/Author's Note: Art Above is my drawing of tween/early teens Kira\
"Hold still!" I scolded as I tried to clean off the wolf pup.
My team had come back to the Lord's estate and I sent Gai to do some investigation in town while Nari investigated the Lord. I on the other hand was leaning over a wooden tub trying to clean the ash from the pup's fur. Of course, he was being stubborn.
He whined as I tried to grab hold of him again and he leaped out of the tub. I huffed in annoyance and then moved my hands, moving the bath water to latch onto the wolf pup and set him back in the tub.
"Bet you didn't see that one coming," I teased with a smirk.
I eventually got him clean only to find out his fur was stark white. You couldn't really tell since he was dirtied from all the ash and dirt. His fur was really beautiful.
"Hmmmm. You'll need a name," I murmured to myself. "What about Snow?"
He looked at me annoyed and I sighed.
"Yeah too basic..." I murmured and began to think more. "How about......Daiko?"
His ears perked up a bit and his tail began to flop around. I assumed that meant he agreed.
"Alright. Daiko it is!" I declared with a smile.
It felt like a fitting name, although I purposely chose it to be similar to my late friends name. It should be an honor to have a similar name to Daiki, since he was a brave shinobi. Daiko won't be a replacement, but a great companion who will only remind me of my friend.
"You shouldn't name him. You'll get more attached," Nari commented as he entered the room. "Especially with a name like that...."
"You're right, but I couldn't help myself," I murmured as I pet Daiko's ears smiling. "Did you find out anything?"
"Not entirely. Though I heard something strange about a group of people who left the village awhile ago after visiting," Nari commented as he sat down.
"Interesting," I commented and stretched out my arms before lying down on the ground.
As I got comfortable, Daiko jumped onto my stomach causing me to cringe in slight pain. I sat up and glared at the wolf pup, but all he did was begin to lick my face.
"Ah! Wolf germs!" I called as I wiped away the slobber. "I don't know where your mouth has been."
Daiko just barked at me and I swatted him away. Nari sat to the side, lightly chuckling as he watched the interaction. I glared over at Nari and pointed a finger out at him.
"Don't laugh! He'll think this is good behavior," I scolded as Daiko settled down in my lap.
I gave in to his cuteness and began to pet his white fur as he fell asleep.
"Sorry. You're just very amusing," Nari commented.
I stuck my tongue out at him and soon enough Gai came barreling through the door, tumbling to the ground but immediately sticking the landing, standing up.
"Might Gai reporting in!" He announced as he saluted me.
I chuckled at his actions as I found them totally hilarious and amusing. Nari just rolled his eyes, thinking it was totally ridiculous.
"Did you find anything out Gai?" I asked curiously, motioning him to be at ease now.
"Nothing really. There hasn't been too much drama in this village besides some farmers complaining about work," he commented. "Do you think we'll be able to figure this out soon? Our mission was to find the cause."
"Maybe it was just a wild fire that got out of hand by someone in town," Nari stated.
"Maybe...." I murmured as I still thought about the wounded wolf.
I still wasn't convinced but we had no current leads, so we had to add the next part of the mission.
"I should get some rest. I'll have to use a lot of energy tomorrow helping the forest heal," I spoke softly and stood up, gently holding Daiko in my arms. "Goodnight."
I then walked off to our sleeping quarters and laid down on the bed I had chosen. It wasn't too late, but I knew I needed to save up all the strength. Daiko snuggled close to me as I began to drift off. I smiled to myself. I could get use to this.
Morning soon came and I sat up, beginning to rub the tiredness away in my eyes. I heard a small snore and then some loud ones. I looked down to see Daiko asleep beside me still and then glanced to see Gai spread out on his bed. Well, he was splayed out in an odd position and was snoring. How he was comfortable....I don't know.
I noticed Nari was gone. He's probably doing some extra investigation on the village. I stood up and began to search through our supplies to see if we had any rations left. I didn't feel like disturbing the lord for food since he's already letting us stay here.
I sighed when I came up fruitless in my search efforts. I set Daiko over next to Gai, since both were still sleeping soundly. I then left to head into the market to buy something for us to eat. I bought some fruit from one of the stalls and then headed back.
When arrived I was surprised with the sight I was met with. Gai was currently playing with Daiko, tossing a stick around and cheering enthusiastically whenever he caught it or brought it to him. I smiled in amusement and cleared my throat. This caused Gai to freeze after he threw the stick up and it hit him on the head. He lightly rubbed the spot where it hit and smiled towards me.
"Hi Kira!" He greeted cheerfully. "I didn't see you there."
"It's alright. Is your head okay," I asked worriedly as I set down the bag of groceries.
"Yeah! A stick couldn't personally harm me! I'm too strong!" Gai responded with a cheeky smile.
I scoffed and then lightly pulled his ear.
"Yeah, but the so called strong Might Gai tends to be quite clumsy," I teased.
His face became completely flustered and he rubbed his ear after I released it from my grasp.
"It....It's just apart of my youth and charm!" He responded confidently, still a bit flushed.
"Alright Gai. Now eat," I said and tossed him an apple. "We'll head to the woods as soon as Nari gets back."
Gai nodded in understanding and began to eat while also fighting off Daiko who seemed interested in the apple as well. I began to eat and Nari didn't seem to be showing. I didn't want to wait too late and sighed.
"We'll just go ahead without him," I spoke and then looked to Daiko. "Stay here. We'll be back soon."
Gai and I then raced off to the woods, reaching a clearing. I stood there for a second as I took a deep breath. I lifted my hands up and concentrated as I pulled at the moisture from the air, trying to get as much as water as possibly. I then did the water hand sigh while my hands lit up with a green healing aura.
"Ninja technique: Healing Rain!"
I then raised the water into the sky, beginning to make it evaporate with my abilities of manipulation and also with the help of the sun. As it began to form a cloud, I could hear something approaching and fast. My eyes widened as I saw a kunai headed straight towards me. If I lost concentration and defended myself, it would stop the cloud formation and rain and I would lose still lose all the chakra it takes to create it.
As it was nearly a foot away, a green flash moved in front of me and deflected it away with a kick. I let out a breath of relief, but looked back up when I noticed three rouge ninja surrounding us. Gai stood defensively beside me, glancing at each one of them from time to time to see which would make a move first.
I did my best to focus on my technique and soon enough it was raining. Gai looked back at me and I gave him the look of I need more time. He nodded in understanding and stayed on guard.
"To think they would send leaf ninja to help a cruddy little village," one of them spoke. "No matter, they seem too young to be a threat anyway."
"Yeah. What's she gonna do, kill us with rain," one of them joked.
"Oi! Don't talk bad about her!" Gai threatened as his eyes narrowed.
"And what are you, her boyfriend? Sweety, even though you're young you could do better," another said with an dark chuckle.
Gai felt more anger rise inside of him and he raced to attack them. When he went after one, the other two who weren't occupied headed straight for me. Gai looked back and his eyes widened. I was just about to release my technique when I figure jumped in front of me, kicking one rouge away and grabbing the other's arm, flinging him into a tree.
"Nari!" I spoke surprised. "Where have you been?!"
"I'm sorry! I was investigating early this morning and tracked down this group. I went back to tell you but you had already left, so I had to catch up," he explained as he got into his pose, getting ready to use his gentle fist technique.
"You're forgiven," I responded. "Try and hold them off for another five minutes and I'll be done."
Nari nodded and charged at the two rouge ninjas while Gai was still tustling with the other. I just had to keep holding. Then I could help.
Two chapters today baby!!! You guys got treated today!
Also, I hopes you like the art I made of Kira. I had fun creating it!
I'm currently iced in at my dorm so I've had plenty of time to write and draw so that's why y'all get some special treatment today. I have no classes tomorrow as well so maybe you get some more swag chapters!!
Thanks for reading!! Hope you liked it and thank you for all your support!! ❤