"Okay. If your mom asks, we're camping, got it?" Anko winked
Ibiki stood, arms crossed and as stern as ever. He had a look that said he wouldn't be far. "You sure this is a good idea, Anko?"
"It was Lord Hokage's idea." She shrugged. "Besides, if I'm gonna be her sensei someday I ought to get a feel for her, right?" A grin spread across Anko's face, she felt the little hand in hers tighten.
Kirika saw past the easy laughs. Under the jolly smiles and light-heartedness, Anko was wary. She could see it in the twitches of her eyes; in the way her clammy hand tensed when Kirika squeezed it.
Kirika quite liked Anko. She thought Anko liked her back, even if she didn't quite know what to do around her. Not many adults did. Kirika also thought that Anko must hate her, on some level. She looked too much like Orochimaru for Anko not to. The discord made her more interesting.
For now, Anko was an asset. It was thanks to Anko that she would be enrolled in the ninja academy in a week; Kirika suspected she'd have had much more difficulty winning the hokage's confidence had Anko not vouched for her. And adamantly, too. Kirika looked up at Anko with big eyes. She wondered just what internal struggle Anko was projecting onto her...
Anko looked at Kirika. "Ready?"
She nodded, and wondered how keen Anko had been to Lord Hiruzen's idea when he pitched it.
Kirika and Anko stood outside the 44th training zone. Anko told Kirika to pack her bag, and told her mother they were going on a camping trip for the night. To further their sisterly bond and all that. Anko didn't make a habit of lying to Hideko, but there was no way she could tell her the truth without giving her a heart attack. The last thing Hideko wanted after the two hectic weeks of interrogation and legal proceedings following Kirika's sudden reappearance. The interrogations did not extract nearly enough information as Lord Hokage had wanted. So an observation in the field was the next option; mannerism, jutsu, tactics, it was all valuable knowledge. An off the charts mission, devised by Lord Hiruzen himself.
"Ever been camping before?"
"Yes." Kirika gave her a suspicious look. "Are we really camping?"
"As far as your mom knows. Come on! We're wasting daylight!"
She broke into a ran, Kirika in arm. Anko's grin was infectious, and Kirika was giggling as she followed suit. She'd have to be careful, though. She liked Anko, but she couldn't let her know too much about her jutsu...
Kirika raised an arm to block the sun from her eyes. "Hm... Brings back memories."
"Nice place, what is it?" Naruto asked
"It creeps me out." Sakura frowned
Anko smiled "It should. They call it the Forest of Death, and soon enough you're gonna find out why."
Naruto put his hands on his hips and swerved in a crude chicken dance. "They call it the Forest of Death and soon you're gonna find out why." he said, mimicking Anko. "Do you're worst! You won't scare me away! I can handle anything."
Anko grinned. "So, looks like we got ourselves a tough guy." She threw a kunai at Naruto, grazing his cheek. She appeared behind Naruto "You tough enough to handle this? What? You're not afraid, are you? Tough guys like you usually leave there blood all over this forest." She cupped his uninjured cheek licked the blood from his cut.
"Oh... now I see. So she's where you gets it from." Sasuke murmured, glaring at Kirika.
Kirika snickered.
Anko drew another kunai from her sleeve, a grass ninja appeared behind her, holding out the kunai Anko threw at Naruto with a tongue that was far too long.
"I was just returning your knife." The grass ninja said.
Kirika's eyes shone. Patience. She'd be seeing him soon.
"Why thank you grass ninja." Anko said "You know, I only recommend standing this close behind me if you wish to reach a premature end." She took the kunai.
"My pardon." The grass ninja said. "With the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair, I'm afraid that I just became a little excited. I meant you no harm." She took her leave.
"Like wise." Anko smiled "Seems like everyone today is quick tempered, there must be something in the air. This is gonna be fun!"
Kirika eyed Naruto "What are you doing?"
Naruto was sticking his tongue out and grunting. "Trying to see if my tongue can stretch out like that."
"Ah... I see."
"Now before we begin this test I have something to hand out to you all." Anko pulled a stack of papers out from her trench coat. "It's just a standard consent form. Before the test all of you are going to have to read over and sign it."
"What for?" Naruto asked
"Some of you may not come back from this test, and I have to get your consent for taking that risk. Otherwise it would be my responsibility. hahaha!"
"Do we really have to agree that it's okay with us to die?" Sakura whispered.
"Now!" Anko said "I'll explain what you'll be doing on this test. Here, pass these out." Anko handed the wavers over to Naruto. "The first thing you need to know is that this test will test every one of your survival skills." She pulled out a scroll for everyone to see; a map of the forest. I'll give you a description of the terrain of the battle field. The 44th battle training zone has 44 locked entrances. There are rivers and a forest inside, in the center is a locked tower located ten kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you will undergo the survival test." Anko put the map back into her coat and pulled out two scrolls, one with a white boarder and one with a bluish-grey boarder. "The test consisted of an anything-goes battle to get your hands on these."
"Both of them?" Sasuke asked"Yes. You'll be fighting to get both a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. All together, 26 teams will be taking this test so half of the teams will be going after the heaven scroll and the other half will be trying to get the earth scroll. I'll hand over one scroll to each team, and that's what you'll be fighting for. There are also some ways you can get disqualified. The first is simple: if all squad members can't make it to the tower with both scrolls within five days. Number two: if a team loses a member or if a member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. But most important: none of you, and I mean none of you may look at the scrolls until you reach the tower."
"What if it just happens to flap open and you read it?" Naruto asked
Anko gave him a big grin. "Let me put it too you this way young man; You. Don't. Want. To. Know."
Naruto sighed.
"There will be times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents, the scroll rule is to test your integrity. Okay, we're done. Each team go over there and exchange you're concession forms for a scroll, after that each team pick a gate, you'll then be let inside." Anko let out a sigh. "Oh, and I have one more word of advice: JUST DON'T DIE!"
"Alright heads up you maggots! The test has begun!" Anko yelled. The gate opened and squad seven dashed in.
A scream rang through the forest.
"I do not like this place." Sakura shivered.
"Oh come on, it's nothing to be scared of, it's gonna be a piece of cake." Naruto assured her. He turned towards a bush. "Excuse me a second, I really gotta go."
Sakura punched him in the head. "Oh, no! Not in front of me you don't! Get out of here! What is this a kennel!? find a bush or something!"
"That's a bad idea, we need to remain close to each other at all times. Just go here, Naruto." Kirika told him.
"What? are you kidding?" Sakura frowned "Get out Naruto!"
"Use my name when you come back. So I know it's you." Kirika called
Naruto gave her a thumbs-up as he scurried off.
"He's right though," Kirika touched the trunk of a tree. "It's warm, fertile, teeming with prey, and the foliage creates cover from predatory birds. This is a great place."
Sakura rubbed her eyed. "Ugh! You're talking about snakes again, aren't you?""Why shouldn't I be?"
"Kirika!"
"Indoor voices." She hissed and extended her arm to the lowest handing branch. A snake slithered to her hand. "What I'm saying is, this place is teeming with allies. As long as I'm around, you'll be fine." Kirika assured her.
Sakura nodded.
Sasuke tisked. "Really? You're the first person I'd expect to stab me in the back."
Kirika laughed.
Naruto waved as he walked back. "Oh man that was a lot, I wrote my whole name."
"You are such a pig. You really are destructing sometimes, you know that?" Sakura crossed her arms
"Welcome back. How do you feel?" Kirika asked
"Huh? Oh I'm fine." He grinned "Kirika."
His eyes widened in shock, whipping to the side to avoid Kirika's senbon. One struck his shoulder, the rest embedding in a tree trunk.
"Kirika! What was that!?" Sakura shouted.
"Y-yeah! What th-the hell?" Naruto gasped "I-I remembered and," He winced and gripped his shoulder. "and everything..."
Naruto doesn't call me 'Kirika', it's always 'Kira'. "you'd do well to spruce up you transformation jutsu."
Sasuke threw another punch at Naruto before he could reach her, who rolled away from him. Naruto managed to dodge another few blows.
Sasuke ran at Naruto with a kunai. "Alright then bring it on." Naruto said, he winced and gripped at his wound and dove with a knife as well.
"What are you doing!?" Sakura asked
"Take a good look at him. The real Naruto was right handed. His shurikin holster is on his left leg. And Naruto had a cut on his cheek" Sasuke said "Talk! what have you done with Naruto?" Sasuke demanded
"What!? What do you mean? I am Naruto!"
"Oh, please. Your transformation is worse than his. Naruto had a cut on his cheek, not to mention he was right handed, your shurikin holster is on your left leg." Sasuke glared "Tell us who you are!"
Naruto transformed into another ninja. "Alright, so you got me. So what? I'm still gonna take your scroll. Now-! H-hand it over or- or-" He began coughing violently. He ripped his mask off and clutched at his throat. He fell to the ground, convulsing. His skin grew pink and bloated. His eyes turned wet and tearing with red until he suddenly went still.
Sakura fell to her knees, hand covering her mouth. Her voice a whisper. "What... what was that...?" She looked back at Kirika and realised music was playing.
"A better reaction time." Kirika held her pocket watch in hand, she watched the second hand tick. "You think I'm called the Viper for my speed alone? I earned that title." She clicked the watch shut. "Vipers are venomous." Kirika glanced around. "I think he came alone. There was no point in questioning him. He's another participant. Nothing else to it." She walked to the corpse and began searching it.
Sasuke swallowed but nodded.
Kirika glared. "He left his supplies with his team."
"His scroll?"
"Not on him."
"Kirika... That was brutal..." Sakura wiped her eyes.
"Don't think about it. You're tears will do nothing."
Sasuke sighed. It was a nerve racking sight. But... He looked at Sakura and nodded. "It was him or us. If we let him go he could have come back with backup. He didn't feel it for long."
"We should find Naruto. I doubt he's far." Kirika pulled the senbon from the tree trunk.
"Kirika... will the ones you gave me do that."
"Of course they will. It's poison. We talked about it."
"You gave her poison?"
"Was it a bad idea?"
Sakura looked at Sasuke. He rolled his eyes, but gave her a curt nod.
They found Naruto tied up behind the bushes.
They huddled together in a circle. "That proves we can't just trust appearances, we have to make sure we are who we say we are, and not some imposter using some transformation jutsu." Sasuke said
Naruto nodded.
"Alright, so what do we do?" Sakura asked
"We need a password." Sasuke said
"What kind of password?" Naruto asked
Sasuke glanced around at his teammates "A secret one, one known only to the three of us, don't trust anyone who doesn't know it."
"We could all wrap snakes around our necks." Kirika offered.
Sasuke glared at her. "...listen closely, because I only want to say this once. The question will be: When does a ninja strike? And the response will be: A ninja waits till the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike."
"Got it." Sakura said
"You got one a little shorter?" Naruto asked
"No Naruto, that's it."
"Didn't you get it, I memorized it easy." Sakura bragged
"Sure, I got it, I got it. I just thought it was gonna be a password, not a pass-speech."
"If we magage to stay together... Naruto. We should be able to succeed easily." Kirika grinned. "I've been here before."
"What!? When!?"
"The proctor, Anko. I thought she would be my sensei, not Kakashi. The old man screwed me over on that one... She's an old family friend. When we met she took me here for evaluation."
"And you didn't think about telling us sooner?" Sasuke glared
"Of course not."
"Alright! So Kira will lead us to victory!"
"Alright, Rule number one: indoor voices." Kirika hissed
Naruto covered his mouth. "Sorry."
"Fine. With your wealth of experience, what do you propose we do?" Sasuke asked
"For today we'll avoid fighting, get a feel for the land."
"Avoid fighting, why?" Naruto asked
"Right now fewer people have been picked off, so there's more competition. We should find shelter and rest. The best time to strike would be between midnight and dawn, when our opponents will be most tired and paranoid. Then we'll make our way to the tower by night. If we focus on finding the scroll tonight, we'll make it half way to the tower tomorow, sleep during the day, gather food at dusk and make the rest of the trip the next day. Be wary, the ninja out there will be ruthless and desperate, but the days are shortening, so we'll have more time to travel. Fires will attract attention in the dark, so we can't light them at night. And try not to make shelter under hallow trees. They may seem like good cover, but there in the open and leave you with little room to flee. Sasuke, you take the scroll, since you have your sharingan, you can see enemies more effectivly then the rest of us."
Sasuke nodded. "Alright."
Kirika traced out dots in the dirt. "When we travel, Naruto you will always be on the left of Sakura, here, Sasuke, stay on her right, I'll stay behind at all times. That will make it look like Sakura is caring the scroll, so if we're attacked, pretend to be protecting her."
Sakura nodded "It's fine with me."
"Good." She swiped away the dots. "But be sure to stay at least three meters away from sakura at all times, make it look like you're trying to hide your position. That will fool the more analytical foes."
Naruto let out a surprised sound, a tiny cut opened up on his cheek and blood began to leak from it. "What was that?"
"Brace yourselves!" Kirika shouted. A huge, destructive current of wind crashed into them, violently knocking them in different directions, smoke-dust picked up.
When the dust settled, Kirika spotted Sakura and Sasuke and ran towards them. It was them; their chakra was right. "Hold it!" Sasuke yelled. "When does a ninja strike?"
She sighed and fished her pocket watch from her pocket. She clicked it open so the song would play. "The Autumn Crocus. You shouldn't be asking the password more then once. The trees have ears, and I see Sakura is with you."
Sasuke nodded.
"Hey you guys!" Naruto ran up to them.
Kirika eyes quickly widened. Already? He wasn't one to waist time.
"Don't come any closer! what's the password?" Sasuke shouted
"But Kirika just said-"
"I want him to answer it."
"Sure, no problem." Naruto said. "Okay. A ninja waits till the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike."
Sasuke threw a kunai at him, Naruto dodged it swiftly. "What was that!? You could have killed me!"
"Gotta hand it to you, you're quicker then the last one." Sasuke sneered
"What are you talking about!? What was wrong with that!?" Sakura asked "He just got the password right! Word for word!"
"Exactly. That's what's wrong." He glared "You really think Naruto would memorise all that? And get it word for word? Not the Naruto I know, not in a million years. You'd have a better chance teaching it to a hamster."
"Oh right, you've got a point." Sasuke said
"Besides you saw the way this guy moved, definitely not a Naruto move. Alright, come out, whoever you are! Party's over!" Sasuke ordered
Naruto licked his lips. "Aren't we the clever one?" His voice had changed to that of the Grass ninja from earlier, the one who returned Anko's knife. He changed back into the woman. "Tell me, if you're teammate was really that dimwitted why would you come up with a password he'd never be able to remember?"
"You see it wasn't meant so much for Naruto as it was for anyone who happened to be eavesdropping on us. It was a trap any you fell for it."
"I'm impressed, you certainly haven't dropped your guard, have you? This promises to be very entertaining." He said. The woman pulled out an earth scroll. Sasuke and Sakura watched with anticipation. "Ah, you'd love to get your hands on our earth scroll wouldn't you, it would go so nicely with your heaven scroll." he opened his mouth and forced the scroll down his throat. "Well when this is over one of us will have both scrolls. And the other will be dead."
Sasuke and Sakura fell to there knees, completely paralyzed by fear. Sasuke vomited, Sakura was silent and in tears.
The Grass ninja chuckled. "You're paralysed with fear."
The hilt of Kirika's katana ejected from her throat. She grabbed it and pulled it from her mouth. She looked at Sasuke, then Sakura, then at the woman and took a defensive stance. "You two are pathetic."
"Is there anything more cumbersome then weak teammates?" The woman chuckled. "You needn't trouble yourself any longer, my dear." He drew two kunai.
Sasuke's eyes flickered to Kirika, still wide with shock and fear. He managed to get to his feet, and draw a shaky kunai.
"Very good." the woman purred "Now what happens?" Sasuke didn't move. The Grass ninja began walking closer. "Don't worry, I'll make this quick. I expected you to be more of a challenge. How disappointing." He threw the kunai.
Sasuke plunged his kunai into his leg and ran out of the path of the woman's, Kirika grabbed Sakura under and pulled her away.
They took cover on the branch of a tree.
"That wound's deep, will he be alright?" Sakura asked, Sasuke covered her mouth.
"He'll be fine. You two need to get away." Kirika whispered. She looked back. "We have to assume that Naruto's dead. There's no point trying to save him, just run." She pointed. "That direction. Get out of the forest and find Anko. Tell her what happened. This isn't an exam anymore."
"What the hell are you thinking!?" Sasuke hissed.
Of creating a convincing cover story. "Do as I say." Kirika reached out her arm to cup Sasuke's face, she stroked his cheek with her thumb and looked at Sakura. "I have grown fond of you two. So let me save you some pain. Run away. Because if you don't make it I'll kill you myself." She glanced around. "If it gets to that point, death at the hand of a comrade will be the only mercy you see."
"Kirika-"
"Don't do it for yourselves. Don't do it for me. Go for Konoha. Tell Anko what happened." Tell them how poor Kirika risked her life to protect her precious comrades and village.
Sasuke swallowed. For all she was, Kirika was right. The look in that woman's eyes... it cut, the way Kirika's intimidations cut, but deeper. That woman really would kill them.
Sakura let out a muffled protest.
Kirika gave them an irritated expression. "Go."
Sasuke nodded. "Kirika... I want you to come back."
"You think I'm going to die here?" Her eyes were sarcastically playful, she rolled them. "Armature."
For a moment, all Sasuke thought was this wasn't real. If Kirika could still tease him like that... It would later don on him that perhaps Kirika's sense of humour stemmed not from arrogance, but an utter indifference to killing... or perhaps she liked how well he fell for the picture she painted for him.
Sakura shook her head frantically, Unable to talk because of Sasuke's hand over her mouth. She looked away from them and tried to speak, screaming out illegible words. She ripped Sasuke's hand away from her face. "Look out!" A giant Snake lunged towards them, they jumped away from it. The snake lunged at Sasuke.
"It's too late for that now!" The woman's voice rang.
Sasuke hurled his shurikin at it. "NO! STAY AWAY!" The snake fell onto a branch, blood oozed from it's mouth.
The snake's skin began to crack, the woman emerged from it's back. "I scene you're fear and desperation. It's only natural, the prey must never let down it's guard, not even for a moment, in the presents of it's predictor." She dashed up the tree, her legs were stretching and bending around the tree like a snake. Shurikin sunk into the tree right above her, stopping her.
"Looks like I came just in time!" Naruto proclaimed "Okay! I don't know what's going on here, but you've been picking on my friends and I don't like that! So you just better slither back down into your hole snake lady, before I make a pair of shoes out of you!"
"So Naruto, you managed to escape from my friend? Well done." The woman nodded.
Kirika stepped in front of Naruto, shook her head. "Step back. This one's out of your league. Sasuke! Drag Naruto away if you have too."
"What!?" Naruto shouted
Sasuke nodded grimly.
Kirika still held her katana. She eyed the woman. "I'll be your opponent."
The woman was right behind Kirika. His hand covered over her eyes. "How sweet, you're trying to save your poor pathetic teammates. Have you grown soft? Unfortunately it's not you I want."
'Signal for the attack will initiate on the first match of Sasuke Uchiha, regardless of the time.' It made sense. He wanted Sasuke's sharingan, too. A shame. Kirika wanted him bad.
"My apologies my dear, but I can't have you interfering, now can I? Sleep for a while." A warm feeling shot from his hand through Kirika's body, She immediately went limp. Her breathing became heavy, her eyes closed and she collapsed. He caught her and set her down. A genjutsu. Kirika didn't fight it, she let sleep take her... it was what he wanted, after all.
Many voices buzzed around her in a blurred maelstrom. Sasuke's and Naruto's... they were arguing about something... but what? Kirika felt a viscous wind nipping at her... she felt weightless, then heavy. Like floating and falling. It felt nice; soothing.
...
...
A faint voice rang. "KIRA! WAKE UP!" She slowly pried open her eye lids, they were heavy and immediately fell back down, She managed to open them up half way. Her body was numb and her mind dazed.
She looked dreamily at Naruto, who had her in his arms, he was panting. Kirika heard another voice, maybe the woman's. But she might as well be underwater. Say something to support your actions. "Na-Naruto... run." She whispered
Something came at them, Naruto grabbed her tighter and jumped, She felt herself jerk violently. She was floating again, being pulled away from Naruto. She heard her name being called again, but she wasn't sure who called it. Her eyes closed again.
...
...
Kirika managed to open her eyes once more, everything was still so hazy. She was laying on something. Moving. She made no attempt to move, and instead looked around lazily, but everything was moving to quickly. To blurry. Finally, she saw that she lay a the woman's feet, they were on the head of a giant snake. "Well, well, you're full of surprises, aren't you. Of course, I expect no less."
Kirika opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. And even if they did, She'd already forgotten what she was doing. It was her instinct to fight to stay awake. It put her in a restless sleep. She wished the genjustu would just take her already. Her eyes closed.
...
...
..."AAAHHH!"...
...
...
...Are you going to live your life like a tool?
...
...
...
...
'That's Naruto's scream...'
...
...
...A commodity with no true human value?
...
...
...
...
...
...Will you ever truly live your own life?
...
...
More commotion went on around her, the sounds of things shattering and exploding, and the crackling of fire.
...
...
...
...Will you live pitifully in the hand of someone else until you die?
...
...
...
Another scream. This one was louder. More agonized. They were Sasuke's screams.
...
...
...
...You poor child. Are you cursed just as I am?
...
...
She should get up... when the Hokage questioned her it would look good...
...
...
'Kirika... I want you to come back'
...
Sasuke said that to her...
...
...
...
Kirika's eyes shot open, She gripped the tree branch she lay on, She pushed herself up with her arms, and, shakily, applied pressure to her right leg, then her left and rose up until she was in a shaky stand.
Naruto was unconscious, dangling from a tree, held up by a kunai that was pinning his jacket to the trunk. Sasuke was doubled over in agony on another branch, Sakura was standing over him, not sure what to do. She looked up at Kirika, her face contorted to relief, followed by desperation.
"Well, well, so you managed to stand. Excellent work my dear." Kirika turned around, Orochimaru spoke in his normal voice now, the upper left half of the woman's face was burned off, revealing the skin and eye of his real face. Features almost identical to Kirika's, if not so feminine. "And now what happens?"
She glanced at each of her teammates. "I..." her legs buckled and she fell to her knees. She rose again quickly and spoke loudly, for Sakura to hear. "I will protect them!"
He chuckled and made a hand sign. Kirika felt the genjustu getting stronger. "I do hope you won't hold this against me."
Again, she fell to the ground. And again, she felt herself being lifted and then a breeze grazing her skin. She was being taken away from the others.
Kirika just barely opened her eyes. Sakura leapt after them. Kirika threw the senbon, it landed at her feet and she stopped in her tracks. Kirika shook her head. No.
Sakura stayed still. Kirika smiled and let herself be carried into darkness.
Sakura sat straight with pride, stroking the still rabbit in her hands with her thumb.
"Trade you?" Kirika passed Sakura a small case.
"What's this?"
"Poison. A vial and eleven needles. Use them wisely."
Sakura sat up. "Really? I'm ready?"
"It's very fact acting. There are three pills in there. Those are antidotes. I know you'll poison yourself."
"Have a little faith," Sakura sighed. "I'm not Naruto. I can handle finesse."
Kirika laughed.
"I caught the rabbit, didn't I?" She grinned.
"Oh yes. And after only a month of chakra control and, drilling, and agility practice." Kirika snorted. "How'd you manage it in the end?"
Sakura's giddiness persisted. "Rabbit snare."
Kirika grinned, "Finally." And tapping its twitching nose affectionately. She let Sakura bask in her victory before turning to seriousness. "...now Kill it."
Sakura recoiled. "W-what?"
"Go on... to protect the village."
"How is killing that going to protect the village."
"Oh, it will, trust me. If you don't, thousands will die. Now use that extra needle. Poison it."
"No!"
"Then give back the poison and all this training was for nothing."
Sakura's brow furrowed.
"This will help you." Kirika promised. "You can't hesitate when its another ninja."
"Kirika, that's messed up!"
Kirika clicked her tongue. "The first time is hard. But it has to be done. Then it's all habit from there. You just need to get through the first time. If you hesitate..."
Sakura stared at the rabbit.
"Go on." Kirika urged. "It'll make it easier if you practice. You need to see what it means to poison something."
Sakura's hands began to tremble. "I don't want to..."
Kirika didn't say anything. If it was Orochimaru, he'd have made her care for the rabbit; name it, and feed it, and take it from base to base... or he'd have used a human. It was a hundred times worse to kill something once there was a attachment. That was something that could never become habit. Kirika understood the necessity, but detested it all the less, even if Sakura would have to suffer without such a lesson.
Sakura suddenly felt like she didn't have a choice. She touched the rabbit's fur, it was trembling just like she was. She did it quickly, and flicked at the snap.
Kirika nodded. "But next time, you won't hesitate." Kirika lifted Sakura's chin. Those eyes were as intense as always, but she didn't see cruelty in them. It occurred to Sakura that Kirika really was trying to help. "And you won't flinch when you watch the victim you poison die. Do you understand?"
Sakura felt her eyes moisten. "I... I'll try."
Sakura felt hot tears run down her cheeks. The shock was the only thing keeping her standing. Why did he take Kirika? They would die without her! Sakura's wide eyes fell to the senbon embedded in the branch before her. Kirika did not want to be saved. No. Kirika could not be saved. Not by Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke were hurt... Sakura ran to Sasuke, he was still conscious, but he was cringing in pain. "Sasuke! Sasuke it's okay! You're gonna be okay."
He let out one more scream before finally blacking out.
"Kirika, you liar..." Sakura whispered. "You promised you'd protect us. And now I- I don't know what to do..." She was balling. "KIRIKA! I NEED YOU!"