Naruto: Hidden Leaf Dragons, Book 1 (Original Series Arcs)

A First Fight…

Date: May 23rd, 13 years aNb

Days since Team 11 left Mizumiyo Palace: 20

Time: 7:35 AM

Nakahito Haruno and Kanna wa Akago re-entered Mizumiyo Palace following an early morning riding lesson in preparation for their second date next week. Neither of the two had much experience with horses and the Riding Master, the man that taught the Palace's guards mounted combat techniques, only had availability at 6 AM.

"I don't know about you, Kanna-hime, but I'm sore in places I didn't even know I HAD…" The red-clad ninja said as he removed and hung up his borrowed chaps to protect his legs while riding. "Are you hurting, too?"

Kanna, who was wearing a riding outfit appropriate to a lady of her station, just shook her head. "Since I'm riding side saddle, it's not bothering me as badly as the three point position is affecting you."

Haruno nodded distractedly as he saw Sho Inugami appear from around a corner. It had been just over a week since the medic-nin's cross-dressing debut and the younger of the two male members still couldn't look at his teammate without feeling a mixture of nausea and anger.

"Hey, Inugami!" Haruno called out to his teammate, making the white-haired teen pause as they got closer. "What does Motoko think about you wanting to get her out of her clothes so you can put them on?"

The medic-nin scowled at his teammate, a gleam in his eye as he noticed something Haruno hadn't. "I've been putting up with your ribbing because on some level you deserved a chance to fire back at me for all the digs I've directed at you over the years, but now you crossed the line of good taste…" The older ten stormed off, fading from view as he activated his Hide In Plain Sight technique.

Nakahito turned back to Kanna, only to see her storming off down the hallway towards the guest suites she and her siblings were starting in. "Kanna-hime..?" With a burst of speed, the ninja got in front of the Princess, only to see anger and hurt on her features. "What's going on?"

"I helped him get into his disguise as Shion!" The white haired woman blurted out. "He was insistent that he get everything right to settle his bet with Reiyuriko-sama. Why are you being so mean to him?!"

Nakahito Haruno suddenly felt as if he'd been gutted with a particularly dull melonballer. "Kanna, you mean you were in on it?"

"There was no 'it,' Nakahito-san." Kanna sighed as if she wanted to roll her eyes at him, but her training denied her the ability to act in such a manner. "He lost a bet with Reiyuriko-hime and he was simply trying to fulfill his end in such a way that would be the least disruptive of the dinner."

She tilted her head. "Think about it for a second. If he'd come out, as himself, in the maid's outfit how would you have reacted?"

Somehow the image of Sho wearing a dress as himself was less disturbing than him coming out as a woman. "Disgusted, I guess, but…"

"Exactly!" Kanna interrupted him. "Instead you were able to enjoy the meal, but because you took umbrage at the fact that he 'missed' the dinner – not that YOU are in any way responsible for his actions any more than he is responsible for YOURS…"

Nakahito winced at the increasing sharpness in her tone and the fact that Inugami HAD stepped up to mitigate the consequences of his actions rather than just leave Kimiko and himself to rot down here for months while they waited for the traitor's day in court; a day just over a week away, the Genin felt shame gnaw at his belly.

"…you have chosen to belittle him with crude questions about his relationship with Hata-chan out of some perceived slight to YOUR manhood. On top of that, you have SOMEHOW convinced yourself that 'it' was a plot against YOU specifically!"

An actual scowl crossed her features and Haruno suddenly wished he could sink into the dirt and disappear.

"I already have no choice but to deal with one raging egomaniac who believes the universe revolves around himself in my life. I WILL not willingly take in another – no matter how much I…" Her cheeks flushed slightly, but she couldn't finish her thought.

Kanna stepped forward, one elegantly manicured finger poking him in the chest with the finality of a kunai striking a death blow. "You need to decide for yourself which is more important to you... Nursing your self-perceived pride that has purportedly been injured – like a cranky child – or accept the fact that Inugami-sensei had to eat crow, have a laugh at the expense of his ACTUAL pride, apologize to him and then move on like a mature adult! Someone worth spending time with!"

She turned and walked away, but as her head turned, Nakahito could see more tears in the corners of her eyes. "The Traitor's trial is eight days from now, after which I suspect you will have to return home nigh immediately. I HOPE you will figure out the answer before then… Do not bother reaching out to me before Inugami-sensei says you've apologized to him!" She stormed off, her hand briefly reaching up to wipe the tears from her face, heading towards the pike-carrying guards protecting the quarters of the Third District Daimyo's family.

Seeing her hurting because of him turned the full gnawing in his gut into a sharpened kunai that was being twisted… Before he even realized he was doing it, Haruno ran after Kanna, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. One of the guards, whom had just returned from vacation and didn't know who Nakahito was, adjusted his polearm in preparation, but Kanna – now blushing at the ninja's forwardness – waived him off.

"Kanna, I…" Haruno sighed. "I hear what you're saying, I really do… I'm sorry that I hurt or embarrassed you. I KNOW I have a lot of growing up to do and I promise I'll work on it…"

Kanna sighs, briefly putting her hand on his arms. "While I would have preferred you to have this epiphany on your own, I am glad you have had it." She reluctantly disengaged, opening his arms and stepping out of his grip without looking at him… Her voice carried a tone that said that she couldn't trust herself to stick to her guns if she looked at him right now. "Be certain to do additional self-reflection before you make your apology to Inugami-sensei, 'Hito-san."

Kanna slipped past a guard, whispering something to him as she entered the area that had been set aside for the 3rd District Daimyo and his family for their stay. The guard nodded before he and his partner crossed their pikes to make it very clear that Haruno was not to follow the Princess further.

Nakahito sighed and began to walk to his room. 'She's right… I'm going to be 14 in four months and Kanna's going to be 18 on December 7th… I've got to man up if I want this to work…'

"Sho? Are you still here?" Haruno asked out loud.

His question was met with silence.

~•~

Date: May 27th, 13 years aNb

Days since Team 11 left Mizumiyo Palace: 24

Time: 1:36 AM

"Seriously, 'Hito?" Kimiko Itou asked as her friend's familiar knock woke her from a very comfortable sleep. She threw on a bathrobe and opened the door to the suite that she was sharing with the team's Jonin – though Miho's bedding was still rolled up; she and Reiyuriko must still be out partying as they had every few days since the crown princess had returned with her new husband.

Opening the door, Itou gasped at the sight of her friend. "Oh my God; Nakahito, are you okay?!"

The red-clad Genin was half slumped against the wall, blood oozing from a number of cuts on this forehead that kept running into his eyes. "Do I look okay?"

"What happened to you?" She asked worriedly as she grabbed his arm and guided him to a chair. "Let me call Sho…" Nakahito made a noise of fearful negation as he rubbed his forearms with a wince. She sighed… The two males of Team 13 had fought – again – and the medic clearly had won; again. "Fine, I'll grab my first aid kit…"

"Oww!" The fire specialist hissed in pain a few moments later as she dabbed the antibiotic on the cuts covering his forehead before applying a styptic cream to stop the bleeding.

Kimiko stopped short; snorting and shaking her head. "Oh for the… What did you do this time?"

Nakahito opened his mouth to reply when the door to the room suddenly slammed open. Miho Hyuuga stumbled in along with Princess Reiyuriko; both were clearly drunk and were laughing about their evening out. "…I still can't believe you lost the princess lookalike competition, Iko-chan…"

"I KNOW, RIGHT?" Reiyuriko agreed in that too loud tone of voice that the inebriated were masters of.

"Shh, Rei, we'll wake Ki…" That's when the Jonin realized the lights were on. "Oh, you're still up? Oh, Nakahito's here…" She gave her two Genin a knowing smile that neither of them understood.

Reiyuriko squinted her eyes. "What's that on his forehead..?"

Haruno blinked. "He wrote on me again?!"

"I'd better get some coffee ordered…" Itou sighed, stepping away, rubbing the headache that was swiftly forming. "I have a feeling it's going to be a LONG night."

"'NOW YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ASSHOLE?!'" Haruno cried out as he looked at himself in the mirror. "Oh, he'd better make sure this doesn't scar permanently..!"

"A VERY long night…" Itou moaned to herself as she picked up the phone and dialed the kitchen as her cousin and teacher began to laugh until they fell down.

~•~

"I just wanted to talk to him…" Nakahito protested as he glumly sipped at his second coffee nearly an hour later.

"I am SO sorry I laughed at you Nakahito-san." The Imperial princess apologized as she drained her fourth cup and accepted another refill from the equally mortified Miho Hyuuga. Kanna had come to Reiyuriko for advice after she'd laid down her ultimatum on the ninja before her and – fortunately – she was now sober enough to not blurt that fact out loud.

"Let me make sure I'm following all this…" Miho said slowly; the coffee was helping, but her head still felt like it was on the verge of exploding – she'd let herself relax a little TOO much with Reiyuriko-sama. "You need to apologize to Sho in order for Princess Kanna to go to the Festival of Waters with you when it starts on the 30th, but he's been avoiding you?"

Haruno nodded glumly. "And he must have heard her, so he's deliberately avoiding me now… I mean that it can't be a coincidence that I haven't seen him with unenhanced eyesight for the last three days, right?" The three women nodded in agreement. "I've been using my Dragon Eye jutsu to hunt him through the Palace, since he's going invisible anytime I'm nearby. I managed to corner him in our shared quarters earlier tonight, but it turned into a stalemate… I couldn't force him to talk with me, but he couldn't leave either since I was blocking the door."

"And if he used his Flying Thunder God it would be tantamount to him admitting defeat…" Miho said with a nod.

Haruno nodded glumly. "So we're standing off for what feels like forever – it had to be at least six or seven hours – and I'm occasionally using his grandmother's technique to see that he's pacing around the room silently…"

"He was trying to make you break." Kimiko said softly, turning away. That her friend would go to such lengths to date the princess was giving her an uncomfortable twinge in her gut. "He knows how much you hate standing around doing nothing."

"Don't I know it! I was on the verge of climbing the walls when a messenger dropped off a letter for Sho from Momo… And I saw the opportunity to end the stalemate."

There was a sudden clap as Itou facepalmed herself. "Honestly, 'Hito, in what world does bringing Motoko-chan into your fight – even indirectly – with Sho make any kind of sense that would make things end up in your favor?" Kimiko demanded. "What did you do, threaten to tear up the letter?"

"No!" Nakahito objected as if insulted, but flinched while trying to remember what he did. "I'm sure I just wasn't going to let him have it until we talked, but my memory is a little fuzzy from the beating he gave me."

"Oh, because that is somehow SO much better." Haruno's best friend said dryly; turning back around. "You should be thankful that he let you off this gently… You KNOW how protective he gets of Motoko and it's only gotten stronger since they started being all '-sa over each other!"

"I just want to know what the hell he did that makes my arms and legs feel like there's a swarm of bees under my skin…" He began to scratch at the referenced limbs.

Hyuuga-sensei spoke up at this point as she briefly activated her Kekkei Genkai for verification. "That would probably be due to the recent repairs…" Itou and Haruno looked at her in confusion and she sighed. "'Hito, you REALLY poked the bear this time… Sho appears to have broken both your arms and legs," Reiyuriko gasped in shock at how matter-of-factly the Jonin said the words, but the two Genin seemed unsurprised. "…and then he mostly repaired them; leaving you with just enough of a fracture to make you suffer a bit."

"Oh, fuck me running…" Haruno moaned, putting his face in his hands as a vivid memory flashed to mind; the sickening crunch of bones breaking. And with that, the rest of tonight's debacle returned to him. "I know I do dumb shit when I get angry, but I thought I imagined that…" He paused before continuing. "I threatened to BURN the letter if he didn't talk to me." A chorus of the three saying his name in disappointed tones made Haruno flush with embarrassment.

The full sequence began to replay in his memory… Hata-chan's letter in his left hand, the index and middle fingers of his right pointed at it, chakra nature-altered to fire ready to leap to the paper. He'd said something to Inugami – he still couldn't recall what – and Nakahito had felt a touch on his wrists before his hands had suddenly gone numb, the letter falling from his grip only to be caught mid-fall by empty air. Haruno opened his mouth to say something, but a blow to the throat cut off his ability to speak… Nakahito's legs were swept out from underneath him and he hit his head on the floor, leaving him dazed as he felt his right arm snap like balsa wood. He tried to scream in pain, but the medic-nin had apparently disabled his voice box because not even a peep escaped his lips.

Only then did Sho appear; his dual-colored gaze blazing with fiery emerald rage and freezing icy gray wrath, red creeping into the whites of his eyes. The last thing the fire specialist recalled seeing was Inugami's foot coming down at his face.

"I'm pretty sure he broke my nose, too." 'Hito muttered as he suddenly realized that the only thing he could smell was dried blood. "Talk about overreacting…"

Reiyuriko put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Haruno-san… I'm not saying that Sho-san had any right to attack you the way he did, but if you were back home and Inugami insulted you and Kanna-chan, getting Motoko-chan upset at him before demanding you make peace with him to make Motoko happy or he'd destroy a letter Kanna had just mailed you, how likely are you to sit down calmly to discuss things?"

"Well, when you put it like that…" Nakahito said, his cheeks coloring in shame; it was amazing how considering things from the other person's perspective made you realize... "I'm a massive asshole, aren't I?"

"Relative to your situation, yes, but then so was Inugami-san." The Imperial Princess said with a wry chuckle. "But comparative to reality, there's a person in a cell downstairs that is one on par with the Tailed Beasts for size while you and your teammate are mere mice."

Haruno gave her a wan smile. "That actually makes me feel a little better; thank you, Princess." He rubbed his forehead unconsciously, wincing as he touched the minor wounds there. "Still, I do owe him another apology for threatening Motoko's letter… Miho-sensei, would you find him for me? I'm too exhausted to manifest the Dragon's Eye technique."

The Jonin nodded, glad that her student was trying to settle things on his own. "Sure, 'Hito…" She briefly activated her Byakugan. "Oh, he's still in your shared quarters, but still cloaked; he's just sitting there..." She startled, her mouth opening and closing a few times in shock.

"What is it, Sensei?" Itou asked. "Are you okay? Your cheeks are turning red."

"Sho just looked me dead in the eye and mouthed the words 'If you're done chatting with him, send that idiot back over here; I have better things to do with my time…'" She shook her head. "I've NEVER had a non-Hyuuga catch me using my Byakugan before! He's not a full Sensory-type, I KNOW that with absolute certainly, so how the hell did he do that?!"

"Great, another trick up his fucking sleeve…" Haruno finished off his coffee and set the empty cup on the cart. "Might as well try talking with him now… Wish me luck…" The three women made murmurs of such as Nakahito went to talk with the medic-nin.

As he reached the shared room, the younger Genin's ears perked as he heard… "Motoko-san?"

Opening the door, he blinked as he saw Motoko Hata standing in the suite, clad in a black fur leotard, her flame red curls framing her form nicely. "So we're in this amphitheater surrounded by Ryoushi's Pride as Kyouran is telling the others about his adventure against the Suna ninja and afterwards Takahashi is given the name Hashimoto as part of his induction as a full member of the Pride..."

"Hata-san? What are you doing here?" Nakahito asked out loud in confusion as he walked up; had she gone rogue and snuck back down here to be with Inugami?! The kunoichi rippled and then froze like a three-dimensional security camera recording before collapsing into a piece of paper on the floor.

'The letter was a video? How the hell..?' He shook his head; that didn't matter right now! "Look, Sho, I'm sorry I threatened to destroy Hata's letter to you… That wasn't cool of me and I shouldn't have let my temper to allow me to even consider doing that."

The letter in question suddenly picked itself up and began floating towards him. A ghostly green glow materialized in midair and was pressed to his forehead, eliminating the painful soreness there, before both floating objects disappeared with a pop of displaced air.

Inugami was gone.

With a sigh of frustration and a quick check of the mirror, Nakahito could see that the wound/words had been erased… Sho had apparently accepted the apology for tonight, but wasn't ready to forgive the greater insult yet.

"Maybe in the morning…" Nakahito thought as he yawned. "He's usually in a better mood after he reads – or I guess watches – Motoko-chan's letters…"

~•~

Date: May 27th, 13 years aNb

Days since Team 11 left Mizumiyo Palace: 24

Time: 9:50 AM

Nakahito wandered down the hall to the cafeteria area attached to the kitchens on the lower level; as a guest of the Lord Daimyo, he could have had room service, but the Genin needed to stretch his still itching legs. As he reached the back of the line, he spotted Sho Inugami sitting by himself in a secluded corner with a platter of cold food. The medic's dual-colored gaze was looking into the distance at an otherwise featureless wall; a sign that he was lost in his own thoughts…

His own hunger abruptly forgotten, Haruno walked over to his teammate; not willing to risk him slipping off again. As he got closer, though, the Genin felt a sudden reluctance to get any closer and even started turning aside before his determination stopped him.

'Why am I..?' Nakahito began to question as he noticed the other staff try to approach Inugami only to stop short and veer away. 'Oh… He's set up some kind of Genjutsu barrier…' Haruno's hands quickly rose in the Ram seal. "Release!" The fire specialist muttered under his breath. Instantly, the urge to leave Inugami alone vanished and he was able to take a seat opposite his teammate.

"Hey, Sho; can we talk?"

The medic blinked as he realized he had company. "Dobroye utro, Nakakhito. Konechno, my mozhem pogovorit'; kak dela u Roshsyana?" Inugami replied. His tone sounded polite, but Nakahito had no clue what his teammate just said. Was that even a language or was his teammate just messing with him further?

"Sho, could you please be serious for a moment, okay? I'm trying to be…"

Sho's face turned sour. 'Hito had known this conversation was going to be difficult, but how was he already losing ground?! "O, tak kogda eto sootvetstvuyet tvoim zhelaniyam, ty khochesh' byt' ser'yeznym…" The other ninja crossed his arms, making a stirring gesture with the index and middle finger of his right hand. "Nu, davay, pokazhi mne, kak vyglyadit 'ser'yeznyy' Nakakhito Kharuno."

'Okay, still no clue what the hell he's saying, but that gesture… He wants me to continue..? I think?' The red clad ninja was starting to feel overwhelmed. "Come on, man, this is hard enough as it is; could you take a break from busting my balls?" His emotions were starting to overwhelm him and tears started to form in the corners of his eyes.

"Bozhe, ty sobirayesh'sya isportit' vse vesel'ye, vklyuchiv vodoprovod." Inugami sighed, looking vaguely annoyed while rolling his eyes.

Haruno's hand wiped away the barely formed tears. "Look, I fucked up, okay? I shouldn't have mentioned Momo when I was giving you crap about the whole Shion thing. Please, will you accept my apology so I can take Kanna-hime out when the Festival starts? I need your help and support here, buddy… Please?"

"Konechno, ya podderzhivayu tebya, moy glupyy tovarishch po komande." The medic said with a smile as he clapped both of the fire specialist's shoulders for emphasis. "To, chto ty I nash tretiy uchastnik slishkom tupy, chtoby ponyat', chto vy na samom dele chuvstvuyete drug k drugu, ne oznachayet, chto vy s printsessoy Kannoy ne smozhete rabotat'."

"Sho, look, I don't understand a thing you're saying, and can't understand why you're doing this, even though all that just now feels like it was a 'Yes.'" He sighed. "I'm not the stupid knucklehead I was months ago when we first became a team…" Inugami arched an eyebrow. "Okay, I'm not the SAME stupid knucklehead; I'd like to think I've grown up a bit. Reiyuriko-hime helped me see things from your perspective last night, so I guess what I'm trying to say is…" He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, okay, and not just for what I said about you and Momo, but for everything asshole-ish I've done to you in the past, too."

"I don't know what really happened that day with the boar years ago, but Kimi and I both know we shouldn't have turned our backs on you like everyone else did, something you could have easily done to us with this whole Akechi thing… And if you had, Kanna…" Nakahito rubbed his chest, which was suddenly aching. "I would have lost her and never known how much she would have meant to me… So, I'm sorry… I feel like I should be saying it differently or something, but I don't know how else to express it…"

Inugami was silent for a long minute. The silence was as palpable and oppressive as fog in a nightmare.

"You know, I actually think you genuinely mean that…" His teammate said, finally shifting back to the common tongue. "And as someone who nearly fucked up his chances with the girl of my dreams it would be remiss of me to block you…"

Nakahito could suddenly feel himself breathe again. "I meant every word, Sho, I…"

Inugami raised his hand. "Slow your roll, Haruno; I wasn't done yet… I'll accept your apology IF you can figure out one of the reasons I had for answering you in Roshsyan just now… And trying to see if I could piss you off for my own amusement doesn't count."

"Rosh… Wha..? No, never mind; question for another time…" Nakahito shook his head. He opened his mouth to answer, but Kanna's warning to do some further soul-searching before taking to his teammate – something he had not done during his effort to track the elusive medic down – sprang to mind. Sho always had multiple reasons to do things, no matter how annoying they could be at the time… But there was one reason, above all, that was a CONSTANT behind it all…

And that's when an answer came to him like the ringing of a gong.

"I don't know if this is what you were thinking of, but I'm going to say that you're trying – in your own frustratingly annoying way – to help me be better… And no matter how much I complain about it, I can't deny the simple fact that it's been working! When I look back to where I was just four months ago to where I am now, I can see the differences that have happened thanks to how much you've pissed me off even as you taught me things that Miho-sensei either didn't realize I needed or simply hadn't gotten to yet. I'm still a knucklehead when it comes to letting my temper get the better of me, as last night proved, but I want to be better… I want to make something of myself so I can be worthy of someone as special as Kanna-hime; the boy I was when Team 13 formed was too short-sighted and narrow-minded to be that. I NEED you to keep pushing me, to keep busting my balls, because only going through that fire will I come out the man that she deserves."

"Nu, togda ya budu proklyat bol'she, chem uzhe proklyat…" Inugami breathed; clearly so shocked by Nakahito's answer that he slipped back into that weird language again. A slight smile crossed his face. "There might be hope for you after all, Haruno. And that hope deserves a chance to flourish…" Inugami did a rapid fire hand seal sequence and the other Genin thought he saw a second copy of the medic before a gust of wind made Nakahito instinctively block his eyes.

"What was THAT?!" The confused red-clad ninja asked.

"What you asked for…" Haruno's face scrunched up in confusion as Sho brought his hand near his plate of cold food. There was a brief flicker of flames in the palm of his hand as the ninja altered his chakra to produce enough heat to warm his breakfast sandwich back up.

The medic took a bite. "You managed to make the right call in not insulting the language I was talking to you in… It's my mother's native tongue from a country far to the west. Doing that or trying to bring Motoko-sa up for anything other than an apology would NOT have ended well for your long term health prospects…"

Nakahito let out a breath of relief. "I can't take full credit for the second part of that… Kimi pointed that out to me last night."

"Umh…" Inugami made a noise mid bite and quickly set his food down. "Right..! About that…" His hands began to glow green again as he put his hand on his teammate's forearms.

The pain in Haruno's arms and legs disappeared.

"Ohhh…" Nakahito moaned as he finally felt a measure of relief; he hadn't slept all that well last night because of the partially repaired breaks. "So now what?"

The medic smirked. "Now that." He said pointing behind the Genin with one hand as he took a bite out of his sandwich with the other.

Haruno turned in time to see Princess Kanna enter the cafeteria, the staff members nearest her bowing deferentially as they saw her. Beside her was a ghostly looking version of Inugami that faded away like a dream as the fire specialist looked on. It had only been four days since he'd seen her last…

It felt like it had been four lifetimes.

"So can we pick this up…" Haruno began as he turned back to his teammate; only to find an empty seat. "…another time then...?" He finished dumbly.

Nakahito rose to his feet and walked over to the white-haired woman that had been filling his thoughts more and more in the last few weeks. There was a look of pride and happiness to her features that swiftly banished his memories of her emotional tears. He began to bow, but she threw her arms around him in a hug that caused a minor stir amongst the staff.

"I knew you had it in you to be better than you were behaving, 'Hito…" Kanna's dulcet tone whispered in his ear without including the usual honorific.

"Kanna-h…" One of her carefully manicured fingers pressed against his lips, cutting him off.

"Kanna. Just Kanna, Nakahito."

A smile crossed his lips. "I think I can get used to that, Princess."