The White Flash

B-Ranked Mission

Gradually she woke, her brain pounding against her cranium with a sledgehammer. "Ouch ouch ouch," she grimaced pressing her palm against her forehead. Slowly she propped herself up and peeked through one eye. She was greeted with a golden hue over a grassy field. Her hand fell from her head as her other eye opened. She looked at her surroundings, though nothing seemed familiar. "Where... am I?" Her gaze fell, "where's my skirt?" The fabric she normally wore around her waist was absent, only the wrapping keeping her modest. She was missing one shoe and her arms and legs were caked with dried tomato paste, a noodle sticking out of the top of her shirt. Confusion continued to pile on confusion. "What the hell happened?" The last thing she remembered was zoning out in the dumpling restaurant then... Nothing. What did I drink?
"AYUUUUUUMIIIII!" The booming voice thundered into her eardrum, making her flinch. She turned lazily, seeing a road about twenty meters from where she woke. Gai sprinted towards her, dirt and grass kicking up behind him. His eyes were wide, lips peeled back from his teeth, steam shot from his nostrils, and his heavy breathing easily heard; with the sweat drenching his body, she guessed he's been at it all night.

He slid to his knees, hand moving to a microphone on his neck, "I found her!" His hands feverishly grabbed her head and shoulders as he looked her over. "Are you alright?"
Ayumi reached out and pressed a finger against his lips, "hush... My head hurts." Her hand fell back to her side, eyelids heavy with sleep. Gai breathed with relief, pulling her head to his chest. She sat there numbly as the Jounin embraced her, green eyes moving back to the stray noodle sticking out of her shirt. "Where are we?"
"We're close to the border of the Land of Rice Patties," he informed sitting back. "Hisaya-chan and I have been looking for you all night."
"I want to change," she grumbled falling back on her hands to get the full view of her current attire.
"How about this?" She looked to Gai. He jabbed a thumb to his chest, "on our way back to the village I'll pay for a bath house and a new outfit!"
"Really?" She chirped with a grin.
"On one condition," Gai added and clapped his hands together, "we do not tell Kakashi-kun about any of this!"
"Papa?" She echoed. No doubt he was worried seeing as how she didn't return home last night. Gai and Kakashi haven't seen each other in a while, this would be the last thing he would want to see when Gai was partially in charge of her. She could picture the nonchalant yet terrifying aura Kakashi would have if he found out she got drunk and wandered off with no supervision. Ayumi nodded, "deal!" Another breath of relief.
Gai stood up, "there's a town not too far from here." He extended his hand, pulling Ayumi to her feet. Gai unzipped his Jounin vest and draped it over her shoulders. Thanks to her small size, the bottom of the vest reached her thighs. Zipping it, she fell in line behind Gai as he led her towards said town. As they strolled down the road, she noticed a string of singed bushes and volcanic rock along the right shoulder.
Did I do that? She still had no recollection. The path of destruction continued the entire way to the town, a significant pile formed a new statue of the largest collection of lumps known. She watched as a white snake slithered across the black rock and venture into the forest. "Hey, it's you!" A voice cheered. She turned to see a shop owner pointing to her from the entrance. His outburst pulled more eyes to her figure. People gravitated from their shops to surround her with cheers and smiles. She shrunk, utterly uncomfortable. Two hands set themselves on her shoulders, her back hitting Gai's legs.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Are you her Oto-san?" One of the shopkeepers wondered with a smile, "you should be very proud of your daughter, sir. She saved us last night. Without her, half of our buildings would have been burned."
"What?" Ayumi questioned.
"Don't you remember?" A different shopkeeper asked, "that group of ninjas came by and demanded money that we didn't have and threatened to burn down our village if we didn't pay. You fought them off! All four of them! It was something to see!"
"Right, right!" A third agreed, "you were so fast, all I saw was a white flash!"
"My goodness, but they did a number on your clothes!" An elderly woman came forward and bent to her eye level. "Come with me, child, let's get you some new clothes." Ayumi looked up at Gai. She didn't know this old woman or the people that surrounded her or why they were surrounding her. Gai looked down to her and gave his usual bright grin, following closely as she was taken from the crowd. The old woman led them into a clothing store. "We're a small village but we do get a lot of travelling merchants passing through, so there is some of the latest trends here." She turned to them, "feel free to look around. I'm afraid I can't give you everything absolutely free, but I'll give you a considerable discount."
"Hear that?" Ayumi turned to Gai. Honestly, she was still slightly dazed and everything seemed to be happening in double speed. He gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, "choose whatever you want!"
Ayumi ventured into the racks of endless colors. She scanned the clothes, fingers feathering along the hangers. Searching through a multitude of shirts, she spotted one of an interesting design. It was an off-shoulder look with tank top like sleeves on the shoulder to keep it up, at the ends of the sleeves were rings to go on the middle fingers and hold the sleeves down, and the entirety was deep red in color. She took it. Wandering to the bottoms she searched through a series of pants until she found a pair of black shorts that would reach mid-thigh. She took them. Grabbing a pair of fishnet leggings and black, knee-high boots she ventured back to Gai who waited at the counter. After paying for the clothes they were pointed to a nearby bath house. Ayumi scraped off the-still unexplained-tomato paste and scrubbed the dirt form her so called scrap with four ninjas. Convinced there was no more muck, she left the bath house in her new attire.
The shirt was baggy, piling on her waist where her scroll belt sat; the shorts hugged her legs while the scars that marred her legs were hidden by the knee-high black boots. Fixing her hair into a pony she fastened the headband on her forehead and left. Gai waited near the entrance, sweat free and refreshed. Ayumi dumped her old outfit and held out his vest. Gai took it and put it back on. "Let's head back." Grinning he squat and faced his back towards her, "let's go with the full power of youth!" Ayumi climbed on. "Are you ready?"
"Onward!" She cheered throwing one hand in the air.
"HERE WE GO!" He took off, wind smacked her in the face as the trees turned to a blur. It only took a matter of hours before the village gates were in sight. Her mind still pounded. Groaning she rested her head against Gai's shoulder and closed her eyes.
"Yu-chan!"
"SH!" She hushed pointing towards Hisaya's voice. She heard a light chuckle, her body shifting as she was lifted off her ride and sat on her feet. She opened her eyes to see Hisaya holding a pill between her index and thumb.
"This will help with that headache." Ayumi took the medicine with a few mouthfuls of water Hisaya provided. "I'll take over, Gai-kun. Hokage-sama summoned us an hour ago." A hand placed itself on her shoulder, leading her through the village. "So, what did you do last night?"
"Apparently I kicked ass near the Land of Rice Patties, and I did something that involved noodles," she informed. "I was covered in tomato paste."
Hisaya laughed, "I noticed the new outfit. You look nice." Her frowned stayed plastered across her lips, a groan being her only reply. "Next time, make sure you grab the water cup instead of my sake." Ayumi groaned.
"Yu-chan!" Kohei's voice boomed against her ears. He stood at the entrance to the Hokage Tower while Hiro sat next to him, leaning against the wall fast asleep. Teary eyed, Kohei ran towards her with his arms wide. "I was so worried!" Ayumi raised one food and slammed it against his stomach.
"Worry from over there."
"Come on," Hisaya beckoned nudging Hiro awake. "We've kept Hokage-sama waiting long enough." Ayumi dragged her feet, stuffing her hands in her pockets.
"Yu," Hiro fell into step beside her, "I gave Kakashi-sensei your sword last night. I told him you were training with Hisaya-sensei."
"Thanks," she muttered.
Hisaya led the way into the Hokage's office. Hiruzen sat behind his desk beside Chunin she didn't recognize. In front of the desk stood a group of three shinobi, two boys and one girl. One boy had blue hair and dark eyes. The other seemed to be a few years older than her with ash-grey hair restrained to a ponytail and circular rimmed glasses framing onyx eyes. The woman had chocolate hair cut in a pixie style and matching eyes, a piercing curved over the right corner of her lip. A grin overtook her features as she threw one hand in the air, closing the distance between them. "Hey Kohei!" She slapped her hand on said boy's head, shaking him side to side, "Hokage-sama, you sure they're going to be able to handle this?"
"You appointed a Genin in your own squad, Wakana-chan," Hiruzen pointed out.
Wakana laughed, pulling Kohei into a head lock, "true."
"I've thought this mission over carefully, and I've decided that Squad 11 is best suited for this mission." Ayumi turned back to Hiruzen, he knit his hands together with his elbows on the table. "It is a B-ranked mission." Her eyes shot wide, a B-ranked? That was actually requested as a B-rank? "You all will be working with two squads from Sunagakure. They have moving within the Land of Fire for two weeks tracking down a fugitive that seemed to disappear as soon as he crossed into our border. Half of their shinobi are injured from scrimmages with his guards, so they have requested our help." Hisaya stepped forward and accept a piece of paper from one of the Chunin assistants. Ayumi stood on her tip toes and peered at it. It was a wanted poster, the target seemed to be in his fifties with brown eyes and straight greying hair that flows pass his shoulders.
"What do we know about these guards?" Hisaya asked handing the paper to her. She turned and passed the paper to Kohei, still under Wakana's arm.
"They're mostly hired thugs and mercenaries," one of the Chunin informed. "However, considering the fact he was able to escape Sunagakure's jail means there must be some shinobi working for him."
"This mission must be executed with care," Hiruzen said, "our alliance with Sunagakure is important." His aged eyes landed on Ayumi, "We cannot afford to lose this fugitive."
Ayumi grinned, jabbing a thumb to her chest, "don't worry Jiji! I'll smoke him out."
The Chunin held out a map, "this is where you're supposed to meet them."
Hiruzen smirked, "leave as soon as you can."
"Yessir!"