Mokuren

Team Temari: Teamwork

Arc One, Team Temari; Chapter Two, Teamwork

Once again, Mokuren awoke from a nightmare around midnight. She had tried taking a pill, in the hopes she could get enough sleep for whatever Temari might have planned, but it seemed that wasn't going to work. Sitting up, she sighed and stretched before standing, wondering how she could be sore when she'd hardly done anything the day before. Going for a walk didn't sound like a great idea just then, so she grabbed a couple of scrolls, set an alarm for 3:30, and climbed onto the roof to read by the moonlight.

All too soon, her alarm rang and she went back inside. After starting the coffee pot, Mokuren put on her clothes and strapped on her weapons pack and sheathed sword. She was a little tempted to wake her mother, if only because it would annoy the woman, but she controlled herself.

Since her house was on the outskirts of the residential district, Mokuren didn't really need more than five minutes to reach the twelfth training ground. She left ten minutes early and found that once again, Tetsuko had beaten her there; and once again, he had set a trap for Kentsu. Irritated by this repetitive action, Mokuren dismantled it immediately.

Tetsuko looked a little resentful, but he didn't say anything. When Kentsu finally showed up, however, he had plenty to say. "You're so lazy! Are you trying to be late? Do you want to go back to the Academy?" Tetsuko bellowed at the tanned boy.

"Shut up, moron!" Kentsu immediately replied, his fingers curling to form fists. Tetsuko quickly pulled out a kunai, and Mokuren set her hand on her sword. She didn't really want these two idiots fighting each other today, but perhaps words could handle things.

"Are the two of you really going to fight? Temari-sama - I mean, Temari-sensei - could be here any minute."

"Don't interrupt! This has nothing to do with -" Kentsu broke off as the blood suddenly drained from his face. Mokuren had known that the sheer amount of chakra trapped in her father's sword could paralyze civilians, but she hadn't thought it would work quite this well on her teammates. They've got a lot of training to do. She sighed to herself. That hasn't bothered me in months, and yet they can barely turn their heads to look at me.

"You both need to calm down and be quiet. You're teammates now - fighting amongst yourselves is disgraceful." Mokuren informed them, and then sheathed her sword again. A drop of sweat trickled down her forehead, but she doubted the other two would notice it and wiped it away with the guise of massaging her forehead exasperatedly. It took the boys a minute to start moving again, and their first action was to move far away from the girl.

The horizon looked a sickly sort of green by the time Temari arrived - exactly four in the morning. "Good morning," She said without a smile. Her students immediately replied in kind, Kentsu's response punctuated by a yawn. "Today, we'll have a sort of test. In order to effectively train you, I need to see for myself your strengths and weaknesses. For that reason, I want you all to attack me as if you wanted to kill me." Their new teacher declared.

Kentsu and Tetsuko shared an uneasy glance. "W-what are you saying? We can't do that! You're the -"

"Do you two completely lack brains?" Mokuren asked as she took a step towards Temari. "She's a jounin. My best efforts won't be able to touch her - yours won't get anywhere near her. You've got no reason to hesitate." Temari raised an eyebrow at her. Glancing back at the fuming boys, Mokuren shrugged and offered a smile.

Their teacher sighed, and then moved on. "Start!" She declared, and after a brief moment Kentsu barrelled towards her. She didn't even have to move; Kentsu blasted on past her, and made it ten feet before he turned around and tried again. Mokuren couldn't help imagining Temari dressed as a torera sighing and saying, 'Toro, toro...' while yawning.