Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Bathing in Blood
8. Hear Them Say
And at last I could see the land, wind-swept
Cliff-walls at the edge of the coast. Fate saves
The living when they drive away death by themselves!
-Beowulf
"Damn you! Let us in!" The girl, brown hair gathered into buns on either side of her head, gingerly ran a finger over the bruise that was swelling on the side of her face. A spiky-haired boy kicked her aside with deliberate nonchalance, snorting as he watched her fold into a crumpled heap on the wooden floor.
"What weaklings," his comrade sneered, leaning against the door with his hands on his hips.
The girl slowly uncurled her legs and rose unsteadily to her feet, glancing helplessly at her two teammates. They both look angry. White eyes glared. They're gonna blow. Black eyes glittered. I just know it. What happened to our plan? What happened to keeping a low profile?
In distress, she looked to the wooden placard mounted on the wall, over the entrance. The entrance to the room that would make all the difference; in her future, in her life, in her dreams. The three numbers that meant so much.
3
0
1
The figures whirled in her vision like shuriken, blurring and disintegrating into something not quite there. She rubbed her eyes in brisk annoyance with the back of a scraped-raw hand, and found that nothing had changed.
Tenten sighed, a nameless exhalation of emotion. Playing pathetic was messing with her mind. Nobody pushed her around like this. Why did they even want to fake weakness anyway?
If we want to get in, we have to fight!
Seeing their teammate draw into a discreet fighting stance, Neji and Rock Lee gave a fleeting look to each other.
Agreed.
They had come to a decision, all three of them, but before they could act, an exclamation from another genin reeled in their already baited attention.
"That team isn't stopping at the door! They're going to the wrong place!"
"So what? Let them. The fewer teams, the less competition we're going to have, right?"
"Look! Isn't that the Uchiha boy?"
"Ooh! It's Sasuke! He's just, like, the hotness, isn't he?"
And the procession moved on, oblivious to the squeals and shouts of the crowd. Pink hair, blonde hair, black hair. And silence, too, silence in the midst of an ocean of noise.
Silence, like the parting of the Red Sea, dividing the ocean into halves.
A girl in a ponytail hurried up to the quiet ones, leaving her companions to bicker with the two bullies guarding the door. Her pink flowered purse swung jauntily at her side, garishly contrasting with the dark clothing she wore. A smile of pure worship was smeared across her face like makeup hastily applied, bleeding into tepid blue eyes. With a giggle, she jumped piglike onto the raven-haired boy.
"Sasuke-kun! I haven't seen you in ages!" Ino cooed, trying to make a nest for herself on the Uchiha's back. Sasuke shuddered and pressed his hands together, clenching and unclenching his fingers as he shook the girl off.
"D-don't touch. Don't touch me," he stuttered, backing away and giving her a weak, glowering look.
Noticing nothing amiss, the blonde remained unperturbed, awaiting Sakura's greeting. 'Piglet! Sasuke-kun is mine, remember?'
Or even 'And good afternoon to you too, Ino-pig!'
But her rival didn't even notice her, didn't even spare a glance. Like she wasn't worth seeing.
And that was the worst insult of all.
"Hey, you! Forehead girl!" Ino slipped in front of the pink-haired shinobi, directly in her path. Her former friend sidestepped the obstacle and continued to walk, eyes mercifully hidden by overgrown bangs the color of cherry blossoms.
She wears her headband on her forehead now...
"Are you even listening to me! Come on! Answer me!" Impulsively, the blonde grabbed the bony, black-garbed shoulder. Without a word, green eyes glistened momentarily and slipped like jaded water out of her grasp.
"Sakura--" More like a choke or a sob than a word, but that could have just been because the name seemed so unfamiliar coming from Ino's lips.
Not like it mattered anyway, because Team Seven was halfway down the hall.
Tenten, Rock Lee, and Neji stared at the sitcom that had played out before them, if only for a minute. After that, they turned back to the problem at hand, which had mysteriously disappeared in front of a door labeled '201'.
