Maya - a Naruto Fanfic

28. Misery-Go-Round

Ninja's clearly have no sense of exhaustion.

I'm practically dead on my feet as Kakashi leads us towards the Hokage's offices.

"Keep up, Maya." Kakashi calls. It feels like he's always saying that to me... My head droops and my shoulders slump. Compared to shinobi, normal people like me are...

"Hey, don't get yourself down!" I jump at the loud voice beside me, and there's Naruto, grinning at me with his arms folded behind his head.

"Huh?" I blink at him.

"Naruto's right," Sakura says, coming up on my other side, "you shouldn't worry about not always being able to keep up. You'll get used to this pace eventually!" She smiles encouragingly at me. I try to smile back, but it comes out looking a little pathetic.

"You're all going to be left behind if you don't hurry up." Kakashi warns, and Sakura and Naruto catch me by the crooks of my elbows and pull me along behind them, leaving me no choice but to run with them to catch up.

When we reach the offices, Naruto throws a fit over the missions we've been getting, landing us with a C rank mission.

"The Land of... Waves?" I say faintly. Sasuke snorts, but I ignore him, too preoccupied with the very real danger this mission poses.

"Yes, is that a problem?" The Hokage raises an eyebrow at me.

"Maya can't swim." Squad 7, Kakashi and Iruka all say at the same time, and once again I just want the ground to swallow me up.

"Can't swim?" He frowns. Ugh, why does this have to happen to me?

"No..." I mutter, my face hot.

"Well, that is an issue. The Land of Waves is primarily built over water. Still, there's no helping it. Masumi and Tsuyoshi aren't here to take care of you." It's true, they left for a mission a couple of days ago, and Asuma has been watching us all since. Wait.

"Can't I just stay with Asuma, like I have been so far?" I ask hopefully.

"You could... However, my decision is final. You will accompany Kakashi and Squad 7 to the Land of Waves." My heart sinks. There goes my dreams of a peaceful few days...

"Maybe you can learn to swim while you're there." Iruka offers, trying to help. I slump, utterly miserable.

"Yeah..." Great idea, lets put the girl who's terrified of water into the water! What could possibly go wrong?

"I already have a plan for teaching Maya to swim." Kakashi easily disregards Iruka's idea.

"Y-you do?" I'm instantly nervous. What could he be planning? Kakashi just smiles mysteriously at me and says;

"I guess you'll just have to find out."

I'm doomed.

"Hey!" Someone yells, slamming the door to the offices open, "you're entrusting my life to a bunch of kids?! This one can't even swim!" He points at me, obviously drunk.

"Maya isn't a real member of the Squad. Your safety will not be in her hands." Kakashi explains calmly. My chest twinges. I'm not a real member of their Squad. Of course, I knew that already, but...

Sakura touches my arm gently, and I peer up at her from beneath my hair. She smiles kindly at me.

"We'll take care of you, Maya." She says, and damn if that doesn't make it hurt more. Still, I smile weakly at her and cover her hand with mine. This must appease her, as she draws her hand away, and turns to face the others.

As I come back to reality, I can hear Naruto shouting.

"Don't you underestimate us, old man! We're the top genin squad in the village! Believe it!"

"Why should I believe something like that? You've got no proof. You all look like a bunch of useless rookies to me." The old man snorts.

"Good luck." The Hokage simply smiles, rather than having second thoughts. Seriously, what is with this guy? I don't think I've seen him do anything leader-y since I got here.

"We actually have to protect this jerk?! You can't be serious!"

"Come on, Naruto, let's just go." I sigh, taking him by the upper arm and pulling him from the room.

"Why're you just letting him run his mouth off, Maya?! He was way outta line!"

"Shouting and throwing a fit isn't going to change his opinion of us. Just go get your stuff together and let it go." I sigh heavily.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asks, stopping suddenly and grabbing my shoulder.

"Of course." I don't look at him.

"It doesn't feel like you are." His concern hurts, and I hate it. Why does everything have to hurt so goddamn much?

"Drop it." I mutter.

"Maya-" He starts.

"I said drop it!" I don't mean to shout, and I regret it the moment I see him freeze, face falling, hand hanging limply in the air.

"... Please." I whisper, and turn away. I'm not sure when he goes, or how long I'm left standing here before Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke come out, but the moments drag by. I shouldn't have shouted at him. He was only trying to help. I knew that, so why did I still...?

"Maya? Where's Naruto?"

"He-" I clear my throat, "he went to get his stuff together."

"You two had best do the same." Kakashi advises, and they nod. Sasuke leaves immediately, but Sakura pauses, staring at me for a moment with furrowed brows before finally walking away. Kakashi stays standing before me, leaning back with his hands in his pockets.

"Do we need to have a talk?" He asks finally, wearily.

"What makes you say that?"

"You look miserable. It's been getting worse the whole time you've been here."

"Maybe I'm just a miserable person."

"Maybe. Come to think of it, I haven't seen you happy since the Squad passed my test."

"So?"

"So indeed..."

"Look, if you're just going to be all cryptic, why don't you just save us both some time and keep it to yourself?" I snap, stalking away. I won't look back, I refuse.

I won't look back.

A/N: the angst literally nobody asked for. Excuse the sporadic updates, my time is being consumed by failing my A-levels. Thanks to everyone who's read and/or voted so far!
Ta-ta~