I was breathing heavily. ‘I can believe this pipsqueak. Oh, well. I have more pressing matters to deal with.’ I thought as Kakashi applauded Maya for a good job. I bent down beside Hayate; and closely examined him. Then I noticed a thread attached to the back of his neck.
"No. It wasn’t anywhere near excellent work. Maybe, if Maya had noticed the thread on the back of his neck. Maybe then we would have been able to avoid the trap." I said as I raised the frayed thread.
"Trap!? What trap?!" Maya shot.
"This one, fool!" A voice boomed as a poison gas covered the area.
I used the only jutsu that I knew would everyone else. "Earth style: tectonic shift." I shouted as I made the hand signs. The earth slide and they went flying with it. "Stella!" Kakashi’s eye was wide and filled with tears. I looked up at the cloud that was all around me now.
‘They should never see me like this.’ I began to choke heavily and my sight became foggy.
"Well, you’re a brave one aren’t you?" The voice had snuck up behind me.
"I won't ever let you harm anyone in this village as long as I breathe!" I proclaimed, tears pouring down my cheeks, blood gushing from my mouth. The poison had taken affect; it would slowly kill me as it drained my chakra.
"Well, you are the most thickheaded person; I have ever met." The figure spoke, maniacally. "Well, too bad because if you were half as smart as you would sound; then you would have enough common sense to leave this village, now."
I smirked and built my chakra up. My hair changed from it’s usual silver with blue streaks and tips to solid metallic blue. ‘I’m going to have to make this quick.’ I thought as I used the ‘Flying Thunder God Technique’. I had moved into attack him from behind; and I drew my kunai. Then with a single blow I cut his head off. ‘Just a puppet? I thought this was it. A trap hidden by another trap. Clever.’ I thought before crashing to the ground. This time I didn’t think I would ever get back up.
It seemed like years before I heard Kakashi’s muffled voice. I could just hear what he was saying. "Stella, Stella. What happened to you?" He asked.
"Well, I have poison in my blood and, my chakra is being drained. Nothing major; I’d say I’m actually doing pretty good." I smiled and choked up some blood.
"Nothing major?!" I recognized Maya’s voice.
"Yeah. All I need is bed rest, a better way to get rid of this poison, and something to eat. Then I’ll back to normal." I laughed; but even more blood spilled from my mouth.
"Stop that! You shouldn’t be straining yourself like this; it’s reckless." Kakashi scolded.
"Has that ever stopped me, before?" I asked before passing out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's been a month and I finally awoke from my sleep. Although, Kakashi didn't like the bill that Naruto and I racked up at the ramen hut. It was great being back with Kakashi. "Hey, beautiful." Kakashi's voice broke the silence and pointed to the six genin that were still looking around the park for us. We had set up a two hour training session. It didn't end well, though.
