Chapter 36

Everyone was in position, waiting for the moment to strike. Their target stood a few yards away, completely clueless to its upcoming doom. They watched as the target drank from the river, wiped away the water from its lips, and walk off. Sheeva took a few kunai and reared back her arm, took a breath, and flicked them at the target.

There was a sickly squeal as the kunai embedded themselves in the side of the wild boar's side. It staggered around temporarily before falling over on its side, trying to get back up in hopes of running. Sheeva rushed up to it and grabbed one of the kunai sticking out of its side and sliced its neck, turning her head away as it bled to death.

"That was the grossest thing I've ever had to witness." Eva stated, walking up to the river to refill her canteen. Her long brown hair, if it hadn't been tied back with a red ribbon, would be dipped in the water when she bent over. She wore black shirt and a red skirt, useful for hiding an array of small weapons she kept hidden in her boots.

"Hey, it's food. Be happy. At least this one didn't run off." Kiba protested, taking a machete and cutting the head off. Sheeva watched, admiring his courage to face the already stinking corpse. He took a hook and skewered it through the boar's neck, and attached the hook to a chain.

"Oh, please. It was an accident." Kankuro grumbled, holding open a bag for Kiba to put the boar in. He wrinkled his nose as he smelled the drying blood on the ground. They tied the top of the bag to the chain, and Kankuro grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder.

"Hopefully they finished setting up their tents. We don't have much daylight left." Kankuro stated, walking back into the forest. The rest of them walked behind him; too focused on keeping up to chat.

A crackling fire and a few pitched tents greeted them as they walked into a large clearing in the forest. They sighed happily and sat down. Kankuro chucked the prize off of his shoulder, and stretched.

"All right! I'm not cleaning that. I had to carry it." He announced, taking off his shoes and jacket.

He took a big gulp of water from his canteen and sighed.

"Sheeva, you do it." He said, burping her name.

"I killed it, Dad. I'm not cleaning it. We should make Eva do it." She suggested, giving Eva a mean smile. Eva turned pale. Kubiki laughed, and stood up at the same time as Kiba, who also offered to do it. They both offered to let the other have it, sitting back down.

"Why don't you both do it?" Temari suggested, setting up the fire. They nodded, reaching for the boar.

Mejia and Keturah were finishing setting up the last of the tents, which was supposed to be theirs. Sheeva looked around, noticing something strange. She counted the tents. One, two, three, four.

"Um…" She muttered aloud. Eva looked up.

"What?" She asked.

"There's only four tents." She stated. She looked around at the others, counting them. Temari, Mejia, Keturah, Kankuro, and Eva all stared back at her, waiting for something. She looked at the direction that Kibiki and Kiba had left.

"There's eight of us. There should be eight tents. One for each of us." She announced, looking at Mejia and Keturah. They looked around, and sighed, the guilty looks on their faces obvious. Keturah wrought her hands together, and Mejia began to twist around where he stood.

"We… screwed up. We didn't have enough for 8. We had to trade to get the fourth tent…hehe, sorry." Keturah explained. Sheeva began to laugh.

"Why didn't you just ask us?" She asked. Keturah looked at her, a sad smile on her face.

"We didn't want to use your money. You guys were buying the prepped food, and medical supplies, and-"

"-enough of that. What we need to do now is figure out who's sleeping where. There's only enough space for two people per tent." Kankuro interrupted. Eva rushed immediately to the tent on her left and stood in front of it.

"I call this one! And, I'm bunking with Sheeva!" She announced brightly. Sheeva smiled.

Kankuro nodded, shrugging. Temari thought it was strange though, and called her out on it.

"Why? You should be with Kubiki." She stated. Kankuro turned and gave his sister a death glare, hissing at her under his breath to "shut up and don't change her mind." Temari ignored him.

"Kankuro wouldn't like Kiba bunking with Sheeva, right? And it'd be pretty awkward for Kiba and you to share a tent, since you're… well, opposite genders. Mejia and Keturah have theirs already, since Mejia relies on her to be his voice. Right?" She asked. Mejia thought about it, and nodded, forming a 'y' with his hand and shaking it up and down. He was teaching them basic sign language, and she knew it meant "yes".

"I'll be damned. Kid's got a point." Kankuro blurted, grinning. He grabbed his canteen and poured a little water in his palm, splashing it on his face and wiping away the paint with a towel.

Kiba and Kubiki walked in, each holding a separate bag.

"We weren't sure if you wanted us to keep the guts, so we put it in a bag. Here you go." Kiba growled, handing it to Keturah, who took it with a confused look. She looked behind him, and Kubiki was making signs, motioning that Kiba had puked. Keturah and Mejia both smiled and chuckled. It was the wrong sign, but they got the message anyway.

"So, Kiba, you and Kubiki are sleeping in the same tent. Eva and I have the one next to you. Don't have any nightmares about the creepy thin man!" Sheeva giggled. Kiba looked at her with a slightly sarcastic look. Kubiki stared at her, curious.

"What creepy thin man?" He asked, sitting down. Kiba groaned.

"Oh great. This again." He muttered. Sheeva smiled, and leaned forward.

"The graveyard keeper of Sunagakure Village."

Kubiki's eyes were wide with excitement, and he leaned in. She smiled, and continued.

"They say that there was a man in Suna who kept to the graveyard. He cleaned it up, every day, walked through its grounds, cutting away the few weeds that crept up along the stones. He knew every twist and turn. If you asked him to help you find someone, he'd help you find them. All you had to do was give him a last name, birth year, or year of death." She began in a low, creepy voice. The fire popped and crackled, emitting a strange warm glow that barely seemed to touch Kubiki—he felt as cold as ice.

Eva had sat down too, curious. She had never heard this story before, even though she lived in Suna.

"This man had a family at one time, a small family. A loving wife, a happy child. They even had a cat. But the man had a horrible secret. He was plotting to steal money from his partner so that he could pay off some debts. As he was doing his usual rounds in the cemetery, he was approached by a medic. He listened, horrified and heartbroken as he heard that their son had been killed in an accident in one of the mausoleums they took care of."

"A few nights later, a night much like tonight, in fact, as he lay in his bed, he couldn't sleep. Something was bothering him—something that just… wasn't… right. So, he decided to take a walk in his graveyard. He didn't pay attention where he was going, and as he reached the road that led to the mausoleum that had claimed his son's life, he heard the cat's meow. Suddenly, a ghost appeared in front of him, and he recognized it as his son."

"'Teo! Teo, my boy, what are you doing? Aren't you in heaven, my boy?' He cried, running to hug him. Teo's shadow passed straight through the man's body, and he fell to his knees."

"Oh, how horrible…" Eva muttered. Kubiki wrapped his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder to comfort her.

"The little boy had not died by accident, it seemed. No… he had been murdered, by the man's partner. Teo told his father to run home, because the same fate was about to befall his mother. The man rushed towards his house, slammed open the door, and stood still, gaping at what he saw. There was his wife, hanging by her neck from the living room fan. At the floor beneath her was a letter, addressed to him. He picked it up, and began to read it."

"My dearest:' It began."

"The pain that I feel towards the loss of our son is too much for my aged bones to bear. I'm afraid I'm of no further use to you, so I have rid you of my useless self. You will always be with me; death cannot keep us apart.

"Love always,
Cyndie"

"The man looked up and saw a shadow of another person, holding a knife above his head. He reacted quickly, kicking the man's shin and breaking his leg. The man fell, and it was none other than his business partner, Zarkas."

"The man beat his business partner until he was black and blue, then threw him into a corner of the room, leaving him there. He then went to phone the police, but as it got to the second dial, the line went dead. He pressed the receiver a few times, thinking maybe he accidentally hung up. He gave up, and turned back to the living room. His business partner wasn't there. There was no sign that he had been there to begin with. He saw a dark flash, and turned towards it, heartbeat racing and hands shaking."

"H-hello? Wh-who's there? Za-Zarkas? Come on, now. This—this isn't funny!' He stuttered out into the darkness. He heard the floorboards creak behind him, and a hot, stinky, wet breath hit his neck. He froze, then slowly turned around, and suddenly-

-AHHHHH!" Kankuro screamed behind them, poking their sides. Eva and Kubiki screamed jumping into the air about five feet. Everybody else started to howl with laughter, clapping their hands. Eva slowly came to realize what was going on, and glared at Sheeva.

"I'm not sure I wanna share a tent with you now!" She screamed.

After things settled down, they helped themselves to a slab of boar, then crawled into their tents, muttering a sleepy good night to one another.