The Red Maelstrom

[11] Rivaling Speed

"See? Didn't I tell you it was too dangerous? And didn't you say you were taking a look around town? What happened to that, huh? What kind of person who looks around town... ends up getting lost in a forest and gets attacked by Gatō's men! If that jōnin-san didn't save you in time, you could've been kidnapped or worse: dead! I swear..." Kohana zoned out after that part, turning away from the nagging Sakura. She looked to Sasuke and Naruto for help but they both narrowed their eyes at her, as if to say that she was right.

Kohana returned a look that said: "Traitors." She looked to Kakashi for help, but he simply glanced at her and shook his head.

She groaned under her breath and looked back at Sakura with a pained expression. "Sakura, calm down."

The angry pinkette crossed her arms, her face twisted into an unattractive scowl. "'Calm down!' Is that all you can say? See if I worry about you again!"

Sakura glared at her menacingly and groaned before stalking away. To Kohana's ears, her heavy footsteps sounded like a stampede of sorts.

"Aww, she's concerned," Kohana said with a grin. She liked to make fun of Sakura for it, but she was grateful and happy that someone she hated was actually concerned about her. It touched Kohana, if she were to be honest. The nagging hurt her ears and scared her sometimes (Sakura liked to act demure, but Kohana knew there was a beast lurking within), but it wasn't every day Kohana could say someone cared enough about her to nag like a mother would.

"It's good that she is, you know?" Kakashi remarked, bored. His eyes never left his book. "If you don't want getting scolded like that, I suggest that you don't go walking around and getting lost when you have nothing to do, Kohana."

Kohana dismissed their sensei with a flip of her hand. "Nah. I hardly get scolded by people other than the Hokage, so... I'm not going to try to change. 'Sides, it's funny to see Sakura get pissed like that."

"Hmph. Naruto, let's go." Sasuke said, standing up from his seat and turning to leave the house. Naruto followed shortly, hollering, "Don't order me around!"

"What? Are you givin' me the silent treatment, too?" Kohana called after them.

Sasuke didn't reply as he continued to walk out with Naruto still yelling at him.

Crossing her arms, Kohana puffed out her cheeks, strangely feeling a little like a whiny five year-old. "Geez... and I thought Sasuke was the mature one. Giving me a silent treatment like that. And what's with Naruto? It wasn't even my fault... I'll show them."

With that, Kohana walked out of the kitchen and into Sasuke and her room to rest, considering she was still recovering.

The whole time Sasuke and Naruto were training, more specifically perfecting their tree-climbing skills, Kohana was using all of her remaining time to ponder about the many things that happened the other day—namely, her encounter with the ninja and Satoru Osamu, her unofficial sensei. She came up with some hypotheses here and there about why she started coughing up that much blood, but it wasn't as though she had the time nor resources to test them. Furthermore, Kohana worried about how Gōro called her an Uzumaki. She came up with two possible reasons. The first being: when he pointed out her red hair that supposedly indicated her being a real Uzumaki, he knew it was a fact, but assumed all Uzumakis were red heads... or the other way around. As for the second possibility, though she didn't want to even think of it, the Hokage was hiding something from her. Why would he even do that, and how would she even deal with it if that would ever be the case?

Sarutobi had already mentioned the fact that Kohana was Naruto's sister, even if she had been told she was adopted, so what would twisting the truth a little do? It surely wouldn't cause any real harm, would it?