Something to Fight For (Naruto)

Training

Haruka slept the customary two hours and spent the time up until her meeting with Neji worrying. She was so paranoid that something would happen to her Nii-san and she wouldn't be there to keep him safe. So many things could go wrong while traveling: Rogues, thieves, diseases, wild animals, and more. And while he was out facing all those dangers, she was home doing childish missions.

It was nerve wracking, to say the least. By the time four thirty rolled around, she had broken two old senbon in her mouth. Picking up the pieces with a sigh and putting them in her weapons pouch, Haruka left to the training grounds. She would be early, but she didn't want to risk accidental breaking anymore senbon.

When she got there, still twenty minutes early despite her slow pace, Neji was already there, leaning against a log and glaring at nothing. With a bow, she greeted him neutrally.

He directed his glare at her, arms crossed. Pushing himself up from his log, he got into the gentle fist stance on front of Haruka, Byakugan activated. Haruka took the cue and activated her Chakra Scalpel, bending her knees a bit and holding her hands in front of her body. One was up by her chest and the other an inch lower.

They stayed at a standstill for a minute until Neji sighed exasperatedly. Keeping his Byakugan on, he walked up to Haruka. She stayed still, watching him in case he attacked.

Rolling his eyes, he moved her hands by grabbing her wrists, carefully not touching the chakra on her hands. "Keep your hands wider, and don't bend your knees too much unless you plan on attacking first like an idiot." He moved back once she was readjusted, getting back in his stance once again.

They stared at each other once again, not moving for a minute as Haruka readjusted herself to the new stance. Once Neji thought she had enough time to readjust, he lunged to attack.

Haruka tried to block like she normally would, bring her hands up, but Neji just hit them and blocked the chakra points on them. She pushed herself back as he shot forward again, getting her on the arm and shoulder. Falling from loss of balance, Haruka's Chakra Scalpel was forcefully deactivated.

Neji backed up, staring at her as she fixed herself, figuring out what was wrong. She used senbon to open her chakra once again, seeing as it was the quickest way. Her problem so far was blocking. It would be better to dodge and then strike when the opponent was open.

Nodding, she stood and once again reactivated her Chakra Scalpel. She returned to the position Neji showed her, ready for round two.

Neji gave her less time to adjust, and lunged forward after ten seconds. She dodged like she had planned instead of blocking, ducking under his arm and skirting around him. He twisted and shot his arm down as she was crouched, hitting her on the shoulder. Falling back once again, Haruka reviewed her performance while unblocking her chakra.

This went on for a few hours, Haruka getting no hits in but improving her technique with every blow Neji struck. Neji stayed silent for the most part, obviously not enjoying their sparring match but having no choice.

Once it was eight, they parted to go to their respective teams. Haruka made sure to remind him to be at the same place, the same time, for tomorrows training. He rolled his eyes and glared even harder, but she didn't flinch. What did it matter if her glared if she was getting stronger?

Haruka met up with her team in front of the tower, sweaty and dirty with a low chakra reserve.

"Woah, Haruka, what've you been doin'? Wrestling bears?" Kiba joked, raising an eyebrow at her appearance.

Shrugging, she simple said "training," and walked in with them to get a mission. They received more D ranks, Kiba's complaining not enough to get them anything higher like Nii-san's.

It became a daily routine for Haruka: Train with Neji at five and then meet her team at eight. She hadn't been able to meet up with the Konohamaru Ninja Squad for a few days since they had tests they had to study for, and they had made her promise to not try and get more tallies on her own. The three knew how 'unsocial' Haruka was and thought she could mess up potential chances with her bluntness, so they wanted to be near her just in case whenever she went out.

Haruka started opening up more as she started experiencing more and more things. Once, as they were completing a mission after it had rained heavily, she had stopped dead center in the road, staring at the sky with a frown.

No one had noticed as she had paused for a minute or so until Shino mentioned something. Turning around, they saw her looking up and walked back, confused.

"What's up, Haruka?" Kiba asked, grinning at his little joke.

Frowning even harder, Haruka pointed upwards, directing their attention to the sky. There was a double rainbow overhead Konoha, something uncommon but not unheard of.

"Yeah, what of it?" Kiba asked, now confused even more. Did she have something against rainbows?

"It is two rainbows at once." Haruka stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yes... And?" Kurenai asked, worried for her student's health.

"That is... Intense." Haruka stated simply, looking for one more minute and then walking forward, leaving her teammates staring at the spot she had been.

Turning, she saw them standing still and called out to them that they were going to be late. The three shook themselves out of their stupor, following. They were all surprised at her strange behavior to something so little, and had sweatdrops forming once they processed the information. Who knew a double rainbow would cause such a reaction?

After training with Neji for a week, Haruka started getting the hang of the Chakra Scalpel and would land a few hits on him. She always lost, but it was a huge improvement. She even needed to heal him sometimes after a spar when his leg or arm would be locked up. He never spoke unless it was necessary, like to order her to fix him after a match or berate her for something she consistently did wrong.

Despite her progress, she never used it when training with her team. She wanted to keep it to herself for as long as possible. It was strategy and caution to do so. If they knew everything she could do, and they had to fight against each other in a test, they would have an advantage over each other. It was a very pessimistic thought, but likely. Haruka knew Chunin exams involved one on one matches and she could very well end up against a teammate.

Things were calm and monotone despite Haruka's worries over her Nii-san. She wasn't summoned and no news reached them about their situation. It seemed to be going fine, like everyone expected. Still, Haruka worried excessively whenever alone. She had broken many senbon in her mouth and had to buy some new ones. She didn't throw away the old broken ones though, of course. They could always be used to make a trap or in a pinch. You never know.

Things went smoothly until one day, a week and half after Nii-san's team had left. Haruka was with her team picking up garbage when she felt it. The tugging in her stomach and built up chakra pulling her somewhere else.

She was being summoned.

Current Count: 25

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Sooooooooooooooo.....

I updated ^.^. I've been updating a lot, huh? It's mostly just in case I have trouble during school time, so I want to get as much in as I can over summer. Just so you know.

You guys like the rainbow? I saw one once and thought I was sick or needed glasses.  I just put a picture up, cuz Breathingheart hasn't seen one, and I was like "She needs to see one." It's hard to see, but if you look close, it's definetly a double rainbow. It's the only real one I could find ^_^

Cliffhangers... Gotta love 'em.

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