#12 - The Waves: Part 2

Meeting with the Clan Leader wasn't exactly hard, he was usually in his office in the Main Family compound.

Tsubaki lived in the outer area closer to the servants quarters so she rarely saw him though. They spoke maybe two words to each other once every few weeks if she ran into him by accident.

He had chocolate brown hair and amber eyes - he looked nothing like her, but he was supposed to be her father.

In the 6 years, Tsubaki had been raised by her mother, she had never mentioned him. In fact, Tsubaki hadn't even known she had a father. They lived in a ninja village where most people had lost a sibling or an uncle or a parent to the 3rd War, no one really questioned a single mother and her young daughter.

So Tsubaki simply assumed that she didn't have a father - until a man showed up to her home one day - she had been living with her mother's cold corpse for a while when he'd appeared. She had been covered by a blanket on the sofa. In Tsubaki's mind, she was just asleep that was all.

But this man came through the door and walked right past Tsubaki, didn't even spare her a glance as he headed for the sofa, as he took a stiff hand and pressed it against his cheek.

The first-ever thing she had done with her father - she buried her mother.

It sounds as dark and gloomy as it felt. But for Tsubaki, who had never known what it meant to have a father, had no expectations of the man who took her away from her home and into a grand mansion.

He was simply the man took her in but it was the housekeeper who fed her and the servant's children who played with her. Sometimes the man who was supposed to be her grandfather would come to see her - he was a large man, tall and dignified, and he rarely spoke, just stood under the tree and watched her with a strange look in his eyes.

So for Tsubaki, the Amaya clan had never become family. Her family died with her mother, and she held no expectations towards them. Which is why the cautious looks her step-mother gave her, the calculated words she would say to make sure Tsubaki never overstepped her boundaries; they never really hurt Tsubaki.

Her step-mother was simply trying to protect her own son's place as the next Clan Leader, she was a mother protecting her child's future, Tsubaki couldn't really hate for it.

Still, it was a little intimidating to stand outside the door of the Clan Leader's office but she had somewhere to be, and she could push down her nerves for the sake of the mission - as she had been trained to do.

So she raised a fist and knocked two sharp, clear knocks.

"Enter," the voice called and she took a deep, steadying breath before sliding open the door and stepping inside, head already bowed, ready to greet the Clan Leader.

"Do you need anything?" He asked, brush still in hand as he continued writing whatever it was he was writing. She straightened her back and her eyes flickered around the room, before hesitantly matching his.

"I will be leaving the village for a mission," she told him. He raised an eyebrow, and went to say something, but paused as his lips parted, before shaking his head,

"Alright. Report once you return." was all he said.

Tsubaki hesitated for a moment before bowing again and turning to leave. Some part of her, that was childish and unreasonable and couldn't keep her expectations lowered; deflated. Because no matter how much she explained to herself, that this person wasn't her family, and that she had no expectations, some part of her, small and young and fragile, still wished that he would smile when he looked her and tell her to stay safe.

But she stood outside his office, with that dull throbbing in her chest she had become accustomed to and took a deep, shuddering breath. She pushed back her shoulder back, raised her head and forced a smile that became real enough to convince her friends once she reached them at the gate.

"That was quick, was everything okay?" Kakashi asked her quietly when Tazuna distracted the boys with some drunken babbling. Tsubaki glanced up at him, honestly, she still didn't trust Kakashi completely. As a teacher, as a ninja, she knew he was the best, but that didn't mean, as a person, she could trust him with her pain as well.

"I'm okay sensei, it's just a rule to let the Clan Leader know if you're leaving the village - it didn't even take 10 seconds," she told him with a bright smile and an off-hand shrug. Kakashi stared at her for a moment longer, but they were heading out of the village gates now, and Naruto was already threatening to murder Tazuna, so Kakashi's attention was thankfully divided.

"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed, one meter outside of the gate.

"You're excited huh?" Tsubaki smiled,

"Yep! I've never been outside of the village before!" He said, looking around excitedly like the view was already different. Tsubaki was the same, she had never left the village before, but her chest was a little heavy and her head a little cloudy so even though she wanted to be as happy and excited as Naruto, it was with some force, that she pushed out a smile.

"Hey, will a kid like this really be capable of this mission?" Tazuna demanded and Kakashi responded with one of those fake polite adult laughs,

"I, a jonin, will be accompanying you, there is nothing to worry about," he told Tazuna, which irked Tsubaki and she made a mental note of it - Kakashi doesn't defend you when other people speak badly about you.

Kakashi noticed the stink-eye she gave him and tilted his head, as though confused about why she would be mad, instead of saying anything, she threw an arm over the shoulders of a raging Naruto and dragged him down to her side,

"If you think we can't handle it you can always go back to the village and pay extra for more experienced ninja - we're not exactly thrilled about having to guard a drunk dwarf." She snapped.

"What a rude brat, speaking to your employer like that," Tazuna sneered,

"Tsubaki, you should really be nicer to the client who hired you," Kakashi added,

"Humph, he's paying for guards, not babysitters - as long as he doesn't get hurt there shouldn't be any complaints right?" She snapped, turning her nose up at Tazuna and Kakashi and dragging Naruto away from them.

Sasuke paused, "you shouldn't pick a fight with her - she holds grudges," he told them, before shoving his hands in his pocket and trailing off behind them, leaving Tazuna to follow and Kakashi to bring the rear.

"You sure have got your hands full with them huh," Tazuna grumbled to Kakashi, who ruffled his hair a little unsurely.

"Tell me about it," he sighed. Had it been this difficult on Minato-sensei? He knew he hadn't been an easy student to teach either, but somehow, it felt like rather than 'not trusting', his students actually hated him.

How were they going to go on high ranking missions if his teammates didn't trust him as the leader and as their teacher?

"Hey, Tazuna, you're from the Land of Waves right?" Tsubaki asked, after a moment of pause, dragging Kakashi's attention back to the conversation at hand,

"No honorifics huh? And what about it?" Tazuna asked,

"As far as I know, that country doesn't have a hidden village right?" Tsubaki turned her head to Kakashi now, who nodded,

"Although the Land of Waves doesn't have a Hidden Village, there are other countries that do," Kakashi answered,

"Hmmm, doesn't that mean the chance of encountering actual enemy ninja are very low? The way you're talking about protecting you with our lives - you'd think we're up against something other than bandits," Tsubaki scoffed, she had said it with the intention of riling up Tazuna; wanted him to understand the implication of him being a coward - but the way he paused, mid-swig out of his bottle, and then averted his eyes...

Tsubaki exchanged a glance with Sasuke, who raised an eyebrow, having caught on to the sudden tension in the air.

"Ahaha! What a wimp!" Naruto howled, cutting through the tension like butter and just like that, everything resumed as it had been going.

It was another half an hour of walking in relative silence before Naruto started getting bored, first it started with picking up random sticks and whacking them against trees as he walked past, then he went around picking up rocks and throwing them into the forest to scare off the little woodland animals - and once they had crossed a bridge over the streaming river, he was really, truly bored enough to try and see if he could try reading the book Tsubaki had brought with her.

They were passing a large puddle on the path as he was trying to get past the first page, and Tsubaki laughed quietly as he tried to read the same kanji for the 4th time.

No one tensed, and no one was aware of it, but when the chains shot out to wrap around Kakashi, Tsubaki was already moving - one hand shot out to push Naruto out of the way and the other whipped out a shuriken just in time to hook the chains that had spread out from the enemy to a tree - stopping their movement momentarily,

Sasuke leapt high into the air and threw a kunai to fasten her shuriken to the tree so they couldn't pull their chains loose and landed on their outstretched arms. His legs shot back to kick each of them in the face, hard - but that wasn't enough to take down a couple of chunin.

They abandoned their chains and doubled back to Tazuna - Tsubaki braced herself steadily as Sasuke geared up from behind - they were faster and stronger and clearly more experienced and if they could take Kakashi down as easily as they did - three genin wouldn't stand a chance.

But with a difference of power that overwhelming, running would also be useless - so there was no other way than to fight hard enough to find an opening to run. She took her stance with her kunai, directly in front of Tazuna and a heartbeat later, Sasuke appeared at her side, taking up a defensive stance.

"I'll take left, you're on the right," Tsubaki told him but there was no need for it because a moment later, both of the ninjas who had attached them were stopping directly in their tracks.

Not a second later - a very not-dead Kakashi had his arms hooked around their neck, stopping them on the spot and halfway choking them as they hit him like a train against a brick wall.

"Hey," he said calmly, smiling with his eyes at Naruto, and for a moment a surge of relief rushed through Tsubaki, strong enough to make her knees weak - he was alive!

"Hmph, what a show-off," Sasuke muttered, as Tsubaki put away her kunai, glancing back to where Kakashi had been 'killed' only to find a wooden log that had been splintered into pieces.

"Sorry for not helping you out straight away Naruto, I got you hurt - I didn't think you wouldn't be able to move," He said, and Tsubaki frowned because that sounded oddly back-handed for someone who was supposed to be apologising.

He walked over to them, with the enemy ninja still in headlocks in each arm - dragging them behind him like limp rag-dolls.

"Anyway, Well done Sasuke, and you Tsubaki," he said, Tsubaki ignored him, walking straight past him and leaning over to lend a hand to Naruto, who was still on the floor,

"It's only natural to freeze when you lack experience - that's not your fault, it's the fault of your teacher who was unable to account for such an obvious scenario," she told him, and Kakashi sweat-dropped because that was completely aimed at him.

"But... you didn't freeze," Naruto said glumly, even as he took her hand and allowed her to drag him up,

"No, I didn't. That just means I have more experience than you." She told him. Sasuke strolled forwards, hands in his pocket and smirked,

"You weren't hurt were you, wimp?" He asked, and Tsubaki rolled her eyes because he was just showing his concern in his own slightly tsundere way but of course, Naruto interpreted it as a declaration of war.

"SaSUKEE-!" His scream was interrupted by Kakashi who called for him with a sharp,

"Naruto! These guys have poison on the tips of their nails, we need to open up your wound and get rid of the poison - or you could die," Kakashi told him and Naruto stared at the cut on his hand in horror.

"I'll handle that - you handle the other thing," Tsubaki said, nodding her head to Tazuna, who took a hesitant step backwards, but she had already turned her back on them and took Naruto's hand gently.

"This'll hurt - Sasuke do you have a handkerchief?" she asked because Sasuke seemed like the clean-cut type of guy who would carry handkerchiefs around, and sure enough he stuck his hand his pocket and brought out a folded piece of cloth with the Uchiha clan's symbol embroidered in the corner.

"Did you get these specially made?" She asked, staring at the symbol,

"They were just... in my drawer," he answered uncertainly,

"Housekeeper?" She asked,

"Probably," he shrugged.

"Here, bite this," She said, turning back to Naruto, who had been watching the exchange like a tennis match,

"Why?" He asked, as she brought out some anti-bacterial wipes and cleaned a kunai,

"I'm going to have to open your wound wider to drain the poison - and I don't want you screaming in my ear when I do," she explained, Naruto opened his mouth to protest and Tsubaki shoved the handkerchief in,

"Now hold still, I've only read about this in books - this is my first time actually doing it, so don't move around," she said and Naruto's eyes widened and he made to scramble away but froze when Sasuke held him in place.

"Hold still," he smirked, clearly enjoying himself.

Tazuna and Kakashi, who had tied the enemy ninja to a tree and were watching from a slight distance, sweat-dropped at their antics,

"Shouldn't you stop them? She said she's never done this before," Tazuna asked, as Tsubaki began cutting into Naruto's skin.

"It's fine - besides, she doesn't like me very much - I doubt she would let me help," Kakashi sighed, the other two hadn't been that hard, Naruto was always willing to throw his admiration at anyone who impressed him the slightest bit and Sasuke respected strength above everything else.

Tsubaki was a little bit more complicated - she clearly expected something out of a teacher and Kakashi had not been able to meet those expectations yet.

"Well, I'll leave that for now - we have more urgent matters to address," Kakashi said and Tsubaki bandaged up a tearful Naruto's hand, and the three made their way over to him once again.