I screamed, and just like that, it all fell away leaving me on the floor in front of Tsunade's office. 'What the hell just happened?' I thought, still breathing heavily as I stood. "You can't be serious sending her there there of all places! You'll be sending her to her death." Kurenai-sensei? Her voice drifted from the office angrily. 'I thought she left with the others.' I tilted my head, listening curiously. "It was not an easy decision, but you know as well as I do that we have no choice." "But the whole reason she was brought here was so he couldn't find her, and she'd be safe. Now we're just delivering her into his hands. All the sacrifices made will be in vain." "She will be protected, but we have no control over this. She's going to start awakening if she hasn't already, and-"
I jumped out of my skin and whirled around when a loud growl sounded behind me. "Thanks for that, Akira! Geez!" I should have heard her coming, but I was so intent on hearing the conversation that she snuck up on me. My heart dropped when the voices in the office stopped. Shit. "Raisa?" Shit, shit, shit. "Oh, Kurenai-sensei! I didn't know you were still here. I just had a little dizzy spell, so I thought I'd sit down for a moment before heading home! I was just leaving," I stammered with a nervous laugh before turning and riding away quickly on Akira's back without waiting for a response. I had never been good at lying, so I knew I had to run before she asked more questions. "Thanks for ratting me out, dude. You should recognize by now when I'm eavesdropping," I whined once we were outside. Akira barked. "I know I shouldn't eavesdrop! You don't need to tell me that. Its just...I think they were talking about me. It was weird.." What did they mean? Did they know something about my past that I didn't? I shivered. Was I in danger?
We arrived home and were greeted by Hana as she tended to the battle wounds on an older wolf-dog. "How's he doing?" I asked, climbing off of Akira and kneeling to examine the damage. "I've already bandaged the worst of it," she explained, motioning to the neatly wrapped leg, "The rest is just minor. The healing process will take time due to his age, but he'll pull through. It's probably about time he retires as a ninken anyway." My older sister was a veterinary medical-nin, and she taught me everything she knew over the years. Before training to be a shinobi, I helped her with small tasks in the clinic whenever I could. I wanted to save animals just like her when I grew up, and she was more than willing to be my mentor. When I became a genin, she'd train me in my free time on veterinary nin-jutsu.
The next morning, as luck would have it, it was pouring rain when we left the house. Akamaru and Akira playfully jumped in the puddles as we walked to the village gate, hoods pulled up. "Kotetsu! Izumo! Wuddduppp?" I called cheerfully to the village guards. They both looked up and waved. The highlight of my day was always bantering with the guards. "Ayyyy, home girl. Where you headed?" Izumo laughed. "Tsukiya," Kiba and I said at the same time. "Jinx!" I yelled, punching my brother on the arm. "Damnit!" He groaned. We always played a game growing up where the first one to call jinx got to ride on the other's back for a day.
He sighed irritably as I jumped onto his back, hugging him from behind and dropping a sisterly kiss on his cheek. The dogs yapped in laughter. "Alright, you two. Stay safe," said Kotetsu, letting us pass. Kiba pouted the whole way to where Kurenai waited. She turned her lips up in an amused smile when she saw us. "Jinx?" she asked, knowing us all too well. I nodded, grinning as Kiba scowled. "How do you keep letting your sister beat you?" Shikamaru asked as he approached us. We both glowered at him. "What are you talking about? I win more than she does!" Kiba yelled angrily followed by my, "What do you mean LET me win? Like I can't win because I'm a girl?" "You Inuzukas are so easy to tick off," Shikamaru retorted, completely unaffected by our tempers.
"Alright, children. That's enough. Let's head out," Kurenai commanded. We each vanished into the trees, jumping swiftly from branch to branch. The rain eventually cleared up, the sun peaking out from behind the clouds. I took a nap for some of the time as Kiba carried me through the woods. When night fell, we stopped to rest in a small cave. Kiba started a fire, and the dogs caught some small woodland creatures that I later cooked over the flame for everyone. After dinner, I leaned back against Akira and shut my eyes.
We began travelling once again at the break of dawn and didn't arrive to Tsukiya until midnight. The second I laid eyes on Cross Academy, my head pounded just as it had in the Hokage's Residence. I fell to my knees, head in my hands. 'This place...Why do I feel like I've been here before?' "Raisa! Are you okay?" Kiba asked, helping me up. I looked around to see everyone watching me with concerned faces. "I'm fine! Sorry. Just got a little lightheaded," I lied, brushing it off. Akira growled, knowing through our bond that I wasn't telling the truth. I gave her a look telling her to stay quiet. She shook her head and snorted. Nobody else seemed to notice as we continued on towards the gate, although I could feel Kurenai-sensei's gaze lingering on me for a moment longer. Akamaru growled suddenly as we entered the campus. "I know, buddy. Something feels weird about this place," Kiba murmured under his breath. I noticed the hair rising on Akira's back. She, too, was on edge. "Yeah, there's definitely something here," Shikamaru agreed.
There wasn't a single soul to be seen as we proceeded through the night with caution. Where was everyone? Kurenai was silent, seeming lost in thought. The hallways inside the building were illuminated only by the soft, eerie glow of the moon coming through the windows. Like the outside, there were no people walking through the wide corridor. No procrastinating students pulling all nighters in the library to study, as the library was dark when we passed it. The building was beautiful, however. Everything about it was grand, from the spiraling golden stairwells to the delicate chandeliers dangling from a ceiling painted to look like a starry night sky. The building had obviously been standing for centuries and proudly carried its vintage charm.
We eventually found the one door with light filtering through the cracks and knocked. "Enter," came a man's voice. "Headmaster Cross, nice to see you again," Kurenai greeted as she entered slowly with us following in suit. "Ah, Kurenai. Please, call me Kaien. Welcome," I heard through the open door. When I stepped inside, I saw the man who spoke. He was a younger looking male, though his mannerisms seemed to belong to one much older. He wore a pair of round glasses and had long, straight, pale hair that strayed from his ponytail and fell around his face. He sat behind a desk with his fingers laced together in front of his mouth-something I've seen Shikamaru do many times when he's carefully analyzing his opponents' movements in battle, predicting their attacks.
"Who do we have here?" Kaien inquired, resting his chin on his hands. I noticed his eyes frequently rested on me curiously, making me flush nervously before returning to Kurenai as she introduced us. "This is Kiba Inuzuka, his sister, Raisa, and Shikamaru Nara." The Headmaster's eyes studied me for a moment, and Akira walked over from the corner of the room, sensing my discomfort. She wrapped herself around my legs protectively while staring calmly at the Headmaster. Suddenly, the serious and calculating man was gone, replaced by someone else completely. His eyes widened with excitement, and he grinned with glee. "It's a puppy! Ohh she's so cute!" he gushed. To my surprise, Akira bounded right over to him and allowed him to shower her with attention. Akamaru followed right behind her, pushing his head onto the man's lap. Kiba and I exchanged confused looks, never seeing our dogs take to strangers so fast.
I had to trust Akira's instinct that this man was no threat to us, strange as he was. Just then, there was a soft knock on the door. The man instantly reverted back to his reserved posture, and the dogs trotted back to stand in front of us. "Come in," he called. The door opened slowly, and a strange jolt went through my body. A tall, slender young man walked in wearing a white school uniform. He had a mop of messy shoulder-length brown hair that fell over his handsome face like a veil. Everything around me seemed to fade away in an instant, he and I being the only ones in the room. I was caught in a spell by his deep garnet eyes, brilliantly transparent through the curtain of dark hair. He was beautiful. That's when it clicked. 'It's HIM...But that's...impossible.' The boy from my vision. He wasn't just a figment of my imagination. He was REAL. Our eyes met, and I forgot where or who I was.
"Kaname, welcome." The Headmaster's voice broke me out of my trance, bringing me back to reality. "Everyone, please meet our Moon Dorm president, Kaname Kuran." "Nice to meet you all," Kaname greeted us coolly, his eyes fixed on me with some unreadable emotion. There was talking, but I could barely hear it. The room suddenly felt unbearably hot, and my head hurt with a pulsating pain unlike any other. "Um, please excuse me. I'm so sorry," I muttered, nodding my head respectively and turning towards the door. I heard Kiba say my name faintly but ignored it and left. I ran as fast as I could outside and found myself on the roof of the school having a panic attack. My skin was on fire, and my heart was pounding so hard I couldn't breathe. It was then I had the most vivid and disturbing vision with flashes of blood tainting pure white snow on the ground, a woman's voice calling my name fearfully, somebody screaming in pain, a brief glimpse of those menacing eyes again. I shook my head violently trying to snap out of the nightmare. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I looked up at the moon, trying to calm down. Why was this happening to me?
"Raisa," came a soft voice behind me. I jumped and turned to see Kaname standing on the roof just behind me. My eyes widened in surprise. How did he find me? More importantly, how did he get on the roof? Was he a ninja as well? I didn't think shinobi went to this academy or even lived in these parts. When he spoke again, I noticed he too had fangs just like the members of my family. "Are you alright?" he asked in a smooth voice. "I-um..." I tried to prepare a lie as I did with everyone else, but as I looked into his eyes I felt compelled to tell the truth. "I've been plagued lately with these strange hallucinations..Or..What I thought were hallucinations," I explained, remembering the first image I had of his comforting gaze. I looked down at my hands, blushing. "What do you mean?" he asked gently, sitting beside me. Again, I felt the words flowing freely out of my mouth without permission.
"Ever since my 18th birthday, I stopped feeling like myself for some reason. Then I started getting these headaches yesterday and have now had two strange and frightening visions. This had never happened to me before. I-I thought I was going crazy except...In my first vision, I..." I trailed off, feeling too embarrassed to admit it. I knew I sounded insane already, but when I looked at him, he didn't seem in the least bit surprised. Almost like...He already knew. "Go on," he urged quietly. I looked up at the moon, unable to face him. "I've seen you. Your face for the most part was blurry, but the most vivid thing was your eyes. I recognized you today when I saw your eyes. I keep getting the feeling...I've met you before." I looked at him tentatively, waiting for him to run away, but he didn't. He was completely unfazed by my admission. He closed his eyes for a moment and said, "It will all make sense to you soon." When he opened his eyes, they were glowing a brilliant crimson.
