Gone [Naruto fanfic]

#11

The next couple of months passed by in a blur, training completely swallowing up my days. The pesky bits of extra weight that had hung around my legs melted away, along with any other unneeded fat in my body. At first I was a little disappointed because my chest had gotten smaller and my curves seemed to go away, but I quickly forgot about it once the fat was replaced by smooth hard muscle. I was now a lean, mean, ninja butt-kicking machine....sort of anyway.

Though I had been on a few low class missions and done a few odd jobs to prove my skill and trustworthiness, I still felt like I was weaker and behind everyone else. Not to mention that Neji still remained elusive. I only saw him as he ducked around corners or headed in another direction

I had very little time to draw, so my sketchbook wasn't even half-full. When I had a day off from training and missions, I had started to draw a portrait of my sister, but then stopped half-way through because it was just too painful. Closing the sketchbook, I stuffed it back into my pocket and put my pencils away. Trying to forget about it. This was my life now, there was no going back and certainly no chance of ever seeing my sister again. I had to concentrate on my training.

But it refused to be forgotten.

Since weather was warm and the sky was clear, the training grounds were relatively full. Today Kakashi-sensei decided to focus on taijutsu , along with using my katanas. After a couple of hours, he called for a break. I was dripping with sweat as we walked over to the stream to refresh ourselves. As I bent down to wet my hands, my sketchbook fell out my pocket, flipping open to the half-finished portrait of my sister. Kakashi slowly picked it up.

I looked away, trying to hide my emotions. "It's my sister." I said before he could ask.

Kakashi-sensei raised his eyebrow, glancing between me and the paper.

"May I?" Kakashi asked tentatively, holding the small sketchbook up.

"Go ahead." I replied quietly. Usually I'd be protective about my drawings, but after seeing the portrait all of my energy had suddenly been drained out of me, and there wasn't much in there anyway.

"You're a good artist." He commented, stopping when he saw the drawing I had done of him, but then flipping back through it.

I didn't respond, I was afraid I might choke if I did.

He flipped back to the portrait, and then looked back at me.

"Do you miss her?" He asked gently.

"Yeah, a lot. We were really close, almost like we were two halves of one soul." I paused as memories started to surface, "We told each other everything. And could almost read each others minds sometimes." I chuckled, remembering all times that we had laughed out of the blue but yet we both knew what we were laughing about just by looking at each other.
"I always pretended to be strong, because I-" my voice began to waver. I bit my lip in an attempt to hold back the tears pooling in my eyes. "-I wanted to protect her, and my family and my friends..." I grimaced as a rebellious droplet slid down my cheek. "But I couldn't even protect myself dammit!" My knuckles grew white as I gripped my knees, and the tears started to flow freely. " I'm so pathetic and weak! I pretended to be strong but it was nothing but a joke!" My vision grew blurry, and my voice involuntarily grew louder. "How could I even think I could protect her?!" My tears gushed down and made damp spots on my pants as I clutched my head, body shaking with emotion.

Suddenly, my throat tightened. My breaths coming in short gasps as I clutched my neck and torso. And then my vision went black.

*****

I blinked.

-What?

It was daytime, and the sky had become overcast all of a sudden. I was standing on water, and facing a tree lined shore.