CHAPTER 6
"Begin," The proctor said with another cough, and I watched in horror as the two launched into a huge Ninjutsu fight, the battlefield churned up into a huge earthen mess of big and little spikes of sand, mounds of dirt, and boulders within seconds… not one part of the original floor was left after a minute.
Riku and Haruka carefully balanced on the spikes as they dodged each other's attacks gracefully, jumping from one place to the other and trying to outdo the other in a never ending fight, but finally they both paused after Haruka was blown back from the impact of a punch. Riku attacked again with yet another Earth Style jutsu, but Haruka dodged it easily, having recovered from the weak punch, and stood on top of a boulder.
"You and I both know we're running out of chakra, Riku… you should know that even better than me! Why are you still even using it?" Haruka attacked with a kunai in hand, and Riku deflected it.
"I can't lose!" Riku yelled, and I cringed as she weaved some more signs and sent her Desert Cactus Needle Barrage Haruka's way, their speed slower than usual, and fell.
"Please… come on," I whispered, putting my arms on the rail and burying my head inside of them. I resisted looking the rest of the time, cringing as I heard a cry or punch.
Finally, after 10 more minutes, I heard a cry.
"Stop!" I jerked my head up to see them both still standing, in the middle of weaving more hand signs. The proctor walked up in between them, looking at them. "Since this has been going on for 30 long minutes and we do not have a winner, I call a tie. You are both still standing and have chakra, so you will both go on to the final round." I sighed my stress away and sat down, letting my feet hang out of a hole in the railing, and closed my eyes. Thank god…
As I heard them walk slowly back up to me, I opened my eyes and looked forward to see Shikamaru looking at me with a slight smile. He nodded, and I smiled back before I felt Haruka and Riku plop down on each side of me. I looked at each of them and smiled tensely, glad they were okay, but worried about the relationships of the team now.
"I'm so glad you guys didn't have to finish," I whispered, and they looked up at me with a weary smile.
"Yeah, we are too." Haruka whispered. "Riku, good fight," She held her hand out in front of me and I leaned back, letting Riku take it and shake.
"We've both come so far, huh? I'm proud," Riku said, and Haruka nodded. The board made another noise and yelling came from the other side, getting all our attention, and I watched as Naruto jumped down, ready, and Kiba walked down quickly with Akamaru with interest. "Oh, this'll be interesting. I wonder how Naruto will use his chakra?" Haruka asked. We watched, interested, as Kiba put Akamaru down and attacked Naruto with deadly speed as chakra cloaked him. Naruto was blown back, and I giggled softly as Kiba stood up.
"Well, it certainly was interesting… but not in the way I thought it would be," I whispered, and watched as Kiba started to walk away. "Keep Kiba in mind too, just because of how fast he moved and ended the match," Riku nodded, but gasped as Naruto got up. Kiba threw a smoke bomb, and I craned my neck to try to see but in vain. Come on, I can't see who's winning! I heard a few groans and Naruto came out, where Akamaru was waiting, and was thrown back. As the smoke bomb faded, I saw Naruto on the ground. Amakaru started to race towards Kiba's outstretched arms but suddenly bit Kiba, and then transformed into Naruto. "Whoa, there!" I said, and watched as Naruto revealed the real Akamaru. Kiba threw something to Akamaru and he ate it and turned red and quickly got away from him and turned into another Kiba and attacked over and over again.
"Well, that's turned quickly," Wishina-Sensei muttered. "Those food pills are going to destroy the poor Naruto kid. I watched as Kiba and Akamaru quickly hit Naruto, but he got up again with difficulty after Kiba pounded him with words.
"That boy has serious guts!" Haruka exclaimed, and we watched speechlessly as Naruto transformed into another Kiba after a serious beating. Kiba then hit another one of him, but it turned out into Akamaru. Kiba then turned and hit the other, and it turned out into another Akamaru. I let my mouth open, surprised, and the first one he hit turned into Naruto.
So he actually has an inch of brains…
Kiba then turned the fight into a beating for Naruto because he made him hurt his dog, but after Naruto passed gas Kiba ultimately lost. I was called against one of the teammates of Kabuto's, the guy that forfeited, and decided to keep my Water Style chakra a secret. I used just Lightning Style jutsu and my brains, but he was still able to overpower me quickly.
As he held a kunai to my throat I swallowed hard, closing my eyes as slight fear flew through me. My brain was suddenly blank as the guy laughed, and nothing came to mind unless I wanted to give away my other type of jutsu. Crap. Am I going to have to give it away? I didn't want to, but…
"Come on, Kitsune! Don't become the only one of the Sand that doesn't continue on to the final round!" I heard Kankuro yell, and put my hand on the guy's hand to keep the kunai away from my throat. This is bad… come on, think! You can't give away your secret… there has to be another way.
"What's wrong, kid? Does the know-it-all not know anything else to do?" He taunted.
"Kitsune, come on! What's up with you?" Haruka yelled, and I heard an exasperated groan. I opened my eyes and shifted slightly to see the groan came from one of the Leaf Ninja, and watched as Shikamaru put his head on the rail, bored. Man, he really annoys .me when he looks like that. It's like he- Wait… that's it! Yeah, that'll be perfect! Thanks, Shikamaru.
"Okay, please," I whispered, closing my eyes and putting on a scared look. The guy shifted and threw me down, getting on top of me and sitting to hold me down as he held the kunai closer.
"Are you forfeiting?" He asked, louder than me, and I heard gasps from my team and Kankuro. Even Temari seemed surprised, and I shifted my eyes to the proctor briefly.
"Kitsune, no!" Good.
"Please don't kill me," I whispered, and inwardly smiled at his stupidity.
"Ha, she's done!" He yelled, getting up, earning more gasps, but I quickly sat up and grabbed his leg, twisting it until I heard a crack. He cried out and fell back to his back, and I stood up and threw my tongue out as he slowly sat up.
"But…" I smiled, lowering my head, and started to weave some signs to end this.
"Okay, okay! I give up, just stop it!" I smiled and waited until the medics took him away to walk back to my team, Kankuro shaking his head and Riku and Haruka glaring at me.
"How dare you scare us like that! I can't believe you, Kitsune. Where did you think of that?" She asked and I smiled, glancing over at Shikamaru to see him watching me with narrowed eyes.
"The lazy butt over there gave me the idea. The way he's so lazy and complaining about wasting energy… when he first came up I thought he'd give up, and it gave me the idea to try to fake it and lower his guard so I could turn the tide," Haruka sighed, and I smiled as I watched two Hyuga members come up. I was then notified of a family feud between the two, and watched in horror as the guy tried to murder the girl as she continued to try to win. Naruto seemed to egg her on, giving her strength to get up even when she obviously had enough, but she lost and started to go into cardiac arrest.
I made sure to stay away from Neji with all my energy.
After the field was done being cleaned, Gaara was called up against the weird looking guy in Neji's group. Okay, I don't think I want to see this.
"I'm not sticking around to watch this… tell me if I miss anything." I whispered, and quickly left through the doors and sat outside.
After 30 minutes, my team came through the doors, clearly shaken up. I stood and fell into step with them in silence, biting my lip.
"What happened?"
"Rock Lee… he was able to actually hit Gaara, and became so fast even his sand shield wasn't able to keep up. Gaara was forced to be cornered, but ultimately ruined his opponent. You needed to be there to understand," Riku said softly, and I felt uncontrollable shivers run up my spine. Impossible! He got past Gaara's sand, but lost? "And the last battle, well… it was over in seconds; Choji lost. We have a month to train and learn new techniques, and we saw who we were going to be going against. We don't remember who you'll be going against, but they'll show us again during the final round. Wishina's taking us out to eat for congratulations."
As we got to a little restaurant, Wishina got out presents she has hidden and gave it to us. We opened it, and found weapons; Haruka got a pair of Ninjaku, Riku got a sword, and I got a new set of handsomely made kunai knives and shuriken.
We spent most of the time we had getting used to our new weapons and training; I brushed up on my Taijutsu so I could use the kunai knives for more than one purpose, and Haruka and Riku sparred with their new swords. In that month of intense training, I was able to actually find time to get to know the rookies of Konoha, getting into some of the mischief they get into daily. Shikamaru and I came to hang out more than the other rookies, though, and he even brought me out to help him tend to the deer one day.
Two days until the final part of the exams came, we got a surprise mission. Wishina, upon calling us to the forest to reveal it to us, was pale as she looked at us.
"Kids, we've been ordered to take part in a huge group mission of Suna… we are to aid the village in invading Konoha." She said, and I let my mouth drop in shock. Are they out of their mind?
"No! No, we can't!" I yelled, and Wishina cringed.
"Keep your voice down, child. We are to wait until Gaara starts his battle in the finals, leave the building the finals will be held in, and meet up in the forest with the rest of the Nin that will come." I shook my head, stubborn.
"No. I'm not going to do it!" I said, and Wishina shook her head.
"I know it's wrong and you have friends here now, but read the scroll." She said, and handed it to me. I quickly skimmed the mission with Haruka and Riku and came to the consequences, stopping short.
"They'd kill us? They'd kill us?! What the hell has the Kazekage gotten into? This is wrong, Wishina-Sensei! They're innocent people, and haven't done anything!"
"You will do as your told," I heard a voice behind me say and turned to see my parents, dressed in Suna outfits and everything. My father glared at me in hatred. "Or else I will personally kill you myself." My mother cringed and kneeled down to me, taking my hands as I froze up.
"Honey, please. They really will kill you for you don't do this, okay?" She whispered, and I bit my lip.
"This is wrong…" I whispered and stalked out into the city, brushing past my parents troubled. If I didn't do as told, I'd perish, but if I did it would mean killing innocent people, maybe friends. I would ruin my bonds I had with everyone here, and surely never be able to come back. I sighed and walked slowly, dejectedly, around the village and looked at the homes, work places, and shops. It was so pretty, and the people were nice to me as I walked by.
I couldn't do it, and I knew that.
But, if I just fled and hid during the invasion I could maybe save my reputation slightly and help the village secretly in the reconstruction.
"You're an idiot, Kitsune," I muttered and kicked a little rock on the sidewalk, knowing it couldn't work. Then, an idea came to me. I could always get injured during my first fight or approach a Konoha Nin and let them take me over! As I found myself in the park, I let my back hit a tree and slumped down, hiding my face. "What do I do?" I whispered, and closed my eyes. The wind blew on my hair and sent a sweet aroma towards me, and I knew I couldn't stand up with my village against something so beautiful and pure.
I'm going to die, and for a different village besides mine.
"What do you want to do?" I heard someone ask, and jumped up to see Shikamaru standing a few feet away from me. I bit my lip and looked away, ashamed.
"Have you been following me?"
"No, I come here quite a lot. If you weren't so deep in thought you would have seen me lying down on the other side of the sidewalk. What's up?" Shikamaru asked, and I looked at him. Should I tell him? Maybe he could help and keep the talk in confidentiality.
"Shikamaru-" I started, but a sharp voice interrupted me.
"Kitsune!" I whirled around to see my father again, the top of a kunai glinting in his hand, the rest covered by his sleeve. I swallowed hard and backed up, scared. "There you are. Wishina wants to give you a lecture about duty," He said, his eyes the usual bottomless pits of hatred, and I looked down. In the corner of my vision I saw Shikamaru get in front of me.
"What's going on, Kitsune?" He asked, and I closed my eyes and felt tears start to come up as I knew what was next.
"Shikamaru, go home." I whispered, and looked at Shikamaru, who was nonchalantly reaching for his pouch. He shook his head.
"Who is he?"
"Kitsune!" My father barked, and I cringed again, my head falling.
"Yes, father…" I whispered in submission, and passed Shikamaru without looking at him. My father let me pass him and pushed me on, not saying a word.
Shikamaru's POV
I let my mouth drop as Kitsune answered the guy softly, calling him 'father' and passing me silently, her head down in submit and hair hiding her face. As she crossed the man he pushed her, the guy still glaring at me horribly with a cruel smile before turning. Kitsune looked back slightly, her eye meeting mine in a silent cry for help before turning back around. I clenched my fists, vile coming up in my mouth and fear for Kitsune's well-being making me shiver. How horrible! I can't believe she puts up with that all her life… I guess this was a vacation to her before he showed up. What is he going to do to her? Should I maybe follow to help her? I heard someone jump down beside me and turned around to see another Suna adult, a splitting image of Kitsune this time. The woman looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Please… tell me what she said to you,"
"She didn't have the chance to say anything because of that monster!" I yelled, and she cringed.
"Keep my baby safe, okay? Keep her safe the day of the final exam, and don't let her do anything stupid," She whispered and lowered her eyes, starting to babble. "I tried to protect her from him, but couldn't. And every time I start to flee the house and live with my parents with Kitsune, he always shows up and threatens to kill me. It is not the life I want to have for me or my little Kitsune, young one. It seems she trusts you with all her heart coming to you in a situation like this, so don't betray it and keep her safe the day of the final exams!" She said with her voice cracking and getting louder at the last sentence. Her skin suddenly started to peel away and into sand, a tear falling from her cheek. The wind blew her hair as she vanished, and I clenched my jaw. What was going on?
"Do you understand what she meant, or was she talking nonsense?" I heard another voice, and turned to see Naruto coming out from a hiding place.
"Okay, is everyone hiding here today or something?" I asked, and Naruto shook his head.
"I was walking when I heard yells. I followed to see Kitsune leaving with a guy, looking depressed, and you were talking to a woman."
"She's Kitsune's mother and the guy was her father, who beats her. He may do… he may do something." I whispered, clenching my fists, and Naruto looked at me.
"Are you actually riled up about that? I've never seen you this… not lazy." Naruto said dumbly, and I glared at him.
"I think something's going to happen during the final exams that will make Kitsune make a choice. I don't know what though. Her father is clearly on one side, and her mother wants her to do what she thinks best for herself." I said, and bit my lip. "I need to talk to Haruka or Riku," I said, and started to walk away.
"Hey, wait up! I want to know what's going on here too," Naruto said, and followed me to the village and onto the rooftops, looking for Riku or Haruka.
After Naruto used his shadow clones to search the area we found them, and approached. Riku and Haruka shared expressions before looking back at us.
"What's up with Kitsune, and what's going to happen at the final exam?" Riku sighed at my question.
"Kitsune's on edge because of her father coming to watch her and nothing's going to happen at the final exams." She said, lying easily, and I stared at her. She glared back at me, and crossed her arms. "Just go away, Nara!" She yelled, and they stalked off.
"What's gotten into them?" Naruto asked as we watched them leave, and I sighed.
"They're in on whatever it is too," I whispered, and turned to see the sun setting. "I'll see you later, okay? I need to think on this troublesome situation…" I whispered, and walked home with worry. Kitsune, what were you going to say? And do you really trust me so much…? Please, don't cave in to whatever he's going to do to you… don't let the sun fade.
Kitsune's POV
"What were you thinking, telling him?" Riku asked again, this time quietly. I cringed as she was scary quiet after her yelling.
"I told you, I trust him… besides, I don't care if I die; I'm not going to let them murder innocent people! I'm not going to let them murder my friends! You know how friendly these people are." I said loudly and stood up, taking the ice pack off of my cheek. I felt my limbs cry out in pain and cringed, but still stood straight. "It's wrong, and I'd rather die on a clear conscious and doing what's right. A lot of people probably want me to die, also, and by the time this is over even more will," I muttered, sitting back down and putting the ice pack back up to my cheek. I heard a knock on the door suddenly, and Kankuro's voice came in.
"Hey, can I come in?" He asked, and I swallowed as fear came up.
"He can't see me like this!" I rasped, and Riku nodded.
"No, we're busy! Come back later!" She yelled back, and Kankuro sighed.
"I have something important to tell you guys!"
"I bet we already heard about it. Now, go away!" She yelled again, and I heard the knob twist.
CHAPTER 7
Riku was up and running then, trying to push the door closed to keep Kankuro out as I quickly put myself under the covers, hiding my ugly bruises and scrapes. I heard a bang and someone groaning, and footsteps coming inside. "Hey, get out! No, no, no! Don't touch her!" Riku cried, panicked, and I heard Haruka huff as she slammed into Kankuro.
"What's going on, Kitsune?" Kankuro asked, and finally the covers were thrown back to reveal my body. I cringed and curled up, closing my eyes as he gasped, and I felt his hand brush my bangs away to reveal the bruise on my cheek. I felt like just crawling up in a hole and dying. "What happened?"
"My father thought I was going to leak the mission to a Konoha kid." I whispered, my eyes still closed, and Kankuro sighed.
"You weren't, right?"
"Of course not. I can't go against my village, right?" I lied to my friend easily, my eyes not able to give me away for once since they were closed.
"Okay, good. Then he had no right to beat you up!" I opened my eyes and looked ahead.
"Kankuro, don't do anything. It's okay; a little bruise won't hurt me."
"A little bruise?" Kankuro replied, snorting, and Riku pushed him away softly.
"I think you should go. Don't tell anyone, okay?" She said, and I turned to see him nod, still looking at me. As I sat up he hugged me hard, hurting me, but I kept my cry inside.
"I'm so sorry," He whispered, and left silently. Riku closed the door after him and looked back at me.
"Why did you lie?"
"I don't know. At the time I thought it was a better idea. He'd probably do something stupid if I told him the truth," I whispered, and Riku nodded.
As we went to bed, I was welcomed with a flashback nightmare.
I was walking with a hand squeezing my left arm tightly, cutting the circulation off. A cruel, cold voice was talking.
"… and you don't even deserve to be alive. I hate you, and I can't believe you're even my daughter. You're pathetic, worthless, and just a piece of crap, you know that? I should have killed you when you were an infant," I looked out at the people passing, and let my eyes come upon a family of three; a mother, father, and little girl around 5. The adults were smiling as the girl skipped ahead, spinning around and dancing. Suddenly, though, she hit a rock and fell to the ground hard, starting to cry. Upon closer inspection she hadn't scraped anything, she just fell, but the father ran up immediately and picked her up, his eyes full of concern and love as his hand wiped her eyes. As he started to talk the girl she stopped crying and nodded, and then started to laugh. The mother then got to their side and they hugged, the girl smiling and in the middle of the warming group hug. I felt my father jerk my arm again, pulling me away and jolting me back to the cruel life I had.
I felt envy and longing well up as I looked back to see the family still hugging, all smiling with love. I felt self pity, also, because I knew I would never be able to feel the love of an actual father after I fell, or know how it feels like to have a fatherly figure even comfort a wound. I'd never be able to have a hug like that or a kiss on the cheek from him, never be able to feel the happiness spread as he teaches me one of his jutsu, helps me train, cheers for me to be successful in life, walk me down the aisle…
Tears welled up as I longed so much for a father like that and the chance to know how all of that felt like to have, and we finally got to the forest. We went deeper and deeper into the forest and fear started to well up inside of me for my own well-being.
What was he going to do? Was he actually going to…?
Finally we stopped and he punched me as hard as he could, hitting my cheek and sending me flying into a tree from the impact. I slumped down and forced tears back, but my father picked me up and smiled horribly as he hit me in the gut again, this time with a kunai. I cried out as blood came up and trickled down my mouth, my eyes staring into the seemingly bottomless pits of hatred that were my father's eyes and feeling a shiver of fear and coldness sweep over me despite the warm sunny day. Something moved in the corner of my eye and I looked to see a single deer peering out, its head the only thing visible. Its eyes peered at me before leaving, and I felt a tear fall. I am alone… all alone with him… My father saw this and dropped me and kicked my side before jabbing a shuriken into my thigh.
"Do not show weakness… if you do, you are weak! You are weak, Kitsune!" He yelled, and let his foot stomp down hard on my thigh, forcing the shuriken into my skin deeper. "Die in the finals!" He squatted down and punched again, but hit my arms as they flung up to protect my face. Over and over his fist came down, sometimes with shuriken and sometimes with nothing, pain flying through my arms, his voice yelling at me, pointing out everything that was wrong about me and feeling like nothing was right about me…
I cried out and jumped up, my cheeks wet and tears in my eyes, and saw myself in a hotel room. The pain caught up to me and I cringed, glancing at Riku and Haruka who were both still asleep, and I fell back in silent tears. They did so much to help me after I showed up in that state, barely able to move, and yet I still think about leaving them in the village for this one… but I have to do something; it's the right thing to do… maybe if I died it would be better. I'm just a caged bird, anyways; a pet to a cruel human that neglects it, its once beautiful feathers and songs gone, dull, silent...
The next day, I put my overcoat on and kept it closed, hiding the injuries on my arms and the few that he had gotten on my legs. I kept the scarf inside my pouch, though, not able to part with it but not putting it on because I couldn't move without hurting. My hair fell down naturally over the bruise on my cheek, and I nodded at my reflection in satisfaction as I opened the door. I just had to not walk like I was sore from something and it would be all good.
As I got out and bought a peach, I let my feet carry me aimlessly around as I ate, not knowing what I wanted to do today. I felt someone fall into step beside me and glanced to see Shikamaru. I got panicked slightly, hoping he wouldn't see through my disguise, and put on a smile.
"Are you okay?" He asked, and I nodded.
"Yeah, perfectly fine." I said, and Shikamaru nodded.
"Good. Do you want to maybe tell me what you were going to say?" He asked, and I swallowed the bite of peach I had in my mouth, thinking about this.
Damn, I hate crossroads. I can't, not here. It's too late, anyways.
"I wasn't going to say anything," I said. "I was worrying about the final exams," Shikamaru stopped me suddenly, grabbing my arm, and I stopped myself from cringing as the pain welled up inside me and looked away as tears came back.
"If you're so worried, then how about we square off and train a little?" He said, and I bit my lip. Ah, not good!
"I don't feel like it," I mumbled and looked down, my face covering my eyes.
"Or are you not able to?" Shikamaru asked, and my head shot up in fear. He lifted my sleeve and revealed the bruises and injuries, and he nodded. "I hoped I was wrong. But, I didn't think he'd actually use shuriken on you…" I quickly yanked my arm away and pulled the sleeve down, starting to walk away quickly as a tear escaped, but suddenly my body froze up. Shikamaru walked up and turned so he was in front of me and my body returned to normal.
"That's another one of your jutsu?" I asked, and Shikamaru nodded.
"Show me what he did," He whispered, and I narrowed my eyes.
"No, and you can't make me." I said and took off running, leaping onto the rooftops painfully. I heard Shikamaru following, intent on finding out what happened, and we entered the forest. I quickly twisted and turned, feeling the emotions returning and hoping Shikamaru would lose sight of me, and glanced back. I slowed down as I didn't see him, panting, and sighed and sat down, my eyes looking around to make sure he didn't find me. It was then I realized I was in the same place that my father had taken me, and jumped up. I found the blood quickly, and started to back up in fear but I felt my body freeze up again. I swallowed hard as Shikamaru jumped down and weaved some other signs, his shadow extending to me again. I involuntarily copied his movements, first brushing my bangs out of my face to reveal the bruise. His eyes sparkled with anger as he saw this and then made me take my overcoat off, revealing the other bruises and injuries. He cut the jutsu off and clenched his fists, his eyes on fire as he looked down.
"I can't… believe…" He whispered, and I looked away, ashamed, and put the overcoat back on. At least he'll never know about where it happened. "Those aren't going to be healed by the time of the finals," He whispered. "The opponents are going to see that and you'll be at a huge disadvantage," I nodded.
"That already occurred to me, but he's a special rank Junín. I'm no match for him, Shikamaru, I couldn't do anything; I'm trying to figure out how to cover them up, but I don't know how to. This overcoat would just be another disadvantage in battle if I wore it." But I probably won't need to cover them up. Gaara may go ahead of me and start the invasion before I have a chance to fight. Shikamaru looked at me and narrowed his eyes, the gears in his brain visibly turning.
"Come here," He whispered and grabbed my hand, careful to not hurt me, and ran into the village and to a home. He knocked on the door, letting my hand go, and Ino opened the door. She smiled and let us in, her new short hair down.
"Hi! What's up, Shikamaru, Kitsune?" She asked, and Shikamaru turned to her.
"We need help." He said, and took the overcoat off of me before I could do anything about it, earning a little objective noise from me. Ino gasped as she saw the injuries, and swallowed hard. "What can we do to cover these up for the final exams?" He asked, and Ino bit her lip.
"Shikamaru, wait here and Kitsune follow me," She whispered, and we vanished into Ino's room. She opened a huge closet, revealing tons of clothes, and sifted through it and looking at me every once and a while. Finally, she got out a plain black shirt with a long right sleeve and no left sleeve, giving it to me. "Since we're about the same height and size, I think this'll fit you. It's comfortable, too," She said, and showed me to her bathroom, where I changed. She knocked on the door and I opened it, and she held out a short red apron skirt. I took it, put it over my plain black shorts, and put my pouch back on and glanced in the mirror and liking the look, but my right arm was still exposed. As I exited, Ino grabbed my hand and wrapped some bandages delicately, making sure it was firm but not painful, and smiled as she stepped back to look at the work. "It's perfect." She said, and I smiled softly.
"Thank you, Ino. I owe you big time," I said, and she nodded.
"Shikamaru told me about your father… I am so sorry." She whispered, her eyes full of sympathy. I shrugged.
"Whatever. I'm living with it, right?" I said, and Ino nodded reluctantly.
"There's no use of a beautiful flower if it doesn't bloom, though," She mumbled and opened the door before I could ask her about what that meant, and Shikamaru stood up from a chair he had been sitting in and nodded as he looked at me, smiling softly.
"Perfect. You're a life saver, Ino," He said, and Ino nodded.
"It's why I'm here!" She giggled, and kicked us out of her house, giving me my overcoat back. I put it on and let my hands slide in the pockets in habit, looking away.
"That looks good on you," Shikamaru whispered, but I didn't look at him.
"Thanks," I said bluntly, and looked up at the sky, watching the clouds. I don't feel like being around anyone today, but it's such a lovely day. Why should I waste it? But… it's like I'm being enveloped in this wave of depression. I'm sorry. Shikamaru followed my gaze and smiled.
"You like the clouds, huh?" He asked, and I nodded.
"I've never seen them so fluffy before. In Suna there's either no clouds at all, a rainy sky, or one or two small, flat clouds." We were launched into silence as we walked aimlessly around, not making a sound. Finally I sighed and stopped, having all the company I could handle. I also felt tears trying to make their presence stubbornly and knew I couldn't hold them back long.
"What is it, Kitsune?"
"I'll see you later," I said and started to walk the other way, not daring to look at Shikamaru, and clenched my jaw as my face screwed up in pain. I made it vanish instantly as Shikamaru quickly ran in front of me, though, and looked up for once. "I said, I'll see you later," I said with more force, and Shikamaru put his hands in his pockets.
"What a drag, trying to drop me like that… I'm not going to leave you alone, you know," Great… come on!
"Just go away,"
"No can do," I groaned and pushed him out of my way and ran for it again, feeling tears start to well up again, but choked them down as much as I could and sped up even more, ignoring the pain. I looked back to see Shikamaru trying to keep up desperately, and ran off into an empty alleyway that led to some weird forested area. I looked back again to see Shikamaru out of sight, and turned back to see a huge root sticking up out of the ground. I gasped and jumped, caught off guard, and fell to the ground in a roll. I landed on my stomach and just lied there, staring ahead blankly at the fence for a while as the tears came back up. I slowly and painfully sat up and put my back against the fence, putting my legs up to my stomach and burying my head in them as I cried softly. Why? Why me? Why do I have to always be the one that comes up short and endure the most pain, without any recognition? I heard a sigh and stopped short, not even breathing, and heard someone jump down from something, maybe the tree. Great, now you have to go and shame yourself. Can you do nothing right?
"Come on, don't be a drag and just stand up." I closed my eyes and cringed as I heard Shikamaru's voice.
"Please, just go away…" I choked, and swallowed. "I just want to be alone."
"Don't think I don't know how you're feeling. You aren't you right now, Kitsune, and honestly I'm concerned. I'm not going to leave you in a situation like this; it could turn out bad," I felt the tears stream down silently even harder, and just froze. I heard a groan and felt hands wrap themselves around me, and I turned and buried my face into Shikamaru's shoulder, trying not to cry out. He sighed.
"S-S-Shikamaru…"
"Why do you even put up with it? Just live here," I just shook my head, trying to get myself together as my breathing came out irregular.
After what seemed like hours later I finally stitched up the wound and sat back, putting my head in my legs again, ashamed.
"Thank you," I whispered, and Shikamaru sat back beside me.
"I gotta go… the Konoha Genin is going to meet up in a second at the barbeque place. How about you bring your team and join us?" He asked, and I let my head fall back, thinking about this. I have nothing else to do, and I guess this could reassure me I'm going to do the right thing. Besides, it could be a good spirit lifter.
"Sure," I drew the word out, and stood. "I'll go get them,"
"Okay," He said, and followed me up to my hotel and room. I quickly entered, and found Haruka and Riku talking softly. They looked up as I entered.
"Kitsune, we need to talk to you about the-" Riku started, but stopped as she saw Shikamaru. "Oh, hi."
"We can talk later, Riku. How about we go out to get barbeque with them?" I asked, and they nodded and stood. Shikamaru took the lead, while Riku fell into step beside me.
"You almost got us busted!" She whispered, and I sighed.
CHAPTER 8
Shikamaru's POV
I kept my ears open for any information about what Riku wanted to talk to Kitsune about and was rewarded soon after we set out to meet up with everyone else.
"You almost got us busted!" Riku hissed.
"I know." Kitsune sighed. "Look, you can't change my mind about my choice. I don't care if I have to die, because I'm going to do the right thing. Besides, it's not like I have much more to live for," She whispered, and paused. "Let's not talk about this here."
"Okay, but one thing. Haruka and I agree with you completely, but we value our lives more than someone else's life… we admire you for doing this. And you do have things to live for!" Riku whispered, barely audible, and I furrowed my eyebrows. Dying because she's doing the right thing? Valuing someone else's life more… could they have been asked to either kill or be killed in the final round? How cruel. And I have to do something to get Kitsune away from her father; he may just break her beyond repair. That scene just a moment ago… makes me think he already has. I thought, and turned as we reached the barbeque place.
"I'm going to warn you now that some of us get very loud when we all get together. It's a drag, I know," I said, and they exchanged glances.
"Have you heard us?" Haruka asked, and they laughed. I glanced at Kitsune and looked at her eyes, seeing not a trace of happiness in her eyes.
Her fake laugh was pretty good; I guess she had a lot of practice. I let them enter and walked to the back, where loud laughing wafted up from our usual place. I entered, and saw that everyone but Sasuke was here.
Typical.
"Hey, I brought some guests," I said, and let the Suna Nin pass in front of me before I sat. Everyone greeted them, and moved to make room for us. I was squished beside Ino and Kitsune as I sat down, and quickly got some food.
"So, Shikamaru, this is where you've been! You sly dog," Kiba said, trying to start a competition for the Suna Nin again like the whole month had been, and I felt my cheeks heat up slightly. "So, Kitsune, how do you like Konoha?" Kitsune smiled.
"I love it here." She answered, and Naruto butted in.
"It's awesome, right? I'm going to be Hokage when I grow up and old man Hiruzen dies!" Naruto said loudly, and the Suna Nin shifted, slightly uncomfortable now. Suddenly Neji appeared in the doorway, chopsticks in hand. How did he get here?! Everyone tensed up, and the meal was immediately ruined. Man, what a drag. He's going to ruin everything… I may just leave.
"Why did that disturb you Suna Nin?" He asked coldly, his eyes searching the three Kunoichi faces. "Do you possibly plan something to harm our Hokage, our innocent Hokage that has done nothing to you?" I saw Kitsune's fists clench up under the table, her knuckles turning white, but her face stayed calm as she looked at the empty plate.
"I'd never do that. I have friends in this village, and I'd never dream of hurting your village so," She whispered, and lowered her head.
"Neji!" Ino said, glaring at him. "Don't treat guests like that. You should know better! I'm sorry, Kitsune, but he's kind of hard to warm up to strangers," Ino smiled reassuringly at Kitsune, but she didn't look up.
"It's okay, I understand," She whispered, and looked up with a slight smile and her eyes blank. The table was suddenly quiet, and the air became tense. Neji smiled coldly at Kitsune, his eyes gleaming.
"I would love to see how you'd fare against me in battle," Neji said, and Kitsune looked up.
"I don't want to fight, okay?" She said.
"Get off her back." Riku said, and Haruka let her chopsticks fall on her plate as she looked at her food dejectedly. Neji ignored Riku.
"What, are you scared? Do you know I will win? Do you realize I am too powerful for you to take?" Neji threw a chopstick at Kitsune, but she caught it and looked up, her eyes blazing. Neji stopped, dropping his other chopstick, and smiled. "I've provoked you. Ah, good, maybe we can get some action now," He said, activating his Byakugan and taking his fighting stance. Kitsune just looked up at him. The air tensed up even more, and Haruka began to cry silently, tears falling. Kitsune saw this looked at the stressed faces around her and then looked down, suddenly full of shame.
"We've just caused trouble for you guys. For this, I am sorry, truly." She whispered, her voice resonating with such sadness it made everyone stop eating, even Choji. She put the chopstick down and got up, and Riku and Haruka followed as she led them out. I reached out and grabbed her hand, but she brushed past it, only stopping slightly as a result from my sudden jerk. As they left, I turned to glare at Neji. Kiba got up, Akamaru on his head.
"Why did you have to go and do that? You weren't even invited! Why don't you just go away?" Kiba yelled, and Akamaru barked. "See what you did? She loves it here, but you're ruining everything!"
"Kiba's right, Neji," I said, and Neji looked at me without emotion. "You have no idea." I got up, all the emotions running high ruining the whole thing, and everyone else muttered their agreements.
"Kitsune wouldn't do that."
"Haruka is so sweet, she couldn't hurt a fly!"
"Riku can't make a person feel pain." The comments continued by everyone, and I smiled softly as they stood up for the team.
"Now that you have ruined it, I'm going home," Kiba said, and I nodded.
"Yeah, what a drag…" I said, and walked out with Kiba following. As we got outside there was no trace of the Suna Nin, making me disappointed, but the rest of the people followed and went home. Kiba headed towards his house without a word, and I split to my house. As I passed the gardenia patch I picked one, smelling its sweet fragrance. After a second I became aware of a presence, but it was too late. A kunai whipped past me and hit the gardenia, knocking it out of my hand and pinning it to the grass, some of the delicate pedals falling off from the impact and being blown away with even more as a strong wind came, making the pedals dance around each other. I turned to where the kunai had been thrown to see nothing and swallowed hard, spooked at the meaning I got from the attack, and picked up the kunai. The poor flower was stuck to it, and I had to pull it out of the kunai to separate the things. The gardenia, now crushed, was whipped away by the wind again, and I looked at the kunai.
Kitsune is going to be in danger tomorrow.
Kitsune's POV
As morning came, Riku was the first to get up and wake us up, but only to have enough time for some small preparations before we had to high tail it to the final exams. I slowly got ready and double checked my items and followed as Riku led the way grimly.
We all knew what was going to happen, and didn't like it one bit.
We were of the last groups to get there, and the proctor quickly gave us a schedule. I sighed as I saw Gaara was the second battle and I was the fifth, but then as I looked closer I saw if we were to continue with the battle and I won, my next opponent would have been either Temari or Shikamaru.
Great.
As the first match, Neji and Naruto, came up, I snuck down with Haruka and Riku and got something to eat, missing the match completely, but as the proctor announced Naruto the winner we quickly walked back to see the arena empty. I looked around and walked to the nearest Genin, which just so happened to be Kankuro. I stood beside him, crossing my arms delicately.
"Where are Gaara and this Sasuke guy?" I asked, and Kankuro shrugged.
"Gaara is just out of eyesight, but Sasuke hasn't shown up." Kankuro whispered, and I swept the audience sitting down and saw the Konoha Genins all together, looking intently at the commotion in the arena. I felt Kankuro's hand snake to my back and pause before pulling me into a soft hug. "I promise nothing is going to happen to you now, okay?" Kankuro whispered, and I nodded. He pulled away and I looked back at the arena to see the proctor stepping up.
"The match is pulled up to be last!" Kankuro cursed under his breath as Gaara headed back to us, and his name was called.
"This is a slight damper," Kankuro whispered. "I don't want to give away my new installments on Crow," Kankuro walked down and quickly forfeited, making Riku cringe as she was to come up and battle Choji. She ended it quickly, trapping Choji and sitting down on a mound of her desert sand until the proctor announced her winner. She released Choji and ran back up, and Shikamaru and Temari came up and battled out. Shikamaru outwitted Temari and could have easily won, but forfeited. As I passed him, I stopped briefly.
"Why?"
"I was too low on chakra," He said, and I rolled my eyes.
"Liar," I whispered, and finished walking down and got ready to battle some weird looking girl named Miyuki from Amegakure. As the battle began I just dodged her attacks, saving my energy and waiting to get the chance to finish it with one blow. She was clever, and I got a hit in on my stomach finally. I fell back and hit the arena wall painfully, my injuries aching, but stood and abandoned my one-blow win and started to weave signs when Miyuki threw a shuriken to either side of me, skillfully cutting my bandage and sleeve. I cringed as my injuries appeared, and finished weaving signs. I pounded the ground and lightning crossed the floor and hit Miyuki, shocking her. To my surprise she passed out from the hit, and I won. I quickly walked back up and muttered a sorry to Ino about the shirt, who shrugged it off. Kankuro had vanished, but Shikamaru was standing a little ways away. He approached me and got out some bandages, giving it to me without a word. I quickly covered up my injuries as Haruka went against another Amegakure guy, and ripped the sleeve off as straight as I could. Haruka quickly won and the battle we've been waiting for came up. Sasuke appeared, and I clenched the bar in front of me with anticipation about what's going to happen.
Shikamaru's POV
As Sasuke and Gaara appeared on the arena, Kitsune grabbed the bar in front of us quickly, her knuckles turning white. I saw Kankuro and Temari leave, glancing at Kitsune, Haruka, and Riku. Kitsune tensed, her visible eye wide with such fear I've never seen before and her jaw clenched. The fight started, making Kitsune clench the bar harder. I knew it hurt, clenching the bar that hard with the injuries, but she still clenched it harder.
"Kitsune-" I started, worried and knowing I was about to find out what she was going to tell me earlier, but was cut off.
"Get your friends and leave, Shikamaru." She whispered, her voice strained, and tears fell down silently. I watched, shocked out of words as I saw them fall in big droplets. "Get out of this building now, and be prepared to fight," She whispered, and turned to Riku and Haruka. They nodded and left quickly, running to catch up with Kankuro and Temari. "Please, I'm so sorry." She choked, and turned back to me to reveal her crying face and backed up. I let my mouth fall, trying to say something but nothing coming out, confused and surprised. Suddenly a bang and smoke came from the Kages' box, and Kitsune started to turn and run as everyone screamed, but I quickly caught her with my jutsu and looked into her eyes as she continued to cry silently.
"What's going on?!" I yelled above the ruckus, and suddenly a roar came from the arena. I saw a splitting image of Shukaku emerge from Gaara, and realized what was going on as gas started to flood down to us, making people pass out.
"I'm so sorry!" Kitsune yelled and started to hold her breath. I held my breath with Kitsune and let her go, running with her to the exit and breaking through, taking a deep breath. Kitsune paused to take a breath as she frantically took her forehead protector off and threw it to the ground, stomping on it and squishing it into the ground before running off.
I finally realized what was going on.
