Kei's P.O.V
It had been another three days, and I had spent each day training with my father until mid-afternoon on my Crystal style. I was now able to master the crystal blades without failure and was now learning how to do something more complex than the blades to improve the control of my Crystal style. We also did a bit of Kenjustu training, and my formation has improved a lot.
I also haven't seen Naruto since the encounter with him and the Jairya. So I haven't gotten much of a chance to ask him what exactly that was all about that day. Besides, I was more focused on the training since we had about only two more weeks left before the finals started.
When I wasn't training with my father, I would go out before dinner and train on my Genjustu and learn new Wind and Earth style justu. I now have two more new justu for each and learned slightly how to use my sword only with my mouth, so I can throw opponents after thinking I can't fight if my hands are injured.
"Huff," I breathed out. I was breathing heavily, and sweat was dripping down my face.
"Good job, young Serpent do it one more time," Father said in a commanding tone.
"Right," I said, making hand signs as multiple jade-green crystals surrounded me and moved my hands, tossing them like shuriken, hitting the trees and forming a pattern of two snakes in a heart.
I panted heavily as I fell onto my knees on the grass, feeling the exhaustion from training late last night and then training to maintain this higher level justu. I saw my father walking towards me as he bent down and picked me up, holding me against his chest.
"You have been going out late to train, haven't you?" He questioned, looking at me as if he was holding me.
"Yeah," I managed to get out from all the heavy breathing I was doing.
Father sighed."Alright, let's get you in bed since I doubt you have the strength to eat lunch," He said as he started walking off, carrying me as I passed out from exhaustion.
***
I woke up in a very comfortable bed and sat, seeing that it wasn't my bedroom, but I immediately regretted sitting up as a wave of pain hit me.
"Ow," I whispered, rubbing my sides as I glanced at the clock and saw that it was the afternoon, the lack of rest and hard work hitting me at full force.
I narrowed my eyes as I noticed a note on the bed table next to the clock and realized this was my father's old house the minute I saw his family photo.
'So then this note must be from father.' I thought, picking up the note and reading it.
Kei,
This is your father. I want you to spend the day relaxing; you shouldn't push yourself so close to the final exams. Go hang out with your friends or soak in the hot springs. Just take it easy, especially since it's your birthday. Don't bother waiting for me to show up won't be there have essential matters to take care of.
Speaking of your birthday, behind the clock is a birthday present. I'm impressed with the progress you have made, but that is not why I got you a gift for your birthday. It's something that I just felt like I needed to do.
You should probably head home after you eat the surprise I left you in my old kitchen. Surprisingly nobody cleared out of my house guess nobody was brave enough to mess with a rouge house. Anko must have been going crazy looking for you since last night. So go home and checked in with my old student the. You can keep avoiding her but stop sitting on the roof at night. I have seen you up there almost every night from the inn. My Sound team had been checked in at.
-Signed your father, Orochimaru
I smiled at the letter from my father, Orochimaru, and I had grown closer since the meeting. I learned that at one point, he wanted to be Hokage, just like Naruto, but things changed. He didn't tell me much more about what happened, but I guess it involved the Danzo guy I talked about once.
I folded the letter up and reached behind the clock, and grabbed a medium size velvet box with a purple ribbon tied to it. I took the ribbon off and opened the box, and saw the most beautiful necklace with a white snake wrapped around a blue heart-shaped crystal.
"This is beautiful," I whispered, looking at the necklace my father had given me as a birthday present as I got out of bed and walked over to the only mirror in the room, and put it around my neck.
I left the bedroom and headed downstairs to the kitchen, smelling something good. That was when I spotted a plate of rainbow sprinkle cinnamon rolls and touched one, seeing they were still nice and warm.
"There warm he must have made them not that long ago before he left," I said, sitting down at the table and eating one of the Cinnamon buns on the plate.
'Man, they're delicious, and they're not even that sweet. He must of not have been used to much sugar making them.' I thought while chewing the piece of the cinnamon bun.
After finishing up the last cinnamon bun, I stood up and placed the plate in the kitchen. I glanced at the letter and the box which my necklace was in and put both of them inside of jacket pocket. I knew the first thing I was going to do was take a shower and change into fresh clothes.
'I don't know what all to do today on my break from training. I could possibly see what Naruto is doing or find Kaito or Akira.' I thought as I left my father's house and started heading home.
***
I had finally arrived at home and opened the door to be immediately was greeted by and, surprisingly, Mizuko-sensei, who paused in the conversation they were having.
"Kei, your home; I see," Mizuko-sensei said, smiling at me.
"Yeah," I said, closing the door and removing my shoes.
"Where have you been all night, brat?" Anko asked, annoyed.
"Anko, don't be so harsh. At least she is home now," Mizuko-sensei stated.
"Doesn't matter. She shouldn't have been out all night and then suddenly showed up in the afternoon," Anko said, looking at me, waiting for an answer.
"If you must know, I fell asleep during training mid-afternoon and woke up this afternoon," I replied, rubbing my face.
"Really beat then. How come the Anbu that were looking for you all night and morning couldn't find you anywhere," Anko said."Where have you been training lately?"
I sighed at Anko's behavior, just wanting to shower already, so I wasn't sweating and in these clothes any longer.
"I was asleep near a stream of water but woke up in a bed in someone in the someone Inn room, but whoever it wasn't there anymore," I said, explaining why they didn't find me outside, doubting they checked inside the buildings, but not explaining that was in my father's old house.
"So someone from one of the villages found you and took you to the inn they're staying in," Mizuko-sensei said."It makes sense why they didn't find her at the inn weren't checked. Only the restaurants that hadn't close yet for the night were checked, and again this morning in case they just missed her."
"That might explain it sort of by why not take you to a hospital if you were passed out all afternoon yesterday from clearly chakra exhaustion?" Anno asked.
"I guess they didn't think it was needed after all I woke up," I stated.
"Anko, everything turned out fine, so we should let the Hokage know she returned, so the Anbu don't search one more time before deciding to check outside the village in case she was taken," Mizuko-sensei commented.
"Hold on, where did that necklace come from?" Anno asked, noticing my necklace.
"Oh, this was sitting next to my chest when I woke up," I said."I'm guessing that whoever found me gave it to me as a birthday gift, meaning that it might be someone I know or randomly decided to leave me a gift."
"You are originally from the Hidden Sand, so maybe the person was from there as well and left a present unless you got a secret admirer who decided to give you a necklace," Mizuko-sensei said with her eyes narrowed in thought."It doesn't matter. At least she was kidnapped. I let Lord Hokage know she is safe," She said, leaving the house in a swirl of water.
Anko just stared at me and back at the necklace.
"I'm going to shower if you are done questioning me," I stated, heading on up the stairs and ignoring the way she was looking at my neck that was hidden by my jacket.
"Kid, I don't know where you really got the necklace from, but I'll let you be for the time being as long as you let me know you're going out with the last few weeks before the finals," Anko said.
I simply nodded my head as I continued up the steps to shower before heading on out to hang out with Akira if she wasn't in the middle of training.
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Hey, my lovely reader! I have finally published chapter 48 of The Crystal Serpent. Kei is given the day off to rest after passing out from training. Anko doesn't believe her story of where the necklace was from but decides to let her be. I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter. Let me know what you think of the chapter in the comments.
Q: What do you think of her birthday present from Orochimaru?
Thanks for reading!
Word Count: 1692