Wish Upon the Night Sky (Naruto Fanfic)

Chapter 23

Usagi twenty three


>>>>CHAPTER 23<<<<

>>>>The Pain we Share<<<<

"Usagi, wake up." Sakura shook the sleeping redhead’s shoulders. One thing Sakura learnt over the past week was the fact Usagi was a deep sleeper.

A very deep sleeper.

After ten minutes of trying to wake the girl, Sakura gave up. "Kakashi-Sensei, she won't get up!"

Two minutes later, cold water was splashed on Usagi’s head.

"Get up." Kakashi smiled, his voice sickeningly sweet.

When Usagi didn't move, Kakashi took it upon himself to drag the half unconscious Usagi to the kitchen.

"Is she alright?" Tsunami asked upon seeing Usagi.

"She's fine. She's just difficult in the mornings." Kakashi sighed, setting his daughter down on a chair. "You wouldn't happen to have any mochi, would you?"

"I think we might..." Tsunami rummaged through the cupboard. "Here." She handed Kakashi the little rice cake.

"Thanks." He smiled at Tsunami before turning back to Usagi. "Usagi, if you wake up, help find Naruto, Sasuke, and then train some more, this strawberry mochi is all yours."

Usagi was now fully awake, nodded her head as she reached out for the mochi.

"You can have it after your training." Kakashi held the mochi away, so Usagi couldn't reach it.

Usagi scrunched up her face in frustration. She then moved quickly, jumping off her chair, reaching for the mochi. Even when jumping off the chair, she was still too short to reach it. ‘Damned Dad and his stupid tallness.’

"Nice try." Kakashi laughed, holding the small rice cake over his head.

Usagi sighed dejectedly. No way could she reach the mocha, not unless she grew another metre, and quite frankly she couldn't be bothered trying. Moving slowly, she made her way back to her chair.

"So, you like mochi?" Sakura asked, sitting opposite Usagi. She nodded yes.

"You know, there's an old saying that a rabbit lives on the moon, pounding mochi. I find it funny how your names Usagi, and your favourite food is mochi." Tsunami laughed.

Usagi smiled. Her name originates from that legend. The whole mochi part was a coincidence, however, it was still cool nonetheless.

After breakfast, Usagi changed into her ninja gear and set off with Sakura and Kakashi to find Naruto and Sasuke.

"Can you see their chakra?" Kakashi asked.

Usagi paused, concentrated her chakra to her eyes and activating her rinnegan, making peoples chakras visible to her. She then pointed up to a tree. Naruto lay up high on a branch.

"He can climb all the way up there?" Sakura asked.

"LOOK AT HOW HIGH I CAN CLIMB!" Naruto grinned from ear to ear. He then stood up, but his foot slipped.

"You idiot!" Sakura screamed. As she realized Naruto was actually gonna fall she panicked. "AHH!"

Naruto then stood upside-down on the branch. "Psych!" He laughed. "I got ya, suckers!"

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" Sakura yelled.

Two seconds later, something happened. Naruto was really falling this time.

As Sakura yelled for him to stop joking, Usagi ran up the branch, grabbing onto Naruto’s leg, stopping him from falling.

Usagi then realized that someone had grabbed Naruto’s other leg. Sasuke had also jumped in to save the idiot.

"Kya~ Sasuke that was so cool!" Sakura squealed.

'Wasn't I cool too?' Usagi pouted as she thought to herself. She saved Naruto just as much as Sasuke.

---- ---- ---- ----

"196... 197..." Kakashi was doing push-ups with one finger... With Tazuna and Sakura on his back.

"I've been meaning to ask you..." Tazuna spoke. "I lied about this mission, and how dangerous it really was... So, why did you stay?"

"'To know what is right and to choose to ignore it is the act of a coward.' 'Like master, like man.'" Kakashi quoted. "Those are the teachings of some of our previous Hokage’s."

Kakashi then reached 200 pushups. "Alright, now it's your turn, Usagi."

Usagi nodded, getting into a push-up stance.

"I’m not gonna sit on her!" Tazuna said, freaking out the slightest bit. "She's tiny, I'll crush her!"

"She'll be using her whole hand, don't worry." Kakashi gave his signature closed eye smile.

"That's not what I’m concerned about." Tazuna sweatdropped.

"I can assure you she'll be fine. She's had much tougher training than this." Kakashi said.

"... Are you sure?" Tazuna asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yep." Kakashi smiled.

With a sigh, Tazuna sat down on the girls back. Sakura also sat down on her legs.

Usagi then began to do push-ups, using one hand.

"So, Usagi does training like this regularly?" Tazuna asked Kakashi.

"Not usually like this, but her training is difficult."

"What kinda stuff does she do?" Sakura asked.

"Well, there's ninjutsu and taijutsu training... Then there's advanced ninjutsu training... Then there's my friend who also gives her taijutsu training... And there's..."

Twenty push-ups later, her training schedule had been fully discussed.

"... Isn't that a bit much?" Tazuna asked.

"Usagi always asks for more training." Kakashi said.

"Guess I underestimated you, kid." Tazuna smirked.

"Swap hands, you've done 100 now." Kakashi said.

Usagi nodded and swapped hands.

After a further seventy push-ups, Usagi started to feel the weight on her back. A single bead of sweat fell from her forehead as she pushed on.

"195... 196..." Everyone chanted as she reached the final few. "197... 198... 199... 200!"

Usagi fell to the ground, crumbling under the weight of a fat old man and a young girl who had eaten one too many bowls of rice last night.

"Good job." Kakashi smiled, helping Usagi up. "I think you've earned that mochi."

---- ---- ---- ----

"So you're finally back." Tazuna smiled as Naruto and Sasuke walked back. "You look like something the cat dragged in."

"Heheh..." Naruto smiled exhaustedly. "We both made it to the top of the tree."

"Good." Kakashi said. "Starting tomorrow, you can help protect Tazuna."

Usagi smiled at the two as she put dinner on the table. She'd been helping out Tsunami as thanks for her hospitality.

"Whew! I’m all worn out from all the work on the bridge today, but construction is almost complete!" Tazuna said as Naruto and Sasuke collapsed into their chairs.

"Father, you and Naruto are two of a kind..." Tsunami sighed. "Don't work yourselves to death."

As everyone was about to start dinner, Inari started crying.

"Why?! Why do you wear yourselves out trying?! No matter how hard you try, you'll never be a match for Gatos thugs! You act all cool and you talk all tough, but big guys like that are always too much for people weaker than they are! They'll destroy you!!"

"Shut up!" Naruto grumbled. "I’m not you, and I’m not gonna lose!"

"Just watching you ticks me off! You go around running your mouth when you don't know a thing! This isn’t your town! And you don't know a thing about me! You're always clowning around having fun! You don't know a thing about pain or suffering... Or loneliness!"

Naruto was enraged by Inari’s speech. "So... You figure it's alright to mope around and treat everyone like dirt? It takes a really big man to sit around and cry, you brat! You big cry baby!"

Naruto walked away, a frown on his face.

[You idiot.] Usagi threw her notebook at Inari’s face before walking off.

Well... Dinner was certainly interesting.

---- ---- ---- ----

Inari sat on the dock, looking out to the ocean.

"May I join you?" He turned to see Kakashi, who sat next to him.

"You know, Naruto’s kind of a brat, but he wasn't trying to be mean... Usagi too. She just got a little angry." Kakashi sighed. He reminded himself that he had to scold her after he'd talked to Inari.

"Tazuna told us about what happened to your father. Naruto grew up without a father, same as you. Actually, he grew up without any parents. He doesn't remember either one of then, nor did he have a single friend. His whole life was one big painful memory."

"... Really?" Little Inari was shocked. "What happened to Usagi? Mom said you were her adoptive father, so what happened to her parents?"

"... Usagi’s father left her when she was young, and her mother never treated her well. She's had it rough, but her and Naruto are both some of the strongest people I know. Not once have I seen Naruto cry, and I've never met someone as forgiving as Usagi. They’re both always trying their best... Naruto’s even risked his life for his dream... I think one day he must have gotten sick of crying. They both know what it means to be truly strong, just as your father did. They probably understand how you feel better than the rest of us."

"... What?" Inari questioned. Kakashi showed his signature closed eye smile.

"They can't leave you alone, because you've gotten under their skin." Kakashi stood up. "Well, it's getting late, we better get going."

Little Inari nodded as he followed the ninja inside, making his way to his room, leaving Kakashi to scold Usagi.

As he opened the door to her room, he noticed the mass off red hair sprawled across the desk. She’d fallen asleep at the desk.

Kakashi sighed as he walked to the girl. Pages covered in writing were sprawled across the desk.

He smiled to himself as he realized what the pages were. Usagi was writing her very own book. After putting Usagi in her futon, he picked up the pages and read through them.

---- ---- ---- ----

"Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura saw the jonin sitting at the desk in her and Usagi’s room.

"Sakura." Kakashi smiled, putting all the pages in a neat pile.

"What are you doing?" She asked as Kakashi stood up.

"I came to talk to Usagi, but she was asleep." Kakashi sweatdropped, realizing he still hadn't scolded Usagi.

"Oh... Alright... Goodnight, Sensei." Sakura said as Kakashi stepped out of the room.

"Uh, goodnight." That was slightly awkward.

... Oh well.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

AN/ Happy New Year!! :D

It’s already 2015! Time really does fly!

Thank you for reading!


-C