Chapter Nine
'Oh, Kami.' I thought, groaning a little bit as I pressed a hand to my aching stomach. 'I am never listening to Akari again.'
I opened my eyes, glancing around my bedroom, and saw Akari and Rafu curled up on the floor. I know for a fact that they had started out on virtually opposite sides of the room, granted my bedroom wasn't that big, and now they were curled up. We had stayed up late last night and somehow Akari had convinced me to eat twelve cups of ramen - she had bet that I couldn't do it, anyway. I won the bet but I'd probably have to spend my winnings on some stomach medicine because I was in pain right now. I quietly got out of bed and walked to my bathroom, hoping I had some kind of medicine in my cabinet, and quietly jumping for joy when I found some - until I remembered how bad my stomach hurt and then stifled my groan when it hurt from jumping.
After I took a dose of medicine, thank you Aya Hatori for your mothering, I creeped back into my room with a camera I had gotten as a gift from Takeshi-sensei last year in my hands. I was going to pay okaasan back with a picture of Akari and Rafu curled up and being all cute as they were. Grinning to myself, I lifted the camera to my eyes, focused the lens, and let the flash go off as I took the picture - making them both blearily look at me before they realised the compromising situation they were in. I took another photo, they jumped apart with cheeks red, I took another photo, they both dived towards me. What ensued could only be described as chaos - the pictures I took had my panicked face in them, those two chasing me, the three of us fighting, and then the last picture was of us three smiling at the camera, our sleep tousled hair a mess, and big grins on our faces. I would treasure these pictures in the coming years and I knew I needed to get them framed.
I was supposed to meet Shikamaru in a couple of hours to play Shogi; Takeshi-sensei had officially released us from training until after the third exam was over, so we were relaxing until then. He didn't want any of us getting hurt or being drained for the last exam, we needed to be in top physical condition - these were some of the best genin around, after all. I took a shower, made an extremely light breakfast because I was wary attempting to stomach a lot, and then walked with Akari and Rafu to Akari's house. I had gotten those flowers for Okaasan like I had wanted and she had been extremely happy with them. Akari's dad, Jotaro Hatori, had finally returned from his extended mission and had commented on them, asking if another man had tried to steal the love of his life - all in jest, of course. I had never seen two people more in love than Akari's parents, and I could easily see Rafu and Akari being just like them as we got older.
I left Akari and Rafu at the house before walking towards the Nara compound, wondering what it would be like. I knew the Nara were renowned for their intellect, and their laziness, but I had never met one besides Shikamaru. Which only really served to remind me that I should probably get out more - it was great having Akari, her family, Rafu, and Takeshi-sensei but I would have to work with other shinobi in the future. It was important to know other's skills and personalities when you were going into a combat situation, otherwise you couldn't form a proper plan.
It wasn't long before I came upon the Nara compound, located outside the forest where they tended their deer, and I was honestly a little intimidated by the walls of the compound. Their was a guard on duty and I walked up to him, he had the same brown hair tied back that Shikamaru had, and asked if Shikamaru was inside. The guard nodded, telling me to wait and that Shikamaru would come outside to get me and escort me in. I waited for a few minutes before Shikamaru came out of the house, rubbing his eyes a little as though he had just woken up.
"Hey." I greeted the Nara, smiling a little.
"Hey, Ren." Shikamaru replied, a lazy smile on his face. "I know we were supposed to play Shogi, but Choji is in the hospital because of indigestion and I wanted to bring him something - want to come with me?"
"Sure." I replied, and walked into the compound as he gestured me in. The guard nodded at me and I did so in return, letting my curious eyes roam around the Nara's residences. "Is Choji going to be alright?"
"Yeah, he just needed some rest." Shikamaru said, smirking a little. "I hear Naruto was in their as well, so I might drop by his room."
I nodded, wondering if he minded me accompanying him, but then dismissed the thought because he had invited me. We came to a house that I assumed was his because he entered without knocking, discarding his shoes and putting on house slippers. I followed his lead, neatly putting my shoes in a corner, and slipping on the slippers he indicated were for guests.
"Mom!" Shikamaru called out, walking towards a doorway where I could hear someone, presumably Shikamaru's mother, bustling around inside.
"What is it, Shikamaru?" A stern voice asked, and as I entered the doorway, I saw a beautiful woman with tied back brown hair and a white apron over her pink dress. When she saw me, her eyebrows went up a little in surprise. "Oh, who's this?"
"My name is Ren, Nara-sama." I answered, bowing in front of the woman. "You have a beautiful home, I hope it was alright Shikamaru invited me inside to see it."
"Well thank you." Shikamaru's mom said, her stern expression giving way to a smile that seemed to warm the kitchen we were standing in. "You may call me Yoshino, we aren't so big on formalities here."
"As you wish, Yoshino-san." I replied, smiling at her in return.
Yoshino Nara laughed, looking from me to Shikamaru's face, and then speaking to her son. "Why haven't I met this polite young man before, Shikamaru?"
"We haven't known each other that long, Mom." Shikamaru said, scratching the back of his head. "We are going to go visit Choji, is there some fruit or anything we could take him?"
"Yes, let me get it together." Yoshino said, bending down and picking a basket out of a cupboard.
"Allow me to help, Yoshino-san. Just tell me what to do." I offered, and the woman blinked in surprise.
"Why don't you ever offer to help, Shikamaru?" Yoshino asked, and he rolled his eyes, mumbling troublesome woman and I believe his mother heard him, but ignored the comment. "It's alright dear, you take a seat and I'll be just a moment. So how did you meet Shikamaru?"
"We sat next to each other in the first exam." Shikamaru spoke up for me, going to get some fruit and putting it in the basket.
"Well that's nice. Are you in the final exam as well, Ren?" Yoshino asked me
"Yes, Yoshino-san." I replied "I am very excited to be participating."
"Well, I wish Shikamaru had some of that enthusiasm." Yoshino commented, staring at Shikamaru who just shrugged. I heard Yoshino say something under her breath about being just like his father and suppressed a chuckle, which earned me a light hearted glare from Shikamaru when his mother's back was turned. I shrugged in response, sticking my tongue out immaturely, and it was he who had to suppress a laugh after he saw the strange face I made when my tongue poked out of my mouth.
"Ren, you come back soon okay, and good luck on the exam!" Yoshino said as she finished packing the basket full of fruit for Choji and handed it to us to bring to him. I smiled in return, bowing once more.
"Thank you, Yoshino-san. I am thankful for your well wishes." I told her, and after a bored sounding 'I love you' from Shikamaru, we walked out of the door.
"Kiss ass." Shikamaru grumbled at me, but I could tell he wasn't truly bothered by it and even appreciated the respect I had shown his mother.
"Your okaasan seems like a very warm person." I told him
"She's tyrannical." Shikamaru said, snorting a little and shrugging. "She nags a lot and my dad is absolutely whipped by her; but yeah, she can be great sometimes. What is your mother like?"
In the past, when someone would ask about my parents, I would freeze and be embarrassed to tell them that I did not know but I had gotten used to it over the years. I still hated the pity in people's eyes, but it was something I learned to ignore.
"I have never known my actual parents." I told him, not looking at his face to see his reaction. "However, Akari's parents have basically adopted me and so they have become my family."
"How did that happen?" Shikamaru asked, and I froze for a moment when I looked at him. There wasn't pity in his eyes, nor sympathy, it was only curiosity I could see shining through them. I appreciated it more than I realised I ever would, and so I decided to tell him something not many knew about me.
"I was adopted from the orphanage when I was young by civilians." I said, a far-off look in my eye as I recalled it. "Do you remember in the preliminaries, how I covered my eyes to fight that other Shinobi?"
"Yeah." Shikamaru said, looking full on at me know with unrestrained curiosity displayed openly on his face and no longer contained just within his half-lidded eyes. He looked more alert than I had seen him since the Forest of Death, and it threw me off for a moment.
"I have a..gift. A dojutsu, of sorts." I said, wondering how the best way to explain it was without giving too much information or it being too confusing. He could probably keep up with any complicated explanation, but in case we were up against one another in the third exam, I don't want him to know too much about how it works. "Before I tell you about it, I need you to promise you won't mention to anyone unless I give my explicit permission.
"Alright." Shikamaru said slowly, clearly wondering why I would ask that but not questioning it out loud. "I promise."
"I have a gift called pre-flex." I told him, thinking of when the Hokage had explained to me what he thought it was. "I can see glimpses of the future."
"So during that fight, you were..?" Shikamaru asked, his face screwed up in surprise as he thought about what that would mean.
"Yeah, I was looking at the future to avoid the blows. I knew what he would throw at me, how I should react, and was always a step ahead of him." I explained, twisting my hands together in an uncharacteristic display of nervousness.
"Wow." Shikamaru said, I could almost see his mind racing as he thought about the possibilities. I could never have predicted what he was going to say next though. "That would make playing Shogi with you really interesting."
I stared at in, baffled, and shook my head slowly back and forth. "I just told you I could see into the future, and you're thinking about how hard it would be to beat me at a game?"
Shikamaru shrugged before gesturing with his hand for me to continue. "How does this involve Akari?"
"Well, I met Akari not long after I was adopted by them, we met at a park. You have to understand, I didn't have control of it back then; sometimes, I would just see flashes of something happening. The civilians didn't understand. They.. they wanted to send me to an asylum, because they thought I was crazy or possessed. I didn't think to hide it from them, and so when little things I predicted came true, they got really scared." I spoke, the fear and self loathing from that time in my life, which was now a distant memory, still leaving a bad taste in my mouth. "Akari knew as well, I had done things at the park and she was my only friend at the time. She told her Dad about the little boy who could see into the future and at first, otosan thought it was just a child's' imagination."
"I saw one day, in a vision, my parent's giving me to someone to take me away to the asylum. I ran to the park, but couldn't find Akari, and so I started shouting her name as I ran down a street I knew she lived on. That was when her mom found me, crying and shaking because of how terrified I was. I told her everything." I told him, smiling as I remembered the first time I had been swept into one of Okaasan's hugs as a child. "They went to the Hokage and told him, I showed my ability, and I was taken away from the civilian couple. I was going to be sent back to the orphanage, but Akari begged her parent's to let me live with them and become her little brother. The rest.. Well, the rest is history."
"That was kind of them" Shikamaru commented, still processing everything I had told him.
"Yeah, I owe them everything." I agreed, a warm feeling in my body at the thought of my little family. I hadn't realised we had arrived at the hospital while I was talking, and so it took me by surprise to see the building looming in front of us. "Oh, we're here!"
"Very observant of you." Shikamaru teased, bumping his shoulder against mine in a friendly manner. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you didn't go to the nut house."
I laughed at his blunt statement, feeling relieved for some reason that I had spoken with someone outside of my family about it, and bumped his shoulder back. "Yeah, they wanted to leave a room empty for when you need it."
Shikamaru snorted at what I had said and we were quiet until we approached the desk to find out which room belonged to Choji. The woman at the front desk informed us of which room Choji was in, and eyeing the fruit basket, told us he wasn't allowed to eat anything right now. Shikamaru decided to visit Naruto first, and give him the basket of fruit instead, and so we got his room number and headed that way. I had never met Naruto, but I knew of him; I was looking forward to finally getting introduced, although I've heard he could be quite.. excitable.
When we entered the room, Naruto was resting still; so, setting the basket on one of the tables, Shikamaru took a seat. Shikamaru spotted a pile of games over in a corner and I saw him visibly brighten as his eyes locked onto a Shogi board.
"Looks like we can play Shogi after all." Shikamaru said, smirking a little.
"You're on!" I responded, and we leisurely set out the pieces and the game commenced. Shikamaru was a hard opponent, I could tell; We both started out by getting a feel for how the other played. He probed my defences, I left spots weak on purpose; It was the most that I had ever thought out a game of Shogi. We took our time, quietly moving pieces, the only sound was an hourglass filled with sand that was keeping track of time. It was at a turning point in the game that I saw Shikamaru do the same thing he had done in the woods; he brought his thumb and forefingers together to form almost a circle, closing his eyes, and stayed that way for a couple of minutes. I studied his face while he did so, noting the way his brow furrowed and his nose wrinkled just the tiniest bit every now and then. Smirking to myself, I activated my dojutsu to see what he would do and I only saw one move. I was confused for a moment until I realised that he most likely had more than one strategy, and depending on how I would react, that would determine what strategy he would use.
"No cheating." Shikamaru chided softly, shocking me. His eyes were still closed and I gaped at him for a moment.
"How did you..?" I asked, confused
"It's what I would do if I could see in the future." Shikamaru admitted, finally opening his eyes to lock those dark, onyx orbs onto my own gray ones. "But it's cheating, so no Sakimonagan."
"You named my dojutsu?" I asked, amused that he called them future eye.
"You sounded sad when you said you didn't really know what it was, so I gave it a name." Shikamaru shrugged, acting as though it was no big deal, but I could see the flush working its way up the back of his neck.
"Thank you." I said sincerely, a little touched he had not only noticed that but that he had sought to remedy it.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru muttered, moving one of his pieces and looking at me expectantly. It was the same piece I had seen him moving in my vision a moment ago. I was about to pick up my own piece and move it to counter when Naruto started to wake up, causing us both to focus on the blonde in the bed.
"Huh?" Naruto mumbled, tired eyes blinking the sleep out "Shikamaru?"
"Yeah, it's me." Shikamaru replied, eyes focused on the table beside me. I glanced over and frowned, noting that the sand had stopped falling in the hourglass; did someone forget to wind it all the way?
"How long was I out?" Naruto asked blearily
"The doctors said you've been like that for three days." Shikamaru said casually
"Three days?"Naruto exclaimed, sitting straight up in bed. "When is the competition?"
"Tomorrow." Shikamaru said, slightly confused
"Tomorrow?!" Naruto shouted, and suddenly he was a blur of motion as he jumped around the room trying to gather his stuff. He grabbed Shikamaru by his jacket and began shaking him, asking about someone he called 'pervy sage' and then dropped him, going on a hunt for his clothes.
"Would you KNOCK IT OFF!" Shikamaru shouted, making even me jump a little because I had never heard him get that loud before. Honestly, I didn't know he could get that loud. "Don't freak out, Naruto - sometimes resting is the best thing for you."
"Hey! You're that guy who blindfolded himself!" Naruto exclaimed, finally noticing me. "That was awesome!"
"Thank you." I replied politely, smiling because of his exuberance. "My name is Ren, and you are Naruto Uzumaki, right?"
"Yeah, you have got to show me how to do that, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted out, sitting up. "Was it a jutsu or what?"
"It's not something I can really teach." I told him, shrugging a little but feeling bad at the disheartened look on his face. ""Sorry."
"Whats wrong?" Shikamaru asked Naruto, frowning and looking at the blonde shinobi who was holding his stomach.
"I'm hungry." Naruto admitted, his stomach letting out a loud growl to empathise his point.
"Well, you're in luck." Shikamaru said, pulling the fruit basket up. "We brought this for Choji, but the doctors said he couldn't have it, so we can share it."
"Oh boy!" Naruto said, giddily grabbing an apple from the top of the pile before freezing right as he was going to bite into it.
"What now?" Shikamaru asked
"We should eat it in front of Choji." Naruto said with a mischievous look in his eyes and a devilish smile to match.
"Man, that's mean." Shikamaru said, shaking his head but smirking all the same. "I like it."
The three of us got up and we were about to step into the hallway when I got a strange vibe. It was almost instinct to activate my newly dubbed Sakimonagan when I got this kind of feeling. My eyes turned ice blue, and I vaguely noticed Shikamaru stepping in front of me when he saw my eyes to block Naruto's view.
The air was heavy and dry, the room had a sterile smell to it that made me scrunch my nose in disgust. I never liked hospitals. The room was similar to Naruto's, but instead of the blonde leaf genin, there was a young boy with black hair and extremely bushy eyebrows. Rock Lee; this must be his room. I felt a pang of guilt for not having visited him, but with how hard training had been lately it had slipped my head. I saw someone standing by his bed, and my body tensed when I recognised the red hair; it was the sand shinobi who had faced Lee during the preliminaries. What was he doing here?
His hand moved and I followed it, in a trance, and saw the way the sand was curling around Lee's body. I approached the bed, trying to get a better view, and froze instantly when I saw the demented look in Gaara's eyes. I saw his hand clench and heard the bones in Lee's body break, killing him where he lied, and then the heart monitor flat lined beside him. I gasped, and the redhead looked straight at me with the most dead eyes I had ever seen.
"Lee!" I gasped, snapping out of the vision. I grabbed Naruto roughly, who was cheerfully telling Shikamaru about 'the pervy sage' and gripped his shoulders. "Where is Rock Lee's room?"
"What? Why?" Naruto asked with a confused look at Shikamaru.
"This is no time for questions, this is life and death: where is the fucking room, Naruto?" I asked loudly, his eyes widening in shock at the rough treatment.
"Naruto, listen to him." Shikamaru advised, worried eyes glued to the side of my face.
"Down the hall." Naruto said, pointing and was opening his mouth to say something else but I was already sweeping past him, basically sprinting, and hoping that I wasn't too late. I heard Shikamaru and Naruto following behind me, and when we got to the door I peeked in, motioning for Shikamaru and Naruto to do the same. I put my hand over Naruto's mouth when he opened it to shout something before looking at Shikamaru and raising an eyebrow. Shikamaru nodded, obviously understanding what I meant, and we crept into the room. Gaara's hand was open and was just about to close when Shikamaru caught him in his shadow possession jutsu. Naruto, before I could stop him, ran full speed at Gaara and punched him in the face; which also caused Shikamaru to reel backwards and yell at Naruto, telling him whatever hurt Gara like that hurt him as well.
"What do you think you are doing?" I demanded, glaring at the sand shinobi whose only expression was one of boredom and disdain.
"I was going to kill him." Gaara said quietly, his voice cold.
"What's your problem?" Shikamaru asked "Do you have some personal grudge against him or something? You already beat him once."
"I don't have a grudge." Gaara replied slowly, as though he were talking to dimwitted children. "I simply wanna kill him."
The three of us were silent for a moment, shocked at the declaration, and looking at each other. I steeled my resolve, angling myself somewhat between Gaara and Shikamaru, before asking him if he thought we would just stand by and let him kill our comrade.
"Well we're not, you psycho." Naruto shouted, pointing his finger at Gaara. Shikamaru tried to hush Naruto, obviously seeing and feeling how dangerous this guy was just like I was, and looked as though he were trying to think up something.
"Listen, take my advice and go." Shikamaru said, his tone low and dangerous sounding. "We were holding back in the competition, there are things we can do you haven't seen before."
"I will tell you again." Gaara said, voice void of emotion and eyes dead except for a small flicker of what looked like insanity to me. "Get out of my way or die."
"Screw you!" Naruto said, advancing but Shikamaru held him back.
"Trust me, Naruto, we don't want to go there. This guy acts like a demon." Shikamaru told him quietly
"He can act like a demon if he wants." Naruto said dangerously, glowering at the sand village shinobi. "I have the real thing inside me."
"My demon is as real as yours." Gaara told Naruto, locking eyes with him and telling us about how his father sealed a demon away inside of him; how Gaara destroyed his mother during birth and how he was born a monster. How the village hidden in the sand ostracized the child and shunned him, leaving him lonely and afraid. Gaara tells us a story of how Shikaku the sand spirit was trapped inside of him and how he became a real monster, and became the way he is now.
Naruto starts to back off, a wide-eyed terror in his eyes, and Shikamaru asked him what was wrong. I grimaced when I noticed the sand star to move from where it was lying limply on Lee a moment ago to gathering around the redheaded boy.
"Shikamaru, stay behind me." I told him quietly, grabbing his attention and I heard him breathe in sharply.
"He shouldn't be able to do that." Shikamaru told me, fear in his voice. I had to fight to not allow my limbs to shake, something about this boy was inherently frightening and after hearing that he had a demon inside of him, it only made him more terrifying.
"You have to hold him while I deflect the sand." I said quietly, my eyes never leaving the yellows grains starting to rise as one in the air. "First chance we get, we grab Lee and get out of here."
"Alright." Shikamaru agreed, determination filling his voice and making me steel myself. I felt a little bit more brave, a little more powerful; I had to do this to save Naruto, Lee, and Shikamaru. There was no other choice. I activated my Sakimonagan and as my eyes turned blue, the sand began surging forward and I gripped my kunai hard.
"That's enough." A new voice said from the door, causing the sand to settle and start to go back into Gaara's gourd. "Save it for the tournament."
Gaara doesn't say a word at first, all of us watching him warily as he walked towards the door and the sand that had surrounded him went back into the gourd. He froze right before walking into the hallway, his back to us, and said in a calm, controlled voice that had no emotions attached to it.
"All the same, I will kill you. Just wait. I'll kill you all."
I shivered slightly at the threat, instantly glad that I wasn't going to be the one to go up against that guy in the tournament tomorrow. I honestly hoped I would never have too because.. I don't think I would win.
A/N: Hey! New Chapter! Update and tell me how you like it! This next chapter, the one after this, is going to be absolutely crazy. It might take me a few days to write it, so be on the lookout, but the more reviews I get the faster it will get done, that I can promise you.
Review! Favorite! Follow!
~Rache