I was casually resting against a tree, watching Sasuke train without him knowing. Before you ask, no, I do not like him anymore than I did in the last chapter. I'm doing this for the team. Kakashi sends me a thumbs up from above and I nod slowly, grinning from ear and to ear and leaping out of the bush. I scream wildly at the top of my lungs, jumping over Sasuke and landing behind him with a thud. The Uchiha slowly turns and stares at me with pure confusion.
"Mika, should I even bother asking?" He asks in his borderline monotone voice, dark eyes skeptically searcing for something that was making me run. I sit up and dust off my shoulders, smirking and winking.
"I was trying to kick you but uh, I overestimated- you're a shortass." I sneer lowly, my eyes shining with my evil intentions. Sasuke opens his mouth to respond but slowly shakes his head, eyes glancing towards the slowly setting sun.
"Whatever, can you leave now? I'm sure you have someone more annoying to be with right now," Sasuke sighs, not yet getting hostile. Gee who stole the sass from him?
"Oh no, you take the cake for most annoying." I casually retort. Sasuke stares at me listlessly and shrugs, beginning to walk away.
"Whatever."
"I mean, aren't you ashamed at all? For I am the one who bested you during that mission. All you did was play dead."
This made the flawless skinned genin's head snap in my direction, eyebrows furrowed in anger. Sasuke slowly turns around and walks towards me, jaw tightly clenched.
"You think you're better than me?" He hisses lowly, sharingan now flaring with hatred. I gulp and make my smirk grow, arms crossing around my chest.
"Think? Honey thinking is in the past, I know I'm better than you'll ever be. I mean aren't the scores 2-0?" I grin, cracking the knuckles on my left hand as the Uchiha takes out a kunai and clenches the handle tightly. I kind of regret making him this angry.
"You'll wish you took the time to think, when I put you in the ground." Sasuke growls, throwing his weapon at me with deadly precision, I gulp and put my arms over my face. The pain instantly hits, blood dripping from my forearm. I gasp softly and pull my arms down, his Sharingan will make this a lot harder. I look back at Sasuke to see five more kunai flying towards me.
Ting!
"What?" Sasuke gasps, my eyes open and I tense up even more. The bones on my arms came out defensively in six sharp long spikes. I sigh softly, too late to bluff this one.
"My kekkei genkai." I note lowly, letting longer sharper bones spread from my wrists as the ones that came from my forearms returned to their normal form. Sasuke shakes off his shock and leaps towards me, baring a kunai in each hand. We collide with a series of shouts and I move quickly and with caution, a single wrong step and it was over. He was keeping up so well that I could barely take the time to consider a ninjutsu. He only just got his sharingan and yet he was already so much better than before. I have had to train this kekkei genkai for my whole life to get any control over it.
All we could hear was the clashing of our weapons, well his weapon and my bone. Suddenly I somehow catch him, his kunai pushing against the bone that came from my wrist. He smirks, I swear to god his sharingan flashed and spun slowly to mock me.
"Looks like you aren't too good after all, eh?"
"Mmmm I'm getting there Uchiha."
Kakashi's pov
He couldn't believe he was actually watching the slightly disgusting kekkei genkai at work. It was oddly graceful, the bones were all perfectly pointed and moved unnaturally at her will. Kakashi had his forehead protector pullled up as he watched the fight take place, though he couldn't copy that kekkei genkai, some of her taijutsu moves were interesting. She was surprisingly flexible.
Sasuke was a prodigy, he moved quickly and improved even quicker. Kakashi was genuinely unsure as to who would actually win. For the green eyed Kaguya had instincts to fight and kill as well as being tutored to be powerful from the second she was born. That Kekkei Genkai too, it was disgusting and off putting but powerful.
Mika suddenly makes another spike of bone grow from the one already sticking out of her wrist, almost stabbing the Uchiha right in the eye. Sasuke managed to move but when the two looked up, now a few metres apart, the sharingan user had a small scratch below his eye.
They both barely take a second to start moving again, Sasuke going straight for the taijutsu whilst Mika tried hard to keep their distance. The girl finishes her hand signs and jumps away again, her expression unreadable. Kakashi's eyebrow raises slightly, he hadn't seen her do many lightning based moves outside of practise. Why did she resist using that type?
"Kawaiteiru Kaze no jutsu!" The girl shouts, all of the dirt on the ground suddenly raises instantly, almost making it impossible to see. Kakashi sighs in disbelief, did Mika forget what the Sharingan could do?
The Hatake suddenly tenses up, where did Mika's chakra go? He couldn't sense her.. what did she just..do? No wait, her chakra was everywhere, it filled the whole training field. It looked like there were hundreds of little Mika's everywhere. Sasuke was looking around rapidly, eyes straining to figure out which one was actually the ring leader. Until she was suddenly there
"Gufuu Shougekiha no jutsu!" Mika shouts, her fist covered in a small tornado of sand. The fist slams against Sasuke's face and he is sent flying across the field, as Mika lands all of the dust in the air disappears. Wow, talk about dramatic. Kakashi notes to himself, sniffing and staring at Sasuke.
"You getting up, Uchiha?" Mika sneers as she flicks her hair from her eye, hiding the fact that her left arm was trembling with pain. Sasuke gets up and wipes some blood from his split lip, a small bruise already forming on his cheek. Kakashi looks at the sky, considering if he should keep the match going or not.
A loud thud earned their sensei's attention, and what he saw almost made him fall out of the tree. Sasuke was being pushed against the floor, Mika's foot against his face and the earth below him wrapping around his arms. The other Mika barks and turns into Noir. Kakashi had seen enough. He was about to teleport down there when Mika actually handles it pretty well, making the masked sensei smile and teleport to the hokages office.
Mika's pov
"Ugh!" Sasuke grunts, wiggling furiously underneath me. I let out some deep breaths and slowly climb off of him, collapsing onto my back and staring at the clouds as he walks over to me and glares down at me threateningly. Noir whines and climbs onto my stomach, licking under my chin and making me giggle.
"Take a seat, Uchiha, it is called good sportsmanship. You probably would have beat me if I didn't have Noir... probably.." I pat the spot next to me and almost grin when the exhausted genin takes a seat besides me, still sitting in a closed off manner. Sasuke glances down at me and wordlessly points to the spots on my forearm where the bones came out.
"It is a long story but uh, basically I can control my skeleton and make my bones grow and shrink. It actually doesn't use any chakra naturally but I use chakra anyway to make them more sturdy, you definitely scratched a few of 'em," I explain, smirking slightly when Sasuke cringes with disgust.
"That sounds disgusting," He responds lowly and I grunt, sitting up and stretching before taking a bandage from my pouch. I wrap it tightly against my forearm and stand up.
"I'm going to go to the hospital, hopefully they'll heal this for me. That was a good spar." And with that, sand pulls me into the ground and I reappear in front of the villages hospital. Hopefully they don't make me stay overnight, though knowing Gaara he'd find his way. My heart thudded painfully at the thought of seeing him again and getting to talk with him. It had been so long.
Timeskip
Well then, that was anti climatic. The nurses put some disinfectant on my wound and reapplied the bandage before sending me on my merry way, I guess there was more important stuff . The clock painfully and slowly continued to tick, in about 50 seconds it would be three o'clock. I was sitting under the tree were we saw each other earlier and counting the seconds go down, I already ate but my stomach was grumbling. I should have gotten something other than ramen and ice cream. About ten seconds before Gaara was scheduled to appear I felt the whoosh of an annoyingly familiar chakra. Kiba looks down at me and wordlessly takes a seat, I tense up when I could feel Gaara's firey sand chakra nearby, shit.
"Why're you still awake?" Kiba asks, looking over at me with confusion and interest. WaAAAAAAAAIT. This is not Kiba, I mean Akamaru was sitting on my lap and nuzzling against me. The little beast would rather bite my leg off than openly display any affection, this must be a test or something cause other than that it was very much believable. I shrug and wearily glance at the direction where Gaara was hiding, mentally begging my childhood friend not to leave.
"Why not? You come here to sing me a lullaby, hot stuff?" I smirk, deciding to make this liar regret trying to fool me. I lean against the almost Kiba and rest my head against his chest, cringing mentally at the feeling of Gaara's spiking blood lust. The Kiba impostor awkwardly laughs and pats the top of my head, bingo! It is Iruka.
"No, Naruto told me about the uh Chunin exams, are you sure you want to take part? Other teams would hate you because there were only meant to be three. You should just give-"
"Give it a rest Iruka-sensei, Mika is clearly playing you," Akamaru suddenly says, my eyebrows shoot up my forehead, is that...
"Kakashi-EW!" I throw the dog away from me and dust myself off with disgust, Akamaru turns into Kakashi and the one eyed man glares at me before glancing into the direction of Gaara. I gulp and send the white haired jonin a thumbs up, hoping he'd get that the sand nin was not a current threat. Iruka grunts and turns back into himself, glaring at Kakashi and sending me an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, Mika-chan, I wasn't sure how to test you and uh.. Kakashi is the only person who I though smelt enough like a dog to fool that nose of yours," The brunette blushes and rubs his neck sheepishly, I smirk and hug the Chunin teacher quickly.
"You don't need to apologise, I think that was super stupid anyway." I tease, laughing as both of the teachers scoff and storm off. I sigh with relief, almost impatiently tackling Gaara right then and there. I wait for the two teachers to be completely out of sight and turn around, almost screaming when I saw Kakashi pinned against the tree by Gaara's sand. What the..
"Mika! You have to stop him!" Kakashi shouts and my eyes widen, he wants me to.. stop Gaara?
"I- Gaara let him go-!"
"I'm going to kill him!"
I glance behind me and helplessly look at the struggling Kakashi again. What do I do? With a pained sigh I let the bones in my wrist grow, my eyes flashing dangerously against the moonlight.
"I can't let you do that!"
... poooof.
I was sitting against the tree again, Kakashi standing in front of me with his headband pulled up. I could still sense Gaara's presence nearby. But what the he- No way.
"You put me in a genjutsu? ARE YOU SERIOUS?" I shout, jumping up and pointing a finger at Kakashi as I glare at him. The white haired Jonin yawns and pulls his forehead protector down, hands being stuffed into his pockets as his single grey eye stares at me.
"For now, you can be trusted. Don't make me regret letting you participate in the exams." And with that he just teleported away, I groan in annoyance and punch the tree behind me. That asshole! He had me trapped for god knows how long!
Sand tugs softly on my wrist and I let out a long breath, letting the sand pull me into a secluded area in the forest. Gaara watches me with emotionless yet oh so beautiful eyes, the sand unravelling from my wrist and slowly slivering back into his gourd. I smile weakly and look around, I hadn't seen this place before, it was like 5 minutes off path but it was quite relaxed.
"You're late." His deep rough voice stunned me slightly, I was so used to that innocent childish voice from when we were kids, what had happened to him? It had only been like 5 or so years, was that enough to completely change my childhood friend?
"Actually I was early but my sensei came and.. heh I am sorry, so are you here for the Chunin exams?" I ask, tensing up as the redhead wordlessly walks past me, eyes locked on the ground below his feet.
"You should leave the village, you'll die." Gaara finally says, questioning each word as it fell from his lips. I blink slowly, doing the genjutsu release hand symbol to make sure Kakashi hadn't caught me again. Nope, this was my Gaara.
"I mean, duh, that is always a risk. What happened to you.. Gaara?" I softly ask, standing still and watching as the redhead paused his pacing and stared at the sky silently. The expression on his face was so exhausted, like it had been years before his last good rest. He looked so hurt and scared but it was all wrapped up in his defensive fear.
"Who hurt you?" The tone in my voice surprised me, it seemed to shock Gaara too because he looked away from the stars and stared at me, hand moving to cover the tattoo on his forehead.
"You left." His voice was unnaturally quiet with the wind blowing around us.
"I had no choice, Gaara. Mikano was killed and my mother was about to be arrested, do you think I wanted to leave? Do you think I could have stopped them?" I question softly, I start reaching out for him but the fear in his eyes made my hand return to its spot on my side. The sand user had a hint of guilt in his eyes but it was drowned out with the hatred.
"I never got to choose." He responded quietly, eyes closing as a memory must have started attacking his mind. I blink slowly and cross my arms over my chest, my heart aching.
"I wanted to stay, I wish I stayed but..G-Gaara I am here now.. right? You... don't hate me.. do you?" I softly ask, flinching when his eyes snap open and the sand starts pouring from his gourd and racing towards me.
"My own uncle tried to kill me, the only person who stayed- I ended up killing him." He growls, the sand tightly weaving around me and suffocating me. I blink slowly and try to take a deep breath, I can't retaliate, he needs to calm down.
"Gaara, you know that I love-"
"Don't say that word!" His voice breaks as he shouts, letting the sand wrapped around me fell to a lifeless form too. He shivers and the sand slowly returns to his gourd.
"I will not cease to exist," The boy growls, flinching when I am suddenly at his side. I stare at him and slowly wrap my arms around him, I could feel his sand moving around to capture me but I ignore it.
"I love you, Gaara-"
"I love only myself and you're just as good as dead to me." He hisses, thrashing around in my arms. Tears start escaping from my eyes as I hold him tighter, ignoring the sand that was attacking my arms and legs.
"Gaara! I fight for you! I love you! You can trust me! I was always there for you! That can happen again!" I shout, he shakes his head and shouts in pain.
"It hurts. Let go of me!" He whimpers, going limp in my arms. I tense up and close my eyes, letting my tears drip onto his arms. The sand user suddenly turns and hugs me tightly, painfully tight.
"Why did you let him hurt me? You promised.." He whispers softly, nails digging slightly into my back as I could feel his anger rise again. I close my eyes and lean my head against his shoulder.
"I am so so sorry, I wish I could have done something, I broke the promise but now I am asking you for your forgiveness. Please, you need someone to love you and I will always be that person." I whisper soothingly against his shoulder, the red head shakes violently and I could practically hear the arguing in his mind.
"I.." Gaara stopped shaking and just stood there, his body tense in my arms.
"You can never leave again," His voice had returned to being rough and almost emotionless, he shifted out of my grip and walked away I felt a frown creep onto my face. I wince, watching with curiousity as his ocean coloured eyes take in my appearance. Gaara flinches and steps backwards, eyes wide and filled with anger.
"Did I do that?" He asks with shock, I look down and gasp at the purple and black bruises on my arms and legs. I gulp and shake my head slowly, my hand reaching out for the scared boy. Gaara looked at my hand and then slowly our eyes met.
"You aren't a monster, Gaara, you're my friend." My eyes were hopefully showing my sincerity, and I was trying not to wince in pain at the bruises that were covering my body. Seems like the dreaded robe from my childhood would have to return. Gaara stepped away from me again, anger burning in those painfully beautiful eyes.
"You should hate me. I don't love you," He argues, his chest rising and falling as he starts to panic. I stare at him, wishing over and over again that I could have stayed with him in the sand. I shake my head and pull the sleeves of my gloves up, stepping slowly towards the boy.
"I will never ever hate you, Gaara. I will say it over and over again if I need to. I love you. No matter how much you hurt me." I let every word take its time leaving my mouth, watching carefully as Gaara went quiet so that he could listen to me and think. He looks at me and slowly steps towards me, a pained expression on his face.
"I kill people and.. I watch their blood spill. And I like it."
"So what? Gaara, I know who you are. I know the real you, and I can help bring the real you back to me." I was playing with fire here, I knew that he was very unstable at the moment but.. I couldn't take seeing him like this.
"There is no other Gaara! He doesn't exist! I'm all alone." Gaara shouts, clutching his head in his hands as he groans with pain. I blink slowly.
"No you aren't, I am never going to leave you again." My best friend, my closest and most precious friend. I spent my whole childhood with this boy, he sat with me as I cried in pain and guilt and he never left my side. He understood being alone. He understood me.
"Would you leave this village for me? and never return?" He asks, I could hear the scrutiny in his deep voice and it made my eyes widen. He.. I. I can't just leave everyone else.. can I? Would I?
"Gaara.." I breathe out slowly, my gaze falling to the soft grass below me. I shake my head slowly and look at him with guilt filled eyes.
"Don't you understand what you're asking me to do? People need me here, I promised to protect them-"
"But you promised to protect me first. You keep lying to me. My uncle lied to me too, he said that I had a broken heart. I am strong because I love myself and only myself." Gaara began to turn away and I couldn't just stand there and let him. I do some sand control jutsu and make my own sand go flying towards him, of course it was only stopped by the sand in his gourd but it earned his attention.
"I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU! BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT I BELONG TO YOU! IF YOU NEED ME I WILL COME FOR YOU, BECAUSE YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND BUT DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF THINKING THAT I WILL DROP EVERYTHING FOR YOU. I made my life here and if you expect me to just leave and follow you like a loyal puppy then you're just as bad as my mother."
That was all I could do before my own sand wrapped around me and pulled me away, I barely realised I was performing the jutsu until I had suddenly appeared in Naruto's house, tears falling messily from my eyes. I collapse onto my knees and cry silently into my hands, I couldn't stop those tears. They burned against my bruised and slightly bloody hands. I was surprised when Naruto flicked the lights on, his bright blue eyes wide with shock.
"N.. Naruto.." I let out, opening my arms as he pulls me into a hug, the two of us sitting on the floor. His house felt like a home to me, he was like my brother.
"What is wrong? Mika..?" He asks gently, patting my back as I continue to cry softly. I couldn't respond, my throat felt like it was filled with sand.
Time
Skip
Of
Legends
Naruto and I were the first to get to area where we were meant to meet for the first test, I ended up sleeping at Naruto's for the night so we left together too. The blonde boy yawns softly and nudges me when he catches sight of the oddly quiet Sasuke. The Uchiha makes his way to us and he looks at me before lowering his head and mumbling a 'good morning'. Naruto gasps and quickly says goodmorning back.
"What is with all of the bruises?" Sasuke asks before I could say anything, my eyes widen and I mentally slap myself, I totally forgot. Maybe there is still time for me to grab my robe. Naruto shouts with shock and finally notices.
"WHAT?!? HE HURT YOU?!?? AGGH I WILL KILL-"
"Naruto, don't." I softly shush the boy, pulling my gloves up as high as they can go and looking at my legs with irritation. Nothing can be helped there. The blonde whines and nudges me gently, making me blush.
"I just, fell, ok." I lie, even though Naruto basically blurted enough for that lie to be very obvious. Sakura quietly approaches us too, smiling softly at me and blushing when Sasuke says goodmorning to her, too. Wow, is he in a good mood today? It has got to be a trap.
The four of us walk into the building and I scream loudly at the sight of my three favourite teenagers. I instantly attach myself to Lee, hugging him tightly and laughing when he shouts with surprise. It took some concentration to ignore the pain in my limbs.
"MIKA?! SO YOU ENDED UP COMING TO THIS VILLAGE??" Lee shouts, spinning around with me in his arms. TenTen gasps with surprise and pulls me off of Lee, giving me a hug and sending me a large smile.
"You're a leaf ninja? I'm so proud of you!" She says with a grin, Lee appears behind her and smiles widely too. Neji wanders towards us and smirks slightly, lowering his head to me.
"You've grown up nicely, hope you're ready to lose, though." Neji smirks, his hair a bit longer than last time. His colourless eyes drift along my bruised body and I shake my head softly, he shrugs.
"This is your team? Isn't it meant to be three only?" TenTen asks, Lee gasps when his eyes land on Sakura and he instantly races towards her. The two men standing in front of the door look at eachother helplessly. I guess they were tryna suss us out.
"Oi, Girls. Give up, eh? You don't deserve to even try to become Chunin." The taller one sneers, his friend grinning and nodding. I look at them and then look at Sakura and TenTen, who were fuming.
"Yeah, have you ever seen an actually threatening Kunochi?" The short one crosses his arms over his chest and smirks at us. TenTen growls and I smirk, pulling Sakura to my side and putting my hand on her shoulder.
"You're about to meet three, prick!" I shout, Sakura and I jumping forwards to punch them but Lee quickly stops both of us. At the same time Sasuke grunts about how we were on the wrong floor, and how Sakura would have known that if I wasn't distracting her.
"Lee, I thought we were laying low," TenTen whines, Neji rolls his beautiful eyes and starts walking up to the next floor. The other two send us an apologetic look and follow after their self proclaimed leader.
"This is going to be interesting," Sasuke smirks darkly and Sakura grabs the boys hands, pulling them up the stairs whilst I follow along behind them.
We get to a gym like room before finding Kakashi and that was when Lee appeared, shouting out to Sasuke in a patrionising way.
"Hey, you with the bad attitude! Fight me!!" The bowl cut warrior shouts, easily jumping down and landing perfectly on his feet. Sasuke smirks and steps forwards, accepting the challenge even though Sakura was trying to tell him not to. Oh, this would be nice. Lee would kick his ass without even trying. Sharingan or no.
"This will be over quickly," Sasuke reassures Sakura, stepping forwards and letting his Sharingan take over. Lee smirks and nods.
"I agree."
Dramatic glare down
"Well that was great, for Lee," I mumble, helping Naruto off of the floor and cringing slightly at the sound of Gai. I gulp and climb onto Naruto's back, holding onto him tightly and hiding my head in his hair. The blonde giggles, saying something about how my legs were pushing into his sides and tickling him, and starts running away. Sakura and Sasuke not far behind us.
"Well, you all made it, hm?" Kakashi glances between the four of us, a glimmer of pride in that dark eye of his. I climb off of Naruto and puff my chest out proudly, smirking when the Jonin rolls his eyes.
"If someone decided to stay back, the team would be disqualified. Four members or not." He adds and my eyes widen, thats right, he probably was testing me to see if the team should be disqualified. Naruto and Sakura gasp softly and Sasuke nods in understanding.
"Why didn't you tell us, Sensei?" Sakura asks, clearly upset for more than that reason. Kakashi looks at her and smiles softly, patting the top of her head gently.
"Because I needed to know if the four of you made a good t-"
A loud bark made everyone's eyes turn to Sasuke and, to my shock and horror, Noir leaps out of his hair. Naruto and I start sniggering at the pure shock on Sasuke's face and Kakashi chuckles lightly.
"The five of you make a good team, I am proud of all of you," He says, stepping to the side so we could walk through. Kakashi pats everyone gently atop of their head as they walk past, he pauses and looks at me.
"Mika, protect them." He softly asks me, I smile and nod, beaming when his hand gently pats the top of my head.
And now, shit gets serious.
Ok, not really.
Naruto and Sasuke enter the room first, followed by Noir and Sakura and finally me. My eyes first land on Gaara and my bruises seem to ache at the sight of him, I quickly avert my attention to my favourite lazy ass.
"HEYYY!" I screech, jumping across the room and wrapping myself around the sleepy male. Since he wasn't at all prepared we collapsed onto the floor in a mess of limbs. I blink and giggle when I notice the blush on his face.
"Just realised, you've stopped wearing your mask." He mumbles (probably lying knowing him), sighing in relief when I climb off of him and stretch my arms. I could feel his coal coloured eyes staring at my bruises and I could also hear his silent question.
"It isn't a problem, 'Maru. You could kiss them better, if you want~" I coo, snickering when he blushes and pushes my face away. I suddenly hear Naruto's battle cry.
"PRICK! YOU HURT MY BEST FRIEND!"
Wait, was he- shit!
Sasuke and I hold down Naruto and I further turn the blonde away so that he wasn't looking at Gaara. The blond thrashes in my arms, though he calmed down when I winced with pain.
"Dude, Naruto, calm down," Kiba grunts, nervous as all hell. Naruto goes silent and sends a deadly glare to Kiba, who stepped back in shock.
"Mika is my best friend! He made her cry! He hurt her! I will destory him!" Naruto screeches, Sakura and Kiba both look at me in harmony and the remaining rookie nine follow suit, causing me to hide behind Sasuke. The Uchiha actually lets me for once. I could feel everyones eyes on us rookies, mainly Naruto and me. I need to- distract-
"Wow, you kids are a blast. Try to keep it down hm?"
Everyone, I mean everyone, moved in front of me protectively at the new presence and my heart almost melted. The white haired stranger silently observed the scene and forced a tight lipped smile.
"Why the hostility? I'm not a foe, yet." He calmly says, stepping closer to us. Bad idea. His scent snuck to my nose and I threw myself a few steps back,
Noir was instantly on my shoulder. He smelt like..
The fox barks a bit and rests herself on my head, I lower my eyes and nod, I'm probably over thinking. Still, smells aside, the rookie nine was protecting.. me? Me? I almost felt sick that is how sad and happy it made me feel. Shikamaru slowly steps back towards me, a pure anger in the geniuses eyes.
"Don't let whoever did this walk all over you, Mika. What was in the past stays in the past." He says in a low voice, hand ghosting against my hand as he goes to grip it. I tense up and look away, tears beading my vision as I move out of his reach. I can't..
A body suddenly flings towards the bespectacled male, introducing himself as Kabuto, and the latter collapses on the floor, blood dripping from his nose. Hm, a sound attack? Noir whinced and dug her claws lightly against my scalp. Seems like it was a very sensitive frequency. Keep her away from them. A sudden burning sensation on the back of my head made me tense up, glad that Naruto was distracted. He would kill, or try to, Gaara where he stood if he had the chance. It was sweet but it made me sad, I loved them both so much...
"Oi! No fighting, you lot can save that for later! Right now we're doing the written. Exam."
"What a drag," Shikamaru and I hiss in harmony, I keep a disinterested look on my face as I walk up to Ibuki, well aware of who he was and what he did. When we all trudge to our seats I was met with a not so pleasant, pleasant surprise. The white haired man, who smelt of the guy who is hunting me down and killed my family to try to get me. He was staring at me with those calculating eyes, since he couldn't properly do it before. Did he know.. who I am?
No. Orochimaru isn't here, maybe this guy is just like me, a victim.
I try giving him a smile before focusing on the test, listening half-heartedly to the rules. Basically we have to cheat, right?
I slump down in my seat and mentally prey for some secret jutsu to come to mind but alas, I had nothing. For like 10 minutes I tried to answer the first question but soon gave up. Seriously, screw that.
I could feel myself slowly get pulled into a genjutsu, in which the answers were sprawled onto the page under my hands. Was that.. Sasuke? I write the answers down and look up to see a quick flash of his sharingan before I was only faced with the back of his head. I watch him do the same thing to Naruto, though the blonde barely stopped a surprised shout. Wow, what happened to Sasuke? This isn't like him, maybe we somehow smoothed over that rough heart.
Shouldn't I figure out my own way, though...?
I could try to, to pass time, I guess. I look at my hands and hum softly. Electricity and Sand. I'm really more of a muscle and ninjutsu specialist, sure I am smart but that's just my memory. I mean, I was tutored thoroughly. Still. There has to be some way I could cheat on my own, if I was bothered to figure a way out.
Maybe I could.. use my earth sinking whatever jutsu to go underground.. but then I'd have to make a clone and find someone who was either asleep or stupid.. it would be way too risky- my team would all be failed if I fuck up.
I groan and slap my head on the table again, there was just no way. Suddenly I feel a pull and I'm no longer in control of my body, this is a familiar chakra. Oh god, is Shikamaru going to help me too?? I already have the answers but the gesture is really sweet. I start writing over the already written answers and when I'm released I can't help but blush and cover my face. This is just too cute!
Who next eh? C'mon! Bring it! Suddenly Noir plops down off of my shoulder and curls up in the middle of my paper. I roll my eyes and pet her before laying my head down too, yawning gently. Couldn't Shikamaru help Naruto too? I mean I guess it is every team for themselves so why did he help me eh? Shit head.
I still couldn't stop the blush from covering my face, I groan softly and hide my face. It's just so.. FRICKING CUTE! I hear a strained laugh and when I look up Kabuto is staring at me. He had all the answers written down too, though the nerd probably did it himself. I raise an eyebrow at him and he just continues to smile dryly at me. That fucking smell.
"You're Mika, Mika Kaguya right?" He asked in a hushed voice, flinching when a Jonin glares at him. I gulp and look away, my hand shaking softly as I bite my lip.
"Yeah. I'm Mika. Why? Who are you?" I question under my breath, Noir stirring beneath my hand. The white haired liar smirks and leans back, relaxed.
"You're a slippery person, my lord would be glad to finally catch you. Don't make this any harder if you want Naruto to live," His voice was barely at a whisper, I was surprised that I could even understand it. My whole body went ice cold. My.. lord..
I lower my gaze and nod slowly, Noir, why did you have to be asleep? I.. I would sacrifice myself, if it is for Naruto.
"Good, don't complicate things in the next test."
I suddenly felt a tugging on my conscience, maybe it was my exhaustion getting to me or maybe Kabuto was lulling me into sleep to hide my grief filled expression. Whichever way, I passed out and was left with my painfilled memories. I wasn't a protector. I murdered.
I was watching with pure terror as my grandfather, my god, my boss, my creator, was torn to shreds in a instant. My mothers grip on my shoulders tightens and I blink, she wants to sacrifice me to protect herself. Mikano's expression flashes before my eyes, she wanted the same. Didn't she?
I tense up and close my eyes, the buzzing of chakra in my body made me cry softly. Mother, I'm sorry. You shouldn't live without me, I have to always protect you. I won't let you live in pain. I'll let you off in a quick and easy death.
I force the woman's chakra to cover her body, a transformation jutsu to make her look exactly like me. Whilst I sand teleported away and ran. I just ran. I heard screams and I smelt the blood. I didn't turn back. She killed Mikano. She separated me from the sand, my home. She isn't a good person.
She.. is my mother. My reason for life. She brought me into this world. Gave me this gift. I shouldn't be running, I'm a goddamn coward!
"Mika!"
My eyes snap open and I flinch when Naruto was staring directly at me. I look around with confusion, the class was empty. Asides from him. I could sense Shikamaru lingering nearby.
"You.. were whimpering? That goddamn sand boy! I'll make him pay-!"
I throw myself onto Naruto, tears pouring from my eyes as I remember the threat that was made. The blonde blinks slowly stands up, casually holding me in his arms.
"We have to catch up with the others, we're up to part two of the exams." He said in a voice unlike it's norm, lips screwed into a tight line. I shiver and hug him tighter, like he was my life line, because he is. He is my life. My light. I nod weakly and he jumps out of the window, rushing to catch up with the others.
Shikamaru suddenly appears in my vision, a cold and intelligent look in his eyes. I blink slowly and climb out of Naruto's arms, walking between the two angry friends.
"Shikamaru, no matter how many strategies you make, you can't kill him." I softly warn, the Nara blinks slowly and nudges me lazily, his expression returning to a strained lazy one.
"That is too troublesome, I don't even know who you're talking about," His voice lowers as we catch up to the others. I smile slightly and shrug, finding my favourite tattooed leaf genin and wrapping my arms around him. Noir and Akamaru instantly start bickering below us. Kiba chuckles lightly and hugs me with both arms, gentler than usual but still just as warm and comforting.
"Mika, you're so dependent on me, how're you going to survive without a hug for five long days, eh?" He asks with a smirk, trying to let go but chuckling as I just squeeze him tighter. Hinata's soft yet persistent voice was all that made me unlatch myself from him, I sulk towards my team. I could hug Naruto but he is honesty way too angry at the moment.
"Sasuke, can I hug you?" I ask in vain as he sends me a look with pure disgust. I shrug and catch the eager noir, pressing her to my chest and hugging her softly. I sign my name on the odd contract and take a long look at the forest of death. 'My lord' would strike here, wouldn't he? I had to let him... or else Naruto..
I look at Naruto and whimper softly, Sasuke actually looked at me with concern but it lasted less than a second. I can't let Naruto die because of me. Whatever happens... it would never be as bad as that... would it?
Sasuke suddenly shoves a scroll to my chest and I blink at it with confusion. It said 'Earth' on it. The fuck?
"Uh, what are we doing again-"
All three genin huff with annoyance and Sasuke ends up taking the scroll. I blush and rub my neck, no one seemed to be interested in explaining so I just followed them to a gate. Why was everyone so tense?
"Isn't it obvious? Someone here wants to kill Gaara, and no one here can stop him so we're going to help him." Sasuke calmly responds to my question, which I must have asked aloud. My eyes widen and before I could beg the Uchiha shot me an icy glare.
"You'd do the same, for him. Don't be a hypocrite." He grunts and my eyes widen, does he actually care.. too?
"Shit, ok." I grunt, stuffing my hands into my pockets. The second that the gates are opened I shoot out, running as far away from my team as I can. I can smell Kabuto and.. the 'My lord' who I am pretty sure snuck in. If I deal with them maybe no one can get hurt. Naruto and Sakura call out for me and I tsk, making Noir go back. She nods and takes some of my chakra before barking and jumping back.
Worst case scenario, she teleports me back. Best case scenario. I die and team seven is safe.
Half an hour later
It took way too long to close in on the strongest smell of 'My lord', and even longer to try to actually figure out why the person who smelt exactly of him was a girl. It was too late for me to go back, though. As a stretched out tongue was already pulling me towards her.
I land on the fallen tree with a cry of pain, the figure hovers over me and her eyes widen with delight, my forehead protector pulled viciously off of my face. This girl grins when she lightly stabs a senbon needle through my skin but I remain in my form.
"Mika, wow I finally have you? This feels.. anticlimactic," The girl proceeds to tie me up as she talks.
"Wh-what are you doing? Exactly?" I manage to ask through my fear and shaking. The girl blinks slowly and smirks.
"I'm giving you a gift, dear one. You and the Uchih-"
"WHAT?! KABUTO SAID THAT MY TEAM WOULD BE LEFT OUT OF IT!" I shout, trying to escape in vain, the snakes that held me just squeezed tighter in response. The grass nin, in disguise, snickers and tsks slowly.
"Naruto-kun would be kept alive, I have long awaited capturing the Uchiha and even you can't stop me." She, or he, calmly says with a hidden venom. I thrash viciously against my restraints and let out a scream. It was useless, no one could recognise my distinct screams. The grass nin rolls her eyes and suddenly a pair of teeth sink into my neck. No later a feeling of burning pain travels through me and my screams increase tenfold before I pass out.
Danger. Danger! Woah Mika! We're going to die!
Who the hell?
Mika! What the hell is happening? Ko?! What do we do?!
A furious roar of a few creatures echos through my mind. Where am I? And yeah, what the hell is happening?
Can you... hear us?
Holy shit, she can!
"I can what? Who are you guys? Are you in my head? Is this some jutsu?"
"Holy shit holy shit! My little sister! I can't believe I can finally talk to you-"
"Little sister?"
"Yea well you've got like 4 other big sisters and brothers but they can wait, as well as the rest of the raidon clan and extra. You know that stolen chakra? Well our.. our souls are trapped deep inside of you and I guess you're so close to death that your soul can reach us. My name is Ko, I was the first one who was merged with you."
"Woah that is a lot to take in, you mean to tell me that you are all.. real?!"
"Yeah, and that asshole just tried to give your tender body more! Chakra! Is he nuts? You already have an overload and this thing he gave you is huge! Your body needs some time to grow to handle this disgusting filth. Well either that or you merge your chakra with us. If you choose to wait it will take at least a month, which is not preferred," Ko's voice was loud and clear. I tried not to question what the hell was going on.
"Ko..Won't I lose control?"
"Pfft, is she really a raidon?" An older voice sneers, making me flinch.
"Shut up, and no, you won't. Not if you merge them. All you've been doing previously is waiting to run out of natural chakra, merging them is fairly easy but it takes patience"
"I feel like that doesn't run through the family, Ko."
There was a whole crowd of laughter and I felt a pang in my chest, these people could have lived, if not for me.
"It is too late to change that, young one. None of this is your fault. We have watched you grow and fail and survive and we all love you."
"Woah, whoever said that is officially the sweetest human.. soul alive!"
Another short round of chuckles.
"That is your grandmother, Mika." Ko informs me lightly. Holy shit!
"Heh, so I'm my whole family, huh?"
Someone sneers and Ko chuckles softly.
"So, back to the topic at hand, you know, saving mika's life. You have like 4 hours to make a decision before this kills us- you. Thankfully merging takes about 3 if you don't loose concentration."
"Woah ok, give me instructions-"
"Easy kid, all you have to do is let us go." The deep mean sounding voice says darkly.
"Mika, you need to free our souls. One by one we will introduce ourselves to you and you just need to.. as your brother said, let us go." Ko informs softly. If i could, I would cry.
"But I just found you al-"
"None of us wants to go either! We want to watch over you forever but we can't! You have to do this kid!" My brother, apparently, shouts and I mentally wince.
I have no choice, what so ever?
They all say no in unison. So started the most painful three hours of my life. My siblings were all basically babies when they connected with me, only children. To them being a part of me was all they knew. And i had to.. I had to kill them.
I had to kill them all. More people than I could count! I had to let them die! Some of them were barely my age!
When I wake up, this mother fucker Kabuto and Orochimaru would pay. I will never let them get away with this.
"Holy fucking shit!" I scream, leaping up from my laying position. I felt so alive. So much chakra! That lasted about a second because there was a painful burn on my neck. I growl and put my hand over the strange symbol. I was about to teleport myself to Noir when a familiar sandy chakra approached. Well shit.
"I see the plan went well, without us." Kankuro mumbles when I am dangled upsidedown by sand in front of them. I roll my eyes, trying hard to keep my shit eating grin off of my face. I felt so much chakra inside of me, I don't know what happened when I was out- I only remembered being bitten but who cares! I didn't have the stolen chakra anymore! The 'gift' on my neck was trying hard to make itself known but I ignore it, pushing some of my chakra over it. It was a temporary fix.
"Wait hold on, plan? You fuckers planned this?" I hiss, purposefully avoiding Gaara's eyes. Kankuro smirks slightly and nods, Temari rolls her eyes.
"We were coming to seperate you from the others, for some reason, but looks like we wasted our time. Wha-"
"RAIKODAN!" I scream, the sand around me exploding as a chakra lightning beast flies towards the three, who barely jump back in time. I smirk and rest my hands on my waist. Gaara growls lowly and my eyes widen, shit. I can't fight him. My whole body suddenly felt like it was burning.
His sand races towards me and it takes all of my concentration to dodge, leaping from tree to tree. Wait. I freeze. The stolen chakra- I remember- they- my family! Gaara was apart of that plan?
I let the sand pull me in and I don't make a sound as it starts to strangle me. If I had to chose between Naruto and Gaara. I'd rather die.
"Tch, Mika, you're too much of a wild card," Sasuke grunts, pulling me out of the sand and pushing me behind him. Naruto and Sakura, and Noir, were standing alongside the Uchiha. Their eyes were all burning with determination. What..? No! Orochimaru was coming for us!
"G-guys? What are y-"
"Noir caved in and teleported us to you, I think we're being followed though so we need to get out of here," Sasuke calmly explains, the fox's ears lower with shame and I roll my eyes. Sakura tugs on Naruto's sleeve, said blonde was growling lowly at Gaara.
"If you ever even look at Mika again, I will make you pay! She would rather let you kill her than have to fight you, and you don't even care? You're below trash! You deserve to die!" Naruto shouts, it took both Sakura and Sasuke to hold him back. Sasuke sends me a look and I blink, wrapping our group up with sand and teleportating away as quickly as possible. Not before Noir could collect a little something.
We all land with a crash onto solid ground, I wince and let out a pain filled shriek. My whole body felt like it was hit by a truck. Before I could even start thinking about the mark on my body Naruto had lifted me from the ground and was glaring at me with those beautiful eyes.
"WHAT HAPPENED? WHY DID YOU LEAVE-"
And then more trouble raised, we were all seperated with a wind jutsu. Well Naruto and I weren't, we were both flung into the direction of a hungry snake. Shit. Why us?
The blond groans in disgust and I mentally agree with him, this is disgusting! I try to move but that just made me slip lower. It took a lot of focus to not blush at the proximity of Naruto. Well if I just considered the slime and stomach acid around us I was less embarrassed and more disgusted. There was literally only clothes between Naruto and I.
"Something happened, Naruto. This guy put a seal thing on me, there is evil chakra in there. It is fighting so much to take over me. I can't- I don't know how to stop it." I say softly, hoping slightly that Naruto couldn't hear me. He did. Sadly. The blue eyed boy was now staring at my neck with wide eyes.
"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU-"
And that was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen. I almost gagged when I landed on a high up branch, Naruto not long behind me.
"Don't lose control, at least, not yet!" Naruto smiles warmly and tugs on my arm, I nod and follow him. When we get there I swear to got it took a lot of control to not foolishly attack the grass ninja. A lot. And I knew he knew I was there, infact I knew he knew that I knew he knew I was there. Did that bother me? No.
Naruto shoots out to protect Sasuke, eyes glowing red as the demonic chakra takes a hold of his conscience. That chakra.. reminds me of the one Gaara has. Different, definitely different, but it also was definitely similar in some undefined ways. Just the overwhelming raw power to it. Orochimaru grabs Naruto and I shout, leaping towards the stretched out arm and sinking a kunai into it.
"Ah ah ah, whats thisss? You're awake? No.. you have had a massssive increase in chakra," The lord drops Naruto after performing a seal on him and easily grabs me, I send a hopeless look to Sasuke, who was watching with fear in his eyes. Shit. Shit- this is the worst! Orochimaru pins me to the thick branch below him and looks down at me with humoured, empty eyes.
"I could make my seal stronger, or I could just block off half of your chakra. Hm, stay still," The snake user lifts my shirt up till my stomach was visible, well actually he just cut through my clothes around my stomach and performs a sealing jutsu. The second he hand touched my bare skin my whole body was alit with pain. My loud scream must have woken up Sasuke cause a huge burst of fire flung itself towards the grass nin, melting the disguise covering him.
I wither in pain and curl up, staring helplessly at Naruto's unconscious body. Had Orochimaru hurt him because I broke the deal? I hear Sasuke's own scream of pain and I tense up, shit. What about him! Why didn't I- why did I just ignore him?
The evil chakra that was 'gifted' to me grows in strength and wraps itself tightly around me, I scream again with pain and close my eyes. This must be what my family was trying to avoid, if they increased my chakra after he put a certain amount of his own chakra into it, the jutsu would be overwhelmed.
"I know that you won't come to me like Sasuke-kun," The ghostly voice of the melting figure whispers, but I couldn't open my eyes. I could barely breathe.
",That's ok. I can come back and bring you by force, if it is truly necessary."
And with that a foot collides with the side of my face and I felt the unmistakable falling feeling. Then it was all darkness. This time there wasn't the hidden souls of my family to greet him. All that came to greet me was pain. Wave after wave of evil tainted pain.