The Black Leaf (Part 1)

chapter 14: Friendly Spar

Six months have passed, and I have completed a total of 35 missions with Team Ro. I have been exhausted with almost no time off. We were walking back home from another mission and my clothes again full of blood. I shook my head when I heard the guys arguing about their kill count.

"You are full of shit!" Kakashi told Hikku

"I have 37, I swear. How many you got Tenzo?"

"16," Tenzo said.

"Weak..." Hikku teased," Genma?"

"27," he said pulling the needle out of his mouth.

"Yami! How many you got so far?"

"Huh?" I asked looking at them.

"How many... ummm... have you killed so far since you join us?" he asked regretting his question right away.

"Oh, since I join team Ro is 56," I said with no hesitation.

"You are one scary woman," he said, before turning to Kakashi, "Kakashi?"

"45," Kakashi said looking straight at me.

We got to the village early in the morning and gave our mission report to the Hokage. Amazingly enough we were given 4 days off. I went straight to my apartment took a shower and took a nap. I woke up around 3 in the afternoon and I went straight to the academy to pick up Sasuke. I peeked through the fence and they were having a sparing practice. Iruka saw me and he let me in so I could help him judge the matches. Iruka knew that I was caring of Sasuke, not legally, but he thought it was nice that someone cared for him. He also knew I was in the AMBU because he had see me in the uniform before.

Iruka asked me if I could give the students any advice on sparing. So, I explained to them about using the unison sign and how to show respect to the opponent when doing sparing matches. In the field it was whole different story.

"Can you show us what you can do?" a boy with a puppy on his head asked me.

"Mmm, you want to see me spar?" I asked and the kid nodded. "Iruka- sensei, would you like to be my opponent?" His face turned bright red and before he could say anything Kakashi landed next to me.

"I'll be your opponent," he said closing his book, "if you don't mind, of course."

"Were you up in the tree this whole time?" I asked him and nodded.

"Is he your boyfriend?" a familiar girl with pink hair and green eyes asked.

"Or is Iruka-sensei your boyfriend?" A blond, blue eyed child asked. This must be Naruto Uzumaki, I thought.

"Shut up loser," Sasuke glared at him.

"Sasuke be nice, and no we are all just friends, " I said with a serious face, then turn to face Kakashi, "don't go easy on me, captain."

"Against a woman like you, never," he said as he put his book away.

We did the unison sign and Iruka say we could start. I started by throwing punches and kicks at Kakashi which he blocked and avoided. I was annoyed because he was just defending and not attacking. If only if could activate my sharingan, I thought. I jumped back and took the bandages off my right arm, I summoned two kunai as I walked towards him. "Let's dance!" I teased him. I could hear the kids cheering and wowing as I moved with towards him with the kunai.

He took two kunai out too, "very well," he said coming at me.

I aimed for his upper body and face but he blocked all my attacks. I started to strike faster, but he kept blocking me causing sparks to come out from our kunai clashing. I managed to do a flip forward and kicking the kunai from his left hand, sending it flying right into a tree. He quickly blocked my kunai above our heads and held my wrist with other hand. We were face to face, "come on Kakashi, I know you can do better than this," I told him with a smirk on my face. I dropped my kunai and grabbed his hand interlacing our fingers,  this caught him by surprised. "Let me borrow this," I said with a smirk and started waving the signs for a fire ball using his hand simultaneously with mine. He immediately tried to pull his hand away and I took advantage of that and moved fast kicking his leg and making him fall on his back. I immediately crawled on top of him and straddled him, "looks like I won," I said pressing the kunai on his neck. I could tell he was smiling under his mask. We heard a loud, "ahem" from Iruka, and cheers from the kids. It was then when I noticed that I was extremely close to Kakashi's face. So, close our lips almost touch, I started blushing and got up right away. I gave him my hand to help him get on my feet, we did the unison sign and looked at the kids. Iruka thanked us for the demonstration and proceeded to call on the kids.

"That was fun," Kakashi said standing next to me by a tree.

"Fun? you were in defensive mode the whole time" I complained looking at him, "that was not fun."

"Oh, come on," he sighed, "fine, I owe you a real match."

"Fine," I agreed, "anyways, why are you here?"

"I like to come and see the kids spar and they do it every Thursday," he said, "why are you here?"

"I'm here to pick up Sasuke," I said looking at Sasuke.

"The Uchiha boy?" he asked confused.

"Yeah, we are friends," I said with a smile.

"So, you are friends with a child," he looked at me, "and you do actually smile. I guess you are not that scary after all," he said giving me a close eyed smile. I looked away sort of embarrassed, for some reason his comment made me blush.

After the academy, Sasuke and I walked towards the BBQ place to eat. "He let you win, you know?" He said as we sat on the table.

"I know." I told him.

"You did good though, your ninjutsu is actually really good, " he said as he scanned through the menu, "you are also very fast."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I chuckled.

"By the way, happy 16th birthday," he said handing me a small box.

"Sasuke, you didn't have to," I open the box and saw a bracelet with the Uchiha crest on it.

"I made it myself," he said proudly.

"I love it," I said, "but I'm afraid I can't wear this in public. It's forbidden for me remember"

"Stupid Hokage and his rules," he murmured.

"Don't worry, I'll find a way to keep it on me at all times" I told him and he smiled.

I helped Sasuke train for the next three days, his fighting style was just like his brother's. He was eager to get stronger and faster. We were sparing and he was able to land one hit on me. "I got you!" he said with excitement.

"Right...on... my side," I said as I tried to gasp for air. I sat on the floor, and he joined me. "What is it?" I asked him as he looked troubled.

"I just want to get better, faster, stronger. I want to find him and make him pay f-"

"Sasuke," I interrupted him, "you are too young to be thinking like that."

"You forgot all he did, to you, to me... to us," he shouted.

"Of course not, how could I?" I sighed.

"Then, why you care for him?" he turned to face me, "do you still love him?"

"Sasuke, my feelings don't count here," I sighed, "it's you who matters, all I want, is for you to live a normal life." It was true, I wanted Sasuke to grow up to be a good man. Get married, have kids, live a happy life. I just wanted him to be happy because that was something I could never do. "I just want you to be happy," he looked at me with sad eyes. 

"Nothing is normal anymore Izumi, we can't live happy lives after all we have seen and been through," his words broke my heart, he was so young to be talking like that. "At least we have each other," he gave me a weak smiled and I squeezed his hand.

"Yami," Kakashi called from the other side of the field, "Yami... the Hokage want to see us."

"See you later Sasuke," I said as a I ruffled his hair, "don't forget, I'm always here for you."

At the Hokage's office, Kakashi and I were assigned to a mission. It was something simple, sneak in the Hidden Waterfalls Village and gather information on some threats made against the village. Ibiki's students from the reconnaissance team were already there, collecting information. 

"It takes 2 days to get there, you leave tonight," the Hokage said handing Kakashi a scroll with the details.