Chapter 21: Rokudo Mukuro from the Hidden Mist

After we killed those Genin, we ran off again to find Shino. Kiba and Akamaru were silent for a while.

"Mutt, if you need to cry again, you can borrow my shoulder anytime," I murmured, being serious for once... again. He blushed madly and stumbled over a tree branch.

"W-Why the hell w-would I c-c-cry again? Wait, I wasn't crying!" He denied. I chuckled lightly and slowed my pace a little.

"Nope, no you weren't crying, indeed." I teased. He sighed angrily, matching my pace.

"Bug-boy isn't that far away now," Kiba announced. I sighed.

"Suddenly I don't want to see him," I told him. "I bet he's going to lecture us..."

"Lecture ME. After what happened last time, I doubt he's going to do anything to you." He groaned. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Hehe, now I want some dango for the future entertainment!" I sang. Akamaru barked in amusement. "Hey, can I carry Aka for a bit?" Kiba swiveled his head to look at me as if I had three heads.

"You'll drop him."

"I'll be gentle!" I pleaded. My thoughts went the wrong way and a perverted grin appeared on my face. Kiba laughed and handed me Akamaru. I carefully cradled the pup in my arms as we proceeded our endeavor to find Shino.

Shino wasn't far at all. We soon found him in a clearing, cooking fish over a fire.

"You're late." He spoke eerily. I checked his chakra signature. Yep, it's Shino.

"We got held up by a team who desperately wanted to give us their scroll," I smirked. Kiba looked away. My smirk faded and I sighed.

"In that case, let's move on to the tower." Kiba and I nodded to Shino's statement and we ran off to the not-so-distant tower, fish in hand.

We finally arrived at the tower, and I determined both scrolls must be opened at the same time. Kiba and Shino protested to my idea, saying that the scrolls must not be opened.

"Come on, you chickens. What's the worst that can happen? We die? Not too bad at all!" I argued. They sighed. "Besides, they told us not to open the scrolls until we get to the tower. We're at the tower."

After a long hour of arguing, they consented. On a count of one, two, both scrolls were flung open.

Hey wait, that symbol is familiar...

"Get back, it's a summoning Jutsu!" We dove away from the scrolls as they seemed to explode with smoke. Kurenai-sensei stood before us, grinning.

"Congratulations! You made it in a day and a half! Saya, Kiba, did you two even sleep?" She winked.

My face turned red at the implication as I stuttered a no. Sensei merely smirked in revenge.

"How about you, enjoy your rare alone time with Asuma-sensei?"

It was her turn to blush and deny such a lewd thing. I smirked. She sighed in defeat and then waved us on into the next room. I skipped in and smiled at Gaara. Politely, I saluted him before skipping off to find somewhere to sleep.

Now that sensei mentions it, no we didn't sleep...

After a nice comatose state for the rest of the days at the tower, we were called down to the arena looking place. I spaced out as the old men chatted. I think I faintly remember that silver haired creep say he quit or whatever. After that, Kiba helped me out by dragging me out of there. Curious, I turned to him.

"Preliminaries. Too many of us passed so they have to cut down the number of participants. It's one on one combat. If you lose, your team doesn't get affected." I 'aaah'ed at his short and sweet condensation of that ridiculous explanation. Peeking over the railing, I saw that cocky Uchiha having the snot beaten out of him. I checked the board.

"Go Yoroi guy! Beat that Uchiha to oblivion!" I cackled. Fangirls around the ring snapped,

"Don't talk about Sasuke-kun like that!" Holding my sides in pain, I rolled around laughing until I heard a lot of people cheer, the hyper blonde and the pinkette's voices above the rest. I pouted. I had really hoped he would lose...

I was about to space out again when Kiba smacked my arm. I rubbed the sore spot and looked at the board since he was pointing to it.

'Hatake Saya vs. Rokudo Mukuro'

My god, who named this kid!?

I say, they're awesome for making their kid such an awesome name.

Kiba nudged me down the stairs and I found myself being pushed in front of a guy with purple hair in the shape of a pineapple. He had one blue eye and one red eye. Ridiculous hairstyle aside, this guy looks cool! If I wasn't a fangirl of Kiba, and I didn't live in the Sand village, and if I lived in the Mist village, I would try going after this guy.

Unless all the guys from different villages were hot.

Damn you, Leaf Village!

"Are you two ready?" The proctor coughed. I snapped out of my reverie. Oh yeah... We're fighting.

He nodded and charged at me. Stumbling, I dodged lazily to the side. I faintly heard some girl cheer on 'Mukuro-sama.'

My god, even he has fangirls. And he's got a pineapple haircut.

I dodged a swipe from a trident he summoned from a symbol on his wrist. Again and again, I dodged him.

"The hell're ya doin', Saya! Hurry up and kick his ass!" Kiba shouted from above.

Well, it's just... You know... I don't know this guy's abilities. And his eye looks like it's got numbers in it. And the numbers look like they're changing. Sorry for being cautious.

Quickly, he slammed the pointy end of his trident into the ground and made fast handsigns. His chakra fluctuated and my vision blurred.

Genjutsu.

From what I'm seeing, it's obviously high level. I came face to face with Mukuro in a dark chaotic swirl of red, black, and purple. I stood still and shut my eyes. The familiar release sign was formed on my hands. Focusing my chakra, I felt the Genjutsu begin to crack.

"Kufufufu, seems you're not as much of a weakling as I thought. Kufufufu, you can do more than dodge like a mouse from a cat," he teased. My eyes opened to him charging at me.

"Play time is over, sweetie," I grinned. Kiba cheered ridiculously loud as I jumped over Mukuro and twisted in the air so my hands landed on his shoulders. My lightning chakra flooded to my hands as I incapacitated him with my shocking awesomeness.

Alright, bad pun.

"Hatake Saya is the winner!" I cheered half heartedly before I saw Dad peek out from a corner. I waved like a monkey on drugs to him and I saw his mask stretch with a smile. I skipped upstairs, clapped my teammates on the shoulder, and skipped off to find a bed to take a nice nap. I'm still tired, all things considering. As I sat on the bed, I looked up to the ceiling to a pair of giant mismatched eyes, one blue and one red with numbers.

"Kufufufufu, not so special after all."

My heart seemed to stop.

I've been had!

AN: Couldn't seem to end this any other way. Virtual cookie if you get where I stole Mukuro from. Yes, Mukuro's illusion is that strong that Saya thought she broke it.

But notice I wrote "begin to crack."

I never said she actually broke it ;)

Ahh, book one of the CCC trilogy is almost over! Book two will come out whenever I finish all the other stories I'm writing for myself (or actually work on them.) I know I haven't updated in a while (how long? Lol!) but I haven't been motivated. I got all excited when I reached the preliminary fight for Saya! Woo! Will she lose? Or win? And if she wins, who does she fight in the final?

Well, you can't know who she fights in the final unless you watch KHR. I love that show~

And you can't know what happens unless you read my planning. That's some twisted piece of planning right there.