Chapter II
Rika cowered in the presence of the stranger, but then she realized this wasn't right. Shinobi were not meant to cower before any situation. Inside, she knew that she wasn't really scared of the stranger, but of another. She stood up before the stranger, ready to face him, but he smiled evilly at her.
"You should watch where you're going," he spoke to her.
"Forgive me. I was running from something," she explained.
"You're not supposed to run from anything. Shinobi don't run at all from what they fear," the stranger spoke.
"Of course. The way of the ninja. Emotions mean nothing," she responded, and the stranger became impressed with her knowledge. He noticed the headband she wore, and his eyes widened slightly.
"The Barakouge village? You're from there?" he asked.
Rika nodded, and she noticed his own headband falling from the strap of his load. The symbol...was that of the Village Hidden in the Sand. He was from there. That was extraordinary. If there was anything Rika remembered, it was of reading much information about that village, and her evil smile was soon shown.
"Who are you?" she asked him, and she couldn't help but instinctively reach for her kunai knife at her right leg's side. He did notice this, but speaks his name.
"Gaara of the Desert."
"Pleasure, Gaara. I'm Rika," she unsheathed the knife, and he immediately saw it.
"Do you plan on fighting me? How foolish," he spoke to her in an almost eerie convidence.
"Oh, surely, no. I just want to see how powerful one is from the Village Hidden in the Sand. After all, aren't you the son of the Kazekage of the village?" she spoke slowly to him. "I just want to see how powerful you are."
"Heh. I'm far too powerful for you. I don't need to prove anything to you," Gaara spoke, waving a hand in her face to silence her.
"Are you sure about that?" she spoke evilly.
She smiled, and suddenly, black figures shot out from the ground, shadow-beings with piercing crimson eyes. They reached up and grabbed the now startled Gaara.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!" he cried out in fear as the beings pulled him onto the ground.
His pale face grew even paler, his eyes widened in fear, and he realized what was going on as he started to gasp for air. At once, she felt like she was losing control, and she saw the horror in his face. She was killing him, and that's not what she wanted. He stared at her in chilling terror, and she shut her eyes tight, forming the symbol of a raven upon her fingers. The shadows let out a horrible, blood-curdling screech as they released him. She fell to her knees, shaken by her own actions, but smiled at Gaara reassuringly. However, that smile faded when Gaara fell onto hands and knees and retched up...blood! A few moments where he retched and coughed up blood, and then a few seconds of silence after before he wiped it from his mouth and spoke. His body was shaking, but he looked up as if he had just experienced the greatest sensation to ever exist.
"No one's ever made me cough up like that without force. You really are from the Barakouge village," he spoke.
"Yes, I am."
Rika looked into his green eyes, and approached him. The sunlight reflected off of her kunai knife, and she raised it over the boy, positioning it in a deadly manner. The boy looked up at her in fear, and she could see her own reflection in his green eyes. She brought the knife down, and the boy shut his eyes, hoping to feel the knife pierce his flesh, but he heard a screech beside him. He looked to see that she had killed a poisonous snake that had been ready to strike. Rika let out her hand and helped Gaara back onto his feet, but he looked at her, confused, and slightly scared.
"How are you able to control them?" he asked.
"Hm?"
"Shadows, darkness...How are you able to do that?" he asked again.
She answered softly to him, as honestly as she could.
"It's a kekai genkai. My family goes back into an ancestry of kagemusha, shadow warriors and controllers. I've inherited, I guess, from my family's bloodline," she explained. "It's no different from sand controlling that you have."
Gaara looked at her, surprised to see such power in her, and then questions more.
"But...there's only one family in all the nations who can do such a thing. Are you a Micamura?"
She nodded, and his eyes widened once more.
"That family has been eradicated for years. Oh, my God!"
She lowered her eyes from the boy, hurt by what he said. She spoke to the boy, and he hears her tone at once, and then quickly changes the subject. She thinks of Kakashi and Sasuke and how she ran off without an explanation from them, and wondered if they were curious of where she went off to. She looked at Gaara, knowing that he must have a team waiting for him, as well, and smiled at him.
"I need to go. But it was nice meeting you," she spoke before turning away and walking back towards the bridge.
She could hear him walk away, and then stopped briefly as the wind surrounded her. It cooled her down, and relaxed her a little. A strange memory came to her mind. She somehow saw herself standing in a dark room, bowing to someone, an then turning away, but only to feel the fall of a blade to her shoulders. She screamed in pain, and fell to her knees, only to find herself back at the Konoha village. She shook off the feeling of the memory, and walked onto the bridge. She stared down at the water, deep in thought, when she sensed someone else there. The reflection of someone appeared beside hers, a young boy with long, blackish brown hair and piercing, silver eyes, like her. He stares at the water, and then at your reflection before smiling.
"You know, I thought no one was here, so I came here to be alone," he spoke coldly at her.
She shrugged, turned, and began to walk away, feeling alone and downtrodded, when the boy called back to her.
"I was just saying. You don't need to leave," he spoke.
"No, I need to find some people, anyway," she tried to lie. But he called to her again.
"What village is that?" he asked.
She turned to him, and he pointed to the symbol upon her headband. She answered.
"The Barakouge village, the village hidden in the shadows," she answered. He nodded.
"I've read about that village. It's well hidden in an unknown nation, but it has a lot of strong shinobi within it," he spoke spoke. "Because of the most powerful family having been kagemushas, shadow controllers, the village is neither allied with ours, nor is it an enemy village. It's simply an outsider. How did you get in this village, then?"
She didn't answer, at first stunned by his knowledge of the Barakouge village, when she had forgotten all about it. However, she recognized this boy by his eyes. He was an heir to the Hyuga bloodline.
"Are you Hyuga Neji?" she asked.
He nodded, an she smiled at him.
"I'm Micamura Rika. It's nice to meet you," she spoke, and the boy smiled.
"What brings you to the Konoha village, Rika?" she looked at him, and didn't know how to answer.
However, he looked up at the sky, and sighed.
"I was supposed to have met my team an hour ago for training. Gai-sensei will kill me, now," he spoke.
She couldn't help but giggle at what he said.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"You remind me of something," she lied, and looked into his silver eyes.
She somehow felt compelled to them, so similar to her own, that if frightened her a bit. But she accepted it, and looked at him.
"Then I guess you should go meet your team, then," she said.
He nodded in agreement, but then hesitated.
"Why don't you come with me? You could meet a lot more people, and I'll be able to see what you're capable of if you're really from the Barakouge village," Neji spoke to her.
She didn't know what to say, but she had no choice but to agree...
Neji took her away from the bridge into the hills of the city where he knew his two teammates, Rock Lee and Tenten, were waiting for him, along with his sensei, Gai. He walked by Rika's side, seeing the emptiness and snow-coldness in her silver eyes, as well. Why were her eyes so cold like that? Why was she so quiet? As the two approached the hills, he could see his teammates waiting for him, but he didn't see Gai. Tenten ran towards Neji to greet him, but is startled to see the other girl, Rika.
"Neji, who is this?" she asked.
Neji introduced Rika and then introduced his teammates to her. Rika said nothing, but just smiled shyly at them. She then, mysteriously, grasped his arm, but only briefly before she realized what she had done and pulled away. Neji was confused by her actions, but ignored it as, in a blast of smoke, his sensei appeared, holding similar, but more mature appearance as Lee. Gai-sensei sees the girl, and then questions Neji.
"Who is this young, lovely woman?" Gai asked in a charming way, winking in Rika's direction. However, she was unaffected by it.
"Gai-sensei, this is Micamura Rika," Neji introduced the girl.
Gai is immediately stanned and gasped.
"It cannot be! A Micamura? But how? That family has been eradicated by the Akatsuki clan!"
Neji and his teammates looked at Rika, who is blushing and looking down sadly. She had a lot of explaining to do.