Chapter 7
Two more days. The treaty was signed and now I have just two more days at home. I haven't even begun packing. It all just feels too surreal. Instead, I'm sitting at the desk in the guest room staring at the pendant on the table. I no longer get those blue tattoos that formed all over my body after touching it, instead a blue heron forms on the side of my stomach. Ok so the prophecy is about me. Or at least this pedant reacts to me.
I should probably tell Father or Gaara about this but the last time I talked about my prophecy I was forced to leave home early. What's going to happen if they find out about the pendant? I sigh heavily at that thought, two more days. What if they make me leave even earlier than that? Two days is short enough, I can't handle anything shorter than that.
Instead of thinking about that I focus on the piece of jewelry on the table. The pendant is really small. It fits in the first segment of my thumb perfectly. The small blue stone doesn't shine as brightly in the daylight as it did in the dark cave; instead, the light blue opaque stone looked dull in the delicate setting. Two silver herons faced each other with their wings extended wrapped around the opalescent stone. It looked like they were fighting over the stone set between them.
The chain the pendant came on broke in my pocket on the way back. It was just too delicate. Well better in my pocket than on my neck with the pendant lost in the forest. I doubt they'd let me go looking for it. Plus that would mean telling them about it as well. I sigh again. I need to find a new chain for this thing. That and to finally start packing. I can't keep putting it off.
When I open the door Kankuro is waiting for me, "Morning princess." I roll my eyes at him, "Don't call me princess." I can't tell what he's feeling, I'm too scared to turn my ability back on. I don't want to become nauseous again and the castle seems to be bustling lately. I wonder if everyone is as excited as the elder council member are to see me leave. If Asuka was here, she'd be able to spy for me. I push that thought down. If I get too emotional then my ability will break through, and I just don't want to feel right now. Numb is fine.
"Aren't you a princess?" He sounded bored and annoyed and that only made me more annoyed. Technically yes but I never really felt that way. "Just Aiko is fine." Kankuro stares me up and down but accepts it, "Ok…Aiko, what do you need?" What do I need? We're leaving tomorrow afternoon. He's been on guard duty since I returned to the castle. He knows I haven't gone to my room to pack anything. Do I have to spell it out to him?
Instead of doing that I opted to walk past him towards my room, he silently and immediately followed behind me. When we reach the room, I tell him to wait outside. "I don't think that's a good idea pri—Aiko. Gaara'd have my head if anything happened to you." Right, the treaty. It'd probably get messy if the Land of Fish can't hold up our end of the bargain. Still, I don't want him to see the pendant. I don't want anyone to know about it just yet.
I could just pick a random necklace chain from my room but I doubt Kankuro wouldn't have questions about why I was taking some of my jewelry apart. I could pack a necklace and just switch it out in the guest room. Then I'd be able to keep the pendant secret for a little while longer. "Fine." And part of this ruse is pretending that I'm not hiding anything by letting him see what I pack. I doubt he'll pay too close attention to my stuff anyway.
What am I even supposed to pack? I still don't know where Suna is. How long would the trip be? I should probably pack light; I don't want to be a burden when traveling. "How long will it take to get to Suna from here?" I pull out a medium sized saddle bag. Kankuro crossed his arms before answering me. "Three day train ride. It's in the desert so you'll want to pack for that." So pack for six days. Enough to get there and wait for the things I send for when I arrive. If it was a proper engagement period, then I could go with my things.
I through some thin pants and shirts into the bag. Done packing, now I just need to grab a necklace from my jewelry box. It's not like I have a lot to choose from but still, I need to be strategic about it. I need to wait for an opening. There's a knock on the door and take my chance while Kankuro's back is turned. Quick, what's the most sentimental necklace I have? If it's sentimental then I can easily explain why I'm wearing it all the time without lying. I'm a bad liar.
The locket Mother gave me flashed in my mind. I pick up the silver locket and focus on the blue etched rice field with birds flying in the distance. Inside was the first family picture I took when I first arrived here. I would actually miss this if I left it here. "Watcha got there?" I jump, forgetting that Kankuro is watching over me. when I turn around I see Gaara standing silently in the doorway.
"A family locket Mother gave me. its really important to me." Gaara studies me as I stuff the necklace into my pocket. I fidget under his gaze. I wish I could read his emotions and get some sort of insight on what he's thinking, but the thought of turning my ability back on terrifies me. What would I feel if I did? It feels like he stares down at me for an eternity before speaking, "I would like to walk the grounds with you and talk more about your kekkei genkai." I nod then silently fiddle with the necklace in my pocket, placing the pendant on the chain.
It feels so awkward in the garden with him, we haven't spoken since we came outside. Really, we haven't spoken since we talked on the balcony and that was barely, what, ten? Twenty words? Not a very deep conversation. I didn't learn much about him and I don't even know what to say to him now. I wonder if he feels the same way. I wonder if the reason he's so quiet right now is because he's as nervous as I am.
Its freezing out here. The garden looks like a wasteland with snow clinging to dead branches attached to trees and bushes. Other than those branches the area looks completely barren. There's not a sign of life to be found. Honestly Gaara and I are the anomalies here. What are we even doing outside? I thought we were going to talk about my ability to sense emotions, but the conversation is as stagnant as the air outside.
Gaara coughed, bringing my attention back to him, "Tell me more about your powers." I hate open ended questions and conversations. I never know what to say, what they want to hear. There's a pregnant pause before I muster up something to say, "What would you like to know?" He stops and stares into my eyes, I begin to fidget again. Was that the wrong thing to say? Maybe I should turn my ability back on, just so I can read the situation better.
"How long have you been able sense the emotions of others?" Ugh hard question right off the back. How much do I tell him? How do I tell him? How crazy would he think I'd be if I told him I'm from another dimension? Well, less is more. "I gained my ability five years ago after a powerful jutsu was performed on me." Not exactly a lie, but not exactly the truth. He continues to stare into my eyes, and I continue to squirm under his gaze.
"What emotions can you sense?" Good, an easier question. "I can feel the six basic emotions; happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise. And based on the mixture of those six I can guestimate more complex emotions like embarrassment and curiosity. Its not a perfect method, different people have different intricacies to their more complex emotions but after I've been around someone for a while I can read them pretty easily." He let me ramble on about the intricacies of peoples' emotions and it was kind of exhilarating. Usually I'd have to keep hush about my abilities. No one wants to learn about how exactly you're spying on them, but Gaara seems to be keeping his word about letting me freely use my powers around him.
"Can you read my emotions more clearly now?" I choke on air because of the sudden question. "What am I feeling now?" He looks at me expectantly, but I didn't know what to say. I'm still suppressing my ability and I don't know how he'd feel about me doing that. I could quickly turn it on but that would mean feeling everyone's emotions in the castle too. I can't do that. "Um," I look to the ground, "I turned my ability off. Everyone has been feeling really extreme emotions lately, it's been overwhelming." I could feel his eyes on me but I don't look up from my shoes.
I wonder what he's thinking. I don't have much time ruminate on that before one of the ninja Gaara brought with him interrupted us, "Lord Kazekage! Rogue ninja are attacking the castle." Rogue ninja? Are they the same people that kidnapped me? Gaara turns towards me, his voice serious, "Inside. Now." His face was hard and stern. I vigorously nod my head at the order then turn back towards the castle. I see Gaara and his man charge past me as I rush forward.
A boulder settles in the pit of my stomach as fear overtakes me and the emotions of the people in the castle flood my senses again. Crashing waves of fear paralyze me. I know I should head for the castle, head for cover, but all I could do was cower in fear. Everything was happening so fast. Nausea overtook me. I couldn't breathe. I crouch to my knees letting everyone's emotions overtake me. A twig snaps on the ground in front of me and I notice too late the three menacing auras surrounding me on all sides.
I fall back onto the ground as I watched three ninjas emerge from the trees surrounding the courtyard. Clad in black there's not a single headband showing any village affiliation. Rogue ninja. I shudder as they walk towards me. I want to move, I should move, but I can't. one of the three rogue ninja spoke up, "It was hard getting you alone. You've been on a tight leash since we first tried to take you." He chuckled and a chill went down my spine.
Another one of the ninjas spoke into a headset, "We got her, keep them busy another five minutes. We'll meet you at the hideout." A distraction? I need to move, run, do anything other than sitting here. I quickly jump but I'm grabbed by the arm before I could get far. "Hold on there princess," the first ninja spoke again, "we're going to need you to come with us. Fuji now." The last thing I see is the third ninja performing some hand signs, then everything goes black.