Chapter 33
"S. S. Sasuke?!" Kira squeaks as she automatically covers her arms over her chest. Her face is so flushed from this sudden encounter one can only mention the similarities to a strawberry. Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight before him. Taking in the view of her long raven hair hanging heavily down to her shoulders and fanning out from her body in the water. Her pale skin practically reflecting the light of the day in such a contrast to her dark hair and eyes. Kira's reddened cheeks darkened cutely as she stares at him wide-eyed with her arms holding herself tightly enough her already developing chest was being squished against her enough the tops of them are pushing up above her arms. Averting his eyes he looks down and only then realizing her clothing is folded on her travel bag.
For the first time since the weight of his clan's massacre had fallen on his shoulders, he was officially flustered and found his own cheeks heating up. "S. S. Sorry!" He exclaims before turning around so his back was now to Kira. At this time she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in order to collect herself. Taking all the time she needs to settle the racing of her heart that felt like it was about to leap from her own chest.
Swimming forward she presses the front of her body against the walls of this little cove. Resting her arms in front of her on the edge. After laying her chin on her arms she watches the tense shoulders of her teammate. "What are you doing here?" She decides to ask once she finally regains her voice. Without looking back he just seems to turn his head slightly signifying who he is speaking to.
"I. I thought now would be a good time for that talk." Smiling to herself Kira closes her eyes.
"Sure thing. You can turn around now. I'm blocked from view."
"Why don't you just put some clothes on? I can wait."
"I'm still cleaning all the dried blood off and relaxing my sore muscles."
"Is that your way of saying regenerating?" Kira's eyes went wide at his use of words. She hadn't told him or even given off clues that she was still damaged. Even though now, she was mostly healed but she could still feel the damaged cells quickly repairing.
"Y. Yeah." She stutters watching as Sasuke finally turns around. His charcoal eyes meeting hers. A slight tint of red still lingering on his cheeks. She averts her gaze as she soon found the heat rising back onto her own cheeks.
"So, you do regenerate. Is it a medical ninjutsu?" He questions as he grows nervous again from knowing her body is unclothed. He averts his eyes back to the ground in front of him.
"No." Kira stated plainly before closing her eyes taking in the feeling of the water caressing her sore body.
"Then what? And don't avoid the question. Being on the same team as you we have a right to know." Sasuke found himself temporarily forgetting the predicament the two of them were in at the moment and glared towards his teammate. No, his friend.
Kira just sighs deeply as she realizes she can't hide her… Unnatural… Existence from them much longer. "I'm not… like you." As she spoke those words she found herself unable to speak the words. Not human. For reasons unknown to her she didn't want to lose their friendship. In her mind, she could see Sasuke going back to glaring at her and being distant. Even stating he hates her and wishes she would no longer plague his existence. So she settled on the words, not like you. Successfully achieving a confused look from Sasuke himself.
Sasuke was trying his hardest to understand what she meant by not being like him. That much was obvious with the way she heals and not even having to perform medical ninjutsu, but he could tell as she opened her eyes to look at him. She wasn't lying. But what resided in her dark eyes shows there was more to it with a mixture of torment. More than he thought it was possible for someone to feel. She was a genuine person. He's felt that way since the first night at Tazuna's house in the land of waves when they had set upon the roof by themselves. If she lied or kept him from knowing something about herself. He had a feeling it wasn't because she didn't trust him.
Realizing the stretch of silence between them. Kira decided he was waiting for her to elaborate. She found herself biting away at her bottom lip as she fought with herself to choose the correct words, so just maybe, she didn't seem so much like a freak to him. "I heal automatically, basically. It does take away from my chakra though. So I guess I could say that my own chakra heals me without me having to tell it to….. In fact when I think about it like that then I guess you could say I use medical ninjutsu on myself."
Silence again followed her words as Sasuke attempted to make sense of it. He had never heard of a person's chakra automatically performing jutsu so they didn't have to worry about it. Even though she put it that way so he could understand it even a little bit. There was another thing that was driving him insane. "Your eyes…" He whispers causing Kira's own to widen. Wondering when she had given him a view to them but then the flashback of her kneeling over him. Her hair blocking them like a curtain as she stared into his deep onyx eyes. Eyes that she had realized someone could easily get lost in their depths. "Why do your eyes change like that?" And there he finally managed to ask the question weighing heaviest on his mind. Filling Kira with dread.
*Kira*
"Why do your eyes change like that?" His voice rings in my ears even now that he was back with the others. Leaving me sitting on the edge of the cove looking down at the water. Remembering those last few minutes with him. I couldn't answer right away. I couldn't think of how to tell him the answer to that question. They turn red when I'm hungry. Whenever I need to feed from being wounded too much. But… What makes them change? I myself don't know the answer to that question.
- "I… I'm not sure…All I have are guesses at this point so if I answer the question right now… I don't know if what I say would be true or false." I looked down briefly feeling the weight of my own shortcomings over my shoulders. Even though I had spent so much time learning about myself. That stupid spiritual book about me didn't mention a single thing about why my eyes change among other things. "I don't know too much about myself. I just know… I'm different. I don't have explanations for half the things that happen with me. I just know, I can use spiritual energy separately from physical energy and I heal abnormally without even thinking about it….."- Well it wasn't a complete lie. Sasuke seemed to accept it as he turned his back to me again and changed the subject with a lighter tone than he had been using.
- "Lunch will be done soon, so you might wish to hurry up." He tossed back a smirk towards me before turning to walk through the trees and out of sight of the cove. Leaving me to think about all the happenings of my former life up to this point in time.
- "Hey Sasuke, your gift from Aphro is sitting next to my clothes." I decide to mention it before he left as the thought came to me. I watch as he pauses before looking over his shoulder in my direction. "Looks like you could use them, your sleeves are a bit tattered from the fight." He then glances at his arm and leg sleeves before turning and walking back towards my bag. Grabbing up his sleeves his eyes widen momentarily as he feels their weight. Without further conversation he turns and walks off with them, leaving me to finish up.-
"I really should take more time to myself to figure out more about myself." I tell myself as I climb out of the water to get dressed.
*
"It's already been four days since the second exam began." Sasuke decides to fill in the silence though he was glancing from Sakura to me as we all set around the fire, waiting for the fish to finish cooking.
"That's right…" Sakura mutters as Sasuke pokes the fire with a stick.
"We're sure not going to break any records. And we only have twenty-four hours left." He points out his own thoughts openly, his eyes fixated on the fire.
"I wonder how many of the other teams have gotten their scrolls and finished."
"Well, just look at it this way Sakura. A scroll was eaten by Orochimaru, and he destroyed our scroll as well. That's two down. Now we have an earth scroll and are in need of a heaven. So there is a chance there is at least one more team left out there looking for our scroll." Closing my eyes I hear them reach for the fish as I just pull mine from the fire and hold onto the stick. "When you think about the map we were shown briefly we are at the river. If we follow it we will end right up at the tower."
"Yeah, so what's your point?" She asks after I hear her swallow a bite of her fish.
"My point being that this training ground is ten kilometers from edge to center. With the teams slimming out in the area it would be near impossible at this time for other teams to find each other and still make it to the tower."
"So are you saying we have no chance?!" Naruto yells causing me to glare at him.
"No, when you think about things smartly. With the vast distance and amount of ground to be covered it would be more wise to wait near the tower for the stragglers to pull in with the last chances of getting their other scroll." Looking at the others I meet their eyes full on.
"She's right of course." I hear a kind lightweight voice drifting from behind a tree to us. Causing us to look in that direction only to see Kabuto walkout. "You really are a smart one." He smiles walking over to us with his hands up. "I mean no harm. I just got separated from my group and stumbled upon you here while I was looking for them." He says looking at Sasuke who already has his kunai out and ready.
"How do we know that for sure?" He asks glaring at Kabuto.
"Well you don't, you would just have to trust me when I say my team already has both scrolls so I don't need yours nor do I even want to know which one of you has it."
"Then why are you showing yourself to us?" Sakura asks as I begin to take slow bites of my fish.
"As your friend said, at this time teams are gathering between us and the tower. If I were to go to the tower on my own I would never make it. So, if you'd let me tag along I'll help you get your other scroll in return." The others just seem to look at each other before glancing back at me watching me calmly eat.
"Smart move on your behalf Kabuto. In order to not fail this exam and be able to meet up with your friends on time, you are willing to ally yourself with another team even if it means helping them pass. Though I cannot say I agree with your cowardly tactics I do recognize how the odds are against you." I pause throwing my fish fully onto the fire before standing. Pinning him with an icy glare as I finger the handle of the blade Sakura had so nicely retrieved for me when Orochimaru had left. "Know this. You make one wrong step and I'll kill you."
Kabuto laughs nervously rubbing the back of his head closing his eyes smiling. "Fair enough… So we have a deal?" Nodding I go to walk over to him.
"Wait a minute Kira!" Sasuke snaps at me causing me to look at him.
"What?"
"You are about to ally us with an enemy. What are you thinking?"
Crossing my arms I glare at Sasuke allowing no other emotion to cross my features. "Kabuto knows information, not only about this exam but also its examinees. His knowledge would be of use to us right about now for when we close in on the tower. He would be able to inform us what we can expect if and when we are attacked. In return, if we are attacked he will be targeted as well which means he will have to fight alongside us to save his own skin. Though helping him isn't on my list of priorities. Having thought this through I feel this is the best option for us at this time. Otherwise, we will continue rushing in blindly and suffering from more injuries and possible loss."
"I understand now." Sasuke smiles before looking at Kabuto in more of a look of warning. Turning back around I hold my hand out to him.
"It's a deal."
"Well then, we better get going. That fire will draw every wild beast in the forest here. And not just the animals but the competition too." Kabuto says as he turns around.
"Wait then why leave if it will draw the ones we are looking for to us?" Sakura asks.
"Because Sakura, would you want to fight multiple teams back to back on top of fending off wild animals? It's a good way to get killed." I tell her before following Kabuto knowing they will follow behind.
"Do you really think there are still candidates out here?" Sasuke asks as he runs next to me. Leaping from tree to tree.
"Oh yeah, just think about it. As your friend here said the most efficient way to finding scrolls in an area as large as this, is closer to the mark all candidates will be going. So all the teams still left will be converging on the tower with their scrolls."
"Oh I get it, like an ambush, so we just go to the tower and wait for a team that has a heaven scroll then we jump them and take it." Sakura says excitedly. Really did it take her this long to think of that?
"That's one-third of the problem." I say glancing back to her getting a sound of question from her.
"That's right." Kabuto agrees with me. "You guys aren't going to be the only ones thinking of this. Every other team that is lacking a scroll is going to be lying in wait just like you."
"So what the more the merrier I say!" Naruto chimes in. "Whoever they are, we'll take care of them!" He laughs as he looks arrogantly ahead. "Wouldn't want this to be too easy that wouldn't be any fun! Okay, so we grab someone else's scroll and keep those losers from grabbing ours, and bingo we pass the second exam!"
"That's two-thirds of the problem." Kabuto says nearly laughing.
"Well, at least we are getting closer. What else?" Sakura asks trying to figure out what is coming up next.
"Well, there are bound to be some collectors lurking around at the finish line." He answers her. I'm really surprised he's not annoyed yet because I certainly am. Seriously, why with everything do they need every aspect broken down step by step for those two to understand?
"Collectors?"
"Even when you think you're home free you can't relax your guard for an instant. This kind of exam always brings them out. Collectors. They gather extra sets of scrolls to use for various ends. For example to bribe themselves out of unexpected situations or to provide their village mates with the scroll they're lacking. Some steal them to keep people from rival villages from passing. Or to help out teams from their own village who couldn't find the scrolls on their own. Others steal them for their own dark purposes, they'll hang onto them to deal with the stronger teams further down the line. They'll be there alright and they're baad news. The closer you get to the tower the more likely you'll be to run into them."
"I see, and I think I'm beginning to understand why you wanted us to come along with you." Sasuke says achieving a questionable sound from Kabuto. "It's because you're frightened aren't you?" This question causes Kabuto to chuckle.
