“Ah’m not ah monsterrrr!” The frail red haired girl’s scream echoed in the sterile examination room. “Ah’m not… Ah’m not s’methin’ for ‘ou ‘o pway with…” A choked sob escaped her throat as a tall, pale man moved forward with a younger man with glasses behind him. Backed in to the corner, she could only tremble as he reached out and caressed her check, his nails leaving bloody lines in her skin.
“That’s where you’re wrong, pet. We made you and we can unmake you, my little fox… my Shichi-chan. Make any more trouble for Doctor Kushinada, and we’ll see what you think about disobeying after a session with me.” The man’s hand, Orochimaru, drew back suddenly struck her cheek with enough force to cause her cheek to redden and swell. Orochimaru straightened and turned to Doctor Kushinada, “I trust that my daughter will cause no more problems. Otherwise, I will deal with her. Make sure that she is collared, she has lost any privileges that she has earned.”
Doctor Kushinada, a white-haired young man with glasses, bowed before Orochimaru, “Hai, Orochimaru. I will see to it.” With his middle finger, he pushed up his glasses and turned to her as Orochimaru left. The sound the door made as it shut was ominous and Doctor Kushinada reached for a finely cut metal collar with rubies every inch with a single thick ring of metal draping from the bottom front with a tag. A metal collar that would deny her a bed, table to eat on, or even common decency. It was a collar that held tag that labeled her as nothing more than the number she was called by, Experiment Number Seven.
Shichi didn’t resist as Doctor Kushinada knelt down into her dark corner and Doctor Kushinada set the collar about her neck. She couldn’t hold back the flinch at the click and the burning sensation as Doctor Kushinada cast the jutsu and the rubies glowed. The collar no longer had a clasp of any sort to indicate how to remove it. Now only at the mercy of Orochimaru would it be removed, and his mercy was a cruel sort of kindness.
A chain was clipped onto the ring in front and she was tugged out of the dark little corner onto her hands and knees and she looked up with green slit pupils at Doctor Kushinada. Soft tawny red ears pressed to the top of her skull, and she bared sharps fangs as she growled and looked away from Doctor Kushinada. Shichi’s bushy red and white tail swayed angrily as her claws scrapped loudly on the rock floor. Despite the chilliness of the beginning fall weather that was creeping in, Shichi only wore bandages about her chest and simple black spandex shorts that ended mid-thigh.
“Now, now, Shichi. We wouldn’t want to have to get Orochimaru-sama involved again so soon, now would we? Be a good little fox and I’ll even take you to dinner.” Doctor Kushinada tugged her forward and rubbed behind her ears like an animal. Shichi was ashamed, but it was something that she really enjoyed and Doctor Kushinada knew it. He took cruel pleasure in teasing her and knowing that most of the time she was unable to act.
For the past eleven years, they had trained her. Shichi was their ultimate up close fighting machine. Her hands were her weapons and darkness her ally. She had earned the right recently to sit with Doctor Kushinada at dinner at the table and even sleep on the bed (even if it was at Doctor Kushinada’s feet); however she no longer had that.
Doctor Kushinada tugged her chain and Shichi followed him from the room obediently, occasionally dropping to fours if he paused before rising back to her feet to stand quietly behind him. They entered the dining area that had been set up for the common Sound ninja they used in combat and she lowered her eyes, knowing that one false move of arrogance could make things worse. They spoke about her as if she was a thing and not human at all. She knew it had been her statement about not being a monster that had caused her father to make sure she knew her place.
A monster, an animal, a number… perhaps that’s all she was. It was a success in combining the DNA of an animal with a human. Shichi bared her teeth slightly at the smell of food, but waited for the commands. She could not move until she was order to. “Shichi.” She tensed as Doctor Kushinada said her name, but then he turned away and she clenched her hands until her claws bit into her skin and drew blood.
Shichi took a chance to listen to Doctor Kushinada and the Sound ninja he was talking to.
“Man, Doctor Kushinada, she’s a beaute. First success, wasn’t it?”
“There are still some flaws. Apparently the fox is too wild to use, we should have used a dog. It would have been more loyal.”
“Shame. Although I prefer to see women who just a bit feisty myself…”
“Orochimaru-sama says that she is not to be touched.”
The last bit of the conversation caused her to shudder slightly. While Shichi wasn’t sure of the exact meaning, it implied something that would not be good for her. It wasn’t until her name was said again that she refocused back on Doctor Kushinada instead of staring at the meat in the bowl he was holding.
“Shichi.” Shichi tensed and went into her listening posture with her head cocked slightly to the side, but eyes looking appropriately at the floor. “Sit.” Her eyes found a familiar mat on the floor and knelt on it. She continued her listening posture. A bowl of meat was set in front of her.
Shichi trembled and licked at her lips, looking at the slightly bloody meat in front of her. She growled softly when the command didn’t come as quickly as she wanted, and felt her hair suddenly grabbed forcing her to look up into Doctor Kushinada’s eyes. “Do. Not. Growl. At. Me. Do so again and you will have nothing to eat.” He released his hands from her short wild hair and she resisted the urge to rub at her sore scalp. Shichi’s ears twitched as she leaned forward and whined an apology. Her forehead rested on the backs of her hands.
Doctor Kushinada walked past her and sat down at the table in a seat of his own and she could hear him eating. Knowing that this was a test, Shichi kept still except for twitching ears for a long time, long after when she was sure that her food would be cold. “Shichi. You may eat now.”
The words came as such a surprise that for a moment she didn’t move, and then she tore into her food shoving it into her mouth with clawed fingers. She grabbed another bowl of now luke-warm milk and drank it as well. When she was done, both her face and hands were covered in a mixture of milk and blood and she grinned and yawned now that her stomach was full she could now concentrate on more important things… like sleeping.
Curling up on the mat, Shichi waited contentedly for Doctor Kushinada to finish with his food. A sharp tug on the chain attached to her collar woke her. “Follow.” Shichi tensed, but followed the command quickly as Doctor Kushinada was already walking. She became frighten as he began leading her down unfamiliar paths and began hanging back and pulling at the chain he held in his hands. His voice was sharper as he repeated himself and she cringed, “Follow.”
It was dark except for the candle he held in his hand, and this part of the building seemed to be abandoned. Shichi trembled and hoped that the Doctor wasn’t taking her to her father. Her eyes widened in fear as he grabbed her shoved her up against a wall next to a door. “Listen closely to me, Shichi. I’ve been here a long time and seen many things, and I never thought that there would be a day that I would do something like this. I’m going to tell you something once and only once. You are to leave… leave and never come back. If you do…”
He seemed to pause and look into her fearful eyes. His look hardened and became menacing, his voice dropped to a whisper, “I’ll kill you. You are to run towards the mountain in the south. There… there is a city at its base; Konohagure. I can only hope they’ll… It doesn’t matter. This is all you need to know. Go there and never come back here! Do you understand?” Doctor Kushinada shook her to attempt to get a response.
“Occer, wan’ Shichi go south mouwdin. Nehwer ‘ome back.” Shichi strained to repeat, to understand. Her voice was her other flaw, it was very difficult to speak and sounded very animalist and guttural.
The Doctor nodded and with a fierce look, he grabbed Shichi roughly by the hair and removed the chain. He opened the door and tossed her out and aimed a harsh kick at her back side. She paused staring between him and the openness of the woods that confused her. His harsh whisper reached her ears at the same time she saw him draw a kunai, “Leave… or I’ll kill you.” That was all it took for Shichi to bolt on all fours into the forest in a panic.
Shichi wandered through the woods for several days lost until she finally caught sight of the mountain. She almost cried at far away it seemed and the ache in her stomach seemed to intensify at the thought of even longer without food. It was that same desperation that caused her to attack a rabbit and eat it raw. Following the directions, she fell into a routine. Dig a burrow or hide in a tree to sleep during the day, and then travel at night towards a mountain illuminated only by the moon. She found herself barking and calling into the night for anyone else, but she was never answered. It was a week later that she was found feasting on her night’s catch, another rabbit.
Shichi growled and backed against a tree. When a sharp bark didn’t deter the presence that she felt and couldn’t see, she spoke in that rough guttural way of hers, “’o way. Mine.” She clutched the bloody corpse in her mouth and dropped to all fours, swaying back and forth looking for the intruder.
Her nose picked up before she did, and Shichi’s ears perked up at the smell of fruit. They quickly flattened as the man revealed himself with two others. He had gentle face with a scar across the bridge of his nose. The other two, a woman in a trench coat and a scarred man stood back a distance. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?” Nose-scar knelt down on one knee and held out an offering of an apple. “I’ve got more if you’d like, but not here. If you come with us, I’ll give you all the food you want.”
Warily, Shichi eyed the man she’d dubbed Nose-scar and sniffed the air cautiously. No one else was near. Her stomach spoke for her, and she edged forward, half way expecting him to pull it away when she got close. However, he didn’t move, but seemed confused when she sat in front of him waiting for him. She growled in annoyance at his confusion. Didn’t he know that he had to command her to take it?
“Don’t you want it?” Shichi nodded and dropped the carcass into her lap revealing a blood smeared face. She carefully avoided their eyes, wondering if this was a test to see if she could follow commands like she did for the doctor. She controlled herself although she was drooling at the smell of the apple now that it was so close. “Why won’t you take it?”
Torn between obeying the rule of avoiding speaking and always answering when spoken to, Shichi found herself confused now that her bloodlust had abated and she bit at her lip. Finally, she decided that he was testing to see if she understood she couldn’t take it. “Ooo not ‘old Shichi ‘o.”
Shichi flinched when Nose-scar reached slowly and took her hand. He placed the apple in her hand and closed her fingers about it. Staring in startlement at his actions, she watched and followed his arms to his face and eyes seeing such a look of sadness that she quickly averted her eyes. She tore into the apple with vigor only pausing when he spoke.
“Will you come back with us… Shichi? I promise no harm will come to you.” Shichi nodded; content with the thought of food and sleep. She momentarily wondered what made him mention safety before she realized that she was probably still bruised from being at father’s. He stood and she moved to follow, clutching a dead rabbit in one hand and eating an apple with the other. One of the others made a move as if to say something about the rabbit, but Many-scars cut it off with a shake of his head.
They reached a large village and Shichi began to back away, but was once again caught by the sad look in Scar-nose’s eyes. Many-scars spoke to Nose-scar, “Iruka, she needs to be seen to. Maybe Anko should take her to the hospital. We can talk to Hokage-sama.” A look of panic erupted in her heart at the thought of a hospital and Iruka, Nose-scar, quickly saw this.
“Ne, ne. Shichi-chan. We don’t have to go to the hospital. Can we have someone look at you though? We want to make sure that you’re not hurt.” Shichi paused in her back-pedaling and nodded reluctantly, not really wanting to go back into the wilderness by herself. “I’ll send someone to Anko’s then. Anko, can you take her and get her…”
The purple-hair, Anko, nodded, “Can do. This way, Shichi-chan. Knock when you get to my place, Iruka, Ibiki, and I’ll let you in.” Anko’s hand firmly pressed on her shoulder and began guiding her away from the others. Anko sighed as they paused at a building, “We’ll be feeding you again as soon as you’re hungry, but can we get rid of the rabbit and what’s left of your apple in the meantime. I try not to get blood on my carpet.”
Shichi obediently let Anko take the remnants of her meals, although her ears were lowered in disappointment. Anko quietly tugged her up the stairs and into a one room apartment and from there into a bathroom. “Go to the bathroom if you need to and strip. I’ll be right back.”
Shichi followed through and sat on the closed toilet seat awaiting Anko’s return. Anko was wearing a bathing suit and carrying several items that she spread over the counter. Towels were set to the side on the back of the toilet. A medical kit sat on the edge of the sink. Finally, a black yukata with gold edging and underwear lay furthest from the shower.
Submissively, Shichi relaxed under Anko’s quiet ministrations as she was guided into the shower and thoroughly cleaned and then dried. She was sitting on the toilet clad in only a towel when a knock sounded from the door. Anko spoke softly to the fragile fox child, “Wait right here. I’ll be right back.” Shichi nodded a content and sleepy half-lidded acceptance. She attempted to shake some of the water out of her hair, but decided that it was took much effort and her head drooped forward sleepily as her hands rested on her lap.
Shichi started awake only to relax when she saw Iruka kneeling in front of her. “The doctor needs to examine you. Anko will stay in here with you.” Iruka started to get up to leave when her tiny clawed hand clutched at this sleeve.
“’ou.” Shichi found his presence more relaxing, and wanted him to stay. A flush covered his cheeks and she found herself looking at it curiously before remembering her manners and looking back down. Her ears flattened, expecting a reprimand for speaking out of turn and being too bold.
Only she just received a soft reply as Iruka gently squeezed her hand and removed it from her sleeve. He set it back in her lap. “I can’t, but I’ll be just outside the door. You can call for me or Ibiki if you need us. Okay?” Shichi nodded and waited until the door closed and she was left alone with the female doctor and Anko.
The doctor smiled kindly, “I’m Doctor Ishizu. Please let me know if I do anything that makes you uncomfortable.” Shichi stayed pliant under the Doctor’s patient guidance. Once she was sure that there was nothing permanent, the Doctor’s eyes went to the collar about her neck. Looking to Anko, she spoke, “You didn’t remove this?”
“I tried. There’s no clasp and it shocked the hell out of me when I tried to send chakra through it.” Anko shrugged and sighed.
Ishizu turned to Shichi, “Do you know how to remove it?” Shichi nodded reluctantly and seemed to shrink away from them. “Can you tell me?”
“’Rochimaroo.” Both Anko and the Doctor stared at each other startled. Then back to the fox child who was now trembling. “Ru’a! Ibiwi!” Shichi sniffled and seemed distressed and shoved past both Anko and Ishizu to cling to Ibiki who had slammed the door open with a towel barely clinging to her too thin form.
Ibiki looked softly down at the child he held against him and looked at the other two with narrowed eyes. “If you’re done here, then I suggest you get her dressed and let her get some rest.” He rubbed a shoulder to get Shichi’s attention. “Shichi, let them help you get dressed and then you can come right out, okay? I’ll be right outside. Can you do that?”
Shichi sniffled and rubbed at watery green eyes and released Ibiki. No one commented on the torn cloth or claw marks on his back as his left the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Both the doctor and Anko set about dressing her quickly and efficiently. Shichi’s hair was mostly dry when they finished. Her exotic nature was apparent in her slitted eyes, wild hairs, and claws in contrast to the neat yukata and her graceful movements.
They guided her from the bathroom and Shichi ran and threw herself at Ibiki’s feet, which quickly pulled her up onto the couch next to him. She curled up into a ball beside him and quickly began to drift asleep, hearing one last sentence before sleep overtook her. A woman’s voice, “I can’t believe she’s eleven…”
—- Birth of Tsume —-
Shichi slowly woke to a warm, cocoon-like warmth. She dazedly looked about, vaguely noting that it was light outside and yawned while stretching. Confused, she realized that it was past time for her exercise, and then remembered that there was no one here to take her exercising. Her ears drooped slightly, but shot up when she noticed someone was in the room that they had apparently moved her to last night. “Iru’a! Iru’a!” She was unnerved that the elderly stranger that sat calmly in the chair next to the bed. Old man watched her reactions with interest, the calm smile never leaving his face.
The door opened quickly to reveal Iruka panting heavily. He sighed in relief as he took note of the situation. “Shichi-chan, is everything alright?” Shichi opened her mouth to respond, but seemed unsure when she realized that Iruka wasn’t alarmed about Old Man. Her initial panic went down a notch as she carefully looked between the two, avoiding their eyes and only catching glances of their faces from the corners of her eyes. Her stomach chose that moment to interrupt.
Iruka smiled and looked at Old Man for a moment, who nodded in response to an unspoken question. “It’s alright, Shichi. I’ll get you something to eat. Do you need anything else?”
Shichi responded quietly, “’athroom.” Iruka nodded and held out his hand. She quickly moved to him, but only looked confused at the hand. He couldn’t want the chain that normally went with her collar, could he? He should know that she wasn’t allowed to keep that.
Iruka reached down and grabbed her own tiny hand, and Shichi realized that he must have wanted some way to guide her since he didn’t have her chain. As he moved, she followed closely, although she could feel the eyes of Old Man upon her as she entered the hall. She realized that this was not the same place as yesterday when she entered the bathroom. This bathroom was much simpler than the other. Iruka closed the door behind her when she made no attempt to do so. She heard him through the door, “You can come out whenever you’re finished, Shichi-chan. I can bring the food to your bedroom if you’d like.”
Shichi stayed silent as she figured that Iruka was implying that she should return to the room she woke up in. Grateful for the chance to relieve herself, she took the opportunity to do so. She opened the door only to have Iruka pause by the door on the way back to her bedroom. “Did you wash your hands?” Shichi started and looked puzzled. She’d never been asked to wash her hands before, although she’d watched the doctor do so many times.
Iruka sighed. “I’ll be right back. Stay put.” Shichi’s head, ears, and tail all drooped as Iruka took a tray of food into the bedroom. Tense and afraid that she’d done something wrong, Shichi didn’t move until Iruka put his hands on her shoulders and guided her before the sink. She couldn’t control the flinch at his touch. He reached down slowly and grasped both of her hands and brought them to the sink. “I didn’t mean to startle you. Please let us help you.”
Iruka’s words were confusing, but it was obvious that he wasn’t mad with her and the tension eased out of her letting her ears and tail resume their previous alert position. He rinsed their hands under their water and began rubbing the soap over their hands until he had a good lather. Watching to make sure that she was pay attention, which by her rapt expression in the mirror she was, he rubbed her hands together making sure that every inch had been thorough scrubbed. Iruka then ducked their hands under the water again to make sure they were well-rinsed.
Finally, Iruka took the hand towel from its rack and pulled her hands so that Shichi was facing him as he leaned down and dried her hands. “Shichi-chan, please wash your hands before you eat or if they get too dirty, okay?” Shichi nodded and pulled her fingers to her nose and sniffed.
“Smell’s ‘ood.” Iruka smiled at the spontaneous response and nodded.
“Yes, it does. It smells like flowers. However, I bet food would smell even better to you right now.” He put the towel back on the rack next to the sink and took her hand once again. Iruka walked side by side with her back to the bedroom and guided her to enter first.
Shichi’s nose twitched at the smell of the broth and fish sitting at a desk that she hadn’t noticed earlier. Iruka grinned and said, “I have to go take care of something, but I’ll be back in a little while, Shichi-chan.” Iruka left, closing the door behind him, as Shichi turned towards the door stunned. Tears almost formed in her eyes and her form drooped as she shuffled towards the desk and sat staring forlornly at the food.
Perhaps… perhaps she had done something wrong, Shichi thought. Why else would he leave without telling me to eat? Her stomach growled loudly and she clutched at it through the thin yukata in hopes of quieting it. A voice startled as she realized the Old Man from earlier was standing next to her chair, “Why aren’t you eating, Shichi-chan? Is something wrong?”
The voice was soothing and at the same time commanding, causing her to react so fast that the chair tumbled to its side and Shichi dropped to the floor with bruising intensity. Her knees were wide with her hands pressing against the wooden floor. Her forehead touched the ground and her tail curled between her legs subserviently. “Ojii-sama…”
Old Man knelt very slowly in front of her and placed his hands on either cheek and raised her face so that he could look at it. A hand brushed hair back from her face and rubbed over her ear causing her eyes to half-shut and a short guttural purr to erupt from her throat. Old Man noted her reaction and continued to rub gently over her right ear. “Shichi, look me in the eyes and tell me what’s wrong? Why are you so sad?”
Unable to resist the relaxing sensation spreading through her body, Shichi leaned forward slightly as she mumbled, “Iru’a no ‘ell me to eat.” Old Man shifted her so that she leaned against his side in his arms and lifted her light form so that she stood with him. He righted the chair with a practiced nudge of his foot. He maneuvered her so that she once again sat in the chair in front of the food.
“Shichi-chan, if you’re hungry, then it’s only natural to eat. Go ahead.” Old Man leaned against the side of the desk as a ravenous Shichi dug into the food before her once she was given the okay. She wasn’t a very messy eater although Iruka would be glad that he had her wash her hands as she didn’t pick up a utensil the entire time. The Old Man, knowing that she would have need of it, smiled as she finished up and handed her a napkin. “You may want to wipe off your mouth, chin, and hands. You got a bit messy there.”
Shichi blinked, but understood what he was asking. The doctor had often told her to wipe herself off after meals because she tended to have food left on both her hands and face. Afterwards, she continued to sit, unsure of what to do next or what was expected of her. She felt a bit pent up as she hadn’t been able to exercise that morning despite having been on the move for most of the previous days.
“Come here. I want to talk with you.” Old Man’s tone was gentle but insistent as he moved over to the bed and patted a spot next to him that looked out the window. Shichi moved and sat beside him allowing her bare feet to dangle off the side as she looked curiously out the window. “Your name is Shichi?”
Shichi looked at him out of the corner of her eye and shook her head, “Dezig…nayshun. Sucksess’ul ‘periment shichi (seven). No ‘ame. ‘ust Shichi.” Why would an monster, an experiment, have a name? Her eyes averted from the beautiful mid-morning scene out the window to her hands.
A larger wrinkled hand covered hers, “Would you like a name? You could be anything you wanted here.”
An innocent question caused his hand to squeeze hers, “Monsterrs have ‘ames?”
“You’re not a monster. Just a girl. A very confused girl. And little girls get to have names. Do you like… Tsume?” Overcome, Shichi, no Tsume, nodded. To have this man, despite her ears and tail, say that she wasn’t a monster caused her eyes to water. She rubbed at her eyes and smiled looking the kind Old Man fully in the face for the first time. The smile almost seemed menacing with the sharp fangs jutting out, but the emerald eyes were full of joy.
Tsume sat with the Old Man for several hours answering all of his questions about her and where she came from. He soothed her when she told something that upset her and didn’t reprimand her when she simply chose not to speak or didn’t answer. He didn’t push her for more than she was willing to give. Finally, he noticed that her attention wandered more often to the outside than to him and that her tail twitched impatiently. Occasionally, her nose would twitch as a new smell from outside assaulted it.
“Tsume-chan, would you like to go outside?” The Old Man already knew the answer even as Tsume turned to him hopefully. He chuckled, “I know the perfect place for you. It’s a place I spent a lot of time when I was your age. First, I need to see where they put your clothes. You can’t go outside in that.” He opened the door and called down the hallway, “Anko, could you bring a set of clothes for our guest and help her with them?”
Old Man turned to Tsume and ruffled her hair; she scowled slightly at the annoying gesture, but did not complain. “I’ll be back after Anko’s helped you changed.” He left the room and she could hear him exchange a few words with someone before a familiar purple-haired woman walked in.
“Good morning, Tsume-chan! I hear you’re going outside! I’ve got the perfect outfit for you! Ah, and I also have a little treat I snuck in just for you. Have this before we get your cleaned up and dressed.” Anko handed her a little stick with three sticky dough balls on it. Tsume sniffed it cautiously, but threw caution to the wind when the sweet smell caused her mouth to water. Taking a bite, she quickly dug into them. “Aha! I knew you’d like it! Now I know that you like sweet stuff!”
As Tsume finished with enthusiasm, licking the sweet sticky substance from her fingers, Anko displayed a simple black shirt with mesh sleeves, loose fitting crimson pants, and a black sleeveless trench on the bed. She took the now empty stick and dropped it in the trash can by the door as she pulled her through the hall into the bathroom.
Shutting the door behind them, Anko pointed her towards the sink. “First, brush your teeth. Here’s your toothbrush and some tooth paste. Next shower. Same thing as yesterday. Strip, get the water to a temperature you like, get in, and start scrubbing. The bottles are marked for what they are, shampoo, conditioner, and the like. I’ll be sitting right here if you have any questions.” Anko took a seat on the closed toilet as Tsume followed through the process.
The only mishaps that occurred was getting some soap in her eyes, water in her ears (that was not fun), and not getting all of the soap out of her hair. Anko watched with a critical eye to make sure that every rule of hygiene was followed thoroughly. Anko did look at the girl a bit enviously though, apparently genetics had rendered perfect portions of hair for the girl’s legs were long and smooth and all of her hair was fine and short, except for the hair on her head which didn’t quite touch her shoulders. Despite being slightly scrawnier than she should be, her build was muscular and well-defined and she moved with an animalistic grace.
Anko grinned at her as she helped Tsume dry her hair. “Great job. How’s those ears doing? Did we get all the water out?” A muffled sound that seemed to be a yes was heard from under the towel. Anko moved the towel and wrapped it about her body. “Hold that up and let’s head back to the room and get you into your new clothes.”
Tsume, paused and thought about that for just a moment. Her clothes? These strangers were nothing like anyone she’d met before. They gave her a name, clothes, and didn’t live by set schedules. She stepped quietly behind Anko, one hand placed in the front to hold up the towel. Anko closed the door as she entered the room and then pulled the curtains closed on the window.
Anko pulled out a bra and panties from a closet with a small dresser in the bottom across from the window next to the door. “Here put these on. We were able to guess at your sizes fairly well I think.” Tsume slipped the black panties on, but narrowed her eyes at the bra. The panties fit below her tail with string sides that rose up to set on her hips.
“An’o-san. Wha’s t’is?” Anko turned to look at the bra in Tsume’s hands and walked over. She took the bra from her hands.
“Well, first you’ll need to drop the towel. The floor’s fine for right now. We’ll pick it up when we’re done.” Tsume let the towel slid to the floor. Anko decided it would be easiest to demonstrate on herself first. Anko slipped the bra on her front and adjusted it slightly even though it wasn’t the right size. “A bra is an undergarment always worn underneath the clothing. Sometimes, ninja like me, choose to wrap bindings around our chest like what you had when we found you. However, sometimes a bra works just as well. You put your arms through these loops as adjust it on your chest like so. Finally you latch it in the back like this.” Anko turned about to show Tsume the latches and how they would close the garment. “Here. Why don’t you try it?”
Tsume took the garment and began to put her hands through the holes when Anko stopped her. “Sweetie, it’s inside out. When the stitching looks like this, this part should be on the inside. Think of it this way, the pretty side should face out.” Tsume nodded and reversed the bra and put her arms through. With little difficulty she adjusted it onto her chest, but fumbled for several minutes with the latches on the back before finally getting it to lock in place. Anko walked around her inspecting the attempt. “Looks good. Looks like the straps are a little loose, so I’ll adjust those for you right now and show you how to do it another day.” She made sure the fit was firm before walking to the bed and picking up the pants.
“Here are the pants. We had these specially tailored for you since your tail wouldn’t let you wear normal pants. This back here with the square pockets has a hole that should be just the size of your tail according to the doctor and a zipper and latch above to keep them secured. Your front has just a standard zipper and button with side pockets. Any questions?” Tsume shook her head and took the pants. She fumbled with the back side, but managed to get her tail, zipper, and latch to all cooperate finally. The front zipped up and buttoned easier and the pants hugged her hips tightly.
Anko nodded in approval at the fit. “It’s all fitting very well. I was afraid that we might have went too small, but it looks perfect!” She handed her the shirt and pointed to a tag on the inside of the shirt. “Tags on the inside usually tell you that that’s the backside of the shirt. The tag should be at the back of your neck.” Tsume slipped the shirt over her head and slipped her arms into the sleeves. She tugged it down so that it was fully on, although it still rode an inch or two above her waistband.
Anko handed her the coat. “Well, I think that’s it. Just put that on and you’ll be ready to go outside. You even have shoes at the door.”
Tsume slid the coat over her shoulders, figuring that if she was doing something wrong that Anko would tell her. “W’at a’out these?” Tsume reached up a touched one of her own ears. Tsume was feeling a bit nervous that others might not treat her like she was one of them if they could see her ears.
Anko assessed her for a moment. Finally she nodded, “Alright. Well, I was going to see if we needed it, but since you asked… come over here to the closet.” Tsume walked over to the open closet door next to Anko and stopped as she saw herself on the door mirror. She reached out to touch the image in wonder staring at the bright eyed girl with ears twisting atop a head of wild red hair in curiousity. Anko giggled at the sight. “Here let’s finish you up.” Tsume watched as Anko took a triangle of cloth and tied it so that it was firm about the top of her head and knotted at the back. Her hair made a wild frame about her face and covered where her ears should have been if she was like Anko and her ears were gently pressed down by the crimson triangle of fabric.
Tsume smiled and startled herself with her own toothy grin in the mirror. “Pretty.” She smiled slowly this time and touched the mirror again. Her eyes were lit up as she turned to Anko.
“Come on, kid. Let’s go show the old man. I think he’ll approve.” Anko grinned and guided her out with an arm about her shoulders. “Yo! Hokage-sama! This girl cleans up great! See for yourself.” Feeling a little shy Tsume stopped a few steps short of the living room and wouldn’t budge. “Tsume? Ah come on, it’s just the old man. Nothing to worry about. Really! Come on.” A sharp tug on her arm propelled her into the living room staring at her feet with cheeks almost as crimson as her bandana and pants. “See? Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? What do you think Hokage-ji-sama?”
The Old Man, Hokage-sama, stood from his seat on the couch and walked over. “She looks like quite the adorable young woman, Anko, and very much ready to see some of our wonderful city. Thank you for the help. Isn’t that right, Tsume-chan?” Tsume nodded. “Your shoes are right over here. You can slip right into them and we’ll head out. Let Iruka know we’ve gone to my old training grounds, Anko.” Tsume slipped her feet into the black sandals Hokage-sama pointed to as he slipped into his own. Even as the door opened, Tsume could barely hold back her excitement and her tail twitched violently under her coat, provoking a chuckle from the Hokage himself as they left.
— Tsume and the Great Wide Konoha —
Tsume practically leapt out the door and bounded down the steps, but stopped once she was at the bottom. She fiddled with her shoes, her claws were catching on the front, and she didn’t understand why she needed more padding that what was already on the bottom of her feet. After all, weren’t hands and feet normally padded against normal things like walking and jumping? Glancing up and waiting for Hokage-sama, she jumped slightly when she heard Anko shout, “Hell yeah! A few hours of peace and quiet! Time to get to work!” A maniacal laughter followed, but Tsume was focused on the steady pace the robed Hokage was taking.
Tsume’s tail twitched impatiently, and she turned away from him and looked about excitedly down the street. People were walking past and she watched them in fascination, especially the children. She’d never been close to anyone smaller than herself. A sniff brought so many new smells to her awareness that she was almost overwhelmed and quickly rubbed at her nose to keep from sneezing. So many buildings, people, and things… and she wanted to see them all. She glanced back to notice that Hokage-sama was now standing beside her and he just smiled and pointed down the street to their right. “That way, Tsume-chan.”
Running down the street, Tsume stopped at every new object to her. She struggled to read the signs on shops, looked in the windows, and watched the people from the corners of her eyes. Several adults paused and smiled at her, and the children ran by giggling. She seemed in awe of the ninja she saw with headbands and carefully gave them more of a wide berth than others. Every little bit she would pause and look about until a familiar white and red hat and robe came into view as if to reassure herself that she hadn’t been abandoned.
The Hokage made no attempt to curb her enthusiasm or curiosity, and was grateful that she still had any left after being raised in Orochimaru’s care. It seemed that the carefree and wild nature of the fox allowed her to live more for today than focus on the path. As long as she wasn’t being punished for it, then she wanted to explore everything that she could.
It would still be difficult though. No matter how much Tsume was attempting to adjust, this life was much different than her previous and things were bound to be very confusing. Some habits would be harder to break than others. “Tsume-chan!” The Hokage paused at a path next to a bridge. “We’re heading over the bridge this way.”
Tsume ducked under an armload of packages someone was carrying, only to pause a few steps later with a tiny angry frown as she pulled her sandals off. She held them in her hands as she ran towards the Hokage, leaping up onto the railing of the bridge when someone blocked her path and stopping in a crouch next to him. Her head was ducked as she spoke, “They ‘urt. Do I haffa wear’em?”
The Hokage removed them from her hands. “No, you don’t have to wear these. We’ll try to find some that don’t hurt your feet another day.” He reached up with a free hand and ruffled her hair slightly through the bandana. “We’re almost to my old training ground. I think you’ll like it. It’s free right now for anyone to train at.”
Grinning, Tsume nodded. While Tsume was glad that she was being allowed to do all of these things, she was confused. Being allowed to interact with others, having a bed, and even outdoor exercise had all been privileges she’d had to earn in the past. They were giving her all of these without any action from her. She frowned to herself. Did they want something from her? Well, she’d find out if they did, in the meantime she was going to enjoy what freedom she had before it was gone again. A smile slipped back on its place on her lips.
The Hokage’s soothing voice interrupted her thoughts, “Do you see those three posts in the distance? That’s the middle of the training ground.” Tsume’s eyes widened looking about the grounds. It was huge! There were some targets off to the side and those posts… they were perfect.
She started running full tilt, not even looking back at the Old Man, jumping up on the first post she let her momentum carry her to the second and the third. Tsume’s claws dug into the wood and she spun about towards the post she’d just left. Pushing off with her feet she leaned down and grasped the middle post with her hands to do a cyclone kick and twist her body so that she landed on the original post on her feet. Grinning at the Old Man watching in the distance, she sprung into a fast-paced aggressive pattern.
Spinning around the wooden posts in a feral dance; Tsume would snarl, circle, and leap forward with claws bared. Feet twisted in the dirt, and fists, claws, and feet pounded into the posts as she weaved between them. A simple shrug rid her of the coat as sweat glistened on her skin. She caught glimpses of the Old Man sitting against a tree, his hands in his lap, with his eyes intently on her. Inwardly, she thought that he was judging her skill, and hoping for a reaction she upped her display a notch. It wasn’t until much later, after a final roundhouse kick, that she felt her body give in to the tiredness she could feel beginning to seep into her muscles.
Grabbing her coat and shrugging it back on, for lack of anything better to do with it, Tsume sat on the ground near the Old Man and laid back. The sun felt so warm and soothing on her skin. She let her tail wrap about her waist and thigh, so that the tip was just barely visible from under the coat. The sky was a bright range of oranges, reds, and yellows as the sun began to set and shadows began to lengthen about them. Her breathing evened and she felt more relaxed that she had even felt before.
“I will beat you this time!” A kunai flew above her head towards the Old Man, but missed by a mile. Tsume shot to her feet and snarled, leaping towards a young dark-haired boy with a scarf that had made the attack. Both eyes, fangs, and the glimmering rubies about her neck made a fierce-some impression on the boy as he fell back. However, she never made it to the boy as she hit something else firm before that and was engulfed in warmth.
Tsume stopped, even holding her breath for a moment, as she tried to interpret this action. She was facing the Old Man whose arms were embracing her. “It’s alright, Tsume-chan. My grandson meant no harm. It’s a game of ours.” He slowly released her and to hide her confusion she focused her curiosity on the boy behind him.
“G’andson?” Looking between the boy and the Old Man, Tsume stepped forward slightly as her nose twitched and she sniffed for their scents. Though Tsume was unable to tell a physical resemblance, she could smell a similarity between them. The grandson no longer seemed frightened, but curious as well and was now standing behind the Hokage.
“Yes, his name is Konohamaru. He’s named after this village. Konohamaru meet Tsume. She’s new to the village and I hope that you’ll help her out. The place she lived before here was very different.” The Hokage put his arm around Konohamaru and pulled the boy in front of him so that he was between Tsume and the Hokage.
“’onohama’u.” Tsume tried to force his name out as close to how the Hokage had said it, but fumbled slightly on the ‘k’ and ‘r’. Konohamaru smiled at her and held out his hand.
“Yup, I’m Konohamaru. I’m going to be hokage someday just like my granddad!” Tsume smiled, but was a little confused by both the word hokage and the hand in front of her.
“Ho’age?” Tsume looked to the Old Man for an answer, but Konohamaru beat him to it.
“Yeah, he’s the strongest ninja in the village and our leader. Only the strongest ninja can become the hokage!” It took a moment, but Tsume realized that Hokage wasn’t a name but a title for someone important in the village. She nodded slowly, but still ignored his hand. “Hey hey! I’m trying to be nice here!”
Blinking, Tsume focused on Konohamaru. “S’methin’ w’ong?” At that moment her stomach growled choosing to remind her that she would eat while people are willing to feed her. Hoping that it wouldn’t be taken as an insult, she ducked her head.
At that moment, a man in black with glasses burst into sight, “Sorry, Hokage-sama! He go away from me! I was taking him to dinner and…”
The Hokage smiled at the man, “That won’t be nessacessary, Ebisu-san. I’ll take him to dinner with Tsume-chan and myself. Why don’t you enjoy the rest of the evening off and I’ll see you tomorrow.” He looked at both Tsume and Konohamaru expectantly before heading back towards the village.
“Hai (yes), Hokage-sama. Arigato! (Thanks!)” A puff of smoke was all that remained of Ebisu as Tsume and Konohamaru looked at each other before grinning and running to catch up with the Hokage.
“Where are we going to eat?” Konohamaru asked.
The Hokage patted Konohamaru’s head, “You’re fond of ramen, aren’t you? I don’t think Tsume-chan has eaten ramen before so why don’t we try that.”
Konohamaru looked at her with a comically horrified expression, “You’re never had ramen! You some try some miso ramen…” Tsume didn’t hear the rest as her attention was caught by a glimpse of blond hair. While her eyes focused back on Konohamaru, she wondered by that had caught her attention. It must have been the bright hair and clothing. She’d never seen anything so bright before. Tsume grinned; she was beginning to love the noises, smells, and sights of this place.
They sat at the bar of Ichiraku, the best ramen place in town (according to Konohamaru). While they were waiting on their food, the Hokage had suggested that Konohamaru teach her how to chopsticks because she’d never used them before. Konohamaru couldn’t help but laugh as Tsume continued to attempt to lift the small items on the bar for practice. “No, no!” He wiped away the tears from his laughter and held up his own for her to see. “Like a lever. See?” Looking closely at his fingers, she repositioned her own and tried again.
“Li’e ‘his?” Tsume carefully positioned the chopsticks to grab another pair of chopsticks, and finally managed to get it to hold.
“Perfect! Now for Ramen, you can just hold the bowl up and scoop like this.” Konohamaru was in the middle of miming eating ramen when Teuichi, the shop owner came up with their bowls.
Teuichi grinned at Tsume, “It looks like you’re getting the hang of it, so how about practicing on the real thing.” He set a bowl of pork ramen in front of her while the Hokage and Konohamaru got miso ramen. Tsume sniffed the food experimentally and was surprised when her stomach growled in response. “Sounds like you know good food when you smell it!” He laughed heartily. “Well, enjoy!”
Tsume watched as both Konohamaru and the Hokage quietly said, “Itadakimasu.” She remembered something about it being about saying thanks for the food when she’d asked the doctor about it once. Very quietly she attempted to follow their example, “I’ada’imasu.” She fumbled with the chopsticks for several minutes while her stomach ached for the food she could smell. She wanted to just drink it, but she didn’t like the way she was being stared and she wasn’t about to let a few pieces of wood beat her. If Konohamaru, who was younger than her, could do it, then she could.
A hand reached over the bar and took Tsume’s hands and repositioned the chopsticks. She was too shocked to react. “There you go, little lady. You should have more luck like that.” Teuichi smiled.
She took and testing scoop with the chopsticks and was surprised to find them staying on this time. Tsume grinned and shoved a mouthful in. After a pause as she thought about the taste, that mouthful was followed by several more in fast succession following by a Konohamaru style slurp of the juices at the bottom of the bowl. Tsume turned the Hokage with a hopeful look. “Two more bowls please, Teuichi-san. I’m afraid that they just can’t get enough.” The Hokage chuckled as two stomachs rumbled in response and they just looked eagerly on.
“I was expecting that would be the case, Hokage-sama. After all, growing kids need plenty of food, so I made second bowls with extra helpings of noodles.” Two more steaming bowls here set down and these were dug into with fervor.
“These are great, Teuichi-san!” Konohamaru exclaimed inbetween bites. Tsume nodded her agreement. This time Tsume had the hang of the chopsticks and finished almost alongside Konohamaru, the slurping of her bowl echoing his. She wiped her mouth with a hand and burped. “See, Tsume-nee-san says it’s good too!” Tsume smiled at Konohamaru and felt a warm happy sensation build within her as he smiled back.
Teuichi treated them to some dangos before they left and soon the three were heading out into the night. Quiet and content, they walked in silence to the apartment where Tsume had woken up that morning. The Hokage knocked on the door.
After a moment, the door opened and smiling Iruka was revealed. “Sorry about keeping her out so late. She had quite the workout, so she’s probably pretty tired. Don’t forget about the hospital tomorrow.” The Hokage turned to Tsume, “Oyasumi, Tsume-chan.” His hand rested on top of her head for a moment. Then, he turned back to Iruka, “Oyasumi, Iruka-san.” He wordlessly handed the discarded sandals to Iruka who set them just inside the door.
“Thank you again, Hokage-sama. I’ll make sure to be there tomorrow. Rest well, Hokage-sama, Konohamaru.” Iruka held out his hand palm up, which Tsume automatically took. “Come on in, Tsume-chan. Let’s get you ready for bed.” Konohamaru waved as they left and Tsume was pulled in the door.
“Goodnight, Tsume-nee-san!” Tsume raised her hand, but was inside before she could say anything. The door closed and locked by Iruka behind them. Iruka paused and took in her appearance, and just pushed some loose hairs out of her face before taking her hand and leading her to the bathroom.
“I believe our first task any time that you’ve been outside is going to be cleaning your feet. I won’t make you wear shoes, but I would prefer your feet to be clean when you’re inside. Iruka sat Tsume on the toilet, who was curious that while she had do something that he obviously didn’t like, that he was compromising by showing her what to do in the future.
Tsume watched him intently as he got a washcloth damp and soaped it up. He gently went over her feet with it before rinsing it out and wiping them off with non-soapy water. A dry towel and soon her feet were looking like she hadn’t even been outside. She wiggled her toes and looked at Iruka. “You’re to do this anytime you come in from outside and you haven’t been wearing shoes. If I have a bowl of water and cloths next to the door then you should do it before stepping in the apartment. Anyway, your feet are nice and clean now, so let’s go get you changed.” He took her hand and led her back to the bedroom she’d been in that morning. “If you need anything tonight, my bedroom is across from yours. Don’t hesitate to come and get me.”
A t-shirt and shorts were laying out on the bed. “Take off your coat and hang it up over here.” Iruka pointed to a coat rack that was a new addition to the bedroom corner from what she remembered earlier. “Then take off your shirt, bra, and pants and put on this shirt and shorts. Tags should go in the back. Bring your shirt, bra, and pants to me in the living room and I’ll show you were to put your dirty clothes from now on.” He seemed about to ruffle her hair when he paused, “Don’t forget about taking off your bandana as well. You can set that on the desk.” He tapped the cloth on her head and grinned at her.
Iruka turned and slipped out the bedroom door shutting it behind him. Tsume took off her coat and hooked it on the rack. It looked precariously, but as it tried to slip and caught on the arm hole and stopped, she decided that it would work. She easily took off her top and let it drop to the floor. She struggled with the bra and pants for several minutes before managing to undo all of the hooks and zippers and finally those joined the t-shirt on the floor. She checked the tags and the stitching on the clothing like Anko had shown her this morning and slipped on the t-shirt and shorts. The shorts had a hole in the back with a small button at the top to hold them closed. She sniffed and rubbed her nose against the cloth of the shirt, deciding that she liked how they smelled.
Finally, she slid the bandana off her head and dropped it on the desk. Picking up the clothes on the floor, Tsume opened the door and headed down the hallway to wear she could hear some noise. She glanced at the television that Iruka was watching. She’d never seen once used by anyone, but the guards at Orochimaru’s before. Iruka caught her attention as he stood. “See the basket next to you at the end of the hall? You’ll put your dirty clothes there from now on. Did you get anything to eat yet?”
Tsume nodded as she dropped the clothes in the bin. Then she yawned. Iruka took a chance as she rubbed her eyes. “Would you like to stay in here with me or go to bed?” She blinked. She’d never gotten a choice like this of what she’d wanted to do. She didn’t really want to be alone though…
“S’ay ‘ere.” Iruka grinned as he moved back to the couch and patted the cushion next to him.
“You can sit here if you’d like then.” Tsume sleepily walked over and climbed up onto the couch. She curled up on her side with her tail draped lazily over her hip. Her head pressed lightly against Iruka’s side. It wasn’t long at all before the exhaustion of the day caught up with her and there was a faint rumble from her as she fell asleep. Her arm stretched slightly and her hand caught hold of Iruka’s pants leg about his thigh and curled into a tiny fist.
— Hospital? What Hospital? —
Tsume woke to a hand gently shaking her shoulder. “Tsume-chan, you need to get up.” Sleepy eyes blinked up at Iruka uncomprehendingly. “You have an appointment at the hospital.” Another blink, and then the eyes widened.
“No!” Tsume grabbing the covers from Iruka’s hand and pulled them over her head in an attempt to hide. She could hear the pained sigh as he stood from his seat on the bed and pulled at the covers.
“Tsume, it’s just a checkup to make sure that you don’t need anything special. Come on.” Iruka finally managed to get a good hold on the blanket and pull it from her grasp. He let it fall to the floor, and watched as her tail curled tightly behind her backside and she strangled her pillow in her arms.
Shaking her head fractically, Tsume cried out as she buried her face in her pillow. “No ‘ospital!”
Iruka paused and steeled himself and spoke as firmly as he could, “Tsume, behave yourself, and go get ready this instant. We’re leaving as soon as you’re ready. When I come back, I expect you to be ready.” Tsume’s shoulders drooped and she heard her door open and close. Sniffling, she was afraid what would happen if she didn’t do as he told, so she slowly pulled herself to the closet and dresser she’d seen them pull out her clothes from the day before.
Remembering the golden hair that she’d seen yesterday, Tsume’s attention was caught by a yellow sleeveless shirt that would hug her neck when she put it on. Choosing underwear and simple pair of black pants, she dropped them on the bed. Tsume glanced at the desk and grabbed the bandana from there and dropped it on the bed as well. She glanced at the door with an upset pout. Doctors hurt a lot and they stunk. She cringed at the thought, but the idea of an angry Iruka prompted her to at least continue to get ready.
Tsume opened the door quietly and crept down the hallway to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She noticed that a towel, toothbrush, and everything that she needed had already been set out for her. For the first time, she slowly went through the painstakingly tedious process by herself. At one point so confused, that she crouched in the shower sniffling because of the soap in her eyes. When the burning went away, she finished up and dried off. Finally, she brushed her teeth and wrapped the towel around her. She didn’t understand why, but they’d been adamant that she hold onto the towel. She drug her feet as she headed back to the bedroom.
Tsume struggled to get her clothes on, even managing to get some of the fur from her tail caught in the back pants zipper and having to unzip it and try to get it back. She stopped at the shirt and looked at it confused. It had the correct side out, but the tag was near the bottom on a side on a seamline. She couldn’t tell what was front or back. Frowning she grabbed the bandana with shirt and walked out of the bedroom with on her bottom half fully clothed and a bra on.
Upset at being forced to go to a hospital and a confusing shirt, Tsume stalked up to Iruka and shoved the shirt in his face. “Whi’ way is ‘ack? Tag not in ‘ack.” Iruka’s face flushed in a combination of embarrassment, confusion, and startlement.
“Tag? Oh yeah, right tag. Anko said that she told you how to check…” Iruka looked anywhere, but at Tsume as he took the first. “And she would have to get a shirt that doesn’t follow her own rules. See the v-dip in the collar here? This v-dip means that it’s the front. Now, you really shouldn’t come out of your room like that. What if we had guests?” Tsume shrugged and took the shirt back. The shirt fit well and the shirt collar ended just below her locked ruby collar. She attempted to tie the bandana, but after a couple of awkward attempts, Iruka tugged it onto the right place on her head.
The flush fading from his cheeks, Iruka grabbed his vest and shrugged it on. He handed her the coat from her bedroom. He must have went in and gotten it while she was in the shower. “Are you ready?” Tsume reluctantly nodded, staring at the ground and following him very slowly towards the door. She paused at the door to slip on her trench. “It’s not that bad. It’s just a check up they want to make sure that you’re healthy.” Iruka slipped into his shoes.
Iruka opened the door and held it open while indicating that she was head out first. He flipped off the lights and closed the door behind him. Tsume kicked at the flooring of the open hallway as he locked the door. “We have to be there in fifteen minutes, so keep up.” He began a fast paced walk, which she matched at first, but slowly began lagging behind. She was more interested by the people and new shops that they passed than going to the hospital.
Tsume finally stopped when she looked about and realized that she couldn’t see him anyone, somewhere inside she sighed in relief. A hand grabbed her wrist, “There you are, I told you to keep up or we’re going to be late. Now come on.” Iruka’s hand didn’t leave her wrist as he pulled her at a fast pace towards the hospital. She attempted to resist, but he was moving too fast and she couldn’t get purchase enough to get her hand free.
A soft whine came from her throat, and Iruka looked down more sympathetically this time, “The faster we get there, then the faster we’ll both get out of there. I’ll even get you a special new treat.” Tsume only pouted and tugged on her arm again. His voice took on a slightly scolding tone, “Tsume-chan, stop that.” She glared at the ground and attempted to purposely drag the pace. Iruka was anything if not determined though and he kept up his pace despite her continuously attempts to slow him down. As they got closer to a building that seemed to radiate that hospital smell, her attempts became more frantic to the point of digging her heels into the ground and pulling on her left arm with her right to try and free it. “Tsume!”
“No! No! Nonono! Ah don’wanna!” Tsume shook her head as her pulse pounded throughout her body. Flashes of remembered pain beat against her senses. She felt Iruka lift her up over his shoulder and attempt to go through a doorway, but she grabbed onto it and dug her claws into the wooden frame. “’lemme go! Wanna go! No ‘ospital! Iru’a!” Her guttural cries had a sharp barking quality to them.
It took three nurses after Iruka had turned around and managed to get a good grip on her waist, to remove her other limbs from their purchases. They managed to get her in a fairly tight hold between the four of them, despite her writhing, flailing body and piteous pleas and they finally made it to the third floor. Although a fourth nurse had to be called just to keep their path clear of innocent bystanders.
It was tiring, but Tsume seemed to have an excess of energy, much to the detriment of the nurses and Iruka. They were bearing many marks of her struggles due to claws and even teeth it her desperation to get away. Iruka’s cheek bleed from four long claw marks due to one of her wild swings, and the nurses weren’t doing much better. She finally managed to get purchase and get free of their grasp when they were trying to get her through the doorway to the examination room. A nurse had loosened his grasp as he’d looked back to see where he was stepping through the doorway, and with a sudden lurch she was free.
A crash of bodies sounded behind her and Tsume eyed the open window that was on the third floor and she ran towards it. “Tsume-chan! No! Don…” Leaping through the window, she flew through the air and heard several startled shrieks that she paid no heed to. She hit the ground and rolled to her feet and ran back to the apartment they’d left only a half-hour ago. She heard a faint call of her name, but refused to look back.
Tsume finally fell to her knees at the door crying, but even as she tried it she knew the door wouldn’t open. Iruka had locked it and she didn’t have the key. She ran around the outside of the building and to the balcony she recognized from a glimpse at it from Iruka’s bedroom the night before. She climbed up a nearby tree with aching claws, as she couldn’t use chakra to jump it due to the collar. Leaping onto the balcony, she found this door was also locked as she stared at the inside of Iruka’s apartment. Trembling, she turned her back on the apartment and slid down the glass door.
Pulling her tail into her lap, she drew her knees up and Tsume began bawling. Her choked little barks were muffled by her arms and knees. Several hours later, Tsume was awakened by the feeling of being carried. She was laid down and a blanket pulled over her, but the presence didn’t leave. Instead it just removed her bandana and just rubbed its hands through her hand and over her ears. A quiet sniffle as her eyes opened slightly let Iruka know she was awake. She sunk away from his touch as she realized who it was and was afraid of what punishment was in store for her from earlier.
“Shh… Tsume-chan. I’m not mad at you. I should have known better than to force you when you weren’t ready yet. I told them to come here tomorrow. You’ll be more comfortable here, won’t you?” Iruka’s hand continued to stroke her hair as she looked up with watery eyes. Seeing the large bandage on his cheek, her head ducked shamefully and she was confused at why he was being so nice when she clearly didn’t deserve it. She didn’t resist or react as he pulled her into his arms and rocked her gently. The thought passed through her as her sniffles quieted into nothingness, ‘So warm…’
That moment was interrupted as someone shoved the door open loudly, “Hey Iruka! Nani?! (What?!) What the hell happened to your face?!” Iruka sighed and shifted Tsume slightly to towards the back of the couch they were sitting on.
“Anko, it’s a long story and I’ll tell you later. Why don’t do me a favor and fix or get Tsume-chan and I some lunch? We haven’t eaten lunch yet.” Anko huffed and swallowed a dango off the stick she was carrying.
“Hmph. You owe me, Iruka. You better tell me everything. I’ll be back with a couple of boxes of stir fry.” Anko shut the door a bit harder than was needed as she left again, and Iruka smiled down at Tsume.
“Don’t worry. She just takes some getting used to. A real softie on the inside. You’ll see.” He brushed the tears away with his thumb and grabbed a tissue from a box on a nearby table. Pressing it to her nose, he commanded, “Blow.” The honking snotty sound that happened caused her to smile slightly even as he finished wiping her nose. “So… do you think that since they’re being nice and making you comfortable by coming here that you can be a good girl tomorrow and cooperate with them?” Tsume nodded, grateful that she wouldn’t have to go back to that terrible smelly place.
“That’s good. Why don’t we put in a movie while we wait for Anko?” Iruka tucked the blanket securely around her as he got up and picked up out an action comedy movie for them to watch. By the time that Anko returned she found Iruka sitting on the couch, with Tsume laying on her stomach staring up at the TV in fascination. Her excited tail twitched had pushed both the coat and the blanket above her waist.
“Well, I see you two were just heartbroken waiting for me.” Anko grabbed some chopsticks from the kitchen and dropped one set of box and chopsticks in front of Iruka and popped open the other in front of Tsume and dropped the chopsticks in the edge of the box. “Dig in. After all, I did go to the trouble of getting it. Move over, Iruka. This is a good movie.” Anko fell back onto the couch as if she were exhausted and quirked her mouth in a grin as Tsume sat up and used the same ‘shovel’ method with the stir-fry that she’d learned with ramen. It certainly seemed to get the job done, although Anko wasn’t sure that Tsume even looked or tasted her good beyond getting it into her mouth, chewing, swallowing.
— Questions… all the ones that you don’t want. —
The credits rolled for the movie and Tsume’s jaw was slack as she stared at the screen in shock. “Do ‘hey ‘eally do that, Iru’a?” Her wide eyes turned to Iruka in disbelief. Iruka bent forward and placed his face in his hands. Anko was shaking with silent laughter. “What does it mean, Iru’a? ‘hey werrre touching and s’uff.”
Anko unable to hold it in burst out laughing. “Man, she really is an innocent!!!”
A groan sounded from the direction of a mortified Iruka, “I hate you, Anko. I can’t believe I let you choose that.” Tsume slipped from under the blanket and her coat and crawled over to Iruka. Her hand half reached out as if she wanted to get his attention.
Anko snorted, “It was only a kiss! Nothing else. A simple little romantic comedy and you get so worked up… no wonder you…”
“Stop right there.” Iruka lifted his head from his hands to glare at Anko and then turn to Tsume with a smile. “Well, Tsume… hugs are things that you do when you really like someone and want to show them. Only really good friends though. And a kiss is something… that you’re not old enough for. I’ll tell you later.” He hurried through the last part as Anko began laughing again.
A nose cutely scrunched up. “Hug? Frien’? ‘iss?” Tsume paused. “Which is which? Show’me.” She looked at Iruka expectantly.
Sighing Iruka threw another glare at the now snickering Anko. He opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off by Anko. “A hug is when you wrap your arms around someone or they do so to you. It’s called a hug when the intent is to show how much you care about someone. You wouldn’t hug someone that you didn’t know. Here I’ll hug Iruka. He is after all one of my best friends.” Anko threw her arms around Iruka causing a blush to rise to his face.
Anko continued from over his shoulder, “Speaking of friends. A friend is someone that you’ve built a relationship with. You understand each other and there is a level of trust between you and the other person. Everyone has different standards for when they’ll consider someone a friend, so I can’t tell you that. I’m sure that you’ll figure it out though, kiddo.” She grinned wickedly at Tsume who was trying to digest all of the information.
“Finally, on to kissing. I can’t show you that one because Iruka wouldn’t be happy with me if I did. Anyway, generally speaking it’s pressing your lips without the intention to hurt to express yourself. Usually mouth to mouth, but you can kiss someone on the cheek as well. Personally, I think Iruka here is a little to uptight about it…” Anko stuck her tongue out towards Iruka face and made a face that caused Tsume to giggle.
Iruka shrugged Anko off of him and reached forward to ruffle Tsume’s hair. “Don’t worry about it. When these sort things come along they’ll just happen naturally. Why don’t you go pick a movie and after we watch it we’ll go to bed.” She ducked her hair and Tsume’s ears twitched as she crawled to the movie rack.
Finding it too difficult to her embarrassment to read many of the characters, she didn’t have to do it often after all, she looked at the pictures and chose one with a picture of a man standing outside of a burning house. Tsume liked the dramatic look of the picture and the man on the cover had a look that made her curious. “’an we watch this one?” She held up the DVD case.
Iruka stepped over and took it from her hand. “Action… hmm. It’s kinda violent…” Another hand plucked it from his and opened up the DVD player to drop it in.
“It’s okay, Mother Iruka. She’s a ninja, I’m sure she’s seen worse. I personally think it’s a good choice. I like ‘Demolition Man’.” As the movie popped up on the screen Tsume’s action falter from the pair back to the screen as Anko drug Iruka to the couch by the back of his shirt.
Tsume watched the movie in awe and even began to react to it. Iruka and Anko tried not to laugh when something didn’t happen the way she wanted and she whined, but barked in excitement when things sped up. At the end of the movie, Tsume was fighting back yawns. They’d snacked during the second movie, so she wasn’t hungry, but just really really tired. Iruka smiled at her, “Why don’t we get you to bed?”
For the first time, Tsume noticed that Anko was asleep on the couch as she stood up. Thinking about how Iruka covered her up when she was sleepy, she reached down and picked up the blanket. Walking over to Anko as Iruka watched, Tsume messily laid the blanket over Anko. She smiled up at Iruka and held out her hand. He took it and led her first to the bathroom then to her bedroom. He was about ready to leave when she caught the back of his shirt. “Don’ leave.”
Iruka paused, and spoke quietly. “Alright, but you still have to change, and it’s only proper that I keep my back to you while you change into your sleep clothes. I’ll stay right here, you just need to tell me when you’re done.” The tiny hand let go of his shirt in quiet acceptance. Tsume quickly changed into a similar set of sleep clothes to what she’d had the night before. Then she pulled herself into the bed and curled up with her head barely on the pillow. Her voice was soft and sleepy when she spoke, “Done…”
Iruka turned around and realized that Tsume was waiting for him to cover her up like she’d done for Anko. Tsume had made the connection between waking up covered up and warm with him. Smiling tenderly at Tsume, he pulled the covers up over her shoulders and she snuggled into the bed. A soft scritch of the ear cause a soft warbling rumble to erupt from her, almost like a purr. Then, he turned away and clicked off the lights and closed the door until only an inch or two remained. Pausing, he spoke quietly, “Goodnight, Tsume-chan.” The door shut with a click.
— Of Doctors and Canines —
A soft cry startled her from her sleep and Tsume jerked awake into a sitting position. Emerald orbs glowed in the twilight before dawn, the barest hints of light peaking through the curtains. Shadows were cast about the room creating the images from her dreams. Claws fingers dug into the coverlet as she glanced frantically about the room. The pounding of her heart and her breathing seemed to block out everything else.
He wasn’t here. They weren’t going to kill her. Father wasn’t here. But… maybe he was looking. Tsume buried her face in her hands and was surprised to find that her face was wet. Tears? Her eyes vaguely peered from under her hands to the clock whose red numbers glared at her menacingly. Six thirty in the morning. If… if she’d been back… with them she would have been getting ready for exercise. Eager for her few hours of freedom. A trembling hand reached and touched the cool metal about her neck and she wasn’t sure whether she was comforted or felt revulsion at its presence.
Three days here, probably almost two weeks since she had been at that place. It was frightening not to understand what your purpose was. What was she expected to do? What was she? Who was she to these people? Would she be hated by others for being… different? Her gaze rose to look at the window. No one here looks like this. An experiment.
Realizing that sleep wasn’t an option at the moment, Tsume slowly rose from her bed and opened the curtain as stared out at the city colored in the sunrise’s hues. A hand gently pressed against cool glass. Closing her eyes, she took comfort in the one thing that she seemed to be expected to do, which was keep herself clean and dress herself. Turning away from the waking city, she went to the closet and chose a dark green spaghetti strap top and pair of black shorts that would probably come to mid-thigh. She looked through the draws and found a pair of panties and some bindings for her chest. The bindings would feel familiar she decided. With that she went to the bathroom with her selection and performed her new morning routine.
Clean and with only slightly damp, Tsume stood thirty minutes later outside of the door that Iruka had said that was his bedroom. Remembering what he said, “If you need anything…,” she slowly opened the door and crept into the dark room. Biting her lip, she was concerned that he might be upset for waking him up unnecessarily… but she was hungry.
Crawling up onto the end of the bed, Tsume sat staring down at a sleeping Iruka. He was on his back and the sheets were bunched at his waist with a foot sticking out at the bottom. An arm was half covering his face, muffling the soft snores coming from him. Without his shirt on, Tsume was able to tell that he was quite fit and obviously capable of combat. Her stomach rumbled impatiently and she nudged his leg that was still under the covers.
“Mmm… Go away, Anko. I don’t have class today…” Iruka mumbled sleepily and his hand half-heartedly swatted the air in front of him before falling across the bed. Tsume narrowed her eyes and they glowed at Iruka eerily as she crawled up his frame intent on waking him up. A clawed hand gripped his shoulder and shook him, but was dislodged by Iruka’s sudden movement as he sat up and grabbed her shoulders. She fell onto her bottom and sat on his legs with a startled bark-like yip. “What?!” He blinked and then looked concerned, “Tsume-chan, are you alright?”
Tsume only blinked at him and saw the faint red lines in the darkness from where her claws had grazed him as he’d sat up. Her hands were still on his bare chest and she removed them, realizing that she’d hurt him. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud rumbling from her stomach that caused Iruka to laugh. “Oh! I understand. You were just hungry. I would have been up early, but since you’d been sleeping in I thought that I would too for once.” He grinned at her.
Iruka helped her move to the side of him, and yawned before speaking. “Why don’t you pick out one of those books to read from over there? I’ll get ready and then we can both get some food.” He playfully tweaked an ear, which caused Tsume to duck and gave her a gentle push towards a bookshelf by his bed. Tsume slipped off the bed and began to look at them and Iruka used the moment to grab a robe to cover himself as he was only in boxers and then get clothes from the closet. “I’ll be right back, Tsume-chan.” She nodded and was still immersed in the books when he left.
A mere twenty minutes later Iruka found Tsume curled up on his bed with a book on basic ninjutsu. Her face was scrunched up in a cute look of concentration and confusion. Iruka put his headband on and sat beside her. “Something wrong, Tsume-chan?”
Noticing Iruka for the first time, Tsume shoved the book at him while pointing at a word. “What’s ‘his?” She was showing him a series of pictures that had the names for the ninjutsu handsigns underneath.
“The ninjutsu handsigns that we use. The third said that you knew how to do ninjutsu…” Tsume nodded eagerly.
“Hai! Repwacemen’ techni’ue is li’e ‘his.” Tsume did a series of signs like they were in the book, but didn’t seem to make the connection between the two. “But… naht ‘he same…” She looked back at the book.
Iruka looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before making the same first beginning sigh that she had, “This is how you begin the replacement technique, right?” Tsume nodded. “This sign is the Tiger which then becomes Boar, then Ox, and then Snake. Here look at the book so that you can see that all of the movements break down into these symbols.” Iruka had her walk through each of her techniques and showed her the symbols that they broke into until her stomach growled again. He chuckled and Tsume smiled up at him. “I think that’s enough for now. I’ll make some breakfast. Why don’t you come in and help me.” Setting the book to the side for later, Iruka guided Tsume to the kitchen.
— Doctors and Canines… Part 2 —
From the living room, Tsume caught a glance of Iruka staring forlornly into his kitchen as she bit into a fish on a stick. She had been attempting to help him cook, but didn’t realize how messy things could get. Flour covered the once clean kitchen surfaces along with other unrecognizable ingredients. Her tiny little claws dug into the fish flesh, and as she heard a knock she slipped behind the couch and end table where she couldn’t be seen from the door.
Taking one last look at the mess, Iruka went to the door and answered it. “Hello. Oh, Hana-san, Mekumi-san. Welcome! Come on in.” He stepped aside and let a black haired woman and a brown-haired woman with red marks on her cheeks enter. Tsume peeked from behind the side of the couch as she finished the fish and began licking her fingers. A small white wiggling form in the marked woman’s arms caught her attention. She sniffed and recognized that it was an animal, but couldn’t tell what kind. “Please make yourselves comfortable. Excuse me for just a moment and I’ll get Tsume-chan.”
Iruka walked over and crouched in front of Tsume. “Tsume-chan, the nice doctors that I told you about are here. Will you let them see you and talk to you?” Tsume peaked around the corner of the couch while still licking her fingers. Her curiousity at the white form overrode her normal terror of doctors. Tsume nodded and stood while sucked on a sticky clawed finger. Her ears and tail were twitching curiously. “Tsume-chan, say hello to Hana-san and Mekumi-san. Why don’t you meet with them for a bit while I clean up the kitchen? Okay?” He smiled gently and gave her a shove towards the doctors.
Hearing Iruka walk away, Tsume stopped a few feet away from the doctors in a slightly wary manner. “Ohayo, Hana-san… Me’umi-san.” Her eyes unconsciously followed the white bundle that Hana-san seemed to be trying to keep out of sight. Hana grinned mischievously.
“You are such an adorable child. Iruka has told me so much about you!” Tsume blinked and looked confused at the disarming attitude. This was not the way doctors were ‘supposed’ to act. Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Tsume took a step back, but stopped when the buddle was revealed. A small white puppy barked as he popped his head out of a white blanket. “I bet you’d love to meet Akamaru. He’s my younger brother’s puppy, but I asked if I could borrow him because I thought you’d like to see him.”
Tsume’s eyes wandered between Hana and Akamaru a few times, while ignoring the other doctor completely, and then began to take slow steps forward. Is this some sort of trick? Finally, she stood in front of a grinning Hana. She leaned forward and sniffed. It was a male puppy she decided, and other scents wafted up which seemed to be other dogs that Hana had been near. Looking up at Hana, she was slightly wide eyed as she spoke, “I smell lots of puppies…”
Hana couldn’t hold back a laugh, “That’s right! I work with lots of them back home. Our entire family works with dogs. In fact, did you know that you have the same name as my mother?” Tsume’s hand reached forward and she giggled as Akamaru licked it. “Ah! He likes you! Would you like to hold him?” She nodded enthusiastically and Hana shifted Akamaru into her arms. Tsume lifted him up to get a better look at him only to get licked in the face and have him begin barking excitedly. Startled, Tsume looked to Hana for help. “It’s alright. He says that he likes your smell.” Grinning, Tsume looked at Akamaru and licked him on the nose, which caused a startled bark from Akamaru. “Why don’t you sit down with Akamaru and we can work on what we need to while you two get to know each other.”
Tsume wandered over to the couch and let Akamaru play and wrestle with her in her lap as the doctors began their interrogation and examination.
Tsume glared while holding Akamaru against her stomach because she couldn’t play with him while she stood.
“Height?”
“About 4 feet. Small for her age, but it may be due to the fox genetics.”
Tsume huffed and refused to set down Akamaru as she was weighed. The doctors sighed, but weighed her anyway.
“Weight?”
“Underweight. Bordering on malnourishment. Seems that she may need special nutrients or eat more as fox would naturally.”
Yanking her feet back from their prying hands, Tsume turned her attention back to Akamaru.
“Feet?”
“Thick padding and claws. Well calloused on the bottom.”
Yipping, as her claws were tugged on, Tsume was very grateful when they returned her hand to her.
“Hands?”
“Same as the feet, although the claws seem sharper on the hands. May be for burrowing.”
Iruka was banished from the room and Tsume was forced to leave Akamaru on the couch as she stripped down to her underwear. She tried to dodge their prodding and even raised her claws, but remembering the claw marks on Iruka’s face and her promise, she attempted to stay still.
“Anatomy?”
“Perfectly female. No abnormalities.”
Tears came to her eyes when they examined her tail, and Akamaru began licking her hand in sympathy as she pulled her tail in her lap to smooth the ruffled fur.
“Tail?”
“Approximately two and half feet long. Thick and bushy fur. Red with white tip for the last four inches. Seems to react to mood.”
After she was finally clothed again, they continued. A yowl of agony was heard as Mekumi accidently twisted a ear wrong. A sharp yell from Hana caused her to release the ear, and Hana gently rubbed the sting from the ear before they continued.
“Ears?”
“Placed on top. Seem to be fox ears. Long with tuffs of fur at the top. Hair and ears are red. These also seem to react to her mood.”
Tsume stared at the floor during this exam, uncomfortable with the close presence of either doctor. Akamaru nuzzled her lap soothingly.
“Eyes? Nose? Teeth?”
“Slanted eyes like those of a nocturnal animal. Nose is small but mobile. Seems to be sensitive to scents. Teeth are normal except for the canines which are extended. She seems to have trouble speaking using some letters, most noticeably ‘k’.”
The trembling had finally begun to overcome her, and Tsume sat huddled over Akamaru as they drew blood. When they were done, Hana quickly made sure that everything was put away.
“Blood?”
“Looks normal. We’ll find out more with the lab tests.”
“You were a very brave girl, Tsume-chan.” Hana sat next to Tsume while Mekumi went to speak with Iruka. Her hand gently rubbed the top of Tsume’s hand as Tsume rubbed Akamaru’s belly. “Iruka told me you’d had some bad experiences with doctors, and I’m very happy that you let us make sure that you were healthy.” Tsume let Hana pull her back against her shoulder as she found the many smells of the dogs very comforting suddenly. “I hope that I’ll see you again, and not just as your doctor. I hope that you come by and see our other dogs sometime. I think that you’d like that.” Hana gave her a quick squeeze and smiled down at her.
Mekumi came with Iruka from the kitchen. “Thank you again, Mekumi-san. I appreciate you coming out here. It means a lot to us. You too, Hana-san.” Mekumi nodded.
Mekumi picked up their bags and looked to Hana. “Well, I think that Akamaru and I have to go now, but remember what I said. Come and visit. Okay?” Hana ruffled her hair and plucked a resting Akamaru out of Tsume’s lap. Tsume nodded and smiled weakly. Iruka led them to the door and after a few more polite words they left.
Iruka knelt in front of Tsume and smiled up at her, “So… how does ramen and dango sounds for dinner?” Tsume blinked and then grinned widely throwing herself at Iruka and hugging him. Iruka chuckled. “Thank you for being so good, Tsume-chan…”
— Of Ramen and Dango —
Tsume’s slender legs dangled off the front of the stool at the Ichiraku ramen shop. Her coat dangled over her tail covering it from public view. Tsume wondered what could be taking the owner so long when suddenly he appeared at the counter with her fourth bowl. Iruka was looking concerned, “Are you sure that you’re still hungry…?” Tsume nodded vigorously as she dug into the bowl. Sighing, Iruka decided that persuading her was pointless and that she’d learn from experience if she ate too much. “Now, tomorrow, I have to go work at the Academy and I’d like to take you with me. However, while we’re there you should call me Iruka-sensei.”
Pausing just long enough to speak, she glanced sideways at him. “Iru’a is Iru’a. What is sensei?” Tsume didn’t wait for his answer as she began to scoop noodles up again.
“Sensei is a respectful way to refer to a teacher, just like you refer to the Hokage as Hokage-sama. Oh, I’m filling out some paperwork for the Hokage and I need to know your birthday.” Tsume’s face scrunched up in confusion even as she finished her bowl.
“Iru’a… what’s a birthday?” Iruka blinked in disbelief and then realized that Tsume had never had a mother nor anyone to teach her about such things. In fact, if what he’d been told was true, she hadn’t even been born, so it may not have been brought up before.
Thoughtful for a moment, Iruka finally responded, “It’s the day that you turn another year older, when you can say that you’ve lived a certain amount of years.” Tsume nodded and sat down her bowl.
“I was cweeated on November 20th eleven years ago. Is that my birthday?” Tsume looked at him with eager eyes. “I want a birthday like everyone else!” Oh, so that was it. She knew other people had birthdays, but had never understood what it was or why she didn’t have one.
“Yes, Tsume-chan… that’s your birthday.” Iruka grinned and glanced at her bowl. “Don’t forget we’re getting dango. I wouldn’t want you to be too full to eat your treat.” Tsume looked at him with stars in her eyes and slipped off her stool.
“Can we go now? I’ve eaten enough, right?” Tsume’s hands reached for Iruka’s and tugged even as he pulled some money out of his pocket.
Dropping the money on the counter, he called back to the shop owner, Teuchi. “Teuchi-san, I left the money on the counter, Tsume-chan and I are leaving!” Teuchi called back a farewell and came back up front to see Tsume running ahead of Iruka as Iruka followed her to the dango shop.
— Introduction to School —
A sleepy Tsume stumbled after Iruka. “Eh! I don’ wanna!” Yawning, a delicately clawed hand covered her mouth. Her bare feet were wrapped lightly in bandaging for support and for cleanliness, a compromise that she’d made with Iruka since they were going to be moving around in more than just his apartment.
“Tsume, you will call me Iruka-sensei when we get inside. I have that book you were looking at yesterday that you can read while I’m teaching. Since you will be there, I think it’s only proper that I should introduce you as well.” She growled softly and earned a sharp look from Iruka, and quickly changed to only scuffing her feet and frowning. Seeing that her ears were once again covered by the bandana and her trench coat was covering her tail, Iruka knew that she was insecure as to how the other children might react to her differences.
Tsume was wearing a green shirt that wrapped around her chest to tie in the back leaving her midriff bare and black ninja pants that were wrapped in white bandages from her knee to a few inches above her ankle. The ruby and steel collar hugged her neck and stood out against her tan skin and accented the emerald top. She’d asked for Iruka’s help as she was getting ready that morning, and had probably needed it as she’d to tired to able to tell her left from her right. Discouraged by Iruka’s now unfamiliar attitude, Tsume quietly responded, “Hai, Iru’a-sensei.”
They had entered the Academy now and Tsume found herself nervous as people stared curiously at her. She checked her ears and tail to make sure that they weren’t showing and ducked slightly behind Iruka in hopes that she wouldn’t be as noticeable. Iruka on the other hand smiled and greeted many of the people on the way to the classroom. She was fascinated by how he seemed to know all of them by name. She’d never known so many people in her entire life, and now Iruka wanted to introduce her to an entire class of them. Her heart fluttered and she felt queasy at the thought of it now. She paused outside of the doorway that Iruka had just passed through and heard a ruckus on the inside.
Peeking about the corner, Tsume watched as Iruka shouted and got their attention and calmed them down. “Naruto! Put that down! Someone wake up Shikamaru! Sakura and Ino stop pestering Sasuke, class is beginning!” He took a deep breath as everyone settled into their seats. “Everyone, we’re going to have a guest for a little while. Please welcome…” Iruka glanced at the door and about him only to realize that Tsume was not there. “Just one moment…”
Walking to the door, Iruka saw Tsume crouched by the door with her arms hugging her knees. “Come on in, Tsume.” She shook her head. There were too many people. “Tsume.” That sounded like a warning. She shifted slightly away when suddenly his hand grabbed her arm and pulled her into the room without warning. As soon as he let go, Tsume ducked behind him. Iruka looked at the class and sighed as he shut the door. He could feel Tsume’s claws through his shirt and against his skin.
“Well, class, you may want to take notes. I’m going to show you a practice purpose for a jutsu.” Iruka grinned and Tsume looked up startled at his backside as he made a few handsigns. Suddenly, a log dropped in front of Tsume and Iruka was standing at his desk. “Substitution jutsu. This is an absolute must for all Academy students to learn before they graduate. It is useful for getting yourself out of sticky situations. On another note, please welcome Tsume. She’s going to be sitting in on our classes.”
Tsume’s faced was flushed in embarrassment at being caught and looked at so openly by so many people. It was a bark from the back of the room that caught her attention though and everyone noticed as her eyes lit up. “A’amaru!!!” With a speed that hardly any of them could believe, Tsume leapt up onto the front table between a blonde girl and a strawberry-colored hair girl. Another jump landed her almost eye to eye with a pale boy with black hair and eyes. He seemed slightly startled by her sudden appearance at his table as she jumped over him and to a table that contained a boy with a pony tail who was sleeping, another boy with red marks on his cheeks and brown hair, and a familiar white puppy. “A’amaru!”
Sliding onto her behind, Tsume scooped the puppy from atop his owners head and into a snuggle. A blonde haired boy nearby looked at her in awe, then huffed and mumbled something about her being a show off, but she ignored him. “Hey! Put him down!” His protest fell on deaf ears though as she began playing with Akamaru in her lap. “He knows you… hey, you’re the one that my sister took him to then!” Tsume nodded and smiled.
“I’m Kiba and Akamaru’s my companion. You’re Tsume, right?” Tsume paused and Akamaru licked her hand before wandering back over to Kiba.
“’Iba.”
Kiba frowned. “No… K-iba.”
“Ch-iba.” Tsume concentrated on trying to say it exactly as he did. Kiba shook his head. “Gkiba.” It came out sounding a bit more like a ‘g’ than a ‘k’, but it was the closest she’d gotten so far.
Kiba grinned at her, “Close enough.”
Iruka chose to interrupt at that moment, “Tsume, we need to start class now. You can talk to them afterwards if you’d like.” Her shoulders drooped and she began to stand, but was halted. “Come back here using the floor and not the desks please.” She flinched at the subtle command, but slide off the desk between Kiba and the sleeping boy to make her way quietly to Iruka. Her clawed toes scratched audibly at the floor. Iruka’s voice softened just for her as she got near, “Here’s your book and I set up cushions up over there in the corner for you. Make yourself comfortable and if you need something else you’re always welcome to interact in the class.” Iruka smiled and handed her the book.
As walked over to the cushions and fell back on them as Iruka began class. Tsume noticed over her book, when she paused in reading, that several students’ eyes would stare at her rather than Iruka. Thinking it was rude and disrespectful to Iruka, she glared at them until they became uncomfortable and looked away. The book was interesting and she found herself breaking down the jutsus she knew in order to determine what hand signs they used. That took her most of the morning and afternoon and she didn’t pay attention to anyone else until much later.
— Next Time: A Afternoon of Solitude —
Feet gently swung rocking the swing as Tsume looked up towards the dark, cloudy evening sky. Wind whipped around her causing her hair to lash at her face, and her ears pressed even more to her head under the bandana to protect them from the wind. Shuddering, she stared into the distance and remembered how she’d gotten in this position. Unknowingly to her, a pair of blue eyes watched her with sympathy.
All of the other children had left the classroom, running out as if their lives had depended on it with a lot of hollering. Tsume hadn’t understood why their enthusiasm was so strong, but it was obvious that most of them wanted freedom. She supposed that even she thought it would be nice to go out and exercise as well since she hadn’t had a chance. She stood and began walking towards Iruka, hoping that he would let her exercise before dinner, when the appearance of another young brown haired man with a green vest interrupted her. “Iruka-sempai! We need your help! Do you have a few minutes?”
Iruka finished putting away his paperwork and glanced up, “I’m sure I could spare a couple. Tsume, this shouldn’t take long, just wait for me out at the swing that we passed this morning and I’ll be there as soon as I’ve finished, okay?” He grinned at her and she smiled back a little unsure. He’d been very strict with her as soon as he’d entered the building and hardly seemed like the man that she’d been living with for the past several days. However, he seemed to expect her compliance to this, so she nodded not wanting to disappoint the man that had given her so much.
Patting her head as he passed, Iruka called out as he left the room, “Thank you, Tsume-chan!” Once he left the room, Tsume let herself slouch in disappoint. The room seemed so cold and empty now that everyone had left, and he had told her to wait at the swing, so she ran out to the swing. Her feet making an odd clicking sound in the empty hallways.
Even outside it was empty with only the occasional passerby. Her feet slowed to a walk as Tsume looked around wondering where everyone had gone. She sat in the swing, pulling her tail forward under her coat so that she wouldn’t pin it. She watched the door of the school eagerly for when Iruka might come back. Maybe she’d be able to still exercise or go out for dinner.
That was hours ago. The sun had long since fallen and Tsume’s stomach had realized that it was futile to remind her about food. She thought once about leaving and waiting for him at the apartment, but an image of Iruka frowning, the same way it did when he’d reprimanded the class, appeared in her mind and she cringed. The last thing she wanted to do was to make him angry. A drop of water hit her nose and she looked back up.
A few moments later several more followed the first and it quickly cascaded into a downpour. Tsume’s arms wrapped about herself, and she sat in the swing trembling as the cool rain soaked into her. She didn’t notice as an orange form ran off assuming that she would do the same now that it was raining.
A choked sob escaped her throat and tears began to mix with the rain. Tsume’s claws began to prick into the skin on her arms as her grip tightened. He’d forgotten. She really wasn’t anything to them. Just a tool to use, and forget again when it wasn’t needed. Her head bowed, and she shivered as the rain soaked through her coat and even her tail. It wasn’t fair! All of the nice words hadn’t meant anything.
A shadow and a sudden respite from the rain caused Tsume to look up startled in the face of a very upset Iruka. A cloak with a hood was draped over her back and the hood pulled up, even as she stared at him uncomprehending. She watched as the rain began to soak him and realized that he’d taken off his own cloak to cover her. Iruka turned around and spoke with a hoarse voice that she could just barely hear over the rain. “Please… climb on my back and I’ll take you home…” It didn’t seem to be a command, and she hesitated.
Tsume remembered being drug into a thunderstorm by Orochimaru. Lightning, thunder, and rain surrounding him as he locked her chain onto a post in the ground. His face was impassive as she begged for another chance and she’d grabbed onto his leg to prevent him from leaving. Saying the words for the first and last time, “Pwea’e… fat’er…,” a cruel face had looked down at her and he kicked her. She flew back only stopping and falling back to the ground when the chain pulled taunt. The words he’d said, she wouldn’t forget, “Yes… you are my genetic legacy… but you will never be my daughter. You are a monster. My tool. My fox. My pet. Nothing more. In time, you will learn…” He paused and looked back at her, the lightning illuminated his face in a terrifying manner, “Or you will die like the others.”
Somewhere nearby lightning struck and the sound reverberated in her core like it had that night, and Tsume threw herself at Iruka desperately in an effort to get away from both the storm and the memory, but it continued to echo within her and the clung to Iruka even as he lifted her slowly from the ground onto his back. Iruka sprinted back to the apartment and neither spoke even as they entered. He carried her into the bathroom and set her on the toilet and began filling up two small basins.
Iruka’s voice was still husky and hoarse when he spoke, “I’m sorry, Tsume… I…” He pulled the basins of steaming water from the tub, and stopped as he didn’t seem to know what to say. “I’ll get us some dry clothes and a blanket. Why don’t you get out of those and dry off?” It was a gentle suggestion, and he handed her a large fluffy towel.
Iruka quietly left the bathroom, pausing to lean with a hand against the opposite wall as he attempted to get his emotions under control. He sobbed silently and his hand clutched at the wall. So stupid, he thought to himself. How could he have been so stupid as to have assumed that Tsume would know how to take care of herself? He knew better. He knew to be more careful with her. It’d only been about a week, of course she was still going to take things literally no matter how much better it seemed she was getting. He took a deep breath.
It wouldn’t do for her to seem him like this. It would only make things worse. Iruka stood up and rubbed his hands across his face and steady his breathing. Clothes. He needed to get their clothes. He stood into their rooms purposefully.
Tsume looked up, still slightly damp, but wrapped in the large fluffy towel. Iruka looked like he’d dried and changed as well, and her eyes were drawn to his slightly reddened eyes and the sad way he looked at her caused her to shift her eyes away wondering if she’d disappointed him. Iruka handed Tsume her clothes and turned around, but didn’t leave the bathroom. She began changing without a second thought.
“Tsume…,” She paused. “Next time… next time I say I won’t be long and ask you to wait somewhere, you don’t have to stay until I come. Just wait for a while like half and hour, and either find someone to tell me where you’ve gone or we’ll set up a few standard places that you like to go that I’ll look for you. And… I’ll get you a key to here, so that no matter what you can always come back here on your own…” His voice trembled and Tsume’s heart ached for some unknown reason to her. Standing in a nightshirt and her panties, she quickly slipped on the shorts and stepped forward. What was it that Anko had said… hugs were to show that you cared. For some reason, she felt that he needed to know that she appreciated that he had come for her after all, and her tiny arms slipped around to his stomach and Tsume pressed herself against his backside in a hug.
Iruka twisted around and hugged her back, and as Tsume looked up she was glad to she a sparkle back in his eyes. “Pick up one of the basins and we’ll go out to the living room and warm up with food and a movie. How does that sound?” She smiled up at him.
“It soun’s goo’.”
— The Truth Uncovered —
Claws clicked on the ground as a young girl darted between people in the hallway. A voice called after her, “Don’t run… you’ll…” Iruka sighed as Tsume slipped out of sight in her hurry to get to the classroom. He was grateful for her enthusiasm, but he was worried that she was going to get hurt or hurt someone running like that. She really needed to let out some of that pent of energy.
Tsume pushed off against the doorframe as she rounded the corner and the sound of her claws scratching against the floor. Thirty pairs of eyes looked up, and she ducked her head at the sudden attention. Her eyes glanced up from the ground to look up for Kiba hopefully, but the blonde girl and strawberry girl were blocking her view.
“Hey you! You nearly kicked Sasuke-kun yesterday!” Tsume blinked at them.
“Sasuge?” Looking over the two women, Tsume decided they weren’t a threat and glanced past them for Kiba.
“Sasuke-san to you!” They seemed to be ignoring her mispronounciation. Mostly the blonde was talking.
Tsume sighed at their interruption. Why were they so worried about this Sasuke? She didn’t even remember who he was. Her eyes narrowed in a glare and she growled causing them to look worried and shift back, “I’ he was worrie’ a’out ‘eing hi‘, then he shoul’ ‘odge. He’s a nin’a, isn’ he? Ot’erwise, he ‘eserve’ to ‘e hi‘.” She was taught not to respect the weak or to show weakness to possible enemies and these… females had challenged her. The strawberry girl whispered to the blonde and caused her to huff.
Finally, the strawberry colored girl spoke, “Gomen for my friend. She’s a bit excitable at times. You’re new so you don’t know this, but Sasuke’s the best in the class and the most popular.” Tsume nodded at the show of submission from her. A questioning eyebrow raised as she pointed looked over the class. Realizing her questioning look she spoke again, “He’s the pale, dark-haired boy sitting in the second row. Over there.” Tsume’s eyes focused on a lone boy that seemed to be watching her out of the corner of his eyes. A vague movement seemed to be an acknowledgement as their eyes met, and she shifted back to the girls in front of her.
Tsume said, “S’owl Face’s yourr pwoblem.” Tsume missed the looks of stunned horror at the nickname as she turned away from them and waved excitedly to Kiba who was talking to a blonde boy. “Gkiba!” They turned to her, and Akamaru leapt from Kiba to run and greet her. The other two followed after.
“Hey Tsume-chan!” Tsume knelt and rubbed on Akamaru with a toothy grin. “I wanted to ask you…” He was interrupted by Iruka’s entrance. “I’ll ask you later!” He ran off to his seat and she grabbed her book from her desk and settled into her corner.
Several hours later, Tsume was so immersed in her book that she started when a familiar face appeared in front of her and she yipped and dropped the book. Flushing in embarrassment, she picked up the book. “Wanna come train with us?” Kiba gestured back at a group of three others that she vaguely recognized as Sleepy, Chip Boy, and Whiskers. They had sat in the back together yesterday and today. Realizing that class was over, she started to open her mouth when suddenly she had to catch a pouch that was tossed to her.
“Dinner’s at six. Try to be home around then and have fun!” Iruka grinned at her wide eyes as Kiba took that for an answer. Tsume dropped her book and barely managed to hold onto the pouch as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her up from the ground and towards his group of friends.
“Tsume, this is Shikamaru,” Kiba pointed at Sleepy. “Chouji.” That was chip boy. “and Naruto.” Whiskers smiled at her widely causing her to feel a bit shy. “We’re going to the training field out back. You are in training, right? Otherwise I didn’t think Iruka would let you sit in.” Tsume nodded and noticed that Kiba hadn’t let go of her hand as if he’d noticed her hesitance. “Come on, guys!”
Kiba pulled her along behind him. Naruto jogged beside her and looked at her curiously. “You don’t wear shoes?”
Tsume frowned, but answered, “T’ey hurt. ’ull at mah feet. Iru’a-sensei sai’ ah don’ hafe ’o wearrr t’em.” She was uncomfortable with the way they seemed to be measuring her and everything she said.
Chuckling, Naruto’s hand rubbed the back of his head. “I can understand that! Man, I wish they’d let me go without shoes! So, where are you from? You speak strange.” He grinned at her, and she watched as Kiba glanced back obviously curious as to what her answer would be. Tsume shrugged and pointedly ignored the question. It wasn’t one that she knew how to answer. Naruto started to ask something then changed his mind, “So, you’re pretty good, aren’t you? I saw how you moved yesterday.”
Tsume grinned, slightly feral, “Ah’ve been ’ained since ah could wal’. Ah hafe goo’ aim.” They were at the training grounds, and feeling slightly flustered at her poor speech, she decided it would be easier to show them. Pulling what she needed from the pouch, Tsume went and stood in front of group of five targets with five kunai. She’d left the shuriken as those were a little more difficult for her to use. Closing her eyes, she took and deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest. Opening her eyes, her arms flung out towards her sides as she released each kunai in time to hit a target.
An awed whisper reached her backside, “They were all bullseyes… she’s as good as the Uchiha.” Tsume may not have known who the Uchiha was, but she would take it as a compliment since they said he was good. She turned and walked towards them with a toss of her head, she indicated that someone else should take a turn. They each traded off, but only she was able to maintain consistant and almost perfect aim.
Finally, Kiba turned to her angrily, “Nobody’s that good!” Naruto huffed next to him. Shikamaru and Chouji had decided to take a break a while ago and were laying on their back looking at the sky. This caused their attention to focus back on the ground though. Tsume had just about had enough of their annoying comments about her skills.
Tsume growled audibly and her eyes locked on him with an angry look. “”ou don’ pwa’tice enough. Wea’. ’ould ta’e bo’h of you on.” They found it amazing that once outside of Iruka that Tsume seemed to be a different person entirely. Around him, it was almost like she cowed down to him, but around them she seemed to be expecting their submission.
Naruto was the first to speak. “Fine. Let’s bring it, Kiba!” Kiba nodded and they both charged at her. Mildly surprised at their willingness and sudden movement, Tsume only had time to spin under their initial attacks. Her leg snapped out and tripped up Naruto. She had to roll to the side to avoid a drop kick from Kiba above her. She cursed the fact that the bandana on her ear was muffling the sounds of their movement.
Skikamaru had already noticed something that those in the fight hadn’t managed to notice yet. His eyes focused in on the unusual appendage peeking out from under her coat, a red fluffy appendage with a white tip. Tsume got to her feet and shoved Kiba in the way of Naruto’s punch, which knocked him off balance. However, Naruto only ended up punching a log as Kiba performed the replacement jutsu.
Tsume shot forward and slammed her fist into the distracted Naruto’s stomach and felt a hand graze her head. She felt the bandana fall back and off of her head, but didn’t have time to react as she slipped under Naruto’s arm to avoid Kiba’s grab. Circling around them, she kept eye contact with Kiba watching for the move she knew he was bound to make. Only Shikamaru noticed the lowered ears twitching atop her head.
As Kiba rushed forward, Tsume led him into a purposeful opening that became knee to his mid-section. Tsume felt a grab at her coat at the same time and she slipped forward over Kiba and let the coat slide off of her shoulders. Twisting around, she placed a hand on Kiba’s shoulder for balance and she swung around and landed a kick in the middle of the coat. Her tail lashed out angrily as she crouched on the ground with one leg extended from her kick and the other folded under her like a spring.
“Wha’ the…” Kiba fell back on his ass staring at Tsume in shock. That was enough to startle Tsume and she stood and nervously bit gently at her lower lip. Her tail swung around her lip and she caught it in her hands and stared at the ground. Kiba’s eyes wandered to her ears, and Naruto had finally managed to sit up from under the coat to stare as well.
“Fox.” It was Shikamaru who spoke. “Troublesome. Well, I guess if Iruka-sensei is fine with it, then there’s nothing to worry about.” Shikamaru shrugged and laid back down to stare at the sky. After a moment, Chouji followed suit.
Naruto, however, had jumped up and was running towards her. He handed her the coat and took the opportunity to brush his hand against her tail. Tsume took the coat, but started when he touched her tail. “Wow…. It’s soft, Tsume-chan.” He grinned at her and looked her up and down. “You’re really neat!”
Kiba sighed and Akamaru barked at him from where Shikamaru and Chouji were. “Geez. Well, I guess if no one else has problems with it… then I don’t either. But… are they real?” His curiosity seemed to be getting the better of him now. Tsume nodded. They seemed to be fascinated by the twitching of her ears and the sway of her tail. Tsume flushed once again in embarrassment.
Picking up her up her bandana, Kiba dusted it off; and Naruto, who’d been staring at her ears, reached up and gave one a rub. Tsume’s eyes immediately became half-lidded and sedate with a purr like short rumble emanating from her. Naruto chuckled, and she weakly batted his hand way. “Don’ do ‘hat.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on with you… or why you’re like that, but Akamaru says you’re okay and that’s good enough for me. But… you really shouldn’t hide it. It makes it seem suspicious when you do.” Tsume was confused by their accepting reactions, but they seemed to be trusting in the fact that others who already knew about her would have said something if there was something dangerous about her.
Naruto, who was still standing quite close to her, was almost distracting as she caught his scent. It was somehow familiar and not all at the same time. Naruto smiled at her nervous shifting. “Hey, really, we don’t mind. Like I said… I think it’s neat!”
“Hey, isn’t it almost six…Tsume…” Before Kiba could finish his sentence, Tsume was shoving the shuriken back in the bag and making sure she had everything. “Here. You don’t want to forget this.” He handed her the bandana and caught her arm before she could turn away. “You want to do this again tomorrow?”
Surprised Tsume seemed flustered for a moment before answering, “Can I?” Kiba, realizing that she thought she wouldn’t be welcome anymore, grinned at her.
“Of course! Naruto and I need another chance to win, don’t we?” Tsume nodded, smiling widely back, which had the side effect of looking like the cat that ate the canary.
“Yeah, yeah! I want to do that again!” Naruto cheered in the background, obviously enthusiastic about a rematch.”
“Hai… Ah would lige t’at.” Tsume smiled and took off running for home. Towards an Iruka who would be relieved to find that she was letting down the first layer of defenses. While her ‘new’ appearance did cause an uproar, it wasn’t an upset one as much as he had to constantly ask people not to fondle her ears and tail without her permission. Tsume, who was unused to such attention, would often suffer in silence until he finally told her that she had every right to ask someone to not invade her personal space. That seemed to give her some confidence and she even began sitting with one of the others in the actual class as she studied. Everyone seemed to avoid asking her about the collar about her neck though, as if sensing that it was a taboo subject. Iruka and Tsume were mentally relieved about this as Tsume was having enough problems answering the eager Naruto’s questions as it was.
— Of New Lives – Uncollared —
It was a week later when the Hokage himself stopped by the classroom and called Tsume down. “Please excuse the interruption, Iruka. I need Tsume for a moment.” Tsume promptly obeyed him, even quicker than she jumped to obey Iruka. Before she had a chance to drop down, the Hokage grasped her about her shoulders and led her from the room to the hallway. Closing the door behind him, he spoke very quietly. “You don’t need to bow to me, Tsume-chan.” Tsume nodded, but still looked at the ground subserviently.
Slowly, the Hokage knelt in front of her and a wizened hand reached up and brushed against her cheek. “My dear child… While your father may not have had the Will of Fire that keeps this village alive, I can see it burning within you. You should no longer have to wear this reminder of him. This restriction upon you.” His hands flashed into seals in between them faster than Tsume could follow. Then, without warning, his hand was reaching up and touching the cold metal at her neck. A click followed the touch and it fell from her neck.
Tsume, who’d thought at this point that she would only feel relief that its weight was gone, instead felt a surge of panic. She was interrupted before she could reach for it. “I want you to wear this instead as you begin your first official day at the Academy today and become an official citizen of Konoha.” He held up a black strip of leather with a band of metal in the front with the same symbol as Iruka’s headband. The Hokage quickly pocketed the collar in his robes while she was distracted and then put the choker about her neck.
With a look of awe, Tsume’s hand reached up and brushed against the metal in the front and then the soft leather with a finger tip. She seemed to understand what it meant and attempted to put it into words, “Ah… ‘elong?” The Hokage nodded and was happy to see her eyes light up in a way he’d been afraid he would never see as she began shifting excitedly. “Than’ ‘ou, Ho’age-sama…” Iruka had really done wonders with her in a short amount of time.
Gently rubbing the top of her head and ears, the Hokage smiled. “Go on back to class now and study hard. You should be able to try anything they do now that that’s gone.” Tsume nodded and without any more prompting opened the door and ran in, letting the door slam behind her, her heard her enthusiastic voice as she talked to Iruka and interrupted class. He was glad that she was showing some of the fire within finally.
In the classroom, Iruka grinned down at the excited Tsume. “Well everyone, it seems that we have a new student joining officially now. Please make sure to help her and make her feel welcome.” The boys in the back of room, mainly Kiba and Naruto, gave a hearty cheer and yelled for her to join them again. She ran up the stairs, and Iruka was glad once again that people were being so understanding about her differences. He was concerned at the looks that she was receiving from some of the villagers though, while ninja had been understanding for the most part, some of the villagers seemed be reminded of the Kyuubi if he read their disgusted looks correctly. He’d have to be careful that she didn’t become a target for their anger by accident.
— Moving Out: The Big Step —
Iruka rubbed his temples as the small fox girl stood defiantly in front of him. A month ago, Tsume wouldn’t have even thought about arguing with him like this. She was certainly coming into her own, and the influence of two of the loudest, most independent in his class had something to do with it. However, why did it have to be about this. He’d had to report to the Hokage several times, and each time he swore he was going to have a mental breakdown. Tsume was almost unpredictable. At times she would revert back to her old behavior, and times like now she would totally let loose.
“Tsume-chan, you can’t stay here forever. You really should get your own place. You know how to take care of yourself…” Tsume huffed and looked to the side and for a second Iruka got a glimpse of the fear on her face.
In the meantime, Tsume was having an inner battle. She was afraid that Iruka was angry with her or that’d she’d done something wrong. Was he trying to get rid of her? Maybe they didn’t like her anymore. After all, even Anko hadn‘t been by for a week or two. She’d been excelling in the class and was right under Sasuke in class rankings. Her heart ached and she fought the desire to fall to the floor and beg Iruka to let her stay. Although, a tiny part of her feared that she was only making him angrier. “Irugka, Ah wanna stay ‘ere.”
The normally active tail was perfectly still and the single biggest clue to how tense Tsume was. Iruka had become very fond of Tsume, but the Hokage was right. She was becoming too attached to him, and that could have disastrous effects if he didn’t distance himself. He grinned reassuringly at her. “I just think that you need your own space. That’s all. You’ll still have the key to my apartment so that you can visit anytime.”
Tsume’s tailed twitched, “Any’ime?” Iruka nodded. Thinking about how Naruto lived on his own, she decided that if he could do it then so could she. At the same time, she would miss someone to eat with and someone to keep her company during the storms. Pensive for a moment, she finally nodded. Iruka smiled in relief.
“Great! I’d found a place for you but I hadn’t finalized it.” Inwardly, Iruka seethed. The only place that hadn’t backed out when they heard who the apartment was for was the same complex as Naruto. All of the others had been mysteriously full up. It angered him that the same people who had been so kind when she had hid herself, now made it difficult for her to get food and a place to stay. At least a few people were kind, like the apartment complex where Naruto lived, Ichiraku, and her tailor. In fact, the tailor adored her, now if only he could convince her to go before she was desperate for new clothes. Her favorites seemed to be the yellow top that came up about her neck and the black ninja pants. They still had never been able to get a pair of shoes that she could wear, but he supposed it was just part of who she was.
Tsume quietly helped Iruka pack her stuff. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with herself without anyone else around. As soon as he was sure that she knew what to do, he left to finalize the details on the apartment. She smiled sadly at his back as he left the room. He seemed so excited, but to her… this was just starting to seem like home. It was hard to believe that it’d only been a month. Each day she’d learned so much and meet so many people. Sometimes she wondered if when she woke up the next day it would all be gone and she’d be back with the doctor and Orochimaru, but it had never happened.
Her fingers brushed over the variety of tops and bottoms that lay inside a backpack Iruka had bought for her. Tsume still had problems understanding that these items were hers to do with as she wished. That all of this was hers. Iruka had even said that the apartment and the furniture within would be hers, and that she would be expected to buy her own food and even remember to eat on her own. It was all a bit overwhelming, but… she wouldn’t disappoint him. He seemed to believe in her ability to do it.
A hand reached up and brushed the choker about her neck, and Tsume smiled as she caught her reflection in the mirror. It was a face that she almost didn’t recognize. Her hair was still wild, but soft and silky. Green eyes stared back with a much more gentle look than she remembered. No more bruises or circles under the eyes remained. The hand drifted down to her heart and she closed her eyes to remember how all the students seemed to like her. Finally, she opened her eyes and picked up a bag of ‘necessities’ as Iruka called them which contained everything for her personal hygiene and dropped it into the top of the backpack.
A box to the side caught her eyes and Tsume picked up the small box and opened it. She blinked in confusion as she picked a note off the top. ‘Just a little something to remind you of all of those around you that are happy that you’re here with us. -Iruka’ Looking underneath, Tsume sat on the bed suddenly as she realized that they were all pictures of her with different people.
A picture where the Hokage had a hand on top of her head and she was grinning up at him shyly.
Another with Anko, Iruka, and her all fighting over a blanket on the couch.
A picture with her faced flushed and shocked as Naruto grabbed her tail in order to pet it.
Another one with her wearing a triumphant grin while pinning Kiba to the ground.
Tsume kept flipping through the pictures. They were all moments where she was laughing or being a part of a group. Mostly of her with the Hokage, Iruka, Anko, or at the Academy, but there was even couple with Ibiki and at the Ichiraku ramen shop. She didn’t even know how he managed to get all of these. It was the very last picture that caught her attention the most though. She was grinning and waving and the picture was a closeup of her upper half. It had to of been taken recently as it looked like it was after Iruka had trimmed her hair. It caught her attention because it was the only one where she was by herself and it seemed as though she was looking straight at the camera. Her finger brushed over her own face in awe. She glanced up when she had a voice, “I thought you might like those. Apparently, someone was watching out for us and just found you too adorable to resist taking pictures of.”
Iruka found it a slight shame that he still hadn’t managed to make her laugh. Although, he was glad that she hadn’t picked up the arrogant smiles that Sasuke had. His favorite picture had to be of her and Naruto. He’d never seen someone so fascinated by her before, but Naruto thought she was the cutest thing right under Sakura. At least Tsume didn’t hit him though. She smiled up at him and Iruka found that it might be more difficult to let this endearing child go than he thought. He would want Anko’s company later, because it was sure to seem quiet later. “Come on. Let’s go. You have a your own place waiting.”
Iruka helped Tsume repack the pictures and she slipped the backpack upon her shoulders. Following Iruka, she paused for only a moment to glance about the room and try to suppress the feelings she felt at leaving it. “Irugka… Arigato.” Her speech had improved much, but it was still difficult for her to say the letter ‘k’ and often unless she thought about it, it was left unsaid. He knew that she had be trying very hard to practice saying his name because he’d caught her repeating it to herself sometimes when she thought he wasn’t watching. The thought made him smile.
“Of course, Tsume-chan. I made sure that you had some stuff to eat for now too, but you’ll need to go out in a few days and get your own food. I’ve given you what was allotted to you for this month already, so spend carefully.” Tsume could see that Iruka was slightly worried, so she nodded. She really didn’t think it was necessary for him to worry. She wouldn’t be spending the money unless she absolutely needed to.
“Donna worry, Iru-Irugka. You saw. Ah know what to buy.” Tsume grinned reassuringly at the man that seemed so different now than he was when he taught. She skipped ahead slightly and tried to ignore the odd looks that she would occasionally get that she didn’t understand. They looked angry at her, but since she hadn’t even met them she could only assume that it was something else. However, she did notice Iruka’s lips slip into a slight frown as he caught the look and he seemed slightly worried. “Iru’a-sensei! Are you still going to treat me to ramen?” She waved her arms enthusiastically to get his attention.
“Of course, though not too often. You’re supposed to be taking care of yourself.” It was unspoken that he also wanted to protect his pocket book which took a beating anytime Tsume went out to eat. “Oh! We’re here.” He motioned to an apartment building and Tsume stumbled slightly as she tripped over her own feet trying to stop quickly. Before she could say anything Iruka was already heading up the steps and she darted after him.
They climbed up several flights of stairs only stopping at the very top. “This one is yours.” Iruka handed her a key. “Since you have a key to my apartment. It’s only fair that I have one to yours.” He grinned at her. “Go ahead and open it. It’s all yours after all.” Tsume took the key gingerly and stared at it for several moments. Her hand closed over the key and with a deep breath she walked over to the door and unlocked it for the first time.
Opening the door, Tsume wasn’t sure what to expect, but she suddenly suspected that Iruka had been working on this for a little bit already. The walls were a sunny light yellow and made the small studio apartment seem larger. A bed was tucked against the wall on the left immediately as she walked in. It was covered in a dark crimson spread with a couple of large pillows. At the foot of the bed against the wall stood a dresser with several picture frames sitting atop it empty of any pictures. A little further on the left was a comfortable looking burgundy chair with a bookcase filled with books and empty frames.
Her feet carried her in, clicking on the wood floor. Tsume stared around in awe as Iruka followed her in and shut the door behind them. Her hands trailed over the surfaces and she couldn’t help but think that the place looked as though it was waiting for someone to fill it up… to make it home. A desk with a mirror on top was on the right along with the door to the bathroom, which was red in contrast to the yellow walls of the outer apartment. At the very end was the kitchen which was open to the rest of the studio and in the far right corner sat a small wooden table and two chairs. “All of t’is is… mine?”
“Yes… it all belongs to you, Tsume. Why don’t you settle in and I’ll see you in class tomorrow, okay?” Tsume nodded only vaguely hearing as she tried to take all of it in. Iruka seemed to pause at the door to say something, but thought better of it and with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, the door closed behind him quietly and locked.
Once Iruka was out of the apartment Tsume wandered around, finding the closet, exploring the bathroom and kitchen, and slowly unpacking her stuff and putting it up. It was only a short while later that she sat with her arm around her knees curled in the large chair. It was a quiet that she’d never quite experienced before unless she’d done something to be placed in confinement with Orochimaru.
Closing her eyes, Tsume breathed slowly. Allowing herself… willing herself to accept the silence since it was willing. She stretched slowly and stood and for the first time debated what she wanted to do. Not what someone else wanted her to do. Not what someone wanted to do. Not what someone expected her to do. Only what she herself truly wanted to do. Remembering the hot springs, Tsume decided that she wanted to experience that for herself. She grinned and quickly grabbed what she needed as Iruka had explained what to do.
Thirty minutes later, scrubbed clean, Tsume found herself with a towel clutched about her and her feet dangling into the very warm water. The pink haired girl, whom she’d found out was named Sakura, was also there. “Hello Tsume!” Sakura seemed startled to see her, but pleasant and Tsume nodded and smiled at her. “I’ve never seen you here before.”
“Ne’er been ‘ere beforrre.” Sakura waded over near her. Finally, Tsume just took a breath and let the towel slip to the ground behind her as she slipped in. The hot water soothed her muscles and she sighed in relief and leaned up against the side.
“Never? Well, I guess you might be uncomfortable at baths. I absolutely love them!” Sakura giggled and tilted her head slightly. “I’m sorry for the bad start we had…” She bit her lip nervously and Tsume wished that she’d just be quiet and relax. After all… yesterday was yesterday and not today. Why worry about what had happened? Just fix things going forward. Sakura interrupted her thoughts again. “Tsume… Could I… Could I touch your ears?”
Tsume raised one eyebrow. Well, at least she’d asked. She shrugged and inclined her head towards Sakura. “Donna tug. Hurts.” Sakura fingers gently grasped an ear and rubbed it. It felt like a massage and Tsume could feel herself relaxing, she was grateful that Sakura hadn’t scratched behind her ear as that caused the always embarrassing rumble that she couldn’t explain. “Feels goo’.” Tsume mumbled softly to Sakura’s delight and she raised her other hand to mirror what the other was doing.
“They’re so soft.” Sakura murmured, only removing her hands when Tsume seemed dangerously close to falling asleep. Tsume nodded and smiled. Content that Sakura had indeed had a change of heart and would no longer be bothering her, Tsume stretching slowly and glanced up at the sky. It was the same time that Iruka was always asking her to come home for dinner. She should eat.
“Ta’e ’are, Sagkura. Ah’m going to eat.” Tsume gathered her towel once more about her tiny frame, and realized sadly that Sakura looked much older than her as Sakura stood up straighter in the water to say goodbye. Tsume gave a wave and went to change. Feeling much invigorated, she stepped outside and let the slight wind blow on her drying the slight dampness still apparent on her skin.
A purposeful stride carried her back home, where she fixed ramen for dinner and curled up to sleep afterwards. It was several hours later as she lay awake still that Tsume decided that she had to do it. She sat up suddenly and still in her night clothes, grabbed her keys and went out the door locking it behind her. She bounded across rooftops and into a familiar apartment building, only pausing when she reached the hallway door. Biting her lip, she decided that she wouldn’t disturb him and he didn’t have to know that she was having trouble sleeping knowing he wasn’t nearby.
Stealthily, Tsume unlocked the door and slipped it open. Peering into the dark, she saw no signs that Iruka was awake and sighed in relief. She closed and locked the door. Still quiet, Tsume knelt and then curled up on the plush mat in front of the door. Within moments, sleep claimed her.
The sounds of birds in the morning woke Tsume up and she quickly glanced around, nervous that she’d been caught. No one was there and she quickly grabbed her keys from the ground and slipped back out the door and to her apartment as quietly as she’d come in. A tiny curled impression was left in the rug as well as several vibrant crimson hairs which betrayed her presence to Iruka even after she left.
However, he made no mention of it that day or the several after that he found the same evidence. Over the next few months, the time in-between her nighttime visits decreased until he hadn’t seen anything for several weeks and she seemed enthusiastic about her apartment. Even asking him to come over so that he could enjoy it with her sometimes. Iruka’s eyes would look slightly sad each morning he came to check and knew that finally she was starting to understand what it meant to be free.
It was on one of those nights only about a month before her birthday that Tsume experienced a side to Konoha that she was starting to believe didn’t exist. She’d been ignoring the strange stares from others as normal. Maybe that was just the way they looked, so it didn’t occur to her to be nervous or concerned on October 10th when more of those looks passed her way than normal.
School passed normally, and Tsume practiced intently at the training ground that the Hokage had shown her. Finally, realizing that maybe she’d stayed out a bit later than she’d intended practicing, she ran home with the nighttime sky already cast above her.
Running, Tsume yipped softly when someone grabbed her upper right arm and suddenly halted her progress. The grip only tightened when she tugged. “Sto’. You’rre hurr’ing me.” Her expression twisted into a grimace as she smelled the alcohol. Her arm was raised painfully above her shoulder as her pulled her close. Her other hand tugged his urgently trying to get free and she gasped softly in pain.
The man that held her, yelled out even as he stared into her face, “Ish found the Kyuubish shpawn!” One hand grabbed hair and ear making her cry out loudly even as several other came up. “Com’eere Kyuubi-bitsch.” Tsume was yipping out of pure panic now and several other men looked at her with an intent on violence that she couldn’t understand. They… hated her? Why?
He held her up to the others and one yanked painfully on her tail, bringing tears to Tsume’s eyes. She trembled as she stared wide-eyed into the many hateful glares. “Ah donna underrrstand!” Tsume cried out as a hand cracked across her cheek leaving a red impression.
“You’sha monshter! Shtay away from my girlsh!” Tsume whimpered and could only stare when a kunai fell between her and the men gripping her causing them to release her.
A familiar voice called out, “Tsume-chan!!! Hurry! Up here.. Please hurry!” Blindingly Tsume turned towards the voice and climbed up the wall to a familiar public balcony where someone whom she couldn’t quite place at the moment grabbed her hand and yanked her down the hall and into an apartment. The door slammed behind him and a dresser was quickly shoved in front of it.
Tsume almost fell to her knees, but a pair of arms caught her and lifted her up to sit on the bed. Blonde hair and blue eyes entered her blank vision as they quickly inspected her. They disappeared a moment later. Inside Tsume was trembling and had never felt more scared in her entire life. Hated… Orochimaru and others had dispised her because of she was nothing to them, but… she had been something to those men. And it was something reviled and disgusting and they had shown nothing but anger. Yet, they had also seemed upset.
A cold pack was placed against her cheek and Tsume yipped in fear, but a firm hand on the back of her neck kept her from moving away. Naruto spoke softly, “You shouldn’t have gone out today. Not today…” The hand removed itself from the back of her neck and brushed some hair out of her face. She noticed then that they were both sitting in the pitch black of what must be Naruto’s apartment. She could hear the yelling outside and whined softly. “Are you alright? I didn’t expect…” you to be out there. I thought you knew.
It was Naruto who gasped as Tsume threw her arms around her midsection. “’yuubi.. They calle’ me ‘yuubi stuff. Who… wha’ is ‘yuubi? Angry… what’d ah do?” Tsume shook as she sobbed against his chest and Naruto couldn’t do anything but attempt to hold the distraught girl with her ears pressed down and tail laying limply against the bed.
Naruto spoke softly understanding what it felt like to be hated and not understanding why, “Kyuubi is a fox demon, a monster, who came into this village fifteen years ago… in the end the fourth Hokage sealed the demon and saved the village, but many lives were lost. You probably remind them of it…Today is the day the fox was sealed and the day of many deaths.” Tsume continued to sob. Her heart aching at the idea of being considered the same as that fox monster from so long ago. All Naruto could do was hold her late into the night until finally her sobs turned into gentle breaths of sleep. He promised himself that she would never feel that pain again.
— The Morning Sun —
Knock. Knock. Knock. Naruto sat up from his futon on the floor and rubbed his eyes. Groaning due to the lateness of the previous night, he realizes that he and Tsume had slept through most of the next day when they should have been at class. He shrugs. It was worth it if she felt better. Knock. Knock. Knock, knock. It was getting more insistent. Quickly making sure that the curled up bundle that was Tsume at the foot of his actual bed was still asleep, he grumpily made his way to the door and cracked it open.
Iruka’s worried face immediately peered into his view. “Naruto… have you seen Tsume. She wasn’t at class today.” Naruto frowned and glared at his sensei, but opened the door slightly and pointed to his bed where a familiar tail stuck out from a lump of blankets. Iruka sighed in relief. “But… why is she…?”
Naruto slipped out the door pulling Iruka with him. “You didn’t tell her about yesterday. She didn’t know!” His accusations were stated in a harsh whisper to make sure that he wouldn’t wake Tsume up. “They tried to… they…” Naruto directed a dark look at the ground unwilling to say what might have happened. After all, he’d felt their anger enough times to know that it would have been nothing pleasant.
“I…” Iruka looked ashamed and stared past Naruto through the door crack at Tsume. “I didn’t realize that she didn’t know… it never occurred to me to tell her something that everyone here knew.” He put a hand on Naruto’s shoulder. Naruto looked up surprised at the gesture. “Thank you…” The hand dropped from Naruto’s shoulder. “I’ll see both of you in class tomorrow?” It sounded hopeful and Naruto nodded. He looked over his shoulder and sounds of movement came from inside the apartment. “Take care of her.”
Naruto paused on his way back into the apartment and looked back at Iruka with determined glint in his eyes. “Always.” The door quietly closed and Naruto was left with the waking Tsume. Tsume sat up, stretched, and turned to smile at him. All he could do was smile back at the charming girl who could smile like yesterday meant nothing to her. Naruto was reminded of something he‘d heard the Third say once, “Protect those you accept, believe, and love from your heart.” She was certainly worth protecting to him. Just as much as Sakura-chan.
— Being A Woman —
“Irugka… Irugka! IRUGKA!” Tsume’s panicked calls caused Iruka to stand up suddenly and hit is head on the cabinets much to Anko’s delight. He cursed as Tsume slammed the door open and closed and ran into the kitchen. A cool spring breeze followed in her wake.
“Kuso…. What is it, Tsume?!” Iruka was rubbing his head still as he turned to Tsume. Anko was covering her smirk with her hand.
“I’m… I’m bleeding!” Iruka’s eyes widened and he quickly moved forward looking her over, but everything looked fine. As a look of confusion slipped onto his face, Tsume’s face tinted a slight red.
Tsume shuffled her feet slightly and couldn’t seem to meet Iruka’s eyes. Anko having already figured it out, turned her back to them and bit her hand to keep from laughing. “I… it’s… from… down there.” She motioned to below her stomach and kept gripping her hands nervous and frightened.
Iruka blanched. “From… there?” Tsume nodded.
Finally, Tsume looked up at his with watery eyes, “I’m… I’m not going to bleed to death, am I?” Iruka suddenly straightened, startled at the thought.
“No! Of course not! It’s perfectly natural!” Iruka stated firmly.
Tsume looked shocked, “Bleeding is normal?!” Iruka froze and upon realizing what he had said, he placed his hand behind his head and laughed nervously for moment. In the background, he heard muffled laughter and suddenly realized that Anko was still there. With a grin that Tsume had learned to associate with mischief, a rare thing in Iruka’s world, she watched as he made a few handsigns.
As smoke rose up and cleared again, a horrified Anko stood in front of her and they both her the door open. “Anko, you know what to do!” The door shut and Iruka was gone.
“Angko?” Tsume asked.
Laughing nervously, Anko mimicked Iruka by rubbing the back of her head. “Guess I got a lot of explaining to do, eh kiddo? Well, see this means… and boys and girls…” Anko guided her over to Iruka’s couch with a rapt fox girl’s attentions.
Hours later…
“They do what???!” Tsume looked at Anko in horror.
Anko shrugged, “Feels better than it sounds I suppose. Trust me… one of these days you’ll understand.”
Tsume pulled herself back to her other question, “So… this means that I can have babies like a normal person?” Anko realized that Tsume was desperately trying to identify with her and the ability one day to have children and a family like everyone else.
Anko looked at Tsume seriously so that Tsume would know that she meant what she said. “Your medical records show no abnormalities with your development. You’re normal girl for the most part and that includes this.” Tsume nodded and blushed slightly. Anko grinned, “So… do you wanna hear what happens when…” Tsume’s eyes widened as Anko continued and Iruka found them both watching a movie as he brought dinner in. Tsume glanced between Anko and Iruka and managed to look mildly disturbed. He never did find out what Anko told her that day…
— Graduation: The Adventure Begins —
Twitch. Thwap. Twitch. Thwap. A tail twitched so nervously that hand a finally reached down and grasped it. “Tsume-chan! Stop it! You’re making me more nervous than I already am!” Naruto released Tsume’s tail and plopped his forehead on the table. “Kuso! This is bad! My worst technique!” Tsume let her tail rest in his lap where he’d pulled it to in order to stop it hoping that somehow he’d get distracted like usual instead of worrying. His scent was almost overpowering in his worry, and she had no idea what to do.
“Naruto… maybe you’ll do better.” Tsume’s voice rumbled soothingly and looked at the others for help only to find them either stressing themselves or in the case of Shikamaru, asleep. No help there. Tsume was called and she paused before heading down to take her test to become a full-fledged shinobi. Leaning down her tail wrapped around his backside unconsciously, she whispered softly, “Good lugck, Naruto…” Tsume bounded away faster than Naruto could react and raced to the other room.
Skidding to a stop, Tsume looked at Iruka and Mizuki nervously. A soft blush gracing her features as they had seemed ready to call for her again. “Gomen Sensei!” She bowed to both of them slightly.
Mizuki spoke before Iruka, “Please attempt to produce a doppleganger for us, Tsume.”
Tsume had done the technique many times before, but she still wasn’t used to being judged on her skills like this. It made her nervous and often, she vaguely wondered what happened to those who weren’t able to pass. Her hands moved through signs, seemingly of their own accord. A few moments later and she was surrounded by five identical Tsume’s, all of which were adopting different poses of nonchalance. Iruka nodded his acceptance. Mizuki seemed about ready to say something, but decided otherwise. She caught a momentary glimpse of the look of hatred and disgust that she was getting used to, but decided against saying anything about it. Not even that could curb her excitement.
“Congratulations! You are now a shinobi of Konohagakure!” Iruka held out a form and a hitai-ate for her. Her headband. She gingerly took it from him, and noticed even through her excitement that Mizuki seemed to be avoiding looking at her. “Fill out the form for your registration and get your picture taken. You’ll be assigned to a team tomorrow.” She dove out of the room, but slowed to a walk once she was outside.
“Mom! Look! I passed!”
“Hey Dad, you can teach me that new technique now, right?”
Some of the whispers were a bit darker in nature, and her headband shook slightly in Tsume’s slender fingers. Her eyes found the ground out of habit as she wove through the crowd at the exit.
“Look at what graduated.”
“Quiet! Not so loud. You know what they’ll do…”
“But it’s disgusting. Even worse than it. She looks like she could be its child…”
“Shhh! It’s coming this way…”
Tsume’s hands desperately clenched her headband and she hadn’t realized it, but she’d taken the long way out of the crowd. Her eyes found Naruto, now sitting at the swing, watching the crowd. He couldn’t see her from where she was standing. There was no headband in his hand. Taking a half step, Tsume decided that he probably wouldn’t want to see her with her hitai-ate if he didn’t graduate, but she certainly didn’t belong with this crowd. Perhaps… perhaps she would turn in her ninja registration early. That sounded like a good idea.
“Stand still!” Tsume ran her hand through her hair for what must have been the twentieth time. Blushing Tsume grabbed her tail in front of her to keep from twitching.
“Gomen!”
“It’s alright, girl. Let’s get a good one this time. There’s others who need to have their picture taken today.” The old man behind the camera smiled gently at her. A flash later and she hopped over to take a look.
“Ah! Arigato! Ah love it!” The man smiled at her in a grandfatherly sort of way and ruffled her hair.
“Here you go. You be sure to stay out of trouble.” The man handed her the picture and Tsume half-bowed as she ran out the door. A glimpse of a wave was seen as she passed out of sight. He chuckled. “Youngsters these days….” His face became stern as he turned back around. “Next!”
Hours later found Tsume pacing the floor of her apartment. She opened the door for the 10th time for the hour to see if Naruto was home yet. She’d been waiting for hours. Maybe Iruka would know where he was. Sighing, but deciding that it would be best to at least check, she puts on her headband and heads out. Who knows? Maybe when she returned, Naruto would be back.
Tsume felt like she really needed to find Naruto, especially since he’d seemed so down earlier in the day. He always made an effort to make her smile. She wanted to help him for once. A slow walk turned into a faster walk, a jog, and finally an all out run as her nose caught a scent that caused her heart to pound. Naruto. Iruka. She flew past a gathering near the academy grounds and dove into the woods.
Weaving about the trees, Tsume’s feet left barely any indication of her trail or her speed. The scent of blood began to mix with the two other scents and Tsume dropped to all fours to increase her alright breakneck speed. Just as the scent almost overwhelmed her, Tsume broken into a clearing and looked feral to the two figures that stared at her. She crouched on all fours with her fangs bared and tail lashing from side to side furiously as she took in the scene. Man down. Iruka injured. Naruto scuffed up.
“Tsume-chan?” It was Naruto who spoke. Her eyes drifted up to the headband on his forehead and she sat down with a thump and grinned at them as if she hadn’t looked ready to murder someone just a moment ago.
“Iruka! Naruto! You’re a genin!” Tsume pointed at Naruto’s headband. Naruto grinned and nodded.
“Yeah, Iruka said I passed!” Iruka was slightly startled about how Tsume and Naruto were acting. He’d forgotten how feral Tsume could be at times, but Naruto just seemed to take it in stride. Iruka grinned as the two continued talking for a moment about how Naruto had saved Iruka and become a genin. Iruka just grinned and realized just how far both of them had come in the last year. Unfortunately, that was the moment that the jounin decided to show up and interrupt the moment. Tsume and Naruto, without the scroll followed Iruka to the hospital to have his wounds tended and Mizuki was taken into custody. Afterwards, Iruka not only took Naruto for ramen as he’d promised when he’d told Naruto he’d graduated, but took Tsume as well. Although his wallet paid the price for treating both of them at once.
Tsume paused in the hallway outside Naruto’s door. Naruto watched her curiously. “Ah’m… Ah’m really glad you made it, Naruto.” She threw a cocky grin over her shoulder as she turned around. “It wouldn’t have been much fun fighting you otherwise. You up for it?” Her eyes locked with his.
Naruto grinned mischievously back. “You can count on it!” Tsume nodded and walked down the hallway to her apartment with her heart feeling much lighter.
— Meet… Your Team! —
Tsume shot up in bed and looked at her clock in a sudden panic. Ten minutes until she had to be at the classroom. “AHHHHH!!!! Irugka is gonna gkill me!” Diving with speed that would making an Anbu jealous, she hopped in the shower, and into her favorite clothes. She glanced at the clock as she quickly wrapped her feet. Five minutes left. A door slammed behind her as shot out and locked it.
Dropping down to all fours Tsume dug into the ground with her claws in a desperate attempt to gain more speed and maneuver through the crowd. Her claws made odd clacking noises on the academy hall floor which attracted the attention of anyone nearby. It wasn’t until she tried to stop for the door to the classroom that she realized a fatal flaw in her plan… she couldn’t stop. “AAIIIIEEEE!!!!” Scraping claws attempting to slow her down drew the attention of the entire classroom.
Kiba’s yell followed her as she passed the room, “More pad, less claw!!!” Dropping fully to the pads of her feet and hands, she managed the skid to the stop and turn around to job panting into the classroom. She waved a thanks to Kiba, and stopped suddenly when she heard another voice that made her cringe.
“Cutting it a bit close, aren’t we?”
Blushing bright crimson, Tsume looked over her shoulder at Iruka. She put a hand behind her head sheepishly, a habit that she’d picked up from Naruto. “Ehehe. Ohayo, Irugka-sensei. You’re…. right on… time… I should be tagking.my.seat.now.thanks.” Her words sped up as she practically leapt into her seat and turned to look at Iruka attentively.
Tsume glanced out of the corner of her eyes and saw that Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were all sitting together. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly as she took note of his ecstatic look at being able to graduate with everyone else. Her ears turned slightly and she heard some vague whispers about Sasuke and someone stealing his first kiss. Sighing at some of the ridiculous conversations, Tsume turned her attention back to Iruka.
Iruka took a deep breath and his gaze swept over the class, “Today you are no longer students of ninjutsu, but full-fledged shinobi. Genin. Apprentices. Novices. You will have many challenges ahead of you. Now you will begin completing the official duties that are assigned to you. First, we will begin by dividing you in the three-man cells. However, this year, we have an unprecedented odd number to graduate. Normally, the odd number would be assigned to a genin team that needed another member, but there are none at this time. For the first time, we will have a single four-man cell amongst you.”
Tsume’s eyes locked with Iruka’s as he paused, and she felt that she was talking about her. After all, she was different from everyone else. Maybe she would be on a team with Kiba or Shikamaru. She hoped for Naruto that he would be on a team with Sakura. It would make him very happy.
“Next, we have cell number seven.” Everyone’s eyes locked on Iruka. His eyes in turn locked onto each member of the new team as he said their name. “Haruno Sakura.” Pause. “Uzumaki Naruto.” Naruto leapt up with a shout as Sakura sighed and drooped in her chair. “Uchiha Sasuke.” Sakura leapt up gleefully as Naruto fell back into his chair with a thud and slumped forward. “and Yamano Tsume.” Tsume winced slightly in her seat at the mention of Yamano. The same family name as her genetic donor, her father. She sat in her seat obediently, almost as still as Sasuke, although her eyes followed Naruto.
“Why in the world would you settle an excellent ninja like myself with a loser like him!” Naruto stood up furiously from his seat and pointed at Sasuke. Iruka put his hands on his hips and glared Naruto down.
“Out of all of you, Sasuke has the best grades. While you were at the bottom! The idea is to balance out the teams with different strengths. That’s why you’re on a team together!” Sasuke chose this moment to make one his few comments, and Tsume wanted to go dig a hole in the ground. This was going to get her team?!
“Hmph. Just down drag me down, dobe!” Tsume could feel the heat radiating off of Naruto and she let her face fall into her hands at the spectacle they were making.
“What’d you call me?!”
“Just knock it off, Naruto!” Tsume’s tail began to twitch irritably as Iruka sighed tolerantly at the front of the class. A soft growl erupted from her throat as she turned a glare on the fighting Naruto and Sakura, who paused to look at her startled. Her nails echoed on the tabletop in the quiet classroom. She coughed politely and looked back at Iruka. A few moments later Tsume heard shuffling as they settled into their seats with a soft “Ow!” and “Baka! Look at what you…” Tsume sighed and tried to fight the urge to just let her head hit the desk in front of her.
— Lunchtime Mishaps —
It seemed like only moments later that Iruka had rattled off several other teams that Tsume could only vaguely remember. “You will be meeting your Jounin teachers this afternoon. Until then… You’re dismissed! I’ll see you this afternoon!” The classroom seemed to scatter. Tsume looked for Naruto who seemed to be in a heated discussion with Sakura, probably finishing up their argument from earlier when her eyes locked with Sasuke’s dark, impassive gaze.
Tsume froze upon realizing that Sasuke had been watching her and seemed to be waiting for her to meet his gaze. Normally, he would have already left. He stood slowly continued to stay focused on her, and kept his gaze more or less focused on her until he was around the desk. He then shifted both his eyes and his head in a very subtle inclination towards the door and broke contact with her. Did he want her to follow?
Eyes drifted over to where everyone had begun to drift together with their teams. Their team seemed to be one of the few that were drifting apart. Sakura had just huffed out, realizing that she’d missed Sasuke leaving, and now was intent on finding him. Tsume chewed softly at her lower lip and look about. Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji were all busy with their teams. Naruto was whining. Iruka was doing paperwork. Sakura was searching for Sasuke. Tsume decided that it couldn’t hurt to see if Sasuke had actually wanted to see her for something. Worst case, she would just take her lunch elsewhere to eat.
Running out of the classroom, Tsume picked up a sushi box from a nearby store and back to the academy, and finally paused to get her bearings. Sniffing lightly about, Tsume’s tail curled about her waist slightly and let it trail down her thigh. Her ears twisted and turned with the sounds about her. Walking for a few moments, she caught wind of Sasuke’s scent. It actually hit her like a lead weight. Blinking, she realized that he must not have gone far when she heard a noise above her. A shifting that scuffed across the tile. It seemed like a very deliberate noise. Her eyes moved upwards to a familiar form leaning back against a window and eating onigiri. His corner of his mouth seemed to be curved suspiciously like a smirk.
Tsume huffed and leapt from the ground to a spot on the ledge next to him. She landed on three limps while the fourth cradled her precious lunch to her body. Noting a slight widening of his eyes, Tsume inwardly grinned at the fact that he underestimated her. These genin were so confident, but she knew much more than they did. They were no match for her. She tore into the package before with a vengance that she could feel made Sasuke pause next to her.
Fish. It wasn’t her favorite, but it was the closest that she could easily get to raw, live meat without making others uneasy. It kept the urges for the feel of actual warm bleeding meat at bay. She plucked a piece from the tree and slipped it between her lips. Rolling it about in her mouth for just a moment, she savored the taste before chewing down and swallowing.
“Stop.” Tsume paused and looked up a Sasuke questioningly. It was only then that she realized that she’d been so intent on her food, that her tail must have been going wild, as it sometimes does, and beating against Sasuke’s leg. For her tail was now being held gently in his grasp in order to still it while he took another bite from the onigiri held in the other hand. She flushed slightly in embarrassment and nodded.
“I didn’t realize. It seems ligke there’s always something in the way of it, so…” Sasuke’s hand almost seemed to reluctantly release it. Tsume grabbed another piece of plain sushi and dropped into her mouth.
“You don’t use…?” Realizing that Sasuke was referring to lack of soy sauce or wasabi, Tsume shook her head.
“It ruins the flavor. Has enough on it’s own.” Sasuke nodded and seemed to be content to leave it at that. They both were eating quietly enough when a gasp and a thud caught Tsume’s attention. Turning her attention about, Tsume caught a ful Naruto style Sexy no Jutsu, which only caused her to freeze in confusion. It was several minutes later that she came to her senses as Sasuke was finally freeing himself of Naruto’s bindings.
“Which way did he go?” The dark look on Sasuke’s voice was enough to cause an automatic response on Tsume’s part and she pointed the direction out to him. It was only then that she realized that when Naruto had left… he’d looked like Sasuke and that Sasuke was currently out to find him. She cringed as Sasuke took off and decided that it was better to just stay where she was. Glancing up at the onigiri on the windowsill, Tsume decided that Sasuke wouldn’t miss it. After all, he had left it there…
— Meet… Sensei! —
Naruto peeked out the door for the fifth time in ten minutes. Tsume curled up in the corner that Iruka had decided to keep the pillows in for her. “Just stop it, Naruto!” Raising her head, Tsume silently agreed with Sakura. She had found the time to relax very nice.
“But why are we the only cell whose teacher hasn’t shown up?! Everyone else has already gone with their teachers, even Iruka-sensei is gone!” He shut the door and turned to Sakura with his arms crossed over his chest and it looked suspiciously like he was pouting. Sasuke’s eyes watched the scene while his chin remained resting on his propped up hands.
Naruto grabbed a small table and shoved it over to the door and then an eraser. Tsume sat up and watched what he was doing with interest. “Hey! Naruto!… What are you up to, Naruto?!” Sakura huffed over to Naruto and put her hands on his hips as Naruto finished pinning the eraser at the top of the door between the door and the frame. “Oh, grow up!”
Naruto turned to her with an mischievous grin. “Well, it’s what he gets for making up wait!” Tsume frowned. This teacher was bound to be strong. He wouldn’t like a child making a fool of him.
Sakura glared at Naruto darkly, but Tsume caught a twitch of amusement at the corner of her lips. “I want no part of it!”
Sasuke gave a skeptical snort, “Hmpf. There’s no way that an elite shinobi would be caught by such a simple trap!” Tsume agreed silently. Debating within herself whether a teacher could really be respected if he was caught by such a simple trap.
THUD! They all turned their eyes to a masked shinobi in the doorway. Naruto began laughing, “Oh man, I really got you good!”
Sakura managed to look mostly horrified, now if only she could keep the corners of her mouth from twitching in suppressed laughter. “I tried to stop him, sensei…”
Sasuke just frowned and looked at the shinobi just as skeptically as he had about the thought of him being caught by the trap moments before. His one visible eye closed, the other hidden by his headband angled across his face, the jounin tilted his head upwards and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm… how shall I say this?… Well, I would have to say that my first impression… I hate you!” Tsume cringed down into her pillows while the others just looked at Kakashi with a look a dread. “I’ll see you on the rooftop!” Poof! He disappeared in a poof of smoke. The new team sullenly made their way to the top.
The jounin sat on the railing at the edge of the rooftop garden and gestured towards the steps in front of him. Quickly spreading out, Sakura sat away from Naruto on one end and next to Sasuke. Then between Tsume, who sat on the opposite end, and Sasuke sat Naruto. “Now…” The Jounin began, “ I would like to you tell us about ourselves.”
Naruto fussed with his headband, “Like what?”
The jounin shrugged his arms up in a sort of I don’t know gesture. “You know, the usual… favorite things… what you hate the most. Dreams, ambitions, hobbies… things like that.”
Naruto leaned forward with his face scrunched up and said what was at the top of Tsume’s mind. “Help us out here, Teach. You go first and show us how it’s done.” Sakura nodded on the far side.
“That’s right… After all, you’re a complete stranger, a mystery, to us.” Sakura looked up at Kakashi curiously. Sasuke said nothing, but stayed with his hands and arms propped up on his knees with his chin resting on his hands.
Tsume felt uneasy and her ears and tail were still and laying passively against her body. There was something about this man where his attitude and the way that he moved didn’t match. She was drawn once again to the covered lower portion of his face and the headband and was pulled down over his left eye. Her attention focused back on his words as he spoke, “Oh me? I’m Hatake Kakashi. I’m the kind of person that doesn’t like talking about his likes and dislikes. My dreams are none of your business… but anyway, I have lots of hobbies…” Kakashi trailed off.
Sakura sweat dropped and leaned towards Naruto and Tsume. Whispering to the rest of their team, “He sure spoke a lot, but all we really learned was his name…”
Kakashi grinned, as much as you could tell behind that mask of his, “Now for you… starting on the right.” Tsume started and turned her attention back to him.
“Ano… I’m Tsume. I ligke…. Ramen. And I don’t like do’tors or hospitals!” Tsume paused as her face scrunched up in thought. Iruka had never gone into things like this with her. “What’s a goal?” She looked up at Kakashi curiously. The others looked at her unbelievingly.
“Goal… something you do in the future. A big thing you want to do.” Tsume continued to look at him somewhat blankly. “How about we come back to you… Next!”
Naruto grinned at shoved up at his headband up proudly. “Me, right?! I’m Uzumaki Naruto! I like Instant Cup Ramen! What I like even better is when Iruka-sensei treats me to ramen at the Ichiraku Noodle Bar! What I hate is the three minute wait when you put the boiling water in the instant cup ramen. My dream is to one day… be a better shinobi that Hokage-sama! And then all the villagers will have to acknowledge my existence at last!!” When Naruto paused for breath, Tsume looked between Kakashi and Naruto with an excited look.
“That was a goal?” Kakashi nodded. “Then… mine is to be like all of you!” Tsume content with her answer, sat back with a satisfied grin.
“But… but… I like your tail!” Naruto grasped her tail and began petting it, much to her embarrassment.
“I didn’t say I didn’t want my tail… I want to be like all of you.” Tsume frowned at Naruto’s misunderstanding and shoved a thumb back toward her heart. Kakashi nodded and she thought that he understood. That was enough. She grinned proudly even though Naruto continued to look confused. Tsume seemed to forgot about mentioning her own hobbies as Naruto continued.
“My hobbies are… pranks and practical jokes, I guess.” Naruto grinned.
Their eyes focused on Sasuke as he spoke up. “My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are plenty of things I hate, but I don’t see that it matters, considering there is almost nothing I do like. It seems pointless to talk about “dreams”… that’s just a word”. Tsume’s tail feel limp in Naruto’s grasp and her ears pressed down to her head. Maybe… her dream was pointless too. She frowned, but continued to listen. “… But what I do have is determination. I plan to restore my clam. And there’s someone I have sworn to kill.”
Sakura blushed at Sasuke’s dark brooding look. And Naruto looks slightly nervous and sick. Tsume merely nodded in acceptance of the task. After all, everyone has things that they have to do. Even if it was killing someone. A memory echoed in her mind, “You, my dear pet, are a tool. Your purpose is to protect and obey. When I say kill, you kill without question. If you fail, like any other tool, you can be fixed or replaced.”
Kakashi pulled Tsume out of her thoughts. “And finally… the young lady.”
Sakura pulled her hands to chest blushing cutely while looking at Sasuke out of the corner of her eyes. I’m Haruno Sakura. My favorite thing is…well, it’s not a thing. It’s a person, a boy… a boy that is. Uh, let’s move on to my dream!” Sakura paused unable to speak for a moment as she blushed heavily while hiding her face behind her hands. Kakashi sighed patiently.
Then she frowned and grimaced. “And I hate… NARUTO!” Naruto’s face fell and he whined while she continued. Even ignoring the playful tail trying to distract him. Tsume growled softly in irritation. This girl was too focused on mating when the male had shown no interest in her. She would never throw herself at a male like that. “My hobbies are…”
“Enough.” Tsume sighed in relief at Sakura’s simpering talking having been stopped. “I believe we all understand one another. Format training begins tomorrow.”
“What is it?” Naruto leaned forward between his knees excitedly. Tsume’s tail wagged slightly behind her as she leaned forward. Her own ears twitching excitedly as she awaited the answer.
“Survival exercises.” Tsume grinned. This would be right in her element.
Naruto and Sakura looked confused. “Survival exercises?”
“But why would that be a mission? Our school days were full of survival training!” Sakura looked at Kakashi questioningly.
“But you’ll have to survive… against me. It won’t be your typical practice.” Kakashi seemed so casual and relaxed about this.
Both Tsume and Naruto had the same thought at the same time. It won’t be typical survival practice? Then what would it be? They spoke simultaneously and turned to each other and grinned.
“How is i’ differen’?” (Tsume)
“Well, what kind of practice will it be?” (Naruto)
Kakashi only snorted with laughter causing Tsume to frown. She’d been laughed at and underestimated several times. She would definitely show him that she wasn’t someone to be laughed at. Despite the uneasy feeling that he was more than she could see, Tsume decided that until he had earned her respect that she would give him no slack.
Sakura was also frowning at Kakashi’s strange reaction. “What are you laughing about, Kakashi-sensei?”
Kakashi ducked his head in silent laughter and then raised up and waved a hand non-chalantly. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that… if I told you, you’d chicken out.”
Naruto looked insulted and confused. “Chicken out…?! Why?!”
Kakashi leaned forward ominously, his on visible eye framed by a hand and the headback. “Of the twenty-eight that graduated, only nine or ten will actually be accepted as genin. The others go back for more training. The test we are about to perform has a 66% rate of failure.” His eyes flowed over the impassive Uchiha, the depressed Sakura, the shocked Naruto, and a very confident looking Tsume. Kakashi’s eyebrow raised, but did not otherwise acknowledge her reaction.
“See? You’re already chickening out!” Kakashi’s laughter echoed across the rooftop.
“That sucks!” Tsume’s hand reached out and grasped Naruto’s sleeve causing him to pause in his angry rant. “But we have been through hell to get here, Tsume-chan! What about our graduation test?!” Tsume remembered how much of a challenge the test had been and realized that he was afraid of yet another roadblock and being set back again. Her ears drooped and she dropped the sleeve unsure of what to do.
Kakashi spoke so matter of factly that Tsume wasn’t sure how to react, “Oh! We wanted to eliminate all of the hopeless cases from the ranks. The ones who graduate are the only ones to show potential. In any event, we’ll meet tomorrow morning on the practice field so that I can evaluate each of your skills and weaknesses. Bring all of your ninja tools and weapons.” Tsume could sense Naruto’s despair and her tail curled around to her front and she gripped it nervously. “And don’t have breakfast beforehand… unless you enjoy throwing up.” Naruto seemed to gain a strange sort of confidence as Kakashi lazily stood and pulled some handouts from his vest.
Kakashi handed one to each person. “The details of your assignment are in this handout. Memorize it… and don’t be late.”
Sakura seemed to be stuck a few moments behind. “Throw up. Just how hard is this exercise???” She gripped her paper determinedly. Sasuke’s crumpled in his grip. Naruto stared at his confused. Tsume finally turned to the paper in her own hand and sighed when she realized in was in kanji. She strained her memory and was able to make out the gist of the instructions, but some of them weren’t the common kanji she’d learned, so she had to guess from context.
Late that night found Tsume buried with her head under the pillow. Naruto had been practicing for hours, and while she appreciated his diligence, he was going to drive her insane. Her sensitive hearing had began picking up his activity a little before dinner. She thought he’d be done. Especially by now since it was nearly midnight, but he seemed to be relentless. Finally, the sound was muffled enough by the pillow that she slowly feel asleep.
— The Task —
Tsume got up early that morning and was curled up about her backpack in the field when the others arrived. Her fluffy tail lay over her arms and the tip across her cheek, providing a sort of blanket. Her ear twitched and she cracked one eye and sniffed only to realize that they were familiar scents. The others sleepily joined her without a word and soon she shifted slightly so that her tail wrapped around Naruto who sat behind her knees. Sakura sat in front of her knees and Sasuke stood behind her shoulders. Naruto grabbed and hugged her tail in a sleepy sort of acceptance.
Several hours later, when they were much more awake and very tired of waiting, Tsume sat with her tail thrashing from one side to another. Naruto made a game of catching it every time it came to his side, but was stopped by the sudden appearance of their MIA teacher. “Good morning!” Kakashi sang in a chipper voice.
Tsume only growled softly from her crouch while Naruto and Sakura stood and yelled, “You’re late!” Sasuke only managed to looked pissed at the thought that someone wasted a good several hours of his morning.
Several minutes later found them standing in front of three poles. Their bags were dropped to the side. An alarm clock sat mocking them on the middle post and Kakashi’s hand pressed down on it. “I’ve set this alarm to go off at noon.” He held up three bells. “Here I have three small bells. Your task is to steal these from me before that timer sounds.” Tsume looked at the timer and back at Kakashi confused. What did this have to do with survival training? “Anyone who fails doesn’t get any lunch. Instead you will be tied to that tree stump, so that I can eat your lunch in front of you.” Tsume growled softly at the idea of someone else eating her lunch, while the others looked upset at the thought of missing both breakfast and lunch possibly.
“All you need is one bell, but… since there aren’t enough bells. That means that one of you is certain to be tied to that stump… and sent back to the academy in disgrace for more training.” He paused making sure that the impact of his words hit, and Tsume shift her garments in preparation. She would get one of those bells. She looked at him through narrowed eyes. “You may, if you wish, use shuriken or kunai. Attack as if you wish to kill me… or you’ll never stand a chance.”
Sakura’s eyes widened in shock, “But.. But that’s dangerous!”
Naruto just laughed, “You couldn’t even dodge an eraser! You’re gonna get yourself killed!”
Kakashi stared at Naruto for a moment, “Only the weak speak loudly. Now, let’s forget the dobe and we’ll start on my signal.” Tsume caught Naruto’s growl and hoped that he wouldn’t try anything stupid. There was no telling what this Kakashi would do if he broke the rules. However, it was already too late and Naruto spun out a kunai and dove at Kakashi.
Everything that her senses had been trying to tell her were confirmed in that moment. Her eyes barely tracked the jounin as he grabbed Naruto’s wrist and moved behind him. With one hand at an awkward angle behind him with a kunai inches from his head and Kakashi’s hand on his head, all Naruto could do was stand there in shock. “Not so fast. I didn’t say go. But… at least you stuck to kill, so it seems you’ve begun to respect me.” He chuckled. “Maybe… just maybe. I’m starting to like you four. And now… Ready… Steady… GO!”
Everyone disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Tsume was burrowed into a dirt hollow under a tree watching carefully. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. “The basis of all shinobi arts is to become invisible.” Naruto stood to one side blatantly and Tsume wondered what in the world he was thinking. He was being too obvious!
“It’s time for the match to begin!!!” Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s make this a great match! Worthy of the greatest samurai!”
Kakashi looked at Naruto, “You must be thinking of the wrong type of match…”
“The only thing wrong here is your hairstyle!” Naruto charged forward only to skid to a stop when Kakashi reached in his back weapons pouch. Flipping out a book, titled “Make out Paradise”, Kakashi glanced at Naruto.
“Is something wrong? I thought you were going to attack me?”
Naruto stared stunned at Kakashi. “But I… you… I mean, why are you… umm.. That’s a book!”
Kakashi grinned jovially. “Of course it’s a book! I’ve been dying to find out how this story ends.” He flipped a page. “It shouldn’t make any difference considering how I’m up against.” Naruto charge forward again, but was blocked casually by Kakashi who didn’t even close his book. Finally, he crouched behind Naruto who had just overstretched yet another punch.
“Showing your back so many times is very poor ninjutsu… dobe.” Tsume tensed as she noticed a handsign being made around the book. The sign of the tiger, usually used for fire ninjutsu. She was prepared to leap out when she heard Sakura.
“Naruto!!! Get out of there! You’ll be killed!”
Naruto turned towards where Sakura had revealed herself in a stunned manner, but Kakashi spoke, “Too late.” Naruto’s eyes swiveled back to where Kakashi was and Tsume caught a mischievous glint in his eye. “Konohagure village’s most secret technique! One thousand years of death!” His pointed fingers sped and prodded Naruto’s rear end in a way that promised pain. Tsume decided that a teacher using such ridiculous techniques didn’t deserve respect. She would get a bell in no time.
Watching Naruto fall into the water, Tsume began her own preparations. She slid off her coat deciding that she would opt for a slimmer outline. She put a kunai handle between her teeth and gathered a five shuriken spread in each hand. She walked silently on all four to a likely vantage. Two shuriken flew out of the water, and Kakashi caught them casually while laughing at something in his book.
Tsume grinned fully, creating a fearsome look as her canine protruded over her other teeth. She leapt forward with such startling intensity that Kakashi book shut before she’d even reached him. The ten shuriken and then a single kunai flew at him, but he quickly knocked them aside. Slipping beneath his legs, she attempted to us her momentum to knock him off balance, but he used the same momentum to flip and land back on his feet.
Swinging to her feet, Tsume jumped forward her claws coming within bare inches of him. Slipping back slightly, Kakashi prepared for a sweep kick as she pressed close to the ground, but found himself surrounded in a cloud of dirt. He had to shirt up slightly on his headback so that the sharingan could catch a glimpse of the claws that nearly ripped into his chest.
He sped behind her and in an attempt to disable her, Kakashi grabbed her tail, but even as she yowled in agony she twisted and her claws caught the bare edge of his mask. A final Naruto left from the water even a Tsume panted from her spot nearby. “What’s the matter? You have to get one of these bells by noon or no lunch. You want to surpass the Hokage-sama, but it seems that you‘ve already run out of steam.“
Naruto glared from under his dripped hair. “I know that! I just wasn’t ready! That’s all!”
Kakashi turned casually away, “Then get ready. Don’t they say chance favors the prepared mind?”
Suddenly a mass of clones leapt from the water, “Face my best jutsu! My shadow clone jutsu!“
Kakashi looked unimpressed, “Flesh and blood. Something of this level, you won’t be able to keep it up for more than a minute. You talk a good game, but you’re a one-trick pony… You don’t have what it takes to win!” A clone grabbed Kakashi from behind taking him from behind and effectively allowing the others to get close.
“Nice to see your back, sensei! I used my clone as a distraction while I circled! Now don’t worry. I’m only going to punch you once!” Naruto ran forward to deliver what he thought out be his final punch, when Tsume suddenly felt herself pulled and then felt a punch cracked into her jaw. Seeing red for a moment, Tsume twisted in angry disregard and lashed about her.
Several of the clones around her poofed and the real Naruto was sitting back on the ground and looked at her with a startled look. Wiping the back of her hand across her mouth, Tsume sniffed about for Kakashi. Meanwhile Naruto’s clones and himself began to fight amongst each other sure that Kakashi was one of them. It wasn’t until he dispelled it that they confirmed that Kakashi had indeed used the art of substitution.
Growling angrily, Tsume paced. He must have known about her ability to smell better because he’d taken the time to cover his scent. Naruto suddenly exclaimed. “Hey wait! Man, he must have really been in a hurry to leave one…” He ran over excited and even as Tsume began to open her mouth, Naruto was carried up into the air. “What the hell?!“
Kakashi leapt down and picked up the bell lying on the ground. “You used your technique well, but… so did I. And you were the one that ended up being used. And to be caught is such an obvious trap… was stupid!”
Naruto grumbled and twisted.
“Shinobi read underneath the underneath.”
“Duh! I know that!” Naruto shouted causing Tsume’s ears to flatten as the painful sound hit her ears.
“No… No, you don’t. That’s why I said it.” Suddenly kunai and shuriken were flying through the air. “Naruto, you…” Thwop. Thwop. Thwop. Blood spurted as they landed their target.
Naruto screamed, “Whoa! That was overkill, Sasuke!!!” Suddenly, the shaped was covered in smoke and revealed to be nothing more than a block of wood.
Tsume was already disappearing into the woods, but… while she passed Sakura and Sasuke, who looked a little worse for wear, she was unable to find him. He was silent, scentless, and fast. Glancing at the sky, she heading back to the clearing hoping to find him there in the few minutes before the end of this test.
Tsume ran across branch to branch, her claws leaving deep grooves in the wood. Leaping from a final branch she caught sight of her target and dove! Buzz! Tsume’s eyes widened and Kakashi easily caught her about the midsection and dropped her to the ground with a thud. She looked up wide-eyed at him. “Time’s up!”
Sitting there, Tsume was shocked. She had… she’d failed. She ducked her head in shame. Her ears and tail pressed tightly to her body. All of the others were behind her. “Well,… none of you need to worry about being sent back to the academy…” She could hear the others move behind her, but something about his voice made her cringe.
“Yeah!? We passed. It means all four of us…” Tsume heard Naruto and Sakura moving gleefully, but carefully kept her eyes downcast.
“… Are hopeless. There’s no point in sending you back to the academy. None of you could ever become shinobi!” Tsume winced. Her one purpose… and now she would never become a shinobi. Her claws dug into the dirt about her. “Give it up! It’s hopeless!”
Kakashi stared them down. It was Naruto who spoke first and Tsume’s breath caught in her throat as she looked up. His eyes shown with a fierce determination as he struggled against his bonds. “Give up?!” Naruto glared at Kakashi and Tsume’s hand reached up to touch her chest as her heart beat wildly. “We may not have gotten your damn bells, but that’s no reason for us to give up! Why the hell should we quit over that?!”
Tsume’s eyes slid to Kakashi hopefully, but the man might as well have been made of ice for all of the impression that it seemed that Naruto made. She growled softly showing her displeasure at his reaction. His voice was matter of fact when he spoke, “Because none of you have what it takes.”
A blur of black, blue, and white streaked across her vision causing her to leap onto the pole behind her in startlement. Sasuke dove at Kakashi, only to be pinned under him with his arm behind his back. Tsume’s claws racked into the wood below her, earning her the mildest of glances from Kakashi. Her growl was very audible even as Sakura yelled. Ears flatted and her tail was stiff and raised where Kakashi could see the fluffy white tip over her head.
“Get off of him! Don’t step on, Sasuke-kun!”
“You… are a bunch of spoiled brats!” Kakashi stared at them from under the shadow of his headband. “Are you trying to make fun of shinobi with your behavior? Did you ever stop to think why we split you up into teams?” Sakura made a startled sound, and Tsume felt herself suddenly unable to meet his eyes. She ducked her head, looking more towards Naruto, and her tail slowly drooped limply behind her.
“Obviously not. You missed the point of the exercise.”
Naruto stared at Kakashi incredulously. “It had a point?”
“Of course it did. And that point determines whether or not you would succeed.” Sakura stared uneasily at the shinobi resting on Sasuke’s back.
“But you haven’t even explained what it is…”
Sighing, Kakashi muttered under his breath, “I don’t believe this…”
“Come on! What is it?!” Tsume didn’t even bother to ask. She winced slightly at Naruto’s yell. You must never kill those that we send with you. You will kill only on our orders and work with whomever you must to accomplish your goal. The Doctor had explained it, but no one would work with a monster like her. She was not trusted to do anything except for what she was ordered to.
“… It’s… teamwork.” Tsume shifted ashamedly in her crouch and allowed her head to droop submissively. “If the four of you had come at me together from the very beginning… you might have been able to take the bells.”
“But… there were only three bells! Why were there only three bells if you expected us to work together?! No matter what one of us would have had to go without lunch!” Tsume could hear Sakura moving furiously as she spoke.
Again came the patient voice of their jounin teacher, “Of course, the exam was designed to cause dissension amongst you.”
Tsume winced and willed herself smaller as Naruto yelled again, “WHAT?!”
“It was set up to reveal which one of you would set aside your personal interests and propose to the others to work as a team.” Kakashi sighed. “Individual abilities are important, but even more important is teamwork.” He shifted off of Sasuke and Tsume glanced up slightly. “You may have to make difficult choices if you’re taken hostage… Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!” In a flash, a kunai pressed lightly against Sasuke’s throat.
A strangled cry erupted from both Naruto and Sakura. Tsume reacted much differently. Leaping to the middle pole that Naruto was bound to, she stared ferally as Sakura as she leaned forward with a hand on his shoulder. It wasn’t to injure him, but she hovered protectively over him with a claw ready.
The kunai was removed and Sakura and Naruto sighed in relief. Tsume slowly relaxed as Kakashi moved away from Sasuke, but she stayed over Naruto watching him warily.
Kakashi paused at Sakura, “You were so obsessed with Sasuke that you didn’t even think of helping Naruto who was right in front of you.”
Next was Naruto, “You tried to do the work of the entire team by yourself.”
Then Sasuke, “You decided that the others would only hold you back and decided to try by yourself.”
Finally, Tsume, “And you… you missed everything and became so focused on me that you showed a blatant disregard for your teammates.” Tsume whined softly as an image of her claws ranking across Naruto flashed across her vision.
“When you are on a mission… you’re lives are always on the line. This monument here is for ninja… all heroes…” Kakashi trailed off slightly.
Naruto set his jaw, “Then that’s where I want to be! Someday I’ll have my name on that!”
Kakashi didn’t turn to face them and Tsume’s ears and tail perked up curiously at this change in behavior. “There’s something special about all of the heroes written on this monument.”
“Eh? What’s that?” Naruto looked at Kakashi curiously.
“They’re all dead. They died in the line of duty.” Tsume could understand that. One of the rules she had been taught. You are always to complete your task or die trying. I have no place for those who fail me. Orochimaru did not tolerate failure. Death in accomplishing your goal was an honor. Better that than at Orochimaru’s hands. She couldn’t quite understand the horrified looks that the others seemed to have.
“This is a memorial. It has the names of my best friends.” Kakashi’s hand rested on it. “Alright! Pay attention.” Tsume leapt off the pole over Naruto’s head and stood straight up. “I’m giving you one last chance and it will be much more difficult that our little bell game.” He turned to them. “Eat up. There’s three bento boxes. You’ll need it.”
Eyeing them, Kakashi continued, “Naruto doesn’t get one. Feed him and you all fail.” Tsume nodded obediently. He stared darkly at them. “Remember… my word is law!” A moment later there was nothing left but smoke.
Tsume turned to see Sasuke and Sakura already opening their food. Naruto was drooling and staring hungrily. She also picked up her food and dropped down to sit on the ground. However, she couldn’t bring herself to open it. My word is law! Tsume’s hands clenched tightly about her bento box as Naruto’s stomach growled.
“Here.” Tsume looked up startled. Sasuke was holding out his food towards Naruto.
“Sasuke…” Sakura began.
“If he’s hungry, then he won’t be of any use to use later.” Sakura looked unsure for a moment and then nodded. Tsume smiled grimly. Of course he was correct, but it didn’t make it any easier for her. My word is law! Tsume stood and dropped the bento box in front of Naruto and then turned away from them all. She could hear Sakura offering her own. Feed him and you all fail!
“Tagke mine… I ‘an eat things you ‘an’t.” Fail…fail…fail…
“Wha…” Tsume wasn’t sure who spoke as smoke suddenly clouded her vision and an angry vision of Kakashi appeared in front of her. Tsume felt weak as she dropped to her knees. Fail…Naruto choked on his voice. Sakura screamed behind her. And Sasuke’s sudden intake of breath seemed to be a scream in its own way.
Kakashi spoke and his voice thundered through her, “YOU…..pass!!!!!!!!!!” The frightening look disappeared to be replaced by a smiled friendly visage. Tsume blinked up at him unbelieving.
“Huh?”
“What?”
“How?”
Kakashi leaned forward and patted Tsume’s head. “Up till now, you’d only done exactly as I’d said, but it’s important for a ninja to read the underneath the underneath. That’s a great leap for you four.” He paused for a moment, “In a ninja’s world, those who violate rules and fail to follow orders are lower than garbage. However, those who do not care and support their fellow ninja are even lower than that!” He gently scratched behind Tsume’s ear as she looked up in a flushed state of awe.
Kakashi removed his hand from his ear to make a thumbs up. “This exercise is concluded! You all pass! That’s it for today Team Sever. Your duties will commence tomorrow!“ Moments later Naruto and Sakura were shouting for joy and Tsume even caught Sasuke sigh in relief.
Tsume watched as Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura headed off. “Come on, guys! I’m still tied up here. Tsume… Tsume-chan? Come on! Please untie me!” Tsume giggled and walked over to Naruto. She shift around to his back and paused for a moment. While he couldn’t see her, and while she still had courage to say it she knew she needed to. Iruka had said that if she ever felt like something she had done had wronged someone, then it was a good time to say it.
“Ah’m sorrrrry, Narrruto.” Tsume cut the ropes, and then sped off after the others with a wave before she could see his reaction. But even as she ran past her tail seemed unconsciously drawn towards him and brushed against him as she moved, and she caught a glimpse of a shocked, grateful look with a hint of a smile.
“Eh! Hey! Tsume-chan, wait up!”
—First Mission-Morning-Sasuke—
Tsume drug her feet and finally saw that she was at the trio of posts. It was still dark out, and probably wouldn’t be light for another hour or two. Rubbing her eyes tiredly as she sank to the ground, Tsume wondered if it was worth all of this. No, it was. She would not be a disappointment to Iruka. But… it couldn’t hurt to just rest her eyes for a moment, could it?
Sasuke casually walked up to the Team Seven training grounds with his hands in his pockets. “Hn…” His eyes were draw to the small form laying in front of the center post. Tsume. Her tail wrapped over her waist and her knees were drawn up slightly. Tiny claws dug into the ground. He knelt over her. “Tsume. Wake up.” No response.
Glaring at the unresponsive fox girl, Sasuke reached out and lightly shook her shoulder. Still nothing from Tsume. “Tsume.” It was said with a bit more force and he shook her again. She groaned and nuzzled into her hand by her face. Sighing, he decided it wasn’t worth the effort and went to stand only to fall to the ground on his ass. Blinking, he looked down towards Tsume and realized that she was now gripping the hem of his shirt.
With narrowed eyes, Sasuke worked on gently prying the hand away without the claws tearing up his shirt, but Tsume only gripped tighter. Frowning, he made himself comfortable and glared at her as if it would make her let go. “Hnn. What the hell are you out here this early anyway?” Sasuke didn’t really expect an answer with how dead asleep she was, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he did hear her soft reply.
“Be’ause… ah nee’ ‘o obey’im.”
Sasuke blinked. She was obviously referring to Kakashi, but it still didn’t make sense. “Why does that mean you have to get up early?”
“He’ll ‘ome. He always ‘omes when ah don’ obey.” The words were sleepy and slurred.
Sasuke found the way she cringed and whimpered in her sleep disconcerting, but tried not to show it. Why would she be scared of Iruka? She was talking about Iruka… wasn’t she?
“Who is he?”
“Orochimaru-sama.” The whimpers became much more pronounced and Sasuke looked down at her almost sympathetically before turning his face away for a moment. Wait. Naruto always scratched behind her ears whenever she was mad or upset with someone… maybe…
A hand reached out and pressed ever so lightly on top of Tsume’s head. No sign of waking up? Good. An ever so gentle scratch behind the ear? A slight lessening of the whimpers. Sasuke continued until the whimpers became this sort of broken rumble that reminded him of a purr. Nodding in satisfaction, he went to remove his hand… only to find it grasped in two small hands with lots of tiny claws digging in if he pulled at it. A soft sleepy lick at it caused a brief flush on his face, but he stopped trying to pull his hand away.
—First Mission-Morning-Sakura—
Sakura ran up to see Sasuke who was already sitting at the training grounds. “Sasuke-kun!” She lost her momentum for a moment when a deadly glare was tossed her way. Maybe he wasn’t a morning person, but he seemed fine the previous morning.
“Sakura, you’re staring.” Sakura’s cheeks flushed and she noticed something as she turned away slightly. Is that Tsume? Embarrasment forgetten, Sakura moved over to see the strange sight. “Sakura…” Sasuke’s voice held the promise of pain if she wasn’t careful.
A hand rushed up to Sakura’s mouth to cover her initial reaction along with a quick cough. Eying the cute little fox girl clutching onto Sasuke’s hand like a teddy bear was priceless. “Sa..Sasuke-kun…?”
“She won’t wake up.” Sakura tried to hide her amusement as she looked at Sasuke skeptically. Sasuke tugged on his hand firmly. “Tsume. Wake up.” Tsume nuzzled his hand sleepily and licked it like she had earlier. Sasuke relaxed his hand and let Tsume snuggle it back into her grasp. He looked at her in a way that said ’See? I wasn’t joking.’ Tiny little pricks of blood showed on the back of his hand.
“You’re just not trying firmly enough, Sasuke-kun!” Sakura knelt down next to Sasuke and Tsume. “It’s time to wake up, Tsume-chan!” Sakura was doing her best to ignore Sasuke’s glare. Shaking Tsume caused the same reaction as when Sasuke tried to remove his hand. “Tsume-chan!” Sakura did her best not to smile at the sight.
“Give it up. She’s not moving.” Sakura nodded, not trusting herself to speak anymore, and stood while turning away from him. Unable to hold it in any longer, Sakura’s shoulders began to shake in silent laughter. The great, handsome, proud Uchiha… held at bay by the cutest force on this planet, Tsume. Tears formed in her eyes, but Sakura found she couldn’t stop even when she could feel his gaze burning into her back. “Stop.”
“G-g-g-go-gomen, S-s-sas’ke-k-kun!” Sakura suddenly found herself shifted and she was looking up into a now smug looking Sasuke’s dark eyes. A look down at her hand confirmed her suspicions. Sasuke had done a replacement jutsu using her. Her hand was now being gripped by Tsume. Her mouth gaped open.
“Sakura-chan!!!” Oh no! Sakura’s expression turned to horror and a smirk appeared on Sasuke’s lips.
—First Mission-Morning-Naruto—
“Sakura-chan! Why is…” Naruto stopped short of the scene. Sasuke’s smug smile. Sakura’s startled look. Tsume curled up and clutching Sakura’s hand. Clutching Sakura’s hand. “Hahaha! That is priceless!” Naruto doubled over with laughter.
“Naruto! Wake her up!” Sakura huffed angrily at him. However, Naruto continued laughing. “Naruto, if you don’t…!”
“Sorry Sakura-chan, but it’s just so….!”
“Hn… dobe…” Sasuke decided that Sakura had had enough. At least he hadn’t had to put up with Naruto. If she’d been any later…
Tsume nuzzled Sakura’s hand and licked it along with a sleepy complaint at the noise. Her tail flipped once even as her ears laid down and relaxed again. “Ah! Naruto! Come on!”
Naruto didn’t get up from where he’d fallen on the ground. Tears streamed from his eyes as he continued laughing. “T-t-tsume-chan!” He rolled onto his side as he clutched his stomach. “W-wwake up, Ts-haha-Tsume-snort-chan!”
—First Mission-Morning-Tsume—
A soft yawn captured Tsume as she blinked and stretched into awareness. “Huh…?” She looking around confusingly. Naruto was on the ground, only now beginning to catch his breath from laughing. Sakura was looking embarrassed. Sasuke looked very smug. “What’s going on?”
“N-nothing!” Sakura exclaimed. Naruto managed to crawl to Tsume and tackled her in a hug as he was attacked by another batch of giggles.
“Ah, Tsume-chan, you should have seen it!” Tsume squirmed under Naruto’s weight and and rare flush blossomed on her face. Even as he rolled off and sat up next to her, then helped her sit up, Tsume’s tail wrapped loosely about his waist. If anyone noticed it, then chose not to say anything. “Don’t ever change, Tsume-chan!” He grinned down at her and ruffled her ears. Still not understand what was going on, Tsume could only grin back at him.
—First Mission-Morning-Kakashi—
“Why isn’t he here yet?” Tsume growled as she paced across the pole that Sasuke was leaning against. Swish. Sasuke shifted slightly to avoid Tsume’s tail. Both Naruto and Sakura echoed the sentiment.
“He was this late yesterday too!” Naruto huffed and crossed his arms over his chest impatiently. Emerald eyes focused on Naruto as Tsume paused in her pacing on the pole furthest from Naruto to look over her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at Naruto and the others. They still wouldn’t tell her what was so funny that morning. Well, Naruto would start only to be stopped by one of the other two. A well placed stomp on his foot by Sakura or an interruption from the normally quiet Sasuke with an insult.
A presence. Tsume shifted her eyes to a nearby tree. She growled softly catching the others’ attention. On queue, a cloud of smoke was seen on a lower tree limb. “Heh! Sorry about that, I ran across a small boy who’d scraped his knee and…”
“LIAR!” Both Naruto and Sakura shouted, and Tsume almost fell from the pole as she jumped, but a hand caught her wrist and stayed until she had rebalanced herself. Sasuke was still looking at Kakashi and except for the hand he’d put out, never left his position leaning up against the middle pole.
Kakashi hopped down from his perch lazily. “So… today we’ll be doing a different sort of training. Think of it like a game of hide and seek. You’ll have until noon to find the others and then we’ll go do our mission for the day.” He flipped out his copy of Icha Icha Paradise.
“Hide and seek?! That’s so childish!” Naruto glared at Kakashi who seemed to smirk behind his mask.
“Really? Tsume-chan, why don’t you take Sakura and show them just how childish it is.” Tsume tensed and stared at Kakashi for a moment. “Well, you’d better get going. I’m only giving you a minute head start.” Tsume leapt from her perch and grabbed Sakura. Throwing down a smoke bomb for cover, she went into the tree for cover.
Words floated after them, the grumblings of a disgruntled Naruto and Sasuke.
“He just wants to get rid of us so that he can read his stupid book for a few hours.”
“Hn.”
Tsume was moving quickly, but had to pause often as Sakura was not moving quickly nor silently. Sighing, she slipped back into the brush and leaned close to Sakura who seemed startled by Tsume’s sudden appearance. “Less foot, less noise. No shoes.” Her voice was a soft, husky growl of a whisper in Sakura’s ear. When Sakura hesitated, Tsume insisted on her previous request. “No shoes. Trust.”
Sakura reluctantly nodded and leaned down to remove her shoes which she bundled up and used a rope in her pouch to secure them in a harness over one shoulder. Tsume paused and her ears twitched. Naruto and Sasuke were heading that way. Putting a finger to her lips, Tsume motioned Sakura to climb onto her back. Tsume with the help of chakra crawled up the tree silent and crouched on a fairly high branch to let Sakura down. They both looked below at the two passed below their tree.
“I don’t see how he expects us to find them. This area is huge!”
“Shut up, dobe!”
“Why should I?!”
“Because they’re not going to stick around if they can hear us coming, idiot.”
Silence overtook the two then, and Sasuke even paused for a moment at their tree. He eyed the bark closed and looked about, but it seems that he didn’t believe that they were still in the area because he continued on. He seemed to have a tendency to keep looking behind him as Naruto took point. Sakura and Tsume stayed perfectly still watching them even after they had disappeared from sight for several minutes.
Tsume grinned. “Now…” She growled softly. “We have some fun.”
“N-nani?! We…” Sakura seemed startled by Tsume’s aggressive behavior. After all, weren’t they supposed to be hiding?
“Nothing that hurt, just to point in wrong direction. Follow. Watch. Learn.” Tsume was patient as she headed off at a slight angle from the direction that Naruto and Sasuke had went. Sakura, must quieter without her ninja sandals, followed at a much slower, but fairly steady pace. They shifted to the ground when Sakura was unable to unable to make the jumps from branch to branch safely.
Tsume paused and listened carefully and nodded to herself. Grabbing to lengths of wire rope from her pack, she handed one to Sakura. Creating a loop, she carefully set up a trap in the path of slight tracks that she thought would be noticeable to Sasuke. Hopefully, it would hook them and they would think that Sakura and herself were trying to delay in this direction until noon. Working with Sakura, Tsume made a small put subtle muddy pit trap after a trip wire. Even if they saw the wire, they would still probably hit the small mud pit afterwards.
Sakura wiped the sweat from her face leaving a muddle streak across her forehead. Grinning at Tsume, she whispered, “This was a great idea, Tsume-chan…” Her words cut of as Tsume froze and then looked behind her. They had spent too long in one place and the boys hand swung back around and managed to find their trail. They were close, too close.
Grabbing Sakura’s hand, Tsume yanked her through the quietest path she could find at the speed she was moving. They needed to be far away by the time they hit those tracks. Tsume glanced up at the sun. Another half an hour was all they needed. After traveling for about ten minutes Tsume quickly changed tactics and helped Sakura up into a tree.
The boys would be angry if they had fallen into the traps as they’d planned and Sakura and Tsume needed to start covering their trail. They trail they had left from the traps would be obvious and Tsume didn’t doubt for a second that Naruto would be charging down it any time now.
Like shadows they flitted across the trees, slowly circling back around to where Kakashi would be waiting in just a few minutes. It was only a few minutes from the forests’ edge that Tsume first heard them. “There! I see them, Sasuke!”
“Let’s go, dobe.” Tsume and Sakura looked at each other wide-eyed and then at the sun. Five more minutes and boy did they sound pissed.
“Run?” Sakura questioned. Their only hope was to keep enough distance to make to Kakashi before the other two. Tsume nodded. They both dove for the clearing. Only stopping to help each other for just a moment as they leapt from branch to branch. Loud rustling and cursing followed them closely from the ground. They leapt to the ground and into the clearing just as the alarm sounded followed by Naruto and Sasuke bursting from the woods behind them.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he looked at them. Tsume looked right at home, if slightly mussed up from running. Sakura’s face and hands were muddy, but didn’t look much worse than Tsume otherwise. But the boys… Naruto and Sasuke looked like they’d been drug through trees, bushes, and mud. He coughed once to get their attention, “Good work. Why don’t you get cleaned up and eat and we’ll meet back here in an hour for the mission.”
Naruto glared at Tsume who was crouched on the ground panting. Tsume’s tail wagged and she grinned, obviously proud of her work. Sakura blushed and tried to avoid the disheveled Sasuke’s glare. Well, at least she had his attention. “Tsume-chan! How could you?!” Tsume shrugged with the same toothy grin which caused the angry Naruto to tackle her. “Let’s see how you like it! I think I have mud in places I didn’t know I had!”
A startled bark, and the two began wrestling. Naruto attempting to get Tsume as muddy as possible and Tsume trying to get away from Naruto. Both Sasuke and Sakura broke their staring game and focusing on the orange, yellow, furry, and now muddle forms rolling on the ground and both let out a snort of laughter. “Hey! Don’t laugh at us!”
Naruto managed to look indignant while Tsume sighed as he sat on her back. Sasuke returned it with a blank look, “Hn. I’m going to clean up.” Sakura looked between the two on the ground and Sasuke and seemed to make a decision.
“Me too! Wait up Sasuke-kun!” Tsume growled from under Naruto and he rolled off and grinned at her.
“So… Ichiraku after we clean up?” Tsume couldn’t help but return the infectious grin and nodded.
— Afternoon Mission —
Tsume blinked up at Kakashi with uncomprehending, large green eyes. Behind her Naruto grumbled. “Babysit? Why would we need to make babies sit?” The others turned to her with a look of disbelief. Tsume had started to recognize that look as what they did when it was something common that they thought she should understand. Her fangs worried slightly at her lower lip as she tried to work through everything that she’d been taught. No luck.
“Tsume… have you ever worked with children?” Again Tsume tried to think of anytime she’d see another child. A vague recollection of a little sickly boy that had been a bit wolfish with tails and ears. However, she’d never been allowed never him. When she’d asked, she had been told that he was no longer with them. He had been too weak. She frowned.
“No… Ah wasn’t allowed near the others.” Tsume scrunched up her nose in thought and her ears flattened. Konohamaru was the youngest child that she’d ever been near. “Konohamaru?”
Sasuke voice interrupted her thoughts, “The others?” Tsume shrugged and her tail wrapped around her waist. She wasn’t really sure how to explain herself let alone the ones that didn’t make it.
Kakashi decided to take this into his own hands since Tsume seemed to be getting uncomfortable. “Let’s head out to meet the client. They needed a hand so that they could take care of some business this afternoon.” Kakashi herded them down the street to a simple home in the middle of town. A mother greeted them at the door.
“Oh! You’re here. Thank goodness. The twins are in the crib in the living room. I’ll be back in a few hours!” The woman exchanged a few more words with Kakashi outside the door as Tsume slipped inside. She crept quietly up to a crib in the middle of the living room.
Scrunching her nose at the smell of what she thought was urine, Tsume stared into the crib at two tiny forms. One set of eyes blinked up at her and the other was curled against the other. “So tiny…,” Tsume whispered.
Kakashi shut the door behind him as he walked in and sat down on a couch with his book out. “Sakura, I think they need their diapers changed.”
Sakura nodded with a slight blush and picked up the awake one out of the crib. “Tsume, can you get the other little guy?”
Tsume reached out, but pulled back as the baby whimper due to the brush of her claws. So fragile. Sakura was already to the side with the baby on a table. Suddenly Tsume was overwhelmed by the scent of urine and she growled softly and covered her nose with her hand.
Naruto peeked over her shoulder and then moved over to the other side of the crib. “I’ll get him for you, Sakura-chan!” He went to pick up the child when Sakura was suddenly at his side.
“Ah! Naruto, no, not like that! Here.” Sakura grabbed Naruto’s hand causing him to blush and moved him so that he picked up the child gently before moving back to what she’d been doing. Naruto looked down at the child in a kind of awe that made Tsume’s heart squeeze.
“Wow, Sakura-chan. You’re so good at this.” As if not to be shown up by Naruto, Sasuke went over to Sakura and took the boy she’d just finished changing the diaper of. Since that baby smelled much more pleasant, Tsume cautiously approached Sasuke. She jumped when a strange sound came from the baby that he was holding. Sasuke pressed a finger to the babies lips experimentally.
As the baby suckled Sasuke’s finger, a strange intense thinking look came over his face. Kakashi supplied the answer that Sasuke’s brain was searching for. “He’s hungry. There’s milk to warm up in the kitchen. Check the temperature against your wrist. It should be skin temperature.” Sasuke nodded and walked over to Tsume.
“Here. Put your hand here on his hand and hold him against you. Your other hand will go under him. Watch your claws. Sakura can help you if you need anything.” Sasuke left her holding this tiny little boy that gurgled and stared up at her curiously. Tsume’s tail curled up her waist as she stayed frozen unsure of what to do with her burden.
“His name is Kairo.” Tsume glanced up to see Kakashi looking up from his book at her. He seemed to be smiling.
“Gkairo.” The child gurgled in response and Tsume grinned in response down at the child. However, her eyes widened in agony just a moment later. “Ahhh!!!!” Tears came to her eyes and she growled. “Let go!!!!!!” The child in her arms began bawling, but only pulled on her tail harder. Tsume was doing anything in her power to attempt not to tighten her grip on the child. Sasuke had told her to watch her claws. Too bad he hadn’t told the child to watch her tail.
“Tsume!” Naruto and Sakura ran over to her, unfortunately Sakura’s hand were full and Naruto wasn’t sure what to do. Sakura began giggling. “Gomen, Tsume-chan! But…”
“Get him off me! It hurrrrts!” Tsume continued with a soft rumbling growl deep in her throat and Kairo screamed loud and yanked on her tail again.
Naruto was attempting to help, but it was failing miserably. “Come on little guy. You know you wanna let go.” Each tiny fist was secured to Tsume tightly though and he wasn’t listening to Naruto. Sakura was attempting to keep Teiro from getting upset because his brother was upset.
Sasuke came back into the room with two bottles and didn’t pause. He handed one bottle to Sakura and walked over to Tsume shifted Kairo into a laying position in her arms. Tsume and Naruto watched almost dumbly as Sasuke adjusted both Tsume and Kairo until he was contently suckling on a bottle that she held for him. The hand on her tail released to reach up and grasp at the bottle. Sighing in relief, Tsume sank to the floor into a sitting position while still cradling Kairo.
“Good job, Sasuke.” Kakashi grinned from behind his book as Sasuke went over to Sakura and made sure that she had everything under control.
“Wow, Tsume-chan. I think he likes you.” Kairo had snuggled into her chest and Tsume felt a feeling that she didn’t quite understand. It was a warmth in her chest and she looked at Naruto and his gentle look, the feeling increased. Slowly Kairo released the bottle with a sleepy gaze. Naruto smiled. “Oh! Sakura-chan said that you have to burp them afterwards. Hold him over your shoulder and pat him on the back.”
Naruto grabbed a towel and draped it over her shoulder. Naruto shrugged. “She said sometimes they make a mess.” Tsume obligingly moved a content Kairo to her shoulder and began patting him on the back firmly, but not too hard. Naruto would occasionally help adjust so that they were both still comfortable. Tsume smiled at Naruto which turned to a startled look as the baby burped and she felt wetness hit her shoulder.
Naruto began to chuckle as he moved around her and wiped off the baby’s face. Tsume’s face flushed and she felt an unusual feeling bubbling up in her even as she glanced up and saw Sasuke doing the same thing that she’d just experienced. A soft series of barking erupted from her lips which startled everyone except for the sleepy Kairo against her.
“Tsume-chan…?” Sakura took a few steps towards her unsure of whether or not to think if there was something wrong.
Naruto looked closely at her face before grinning widely, “Eh, it’s okay, Sakura-chan! She’s laughing!” Skeptical looks from Sasuke and Sakura turned to amazement as the laughter turned to giggles as she held Kairo to her.
The door clicked open and everyone paused to see the mother stop in the doorway. A hand covered her mouth and a grin. “Oh my, I guess you all did just fine on your own. Although you’re just a bit of a mess. Here let me help you settle them down to sleep, so you can leave and get cleaned up.”
A short time later found them all walking together as they went back to report their mission status. Sasuke was acting like the mission was nothing, and Tsume and Sakura were blushing at how Naruto was gushing about how well they handled it. Although, Naruto swore up and down that he wouldn’t stand for any more easy missions like that. Sasuke grunted a quiet agreement.