Blood of a Lost Girl (Book 1, Naruto)

Chapter 18

Okay guys, we're getting close to the Chunin exams now, so Focus!
It is important that you focus! You know because if you don't you might fail school, never get a job, die from hunger in a ditch and-
Right, sorry, I got off track.
Remember Ayame's name has been changed to Miyuki

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I sighed. I was finally able to do missions with my team again, albeit only D-rank missions. Even so, I was relieved. The past 2 weeks I had been suspended and hadn't been allowed to go on missions. The Hokage didn't even let me train and had had ANBU watching my every move again. It was all because I didn't listen to him when he forbade me to go find my friends in my last mission. I was grateful though. He could've given me a much worse punishment, but because he knew my intentions were good and that he had a soft spot for me (which he didn't even deny when I teased him about it), he only suspended me from my missions as well as training. I'd attempted to go train, mind you, but the ANBU were always there to stop me. So I'd been bored for most of the time. That was, however, until I realised I could still study different techniques and Jutsu. I'd studied lots of different earth techniques and ways to find out if you could do any other types of Nature Jutsu's.

I sighed again. I may be able to do missions again, but this was just D-ranks. Chores, in other words. I knew why I was only allowed to do D-rank missions, but the rest of team 7 were also not allowed to get any C-rank missions. I wonder about that, so I asked Kakashi-sensei. Apparently it was because they'd also gotten another C-ranked mission which had turned into a B-rank again. Which was stupid, in my opinion. It's not our fault we attract decent missions.

I looked around my feet for the specific herb as I crouched. Our 'mission' was to find an herb called uhm... Mint I think; I wasn't really listening when the Hokage gave us the mission... Honestly I don't know why anyone would want mint leaves. It doesn't taste nice at all – in food I mean. I groaned. "This is so hard!" Everything looks the same and everywhere around me it smelled like mint so I had no idea what leaf was mint and what not.

My hand brushed a random leaf and suddenly I began to itch. My hand twitched and I stopped moving. The itching spread up my arm and to the other one. My eye twitched as I struggled to keep still and not scratch. I turned my eyes to look at the leaf I touched and I grunted at my stupidity. Poison Ivy. Just great. "Hey Miyuki-" Sakura began, coming up from behind me. I could feel her moving her hand to touch my shoulder – bad idea. Very bad idea.

"Don't touch me!" But it was too late. Her hand touched the skin on my shoulder. "Damn... Sakura. Don't move."

She'd been retracting her hand and froze. "W-what? Why? What's wrong?"

"You and I have been infected by poison Ivy. Whatever you do, don't scratch-" I was talking to deaf ears as Sakura was already scratching her hands and arms. I sighed.

"AH! IT'S SO ITCHY!" I heard Naruto yell. I glanced over at him, still hunched over in a crouching position. He was scratching himself, unconsciously nearing Sasuke who was trying to stay away from all of us. It was so hard not to scratch... All I wanted to do was scratch the itch.

"You're such a loser!" He grunted, annoyed. As he backed away he clumsily, and surprisingly, tripped over a root, falling right into a bush of poison Ivy.

"Sasuke don't scratch!" I called over to him. I bit my lip and scrunched up my nose. It was so, so, so itchy! Sasuke froze, his hands inches away from his skin. I sighed in relief but clenched my teeth and my fists. It was so itchy, it was almost painful. I still had half an hour to try and not scratch the itchiness. "Now we wait."