Butterflies and Puppets

Chapter 4

"MAYUMI! ITS TIME TO GET UP!" Tsume yells opening my door. "Want me to do you hair for you this morning?"

"IS COFFEE INVOLVED?" I shout still half asleep. Coffee is very much needed.

"ONLY IF YOU GET YOU ASS UP! GET DRESSED YOU CAN'T BE LATE." She says as she walks down the hall to wake Kiba up. It takes her at least six tries for her to wake him up. Tsume woke me up early in the morning to get ready for me to meet Kakashi at the gates.

I wonder why I'm meeting him at the gates?

I get my clothes on and puts on my thigh high sandals and walk out of the bedroom to the kitchen and make me a cup of coffee then proceed to the living room and sit in front of Tsume where she quickly begins to braid my hair. I can do it myself, but Tsume enjoys it a lot.

"Are you excited for today?" Tsume asks me.

"Yes I am. I don't know why I'm meeting Kakashi at the gates but I can't wait."

"All done!" Tsume says. "Now have a great day! I can't wait to hear about it."

"Of course!" We hear a knock at the door causing all the dogs in the house to start barking. Tsume walks over to it and opens it. "Oh Kakashi, What are you doing here? Mayumi was just about to meet you at the gates." She opens the door to let him in.

"Yes, I actually forgot to tell her to have a bag packed because she will be gone for a couple of days."

"Gone? Like a mission? Where to? Why? What do I need to pack?" I spit out a round of questions.

"Just pack a bag of clothes and food. I got the rest." Kakashi said. I ran to my room and grabbed some extra clothes "Come here buddy"I say holding out my finger for the butterfly to crawl on me and flutters up to it's spot in my hair and come back in the living room.

"Here you go Mayumi." Tsume said handing me some fruit. I stick it into my back pack and turn to Kakashi. "BE CAREFUL BRAT!"

"IM ALWAYS CAREFUL!" I shout back.

Kakashi nods. "Let's go." He said as he walks out the door.

The two of us head out of the village and into the woods jumping from branch to branch.

"Kakashi, where are we going?" I give him a questioning look.

"I'm taking you out on a mission with me today. I think you are capable of handling it." He responds.

"A mission? Really? What is our mission? Aren't we supposed to have a squad or something to go out on mission? Why only me?"  I ask excitedly.

"It's simple today. We are heading to the Sand village to deliver some important documents. The Chunin exams are coming up in a few weeks and we need to get these papers to them before then."

"Sounds pretty easy. Plus, it's nice to leave the village."

Kakashi stops and turns to me. " I forgot." He pulls out a black cloak with a hood. "The Hokage knows that you're going out on a mission. But for safety, he wants you to not be seen. May stir up something we don't want." He says as I take the cloak and put it on. "Besides, you're not used to being in the desert so it will also help protect you with the sand."

"I kinda like this, it's rather comfy."

"That's not all. I also have a eye mask. I know your eye causes your headaches. So maybe if it's shielded some it will help.." I also take the eye mask and cover my left eye and look up at him. "Let's go." He says.

🦋

The two of us travel the entire day stopping only a couple of times when needed until we finally settle at an Inn. We enter the Inn and Kakashi grabs the keys and leads us to our rooms.

"Well, I'm going to the hot springs. You can go also if you would like. The ladies side is down the hall to the left." He hands me the keys to my room and walks to the hot springs. He stops and turns around. "Also, please don't let anybody know who you are. And don't try to stir up any trouble either." He turns back around and walks away.

Hot springs huh? That would be nice for my tiring muscles.

I walk the way he told me too down the hall and get undressed keeping my eye mask on then wrap a towel around my body and walk outside to the steamy springs.   I dip my foot in the water feeling the nice hot water on my skin then slides in putting my towel on the edge. I sink in up to my chin and close my eyes letting the water relax my muscles letting out a sigh.

"You're not from around here are you?" A girl said.

I open my eye to try and look at the girl but the steam is too thick that I  can only see an outline of a head and four pigtails. "No, I'm not. I'm here for a mission. I'm from the Leaf Village."

"Oh a mission!  Where are you team mates?"

"I don't have a team yet, I haven't even graduated yet."  I said rolling my eyes as I  sit up more with the water covering my chest.

"Then how are you out on a mission?" The ponytailed girl questions. "You're supposed to have a team when you go out. It's rather dangerous without one."

"I'm with a Sensei who has been training me. He decided to take me out for a couple of days. Something about taking some documents to the Sand Village."

"Oh, you must be very special skipping school to train by yourself. I'm actually from the Sand! My name is Temari!" She says, I look through the fog and sees she's holding out her hand.

I take her hand in mine and gives her a forced smile. "I'm-" Before I could say her name I feel something gritty around me. Sand?

"Oh, must be my brother telling me to come on." I dip down farther in the water wide-eyed looking around. "I must get going. I hope to see you in the village." Temari says as she gets out dries off and leaves.

I look down at my hands. Oh, I'm getting pruney probably time to get out. I hop out and dry off then put my clothes back on then continue my way back to my room and lay down letting my thoughts take over.

Kakashi said to not let anybody know who I am. I wonder why? I hope the Sand Village is nice. It's good to finally be able to get out. Maybe this is exactly what I needed.