A/N: CHAPTER TWENTY!! WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
And I gotta say… Thanks so much to xXxjustbecausexXx!! I thought that I didn't have to post until tomorrow, but she sent me an irate PM, like I said, and here it is. Thank her. :D
-o-
"We're going back to Suna," Chie-sensei informed us a few days later. "All of us," she added, looking at me, letting me know that Gaara was going, too. In fact, it was probably for the mission that I had recently been reminded of.
"We're going hoooooooooooome!" Eiri cheered.
"For how long?" Abura asked quickly.
"Just a few days. Three at the outside."
"Why?" I asked quietly.
"Because we have time."
-o-
The trip over was uneventful. We arrived at the gates of our home under the frigid blanket of night and lingered just inside the village for a moment as Chie-sensei explained the plan for this visit.
"I'm going to see my mother," I said when she was done talking, and she nodded her permission.
Expecting to find a party in full-swing, I was shocked—and a little worried—to see the house standing dark and desolate. Letting myself in, I flipped on a light; there was a flurry of activity that I recognized as the rustling of my mother's skirts as she stood.
"Mom?" I asked softly without turning around. I think I was almost afraid to see her.
"Takara?" I heard her take a step toward me.
"I thought maybe you were at someone else's party, since this place is empty," I prodded gently.
Her voice trembled slightly. "I haven't hosted a party since a few days after you left."
Shocked, I spun around. Her eyes were haunted, her makeup smeared; the social butterfly had become a ghostly moth of seclusion. "But, Mom, I've been gone for over two weeks," I blurted.
"I know. Takara, I heard you went with Gaara. Your squad, I mean." She sank haphazardly back into her chair.
"Don't be ridiculous, Mother, they'd never send us with him. We'd never make it to Konoha alive. We were always a day behind him as we traveled, and only their sensei actually knew we were there. I haven't gone near him."
She leaned her head back, looking exhausted, and whispered, "I've heard…"
I stepped closer to her and said lightly, not letting a trace of my fear at those words show through, "I always told you not to gossip so much, Mom." In an attempt to hold up the illusion, I flashed her a wavering smile.
There was a pause, silent but for my mother's labored breathing. Then she murmured, "The anniversary of your father's death is coming up."
My heart sank. Of course. And no, my birthday wasn't coming up—the depressing event of the same day was so much more important.
"Yes, it is," I offered weakly, frozen where I stood. "A couple more weeks and—" But I was interrupted by the sudden, muffled sobs that were wracking my mother's slender frame. Turning on my heel, I fled the house, running to who-knows-where.
Chie-sensei opened her door on my second knock.
"She's not holding a party," I said desperately.
But she just stood there, looking back at me, with nothing to say.
-o-
I returned to my house in the morning, and my mother greeted me as if the previous night hadn't happened. Briefly, I wondered if she'd been drunk, but avoided asking any questions that would give me that answer.
"Takara-chan! You're home! When did that happen?"
"Early this morning," I muttered gloomily.
"Well, it's great to see you!" she proclaimed, showing me where I'd gotten my dishonest streak, and launched into tales of gossip and social woe. Just as I'd managed to tune her out, she threw something else at me.
"I'm holding a party in celebration of your birthday next week. Will you still be around?"
"No," I mumbled, hating the way her eyes lit up at the answer. Oh, how devoted they'd think her, celebrating her daughter's birthday when the child wasn't even there. What a wonderful mother she must be.
I wondered if anyone else ever saw how hard my mother worked to look the way she did to them.
"The Exams aren't over yet," I explained glumly. "I'll only be here for three days. In fact," I added, before she could profess more false sorrow at my parting, "I need to go now. We have training scheduled. Bye, Mother."
I was out the door without waiting for a reply.
-o-
Truthfully, I was supposed to go train with my squad, but not until the afternoon; Chie-sensei had charged us with working on our own in the morning.
Actually, she was probably with Eiri and Abura already, teaching them how to see through my lies. I could probably go find out where they were, find out what they were learning, find out how to get around it… But I got a sick feeling in my stomach when I thought about it, so I didn't.
Instead, I wandered aimlessly through the streets of my home, the gleaming desert sun beating down on me. I had no particular plan, until Baki's voice drifted through the heat to my ears.
And where there was Baki, there was usually Gaara.
"…join with Sound," he was saying as I immediately adjusted my trajectory to follow the voice. "…And this will probably end in war against Konoha. This is an A+ Ranked mission… Remember that."
That almost stopped me dead.
Not because I was shocked to hear of a war, but because this was my mission, too, even if no one else believed that. I wasn't on it to be cannon fodder, like I'd been told; but A+ Ranked… I couldn't handle that.
Except… for Gaara, I would.
"A war?" Temari exploded. "Why? Why now?! We've spent so much time and sacrificed so much to arrive at this treaty of alliance… And now we're breaking it. So many will die again…"
So many will die again… Honestly, that's when it hit me. For real. I was in this for Gaara and Gaara alone, but… I'd made friends in Konoha, hadn't I? Kiba and his squad… Maybe we weren't friends, but we could be. Shihai—she'd saved my life, really. My career as a shinobi…
Would they have to die?
And would I have to help?
Baki was explaining the military logistics of Suna. "…our village had no choice but to raise the quality of each shinobi." I was watching them now, through the shadows inside their supposedly secure room; Baki turned to look at Gaara and went on, "That is why shinobi like you were 'manufactured'… Gaara."
I saw him turn his eyes away as they narrowed slightly in pain at those words, but his answer did not betray that agony; he said nothing at all.
And I swear, if I had not already vowed to remain unseen by the Demon God, I would have burst into that room and killed Baki for that statement.
"Right now, the very existence of the Land of Wind is in peril. Lord Kazekage, who sensed the impending crisis of Sunagakure's military decline, decided to join forces with Otogakure to show our idiot Daimyo the naiveté of his policies… and, at the same time, to crush Konoha and restore the Sand Village to prosperity. If we wait any longer, all the military strength of Sand will be utterly drained, and our capability to fight Konoha totally lost."
Once again, the jōnin turned his gaze to the red-haired shinobi that leaned against the wall. "Gaara, this mission… its success depends heavily on you…"
There was silence for a moment, then Gaara's eyes hardened to a mask of determination.
"I know."
-o-
We returned to Konoha the promised three days later; the journey back was as uneventful as the journey home. Except for one thing.
The night before we entered Konoha, I stayed awake long after Eiri and Abura had slipped into dreams. Chie-sensei was on watch; she sat staring out into the trees, and if I hadn't known better, I would have taken her to be not paying attention.
Quietly, I stood beside her, likewise staring. A moment later, she said, "Yes?"
"Gaara left a day ahead of us, ne?"
"Yes."
"And he entered Konoha early this morning, ne?"
"Yes."
"And he's the biggest part of this mission that we are simply cannon fodder for, ne?"
"…Yes," she replied softly.
"So here's what I don't get. You are completely against me being anywhere near Gaara… And yet, you never refuse me information. In fact, you go out of your way to let me know where he is, where he's going." I hesitated. "Why?"
Chie-sensei said nothing.
After a moment, I said quietly, "If he were on my side, I would never die."
She turned her eyes from the forest to her hands, held loosely in her lap. "He would be a formidable ally, yes. Those he protected would be hard-pressed to find someone who could penetrate his defenses. But here's the thing, Takara-chan." Once again, she shifted her gaze, this time upward to look directly into mine.
"Gaara's not on anyone's side. Gaara… fights only for himself."
After that, she refused to say anything more, and I went to bed without an answer.
-o-
Immediately inside the gates of Konoha, we were accosted by none other than Ayatsuru Shihai. She responded to my greeting with a cheery wave, but her sights were set on Abura.
"Jeez," I muttered, grinning to myself, "I feel like I'm the only one without a stalker." Not that I thought Isane and Shihai were stalkers, but… Well, I hoped not.
"I figured now was a good time, what do you think? There's… less at stake. I know the perfect place.
Abura stared at her. Slowly, a grin spread across his face. "You're ready to fight," he stated, barely containing his excitement.
"Oooh, a battle," I cut in. "Mind if I come watch?"
"Cheh, yes."
I narrowed my eyes at his retreating back; as soon as the two were out of sight, I slipped into the shadows and followed, leaving Eiri and Chie-sensei behind.
-o-
The sign read, 'Practice Field 3,' and once inside, there were plenty of trees to hide in. I, however, did not use them; wanting a better view, I wrapped myself in darkness beside one of the three wooden posts that jutted out of the ground.
"Any rules?" Abura asked as they both settled into fighting stances.
"Go easy on me?"
Abura grinned. "Cheh, not a chance."
Shihai spun, jerking her wrist so that a lengthy bit of ninja wire flew toward Abura, glinting in the morning sun. The fire specialist caught it; its sharp edges drew blood, but he held on, sending fire coursing down its length. Shihai dropped her end, and the tail of flame split off from the wire, spiraling into the air. She flipped backwards, landing on a crouch as the fire swept over her head, then leapt forward, a kunai in her hand.
Abura dodged to the side as she threw it, but she had been aiming to miss. The blade thudded into the wood of the middle post, and Shihai leapt sideways, still holding one end of the wire. It connected with his arm and Shihai released it; chakra giving it life, the wire coiled around Abura, binding his limbs to his sides.
Smiling, the pyromaniac incinerated it with a snap of his fingers as Shihai closed in for the kill. Abura drew in a breath and spewed flames at the medic-nin, who dodged to the side, though she lost part of her shirt to the fire.
Rubbing her singed arm, Shihai backed away, then drew more ninja wire from her other sleeve. Animating it with her chakra, she directed it once again toward Abura. He prepared to torch it again, having never once moved from his spot; just as he released a burst of flame, the wire split into seven waving silver tendrils, as if they had been braided together.
Abura's fireball whipped right into the center of the wire, where all the strands met. However, instead of letting her wire be incinerated, Shihai forced more chakra into it, and the tendrils closed around the flames in a thin silver cage.
The wire convulsed, flailing the trapped fireball at its maker. Abura jumped back, moving for the first time, then snapped his fingers; a flicker of flame severed the caged blaze from the rest of the wire. The fallen fireball ignited the grass, which left Abura panicking. He and Shihai abandoned their battle and raced around the field, trying to quench the flames before they reached the forest. Achieving their goal, the pyro and the medic collapsed onto the singed ground, laughing their heads off.
Unnerved—I didn't usually see Abura laughing like that—but amused, I left them there, eternally grateful that the flames hadn't touched me, but the blackened ground they'd left behind was much easier to hide on.
-o-
I had absolutely nothing to do for the remainder of the month except follow Gaara and otherwise practice what I already knew how to do. Thus, it didn't take me long to decide that I needed something new.
And I quickly figured out what that something new was.
Not that I knew where it was, which led to me wandering aimlessly about the streets of Konoha, searching for it. Several people pointed me in the right direction, but they apparently were either reluctant to be or incapable of being more specific. Maybe I was just asking the wrong people.
I spotted a brown-haired girl with a Konoha hitai-ate around her neck. Her black shirt was oddly reminiscent of Temari's, and she wore baggy, grey-green pants.
"Tsugawa Aru," I lied warmly, walking up to her. "Can you tell me the way to the Nara compound?"
She blinked wide green eyesat me and gave me the most specific directions I'd gotten all day. Down to the last detail, I learned the path to my destination; she included such minute aspects as broken cobblestones in the road.
I thanked her heartily and turned to leave, still half-waving. Before I was out of earshot, I heard her call after me as if she had forgotten, "My name's Kyoto Unari!"
-o-
It was ridiculous how easily I found the Nara compound after three hours of searching. One person, it took; where had she been when I'd started my search?
But it didn't matter now, because I had arrived, and I couldn't change anything. There was someone at the gates, but she was cloud-watching and didn't notice me. Either that or she was asleep; regardless, I was ignored, and slipped easily inside with the shadows.
I had no particular destination in mind; 'find Shikamaru' was as far as I'd gotten. I simply wandered as aimlessly through the compound as I had through the village itself.
Until I found a kunai at my throat. "Naras are born in the shadows; you can't hide from us there."
-o-
A/N: Another semi-not-really-cliffie!! XD
Kyoto Unari is a 'cameo'-type-thing of xXxjustbecausexXx, who got my 50th review. THANK YOU!! :D
Man, I hope this picks up again soon, it's getting boring to me… ;
Oh, and chapter twenty special! Translations for many of the character names!
Takara: treasure
Akashi: proof, evidence
Eiri na: sharp, keen; sharp-edged
Urusai: noisy
Abura: oil
Kuraho: black fire
Chie: wisdom, intelligence; sense; advice, counsel
Mizu: water
Onaji: same, identical, equal
Hitotsu: one, same, identical
Shihai: rule, control, direction
Ayatsuru: to handle; to control; to pull the wires, strings; to manipulate
-o-
And, even if you don't care, Script Frenzy is going great. :D I'm over a quarter of the way through my script! I promise that, if I finish early, I'll go back to
writing Obsession. :D