"66...67...68...69..."
He was definitely making too much noise. How could he not? There were leaves and twigs everywhere in this accursed forest, and trying to stay up in the trees would just involve rustling the branches. He could try moving slowly, but if he was slow, he couldn't get far enough. If he couldn't get far enough, she'd find him for sure.
"82...83...84...85..."
He clumsily jogged across a small spring to reach the clearing on the other side, coming to a halt beneath the rays of the sun. He glanced left and right. There was a cave and a collection of bushes nearby. Seeing the former, he smirked as an idea began to take shape in his mind.
"99...100! Ready or not, here I come!"
It took her several minutes to follow his trail. As she moved along, she noted the disturbances in the leaves, the scattered collections of footprints. She pretended like these things really mattered. She moved over the water at a leisurely pace to reach the cave, but stopped beside the stones outside. She ran a hand through the smooth side of her brilliant red hair. "Where oh where has my little boy gone?" she called. A rustling in the bushes attracted her gaze. She took a step toward them, narrowing her eyes. Faintly, she could see the very top of her son's form. She flashed a coy smile and adjusted her glasses. "I
see you," she said.
And she promptly fell backward onto one of the rocks.
"Gah!" came the cry of a child as a puff of smoke erupted from beneath the red-haired woman. He squirmed and struggled beneath her weight, but she didn't budge. "This is the strangest rock," she said, feigning irritation.
"Get off of me!" the child shot back with much more genuine ire. "Oh! There you are, Suzaku. I thought I'd never find you this time."
She stood up, and he quickly shuffled to his feet, brushing the dust from his clothing. A puff of smoke from behind the bushes marked the dissipation of the clone he'd hoped would throw her off his scent. For a moment, he'd thought he had her. He was as wrong as ever, and he was angry. His folded arms and nasty scowl made that abundantly clear.
"You cheated," he accused without looking up at his mother. His refusal to see her left him wholly unprepared when she snapped. "What?!" she shouted, grabbing her child by the hair and tugging ever-so-slightly upward. He cried out and gripped her wrist with both hands. "How dare you insinuate that I would cheat?! I don't need to cheat! I've been playing Hide-n-Seek for years now. I'm a master!"
"Tch. Yeah, right! I know you used your Mind's Eye. There's no way you could've found me without it. My transformation was perfect!""Please! You were the smoothest stone I've ever seen! A fresh Genin could have spotted you!"
She pulled him around a bit, then let him go. He sullenly massaged his scalp, pleased neither by her words nor by his lingering belief that she had played fair. She adjusted her glasses again and cleared her throat. "Besides, using my Mind's Eye isn't cheating. If you can use your jutsu, I should be able to use mine."
"Aha! So you did use it!" He wore a snide smirk as he thrust an accusatory finger up at her.
"I didn't say that!" she defended.
"It's not fair! I don't have some super special jutsu to use when I'm looking for you! That's why I can never win."For a moment, she simply glared at him, and he glared back. Her gaze grew softer as the seconds passed. Four months in the academy, and he was getting better every day. But she could still find him every time. She bit her bottom lip, then stuck a thumb between her teeth. If she could find him...
"I'll teach you to hide."
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He'd blown most of his afternoon on this now. The sun was starting to go down, and he could barely induce even a minor flicker in the presence of his chakra. That was what his mother said, anyway. She watched him intently as he sat there holding up that same seal and struggling to make himself "smaller." The prolonged focus was more taxing than the effort itself.
"I can't do it!" he cried, throwing his hands into the air before falling backward into the grass.
"Relax," his mother suggested bluntly. "It's your first try. You're actually doing pretty well."
"Sure. At this rate, I won't have time to play Hide-n-Seek by the time I finally get it."She didn't reply to him again, but instead stood and looked him over as he lay there in the grass. He was unlike his father in so many ways, but they had that one thing in common: neither of them seemed able to keep from mentioning the prospect of his advancement for very long. One of them or the other was always talking about him getting serious as a shinobi. One of them or the other was always talking about him leaving her.
"Suzaku."
Karin turned, and Suzaku rose as a heavy voice reached them from a short distance away. Her thoughts had distracted her; she hadn't felt him coming. But there stood Sasuke, and he looked particularly displeased. His expression made Suzaku realize just how much time had gotten away from him. He swallowed a lump in his throat and looked to his mother, hoping for a bit of help. She offered none.
"Go to your father, Suzaku," she said. "You're late."
The boy frowned and began to wave his hands frantically.
"What?" he whined.
"I've been with you! It's not like it's all my fault.""Suzaku!"
He turned his frown on his father, and he got a scowl back. His will was quickly overpowered. He got to his feet and walked forward, stopping for a moment to let his mother give him a hug and a kiss. He ran to his father, then, keeping his head low and his gaze on the ground. A moment of silence passed between the two before Sasuke placed a hand on the top of his son's head. It remained in place as they turned to walk back toward the village together.
He wished he'd spent his free time doing something less tiring. His fatigue would make him sluggish, and he was sure to catch hell for that.
to be continued
