Kasumi of the Red Snow [Kakashi Love Story]

Chapter Nine; Preliminaries

      "Kasumi, Igami." The Hokage greets. I continue to limp. "Was the mission a success?" I nod, handing him the scroll of intel. After scanning it over, "Excellent. Please inform me of the details." Igami cuts me off as I begin to explain. "I'll do it. Your team is leaving the Forest of Death today. Go ahead." I hesitate.

      The Hokage smiles a wrinkled smile. "Go on to the hospital before you go. I must attend also, so how about you write down the report for me, Igami?" 

I'm anxious to get to the arena. Evidently, they must participate in preliminaries. "Can I just come back later?" I ask. The nurse nods and begins wrapping my leg. 

I'm using crutches with cloth taped to my face when I enter the arena. All eyes land on me with my eccentric appearance and the sound of my crutches colliding with the flooring. I use my Mist Body Flicker Technique, appearing beside Sasuke. The proctor continues speaking. "What happened to you, Kasumi Sensei?" Naruto asks, his bright blue eyes burning with curiousity and concern. I'm slightly taken back by his worry for me, but brush it off. "My teammate and I were ambushed." I answer quietly. "Really?! By who? Bandits? Rogue ninjas?" He questions excitedly and Sakura hits him over the head in annoyance. "We were ambushed by fifteen Shinobi." I say. "Woah! You're amazing, Kasumi Sensei!" Admiration lights up Sakura's features, while Sasuke turns his head in a light interest. "How did you defeat them?!" I glance at Kakashi for a second.

"Teamwork."

"The names of the two participants with appear on this electronic board." Most people casted their eyes toward the said electronic board. But a pair of eyes lingered on me. It was a dark haired man with a Sound Village headband. I didn't recognize him, but his gaze was intense. I cock an eyebrow at him and he smirks. 

Sasuke and another ninja's names appear on the board. I glance back towards the man, only to find that his smirk has grown wider. "What's wrong, Kasumi Sensei?" Sakura asks. I look at her out of the corner of my eye. "Nothing. Nothing at the moment, at least."

Sasuke's opponent, Yoroi, is skilled. But I can tell he's toying with Sasuke. His abundancy of self-confidence is his biggest flaw. I narrow my eyes at Sasuke's opponent. I'm intrigued with his skill, being able to steal someone's else chakra isn't common among Genin. I glance at Kakashi when the black marks begin covering Sasuke's left side. I redirect my gaze to the Sound Ninja, to find him still smirking as he stares at Sasuke with something more than interest. Almost like a hunger. A need. The Uchiha's curse mark recedes and he uses taijutsu against his opponent to win the fight.

"And the winner is, Uchiha Sasuke!" The sickly proctor shouts, with a mild coughing fit. Naruto and Sakura cheer wildly, but I keep my passive composure. I don't ask questions when Kakashi leaves with Sasuke. But I do get suspicious when the man from the Sound Village exits soon after. If Yoroi was one of his students, it'd be understandable, but the headband is a Leaf one.

I recognize only Shino out of the next two opponents. I infer that he faced a ruthless opponent in the Forest of Death, by the slings for each arm. He too, is way too overconfident. When he rips off his bandages, I study the contraptions on his forearms. The Sound Village, eh? I lean against the railing, trying to get a better look. The Sound Village is relatively new, the powers of the Shinobi in it basically unknown. As he goes to use the contraptions on his arms, they implode. I smirk at Shino's intelligence. It was clever of him to sneakily hide his bugs in the openings.

"The winner is-" He coughs. "Aburame Shino!"

Next up are two Genin I don't know. I'm impressed by the puppetmaster, Kankuro's deception method. Disguising his puppet as himself was intelligent. 

"The winner of this-" A cough fit. "-match is Kankuro!" Kakashi shows back up then, alone. "Yo." Is his simple greeting. "Where's Sasuke?" Sakura questions. "He's resting," Kakashi answers smoothly. I can tell there's more to the story.

      I turn my attention back to the selection board as Ino's and Sakura's names appear. I can't help but to compare them to how strong I was at their age. I raise an eyebrow as Ino cuts her hair. I get the feeling that there's an underlying reason for it, though. Ino uses the fallen hair as a chakra thread to somehow transfer enter Sakura's mind.  "The Yamanaka clan is known for their Mind Transfer Jutsu." Kakashi informs me without making eye contact. I nod, knowing he'll see me in his peripheral vision. "It's like you have an inner self!" Ino screeches, falling to her knees.

The match ends in a draw and Kakashi collects Sakura due to my crutches. The next battle is between one of the Sand Siblings and one of Guy's students. Temari is the worst opponent for her. I can tell TenTen is skilled in her area - weaponry - but her attacks are useless against a skilled wind user. Temari continuous blows away all of her attack with her fan until TenTen is roughly thrown into the wall. Lee uses his speed and quick reflexes to catch her. "That was cruel!" Lee declares. Temari smirks. "Get use to it, kid." 

 "Temari is the winner!"

The next match is a Sound ninja vs. Shikamaru. Shikamaru takes a few moments to plan his attack in his head. Eventually, he catches her in his Shadow Possession Jutsu. Shikamaru wins. The next match is between one of my students and one of Kurenai's. 

I'm impressed by Naruto's deceptionary techniques. In all honesty, he's not the complete idiotic brat he was when I first met him. Kiba endeed up injuring his our Ninken, Akamaru. My eyes widen when he farts in Kiba's face. He coins the move Sasuke used to finish his match, only with a different name. I congratulate him quietly when he rejoins us. 

The next match brings forth terrible nostalgia. But I don't shed a tear as the images of my hands stained in my brother's blood flash through my mind. My heart doesn't clench painfully. I don't know what it means to feel, anymore.

I glance at Naruto as he shouts encouraging words to Hinata. Neji discourages her with his own words. "Neji-kun is from the branch family, while Hinata-san is from the main family. There are some bad blood between them because it appears certain laws and regulations are in favor of the main family." Lee explains to the ever clueless Naruto. I admire Hinata for not giving up, though. She coughs up blood after being struck by Neji with his Gentle Fist. Not one to particularly care for someone I've never spoken to, I don't stop her cousin from delivering the final blow like the other Senseis. 

I grip the rail tightly as I watch Gaara of the Sand and Rock Lee. I realize why Gaara and I are so much alike; we don't care if we injure or kill our opponents. We don't care about unneccessary bloodshed. We both just want the match over with, even if it is extremely bloody and cruel.

      Lee drops his ankle weights, increasing his speed enough to out do Gaara's sand. Gaara's getting agitated, I can tell. He decides to use his finishing move. He catches Lee in his sand, crushing his right wrist and leg. "The winner is Gaara!"

The last match between Choji and the last Sound Ninja ends quickly. Choji's opponent pushes him away from him using his own Sound device, resulting in his win. 

I return to the Leaf Hospital. 

I meet up with Kakashi on the way to his apartment. I clear my throat before I begin speaking. "I talked to the Hokage, before my mission. But I'm not going to apologize for what I said about Uchiha Obito. I was raised like that from day one. I was told that the mission, comes first. If your teammates get in the way, you leave them." We step into his apartment. I stand on the other side of the door, with Kakashi in front of me. "That those who put their own emotions first are idiots and not cut out to be ninjas. I was taught by.. a multitude of cruel people," I glance up to look him in the eyes. "Who shed their ways of life onto me. I-" Then in one swift movement, his mask is down, and his lips are on mine.

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FANGIRL SQUEAL. 

That is all.