Kagome was still exhausted from yesterday's training. After her spat with Inari, Kagome trained all night to get stronger in order to stand a chance against Zabuza and the masked boy. But she had to try, no matter how long it takes. She opened her eyes as she sat up in her futon and noticed that it was morning. She blinked for a little bit until she finally realized that it was indeed morning and that she was suppose to be escorting Tazuna with her team. She leaped out out of the futon and quickly put on her clothes. She ran down the steps with Kirara behind her and when she got to the bottom, she saw Tsunami washing the dishes.
"Tsunami-san!" Kagome said.
"Ah, Kagome-chan, Kirara. Good morning." Tsunami smiled.
"Good morning." Kagome said. "How come no one woke me up?"
"Your sensei thought it would be best if you rested today since you were up all night training." Tsunami reasoned. Kagome sighed at this. So Kakashi-sensei knew that she would be totally exhausted the next morning.
"Oh, well, I guess I have no choice." Kagome admitted.
"How about some breakfast?" Tsunami asked.
"Sounds great." Kagome replied.
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Kagome was sitting down at the table as she drank her tea while Kirara was drinking milk from a small bowl. Then she felt it. A disturbing nearby. An unsettling feeling in her body. She couldn't help but wonder what was coming straight here. She put her tea down and stood up.
"Tsunami-san, I'm going to go out for a bit. I'll be back in a few." Kagome announced before she and Kirara ran out the door. She jumped through the trees, hoping to find what was making her uneasy. Soon she came across something that made her blood freeze: a dead boar. Then she noticed medium sized scratches marks on the trees. She knew that it couldn't have come from the boar. To her point of view, it looked like a sword went through them. She realized that they were heading down to Tsunami's home.
'Tsunami-san!' Kagome thought with panic as she quickly jumped through the trees. She hoped that she would arrive in time.
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Inari was in the bathroom when his mother called him down to help her with the laundry. Suddenly, he heard something break and his mother scream downstairs. He quickly rushed downstairs and saw his mother on the floor with her hands on her head in fright with two other men who had swords strapped to their waists in the room.
"Mother!" Inari yelled, his eyes widened. Tsunami's widened when she saw Inari.
"Inari, no! Don't come out here! Run away! Hurry!" Tsunami shouted. The two men towards Inari.
"Don't move." The man with the eye patch said and then he turned to the other man. "Should we grab this one too?"
"No, Gatō asked for just one hostage." The other man with the silver white said. Inari stiffened at the mention of Gatō wanting a hostage. He couldn't move at all as he grasped onto the door frame. The man with the eyepatch turned to Inari and held his sword out.
"Alright." He said with an evil glint in his remaining eye. "Then let's waste him!"
Inari froze as the man began to draw his sword out.
"Wait!" Tsunami shouted. The man stopped from unsheathing his sword. "Please don't hurt my son. I begging you. He's just a boy. I will do...anything." Tsunami stated as she glared at the two swordsmen. "Just please don't hurt him."
The one with silver hair smirked and the other one sheathed his sword.
"Looks like your mom came through for you, kid. Lucky." Silver hair said. Tears began falling down Inari's cheeks as he slid onto his knees.
"What a waste. I was in the mood to cut something." Eyepatch said.
"Give it a rest. You already drew blood today." Silver hair said. Then he turned to Tsunami "Let's get her out of here."
Silver hair grabbed Tsunami by the arm and tied both of her hands together behind her back.
"I'm sorry, mom." Inari apologized as tears continued to fall. "I'm sorry."
The two swordsmen escorted Tsunami out of the house.
"W-Why could I do?" Inari questioned. "I'm too weak to protect you."
Tears fell onto his wrists as he wrapped them around his knees in helplessness. "I'm scared. I don't wanna die."
'Just because you have suffered, doesn't mean that we haven't.
Inari's eyes widened at Kagome's words from the other night.
'Everyone at this table had suffered more than you can imagine. But I guess you won't understand what we've been through.'
Then he remembered what Kakashi had said about Kagome.
'But I never saw her cry. My guess is that she got tired of it. So she kept studying and trained hard in order to prove herself. She also wishes to protect her friends at the same time since they're important to her. Kagome is able to put her life on the line for her dream. That's why she knows the true meaning of being strong. Just like your father.'
Inari looked down at his hands as he thought about their words.
'If you really care about something, protect it even if you have to put your life on the line. Protect it with both arms.'
Inari remembered those words from his father, the man who came into his life and taught him about courage. How he tried to protect the village with the cost of his two arms. He wiped away his tears as he remembered his mother's smile. He saw how his mother, grandfather, the Konoha ninjas, Kagome, and his father had courage inside them, even when times were tough. He soon recalled what Kagome had said that following night when his grandfather asked why they still wanted to help him after lying to them.
'You haven't lost hope for your village. By building the bridge, it means that you still have Kaiza's courage. You're resisting Gatō's influence. You're doing whatever it takes to finish the bridge that will save this village. That takes a lot amount of courage, Tazuna.'
"Can I...be that strong, too?" Inari asked. He stood up with determination. "Father."
Inari ran out the door and went after his mom.
"Stop!"
The two men and Tsunami looked over their shoulders and saw Inari glaring at them. Tsunami gasped when she saw Inari standing there.
"Well, well, if it ain't the little tough guy?" Eye patch said.
"Inari!" Tsunami yelled.
"How cute. You've come to save your mom." Eye patch smirked.
"You...better get away from my mom!" Inari challenged as he ran towards the two men.
"Inari! No!" Tsunami cried out. Eyepatch chuckled.
"This kid is a little short on brains. Don't ya think?" Eye patch asked.
"Take him down." Silver hair ordered as Inari was coming towards them.
"If you hurt him, I swear I'll-" Tsunami trailed off when Silver hair hit the back of her head with his hand, making her fall to her side onto the deck.
"Shut up." Silver hair demanded. "Take a nap."
The two men unsheathed their swords and sliced their target. Soon their eyes widened when they saw three pieces of a log instead of the boy.
"Substitution jutsu!" Silver hair exclaimed. They looked to where they left the woman; she was gone!
"The woman. She's gone." Eye patch said.
"That was close, huh Inari?"
"Huh, who's that?" Eye patched asked. They looked over their shoulders and saw someone dressed in black and orange placing the woman down and holding the boy.
"Well heroes usually show up at the last minute." Kagome said.
Inari's eyes widened at the voice. He looked up and saw Kagome as she helped put him down.
"Kagome?" Inari asked.
"Who else?" Kagome asked with a grin. "Good job, Inari. Thanks to your distraction, I was able to save your mom."
"It's one of those puny ninja brats that Tazuna hired." Eye patch said as he scratched his chest.
"Get her." Silver ordered.
"Yeah!" Eye patch said as he and Eye patch unsheathed their swords as they ran towards Kagome, Inari, and Tsunami.
"Didn't anyone tell you that you should treat a woman with respect?" Kagome said as she took out two shuriken.
Then she threw the shuriken, but the two men easily deflected them.
"Try something else!" Silver hair yelled. Kagome stood up and turned to them.
"I did." Kagome smiled and Kirara mewed.
"I want her! She's mine!" Eye patch shouted. Suddenly, the two men were punch from behind and fell unconscious when they fell onto the deck. The two Kagomes disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Y-You did it!" Inari said when he looked at Kagome, amazed. Kagome laughed.
"Yeah, believe it!" Kagome said with a closed eye grin and held her fist out.
"Huh?" Inari asked, confused. He soon laughed as well.
"That was so excellent! Like a real ninja!" Inari grinned.
"Hey I am a real ninja!" Kagome said. Then the two laughed for a moment or two.
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"You've made a mistake of insulting us ninjas." Kakashi said, "Sasuke is one of Konoha's strongest fighters, Sakura has the sharpest mind, and last but not least, Kagome Uzumaki, one of the strongest member on our team!"
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Kagome had just finished up tying up and gagged the two swordsmen. She couldn't really leave them with their swords around. Suddenly, she sneezed.
"They say when you sneeze is because someone is talking about you somewhere." Inari explained. Kirara tilted her head in confusion.
"You don't really believe that, do you?" Kagome asked. "By the way, sorry about yesterday."
"Huh?" Inari asked. Then he remembered when Kagome stated that she had suffered as well as him. "It should be me apologizing to you, Kagome."
"Huh?" Kagome asked.
"I just instantly presumed that you knew nothing about suffering. But Kakashi told me about you not having parents-" He was interrupted when Kagome placed her hand on his head.
"You're brave, Inari." Kagome stated as she gently ruffled his hair. Unexpectedly, Inari started to cry. Kagome removed her hand from his head.
"Darn it! I...I promised myself that I wouldn't cry anymore!" Inari bawled as more tears fell down while trying to wipe them away. Kagome's eyes softly at the little boy in front of her. She knew that Inari had put up a wall after his father's death. But he was feeling vulnerable right now after he nearly lost his mother. Kagome knelt down and pulled Inari into her arms. His eyes widened at Kagome's sudden action.
"Ya' know, someone once said, 'A strong person is not the one who doesn't cry. A strong person is the one who cries and shed tears for a moment, then gets up and fights again'." Kagome said. "You proved that, Inari. Don't ever think it's wrong to shed tears even when you're happy."
She pulled away and gently held his shoulders. "Okay?"
Inari stared at Kagome and wiped the last of his tears and nodded.
"Okay." Inari stated. Kagome stood up.
"I have to go now. My teammates need me." Kagome informed. "Can I count on you to look after your mom?"
"Hai!" Inari said, smiled.
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Meanwhile:
Sasuke was trapped in the ice mirrors that the tracker-nin who introduced himself as Haku had set up. Kakashi rushed towards the dome of ice mirrors to help Sasuke, but then Zabuza appeared in front of him.
"If you enter this fight, you fight me." Zabuza said. "Your boy has no chance against that jutsu. He's finished."
Kakashi cursed. He couldn't help Sasuke at all.
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"Now, we'll begin," Haku said. "And I'll show you what speed really is." Then he began throwing senbons in every direction. Unfortunately Sasuke was unable to dodge any of them since they came from different directions. He could feel each one going past one of his limbs or hit near a vital spot.
"Sasuke!" Kakashi yelled. One of the needles knocked Sasuke's kunai out of his hand. He had to kneel to the ground as his legs started to go numb. Sakura quickly took out the kunai that was stuck near her foot and ran towards the ice dome. Then she jumped up and threw the kunai.
"Take this!" Sakura shouted. But Haku grabbed the kunai before it could reach past him.
"He caught it!" Sakura gasped. Suddenly, something went past Haku and hit him in the face which caused him to fall out of the mirror.
"What?" Zabuza questioned.
Unexpectedly, a three pronged kunai nearly hit Tazuna's left foot. Soon two Kagomes dropped into the ice dome and one grabbed Sasuke around the waist. The two disappeared from the dome while Kagome stayed inside of it. Then the other Kagome and Sasuke appeared next to Tazuna.
"Sasuke!" Sakura said as she ran over and knelt beside Kagome and Sasuke. He panted heavily as Kagome took out the needles from his body.
"You okay?" Kagome asked.
"I think so." Sasuke said as Kagome's hands glowed pink and place her left hand on his shoulder.
"Well, it's good to see you again Kagome." Zabuza said. "I was starting to get bored."
"I've never liked guys like you, Zabuza." Kagome said from the ice dome.
"Oh, do tell why." Zabuza taunted.
"You kill people for your own sick, twisted entertainment." Kagome spat.
"Haku." Zabuza said.
"Hai." Haku said. Then he went back into the mirrors. "Let's begin."
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Being brave means to know something is scary, difficult, and dangerous, and doing it anyway, because the possibility of winning the fight is worth the chance of losing it.
~ Emilie Autumn