~Chapter 22~

-Hokori’s POV-

Naruto had returned a week ago with Jiraiya and Tsunade in tow. Tsunade had healed Kakashi and Sasuke since the latter had been a dumbass and tried to follow them and got stuck in the Tsukiyomi by Itachi-chan.

Right now, I was laying on my bed, thinking about how different it was gonna be. Tsunade-baka was once one of my gambling partners. That was until I figured out how bad she was at it.

We did have a round of sake when she came back though. Her assistant Shizune went completely haywire because of it too.

Now I was just waiting for a bird to come pecking at my window telling me I had a mission. The attack from the Sand and Sound had greatly decreased our ninja population. Meaning I’d have a lot more missions to attend to.

The Spoon had already been sent out and he was still recovering. Guy, Kurenai and Asuma were either training their teams or out on a mission so I was bored. Tsunade was busy with paperwork (she was probably sleeping actually) and was being nagged by Shizune.

Anybody else I would consider hanging out with was busy as well. Then again, there was Naruto….he was probably over at Ichiraku’s at this time…..

Alright, Naruto it is.

I quickly got up, dressing in my usual attire and slinging on my Hinome clan cloak. I locked the door on my way out and started hopping along the rooftops before I jumped down to the street in front of Ichiraku’s.

As predicted, Naruto was in there chowing down on his eighteenth bowl of ramen. I raised an eyebrow. That boy usually has ten….he must have been training or something.

“Hey Naruto.” I said, walking in and sitting beside him. His eyes widened and he looked over at me.

“Hochori-shenshei!” He mumbled, a bunch of noodles in his mouth making him look like a chipmunk.

“Yo.” I stated, giving him a peace sign. I turned to the chef, nodding.

“Miso, please.” He nodded, quickly turning to make it.

“How ya been, Naruto?” I asked. He shrugged, slurping done some more noodles.

“Good. Where’s Kakashi-sensei, by the way?” He asked.

I shrugged. “Mission. I’ll probably be sent out on one soon as well.”

I nodded to the chef and smiled as he handed me my ramen. I quickly broke my chopsticks and began eating as Naruto looked at me with a weird expression on his face.

“Hokori-sensei, how are you?” I blinked, looking over at him with furrowed eyebrows.

“What?”

“Whenever we went to get a mission from the old man, you always seemed like a granddaughter to him, believe it. So, how are you feeling?”

I stared at him for a moment in surprise. I didn’t think he ever noticed that. Who knew Naruto would ever pay attention to that?

I sighed, staring down at my ramen and shifting the noodles absentmindedly. “I don’t know, Foxy. Things are hard. I’ve seen a lot of death in my days so I’ve developed a….strange coping method. I just put it to the back of my mind and try not to think about it. I will say that my drinking has gone up exponentially.” We both got a sad chuckle out of that last sentence.

Like when Itachi-chan left, yeah? My mind felt the need to add. I quickly shoved that thought away.

“But,” I continued, “We can’t focus on death. We’ve got to live and protect those still living. So, I just try focusing on them.” I shrugged as he nodded.

“Now, on to a happier topic. How was traveling with Jiraiya?” I asked, nudging his shoulder. He instantly scowled.

“The pervy-sage got distracted by every girl he saw! And he spent all my money! My frog’s empty!” He whined, holding up a green change purse decorated like a frog. I snorted, rolling my eyes.

“That’s Jiraiya for you.” He sighed, looking at the frog sadly. Suddenly he thought of something and looked at me with a puppy-dog look. My eyes narrowed.

“I ain’t paying for you, boy.” I said. He pouted, clasping his hands together.

“Hokori-senseeeeeeei.” He whined. My eye twitched and I quickly finished my ramen, standing up.

“No.”

“Pleeeeeeease!”

“No.”

“I’ll love you forever, believe it!” He said, smiling cutely. I scowled at the boy, flicking his forehead.

“Ow!” He whined, rubbing the red spot.

I sighed, pulling out my wallet and paid for my one bowl and the brat’s twenty bowls. The chef smiled, nodding.

“Come back again any time!” He called as I slumped out of the shop. Naruto danced happily beside me so, like the wonderful sensei I am, I tripped him.

“Hokori-sensei!” He groaned. I chuckled as he got up, following beside me once again.

“So, what’re you planning to do?” I asked him. He shrugged.

“Go see Granny Tsunade maybe.” I chuckled at him nickname and nodded.

“Alright, I’m coming with you. I don’t have anything to do.” He nodded and off we went.

When we got to the Hokage Tower, a bird suddenly let out a cry, circling around my head ten feet above me. I glanced up at it before smirking, holding out my arm. It landed quickly, allowing me to take the note off it’s back while Naruto stared at the bird in surprise.

Once I got it I let it fly off before opening up the scroll. As I predicted, I had a mission from Tsunade and was to report to her office immediately.

“Good thing I came with ya, Foxy. I got a mission.” I shook the scroll and he laughed.

“Let’s go see Granny then.” I nodded, quickly following him up the flights of stairs up to her office. Instead of knocking like a normal person, he barged in the door with a huge grin on his face.

That turned into a looked of annoyance when he saw Tsunade face-down on the desk snoring away. I snorted, leaning down to whisper in Naruto’s ear. His grin widened and he snuck over before yelling right near her ear.

“GRANNY TSUNADE!!!!”

The blond instantly was sitting straight up, looking around wide-eyed. When she caught sight of who was in her office her eyes narrowed and a vein appeared on her forehead.

“What the hell are you two brats doing?!” She growled, slamming her fist on the desk, cracking it slightly. I scowled, looking at the desk which held a lot of cracks already. Poor desk was probably missing the old man more than I was.

“Well, you ordered me to come. Naruto’s just here to annoy you.” I stated, shrugging.

“Isn’t you his sensei? I thought you were supposed to teach him discipline!” She snapped. I rolled my eyes.

“I’m a co-sensei. Besides, Kakashi’s a pervert that’s always late and I’m a smoking drunk. What’s he supposed to learn from that?” I raised an eyebrow and she sweatdropped.

She sighed, rubbing her temples. “Alright. Hokori, you’ve got an A-rank mission to attend to. Here.” She tossed me a scroll and I looked it over, scowling.

“All the way in Lightning Country? Dammit, I’m gonna have to get a jacket.” I grumbled, scowling. Tsunade shrugged.

“You’ll have three others accompanying you, by the way. You were just the first to arrive.” Tsunade added. I sweatdropped.

“Who?” I grumbled.

She simply smirked.

“I don’t like that expression.” I growled, glaring at her. She shrugged.

“Oh well.”

As she said that, the door to her office opened. We both looked over and my jaw dropped.

“No.”

“Yup.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Yes it is.”

“You’re crazy, old lady.” I growled.

“You’ve gotta deal with it.” She replied, smirking. I growled, slamming my hands on the desk and causing it to crack again slightly.

“I refuse to do a mission with a bitch, a nerd and a girly man.” I snapped.

“I’m not a girl!” A deep voice growled. I turned my head towards the three people at the door slowly, my eye twitching. The man who spoke gulped when he saw me glaring at him.

“Well, I’m not….” He mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he looked downcast. The man was short, four inches shorter than me. he had dark brown hair pulled into a low ponytail that went all the way to his waist. His bangs were brushed over his light blue eyes and he wore a black stomach shirt with his clan symbol, the Sukai, on the front. He also had some black ¾ pants and his kunai and shuriken holsters were strapped to his right leg. At first glance, you’d see him as a chick.

“Fuck you, Nikko.” I snapped before turning back to Tsunade and glaring.

“I understand you….dislike them. But it’s your duty as a ninja to get the mission done without any hassles.”

I snorted. “Dislike them? I want to fucking kill them.”

I glared over at the other two people, the bitch and the nerd. The nerd was Tenki Furea. He wore a black shirt with the Furea clan symbol on the front and his arms up to his wrist was wrapped in bandages. He also wore pants like Nikko but his holsters were wrapped on his left leg. He had poor eyesight so he had glasses that looked like black goggles over his light green short hair. As for the bitch, she looked like a complete slut. She had long wavy blond hair to her waist and a pink dress that was slit on the legs and revealed her bellybutton. The dress ended six inches above her knee and she had bandages wrapping her….essentials. The dress had a sweetheart neckline and she wore a fishnet shirt that went to her elbows. Oh, and her eyes were weird. They were white with black swirls in them, a trait of her clan.

Tsuki Muchu was her name. Always that she was a badass ‘cause she became a Jonin at age ten. Bitch, thought she was more powerful than me. Truthfully, I could kick her ass with one move.

“Like you could, weakling.” Tsuki scoffed.

Tsunade’s eyes widened and she quickly stood up, grabbing my shoulder as my head snapped to her, my gold eye mixed with red while my canines had grown so they protruded over my lip like fangs.

“I’ll kill you.” I growled. She gulped, hiding behind both the nerd and the girly man.

“Hokori, calm down.”

“Those assholes should be dead. Itachi-chan should’ve let them die.” I growled, memories flashing through my head.

“Itachi-chan, you’re fixing to be made into an ANBU captain, yeah?” I questioned, hopping along tree branches by his side. He nodded, keeping silent. We were on an assassination mission together but we’d already killed the man successfully. Now we were just heading towards Konoha.

Suddenly I stopped, scowling towards the East. Itachi paused beside me, raising an eyebrow.

“You since something?” He asked. I nodded, closing my eyes. I cast my senses out, catching scent of ninja. I could feel five chakra signatures two hundred yards away and the scent of blood was being carried from that direction.

“There was a fight.” I murmured. Itachi and I glanced at each other and I shrugged.

“You’re choice whether we check it out.” He narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment before nodding. I nodded as well and we started in the direction my nose was taking me.

We masked our chakra before we got in sensing range for non-sensory ninja and hid among the tree leaves as we looked down at the blood-soaked clearing. There were three ninja on one side covered in blood and a nerdy looking boy was passed out. We also noticed they were ninja from the Leaf.

On the other side was two ninja from the Cloud Village with slashes through their headbands, announcing themselves rouge.

The two conscious Leaf ninja looked ready to pass out. One was a blond girl, probably around ten while the other was a girly looking boy about fifteen. Itachi and I glanced at each other and nodded.

As one of the Cloud ninja was boasting about how strong they were, both Itachi and I appeared behind the two, plunging our katana’s in their hearts. Both of their eyes widened in shock, turning their heads to look at us before falling to the ground, dead.

I looked at their faces emotionlessly while the two Leaf ninja stared at us wide-eyed. I glanced over at Weasel-chan before reaching into his weapons pouch and pulling out the Bingo Book. Itachi didn’t even twitch, just glanced at me to see what I had taken.

Seeing what it was, he just turned his attention to the dead ninja, pushed them onto their backs so I could get a good look at their faces. I flipped through the pages a few moments before nodding.

“Tenji and Kenta Kawajiro. Kumogakure has a pretty heavy bounty on their heads.” I told him. He simply nodded, taking the Bingo Book as I handed it back to him.

I glanced over at the three Leaf ninja, raising an eyebrow at the blond. She was glaring hatefully at me for some reason.

“What?”

“We could’ve taken them! I’ve been a Jonin since I was ten!”

“When was that, a month ago?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. She glared at me, sneering.

“I’m twelve.”

“Really? That’s sad. Anyway, Itachi-chan, how ‘bout you bring these brats back and I go get the bounty on these two?” I asked, turning to the Weasel as I kept my voice down so the two wouldn’t hear.

Itachi shrugged. “Alright. Meet me at the dock when you get back.” I nodded before grabbing the two dead ninja and disappearing as I used a transportation jutsu.

By the time I met him on the dock it was probably two hours later. When I got there, however, my eyes widened in shock. He had his upper arm bandaged along with a hand gripping his side.

I rushed over to his side, sniffing. The scent of blood was radiating greatly from him.

“What happened?” I growled, pulling up his shirt to see his torso wrapped up with fresh bandages.

“Some rouges attacked us on the way back. Those two brats ran off leaving me with the unconscious one and five ninja surrounding me. I quickly took care of them and found the two with a kunai to both their necks by two more rouges. Got stabbed in the side by one waiting to ambush me.” He replied. I scowled, my eyes narrowing.

“Who were those douche bags anyway?” I questioned.

“….” He was silent as his brows furrowed before answering, “Tsuki Mucho was the girl and the two guy’s were Nikko Sukai and Tenki Furea.”

I nodded, implanting the names into my memory. Those assholes. The little fucking pussies. He should’ve let them die.

“You mean that traitor?” Tsuki sneered. I glared at her.

“What did you say?”

“I said, ‘you mean that traitor?’. You know, the man that betrayed all of Konoha and murdered his own clan? Yeah, that one.” The bitch said, a smug look on her dumbass face.

I smirked evilly at her, causing her to blink in confusion. This bitch that she could antagonize me? She was seven years younger than me. A fucking seventeen year old. And she thought she could antagonize me? And she talks like she knew Itachi. I knew more about him then his fucking girlfriend.

“Oh this is gonna be fun.” I said, cracking my knuckles. Before Tsunade could speak, I had appeared in front of the little bitch and punched her right in the face, sending her through a wall.

I cast a glare at the two guys as they went to help her and they instantly backed away.

“Hokori! Stand down!” Tsunade ordered. I stopped, standing directly in front of the groaning Tsuki who was slumped against the wall on the floor. I reached down, picking up the front of her shirt and pulled her up, holding her suspended in the air with a blank face.

I was about to punch her again when I felt two arms being wrapped around my waist. I glanced down, seeing Naruto pressing his face into my side.

“Please calm down, Hokori-sensei.” He mumbled so only I could hear. My eyes widened.

“Please calm down, Hokori.” Itachi-chan murmured, his hand gripping my forearm which had the kunai pressed against the bitch’s neck. I scowled, glancing over at him with my eyes glowing.

“But this bitch-”

“Hokori.” He interrupted, looking into my eyes. My eyebrow’s furrowed and I sighed.

“Whatever.” I grumbled, pulling away the kunai and dropping the bitch I held suspended in the air.

I sighed, looking down at Naruto. ‘Naruto is like a little brother to me, just like you.’

I pushed away the words I had wrote to Itachi-chan and dropped the bitch, leaving her gasping for breath seeing as I had her shirt collar gripped so tightly it was restricting her airflow.

“Whatever.” I grumbled, turning and heading back into Tsunade’s office. She stood behind it, glaring at me. I met that glare with one of my own, feeling my teeth receed back to their normal size.

“You’ll end up regretting putting us on a team together. I could do this mission by myself.” I growled, swinging an arm around Naruto’s shoulders since he had walked by my side.

“Just go.” Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temples. I glanced over at the three bastards.

“Meet me by the East gate in an hour. You ain’t there, I’ll leave you.” I snapped. With that I tightened my arm around Naruto and disappeared with a transportation jutsu.

“Whoa.” Naruto blinked, looking around when we appeared at the dango shop I had seen Itachi in more than a week ago. Kakashi didn’t know it but this was the place I had always gotten dango for Itachi and I. It was actually the only place I went for dango’s now.

“Come on, brat.” I ordered, walking inside. When she saw that it was I who entered, the owner of the shop smiled.

“Hokori-chan! It’s been awhile!” I smiled at the old woman as she hobbled over to the counter from her seat in her rocking chair.

“Hey Granny Tora!” I said, grinning. Naruto rose an eyebrow.

“Granny Tora?”

“She’s been my supplier of dango for the past ten years.” I told him. He blinked in surprise then grinned.

“This place must be awesome then, believe it!” I chuckled and nodded.

“She hasn’t came around as much these past five years but she still stops around every now and then.” Granny Tora said, smiling like only cute old ladies are able to.

“I’ve been….busy.” Granny Tora gave me a look and I glanced subtly at Naruto. She nodded in understanding. She knew I didn’t come around as much because Itachi had left.

“I’ll have twenty dango sticks please. He’ll have five.” I pointed at Naruto and his mouth dropped.

“Twenty?! You’re like me with ramen, believe it!”

I chuckled, nodding. “Duh. They’re fucking good.”

“Don’t use that language in here!” Granny Tora snapped, whacking me upside the head with a wooden spoon she gabbed outta thin air. I winced, rubbing my head.

“Ow! Sorry Granny Tora.” I mumbled, whacking Naruto upside the head as he started laughing and pointing at me.

“Shut up, Foxy.”

“Ow….” He grumbled. I chuckled, taking the plate from Granny Tora as she chuckled. I sat at one of the tables, setting my plate down and separated five away, pointing at them.

“Those are yours, Naruto.” He rolled his eyes, picking one up as I picked up three at once. His eyes widened as I stuck them all in my mouth, taking each sweet off in one bite.

“Damn.” He grumbled, chewing on one.

I simply smirked as we lapsed into silence until we were both done. I paid quickly and checked the time. “Alright Foxy, I’m off to my mission. See ya when I get back.”

I ruffled his hair and he swatted at my hands, pursing his lips. “Fine. Bye Hokori-sensei!” He waved and I nodded, waving goodbye to Granny Tora before using a transportation jutsu.

I appeared in my living room, quickly packing for the trip.

“Chi!” I yelled, switching my cloak out for one that looked exactly the same but was thicker and the hood had black fur on it. Chi padded into my room a few minutes later, looking at me curiously.

“I have a mission with the bastards. It’s in Lightning Country. You coming?” Chi narrowed his eyes for a moment in thought before shrugging.

“Whatever.” I nodded, tossing on his backpack. I had made one for Chi for any missions that would probably be long. He carried three sleeping bags (two being for him), half of the food and water supplies I brought and anything else really. Rope, forks, etc.

I carried a few changes of clothes, the other half of our food and water and all of my weapons.

Once I secured everything on his back and strapped it on so it wouldn’t fall off, we walked outside and locked the door. Once that was done I jumped onto his back, right in front of his backpack, and off he went, bounding along rooftops by sending chakra to his paws.

~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~

(kinda) IMPORTANT Authors Note!

Was it just me or was Naruto OOC this chapter? ._. eh, whatever. So, how’d you like meeting the bastards, yeah? And I added another memory of Itachi this chapter. I know, I know. You’re probably all thinking ‘She never thought of him before!’ or ‘Why’d Hokori suddenly start thinking all about Itachi’ or ‘I want Kakashi around more!’. Well, I don’t know. I don’t plan my stories. I got to writing the Itachi scene and I was like: ….I’m gonna make her know the weasel >.>

So, yeah. There’s your explanation. Besides, Hokori randomly knows everybody. SHE DATED ZAZA FOR KAMI’S SAKE! Anyway, *cough* I was just putting that out there.

And look, at least I’m updating more regularly. I finally got into the method of writing this story again.

….anyway, if anyone likes drawing/making/editing pictures, if you feel like making one of Hokori or any of the other OCs, I’d greatly appreciate it. I’ll even dedicate a chapter that I put the picture on to you.

So, yeah. That’s the end of this rambling Authors Note. Goodbye and forever express your peace,

~Mew

P.S. Did you know you can imply someone’s mom is a llama on Sims 3 for Xbox o.O it’s hilarious xD