Disclaimer: Once again, I repeat, I DO NOT own Naruto. And I never will in this lifetime either, for that matter.
R&R?
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It was merely moments before it all began.
It happened shortly after Mikoto bid her hasty farewells to Tenten and picked her way through the cheering spectators. After she had given one last glance to that redheaded ninja that so often pervaded her mind...
She had just reached the dust paths when she heard a large explosion coming from the gates, dust and broken pieces of wood and stone flying everywhere.
Dodging the hurling pieces of debris, Mikoto whipped around, eyes widening in fearful awe as a large, three-headed snake appeared, towering above even the highest rooftops. The beast swung its mighty tail around, obliterating all in its path. Evil yellow eyes flicked about, glaring at its surroundings. It hissed, a sound of utter loathing.
Peeling her eyes from the fiend, she gasped as enemy ninja streamed in from all sides, shouting commands. Mikoto narrowed her eyes, silently slipping a hand in her weapon holster.
A shuriken zoomed towards her with deadly accuracy and speed. She barely managed to dodge the throwing star, turning swiftly to face her opponent. With well-practiced movements, she created a few bunshin, and together they attacked, shuriken flying in every direction. Two thudded deep in his chest, three on his arm, and one slashing his cheek. He grunted, then fell still.
As the steadily increasing number of ninja gathered about her, she deadpanned. She wasn't trained to fight off multiple enemy nin, for Kami's sake, least of all that many chuunin! After all, she was only just a genin, trained to fight in the simplest ways. It was already pretty much beyond her level to have fought with her previous opponent. Grimacing from a bloody gash on her shoulder, she quickly performed hand seals, wiping blood from her shoulder and pressing the bloody digit to the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" she cried, as smoke engulfed her enemies and blinded them. The smoke parted, revealing a monstrous jellyfish, its translucent body almost camouflaging with the background. The jellyfish thrashed about with its tentacles, bringing alarm to the ninja. Mikoto straightened, a triumphant smile on her face, panting with the effort of the summoning.
"A jellyfish!?" one of the intruders cried, smirking with glee as he swallowed his fear. "You expect us to be frightened by a mere jellyfish!? Now that's laughable!"
Another joined in, flinging a kunai at her face with practiced movements. The weapon slashed through a few strands of hair, narrowly missing her right cheek. "A jellyfish. Somehow, me thoughts that ye'd summon something better...hey, maybe next time ye'll spring up a bunny, a cut widdle bunny wabbit!" He hopped around, ridiculing none but himself.
"Heh," Mikoto panted, a grin spreading slowly across her face as the group of men burst into laughter. "You should be frightened, very frightened, if you value your existence at all." She turned to the jellyfish, and nodded her head once. The jellyfish immediately complied, blasting high-pressure water and soaking the attackers, if not bruising them.
"Oh look," another sneered, dripping water, futilely attempting to preserve the little pride he had left. "You got us all wet. Now what, or was that your big plan?"
"Now this!" Mikoto cried furiously. She was enraged by their foolish taunting, as if they were playing a game with a child. The jellyfish lashed out with tentacles, the ends blazing electric blue, a bolt of chakra-enhanced lightning zapping the chortling ninja. They froze in shock as electricity spread across their bodies, an invisible fire burning their skin, interfering with the pulsing of their hearts. Their blank eyes stared in horror at her as they collapsed one by one, dead.
It was Mikoto's turn to smirk, patting the jellyfish lightly on the back. "Good work, Izumi-san," she said, a small smile on her face.
Together, the two continued on their way, occasionally knocking out the few invading ninja. with their combined strengths. When they finally reached the village gates, Mikoto gasped as she witnessed a huge and bloody battle, the few Konoha sentries posted on duty hopelessly outnumbered by the invading forces. Jumping into the battle, she helped fend off the attackers.
She was just kicking aside a chuunin when she saw his hitai-ate. Engraved on the steel plate was a carving of a music note. Eyes wide, she spun around, and her eyes met turbaned enemies, an hourglass-like outline scratched onto the metal.
Suna and Oto...working together?
She was slammed back to reality as she was shoved roughly aside by a muscular Otogakrue jounin, leering down at her unpleasantly. She struggled to regain her composure, only to be slammed back down onto the dust. Grimacing, she kicked out with her left foot, meeting only air. She was unceremoniously shoved back onto the ground as the jounin pressed the blade of a kunai to her throat.
"Hey, little girly," he wheezed, laughing. "You shouldn't be out playing an adult's game, girly."
With a fierce cry, Mikoto pushed him off, startling him. She took this split-second opportunity to attack with a barrage of senbon needles. One slashed his arm, leaving a wide and bloody gash, but otherwise the jounin was unharmed.
"Not bad, girly, but can you take this?" he taunted as he rapidly flung shuriken, the weapons slashing against her arms and legs. Mikoto staggered back, eyes narrowing in pain as blood seeped from her wounds. Panting, she slowly recovered her stance and balance.
Charging, she unsheathed an elaborately carved dagger, its blade beaten from the hardest flint and the handle engraved with the finest ivory. With a few complicated movements and slashes, she had completely befuddled her opponent and pinned him down on the dirt.
Panting, she smirked. "Not bad for a girly, ne?"
Drawing the dagger, she prepared to stab the jounin when someone grabbed her from behind, swiftly pressing the blade of her own weapon to the back of her neck. Slowly turning around, she gasped.
"You!" she breathed, fear and hatred in her eyes. Didn't you cause enough harm already, murdering my mother...and now you're here to destroy Konoha? Haven't you caused enough pain to satisfy your greed? she thought furiously.
As she desperately attempted to wriggle from the man's firm grip, the jounin escaped from under her. Brushing the dust from his flak vest, he glared at the man who held Mikoto back.
"I could've taken care of that brat," he spat venomously, turning scarlet with rage. "I didn't need you to interfere, Hozumi."
Hozumi shook his head, a cocky smirk etched onto his lips. "Ryou, this isn't about interfering at all. Hell be damned, this isn't even about the invasion of Konoha either, you dim-witted piece of shit."
"Why, you little – " The jounin charged, enraged, flecks of spittle spraying from his mouth as he screamed curses. His katana in hand, he prepared to slash at his fellow comrade's face. In a split second, the jounin crashed onto the ground, his own katana quavering where it lay, lodged deep in his chest. Blood oozed from his wound, the red liquid splayed around him like a halo of death. He drew a shuddering breath, his last, and his mouth foamed as poison seeped into his body.
"Damn you," he rasped before he lay still, his eyes blank.
Mikoto stood slowly, her knees wobbling uncontrollably, a deep loathing blazing in her eyes. "I know why you've come back, Hozumi," she informed him calmly. "And you're never going to get its power."
And she ran, ran as quickly as she could away from that beast of a man, straying off from the dust path and into the lush forest ahead. She sent silent commands to her jellyfish summoning, ordering her to continue defending the village. She couldn't let Hozumi, the man who had taken almost everything from her, take away the last thing she held on to. Yet at the same time, she couldn't fail her first mission as a Konohagakure ninja.
She could hear the pounding of his footsteps as he gave chase, and fear thudded in her ears. She knew he would catch up eventually, and what would become of her?
Swallowing her fear, she pushed on through the thick foliage. No, she couldn't think of what might happen, but she knew that she had to use the energy that flowed within her as a bait, yet keep it from him at all costs. And she might even use that power, if things went out of hand.
The regular forest din was suddenly muffled, and too late Mikoto realized her mistake. She had wandered away from the path too many times, sometimes figuratively and other times in reality, and Hozumi knew it.
Too late did she realize that she was already captured.
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He saw her walking away, longing in his sea-blue eyes. He wanted with all his heart, even if it was a demon's heart, to follow her, to tell her what he truly meant at their brief reunion. How that she had mistaken the meaning of his words to the exact opposite of what he felt.
Too late.
He was called to the stadium, but not before his siblings cast him one last anxious glance, for the various jounin from all over the Five Shinobi Countries to evaluate his skills. He descended down the stone staircase slowly, leisurely. His chin quivered not in anticipation, but in guilt.
He knew he should have written to her over the years they were separated from each other, reached out to her as she had to him, once. How long had it been since they had frolicked in the sands of Suna, without ever knowing the pain of reality of the world of shinobi – some six, seven years, maybe?
Over the years, he had changed from a young child with naïve beliefs that ninja were living the life of excitement, to a boy who knew the horror of killing. He knew, and yet he indulged himself in the art of shedding blood, murdering to take away his grief. He had become an emotionless killing-machine, the weapon that Suna had wanted.
Did their view of him change, as he had hoped it would? His father wanted a powerful weapon that belonged to Sunagakure, their village blanketed in poverty, and so did the civilians. They needed someone who would help make the village strong again, and yet they treated him cruelly, as if he were the monster that dwelled within.
Of course, they had treated him as such since he was born, unable to control his powers and causing much unintentional chaos to Suna. But he had thought that maybe...maybe the villagers would accept him if he did what he was born to do...?
So he tried, tried and failed. Though there was one memory that was so bliss, it hurt to think about. So bliss, he didn't truly believe he deserved it.
And that was Mikoto.
She saw the boy beneath the mask of a demon, and befriended that boy. Even when she learned of the despicable truth, she stuck by him and refused point blank to let the others decide for her. Because Gaara would always remember what she had said... "Why do I care what they say, for Kami's sake?!"
He took a step forward onto the dust of the stadium, facing his opponent, the prodigy Uchiha Sasuke. He had been waiting for this moment for quite a long time now, ever since he had arrived in Konoha. He grinned devilishly, fingers twitching at the thought of proving his worth to the spectators that had come to watch the Uchiha. How instead of watching the raven-haired genin kick ass, he would get his ass kicked. Oh, and slammed onto the ground with a kunai held at his throat.
Then, in the midst of the afternoon with the sun blazing down upon him, a shiver crept up his spine, so out-of-place that he had to wonder. And the answer struck him immediately, a solution of pure simplicity.
Mikoto was in danger.
Gaara narrowed his eyes, his brain furiously working to find the perfect resolution – there were none. He would have to save her despite Suna's secret plans... and the quickest way was his most powerful form.
He would have to awaken the Shukaku, the One-Tailed Beast.
