Sunday, January 12th, 2014.
I should have updated a week ago. I'm sorry it's so late! Again!
DoOver's late, too - this would've been the day I updated it. I'll post it in the next couple days - still writing it.
News/Fun Fact: Um... I take pride in my height? I like being tall? Though right now I'm around average... damn teenage guys... shooting past me...
I watched Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club. I liked it actually - it's a story of friendship and the sport that they love and brought them back together again - swimming. It's a nice, mostly calm one, with the added bonus of fanservice and hot guys. I just thought it'd be a mindless fanservice anime that they have a lot of these days, but it was actually nice. With surprisingly little Ho Yay (basically yaoi undertones; look it up on ). I expected a lot, but KHR has way more than this! And that's because Mukuro wants to take over the main (always the uke in doujin) character's body (for a legit evil plan), Hibari and Dino are Hibari and Dino, and there's a lot of hot guys. And other reasons, but there was a lot more Ho Yay in KHR than in Free!.
I also now follow a parody series of Free by Octopimp on Youtube. It's called 50% Off (get it?) and it's freaking hilarious. Especially Nagisa's voice.
If you've seen Free, go watch the parody now!
Arizona (parts of it) is weirdly bipolar in the winter. Some days, it's cold. But other days, like today, you would've been fine walking around in a long shirt. No jacket necessary. Thank God I don't live in a cold state anymore. I have no tolerance for the cold now.
Rec: I'll do it next time. Hopefully. I don't have time now.
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto.
Dedication: Osiria Rose.
AotW: #2: Christmas and New Year's. I went to a couple houses of our friends (family friends) on both days. The funny thing was, it didn't even feel like those holidays. Especially X-Mas. It just felt like another day.
GRR:
Osiria Rose: Yep. :) Aww, thank you. X3 I'm glad you found it funny. I tried to make it funny, but I wasn't sure it worked. I'm not good at being funny. XP
Chloe: Thank you, and I'm sorry this was so late. XP
Someone like u (for ch. 26): You did? Cool! Thank you. :) I hope that you continue to read it. :)
Warnings: Some language; mentions of torture (I'm not good at writing stuff like that, so it's not that bad); and signs Shikamaru's hormones work just fine. Nothing too bad, though. Quite mild, actually.
Romance: Brief, implied SuiKa; Mentioned SaIno; some ShikaTema.
Content: Karin's, Ino & Chouji's, and Shikamaru & Temari's fights.
Length:
AN: ~6k+.
No AN: ~5.7k+.
Chapter 28: Dreams, Pills, and Genjutsu
Karin POV
"Why are you fighting me, Karin?" Kabuto asked, as he avoided nearly every one of my attacks. His nonchalance in our fight infuriated me. Just stay still so I can fucking hurt you, dammit!
"I don't understand," he continued. "Were we not allies? Friends? What happened to your loyalty to Orochimaru-sama?" He grinned sinisterly. "Don't tell me you have actually developed feelings for these Konoha shinobi?"
I tried not to show my irritation.
"My reasons are my own and none of your business," I said, grinning as I finally left a bloody cut on that damned smug face of his with my kunai.
"All you need to know," I grunted, dodging one of his attacks, "Is that I'm your enemy."
"Oh?" Kabuto kept that stupid smirk on his face. I never liked this guy… I hated him the moment I laid my eyes on him.
"May I ask why?"
"No." I keeled over for a moment, trying to breathe after a hard punch to my stomach.
I quickly straightened my posture and returned with a punch to his face, leaving a bruise. Yes!
"Less talking, more fighting."
He shrugged, easily dodging a few kicks and punches of mine. "Fine, then."
I don't know how long we fought at the edges of the woods; all I do know was that I was getting tired while Kabuto and those fucking regeneration abilities of his kept him in decent shape. At the rate of things, I was going to lose. I have to do something; I can't lose here.
Deciding it was now or never, I suddenly began to throw more power into my attacks and the simple ninjutsu I used, (I didn't know much, actually) trying to finish this as soon as possible.
"Karin, Karin, Karin," Kabuto tsked. "Don't you know anything about battle strategy? You're going to lose anyway, dear; making yourself pass out sooner isn't going to change that. Your attacks are becoming reckless and- umph!"
I interrupted him as I landed a kick against his temple, sending him down to the ground a few feet away from me.
"Looks like my attacks aren't so reckless after all."
I surged chakra through my body.
Before he could get up, I threw myself on the ground next to him and basically stripped him to his boxers, ripping his pants up to pieces while taking anything in the pockets, putting them next to some of his weapons, out of his reach.
For the record, I'm not doing this because I'm a pervert (because I'm not) - I do this because the last thing I need is Kabuto gutting me unexpectedly with a hidden weapon.
Just to be safe, I removed his shoes as well – his kicks wouldn't hurt as much and who knew if he had a knife hidden in there or something? Better safe than sorry.
I grimaced, never having wanted to see so much of Kabuto, but I ignored it as I straddled him after slashing muscles in his legs to keep him from kicking me for however it long it took for him to regenerate. After so many years with Orochimaru, and being this guy's apprentice, this is should be nothing… But it's still disgusting. Ew.
While he was distracted with the pain, I tied his hands together, slashing the muscles in his forearm that were used for motion and trapped them under his torso, before straddling him once more.
I was quick and inwardly, I congratulated myself with my speed. Good job, Me.
In control for a short while, I took a bit of time to let loose on that smug face of his, letting the shards of his glasses remain on his face, cutting him further the more I punched him. I ignored the feeling of the glass, too preoccupied with screwing up the face of someone I hated. Ah… this feels good.
When I stopped, he took that pause to say something. "Is that all you've got, Karin? How juvenile. Sooner or later, I'll have the strength to throw you off and then you're doomed. You've exhausted yourself with this childish plan, dear. I thought I taught you better than that?"
I glared. "Orochimaru's the one who taught me to fight. You're just the one who taught me about how to be a crazy, sadistic, surgeon."
He rolled his eyes, the smirk I hated still on his face. "Well, now you've gone and broken my glasses, ridden me of my weapons, as well as my clothes. Though it won't matter in the end, you've accomplished that much."
His gave me a sinister grin. "So what are you going to do next? Kill me? Even in Orochimaru-sama's lair, you were never a fan of killing someone yourself. And I could tell that Konoha has definitely made you soft."
Instead of glaring at him like I usually did, I gave him a grin similar to his own. His eyes widened slightly, wondering what I was going to do next.
I reached into my pouch, knowing that his legs have fully regenerated and his arms were free and healed behind his back and was waiting for an opening. He was trying to distract me with his talking. I don't have much time… I have to make this fast.
If I didn't time this right, I was doomed. I had exhausted nearly all of my chakra, and the chakra that I forced through my veins before for strength was now gone. I was gonna pass out soon at the rate things were going, and Kabuto would make a move and defeat and kill me or capture me any second.
"I'll admit I've gotten a bit soft since I came here, but remember…" I said huskily, leaning into Kabuto's face.
Kabuto's eyes widened and he opened his mouth as if to say something, but choked on it.
"I can do far worse things than killing you." I removed the syringe from his neck, the pink, transparent liquid formerly in it now traveling quickly through his bloodstream. Even faster, now that he was panicked. "You've taught me that much."
He tried to speak, but he couldn't get any words out and gargled.
I got up from my straddling position as he convulsed, hands instinctively grabbing his throat. I smirked.
"You of all people should know that this doesn't kill," I said to him, tilting my head and faking a pleasant grin. "After all, you're the one who told me all about this poison, Sensei. You even further worked on it and demonstrated it several times for me on multiple test subjects."
I collected all the items that were on Kabuto's person that I removed, stuffing them into my pouch.
I walked over to Kabuto, removing his boxers and taking the weapons hidden within them quickly before placing them back on as fast as I could. However, it was hard with the sporadic movements from the seizure he was under, due to the poison. If I could bleach out certain memories... this would definitely be one of them. It'd take forever for me to get rid of this image... *shiver*
I even removed his hair band and searched his hair for weapons. I found a senbon, and a miniscule packet of some type of powder. What is this? Cocaine?
I doubted it.
He was never the druggie type.
He was interested in testing their effects on experiments, but other than that he was disgusted by them because, "they were just a mash up of chemicals and ingredients. All those who take them care about is the high they get – they don't see the hidden potential in making such things! The ones who put them together just care about the money! All the things they could create by adding just a little extra of something here, taking a bit of something out, or adding something completely new in entirely could have incredible effects on the brain! All the things one could do! And none of those sentimental fools see that. Or care."
If that didn't make sense, he's basically upset because druggies don't want to experiment all the terrible things you can do to your brain with chemicals. Just the high, for whatever reason it may be. To escape pain, to fit in, to feel good; doesn't really matter. Neither do the consequences to taking the drugs. (There's a reason people say drugs are bad, kiddos.)
The point is that: Kabuto's weird, and the bag probably doesn't have cocaine in it.
I stuffed it in my pocket, deciding to find out what it was later.
I looked at Kabuto.
He was down to trembling. He should be knocked out soon, since he isn't just yet.
I tied him up tightly with chakra strings.
The poison I gave Kabuto initially makes your heart pump hard, quickly, and painfully, but not enough to kill you. It makes you have seizures and sometimes, foam at the mouth. At that point, aside from the jerking from seizing, your body is completely out of your control. The only movements come from trembling and seizing. Your body feels like it's in flames and you're ultra-sensitive to everything.
When you wake up, anywhere from 6-12 hours later, you can't control most of your body movements at the beginning. Usually, you would have spasms all throughout their body as well as trembling again. I'm not quite sure how it works, but it also works double as a truth serum – whatever you say is the truth. I don't know why, but the poison also forces you to talk from the moment you wake up until hours afterward. I've never seen someone talk for more than 4½ hours, though. There breaks, though few: you have is when you take a breath; throat dries out (and if you drink something you'll start talking after your throat is satisfied); or at very random pauses you have no control over. It's assumed that it's to let your jaw and tongue rest, but judging by the lengths of some of them, it's not always the case. The pauses can last anywhere form seconds to almost an hour. Usually, though, it's no more than 10-15 minutes.
Those pauses are a result of the body's natural instinct to keep itself going. Your body doesn't want you to dehydrate or completely wear out any muscle.
The more time that passes during this "talking period", the more mobility you'll regain. But it's kind of useless anyway. Unless you shut up (which you can't on your own; you'll have to wait for it to happen) there's no way you'll be able to escape whoever gave the poison to you. You'll be lacking something called stealth; which requires silence.
After the hours of talking have worn out, you fall asleep for about 24 hours, and the poison has lost all of its power. It can't be properly broken down in the body naturally, however, and give your digestive system hell for weeks to months until it's finally out of you.
But it would be easy to get it out with medical ninjutsu. Not that Kabuto did that very often to the test subjects.
The poison can work more than once on the same person, though it's just a tad weaker every time. Even more so if it wasn't properly and completely removed the last time.
But it takes a good 10 times for you to have some control over what you say or do, so it doesn't matter if it's weaker than the last time anyway. It still hurts, too.
If you haven't figured it out, it's usually used for torturous interrogations. It's a personal favorite of Kabuto's, and because of that, I used this specific poison.
Once the liquid was in your veins, you're done for, unless A) you somehow got away from whoever was forcing it into your body in the first place after you wake up again sometime after talking (because then you'll be able to move B) someone removes it.
Which isn't likely.
I sighed, collapsing against a tree, fighting to keep my eyes open. I'm done… I'm totally wiped out.
I dug in my now-bulging pouch for the flare all of us girls were given.
I pointed to the open sky between the trees and fired. A blood-red streak permeated the sky.
I closed my eyes, sneaking a quick glance at the tied-up Kabuto, already feeling the ANBU coming my way.
They were told to come when they saw my streak (they knew what color to look for), because it was already planned that I would fight Kabuto. Some were on stand-by in case I failed to detain Kabuto.
We weren't about to let him get away.
As drifted off to consciousness, an odd image come to my mind. Suigetsu?
He grinned, and held his hand out to me, as if I was on the ground. This must be a dream...
"What are you waiting for, Four-Eyes? We're gonna be late!"
I didn't feel the smile the came upon my face in the outside world as I reached up to Suigetsu, now fully immersed in the dream.
"Don't twist your panties into a knot. I'm coming… Sui."
Ino POV
"Chouji…" I croaked out, pulling myself up from off the ground. Where is he?
I paused for a moment to cough up some blood, self-diagnosing myself, trying to figure out what was broken and why I was coughing the red liquid up.
Nothing too serious… one of the ribs Jirobo broke is poking one of my lungs… Unless I get hit hard in that area again, I should be fine. I'll heal that area for now, with as little chakra as possible so I can save the rest for Chouji.
I looked around again, trying to find my friend, who was a brother to me.
I walked around quietly, only passing a couple trees before a hand reached out and pulled me down, covering my mouth with a warm hand.
I grunted at the moment of impact, but struggled to get out of the mystery person's grip. Is it Jirobo? Shit!
"Hey, hey!" the voice said, I slowly stopped, recognizing the voice. "That hurts!"
I tried to twist my torso around to see him, but stopped at the pain that erupted from my side; there was a deep wound there.
Instead, I got on my knees and turned around, before hugging my childhood friend tightly in my arms, relieved at seeing him alright.
Jirobo had used his Earth Release: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling technique (1) and hit both Chouji and I with it. We landed in different areas. After a few seconds or minutes of brief unconsciousness, (I assume) I awoke with Jirobo and Chouji nowhere to be found.
Until now, that is.
"Are you okay?" I said, pulling away to look at his injuries. I pulled at his shirt and pants, trying to find just where the scrapes and bruises were so I could start healing them immediately, but Chouji took my wrists in his hands (I have small wrists, and Chouji has surprisingly long and thin fingers for his… size(2)) and pushed them away.
"Gee, Mom. No need to fuss so much." There was a grin on his face. "I'm fine."
I laughed lightly for a little bit, realizing that I was acting like his mother. You know, if she knew medical ninjutsu and all.
But soon, my expression turned serious again, and seeing it, so did his. "But seriously. How are you? Good enough to fight?"
He didn't answer me. "We've got to end this soon, Ino. You and I both know, the longer he remains in that secondary form, the sooner we lose."
"So what've you got?" I had a bad feeling. "I've got nothing except for attacking with all we've got, really. I don't have the chakra for anything big. I've got to save what I have for healing us."
He reached into his pocket. My eyes widened.
"Chouji, no-"
"You know we don't have a choice!" He hissed, trying to keep his voice down. We have no idea where Jirobo is… we can't give away our position.
Chouji took out the pill container. There was one pill left, the strongest – the red Chilli Pill; the Tongarashigan.(3)
"But Chouji…" I said softly. "Your body will…
He patted my cheek, giving me a smile. "I know. But you're here, aren't you? Things'll be okay."
I sighed, knowing there was no way to deter him from what he wanted to do. He'd do this with or without me. I love this guy, but one day, he's going to give me a damn heart attack with that occasional recklessness. And he's supposed to be the calm, passive one...
"Fine," I said. "I'll distract him, you come in and finish it as quickly as possible, got it?"
He nodded. "Got it, 'lil Sis."
"What?" I was indignant. "What do you mean, 'little'?"
"I'm older than you." He said matter-of-factly. "Did you forget?"
I couldn't say anything.
"Heck, you're the youngest on the team, actually. I was born in May, while you and Shikamaru were both born in September. And he's a day older than you."(4) He rose a brow. "How could you forget that?"
My eye twitched. Enough of this…
"Ugh! Never mind! Let's just get going already!" I stood up, pulling Chouji up harshly with me with strength I didn't know I had.
"Whoa!" he said, trying to find his balance. "Where is he, anyway?"
"Oh." I frowned, forget that part of the whole let's-fight-Jirobo plan. We kind of need Jirobo to fight him…
I opened my mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a roar and crashing sounds.
"Where are you?" the voice said. "My prey!"
I pointed a thumb over in the direction of the voice and crashing sounds. "He's right over there, it seems."
He rolled his eyes at my matter-of-fact tone.
He was about to pop the Chilli Pill in his mouth, but stopped, giving me a mischievous grin.
"Let's hurry up so you can get back to that boyfriend of yours, huh, Ino?" he said. "I never knew you were into the artsy type."
My eyes widened and I blushed. "How did you-" He knows about my feelings for Sai? Was I that obvious?
He shrugged. "Pretty hard to miss. You're just lucky he's oblivious."
"Chouji!" I was about to make him pay for teasing me when he popped the pill in his mouth and leaped off into the direction of Jirobo with a quick salute and a, "Tootle-loo!" before he was out of my sight and between the trees of the forest.
I sighed, rolling my eyes at his antics.
Then, I took a deep breath and hurried after him, ready to fight.
Idiot. I was supposed to go first. I'm the distraction, dammit!
Shikamaru POV
"Dammit, woman!" I grunted as Temari tackled me down to the floor, my head hitting the earth painfully. "A warning would be great!"
I tried to ignore the feeling of her breasts pressing against my chest, even through the chest guard she wore.
Her outfit today was different than the one she normally wore – still purple, but with a shorter, slit skirt, longer sleeves, and just a hint of cleavage was visible from right above her chest guard.(5)
It'd take a bit of getting used to.
She looked so good in it… she always looked good, but this makes her look especially good-… GAH! Shut up, Me!
So sue me, I have hormones.
"Oh, shut your trap," Temari retorted, pushing off of me and sweeping her fan in the direction of our opponent. "I just saved your life, you ungrateful lazy ass."
I rolled her eyes, though I did appreciate her gesture.
And no, not just so I could feel her body so close to mine. I was genuinely appreciative: my head would have been rolling on the ground far below us right now (we were on branches of giant trees).
"I would've been just fine had I side-stepped it – which I was gonna do." Also true, however.
Tayuya and Temari groaned at the same time before glaring at each other, me, and then each other again. These troublesome women… they have a bit more in common than they think. Though I'd pick Temari over Tayuya any day. I can't stand her. And she's our enemy, to boot.
Temari groaned because she was annoyed with me, while Tayuya did because she was annoyed at both of us.
"Look, lovebirds, I'd love to stay and watch the show but I've got a job to do." She rose her flute to her lips, the dark marks of her Curse Mark glowing and moving again.
"Shit!" I cursed. We can't let her finish her transformation!
Temari and I were about to pull out a few weapons to distract her with so we had time to physically reach her, but we didn't get the chance.
"Oh, no you don't!" Tayuya yelled, before playing a few notes on her flute. Immediately, Temari and I froze and were thrown into a genjutsu. It was stronger than the others. Probably because she was transforming, after which her chakra levels are supposed to have risen.
I don't know what Temari saw, but whatever it was, I bet it was designed to keep us from wanting to leave. Instead of being a nightmare sort of thing, it was a pleasant dream, so we would have no desire to break it.
I saw-… don't tell anyone, but it was:
Me.
And Temari.
Cloudgazing.
Genjutsu/Dream Scape:
We were a bit older, and her head was resting on my chest, one of my arms behind my head and the other around her waist. We were wearing casual clothes – I was in a t-shirt and jeans; she was wearing an orange top that I think Ino called a "halter top", and a long, yellow skirt with a slit in it.(6)
She looks good, I thought.
... It seems that I can't hear the Dream!Me's thoughts. Just my own.
"So how long are we gonna lie here?" Dream!Temari asked.
"Dunno," I replied. "I don't want to go anyway. The last thing I need to hear is Ino gushing about Sai… again. I hear it enough normally, but… ugh."
Dream!Temari flicked my chest in annoyance.
"Come on, Shika." She said."The sooner we go, the sooner we can get it over with. She'll just come looking for you anyway."
"Doesn't make me want to go any more than I already don't," I replied. Are we going on a double-date or something? Are we dating?
My mind felt foggier and foggier the longer I remained in this genjutsu. I knew I should try and break it, but I just… didn't want to. It felt… nice…
A grin took Dream!me's lips. "But maybe with a little bit of persuasion, I would go."
... What?
Temari rose her head from my chest, a devious grin on her lips.
Don't tell me...
"Yeah," she agreed. "I do believe some persuasion is in order."
She crawled up my body and stopped when she was leaning over my face.
This is-…! I have to-…!
I stopped thinking the moment our lips met.
We kissed slowly, but passionately and with purpose, as if we knew just what the other liked from experience. If I was coherent enough, my hormonal side would've wondered just how much practice we had to get it so right.
She pulled away moments later, licking her lips.
"That enough to tide you over until we're alone again?"
Dream!Me nodded, also licking his lips. "Think so. But let me have a little more just in case."
He leaned in to her and she leaned into him. Once again mostly coherent, I tried to gain control of what was going on and get out of this genjutsu. Trying to feel my outside body again and release myself from it. I have to get out of here! This is enough!
But luckily, I was spared from enduring that (ever so pleasant) torture of watching myself kissing a woman I'm apparently more attracted to that I would admit but never getting the opportunity to truly feel her kiss when a familiar voice called from behind us.
"Are you kidding me?" I sat up and turned to see Ino stomping towards us, Sai close behind her.
"You're late because you decided to spend too much time making out?!" Ino was furious.
Sai tapped her shoulder. She turned to him, a brow raised, wordlessly asking what he wanted, a bit irritated from being interrupted from shouting at me (and Temari).
"Beautiful, weren't you just complaining about how little hormones he seemed to have when he was younger? Now that he and Temari-san are exercising those hormones, shouldn't you be happy?" His head tilted in confusion. So even now he's not totally normal…
"Maybe he's even 'gotten laid', like you hoped he would."What? Hey!
Ino looked like he was considering her words, not at all seemingly embarrassed by what he said.
She turned to the red Dream!Temari and I.
"Have you?" She asked, referring to the last thing Sai said.
"What?" Dream!Temari sputtered, while I shouted, "No!", at the same time.
If I could have, I would've sighed. Thank God. But something tells me the answer's more of a "not yet", instead of just a "no"…
I had conflicting feelings about that.
Ino kissed Sai on the cheek. "Thanks for calming me down, sweetie, but since they haven't slept with each other yet, no, I'm not satisfied. I appreciate your help, though."
Sai gave her a small, real, smile. So they really are dating… well, she seems to like him in real life, and he seems to trust her a lot, so… maybe it's possible one day.
"My pleasure," he replied.
Dream!Me sighed and stood up, pulling Temari up with him. Both the real me and the dream!me stared at how pretty she looked in her simple, feminine, outfit.
"Let's go…" I pulled her along behind me, following Ino and Sai to wherever we were going to eat for our "double-date" (it seems that Temari and I weren't actually together… yet).
At this point, I'm not sure why, but I sent a sense of satisfaction.
I assume that when Tayuya cast this genjutsu, it was meant to show me something I wanted. And I'll admit… it'd be foolish to deny it now at this point, but…
I do like Temari, and I do, (way) deep down, want to be with her. One way or another.
I've been oddly drawn to her since we first met and I couldn't help myself.
So I took what I could by training with her 3 days a week during the month of break we got between the Prelims and the Finals. I just wanted to spend time with her…
My excuse for training with the person I was going to end up fighting anyway was so our Finals battle wasn't boring. If we knew each other's attacks, it'd be more interesting and engaging for the body and brain. Said I wanted to show off for once in my life.
I'm not sure anyone bought it, but no one said anymore after I told them this. (I could tell they wanted to, though.)
But I was now desperate to get out of this genjutsu.
Was it because I was disappointed that Temari and I weren't actually together? Because my homornal side were upset that she wasn't kissing me anymore? (And I couldn't truly feel her nor respond?) Because I accepted that this isn't real?
Maybe.
Because though I want her, I want something real. A fake future isn't something that will satisfy me.
I may be also feeling a twinge of guilt that I was imagining her in such a way without her knowing... Though technically, I'm not the one that came up with this dream/genjutsu in the first place. I just liked what I saw, for the most part. And that's the part that I feel a bit guilty about...
End of Genjutsu/Dream scape
I felt my vision begin to clear up, seeing both the dream world and the one in front of me. I reach down and tried to take out a kunai from my pouch.
It was difficult, since I wasn't totally out of the dream and therefore not quite used to controlling my own body just yet, but I felt a hand take mine and guide it to where I wanted to go.
With my hand, it stabbed my thigh. Not as deeply as I would have tried to do on my own (with my limited control) and planned to, but it was still more than enough to harshly bring me out of the genjutsu.
I let out a noise of pain, the hand taking it as a cue to remove the kunai.
Almost immediately afterward, the body it belonged to tackled me to the ground, my brain just starting to truly clear up.
By the time I noticed the feeling of breasts against my chest, I was fully clear again.
I recognized the body.
"Temari!"
She got off and pulled me up, dragging me behind her as she led us behind a tree a couple away from the one we were at before.
"That bitch nearly took our heads off while we were under the genjutsu. She transformed before stripping me of my fan and one of your weapons pouches when I got myself out of the genjutsu," Temari explained, pulling me behind a tree. "I assume she took a few minutes to transform while I was under. I knocked her off a tree branch and then woke you up when I saw you trying to do it yourself. I also got my fan back."
I nodded, taking this all in.
"Where is she?" I asked, formulating plans in my head.
"4 o'clock. She's heading this way." She gave me a look. "Don't tell me you can't feel her chakra?"
I stopped for a second, sensing for chakra signals when I felt a large, surging one nearby. Some miles away, I faintly felt another strong one. I don't even need to try and search for it, actually. The CM makes their charka levels insanely high… I can't believe I didn't notice before.
"I can feel it," I said. "Sorry I didn't notice."
"Still a bit out of it, huh?"
I nodded.
"Hey, how about this;" Temari began.
I turned to her. "What?"
"Let's have a little competition: the one who lands the finally blow on that bitch gets a reward from the other. Whether it be having the other do something, be their slave –for only 24 hours at most–, reveal a secret, whatever. Just one favor. I'm sure this wouldn't be too hard to incorporate into either of the plans we both know are coursing through our heads right now."
I rose a brow. "Why?"
"Why not?" She grinned. "What's a little excitement and fun in the face of battle? Come on."
I considered it.
"You beat me in our fight earlier. Being the last to attack on Tayuya shouldn't be that hard."
I sighed, shrugging. "Alright. Why not?" I don't feel like refusing her...
She grinned mischevously, and I felt my stomach drop. "I'm so gonna win this!"
She leaped between the branches, heading for Tayuya.
I groaned, sliding a hand down my face. I knew I was going to regret agreeing to this… who knows what she'll make me do!
I sped after my crush. So I have to make sure that I win this!
(1): Look it up on Narutopedia.
(2): It's something weird that I noticed. He has long, skinny fingers. Look them up; I'm serious.
(3): Look "Three Colored Pills" up on Narutopedia. Trust me, there's two "l's" in the "Chilli". I have no idea why.
(4): Chou: May 1st. Shika: Sept. 22nd. Ino: Sept. 23rd. Assuming they were all born in the same year. Which they probably were.
(5): She wore it when she fought Tayuya with Shikamaru last time. If it helps, she also fought with Kamatari then, her weasel summon. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it. Look it up, if you don't remember. Links don't work here.
Sorry for being so late!
For DoOver Readers, I plan to have the chapter up in the next couple days! I'm still writing it!
And sorry for the crappy editing mistakes in here - I only edited it when I uploaded it. I usually edit it more, but if I did, I would've updated later and I think you guys waited long enough.
QotW: #1: X-Mas ideas.
#2: Favorite book series?
Sorry it's late!
With love,
Cherry.
