And The Pain Ends

Taku woke up in the same place she always did. Laying in the forest the birds singing all around her and feeling so at peace with herself she couldn’t help but smile. "Ok now 5...4...3...2...1.." Suddenly, the sounds of training came from the forest on both sides of her. "Right on schedule. So who should I visit this time Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, or Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji?" She turned to her right and started walking. The team didn’t hear her approach so she crouched down in the bushes and watched. They were on the middle of training and obviously two of them were already exhausted but the last was eating a bag of chips while the others rested. Taku decided it was time to sneak up on him, because he was so distracted by his chip bag. Still hiding in the bushes she snuck around to the other side of the field and pounced out of the bushes right on top of her target roaring like a lion.

Ino who had her back turned started screaming at the top of her lungs, "Something has Chouji! Something has Chouji! Shikamaru why are you just sitting there I thought you were his best friend!"

Shikamaru just sighed and said, "How troublesome, turn around Ino its only Taku." He then went directly back to his cloud watching past time.

Ino turned around got an angry look on her face and sat down with a huff while Chouji was laughing at her. "Taku I am so happy to see you. You have never visited two days in a row before."

"I know but something strange happened to me, not the normal, but I just can’t remember what it was." Ino looked at you with fury on her face, "I still think you’re a liar Taku, how could a step father beat up on you when you are obviously stronger than most of the idiots here."

The innocence that was only found in the eyes of Taku and Naruto quickly disappeared her eyes turning to a blank as she spoke, "Coming from the girl who is still in love with a boy whose older brother killed his whole clan, who obviously combined were stronger than Itachi. The only reason they are all dead is because they couldn’t hurt a family member even if they had gone completely insane and was out to kill them. I feel the same about my stepfather since I remember what he was like before my mother died. He was kind and gentle and he really cared about me. Anyway, where I come from things don’t work that way I’m not strong, I am not a fighter, and more than likely even Konahamaru could hurt me there. My only saving grace is that I am as silent there as I am here."

Chouji of course stepped straight up to Taku’s rescue. "Ino why don’t you go jump off that cliff over there. You have absolutely no right to call Taku a liar she told us where she came from when she could have lied to us so we wouldn’t think she was insane and to spare us the fact that she could only visit us in her dreams."

Sensing the tension between the two Taku turned to Shikamaru, "So any good missions coming up?"

He looked up at you. "Nope, ever since we all became chunin things have been slowing down a great deal. There are absolutely no a, b, or c ranked missions and haven’t been for months so we spend our days training together keeping our skills sharp. Training is over for today though in honor of your visit." You smiled and game Shikamaru a hug.

"Thanks," Then Taku turned her attention back to the argument between Chouji and Ino. "Hey Chouji, you guys have the rest of the day off so why don’t we head over to your house so I can introduce you guys to pizza." While saying this you grabbed the last chip out of his bag broke it in half and fed part of it to Chouji while popping the other half in her mouth. “Mmmmm, barbeque my favorite.” Chouji grabbed Ino’s arm instantly to drag her. Taku started to giggle because she had never seen him run so fast in his life. "In fact lets invite everyone you guys went to the academy with and make a party out of it."

An hour later Taku took out the first of the pizzas from the oven. She had decided to do simple pepperoni for everybody’s first time trying it. Before they had even got a look at the three she pulled out (obviously Chouji has a large oven) Taku put the next three in and had another three finished and waiting to be cooked. Taku prepared herself for the rush of people and cut slices for Hinata, Nenji, Shikamaru, Lee, Ten Ten, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, and of course Chouji. As everyone started eating their old teachers smelt the food and dropped by. So she cut a piece for Iruka, Kurenai, Gai, Asuma, and Kakashi. Everyone had greeted her using the name Taku, and it made her smile that everyone here called her by the familiar nickname instead of the one she was given at birth. It wasn’t that they didn’t know her true name they all knew it and it warmed her heart they all chose to call her Taku by themselves. Taku grabbed a piece of pizza for herself and plopped on the couch between Nenji and Chouji. "I don’t care where I was born, this place right here surrounded by all of you, this is my home."

Unbeknownst to her, as she spoke those words the very last glimmer of her body disappeared from her world. The only person to notice this was Tsundae who had taken it upon herself to watch over Taku’s body when the girl was in their world. She instantly called one of the Chunin nearest by to run and get the girl. Back at the party Taku was saying her goodbyes because the sun would set soon and she would be forced to go back to the life she knew in the waking world. At that moment though the Chunin burst in,

"Lorraine, you need to go see the hokage its very urgent." Taku ran straight to the office thinking she had little time before your departure.

By the time Taku arrived Tsundae had realized there was only one thing she could do, since she could not restore your body. "Lorraine, or rather Taku, please have a seat. I would like you too look here in this bowl and tell me what you see."

Taku looked down, "I see my room back in my waking world but why is my body not there?"

"Taku for a long time I have watched over your body while you were here but tonight something strange started to happen. Your body started to slowly disappear and just a few minutes ago I saw the last remains of it completely disappear from your world. There is only one thing left for me to do and that is to invite you to become an actual ninja of the village hidden in the leaves. So do you agree?" Taku’s jaw dropped to the floor. It was her dream come true, literally.

Taku was so stunned it took her a full minute to answer, "of course Miss Hokage!" Afterwards Tsundae handed Taku a headband and assigned her to Shikamaru’s team she ran out straight back to Chouji’s house to tell everyone the good news, without thinking of where you would stay, well honestly if you have a dream come true who would be thinking about such mundane things as clothing shelter and food? The sun had set while Taku was in the Hokage’s office. As Taku rushed in the door everyone was shocked to see her still here after the sunset if human jaws were a little more flexible you would have heard a separate thump from every person in the room. "I get to stay, for good." Everyone smiled and cheered Taku was just as much a part of their lives as they were in hers.

As you tied on your headband Chouji spoke up, "So where will you be staying Taku."

Her cheeks flushed, "To be perfectly honest I was so happy that I was able to stay here I forgot to think about that part. So, in that case does anybody here have a spare room?" Taku heard a jumble of voices so then she put a little more detail in her request. "Alright, anyone who has a spare room and wouldn’t mind me staying there please raise your hand now." Hands went up all around Sasuke, Nenji, Kiba, And Chouji all had their hands up. Taku looked at the faces around her three of the boys looked happy while the other one sat their with the look on his face to mirror how she felt when the only guy who called her Taku in her other world, Jay, brought his girlfriend into the restaurant they had both worked in.. That look decided it for Taku in an instant.

Taku jumped on the chosen male’s lap and gave him a hug, "Thank you so much Chouji, but are you sure you feel comfortable with me staying here?" As he smiled and nodded three other faces fell without her noticing. "Oh that reminds me Shikamaru, I’ll be on your team starting tomorrow."

Soon after everyone started to file out and Taku and Chouji began cleaning up the mess left behind. "Thanks again Chouji for letting me stay here it was so nice of you."

"Well, it was nice of the other guys too. I’m sure you know that almost every guy here has a crush on you. I was seriously surprised when you chose to stay with me." Chouji looked down at the floor as if his admission would send her running after one of the other guys. Taku just smiled lifted his chin and kissed his cheek and went on her tip toes to whisper in his ear.

"Well Chouji, I’ll let you in on a secret I have a crush here too and he is the cutest and sweetest ninja of them all," Taku felt his face fall but continued so she could correct his mistake, "and that is why I chose to stay with him." His cheeks turned so bright that she could feel the heat radiating off his blush. "Now that this problem is settled can you show me to the bathroom? I feel the need for a shower before bed." Without saying a word he showed Taku the bathroom and opened the door to the room she would be staying in. Taku stood in the shower for a while then washed up, and got a towel to dry off she also washed out your clothes and hung them up to dry. With the towel around her, she walked to the door Chouji had opened and found a large t-shirt lying on the bed along with a pair of adjustable black sweat pants. She smiled at how Chouji thought of her needs before she herself did. Next to the clothing was a note, it read,


Taku,

Tomorrow we will go shopping and get you some clothes that will actually fit but for now I hope this will work.

Chouji


Taku got dressed and hopped down the stairs to get a glass of water before bed and saw Chouji staring out the window. She walked over and gave him another kiss on the cheek. "Thank you so much for the use of your clothes and the offer to buy me some of my own but I will not take no for an answer when I tell you I will pay you back every cent you spend on me tomorrow."

Chouji looked up at you, "That’s fine but I was wondering, well we have this festival coming up in a few days and I was wondering if you would like to go with me?" Taku smiled and told him yes before heading back up the stairs. She fell asleep that night with a smile on her face, for the first time ever since her mother died feeling like she was loved.