-13-
Bright Eyes
"It's not a bloodlimit- not officially." Satoru began, resting his elbows on his crossed legs, "It's too early on for it to be called that. What you have is a collection of mutations that are close to forming a functioning bloodlimit, but not quite there. We call it the Kohaku Dōkei."
And what, the bloody fuck, did that mean? Even the name was a bit...odd. Kohaku, that meant amber...but it could also mean red and white...or festive colour? Dōkei...that mean kin...blood...related? So...Amber family? Amber kin? Amber blood?
"Only a small handful of our clan have been born with it, and only seven have actually lived past the 'awakening' and the first few years afterwards. The oldest is Kira-sama...our current clan head. If you actually live to be say...nine?...You'll be the eighth. Congrats."
I shuddered. He was pretty much saying I wasn't likely to reach nine. This was great. This was just fucking terrific! I was (possibly) killed by me best friend, reborn into the fucking Naruto world in the same generation that a whole ton of shit was going to happen to, I was ostracized for something I have no clue about, and now I was going to die young because my fucking clan decided to be inbred! Fuck! If I was just going to die again, what was the point in being reborn in the first place?!
"And that, is why they die." He said in a bored tone, looking at me with the same, cold, bored and disappointed amber eyes he always did.
"What?"
"The anger." He gestured towards me, "It gets out of control and makes the 'blood' get all worked up."
"What?" I repeated, still confused. It would kill the bastard to actually explain this, wouldn't it?
"Allow me to explain how this all works. Maybe it'll help you to understand. When someone in our clan is born with the potential to use the Kohaku Dōkei, this does not mean they will actually be able to use it...only that they have the right mutations to make it available. Basically, our chakra networks do not grow around our veins, or vice versa, but they grown inside our circulatory system, for the most part. This means our blood is heavy with a large concentration of chakra. However, due to our clan having an strong inclination for water affinities, our chakra also effects all water in our bodies and, as the Kohaku Dōkei becomes stronger, water outside of our bodies as well."
I nodded as he spoke, showing him that I understood what he was saying. My chakra affected water. Especially water inside my body. Especially my blood.
"What does it...do?" I asked after a moment. There was no point in him explaining what the 'mutation' was if he didn't explain what it did in the first place.
In response, Satoru leaned back slightly before shooting forward and spitting out a massive blob of-
Something solid bounced off my cheek. Looking down, I stared at what appeared to be a smooth blob of pure amber.
Instantly, I was reminded of the amber tears and the mark on my face.
Satoru picked up his...amber spit ball...and tossed it in the air a few times, flipping it over in his hands, with a distant look on his face.
"Any fluids our chakra is mixed with becomes amber. Our spit, blood, sweat..." His eyes flickered up to the mark on my cheek, "Our tears."
"What are the markings?" I asked, gesturing to the strangely textured marking on my face. Even now, under the hot desert sun, I was sure it'd be cool to the touch.
He sighed, "I was getting around to that...Like I said before...not everyone with the potential to use the Kohaku Dōkei can use it. It needs to be awakened. Our mutation awakens when you go through extreme mental or physical pain or stress...it then manifests as a physical marking."
It was like the fucking Sharingan? Or...at least..I think that was how the Sharingan activated...right? Or...was it the loss of a loved one? It wasn't the killing your besty thing, that was for Upgrading it...
I wish I had paid more attention to this damn show...
He pulled the collar of his shirt down, revealing a pattern of amber markings around his neck, like there was a rope of amber tied around his neck. As his hand rested on the amber markings, there was a look in his eyes, like he was remembering some terrible betrayal in his past.
It was something I could relate to.
Still, it was funny how easy it was to read people in this life, when in the past, I could hardly sit in a room for an hour without making someone want to kill me. That was something that was the same in both sets of memories.
"And what does the whole...bad-temper-thing have to do with it?"
"Its rather simple. When you're angry, it causes your chakra to fluctuate sporadically. When our chakra fluctuates like that, it means more chakra is mixing into our blood, solidifying it...the angrier you are, and the longer you stay angry, the more chakra is entering your bloodstream and other sources of bodily fluids. It causes veins and arteries to become blocked and poses a risk to your overall health.
"Its this that kills most of us. The awakening does something to our minds as well, making it harder for us to calm down or keep our chakra stable. We've tried mediation, and emotional training with others who have the potential, but upon their awakening, most of them died. Bottling up your emotions does little to solve the problem. Your chakra is still fluctuating, but it's calmed down considerably since you first awakened...although it was rather wild while you were in the academy earlier."
I realized that my little 'blood mutation' was going to make my period a living fucking hell when it came around. Or puberty in general.
"Now that you've finished awakening for the most part, we'll begin with the emotional training...or at least some anger management and chakra control. Now, I should warn you now becoming a medic nin will be impossible with our mutation...what with it having the nasty habit of turning their body fluids into amber."
And wasn't that a gruesome mental image. I...
Kinda wanted to try it now.
As if reading my mind, Satoru hit me over the head, "Bad."
Fuckin' asshole.
He stood up, his expression aloof and his eyes as cold and bored as usual, "Alright...I think that's enough of that, for now...let's get warmed up before Machiko-san appears."
I frowned. That hadn't answered many of my questions. All I knew was that my chakra turned liquid to amber, it would likely kill me in a few years, I'd be in a state of permanent PMS until I got a better grip on shit and that the 'mutation' had only shown up in the past two generations or so. Great.
It still didn't tell me why they were so scared of me. It didn't tell me how may parents knew I'd been born with the ability...they'd said they'd known about it for years...so how did they know, if I had never noticed?
"Hurry up, start running." Satoru ordered.
I did as he said, still lost in thought.
If my ability was so new...and so rare, did that mean I was a target? Would the Snake Fucker want me for his experiments? Did he even know about it? Would he find out about it when he stole the Kazekage's identity?
There were so many questions left unanswered...and there were so many more questions.
Fuck...things were so much easier when I believed I was bloodlimit free.
Oh...there was another question left unanswered.
'Why did Taiki lie to me?'
The question was tempered with a sharp stab of betrayal. It made my blood burn again.
But I suppose that was just...my chakra converting its unrest into amber. Making emotional pain real.
Fanfuckingtastic.
A couple weeks passed, and like always, I was training.
"We'll be starting with chakra today...as a warning...this is dangerous...if something goes wrong...you could die."
I froze, mid-push-up. I didn't look up at him, and I didn't stay still long. Just five more today.
"Do they know we're doing this?"
"Your family?" Satoru asked book was tucked away. God...he really was like my father...minus the bubbly personality. But...the bubbliness wasn't really who Taiki was. That was...that was how Taiki coped. Maybe he really was like Satoru?
"Who the fuck else?"
"No. No, they don't."
I breathed a sigh of relief. Good. They would never let me do this if they knew. Taiki would coddle me, Saki would try to scare me out of it...Takeo would never leave me alone if they found out. Even if I needed to learn this...they just wanted a little more time believing I wasn't in danger...well...in any more danger I was in before I awoke the amber in my blood.
"Good. We'll have to keep it this way."
"I know. Saki would butcher me if anything happened to you."
"What does it feel like?"
Push-ups done, I dusted my hands off and sat down, crisscross and wide eyed. Chakra. I...
"Hm?"
"Chakra. What's it feel like?"
"It's different for everyone...but for me...it's like liquid chaos and peace."
Helpful. Very fuckin' helpful.
Closing my eyes, I focused on what chakra I was aware of. It was the tingling under my skin, there for as long as I could remember in this life. Focusing more on the chakra, I could feel the way it weaved around my body. It was...very different from what images I'd seen of the chakra network. It was more of a circula-
Ah. Of course it was. Satoru had said as much. My chakra network was my circulatory system.
I went deeper, focusing on my core, where I knew the chakra was supposed to mash together. There was nothing there.
It was empty, save the veins and arteries that danced through my organs.
Frantic, I began searching for it. It had to be there, right? That place where mental and physical chakras met and merged to create something malleable! My heart was racing as I searched.
My...heart.
Fuck, that was weird, wasn't it?
Chakras mixing in my heart, rather than my core. That...wasn't supposed to happen. But I guess that's the point...it was a mutation. A mix of genes that formed something that wasn't normal...
But when had I ever been normal?
The chakra in my heart felt...like something that was so undoubtedly a part of me. It was warm and vapor thin, with the familiar buzz of energy. I don't know how I could have ever not noticed the feeling of it in my chest, warm and light and comforting.
The kunai was dragged slowly across the palm of my hand. Blood, pure and red leaked out and coated sand-caked skin. It dripped between my fingers, staining the sand with its crimson colour.
Had Gaara's sand look like this after he tore off my leg, or had Shukaku absorbed it all before anyone saw?
"Good. Now, I want you to bring your chakra to your hands...you can do that, can't you?"
Snapping back to attention, I nodded without looking away from the blood. I searched for that familiar tingling under my skin. I followed the streams of it up to my chest, where I could feel it, my chakra, swirling in the ventricles of my heart. When the chakra was ready, I pulled the chakra along, slowly, towards the cut.
It had been two months since Satoru and I began working with chakra. We'd simply been moving it around, making paper and stones stick to my skin, attempting to help me control it. We'd tried to make chakra strings, but that was WAAAY above my level of control.
To be honest...my control was fucking shit. It was better than if could be..I was sure I could run laps around Naruto, chakra control wise...but...it was still bad.
Machiko was better at it than I was.
I think it was mostly because as comfortable as my chakra felt to me, it was scary using it. I mean...if I fucked up...I'd die. What if I blocked off the arteries to my brain? What if I solidified the fluids in my skull? Or the capillaries in my lungs? That'd be a long, terrible death...I'd suffocate, unable to filter new oxygen into my bloodstream, or remove the toxic carbon dioxide from my veins...
Or what if it all just solidified and burst out from under my skin, leaving me looking like an amber sea urchin?
Still, the fear wasn't helping.
I focused once again on the chakra, dragging it down to my hand. I could feel it tingling through my veins, heating my blood with its energy. The increased amount of 'active' chakra reached the cut in my palm.
Instantly, I was curled around my hand, hissing in pain as the chakra burned the edges of the cut. The visible blood, the stuff on my hand, slowly began to absorb the chakra, dragging it out the cut. If fucking hurt like a bitch! As more chakra mixed in with the exposed blood, the blood changed. No longer a thick red liquid, my blood was beginning to change to the familiar amber colour my life seemed obsessed with. My other hand shook as I reached out to feel the thin sheet of amber coating my hand.
I'd done it. Finally.
"That's it. Stay calm." Satoru's voice stopped me from letting the feeling of relief, and the feeling of triumph from flooding through me. That could have ended terribly.
"What do I do with it?"
"Shut off the chakra flow...you'll have to guide it back to your heart though...we don't want your body absorbing the left over chakra in your system."
Nodding, I focused on the flow of chakra to my hand. I pulled it away from the cut, up my arm and towards my chest. Slowly but surely.
"Congratulations. You aren't dead."
Yanking the amber off my hand, I scowled up at Satoru, who gave me a smug smile.
Fuckin' prick.
"Machiko wants to go to the academy." The little blond girl told me, pouting sadly.
She'd been asking and asking her parents for permission, but each time, it was a firmer 'No, Machiko!'. Her parents wanted her to be a good housewife for some merchant's son and pop out grand babies.
Like hell that was happening.
"You will. No worries. They may be your parents, but legally, they can't do anything if you sign yourself up for the academy...the only problem is you'd have to be eight, and stay in the academy until you're twelve...but that'd only be four years of practice before they I think? Its a stupid system, but more civilian-borns graduate at that age than shinobi-born students."
"What about the civilians in your class?"
"Their parents signed them up, or they're orphans."
"Orphans?"
"Come on Machiko, you know what an orphan is. They don't have any parents or guardians. Because they live in orphanages, which are funded by the village, they're automatically signed up for the academy. They can drop out, but only after four years. Some of them avoid the academy all together by signing for apprenticeships with civilian companies, but it can take a bit of work to get one."
My sixth birthday had passed with little celebration. I think my family realized I wasn't really feelin' it. I still got gifts and cake, but it didn't feel the same as last year's birthday. Even Satoru and Machiko got me presents, but they didn't...it didn't feel the same.
I knew why, but I did my best to ignore it all the same.
I also ignored the little potted cactus that appeared on my windowsill that night. I didn't even water it that often...or take any notice how the petals on the little flowers were the same colour as my eyes. And the robe that was still to big for me to wear properly.
The academy was on a short break now, before classes would resume and a new batch of students would be entering the academy. There was still time to sign up, and it was driving Machiko mad.
She'd trail after me to the academy every morning now, and she'd stand by the front gate. I once snuck out a window after class started, and half an hour after I'd left her at the gate, she was still there, staring up at the academy. She'd be there when I got out of the academy at the end of the day, waiting a small distance away from Satoru. She'd follow us to our training ground and join us when the coast was clear. And then, she'd train. Her determination to 'protect' me was...both endearing, and a little alarming. But it was...
It was useful.
I don't know why she was so loyal to me, but she would do anything I told her to. Anything. I found that out. I once commented that her hair was getting long, and that'd be troublesome in battle. I told her to cut it.
She returned the next day with her hair shoulder length, but still pulled up into her little pigtails, which now reminded my of Temari's hair.
I told her to stop wearing pink.
She'd come back the next day in Suna red clothes, telling me she had shredded all her clothing, forcing her parents to go out and buy her something 'not that yucky baby colour'. I was surprised her parents had complied.
Machiko was...proving to be easy to control. Maybe it was because she was so much younger than me...and Gaara...and it made her think she had to respect my authority.
What ever the reason was...I wouldn't complain. If she continued on obeying me like this, I'd have the perfect guard. Perfect little weapon.
Huh.
Was this how Danzo felt, when he made his first little Root?
As it was, my little minion was actually my equal. I may have been in the academy for two years now, but Machiko was a fast learner, and she was desperate to stay with me all the time, which meant she intended to get on my genin team...which meant graduating with me.
We just had to get her into the academy so she could take the exam two years early...and hope we were put on the same team.
"Hey, Satoru..."
"Yes?"
"How do you know if someone has the potential to use the Kohaku Dōkei?"
"It shows when one of us is born..."
"How?"
"Body fluids. Stress. Think."
"Ew."
"Yup. Its more accurate to say we hatch, than are bor-"
"SHUT UP!" I screamed, clamping my hands over my ears. "I don't need to hear that!"
"Fine."
There was a long moment of silence.
"Is...is that why people are so scared of me? Something to do with the Kohaku Dōkei?"
He gave a long sigh, "Its...one of the reasons...I'm not supposed to talk about this with you but...there are many factors behind their fear."
"Are any of them logical?"
"The people here are like sheep. One fears you, and the rest follow."
The conversation had been...slightly helpful. I knew a little more about their fear...One was the mutation and me apparent 'hatching'...another was my parents and their less than peaceful pasts.
Learning that I had hatched from a shell of amber, as Satoru later explained, brought up one more question.
Why don't I remember that?
I stared down at my hand, and then at the little girl who sat on the ground in front of me, holding the side of her face while she bawled.
It took a moment for me to remember just what had happened. My mind was a blur as I tried to ignore the way my blood boiled in anger.
Ah. That's right.
She had walked up to me, arrogance and pride all over her face. What was with the children in this village? Did they all think they were gods or something? Did they all believe they were something amazing?
She'd walked up to me and...
Flashback
"Hey!"
I barely even bothered looking up from the book in my hands. It was detailing more on specific species of scorpions in Suna and what effects their stings had on the human body. There was this one species that liquefied flesh. I liked that one.
"'m talking to you!"
"Hm?" I gave her a bored look over the edge of my book, channeling my inner Kakashi, "Did you say something?"
"You think you're so tough, don't you!? Huh?"
Looking at her, I recognized her as one of this children that I went to the academy with. She was a major clutz and was always falling. Then she'd start bawling her eyes out and screaming at anyone who laughed at her.
I always found it funny. How she treated a scraped knee like...oh say...
A missing limb?
"Not really. I'm just more mature than the rest of our peers, and I understand that pain is a necessary part of a shinobi's life, and that there are worse things that can happen than tripped and scraping my knee."
"Oh! So just because you're missing a limb, you think you're better than everyone, huh?!"
I smiled cheerfully, but made sure to reveal my sharp canine teeth, turning the expression into something more dangerous than usual, "No...I was always better than everyone."
"You're not better! You're a monster! You're a murderer, and you're the daughter of those crazy people!"
I froze.
I was a monster?
That, I knew. People told me that often enough for me to know that. I was happy to be the monster they wanted me to be. Maybe I liked their fear, and maybe I wanted to hurt them...so they could see the difference between Aisako and the real monster lurking inside.
I was a murderer?
Well. I'd been blamed by some people for the one or two deaths that followed an attack on my life...but they didn't have much proof other than that. No way I was proved to be the murderer. But the way this little brat said it? Well.
She sounded pretty sure of herself.
I wondered why?
And then...something...the Monster Ai, wanted to prove her right.
I didn't care about that. i could ignore that...but...that last bit. She called my parents crazy.
Maybe they were. I mean, Saki was fucking nuts...but Taiki...he wasn't crazy, not like I was...not like Saki was. Taiki was sick.
My father was a powerful shinobi, that much was true, but his heart wasn't meant for this life. He was too soft. The guilt from all the lives he had taken and failed to save had begun to weigh down on him. He was scared for what this life would do to me and Takeo, and he was tired of seeing children die for this life. He'd lost so many people...
If I had been as good a person as he...and lived his life, I'm sure I would have broken, just like he was beginning to.
But to hear this little girl...call him crazy?
Saki and I were crazy. We were crazy because we liked it. If we were sick, then we didn't want to be cured. But Taiki? Taiki was sick. he wanted to get better...he just couldn't. He couldn't stop. He was a ninja, and his life belonged to our Kage. And Rasa? Gaara's father? He was too cruel a man to free my father.
So...maybe I snapped at that last bit. Could you blame me?
I almost managed to keep it under wraps. I almost stopped myself.
But some part of me, some tiny, little piece...the piece thatwas slowly growing...Little Monster Ai...that little piece pushed me to act.
And I did.
End of Flashback
All I did was punch her, but it was the first step.
I'd reacted. I'd acted.
I'd hurt someone.
Suddenly...my life became a lot more...troublesome.
It was a blistering hot day, where the sun shone just a bit brighter than usual, if that were possible, and baked the hot, Suna sand a bit hotter than I could stand. I had the day off training, as Satoru was off on a book buying spree of some sort. I never knew where he got all the money for those books. Actually...I didn't really know a lot about him.
Like Taiki and I, he read a lot. And he looked like us. And he knew how to 'ninja'. But he didn't have a head band, and if he did belong to the Rain military, that didn't explain why he was allowed to stay here for so long.
It didn't really matter though. I was just glad to have the day off.
I had hoped to stay in bed that day, and watch how the sun changed angles in the sky, but Saki came to my bedroom door looking confused and worried about something.
"Brat. Someone's at the door."
I sat up. Who the fuck was here? it wasn't Machiko, since Saki would have just told her to come bother me. If it was Gaara, she would have said. But other than those two...I didn't really know anyone one who wasn't family.
Frowning, I followed her down the stairs to the front door. Waiting for me was a man who smiled brightly. He was tall. Ridiculously to. Other than his height, he was also unfairly handsome. It just wasn't natural. Colouring-wise, his eyes and hair were unfortunately bland, simply brown for both.
"Hello there, Aisako-chan. My name is Sora, and I'm here to talk to you about what happened the other day...with that little girl."
I winced.
"Her family was fer upset, and the want you to be..."
My eyes narrowed, "They want me to be put down like a dog because I punched the annoying little bitch."
Sora nodded, not even blinking at the language, "Precisely."
"Well too fucking bad for them."
"Again, precisely." he gave a predatory grin, "I've arranged for the charges to be dropped."
"Why?" Could you blame me for not trusting him?
"Because, my dear...there are some people in Suna who believe you will someday make a great asset to our village, and it would be a crime to stop you before you can reach your full potential."
Well. If that didn't sound shady, I didn't know what the fuck did.
'Sora' left shortly after, leaving me to wonder if Suna had its own version of ROOT.
I really hoped not.
The academy was going to open up soon, in only about a week or so, but Machiko was seething with rage. Her parents still hadn't budged. She's spent the entire begging and pleading for them to let her go to the academy, but they didn't give in. And they were not pleased.
Her hag of a mother had gone so far as to hit her to get that point across.
It had been the last straw for Machiko. She dropped her innocent child act. She avoided her parents as much as she could, spending even more time training with me. When she couldn't avoid them, she'd spend the entire time glaring and talking back. She even started swearing. I probably shouldn't have taught her how to do that. But what really got her parents, was seeing Machiko walking down the street beside me. She refused to act like we weren't friends anymore.
The first time she had done it, shortly after her mother had hit her, I had nearly panicked.
Flashback
People had whispered, some even trying to reach out and pull her away from me.
"Hey, kid, get away from that thing!"
"Quick, someone save that little girl!"
"Monster! Stay away from that child!"
A woman reached out to grab Machiko, but my minion flinched away from her, baring her teeth like an animal. The bruise on her face just made it seem that much worse.
"Do not touch Machiko!" The little girl screeched at her, before she tackled me in a hug, showing everyone watching that she chose me over them.
And even though I was panicking, I couldn't help but smirk. After all...this is what a part of me had wanted, wasn't it? Machiko had been hurt, and now they had pushed her to me. She was mine now, wasn't she?
"Little girl! It isn''t safe-"
"SHUT UP!" Machiko yelled, "Aisako-sama is nice to Machiko! Machiko loves Aisako-sama! You can't make Machiko leave Aisako-sama! Machiko refuses!"
"Someone grab the kid-"
"Machiko, let's go. We'll be late for training." I said, my voice cutting through the people talking. Then, I tilted my head and looked at everyone around us, "Unless these kind people would like to help us train...I was thinking about showing you the quickest ways to end a life today..."
People flinched back, first at what I said, and then when Machiko enthusiastically responded.
"Oh, really, Aisako-sama!? Machiko wants to learn that! Machiko wants to learn that! Now! Please? Pleasepleaseplease!"
I laughed cheerfully and took Machiko's hand in my own and began walking. We continued on to the training ground without further event.
End of Flashback
Machiko's family began reacting even worse to Machiko's habit of speaking in third person, and her hanging out with me. They hadn't hit her, but kindness was necessary in getting Machiko to do what you wanted. They just didn't know her well enough to understand that.
The way they were always angry with her, always lecturing and threatening to take her toys and not letting her leave home (not that that stopped her from sneaking out), maybe t wasn't much of a surprise that she began staying over at my place. She pretty much lived there, really.
She had her own place at our table, her own pillow on my bed, one of my drawers held her training clothes and pajamas. Saki had even started poisoning her.
Machiko had become part of the family.
Of course, there were some days when her mother or father would come up to us on our way home from training and drag her back to her house. Legally, we couldn't do anything. I...
I hated not being able to stop them, but if I interfered, someone might use it as a chance to get rid of me. I heard people talking about it...wishing they had a reason to lock me up, or have me 'put down, so they'd be out of their misery'. I wished someone would put them our of their misery too. With a shotgun.
On the nights they took her home, I'd sneak out to check on her. Sometimes we'd go back home together.
It wasn't safe, I knew that. It'd be safer to go by the rooftops, but I didn't want to run into Gaara up there, especially not with Machiko with me. She hated him. Still, up there probably would have been safer than walking around the village in the dead of night. There were...a lot of people on the streets at night.
The economy in Suna was shit. People were starving and dying of dehydration everyday, drugs were sold in the dark alleyways and women and men could be found selling themselves on every street corner. I wouldn't even begin to talk about the crime rate. Shinobi and their families had benefits, like not having to pay for a certain amount of water or food, and they received a descent enough pay, along with health care. It was the civilians that suffered most. There were two classes. The rich, and the poor. Machiko's family were part of the few rich people in Suna. For the most part...civilians were doing...alright. But There were also lots of people who weren't doing alright. And the ones that weren't doing alright weren't the best people to be around.
Especially when you're a child.
We were lucky that we were never attacked on the nights when we made our way home. It made me wonder if we were being protected. Of course, i had no clue who would be doing that. Gaara, maybe? But then again, he thought I was a monster, so I doubted it.
Sora?
Didn't he say that there were others like him who believed I would be 'a great asset to the village', or some shit like that? Was it one of them?
In the end, I didn't really give a fuck. As long as I didn't get attacked by some creep in a dark alleyway, I was good.
Some nights when Machiko was forced to be with her family, I wasn't always able to sneak out. On those nights, I'd sit in my window and look over rooftops and between buildings, where I could see a sliver of Machiko's bedroom window. She'd wave to tell me everything was fine. It was nice, being able to know she was fine. If not, I'd have to worry about her and wonder if her parents had done anything to undo my hard work.
One night, looking out my window, I didn't see Machiko. I wasn't worried about that...it was pretty early in the night, so she probably wouldn't have been in her room anyways...but...what i saw was far worse.
I saw fire.
Machiko's house was ablaze. From my home I could see the red light it cast on the surrounding homes and the heat rolling off the building in the cold desert night.
A thousand thoughts ran through my head. How had the fire started? Was it an accident, or did someone set it? If so, who set it? Why did they set it? Was it because she was my friend? Was Machiko okay? Was she still in there?
Before I knew it, I was out on the street, running as fast as my prosthetic would carry me. i could hear my family calling after me.
When I got to Machiko's house, I could see that the flames had completely devoured it, and everything inside. the house would be fine. It was made of sand and clay and rock. It was everything inside that would be destroyed. People stood around outside, staring up at the fire, but doing nothing to stop it.
We couldn't waste the water.
I noticed a large group of people gathered around something on the sidewalk, and I could hear someone sobbing.
Making my way over, people tried to stop me, but they were ignored. They weren't important.
I reached the center and nearly collapsed in relief. Machiko sat on the ground, crying loudly. She was covered in soot and scratches and blood. I didn't collapse though, not before I was in front of her.
"Machiko."
Her head shot up, just enough for me to see her face. To my confusion, her face was dry and she looked at me with cheerful, bright eyes. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back.
"Aisako-sama..." She pretended to sob, crying for the crowd, I realized, "M-Machiko's Mommy and...and Daddy are- are- " She broke off into loud sobs.
"Oh, Machiko-chan...you'll be okay. It'll be okay." I comforted, although I knew she didn't need it. I was a little weirded out about how calm she was. Why was she so calm? Her parents had just burnt to death. Maybe it was shock?
I just hugged her, ignoring all the blood on her hands and clothes-
Oh.
Oh dear.
I took her hands in mine, keeping her close as I pulled out a kunai. I always kept one with me, tucked in the folds of my clothes. Leaning in so I could whisper in her ear, I said, "It'll look suspicious if you have so much blood on you, but only a few scratches."
Then, as she nodded, I began cutting her palms and fingers.
And I wondered, for a moment, if Machiko had always been like this, or if I had manipulated her just a little too much, too soon.
And there we have it~!~!~!~! The latest chapter in Demon Eyes! A lot of crap happened in this chapter...Ai learnt about her 'mutation', began training to use it, we met a new character, Sora, Ai's snapping and Machiko-chan...
No Gaara in this chapter, sadly. i'll try to get more of him in next chapter, but eh...?
Sorry for yet another late chapter, life is being...lifey. The bastard.
Lemme know if you have any questions about this chapter, I'm sure a few things are confusing, so I'll do my best to explain to you if i can without spoiling things.
There's a poll on my profile for what the second 'special', chapter 20, should be about, so you should vote for that if you haven't already.
Big thanks for reviewing goes to: Gemini's Revenge, BOSS02109, missfites, bored411, amequa, Critique Dragon, kingdomlily, hachinonana, Anomanom, wyteeth, Lady The Warrior, MathewBadger, xVentressx, Kragh50, bunnyguest, Luizals, Crystal013, Peanutty Bun, Guest, skipbeataddict, guisniperman, Misses X, marbe101, Aankon27, KillerCupcakes, Guest, whatnameshallitake, Lil Peanut Bun, micaelaepochito, Zeila27, Luna Latanya, LITTLE RED FOXX, ChaosTheVoid, the shadow of nature, NOTHINGButADREAM, and Guest.
Demon Eyes now has: 273 reviews, 952 Followers, 677 Favourites, and is mentioned in 18 communities.
Thank you guys so much for your support!