Growing Pains

Chapter 11

As evening fell upon the village, the two men guarding the front gate lounged around. No one would be entering the village, especially at night. As one of the guards leaned against the side of the gate a sudden wind blew past him, stirring up leaves, twigs and dust.

"Hey!" the guard exclaimed, shielding his eyes with a raised arm.

As soon as it had come the wind died down, leaving the two guards confused.

"What was that?" the one guard said, dusting himself off.

"No idea," the other said.

Brushing it off as Mother Nature having a small fit, they continued their nightly watch; unaware that something had entered the village. That something was jumping quickly from rooftop to rooftop; looking, searching for something.

It wouldn't stop until it found what it was looking for.

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Sighing deeply, Araile raised her arms above her head and pulled; the muscles stretching.

It had been almost a week since her release from the hospital, and the Hokage had ordered her to stay with Kakashi until she had fully recovered. The new Hokage was a blond haired lady that no one messed with.

Tsunade had been the Third Hokage's student.

Tonight, she wanted to take a walk around the village just by herself. Kakashi of course refused, but she begged him. She hadn't been out for a week, and the 14 year old was sure she was getting cabin fever. Finally he accepted, but gave her a curfew as the only condition. Of course, Araile was out the front door and down the stairs before hearing about the curfew, but she'd be back before night fell.

Walking felt good. The cool breeze gently blew across her skin, picking up strands of her hair and twisting them about. Giggling, she stretched again and rounded the corner before stopping.

Someone was yelling.

Her ears strained, trying to hear what the person was yelling about. A thief? Was that what they were yelling about? A crowd of people began to hurry towards the victim: a middle-aged woman who ran a small bakery.

Her stomach fluttered anxiously as the woman told her tale, flourishing here and there. Apparently, a dark shadow crept up behind her and took the bread that was in her very hands. Time almost seemed to fly by as she listened more and more to the woman's tale, and before long the moon was high in the sky.

'Uh oh! I better hurry or else Kakashi will never let me outside again!' Araile thought as she turned from the crowd and began jogging back to the small apartment.

As the moon became covered by some clouds, she increased her pace. Rounding a corner, she ran into something and bounced back, landing on her back and glancing her head off a small rock on the ground.

"Ow.." she muttered as she sat up and rubbed the now-throbbing spot on her head.

Her still-healing wound protested as she blinked and looked at the thing that she ran into: a figure shrouded in shadows. Getting back on her feet quickly, her eyes narrowed at the figure in shadows.

This was probably the thing that stole from the bakery!

A low growl vibrated up her throat as the shadowy figure turned slowly toward her, and drew out a weapon. Araile couldn't tell what it was from the shadows, but she had to be careful. She didn't want to end up back in the hospital...then both Kakashi and Kane would never let her out of their sights!

Her muscles clenched. Before she could blink, the figure charged at her, forcing Araile to jump back. Her legs pushed off from the ground, and she aimed a kick at the figure.