One day after a mission Chero was pretty late getting home. She tried to carefully sneak into her room, to not wake her father.
“Chero!” he father’s voice bellowed from his bed room.
She sighed and walked into Todo’s room.
“Yes father?”
“Where were you?!”
“On a mission....”
“I thought I told you to be back in time to make dinner for an important guest.”
“I tired to hurry back, but we got caught up I’m sorry.”
He slapped her across the face.
“Don’t apologize to me! Apologize to the guest that I had to make wait for me to serve dinner! I was so embarrassed! It’s this insolence that is the reason Don is dead!”
Those words hurt worse than the slap. Chero’s anger that she kept bottled up exploded.
“How can you say that?! He was your son!”
“Yes, but he became weak, by hanging out with you, babying you.”
“You’re blaming me?! It’s YOUR fault Don is dead! If YOU hadn’t insisted he go on that mission he’d still be here alive and well! You’re the worst father ever!”
She ran out of the room and slammed her room door shut, hiding herself inside.
“You’re such an impudent child! Maybe a few days in there with out food will calm you down!”
She heard a click. When she was sure Todo had walked away she jiggled the door knob. Locked. So, her father was punishing her. Peachy.
The next day Chero sat at her desk reading about the Sound Village in the safe confines of her white room. Her curtains and bed spread were a matching pale blue that she and Don picked out. On her wooden desk sat a large stack of books and tons of pictures of Don.
A few hours passed. She looked at the clock. 12:03 she was going to miss practice. She couldn’t sneak out because Todo would check on her every hour to make sure she went to the bathroom. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.
Meanwhile at the training grounds Etsuo, Michi, and Koichi were waiting for Chero.
“Where could she be?” Michi questioned.
“She’s never been late before.” Koichi pointed out.
“Well then....Let’s go get her.” Etsuo said.
They arrived at Chero’s house a few minutes later. It was a fairly large house with two stories, Chero’s room on the second story.
Etsuo knocked on the door and a second later Todo answered the door.
“Excuse me Mr Aoyama, I’m Etsuo Shiro, Chero’s squad leader. Is Chero ok?”
“She’s fine. She’s just being a brat and refuses to leave her room. Now go away.” he said slamming the door in Etsuo’s face.
“Well he was a pleasant man.”
“So, what do we do now Sensei? I don’t believe Mr. Aoyama’s story... Chero’s not like that.” Koichi said.
“You’re right. We’ll have to figure out another way to get to Chero.”
Chero closed her book and opened her locket. She looked at the smiling faces of Don and her mother. She started to cry all over again. She snapped the locket shut, clutching it as her body started to tremble as sobs escaped from her mouth.
“Chero?” a familiar voice questioned.
She turned to see Etsuo, Koichi and Michi standing inside her room by the window. They must have come through the window I left open for my escape she thought.
“What do you want?” she croaked letting out another sob. She wiped the tears away from her eyes, but they wouldn’t stop pouring out. She buried her face in her hands and turned away from the shocked faces of her teammates. She had made sure to never let them see her in such a mess.
She jumped as she felt three pairs of arms wrap around her. She closed her eyes and absorbed the love radiating off her team....no not her team.....her friends.
“The last time I was held like this....Don was still alive...” she thought.
When the tears finally stopped flowing she was released. She turned to face her teammates.
“Why?” she asked.
“Why what?” Michi asked.
“Why do you care about me?”
“Chero, you’re our teammate. You’re like family....There’s no reason to why we care....We just do...” Etsuo said smiling softly, looking at his team with love in his eyes.
“Etsuo-sensei is right.” Koichi said.
“Thank you....” she said giving then a genuine smile for once.
The smile lit up her face, unlike like her fake smile.
“So, do you want to tell us what’s going on?” Koichi asked.
“You’re Dad said that you refused to leave your room.” Michi said.
“Of course he’d say that... He’d never want to tell anyone the truth... It would make him look bad.”
“What do you mean?” Michi questioned.
“He locked me in my room for being an “impudent child”. He doesn’t understand me at all....”
Her teammates looked at her with confused looks on their faces.
She sighed and delved into her story from the very beginning. From her mother death to her father’s beatings. She spoke of how Don was the only who cared about her and that she taught herself medical jutsu in order to hide the beatings. She even spoke of how she over heard the village leader.
When she finished she felt like a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders. Her teammates stared at her in disbelief.
“I knew it.” she said, “you don’t believe me do you?”
Etsuo looked at Michi and Koichi. They nodded.
“We do believe you. What we can’t believe is how you never told anyone.” Michi said.
“Well now you know everything. Now can you leave? My father will be checking in on me sometime soon...I don’t want you to get in trouble....”
“Right. We’re going on a mission tomorrow at 3......Do you think you can make it?” Etsuo said.
“I’ll try.”
Chero convinced her father to let her our when she mentioned the mission. If she missed the mission then shame would be placed on their family.
As the weeks went on Chero’s hatred for her father built up. She couldn’t take it! So, she had decided that her father had to pay. Pay for beating her all these years and for sending Don on the mission. She was going to create a poison, but it had to be good. It had to be something new.
She didn’t care if she got in trouble. She would run of course, train alone and get strong. Strong enough to defeat Sasuke Uchiha. That was her back up plan if she was caught, but she didn’t plan on being caught.
