Butterflies and Puppets

Chapter 6

"Well we are back home." Kakashi said shoving his hands in his pockets.

I look up at him. "Thank you Kakashi."

"It's dark let me walk you home." The two of us walk back to the Inuzuka Compound. "I will let you have a free day tomorrow then we will go train." I nod at him and he leaves.

I open up the door to the dark house. I guess everybody is already asleep. I walk to my bedroom and strip off my clothes hangs my cloak up then take the  mask off  and put on some shorts and a baggy shirt. As soon as my head hits the pillow I am out.

🦋

I wake up to something licking my face. I roll over away from it trying to hide. Akamaru barks at me. Turning back over and looking at him. "Akamaru!" I shout grabbing him and hugging him. "I've missed you buddy!"

Kiba comes running into my room. "You're back! when did you get home?" He asks as he runs to hug me practically tackling me.

I push him off of me laughing. "I got back last night." I say grabbing my butterfly off of his perch. "What are you doing today?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Do you wanna go train?" I ask the brunette.

"Sure! But lets eat first."

The two of us walk out of my bedroom and see Hana in the living room.

"Oh Mayumi you're back!" She says. "Mom left earlier this morning but she will be back later tonight, she will be excited to see you! how did it go?"

"It was great actually! I trained some while we were out." I said while putting on my sandals.

"That's great to hear! I'll see you two later then I guess?" Hana asks.

"Of course! I'm not going to miss dinner!" I say giving Hana a closed eye smile.

The two of us leave the house and start walking down the street to the barbeque place.

"How did you know, barbeque?" Kiba questions.

"Please, I know you better than you know yourself." I reply as Kiba opens the door for me, and he follows behind me and take our seat, ordering our food and we sit in silence.

"So, how did going out go?" Kiba says breaking the silence.

"It went good. I met a girl actually from the Sand Village."

"Whoa! The Sand Village?" Kiba says as we get our food he places a piece of steak on the grill in front of us.

"Yeah, apparently We are going back again in a couple of days."

"Wow that's so exciting! I'm so jealous. But I'm happy you're finally getting some type of special treatment. You deserve it. After-"

"Kiba, lets not. Not here." I say taking a bite of my steak. "I'm just ready to graduate."

"Yeah, Me too. Hey, maybe we will get lucky and be put on the same team together!"

"As awesome as that would be, I highly doubt that." I say finishing up eating. "Here I got it this time. I really wanna go out there and practice today." I say paying for the food. "Let's go."

The two of us leave for the training grounds and practice.

"I hate taijutsu" i complain panting.

"Well, you gotta get better at it." Kiba says crossing his arms.

"If I stay long distance, then I won't have that problem." I retort plopping in the grass.

"True, but you should already know, it's not always like that." Kiba says laying next to me. "Besides, you seem off. You aren't focusing like you usually do. You seem almost distracted. Whats going on?"

I look up at the clouds and stare for a moment.

"I don't know how to put this. I met some people while I was out."

"Were they bad people?"

"No, not at all. Our first night out I went to the hot springs, and I met a girl. It made me feel some type of way.. Like, she tried to actually talk to me. She was...nice."

"Well, not everybody knows about how hated your father was. Your mom was always a mysterious person also. I mean, your mom and my mom were best friends when they were younger. I guess, love can change a person right?"

"That's not the point Kiba. I also met a guy.."

Kiba sits up. "You what? Explain!"

"I don't know, he made me feel.. something I haven't in a long time. Something I haven't felt from another person other then you, and your family. Almost like a warm feeling?"

"That sounds like happiness Mayumi." Kiba says laughing.

"I knew you would laugh, you wouldn't understand." I get up dusting myself off. Happiness. Ha. Yeah right.

"No, I didn't mean it like that."

"I went there and actually liked being there. There wasn't anybody looking at me with disgust. Nobody judging me. It was like a fresh start. Then I had to come back here."

"Well, maybe it's because you had your first taste of freedom?"

"I didn't want to leave Kiba. I wanted to stay there... Maybe happiness is not always where the home is.."

"Oh great, here we go with the dark and twisty side of you. Come on lets get home before mom has a fit. We can talk about this after dinner."

"Whatever." I say rubbing my eye with one hand holding my head with the other.

The two of us get back to the Inuzuka compound.

"Mayumi, Kakashi is waiting for you at the village gates. He said to pack a bag and get there quickly." Hana says.

"Really? but I just had gotten back."

"HE SAID TO HURRY" Tsume shouts standing at the door.

"FINE I'LL HURRY!"  I look at Kiba. "Well, I guess we can talk when I get back Kiba." I rush inside to pack my bag and grab my cloak and eye mask. I then rush back into the dinning room where everyone is sitting. "I'M TAKING A BOWL OF FOOD TSUME!"

"I ALREADY MADE A BOWL EACH FOR YOU TWO. BE SAFE BRAT!"

"ALWAYS!" I reply before running out the door to the gates. "I'm here Kakashi! I- I brought you some-some food too." I say out of breath.

"Hm, well thank you." he says while taking the bowl. "We have to go back to the Sand village for a few days. We won't be back until the day of your graduation exam."

"Oh, why so long?" I ask the silver haired Jonin as we leave the gates and open my bowl of beef and rice and start eating.

"I have to deliver something to them and I agreed to help out with one of their missions since their Jonin isn't able to right now. I'm sure you can handle it." He says also eating.

"Why are we traveling at night also?"

"Not as many people are out this late. But we still have to be on our guard. The more dangerous ones come out at night." Kakashi says taking another bite. "Besides, I just wanted to get out of the village as soon as possible. I have a friend who..who has been getting on my nerves lately.

"Oh.. Let's hope we don't find anybody." I say yawning.

The two of us keep traveling for hours until Kakashi makes a sudden stop.

"Mayumi. Stay here. I'll be back." He said jumping down from a tree. I sit there waiting for him for what seems like forever.

"Mayumi, come!" I heard Kakashi's voice I jumps down to him. I look around me seeing bodies layed out on the ground then back at Kakashi. "Rogues. Let's keep going."  He says as he starts back off I run next to him. "You know, I could have helped." I mumble.

We soon traveled through the desert into the Sand village. "We will go meet up with the team we are helping in the morning. For now, lets go get some sleep."

"The sun is going to rise in a couple of hours. Not really sleeping much are we?"

"Way to point out the obvious. We need to sleep while we can. Gotta see the Kazekage when we get up." Kakashi said as we walked up to the cabin we stayed at last time.