The White Flash

To Catch an Uchiha

            Sweat made a thick layer over her skin. Bent over with her hands on her knees, she watched as the mixture of liquid fire and earth fell from her body and pooled onto the ground. It's been a little over a week now. Four more days remained in her lockdown. Tsunade said that she was to be released on missions starting in four days' time. At the moment, her team was dispatched on an escort mission to the Land of Earth. It'd be a good few weeks before they returned to the village. She would be sent with other teams on missions until they returned.

For now, she trained after her hours at the academy. It took a lot of chakra to manifest lava on the surface of her skin, even more to make it stick, and more on top of that to change its consistency. How was her mother able to do it?

Stepping out of the molten puddle, Ayumi ran her hand through her bangs. This technique often left her skin feeling heavy and smelling like a bonfire. A shower would be her next move. In a blink, she was in her bedroom. Among the many things that she needs to work on, the Flying Thunder God was one of them. Making it a habit to transport to her room whenever she needed to return home from anywhere in the village. The distance was an issue. The further she was from one point to another, the more difficult it proved to transport. Though, that was something only practice could fix.

After a shower, Ayumi ventured back into the village. It was mid-day. The academy was excused early morning as Iruka was called away. Her father was to leave on a mission later tonight. Ayumi bought herself a large bag of taiyaki, after which finding her favorite shop that sold onigiri. Word has it, Squad 7 just returned from a mission to the Land of Tea and Sasuke was pretty roughed up. Almost daily she went to the hospital anyway to visit Lee, though he was spending today getting ready for his surgery. With her option of entertainment being rather thin, might as well annoy the Uchiha.

Getting his room number from the front desk, Ayumi made her way through the hospital halls. Coming to his door, she knocked a few times before sliding it open. "I hope you're decent 'cause I'm coming in."

"Ayumi." Onyx eyes moved to her, lips curving in a frown, "leave."

"Now, now, don't be so salty." She raised the container of rice balls in the air, "I even got your favorite. For real this time, Papa told me what it was." Moving to his bedside, she placed the container on the desk beside him and moved the chair to sit down. Reaching into the steaming bag of taiyaki, she fished one from the school. "Really, though, I don't know how you can eat tomatoes. I just can't, no matter what Papa puts them into." Ayumi leaned back, kicking her feet up to rest on his bed. "I heard you were sent to the Land of Tea, it's pretty peaceful there isn't it? I passed through it with Naruto-kun as we were bringing Tsunade-sama back."

"Tsk."

The sound drew her attention. Although, his head was turned towards the window. He hadn't even pulled one onigiri from her gift. "Did ya hear? Lee-kun decided to undergo surgery. If all goes well, he'll be able to return to missions."

"Why are you here?" His attention snapped to her, brows creased with a glare.

"Well damn." Eyes closing she swiped her unoccupied hand through the air. "Here I am actually willing to visit you in the hospital, with onigiri might I add, and I'm greeted with nothing but a shitty attitude." With a sigh she looked back to him with a nervous smile, "to tell you the truth, I've been confined to the village for a while. I'm just pretty bored. Thought I'd come see how you were doing."

"Then leave. There's no reason for you to be here."

Her smile fell, now he was just being irritating. She's barely been here long enough to be an annoyance, what the hell was with the attitude? He was more sour than usual. "There a reason you're so pissy today? Did I interrupt your nap or something?"