Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Bathing in Blood
15. Or Something Like That
I am all-powerful Time which destroys all things,
And I have come here to slay these men.
Even if thou dost not fight,
All the warriors facing thee shall die.
-The Bhagavad Gita
Gaara was restless.
He folded the corners of the sheet of paper in front of him, and then anxiously unfolded them again. Shadow-rimmed blue-green pupils slid uneasily from side to side. Wondering if he should imitate the others around him, he hunched over his test with exaggerated concentration, willing that the relentless characters printed so darkly on the white would somehow shift position, break formation, magically defy the laws of physics to reveal the ever-elusive Answers.
It wasn't working. And it was giving him a headache.
All of a sudden, he felt the presence bubble up inside of him, resurfacing from wherever it had burrowed in his unused thoughts. A deep, tangerine charisma, it had, and that was something he'd never understood. Who would suspect that such a benign manner belonged to the infamous, evil Shuukaku?
It was all in the undercurrents, Gaara knew, and after so many years of living with its existence, he'd only begun to map those slight distinctions out. Today, the voice sounded as restless as he was, and impatient as well. If walking on eggshells ever became a sport—
"Cheat. You're supposed to cheat in this exam."
Inwardly, Gaara was perplexed. Cheat? The instructor said—
With a sudden typhoon of frustration, the demon surged past his puzzled inquiry. Its words had morphed into cut-up snips of syllables, joined together only by the fraying threads of reason.
"The only thing the instructor said was that those caught cheating would be penalized. He said nothing to forbid cheating, simply because that is the sole purpose of the exam. You should have known that."
Gaara nodded, almost sadly. Yes, he should have known that. There were more times than he could count when he 'should have known' things, but the Shuukaku, demon though it was, hadn't lost patience with him yet. Now he was smiling, a genuine smile that he hoped would come across as normal, happy, sane even. He knew it didn't, of course; he knew he looked even more like a monster when he smiled.
Memories trickled back to him, like runoff from an overflowing sewer. All those times when he'd sat alone on the playground, with only the voice in his head for company. Some of the children, noisy spoiled brats that they were, shadowed him, moving away when he moved nearer. Many avoided him entirely.
They hadn't seemed amused when he'd lost it at last and strangled one of the taunting, teasing little animals. Oddly enough.
It was all because of his eyes. They didn't match his emotions. No matter how cheerfully he grinned, the toddlers still cried and ran to hide behind the legs of their parents, while the parents themselves were shivering with nervousness.
And through everything, the Shuukaku's presence had always been there to protect him. It was the parent he'd always wished for. There were times when it scared him, and other times when it threatened to do worse, but it was the only constant in his life. The one thing he could rely on, look up to. Or, for that matter, believe.
Gaara's smile widened, and he knew he looked terrifying. For the moment, it amused him.
The pink-haired girl turned her paper over with a satisfied sigh. The test had been easier than she'd counted on, most of it merely basic math tilted on its nose to fit unusual circumstances. Intended to cause confusion, intended to appear more difficult through the use of roundabout explanations and complicated phrases. Intended to make the average genin think harder than necessary, until at last forcing them to give up in despair and desperation because two and two just refused to equal five.
In other words, too easy.
She read over the tenth question once more.
This question will not be provided until forty-five minutes into the exam. At that time, please answer it to the best of your ability.
Short. Simple. Yet, because of that, it radiated an aura of significance. Probably the most important question on the test.
No worries here.
Soundlessly, Sakura peeled off a corner of the page, sending it fluttering inconspicuously to the floor. Time to check her teammates' progress. If necessary, she would use a latent-illusion jutsu to write the answers in herself. The pale scrap hovered apprehensively beneath the bench, fading chameleon-like to match the color of the scuffed tiles. Then it shot forward with an air of purpose uncommon in inanimate objects.
One more thing taken care of.
From the corner of one neon eye, she spotted a trickle of sand creeping ominously near her desk. Some of it floated in a haze over her paper; some of it whispered around its surface. Apparently having a hard time decoding whatever it was trying to read, especially since the real test was folded in her shoulder-bag.
Regardless, it reeked of demonic energy. Sneering as an idea dawned on her, she seized a handful of the particles with one eager fist, feeling the demon squirm as the sand dissolved like sugar into molten glass. It dribbled in a waterfall over her clenched fingers, cooling and hardening in an eternal puddle by her feet. Still smirking, Sakura folded her arms. She'd gotten the demon's attention now; she was sure of it.
This just might be an interesting day.
