AN: So as a quick note (I promise not to keep you long), each chapter is named after a song that I think fits the content of the chapter. I'll give the name of the artist or band that put out the song so you can listen to it if you so choose. Be warned, I listen mostly to rock and metal, but you may be surprised by some of the artists I listen to. Also, I don't own any of these characters except Kira, Takai, Kakkaku, and Arakita. So without further ado I present:

A Tango With Death

"I need a shot again, that sweet adrenaline
Dead scared 'cause I'm fearless in the head!
Bang! Bang! 'Cause the needle's in the red!"

Chapter 1. Adrenaline (Shinedown)

I was fuming. Where the hell was my team? On any normal day we would be inseparable, however today wasn't exactly normal as it was the day before the chuunin exams. We had split up to finish purchasing the equipment we were going to need for what Arakita-Sensei said was going to be the hardest test in our lives.

After waiting for nearly fifteen minutes at our designated meeting point, I stalked off to find my slightly evil best friend and the guy I was crushing on, but that last bit was a secret. It was very unlike them to be late. They were always punctual, because being more than five minutes late ticked me off.

I stalked down the warm and dusty streets of Konoha, checking all our usual haunts, only to come back with nothing. And after questioning everyone in our usual haunts I was dismayed to learn that they hadn't been seen all day. I was getting quite angry and was about to blow a fuse when I spotted some commotion across the street. Perfect, I thought to myself, someone to hook my claws into.

Some guy had poor little Konohamaru in his clutches, lifting him off his feet by his scarf. As I stomp off across the street I take in the scene before me, trying to analyze as many details as possible. Firstly, and the most obviously, Naruto was pointing at the stranger and yelling his fool head off. I rolled my eyes at this typical behavior. Next I saw that Sasuke was out of character and was hanging back next to Sakura, both of them watching the scene before them unfold without taking any action. I expected this out of Sakura, but Sasuke too? The next thing I narrowed my eyes on was a blond haired girl with her hair in four spikey ponytails. She looked like she was trying to mediate, but it didn't look like she was trying all that hard. I eyed the Suna headband around the girl's neck. Must be here for the exams. I thought. If they were from Suna then a definite ass kicking was in order.

As I reach the sidewalk where Konohamaru is being manhandled, I closely examine the opposition. The guy is in a black baggy jumpsuit with a circle split in half on his chest. One half of the circle is yellow, while the other half is maroon. He also has black leather fingerless gloves, and a black hood with cat ears attached. I notice that his hood doubles as his village's headband as his metal Suna plate is attached to the hood. On his back is some huge monstrosity covered in white bandages with a tuft of what appears to be hair sticking out.

The woman behind him has on a light pink shirtdress that stops about mid thigh with ninja mesh up to her neck. She also had ninja meshing on both legs; the left leg had mesh reaching until just above her knee, while her right leg had mesh from her ankle to just below her knee. A red sash was tied around her waist and her Suna headband was around her neck. On her back was a huge black rectangle, and if I had to wager a guess, I'd guess that it was a giant fan.

I stand in front of the two, my arms crossed as I turn a glare in their direction. I'm ignored for only a moment as I listen in to their conversation.

"This kid fucking ran right into me! I'm going to teach him some manners Temari!"

"Kankuro! Do you want Gaara to see what you're up to?"

"Oh relax. He's nowhere near here."

"Kankuro is it?" I ask, finally catching their attention as I shift up my killing intent. I loved to do it, it's so much fun! "You better put down the Hokage's grandson if you know what's good for you."

Kankuro glances at me, then Temari. "Tch, this brat isn't worth it anyways." He says, flinging down Konohamaru. Naruto manages to catch him before he starts throwing out insults again.

"Naruto!" I interrupt and he stops his tirade to look up. "Please take Konohamaru home. I think these," I look the two Sand ninja in front of me up and down, "guests need to be welcomed properly." I say going into an attack crouch, and sliding a kunai into my palm.

"Well, at least she looks like a worthy opponent." The boy named Kankuro says as he puts a hand on the mummy thing on his back.

I bare my teeth at him. I'm so pumped up that I can feel my canines lengthen in excitement. "You picked the wrong chick to fuck with." I growl out. "I'm on the war path right now." I ramp up my killing intent to one quarter of my over-all strength, which would feel like all the killing intent a fresh genin could muster, but I had so much more than that measly amount. I watch happily as Temari squirms and Kankuro tries to hold back a wince. Yeah, I'm totally badass.

"Kira! You shouldn't be attacking people!" Takai says, as she skips over to me. "At least not without me." I watch out of the corner of my eye as one of my two missing teammates gets into an attack crouch next to me, adding her own dose of killing intent to mine as her amber feline-like eyes flash angrily at the two strangers.

I smile evilly at my best friend, who grins just as evilly back before we both focus all of our attention on the two ninjas from Suna. "I feel like having some bully Sand ninja for dinner, how about you?" I ask Takai as we both glare at the ninja before us. The girl, Temari takes one step back, but Kankuro is stubborn and although he looks extremely nervous right now he holds his ground. I give them mental kudos; usually most low class genin would have been running screaming for their mommy because of the amount of killing intent we were putting off.

"Really you two? Do you guys have to go all evil right now?" Kakkaku, the third member of our team says as he places a hand on my and Takai's shoulders.

"Oh come on Kakkaku! We're just instilling some fear into our prey! You know how much we love the thrill of the chase!" Takai says, giving the only male member of our team an evil glare for spoiling the fun.

"Why you-" Kankuro is in the middle of pulling whatever that thing is off his back when a loud voice interrupts him.

"Kankuro!" Both the Suna ninja whip their heads up and look up into the tree that is to me and Takai's back. Takai also turns and looks up into the tree, straightening up from her crouch. I grumble as I too get out of my crouch and follow Takai's gaze into the tree.

A redheaded boy is in the tree, standing upside down as he surveys the scene in front of him. The fact that he was able to get into the tree without me noticing was quite a feat since I was quite sensitive to other's chakra signatures. He had the most beautiful sea foam green eyes ringed in black, was that eyeliner? I thought to myself, with an ai kanji above his left eye in red ink. Hmm… Similar to mine, although mine is on my back… This guy was getting curioser and curioser. He was wearing a black tee shirt with black baggy pants and black ninja mesh on his arms extending to about an inch before his elbows. He was also wearing a white sash that extended from left hip to right shoulder before looping around to make a loincloth-looking thing that extended to below his knees. On his back it looked like he was carrying a heavy tan gourd with a red sash tied around the middle. His Suna headband was tied around a dark tan leather harness that was keeping the gourd in place.

There was something about this guy. He had a glare plastered to his face that looked like it never came off and the two Suna ninja behind me reeked of fear. I was blasted then by a wave of killing intent that had my hair curling. Geez, how much killing intent did this guy have!? Whatever he was blasting down on us was about a third of my full strength. If he didn't look so inherently evil right now, I would have thought he was quite handsome. Takai may have been all doom and gloom, but this guy takes the cake, and there was no way I was going to get involved with a guy who looked like he'd be quite happy in the pits of hell.

"G-Gaara!" I turn and look at Kankuro who is shaking slightly. Afraid of him huh? Wonder what makes this redhead such a bad ass…

I glance at Kakkaku, unfazed by the killing intent Gaara is putting off because I aim it at him all the time. In fact Kakkaku looks quite relieved that I backed off so quickly and that I'm no longer in my fighting crouch. I sigh and disperse my killing intent, and feel the prickle of my canines as they shrink from wolf-size to human-size. "You ruined my fun." I pout at Kakkaku and cross my arms. "I'd have made mince meat out of those two if you hadn't stopped me." I glance at Takai who is still staring at Gaara. I roll my eyes. I can already see where this is going.

"We were just playing Gaara. Right Temari?" I hear Kankuro say. I turn to look at him as he arranges a placating look on his face.

"You're such a liar!" I snort, elbowing Takai to back me up.

"You were going after the Hokage's grandson." Takai says, finally taking her eyes off of Gaara and turning a full on glare at Kankuro and Temari. The both of them shiver as they look at Takai's glowering amber eyes, and Kankuro backs up a step this time, although I suspect it's because he's terrified of Gaara.

I watch as a whirlwind of sand wraps around Gaara. He disappears and then reappears as the sand deposits him right side up in front of the other two Suna ninja. "I apologize for my sibling's behavior. They won't cause anymore trouble."

"Woah! Hold on there!" I say loudly, pointing at the trio in front of me. "You mean to say you guys are brothers and sister? Wow! I did not see that one coming!"

"Kira…" Kakkaku sweat drops as he looks at me.

"What? They look nothing alike!"

"You can be so rude, you know that?" He says, shaking his head.

"Well they were rude first!"

"Shut up baka!" Takai says, bopping me on the head with her fist.

"Itai!" I whine, glaring at Takai as I rub the spot where she punched me. I look at the three Sand ninja and glare when Temari tries to hide a smirk and Kankuro full on laughs. "Laugh it up chuckles. I know what you smell like now, and I'll be able to track you anywhere you go. You might just go to bed tonight only to wake up tomorrow breathing through a tube." I say menacingly, pushing out my killing intent again. Kankuro and Temari's smirks fade fast.

Gaara glares harder at me and I scowl at him. "You don't scare me." I state, making a point of even taking a few steps closer so that we're toe to toe.

"Oh my Kami Kira! Would you just cool it? They apologized now leave it alone!" Takai says as she pulls me away. "So sorry about her, she sometimes gets a little bloodthirsty when a good fight is presented to her."

"Oh, you're one to fucking talk!" I shout. "Miss I wish I was a vampire so I could live off the stuff!"

Temari and Kankuro look at the two of us like 'what the fuck?' while Gaara just stares with no emotion on his face. It was slightly disturbing. I'm rewarded for my outburst with another bop to the head, this time from Kakkaku. If I got a bop on the head from him then I should probably stop. I glare at him as the other three leave. I keep glaring at their retreating backs before I turn my glare on Sasuke and Sakura.

"Thanks for all the help you guys!" I say sarcastically in a sickly sweet tone. They both turn and walk away, Sakura a little faster than Sasuke. I'm sure the little prick would have loved seeing what my jutsus were like. He was always trying to spy on our training. "Well, that was totally anti-climatic." I huff angrily before remembering the reason why I had been pissed off in the first place. "Where were you two?" I shout. "I waited for almost twenty minutes!"

"Keep your panties on, we just had to wait longer than expected for our things." Takai says, leveling her glare my way.

"Oh, come on! You know that your glares don't work on me!" I exclaim, exasperated.

"Well I can still try!" Takai shouts at me.

"Kira! Takai!" Kakkaku says loudly, which immediately grabs our attention. He normally hangs out in the back ground, keeping quiet and to himself. When he was loud it usually meant he was getting pissed off. "Let's just finish up whatever we need to do so we can go meet up with Arakita-Sensei."

I roll my eyes at him and whip out my new black knives. "I'm already done. These babies are made out of chakra metal, easy to use and easy to channel any of my five chakra natures into." I say holding them up for inspection. They were similar to Asuma-Sensei's with four finger holes so I could slide them up my knuckles and use them more comfortably. The blade had a wicked curve with sawing capability on the thicker part near the handles. Also on each blade just above the saw teeth were tiny wolf prints punched through the blade. I enjoyed wolf prints since they were a part of who I was.

"Did you practice with them yet?" Kakkaku asks.

"Of course, for twenty minutes while I waited for you two to show up, which you never did." I say glaring at the two. "Fire, wind and lightning are the three best natures to channel through these, I swear!" I put them on and make a series of thrusts in the air as we walk along before taking them off and nuzzling the knuckle guards with my cheek.

Kakkaku sweat drops as he watches me nuzzle my new weapons happily. I see him watching out of the corner of my eye and immediately go on the defensive.

"What?" I ask as I put them away. "You know I like sharp, pointy objects."

"Everyone knows not to go near you when you have any type of sharp weapon in your hands." Takai says, eyeing me as I take a less expensive kunai out of its holster. I test the tip with my thumb before I begin picking my teeth nonchalantly with it. "See what I mean!?" My best friend exclaims as we take a left down a side street.

"At least I don't have the Grim Reaper's neko locked in my body!" I whisper angrily, going on the defensive.

"Oh, don't even go there she-wolf! Your five-tail is much worse than my two-tail!" Takai hisses angrily, giving me one of her most evil glares.

"At least my jutsu repertoire doesn't include any jutsu that drain life, unlike you. You're almost as bad as a fucking blood mage!"

Takai doesn't even blink, she just leaps at me, her nails curving into sharp claws as she takes a swipe at my face, her amber eyes narrowing.

"Ladies! Now really? Is that any way to act right before the chunin exams?" Arakita-Sensei says, materializing out of nowhere and pulling me and Takai apart before knocking our heads together with bruising force.

"Itai!" I rub my head for the second time in a span of about half an hour, before I glare at Sensei. Takai and I glance at each other before I sidle up next to her and we both turn our most evil death glares on our Sensei.

"You guys know those glares don't work on me! Save them for the opposition!" Fire dances in our Sensei's eyes before she huggles Takai and I into her boobs.

"WHAT THE FUCK! YOU LESBO!" Takai's eye twitches dangerously as she elbows Sensei in the ribs and squirms out of her grip.

"Takai! Help me!" I plead as Arakita-Sensei wraps her now free arm around me and squashes me tighter against her chest.

"No way! Consider it payback for your remarks earlier." Takai says crossing her arms and turning her back on me.

I sigh and go limp in Sensei's arms and just let her smother me with her giant boobs. Now I knew how Tora the cat felt… Within a few seconds I'm released and I flop to the ground in a heap. I glare at Sensei but she just gives me a huge grin, mischief dancing in her eyes. This does not bode well for us.

"Last minute training time! Then I have something for each of you three!" Sensei says happily as she eyes all of us. She pulls out leg and arms weights for each of us.

I take mine and immediately fall into the dirt. "What the hell! How much does this shit weigh?" I ask as I pick myself up and struggle to belt on the weights.

"What, these old things? Well for you and Takai two hundred pounds, and for Kakkaku, three hundred pounds, and I do mean each weight!" Sensei says this last part almost too cheerfully.

I sweat drop as I finally manage to belt on the weights.

"Alright! Now three laps around Konoha! No stopping, and if you slow down," Arakita-Sensei bites her thumb and wipes the blood down her summoning mark, "then I'll have to have Akira here chase you down!" She says cheerfully as she pats the flank of the large wolverine she just summoned.

"Sensei! You hate us!" I exclaim as I immediately gallop away from Akira. I hear the thunderous steps of Kakkaku and Takai as they scramble to catch up.

After finishing our laps, we collapse panting in Arakita-Sensei's front yard, happy to be alive after those marathon laps. Akira had indeed followed us the hole time, going berserk every time we lagged or tried to stop. I myself had a pretty gnarly bite on my left hip when I wasn't quite fast enough in speeding up after lagging behind for a moment.

Kakkaku shuffles over to me and places his hand over my hip, forcing his green healing chakra into my body to help my recovery process.

"Thanks." I say, before wincing as some muscle tissue knits itself back together.

"It's what I'm here for!" Kakkaku says, looking like he had only taken a leisurely jog.

Arakita-Sensei pokes her head out her front door. "Finally! You three took forever! Now get your asses in here, I've got some things I want to give you."

I glare as she retreats into the house, taking off my weights. I feel like I'm light as a feather compared to before. All three of us make out way into Sensei's white house and take our shoes off in the mudroom. We then walk down the hall and seat ourselves in the living-room, which is sparsely furnished with a couch and one chair in front of a fireplace. There's no TV, which is a slight bummer, but the fire crackling merrily in the grate feels nice. I seat myself on the couch and examine the few pictures, which are mostly of tasteful still-lifes.

"Alright! Gift time!" Sensei says excitedly. I know what's coming. New clothes. I quite liked getting new outfits; Takai on the other hand would rather die. She hated the kunoichi outfits that Sensei picked out for her. Kakkaku didn't care one way or the other. "Takai first!" Sensei says, dragging her down the hall and into another room.

"Fuck no! Get away from me you crazy bitch!" I hear Takai screech followed by a couple of thumps that make the floorboards shudder. I sweat drop and Kakkaku puts a hand over his face.

"When will Sensei learn that Takai would rather wear a black baggy turtle neck and baggy black pants?" Kakkaku asks me.

"Who knows?" I reply as the door opens up.

"You're fucking nuts if you think I'm going out there!" Takai says. I can picture her in my mind trying to cover herself as much as she can with her arms.

"Oh come on Takai! You look sexy!" Arakita-Sensei says, a chuckle in her voice.

"I don't want to look sexy you fucking dumbass!" Takai responds, pure venom in her voice.

"Baka!" This exclamation is followed by another thump. "Don't be disrespectful."

I can see Takai in my mind, seething, hands clenched, feline-like eyes narrowed to slits, and then I feel a blast of killer intent roll off Takai. Yup, she was beyond pissed. I sigh to myself, it always ends this way.

Takai stomps out of the room in the outfit Sensei forced her in. My eyes bug out at what I see; it had to be the most revealing outfit Sensei had managed to get on my teammate. She had black short shorts on that almost revealed butt cheeks, which were low rise, showing a good three inches of bare tummy under her belly button. Her tee shirt was also black, with a deep v that showed a ton of cleavage. The bottom of the shirt stopped about two inches above her belly button. Black fingerless ninja mesh gloves were on her hands and they extended to just underneath her elbows. Her new look was complete with brown wavy hair feathered around her face, the silky tresses to the middle of her back. I was almost afraid to see what my outfit was going to look like.

Takai's eyes screamed death to all, so Kakkaku and I wisely kept our mouths shut. She stormed over to the only armchair and flopped down, trying to become swallowed up in the fluffy chair, which was nearly impossible because she was so tall, around 5'9. This new outfit made it look like she was all legs. I had the weirdest feeling that Kakkaku and I were going to be miserable tomorrow.

"Now Takai," Sensei says, looking at said girl sternly, "that outfit is for tomorrow. If you don't wear it, I'll have to summon Akira again so he can motivate you to put your new outfit on right."

"I hate you." Takai whispers under her breath, glaring at Sensei angrily.

"What was that?" Sensei asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll wear it! Geez!"

"That's what I thought you said. Come on Kakkaku, you're next."

Kakkaku follows Sensei into the other room, and immediately comes back out in less than two minutes. He has black cargo shorts on with two pockets on each leg and a tee shirt made purely of ninja mesh, which hugged his body beautifully. I was drooling mentally as he came and sat back down next to me.

"Guess that means I'm next." I say, getting up wearily and meeting Sensei at the door to the dressing room.

"Alright get behind the curtain." I'm rushed behind a folding screen and I start stripping as Sensei starts throwing things at me. The first thing I get is a flesh colored bra and I immediately think that she wants to make it look like I'm naked. I shudder as I force myself to put on the flesh colored strapless bra. "Got your bra and underwear on?" Sensei asks as I pull on the flesh colored underwear.

"Yes." I reply meekly.

"Good." Sensei bustles behind the curtain. "This is your outfit."

I look down at myself, then at Sensei, then at myself, then at Sensei again. "I-You-I'm not-You're not serious are you?" I almost cry. I liked getting new clothes, but this was a firm no thanks.

"Yeah, I'm just messing with you!" Sensei says cheerfully.

"Sensei you're mean!" I cry, as tears of relief go down my cheeks.

"Alright, alright, cut it out with the tears, and let's get you into your actual outfit."

The first thing I put on is a pair of black short shorts, which were even lower than Takai's if that was possible, and I definitely felt my ass hanging out. Next is a corset-like top. It laced in the front, but the way it was designed it didn't fully close, so I had a three inch gap in front of my boobs that gradually grew to a six inch gap by the time it reached my tummy. The corset itself ended about an inch above my belly button. Now I understood the need for a flesh colored bra. I had good-sized boobs, and they would have been falling out if I didn't have a bra on. I looked at my back in the mirror, which was also laced up, and revealed a two inch gap from my bra line down. The ai kanji on my right shoulder blade was now clearly visible. Then Sensei pulled my long blonde hair into a high ponytail with a piece of black lacy ribbon and dusted a hint of blue eye shadow on my eyes to make my ice blue eyes look more shocking.

"There we are!" Sensei says, standing back to look at her handiwork. "You are perfect. Hopefully you'll be able to stop every male in his tracks tomorrow." I get a chuck under my chin before I'm ushered out into the living room.

"Oh. My. KAMI. Sensei! What have you done to Kira!?" Takai shouts her eyes bugging out of her head.

Kakkaku turns and looks before immediately looking away. I assume it's to get rid of either a nosebleed or a major hard on, or maybe even both.

"Now, all three of you, get used to how the others are dressed. You need to be able to work without being distracted. Report at the academy at nine am sharp, and don't be late, or I'll kick the snot out of all of you. Got it?"

"Yes Arakita-Sensei" we say in unison.

She smiles. "Good."