Dreams need Love
(I will be sure to tell you all when I own something, but Naruto and Boruto are not on that list. Enjoy)
The sun was rising high in the sky, bright orange rays of light beamed down onto the dunes of Kaze no kuni. The sound of pen against paper was the only thing audible in the room. A father was writing on a sheet of blank paper while two kids were flanking his sides, the older of the two children was visibly bored by what he'd been watching while the younger one was memorizing every movement that brought ink onto the paper. Ichika was very attentive to the process of creating a seal while Zeko was completely out of it as Akira drew the complex lines and patterns onto the paper.
Akira froze any and all of his movements once the trio heard a knocking from the front door, he'd been around long enough to know that the slightest mistake on what he was doing could have destructive results on the house… Yet he was doing it in the comfort of his own home with two small children in the immediate vicinity so caution was a shaky idea at times. He looked at his son with an expression that read, "deal with it before anything can go wrong" and Zeko swiftly left the room and headed down the stairs for the front door.
The door opened to reveal two ANBU standing beside a familiar elderly face. "Is Akira-san in?"
"Yes Uso-sama, he's in his office with my younger cousin. Should I go get him?" The man shook his head and motioned for Zeko to step aside and once the boy moved the ANBU entered the house, behind them was Uso who followed with his cane aiding his stride. "Can I offer you anything Uso-sama?"
"That's alright, but I have to decline. I'm here to speak with you and your father."
Speak of the patriarch and he will appear in the doorway beside their stairs with Ichika peering from behind his legs. Zeko looked to the elderly man with his personal guards then to his father who took a seat at the table, and as the tension in the room rose he saw that one of the ANBU twitched their hand as Uso took a seat. "To what do I owe the surprise visit, Uso-sama? I don't see any reason for you to come by just to say hello."
A man straight to the point, Uso always could respect that in Akira. Beating around the bush wasn't one of the man's skills either so he'd cut to the chase with why he dropped by that afternoon. "I wanted to extend an offer to you Akira-san, and by extension your son…" A raised eyebrow prompted the elder to continue. "Already I had confidence in you both being very loyal to Suna considering you never decided to return to where your roots come from, but after doing some research I found that you both have the blood of a particular clan from Konohagakure." Some smiles could be genial in nature but the one that was on Uso's face could only pretend to have good intentions, whatever his intent was Akira was not falling for it thus far.
"That's correct Uso-sama, but I don't see why you decided to come and make this offer." Ichika was now at Zeko's side and both were paying full attention to the power struggle in the room.
"I believe in our village above all else and in our history we've been on the short end of the stick so to speak. I believe that you and your son can let us rise up to a high point that the village has never seen. I'm extending an offer for you both to join an exclusive ANBU division, of course your son will have to graduate from the academy first but-"
"Not a chance in hell." The smile that adorned Akira's face was the polar opposite of the anger that his rejection dripped with. "I apologize for my rudeness Uso-sama but while I am loyal to Suna because of my… late wife, I have more loyalty to my home village than I have to Suna."
A rough humming came from the elderly man's throat and he cleared his throat before speaking again. "I have to ask you to think this through a bit more clearly Akira-san… This is a one time offer that has no drawbacks so I'd recommend-" This time the interruption didn't come from Akira, this time his son decided to speak up.
"He said no Uso-sama, and if my father doesn't want to go then I won't go." It may not have been the most eloquent way to refuse an offer but it got the message across and Uso could see that with Akira turning down the offer his son would do the same thing.
"I see." The elderly man stopped to cough into his hand, and Akira reached to his ankle to brush something away from himself. "Well I suppose that's all that can be said on the matter. Ryu, Hiro, let's depart. Zeko-san, can I ask that you keep my offer in mind for when you can make your own choices?" Uso rose from his seat as he spoke.
"Yeah yeah, I'll remember to do that." The elder and his guards wordlessly left the house while Akira scratched at his ankle, he looked over and saw that Ichika was sticking her tongue out to taunt the departing trio even though their backs were turned. It's the thought that counts in the end.
"You two can go outside now, I should finish what I was doing." He stood up and popped his neck, the stress of having an intense stare down with such an important figure finally showing in that action. 'Why is my ankle so itchy all of a sudden?' In a swift motion Akira bent over to look at his bare ankle and see a small red bump.
"Looks like a sand flea bit ya Akira-ojisan, at least they aren't venomous." A persnickety Ichika pointed out what could have left the tiny marking.
"Ichika, I'm already halfway outside!" The younger platinum blond called from the doorway.
Akira started back towards his working area with his niece following him. Zeko saw her go after his father and decided to let her learn more about the craft that his father was adept in. Aside from the constant gusts of sand laden wind it was a beautiful day outside, kids were in the streets kicking balls around and parents were bringing their smaller kids into the park to play in the sand. If an onlooker were from almost any other village they'd wonder how a lot of sand with no vegetation would count as a park but the people of Suna made do with what they had.
Zeko didn't pay any mind to the few open stares he got as he walked through the streets since he was more than used to them at this point, the people who didn't stare at him were much more interesting since they were like him and tried to live their own lives. "I wonder what the twins are doing?"
If one saw a young boy walk into an alleyway with stark white hair and leave with normal brown hair they'd be confused, but they'd be even more confused when they saw that said boy looked more like a girl than anything. A sash around the waist did wonders for Ai to be brought into the world. Sometimes a man, or boy in this case, wanted to be incognito just to find his friends and Ai was dead set on finding hers. Losing the fingerless gloves was all that had to be done to seem different enough to not be recognized instantly, but she didn't have to look very far to find the people she was looking for.
In one of the few training areas within the village there was a small spar going on between Ran and Erumi, and the two were not evenly matched at all… Erumi was winning. Ai looked on from afar and saw that Ran was being forced on the defensive while Erumi threw hits that made him flinch no matter how well he blocked them.
It didn't take long for Erumi to sweep Ran off his feet and leave him flat on his back. "That hurt! It was just a joke why'd you have to take it so far?"
The smugness on Erumi's face told Ai that it was showtime so she made her way towards the group, sticking to the shadows to avoid being noticed. The white shirt that she had on somehow didn't affect her stealth. "Shouldn't have made the bet if you couldn't take the terms." Rei was shaking head with a slight smile gracing his lips as his brother rose from the ground, rubbing his sore forearms all the while. "When we become shinobi you have to buy me something to eat."
"So he has to take you on a date?"
"Eh?!" A perfectly eloquent response to the sudden statement by the brown haired girl that basically materialized beside Erumi without any warning. The group looked at the newcomer with either surprise or confusion, the latter having been caused by none of them having noticed her approaching them.
A gleam appeared in Rei's eye and a smirk appeared on his face for a split second before it was replaced by his normal deadpan expression. "It sounds like a date to me, never knew big bro liked girls who could beat him up."
"What?! No- That's not- Shut up!" Red faced and embarrassed, Ran could only struggle to make any sort of response for his brother and in the end had to resort to saying shut up. He composed himself and looked at the newcomer who was smiling rather cutely at him. "Who are you anyway? I've never seen you at the academy."
"I'm Ai.I've heard of you from the academy, you keep the monster kid under control."
Anger coursed through Ran and Erumi while Rei continued sitting and watching the ordeal. "Don't talk about him like that."
Somehow Ai only managed to look more adorable as she bobbed back and forth on the balls of her feet, seemingly thinking about what Ran just said. "Why? You can't be friends with it, you just don't want it to freak out and kill you like its mom."
Ai ducked beneath a fist from the front and a roundhouse from behind, Ran and Erumi didn't pay any mind to hitting each other and focused their attention onto the overly cocky girl that was still moving and acting with total innocence. "Zeko might be annoying but he's not a monster! He's one of my friends and I'm not gonna let you treat him like he's not a person!" This time when Ran advanced the girl only laughed at him and drove him to punch her in the face, again his strike was dodged. "Stop laughing at- Me?" Brown hair turned white and Ai's voice turned slightly deeper.
Zeko was bent over laughing at his friend while Rei only shook his head with a smile, Erumi was holding an expression that told a story about how lost she was at what just happened. "Aw it's good to know that you really do care about me." Once more Ran was embarrassed and was trying to form words as Zeko laughed at his expense.
"A bet!" Zeko stopped laughing and looked up at the flustered boy. "The graduation exam, whoever completes it first owes the other a- No three favors!"
"I'm in, it shouldn't be too hard to beat you there since the desert is my best friend… But I won't stoop to doing anything you can't do if you don't want me to." If anything that only served to make the elder twin even more aggressive, what would be the point in a challenge if both parties didn't give it their all?
"You'd better do everything you can to win it shorty!" That comment was scathing at best but anyone who thinks that it wouldn't be enough to make Zeko upset is wrong and his lackadaisical expression quickly shifted to match Ran's anger.
"Okay I'll play your game then, and when I win you'll be paying for my new outfit!" They extended and shook hands with scowls on their faces.
Erumi and Rei were staring at the two with mixed feelings at their bet, but they kept any complaints or qualms to themselves. Once they separated, Ran found his arm locked with Erumi's and she was looking upwards to him with a coy smile on her face. "Let's go find the most expensive restaurant for when we graduate."
They were gone in an upsurge of dust and sand while two kids were left flabbergasted at the speed in which they left. They exchanged looks of mutual agreement and left without any words.
Winter in Suna had yet to lose its beauty, it was Zeko's favorite part of the year despite the bad memories tied to it. Three weeks of practice and preparation gave way to this season. Luckily this year brought a graduation exam with it and Zeko's class was currently in the desert surrounding their village. He looked around and saw that it wasn't only the twenty-something students in his class participating but at least fifty academy students altogether, ranging from younger than him to late teenage years. He didn't see any familiar faces around himself, at least not familiar enough to be called a friend, but he took notice of the distance that students were giving him. 'At least nobody's annoying us.'
'Y'know Shukaku I read up a lot on the tailed beasts during one of the library escapades…'
The demon tanuki was truly curious to where his host was going with that open statement. 'And?'
'And it says that you guys were raging monsters, so why are you so calm most of the time?'
There was utter silence in the boy's mind, not a single thought passed in his head from him or his roommate. The silence was broken by howling laughter, courtesy of Shukaku. 'We have our own personalities, but when we're in someone we get some of theirs. I went right out of your mom-'
'Don't say it like that.'
'Into you brat.' Shukaku finished without missing a beat despite his poor wording. The information was something to digest… Shukaku developing some traits from his last host and being more mellow than ever recorded definitely stuck out to Zeko, especially since insanity was taken down as a side effect of being his host and that concerned the boy most of all. Not sleeping often was one thing but being a bloodthirsty psycho? One Kotetsu was enough.
During that conversation an entire speech was started by the Kazekage's advisor, which to a now attentive Zeko's notice was Uso. During that speech of bravery and honor among thieves a girl made her way beside the white haired youth. He looked at her and the first thing he paid mine to were the ears that rested atop her head, resembling that of a cat, lined with dirty blonde hair that covered her head and went to her nape. Her outfit looked identical to his apart from lacking gloves and instead having a tan shirt that revealed bandage wrappings around her upper arms. "Hi!" As quiet as they were supposed to be during the speech, this girl clearly did not get the message.
"Uh, hello?" There was only confusion at this unknown girl for having been so jovial towards him. While the last few years let the ostracization die down some, it was still present towards the boy.
"I'm Nekoma Hanatsu. Don't worry I know who you are, and I wanted to team up with you for graduation."
There was the reason she'd bothered talking to him, couldn't have been anything other than seeking out the most useful person to get through the exercise with. "Sorry but I don't like being used. You'll have to stick with someone else." Even as he spoke he couldn't help but notice that something was wrapped around her waist, at first he'd thought it was a yellow rope but once he finished his sentence and saw it unravel. A full tail that started at her lower back and was able to be moved of her own free will. "You have- You have a tail?!"
"My clan is very close to felines, most of us even have cat qualities like ears and tails. Some of us even have problems talking without meowing." She moved the tail closer to him and allowed him to pet it to his heart's content. "I didn't want to use you, I just wanted to partner up with you for some reason."
"Wait you just found me and decided to be my partner?" She nodded with a sincere smile while Zeko continued to rub her tail.
"They say cats have nine lives, some cats can even tell if other things have had more chances at life… I don't know if that's true but something made me find you so I just wanna try being your partner for this."
As his fingers laced through the soft fur of her tail he took in what she said and considered having someone watching his back.
The impromptu podium of stucco was currently holding the Kazekage's advisor along with a number of jonin, all of which were sizing up their potential students. "Rou-san, who do you think'll make it through?" A thin man with a pale skin tone questioned.
"I know for a fact the Modare twins will get through, but the others I don't know."
"Don't show favoritism Rou-san, it makes it worse when you turn out to be wrong."
A light chuckle drew attention towards a jonin in a light blue long sleeved outfit with a tan vest covering his chest. "Favoritism isn't bad when you know what'll happen." All the eyes were on him, barring those of Uso, and they were perplexed by his sage like words.
"And that's supposed to mean what, Akira-san?" A woman with a scar on her forehead questioned.
"Heh. Allow me to introduce my son, his name is Zeko." He pointed to a head that had as much white as his own.
"The jinchūriki?"
"That's his son?"
"Which one? I wasn't looking."
"As cliché as it sounds, his potential outdoes my current strength by a wide margin. He's a true Uchiha despite only being half of one, but give him five years and I doubt you'd notice. They have thirty hours to make it back but I'd say he'll be done in twenty." It was then into his ten minute speech that Uso decided to reveal what their graduation exam would consist of. With times having changed so much, a simple test of a clone, transformation, and substitution were not enough to make a proper ninja anywhere aside from Konoha.
"And as you all desire to be shinobi for your village, some of you will not succeed and some of you may even lose your lives." Some of the students flinched at that last half but didn't attempt to leave even when his silence suggested that they were allowed to if they had doubts. "The Sunagakure graduation exam is easily the hardest of each in the nations, you will all be blindfolded and taken to different locations in our desert, unless you've partnered up with up to two others, and you will have thirty hours to find your way back to the village gate."
The cries of confused preteens and teenagers rang out as they were blindfolded and taken into the desert with no notice, most of them not even having a chance to fight back against their sudden 'assailants'.
"On behalf of the Kazekage, good luck to you all."
"Zeko-kun? Please don't be dead."
Ordinarily that question would draw ire but Zeko wasn't able to be mad at it, he wasn't even able to talk since he was buried up to his eyes in sand. Ignorance is a painful thing and whoever decided it would be smart to try and take him out of the running entirely would pay for their stupidity in time. It took no effort for the boy to rise from the sand and pull out a black scroll.
Before he could take out what he was after a weight pressed down onto his back. "Hana… Please get off of me." He pushed her off and watched her slump to the ground as if she were lifeless. At first he thought nothing of it but as the seconds passed he grew concerned. "Hana-chan? We can't waste time laying around." He stooped down and lifted her head up enough to see a senbon lodged in her neck, right into a pressure point. He unconsciously squeezed her neck after removing it, anger welling up from his stomach. Really? They just had to make it so the one person who wanted to be his partner couldn't even help him?! Hanatsu's groaning brought him out of his rapidly growing fury.
"...ko-kuuun…" Maybe she wasn't totally dead weight, but the way she was left him the only choice of carrying her out of here. He could just leave her but she could have not wanted to befriend him so keeping her safe was a fair exchange in his mind.
He was upset with having to carry her since it meant he was limited from the tool he wanted to use the most, his gourd. Carrying it around was already a chore but combined with this girl? They wouldn't make any progress. "Hopefully I don't run into another sand user then." The catgirl was on his back and, despite being unable to properly move around, was keeping a good grip around his neck while her legs were locked around his waist. He covered his right eye with two fingers and started forming one of sand fifteen meters above the ground.
With higher ground came improved visibility but the only thing that he managed to find was an oasis in the dunes. Walking through the sand would be difficult so Zeko opted to use his ability to glide quickly towards the water that would no doubt give him a temporary safe spot to plan their next course of action. The sand shifted and guided the pair towards the oasis while Hanatsu occasionally groaned on Zeko's back. A tingle up the spine is always a good warning and it was used in full to dodge a blast of wind from behind himself. A grin wouldn't have been out of place on him once he saw who sent that attack and he had to strike while the iron was hot. "How is Natamura doing?"
The crimson of her enraged face only made her disgusting hair stand out even more against the dunes, and the two boys beside her didn't look pleased if their expressions were anything to go by. "I waited all this time for the exam just to have an excuse to get you back, and this time I'm not alone." Sure enough she had members of Natamura's little clique with her but that wasn't Zeko's biggest concern for that moment, he had to jump backwards to dodge a figure that came out of the sand below his previous spot.
"Hn. That makes five of you against one of me." The figure from the sand was another girl who joined the group while a large puppet slowly rose from below the earth, the puppet resembled a giant lizard and from it popped a boy with his own disgusting shade of green hair. The time for words was done and Zeko expressed that by holding his hands up for them to see and shaking them lightly, he then placed them below Hanatsu to keep her on his back. His eyes went from black to crimson with two tomoe and a smirk adorned his face.
He leaned to the right to dodge a stab from behind, another puppet was under the sand the entire time. He kicked the arm of the wooden construct right when the close range boy and girl decided to rush him, they did their best to land hits while he could only dodge without the full use of his limbs. The puppet lost its arm from his blow but it's controller made it push on and join the assault on the boy but it wasn't enough and Kouga decided to use her fans to send another blast of wind at all of them, hoping to hit Zeko while he was distracted.
When you're surrounded on all sides and still being attacked what can you do? Fight back. The puppet was sent flying away when Zeko ducked below the burst of wind and the two goons to his left and right could only watch him knock them both off their feet with a spiral sweep. He wanted to take his time to focus with them but he was more focused on the puppeteer of their group, puppets make their signature clacking noise because of the constant twitching of their user's hands. Neither of the visible puppets made noise meaning they were being controlled from the inside, that boy beside the reptile was a sand user… 'Just my luck.'
Right then the gecko rushed at him with fire in its serrated mouth and it shot it at him full force. He relented on his personal challenge for just a moment to use the seals for a mud wall but the arm of the puppet locked around his right hand. His next move would make them angrier but he wasn't there to please them and his reverse somersault proved that, his hands catching the sand as the flame soared over his head and straight into the humanoid puppet. He started to retreat towards the oasis with the close range pair staying on him the entire time, he dodged their attacks like a fly does a swatter. Their anger was apparent and that's when things went from bad to worse.
"Shichi Tenkohō: Daiichi Kassei!" They might've been twins with how well they mirrored each other into that technique, the pressure they put off concerned him since that technique was only for the truly skilled… Zeko hadn't even figured it out yet, but he did figure out what their hits would feel like when one landed in his chest while another struck his jaw. He managed to recover from skidding off the ground without disturbing his partner too much, he didn't even have room to breathe with how fast they were attacking again. His precognition let him see every slight muscle twitch and give him the edge he needed to dodge their strikes even as sand slowly reformed the thin layer of armor over his skin, but the damage from their hits was not to be laughed at even with his armor. Kouga and the gecko user didn't stay idle and moved up with the fight.
This time the blast of wind came at him with gecko, both poised to crash into him and boosted, the enhanced brawlers dodged but all five were confused at how the puppet crashed into the sand before striking its targets. The wind was dodged easily and dispersed over the oasis they were now beside. Zeko looked at the water and noted that it was slightly murky, that was all the advantage he needed, but his loss of attention gave gecko an opening to crash into him and send Hanatsu out of the ditch entirely. He was outmatched with her on his back but now he could put his plan into action without a second thought. He ripped the puppet hand off his own and threw it onto the incline behind himself.
Nidamura pulled his puppet back towards him, while brawlers started trying to break Zeko's defense, but without being weighed down he could dodge much more efficiently. He parried their fists while Kouga put her fans together and sent a much larger gust of wind at him. 'Perfect!' He dodged two punches and jumped into the air… to pull off a perfect split kick right into their faces, and then went through hands seals faster than they could make out. He landed on tiger and inhaled, "Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu." Giant fireballs and bursts of air mix very well and it showed when the flames doubled in size and forced the siblings to take cover behind the gecko. The puppet didn't take the hit very well but it protected the two to its end.
He ducked and kicked his male assailant in the jaw and spun on the ground to dodge the girl, he jumped up and engaged her but it was still a defensive match since their hits were coming harder than his could. Another blast of wind from two separate fans but there wouldn't be dodging this time, the boy came back and locked himself with Zeko. He couldn't tell what was worse, their physically enhanced blows or the wind but that didn't matter since he was the only one downed. "Aren't as big and bad as you thought huh? Made us work for it though." Kouga and her brother finally entered the oasis… the murky water having oasis, that was also a depression in the earth… The murky water having oasis that he was now on the incline of in said depression…
"Too bad I have an ace up my sleeve, take it!" He threw the detached puppet limb at her… and missed, the object went straight into the murky water of the oasis.
"Now I get it, you couldn't beat our brother directly. You had to be cunning and underhanded to have a chance against Natamura…" Nidamura's voice was cold and unforgiving as the sand below him shifted. "The sand demon shouldn't be with you if that's all you can do Zeko-kun." There was venom in the honorific, but it didn't matter since Zeko started to smile.
"At least you're taking losing with a smile, if only my brother could smile at seeing you lose to us so badly." Even when she thought she had him she wouldn't stop bringing up her brother, and it annoyed him.
"It took five of you just to lose because you aren't as smart as I am."
They didn't even have a chance to ask him what he meant, they couldn't even speak with how fast the fleshy jaws came from beneath them. Gone from the world in a split second and behind the maw of a massive creature. Shukaku was very pleased at the display. 'They didn't even know the sand worm was under them! That's some funny shit right there brat!' The praise made Zeko laugh as well, his constant studying of his best fighting environment included a bestiary of its wildlife. An oasis in a depression with murky water? Obvious sign of a carnivorous sand worm but the five either didn't know that or they didn't care in their goal of beating him.
Zeko leapt out of the pit not a moment too soon since the sand worm decided to relocate, the giant tan colored creature broke out of the sand and burrowed away just as fast. At least he was down five annoyances for the future. "Hm, the seven heavenly breaths… I'm glad the worm was here." He may have been considered a prodigy but he wasn't blinded by pride to the point where he thought that he'd win that fight on his own. If he didn't have Hanatsu from the beginning then maybe he could have played his cards right, but after taking two hits from the taijutsu using teens and being slammed by the puppet? The odds weren't in his favor especially since he didn't know how good that puppet boy was with sand.
He picked his partner up and decided to try for a real oasis this time, or maybe head straight for the village he could go either way really.
"I should've went straight back!" Zeko was fast in his own right but the burning shame that he was feeling made him think he was slower than a snail. The rest of the exam somehow went off without a hitch on his end, he found a perfect spot to rest and make his own oasis and to make sure his partner was ok since the sun was unrelenting. She gained partial consciousness enough to at least drink the water that he managed to get from under the bedrock, again he was glad that he'd read in his spare time.
"Two whole seconds! I win Zeko!" His delay cause him to lose his race by two seconds… two… seconds… Them finishing in just under ten hours didn't matter to the white haired boy, being handed his headband didn't matter either. However he did cover his face when he saw a chunin with dark green hair standing at the gate, because that was not a situation he wanted to step into.
"TWO SECONDS!" He shouted to the entire crowd that was waiting but they only looked for a moment and looked away when they saw who was yelling. "Okay wait I was carrying my partner the whole time, and I had to deal with five idiots!"
"Ah ah, no excuses for tardiness. You lost and owe me three favors." He turned and decided to wait against a wall with a smile adorning his face, his brother and Erumi nowhere to be found so clearly they weren't as fast or just didn't care enough to hurry.
"I hate my life, Hanatsu wake up! I've been carrying you this whole time just cause you were lazy." The catgirl on his back moaned and hopped off, but she didn't look upset with him at all.
"So you figured it out? I knew I was right to be with you after all, but I wanna know why you didn't say anything." Akira always told his son that paranoia was useful in his line of work and it showed since Zeko managed to figure out that the girl just wanted to, both figuratively and literally, be carried through the exam. Pairing up with him guaranteed that if a fight broke out she'd be safe but that depended on how much he actually cared about her and her gamble paid off since she didn't have to do anything other than be carried. "Oh I get why, you wanted a free excuse to touch my butt."
"I had to carry you somehow!"
"Ara ara~ Don't get embarrassed Zeko-kun, there's nothing wrong with it since we both got what we wanted." She took her headband from one of the shinobi who was handing them out, all the while Zeko's face was tinted red. "I hope we get in the same team, bye!" He did notice that as she walked away from him there was a sway in her hips but he couldn't take his mind off of what really mattered,
"Two whole seconds!"
"Mmm, right there!" She moaned when he went deep enough to grind against a bundle of nerves but he cared more about her nails raking into his back, it was always a turn on when a woman felt so good she didn't care if she hurt you to show it. Akira made sure that each of his thrusts was as deep as he could go and the moans of pleasure that Ryoka gave every time he went back in served to let him know he still had it.
Her tongue left her mouth when he pressed more of his weight onto, and into, her. He brought his head down to her and bit her shoulder as hard as he could without drawing blood, this definitely had results since he wound up being pressed even deeper when Ryoka wrapped her legs around his lower back. Her long tongue dragged across his neck and left a trail of saliva that cooled his searing skin. Enough was enough and his slow and deep pace broke apart for faster strokes that still managed to draw moans and shudders from Ryoka. She could feel the layer of sweat on his body and she could hear every breath of his getting more labored, this was something new since he never seemed this worked before but this wasn't the time to think about something so insignificant. Her walls were only getting wetter and his length was starting to pulse with every thrust.
"Ryoka I'm-"
She didn't need him to say anything else, she used all the sense she had to grab his head and drag him into a deep kiss. Their tongues fought for dominance but Ryoka started losing once she felt him slam as deep into her as he could, the searing heat that flooded her insides brought her over the edge and forced a moan into Akira's mouth.
They both stayed there in their afterglow, their minds finally coming back to the mortal world. Their mouths finally separating with her tongue lolling out and hanging loosely to her jaw. He withdrew from her slowly and the next thing she knew his length was by her face. She knew that he was giving the silent command, 'clean me', and she complied by wrapping her tongue around him and drawing his length into her mouth. With one drag their combined fluids were off him but his attempt at being more dominant fell once he dropped back onto the bed beside her. "That was better than usual." He said with a heavy exhale, but Ryoka looked concerned now that the pleasure started to subside.
"Are you sure? You look exhausted. This is the first time in two years that you've been this tired after we were done."
"Well you haven't visited from Ame in a while, maybe I was out of it? You should be proud, the last woman to tire me out that much was my wife and she always did it."
Ryoka hummed in thought but couldn't figure out what to say. She did care about Akira on more than a physical level and his well being mattered to her, but if he wasn't concerned about it she figured she shouldn't be.
"So this is what a genin has to come back to huh Tou-chan?"
The speed that the two covered themselves was great but to Zeko it was even greater to watch them snag the comforter from one another repeatedly. "Zeko?! The exam isn't done until tomorrow!"
"Wrong, it's done when you finish it. Ran and I broke the last record at nine hours, forty six minutes, and thirty two seconds… EXCEPT I GOT THIRTY FOUR!"
Akira found it in himself to chuckle at that. "Two whole seconds, I can tell you aren't happy about that."
Ryoka was shocked at how casually they were talking after his son just saw him in bed with another woman that wasn't his mother. "Is he supposed to be alright with this?" She pointed at herself and both the Uchiha men shrugged.
"I knew for a while Ryoka-san, I have a good nose. I'm a genin now Tou-chan!" He pointed to his forehead and his father smiled, of course when he moved to get up Zeko's demeanor changed entirely. "No no, you can stay over there. I don't wanna smell like that."
"The exam started in the morning, how long have you been here Zeko-kun?" Ryoka asked warily while the boy shifted his eyes everywhere but straight.
"I didn't want to interrupt so I waited in the hall."
Well if anything Akira could say that he had a more patient son than most people. At least everything in life was going well so what's the harm in making your son wait to be congratulated on a big achievement?
The next day Zeko found out that out of eighty students for that year, only forty eight made it back and only twenty five were within the time limit of thirty hours. At least they didn't have to deal with the shame of losing a bet… "TWO SECONDS!"
It was just a D-rank… He only had to gather some flowers for the Suna greenhouse. So how did things manage to go this far for him? How was he facing off against thirty mask wearing shinobi? Why were they wearing masks when they were clearly from Suna? These were all questions that he needed to answer, and how do you talk efficiently in a fight? Fighting back. Two tried to cleave him with their katanas but they stopped against his lightning armor and their masks were broken by his fists crashing into them, their skulls more than likely didn't look any better. "Why the hell are you fighting me?!" He ducked to avoid a slash from a katana that was coated in wind and drove his foot into their sternum.
"Someone wants you dead Uchiha Akira." One of them said while three of them started forming hand seals. Akira pulled out a tanto and sized them all up while holding it in front of his face.
"I figured that, so I'll get my answers from your heads." His eyes turned red with three tomoe, but he didn't stop there, his mangekyou sharingan whirled to life right when the trio landed on the last seal for their jutsu.
"Futon: Shinkūgyoku!" He vanished from their sight once the barrage of wind blasts left them, his armor being the only warning of his location with its soft crackling.
"Uchiha ryū: Higasa no mai." His blade was coated in flames and with each slash that he made an arc of fire shot out to burn anything in its way. Two of the three were down for the count while the last one met him blade to blade, in their clash Akira smirked and moved his upper body to the right. The reflection of their swords let him see another masked shinobi trying to run him through from behind and the only thing that happened was that there was another assailant down. He turned and swiped through the fratricidal attacker's neck.
Akira panted, and saw that the one he kicked was getting up slowly while another two were weaving hand seals. Wait a second… Akira was panting? Something was wrong. He dropped his armor and felt a weight leave his shoulders but he was still short of breath. This was not right but he couldn't spend time thinking about it since- "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Since that. A massive scorpion appeared from a cloud of smoke, it was easily larger than a house and both of its tails had a stinger that dropped with venom.
Akira lunged with his tanto still coated in flames but in the air he had the choice of dodging the twin stingers, a blast of water, or another barrage of air. The choice was easy and he tanked the water with minimal injury but once he landed he had to avoid the pincers of the giant arthropod. Another two shinobi were at him at the same time and were all pushing his heavily breathing form to the limit… the limit that wouldn't be reached this quickly…
He tripped one of them and stabbed his sword into the other then used them as a shield for the stinger strike, that was his biggest threat to avoid at all costs. He jumped back and tossed his blade into the air, he then capitalized on the one who looked up at it and grabbed his arm and leg. He held the man over his head and brought him down with a satisfying crack. He tossed him away like the trash he was and tried to catch his breath but it was working like a bucket with a hole in the bottom. "You might not know this but I have a nickname aside from Spinebreaker." He flew through his own hand seals and slammed his hands onto the ground. "Kuchiyose no jutsu."
Four panthers emerged from smoke and stood at his side. "Akira-dono, it's been far too long since we've heard from one another." The head of the claw said while Akira stood back up. "The White Panther is with us again! Scatter!" The five broke apart, two of the four panthers moved to distract the giant scorpion while Akira and the rest continued taking on the shinobi.
"Hah!" One of them swung a massive fan but Akira managed to dodge it without a second thought, and he closed the distance ready to take them out. They were lucky that their ally was there to offer a temporary protection but Akira's sudden change in fighting style proved to be both of their undoing, he was lower to the ground and attacking them with an animalistic fury. The shinobi could hardly see the difference between him and the actual panthers, his nickname was making more and more sense as he brought down another three of them.
Akira was very worn down now and there was no avoiding it anymore, someone had to have poisoned him. "At this rate I'll be too tired to fight, have to end it… Can't let this go off course. All of you go, I'll handle it from here!" The panthers saw the condition their summoner was in and all but one of them left. "Chomusuke I said go!"
"I refuse, I'm not going to abandon you just because you said so. I'd only do it if I was forced." The loyalty among friends made Akira smile for a second but his attention was brought back to the giant scorpions oncoming stingers. "Futon: Kazekiri no jutsu!" Chomusuke's claws sent a razor sharp blade of wind at the attacking arthropod and took one of its stingers clean off, but at the cost of enraging it even further. "This will be a tough one to beat but I'm sure we-"
A flash of orange and an expulsion of chakra made everyone apart from Akira freeze, the scorpion froze in its tracks as well but not from fear like the rest. The scorpion froze from the weapon that was going straight through its carapace, the bright orange blade coming from the orange figure that matched it in size. Akira smiled even as his closed eyes cried tears of blood. Chomusuke saw the black object in his hand but said nothing about it. The giant figure had two hands coming from its right arm, one on the gourd and the other on the sword. The scorpion stood no chance and got swallowed in moments.
"Totsuka no Tsurugi."
Fear was all they felt, and they were right to feel that way. The blue eyes peering from Akira's armored Susano'o demanded respect even as it brought the legendary weapon closer towards itself. This situation was bad from the start but they had their orders and they were not to fail. "So Chomusuke, can you handle the ones on the left while I take the ones on the right?"
"Akira-dono I'd be more surprised if you could take a cub with how you are, but I'll take them on without hesitation."
The pair smiled at their flinching enemies and knew that it was going to be a fun time.
"I don't know why I'm here. I don't know who this is! You made me rush out of my house and leave my cloak behind just to see some guy I've never seen before." There was a man with slightly tanned skin and black spiky hair on an autopsy table, he looked peaceful if anything but that didn't matter to the boy.
"Zeko-san you know who this is but you don't know who this is." That didn't do anything except annoy him even more. He didn't leave his house to come hear riddles from a mortician, he's already waiting for his dad to come back so they can train so what good is seeing the body of a man who he's never met?
"I don't know this man, and that's the last time I'll say it. If you're done wasting my time then I'm leaving."
The mortician exhaled a breath and prepared himself for the delivery, he never was good at it and it never got easier but it had to be done. "This man died from a mixture of scorpion venom and a toxic mushroom that takes up to two weeks to kill its victim." Zeko wanted to interject but he wasn't given a chance. "We found this on his body apparently he recorded an audio message before he fully succumbed to the toxins in his blood." The boy rolled his eyes and took the recorder and pressed play on it.
"Zeko."
He was surprised to hear his fathers voice on the device but he continued to listen despite all of the questions that he had.
"Fate finally caught up with me, that's the only reason you could be hearing this. I probably don't look the same as what you know and love but transformation seals only turn off when you don't have any more chakra to supply. I know a lot of things that will happen but I can't risk explaining that on this. What I can do is tell you that you're going to have some rough times ahead of you. You're going to experience things that I wish I could help you with, go through things that I won't be there for, and you're going to live a life without me now. I'm sorry that I couldn't avoid this longer than I did but time is something we can't run from."
He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all and the tears coming down his face showed it off, even the mortician looked like he was on the brink of shedding tears but he managed to keep himself together, just barely. 'Calm down, don't let your emotions get crazy.' The tanuki was ignored in place of the still going message.
"Zeko you're going to feel pain, happiness, loneliness, anger, sadness, and every emotion I can think of but no matter what you have to remember that there is always someone there that cares. Yokano and I did everything we could to make sure that you'd be able to take care of yourself once you were a genin, and I know that you'll be stronger than either of us ever was. I don't know everything that will happen to you but I do know that no matter what path you decide to go down you'll have our support."
"No. No no no, no no no! No it isn't! It's not him!" His blurry vision looked at the man laid out on the cold steel table, his eyes started to glaze over and turn into yellow stars. "It isn't him! He can't be gone!" It was all being held by a thread, a thread that was getting thinner and more stressed as the message played out, but there was still one part left… it wasn't over yet
"I know you'll make your own path in your life, and I know that you'll never quit at anything you set yourself to. Live Zeko… Love… Laugh… Have fun… Make friends… Be happy… Don't follow the path of hatred, don't be taken in by anger and negativity. It's not what we would want, but even if that happens just know-"
"NO NO NO NO, SHUT UP!" He dropped the recorder and clutched at his hair while speaking in a voice that wasn't his. He fought hard to keep himself in line but the thread was starting to snap and he was a hair away from losing everything.
"I will never be disappointed in you, no matter what you do I'll support it from beyond. I love you Zeko, and I always will."
That was all that he needed, the mortician already ran out of the room and the ANBU came in but it was too late.
The thread snapped, and all hell broke loose in Sunagakure.
Author's Notes: I may have cried writing it but tragedy has a calling card and its name is the Winter season. The "Two seconds" comes from my boot camp days, my platoon lost an event by two whole seconds.. not to mention that we got TURNED AROUND and lost thirty. The second time we did it we beat the previous champs by a minute so ha. Before I forget about it, I got a pm about the twins and wanted to clarify that its pronounced "Rahn" and "Ray". How does all hell break loose? Find out next time in The Will to Defy Fate. See ya next time.