Chapter 20
Walking back from our D rank missions, Naruto has been going overly out of his way trying to beat Sasuke as usual. From pulling weeds and the herbs from the gardens we were supposed to be tending. He even fell off the waterfall when we were supposed to be clearing the trash from the river. Then today he chose a large bulldog to walk and was drug through a minefield. So many other missions ending the same way. Sakura has had a temper towards me as well though I'm not exactly sure why. Bringing the closeness I had begun to feel when leaving the land of waves at an end. It seemed to be all I could do, just to put up with them anymore. If it wasn't for Sasuke, I probably would have turned against them by now. To let them meet one of my blades. As Sakura stops Naruto and yells at him for the problems he had caused on our missions today, Sasuke and I keep walking.
I did still feel weird though, my arm and leg warmers had been destroyed in the battle with Haku. And no one was willing to try and fix them. They were all I had left from my life before this one that I was able to have in the open. I wasn't willing to just.. Replace them. So my arms and legs were now bare and had been since the land of waves. Sometimes with just knowing that I will never be able to wear them again slams reality back into the forefront of my mind. This is now my life until we can figure out how to escape. Being young is as if my life in that mansion or even with Light had never happened. I find that there are times I tend to wish it hadn't. If it really hadn't then I wouldn't continue to feel the pain that is becoming more of a numbing feeling.
"I guess we aren't making a lot of progress on the teamwork thing, huh." Kakashi says rather boredly. Hearing Kakashi I glance up at him and his book. Which nearly causes me to smirk remembering the tussles we have been getting into with me trying to read his erotic novel. For some reason even though he knows mentally I'm more than old enough to read it. He's not been letting me even peek at the pages. I even asked him once if I could borrow one of the books to read. That was answered with a resounding NO. Jerk.
"That's right our teamwork is all messed up and it's all because of you Sasuke!" Naruto yells, noticing Sasuke stop walking I pause as well.
"No, it's all Kira's fault! Trying to take Sasuke's attention all the time!" Sakura yells causing me to exhale in a sigh before pinning her with an icy glare. Successfully making her fall silent and take a step back away from me. The four of us just seemed to stare each other down, none was willing to look away first as if it would mean defeat.
"All right guys... Let's call it a day, you can beat each other to a pulp some other time… Anyway I have to file my report from this mission." Sakura turns to face Kakashi allowing me to turn.
"Whatever, I'm out of here." Sasuke says turning as well.
"Wait Sasuke!" Sakura yells running up to him.
"How about we... well we go do something more personal?!" She smiles folding her hands next to her cheek.
"I swear you're just as bad as Naruto. Instead of flirting why don't you practice Jutsu to make the team stronger. Let's face it, you're actually worse than Naruto." Sasuke dismisses her rather rudely then turns to me. "Hey, Kira."
Glancing over at him from the corner of my eye. I see his eyes on me as if expecting me to make eye contact with him. "Hn?"
"What do you have planned for the rest of the day?"
"How about you and I do some training. With Aphro out on a mission right now I could use a training partner. We could even work on some new fire jutsu if we find the time."
"Alright." He looks disinterested but I know he's eager. The same thing has been weighing on his mind lately as my own. We got beat. Lowering my gaze I go to walk away with him in tow. Walking with him I lightly touch the handles on my blades. Taking in the cold touch to them. "What's wrong Kira?" Sasuke asks causing me to pause as I look up at the sky.
"Something smells of blood… A lot of it." I mutter quietly.
"Huh?" He looks up as well before I turn back to face the direction we had come.
"Something's coming." Taking his hand I move behind the fence before we reach a tree just down the street from the others. Sasuke quietly clears his throat causing me to look at him. He then looks down at our hands. Noticing I had held his hand I let go to allow my hands to rest at my sides. Looking away in silence.
"Do you know what's coming?" He finally asks.
"No, I can just smell it, you know?" He nods until we hear the noisemakers running down the street on the other side of the fence. Running into something or someone. Turning in that direction I move to the fence and peer through the small slit between the boards.
"Do you need something?" A guy in black with something on his back asks. Sasuke just looks at me as if to ask if this is what I was smelling. I shake my head to answer him but the obvious energy emitting from these two caught our attention. Watching as the guy in black picks up the kid by the neck of his shirt my eyes narrow. Yeah, he was disrespectful not watching where he was going but still he's little.
"Konohamaru!" Naruto pipes up.
"So does this hurt punk?" The guy says pulling on the kid's shirt harder making him squeak.
"Put him down Kankuro." The blond girl in a pigtail type style hairdo, white shirt with something that looks like a huge fan on her back speaks with annoyance lacing her tone. "You know you'll pay for it later."
"Hey, I'm sorry the whole thing was my fault." Sakura says trying to get the kid off the hook.
"You better take your hands off him right now!" Naruto yells obviously getting angry.
"We got a few minutes before he gets here. Let's mess with these punks huh." The guy in black says smiling looking up at the kid as if he was a meal ticket.
"Let go of me you jerk!" The kid yells as he kicks the guy though he remains unphased.
"You're feisty but not for long." He stretches out the word long almost as if he was singing it as he tightens his grip on the kid.
Sasuke nudges me causing me to look at him. He points up then over causing me to smile with a nod. Quietly getting into place on the other side of the street in a tree I look over the opposite fence waiting for Sasuke's signal.
"First I'll take care of this little squirt. Then I'll waist the other one!" The guy in black says as he pulls back his fist preparing to punch the kid. My eyes narrow as my right hand grips onto one of my blades. Naruto runs towards the guy in black screaming, it was then I noticed Sasuke's signal. Chakra stepping as fast as I can, I land with my back slightly to the girl. So I was more facing the other members of Team 7 and the kids. My blade rested against her neck from over her shoulder before the kid even hit the ground. My eyes narrowed upon the two causing trouble as my hand itches to just let my blade slide. Brought from an inner desire to shed and taste her blood. The girl's eyes widen in those few short moments of it registering in her head that she had a blade against her throat, as the guy in black was holding onto his hand from Sasuke's pebble. The guy looks down as the pebble hits the ground surprised before he realizes the predicament the girl is in. Just before looking up to Sasuke in the tree tossing another pebble up and down in his hand.
"You're a long way from home, and you both are way out of your league." Sasuke says as he continues to catch the pebble.
"Sasuke!" Sakura yells having forgotten I was here. As the girl goes to take a step I apply just a small amount of pressure to the blade causing her to stop.
"Move, and trust me I'll draw more than just a small trickle of blood." As I spoke my voice flowed emotionlessly causing her to visibly shiver. Letting her watch as I lick my lips in anticipation.
"Oh, great two more wimps to tick me off." The guy in black glares not taking his eyes off of Sasuke.
Catching the pebble one last time Sasuke closes his hand around it as he raises it near his face as he crushes it in his grasp. "Get, lost." The girls squeal over Sasuke causing me to roll my eyes getting bored with just keeping this girl in place. Even though I could feel my blade drawing the slightest amount of blood from her.
"Hey punk, get down here! And have your girlfriend back off." Sasuke just glares down at him. So the guy speaks again reaching up and grabbing whatever is wrapped on his back. "You two are the kind of pesky little snots I hate the most. All attitude and nothing to back it up." He pulls whatever was on his back off and sets it on the road next to him with his hand on it.
"What?! Are you going to use the crow for this?!" The girl pipes up and I push on my blade a little harder.
"I didn't give you permission to speak, girl." That is all the warning I gave her. Keeping my blade in place I give a growl of warning to the one she called Kankuro. Drawing his attention mere moments before I shoved my chakra into my foot and sent it towards his chest. Of course, he blocked from my warning but in that mere moment, his eyes widen with sudden surprise as I smirk. Kicking through his block and sending him flying backward. His... Crow thing left where he had been standing. Once he regained his footing he was visibly breathing heavily glaring at me. I couldn't tell if he was surprised I could kick through his block and still cause damage, or if he was just in a cloud of rage. Within the next few seconds, he kicked off the ground to come at me.
"I'm going to kill you!" He declares, venom lacing his tone.
"Kankuro... Back off." A red-haired guy speaks standing upside down from a branch near Sasuke's. Sasuke gives a brief look of surprise before glancing at me. Giving him a nod in a silent way of telling him that is what I smelled. "You're an embarrassment to our village."
"Uhh... Hey Gaara." The guy suddenly stops and speaks nervously his anger completely washed away, replaced by the stench of his own fear. As if the redhead had a magic power over him to make his mentality flip a complete 180. I watch as Sasuke looks towards the redhead with a gourd. The one called, Gaara looks from the guy in black to me then to Sasuke. His eyes were so cold yet... They reminded me of my own. This guy, is a cold killer, burying his pain within him and takes it out on others. As Gaara looks back at me I stare straight into his eyes a way of saying. I'm not afraid. The blood trickling from the girl's neck finally sending the scent to the air allowing me to smell it.
Narrowing my eyes on her my hand twitches as I fight to keep from drawing more and killing her. To refrain from sating my own desire. I had just fed from a blood pack this morning so I didn't need her sweet warm delicate blood. I wanted it. So bad I could feel it at my core. Is this what happens when I feed on cold preservatives rather than from the source? The source becomes almost irresistible? I should probably think about it and find a solution to keep myself in check.
"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here?" Gaara asks his attention back on the one he called Kankuro.
"I. I. I. I know. I. I mean. They challenged us, they started the whole thing really. 's what happened." He managed to say by this time Kankuro put that thing or whatever it is back on his back. But his stuttering made me wonder exactly how powerful this Gaara is.
"Shut up." This makes the guy visibly cringe when the redhead narrows his eyes on him. "Or I'll kill you."
"Uhh, right, I was totally out of line. I'm sorry Gaara, I was totally out of line."
The redhead looks from me to Sasuke. "I'm sorry for any kind of trouble he caused. He then fades into sand before the sand reforms on the road causing Sasuke to stand. He looks at me. From his apology, I pull my blade from the girl and back up quickly and soundlessly putting it back into its holster. "Let's go." He says as he watches me release the girl. "We didn't come here to play games."
"A. Alright sure, I get it." Kankuro says turning waiting to follow Gaara before moving forward and start walking.
"Hold on!" Sakura yells running up closer causing the three of them to stop.
"What?" The girl asks looking over her shoulder at Sakura.
"I can tell from your headbands that you come from the village hidden in the sand. Of course, the land of fire and the land of wind are allies but no Shinobi can enter another's village without permission." She takes another step forward. "So state your purpose and it better be good." With this, all three of them turn around as I lean against the fence. This time if she gets attacked I'm just going to watch.
"Really... Have all you guys been living under a rock or what? You don't know what's going on do you?" I shoot her a glare which causes her to take a step back as she feels my eyes. Holding up her identification card she resumes in a kinder tone as she touches the drying blood from her neck. "We have permission. Of course, you are correct. We are hidden sand genin. Our home is the land of wind and we're here for the Chunin exams."
"The chunin exams? What's that?" Naruto asks before picking up. "Well, I've never heard of no chunin exams, believe it."
The girl sounds as if she is fighting a laugh as she crosses her arms looking at Naruto. "Oh, I believe it alright, that you're totally clueless."
"Hey boss, those are the exams that every Genin have to take in order to graduate to become a full-on chunin." The kid says looking up at Naruto.
"Oh, why didn't you just say so, I am so there!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly to the little one. Yup, he's a moron.
"Ha." The redhead chuckles briefly as he turns around and starts walking again, the other two in tow.
"Hey." Sasuke says as he lands on the road. Pushing from the fence with a roll of my shoulders I move up near him as I cross my arms. "You, identify yourself." Watching them from the corner of my eye. I see the girl turn around hoping he was speaking to her.
"Hmm? You mean me?" She smiles with her cheeks turning red.
"No, him, the guy with the gourd on his back." Sasuke points rudely.
"Huh?" Kankuro responds as he glances from Sasuke to Gaara seeing the redhead turn around to look at Sasuke.
"My name is Gaara of the desert. I'm curious about the two of you as well… Who are you?" I smirk as Sasuke smiles.
"I am, Sasuke Uchiha" He states arrogantly.
"And I'm Kira Lake." Coldly stating. The three of us just sort of stand there for a few moments looking at one another.
"Hey there! Bet you're dying to know my name right?" Naruto asks pointing his thumb at himself.
"I couldn't care less." Gaara says before turning around and jumping into the trees heading away from the area. His two minions following suit at nearly the exact same moment. Glancing at Sasuke who is still smiling I could nearly read his thoughts just from his expression. The guy, Gaara. Intrigues him making his Uchiha blood boil. Leaping onto nearby rooftops I make my way from the annoying ones.
"Gaara, of the desert huh." I mutter to myself before allowing myself to smile. "He looks like fun." Upon entering the shopping district I look down at the people moving about. I know I need to control myself. I am not a cold-blooded killer. Never have been. With each passing day, I feel my veins hum more rapidly. Stronger levels of energy coursing through me. How am I suppose to adjust to these stronger desires that have come with my becoming more powerful? Closing my eyes as I land in a tree just outside of the usual training clearing I set down and rub the back of my neck. Picturing Light's confident smile while I remember our ideals. I cannot kill without good reason. I cannot let him down…
