Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [1]

☾ 46 ☽

"Looks like Naruto has finally gone loopy in the head as well," Tsukiko muttered as she stared at the sky, watching the trees swing in the wind. A few leaves scattered off and Tsukiko smiled to herself, she really, really missed Konohagakure.

Konohagakure... Tsukiko didn't even know if her parents were from the village. What if she had existed in a place where none of her parents had any memory? She wouldn't have anything in common with them... Would she leave Konohagakure to go where her parents were? Would the village allow her? Would she be killed?

Tsukiko wanted to never leave Konohagakure. It was her only home, the only place she truly knew of. Konohagakure and its Will of Fire, Tsukiko couldn't leave those behind... The Third had been a sort of foster father of hers, and he had told her about them. Could she be an idiot and leave all this behind? He protected her against all sorts of threats – she couldn't repay like that.

Konohagakure's Kunoichi – that's what Tsukiko was. And that's what she wanted to be. Regardless of where her parents came from. Even if they had belonged to the enemy village. Tsukiko's eyes moved to Naruto when she saw him sit up.

"I should have paid more attention to what Iruka Sensei was saying..." Naruto was muttering. Tsukiko wondered what exactly he was talking about. "I'm so stupid. Hey, Tsukiko-Chan... Remember when we, Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji ran from Iruka Sensei's class?"

"The day when we ate food during class and fell asleep because of how full we felt?" Tsukiko asked, laughing. "You, Kiba and I also pranked Iruka Sensei... He looked like he was going to explode. It was the first time I got scolded like that..." Tsukiko smiled to herself.

Tsukiko may have been a diligent student but there was no way on earth that she would leave out an opportunity to have fun during those four years. And it was closest she felt to having friends. Girls were more difficult to approach back in those days – especially since they were all older than she was.

"But why are you calling yourself stupid over that?" Tsukiko asked. "The concentration thing that Iruka Sensei was telling us about? It's the same as what Pervy Sage asked of you. Concentrating on the spiral the best you can and focus your Chakra there. And even if you guys didn't believe it back then, Iruka Sensei was correct.

"The symbol of Konohagakure, the leaf, was because of the concentration a Ninja puts into becoming a better person," Tsukiko pressed a leaf against her forehead. "Only through hard work and concentration does a person really become a great Ninja and accomplish what they aim for. And it's a wonderful story about how our forehead protectors came into being..."

"You're right..." Naruto said. Tsukiko watched as he licked his thumb and turned the spiral on his palm into the symbol of Konohagakure. "All right! I'm going to master this!" He stood up and took a rubber ball. "Concentrate... Concentrate... Concentrate!"

Tsukiko stood up from where she was sitting and watched as Naruto gathered the Chakra and began to work it onto the rubber ball. Her eyes widened at the immense Chakra and she was shocked when he really managed to burst the rubber ball, flying off backwards himself.

"Naruto!" Tsukiko said, jumped over and catching him before he could continue skidding off and down the town. But even her grabbing him didn't help, and the two of them went flying off from the momentum until Jiraiya stopped them.

"It burst," Naruto said.

"Good! The second step seems to be complete," Jiraiya said.

"Hurry! The third step..." Naruto said.

"That will come later," Jiraiya said. Tsukiko looked at him in confusion. "We'll now go and meet Tsunade," Tsukiko's eyes widened.