Chapter 14

I'm finally starting to get back into my story. I've been busy thinking things up for my Kingdom hearts and Final fantasy story I've kinda been neglecting this one…

Well. Now, this chapter, the bad guys kinda argue and Senshu gets 'excited' and goes ahead. Sasuke and Kari spend a little more time together, and then, well, let's just say, 'Bad things lead to Good things'…

Bug-a-boom

Sunrise.

The morning was sleepy. The birds took longer than usual to wake up and begin their morning songs. Most of the peaceful environment was outside and around Kari's house. The river at the back of her house was bubbling nicely, the sky's baby blue colour reflecting on the crystal clear water.

A knocking could be heard at the front door of the same house. There was no response.

"Kari, It's me" The familiar voice followed the knocking, but still, only silence responded.

"Kari, you there?"

Again, no response. The raven sighed and thought he would knock once more. Raising his hand, he was about to knock when the doorknob turned slowly. Pattering of feet could be heard and the door opened. As Sasuke stepped into the door, he looked around but no-one was there.

'Woof!'

Sasuke looked down. Akamaru stood there with a sleepy look on his face.

"You let me in?" Sasuke asked. He felt stupid asking a dog, but he didn't really seem to care. Akamaru nodded, and patted the top of his own head with his paw. He was trying to say something.

"Is anyone Here-"

Akamaru began to growl when Sasuke started to call out. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Without asking any further question, Sasuke watched as the small white puppy turned around and quietly ran to the back room. Instinctively, Sasuke followed.

Akamaru nudged the partly closed door open with his nose and pattered inside. Sasuke followed, and then noticed a sleeping figure in the bed. It was 8am. She should've been awake by now.

Akamaru carefully jumped up onto the bed and curled up at her feet. Sasuke suddenly realized something.

"Akamaru, shouldn't you be with Kiba?" Sasuke whispered. The said puppy looked up, but didn't respond in any way before lowering his head again and trying to fall asleep.

"Guess you don't really care…" Sasuke smirked.

He leant against the wall, and tilted his head back against the hard surface. A cool breeze blew in, and Sasuke also then realized that the windows were wide open. The cool breeze continued to blow around the room, and then the sleeping figure began to stir.

Sasuke froze. This was going to be kind of awkward for the girl, that she wakes up and realizes that one of her teammates was watching her sleep.

Kari's eyes fluttered open slowly, and it took a while for her eyes to gain focus as the sunlight got to her eyes.

The puppy at her feet noticed that she was awake, and got up, running over to her before licking her on the face roughly. She giggled, and slowly sat up, unaware that someone else was in the room.

Sasuke stood there frozen, and in silence. As the covers that were covering her body for warmth dropped down, Sasuke's face immediately heated up. She was in a mid riff singlet, and there were faint scars on her stomach from where the etchings were (mind you, Sasuke didn't see the etchings so he didn't know why they were there or what they were) the bandages from her hand wound were gone, and the wound was mostly healed. How? He'll never know. (Not for now anyway)

Kari kicked the covers off and let the cool breeze embrace her. Sasuke felt his face darken even more. She had really short shorts to go with her bra-I mean singlet.

He took a deep breath to try and avoid getting even more red. Bad mistake.

Kari heard the inhale and quickly turned towards the noise. Her eyes widened when she realized Sasuke was there.

He was in shock. He couldn't help but stare at her flawless-I mean slender- I mean teenage body and she could clearly see the pink on his cheeks. She was wondering why he was blushing.

"Akamaru let me in…" Sasuke spluttered out (he is seriously OOC here… he blushes?) and tried to shift his gaze but it always seemed to fall onto her.

"… Are you okay?" Kari raised an eyebrow as she looked at the way Sasuke was acting. His eyes shifted around to look at something, but couldn't find anything.



Kari never really cared about the way she dressed, as long as there were pieces of clothing covering her 'private' areas, but other than that, she never really minded.

Sasuke did though, and when she looked down at what he was looking at, his eyes shot away and stared out the window.

"Where did you get the scars…?" Sasuke changed the subject and made something up to try and cover his embarrassment. Kari looked up at him, then down at the faded etch marks. She couldn't say anything about Baltha-… him.

"I don't really know. Must've knocked against something last night" Kari lied. Sasuke, who was too embarrassed at the moment, didn't really care if it was a lie or not.

"You don't look alright" Kari leaned over to the right to try and look at his face but he turned the other direction.

"I'll wait outside. Kakashi-sensei announced that we didn't have training today and asked me to let you know" Sasuke took a deep breath and spoke, finally regaining his composure and cooling it. He turned around when Kari thanked him and hurried out of the room and waited in the living room.

-

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Kari came out shortly after into the kitchen and leaned on the counter with her elbow, and looked at Sasuke.

"If we don't have training, and it is basically another day off, why are you still here?"

Sasuke wasn't really sure of that question either. He didn't know what to say.

If you can help Kari gain control in her self confidence and give her a sense of purpose to live, I won't have to do this again…

That was why he was here. He remembered now (highly unlikely for an Uchiha to forget…)

He wanted to spend time with Kari, and he wanted to help her gain confidence again, and help her find a sense of purpose.

"So what, are you kicking me out now?"

Kari flinched slightly. She didn't mean to make it sound so harsh. She looked a little embarrassed, but felt a little bad… only a little.

"I didn't mean it like that, I was just wondering why you want to hang around here any longer than you normally would" Kari re-worded it. Sasuke sighed.

"I don't know, I don't have anything better to do"

"Don't you normally get glomped by your fangirls and have to avoid Sakura and Ino? Or fighting with Naruto again?"

"Yeah, but I thought I might change things a little"

"Wha?"

"I thought it might be a change if I got to know you a little more."

Kari raised an eyebrow. She didn't know what he meant. (Remember, Kari is Innocent!! She has never had proper relationships before and thus, doesn't know about love and crap like that)

"Well, if you want. I don't really know what you want to do though"

"Let's go for a walk"

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"Do you even have emotions?"

"Can we drop that subject already? It's annoying"

"But seriously, I'm just curious. Whenever I hear people talk about you, they always call you the 'Ice-prince' or something like that"

"Well they are just jealous"

"That you don't have emotions?"

"No. Just, never mind"

Sasuke sighed. Talking to her was a little harder than he thought. She was almost as dumb as Naruto was. Almost, but, hey, that was what added to her charm.

"So, what do you do when the team leaves you?"

"Not much. Running from angry villagers, or sleeping" Kari replied simply. She jumped onto the hand rail, and spread her arms wide, and began walking along the rail. Like a little kid would with his arms like an airplane.

"Well, what do you do when we aren't there?" Kari asked, trying not to lose childish balance. Sasuke looked up at her.

"Training" Sasuke replied. Kari looked down at him while she continued to walk the rail.

"Why do you train so much? I don't get it. I know you have to get stronger, but you train all the time" Kari said in a jumpy, excitable tone. Sasuke looked up at her with a stern look.

"I have to get stronger, so I can defeat my brother" Sasuke replied flatly. Kari suddenly lost balance, her leg gave way, and she fell into the creek. She quickly stood up in the shallow water and shook the water out of her hair.

"What? Why would you want to defeat your brother?!" Kari protested a little.

"He killed my mother"

"Is that the only excuse you have?"

"I want to avenge my family"

Kari froze, and then narrowed her eyes a little as she gave those words some thought.



"If you want to avenge your family…" She jumped out of the water and landed on the bridge near Sasuke, and shook off (like a wet dog would)

"Doesn't that mean you'll have to kill me?"

Sasuke froze. He spoke things he wrong way. It was true, that Kari's brother assassinated his clan, and that she was the last one left. He felt his chest hurt and his stomach heave. Avenging his clan was to kill her. He was really confused now.

"No, I meant, I want to avenge my mother"

"No you didn't Sasuke. You clearly meant you wanted to avenge your family" Kari corrected him. Sasuke didn't know what to say.

"But, I can't kill you, I would've had to defeat your brother, since he was the one that caused it" Sasuke hoped that excuse worked. Kari was quiet for a moment.

"Oh…" Kari did the 'o' with her mouth before continuing to walk. Sasuke sighed with relief.

"So, what are you going to do after you defeat your brother?" Kari got over the 'oh-my-god-you-brother-hater' subject and jumped up on the railing again.

Sasuke stopped. He didn't know. That was a very good question, and a question that he didn't know the answer to. What was he going to do after killing Itachi?

"I don't know, I guess I'll find out on the way" Sasuke cut the answer short. Kari nodded as she continued to balance.

"What are you going to do when you are older?" Sasuke looked up at Kari. The girl stayed quiet for a moment, before shrugging.

"I don't know. I don't even know if I'll live that long!" Kari laughed. Sasuke didn't see the humor in that.

"But, if I don't die beforehand, I guess I'll want to go back to my Home country. You see, I left a few of my things there before we moved to Konoha, and I thought I'd get them back" Kari replied with a smile. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you go now and get them?"

"My country is about a week's travel from here" Kari giggled. Sasuke sighed. Good point.

"I also have a few questions Kari…" Sasuke got a little less relaxed.

"Questions? What like?" Kari didn't even get the words in the right order. Sasuke found that a little cute.

"Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade were in the hospital room with you, and I was made to stay outside. But, I heard them asking you about tails? Or a spine or something like that? What did they mean?" Sasuke asked politely. Kari slowed herself down to a snail pace, and stayed quiet. He wasn't sure if he offended her.

"I can't tell you"

"Why not?"

"Because You'll hate me and think I'm a freak"

"I won't"

Kari eyed him as she jumped back down from the railing and peered at him.

"Kai"

"What?"

"I'm just like Naruto"

"What, loud?"

"No, I mean, I have something inside me"

Sasuke didn't know what she was getting at.

"You mean, like Naruto's…"

"Kyuubi"

Sasuke stopped and tilted his head to the side slightly. He understood that Naruto had a demon inside him. If he was understanding correctly, she had a demon too (duh)

"So, Kai is your Demon?"

"Yeah… The Hachibi…" Kari sighed, looking away, embarrassed.

"Is that what they were talking about?"

"No, It's what Kai did to me while I was running from the Akatsuki" Kari explained a little more. Sasuke listened.

"What do you mean, did he hurt you? Because in the Chuunin exam, Naruto got like this energy boost from the Kyuubi"

"No, that the difference between the dragon and the fox" Kari replied. Sasuke didn't understand.

"The Kyuubi gives Naruto immense power through 'chakra' and 'energy'. The Hachibi's power is forcefully given in 'physical' proportions" Kari started to walk slowly, and Sasuke followed, listening intently.

'There… I've got her talking'

"If Naruto went berserk and got chakra from the Kyuubi, it would all be seen through Chakra. You noticed the red Chakra that Naruto uses?" Kari looked over to Sasuke. He nodded.

"That's what the Kyuubi gives. The Hachibi, Kai, on the other hand, uses his chakra to physically 'manipulate' things. To add I'm also a hybrid, but that doesn't count" Kari explained. Sasuke listened.

"Like this" Kari put out her hand, and Sasuke stared at it. Slowly, a scale pushed through her skin, making the broken skin bleed, but the green scale continued to push through until it was fully out.

"It hurts like hell…" Kari winced and said whimpering, wincing as the scale shrunk back into her skin. Sasuke was shocked, seeing something like that happen. Kari took his expression the wrong way and took a step back.



"I knew you'd think I'm a freak"

"No! I was just surprised. I wasn't expecting that" He stepped towards her and took her hand gently, placing a finger over the wound, stopping it bleeding.

Sasuke noticed a freaky overgrown scorpion climb up a nearby tree. Kari looked at what he was looking at, and they stared at it for a bit before they heard rustling in the bushes. Another scorpion stuck its head out of the bushes, followed by another 10.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked, getting ready to stance as more of the scorpions came into view. A large, fat ugly bug covered in green slime staggered out of the bushes and took small, slow steps towards them.

"Are they after something?"

A deep laughing could be heard in the trees. Kari and Sasuke jumped.

A large figure dressed in brown walked forward slowly, his arms and shoulder covered in scorpions and he held one of the slimy bugs under his arms.

"Y-You're that guy who attacked us in the land of waves!!" Sasuke called out. Senshu sneered.

"You remember me? How sweet" He snickered before throwing the slime bug onto the floor and letting it stand up on its own.

"Wh-What are you doing here?!" Kari stuttered out of pure fear as Senshu advanced towards them.

"Well, our little operation is running slow and I can't wait longer. I can't let you walk around free. Not alive anyway!" Senshu lunged forward. The unexpected attack got Sasuke and Kari to dodge clumsily.

Kari landed on a boulder, while Sasuke landed on the rock beside her. They took a step back, but a clicking noise caught their attention. They turned around and noticed a huge swarm of scorpions behind, and all around them.

"You can't run Kari… You are foolish to get off guard" Senshu laughed evilly again.

'Oh my god… what are we going to do?'

'I might not be on your side, but His bugs hate water'

'Fuzen? I don't need your pathetic advice!!'

'Fine. I'll leave you to die then'

Kari didn't have a choice. She looked around quickly as she noticed the swarms advancing, and noticed that none were anywhere near the river.

"How long can you hold your breath?" Kari panicked a little looking over her shoulder at Sasuke.

"Only about 5 minutes, Why?!"

"Good. Get into the water, and go as deep as possible! Don't surface, I'll follow!" Kari ordered. Sasuke didn't argue, and took a deep breath, diving off the boulder and into the river.

Kari threw a round of explosive kunai, and jumped into the water.

Focusing on her throat, she gripped her throat tightly as her hybrid body reacted to the immediate environment, submerged in water. She wrenched in pain and twisted around until the pain was over. She took a deep breath (yep, underwater) and breathed out bubbles.

She looked around and noticed Sasuke at the bottom of the river, hiding in a few large rocks. She swam over to him.

"It's been 1 minute" Kari said. Sasuke's eyes suddenly widened when he saw her talking. Underwater. She could see the questions he wanted to ask by the expressions on his face.

"It's a long story" Kari spoke. Her speech wasn't interrupted by the bubbles either. Sasuke closed his eyes. he needed to surface soon. He swam up to the surface.

Kari followed, but frowned when she noticed the sunlight coming through the water was a pale green. She freaked out.

She grabbed Sasuke's ankle and dragged him down again. He had a look of protest but she shook her head wildly, saying 'no, don't do that'. Pulling out a kunai from her holster, she raised it up, and pushed it over the surface of the water. The hand holding the kunai shook violently as something was happening. Pulling the knife back into the water, she showed Sasuke. The blade had been melted off.

Acid.

There was a thick layer of it on the surface of the water.

"You might be able to breathe underwater Konseigo, but your little friend won't last long" Senshu snickered evilly. He watched his 'beautiful' (ick) Slime bugs continue to wade over the top of the water, covering it in their toxic acidic fluids.

Kari was only about a meter from the surface, staying in the spot with Sasuke, and she kept an eye on the water colour on the surface.

4 minutes.

She heard a spurt of bubbles. She looked over at the other raven and noticed he had covered his mouth and nose with one hand, while gripping his throat with the other. He really needed to surface.

Throwing a shuriken through the water, a small patch of acid dissipated, but more replaced it a few seconds after. She had to improvise.

Sasuke opened his eyes when he felt something warm touch his face.

"I'm So Sorry"

Sasuke's eyes widened when he felt something warm press against his lips. He tried to push whatever I was away, but his exhaustion in holding his breath took its toll on him. He didn't move, but then, he felt as if he was breathing in.



'Wait… is she, breathing for me?'

Sasuke's eyes opened a little and he saw Kari's face. She kept the breathing at a steady pace for a little longer before she pulled away and looked at his shocked face.

"Will that last you another 5 minutes?" Kari asked, tilting her head to the side. Sasuke nodded.

"Good. Follow me" Kari gestured the signal and dived down. Sasuke followed. Only a meter from the riverbed, Kari swiftly swam through the dense water, she dived deeply so they weren't swimming in any current. Sasuke followed. Swimming slightly above her, he noticed something. He saw what seemed to be webbing in between the girl's fingers. He also noticed what looked like a spine, protruding from each of the girl's elbows with a webbed membrane from the forearm to the tip of the spike. She looked as if she was like a half fish being. Freaky.

It only took them about 3 minutes to get up the river, but it was worth it. It was really bubble where they got up to. They were at the base of the waterfall. Kari grabbed his hand, and quickly dove through the bubbles, and up.

Surfacing. Sasuke took a deep breath as he was finally out of the water. They were behind the waterfall.

It was actually smart, surfacing behind a point where the water was constantly being disturbed, so there was a spot where the acid didn't reach.

Kari climbed out of the water and helped the boy up. He was panting. Kari was holding her breath though. Her body convulsed as a wave of pain hit her body. Her hybrid body was returning back to its normal state. Kari coughed up a mouthful of water and she fell into a coughing fit as she got back to 'air-breathing-mode'.

Kari walked out from behind the waterfall with Sasuke, and he slipped on the wet surface of the rocks. A large rock fell into the water, splashing up. Sasuke didn't notice this until he screamed out in pain, The acid splashing onto his arm.

"Sasuke!"

Kari quickly pulled him away from the water and sat him near a tree.

"We need to get you to the hospital"

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-

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"He'll be fine. The medicine I gave him has stopped and dissipated the acid, but he will need some rest so he can recover from the acid" The big boobed lady (I like typing that… hehe) smiled and poked Kari on the nose playfully before she turned around and opened the door for her to walk in. Kari walked into the room, seeing Sasuke sitting on the bed, bandage on the arm.

"Sorry that happened" Kari sighed, looking at the wounded arm.

"Why are you apologizing?"
"if you weren't with me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt"

"If I wasn't with you, you might've died"

Kari looked up at the raven, and nodded with a small smile. Sasuke, touched his lips with his un-injured hand.

'Did she kiss me, or was it just to help me…'

"Kari?"

The said girl looked up as the Uchiha jumped off the bed so he stood up.

"In the water back there… When we were underwater, did you kiss me?"

Kari stopped, and raised an eyebrow, looking at the boy with confusion.

"Did I what?"

"Kiss me"

"What's that?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow with confusion this time. She didn't know what a kiss was?

"You know, a kiss, when someone puts their lips together with someone because they love them" Sasuke explained simply. Kari didn't respond.

"Why would someone Dove someone?"

"No, Love"

"What's that?"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows with surprise. Tsunade really was right. She has never had a proper relationship with anyone before, and doesn't even know what those words mean.

"When we were back in the water, I only gave you Fake breathing"

"You mean Artificial Respiration" Sasuke corrected her. Kari rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that thingy. I don't even know what a kiss was until now." Kari sighed, tilting her head to the side. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at her density. She was cute, and smarter than Naruto, but sometimes lacked common sense.

"So that miss thing?"

"Kiss"

"Yeah, that's it. Is that something that you do if you dove someone?"

"You mean Love"

"Whatever"

"Yeah… So, you have never kissed anyone before?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Kari just took a deep breath, put on a pre-school smile and shook her head proudly.

"I don't know what-"

Kari was cut off her own words. She felt something warm press against her lips. Her eyes widened, and she pushed whatever it was away, but her back hit the wall accidentally as she stumbled away from the person.

Realizing that it was Sasuke, She relaxed a little, but then she felt her eyes flutter slightly.

Sasuke brought his hands up and held her wrist with one hand, and held her hand with the other. He tilted his head to the side to press his lips more fully against hers.

'Is this… a kiss?'

'Duh you baka. You really are the dumbest of your breed'

'Shut up'

Kari felt a heave in her chest and she pulled away, her head hitting the wall. Sasuke pulled away, but didn't let go of her wrist and hand. Kari felt her cheeks heat up, and she could tell she was going red.

'Why am I… blushing?'

'Face it K, You like the boy'

'What do you mean? He's my friend… I think'

'Why else would he make a move on you like that? He likes you too'

'I don't get it'

'Baka. Do you feel drawn to him?'

'Um, sorta'

'Do you feel as if you owe him something?'

'I guess'

'It's called love K'

'That's it. I am going to talk to Kai about this. I don't trust you'

Kari looked down shyly. Sasuke gave her time to comprehend the current situation. Kari was extremely confused. First, he attacks her. Then, he acts nice to her. Then, he kisses her? This was all very confusing for a girl that's common sense made Naruto look like a genius.

"Kari?"

He let go of her hands and watched her patiently.

Her face was pink, and she looked like she wanted to disappear. Quickly taking action, she darted around Sasuke and ran out the door, ignoring him as she took off from the room and out of the hospital.

"Kari!"

ZOMG

First kiss… haw cute… but, I need your constructive criticism and reviews and your opinion on this! I kinda liked the chapter, but It isn't really what I think, it's what you think. Please leaves a review, I need to know if this little romance thing was too corny or not…

Neko