Russian Roulette

...

"What are we going to do?"

The man looked down at the forehead protector in his hands, his pale eyes narrowing as he stared at the engraving on the metal. It was at this moment that the light drizzle of rain turned into a downpour, but he still did not move as the ground around him began to flood and the bodies that lay dormant on the forest floor began to sink into the mud.

"Our numbers have fallen," the man finally spoke to his comrade, lifting his head up to face the sky. His pale eyes closed, his brown hair sticking to his face. "But we will still rise."

...

Chapter One: Begin

...

She was late.

She was always late.

It was surprising that she arrived at all, and that even after her arrival the proctors continued to let her participate - even if she would be the last prospect they saw, she could still take the test and she still had some hope of becoming a genin.

The eyes of the last Uchiha narrowed as he exited the testing room, seeing her face twisted up with nerves as she patiently sat behind Naruto. Her presence alone bugged him, and just one look into those ridiculous eyes of hers could give him a headache. She was almost worse than the blonde in front of her when it came to skill, and more annoying than the Haruno girl when it came to presentation.

Sasuke knew he shouldn't feel this way - knew he should have just left her very being alone, but there was something about Kikyo Kui that just sent him over the edge.

He felt her eyes on his back as he exited the room, and his last thought was of ripping them out of her obnoxious, scarred sockets.

...

Kikyo had made sure she was up two hour before the Graduation exam had started. She had eaten first to give her stomach time to digest the food that could possibly come back up if her nerves were too high, showered, and then went outside to watch the sunrise as she always did on important days. But it was as the sun was rising that her breath hitched and her body convulsed - only one, violent tremor, and she was sent into a world of blackness she had not yet known had to escape from.

Luckily, as fate would have it Kakashi had been coincidentally following a black cat on his way to the training grounds, and had stopped by to check on the young child before he spent his morning sulking at the same stone he had visited every day for years.

Kakashi had known the girl long enough to know that simply waking her up would not work - he had to stimulate almost all four of her senses at the same time, had to shock her body back into reality. It had taken him years to figure out how exactly to do it, and the act itself was so mortifying he could only hope he would never have to tell anyone of the secret.

So with a sigh the silver haired jounin cradled the twelve year old in his arms and let himself into her house, knowing that no one would be home until the sun was in the middle of the sky. The Clan Head himself would not be home for at least two more days, and Manami Kui had been spending her mornings at the temple at the back of the compound.

He set her down in the bathtub, her clothes still intact, and drew the water to such an awfully cold temperature he would have been positive she would wake up right away, had she been normal. Narrowing his eyes, he gripped his opposing wrist with one hand and watched as the chidori grew, before plunging the lightning chakra into the water and letting out a foul scream.

The girl awoke with a jolt, her pale purple eyes wide as she tried to take in her surroundings. Her breath grew short as they fell on Kakashi, her body relaxing as she realized what had happened.

"Seriously," she grumbled. "Again?"

"You should really get this checked out, Kikyo," Kakashi's voice was stern but it was not demanding, knowing fully well the young child had been trying to put off any diagnosis of chronic illness.

"I can't, Kakashi. You know what they'd do to me and I just... my ceremony will be the day I pass the chunin exams, okay? They can't know before then."

He debated arguing with her - how was she supposed to even become a genin if she couldn't even keep herself awake? How would it effect her team, her missions? How could she lead a clan when she couldn't even grasp what was happening to her own body? But he knew his words would be futile, that they were useless against such a strong-willed child. And he also knew that the same child was able to hide something so blunt and so obvious from one of the strongest shinobi to walk through Kohana untamed on a day to day basis, and that was untapped potential that would be wasted as a clan priestess.

"Promise me," he said, grabbing a towel from the rack near the tub as the girl stood up, her clothes sticking to every inch of her body. "That when your fate is decided, you will go get help."

Kikyo grinned, her pearly whites contrasting against her tanned skin.

"Of course, Kakashi! Thank you!"

And within the next second the young child was out the door, and Kakashi couldn't help but smile at how fast she was; not only for her age, but for her condition. It was little quirks like that - her speed, her ability to recover so quickly - that convinced the man that Kikyo not becoming a kunoichi would be a disservice to both her and the Village as a whole.

...

"Kikyo Kui. You passed."

The blonde child practically skipped up to the table, snatching her forehead protector from one of the proctors and spinning around in a celebratory fashion. Iruka had to hold back a smile as the heir ran towards the door, almost missing the speech about being on time tomorrow to be grouped into her squad. With a dismissive wave the girl gave her okay and ran out of the door, and out of the academy altogether.

There was a sense of nostalgia, a small want to run towards the Uchiha compound and let Sasuke know she had passed, but she knew the boy would not be pleased with her presence. As much as she wanted to rekindled whatever feeling she could from the boy, she knew a lost cause when she saw one. So instead, she ran back home, hoping her mother would be done at the temple and ready to listen to all of the great things her daughter planned to accomplish.

...

Manami Kui was beautiful. While she did not carry the normal, pale purple eyes of her clan, her blue ones were striking enough paired with the bright blonde hair that had been tied back in the normal priestess braid. She stood out not only because of her beauty - beauty so rare for a clan full of brunettes - but for the fire she carried within her, and the way she could tame one of the most ferocious men in Kohana and possibly the world with a single glance.

It was no surprise that Kikyo would take most of her mothers genetics; a beautiful curved face, blonde hair, tanned skin - though that was common in the family, the rest was not. This was also because Manami was what one would call a half-breed, and while that would usually be looked down upon in a family that's most prized possession had to be passed down through their generations, it was a blessing for a clan whose numbers had fallen dramatically during the warring era. The last of a dying breed, Chibaki Itoruka married Hotoru Kui, and together they produced a beautiful child who was betrothed to the heir of the Kui as soon as she left her mothers womb.

It seemed like an awful way to live, but Manami never had any reservations about what she wanted in life. She did not want to be a kunoichi, she was much to fragile to ever take anyone's life, so instead she was trained under her mother in the temples Chibaki brought with her. Once Chibaki passed, Manami took over full time to make sure the temples remained as her mother left them, never dwindling under the watchful eyes of her priests.

She was in her robes when her daughter ran through the door, the forehead protector clung tightly to her head as she ran into her mothers arms.

"I'm assuming this is good news," Manami smiled. "My little kunoichi."

"Do you think Dad will be proud?" Kikyo grinned, though even the older woman could see the desperation that lingered behind it. With a sigh, Manami released her daughter and instead placed a hand on her head.

"Of course he will," she replied, and they both accepted the unspoken lie.

...

"Kikyo."

The girl stopped running, her front leg still in the air and her arms up in the sprinting fashion as her head turned to the side. Kakashi was standing there, looking a little more worn down than usual.

"I can't stop, Kakashi. I'm already so late and -"

"It's okay," he responded, and she took note of his shortness of breath. Had he been fighting before this? "We'll go together."

She went to ask how he knew where she was going, or why he would take time out of his day to go with her, but stopped when she realized what he meant. Her arms dropped and her legs relaxed as the grin spread across her face and she flung herself at him.

"SENSEI!"

...

As excited as Kikyo had been about Kakashi becoming her sensei, she instantly regretted the feeling as soon as she walked through the classroom doors only to have an eraser dropped on her head. Kakashi sighed behind her, looking up from his orange book only for a second to assess his four-man squad. An obnoxious blonde, an annoying pinkette, a brooding survivor, and a narcoleptic heir. How lucky could he have been?

"...I already hate you."

And all four of their ears dropped and looks of shame crossed their face, though Kikyo's look was more of an understanding than anything else. She was just as irritated as he was; she had been stuck with Naruto, the class idiot, Sakura, a more obsessive Sasuke fangirl than even she had been in her earlier years, and Sasuke... the boy who hated her without justifiable cause.

Kakashi took them all to the roof and one by one they listed off their likes, dislikes, goals and ambitions. And all of them were just so predictable Kikyo could barely keep herself from falling asleep - normally, this time. Kakashi glanced over to Kikyo to gesture her to continue, but what was she supposed to say? She didn't have any particular likes or dislikes; she disliked her narcoleptic episodes, but exposing her weakness was not going to happen in front of people who had no part in her life and would have no part in her life no matter what. What were her goals, what were her ambitions? Had she even thought of them before?

And then the words came out like vomit.

"My name is Kikyo Kui. I like..." she paused. "I dislike... when people get sick. And my goal is to be a great kunoichi and a great leader for my clan."

When it was all said and done she was the first to leave, sprinting away from the rooftop of the academy and towards the training grounds where she could just sit and be and not have to worry about the mess she had just been grouped into.

Kakashi was the next to disappear, leaving the three by themselves to ponder what exactly just happened. Sakura turned to Sasuke, her eyes wide with ambition as she asked him if he wanted to get to know each other now that they were teammates. He brushed her off with an irritated sigh, standing up and exiting as Naruto threw himself at the pinkette. They were both so annoying - all three of them were so annoying, and being grouped with them would only hinder him in his one true goal.

But there was something strange about his other blonde teammate, something off about her. From what he could remember of the past few years at the academy, Kikyo had been one to always fight for his attention no matter what the cost. Now... now she was different, she was distant - almost as distant as he had been since their childhood friendship had abruptly ended.

And for some reason that irritated him even more.