It really is worth it.

T

ToshiyalovesKyo

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Joined
Jan 17, 2009
Blue eyes slowly looked around the training field, for once Naruko had arrived early to trair and so she could have some time alone to think. "Man, I really don't know what I'm thinking." She said with a shake of her head, for some reason she had been thinking of Sasuke alot and she didn't know why, there was no reason for her to be thinking of him so much. Maybe it was just because she thought that he was getting stronger then her so she wanted to be able to make sure that she was keeping up with him.

Naruko got to her feet and walked over to one of the training dumbies before she started to practice attacking chakra points, it was something that Hinata had been helping her learn. 'I'm sure that something like this will come in handy if I get into a fight with Sasuke, he wont know what hit him!' She thought as a smirk came to her face, she was proud of herself for learning some new things, but could only hope that they would work when she was fighting a real human.
 
Sasuke likewise had been thinking of the blonde annoying girl far more than he was would have admitted she was worth. As he sat up upon the rooftop he was laying one, he scoffed arrogantly. "Only thinking about her because of how much stronger she's getting, that's all." There was no way she could ever become a threat. That was when his eyes narrowed a bit and his proud grin faded. Itachi came looking for her, however, not him. He remembered bitterly how his elder brother had merely tossed him aside like a rag doll, and how he watched helplessly as Naruko was held up by her collar. Gritting his teeth, he slammed his hands on the terracota tiles. A mere second later, he had composed himself and was leaping from roof to roof. He had spent enough time in the past. It was time to work on his future.

When he reached the training ground, she was already there. Rather than interrupt, he stayed in the treeline, observing her for a moment. There was a sense of resentment in his gaze. Those were no ordinary strikes she was delivering to the dummy's chest. Likely Hinata's doing, as Neji likely would not even speak to Naruko for more than a greeting, not after than embarrassing defeat. A shuriken was slowly drawn out from his pouch, and with expert care, was flung swiftly at the head of the dummy. Resounding with an audibly 'thunk' to distract her, he would soon be a few feet behind Naruko. "Yo," Sasuke said nonchalantly, flicking away an errant strand of hair away from his eyes. His eyes glanced towards the poor battered dummy before adding mockingly, "Training? Dummies don't hit back, you know."
 
Naruko became tence when a shuriken suddenly hit the dummy that she had been practicing on, she spun around quickly to defend herself only to see that it was Sasuke standing there. "Sasuke you jerk! What do you think you were doing, I'm trying to train here!" She asked with a growl as she crossed her arms over her chest and acted like he hadn't just scared the life from her. "Yeah well it's hard to train when you're the only one around." She said, she hadn't wanted to use a Shadow Clone but she had needed something that would stay while she was hitting it.

"So...where's Sakura? Isn't she always following you around?" The blond asked with a frown on her face, she didn't know why she was so bothered at the thought of Sasuke liking some other girl. 'Why should I care who Sasuke likes? It doesn't matter to me after all, I can't stand that jerk!' She thought to herself with an angry growl.
 
Her reaction provoked a predictable grin from him, the same arrogant smirk that would grace his features whenever he proved that he was, once and for all, the only one that could kill his brother. "Sakura's off somewhere, probably oversleeping or bitching off at Ino at the flowershop." He hated to admit it, but though Sakura was the more discipline of the two teammates, he actually preferred training with Naruko. The Uchiha boy would never say to anyone, let alone her of all people. She provided enough challenge that he could test his limits and still fight with full knowledge that he would come out on top in the end.

"So...," he began, purposefully mimicking the start of her own question to him, "Are you still the only one around?" There was a gleam of challenge in his eyes, further pleased by how angry she seemed. He drew one foot and arm back, bringing himself into a ready stance. His left arm extended, palm up, and beckoned her over with mocking 'come hither' movement of his fingers.
 
Naruko huffed at the others words before she slowly got into position to fight the other. "I'm not going to back down from you." She said with as she glared at the other with her blue eyes, she really wanted to beat Sasuke for once. Naruko would never back down from a fight when it came to Sasuke, she didn't know why but it always just sent a thrill through her to fight him whenever she could. "I will win this time, I've been learning new fighting skills thanks to Hinata." She said before she jumped forward and took a swing at the other teen.
 
Boringly predictable Naruko, he thought smugly as the first blow was easily dodged. Ducking beneath her wildly thrown punch, he pivoted upon his heel in order to bring his sweep leg to bear towards at the back of her ankle. Whether he managed to fell her or not, the young man was already retreating away from his blonde companion. She was always such a hot headed brawler, and he was only too happy to repay her with his own style of heat. Well practiced signs were formed by his hands in swift succession as he spoke out the words in his head. Fire style, fireball jutsu! The ball of flame expelled from his mouth rocketed towards Naruko, but the distance might have given her enough time to escape the fiery blast.

Too easy, he said with some sense of admiration over his own talents as he watched the flames engulf not only the tall grasses but also one of the furthest of the practice dummies. All the same, however, he returned to a ready position, his eyes narrowed and focused on the blaze before him.
 
Naruko was able to just avoid being taken out at the ankles and dodged the fire ball, though some of her hair did get a bit burned at the ends. She cursed softly before she quickly jumped back a couple steps before she took a deep breath to try and calm herself down, she then shifted her stance anddid her best to focuse her chakra into her hands before attacking. "I'll show you just what I learned." She said as she tried to attack one of his chi points, she would show him that she wasn't just some push over that he could make fun of whenever he felt a little bored.
 
Sasuke caught the silhouette of her figure just past the edge of the dying fireball. Yea. It had been too easy to think she'd be taken down so easily. A hand slid into his pouch, fingering the hilt of a kunai blade as he expect her to this time charge at him with shurikens or kunais herself. His eyes widened a bit as she adopted a more stoic posture. "What is she doing...?" he whispered to himself, releasing the knife back into his pouch. Chakra slowly became visible at her hands and fingertips.

He had only a moment to spare at how much she had grown before her first strike came exceedingly close to his shoulder. Missing the painful blow by a hair's breath, he frowned fiercely and did his best to not only continuously dodge her next successive palm strikes, but also attempt delivering a few of his own debilitating punches. His own attacks lacked the chakra lacing of Naruko's, but they might still deliver a raw painful feeling. He danced and weaved around her, with her even, their legs ever taking and ceding ground from one another. Dammit. How is she this fast?
 
Naruko was proud of how well she was doing, even if she was still missing the attacks, she was still close to landing them, and there was also the fact that most of his hits where still hitting her. "Not so slow anymore, am I?" She asked with a smirk on her face, speed had been something else that Hinata had been working with her, she was sure that the shy young girl would be very proud of how much her skills had grown.

"I bet that you can't take me down, even after just a little training I'm already just as good as you." The blond said with a smug smile on her face as she took a couple of steps back to dodge out of the others way before she jumped in and attacked again, sure that she would be able to beat him.
 
"Don't count on it," he snapped back with mild irritation in his voice. He realized that his breath was now a soft pant. She had actually been leaving him winded. She was right to some extent. Her training had her nearly matching his speed. He could not allow her to feel so smug about it, not Naruko. Never did he think he would need to use his ability on a mere training exercise, and certainly not to beat Naruko. Damn her, he thought, that heat of resentment building up again as he imagined her eventually becoming stronger than he was.

His eyes closed as she withdrew from him, only to charge back into the fray. Sharingan! Red hued eyes glared aggressively at Naruko. She was fast, but not fast enough for his inherent ability. With increasingly greater ease as he read her body movements, he began to flow around her thrusting hands. Sasuke even went to far as to teasingly slap her hands aside as if a child wishing for a cookie. Faster and faster he countered her attempted blows, not even bothering with hitting her back. The game has gone on long enough, he mused. With a widening grin, he drew back his hand before shoving an open palm towards her chest in hopes of sending her flying backwards.
 
Naruko was grinning away until she saw Sasuke activate his Sharingan which changed up their whole fight, now she was the one who was running out of breath even as she was still on the attack though she was starting to get sloppy. "Damn it Sasuke!" She growled in anger before letting out a yelp when she was hit in the chest and went flying backwards. It wasn't far, she had been so close, if it hadn't of been for that damn Sharingan of his, she would have beaten him and she knew it!

"Fine, you still beat me." She said as she slowly sat up and started to lightly rub at her chest where his hit had landed. "You didn't need to hit me in the chest that hard you know." Naruko said with a small roll of her eyes before she slowly got to her feet and lightly brushed herself off.
 
Whatever enjoyment that had been secretly building up inside him from that short training session with Naruko was instantly swept away when she stood up and seemed to had no further desire to continue. "Thought you weren't just some girl that the guys could push around," he countered, rather than be cowed in guilt. The roll of her blue eyes was further assurance that he hadn't harmed her. He walked towards her, hands shoved in his pockets and purposefully looking aside as she brushed herself off. "Come on," Sasuke remarked dryly, adding further as if it didn't matter what she picked, "Everyone's probably just now getting up and eating breakfast. May as well do the same." His head turned back to her, calm eyes staring back at hers. Sasuke would only give her a second's worth to decide before he began to walk away, rather than his usual swift exit.
 
Naruko blinked a few times before she started to slowly follow after Sasuke. "What are you talking about? Are you asking me to eat with you or something?" She asked as she moved to walk next to him and laced her fingers behind her head as they walked together, peeking over at Sasuke from the courner of her eye as they walked, a small blush on her cheeks, she didn't know why she gave up with out any more fight, after all she didn't want him to keep thinking that he was better then him, she wanted him to see her as his equil.
 
Sasuke scoffed with a bit of derisiveness to his tone, immediately brushing aside the insinuation. "Its not a date," he remarked, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets as he walked with her towards the village. Their pace matched on another's unconsciously, either him slowing to allow her to keep up, or her speeding up to meet him. He felt her watching him, even if it was just peripheral vision. Her eyes bore into him, tearing at his patience, but he did not know why. Instantly and without thinking, he snapped at her, "What?" He stopped in his tracks and looked at her squarely.
 
"I never said that it was a date jerk." She said as she stuck her tongue out at him as they walked, only to jump when he snapped at her, causing her to stop with him and turn to face him. "I'm trying to figure out why you thought I thought that this was a date." She lied, though she was really trying to figure out why she felt so funny when ever she was around him and why she would always blush when she thought of how he was her very first kiss...even if it had been an accedent since Shikamaru had pushed her and she had fell into the other so they kissed.
 
He irate expression became a growing frown as she turned the conversation back on him. Suddenly, he was the one being interrogated. His shoulders drew back just slightly as if to back way. That sense of insecurity and unsureness quickly gave way however. He grinned a bit, flashed a cocky smile and started walking away again. "Just figured you would, just like Sakura would." That might have struck a nerve in the blonde girl, comparing her to her closest rival. However, he could care less about either girl as far he cared to admit. "Hurry up, would you?" he mocked, picking up the pace along the beaten dirt path.

Her words continued to echo in his head, only to be mentally shouted each time he heard her voice repeat itself. It's not a damn date! I never even suggested it. Shut up. Shut up! Shut up!... His teeth gritted together and his fists clenched a bit. Fortunately, he'd be a bit too far ahead of Naruko for her to notice that slight moment of distress.
 
Naruko became tence at those words and any thoughts that she had that maybe...just maybe going on a date with Sasuke wouldn't be so bad went flying out the window when he brought up Sakura. "Yeah right, I have better things to worry about then how I look for some boy." She huffed before she quickly hurried to catch up with him, stomping her feet slightly as they went, not in the least bit happy that she was being compaired to the annoying pink haired girl.

'Why would a boy be interested in me anyway?' She thought to herself as she lowered her head to watch her feet as they walked, he didn't even bother to walk next to him now, walking a few steps behind Sasuke now. She suddenly didn't feel all that hungry and just wanted to get back to the training grounds so she could be alone. 'Why does it hurt so much to know that he wouldn't be interested?' She thought with a frown on her face before she shook her head of long blond hair and closed her eyes as they walked.
 
He kept silently brooding to himself as well, though his eyes would remain open. Taking in the natural surroundings, he let his mind wander. He had to become stronger, strong enough to kill his bother, strong enough to protect everyone he cared for so that no one he loved would die again. The image of Naruko came first, only to gradually expand to include Sakura, Kakashi... Ino, Choji, Shikamaru... Nej- It soon became near everyone in the village, but Naruko had been the first. His pace gradually slowed, slow enough to meet hers, slower still to allow her to pass him. He had almost been completely lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realized where they were walking.

His hand reached over swiftly and gripped Naruko's shoulder, hard to begin but gradually softening. "Idiot, watch where you're going," he quipped, back to his usual condescending voice. They had almost ran clear into the closed half of the village gate, rather than walk around it. "Completely useless sometimes...," he muttered, letting her go and continuing on inside their peaceful home.
 
Naruko became tence when she was suddenly grabbed and pulled to the side and then she watched as he walked away from her, her hands balled up at her sides as her jaw clenched. "I don't need you talking to me like this I hope you know!" She snapped at him before she turned and started to walk down a different street so she could get home, she didn't have anything there to eat but she just couldn't be around Sasuke anymore, it was causing her far to much pain and she didn't know why. 'Why does it hurt me when he calls me names, it use to just make me mad but now...Ahh! Snap out of it Naruko, it doesn't matter!' She growled mentally as she placed her hands over the Kyuubi mark on her belly, no one would ever want her so long as she had Kyuubi in her...except for maybe Gaara, but she didn't think that he would feel that way about her either.
 
Sasuke noticed when she was no longer following. For a moment, he felt like running after her, apologizing even. His lips pursed for a moment in thought. His eyes fell to the ground, eyes crestfallen. He had taking it harder on her, more so than he ever had with Sakura. He even took a step towards the street she had gone as if to follow, then stopped. It would probably just lead to more fighting and arguing if he just went over to talk to her again. Glancing towards the ramen stand, another idea came to mind. "Idiot probably didn't even remember about breakfast," he said to himself, as to justify the kind act bubbling in his head, "She'll be even more useless on an empty stomach." With a grin of feigned superiority he ducked under the small curtain to place his order to-go.
 
Naruko stopped before she was even half way back to her apartment and gave a soft sigh as she kicked at a pebble, why was she even bothering to go back home? She was just going to have to go all they way back to the training area if she did that, besides, maybe Sasuke saw where she was going was would follow her back to her crummy little apartment, she didn't want anyone to see that place, it was bad enough that he had seen it when they where younger, she didn't want him to see it now a days. "Grrr there I go again, why should I care what he thinks about where I live?" She asked herself with a growl, shaking her head out before she turned and jumped onto a roof top and started to jump across the roofs to get back to thr training area once again.
 
Sasuke held the tied bag's handle in his mouth, his arms swept back as he made his way across rooftops towards Naruko's home. She might have even seen him from across roofs as he was, for once, entirely focused on his surroundings. The young man was more interested in making sure she was still at home. With each progressive leap, he wondered what he would say to her.

Yo. I thought we were having breakfast together. Idiot. Then she'd slap him. Ouch.

No, he thought with a light shake of his head. She did not want him speaking to her like that. Then again, since when had he cared what she thought he should or not do? His sandaled feet reached a rooftop from where he would see her balcony. The window was open, but then again, it usually was. She was such a clutz. Anyone could break in and steal her things. Taking a cautious leap onto the railing, he peered inside.

"She's not here...?" he asked with a sense of genuine confusion. It hadn't looked like Naruko had been in her apartment since morning. A leg extended out, a foot touching the floor, following by the other as he stepped inside.
 
Naruko started to feel a bit stitchy as she sat by herself at the training grounds, she was sure that Sasuke had gone to her apartment and she didn't like the thought of him being there all by himself and it made her feel uneasy. "Stupid jerk...he better not mess anything up." She growled, only for her stomach to growl right back at her, causing her to twitch in agitation. "Shut up you, I never asked you." She huffed, knowing already that if Sasuke went snooping that he would only find her clothing, bed sheets and bed, some spoiled milk, and nothing else. Naruko didn't have much money, only enough to just get by with paying the bills and getting a bit of food every now and then, it's why she always ate so much when someone brought her out to eat.

"Maybe I should have gone to eat with him, even if he was being a real jerk...I could have made him spend a bunch of money on buying me a meal." Naruko said with a snicker before rolling her eyes, she was even more sure that he would have made her pay for her own meal after saying he never said that he would pay for her food. "Not going to trick me like that." She said as she let her eyes slip shut, maybe a little nap would be good while she waited for everyone to get here.
 
He took some time to move around the apartment, hardly remembering how it was when he had last visited. His eyes wandered over the sparse belongings. Perhaps a bit nosier than he should have been, Sasuke helped himself towards checking out her refrigerator. The emptiness of it, save for the expired carton of milk, gave a moment's pause. Looking back to the bag containing their breakfast, he realized how much it would have meant to her. With a despised huff at himself, he shook his head and picked up the bag once more. He had to find her.

The next several minutes were spent running through the village, frantically asking if they had seen her. Sasuke even went so far as to ask Sakura. Initially she had been excited, seeing him running so swiftly towards her, a lunch bag in his hand. Date? No. Much to her own annoyance, he was looking for their blond teammate.

With a panting breath, the young man had made his way back to the training ground. Damn Naruko, he silently cursed, though not exactly sure why he was blaming her for his exertion.

A pair of chopsticks were taken out of the bag, twirled expertly in his fingers for only second before he threw them as if a pair of kunai's. If she didn't move from her nap, Naruko might just wake up to a pair of chopsticks skewering her hair as if the beginnings of a Chinese hair bun.

He'd be waiting just a few feet in front of her, squatting with the bag between them. Only when she would actually look at him, would the boy answer calmly, "Yo."
 
Naruko's eyes snapped open when the chopsticks hit her, her heart jumping in her chest as she sat up quickly, her eyes landing on Sasuke and she quickly looke away from him as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from him as she picked up the chopsticks from her lap. She sat there looking down for a couple of moments and just playing with the little pieces of wood before she looked back up with him with a small frown. "What do you want Sasuke, didn't you already have enough fun ruining my good mood once already, now you have to come and ruin my nap too?"

Even as Naruko asked the question, it didn't have anywhere near the same anger as she had earlier. "I thought you where going for breakfast, don't tell me that you didn't eat just because an idiot like me wasn't there for you to make fun of." She said as with a huff before she looked off to the side with her nose turned up in the air slightly.
 
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