Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [2]

☾ 9 ☽

Tsukiko moved her eyes back and forth, following Naruto was pacing in front of her and Sakura impatiently. Currently, the three of them were standing in the Third Training Grounds and waiting for Kakashi to arrive. It been quite a while since they arrive and thus far, there was no sign of Kakashi anywhere.

Like all those years ago, Tsukiko had been the first to arrive at the Third Training Ground, after having some Daifuku to eat and stopping by the Konoha Hospital to check on the patients under her care. There was no afterschool medical class today so she was laid off of that. She was now feeling a bit disappointed that she wouldn't be going to Sunagakure and meeting Gaara, though.

Naruto and Sakura had soon joined her in the training grounds. And even though she did not mention it to the two of them, Tsukiko kept looking around as if Sasuke would suddenly appear out of nowhere as well, with his usual sulky expression and his hands stuffed into the pockets of his shorts.

"Ugh!" Naruto groaned, finally blowing up from the constant waiting and stopped his pacing. "Is Kakashi Sensei going to make us wait forever?!" Tsukiko and Sakura looked over at him.

"Well, he's always been like this," Sakura pointed out their Sensei's strange habit. Tsukiko nodded as she sighed. Kakashi had always been late, and Tsukiko wondered what he was up to.

"I wish he would show a bit of an improvement in his timing," Tsukiko agreed. "It's rather exhaustive for the rest of us... Don't tell me he's out there reading that strange book,"

"Oh, sorry about that," Kakashi said, suddenly appearing onto the chain-linked fence behind them. "As it happens, I ran into an old woman in trouble on my way here and –"

"Right!" Naruto and Sakura shouted. "That's a lie!" Tsukiko nodded in agreement with the two of them, her arms crossed over her chest. Kakashi sweat-dropped, knowing there was no going out.

"This place kind of takes me back," Tsukiko commented as she, Naruto and Sakura followed Kakashi into the training grounds. She looked around with a weak smile. Naruto and Sakura nodded along.

"Oh, come to think of it, this was your first Training Ground, wasn't it?" Kakashi said as they finally came to a stop by the three stumps.

"We were Team Seven," Sakura said, looking down.

"Four-Man cell, huh..." Naruto agreed.

"The only four-man team to pass that year..." Tsukiko added with a sigh. "There was none this year..." She glanced at the sky.

"We had Sasuke with us back then, didn't we?" Kakashi acknowledged their teammate. Tsukiko bit her lower lip as she thought back to that day.

Tsukiko knew that she ultimately did not care for what Sasuke did to her that day, for she knew she'll heal if not die, but it hurt quite a bit to lose your friend and his molarity at the same time. She rubbed her forehead. That blithering idiot... Tsukiko looked at Naruto and Sakura and saw that they were wallowing in depression as well.

"Well, let's see how much you've grown," Kakashi cut in, trying to bring them out of it as he swung the three bells from those years ago. "You haven't given up on Sasuke, have you?"

"Absolutely not!" Sakura said.

"That's why I continued my training!" Naruto added.

"I've been waiting to have this again, Usa!" Tsukiko agreed, curling her hands into fists as she stared at the three bells in Kakashi's hand.

"The rules are the same as when we first met," Kakashi informed. "I don't care how you do it. Just take a bell away from me," He strung the bells to his waist. "If you don't come at me –"