

Memories of the previous exams where they had the same function came back, especially when she heard him activate the microphone to tell the jōnin who would be watching each room that they could start handing out the sheets and gave some basic indications regarding the rules. The amount of points that each of the questions gave, the way in which some could add or subtract and that there was a minimum to be obtained by each team if they wanted to move on to the next round, in addition to an individual minimum and roughly how the system was for those who decided to try the double promotion.

They had eaten lunch inside the classroom as the test was still going on and when it was finally over all the sheets were handed to them to be scored. They would only be in charge of scoring the answers and others to compute if the minimum required was met and then contact those who would go on to the next part to report to the forest the next day. They finished a little later than initially planned, but at least that part was ready, and at home they had dinner alone since Shikaku and Yoshino had gone out.

"What's up?" asked Shikamaru after he kissed her shoulder and she didn't show to accept his pretense.

"I'm not in the mood," she said curtly and he exhaled heavily settling on his side of the bed.

"You haven't been the whole trip," how to explain to him that she had been the night before but to be with someone else?

"It's a shitty trip," that wasn't a lie.

"Are you sure that's all it is?"

"What else could it be?"

"I don't know, I feel you differently, woman," a shiver ran through her with those words, did he realize what she was hiding?

"You're thinking stupid things," she turned to cuddle up to him, who all at once settled down to make herself on his chest.

"You always know how to remind me why I love you, troublesome woman," she smiled sideways and then closed her eyes to fall asleep. No matter what, she felt comfortable with him.

All the observers and members of the medical group were summoned to one of the entrances of the forest of death by Anko, the woman would give the introduction to the participants who had passed the written exam and were now going to start this new phase. They were dressed with the tactical vest to be identified easier, although the order was still that they couldn't intervene and that explanation was given by the woman as well, neither could they seek their help to pass any test or obtain any scroll. As their name said, they were purely to observe the performance and in her case to warn when any seal was activated that they could proceed to the tests within the area she had arranged.

They had distributed and memorized the forest by coordinates to give the indications by radio and once the Mitarashi said they could leave, each one went to the entrance they had previously designated and entered with Ino. The blonde had made sure to stay in an area that was close to her and that way there was no possibility of being alone again with the Hyūga, who pretended not to pay attention to her but she knew him well enough to know that he was. She didn't care anyway, she was going to concentrate on her part and that was it.

Four days and their respective nights were there, by the fifth morning almost half of the participants who entered the forest in the central tower were already there, some had been injured either in a confrontation or by some animal that lived there, others showed that they didn't have the basic knowledge of survival and had to retreat. Fortunately there were no deaths, so after finishing that part she could leave, given the fact that more shinobi were expected to be promoted than in previous editions, there would be no preliminary combats but directly the draw would be made to decide the confrontations that would take place a couple of months later. So as soon as they had the meeting to evaluate the group's performance and all the tourists they had had in Konoha for those days started to leave, she asked for a mission to do so as well. Keeping busy was always the best option.

~

The military agreements had always seemed to her to be a complete piece of shit. Although the new giant book was almost finished, and part of what had been stipulated there was the chunin exams of which the last part was missing that at least didn't entail any additional work beyond accompanying her brother when the final phase took place, but that was still to come. What occupied her agenda at that moment was that she had to go to Iwa to talk to the Tsuchikage about the elite force and from there go to Kumo where she would meet with the two remaining kages that at least had agreed to be in the same place and not make her have to go to Kiri, the last thing she wanted was a damn boat trip.

Or well, at least not alone. She clicked her tongue at the thought of the damned kunoichi and that they hadn't properly said goodbye, her last words had been that claim of the day she stayed at her apartment. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Would Tenten understand her if she told her that last night she gave in to her boyfriend's request but as was becoming her habit she spent the entire encounter thinking that it was the brunette's hands touching her? Since when had she herself become so pathetic?

She had already internalized that stupid Temari was actually what she wanted to do, but from there to thinking or devoting herself to acting like an idiot was a chasm of difference and it definitely wasn't going to happen. Though it was hard for her to come up with an excuse to justify that the first thing she did in the morning and the last thing at night was check the scroll in case Tenten had sent her something. She snorted as she checked to see that there was nothing, and packed her bag for the trip to Iwa, she wasn't going to take the dumb scroll with her to see if that would stop her attitude. Though just before she left that morning she picked it up from where she had thrown it and after checking that there was still nothing, she packed it.

Ōnoki reminded her in some ways of the elders of the council, probably because of his age and having some of his own crankiness. Being half of the meeting the man complained about his back pain or that he was sitting badly and this caused his hips to bother him. She just tried not to answer on that subject and suggested that it was time for him to retire, for that served the diplomacy that dominated her work as a delegate.

The old man had devised a plan to try to maintain a certain balance within the continent, the elite force she had heard rumors about and that would respond to the five great nations but would function as a different entity, without taking sides for any of them and its main objective being the peace of the continent. Those who applied would have several tests to overcome because they would have to prove to be what they sometimes defined as 'an one-man army', a shinobi with the ability to lead a team, to create a strategy, to fight hand-to-hand, to handle ninjutsu, to know different combat techniques and any other necessary skill because unlike a normal team in which each member had a defined specialty and there was a clear leader, it was expected that all team members had the ability to replace whoever was needed.

So far all the kages were in agreement, what remained to be defined was the requirements to apply and exactly when this plan would come into force, because initially it would start with the jōnin who already had the position, which automatically left out the participants of the current exams, and around there all the intermediate villages that still didn't have officially shinobi of that level in their ranks. It was planned to do something like an initial test and if it worked as it did in the old man's head, they would extend it to allow now from any village to apply.

It had been almost a week and a half listening to the old man, the worst thing was that it wasn't much that each new meeting brought as he only received her for a couple of hours in the morning and the time when he really talked about what was important was little. Naively she wanted to believe that in Kumo she would be two or three days at the most since A was a much more concrete man and he did go to the point, but she had to count on the presence of Mei who left much to be desired in being clear when exposing her ideas, and she was probably waiting to hear them argue again on the subject of the islands.

She didn't want to go there predisposed to have a bad week while she was there, but on the first stop of her trip of at least four days to the country of Lightning she meditated for a while before buying a piece of raw chicken, and once she was at the inn where she would spend the night, she proceeded to sit in front of a blank sheet of paper thinking what the fuck to write on it. That letter writing thing still didn't appeal to her but whatever.

I didn't hear how you did in the forest, though I heard Anko say she liked your work.
I just hope that the next phase won't be so complicated, and that for the next exams they choose a different venue, don't you think?
For now back to work and shitty trips from side to side to go to boring meetings.
In a few days I'll arrive in Kumo and I think I'll be there for about a week.
So... Well, you know
I still have no idea about how to finish these things.
Regards, T.

She clicked her tongue as she read what she had written, at least the amount of scratches had lessened a bit, but she still felt absurd to make those notes. She snorted before biting her finger to summon Kamaichi, and after watching him eat what she had bought him, she handed him the envelope, he sniffed the air before disappearing in a cloud of smoke and she went to the bathroom to take a well deserved shower before putting on the shorts and blouse that were her pajamas to get into bed.

The next day she arrived at Oto when the night was already advancing, she had decided to go ahead in spite of a rain that in fact was not a novelty in that region given its fog forest. So at the inn that night he jumped into the bathtub at once, as she didn't want to catch a cold. As she got out she spread out the contents of her suitcase which had been dampened a bit in front of the fireplace so that it would dawn dry and it was then that the small scroll caught her eye. The night before she hadn't checked it and at that moment she thought only of just tossing it aside without further ado, but in the end she unrolled it just a little and found that there was indeed something there. With a lopsided smile she made the learned seals and a sheet of paper appeared.

Hello!
Four days without sleep is a little too much for anyone, we didn't have any casualties inside the forest and that was a good thing. Anko also told me what you heard and even remarked it in the meeting we had after finishing that phase, and that made it worth the torment.
I don't know what to think about the venues, I guess it is important to alternate the villages as it implies a temporary boost to commerce due to the tourism it entails.
And about meeting in Kumo... I'm not in Konoha at this very moment and I'll just finish the mission I'm on tomorrow, so I don't think I'll be able to come back and try to ask for one to the country of Lightning so that we can meet up.
But, I don't know if it's any use... I'm in the Icy country very close to Shimo, have you already passed it on your way? Tell me if it is possible, because in the afternoon I was thinking of starting my return trip, and if your answer is that we can meet, I can stay in the village without exceeding the time I have designated.
I will have a piece of meat on hand to give to Kamaichi when you answer.
Did you know that he also likes cheese?

Anyway, kisses.
Tenten.

She read the letter noting for starters that it was at least twice as long as the one she had sent and that the brunette had gone to the bother of answering every rhetorical point she raised in hers, plus there wasn't a single scratch anywhere. By 'worth the torment' would Tenten be referring to the idiot Hyūga? Would this one have tried anything? Her brow furrowed from imagining that scenario, and because for a moment she thought that by clarifying that the brunette didn't get to go to Kumo was a refusal, fortunately it wasn't and she was pleased to see the coincidence that Tenten was on her route.

Shimo's village was one more day away and she had previously considered that her next night would be in that place because Yu, which was the other option, seemed too close and she knew that she could make the effort to get there and at the same time she could reduce the number of dead days due to the travels she had. She summoned the fussy weasel and offered him some bread and an apple she had in her suitcase, she was already in her pajamas so she didn't plan to go out again just to get him something raw. It seemed like he frowned at her when he saw the options, but he accepted the bread before receiving the new note that only had one sentence.

See you tomorrow in Shimo. Regards, T.

~

She moved a little closer to the campfire she had made, spending the night drifting in the Frozen country wasn't a completely advisable experience for anyone and less so if you didn't have the proper coat. But where she was there wasn't the option of an inn or anything like that, so she just wrapped herself in the blanket and was thankful for being warm while she waited for the weasel to show up sooner or later to find out if the next night would be spent in the capital and probably accompanied. She was watching the crackling of the fire when Kamaichi came close to where she was, wiggling his nose from side to side before approaching her, she signaled him to crawl under the blanket beside her and the animal did so, nibbling happily at the piece of meat and then preening himself while for her part she read the five words written on the paper plus the signature.

The animal had dozed a bit before leaving, and as first light streaked across the sky she ate a soldier's pill and continued her mission, obtaining the signature that concluded it as the evening was just beginning. So she went to Shimo and took the opportunity to take a nap at the inn before nightfall and go out to explore the village in search of her... couple?

She exhaled heavily as she thought about how she didn't really know where she stood with Temari, her own feelings had been bared in Nadeshiko and at least during that trip and the two subsequent encounters she was completely sure that she was reciprocated. But then there was that last conversation they'd had in her apartment and she couldn't help but feel in a kind of limbo. Was she developing a fixation on her relationships having that component of uncertainty? Apparently so.

That was why she had been a bit surprised that the weasel had shown up with the letter, she liked knowing that the blonde was looking for her, that no matter where she was, Temari had managed to use her summoning and learn the seals for her scroll thus getting them a much more effective and faster way of communication of their own than just using Suna's official messenger service. She smiled as she saw in the distance the woman who at that moment was entering the same street, having dinner together at the only acceptable looking restaurant in the tiny village before going to the bedroom. 

What was it Sakura had said about making up time away? Well, that was a great description for the way they spent the night.

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