Chapter 6: Friend in Need
Suddenly pushing chakra into my feet, I dash close to her. Pushing a finger on her lips while my other arm behind her back holds her nape, I stare into her quivering violet eyes as she slowly recognizes me. Moving from one feature of my face to the next, her eyes quickly dart around my face over and over again before settling into my own. She's scared. Moving my finger from her lips, I snake it around her lower waist and embrace her. Moving the hand on her nape to the back of her head, I caress it with slow and deliberate movements. Slowly moving farther into the woods while still hugging her, I slowly lower us down against a trunk. Hearing her muffled sobs, I continue patting her head gently.
Frowning, I feel my chakra reaching the critical point as my head starts pounding. Slowly lifting her head with one of my hands, I close my eyes and release the transformation. With a small poof of smoke, my clothes return to my regular worn academy outfit. Glancing at Kushina, I see her wiping tears on her sleeve. Smiling as she looks up at me, I raise an eyebrow. I may be okay at handling children, but I definitely can't read minds. There shouldn't be any reason that Kushina, the future jinchuriki, isn't being watched.
Slowly setting a palm on the tree trunk behind me, I falter. I'm out of chakra. Smiling wryly, I turn my attention to the fidgetting redhead. Setting her head in the nook between my shoulder and neck, she grabs onto my shirt murmuring, "Is it okay if we stay like this for a while?" Going back to patting her head, I whisper, "Sure, it's not like I have anywhere I can be right now." Smelling the scent of floral shampoo waft off of her hair, I smirk. So you use organic products huh? I can probably make my own. Some essential oils, a few dozen flower petals, and potassium hydroxide should do it. Nothing out of reach once I move out.
Several minutes pass by before Kushina slowly looks up at me. Still feeling the effects of chakra exhaustion, I glance down while lifting my head. It seems at some point, I had started resting my head on top of hers. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve again, she sniffles, "I'm sorry, y'know. I- I just remembered home and had to just get away from things. I saw you running into the woods so I tried looking for you, but I couldn't see you and almost stepped on you dattebane!" Blinking slowly at her outburst, I idly notice her skin is practically glowing. Just another thing to look into when I move out, skincare products. Shrugging my wet shoulder, I whisper, "It's fine, I wouldn't have gone anywhere else for at least another half hour anyway."
Seeing curiosity flash through her eyes, I hear the long-predicted question, "So why are you running from the police force dattebane?" Licking my lips, I rest my head on hers again, "Well, I was running from my instructor first, but the socially retarded punk saw through my transformation jutsu." Feeling her silently chuckling under me, I smile. Kids really do have the most genuine reactions. Poking her nose to her annoyance, I continue, "My pencil pusher wanted to give me detention because someone didn't show him the respect an almost useless pencil pusher deserves. I didn't like that so I blew him off and that ended up with a racy ninja chase."
Pushing my hand away, she asks, "So what did you do to disrespect him?" Flicking a finger at her nose, I huff into her hair, "What makes you think I did anything?" Snorting she just waits for me to continue. Sighing, I say, "I may have pulled his chair away from underneath him and tried to trick him again right after." This time no longer holding it in, I frown as she starts shaking from laughter.
"So? What are you going to do now? You can't hide forever dattebane" she inquires. Blowing a strand of crimson hair from my mouth, I shrug. "I'll lay low for tonight and test out of lecture classes early tomorrow morning. He can't punish me if I'm not even in his class" I mumble. Wrapping my numb arm around her, I close my eyes. I could probably fall asleep with Kushina as my own pillow at this rate.
Snuggling closer, she says, "I don't mind staying like this for now, but it will get cold as the sun sets y'know. How about you sleep over at my house with me?" Feeling the rays of sunlight filtering through the leaves warm me, I mutter, "That sounds great, just let me rest a bit. I'm completely exhausted right now." Humming in acquiescence, she nuzzles my clavicle before settling down. Blowing some hair away from my nose, I sigh. Perfect, all I need is a nice breeze and some music.
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Feeling something moving through my shirt, I slowly crack my eyes open. Shaking Kushina awake, I lift my shirt up. Finding a grasshopper staring back, I place my palm in front of it just in time for it to jump. Cringing as it smacks my hand before bouncing away and landing with a few sloppy flapping noises, I wrinkle my nose. I don't hate bugs. I just don't like most of them. Smirking at the drowsy red head, I slowly get up using the tree trunk for support. Flexing my numb arm, I pat the dirt off my trousers. One good thing about cheap clothes is that stains that don't wash off eventually become a design when enough of them gather. They may look ugly, but they don't look out of place.
Following Kushina out of the woods, I check my chakra levels. Feeling almost half of my chakra pool available, I grin. The recovery is getting faster. Judging by the sun, It's been about two hours. Focusing on my chakra, I transform my hair black and my eyes without double eyelids. Giving myself a more pronounced nose, I thin my lips. Changing my eyecolor to brown, I alter my skin tone to a healthy tan. Seeing Kushina glance back at me in confusion, I grin, "You never know who's watching y'know. I can't be getting caught before our sleepover right?" Beaming back, she grabs my hand and starts running through the busy streets.
Stopping only to get something to eat, we cautiously walk back to her home. Several minutes after leaving a civilian-owned restaurant, we arrive at a secluded compound past the Hokage building at the foot of the mountains. Looking up, I gaze at the three regal faces carved into stone. So much time is available before Naruto is born, but there's so much to do and so little progress towards completing any of my projects. Feeling Kushina tugging my hand, I absent-mindedly start exercising my chakra. Entering one of the central buildings, she turns around and signals me to be quiet.
Entering the home, I take my dirty sandals off and place them neatly next to hers. Tip toeing through a hallway, she slowly pushes a door open before yanking me inside and silently closing the door. Sighing audibly, Kushina waves her hands while spinning around, "Well? Welcome to my room dattebane! We can't make too much noise because granny is sleeping, but I'll introduce you in the morning." Scrutinizing the room I occasionally point something out in as much excitement as I can fake. What? You can't always be genuine alright? Sometimes you have to fluff someone's ego. Especially when they help you out.
Finally spotting something interesting, I walk over and point to it, "Is this fuinjutsu?" Leaning on my shoulder, she nods, "It's just the basics, the real stuff will start after I graduate from the academy." Smiling, I complement her penmanship before diverting the topic. I can't ask for it the day I meet her now can I? After an hour of small talk, we end up lying down next to each other on her bed. Me in her red pajamas and her in her violet ones. It turns out that I'm almost the same size if not an inch taller than her. Rolling over to face her I ask, "Hey, Ku. You still awake?" Rolling just her head she murmurs, "Yea, why?"
Taking a moment to think about what I want to say, I roll back on my back, "I just want to say thanks. Thanks for having me over and helping me out today." Blinking a few times, she cracks a weak smile, "That's what friends are for silly. I'll always help a friend in need."
Staring at the blank ceiling, I smile in the dark. It's genuine this time. A friend huh? My first friend in this life. Giggling, I wipe a tear from my eye, "Yea, I'll help you too one day!" Several moments pass by before she suddenly asks, "Can you teach me how to do the transformation without seals? I-I can teach you fuinjutsu basics if you want? Y'know if you don't mind and are interested." Pausing for a moment she adds, "No pressure though. I understand if you're not interested. As friends I-" Smirking in the dark, I knock her head, "Stop it. We're friends, right? I'd love to learn the basics of fuinjutsu. As for teaching you the transformation jutsu without seals, I don't mind if it's you. Just don't tell anyone else okay?"
Grinning at taking another step forward, I cringe as Kushina suddenly knocks the breath out of me with a hug. "Of course, we're friends dattebane! You can count on me! I'm the best at keeping secrets" she shouts. I mentally sigh, a friend in need indeed. At least I got a fuinjustu teacher and a friend today. Falling asleep, I smile contently. Today was a good day.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
heavygreen
heavygreen So, no groundbreaking, expectation smashing development today, but I was thinking it's about time my character got a life. In this case, a person she cares about. Trying to see if I can do some character development here, but I'll probably loop around to chakra manipulation and now fuinjutsu basics training. A weak protagonist without any plot armor means she needs constant vigi- training. CONSTANT TRAINING! Thanks for reading.
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