Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [2]

☾ 11 ☽

For the first time, Naruto and Sakura stood still while Tsukiko paced around anxiously. She had not slept a wink last night in worry over what could've happened or what it meant for the flower to just break apart like that. Usajii had tried, albeit in vain, to calm her down but Tsukiko was restless. She wanted something to distract her.

Tsukiko had been the first to arrive at the designated location where Team Kakashi was going to meet up and nervously played around with the letter in her pocket. She wanted to send it out to Gaara before she left for the mission that she would be assigned that day. Of course, Tsukiko had added more to the letter now that she had worries for what happened.

The sun began to move upwards but Kakashi had not yet arrived. Naruto and Sakura both watched the white-haired girl nervously pull and play with her long hair, trying to act normal. But neither of them really knew what could be worrying her and didn't quite know how to approach her. Tsukiko was rarely so openly distressed.

"You're late!" Naruto shouted and Tsukiko looked up to see that Kakashi had finally decided to show up. Sakura sighed, "You're finally here,"

"Hey! My bad, my bad," Kakashi said. "This time I got stuck writing up some documents for the new teams," Tsukiko didn't say anything.

"We're on our first missions as a team today!" Naruto responded immediately. "And you aren't excited at all! Kakashi Sensei, you've always been like that!"

"Really, stop complaining!" Sakura said, putting her hands over her ears. "Kakashi Sensei has never shown any spirit. What made you think he'd start today?" Kakashi watched his respect go down the drain. Tsukiko stopped pacing.

"Kakashi Sensei, you should've been here early," Tsukiko said but didn't look for a response as she turned her head up to look at the hawk that had flown by. Her heart skipped a beat.

That was, without a doubt, the messenger hawk from Sunagakure, Takamaru. Gaara had often sent her letters through that very bird, as it was the fastest. He usually used it when he wanted to scold her for something as quickly as possible. Tsukiko traced its path toward the Konoha Aviary and chewed harshly onto her lower lip.

"There's something going on..." Tsukiko whispered as she hurriedly followed Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi down the street toward the Hokage Tower to receive their mission. She hoped to slip by and have a look at the letter that came in.

"It's been so long since I went to a mission!" Naruto said as climbed up the stairs to the tower and walked down the hall towards the Hokage Office. "I'm psyched!"

"Naruto, don't you dare complain about the mission, no matter what it is!" Sakura warned. Tsukiko continued to look around the place, trying to distract herself.

"Yeah, yeah, I won't!" Naruto responded.

"If only that was true..." Kakashi muttered.

"Move it!" a woman shouted as she came running. "Out of the way...!" Tsukiko, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi parted to the sides to allow the woman go through as she ran in the opposite direction to them.

"What was that?" Sakura said as the woman disappeared around the corner. Tsukiko swallowed slightly and shook her head, trying to clear it off.

"That's dangerous, you know! Be more careful!" Naruto shouted after the woman, holding up a fist. Tsukiko stared at the back of the woman's head. That was a decoder... Then... The message is of great importance... and emergency...

"Come on, now," Kakashi said as he led Tsukiko, Naruto and Sakura toward the Hokage Office. Tsukiko frowned to herself as she followed her teammates into the room. Tsunade looked over at them.