Author's Note: Well, well, well. Chapter four, bugger me :3 I'm feeling impressed. Oh, and to the people that added me as a favourite author…
I love you so damn much :')
Please R&R :)
And on with the story :3
Life in Konoha
In the month that separated the preliminaries from the finals, I was sent to live with Hyuga Hinata and her family. She was the white-eyed girl from before, and the boy who looked similar to her was her cousin, Neji. As I found it, Neji was always bitter, and uncompassionate when it came to other people's problems. I had gathered great respect for Rock Lee, and when I learned of the treatment he received from the Hyuga genius, my good opinion of the boy was lessened considerably. Hinata was a sweet girl, constantly overlooked by her strict father, but she really was a good ninja. She just needed confidence in herself. Confidence I had to spare, but unfortunately it can't be shared as commonly or as easily as food or material possessions. I learnt a good deal from Hyuga Hinata, like how to hit the different chakra points on the body. Of course, I couldn't do it as well as her or her family, for I did not possess the Byukagan, but it increased my skill even further.
During my time spent in Konoha, I made sure to fit in. It wasn't too hard – one of water's greatest skills is that it is flexible and adaptable. I went on ridiculous training sessions with Maito Gai and Rock Lee when they allowed me, met Inuzuka Kiba's family and became good friends with his older sister Hana and her dogs, idled away my time watching clouds with Nara Shikamaru, ate heartily with Akimichi Chouji, learned new weapon techniques and practiced accuracy from Tenten, earned money in the Yamanaka florist shop and became good friends with Ino as she honed my one-look character profiles, and worked on animal summons and the use of animals on the battlefield with Aburame Shino. I found things in common with a lot of the Konoha rookies, except for Haruno Sakura, who, even if she was clever and had perfect chakra control, I knew I could beat hands down. If she did have something new I could learn from her, I wouldn't ask. My pride means too much to me. Uchiha Sasuke was gone from the Village, training somewhere with Hatake Kakashi, and Genma-sensei tried to keep me busy. I had managed to form friendships with everyone, but still no one would tell me about Uzumaki Naruto.
I learnt that he had no parents, and that he was a danger to himself and especially others, but no one would tell me why. I often dropped by at his small, ugly apartment and treated him to meals with my own savings, but he didn't seem to be interested in telling me the reason for his outcast. He just said that people would respect him one day, even if it meant he would die in the process.
Through this period of socializing and training, I was so busy that at times I almost forgot Suigetsu, and I hated myself for it. I was always on the lookout for Orochimaru, and when there was a whisper of double agents spreading around the Leaf, I pleaded with Genma-san to help the other Jounin track down who it was. He agreed, sighing. I wasn't as good to Genma-san as I should have been, but I couldn't help it. I still felt my only real teacher was Kisame-sensei. Despite my getting along with everyone, it still felt like a betrayal to Water, even though I was exiled. I only knew them for a month, so we had no real bonds. I was constantly left out, as if I was a person on the sideline. They would talk to me friendlily enough if I was there, but otherwise I was left alone – with the exception of Kiba, Hinata and Shikamaru. Only because the Hyuga household was two minutes away from the Naras, and on the way home, though.
On the day of the final Exam matches, I was sitting with Hyuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba. Akamaru and I were comparing teeth, and the dog's owner was talking to his teammate.
"Katsumi-chan. You could beat half of the shinobi competing here one handed and without your sword, you know," Kiba said, scratching a tattooed cheek. I stopped growling with Akamaru and gave my attention to him.
"I'm sure. But all these people managed to keep their teammates alive." I looked at the empty arena below and sighed. I would relish a chance to show off my skills. No one in Konoha had really seen me fight.
"You can't blame yourself, Katsumi-chan," Hinata said kindly. "Orochimaru was the reason they died." Hinata-chan was so sweet, and wouldn't accept that it was my fault, as the only survivor, that they had died. Her team had survived, hadn't they? Obviously. It wasn't even Orochimaru that killed them. Not directly. It was those bastard Sound minions. When I had heard that Subaku no Gaara had murdered Dosu, it was a bittersweet feeling. I had wanted to kill him myself.
"I wonder where Naruto is," I said, changing the subject. "If he doesn't hurry up he'll be late."
"Just like Naruto, to be late," Ino sighed as she took up a seat next to me. I grinned quickly at Shikamaru and Chouji before returning my attention back to her.
"Anyone would think you didn't like the kid."
She shrugged.
This frustrated me. I wanted to know why nobody was really close to him. Sakura and Sasuke were on his team, but still undermined him at every possibility. Sakura was standing at the back somewhere. She wasn't with us.
"Are you nervous, Shikamaru?" I asked him. After all, he was the only one competing today, and against the Sand kunoichi no less. She was dangerous – a respectable opponent. I wondered how her fan would go against my jutsu.
He just shrugged, and for the most part, ignored me. Ino slapped him and scolded him for the rudeness, but I wasn't so bothered. She apologised to me for him and he rolled his eyes. I reached over both of them to grab chips from Chouji.
We were interrupted by the announcers' voice booming out over the crowd. The first match would be between Naruto and Neji. The throng of people around us, watched over by silent members of ANBU, cheered as Neji walked out onto the sandy circle. Naruto was late coming, but eventually turned up in time.
I watched in amazement as Naruto beat Neji within an inch of his life, all the while berating him for his treatment of Hinata-chan. The Hyuga in question was clutching her own hands tightly in her lap and staring so hard it seem as if she had activated her Byukagan.
When Naruto had ended the battle by telling Neji not to believe so much in fate, they were taken away for treatment and the match between Sasuke and Gaara was postponed due to Sasuke's late coming. Kankurou withdrew. Instead, Shikamaru and Temari were up next.
"This is troublesome, you know. I don't want to do it," he growled.
"If you pull out you'll lose to a girl," I threatened, not even looking at him. He hesitated and then sighed.
"It's troublesome but I'll do it. I won't lose to a girl."
Ino and Chouji slapped their foreheads in frustration. "You beat the genius? Both of us combined couldn't convince him to fight today, and you manage with a couple of words!"
I shrugged. "I know how his mind works. We have a lot in common. I just exploited his pride. Easy. You don't have to be a genius."
Shikamaru fought Temari half-heartedly, and ended up forfeiting the match despite the fact he had her caught. I sighed, and unsheathed Sametogatta. My dear katana was blood-starved after all. The Konoha nin around me watched uneasily as I bit my thumb and continued to sharpen the steel weapon. That was the thing about Konoha, and probably why I wasn't told too much. It was obvious I was different, not just from my teeth or my water obsession, but from my brutality on and off the battlefield. Water was unpredictable. Sometimes, like when I was with dry Shikamaru, I was calm and placid. When with Kiba I was loud and energetic. When with Neji I was focused and attentive. Maybe that's what scared them - that I displayed so many different sides of myself so they didn't know who to trust. It was like being two-faced, but perhaps more dangerous.
I ran down the stairs to meet Shikamaru, and saw that Naruto was with him. I congratulated them both, and as we started to head back up the stairs, Gaara came down. I ignored him for the most part, but Naruto and Shika flinched. The Sand shinobi was muttering psychotically to himself, clenching his hands tightly so that blood dripped onto the floor. I watched calmly, having stopped walking, as he approached, and fantasized about what it would be like to fight him.
He was only a couple of metres away when two unidentified ninja approached him, halting his movement. They laughed at the eleven-year-old and treated him like a child, telling him to drop the match and let Sasuke win, all for the sake of a bet. I knew I had found a kindred spirit when the two ninja were slaughtered and Gaara just kept on walking. As he passed, I smiled at him, but received no reaction.
"Sweet kid," I grinned at Naruto and Shikamaru, hefting my sword and leaping up the stairs.
"Ano… You shouldn't joke about Gaara, Katsumi-chan. He went after Lee after their fight and attempted to finish him off. He was going to attack Shikamaru and I as well, but Gai sent him away."
I frowned. I liked Rock Lee. I knew people thought he was a freak, but I recognised he was as valuable to Konoha as Kisame-sensei was to Kiri. Obviously, Gaara was wound up tight, but I decided then and there to get through that sand armour and see what he was like underneath.
"Hnn," I growled, changing my tune and the subject, looking at the stairs we still had to go. "These stairs are so…"
"Troublesome!" Shika cried out wretchedly.
"Why do there have to be so many?" I whined.
"You guys are weird," Naruto told us, making a face as I pretended to collapse on Shika's shoulder, crying.
"Well if that's how you see it," I huffed, hugging Shikamaru and teleporting upwards, leaving the blond behind. We sniggered to each other when we got to our destination.
"What are you two laughing about?" Kakashi smiled at us.
"Konnichiwa, Kakashi-san. You made it then?"
"Maa… We almost missed out," he said, embarrassed, rubbing his neck. Gai-san was standing near us, and Sakura seemed to have been talking to him before we appeared.
"Konnichiwa, Katsumi-san, Shikamaru-san," she smiled politely.
"Yo."
Shika grunted. "Konnichiwa."
"Gai-san!" I shouted, changing personality again and rushing to Konoha's Green Beast.
"Katsumi!" he shouted, striking a pose rivaling my own. The teeth gleamed, the stars flew. This guy was brilliant. "Have you seen my dear Lee-san! He's still in hospital! He may never be a ninja again!"
"Oh Gai-san! You're so strong for coping!"
He wiped a tear. "I know."
Behind me, Kakashi, Shikamaru and Sakura were staring. I turned serious. "I will visit Lee-kun after I watch Gaara and the Uchiha," I promised.
"Arigatou, Katsumi!" he roared, bowing. I smiled.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted suddenly. The four of us turned our attention to the arena, just to see Sasuke knocked to the ground by Gaara's demon sand.
"Ah, he'll be alright," I yawned. "He's a genius, isn't he?"
Shika huffed. "Who cares?"
We watched as Gaara and a now long-haired Sasuke fought it out below us. My curiosity peaked as Gaara withdrew himself into a sphere of sand.
The Ultimate Defence.
Sasuke tried all a manner of things to break through the spherical shell to reach the shinobi within. He tried kunai, shuriken and his katon jutsu without success.
"That boy is so strong!" Sakura whispered.
"Mmm, I like him."
Everyone turned to me, most of them angry, all of the appalled.
"I don't condone what he's done," I snapped. "I just think that he can't be all that bad. I've seen people that others have run screaming from treat their fellows well. I bet Gaara's just had something happen."
I felt really lame saying that, but I truly believed it. I had seen people like him before. Zabuza showed compassion to Haku, Kisame-sensei was almost like a father to me. They were feared all over Water Country, and their reputation spread to others as well. I had seen ninja go through harsh training, coming out as cold and emotionless monsters, and I had studied how to undo the mental attitude.
All of a sudden I felt a strange wave wash over me. Heaps of people around me slumped in their seats. Some fell to the ground. Sakura, Gai and Kakashi were still awake. Shikamaru had gone down. Naruto, who had been sneaking up behind us, was snoring loudly.
"It's a -"
"Genjutsu." I finished Sakura's sentence and looked for the others that weren't asleep. The ANBU members, as to be expected, were still upright and had started to move. One particular masked, cloaked ninja flitted to the front rows of the stadium and summoned others. The next thing I knew there was a flurry of kunai in the air, shooting over my head. Gai, Kakashi and I leapt into action. I grinned as Sametogatta was unleashed upon my enemies, impaling them on its two massive spikes and then slicing them to ribbons with the rest of the blade. I heard the enemy shinobi swear as they realised my katana had taken their chakra.
Kakashi was talking to Sakura, but I wasn't properly listening to what he was saying. I was just a little bit distracted. Ducking and weaving, I made my way through opponent after opponent, holding my own and – hopefully – managing to look impressive even while compared to Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai. I turned, facing the arena and cutting down the Sand nin in front of me. Temari and Kankurou had leapt down onto the Sand and grabbed their brother, carrying him away. Sasuke pursued them angrily, not wanting him to get away before they finished their match.
Kakashi was talking to Sakura again, and she was dispelling the genjutsu from Naruto's mind in an effort to wake him up. I blasted away a foe with Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu and turned to fight another. When Sakura had managed to bring Naruto to his senses, she next tried to wake Shikamaru, and shouted at him angrily when she realised he was awake and just didn't want to go.
"Good one, Shika."
"Troublesome," he sighed.
"Are you getting Sasuke?" I shouted as I used water clones to hold the limbs of an opponent and then beheaded him, shooting blood everywhere.
"Under normal circumstances… we wouldn't send a former Rain nin on a mission like this… but…" Kakashi and Gai were back to back. The tall Jounin sighed. "Sasuke is not to cross the Fire Country boundaries – at all. He has been the target of Orochimaru for a long time…."
"Orochimaru?!" I howled, turning around and raising myself on tiptoes to shout in Kakashi's face. "Let me go! I'll kill the reptilian bastard! I'll get your damn Sasuke back!"
Now the Jounin looked unsure. Shika, Naruto and Sakura were struck dumb. Gai sent someone flying with a bone-cracking kick and looked seriously over Kakashi's shoulder at me. "Shinobi never show their emotions."
"I'll show you emotion!" I screamed and flooded the whole arena, where a number of ninja were fighting. I sent my Four Eating Sharks into the lake-like water feature, and they attacked two Sand nin mercilessly. "Let me go on the damn mission!" I swung Sametogatta over my head, impaling someone on one of its spikes. Gai and Kakashi evaluated the situation, and eventually decided that I would go. Growling, I set off after the others, following Pakkun, who was tracking Sasuke's scent.
When I had gone, Gai let out a sigh of relief. "She didn't see him."
Kakashi stabbed an opponent with one of his kunai. "That's why I let her go." He raised his eyes to look at the massive barrier, containing the Hokage Sarutobi and none other than the person I had been looking for since he had taken my most important person away from me, Orochimaru.
We wove our way through the streets of the crumbling Leaf. Konoha shinobi had rounded up civilians into their care, so that the innocents would be spared the brunt of the invasion. Ninja were stationed at each of the Village's gates, on the lookout for more intruders. Meanwhile, the older generation of shinobi warriors held the Sand and the Sound nins at bay. We passed the original Ino-Shika-Cho team. I saw Hiashi fighting with the other Hyugas, and a sudden sense of loneliness gripped me. All these people had people who cared for them, didn't they? But my parents were gone. Kisame-sensei thought I was dead. Chouza would die to protect Chouji, Inoichi for Ino, the same with Shika and his father, but no one was coming to save me. I supposed this was something I would have to get used to. I was, after all, no different from a lot of ninja out there. Kakashi, for example, had lost everybody he ever loved. There was no blood-relative to help him either. It was expected that Hatake Kakashi would look after himself….
Not far out of the village, it became apparent that there were nine Sound nin on our trail, and Shikamaru stayed behind to hold them off. Naruto, Sakura, Pakkun and I pressed onwards. I wished that I wasn't held back by the speed of the others. I was in torture. If I got to Sasuke, then my chances of meeting Orochimaru would increase. Perhaps he would use the distraction of the invasion to take him, and I could make my move. I was stronger now.
We darted through the trees. I tried to keep myself under control. We passed Kankurou and Shino, both unconscious. I rapidly summoned a bird to relay a message back to Konoha – Shino was poisoned – then we carried on.
When we finally managed to catch up to Sasuke, a deformed monster was hanging over him, about to strike the finishing blow. I shot Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu at him, the Shark Missile Technique, as Naruto and Sakura added their own attacks. Gaara – for it must have been him, his sister was crouching on a tree branch nearby, panic-stricken – was thrown off guard, and his attention was turned to us.
Gaara hesitated. He seemed to be remembering something, triggered by Naruto and Sakura's loyalty to their teammate. Seeing this as my only opportunity, I entrusted my body into the care of the others, and cast my mind into Gaara.
The resistance I met almost threw me out, but I persevered. Gaara's innermost thoughts were cold and dark. He had experienced little to no happiness in his life, and I felt sorry for him. I saw memory after memory – a small boy trying to play with others but getting shunned because of his powers, an uncle that told him he loved him, numerous attempts of failed suicide….
I was thrown into pit, whirring with wind. In a cage before me was a giant raccoon. Gaara himself was there. His hand was joined with the demon raccoon's through the bars. For one of the first times in my life, I was really unsure. I took a tentative step, and reached out a hand, laying it on his shoulder.
"Gaara?"
He shouted and screamed, recoiling from my touch. I reaffirmed it. "Gaara, dammit you little brat, listen to me!" I shouted at him.
"Let me go," he hissed.
"Calm down! We can help you. Leave Sasuke alone. Leave Naruto and Sakura. Who cares what happens to them? Why do you care?"
"He has… They have… eyes like me…."
"Seems more of a reason to befriend them, doesn't it?"
"Shut up!" he screamed, clutching his head. The demon behind him laughed in a deep voice. "Leave Gaara alone, girl. He belongs to me, Shukaku."
"He doesn't belong to anyone," I spat at the raccoon. I was just angry now. I thought I understood more about Gaara now. I had seen many of his memories.
"What would you know?" the redhead roared at me. "Konoha ninja, interfering where you don't belong!"
I did something that I probably shouldn't have then. I slapped Sabaku no Gaara, right across the face. No demon sand to protect him in here, my hand made contact with soft, untouched skin. "I am not from Konoha."
He just stared at me. Shukaku laughed. "I don't care where you're from," it told me. "You're going to die."
As I was thrown out of his mind, I shouted back to Gaara.
"Don't let it take you Gaara-kun! Fight it!"
I returned to my own body, which, to my surprise, was being tended to by Temari.
"What the hell?" I looked at her. She looked at me.
"I'm doing this for my brother."
Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, my body had sustained major damage. Naruto was busy fighting Shukaku/Gaara, and Sakura had been pinned up against a tree with the demon's severed limb. I cut her some slack, sighing before I fell completely unconscious.
When I came to, Gaara and Naruto were lying exhaustedly next to each other. I went to Naruto, checked he was okay, before turning to Gaara, who was groggy, but still awake. I knelt beside him and focused my chakra, pumping it into his body.
"What are you….?"
"You'll need the strength to get home," I told him.
"Aren't you afraid I'll hurt you?" he asked, some of the old, sinister Gaara returning.
"I trust you."
He fell silent, staring up at the sky when I rolled him onto his back. I put his head on my lap and converted chakra to water, just as I had in the Forest of Death with Naruto. He drank quietly, his sand swirling around us.
"Why?"
"I know you're alright. You've just had crap happen to you…." I paused and sighed, Temari was watching from afar. I had slipped away when she wasn't watching. Kankurou was with her now.
"I tried to kill your friends."
"I lost count of how many Sand nin I killed. I murdered your comrades. We're square." I looked up at his older sister. "You should come see me after all this is done Sabaku no Gaara," I told him, letting him down and going to check my Konoha 'comrades'.
He kept my hand in his.
"Thank you," he whispered. "You and Naruto… I… I won't forget."
I laughed.
"Sayonara, Gaara-kun," I smiled, and took my hand away.
Author's Note: I actually posted this on my profile, but I'll say it here as well. I am sorry about the second chapter hanging on the end of the first one, and then having a whole new page again – my best attempts to change it have been foiled. But I did try
