The Next Day

Storm's POV

I sigh and sit up, opening my eyes to almost get blinded by the morning light.

This week has been absolutely awful, I just need some time to relax. Of course, that won't happen, so I might as well train, I've got nothing better to do.

I get up and get ready, changing into my dark blue slim fitting long sleeve, dark blue jean shorts that end mid thigh, black ninja sandals, black plated gloves, ninja forehead protector on around my left leg right below my jean shorts, and my Jonin Flack jacket, left open.

I walk to the kitchen and I make myself a frozen breakfast, I sit at the counter eating it as my mind plays a blank.

After I finish eating it I throw away the empty box and put my ninja gear on. I walk to my training grounds soon after and train.

I don't give a damn if I failed, I should have just asked for help, damn pride, sometimes I wish I could just hide, but I can't, facing my problems is harder than it seems, thanks a lot Tsunade, I don't really even deserve to be Jonin, but I have no choice, I'm a Shinobi who has too much responsibility on her shoulders. Damn all this to hell.

By the time its lunch, I'm starving but I decide to just stay up in my tree.

Shikamaru's POV

I watch as Storm trains, I can tell she's thinking over what happened. I just wait.

By the time its noon, Storm is sitting in her tree, not even paying attention to anything.

She's beating herself up about the mission, it's not right to see her fall so hard, especially with not having anyone to talk it out with, I heard Dad last night, that's just mean, but I know its tough love.

"What is it Shikamaru?" Storm asks from her branch.

"So you finally noticed me." I say and jump up in front of her.

"I know what I did wrong, I just can't admit it." Storm mutters and leans her head back on the tree trunk.

"So you failed, so what? You said that everyone messes up on the first try, well you messed up, just like I did, but its no reason to beat yourself up over it, now is it?" I ask her.

Storm's eyes widen. "Those were my words." She says and then cracks a smile. "I suppose it isn't, still, me failing? That's hardly believable, I took a hit to my pride on this mission, damn what a pain." Storm says and scratches the back of her neck.

"Yeah, I suppose you did, but you did what was necessary to protect us." I say to her with a smirk.

Storm's POV

"Now what?" I ask and look at the sky.

"Well, take on a few missions, get your pride back." Shikamaru says to me.

"That sounds reasonable. Alright." I say and stand up.

Shikamaru stands up and we leave my training grounds. 

I walk to the Hokage office and I knock.

"Come in."

I walk in and I see Tsunade talking with Jiraiya.

"I seem to have come at a bad time." I say and Jiraiya smirks.

"No, actually, we were discussing on what to do, I mean Naruto is coming to train with me, so I decided why not take you to help as well, you know, just to train." Jiraiya says to me.

"Say what?" I ask and Tsunade laughs.

"Storm, your going with Jiraiya, this is the mission I was talking about yesterday, the one declined, your pride has clearly been hit and maybe some traveling might help." Tsunade says to me with a smirk.

"I feel like there is a catch to this." I say to them.

"You are to help gather intel on the Akatsuki." Tsunade says to me. "Also, I have to tell you something after Jiraiya leaves." Tsunade says to me.

The three of us talk and then Jiraiya leaves a while later to go tell Naruto.

"Storm, I'm gonna be blunt." Tsunade says to me. "Your to protect Naruto, no matter the cost." Tsunade says to me with a serious tone in her voice.

I raise an eyebrow. "Like I'd let something happen to my teammate." I say to her.

Tsunade nods. "If I find out anything about your parent's I'll let you know." Tsunade says to me.

"Awesome, thanks Tsunade. Alright, I'll go pack." I say to her with a smile and I walk out of the office and to my apartment. I look around my apartment.

"This is gonna be hard to leave for so long." I say and walk to my shelf. I pull off a few scrolls and I walk to my bedroom. I seal my picture's in one scroll.

"So, where are you going?"

I look over to see Dad sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Mission, long one." I say to him and Dad narrows his eyes at my scrolls.

"How long?" Dad asks.

"2 and half almost 3 years." I say to him and Dad's eye's widen a lot.

"That long?" Dad asks me.

I nod. "Yep, and its a travelling one." I say to him as I seal my clothes in another scroll. 

"Did you realize what you did wrong?" Dad asks me in a serious tone.

"I did, but I won't admit what I did wrong. Not in my nature to anyways." I say to him as I seal my bathroom necessities in another scroll.

"Admit it then, get over your Tsundereness." Dad says to me.

I look at him. "Fine, I should have asked for help, instead of trying to take everything on, myself. Happy now?" I ask him.

"Yes, now, don't take on this mission, Yoshino would be upset if you were gone for so long." Dad says to me.

"Sorry Dad, orders are orders, and I got them straight from Tsunade." I say to him as I finish packing everything else I need.

"At least come home and have something to eat." Dad says to me.

"Fine, I'm not leaving till tomorrow anyways." I say to him.

We walk back to his place and Mom hugs me immediately.

"Your back." Mom says to me.

"Not for long, I have a mission tomorrow." I say to her.

"Well, come help me with dinner, its almost finished." Mom says to me.

"Alright." I say and tie my hair up as we walk to the kitchen.

I help her with the rest of dinner and we set everything on the dinning room table.

Shikamaru walks in and see's me. "I didn't think you'd admit what you did wrong." Shikamaru says to me.

"I had no choice." I say to him as I side glare at Dad who just acts like nothing happened, I roll my eyes and we sit down to eat.

"So, Storm, how long is your mission gonna be?" Mom asks me and Shikamaru looks at me.

"2 and a half years? Don't blame me, if you want to blame someone, blame Jiraiya, he's the one taking Naruto out of the village to train him and Tsunade is sending me to protect Naruto." I say to holding my hands up in defense.

Mom nods while Shikamaru just stares at me.

"Let me guess, you don't want to go." Shikamaru says to me after dinner in his room as we play a game of Shogi.

"Nope." I say and Shikamaru beats me. "Oh come on, how do I never win?" I ask and Shikamaru laughs.

"Because, I have the skills for games like this, while you have skills for card games." Shikamaru says to me with a smirk.

I fall asleep in Shikamaru's room, on the couch as he sleeps on his bed.

The next morning

An alarm clock rings in my ear and I push the snooze button. It goes off again.

"Wake up, you have a mission."

I grumble and get up. "Fine, I'm up, even though I'd very much like to not be up." I say and Shikamaru nods in agreement while Mom just stares at me sternly.

"Get ready, I'll make breakfast." Mom says and walks out.

"Mom did not have enough sleep." I say and put my flack jacket on and I brush out my hair.

"Apparently." Shikamaru says as I put my ninja gear on.

We walk out and sit at the table as Mom places breakfast at our spots.

"Thanks for the food." I say and eat.

 Shikamaru eats too, while Dad walks in.

I finish eating and I wash my dishes.

"Storm, your too quiet." Shikamaru says to me.

"I'm just thinking." I say to him.

"I thought I smelled something burning." Dad says with a smirk.

I roll my eyes with a smile. "Uh huh." 

Shikamaru smirks while Mom smiles.

"Well, I guess I have to go now." I say scratching the back of my neck.

Mom hugs me. "Be careful, tell us everything when you get back, and don't you dare grow up." Mom says to me.

I laugh lightly and I smile at them. "Don't worry, I have the mental age of a grown up, the only growing up you'd miss is my height." I say to her.

"Yeah." Dad says and Shikamaru pats my head.

We take a picture because Mom wanted one.

I put my copy on the inside pocket of my flack jacket. "I'll see you guys in a few years." I say to them as I walk out of the house.

Shikamaru's POV

Storm puts her copy of the photo inside of her flack jacket. "I'll see you guys in a few years." She says as she walks out of the house.

"This is gonna be a boring 2 and a half years." I say scratching the back of my head.

Dad and Mom nod in agreement.

Storm's POV

I get to the gates and I see I'm early.

"How is it that I'm always early?" I ask and Izumo and Kotesu laugh.

"Because your teacher is Kakashi, your polar opposites." Izumo says to me.

I sigh and wait. "Those morons, I'm gonna kick their asses if they make me wait any longer." I say a few minutes later.

Izumo and Kotesu watch amused. 

Jiraiya and Naruto finally get here and I look at them unamused.

"I guess you've been waiting." Jiraiya says to me.

"Uh huh." 

Naruto hides behind Jiraiya. "She doesn't seem happy."

My eye twitches and that's enough to make Jiraiya hide behind Kotesu and Naruto behind Izumo.

"Don't hide behind us!" Izumo and Kotesu yell and they run for the hills.

I punch Naruto and Jiraiya into the ground. "That's for making me wait." I say and walk back over to the gate.

Kakashi and Sakura get here and Kakashi looks at me surprised.

"What are you doing here Storm?" Kakashi asks.

"She's doing a special assignment for me." Tsunade says walking up with a smirk.

"Special my ass." I mutter.

Sakura attempts to hit me on the head but I step to the side and she hits face first into the gate wall. 

"That's never gonna get old." I say with a smirk.

"WHY YOU!" Sakura yells as I control her shadow to stand next to Tsunade.

"You should be saying thank you, I safely removed you from the wall before your face got a bunch of splinters." I say to her.

"Thank you my foot." Sakura says crossing her arms after I release her.

I scowl at her. "Ungrateful little" Kakashi places a hand over my mouth.

"Now, now, this is no time to fight." Kakashi says with a closed eyed smile and releases me.

I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest. "Fine."

We say our goodbyes and I see Kiba walk up to me.

"When you get back, I expect you to be dumber than me." Kiba says with a smirk.

"You sure about that dog breath? I'm always gonna be smarter than you because I'm a smartass and your a dumbass." I say to him with a smirk.

"I think I just found who I want Storm to be with." Sakura and Ino say with grins.

"Yeah sure, I think hell would freeze over before we date." Me and Kiba say to them.

Kakashi gives us a closed eyed smile. "Yet your perfect for each other."

"Not you to Sensei." I say to him.

"Storm-San, w-when y-you g-get back, I-I'll be s-stronger." Hinata says to me shyly.

I pat her head with a smile. "Hinata, sweet, sweet Hinata, your strong already, Neji's been training you right? Well he's probably stronger than I am."

Naruto grins at Hinata and she faints.

"Naruto, look what you did." I say to him.

Everyone laughs.

Me, Naruto and Jiraiya leave after we finish saying our goodbyes.

I'll be back, I will always come home, no matter how far away I am, I will come home, because that's where my family is.
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