The Avenger's Demon

A groan left my lips as I stared at the clock, 5am. Usually I’m a morning person but I wanted to finally rest tonight, don’t think it’s possible this time. I rolled off the bed, landing pretty hard on the floor, “Why did I do that?” I groaned, my voice muffled by the hard floor. I stood up, stumbling to the door and made my way to the bathroom. A nice cold shower should do the trick and boy did it.

The moment I stepped into the icy water I yelped in surprise. I muttered some colorful words as I immersed my body beneath the showering water, each passing second I felt a little more alive. I washed my hair quickly, not wanting to take too long in the shower. I turned off the water and just as I stepped out the door was opening. I froze in place, still partially covered by the shower curtains. Before I could utter a word Sasuke had stepped in, his once sleepy eyes were now bugged out by the sight he saw.

“Don’t you knock or at least hear the shower before?” I shrieked as he stumbled back and slammed the door. Thankfully I had covered the important parts of my body but still quite embarrassing. I sighed, dressing into the clothes I had brought and walked out. A blue blur passed me quickly as the door slammed behind me. I blinked several times to find Sasuke had run passed me. “Ops” I muttered, walking to the living room to wait for the young Uchiha to come out.

After several minutes of waiting he walked out, a small hint of pink burned at his cheeks. He couldn’t even make eye contact with me. I couldn’t help but smirk, had he never seen a girl almost half naked? With all the fan girls he has you would wonder. I stood, following him out the door and once again our walk was silent, until we made it to the field. Sakura’s voice screeched in my ears as she greeted Sasuke.

Naruto turned to me and smiled, “Sithena! Good Moring. Did Sasuke try anything on you?” He whispered to me but I could tell that Sasuke heard, sending him a deadly glare. I smiled softly, shaking my head, “No Naruto, but thank you for caring. You have a kind heart”. Naruto blushed with his famous grin. “So” I started, gaining attention from the team, “Oh yeah, Kakashi said no day off today...?” Naruto announced. "Oh wonderful, where's Kakashi then?" I answered with moans.

“He’s always late” Sakura whined, “He usually makes us wait for hours sometimes”. I hummed thoughtfully, a thought crossed my mind. “Have you ever wondered why?” I asked, crossing my left arm across my stomach and leaning my right elbow on it, my index finger laying against my chin in thought. Their faces went from annoyed to one of curiosity. I can’t see a strong ninja like him being late in front of his students. There must be a lesson in all this. My thoughts were interrupted by a cloud of smoke exploding in front of us.

There stood Kakashi with his eyes closed as if he was smiling underneath his mask. “Wow, few minutes late instead of an hour” Sakura muttered. “Sorry I’m late” Kakashi spoke calmly, “A black cat crossed my path so I had to take another route”. I could be wrong about this all being a lesson too.

“Today we have a mission” He added in before anyone could complain about his excuse. Their eyes lit up and Naruto cheered, “One step closer to being a great ninja!”

***

“This is not one step closer in being a great ninja!” Naruto shouted angrily, chucking a weed into a nearby basket. Our mission was to tend to an elderly woman’s garden, which was rather big for a garden made by such an old woman. It could possibly fit within a master bedroom, with all sorts of flowers, vegetables and fruits.

As the others complain, Sasuke simply looking completely annoyed, I enjoyed my time. This was rather peacefully and I carefully pulled each weed, taking great care not to damage the flowers around it. “You’d be surprised” Kakashi chuckled, sitting with the older woman under a sun umbrella.

Sakura suddenly stopped, “hey, is this flower dead?” We gazed toward her direction to see a decent sized light purple flower, drooping low, almost touching the ground. Its petals were closed up, withering away. “Just pull it” Sasuke grunted. Of course Sakura was going to comply but I gently held her wrist before she could. She gasped, not expecting my touch. I smiled apologetic to her, “I’m sorry, let me see the flower”.

By this time Naruto and Sasuke made their way to us to see what I had planned. I gently cupped the flower within my hands and whispered ancient words to it. Words that they couldn’t make out, words they had never heard before. As I spoke the flower began to straighten up and as I pulled away, the petals fanned out into a beautiful purple color with an even deeper purple in the middle. It almost seem to glitter underneath the sunlight as the team awed. “How did you do that?” Sakura whispered. “My mother told me when I was young that we are all connected to life. When we die, we shall become part of the earth. We will be reborn, maybe into a small flower. We must treat them with the same love we would with our own kin” My tone had become motherly.

I had remember all the stories my mother would tell me. Each legend of each being, I was always amazed with all the wonder of the world. I smiled to them, “We are all connected, no matter who or what we are. We are connected to a power that is beyond us”. Their faces had looked just like mine when my mother had told me this for the first time. Their eyes wide with wonder, mouth gapped open slightly.

Even Sasuke had looked like a curious child. “Sithena is wise beyond her years. Well minus the fact she has lived for a while” Kakashi spoke up. Everyone jumped slightly from his appearance but smiled nonetheless. “Another reason why we do these small missions. Not to just run errands for people but even the smallest things can teach us a life lesson. Such as right now. Everything great must start small. Even the Hokage needed to start somewhere” His gaze fell on Naruto who blinked
several times but his victorious grin returned.

“What are we waiting for?” Naruto instantly jumped into the garden, tearing up weeds like no tomorrow. A laugh erupted among the group instead of Sasuke, who only had the slightest smirk has he continued to weed.

***

The sun was setting and our small mission was complete. We were rewarded with fresh baked cookies and delicious homemade lemonade. Everyone went their separate except for me and Sasuke who walked through the small forest back to his house. The silent started to irritate me until suddenly a scent reached my nose, causing my body to freeze in place. Sasuke had almost slammed into me but he only stepped to the side so he was beside me.

He glared at me, “What are you doing?” I couldn’t answer him. My eyes were frozen on a figure in front of me. His eyes followed my gaze until it met with the same figure. A young man stood tall with short black hair that reached to his mid ear. His eyes matched a dark abyss as it stared mockingly back at mine. He was drop dead gorgeous to any human.

My lips quivered, how could it be possible? “Cylix”. A smooth chuckle hummed in his throat. Sasuke tensed up, stepping ahead with a stern gaze. “I thought you were killed with the rest of them” I choked out. Something wasn’t right, a dark aura surrounded him. This time he laughed but this laugh sent shivers up my spine.

“Dear Sithena, do you really think I could have been killed that easily? Besides, I was doing all the work” He smiled wickedly as a look of sheer fear came over my face.