Scarlet Kunai

By Ginta and Hakakku Fangirl

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters

A/N: Original Character's name is Kyoko, female, only a few months older than Uchiha Sasuke, no Kekki Genkai, ANBU-ranked kinoichi, more info in story.

Rated M for violence, language, and lime.

*I may have to "rearrange" some events, in order for this fic to make sense.

A/N: WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS ADULT SITUATIONS!

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Chapter Twenty-Nine: From Happiness to Fear

Kyoko laughed, hands above her head, twirling and squinting in the bright sun, her skirt swirling around her. Gaara smiled, following her at a slight distance, randomly using his chakra to shift through the sand in the street. In the past week, Kyoko's icy skin had warmed, turning from an ashen magnolia to a glowing pale gold and her grey eyes sparkled.

Kyoko had spent all of her spare time with Gaara, save the few hours she had gone to attempt to recover any of Sasori's weapons--she had found several kunai beneath his table, as well as quite a few poisons. She had slipped the weapons into her bag, and disposed of the poisons by slipping them all into Hidan's food--he'd never notice.

Other than those few hours spent with Deidara, Kyoko had rarely left Gaara's side. Not that he minded; nor did she. It was her mission: Stay with the Kazekage, help with whatever he needs.

Without Shukaku, a strange change had come over Gaara. He slept. And often. The Kazekage had nearly ten years of sleep to catch up on, and would often nod off as soon as he sat down. Without the One Tail, Gaara, for the first time in years, actually knew what it was like to be tired; it had been so long that he had forgotten. The shadows beneath his eyes from years of insomnia would likely never fade, but his eyes were brighter, and he seemed so much healthier and happier; the paleness of his skin had even begun to darken a bit.

So the two friends had been almost inseparable for the past week. The elders of the village, as well as Gaara's siblings, were amazed at the similarities lately in their Kazekage and the Konoha kunoichi. They both had rediscovered their appetites, their energy, and the joy of sleep. The only person who didn't seem to be happy was Matsuri.

Kyoko wasn't really sure how to react at first, to the subtle glares that Matsuri kept sending her way. Now she simply ignored them; Temari had noticed, and had promised to talk to the girl, knowing full well that Kyoko wouldn't exactly be one to understand fully why Matsuri felt the way she did.

"Gaara-kun!" Kyoko called, laughing, "it's time for food, I'm hungry!"

Gaara smiled and nodded, sand trailing behind him, and turned back towards the mansion. Matsuri soon joined them; she surprised Kyoko by smiling at her.

"Your favorite?" Gaara asked Kyoko, smiling and gesturing towards a restaurant.

"Hai!" Kyoko smiled and ran into the shop; Gaara smiled at Matsuri and took her hand. They both blushed, following Kyoko into the restaurant. Temari was already there with Kankuro.

"We thought you'd be here soon," Kankuro grinned as the three sat down at the table he and his sister occupied.

Kyoko grinned as well, signaling for the waiter.

"Dango, tea, and tsukiyaki!" Kyoko said; Gaara gave a small choking noise that could only have been a laugh. "What?"

"Are you sure you'll be able to eat all of that?" Kankuro asked as Gaara quickly took a sip of water.

"You've not eaten out with us yet, have you?" Gaara asked, setting down his glass and smiling. "Kyoko eats more than you and Temari put together."

"You're one to talk," Kyoko laughed. "You eat twice as much!"

Temari and Kankuro smiled as Gaara and Kyoko began to argue. This new, well-rested Gaara was a welcome change. He smiled more often, he was playful, and much, much happier. Temari had a feeling that he might even be asking Matsuri for a date soon. If he could even get the words out, that was. He wasn't even sitting next to Matsuri and his cheeks were still tinted pink just stealing glances at her. But maybe she and Kyoko could give him a little push…

XXX

Back in Konoha

Sakura sighed contentedly, taking her hair down from her ponytail. She had just gotten off duty at the hospital and was about to meet her new teammates, and embark on the mission that she had been given; to pursue the information that Sasori had given her, the same information kyoko had obtained, although they didn't know it. Unfortunately…

Only an hour later, Sakura found herself holding back Naruto from attacking their new teammate--who looked quite a bit like Sasuke.

"Oh, really?" Sai smiled. "Because I really like ugly bitches like you."

It was now Naruto's turn to hold back Sakura.

Sai just ignored them. Kyoko had told him to "be nice, these people are my friends!" when he had sent her a letter two days ago telling her that he was going to be on Team Kakashi. So far, he had been "nice," right? All he had done was speak his mind. Like always.

'Hmm…maybe I'll be able to draw on this mission…'

XXX

Suna

"Mm…" Kyoko smiled and stretched in her bed, the morning sun sneaking into her room behind the drapes on her windows. She had been off duty as a shinobi since Team Kakashi had left Suna, and she was loving it. She didn't have to worry about missions, she slept in until nine every morning. And, best of all, no paperwork! Well, most of the time. She had offered to help Gaara with his duties as Kazekage, which meant that she spent time with him in his office, helping him with the paperwork he had to go over, although it wasn't often--Baki and the elders had decided that Gaara should take things easy for a month. Or rather, Temari had decided, and then "convinced" the Suna council members to agree, with the help of Kankuro.

"Kyoko-chan!"

Kyoko sat up, pushing the blankets away and swinging her legs over the side of the huge bed. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and glanced on the clock on the wall. Half-past eight.

"Kyoko-chan!" Temari was knocking at her door. "Kyoko-chan, hurry up! Let me in before Gaara wakes up!"

Kyoko shook her hair out of her eyes and let Temari into her room, absentmindedly pulling her hair on top of her head the same way Deidara did. If Temari notice the similarity, she didn't comment on it.

"What is it, Tema-a-ri-chan?" Kyoko asked, stifling a yawn.

"It's not that early, stop yawning!" Temari snapped, throwing open all the curtains in Kyoko's room; the ANBU gasped, throwing her hands over her eyes; Temari laughed.

"What is it, Temari-chan?" Kyoko asked again, reaching for her robe.

"One, you're clock is wrong, it's seven-thirty not eight-thirty, and two, you've got to help me with Gaara!"

"What's wrong with Gaara-kun?" Kyoko asked, dropping her robe on the bed.

"Nothing!" Temari said. "Don't worry." She smiled as Kyoko glared at her and began to fix her clock. "Gaara has a crush on Matsuri-chan. I want to convince him to ask her out, but do it so that he doesn't know what we're doing."

"'We?"" Kyoko laughed, grabbing her towel and heading into her bathroom. "No thank you!"

Temari followed her. "Why not? He likes her! She likes him! And besides, he's sixteen! It's time for him to get a girlfriend!"

Kyoko laughed, turning the water on; the tub began to fill.

"I'm staying out of this one!" she said, pulling off her pants. Temari sighed.

"Fine, fine. You'll help me. You know you will."

"Right," Kyoko shrugged, shooing Temari out of the room so that she could enjoy her bath alone, and sank into the cool water with a sigh. If only she could stay in the water all day. It was already hot, and getting hotter.

XXX

"Kyoko-chan! Could you come in here?"

Gaara was calling her into his office.

"Hai, Kazekage-sama?" Kyoko asked, bowing slightly before entering Gaara's office fully--if there were ambassadors from other villages, it wouldn't exactly make a good impression for anyone to come running into Gaara's office and calling him by his name; even Temari and Kankuro called their baby brother "Kazekage-sama" when they entered his office if they didn't know who was there with him.

"It's Gaara, and you have a visitor," Gaara said, turning back to the paperwork Baki was explaining to him and gesturing towards a dog.

"Aka--Akamaru?" Kyoko said, cocking her head to the side; Akamaru barked. "Anno…Where's Kiba-kun?"

"He's behind you," Gaara said, signing his name on several documents before looking up at her and smiling.

"Hey, Kyoko-chan," Kiba murmured; Kyoko spun around, only to find herself tripping on the long sash of her dress and being caught up in Inuzuka Kiba's arms.

"You're kinda klutzy for an ANBU," Kiba laughed softly; Kyoko blushed.

"I'm not on duty, give me some slack," she chided, then looked surprised as something wet bump against her collarbone. "Koi-Koi!"

Kiba's grin widened as Kyoko reached up and took her puppy from his jacket.

"Shino, Hinata, and I all have to go on a mission," he said as they left Gaara's office with a wave to the Kazekage, Akamaru trailing behind them. "And since you're going to be here another two weeks, it's better for both you and Koi-koi to be together."

Kyoko just laughed as Koi-koi licked her nose. "I'll have to make sure it's alright first; I'll ask Temari or Kankuro, they'll let me know."

"Let you know what?" Kankuro asked, walking towards the couple.

"Oh! Kankuro-kun!" Kyoko smiled. "Kiba and I need to know if it's alright for me to keep my puppy with me for the next two weeks."

"It shouldn't be a problem," Kankuro shrugged, then his eyes narrowed. "It's not gonna chew up my puppets, is it?"

"No!" Kyoko laughed. "And if your puppets can survive Gaara-kun's temper tantrums, I think they can survive Koi-koi."

"Oh, is that the dog's name?" Kankuro asked with a knowing glance between Kiba and Kyoko; Kiba flushed pink while Kyoko bit her lip in embarrassment. Kankuro laughed. "Yeah, she can stay," he said. "I'll let Temari and Gaara know."

"Arigato Kankuro-kun!" Kyoko said, tugging on Kiba's hand; he took the pup from her and placed her on Akamaru's back.

"Let's go!" Kiba said, draping his arm around Kyoko and dragging her into the nearest restaurant; Kyoko laughed.

"What are you doing?"

"We're going on a date!" Kiba said, sitting beside her in a quiet booth and pulling her close; Kyoko giggled, but didn't resist. Instead, she cuddled against him as Kiba placed an order for tsukiyaki and beef jerky.

"Where's Shino-kun and Hinata-chan?" Kyoko asked as the waiter left. "Kiba-kun?"

"Hmm? Oh, right." He had been glaring at their waiter, whose gaze had lingered a little more than necessary on Kyoko's form. "They're eating out somewhere. Akamaru just went to join them."

"Oh?"

"Hai. I told them that I was going to hang out with you for awhile; Shino wasn't too happy, he's leading us, but Hinata sided with me."

"That's nice," Kyoko sighed; she wasn't really paying attention, she was concentrating more on not letting her stomach give away just how hungry she was.

XXX

A few hours later, Kiba and Kyoko found themselves on Kyoko's huge bed, laughing. Kiba quieted, leaning in close…

"Kiba-kun!"

Kiba groaned as Hinata called for him again, this time joined by Shino. Kyoko sighed as she got up and peered through a window; she could see Hinata and Shino with Akamaru and Koi-koi just outside below her.

"I've got to go," Kiba groaned. Kyoko nodded and jumped from the window to the ground, followed by Kiba. She was silent as she walked with Team Eight towards the Suna gates.

Kiba gave a quick kiss to her cheek, holding her close before handing her Koi-koi; Kyoko smiled softly at him before beaming at Shino and Hinata, then watched silently as they left through the gates and moved out of sight.

Kyoko sighed and went back to her room, after giving her puppy to Temari who cooed over her and took her with her to play with the youngest students.

Not five minutes later, however, just as Kyoko had picked up a pen and was about to start her mission report, the door to her room opened with a muffled bang and Kiba stood before her once again, panting.

"Kiba-kun? What are you doing here? Where's Akamaru? And Hi--Mmm!" Kyoko's words were cut off as Kiba crashed his lips to hers, forcing his tongue between her lips. There was a slight noise and Kyoko pulled away to see that she was staring deeply into the dark vermillion and ebony eyes of a man much taller and somber than her eager and bright-eyed comrade.

"Itachi-sama!" Kyoko breathed, then gasped involuntarily as Itachi pushed her onto the bed. "Itachi-sama?"

"Hn?"

"Wha--What are you doing here?" Kyoko asked as Itachi began to kiss her neck.

"Hn."

"Itachi-sama?" Kyoko asked uncertainly as Itachi bit lightly at her pulse. "Itachi-sama, why are you here?" She moaned when he bit harder. "Itachi-sama?"

"Hn…" Itachi ignored her questions, brushing her hair away from her neck; he ignored her blush and her hands trying to push him away to see him, but he didn't ignore the way her pulse quickened when his hand went to the ties of her corset, nor did it escape his notice that she froze when he tugged lightly at the skin of her neck with his lips.

"Itachi-sama? Taichou?"

Itachi froze at hearing Kyoko call him "taichou" the way she use to.

"Itachi-sama, why are you here? Why did you henge into Kiba-kun?" Kyoko pulled Itachi up to look at her. "Taichou, if anyone here so much as sees red against black, you're done for."

"I've made my peace with secrecy." Itachi looked away.

"Oh?" Kyoko looked annoyed. "And what about me? What do you think would happen if someone were to see me with you? Tsunade knows that we have a history, she'd send me straight to Ibiki!"

"You could handle it." Itachi resumed his attentions to Kyoko's neck.

"Why are you here?" Kyoko asked impatiently, forgetting that Itachi could easily kill her at any moment--if he hadn't by now, then it was doubtful that he would kill her, at least not at this time.

Itachi just stared at her for a moment.

Twenty minutes earlier…

Pein glanced up as Zetsu came into the cavern.

"Well?"

"It seems our little Kyoko-chan has a lover," Zetsu rasped.

"What?" Deidara asked, incredulous; Itachi made no indication that he had heard.

"Hai. From Konoha, a nin who works with dogs. Kissed her goodbye. After they spent four hours being cozy together."

"Itachi-sama?" Kyoko cocked her head. "Are you okay?"

"Kun."

"Nani?"

"Itachi-kun," he corrected her; Kyoko blushed (A/N: It's the honorifics, - kun is much more informal than -san or -sama).

"Itachi-kun," she whispered. Itachi smirked slightly, pushing Kyoko back down into the pillows; she allowed him to resume his attentions to her neck, running her hands through his hair. She loosened the tie and let the black waves casscade down, creating a curtain around them as Itachi came up to kiss her lips; their hair blended together in two shades of ebony and inky black, as Itachi loosened the bright ribbons from Kyoko's hair and she untied his scarred forehead protector…

XXX

Hours later, as Kyoko lay beneath the sweat-soaked sheets, she sighed. Itachi glanced over at her; one arm beneath his head, he held Kyoko close with the other.

"Hmm…" Kyoko turned on her side away from Itachi, their bodies molding together, perfect and seamless, neither of them minding the stickness of sweat and other fluids that also made the skin slick; Itachi pressed his lips against the moist skin at the crook of her neck. Sighing again, Kyoko pressed back against him, letting Itachi hold her tighter. Just before she fell asleep, she remembered, vaguely what Itachi had told her just before the immense bliss had left her mind a dark spiral of near-insane ecstasy:

"No more of the dog nin," he hissed, lips moving against hers; Kyoko moaned, trying to draw him closer.

"Kyoko," Itachi said. "Promise me. No one but me."

"Itachi!" Kyoko moaned desperately. "Itachi-sama, please!"

"Promise me!" Itachi said harshly.

"I promise! I promise!" Kyoko groaned. "Just--oh--Please!"

Itachi smirked. "You're mine!" he snarled before Kyoko screamed silently in pure, blissful rapture.

Itachi watched silently as Kyoko shifted in his sleep before getting up to pull on his clothes. Making the appropriate hand signs he released the seals on the door that had allowed the loudness between he and Kyoko without letting anyone outside of the room hear them. Pressing a small kiss to Kyoko's temple, he squeezed her hand in his briefly before henging into a Sand resident he had passed when he had been disguised as the young man that he knew Kyoko had been with.

XXX

Flashback:

"Alright, Kyo-Kyo…" Orochimaru smiled. "This is your last treatment, and then we'll know."

Kyoko whimpered as the pale man straightened her arm; the gave a highpitched wail as the blunt needle was plunged into the vein. But this time it wasn't fast, it wasn't over quickly. The pain lasted, the needle dug deeper. Blackness came again before the pain was over.

"You do realize that you may have just killed her, taking the amount of blood that you did?"

"Kimimaru, you honestly think I would risk that?" Orochimaru drawled slowly. He began to paint a seal on Kyoko's arm where he had drawn her lifeblood.

"What's the seal?"

"A little device of my own," Orochimaru smiled. "It will replenish the blood; it will make my sweet little Kyoko sleep until all her blood has been restored."

"And while she sleeps?"

"Oh, I'll start mixing the elixer. If I'm right, it just might be what we've been searching for."

"We?"

"Yes, we, Kimimaru. I'll have fifty years added to my natural lifespan and my new bodies will last for ten years, not three. And you will stay well and alive until I need a new vessel."

Kimimaru smiled. "That would be a wonderful discovery."

"Of course." Orochimaru pickup up the sleeping Kyoko, the seal finished; he cradled the baby almost as if she were his own. "And it will all be thanks to my cute baby Kyo-Kyo."

XXX

"Kyoko-chan? Kyoko?"

Kyoko whimpered, leaning away in her sleep from the cold hand on her cheek.

"Kyoko!" The hand was joined by a second as Kyoko began to thrash, cold sweat beading heavily on the heated skin. "Kyoko, wake up!"

"Un…"

Kyoko groaned and opened her eyes; the crook of her elbow ached and her head was pounding. The sheets were sticking to her and she was soaked, her hair damp and stuck to her pale face; her eyes were wide and wild.

"Kyoko-chan, are you okay?"

"Gaa-Gaara-kun?" Kyoko sat up, clutching the blankets around her bare form.

"Stay right here," Gaara told her, going into the bathroom; Kyoko heard the water beginning to fill the tub.

"Come on," Gaara said, coming back into the room; a trail of steam issued from the bathroom as Gaara picked Kyoko up, sheets and all, and carried her into the bathroom. He helped her into the warm bath, tossing the sheets aside.

"I'll go get Temari for you," he said, turning towards the door. "And I'll have your bedding washed."

"Hai," Kyoko whispered, staring into the water.

"Don't worry." Gaara smiled at her. "Just get washed up. We're going to dinner in half an hour, you'll feel better when you've had something to eat."

"Hai." Kyoko turned away, reaching for the shampoo. She was really only trying to keep Gaara from seeing her tears.

A few minutes later Temari came into the room with a sharp rap to the door.

"Oh, Kyoko-chan!" she gasped, rushing to her. Ignoring the water, she drew the younger girl into her arms; Kyoko shook with sob, leaning against Temari and burying her face in Temari's shoulder.

"Shh…shh…It's okay," Temari whispered, rubbing Kyoko's back. She glanced over at the stained sheets, noting quickly that they weren't stained solely by sweat. Temari bit her lip. She really didn't want to know…

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Sorries that it's been so long! And sorry that it's kinda short. But, um…Review! If I get enough reviews (and they can be for other chapters, too!) I'll edit this chapter and make it a lemon. If I get reviews!!!
-Fangirl