SUMMARY: The title says it all. Can Team 7 handle the rumored brutality of these exams?
Konoha Kitty
Chapter 21: The Chuunin Exams
One week later…
Sakura and Tori were out at the meeting spot at 5:45am, yawning terribly.
After being nocturnal to train for the last week, it'd been hard for Tori to swap it back around to get back into their mission schedule. She'd come home to the Harunos for dinner and a shower to make it look like she was there, but when bedtime hit she'd be out the window, heading out to the forest.
She'd made a little progress with her jutsu, not as much as she'd wanted to make. Sasuke had spent every night chasing her around the forest, so the times she'd been able to stop and practice weren't as common as she'd been hoping.
But she was getting much better at being sneaky, this she knew, thanks to him and watching what he'd been doing. Whenever he'd catch her he'd point out what she was doing wrong.
Her little chakra wall around her mind was getting stronger too, faster than she'd expected.
But the jutsu had been what she really wanted to practice. She pondered to herself the real usage of a ranged attack against people like her. Most shinobi would be able to simply dodge an attack like that unless held down. It'd probably be plenty useful against a band of ordinary thugs, cutthroats, or even soldiers, but she wondered if maybe she should be working on something else. After all, being sent on dangerous missions meant her deadliest foes were shinobi like her.
Her Discharge Jutsu and Lightning Claw Jutsu were ones she was really eager to get up and running. She was already practicing getting her chakra on the surface; the only other aspect of the Discharge Jutsu was then sending it out in an explosion around her, something the ligress was always eager to do.
She was pondering what hand signs she'd need for such a jutsu when Sasuke walked up about five minutes later. Sakura greeted him cheerily, earning silence in response.
Tori sighed in exasperation. Thanks to her and Sasuke's mental wars, communicating this way was now quite easy, even at decent distances.
She opened the silent channel,
'Really? Do you always have to be so flat-out rude?'
'It's the same damn thing every time she sees me.'
'So? Be nice to her! She's your teammate!'
'Why the fuck should I be nice?'
Tori thought long and hard before answering. There was really only one way to get this guy to do something she wanted, and him being nice to Sakura was definitely something she wanted,
'Because… if you're nice to her… I'll… um… I'll… call you… sensei…'
Sasuke looked up at her in surprise. She looked away.
'You'd do that… for her?'
'Yes, if it means you'll stop making her so miserable, I'll do it.' Really, if Sasuke could get Sakura to focus on him, it might take her attention off the subtle hints he'd give about his relationship with Tori, which was her goal in trying to get the two to get along better.
Sasuke cleared his throat,
"Sorry about that Sakura… I was thinking about something… Good morning to you, too"
Sakura's face lit up like Christmas.
"Oh! It's ok, Sasuke-kun! Did you sleep well last night?" she chirped, clearly ecstatic the boy was making conversation. Tori was stifling a grin, the girl's waves of happiness just made her want to smile like an idiot.
'Without my girl… no, I didn't…' he shot over into Tori's head, who inwardly rolled her eyes.
'I'm NOT your girl! I'm just a poor victim of a possessive, controlling jerk.'
'I can stop being nice anytime I want…'
Tori swallowed, 'I mean… yes, sensei…' The price she paid to get what she wanted…
"I slept fine, thanks," he responded to Sakura.
'See? Talking to girls isn't so bad…'
'You haven't had to talk to girls as me yet.'
'Thank God for not bestowing me with a dick and a sexy face and body.'
Sasuke seemed to freeze.
"What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura quipped, noticing the boy going still in the middle of her next question.
"N-nothing… just thought I'd forgotten to lock my door…"
'Did you just…?' The boy sounded flabbergasted.
'What?'
'Nothing… I'll talk to you about it later…'
Naruto ran up to them at five minutes till.
"Good morning, Sakura! Good morning, Tori!" he called happily, racing up to them, a big goofy grin on his face until he spied Sasuke.
Both of them glared at each other for a long moment and went quiet.
'What… the fuck… was that all about?'
'None of your business.' Sasuke's mood had clearly just hit the trash.
'Oh really? So everything in MY head is YOUR business, but when I'M curious about something, nope!'
'That's what happens when your head's full of nothing important.'
'EXCUSE YOU? Fine! I see how it is! No more of this then!'
And with that, she slammed up her chakra wall, blocking the boy out.
Three hours later…
"Hey guys! I got lost!" greeted Kakashi as he appeared out of nowhere.
"Stop lying with a straight face!" snapped Sakura, clearly pissy from having to hang around Naruto, Sasuke, and Tori's terrible moods.
Tori sat inside her head glowering while Naruto started up the rant he was hoping would work again: that they needed a harder mission than another silly D-rank genin mission. Honestly, Tori welcomed the easy work after the Land of Waves and was in no mood to complain… at least, not about that.
She glanced over at Kakashi, wondering how he and whoever he'd taken the necklace to had handled it. She hoped it was safe; not out of concern for the little conniving killer inside it, but out of fear that someone else might get a hold of it.
Kakashi briefed the team on their mission, took Tori's bracelet off since it'd be outside the village walls, and waved them away, something about helping out at a local ranch. Sasuke and Sakura turned to go, Naruto simply bolted in the direction he thought it would be, and Tori knew she'd have to find him and bring him to the right spot later… but for now, she was curious.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi turned, already appearing to know what she wanted to ask.
"It's protected. For the safety of both of you it'd be best if I didn't tell you what we did with it."
Tori sighed, a bit relieved but wanting to know if what they did was really enough. If anyone so much as touched it…
She inwardly shook her head. She had to trust Kakashi-sensei did the right thing. The necklace was discovered here in the village, surely someone knew its origins and how to properly handle it…
Kakashi walked away, signaling the end of the conversation. Tori turned and jogged after her teammates.
As she caught up with them, she felt pressure on the chakra wall she had around her mind, as if there were someone…
Sasuke was looking directly at her. She glared and looked away quickly, smirking mentally at his attempt to break in. He wanted to know what she'd talked to Kakashi about, and now he couldn't. It wasn't something that was difficult to guess but… it was the principle of the matter.
"What was that all about Tori?" Sakura turned to see the girl run up beside her.
"Oh nothing, just a question I had for Kakashi-sensei. Did you see which way Naruto went?"
"Hell if I know. Might wanna wait to go get him till we actually get there though, wouldn't want to have to go looking for two of you."
"Agreed."
The ranch wasn't far from the village. Horses and cows dotted the grassy landscape, grazing peacefully. Tori loved horses, this might be a place to start frequenting if the owners would allow it.
Once she had a bearing on her location, she set out to find Naruto. He hadn't been too far off the mark, only missing the ranch by a mile or two. Her speed helped her find him quickly, and with how speedy he was as well, they both made it back before long.
Sakura and Sasuke were mucking out stalls when they reached the ranch house, scooping old, dirty bedding into a wheelbarrow.
Tori reported in to the owner and was asked to take Naruto and bring in two horses that had wandered a bit far from the ranch. She inquired about the lack of fencing, receiving the answer that the horses and cattle usually didn't wander too far and fencing land this large was quite expensive.
She and Naruto went to the barn and Tori showed him how to use a halter, a bridle without a metal bit that allowed for a rope to be attached to lead the horse around.
After training him on how to catch a free-roaming horse using carrots and quick hands to get the halter on before the horse noticed, they headed out, halters and leads over their shoulders.
"Where did you learn so much about horses?" came the inevitable question.
Tori looked up at the sky, "Home. My mother had me taking horseback lessons when I was very small. I learned a lot before I had to leave."
Naruto looked at her curiously, "What was your mom like?"
Tori thought for a moment before answering.
"My mother was… kind. She was a bit of a hothead sometimes when my dad was messing with her, or when one of us was getting in trouble at school… but she had a lot of heart."
"So she sounds like you." Naruto laughed a bit. Tori tilted her head. Naruto thought she was kind? After everything they'd been through? …Or was it the hothead bit he was referring to? "You also said 'one of us'… you had siblings?"
"Yeah…" Tori grew quiet, "I had a big brother and a little sister."
"Where are they now?"
Tori almost didn't want to tell him. She knew why he was asking, and she wanted to entertain him with what little she could remember of her family, and she was still trying to work through the depression she got into whenever she remembered how they died.
With a deep breath, she finally mustered out the word, "…dead."
At this, Naruto grew quiet too, "So… you don't have a family either…"
"I do… they're just not my birth family. It'd be rather bratty to say the Harunos weren't my family after all they did to take care of me, wouldn't it?"
"Oh yeah… um, well… off the sad stuff… do you remember what your brother and sister were like? And your dad?"
Tori smiled softly. He could tell it'd been getting awkward and was trying to turn to a different direction so he could still get his answers. She'd still talk; it was nice to remember their living forms as opposed to the dead ones.
"My dad was… a jack of all trades. He was a technology whiz, a mechanic, an electrician, a health nut, a musician, a mathematician…"
"That's a lotta stuff!"
"Yeah, he was always into something," Tori laughed, remembering how the dining room table was always cluttered with her dad's work papers and converted into an office while her mother was constantly yelling at him to clean it up. "My brother was… a sports nerd. He played a lot of them and watched them on TV…"
"Sports?"
"Yeah, you know… football? Soccer? Baseball?"
Naruto tilted his head. Tori raised an eyebrow; he really had no idea.
"Um, it's pretty much a game that everyone makes a big deal about."
"Like tag?"
"Like tag but… more people are watching and getting excited about it than just the people playing."
"Sounds weird."
"I never got it, either. But yeah, he was a jerk, and bossy, and loud, and rude, too."
"That's not very nice."
"Well he's a brother; it's his job to be that way."
"It is? No way, if I had a brother, I'd show him everything I know! All my best jutsu, the best flavors of ramen, the best training spots…"
Tori laughed, "It'd be nothing like that. You two would hate each other and be at each other's throats all the time, always competing, always trying to be the better one…"
"How do you know? Just because it'd be two guys doesn't mean we'd be like that!"
"I know because I was like that with my brother! And despite all the crap I talk about him… it's weird… Having a brother is like… well, for you… having a huge bowl of ice cream. At first you're like 'YEAH! Ice cream!' then when you've been eating for a while you're like 'ugh… ice cream…' and once it's gone and you haven't had any for a while, you think 'Man… I wish I had some ice cream…'"
Naruto appeared to be thinking about what she said, so she continued, "My point is, I miss the guy more than anything, despite what I say. He and I would fight so easily when we were together, but when we were apart I missed him terribly. My sister was much the same way, except she was like Sakura, she was a girl who loved girl stuff. My tomboy nature never really rubbed off on her."
"Was she pretty?"
"I used to say she was ugly as sin… but she really wasn't. She was pretty, and she'd probably have grown up to be a really gorgeous girl."
"You know something, Tori…"
"What's that?"
"All this talk about siblings… Konohamaru and I are like that. He annoys the crap out of me sometimes, but I'd help him out if he ever needed it, and I'd probably never tell him I think he's an awesome kid, cuz that'll give him an even bigger head, but still!"
"You know who's even more like that with you?"
Naruto's eyes widened, "Who?"
"Sasuke. You two are always going at it, pushing each other to the limit, hating each other's guts every second of every day… you two are the textbook definition of brothers."
"HELL NO! I will NEVER say Sasuke's my brother! That stuck-up bastard can kiss my ass! I gotta take today's mission as a chance to show him up once and for all! COME HERE, YOU STUPID HORSES!"
With that, Naruto bolted into the trees.
"Oh shit…"
() () () () () () () ()
Several hours later…
Tori hefted a bruised-up Naruto through the streets of Konoha, Sakura lecturing him the whole way.
"It's because you push yourself too much. You're lucky Tori knew how to handle that runaway, or you'd have totally lost that horse for good and we'd have to do extra dirty work to pay for it."
"Jeez, can't you take care of yourself?" snapped Sasuke as he walked ahead of them, "You even let a horse beat the shit out of you."
That set the boy off, "GOD DAMMIT SASUKE!" All bruises forgotten, he attempted to pounce on his teammate. Tori restrained him, not out of worry for Sasuke's well-being, oh hell no, but out of worry that Naruto's condition would worsen greatly should Sasuke decide to brutally "defend himself".
"Hm… teamwork seems to be suffering lately…" noted Kakashi. Tori's stomach tightened in fear. If this for any reason brought those god-forsaken chains out again, she'd kill Sasuke herself.
"Yeah! Way to ruin our teamwork, Sasuke! Always hogging the spotlight, bastard!" yelled Naruto.
"That would be you, moron. If you want me to stop making you look bad…"
He turned his head back to look at the other boy, "Then just get stronger than me."
Sakura looked between the two, panicked. Tori heard Kakashi move and glanced his way. Their sensei's head was turned toward the sky. Following his gaze, Tori noted he was looking at a bird. Why he was staring at a bird at a time like this, she couldn't fathom.
"Ok, that's it for today, I'm going to go submit this report," he said, his gaze quickly returning to the four in front of him.
"Then I'm going home…" said Sasuke as he turned and walked away.
"Oh! Um… Sasuke-kun, wait!" chirped Sakura.
The boy stopped, quite regretfully, to hear her out.
"How about we work on our teamwork?" she asked, fluffing up her hair, "You know, just the two of us?"
Tori almost dropped Naruto in the fit of laughter that welled up inside her, which quickly dissipated at the verbal onslaught that followed.
"Really? You're the same as Naruto," Sasuke snapped, "If you have the time to bother me, you've got time to practice a jutsu or two. Frankly, I even consider your ability beneath Naruto's. If you can't pull your own weight, you're just going to drag the whole team down."
He spun around and marched off. Naruto pushed himself off Tori's shoulder and wobbled over to Sakura. Kakashi took that opportunity to vanish.
Praying that Naruto would provide what Sakura needed to cheer up, Tori took off as well. As much as she wanted to beat the crap out of Sasuke for being so rude to Sakura, he had a point.
As she ran along the fence that lined the streets, using her chakra to balance, she smelled something… unfamiliar.
Taking what she'd learned so far into account, she slipped down from the fence into the bushes, crawling softly so as not to disturb them. From the bushes, she slowly slipped up into the trees. Climbing as high as she dared while staying on the side facing away from the calamity she heard rising from where she left Sakura and Naruto, she got up near the very top where the leaf cover got incredibly dense.
Keeping her chakra in her hands and feet so she could lie unseen against the tree, she peeked out through the leaves down into the street.
A boy clothed in all black was holding what appeared to be Konohamaru, Naruto's little buddy, in his hand, angrily yelling at both the small boy and Naruto, who was on the ground. A pretty blonde girl stood next to him, a large object strapped to her back.
From this vantage, Tori watched as Sasuke slipped up smoothly into a tree branch below her, a rock in his hand. With a well-aimed throw, he pegged the black-clothed boy in the hand, making him drop Konohamaru.
"What're you assholes doing in our village?" he quipped, another rock readied in his hand. Sakura's squees were audible even at this range.
The unfamiliar smell came back, stronger. Moving slowly, Tori shifted to look at the other side as a red-haired boy with a large gourd on his back crept up the tree, silent as death as he shifted his feet onto a branch. She'd have never known he was there had she not smelled him. He didn't appear to be readying any weapons, but just in case…
'Watch your six…'
She saw Sasuke tense up more, hopefully meaning he'd heard her.
"I hate show-offs like you even more than I hate bratty little midgets," snarled the boy in black to Sasuke as he pulled a large, bandaged object off his back.
"You're not seriously gonna use Karasu?" asked the blonde girl, dumbfounded.
The redhead came out from behind the tree, suspended upside down with his feet attached to a branch behind Sasuke, as Tori predicted.
"Kankuro, stop," he snapped. His voice… it gave Tori chills. Even though she gave Sasuke warning, she saw him turn to look at the source; probably just to see what kind of guy a voice like that would belong to.
"You're an embarrassment to our village," he continued.
"O-oh… um… Gaara…" Kankuro stammered. The hierarchy of that team was quite apparent.
"Losing yourself in a fight… just pathetic. Why do you think we came all this way to the Leaf Village?"
'So they're not from here… that makes sense… I've never seen them before. I wonder where they came from?' Tori mused.
The ligress shifted, focused on the one named Gaara.
'He scaring you as much as he scares me?'
No response came.
"Listen, Gaara… they started it…" Kankuro began.
"Shut up," Gaara snapped, "Or I'll kill you."
The words rang like ice through Tori's blood, her heartbeat increased slightly. This guy was no fucking joke.
The two on the ground began apologizing "I-I'm sorry… really sorry, Gaara…"
"M-me too, really, really, sorry…" stuttered the blonde.
Gaara looked back to Sasuke, "I'm sorry about them."
He vanished, appearing on the ground next to his teammates. "It looks like we got here too early, but it's no excuse to be playing around."
"I-I know…" Kankuro muttered.
With the spot clear, Tori took the opportunity to reveal herself.
Pushing off the trunk, she jumped to the tree in front of her, grabbing the branch above Sasuke and dropping lightly next to him, using her feet to hold the branch.
This soft set of movements triggered a few quick snaps of different heads in her direction, namely Gaara's.
"You, how long have you been there?" he said, fixating Tori with his strange blue eyes.
"The whole time," Sasuke answered for her, "She's the one who told me you were there." Though the redhead's expression never changed, Tori scented some slight irritation from him.
Despite Sasuke bulldozing her by speaking on her behalf, she had to admit she might not have worded the response so well, or even been that honest... though honesty might not have been the wisest course in this regard.
Turning after a long moment, Gaara motioned to his companions, "Let's go."
"Hey, wait!" Sakura started after them.
"What?" Gaara looked back.
"You're from the Sand Village right? Despite us being allies, you need our village's permission to be here. State your business, and depending on what it is, we might not be able to let you go."
Tori had forgotten that part. By default she'd assumed that them being here so openly meant they had permission from someone… but for all she knew they could've been here illegally and simply acting like they belonged. Good on Sakura to challenge them.
"Wow… that clueless, huh?" The blonde pulled what appeared to be a pass out of her jacket. "Yeah, we're from the Sand Village, and we're genin. We're here to take the Chuunin Exam being held in your village."
"Chuunin Exam?" quipped Naruto.
"Yeah, where outstanding genin from every ninja village come together to take an exam and hopefully make the rank of chuunin. It's supposed to foster friendship between villages and-"
"Konohamaru! You think I should take this exam?" Naruto had clearly lost interest in her answer already.
"Why ask me if you won't even listen to the whole response?" the girl snapped angrily.
Sasuke vanished from his perch in the tree, appearing in front of Naruto.
"You, what's your name?" he asked.
"Wh-who? Me?" the blonde was turning red.
"No." The answer's bluntness was all the shutdown she needed. Ouch. "You, with the gourd."
Gaara faced Sasuke, his head tilted curiously, "Gaara… of the desert."
Apparently Tori had been the only one of the two of them to hear Kankuro address him before.
Gaara continued, "I'm also interested in your name…" he paused, looking up at Tori, his eyes piercing right through her, "and hers."
"Sasuke Uchiha. Up there is-"
"I'm Tori Ayuka." Tori said loudly from up in the tree, not wanting Sasuke to do her introduction for her, too.
Gaara huffed, "Glad to see she has a voice."
"Hey! What about me?" asked Naruto, waving wildly at himself.
"Don't care. Let's go," he told the other two, disappearing.
Clearly miffed about being ignored, Naruto started up another rant about not losing to Sasuke, who began arguing with him.
The wind blew at Tori's back on her perch, carrying some vague muttering behind her to her ears.
"…the black-haired leaf, and the sand with the gourd… let's keep our eyes on them…"
She didn't turn her head to arouse suspicion, but the muttering stopped, so she assumed they left, whoever they were. She inwardly shuddered. All these strangers in their village made her feel unsafe. Sasuke had already painted a target on himself with his little show. She pretty much did too, though hers was a bit more unintentional. It certainly didn't help that Sasuke had kind of bragged about her when she would've pretended she'd just gotten there.
She sighed, and turned casually to leave, glancing up where she thought the voices were coming from. As she'd suspected, no one was there.
She didn't care that the ligress was helping her with sensory at the moment, she didn't want to be taken unaware by any of these strange ninja, especially if there were more like Gaara floating around.
She took the most discreet path home, avoiding the streets, which she knew they'd be watching.
She headed between the fencing into a small wooded area, stopping when she noticed Sasuke sitting at the base of one of the trees.
'I decided surprising you would be unwise with us trying to stay hidden. You've made it apparent that you like to yell when startled.'
'How did you…?'
'I've known about this path you take for a while. It wasn't your current skills to blame, I assure you.'
'…All the same… god dammit… is there nowhere I can go that's just my own damn business and you know nothing about it?'
'This isn't about your business right now; it's about us looking after each other. There are strangers here, as you're aware. We need to be careful.'
'You intercepted me for a pep talk?'
'No, I intercepted you to take you home.'
'You think you need to walk me back to my house? It's like right there, I just need to hop up this tree and go over the street and a few houses down.'
'I'm very aware of that; however, I'm not taking you to that house. We're obviously going to the safer of the two we have available to us.'
'Your house? You think your house is safer?'
'My house is in a deserted compound that most people think is closed off, and it's quiet. We could hear people coming there more easily than you could at Sakura's house.'
'And no one would hear us scream when they killed us.'
'If they're as good as we think, that won't matter. Silent killing is the name of the game, and these guys appear to be very, very good at that. Had you not warned me about Gaara, I'd have never known he was there.'
'In that argument, it makes yours a moot point too. They can sneak up on us just as easily in silence than in a more crowded part of the village.'
'Very true… but we have your nose. With the crowded part, there are a lot of scents, old and new, to muddle theirs up, but where I am, you already know the area, you'll smell any new scents coming from a long way off.'
'That is true… the only reason I knew Gaara was there was because I smelled him.'
'So it's settled…'
'No, it's not settled! Why do I have to be a part of this?'
'Because Gaara wanted both our names. If it were just mine, I'd make sure we stayed far apart to draw attention away from you.'
Now Tori really regretted unveiling herself.
'Not my fault someone got a little too proud of how well he trained me.'
'Well thank you very much.'
'Don't mention it… ever.'
'I'll mention something else instead when we get home.'
'I'm not going there! How many times do I have to say it?'
'About as many times as I'll argue otherwise before I just take you there. It's for your safety.'
'I can take care of myself!'
'Not against them, you can't. We're a team, let's act like it.'
'What about Sakura and Naruto?'
'They're not on any hit lists yet, no one sees them as a threat. It's better to let them stay obscure.'
'Cause the two of us could totally take on a three-man squad… especially one with Gaara in it.'
'I've got faith in us; it's certainly better odds than three on one.'
'If I'm gonna die, I will die having chosen where I want to be.'
'Would you cut it with your stupid principles and be logical for a second here? You either do it willingly or unwillingly, but we can't stay here much longer. We need to go get your stuff from Sakura's house and get home before someone finds us and starts following us.'
'Is that a threat?'
'It's a promise. Stop being a retard and let's go, do not make this difficult right now.'
'Well in that case… have at it.' Chakra wall was up, bring it on.
'You won't like what I have planned if I have to make you do this…'
She didn't budge. She would die with her principles intact.
Hands pushed her against the trunk, fingers holding her eyelids open. The power that slammed against her mind at that moment was dizzying; Sasuke really wasn't holding back.
Even the ligress seemed to be irritated with her resistance, refusing to help when Tori tried to summon some chakra to zap Sasuke off of her.
'Et tu, Ligress?'
The cat looked at her almost angrily, surprising her. The ligress didn't get angry about much. Sure, she got frustrated with not getting to let loose, but anger was a rare emotion for her.
Tori actually was doing a fairly decent job holding Sasuke back with her own chakra, pleasing her greatly. Her downfall, shockingly, came from within. The ligress, siding with Sasuke, actually sabotaged the mental defenses, throwing Tori's chakra into chaos to make it uncontrollable.
'You traitor!' She'd been doing so well!
The wall fell to pieces in microseconds and Sasuke was in, assuming control and ordering her to follow him quietly and do as he commanded.
They went to Sakura's house, Sasuke waited in the trees outside while Tori went in. Sasuke commanded her to tell Mrs. Haruno that she was spending the night at Hinata's house since they hadn't gotten to talk since they became genin. It scared Tori that he knew this, but… she realized he had access to this information now.
Upstairs, he commanded her to grab two duffels and stuff tons of clothes in them. Almost her entire closet went in. He then had her pack her usual backpack with anything else that would fit that she'd need. He came to the window and had her hand him the duffel bags, sending her downstairs afterwards with her backpack to tell Mrs. Haruno goodbye.
Once outside, he handed her one of the bags and they made their way silently back to the Uchiha residence. Instead of going in the gate, they slipped through the trees to the back of the complex, scaling the wall with their chakra and coming down within some of the other houses. They threaded through the small alleyways, checking back up on the wall and in the sky constantly to make sure they weren't being watched. If so much as a bird flew over, Sasuke would pin them both to a wall. Tori noted that Sasuke seemed pretty tired after one such event, strange for him.
They reached the house quickly, getting inside. As Sasuke locked the door, Tori felt him release her mind. She was about to let him have it, but stopped when he staggered away from her and sat down on the step, taking his shoes off in an exhausted manner.
Her anger quickly dissipated into concern, "Are you ok?"
"I'll be fine… no thanks to your goddamn principles…"
She was taken aback, "What?"
"Holding my genjutsu for that long, making you do as much as you did… while still doing what I was doing. It was taxing… it was a workload I've never had to do before, but I did it for you."
Tori felt a bit bad now. Inconveniencing him in a minor way was amusing, irritating him was delightful, but causing him physical and mental exhaustion and pain… wasn't as fun as she thought it would be.
"…I'm sorry…" Her voice was small, like how she felt.
Sasuke's face grew alarmed, "Wait what?"
"I… I said… that… I'm sorry… for… y'know… putting you through that…"
She tugged on his arm to help him up, taking him to his room.
"Who are you and where's Tori? She doesn't say sorry, and she certainly doesn't help me when I'm down."
"Shut up, I just feel bad is all, give it a rest." Tori put Sasuke in the bathroom, handing him a towel, "Take a bath and relax or something, just feel better."
"Are you not coming with me?"
"For a bath? Are you insane?"
"…That actually came out wrong. I meant… to just hang around."
"I'm gonna go bathe in the hot springs, you just take your bath. I'll try to make us some dinner when I'm done. Then I suppose we can hang around, seeing as how your diabolical plan of bringing my entire wardrobe and most of my belongings over here to tether me to this place is proving successful at the moment."
"Don't worry; it'll stay that way." At her small joke, his cocky attitude seemed to return.
"Don't count on it."
Tori closed the door and proceeded to take her hot spring bath. Thankfully, it was actually uneventful; Sasuke was being good and staying in the bathroom.
She went inside and changed in the closet, heading into the kitchen to cook and deciding at that moment to focus on the ligress's strange behavior. It was odd for her to get angry at her and side with Sasuke… odd in the way that it had never happened before.
'What the hell was that? Why did you help him?'
The ligress raised her head and seemed to glare in her direction.
'What? What did I do?'
An uneasy feeling rose up in her, as did an image of Gaara.
'Him? He's why you sided with Sasuke?' She knew the ligress had been fixated on the boy for some reason, but why was that strong enough to bring about such anger?
Apparently the ligress realized she wasn't getting the hint and replayed a memory: 'Shut up… or I'll kill you.'
'You're… afraid of him?'
A confirmation feeling was her response.
'You're afraid of him… and you think it's wiser for me to stay with Sasuke to stay alive?'
The ligress chuffed in irritation; her emotions were divided between some decisions.
Finally, after a long moment, a terrifying image came to Tori's mind. A giant, angry beast made of sand slashed at her, dust whipping about, cutting her skin, stinging her eyes, ears, and nose. She tried to zap the creature, to no avail. Her electricity had no effect on it; her claws and teeth were met with soft sand that choked her and did nothing to hurt her opponent. She could only try to escape with her life; it was her only choice.
She dodged as the beast swiped at her again, leaping forward, and Tori glimpsed massive black-and-white-striped paws in her field of vision, claws extended for gripping the ground. She tried to dodge as the beast's tail extended around, but it snagged her, wrapping around her body. She screamed as it tightened around her chest and limbs, crushing her… caging her… closing over her eyes to block out the sun…
"TORI!"
"GAAAAH!"
Tori jumped backwards, snatched up by Sasuke before she smacked hard into a wall.
"Dammit, what the fuck was going on in there?" he snapped. His face was white, and he was holding himself up with one hand on the kitchen counter, clearly still exhausted.
"What? What the hell did you scare me for?"
"You weren't breathing! You were gasping for air! Don't fucking scare me like that!"
"Wait what?"
"What the fuck were you seeing?"
"I… I don't know… I think... I think it had something to do with Gaara."
Sasuke's eyes widened.
"How did it have anything to do with Gaara? What… the hell…" He grew paler and began to slump forward, "…was it… fuck… Can we go lie down?" Clearly his adrenaline rush was wearing off.
Tori supported him back to the bedroom. She helped him onto the bed and put the blankets on him. Not wanting to make things worse, she turned off the light and climbed into bed on her side without making a fuss.
After explaining why the ligress helped him, much to his amusement and Tori's irritation, Tori described the scene the ligress had shown her.
"I don't know why, but I have a strong feeling it's one of her memories, and the fact that she showed it to me after discussing Gaara makes me positive they're related."
"I would have to agree with you there. Unless she can give you some more info though, it'd be wise for us to just keep an eye on him like usual and just keep these things in mind. Perhaps, before this exam is done, we'll have our answers."
"I hope so… I guess we'll keep worrying about it tomorrow." She pulled up the blankets and got under them, rolling over to go to sleep.
'Oh… one more thing…' Sasuke opened their mental channel.
'What?'
'You think I have a sexy face and body?'
'When the fuck did I say that?'
'This morning.' He sounded pleased.
'Well, take it as a moment of minor delusion and leave it at that.'
'No, I want to think of it more as a moment of clarity.'
'Whatever helps you sleep at night…'
'I could just take you over and find out for sure…'
'I think my ligress would help this time; you'd be screwed.'
'I'm getting better too, you know.'
'Whatever, just go to sleep, you need it more than I do.'
Though it did bring up an interesting point, Sasuke had the chance to see the memories she'd carefully hidden from him after the Land of Waves and he didn't take it. She hated to admit it, but there was trust building up there. It was nice to know he wouldn't look at things like that when he had full control over her.
…or he just forgot about it in the heat of the moment. She'd find out in time.