Bound
Chapter 38: Breakthrough

"Is that…?" Ino begins, rubbing her eyes, the abrupt arrival of Sasuke still not registering for her.

"It's Sasuke," a new voice confirms, and we three turn to the aisle. There we find Lee, leaning on a crutch, Gai beside him. The two wear identical smiles filled with enthusiasm as there is scattered applause around the stadium for the most anticipated match of the tournament.

"Lee!" cries Sakura, absolutely jubilant now. I want to punch her to get back at her for making me put up with her doom-and-gloom attitude beforehand, but I focus instead on the small discrepancy taking place in the arena in regards to Sasuke's arrival. Kakashi is talking things out with the proctor, who is presumably explaining to them how Sasuke's match has been postponed for his sake, and I can only hope that he doesn't let them get off without reprimanding them for being so tardy.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun!" Ino is squealing when only a few minutes ago she'd been griping over Shikamaru. The other spectators have the same mindset, egging for the match to start now that Sasuke is definitely going to go, demanding to see the talents of the last Uchiha to survive the massacre. I almost feel bad for Shikamaru, but I'd feel worse if I knew he actually cared about what people thought about him. Lucky for him, though, he doesn't have that kind of burden on his self-esteem.

"You know, Sakura, your team is really amazing," Ino gushes, turning to the other girl.

Sakura furrows her brow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Ino says, clenching her fists triumphantly. "Who would have thought Naruto would beat Neji, a Hyuuga? And of course Sasuke is an elite Uchiha! Everyone here is excited about watching his fight. Ren doesn't count," she adds as I open my mouth to ask about how I manage to make the team impressive. "Sorry to say, but you're an anomaly, Ren. From what I can tell, you're not really part of the team. You weren't even allowed to participate in the exams with us. God knows how you even got into the second exam in the first place."

I mumble something incoherent under my breath, but the reality of her words hits me hard: I don't belong here.

"How were you able to get out of there anyway?" Sakura asks. "And alone, for that matter."

"Things are relatively easier when people don't know you exist," I say, slumping in my seat. "Why don't we just watch Sasuke, yeah? The incredible kid he is, we don't want to miss a single incredible thing he does."

Ino huffs and says, "You don't have to make your jealousy so obvious, Ren. It's un-ladylike."

"I hardly think you can lecture me on what is or isn't ladylike."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I'm silenced by the arrival of Kakashi, who materializes beside Gai. He is lax in his demeanor and easy going as always, exemplified in the way he greets us with a lazy salute and a spacey, "Oh, hello, Gai. And you too, Lee. Are you all right now?"

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cries before Lee or Gai can find a fitting response.

Kakashi adjusts his headband on his forehead as though noticing his pupil for the first time and says, "Oh. Sorry, sorry! You must have been worried. Sorry for not telling you anything in advance. It's just Sasuke and I were busy…"

I scoff, leaning over the armrest. "That's a poor excuse," I say. "I think you might be losing your touch, Kakashi."

"Ren," he says with a curt nod. "Good to see you finally out of the house."

I have a feeling that his seemingly nonchalant comment toward me is double edged, but I roll my eyes as the crowd begins to roar when at last they see Shikamaru and Naruto leaving the ring, thus signaling that that next match will begin momentarily. But frankly, I'm tired of this sitting, especially now that Sasuke is back in range because the bond is making me jittery, causing my senses to go on hyper-drive in order to keep a better eye on its lovely. "What were you thinking bringing Sasuke in so late, anyway?"

"As though you should be one to talk, Ren," Ino says, "seeing as how you showed up late for Naruto's match and then ended up missing it all together!"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Sakura says, turning back around in her seat, surprising Ino and me.

"What doesn't matter anymore?" I ask.

"Any of it," she says with a shrug. "Your lateness, Sasuke-kun's lateness—what matters is that we're here, right? Naruto's made it to the next round, and Sasuke-kun, he's…well, he's…"

I gape at Sakura, completely thrown off by her attitude. She'd been so hung up over Sasuke's absence. We'd been expecting her to blow up, or give Kakashi an earful at least, but 'It doesn't matter anymore'? That's way off target.

Still, there's no point in me wondering about Sakura any further because the bond is driving me crazy and I find that I have to move. So I stand, squeezing past Sakura, Ino, and Chouji, and stumble into the aisle right in front of Lee who looks up at me, surprised. Up close, he's even more battered than I had thought. He has a graying bruise on one cheek and a bandage taped over the whole of the other. His left arm appears as though it belongs to a mummy, wrapped up the way it is, and there is a splint wrapped into the bandages on his left leg. He leans heavily on his crutch as his leg appears about to give out at any moment, and my heart hurts for him when I remember: This boy may never be healed enough to be a shinobi.

In spite of it, I give Lee a small smile as I notice his wounds on his left hand have broken open and started bleeding through his bandages. He must be holding onto that crutch more tightly than I thought. I lay my fingers over the wounds and, keeping my eyes locked with his, I say, "Why don't you take my seat, Lee? I don't feel like you should be straining yourself so much, and as a medic I would feel a lot better if you sat down."

Lee adamantly refuses, saying something like, "It wouldn't be proper. Ladies have the first privilege of open seats. It's common courtesy." and pulls away from me just as I finish healing his wounds over.

"In that case," Ino says over the back of her seat, "Ren doesn't get the first privilege as she hardly exhibits the qualities of a true lady."

"That was so two minutes ago, Ino. At least try to keep pace with me, won't you?"

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura says before Ino can go on. "On Sasuke-kun's neck…there was a mark, right? Is that…?"

I tense. Idiot Sakura. What is she thinking, bringing up such a sensitive subject in such a public setting? It isn't her place anyway. Before I left the Forest of Death, Sasuke called Sakura and I together and told us that he didn't want us to say a word about it to anyone. Despite the fact that she had been careful not to reveal much about it—

I exchange glances with Kakashi, who says quietly, "It's nothing to worry about."

Sakura is no fool, however, and after being told my less than reassuring sentiments, she has to scrutinize Kakashi's expression to make absolutely sure that he isn't simply fending her off with another lie. Kakashi grins at her, and that is more than I had offered her when she had been bugging me, and currently it is all she needs to be won over by Kakashi. He's all around more dependable than I am anyway, I have to admit. I would trust him more than me too.

Sakura beams at Kakashi as she turns back to the arena. Ino, confused, looks to me for what Sakura could be talking about, but I shrug and pretend I don't know. Ino narrows her eyes at me, like she can see right through my act, but doesn't bring it up. Instead, she too goes back to watching the arena, waiting for Sasuke's match to start.

Sasuke. The bond throws a fit at the thought of his name and I can feel the smallest flux of vibrations as my affinity for them is heightened by the bond worrying about Sasuke. I feel the tapping of people's feet, the soft murmurs about the match, the rhythmic drumming of fingers on armrests. And then I feel a great blast of vibrations, bursting forward with such power and ferocity that I quiver.

And I recognize that intensity, the overwhelming strength causing the vibrations to tangle and unravel all at once.

Gaara.

I check the arena to see Sasuke still standing by himself, waiting for Gaara to enter the ring. Gaara must be going down traditionally—that is, by the stairs instead of making a grand entrance—but wherever he is, he's causing a stir. I think, just this once, it won't do harm to give Sasuke a heads-up. So I tap into the bond, becoming fatally aware of Sasuke's emotions in addition to my own, and I say, Hey. Do I need to remind you to be careful?

Sasuke is caught off guard by my sudden barrage into his mind and snaps back wittily with, What?

About this match, I say, double checking to make sure Sakura is more preoccupied with Sasuke's mere presence than seeing if I can connect with Sasuke in some way. Thankfully, she is watching Sasuke with dreamy, hopeful eyes. Because I swear to god if you die and I have to deal with a blubbering Sakura, I'm going to make sure you go straight to hell.

Are you actually looking out for someone other than yourself?

I scowl, brushing my hair from my brow as Kakashi makes a comment about the small number of ANBU here in relation to the size of this stadium. This is for me as much as it is for you and Sakura, I explain, counting off the ANBU as Kakashi had. Two squadrons of four are scattered around the stands, waiting, watching. Just…make sure to keep that goddamn curse mark under control. Don't make her worry any more than she has been. Then I won't have to deal with her incessant panicking on your behalf.

Even after waiting a few seconds, I don't get a response from Sasuke, so I sever the connection as well as I can and refocus on the soft words being spoken by Gai.

"Considering what we don't know about the enemy," he's saying, "the ANBU probably have to be stationed elsewhere to gather information."

Gaara has made it into the arena at last and I'm left to wonder as the match starts: What will happen if—when—we're attacked as everyone seems to be anticipating? Considering the level of Nin who are would be running the ambush on our village, is there a place for us Genin to go in order to be safe, or would we have to adopt the duties of true shinobi and fight to protect our land?

The bond pushes those thoughts aside, turning my attention to Sasuke and Gaara, whose match has finally begun. It flurries at the threat of Gaara, at the memory of the hospital, of his attack on Lee, the monstrosity contained within him. It wants me to intervene and stop the match, but like hell I'll do that.

"If you keep interfering, I'll kill you."

I shiver at the haunting reminder. Yeah, I definitely won't be getting involved with that.

Right off the bat, Gaara's sand bursts from his gourd, weaving into the air. Forewarned of the threat the sand poses, Sasuke jumps away, putting distance between himself and Gaara. However, Gaara spasms suddenly, the sand stopping mid-air as Gaara grips his head in pain.

The vibrations shake oddly as Gaara's sand moves, just like it had during the preliminary rounds. I can't figure out why they do, and it only serves to set off my nerves. I take Gaara's momentary pause to my advantage and hone in on the sand, surrounding it with my vibrations. It doesn't help me understand it any better, though, because all the sand does is muddle the vibrations and push against them, as though they were vibrations themselves.

The sand creeps over Gaara, creating a dome over his head. It slinks slowly through the air, encroaching, but then collapses as Gaara jerks forward again in pain, his concentration broken. Gaara heaves as he regains his breath, pulling himself to his full height and crossing his arms in the condescending way he does. The two boys stare each other down in the arena as the crowd sits, quiet and waiting.

Then Sasuke's hand flits to his holster and draws out shuriken. He sends them flying at Gaara, but before they even make it halfway there, the sand erupts from the ground, creating a barrier between him and the stars.

The shuriken lodge into the sand, which begin to take the shape of a hand. An arm starts to form, then an entire body emerges from the sand that quickly becomes a blocky replica of Gaara. The sand Gaara's stomach bursts, reaching out for Sasuke.

Seeing this, Sasuke jumps into the air to evade the attack becoming vulnerable to the shuriken the sand spits back at him. Easily, Sasuke deflects both the throwing stars with a new set, and upon his descent, Sasuke swings his lower body up, ready to kick the sand replica and smash it back into grains of sand. But the replica holds firm, blocking itself with compact arms of sand.

The force Sasuke puts into his kick breaks the doppelganger's arms completely in half, sending fists flying across the arena. Sasuke skids on his hands, pushes himself upright and brings his left arm up, swinging it into the doppelganger's jugular. The sand breaks, but reforms over Sasuke's arm. This doesn't alarm Sasuke, however, and he simply reels his free arm back for a punch that breaks the doppelganger clean in two, leaving Gaara open for attack.

"Wow," I admit, and Kakashi pats my head, smiling.

"Coming from you," he says as I jerk away from him, scowling. "That is the highest compliment Sasuke can receive."

I roll my eyes as Sasuke, finally breaking through Gaara's defense, barrels straight ahead to attack the Sand boy. Gaara stands, unflinching, knowing his sand will catch up to Sasuke and stop him before damage can be done. And, yes, the sand circles Gaara's feet and comes back up in front of him, forming another wall to protect him from getting hurt, just millimeters before Sasuke's fist makes impact.

Suddenly, Sasuke does a reversal and is behind Gaara faster than his sand can react. Sasuke pulls back his arm, and Lee's form flashes before my eyes.

The crowd roars as Sasuke sends Gaara sliding across the arena.

Kakashi must have thought to train Sasuke in Lee's fighting style after he saw how well Lee did against Gaara in the preliminaries. As impressed as I am with Sasuke's ability to pick up on the style so quickly, I know that won't be enough. Case in point: The beaten Lee who stands beside me now, relying on a crutch and completely torn up on one half of his body. Not to mention the amount of defense Gaara has, which brings me to ask: "You warned him about the sand armor too, didn't you?"

"Didn't have to," Kakashi says as Sasuke makes a 'come-on' movement with his hand and says something to aggravate Gaara. "Not with you watching those matches."

And I glare at Kakashi and wish he wouldn't make me feel as though I'm such a tool. He, apparently sensing my annoyance, adds, "You know what I mean, Ren. Don't take it personally."

I do anyway.

Sand spurts from the ground like a tidal wave, garnering a gasp from a few members of the audience, and I turn my attention back to the match as the sand crashes forward, ready to consume Sasuke. But he's already behind Gaara, crouched low and ready to pounce. He weaves around the sand and gets a kick out it—literally.

His foot lands on Gaara's face and sends him flying back again, and he hits the sand that was supposed to crush Sasuke. It makes a nasty sound, but I can see the cracks on Gaara's face. He is indeed protecting himself with his sand shield, a jutsu that is obviously taking a toll on his stamina.

There's a moment's pause wherein Sasuke smirks. Then he strikes again. He moves so fast that our eyes can only keep track of the dust that streams up behind him. He's able to completely circle Gaara, duck under Gaara's sand that had been desperately trying to keep up with him, and kicks up, knocking Gaara's head back. Sasuke then grabs the straps of Gaara's gourd and pulls him forward to knee him in the gut, before pushing a safe distance away from him.

When the dust clears completely, I can see that both of them have labored breathing. They've hardly got a scratch on them, and while Gaara had sustained the most damage so far, his physical body is undoubtedly pristine beneath the sand armor.

"Dear god," I mumble, pushing my hair back from my brow. "Kakashi."

"What kind of training did you do?" Gai demands. "To come this far in just a month—"

Kakashi side glances at me. "Sasuke had copied Lee's taijutsu with the Sharingan before," he explains. "That's why during his training, I had Sasuke use Lee's taijutsu. Because he knew Lee and had seen him in action before, he was able to master his style. It was a lot of work, of course—"

"But with the Sharingan, it should've been relatively easy," I say, displeased.

Kakashi pats my head again, as though it's supposed to comfort me. "Yes," he says. "Compared to anyone else, it would be considered relatively easy."

I jerk my head away from him, glaring at him for making me feel like a child. "If this is just the beginning," I say, fixing my hair, "what else have you got up your sleeve?"

Kakashi holds his finger up to his mouth. "Just watch."

And I watch and see Gaara has built up this sphere of sand around him, a sphere which has nearly encased him completely. Before it closes, Sasuke has the sense to try to get through the last small opening that still needs to be filled, but it shrinks faster than Sasuke can run, and when his fist goes to break through it, Gaara's is already shut inside, and spikes spring from the sphere, keeping Sasuke at bay.

He hops back, considering his options. He clenches and unclenches his hand as the sand settles smoothly into the sphere. At this point, they seem to be at a stalemate, keeping everyone on the edge of their seats, waiting for what Sasuke might be planning or what Gaara might be summoning from inside his shell.

Because he must be summoning something. The vibrations are a-flutter and the bond is becoming more and more nervous as Gaara continues to simmer in his ball of sand. It's unsettling that both are so wound up right now.

I start to ask Kakashi if he knows what Gaara could possibly be doing, trapped in that little sphere, when someone else gets his attention first. It's Naruto, dusty and bruised from his match, standing at the top of the staircase. His eyes are bright and full of determination, fear. Before I can think to ask him why he's here and not back in the contestant's box with the others, I see Shikamaru, kneeling at Naruto's side, breathless.

"Shikamaru!" I say at the same time Lee says, "Naruto!"

I ascend the steps to meet with Shikamaru, but he waves me off as I try to help him up. "I just," he says between deep breaths. "I think. I'm okay. Sitting like this."

"What are you doing here?" I ask, crouching down beside him, and he sighs and says, "It's troublesome, but that Sand kid—"

"He's totally different from us," Naruto cries loudly, stabbing a finger in the direction of the arena. "He's not normal! Sensei, please, stop this match now."

Nobody seems convinced, from what I can tell. Even I don't quite understand what Naruto expects from us. I know what he means by Gaara not being normal; I had been in the hospital room the other day too, after all, but Sasuke is in the middle of a match, a match which, might I add, is currently being watched by a score of important men from across the land. Besides, Naruto of all people should know that Sasuke isn't an infant. He can take care of himself well enough, and from what I've seen, after training with Kakashi as extensively as he has been, he's already better off than we could have hoped for.

So Ino asks, her brow creased with anxiety, "Naruto, what are you talking about?"

"He lives to kill others!" Naruto says, pull extra emphasis on kill. "At this rate, Sasuke will die."

Kakashi closes his eye, tired, and says, "Well, don't worry. We weren't late for nothing."

"I would hope not," I say, propping my hand on my waist and someone shushes me as there is movement in the arena.

Sasuke has decided to attack the shell, just to get a feel of how sturdy it is, I suppose. He rushes into it and gives it a solid kick here, a perfectly executed punch there. None of it does any good. As he preps himself for another attack, Sakura says, "Sensei. What do you mean you weren't late for nothing?"

"Hmm? You want to know?"

"Look, we don't have time for this!" Naruto cries. "We—"

"Be quiet and watch him," orders Kakashi crisply, and his sharp tone takes us aback. "You'll be surprised."

"I don't know if surprises are necessarily good," I say because the vibrations are throwing a fit now and the bond is trying to piece together the information the vibrations are gathering through the frequency of the chakra flow. The energy swirls and morphs within the container Gaara has created, and although it hasn't amassed to anything great or overwhelming, its general presence and growth is disturbing.

Sasuke takes three massive jumps backward, his last landing him halfway up the stadium wall, where he uses his chakra to stick his feet to the concrete. There, he wastes no time pressing his hands into a seal and holding out his hand, as though his technique is just in his grasps.

Brilliantly, the whole of Sasuke's hand erupts with a bright blue, chakra-charged energy. It moves statically and sounds like electronic birds chirping in the morning, soothing almost, like it wants to draw in its victim with a sweet siren song.

It shines so vehemently that green blobs dot the inside of my eyelids when I blink. Feeling this burst of chakra from Sasuke helps ease the bond into thinking Sasuke can take care of himself. It calms for the most part, but doesn't stop analyzing the oddities of the vibrations inside the sand container.

"Is that…?" Gai starts, looking over his shoulder at his friend.

Kakashi smiles innocently, proudly. "The reason I trained Sasuke," he says, "is that he's the same type as me."

"Elementally, you mean," I say, continuing to stare at the sparks of chakra streaming around Sasuke's hand.

"Yes," Kakashi says. "Exactly."

Without further ado, Sasuke is on the move, dragging his chakra immersed hand behind him, as though the responsibility of such a powerful technique weighs him down heavily. As he runs down the side of the wall, he gains incredible speed, blurring into almost nothingness. His chakra covered hand is tearing the cement apart where it touches, leaving a trail of destruction and falling debris behind it.

With only a few meters left to the wall, Sasuke leaps off and lands on the ground. The trail of rocks and dirt that he pulls up mixes with the tail his jutsu leaves behind. He is an absolute blur as he moves, and his jutsu won't stop chirping, only seeming to grow more brilliant by the second. But what's more alarming to me is the fact that Gaara still hasn't emerged from his sand shell, and the vibrations around it only seem to be growing more unstable, which hasn't gone without notice from the bond. It presses my eyes to look, really look, at what's going on in the arena.

"What is this technique?" Sakura asks. "And this sound—"

"A simple stab," says Gai with a sniff. "But it's the Leaf's number one technician, Copycat Ninja Kakashi's sole original technique. It's made specifically for assassination, the secret lying in the speed of the attack and the immense chakra created by super-activating one's flesh. Because the chakra is concentrated in such massive amounts, coupled with the speed of the user, your hear that chirping sound. Like the cry of a thousand birds. Accordingly, this move has been dubbed—"

Sasuke's fist impacts the sand shell, cones of sand spiking from the surface of the shell much too late. Sasuke's arm has burrowed into the shell, which begins to melt away as the crowd gasps and murmurs and cheers for more.

"Chidori," Gai says. "Otherwise known as the Lightning Edge, so nicknamed because Kakashi once cut a bolt of lightning with that technique."

If I weren't so distracted by Gaara's chakra, I would have scoffed at this ludicrousness. But after Sasuke impaled his hand into Gaara's shell, the sand boy's chakra fluxed and went completely off the charts, as though Gaara is losing control of himself. It levels out, yes, and as Sasuke struggles to pull himself free of the sand, Gaara's chakra drops to near nonexistence before flaring up again.

To say the bond freaks out is an understatement. The vibrations inside the shell reacting in a way that disproportionate to the level of chakra Gaara should be carrying in himself. It gives off the feeling of ill-will, and there is a familiarity to it that I can't quite place, but know almost immediately.

Sasuke conjures up another Chidori, breaking the sand that has cemented itself around his arm. But as Sasuke gets free, there's a monstrous brown claw clenched around his forearm, trying to reel him back in and exact its revenge. My hair stands up on end and my fists gather into clubs as I keep myself from jumping into the arena and pulling Sasuke out of there. Luckily, Sasuke is able to jerk his arm away on his own, and slowly the claw slinks back into the sand ball.

"Kakashi," I say, alarmed. "That's not—"

"I know," he says, tensing.

When the monster of a thing retreats all the way back, it leaves a perfect circle in the shell of sand. The vibrations rub against me, warning that there is something beneath that dome of sand that is absolutely out of this world, and I think to relay this to Sasuke when he says, I see it!

And, yes, he sees it. Within the sand sphere, an eye, brimming yellow in the darkness of the shell, glaring and penetrating all realms of sense. The bond shows me this image, panicking as it does so, trying to piece it all together before I can understand what's going on.

Then it makes sense: This damning chakra, the way it fluctuates and flares in all the wrong ways. It's like when Naruto's fox demon gets free. Shikaku, I hear Gaara saying in Lee's hospital room just the day before. But he can't seriously be summoning it right now in order to defeat Sasuke, could he? Even I knew Sasuke didn't take or even really deserve that much effort to beat.

The sand ball melts, slinking into lifeless grains of dirt, and I'm afraid to see what it will reveal, but there only stands Gaara, palm pressed to a wound he'd received on his left shoulder. Blood dribbles from it, rolling down his arm in rivulets.

I wonder what this tournament is coming to that such otherworldly characters are taking place and ruining this peace we have built up in the Leaf, when feathers fall from the sky, sweeping against my cheek and making me drowsy. My vision clouds over, but the vibrations continue to press against me, cutting my fingers and arms, and I realize: Genjutsu.

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