Chapter Thirteen: A New Kind of Warfare
A/N: Chapter thirteen and I'm on a Roll Today!
Sachiko: Just don't roll away like Choji!
Author-Sama: Haha, very funny! Story begins right about….. NOW!!
Two months later, four months away from the Chunin Exams
It would have been a nice day because the day had started off nice. The sun seemed to actually be shining in Sachiko's favor this morning. Last night she had made a tiny prayer, asking for sunlight and singing birds. Just as the sun began to take notice to her hidden room a small blue jay landed on the railing of her balcony. The little blue jay puffed up its little chest, feathers ruffling and ready for song. Its beak opened up, preparing to sing a lovely sonnet or perhaps a sad ballad, or perhaps a cheery melody. The bird was unsure yet.
Sachiko sat on the dirty floor. It was dirty from all the sand grains that had so untimely fallen out from Gaara's gourd. Ever since her fateful moment with Kankuro, Gaara had kept watch over her. Sachiko couldn't understand why it had meant so much to Gaara to keep her and Kankuro distanced away. They weren't hurting anyone.
Sachiko clutched a blanket around her body, the morning was slightly cool and she had grown accustomed to the warm weather in Suna. The bird was still preparing itself to sing and had yet to make up its tiny bird brain to decide what musical notes should fly out from its small body. The blue jay gave up on singing for a while and cleaned itself. It gave a small hop and chirp, thus beginning the cleaning. Sachiko could feel Gaara's stare and it never left her. He stood at the corner of the room, nearest the balcony, and made no movements. Sachiko wasn't even positive if he was breathing but he must have been otherwise he might have just fallen over dead. She didn't want to keep avoiding his eyes and soon found herself returning his stare. His chin was firmly set in a position that gave him a crooked frown. As usual, he looked like he was about to strangle her and she wouldn't put it past him.
Musical notes emanating from the blue jay's vocal chords had distracted Sachiko and had caused her to divert her attention away from Gaara. Sachiko's small mouth dropped into an awestruck smile as she watched the tiny little bird sing its song. The blue jay had decided on singing a cheery melody to lift her spirits up.
Desiccated sand wrapped around the little bird as it croaked out one more note. Sachiko watched in horror as the sand constricted the little bird and blew it into smithereens. Bloody feathers flew around her, one landing on her horrified cheekbone, the rest on her lap. She turned to face Gaara to see an amused look on his face. He looked as if he were about to laugh and she crossed her fingers that he didn't. The finger crossing worked because no sound came from Gaara's mouth, his lips were just upturned into a twitching grin.
"You're… you're a…" She could only stammer a few simple words. But it didn't matter so much because he finished the sentence for her.
"A Monster," he told her, keeping his amused look and grin.
"He makes me… so… angry… I just want to kill him…"
"You know me… I say kill him… There's another way to fight him…"
"What do you mean Chihoko?"
"When to vessels meet… They can go into a meditation state and let their demons fight. I can fight Shukaku without exiting your body or actually using your body… But of course he has to be in the meditation state as well."
"And how, do you suppose, I do that?"
"You figure it out."
Sachiko sighed and glared into Gaara's eyes, hoping to be somewhat intimidating but she knew such actions were failed from the start. Sachiko summoned up what little courage she had been saving up and decided to bring up what Chihoko just told her.
"Does Shukaku want to fight Chihoko?" She asked him with a sly smirk. Courage had put the smirk there. He hid his shock well and stayed quiet a moment before answering.
"Yes… he does…" He shifted slightly, clearly uncomfortable and on edge. She could see his muscles twitch and tense up. He was preparing for a physical fight.
"Well they fight through meditation not physically… You have to be in a meditation state," she informed him. Gaara was silent and she knew he was consulting his own demon.
"Is this true, Shukaku?"
"Oh boy it is! Let me fight that cat! Let me fight her! But uh, kid, you may wanna go someplace where nothing can get destroyed."
"Hn?"
"Things tend to get heated… even if it is mental…"
"Hn."
Gaara moved suddenly and gestured for her to follow him. Sachiko brushed off the blue jay's feathers from her lap but kept the feather on her cheek to suggest she was still in mourning. Gaara stood on the railing of the balcony where the blue jay once sat and died, maintaining expert balance. A swirl of sand wrapped around his body and he vanished. Sachiko performed the usual set of hand seals and was on her cloud in no time, floating down to the ground where Gaara had reappeared.
Sachiko reasoned that because she was miserable her life was insignificant and so she did not mind the outcome of this mental battle. The streets of Suna were empty, the people hid inside their homes. Perhaps they could feel what was about to happen or maybe they too, had seen the clouds suddenly turn grey. The clouds became bleak vapors, stitching omens in the sky.
Soon Sachiko and Gaara found themselves at the place Sachiko had once felt peace at. Now her palm tree had become the border of the two opposing sides, her tranquil oasis now a war zone for two containers of demons. Gaara sat at one side of the palm tree, Sachiko on the other. Both young teens positioning themselves into a proper meditation pose. Four hands were placed atop knees, forming their proper arrangement. A small humming noise escaped from closed mouths; the battle had begun.
Each vessel took on the aura of their demon, Sachiko a flaming sinister purple color, Gaara a flaming orange tan color. Chihoko's shape emerged from the dark purple chakra flames and Shukaku's from the tan orange. The beasts immediately lunged at each other, aiming for the tender throat, hoping to catch a sliver of the right vein. Chihoko's fierce claws dug into the back of Shukaku, knocking him back. Shredded fur fell to the ground in front of the two meditation shinobi. Gaara's hand clenched against his knees, feeling the blow as well. Shukaku flipped around and hit Chihoko with a mighty tail. Sachiko leaned backward, trying to avoid it herself almost. Soon it was claws against claws as the two beasts struggled for power. Many leaves from the palm tree were torn off and fell to the ground beside the clumps of fur. Chihoko raced around Shukaku, circling him like a lioness, then pounced and bit into his neck. Shukaku howled with agony as he dug a raccoon claw into the cat's head, ripping another mass of fur off. Sachiko's hand rose, clutching her head, Gaara's hands grabbing at his throat.
The battle between the great Nibi Chihoko and the great Shukaku wore on, each vessel feeling each blow their own demons received. It was an agonizingly slow battle but they all hung in there for dear life and for dear victory. Neither of them wanted to feel the shame of losing. Fatigue hit the two shinobi like an atom bomb. Both felt the blow physically and mentally as their bodies were thrashed against the sad. The two broke concentration and the demons above were vanished back into their own minds.
Sachiko, panting heavily, forced herself up, hands gripping rough sand. Gaara's sand pushed himself up, using his last amount of chakra. He was panting as well but tried to keep it to himself to show Sachiko he wasn't tired even though his body had reached its limit. Sachiko's eyes looked around the area. The palm tree was completely naked, clothing on the ground. Two of her fingers picked up one the leaves and third finger brushed against it tenderly. The bloody blue jay's feather was lost to her and she wasn't in the mood for searching for it. Her eyes took in the vision of the oasis and sent the image to her brain. Her brain, realizing everything was destroyed, gave her odd emotions. A tear rolled down her cheek; her only safe haven was lost forever and desecrated completely. She cried out and pounded the ground with her fists, Gaara only able to watch her. Gaara could feel his body succumbing to sleep but he fought it as best as he could, his sheer will power would overcome this obstacle, but Sachiko's could not. She fell back into a deep sleep.
NARUTARDNARUTARDNARUTARDNARUTARD
Sachiko awoke in Kankuro's arms. She felt safe and secure. She felt at home, a feeling she wanted to treasure and keep. Kankuro's hood was off and for once, she could see his messy brown hair. She wanted to reach out and run her hand through but she didn't have the energy to do so. She opened her mouth to speak but he shushed her.
"Don't talk Sachiko-san; you need to save your energy. We're not sure what happened and Gaara wouldn't say anything… we can't prove you two fought," Kankuro was trying to explain to her.
"We… He and I did not fight," Sachiko breathed out with all her effort, "Just a mental battle… that's all."
"That's kind of hard to believe considering that whole place you two were sitting at is destroyed… but neither of you have so much as a scratch… I've never seen anything like it," said Kankuro as he rocked her in his arms like a mother would a baby.
Sachiko tried to speak again but nothing would come out. She decided to just rest there in Kankuro's arms and she would have allowed herself to fall asleep but she wanted to stay up and look into Kankuro's handsome face. He smiled at her encouragingly. Her eyes fell on his lips and she wanted to strain herself to greet them but resumed to gazing into his eyes again.
"Where… is… he…?"
"Gaara is with Temari, she's taking care of him…"
Sachiko gave a half nod and fell back asleep to rid herself of everything. She knew that she would have to be mentally tougher next time if she wanted Chihoko to defeat Shukaku. She also knew that he would be training himself mentally as well; she looked forward to it.
NARUTARDNARUTARDNARUTARDNARUTARD
For the next four months before the Chunin Exams Sachiko and Gaara had been allowing their demons to fight through their meditation trance. The first time they had engaged in the mental warfare the repercussions of the fight had left them bed bound for three weeks. Their recovery stage lasted less and less as they both began to train their minds mentally and prepare for the next fight. They felt less tired each and every fight.
Sachiko and Gaara had gotten to the point to where it only took them a few hours to regenerate their energy and mental abilities. They battled endlessly day to day. Sachiko had missed Kankuro terribly but she knew that she couldn't give up to the Demon of Sand. She refused to give in.
On the day before they left off to Konoha Gaara and Sachiko had one last battle. They had both agreed that they could not afford to continue their mental warfare during the Chunin exams and would have to focus on becoming Chunin level. After finishing their last mental battle they had come to another draw. All the fights had ended this way and they were both hoping that this last battle would announce a winner.
Both were panting heavily, just as they did every battle. Gaara's fists were balled up in anguish, pale white pigmentation taking over them. Sachiko could feel her own claws extending out from her hands, regular fingernails disappearing. The same bleak clouds that had appeared the day they had entered the mental warfare had returned to continuing the stitching and sewing of omens in a once calm sky.
"Fight me," Gaara hissed at her as he took two steps forward.
"But you and I are both out of chakra," Sachiko said, taking two steps back.
"I don't care," he growled, "Fight me fist to fist then; demon to demon."
The two initiated in physical, hand to hand combat. Weapons were thrown aside and fists plunged themselves into enemy flesh. Sachiko clawed at Gaara's throat; his sand wall did not come up because Shukaku was in dispose. Sachiko could not summon up any of her power either. She didn't have enough chakra to perform the Inazuma and her claws were sinking back in to her hands to be replaced by her regular fingernails. Both slapped at each other ineffectively until finally one fell.
"I won."
The shinobi fell to the ground, panting. The ninja looked into the other's ninja's eyes. Neither of them would fall asleep; just stare into the other's eyes. One gave the other a look of utter hate, seeking revenge, and the other gave a look of triumph, ready to meet the vengeance with open arms.
A/N: Hmm… Who won the fight? What do you guys think?
Sachiko: OH! I KNOW I KNOW!
Author-Sama: Well duh you know, you were in the fight you dope!
Sachiko: Yeah… You're kinda stealing my thunder here!
Author-Sama: Eh, you'll get it back later or something… REVIEW!