Blood of a Lost Girl (Book 1, Naruto)

Chapter 18

*

"Your next mission will be... plucking weeds out for Madam Akiko." The Hokage said, giving my team a very perplexed look. I knew exactly why. Naruto, Sasuke as well as Sakura all had white and pink blotches from the poison ivy on them. It's been a day and they only look worse than before. Sasuke had given in to the urge and scratched his arms where it itched. I was the only one who didn't have those blotches on me. Honestly I had no idea how I even resisted, but I did and I was glad I did otherwise I would've looked like them. The thing about poison Ivy is that if you can ignore the urge to scratch yourself for 35 minutes then it'll fade (A/N: just so you know I made this up) and I resisted – thankfully - so the effects wore off.

I laughed at Sasuke and Sakura's scowls and Naruto's grumbles. "I did tell you not to scratch, but you didn't listen did you?" All of them grumbled and I in turn grinned at them. All Kakashi-sensei did was sigh in defeat. He did not know what to do with me – that much was obvious.

*

I crouched by the woman's herbs and started pulling out the weeds. It was hard without a little spade to help me out, but I managed. I turned and saw Naruto pulling out both the weeds and the plants as well, and he was heading this way. "No, Naruto, stop! Those aren't all weeds." He didn't hear me and was getting closer. I held up my hand and waited for him to get closer, then I flicked him on his forehead. "Oh, no you don't. I've already pulled out the weeds here. You pulled out the plants and the weeds you knucklehead."

I stood up and dusted myself off. I heard an angry growl behind me. "Which one of you did this?"

I turned around. "Is there something wrong? The weeds are gone now." I said and smiled at her, hoping she'd be less angry.

She started shaking. Okay, she was definitely angry. She was peeved. "You pulled out the weeds... And you pulled out the plants as well!" She yelled.

*

I sighed, standing in the Hokage's office yet again but this time my team was unmarked. I had a purple bruise on my jaw from two days' ago pulling out weeds. That woman can really pack a punch... I took the fall for Naruto, but I'm kind of regretting it now. She knew that I was a ninja so she didn't bother to go easy on me. She was a beast of a woman. I wonder why she never became a ninja. She'd be one scary girl. Not that she isn't already... Yesterday our mission was to walk dogs. It was boring, but entertaining since Naruto's dog walked into a minefield and got out completely unscathed while Naruto came out charred and burnt. He healed fast though. Of course, typically, my dog also did some really weird stuff that got me in trouble. Trouble seemed to follow me wherever I went. "Next you will have to pick litter up from the river." I sighed. We're still doing the chores then.

*

This should be entertaining. I poked the fish that was being barbequed over the fire as the rest of my team took out litter from the river. I wonder... Do I like fish? I don't think so, but let's find out anyway. I took the stick with fish was on and bit into it. I chewed. I froze. Scrunching up my nose I spit the fish out. Okay, I hate fish. It's official. "Miyuki! You're supposed to help us!" I glanced at Sakura and stood up, wiping my hands on my tights. I threw sand on the fire and it was instantly snuffed out. I picked up the casket I was supposed to put the litter in and put it on my back, walking back toward the river. I started picking up litter. One by one I picked up cans and papers from the water. I stepped forward, looking for more litter and suddenly I slipped. "Eep!" I splashed into the water and my arm hit a rock. I came up for air and tried standing up, spluttering for breath. I breathed in water, it was not fun. I got to my feet before I was taken too far down river and stood there for a minute.