GARAA'S REPENTANCE

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

On The East Sea Road Of Suna

The strangest thing was, Temari wouldn't let Garaa go, and Neji realised that he had to stay behind to carry out Emma's wishes (and take care of everybody).

So that was how Mari and Kai found themselves going to Yumen.

They had opted to use Masuiki to transport themselves and Garaa's horse back to Suna, where they would find another horse and travel on horseback along Tōkaido.

So, how would they plan to do this? Simply by taking Takamaru with them, because he knew the way. Drumsticks, Cadbury and Bob accompanied them as well.

Mari was riding Garaa's horse, and Kai was riding a golden-coloured desert colt with a white blaze on his face.

"Mari-Chan, is there something going on between you and Chouji?" Kai asked suddenly, getting straight to the point.

Mari looked straight ahead. "N…no…why do you ask?"

"Mari-Chan, I've known you since kindergarten, so don't try to lie to me." Kai said sternly. "You really like Chouji, don't you?"

"So what if I do?" Mari flicked her honey-coloured hair over her shoulder. "What about you and Kin?"

Now it was Kai's turn to blush. "How…how on earth did you find out about that?" He mumbled.

"Easy. Whenever I visit Chouji at your place, we have to go past your room to get to his."

"WHHHAAAAAT!?!?"

"Never mind." Mari said quickly. "The point is, I've seen the poetry lying around in your room. And when Tenten had to borrow your computer? Well, you didn't delete any of the poems from the desktop. We read each and every single one of them. And they were all about Kin."

Kai turned red.

"Kin." Mari quoted seriously. "K is for her kind grey eyes. I is for her impish face. And N is for her never-ending beauty."

Kai was blushing furiously by then.

"Have you told her how you feel yet?" Mari asked him suddenly.

Kai looked up. "Huh? What? No…I mean, she hasn't been here…"

Mari smiled. "It's okay. I think it's really sweet. K and K. It's okay."

Kai smiled, a little. "So…what about you and Chouji? Do you…you know…love him?"

Mari stared straight ahead then, her sea-green eyes were cloudy. The red kanji that matched Garaa's glittered blood-red on her forehead, and she said, softly: "The thing about Garaa's assassin is this. Kaguya Sore is…well…she's the reincarnation of Yue."

Kai gasped. "Yue? But…I thought that Garaa…"

"So did I." Mari said sadly, absentmindedly plaiting her horse's mane. "But I had a dream recently that told me otherwise. A crow with the voice of an old woman told me that two girls called Kinuta Ai and Kaguya Sore would become a major part of all of our lives soon, and that Sore was the reincarnation of Yue. Apparently, the old woman-crow is the inner-demon of Sore, Gobi Kurasu the five-tailed demon crow. But she can come and go from Sore's body of her own free will, and take on the form of either a raven or an old woman. So, when you think about it, Sore really has two demons, Yue and Gobi Kurasu."

"But…what does this have to do with you and Chouji?" Kai asked her.

"I'm getting to that." Mari told him patiently. "You know how Emma and my ancestors, Rami and Amme, were half-sisters, so Emma and I are, basically, related. And Emma is technically also related to Sore, because of the bonds that tie the tailed-demons together – our group has Tatsujuu, Kyubii and Shukaku, and Sore has Gobi Kurasu. But there is another part of the equation, and it's extremely complicated. Remember Hoshi?"

Kai nodded, thinking of the violet-eyed gothic girl from planet earth. She and Mari were, strangely enough, second-half-cousins, by some form of adultery or another.

"Well, the crow also told me something about Hoshi. She and Ai [Kinuta are the reincarnations of Yue's parents."

"Oh…" Said Kai, finally getting it. "So that means that you're tied to Ai through Hoshi…Ai…that name…"

"Which means love." Mari smiled sadly. "So, in answer to your question, yes I love Chouji. But if Ai dies, then so do I…"

"What?"

"Well, my love will die, and that's just as bad."

"Oh."

Emma sat on the back of the wagon with Kankurou.

I'm coming you guys… She thought to herself, leaning against Kankurou's shoulder. Please, hold on…