HSV: Chuunin Exam Part 3

Title: The Steps We Take
Summary: They've come far and done well, but sometimes it's the last step instead of the first that's most difficult to take. The night before the third part of the chuunin exam, Eita finds himself wrestling with his own goals, the dreams of a friend, and that whatever might come, finding the strength to take the next step.
Rated: K+
Genre: Friendship

X

’Deep breaths now. Deep breaths, concentrate and keep both eyes open and on your target at all times.’ Eita told himself as he raced ahead through the forest, the falling night casting long shadows. He strained his eyes to adjust, sending tiny amounts of chakra to them in order to help. It was something he had to be careful with doing though. To much and he’d start to get distracted with how the area around him moved. Right now he had to stay focused on his targets, he had to keep breathing and above all he had to keep calm.

That last part was much easier said than done.

The terrain where he’d set up the targets was purposely uneven to test his skills, with trees that twisted and seemed to lash out trying to stop him. He wouldn’t stop though. He couldn’t. Not now.

Narrowing his eyes, he skidded to the left, barely missing a large branch that bit at his shoulder. Then he shifted to his right, his eyes constantly searching before they located the small round targets up ahead just beyond a few large stones. Taking another deep breath, Eita picked up his speed and with one hand pulled several senbon needles from his pouch, while using the other to propel himself over the rock. With a loud battle cry he pulled his arm back and flung the sharp metal spikes towards the targets and landed hard on the ground nearly going down on his knee. He watched as a split second later they embedded themselves in the trees.

The trees. Not the targets.

“Gahhugh!” Eita growled at himself, turning a bit on his heel and lightly smacking his head against the nearest tree, his breathing hard. “Missed…again. The one time I need I need to make sure I can actually hit something and it’s the one time I can’t do it.”

Eita sighed, looking down at his hands.

“Of course it would help if I could stop shaking for two minutes.” he rubbed the back of his neck and started over to collect his weapons; careful to avoid low hanging branches. Eita was taller than most in the village, reaching a few inches past six feet, with dark mahogany skin, dark brown eyes and long reddish brown hair he kept tied in a ponytail, though a few pieces often escaped to hang in front of his eyes. He was also a bit gangly, with his clothes giving him the appearance of being more filled out than he was.

It was something he had often used to his advantage on missions. An old trick that worked in the animal kingdom as well as with humans. The bigger and more threatening one looked, the less likely to be engaged in battle they were. However he doubted that trick was going to work tomorrow.

He closed his eyes briefly, sucking in crisp night air and trying to ease his heartbeat as he pulled out the needles.

Tomorrow.

How was it he could be so excited for something and at the same time so…frightened wasn’t the right word. Nervous and anxious didn’t seem to fit either. Whatever he was feeling, it didn’t seem to be an emotion he could place. Maybe dread would have been the right word.

Tomorrow was the third part of the chuunin exam. So far the exam had been going well. He and his team, Jun, Kurayami and Saya, had passed the written exam, then they’d gone on to face a small squad of jounin that by all means should have beaten them and set them back…

Eita smiled softly, remembering that fight. Out of everything he had experienced so far as a ninja, that was probably the most terrifying. Not because they were fighting against jounin, not even because they were in the chuunin exams. But because they’d been fighting friends. People they cared about and trusted. It had been a complete attack on every level from physical to emotional.

But he thought at least that would be the only time they’d have to deal with something like that.

He should have known better.

‘Koemi…’

That’s who he was fighting tomorrow. A one on one battle in front of everyone where they’d be expected to give everything they had. He wanted to. He really did. But…that was were the dread came in. Surprisingly, it wasn’t so much about failing the match that worried him, but about what would happen if he won.

Eita kicked at nothing, looking for the last needle that seemed to have fallen from the target and was lost somewhere on the ground. He squatted down and began feeling for it with his hands in the dirt, careful to avoid impaling his hand during the search. There was a slight creak in a branch above and Eita smirked keeping his eyes down. It wasn’t the normal sound of an animal moving or a creak from the slight breeze that was picking up. It was something entirely different and as things became all too silent again, he knew what was coming.

“If you’re going to try and scare me, I should warn you to be careful where you drop. I’m looking for a senbon needle.” he smirked and a second later Koemi jumped down in front of him. He forced himself not to give her the satisfaction of seeing him jump back.

“How’d you know I was here?”

“Sixth sense.” Eita smirked, lightly tapping his forehead. “I’ve had Hinome sneak up on me enough I’m getting pretty good at telling when it’s about to happen.”

Koemi laughed. She was sixteen, about a foot shorter than him with a slender build, pale skin, light blonde hair usually kept up in a short ponytail and soft hazel eyes.

“I remember. She used to make you jump about two feet off the ground. Bet I could make it three.”

“Yeah, just what I need. More height.” he rolled his eyes, but there was a smile in his voice all the same.

Being eight years older, Eita had never interacted with Koemi much until they’d had a previous mission together. It had seemed simple at first, until like with everything in their village there had been a twist. However that one had been an incredibly bizarre even for this place. They’d all seemed to take on traits from certain fairy tale characters for a bit. That…hadn’t been fun. At least for him, but he doubted anyone would like it much when a simple step could wind up breaking them. Koemi had seemed to have it worse, taking on traits from one of the monsters. Looking at her now it was hard to believe that had ever happened. But it had, and it had forced a few things about both of them into the open. At the very least with each other.

That was why he was dreading tomorrow. It wasn’t simply about fighting a friend, it was fighting her knowing everything he did now.

“Well that’s a challenge for a different time. For right now,” Koemi took a small piece of paper from her kunai pouch. “I got your note. You wanted to meet me here?”

Eita nodded, finally finding the last needle and standing up.

“I was just thinking we could get some sparring in.”

“Don’t you think we’ll be fighting each other enough tomorrow?” she asked, her tone something he couldn’t place and he sighed.

“That’s not what I meant…I just thought…”

“What? That you could see my moves before tomorrow? So you know exactly how to beat me?! Is that what you were thinking?” she glared up at him, her hands curled into fists and he was surprised she didn’t take a swing at him.

“Koemi…”

“Well if you think I’m falling for that then you’re an idiot!” she was almost jabbing a finger in his chest now as she stepped forward into his personal space, her eyes blazing. “Come tomorrow I’m taking you down and this little plan of yours…”

“Oh for kage’s sake, Koemi, do you actually think I’d try to pull something like that?” Eita finally cut her off, half sighing half growling as he pushed her hand away.

Koemi paused, though her eyes were still narrow as she watched him.

“I just asked you here to spar because I thought you might be as nervous about tomorrow as I am. I was trying to help.” any other time and he would have kept his voice softer and waited for her rant to finish out. After all Koemi was known for her emotional outbursts and the night before this she’d be as rattled as ever. But right now his own nerves were on edge as it was and he wasn’t just going to stand there and be accused of something he didn’t plan on doing.

The girl blinked, then took a step back, withdrawing her hand. There was a moment of silence as the two shinobi looked at each other, their eyes locking and it seemed both were searching for something. Understanding. Answers. Calm. Another way this could work out. Eita finally broke the gaze.

“I didn’t mean to upset you. If you want to stay, fine. But if you really think I’d do that, then I’ll see you tomorrow.” he shook his head and started to turn on his heel when Koemi called him back.

“Why?” she asked suddenly, and he looked over his shoulder.

“Why what?”

“Why help me? And don’t give me any kind of excuse of you being older and it being your duty, or that you feel bad for me, and don’t you dare say it’s because we’re a village of love. I want the truth.” she folded her arms, once again holding his gaze.

He spoke without pause.

“Because you have more riding on this than I do.” if she wanted him to be blunt, he was going to be blunt. He held up his hand before she could say anything. “Listen. I won’t say I know you very well because I don’t. But we’re still friends and I know enough…” he sighed. He wasn’t sure how to say this without making her mad or things blowing up even more in his face.

“You know about my family…” Koemi whispered.

Eita nodded. He had spent enough time at the library and overheard things being said to Azami, as well as what Koemi had revealed here and there to know things weren’t exactly great with her family. They were a clan of genjutsu masters and their blood limit revolved around that mastery. Like him though, Koemi’s talent for anything involving genjutsu was limited. For him, it wasn’t much of an issue, but for her…her entire clan was based on something she lacked any talent for. More than once he had heard something snide muttered under the breath of a Fujihara elder as he passed them in the village and they saw Koemi. If he didn’t think it would cause her more problems, there were a few he might have taken a swing at.

“I don’t know everything that’s been going on, and I don’t need to know either.” he said softly, coming closer towards her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “But what I do know is that these tests…passing and making them see how strong you are is important to you.”

“What about you?” she asked after a pause. “You’ve worked just as hard…aren’t they…”

“Yes, but…like I said, you have more on the line with these than I do.”

“You’re behind everyone.” her tone was soft, but matter of fact and Eita swallowed back the urge to flinch. It was true. He was. Sometimes it felt like he was always behind everyone and no matter what he did he would never catch up. But that was only a feeling. He knew he would one day. Though there was a small part of him that whispered that was nothing more than a lie he told himself. Something there to keep him going when nothing seemed to be working. That one day he’d be alright and everything he’d been slapped with would only make him stronger in the end. That he could put it behind him. It had been a hope and goal he’d held onto ever since he was a child. He never talked about it much and even less if he could avoid it, but growing up he hadn’t exactly been an example of perfect health. Not that he had a bad immune system, but there had been something wrong with him that led to seizures. No one had been sure what it was at first, and by the time they figured it out, he had pretty much grown out of it. But he never forgot that experience. He wasn’t allowed to. He’d begged his mom not to pull him out of the academy, but at his worst there hadn’t been another option and that put him two years behind others in his class. To make things worse, once he was finally back in, it seemed like things were moving at such a rapid pace it was hard to keep up, let alone get ahead and make up for lost time.

Sometimes it felt like that’s all he was ever doing. Trying to make up now for what he couldn’t do in the past and keep the fear from swallowing him whole. This was the first time he was taking the exams and without anyone even on his regular team by his side, it was even more intense. Logically, he knew he was better. That he’d grown out of his sickness long ago…but there was still that fear that everything he’d achieved so far was a lie. Just a lie that was only waiting for a chance to be exposed and slip away, leaving him face first in the dirt.

But if that happened somehow, at the very least, he knew he had his family and friends to fall back on. There wasn’t pressure, and whatever he might feel, he knew any shame or sense of failure would be from himself. Not them. For Koemi it was a different story.

“I’m always behind.” Eita smiled faintly, giving a shrug. “I think I gave you a good impression the first time we met, being one of the few times I’ve actually been early to something.”

“That’s not what I…”

“I know.” his smile dropped some, but it never completely left. “But it doesn’t change things. We’re both in a less than comfortable position, we both want to move on, but…”

Before Eita could finish speaking, Koemi had grabbed his wrist, shifted her weight and threw her hip right into his side while twisting and before Eita could blink he was being flipped over her shoulder with a loud crash against the forest floor.

“Koemi! What was that for?!” he yelled, his head spinning.

The blonde looked down at him, and in the pale moonlight that made it’s way through the trees, he could see a look of mischief on her face.

“You said you wanted to spar right? So lets spar.” she grinned and Eita twisted around just in time, breaking her hold and jumping up and back a few feet right before she delivered a punch to where he had previously been. His hands automatically shot up in a defensive position. “Unless of course you had something else in mind. An obstacle course maybe, but I’d prefer to avoid that considering last time.” she smirked.

Eita blinked, then felt a smirk of his own tug at the corners of his mouth.

“Nope. No course. Just you, me and whatever we bring.”

“That came dangerously close to rhyming. Lets not start that.” Koemi grinned, drawing into a defensive position.

“Cross my heart.” Eita laughed, taking his own position before bringing his hands together and bowing towards Koemi. She copied his motion and then they both fell back into a ready stance. Bodies loose. Shoulders square, one fist held forward while the other fell back a bit and resting firmly on their back legs. There was a moment of silence as they sized each other up, waiting for someone to make the first move.

A tiny flicker of motion from Koemi’s sleeve was all Eita needed to see and he shot forward just as she did, her left leg shooting out in a roundhouse kick aimed at his head. Eita brought up his left arm to block, striking out with his right arm towards her side. Koemi pulled back just in time to avoid being touched, spinning around the back and trying to grab Eita’s wrist. Fortunately he remembered from earlier and dropped back to avoid another crash landing.

Koemi smirked, shooting forward to cover the small distance between them as she lashed out with several blows all at once. Eita was on the defense now. Blocking punch after punch, and doing his best to side step her kicks. People often made the mistake of thinking having more of something instantly made one better. However that wasn’t always the case and Eita knew he had to keep his footwork solid lest his long legs hinder rather than help him. So far, so good. He dropped, twisted, and spun almost in something that looked more like a dance as Koemi continued her assault.

“Come on, Eita, you gonna hit me or what? Don’t tell me you’re scared to fight a girl.” she laughed, and Eita brought up his elbow to avoid a knife hand strike to his neck.

“Well someone’s getting cocky.” he would have rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t afford to take them off of her. Koemi was fast, and she was fresher to than he was from running target courses earlier. Still, that was were his observation skills came in as he looked for an opening and his mind worked to devise a strategy.

“I’m not cocky, just good.” Koemi flashed a grin, along with a flashy move, as she grabbed his hair and twisted herself around delivering a blow to his right side. Eita yelped, bringing his hand up under hers to smack it away from his hair as he was able to lash out with a kick and take a step back. Koemi was bouncing on the balls of her feet, her hands up and ready for more attacks. At first glance it seemed there was no opening.

Sparring matches were often about second glances though and Eita smirked himself.

“Alright then, lets put that to the test.” he shot forward, fully prepared to be hit with a barrage of attacks, from flashier spin kicks, to upward hooks. He was not disappointed and Koemi seemed to be getting the upper hand. However he had an advantage in having worked in the terrain out here earlier. He knew where to step, and where not to. He just had to get her to follow his mislead. He blocked, and stepped back, always acting like he was on the run and only a few times lashing out. Then he felt the ground start to shift slightly beneath his feet and he knew he was almost where he needed to be.

A large root was only about a foot away and if he could get Koemi tangled up on that for a second, he could get an opening.

“Careful you don’t get stuck in the branches.” Koemi teased, delivering a right hook that Eita barely had time to block.

“You should have been here earlier.” Eita said. Closer. Closer. Just a bit more…

“Why? Did that actually happen?” there was laughter in her voice.

“Nope. Because then you’d know where you were stepping.” Eita smirked just as Koemi jumped forward and the shadow hidden root caught her foot causing her to stumble. Eita didn’t waste this chance and this time came back, catching her in the stomach with a kick that sent her stumbling backwards in the dark.

“You tricked me!” Koemi snarled.

“I did not, I just evened things out a bit.” he grinned picking up his pace and trying to keep his breathing even as he took his turn with the offense and began attacking. Sweat stung his eyes and his heartbeat was rapid as he advanced. He was much more used to long range attacks and preferred them to open hand to hand, but he knew better than to get stuck only being able to do one thing. He wasn’t sure where he would find himself, but he knew wherever it was that being a jack of all trades versus only learning what he liked, would help him be stronger in the end.

Still, this was more of the beginning and it wasn’t exactly easy.

He twisted around, striking out with several rapid fire kicks at the same time, then changed to attack with different legs. Right, left, right, left, right, right, left, left, right. It was constant motion and Koemi was defending well against all of them. Though he had managed to land a few hits.

Koemi snarled striking back at him right after a kick and Eita ducked just in time to avoid a fist colliding with his face as he brought his elbow up to avoid a strike. Then he grabbed her wrist, twisted hard, and brought his left fist back to land a direct hit.

A split second before it landed though, he caught her eyes and paused. A part of his brain said it was a genjutsu that stopped him, but he knew Koemi well enough to know it wasn’t. This wasn’t a genjutsu. Just a flash of a look in Koemi’s eyes that for one brief instant revealed the fear. Not of him. Not of the attack. But of losing. The desperation to win and prove she was strong and make others see it as well. Eita felt something clench inside his chest.

Just as soon as it appeared it vanished and before Eita could move, Koemi had once again grabbed his wrist, twisted her hip, and flipped him over her shoulder onto the ground. He hit the ground hard and bit back a curse as a large curved root struck him in the back.

Both of them were breathing hard and for a moment that was all that could be heard.

“What was that?!” Koemi all but yelled at him, tightening her grip on his arm.

“What was what?” he asked, his head once again spinning, but not as bad as before.

“You know what I mean! That! You could have hit me and you just stopped?!” she growled.

Eita blinked. It hadn’t even registered with him that she would have noticed that. It felt like it passed in little more than a heartbeat.

“I…”

Koemi sighed letting go of his arm and dropping down next to him as Eita pushed himself up onto his elbows and into a sitting position.

“Look…Eita…I don’t need…I mean…” she ran a hand through her hair, flicking a rock away with her other hand before she looked back at him. “I know what you’re doing. You said so yourself before we started that you wanted to help me…that you’d be willing to sacrifice your own chances for mine.”

“I didn’t say…”

“Tcht. So you said it with different words. You still said it.” Koemi said, and Eita felt some heat rise to his cheeks.

He had. Maybe not how she was saying it, but if he hadn’t said it straight out, he had definitely implied it. He was behind as it was, and if he didn’t pass…well…at least she would be alright. He remembered what had happened earlier in the Forbidden Forest. Aki, Dou, Haru…all willing to give up their own chance for advancement in favor of helping them. It felt like that all over again, except this time it was a mistake.

Eita sighed.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t…”

“I know you weren't. You just…you wanted to help me.” she shook her head. “And it’s nice you know…having someone who wants to help me like that…if you know about my family, you know I’m not exactly used to that.”

Her voice was soft and Eita gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before dropping his hand back.

“But I don’t want your help. Not like this. Not where you hesitate in a fight because you think I need any kind of coddling or handicap.” the softness was gone from her voice, now replaced with a growing strength and conviction. “If you really want to help me…if you really think I’m strong enough, then don’t hold back. Tomorrow you come into that arena and you bring everything you have with you and more. Because that’s what I’m doing! Anything less and any victory I might get would be just a farce. Just like it would be if I went easy on you because I didn’t think you could handle it.”

Everything she’d said had hit exactly where it needed to, but the last part in particular stung. She was right. He wouldn’t want anyone giving him a handicap or any kind of help because they thought he couldn’t handle it because of the past. If anything, that would make any victory more insulting and shameful than any loss. It would make everything he’d worked for, everything he studied and his goals, a complete joke.

“It’s not that I don’t think you can handle it.” he said softly. “I was just thinking about…”

“My clan?” Koemi nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about that to. What if I lose, what if I get held back, what if, what if, what if. But that’s my burden. Not yours. And you know I haven’t exactly been thrilled about the idea of winning either.”

Eita raised an eyebrow.

“What? You think you’re the only one who’d get survivors guilt? Kicking you across the dirt…that’ll be like kicking a teddy bear and a puppy. At the same time.”

“…I’m going to take that as a compliment…”

“As you should.” Koemi nodded.

“Looks like we’re stuck then. Only way through this is…well…through it.” he blinked and Koemi raised both eyebrows his way with a questioning look. “It made sense before I said it.” he chuckled shaking his head. “Tomorrow’s going to be interesting that’s for sure. No matter what happens.”

The breeze from earlier picked up a bit, playing with the stray ends of their hair and rustling the tree leaves softly, almost like a comforting lullaby. For the first time since he found out who he’d be fighting, Eita felt his heart rate start to calm down a bit.

“It will be. But you have to make me a promise okay? That it will be interesting. That you will give me a hundred percent and more. Because I swear, Eita, if I win and it wasn’t a bloody, knuckle busting, drag out, give me all you got kinda fight,” once again she invaded his personal space, and poked him in the chest. “I will hurt you. Got it?”

Eita’s expression was deadpan as he took in the threat, before he looked away to avoid breaking out into laughter.

“Got it. Hundred percent.” he put his hand over his mouth, trying to keep the laugh from escaping. Maybe it was the height difference, but even when they were sitting there was something incredibly funny about Koemi threatening to hurt him. Not that he doubted she could, but just the imagery.

“Promise?” her poking hand turned into an open one, waiting for him to take it.

“Cross my heart.” Eita took her hand giving it a firm shake. “Speaking of which, night’s still young. We could get in a round two. No hesitation this time.”

“You’re on!” Koemi beamed and once again began trying to twist and flip Eita over her shoulder. Fortunately they were still sitting down and she was doing little more than pulling his arm.

“Umm…Koemi? Lets stand up first.” he smirked and Koemi's smile turned a bit sheepish as they laughed and stood.

Neither of them knew what was going to happen. Either now, or tomorrow. But at the very least they knew they were going to give it their all. Because there was no other choice. They had to keep moving forward. They had to let go of the fear, embrace the actual meaning of no regrets, and take those next steps forward.

The End.