The Tale of Hashirama Zaleimaru Pt 4

                                                                         Chapter Four

     Gathering his things, Hashirama prepared to leave.  Once ready, he headed outside, and met a now-composed Kurenai, dressed and ready for travel.  Komaru had to take a bit to get everything together, along with their sensei.  Once set, they bought supplies and began moving out on horseback.  After a week’s worth of travel, they arrived at the small town.  It was here that intelligence had suspected where the assailants gathered.  Buying a room, they began eavesdropping and gathering what intelligence they could, before sending it with a courier back towards the city.  Waiting for further orders, Komaru and their sensei took it upon themselves to enjoy their time off, by drinking, smoking, and otherwise destroying their bodies in the best ways possible, as Komaru put it.  Hashirama occasionally joined, but could not hold his liquor as well as his sensei, who would always be drunk under the table by Komaru.  Kurenai would join in from time to time, too, but she was the weakest of them all when it came to holding their liquor.  Often, she’d be drunk; sleeping against Hashirama or Sensei by the time Hashirama began to feel actually drunk.  And by the time he was out, Sensei would be sufficiently hammered.  And by the time their sensei was done, Komaru was starting to feel hammered.  Often, once he was back and awake, Hashirama would be charged with carrying a sleeping Kurenai.  Then, for a good portion of the night, they would all spend a bit of time worshiping the porcelain god, and puking their guts out into it.  Once morning came, most of them wouldn’t be up until at least noon.  Hashirama, however, always woke up before anyone else, at least a good hour or so beforehand.

     After a night of minor drinking, Hashirama took Kurenai back to their room, as the place they rented only had two bedrooms, each with two beds, and a small fireplace between.  Laying Kurenai in her bed, after locking the door, at her request before the night, Hashirama lay in his own bed, and stayed awake, staring at the ceiling.  Hearing the considerably loud footsteps of his sensei and Komaru, he heard them laughing and stumbling into their room, and flopping down onto their beds.  Hearing them so easily, he was reminded of more unusual things.  Besides him waking up at the slightest of movements, his hearing had always been extremely acute, even without training.  He also seemed to pick up on things easily that others had trouble detecting.  He’d chalked it up to his luck, which he also gave credit for his surviving everything he’d done.  Others said it had to be natural skill.  In the end, he didn’t care.  It was a part of him.  Hearing movement after thinking for approximately an hour, he felt his bed sheets move.  Then he felt the warm skin of a feminine shape curl up next to him.  It was slightly shivering, so he acted like he was still asleep and moved a bit so Kurenai could get closer.  He knew it was her, as the body had her distinct shape and smelled of ink and paper.  Upon his movement, she got about as close as close could get.  After a short moment, she was asleep again, and he soon dozed off.

     Waking slowly, he could still feel Kurenai in his bed with him.  With a quick look out of the curtains, it was early morning, but raining.  Upon opening his eyes completely, he realized that she had gotten closer throughout the night, laying her head on his chest.  Looking down at her, she looked more peaceful than ever.  It made him smile softly, and lightly kiss the top of her head.  Upon that slight movement, he realized her hand was underneath his shirt, with her pointer finger lightly resting on the axe scar, like she’d been touching it again.  Letting her sleep, he watched the ceiling, and began getting lost in his memories.

     Feeling Kurenai move in the slightest, he looked down, meeting her opening eyes.  Upon realizing he was awake and she didn’t have time to get back in her bed before he awoke, she went utterly red and tried to hide her face in his chest.  He gave a gentle laugh and kept watching her.  She eventually looked back up, got redder, and moved her head so her gorgeous, heterochromatic eyes were hidden by her raven hair.  “W-what...?” she said in what had to be the cutest way he’d ever heard it.  “Nothing...” he said, his voice projecting his smile, to which she hid more.  “D-do you want me to m-move...?” “Nah...” and he brought her a bit closer.  He could feel more heat coming from her cheeks, but she accepted the invitation, and continued to rest with him, still tracing the scar.  Hearing groans in the room over, then stretching, and then a final ‘boom’ from someone landing on the floor, Hashirama knew it was Komaru starting his daily morning workout.  It was confirmed by the methodical sounds of him doing his 150 push-ups, 200 crunches, and 120 jumping jacks.  Soon after he started, their sensei awoke.  Getting up, he moved to the fire to feed it, and then walked around into the hall, and knocked lightly on Hashi and Kurenai’s door.  “What is it...?” “Are you two awake?” “I am...  I can’t tell if Kurenai is...” he said, to which she blushed and giggled into his chest.  “Ah...  Alright, well, if you need either of us, we’ll be out and about...” “Very well, sensei” “Oh, and by the way, the orders came back...  They wanted us to take a few days off after that event at the Citadel...” “Got it...  Thanks, Sensei...” and he heard the man walk away.

     Once they left, Hashirama and Kurenai lazed about, staying in bed for as long as they could, leaving only to eat, use the restroom, and drink water.  “You know, eventually, we’ll have to get up for real...” “Yeah...  But not right this minute...” and she snuggled back into his chest.  Chuckling softly, he yawned, and they fell back asleep.  Having not drunk much besides enough to get just barely buzzed, Komaru and their sensei returned after a few hours.  Having shifted in their sleep, Kurenai and Hashirama had laid on their sides, with Hashi’s body conforming to hers, his chest against her back.  His arm was lying on her body, resting, with his left arm under her pillow.  Waking at the sound of his sensei and Komaru, Hashirama yawned lightly.  Blushing, he felt Kurenai’s hips grinding against his own.  She had to be dreaming, and he dismissed it.  He then frowned after a moment, hearing a heartbeat in his ears.

     Ignoring it, he then was brought back to frowning by the heavy smell of alcohol.  But no alcohol was near him.  He could also smell a heavy, smoky scent, overriding Kurenai’s ink and paper scent.  Trying to ignore it, he looked down at Kurenai.  Then he felt a change.  His eyes narrowed, and looked around the room.  Nothing seemed off.  Looking down at Kurenai, his thoughts turned to love, and he thought to himself, “I want her, this beautiful woman, to be mine to love...”  As soon as he said ‘mine’, the word began echoing in his head in an otherworldly voice, bouncing around.  Feeling her still slightly grinding against him, he realized he’d had a biological reaction to it.  His own blush came back in, and he lightly moved his arm, which made the heartbeat in his ears change to a slightly more awake state.  He analyzed it, and came to the conclusion he was hearing hers, but how?  Kurenai slowly woke up, opening her eyes and feeling Hashirama against her back.  She started smiling, then, upon feeling his reaction to her subconscious grinding, Kurenai blushed the darkest she could.  Hashi noticed the heavy, smoky smell came back with a vengeance, and Kurenai tried to move away.

     When she tried, his arm moved without warning, pulling her back close to him, almost forcefully.  Once more, the possessive thought of ‘mine’ echoed in his head.  The smoky scent was still there, but it had been accompanied with a high, sharp scent, as well.  He could feel her body tensed, and said, “What’s wrong...?”  She jumped, not knowing he was awake.  However, it wasn’t that he was awake that made her jump.  His voice, it had changed.  Usually, in the morning or after waking up, his voice had gravel, but not much.  This time, though, it was full of gravel.  He instantly found it very off, and sensed something was wrong with him.  His body wasn’t obeying his commands, as well.  When she tried to get up again, it held her down.  “H-Hashi, y-you’re scaring me...” she said, fear in her voice.  “Kurenai, call for Sensei...  Something’s wrong with me...” and she nodded.  “S-Sensei...!” and there came a response.  “Yes?” “Come here, please...” “Door’s locked...” and she tried to move away to unlock it.  Forcing his limbs to comply, Hashirama finally let her go.  Sitting up, he got up, and buttoned up his pants, his back to Kurenai and Sensei.  However, with little effort, he heard their hushed whispers.  “Something’s wrong with Hashi...  He’s...  Different...” “How so...?” “His voice changed, and he seemed...” and she lost her voice.  “...  Please, sensei, believe me...” he nodded, and looked past her.  Turning around to face them, Hashirama saw his sensei’s eyes widen in fear, and he quickly pulled Kurenai out of the room before she turned and saw.  Instead of making his way to the door and asking what was wrong, he stayed put.  His sensei’s eyes, never, even in the face of unimaginable odds, had ever taken that look before.  And he’d been looking at Hashi when that happened.  Waiting for a while, he heard his sensei quietly, but firmly, order Kurenai to go get Komaru and stay in there until he called for them.  She finally agreed, and Hashi looked up as his sensei came back in.  That was when he first noticed he was putting off the slightest bit of light.  Looking down, he frowned, and looked back to his sensei.  “Sensei...?” “No time to explain, we must return to the city immediately...  Put these on...” and he handed him sunglasses, a thick black cloak, and a mask that covered only his mouth and nose.  Nodding, he donned them.  Putting the sunglasses on, he was alarmed for a moment.  Even in the dark room, wearing the sunglasses, he could see perfectly, as if it were sunny indoors.  And the color was gone, he saw only black and white.  “Gather your things, and come downstairs...  Kurenai will get horses, and Komaru and I will gather her things...” and he left.  Gathering his personal affects and equipment, Hashirama kept quiet.  Hearing Kurenai leave, he headed out of the room, and Komaru walked past, looking bewildered at Hashi’s new garb.  Grabbing Kurenai’s things and personal items, he quickly packed them.  The sensei helped, and then they lead Hashirama downstairs.

     After waiting for around ten minutes, Kurenai came back, looking concerned.  She kept directing this look towards Hashirama, who proceeded to get the same gaze from Komaru.  “Hashi, what’s wrong...?” Kurenai asked, but before he could answer, his sensei did it for him.  “Not right now, Kurenai...  We need to get back, right now...” and he mounted his horse with the others.  Making sure they had everything, they took off, heading for the city.  After only a few days, they made it back.  However, there were refugees everywhere from the attack.  They began harassing the four ninja, wanting their horses.  “Push through, everyone...!” their sensei ordered, and they did so.  Grabbing for the cloak, a man tore it open slightly, and Hashirama knocked him away.  Covering himself back up, he heard gasps from Kurenai and Komaru, who then became very quiet.  Cursing to himself, he rode harder for the city.  Once there, the sensei took not a moment to head for the Citadel with Hashirama.  Pushing past the guards, the sensei walked into the Kage’s study.  Looking up with bewilderment, Minamoto said, “Is something wron-...” and he stopped, upon seeing the small parts of Hashirama that were revealed.  Without another word, he dismissed the people he had been talking with.  Closing the doors and telling the guards no visitors until further notice, he walked back into the study.  “Take off the cloak, mask, and sunglasses, Hashi...” and the young ninja did so, and noted that his body had a significant glow.  It took only a moment, but the Kage’s face became one of alarm, and he quickly dragged Hashi’s sensei aside...