{Six Years Ago}

Six Years Ago

Though the sun had never shone so bright, Akihana would always remember it as a cloudy day.

"Hana-chan, be sure to be back before tea," her sister called out and the blonde, only half listening, slipped out the front door. Tea was boring but necessary. Training was fun and also necessary but today, today she was going to be bad. Today Akihana was going to go to the very edge of the Forest of Death and spy on a group of campers there. It wasn't an official mission and even if it was, it wouldn't be one given to an Akari medic to be carried out on her own. But perhaps if she managed to get some information, sensei would finally see she was good for something other than providing support. Maybe she would even get ranked up to chunin without having to face the exam.

Nobody noticed the teenager as she made her way across a compound, and extra chakra laden spring in her step. She was just another blonde in a sea of blonde, brown eyed people, all related to each other and proud of it. It made her feel odd to imagine that she would one day be living the life of those woman hanging out the washing, their equally blonde children playing in the yard and already trying to use their bloodline limit to cheat at hide and seek. Oka-sama side life was a circle and that Akihana would grow up to live the same life her mother lived now. Somehow, the idea made her uncomfortable.

Clearing the gates of the compound, the genin leapt up to the nearest tree, much more at home on a tree branch than on the hard ground but it was forbidden to leap about like monkeys inside the Akari area so travelling the ninja way had to be reserved for outside the compound gates. Taking a deep breath, the girl sped off, keeping quiet and focusing, her eyes tinted gold as she activated the bloodline limit, trying to locate the bandits in advance.

Today was her lucky day, Akihana could just feel it.

Khurama and his team were supposed to be stopping a group of bandits that were rumored to be trying to infiltrate the village. They were given the general vicinity of where the attack was supposed to be coming from, and his team set out. Their Jounin Captain was there to help if need be, but for the most part was letting his Genin Squad take the reins for this mission. Being a Genjutsu specialist, Khurama was tasked with the mission of recon. He carefully reconstructed his distinctive jet black hair and bright blue eyes to a more common dark brown hair and brown-eyed appearance, adding a few shifts in the face and appearance of body type. It was a henge he had worked on for hours to make sure he would hold onto the form even when being attacked. Than he blended his brown and green clothes into the surrounding trees as he moved.

Slowly he moved his way forward, and eventually spotted the bandit's small campsite. There were five of them, although they didn't seem to be disciplined very well. No sentry was posted at the moment, while they were eating a meal. It was the perfect opportunity to strike, if he could find a way to get his team up here with him. Focusing and blocking out all else, he tried to reach out his mind's sense behind him, and once he thought he could vaguely sense his teammates, he formed the image of a boar charging. Putting all his effort into the construct he hoped would appear in their minds, he felt a small amount of chakra leave him and Khu smiled. This was their prearranged signal for him to use if he managed to have caught them off guard. But, it would take a minute or two for his team to get there. So he patiently waited, hoping nothing would ruin this perfect opportunity...

This solo mission thing was easy, Akihana noted with a bright grin lighting up her face. Why the teachers made it seem like such a big deal the young kunoichi couldn't say. Flitting from tree to tree like a butterfly, the teen kept her gaze focused and sharp, not bothering to look out for chakra signals from anywhere around her. Why would she, her focus was on the campers, and chakra signatures in a shinobi village were aplenty.

The campers appeared to be having lunch, even from this distance, the genin could make out food wrapping and the men being careless with littering. A small frown crossed her features as she neared the group.

Being bandits was no reason to litter. They would be spanked good if they were in the Akari compound. Steeling herself, the girl made a snap decision.

The campers were eating, they probably had a few kunai and shuriken with them but no jutsu, not even a fire one or they would be eating their food warm. She could probably take them all on at once. Who knew, she could rope up the lot and walk them to the Hokage center for everyone to see. Then she, Akihana Akari, would be the one to win all the praises, to finally stand out and no longer just be another Akari. Making up her mind, the girl jumped, ready to make herself be seen by leaping into the small clearing where the men were still busy with their chopsticks.

Attuned as his senses were to the surroundings, Khurama noticed when somebody began to approach. It was not from the direction he expected, from the forest where his friends were hidden. No, this had come from the forest where the Leaf Village was located and thus was not one of his group. Noticing his friends still had two minutes before their arrival he knew he had to negate whoever this was on his own. Keeping his eyes peeled, he was able to notice a blurred figure jumping from tree to tree.

Although this figure was fast, it was a reckless strategy to enter a potential danger zone. If these bandits had taken any precaution, even one sentry, it may have caused her to be seen. Hoping that whoever it was would see the bandits and leave, Khu began to focus on forming the idea of a genjutsu in his mind. There were five men, and if he could lull them into a trance after eating, he may be able to get them to fall asleep if he did it perfectly. Though, until now the must he had ever succeeded with was 3. Still, every little bit helped.

As he began to release the genjutsu, Khu felt his instincts tell him something was wrong. Swiveling his head upwards based on a gut sense, he saw the figure who had been getting closer jump directly towards the camp of bandits. "What the hell?!?!" he whisper shouted, angry and barely able to control it from being a real shout. Knowing that he had zero time to act if he was to apprehend the intruder before the sting was disrupted, he dove forward with all his strength. Luckily for him, the path from the treeline to where the camp is had passed in front of his hiding spot. Catching onto part of a shirt, he used his lateral momentum to tackle this fool to the ground with a quick shoulder turn and thrust.

"Don't move! I have backup a minute away, punk." he spat out venomously, still keeping his voice low. Reaching with his left hand, because his right shoulder was keeping the intruder pinned, he pulled out a kunai and jabbed it into the rib cage. Not enough force was used to draw blood, but enough to say it could if necessary. Khurama had yet to realize it was a girl he had pinned, one of a well-known leaf village clan.

Akihana was airborne for a split second alone before a shadow moved to collide heavily with her, too much force applied to be an accident and a hand over mouth already anticipating she would scream at the ambush. The realization alone made the young genin blush. Screaming was not the way to go even if the campers had been careful and placed a sentry. She was an Akari and she would die bravely like one. The sound of her sleeve ripping was forgotten the next minute as she felt the sharp edge of what would only be a kunai pressing into her flesh, not doing any harm at the moment but in perfect position to do so if she moved.

"Don't move! I have backup a minute away, punk."

Back up? Had he already sent a message to the bandits? Panic gripped her insides for a moment at the idea of what six rogue boys could do to her but in the next instant, Akihana let out a muffled growl, sinking her sharp teeth into her captor's flesh and buying herself a few seconds to pull out the poisoned needles she always carried on her person. In the struggle however, her long blonde hair came loose around her face, framing her heart shaped face and perhaps it worked as a distraction because now, a few sconds later, they were even. This mysterious boy's Kunai to her gut and her sembon needles to his throat, both tangled in a messy pile behind the trees from where the other campers were still lunching.

"Let me go," she managed to hiss through her teeth. "And I'm not a punk," she added as an afterthought. Being a criminal was no reason to be rude to others.

His hand that had instinctively clamped over his victim's mouth was bitten hard, drawing blood as reflex forced it to pull away slightly. Before he could get his hand back in place he saw blonde hair fall from where it had been pulled up, and shaping the face he soon realized it was a girl. That didn't change his need to subdue her; however, it did cause his cheeks to burn in a small blush as he did so, still holding her down. Khu realized the girl had taken advantage of the opportunity though, as he felt senbon needles held up to his neck. It seemed they were at a standstill for the moment, they could attack each other or try to talk it out. 

"You have good reflexes, maybe even ninja calibre. Explain what you are doing here, and I'll consider letting you up." Khu said with a firmness in his tone. No matter the fact she had senbon needles to his neck, she was still pinned underneath his body and was being forced to look up at him from the flat of her back. Not exactly the easiest position to gain the upper hand from, so he was loathe to give it to her immediately. Studying the girl's features, he began to feel a vague recollection of her. He remembered seeing a girl in the academy a year older...what was the last name...Akari, maybe? 

Looking into her eyes, he did notice they matched what was said to be the common color of their clan. "If you're from the Leaf, as I suspect you might be...tell me who the most strict teacher was in the academy." Khurama wouldn't let her know who he suspected her of being until he could confirm she was in fact from the Leaf. A little knowledge she wasn't aware he had could come in handy.

It was ridiculous, after all her training and positive cheer to be found pinned underneath what looked like one of her own comrades from this close. Dark brown locks framed his face, reaching over and spilling into her own sunshine locks and staining them a dark brown. Light blue eyes gauged her face even as her own brown ones tinted gold, the rich pupils swiveling this way and that trying to find an escape.

"You have good reflexes, maybe even ninja calibre. Explain what you are doing here, and I'll consider letting you up."

Maybe even ninja caliber? That did it. Akihana was a Kunoichi of the Leaf and no one was going to tell her all she had worked for these past few years was maybe up to par. The girl jammed her knee upwards, trying to dislodge this boy's grip on her even as she let out something resembling a snarl. In her current state, it just served to push her face closer to the boy's, dark brown eyes colliding with ice blue ones in hostility.

"On a solo mission," she managed to utter, trying not to wince as the circulation from her body was almost cut off. Closing her eyes, the teen felt the internal tug of chakra pulling at her and carefully, carefully channeled it out of her body, a new technique she'd been learning with her jounin leader these past few weeks.

Akihana was sure it wouldn't work, but it did. In the split second burst of chakra, the blonde managed to hook her ankle around the boy's leg, doing with chakra was she couldn't physically do, rolling them over so now it was she who was on top, straddling him beneath her with her poisoned sembons still perilously close to his jugular.

"I'm an Akari, every teacher is strict on us," she hissed, gravity making her hair fall forwards so for a moment, both leaf nin were curtained from the world by her gold tresses.

"How does it feel to be the one pinned down now," she breathed, a small note of victory in her voice.

From the girl's eyes he could tell she was starting to get slightly frantic, eyes darting about for something to help her. His own were steady as they remained on hers, and he was doing his best to remain calm in a sticky situation. Khurama hated being forced to this situation, but even if she did turn out to be an ally it always paid to be cautious when around an enemy camp. Ninjas who were foolish didn't stay ninjas for long, either by getting injured or killed they fell out; or, for people who couldn't remain tough some quit. It was considered a great shame to do that, no matter what village you came from.

As soon as the words left his lips he saw the girl's eyes start to burn with a passion to change the situation. He took the knee with a grunt, but kept her pinned, instinctively moving closer and pressing the kunai forward a little. "Careful, we don't want this to slip by accident." Khu said through gritted teeth, trying not to do anything he would regret. The girl was closer to breaking his patience than she knew. Their eyes continued to bore into each other's, communicating more than words ever could how much each wanted to win this fight.

"That seems unlikely you'd be given on a solo mission in the middle of an ordered sting on these bandits. If you are exploring on your own here, tell me now. We were given the mission to take down this group, and any outside interference from another Leaf ninja should have been communicated to us." Khurama explained slowly, making sure each word got through this girl's thick skull. He sensed the ninja gathering her chakra just a second before she released it and reversed their positions with an effective hook of her heel. 

Swallowing carefully, he looked up at the now confirmed Akari. "Akari...first name...Akihana?" he guessed, unsure if he was right or not. The young Senju had tried to learn some of the names of the ninja in the year above and below his own in the academy. "Call me Khu." he replied, not willing to share his lineage yet. That was a secret he kept close and rarely revealed to those who did not already know about it.

"I'm sure they are. Unlike you, I was left to fend for myself. Not that I minded, really." Khu said with a small chuckle, more from nervous tension than anything else. Looking up at the girl, curtained by her hair, he had the silly thought that she looked rather pretty. Pushing that thought aside, he decided to take a chance and try something. 

Smiling up at her with more confidence than he felt, Khurama winked. "I could think of worse ways to go than being pinned and killed by a beautiful woman." Hoping that would shock her, he took a gamble hoping his luck was with him. Carefully biting the senbon from the edge instead of the front with a quick twist of his jaw, he spat them out. Now that she was unarmed, he reached up and grabbed her wrist with his hand before she could reach for more of those pesky needles. Raising the kunai from her stomach to her neck, he then sheathed it behind him. 

It was time to be diplomatic now, and hope she wasn't too stubborn to continue in a fight that would only hurt their home village. "We are both of the Leaf, if you want to join my team for the completion of wiping out that...infestation of vermin, than feel free to. But you will have to cooperate with the rest of my group." Snapping his fingers to let them know to come out, Khurama greeted his teammates with a small upside-down wave. Still being pinned underneath the girl, he wondered what they would think. They had watched the altercation for the last two minutes or so, letting him handle it unless it seemed he was near being killed.

"That seems unlikely you'd be given on a solo mission in the middle of an ordered sting on these bandits"

A sting? Akihana felt her stomach drop which should have been impossible in this situation but there it was. She had foolishly walked into a sting without checking. No, she had been so sure she was the only one who had noted the campers, had wanted the glory of being more than just that Akari girl. A whole squad was aware of these bandits and taking steps to put them out of business and Akihana was still a little nothing, just another blonde in a clan of blondes.

"Akari...first name...Akihana?"

The kunoichi nodded, hair falling even more with the small action over their faces. How he knew her name she wasn't sure but when he offered one in return, Khu, the blonde grudgingly released her hold a little. They were both Leaf nin and if this was a sting, she had been more stupid than she would ever admit to anyone.

"I could think of worse ways to go than being pinned and killed by a beautiful woman."

The compliment took her aback, of all the thing seh expected to come out of his mouth, that was the last. In fact, if her eyes hadn't already been activated to see through Genjutsu, the blonde might have believed this was a trick. But no, it wasn't, he really had called her that. And all of a sudden, Akihana was made aware of the sheer proximity between them. A flush rose to her pale cheeks as she realized the position they were in might be considered compromising in more than one way.

It was almost a relief when she felt him move to sheath his kunai, her own needles disappearing in the process as they both realized it was in nobody's best interest to keep fighting. But a fight had started, albeit one Akihana couldn't understand, and the evidence of it lay across her blushing cheeks and over bright eyes trying to see through something. When he suggested she stay to take the bandits down with his team, Akihana's first instinct was to say no. She didn't know this boy, Khu, she didn't know his team and the Akari usually kept to themselves. And yet... he asked her to stay...

"I... can't," she managed, sticking to her upbringing despite how much she wanted to stay and see the group brought to justice in a nice cell. Her parents would be furious, and what if people found out she had interrupted a sting, or nearly interrupted one? The shame would be too much.

"I.. have to go," she muttered, getting to her feet and calling a spring to chakra to her feet, ready to leap off on the nearest branch.

But not before turning to look a the brown haired boy one last time. "It was... nice meeting you, Khu." And with a flash of her gold hair, the genin was gone.

Upon hearing that she interrupted a sting, the kunoichi's eyes lost their fierce edge and he saw something in them he didn't like. Even though she was slightly irritating, Khu far preferred the fiery blonde to the look of this one. "Hey, you didn't know...don't be too hard on yourself. Next time...just...look before you leap, okay?" Khu told her, trying to get a smile out of her with the expression that applied literally in this instance. A pretty bad joke, but even if she laughed at him it would still count as a laugh. 

When she confirmed his guess of her name with a nod and she heard his, Khu felt the iron grip on him begin to slack off. To be honest, part of him was interested in what would have happened had they continued their little skirmish. Much as he was loathe to admit it, she had seemed a pretty even match for him. Perhaps if he could find her again, they may be able to train together a time or two. However, as soon as he thought that he realized how silly that sounded. An Akari wouldn't waste time training with him when she had some of the toughest instructors around ready and waiting at her beck and call. 

His own words had slipped out before he'd thought them through really, Khu had acted on a whim. Already starting to blush, he saw Akihana's cheeks start to burn as well and it made his own heat up more because of it. What kind of ninja was he to say something like that in the middle of a tense situation? One who is already thinking about how cute that girl is. Grimacing a bit at the stray thought, he tried to concentrate on the situation at hand, that task becoming harder all the while. 

Thankfully the girl sheathed her senbon when he did the same with his kunai. At least the Leaf wouldn't lose two ninja today because they got on each other's nerves. Once they'd done that, he felt her eyes on his own. Meeting her look, he stared into the beautiful colors of hers, trying not to think about how they matched her blonde locks in a lovely way. He could almost feel that she was deciding something about him, but he simply had no idea what that was. 

"I...can't,"

"I...I understand." Khu replied, pushing down the voice telling him to try to stop her from leaving. If Akihana wanted to leave, he had no right to attempt to convince her otherwise. He reminded himself that he could probably find her in the village another day, perhaps. That is, if she didn't turn him away at the door.

"I...have to go,"


He simply nodded, resigned to the fact that their time together today was over. What surprised him though, was that she gave him one last look before leaving. Their eyes met, and he felt something electric shoot down his spine, stiffening it and giving him a small confidence boost. Khu gave her a small smile and acknowledge her next words. 

"It was...nice meeting you, Khu."


"And you as well...Akihana." Khu responded in a whisper, knowing the girl was already running away. Part of him was dying to chase her, but he couldn't. There was still a mission to be done, so he had his teammates take the lead. He knew his mind was elsewhere, and if he took point as originally intended he would only get his team into a dangerous situation. It did not do to have whoever was leading thinking about a blond girl he'd only just met. Throwing a few kunai and shuriken from the edges, he watched as his fellow Genin handled the bandits. Helping with the tying up afterwards, they then escorted the prisoners back to Konoha. 

"I'll find you again, Akari. I promise." he whispered, looking around the village. Perhaps she was out there, hoping that he would. Or, it could be the opposite. Either way, Khurama Senju refused to consider the idea of them not meeting again, they simply had, to in his thinking at least. [Topic Closed]