Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine… sigh…
ODES OF THE BETRAYED
By Kage Kurokawa
Chapter 03 Chink in the Dam(NARUTO)
Sasuke walked out on us at dinner. That bastard can be so overdramatic sometimes. Shino followed him a bit later.
Like we'd never expect that. They can be so predictable sometimes. I really wonder if they're "just friends" as they claim. It is the oldest excuse in the world. Really.
Then again,I guess I couldn't really blame Sasuke for bailing out on us like he did. Even if we didn't know the details yet, this upcoming mission is weighing heavily on everyone's minds.
Including Gaara's.
He's been staring at nothing again. Even after we got back home to change he's been rather absent minded.
Gaara and I live about five minutes away from Sasuke and the others, in a small house thatI try with the best of my abilities make livable for the both of us. We used to live with the guys until two years ago. Kyuubi and Shukaku decided that it will be for the best. Because then, we wouldn't bother the others when the nightmares come or when our demon counterparts decide to… errr… mate.
Yes, yes. Kyuubi and Shukaku can be horny little devils sometimes. No, make that most of the time. They've started to go at it years ago, a few weeks after Gaara rescued me and Shikamaru. Not that we could do anything about it really. Kyuubi ranted at me that he's been without a mate for ages trapped inside my pathetic human form and thathe needs to get laid. He told me, wearing that really creepy grin that makes my blood run cold every time i see it, these exact words: "I don't care if it's male or female or of whatever variety as long as it's a demon that I can fuck. I just hope it can handle me." Those were his words, not mine.
And people tell me I'm quite crude.
Of course, I spent weeks fighting this pervert living inside me. But after two weeks, I just found myself waking up, buck naked in the middle of a forest with various bite marks and bruises, and with an equally clothless Gaara draping an arm across my chest. The sleeping redhead seemed to be more or less in the same state as I am. I saw uprooted trees and lots of broken timber lying all around usbut Ican't recall how on earth that happened. Then I find myself mortified at seeing Shikamaru standing over us with a wide smirk on his face and silently chuckling. Bastard. The first words that came out of his mouth were: "You were too loud last night.You didn't let me sleep. I think you successfully managed to scare off the forest creatures around here though."
That will always be one of the most embarrassing scenes of my life. Shikamaru used to tease me about it when he got the chance.
So that's how our horny demons got together. Gaara and I learned to accept that as we went along.
Well, now Gaara and I are bond mates as well. In lieu of rings, we both wear identical silver armbands locked by each other's chakras. It's one of Shino's ingenious inventions actually. That guy's pretty creative.
Anyway, I'm all done up, complete with my gears and accessories. Gaara's still in the bathroom. I prepared his stuff on the bed. There are times when he becomes too lost in his thoughts that he often forgets to bring things that he might need. Not that he really needs these stuff... the kunais and the shurikens, and others. It's more like the principle of the thing really.
I've been trying to teach him how to have a semblance of normalcy all these long years and it has been slowly paying off. Like now, he knows how to be more polite to people. I say this because he does not kill that random, unfortunate person that accidentally bumps into him on the streets after I told him that it's just not done! He also developed some taste in food like… ramen, of course. I also taught him that just because Shino's cooking looks and tastes like that crappy food he used to eat during missions for his old village, it doesn't make it edible!
But on top of it all… I taught Gaara how to love. Just as he taught me what it means to love. Yeah, yeah. It's getting corny and sappy I know. But it's the truth. We don't voice it out in the open. In fact I think we've only said the L-word once in the past six years that we were together. But it does not imply that we meant it any less.
I've changed a lot over the years. All of us did. I'm no longer that hyperactive kid who smiled at the world despite all the pains inflicted on his worn out spirit. He grew up to be a more somber person with occasional bouts of insanity in the presence of friends and has an alter ego that would make any sane person squirm…
Gaara came out of the bathroom half naked. He looks really sexy strutting around wearing only his tight, black mission pants. His shoulder length hair is damp from his shower and sticking at the back of his neck and his bangs fall all over his forehead covering his tattoo. Water droplets trickle down his lean, but slim frame. Damn, I feel my uniform shrink several sizes. It should be a crime to look that sexy after a bath.
Kyuubi stirs inside me…
Your toy looks hot, little boy.
Shut up you perverted old fox.
Can I have a go at him?
No.
I won't hurt him… much.
I groan and ignore that perverted fox. He always teases me at the most inopportune of moments.
Gaara stares at me with a small, albeit lecherous grin on his face. Damn.
"Is something wrong?" He asks with this low, almost husky voice.
"Err…no." I almost squeaked.
He laughed. Yes, Gaara learned to laugh as well. Not that creepy kind of laugh from ten years back. But a real human sounding, melodious laugh. Usually at my expense though.
He shrugs on his dark crimson tank top and jacket.
"We have a mission," he points out before giving me a small kiss.
Tease.
I pull at him and gave him a long, deep and wet one that left both of us breathless. Ha! Score for me!
'Screw the mission.' I wanted to tell him. It took almost all my self restraint not to pounce on him.
But we are going to the Hall.
The Hall.
Being summoned at the Hall always means a very serious mission is up. We are of the Seiei, the yuureinin, the special elite ninjas of Phantom Country for three and a half years now. But this is only the third time that I'm going to step in the Hall. The Hall is located at White Phantom Village and is only used by the Kage Seiei, the top eleven Seiei of Phantom country who took orders only from the Shikage and answerable to him alone. We Seiei are very limited in number. Only forty-four all throughout the country. I used to dream of being a leader. But I don't think I'd want to lead this land.
Taking the shortest route to the hall, we met Neji and Shikamaru. They were quietly arguing over something. Probably over who got the most number of women or men this week. Kyuubi rudely calls them our resident sluts. But really that damn fox had the nerve to speak! After all those times he used my poor human body to screw his own mate senseless without asking my permission!
He doesn't really understand what's going on with those two. If he does, well, he's not letting me know it. Sure, Shikamaru goes in and out of relationships that never lasts over a week, and Neji changes partners almost as often as he changes his clothes, but I often like to think that it's their way of dealing with their own pain.
I remember Gaara commenting something out of the blue one day, about our friends' relationships: Shino and Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji. He said that both pairs are bonded similarly, whether in friendship or in a relationship: they accept each other as an integral part of their lives but they cannot seem to consciously grasp that despite all the changes that they have been going through, the only constant thing that they cling to at the end of each ordeal is each other.
Whendid myGaara become so observant?
During the first few months that we arrived here, things were pretty strained between Gaara and Team Three. Back then, Gaara wasstill somewhat aloof. And rude. And irrational. And volatile. And Sasuke and Neji were still a bit of the cold, arrogant, temperamental bastards that they were once. They still are. But everything's cool now.
Over the years we allgot toknow what each has gone through more or less. A complicated friendship was formed among us and when we all lived together in one house for two years, we've become some sort of a family that most of us had never known. We became brothers. Our experiences bound us together. And we had an unbreakable agreement amongst ourselves.
All six of us are scarred in one way or another. It's not an excuse or justification for the mess that we make in our present lives but it helps us understand why each person acts the way he does.
Kyuubi is silent when I confide to him my observations. He just usually listens to me before making some snide or lewd comments that really destroys the whole solemn atmosphere. But I really believe that this nine-tailed demon really listens to me when I converse with him. He told me once that he wanted to understand more about 'human creatures' through me and I told him that I'd like to get into his head some time as well. Me and Kyuubi have formed a strange partnership over the years. We have a pact. A blood contract that was made after the incident eight years ago… shortly before 'baasan was killed and after Sasuke escaped and Shino ran away from… the village…
I still have these moments when I can't bear to say the name… Konoha.
There was a time when I would have done anything for that village. That all my dreams consisted of being the best leader it will ever have in the future. I'd give my life for the sake of that village. But people change when they wake up one dayand find that theyhad beenthrown to the wolves by those that they had sought to protect. . . Tsunade 'baasan watched over me carefully, but after her death everything that had been slowly going downhill crashed…
It was a bitter awakening for me. Baasan was dead. Sasuke was gone. Ero Sennin went away to who-knows-where? Sakura was bitter. Kakashi sensei had been sent on a long mission. Iruka sensei was still much too traumatize for his own good. Hinata lost her father and was tasked to keep her clan together. I had no one left. And then the elders delivered the death blow that killed all my feelings for this village that had sustained me all through the years… they, together with the new Hokage…
Owww. My thoughts were interrupted as I collided head first with a particularly low tree branch. Thinking too much isn't done when one is traveling fast paced in the woods after the sun has already set.
Gaara stopped and turned back. He looked at me with a blank expression but with concerned green orbs.
I signaled at him to go on as I gathered myself for a second, before catching up.
To brush off what just happened, I asked Neji where his teammates were.
Neji told us that Sasuke and Shino went ahead of them. The Hall is about twenty minutes away from our house as we travel at our present speed. It is in the other mountain after all. I saw Gaara shook his head a bit but said nothing.
As a three-story white, stone building thatwe knew to be the Hall greeted our sight, we all slowed our pace. The heart White Phantom Village is eerily quiet at night. All administrative duties are done in this place. And the offices here closes at around five in the evening. So most places here are virtually empty nowalthough by no means unguarded. Shiromachi anbus are on duty here twenty-four/seven hidden in strategic locations.
You'll always know when you've reached the White Phantom Village of Shiromachi because all the buildings here are made of white marble, a sign that Phantom country is indeed rich. Upon entering the Hall, we find Shino and Sasuke sitting at the chairs in the receiving area. Seeing that all parties had arrived, an overly perky receptionist greeted us.
One of the basic things a ninja must learn is that not all things are always what they seem. This is especially true here in Phantom Country. This pretty, innocent looking receptionist is actually an S-class Anbu who specializes on spider web traps using unique threads that can decapitate anyone in a second. I know, coz' I've seen her in action the last time I was here. She is called Amai (Sweet). And underneath her mask, she is anything but sweet. Anyway, Amai directed us to go to the third floor Hall.
That simple instruction made the slightly tense atmosphere become undeniably thick. The third floor Hall is used only for the most urgent and most sensitive S-class missions, and is reserved exclusively for the Kage Seiei. We are only normal Seiei, except for Gaara who was once invited but 'politely' declined.
As the big doors of the third floor Hall opened, our anxieties were confirmed.
Inside the wide hall, standing beside the Shikage, are my two former teachers…
Hatake Kakashi and that ero sennin…
Master Jiraiya.
End Chapter 03
A/N: What have i done now...
