Naruto: Tango with Death

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"You should smile more."

Izumi, who was focused on her work, turned around in surprise and asked, "Excuse me?"

Pointing at my own mouth, I forced a small rictus with my fingers and repeated, "You should smile more. You look like you are going to murder someone. Not very good our mission."

Izumi frowned and asked, "What does any of this has anything to do with our mission?"

Pulling another weed out, I asked back, "What do you think D Rank Missions are for?"

Izumi's frown intensified, she obviously wasn't very happy about me, but she still answered, "To get us prepared for better missions."

I shook my head and said, "No offence, but you're so off the mark I feel bad for you."

Izumi growled, "Listen here you little…"

I rose a finger, lightly clicking my tongue as I stopped her, "No need for vulgarities, I'm helping you here."

Izumi exhaled and stopped, so I said, "There are several goals to this kind of missions. First, build up our team. We are supposed to exchange and learn to work together. Second, better our relationship with the village, by helping those people for a relatively low price we are forming bonds, which could come into use later in our life. You making a murderous face goes against both of these, so smile!"

Izumi glared at me, and spat out, "You are making it very hard to do."

Snorting softly, I pushed up my cheeks, smiling as I said, "I don't see what you mean, aren't I the cutest thing ever?"

Izumi rolled her eyes and hacked at a weed, while I said, "I'll be heading to the Uchiha Compound after the mission, want to go together?"

Izumi stopped what she was doing as she asked in genuine curiosity, "Why would you go there? Not many strangers come."

I replied, "I'm going to see another Uchiha. Maybe you know him, he's around your age."

Izumi tilted her head, "Who is that?"

I smiled mischievously and replied, "A cutie… Itachi Uchiha."

Izumi's face immediately turned bright red as she repeated, "I-Itachi? H-how do you know him?"

I laughed as she got flustered, while she asked, "Hey! How do you know him?!"

Still laughing, I replied, "How do I know him? Well, last time we saw each other he was waiting in my room for me to wake up…"

Izumi's face only got brighter as she repeated, "In your room?!"

I went back to my laughing, no need to tell her it was my hospital room.

"Yeah, and we talked for hours on end, he just wouldn't go. He even ended up saying it was his duty to talk to me… Anyway, I'm probably boring you, and I don't want to worsen our relationship, so I'll leave you alone."

With a smile threatening to split my face in half, I walked away, while the bright red Izumi nearly threw her hoe to the ground as she stuttered, running after me, "W-wait! God dammit wait!"

Running toward Amai-Sensei and Laiko, I cried out, "Help! I'm being chased by a hoe!"

Amai-Sensei rolled his eyes, while Laiko, despite his clear attempts at controlling his emotions, showed a small smile.

"Who are you calling a hoe!"

Izumi suddenly appeared before me in a fit of incredible speed, that was the Body Flicker, or Suhnshin. I wasn't phased by her sudden appearance though as my center of mass lowered, and I sent a palm strike at her thigh.

I took her by both surprise and speed, making her unable to dodge or block as my palm made contact with her thigh. However, I didn't intend to harm her, and instead used her as support to twirl around her, reaching her back.

I breathed lightly in her nape, making her jump forward as she looked at me with wide eyes. Grinning, I said, "Smile."

I turned to Laiko, whose smile had been wiped off as he stared at me, although there was less animosity in his gaze now.

"Why are you staring? You fell in love with me?"

Laiko snorted and looked away, so I walked toward Amai-Sensei and asked, "Sensei, when do you reckon we will be able to go on a C Rank Mission?"

Amai replied, "Around a month. Maybe less if you stop teasing your teammates."

I grinned and said, "I'm just fine with waiting for a month."

Amai-Sensei rolled his eyes, before I felt a hand land on my shoulder, and Izumi standing there, with a rather terrifying face.

"A word?"

Grinning inwardly, I widened my eyes in fake shock as I muttered, looking over Izumi's shoulder, "Itachi-kun?"

Izumi suddenly froze, before turning around so fast even the Mangekyou wouldn't have managed to follow her movement, I didn't at least, and I took the opportunity to walk off.

It took us around 3 hours to finish our mission, during which I managed to warm up a little to Izumi. I wouldn't we are friends yet, but at least she doesn't hate my guts. As for Laiko, his glares were a little less threatening.

"Good job, Team 5. You are free for the rest of the day. Amai, stay behind, for a word."

Dismissed by Lord Hokage, us three Genins left the Hokage's office, leaving behind our sensei. Once the door closed, I turned to Izumi and asked, "Let's go?"

Izumi nodded, but turned to Laiko and said, "See you tomorrow."

I also turned to him, and winked, "Later handsome."

Laiko froze, looking at me in shock, making me chuckle as I led Izumi away. The girl was looking at me with an exasperated face as she asked, "You sure you're not housing any trickster demon?"

I chuckled, "Maybe, now that you mention it. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something, but it's a little… improper."

Izumi asked, "What is it?"

More serious than before, I said, "It's about what happened before I arrived."

Izumi sighed and asked, "You want to know why Laiko treats you coldly?"

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Come on, it's obvious you two want to put distance between us so that if anything happens to me, you won't be as heavily emotionally damaged."

Izumi gaped a little, before defending herself, "I don't…"

I patted her in the back, prompting her to stop as I added, "Before I even said a single word, your intentions were obvious. If not for my teasing, you probably would have ignored me."

Izumi clenched her teeth and said, "A real know it all, aren't you?"

I rolled my eyes inwardly, what did she think? They were a bunch of children, of course it was easy to deduce their behaviour as an adult… but she didn't know I was one.

"In any way, what you think of me, or thought, doesn't matter. What I want to ask, is how the one before me met their end."

Izumi, still upset about what I said, shook her head and said, "I would rather not speak of it, and if you continue, you might as well go to the Uchiha Compound on your own."

I raised my hands in defeat, "Fine, I won't ask… Then tell me about Itachi. Are you two childhood friends?"

Izumi replied, "Sort of. We met at the Academy."

I snorted, "So you are like every other girl and developed a crush on the handsome Uchiha in your class."

Izumi blushed and defended herself, "You too!"

I rolled my eyes and replied, "I'm not in love with him, or anyone for that matters."

Izumi gasped, "But you said…"

I shrugged, "Never said I was in love. Two people can talk with each other without being in love you know. Moreover, he's like 14, and I'm 7. That would be just weird."

Izumi looked down, her blush exaggerating, making me laugh. Patting her shoulder this time, I asked, "So, tell me, what's so good about Itachi that made you fall in love with him?"

Izumi shook her head and replied, "You wouldn't understand, you're only 7."

This time, I pinched her side, making her yelp as I said, "I'm more of an adult than you in many ways, young Uchiha."