The Unsung Story of the Inconspicuous
I do not own Naruto or any of its characters or affiliates.
After four days of walking on water, running up cliffs and standing on the bottom of tree branches, Team Ten reached the border to the land of Wind.
Raiku was already audibly panting in the heat, spiky hair drooping slightly. She felt sweat drying on her forehead as they stopped to rest, not daring to sit down for fear of exposed skin coming into contact with even miniscule grains of sand. Ichitaka was sending her concerned looks, but Yamada's expression was smug.
She cracked her neck as she stretched, resting her hands on her knees wearily. 'Is this… as hot as it gets?' she panted, lifting an arm to wipe the sweat from the sides of her face. Ichitaka winced. Raiku had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't like the other woman's answer.
'No,' Ichitaka said, predictably. 'It's only morning. It gets much hotter as the day goes on… especially as we near the village.'
Raiku bit her lip. Sand-nin and Konoha-nin didn't get along. Konoha and Sand in general didn't get along, either. What were the odds any Sand citizen would be willing to give her information on escaping the heat with the massive Konoha symbol on her forehead?
Also, where was she going to get hair dye?
'Shouldn't you take some clothes off, toaster?' Ryuu asked, chewing on a piece of grass he most definitely should not have been able to find in this heat. She eyed it resentfully. 'It's not like you don't have any to spare.'
She silently despaired. She knew she couldn't spare a single one, a single inch of fabric. In heat she may concede but in sand it was simply too dangerous. She wasn't used to walking on sand, so if she tripped and her bare arm flung out, or if she smiled and the sun wasn't bright enough to hide the blue behind her teeth, everything would fall apart.
'I… Gairano… Gairano family rule,' she forced out, shoving her protector up to allow her to wipe her forehead with the back of a glove.
Ryuu raised a sceptical eyebrow. 'Why haven't I seen any other Gairano dressed like that?'
'Specific... special rules,' Raiku explained wearily. And she knew, interestingly enough, that he'd buy it. She'd realised a long time ago that the evasiveness of her family came off as, well…
Mystery.
True to form, Ryuu nodded, taking the grass from between his lips and flicking it away. 'We should go,' he said to Yamada. 'She won't make it if she stays out in this for too long.'
Raiku sent him an exhausted smile. 'Thank you for your concern, Ryuu-kun,' she said formally.
'Not concern, toaster- if you collapse, I'll end up carrying you. Somehow everything you do ends up inconveniencing me more than anyone else,' Ryuu retorted rudely.
Raiku's eyebrow twitched. 'I… I see.'
'No way. She almost burnt my hand off when we had to carry her to the village,' Daisukenojo said, shooting Ryuu a hostile glare.
Raiku brightened. 'Thank you for carrying me Da-,'
'She zapped me with her chakra and bled all over me,' Ryuu denied flatly, folding his arms across his chest as Raiku visibly deflated in the background. 'I tried to stop the bleeding and she actually fought me. While unconscious, she fought me.'
'She landed on me when we were practising cliff-running!'
'She sent a pebble flying into my eye.'
'She's done that to me heaps of times!'
'Yeah, but you never use your eyes, so it doesn't matter as much.'
'Say that again, asshole, I dare you!'
'Watch your language!' Yamada instantly roared, surging to his feet and looming over them with the flames of murderous intent burning in his eyes. 'There's a lady present!'
Raiku's shoulders drooped sadly.
'Ladies! Ladies present,' Yamada corrected hastily, wincing faintly. Two belligerent sets of eyes, one unnatural yellow and the other mud brown glared up at him.
'Do you see more than one lady, Daisukenojo?' Ryuu asked tersely, eyes flicking over to the shorter boy.
'No,' Daisukenojo said flatly.
Raiku made a quiet whimper of defeat.
'Me neither,' Ryuu shrugged. 'We should go, shouldn't we?'
Yamada sent them displeased looks.
'Yamada, I believe that there is a Sand-nin outpost not far from here; we may be able to rest there until nightfall. Travelling by night would make the journey easier on all of us,' Ichitaka volunteered, graciously not looking or gesturing at Raiku.
"Sounds like a good plan, Ichitaka-san!" Yamada said with strained cheer, a small muscle in his eyelid twitching as he looked away from the two boys. "Come on, team!"
'Yes Captain,' Ryuu drawling, giving a casual salute. Raiku stared at him, aghast.
In the heat he was almost cheerful.
Talkative, even.
Or maybe, as she suspected was more likely, he just took amusement from her suffering.
Deep into paranoid musings, it took her a moment to realise they were walking off without her. 'Wait!' she cried. 'Wait for me!' She took off, yelping as even through the soles of her shoes the heat burnt her feet.
A faint cry of 'I hate the desert!' frightened several vultures from their rest and the dark birds lazily made after the small group. High above even those birds, a hawk circled in front of the sun, keeping a lone eye trained on them, looking for stragglers.
A girl in black with thin limbs was at the top of the list.
'Water,' Raiku rasped pathetically from Ryuu's back, the side of her face pressed between his shoulder blades. 'I … need water.'
'Stop. Talking,' Ryuu gritted out, fiercely trying to ignore her despite her arms thrown over his neck and his hands on the knees hooked over his hips. 'We agreed there would be no. Talking.'
'I'm sorry, Ryuu,' Raiku croaked, sniffing pathetically. 'But I think I'm actually going to die if I don't get some water soon.'
'That is talking.'
'God, just take off some clothes!' Daisukenojo exclaimed, giving her an incredulous look. 'No rule's gonna be worth this sort of grief!'
'Family rules are,' she maintained weakly, managing a feeble cough.
'Always me,' Ryuu fumed, eyes burning with repressed ire as he made his scowling way over the sand towards a speck on the horizon Yamada swore was an outpost, spindly girl clutching his back. 'It is always me.'
Daisukenojo valiantly tried to force the corners of his lips down, and failed spectacularly. 'What- don't like having girls pressed against you Ryuu-kun?' he taunted.
Ryuu's head snapped around to fix him with a glare that should have left him dead. 'Shut up.'
'I mean, getting sweaty with a girl is something only a real guy-,'
'I will kill you in ways so horrible your imagination won't let you think of them.'
'Ryuu,' Raiku pointed out falteringly, trying to shift her legs in his suddenly tight grip. She grimaced. 'Uh… Ryuu, my legs-,'
His head turned around as far as it could, leaving him able to fix a burning yellow eye on her over his shoulder.
'…Are fine,' she finished lamely, shooting him a terrified smile. 'Great, in fact!' She broke into nervous laughter.
His head slowly turned back to the front.
Her nervous laugh trailed off.
She shot Yamada a pleading look.
He ignored her, whistling cheerfully. She narrowed her eyes. 'Your joy is directly inversely proportionate to our pain.'
"What was that, Speedy?"
'When are we going to get there?' she asked instead.
He gave her a puzzled look. "Is Ryuu not going fast enough?"
She felt the muscles in Ryuu's back tense dangerously. His fingers dug into the backs of her knees sharply. 'He's fine!' she squeaked. The fingers loosened only slightly. 'He's going very quickly,' she hastily amended. The pressure changed to bearable levels. 'I'm just sort of … dehydrated?'
'That's because you've been sweating all over-,' Daisukenojo began, cut off quickly by Ryuu's furious hiss.
'You will die a thousand deaths.'
"We'll get there soon, don't you worry!" Yamada assured her, eyes glinting with unrestrained glee. The scars around his mouth gave away his mirth, creasing before his lips ever moved.
'You could just take off something,' Daisukenojo maintained, looking sickeningly refreshed in only a white singlet and his shorts and Konoha sandals. Ryuu was in a similar state of undress, clad in a mesh shirt instead of his usual one. Raiku was…
In fact more covered up than usual. Under her sleeves were layers of protective bandaging, and the dressing on her stomach made it that much worse.
'I… can't,' she sighed in defeat, letting her face fall onto Ryuu's back. She felt the vibrations of his aggravated growl and decided to ignore them.
He wouldn't use one of his wind techniques on her, he liked her!
'Ryuu,' she said slowly after giving that sentiment some actual thought. 'You know you need me alive to do the chuunin exam… right?'
She looked at his back fearfully.
He made a noncommittal sound.
She paled. 'You… do,' she added, cringing.
'We'll see, toaster,' he growled ominously. 'We'll see.'
'What, Ryuu- don't you like Raiku?'
'I will rip your tongue out and bury you alive in the sand.'
Raiku whimpered quietly, leaning as far away from him as she could without disrupting his balance. I'm going to die. My own teammate is going to kill me. Daisukenojo will be traumatised and go up to a Drama Level two.
Daisukenojo didn't look very traumatised, just slightly sunburnt and smug. His multitude of freckles seemed to be gathering new recruits on the edges of his face. Ryuu was tanning, not a freckle in sight.
She narrowed her eyes as realisation struck.
Ryuu was a Drama Level two or above.
Only people of a certain Drama Level could go through life looking effortlessly perfect!
Right now his slate grey hair was pushed back from his face in the slight breeze, almost long enough to be called long and pulled into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck.
Perfect hair.
She'd have to cut it.
Improbable eyes…
Well there was no real solution for that. But the hair she could change.
Hair was a dangerous thing.
She absently reached for a kunai.
He wouldn't use his wind techniques on her- he needed her to do the chuunin exam!
She leant forward and prayed to any merciful god listening.
A/N: Oh, the chapters can get shorter. I give you an update (sometimes TWO updates) every day. Don't toy with me.
