-5-

Dead Eyes

"I feel like a god damn hamster." I muttered, running my third lap. I was bored and tired. Despite all the 'training' I had done, I could still feel my muscles burning. Gaara looked like he was only strolling. It might have had something to do with the layer of sand under his feet, which moved him like he was rollerblading. He had offered to do the same to me, but I said no, knowing that if I got him to help me, I'd only be weak later on. What if I needed to run away from someone way stronger than me, but I got tired, because I let Gaara's sand do the running for me?

By the time we were on the last lap, a number of the weaklings had stopped running, and were laying on the ground in flushed heaps of exhaustion. Already this first month, true to Carl's words, around fourteen of the little bastards had run off, most of them being girls, which wasn't really surprising. They weren't ready for this. Most of them were still going through their 'Princess' stage...they might return in a couple years.

In this life...I never got the chance to have that.

Gaara, several of the older students (they were about six, which was the usual entrance age), and I were the only ones that finished the task. We were given a brief amount of time to rest before Carl told us it was time to come back inside and read more about the history of Suna, as well as its involvement in the shinobi wars.

As we were rounded up, like a herd of little lambs, someone shoved me, attempting to knock me over. I let them push me around, but made sure not to fall over. If I did, it would probably alert Gaara.

It had taken me a while to notice, but odd things were happening to my classmates as our time in the academy progressed.

FLASHBACK

"I don't get what's so scary about you." One boy complained, staring down at me. He was in a year above us, and rather tall for his age, in my opinion...or maybe it was my height that was the problem. Everyone looked a lot taller than usual.

"I'm not scary. Everyone else is just stupid." I said, shrugging. There was no point in trying to be polite with them. They wouldn't hear it. They would only lash out anyways. So...I might as well do some emotional damage while I was too weak to be physical.

"WHAT!?" He scowled at me, which I must way was actually really adorable...from a teenager's point of view.

"Yup. You're all morons. Lemme guess, your parents told you to stay away, right? Well. Then they're morons too. Although I suppose that makes you even stupider for listening to them. And a coward."

His hands were curled into trembling fists. He was getting close to the edge. He wanted to hit me...but he was afraid. "H-How am I a coward?!"

"You're afraid of me...not because I've done something...but because others are afraid. Maybe I have done something to other people...but why are you so scared? If someone is afraid of spiders, does that mean you're scared of them too? Are you scared of everything everyone else is afraid of?" I tilted my head as I spoke, taking in the way he began to shake. The scary grin trailed across my face, "Look at you, you're shaking."

He looked torn between listening to me and punching me for calling him a coward. And scared. But from my place trapped between him and a wall, I could spot a group of boys who were older than him. I understood. He was trying to look cool in front of the other boys, so even though they were older than him, they'd want to hang out with him. Or they put him up to it, to see what I'd do.

Now...this could go two ways. I could fight back, and make him look weak, but make myself look strong...or I could let him be the cool kid and be marked as a target. Well...if I was a target...they'd come right up to me. I had to stop my grin.

"I-I'm not scared." He said nervously, his blue bespectacled eyes looking towards the ground, rather than meet my eyes.

I smirked, "Then hit me."

His head snapped up, "What?!"

"If you aren't scared of a little four-year-old, then do what you came hereto do. You wanna beat me up, right? If you don't, then you're an even bigger coward than I thought, four-eyes."

I know...it was petty, wasn't it? But...my younger cousin, in the Test Drive...he had always flipped his shit when I mentioned his poor eyesight in anyway.

His fist slammed into my stomach with a lot more force than I expected. He stood there, staring at his own hand like he couldn't believe he had actually done it.

"Holy shit...he actually did it!" I heard one of the other boys cry out in shock. I slowly straightened out and glanced over at the one who spoke.

"Language, twerp!"

"Shaddap!" He shouted back. I went to take a step towards him, but the boy in front of me punched me again. I guess he had gotten a bit of a confidence boost. Fuck.

Again he hit me, but I didn't react, other than the natural reaction to double over after each hit. He kicked my feet out from under me, and began stomping.

A laugh bubbled out of my mouth. This brat was just too cute! Acting like he was strong or something, when he needed my PERMISSION to hit me in the first place.

Eventually he left me on the ground, the older boys patting him on the back and sending scowls in my direction. Four-eyes looked back at me as the walked away. The look said it all. He was scared. And sorry. Thankful maybe...but it didn't matter. No...as long as he was still scared.

He was just lucky I was letting him get away with this.

I sat up off the ground and patted the dust off my shoulders, using the wall to help me get up. There was a strange slithering sound, but I was becoming more and more used to it. Sand rushed up to push me up fully. Gaara stood in front of me, his arms crossed and a stern, angry look on his face.

"I'm fine." I said, not really caring if that was what he had been planning ask...if he had been planning on saying anything at all.

He just stared at me before turning to walk away. I followed after him, annoyed that I was limping slightly. This damn body. There was only so much damage I could take. I missed being a teenager. I got into brawls all the time. Bar fights were best. Sure I was a minor but...Well. That never stopped anyone from pouring me another glass.

Four-eyes was as good as dead the next day. Most of his skin had been rubbed off, and bones crushed. People immediately turned to me. Everyone heard about it. He beat me up. That was big news. The best news a lot of them had had all year. And then...well.

I even got brought in for questioning! There was this nice ninja guy who almost poisoned me after he 'accidentally' gave me a tea cup of poison meant for a client (poor client). He realized this after I told him it smelt bad. He left muttering something along the lines of: 'How the hell did I get suckered into that...I don't have twenty on me...dammit.'

I think they were taking bets on who could kill me...or if I would fall for things. And then die.

Four-eyes could never become a ninja now. He couldn't even walk.

END OF FLASHBACK

There was no way for me to know for sure it was him though. I had no real proof. Sure the boy had no skin, which kinda made me think of sandpaper but there was no way I could know for sure. Maybe it was a coincidence...maybe I sleep-assaulted people. Wouldn't be the oddest thing to happen in this world. I mean hey...Gaara kinda does that...although that was because of the mutated sandcastle in his head but...you understand, right?

I sat in my usual place beside Gaara and let out a tired sigh. My head tilted and fell into the hand awaiting to prop it up. It was the usual position I sat in. I sometimes wished I had one of my old classmates, who were used to me leaning on them. I could try it with Gaara, but I doubted the sand would let me.

I yawned quietly as the teacher began on the next lesson. Poisons. I lifted my head slightly, so I wasn't looking at the board at an angle. This was useful information. After that incident with the poisoned tea...I didn't want to take any chances. Besides. I had seen what Saki, my mother, could do with a little poison in a person's tea.

Like paralyze their lungs. THAT had been beautiful.

The class started out mentioning different kinds of poisons. Chakra poisons, fatal poisons, paralyzing poisons, slow working, instantly effective, poison blood limits. I listened closely as the class continued. Gaara looked bored, and whenever I shifted my gaze towards him, I could see that he was either staring out the window or at me.

"What?" I asked, finally unable to ignore him, "Is there something on my face?"

"You seem oddly...interested in this."

I smiled, "Well, I think they're useful when used right. People try to kill me with them all the time, so they have to be effective...maybe not on me, because my mother uses them all the time, so I kinda know what to look for, but it someone wasn't ready for it..."

I let myself trail off. He nodded slowly. I knew poison probably wasn't his style, since he had his sand on him, but it was definitely mine.

"It...makes sense...But...people...try to poison you?"

I nodded and shrugged, "Yeah. I haven't died yet, so everything's good. You have to commend them for trying though. They can get pretty creative...one man had a chakra puppet that was the size of a bee, and he actually put poison on the sting."

Gaara blinked in surprise before he spoke, "My brother wants to use puppets."

I was kinda glad for the change in topic. With half my attention still on the front board I nodded, "I bet he'll be one of the best."

The boy looked confused, but he didn't seem to mind. I confused him all the time.

Daddy trudged through the door. A smile found its way onto my lips, and I nearly danced over to him, ready to ask all about the Chuunin exams, but I froze, noticing the dead look in his eyes. Mommy looked up from the batch of poison she was boiling, beside the soup she was making for supper, and dropped everything.

I hesitantly made my way towards Daddy, feeling on edge for some reason. I took a moment to take him in. There's blood in his hair. There's burn marks and tears on his clothing...his left hand is bandaged so much it was more of a cast than anything.

His eyes were still dead.

"Shiiiit." Mommy drawled before she gently took my Dad's good wrist and dragged him to the table. "Aisa, there should be a bottle of alcohol or something in the cabinet in the living-room. Go get it."

I blinked, hearing her call me 'Aisa', before I nodded quickly and ran to get the bottle. I knew exactly where it was because I might have tried it once...or twice...every week or so? Alright, I have problems. Shut up.

I got the bottle and brought it to her. She glanced at me from the corner of her eye and there was a faint raise of the corner of her mouth, like she wanted to smirk or maybe even...smile, but didn't want to at the same time.

She took the bottle and uncorked it, forcing the bottle into Taiki's hand. Then she did something that completely shocked me. She picked me up.

"Hey, Taiki, love..." She cooed softly. I couldn't help but stare at the soft look on her face. She gently ran her free hand through his hair.

He turned to look at her, but I could tell he wasn't really looking at her.

"Aisa and I are worried, right Aisa?"

Nodding eagerly I clung tightly to Saki. This was a once in a life time kinda thing...I'd take it while I could.

He blinked, and sighed, "I'm fine."

But clearly he wasn't. He still looked dead inside.

"Taiki..." Saki said, before she moved his arms away from himself and plopped down on his lap with me still on her arm, "We have no intentions of moving until you calm down. Now...tell us what's the matter, if you want either of us to move our asses."

Despite the words, and how rough they were, she still spoke in a way that only dripped with concern. It was a strange experience...but I could kinda see why they got married. They were so in love it made me want to barf rainbow kittens.

Taiki's amber eyes darkened as he started talking.

"It was the third exam and there were too many people to just have a battle royal, so there were team match ups...the teams were paired off, and there were three battles for each pair...so whichever team won two out of three moved on. Sachiko was killed instantly...there was no way to stop it, and the kid, he just...kept attacking her body. There was blood everywhere...they had to sedate the bastard."

I froze. Sachiko was the female member of Daddy's team. I suppose she was the meanest of the group, so it didn't matter that she was dead...but Taiki just swore. Baaaad Taiki.

"Takeo put up a descent enough fight, but he was physically too weak to pull ahead. It ended in a tie, but Takeo had to go to the hospital due to his injuries."

I was actually kinda happy that he made it. Takeo was kinda fun. He was scared of me, but he was brave enough to act like I was just another brat most of the time. He made fun of me and I'd make fun back, but nothing bad ever happened. He was a good guy.

"Then...it was Taro's turn. Their fight lasted the longest...Taro ran out of chakra. He tried to forfeit, but before he could, his opponent...he..." Taiki shuddered violently, and Saki wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. I hugged him as tightly as I could, trying to calm him down. It was just too fucking weird seeing my happy-go-lucky dad act like this.

"He crushed Taro's head between his hands like he was a berry."

The image that ran through my mind made even me shudder.

'Some large man, holding the remains of Taro's head in between his massive hands, everyone staring at the mush that leaked out between the digits, slowly dripping on the arena floor...blood flecking the face of the man who ended the child's life. He chuckles slightly, dropping the still warm corpse and gently shaking his hands, to clean them of the filth.

The crowd doesn't care who Taro was, how old he was...they just wanted more bloodshed. I don't care that they're weaker and it's a ninjas job to protect them...if anyone out there is fucked up, it isn't the ninjas. It's the damn civilians. The ninjas should be protected from the civilians.'

Sure...Taro was a bastard...like everyone else in this god-forsaken village...but to die like that...I knew there were worse ways to go down, but it was just...he and Sachiko were the first REAL deaths in this world...they weren't cannon...they weren't even mentioned in the manga...but...

"Saki...why do my teams always die?" Taiki's voice was still shaking. He was angry and sad, "Why do I have to keep bringing bodies home?"

Huh? Teams? He had another one? Maybe even more...And they always died. This was the first I heard of it, but it sounded unfair.

"Relax Taiki. When things are meant to happen they will." Saki didn't appear to be bothered much at all. She just seemed content.

"They're only children though. Too young to keep dying-"

"Shut up and listen to your wife." She said, leaving no room for argument.

I just stayed quiet, because quite frankly, I had no clue on what the fuck I was suppose to do. I'd add in if it was needed.

"This was meant to happen. Nothing happens be mistake, no matter how terrible, or impossible it is." At this, I could have sworn her eyes shifted towards me, before she locked them back with my father's identical ones. I wondered what the hell that was about.

"This is your fifth team, but you can't just give up on them, ya got it? Some day, there's gonna be a group of genin that are gonna need you, in all your tree-huggy-ness. They're going ta need all those cheerful words that you spout out, and you're going to make them scary little monsters just like you, and before you know it, this pile of sand we call a village is gonna be full of morons like you."

Taiki stared at her numbly, but it looked like tears had gathered in his eyes. I couldn't tell if he was moved by her words, or if he just needed to grieve.

"It's already spread to Ai. I hear her ranting like you do all the time." She said, pointing at me. I grinned in a nervous manner, like it was embarrassing. Really, I didn't give a damn if she heard it After all, I didn't care what anyone thought of me. It wasn't like I had a good reputation to uphold anyways.

Taiki stared at me for a moment, before wrapping his arms around Saki and I. We all sat still for a moment. I really had to commend his strength. He had been sitting here with Saki and I on his lap for quite some time.

"Now then, help me scold our daughter."

My head snapped in her direction and I stared at her in confusion. From what I could see in the corner of my eyes, my father was beginning to wear a similar expression.

"What did I do now?" I asked, pouting immaturely.

"You've been drinking our alcohol."

"What's alcohol?" I asked innocently, tilting my head. At the same time I said this, my father seemed to have revived.

"SHE'S BEEN WHAT!?" Taiki rushed to his feet, sending me and Saki to the floor in a jumbled heap. It felt like, despite the fact that people had just died, things were better. Maybe people should die more often?

Grounded. Nothing out of the usual. BUT now they lock the sake up on a higher shelf...that I can't reach. AND the cabinet key is always tied around Saki's neck. Yeah...I won't be getting my hands on that for a very long time.

Takeo was released from the hospital a few days after he and dad came back. He would be staying with us for a while though. From what I understood, and this was only what I could find out on my own because no one talks to me, Takeo didn't have any parents, and since he was still pretty cut up, they didn't want him living on his own, so they dumped him with us.

I wasn't sure who 'they' were, but hey...even in the test Drive there was an all knowing 'they' who controlled everything...

Takeo was a tall kid with dull grey eyes that reminded my the roads in the winter and shaggy brown hair that was nearly as messy as my own. At the moment, he had a hole in his gut. But he was still fun. He took up the extra bedroom we had. I guess my parents had wanted another kid, but never got around to it. Which I was really thankful for...could you imagine be being an older sister? Poor kid...

Anyways, he and dad spent a lot of time together. Dad was kinda clingy. This was the first time one of his students survived. Usually they all went in one foul swoop. I supposed it was a good thing. After Takeo came, Dad forgot to lecture me about drinking for the 9000th time.

"Shouldn't you be in the academy or something?" Takeo asked, staring at me in suspicion. I looked up from the picture I was colouring as I sat on the foot of his bed. So far it looked like a dead pirate. Basically it was a skeleton with a pirate's hat, standing proud and flipping the viewer off. Some might think it was horrible...I thought it was adorable.

I scoffed, "It's the weekend, fool."

"We never got weekends..." he grumbled, glaring at me in a joking way, "And I'm not a fool. You're a little brat."

"The universe just likes me better. And I may be a brat, but I'm still a lot smarter than you."

As I spoke, I took the time to shade the bones, and colour the back ground to look like a cave or something.

"Sure, sure." He said, smirking, "So...where's your boyfriend?"

I stared at him blankly, "No. Just no. Go sit in the corner."

"What? You and that little monster are always together."

"So? I'm four. What the fuck would I want a boyfriend for? Things like boys are covered in cooties. I could get infected and die." I crossed my arms, "And if you insist on calling Gaara a monster, than you better start calling me one too, got it, Takeo?"

He whacked me over the head, "What the hell did your parents tell you about swearing!? And I can't call you a monster."

"You used to."

Takeo looked incredibly ashamed, I had to laugh.

It was true. When I first met the team, he and the others were pretty mean. They liked to push me around and call me all sorts of nasty things when Taiki wasn't around. As time went by, Sachiko became a total bitch...if anything she was the monster. She even tried to light me on fire. Taro was just an arrogant little prick and he was always talking about me being too weak to stop him if he ever decided to do the village a favor and kill me.

Takeo mellowed out. He had spent a lot of time with Taiki before the exams, so I guess he kinda saw Taiki as a father figure...and since Taiki didn't want people hurting me, Takeo took on the same opinion.

"That was before I knew you." He protested, "Everyone else says you're no good. At the orphanage...they were always like: 'Aisako is a bad child, she's the embodiment of evil. Don't trust her and feel free to kill her'...now I find out you're just some brat that's really weird and kinda sadistic, but hey. We're ninjas."

I looked at him in disapproval. Takeo might be a nice enough guy, but he was a blithering moron. So...I wasn't a monster because he knew me? Pah. He didn't know fuck all. And still, Gaara was a monster, even though they've never spoken?!

"So, why is Gaara a monster?"

"He's a demon! Everyone knows that. He's creepy and that sand!"

I let out a harsh laugh. "So, he's a monster because 'everyone knows that'?"

"Well...yeah."

"You're a moron." I said, getting off the bed. I tacked the picture on the wall across from his be, so it was at eye-level. Then I left the room, ignoring him as he yelled for me to come back. Since he was still injured, he was stuck in bed. If he left it for any reason without getting permission first, Saki had threatened to break both his legs. I was glad I never got that badly injured.

Saki did not make you feel any better.

Well. That's all I got for this chapter. I would have made it a bit longer, but I thought the wait was getting to be a bit too long. I've been kinda busy for a last bit, so I don't think this chapter turned out as good as I'd have liked.

A big thanks goes out to thefire1995, euroteres, MerhppDerhpp, kiki's-stories-of-awesomeness, Xhre, Himeno Kazehito, Nameless Angel 00, and InfinityRabbit for reviewing!

Demon Eyes now has 31 reviews, 92 followers, 68 favorites, and is listed in 2 communities!

Please review and tell me whacha think~!

P.S. Does anyone like the cover? I got bored in school, so I may have accidentally drawn Aisako and then took a picture of it on my laptop when i got home...and then it may have found itself on this site...ANYWAYS...We now know what Aisako will look like around genin age. Yay!