Another Take (A Naruto Fanfiction) (Complete)

Ch. 35: The End Of The Beginning

She still wouldn't force him.

Naruto, unknowing of her reasons, was befuddled. "What? Kiya-chan, why won't you come?" he asked, tilting his head to look up at his friend.

"She may have a prior engagement, like Shino," Shikamaru suggested. "It's not that unlikely."

But Kiyomi shook her head, and jumped down to land in front of Naruto. "No, it's nothing of the sort," she said in a soft voice. "It's the very nature of the mission itself that I don't agree with. And seeing as you have more than enough people, I think I'm allowed to refuse."

"Wait... Kiya-chan?" Naruto muttered, just loud enough to reach said girl's ears. His tone was taut with disbelief, not thinking that he'd heard what he did. There was also a tiny hint of what seemed like disappointment or anger in those words.

Kiyomi flinched slightly at Naruto's tone, but continued on. "I'm sorry, but unless Lady Tsunade herself orders me to join this mission, I will not."

"How could you?!" Aoi fumed loudly, the one-eyed boy glaring at Kiyomi with his yellow eye. "Sasuke is your teammate, and your friend! Why would you just abandon him to Orochimaru just like that?!" Then in a quieter, but still deadly tone, Aoi continued. "I thought you were loyal?!" This was hissed with as much venom as it was possible to imbue in a voice.

Kiyomi flinched against her will, hearing the person she called a rival sound so livid. But she managed to explain. "He is my teammate, and my friend," Kiyomi began. "But this is his dream. The one thing he's lived his life wishing for. Who am I to stop him from doing what he thinks is right?"

"What if he's wrong?" Asami stepped in, her tone neutral yet still very against the idea. "He will be killed by Orochimaru. And we can save him."

Kiyomi shook her head, purple eyes closed. "Right and wrong are simply matters of perspective," she murmured. "And above all else, I believe in free choice. If this is what Sasuke wants, I will not interfere."

"But-" Asami started to speak again, but was cut off by Naruto.

The blond's normally-blue eyes had begun to have a tint of red to them. "Kiyomi..." Naruto growled lowly, beginning to bare his teeth. That one word hurt Kiyomi more than anything else, because he didn't use the nickname she had grown accustomed to. "Traitor," he accused, staring straight at the purple-eyed girl. "You're no true Leaf shinobi. We take care of our comrades."

Kiyomi's eyes were squeezed shut at this point. She knew there would be negative reactions to her view on this situation, but she wasn't expecting this level of hate. She shuddered, and then leapt away, her head kept away from the other genin so they wouldn't see the small bits of water leaking out of her eyes and down her face.

All the genin watched her go, varying degrees of emotions on their faces. Their feelings ranged from sadness to anger to disappointment, but all were surprised at Naruto's words. As long as they'd known the blond, they'd never thought he had a mean bone in his body.

But it was Sasuke they were talking about. For Naruto, that boy trumped everything.

Shikamaru shook his head, and cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention back to him. "We have a mission to complete," he reminded the teams. "So, here's what going to happen..."

======

It was after Shikamaru's team had left to go retrieve Sasuke. Kiyomi had spent the better portion of an hour simply sitting on top of the Hokage heads meditating. She'd been thinking of her own choices, attempting to rationalize her beliefs while trying to convince herself that things would be okay.