Kalopsia

A few days later

Akira entered the kitchen. “Good morning.” She said as she rubbed her eyes. A familiar smell hit her, Naruto had his face buried in a cup of ramen.

“Are you kidding me?” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “What did I say about ramens for breakfast?” 

Naruto gave her a toothy grin in between two scoops of noodles. “You’re lucky that I love you Ruto.” She sighed. She opened the fridge’s door and she looked for something to eat. With a displeased grunt, she closed it back and chose to eat an apple instead of a real meal.

“I’m going to train today.” She said. Naruto’s face lit up in excitement.

“Can I go? Please, please, please!” He begged.

“Well, if you want to go to the grocery store and the clothes store with me beforehand, then yes.” Naruto's eyes widened.

“Yeah, well, now that I think about it, I have something else to do..”

Akira snorted. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She rolled her eyes before heading out of the kitchen and made her way to her bedroom. She changed into a red skirt and a black crop-top. She put her hair up in two french braids and put on a pair of black boots.

“I’ll be back for supper!” She shouted in the apartment before closing the door behind her.

***

As she walked back into the apartment with multiple bags, she almost tripped in the doorway. She put away the groceries in the fridge and swung the clothes she bought for Naruto and her in the washing machine. She changed in her training outfit and packed kunais, shirrukens, and senbons. 

Naruto wasn’t home so she left a note on the countertop for him.

There’s laundry in the washer, when you come back could you hang it on the clothesline. Thanks!

- Akira ♡

She locked the door behind her and made her way to training ground 9. She particularly loved this one because it was isolated from the village. The other training grounds were on the left side of the village while this one and the 8th were on the complete opposite side which meant that it was always empty. She also loved it because a forest was close by as well as a river. 

Once she arrived, she hung her backpack on a branch and sat against the tree. Like always, she meditated before training. She began to count her breaths. 

1… She let the tension in her shoulders go and let her back relaxed as she completely leaned back against the tree for support. 

2... The hot breeze brushed her cheeks and the smell of the forest reached her. The mixt of damp moss, rain, wet tree trunks, flowers, and pins recomforted her.

3… Her heartbeat resonated in her ear and her finger twitched slightly. 

4… She concentrated on her chakra. The way it ran in her veins and the cool feeling it left on her fingertips.

5... She concentrated even further, she tried to reach a part she never went in herself. She could feel a dark presence. 

6… As she focused, more and more on the dark presence, obscurity engulfed her. She could no longer feel the sun on her skin or hear the birds chirping.

7… Everything felt heavy around her, humid almost. 

8… Slowly, a dim light began to shine beside her. 

9… She opened her eyes, but she wasn’t looking at the clearing anymore. A large cage stood before her and water pooled under her feet. 

10… As she walked closer to the cage, she froze. Eyes, red eyes, were looking back at her.  The Nine Tails.

She jerked back awake. Her breath was heavy and her heart pounded against her ribcage. It beat so fast, she thought it was gonna rip right through her. She stood up, stumbling a little, before finally standing straight.

She tried to think about something else but the memories haunted her. These eyes held so much hatred that it made her knees wobbled. She took a few agonizing breaths in and she was finally able to calm down. She transferred the weapons from her backpack to her weapons pouch and then put some distance between the tree and her and began throwing weapons at it. Every weapon without exception reached the target and more than half of them hit a bullseye. 

During the next few hours, she ran through hand seals to improve her dexterity and accuracy. She also ran 5 laps around the village as well as sparring with a tree. Finally, she chose to practice her chakra control by climbing trees by using chakra on her hands and hung herself upside from her knees. Satisfied, she packed up and walked away.

As she wandered back to her house, she fell on a park. It was a small clearing with a magnolia standing in the middle of it. Akira walked further into the park. She sat on the lone bench and inspected her surroundings. Colorful flowers spread all around her and a stream passed through the place. 

A sound coming from the entrance of the park caught her attention. The boy she met a week ago stood there with his hands hidden in his pockets and his back slightly hunched, he walked closer to her.

His name was...It started with Sh. Sho? No, no. Shi? Yeah! Shi…Crap, she couldn’t remember. While she was caught in her thoughts, she was probably staring at him because he looked confused. He sat beside her silently. Akira broke the uncomfortable silence that sat between the two.

“So, how did you find this place?”

“I think you're the one who should answer this question since this park is owned by my clan.” He retorted.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t know.” She began to stand up, but he grabbed her wrist.

“It’s fine. My clan owns it, but it’s opened for everyone.” 

“Your clan? You never told me your full name.” She said as an excuse to get his first name.

“Nara Shikamaru.” Shikamaru! Well, she was on the right track with her ‘Shi’ at least.

“Really? So you’re a genius?” He shrugged in response.

“I’m sure I'm more intelligent than you.” She mocked. He raised his eyebrow.

“One thing is for sure, I would beat you to shogi.”

“Pff, let’s play a game and we're gonna see.” She challenged him as she stood up.

“What did I get myself into.” He mumbled under his breath. “Let’s go to my house.”

They began to walk away when Akira spoke again. “You’ll need to show me how to play. I don’t even know the goal.” She laughed.

“What a drag.” He sighed.

***

“Each player has nine Pawns, two Lances, two Knights, two silver Generals, two gold Generals, one Bishop, one Rook, and one King.” Shikamaru named every piece as he pointed which was which. “The goal is to capture the other’s King. You play in turns like when you play chess. If a piece moves so that its final position is a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is "captured" or "taken" and is removed from the board. You understand?” Akira nobbed.

The boy explained how each piece can move and can’t on the board, the promotion when a piece reaches the back rows, and the conditions when a piece can return in the game. “When a piece is moved such that a player's King cannot avoid being captured upon the next turn, that player's King is said to be checkmated and the game is over.” He added. Let’s just say Akira wasn’t as confident as she used to be.

“During the first game, I can give you advice and tricks if you want?” He proposed.

“Yeah, that’ll be appreciated.” As expected, she lost the first game. Although, she started to get how it worked.

During the second game, she got really close to winning, but, once again, Shikamaru won.

“So what were you saying about winning?” Shikamaru grinned.

“Game on.” 

During the third game, she noticed that Shikamaru was getting more serious, that where he used to let her chances, he now didn’t hesitate and captured her pieces. Without a surprise, Shikamaru won again. Akira narrowed her eyes at the boy who chuckled back at her.

“Cheater.” She stuck her tongue out.

“In all honesty, you surprised me. Your tactics and strategies are one of a kind.”

“I hope that’s a great thing.” She laughed. A knock at the door made both of them turn around. The door slid open, revealing Shikamaru’s mom.

“Hey, did your friend wanted to eat supper with us?” The woman asked with a sweet smile. Shikamaru looked back at Akira.

“Thank you for the invitation Mrs. Nara, but Naruto is waiting for me back home.” She answered as she stood up.

“Sweetie, no need for formalities. You can call me Yoshino.”

“Yoshino it is then. Thank you for having me.” The woman gave her a last smile before leaving.

“Next time, I will whoop your ass and that’s a promise.” Akira joked.

“Yeah, yeah keep telling yourself this.” Shikamaru retorted with a big smile.

It was probably the second time in her life that she saw him smile, but she knew that she wanted to see it more often. She waved at Shikamaru and walked back to her apartment.

“I’m home.” Akira said as she removed her boots. Naruto appeared around the corner. “How was your day?” She asked him.

“I didn’t do much. I went out and ate some Ichiraku.” He responded with a big smile. 

“I was going to cook some kare-raisu. Do you want some?”

“Yes! I will start a movie!” He sprints towards the living room and jumps on the couch. Once she finished cooking, she joined Naruto. Not even an hour after the movie started, her brother was already asleep beside her. She skipped through the channel of the television until she found a documentary about the Third Ninja War. She watched the TV for almost two hours and it was getting quite dull and boring.

She picked up Naruto in your arms and made her way to his bedroom. She tucked Naruto to bed and kissed his forehead. “Goodnight.”

She closed his door behind her and went to her room. Akira changed into a white tank top and some black spandex and hopped in bed. Soon enough, her eyelids closed on their own and she fell asleep.