I promised myself I'm not gonna write this, but I guess I can't keep my promises…
Another week, Another chapter, Another lousy shitload of ratings…
I'll be having two big English tests next week, the first is the final oral exam, which I need to present my lousy project to the examiner in, and the other is just a pre-final normal test… the problem is, I have no idea what's my project about, so I'm gonna fail miserably…
On the brighter side, I'm getting 3 days of from school to prepare to them, so I could watch a bit anime and read some manga!
Oh, yes, Disclaimer: if my name was Kishimoto Masashi, I would be living in Japan and drawing the manga, not writing Fanfiction…
So, for your reading pleasure, a chapter that has some fluff in it, and it's the most fluffiest thing I can write!
Chapter 14: Cry of the Dead Beast
"I can't let father down…" Gray tried to say to himself, but "I can't let Karen down…" was the phrase which kept going through his mind, he was staring at her face when she changed into that… thing. He also knew that expression quite well, it wasn't just a killer intent, in fact, the killing intention was just second to the anger her face shown, he saw her like that once, when she was much younger. When he told her about the fact that Sasuke wasn't his real dad and that he plans on meeting his 'true' father one day.
She just looked at him with anger for a moment, he saw tears glimmering in her eyes, but then she threw a punch at his face, simply saying "some real father you got…" and walked away in rage.
"Where the hell are you? Karen!" he almost screamed, he wasn't afraid of her being attacked, anyone who would try that will quickly find himself in a bad position, what worried Gray was how she would react to herself now. His parents told him to be next to her whenever she had a problem, he usually hated that, but now he felt he must be there for her, on whatever she was going through.
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"Then it's settled?" The Reikage asked, he sent his best shinobi before to check the ground, she reported that it was dangerous, but she speculated that most casualties will occur from battles between shinobies, and not from the so-called natural causes that he was worried about.
"Yes, we're going to stop the exam now, and after that, martial law would be applied, if we're lucky, then all of us would be able to clear this obstacle in a day or two, the rest of you should take a few miles back, and re-group your forces" Temari said, Gaara stood behind her, he was anxious to get inside the village already. However, the rest of the team didn't share his enthusiasm, there were cases of exams where only one shinobi emerged alive, but the thought of calling off the exam never came up, it was obvious to them that something deeper than a homicidal genin was there...
the group started moving, they all looked at each other with suspicion, the last time a fight broke in the exam was over thirty years ago, but it happened in the same place the current exam was held. Furthermore than that, a few jounins were missing as well, they all went in after they've seen the flare which called them, that was the last time they have been seen.
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"So, what you doing here, little boy? This isn't a place for someone your age to hang out in..." Karen's mind screamed to her something was wrong with the kid, something didn't quite fit into the whole picture, but she could point exactly what it is.
"This is the place we call home, I welcome you to it" Naraku answered formally.
Something continued to bug Karen, she looked at Naraku closely, "his hands are twisted a bit, and he's too much built for a kid, the hair seems almost dead, but that's normal considering he's a boy" the Kyubi analyzed inside her head, but he also knew he missed something about the kid.
"Well, I don't really eat" the kid said simply.
"Who the hell is he talking to?" Karen asked herself, maybe he was crazy? It would make sense, with all his out of place sentences and odd matter of speech.
"She's not that sharp, you know?". The child suddenly lost his balance and fell over.
That was the Kyubi's voice, but it didn't come from inside her mind, the voice was… floating in the air…
Apparently, the kid regained his feet, he bent down and put his finger inside the liquid, a moment later the liquid changed it's color, from yellow to red. Naraku pulled his finger up, a small amount of liquid hang on it, the liquid started to form into a sphere, a perfect sphere.
"It'll replenish your chackra, don't worry" he smiled to her and tossed it to her.
Before Karen could decide what to do, a small animal jumped in the way, it was a toad, and it collided with the bubble Naraku threw to her.
"Disrespectful worm, know your place" Naraku's shout cut through the air as his hand cut through the toad's body, ripping it apart and sending blood all over, the blood vanished before hitting the ground, a demon.
"I'm sorry, Karen, sometimes the lower demons don't know their place, and this one was blinded by the chance that he didn't notice that he was interrupting something" he said easily.
Too easily, Karen realized, the boy was too comfortable. He also called her by her name, which she hadn't yet told him. There was also the abilities he shown, when he attacked the frog, his hand moved in a blur, even for her eyes, which were second only to the Sharingan eyes of Uchiha Sasuke.
Nothing made sense, his relaxed attitude toward the fact demons were staying by their side, his adult-like body, and mostly his out of order sentences.
Out of order…
Was it really so? Somehow what he said did make sense the instant she heard it, only when she tried to analyze why he said it the words were out of place.
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"Uchiha, we're wasting our time, we need someone who knows the terrain, didn't you say there's a guardian or something for this village?"
"he's already gone in, I released a notice about the change of orders, but I'm not sure the bird will have the chance to get to Neji" Sasuke answered.
"So, we're going to have to scan it by ourselves, finding a maniac killer in a genin test shouldn't be that hard, right?" Temari looked at her brother with a cynical smile, he returned her an empty stare.
"That kid survived, didn't he? I pretty sure I saw his son at the exam…" he teased her.
"Sure, lee's alive, but just how many did you kill in the forest?" Sasuke asked with caution, he didn't feel secure enough like Temari to ask Gaara questions about his past.
"The rest of them are falling behind, they won't do us any good, even if we do somehow have to relay on them…" Ealla stated, good jounins were hard to find these days, they all lacked 'soul' and 'passion' towards their position as leaders and role models.
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"Well, there's something we have to tell you, I guess you should know about it…" Hob silently said while looking at Doro, who nodded in response, signaling him to go on.
"What is it?" Neji asked, he knew what his duties were, he took it upon himself to prevent the history of the leaf's destruction to happen again.
"We met a little kid, he seemed to know Karen and he was really strong, he had a bit of accent, if that helps, do you have any idea who it could be?" Hob continued, he realized he didn't have a chance yet to organize his mind, everything happened to fast for him.
"I got it!" Doro suddenly shouted, "I just remembered what was so wrong about that kid" he looked at hob for a moment and watched how his friend's facial expression changed. "that's right, the kid had no pulse or body odor, I'm not sure what it means though, he can't be dead, cuz we saw him moving around, but I don't know what else can cause that" Hob said.
"Take us to the spot where you met that kid, it might be a coincidesne, but it doesn't sound right to me" Neji ordered the two sounds of team 13.
/***/****/*****\****\***\
Karen tried to look for the demon's remains, she knew it was silly of her, since demons didn't have any remains, but something still glimmered on the ground.
That liquid.
She snapped, her eyes quickly followed the strange liquid, it was everywhere around her, she was actually sitting in a small puddle all the time.
"Genjutsu" she decided, it all made sense, "that has to be it! he used to water to hypnotize me!" she screamed in her mind, it was the number one rule about fighting Genjutsu after it has come to affect, to keep oneself in action.
Karen stood up firmly, holding up three shurikans in her right hand and five more in her left. She threw the three onto the air and held tightly to the five others, she hoped that it'd buy her enough time to complete her jutsu.
Naraku glared at her with red eyes, "don't go…"
Karen almost stopped the seals, she heard something different in his voice, it wasn't a threat, or even not a plea, if anything, she could file it under 'begging'.
"don't let him get to you!"
She shouted at herself, it must have been another of his dirty tricks, she couldn't allow herself to stay anywhere near him, she quickly finished the seals, her legs began to change.
Naraku still didn't move.
"What is he waiting for? Is he even too stupid to see that the three shurikans will hit him from behind? Why won't that kid move?" she asked herself. And then she jumped, her beast like legs could carry her far away.
*Shwank* *Shwank* *Shwank*
Naraku's body slightly fell over from the impact; he felt the pain for only a mere moment, after all, what was the pain of three metal pieces when you had no working nervous system? and what was the pain of three shurikans when you can remember over twenty near death experiences, and one real death?
"Don't Leave me here, Karen!" he began crawling.
she threw the five next shurikans at him from her mid-air leap, they hit him before he got to finish the sentence, but he still completed it, it kept ringing in her head over and over.
(----)*|*(----)
"There you are!" Gray yelled, inside him, he breathed a large 'sigh' of relief, Karen was safe, and was back to normal. He ran to her, he could see that her legs were twisted, "she must have been jumping around too much with the metamorphosis no jutsu" he remarked to himself.
"Hi Gray…" she managed to produce an almost full smile, finally, someone she could always count on." Weren't you about to leave the village and quit the exam?" she asked silently, she still heard Naraku's shout in her mind.
"I am on my way out, and you're coming with me, if I would let you get lost around here I'd never hear the end of it from my folks" he answered, "the closest exit is to the south east, can you walk by yourself?" that wasn't the truth, they could have walked back out and rejoin the other sound nins, but then they'd have to meet Neji and Reilla again.
And that was one thing Gray didn't want to see happening again.
"I can walk, but not run.., why, do you plan on carrying me around?" She asked in the most teasing voice she could.
"geez, Karen, why can't you turn to drugs like all mortals do when they're trying to avoid thinking? But no, you just have to jump on the first guy you meet and you're already half way to mating…" the Kyubi suddenly said, everyone had their ways of denial, some had romance, and some had cynicism.
Gray didn't get to see the rare occasion of Karen blushing, as he turned his face to the floor in order to hide his own red face.
"let's just go, kay?" he finally managed to say.
----- Chapter 14 - Cry of the Dead Beast – End----
Well, that was the most fluffiest Naruto thing I ever wrote, I think I read an R-rated NaruXHina story before writing this chapter, so I was in a fluffy mood….
This chapter should have flashed out Naraku a bit more, and I know that at least some of you guessed who he is correctly, and others are slowly starting to realize it…
Even though Karen and Naraku are now separated from each other, they'll have another meeting, but until then, chaos will ensue, with even more plot twists and mentally messed up people.
Peace out, Rock on!