Chapter twelve
Skylar lay in bed watching Naruto sleep next to her. It had been a few weeks since the incident with Yusei and she hadn't seen him since. Today was her twentieth birthday and a few days before the final round of the exams, she knew for certain now that Kabuto was involved with Ryuugakure and attacking during the second round was definitely a threat of his power. She brushed some hair from his face and he hummed… They had missed Naruto's birthday because of the exams, she was just hoping everyone would forget about her birthday.
Dazzling blue eyes opened and a smile graced his whiskered cheeks. He pulled her in with a small laugh from Skylar and he kissed her.
"I know you're going to hate me but Happy Birthday." He said with his usual cheeky grin. Skylar hugged him back just as close with one hand around his broad back and the other playing with his longish hair.
"You're so cheeky, you just always have to do the opposite of what people tell you huh?" Skylar asked rhetorically as she kissed him again.
"Oi, you two, stop getting frisky and come and eat breakfast." Kakashi called from the kitchen, making both of them blush and just snuggle for a little while. Naruto lay with his hands linked behind his head while Skylar had her head on his chest and was tracing the seal on his stomach when the door opened, showing a not impressed Kakashi.
"Mornin' Kaka-sensei." Naruto said happily. Kakashi walked over to them and picked Skylar up by her waist, out of bed, kicking and yelling playfully.
"Kashiiiiii Noooooo!" She whined playfully, kicking her legs out and reaching back towards the bed. "Come on, can't I do one thing I want on my birthday?" She whined again, this time crossing her arms and keeping her legs up to her chest as he sat her down on the floor.
"We're going over to the Hyuuga complex soon to join the rest in celebrating today… It's time to change this sad day into a good day now come on, there's breakfast going cold in the kitchen." Kakashi said leaving and Skylar flopped onto her back with an annoyed groan on the floor. She heard Naruto chuckle from the bed and sat up to glare at him.
"You planned this with Kakashi didn't you?" Skylar accused, pointing a finger at him with a pout. "You're too good, you know that?" She said with a smile as she stood up and walked over to the bed to give him a kiss and pulled back with him following for more as he ended up falling out of the bed with Skylar already running for the kitchen. Skylar was already digging into the giant tower of pancakes when Naruto joined them, rubbing his head and sat down across from her with a glare and an innocent smile from her as he dug in and Kakashi joined them.
Later that day Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke were escorting her to the Hyuuga complex, in other words, making sure she didn't run away. It was festive with Chinese lanterns hanging across the main court yard, snacks on tables and people all shouted Happy Birthday as she came in, making her blush and hide her face behind her hand. She noticed Gaara straight away and tackled him in a hug that he returned with a silent laugh and a smile, he introduced her properly to Kankuro and Temari and they talked for a while about everything that had been happening. She talked to Hiashi a little bit and thanked him and talked to Hinata and Hanabi as well, even Konohamaru and his team were there and were surprisingly friends with Hanabi's. Kakashi stole her away for a little while and waltzed with her.
"My, aren't you just the gentleman." She teased him as they danced.
"Yeah, I kind of cheated when you were teaching Naruto, I used the sharingan to copy it " He said, a bit sheepishly.
"Well there is technique but you have to feel it as well… Here." She said showing him with some movements and how to feel the music instead of just dancing. After a while, Yamato cut in and also waltzed with her, also admitting he asked Yuugo how to dance. Then Guy came along and stole her for a weird dancing session but she went along with it until Gaara came to save her and went back to waltzing. All the guys danced with her in waltzes even Hiashi, Sai and Shino. Sasuke was dancing with her last and she had a blush on the entire time as he kept smiling and smirking at her and in a twirl with him, she was passed on to Naruto, who thanked Sasuke and the two began to dance slowly with her head on his shoulder.
"You've been practising." Skylar pointed out.
"Yeah… Sakura-chan has been helping me, where do you think Lee learned how to waltz?" Naruto asked rhetorically making Skylar laugh silently. They sped up the dance with more turns and other moves as the crowd moved out into a large circle for them. The world was lost as they concentrated on each other, reading the next movement as he lifted her and put her down again as the song ended and they had their foreheads pressed together, sharing the same breath and staring into each other's eyes. They broke apart with a blush when they heard the crowd cheering and bowed and curtsied to them and ran off.
They stood with their friends and talked for a while when Skylar noticed a familiar figure leaning against the entrance to the complex, leather jacket, ripped jeans and black biker boots, the same purple eyes met and Naruto got defensive and growled. Skylar placed a hand on his shoulder to stay there as she pushed through the people and stood away from him and waited.
"Happy Birthday Sky." He said with a crooked and almost timid smile as he stood up straight and uncrossed his arms. He tired walking towards her but her blade was up at his neck in a flash with an unemotional face. "Relax, I just want to give you a present." He said with a laugh as he tossed her a box in wrapping paper, which she caught without taking her eyes off of him. "You remember what happened today don't you?" He challenged and Skylar frowned.
"How could I forget… You fucked up my life because of it… Now leave, you're not welcome here." She said sheathing her blade. "I'll see you at the finals." She added walking back into the party and put the box in her pouch. The group stood rigid as she came back and she hugged Naruto and Sasuke together and breathed a shaky breath as she pulled back and smile reassuringly at them and continued to party and talk the rest of the day.
Skylar watched the sun go down, sitting on the roof of the apartment building watching the sun set and flipping the box over in her fingers, staring off into space. She hadn't opened the box yet but she could feel the energy from it and had a pretty good idea of what it was but didn't want to be proven right. Sand whipped around next to her and Gaara sat down next to her and watched the sun set quietly.
"They're all waiting for you." Gaara said, watching the box now.
"I know… They can wait a while longer while I figure this out." She said, keeping her eyes on the sun set.
"You should just open it." Gaara said. Skylar nodded and flipped it open to reveal a red ring… She was right all along. Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow at it. She picked it up by the chain and placed it around her neck and stared at it playing between her fingers before letting it drop to her chest, placing it beneath her shirt and following Gaara back inside. She smiled at the other presents, Kakashi got her a big fluffy blanket with a wolf on it, Gaara and his siblings got her a jar of sand (Lol) and a little puppet to play with to help with her chakra, Sakura and Ino got her some clothes… if that's what you could call the small pieces of material. Guy and Lee got her a jumpsuit just like theirs and some weights, Yamato made her a 3D portrait of all of Skylar's friends in a frame in wood, Sai drew her a detailed picture of New York and her family and friends there, Tenten got her some new and better cable for her scythe, Kiba gave her a plush dog toy, Shino gave her a mosquito net after she apologised about not being to fond of bugs. Hinata gave her some calming bath stuff that would massage her chakra points, Shikamaru gave her some strategy games and Choji gave her sweets and coupons for the barbeque restaurant. She thanked them and they left and turned to see Naruto and Sasuke relaxing on one couch and Kakashi on the other.
She collapsed on the couch next to Kakashi and laid her head in his lap and he ruffled her hair playfully as she pouted and fixed it.
"So, nothing from you two this year huh?" She asked Naruto and Sasuke who grinned and smirked at each other. Sasuke tossed her a box that landed on her stomach. She opened it and smiled at the necklace… It had charms of their clan symbols on it of everyone's clans or something that represented them.
"It's a joint gift this time." Sasuke said coolly as she fidgeted with the charms, especially the Uzumaki and the Uchiha in the middle with the middle link between them.
"I was going to give you a bracelet but Sasuke butted his head in and suggested this, then we got everyone else involved." Naruto added happily as she put it on and played with it as a fond smile played on her lips.
"Thanks guys, today has been perfect and I look forward to my next birthday… The big twenty-one, finally legal to drink here again." She said with a fist pump up towards the ceiling. They all laughed at this and Kakashi ruffled her hair again.
Skylar put her presents away and looked over them fondly as she placed the two pictures next to each other on the bedside table at the end of her bed. She took the two necklaces off and put the ring onto the one Naruto and Sasuke gave her and it sat in between the Uzumaki and Uchiha crest and she put it back on under her shirt. Kakashi watched this as he brushed his teeth in the bathroom. She was sitting at the piano and playing a slow song, she had bought the second hand piano after she save up from missions a while ago.
He wiped his mouth and stood next to her as she played and eyed the ring around her neck as well. It gave him a powerful and uneasy feeling. The piano built up sound and speed and slowed down again, he thought he saw the ring glow for a second but then it was gone so he put it up to the light reflecting off of it as she began a high pitched tune, slowly tapping one key as she began the rest of the tune as it built up and slowed down to finish again and she breathed a shaky sigh as she closed the cover to it.
"That was a beautiful song, where'd you get the inspiration?" Kakashi asked as he sat down next to her on the stool and opened it up again and began playing softly as well.
"It's a song I wrote when I was having a rough time in life… This ring reminded me of it, I'm surprised I could still remember how to play it." She said, fidgeted with the ring again.
"Where'd you get the ring?" He asked.
"Yusei gave it to me this afternoon… It's our blood ring, I was young, stupid and in love and agreed to it. In here is both of our blood… I just can't believe he kept it for so long." She said, staring off again as Kakashi continued to play.
"Just be careful, it gives me a bad feeling." Kakashi said as he ended the song and closed the piano again. She dropped the necklace and gave him a small smile as he hugged her into his side.
"I'll be careful, I have to much to loose this time around." She said and wrapped her arms around his torso as they sat for a while.
The day of the finals. Skylar woke up with a scream, sweat covering her body, which was shaking with fear as she uncurled her hand from around the necklace. She hadn't had a good night's sleep since her birthday and she was beginning to think it was the rings fault, every morning she woke up clutching it hard and with the same dream she could never remember properly.
She walked to the shower and sat on autopilot as she cleaned and stepped out with a towel around her. She didn't realise she left the bathroom and now was staring out the window like she use to do. The ring felt heavy in her hands as she unconsciously played with it.
Kakashi came home to find her staring and sitting in a towel. He found this odd as she hadn't done this since she got her sight back and especially not in a towel since she considered him such a pervert. He knew she hadn't been sleeping well and she couldn't fool him into thinking it was nerves for the final round and it wasn't her over thinking either… They are the same rings under her eyes from that time she told him about being kidnapped, nightmares. He walked up to her carefully and lay his hand on her shoulder, he could visibly see her come back to reality as she looked up at him in confusion.
"Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" Kakashi asked carefully.
"I'm fine, just tired… And I can't exactly talk about something I can't remember. I'll just go and get ready." She said, gripping her towel tightly and heading off into her room. Skylar dressed in the sports bra like top with the short fingerless gloves like Kakashi's with her tight pants and knee high sandals as she strapped on her maroon pouches and her x-shaped straps across her chest to clip on her scythe and sword. Kakashi walked with her silently to the arena and left her to enter the ring where the matched would be held. Everyone was already there as the crowd cheered and the Five Kages clapped from the box. Special seals had been placed to protect the public as they weren't use to having such powerful genins participating, which is why it was the only examinations opened to the public.
The first match: Naruto versus Konohamaru was up and the participants headed to the box assigned to them. It was a spectacular match but Konohamaru was still way out of his league once Naruto began to get serious and used Kyuubi chakra mode. Match two was impressive for Moegi and Udon, they had been working hard but Moegi won. Match three was Sasuke versus Seiku, the girl with the green hair.
The girl didn't look like she was trying to hard and eventually gave up without much of a fight even though she still looked perfectly fine to fight, even her chakra level was fine. Next match was Skylar versus Akino, the brown haired boy. He had some strong fire jutsus but Skylar's wind was still more powerful as they met in taijutsu, Skylar got burned quite a bit from the close combat fire jutsus he used when she was unguarded but one hard hit from the blunt side of her blade sent him into the world of unconsciousness. She went straight from this match into the match with the boy with the blue hair, Kyo.
He was as cocky and confident as ever as he stood before Skylar, head raised high and his arms crossed. Skylar looked up at the box and she saw Yusei smiling down at them both as he nodded his head politely. She frowned and shivered as she felt nauseous and stood ready to fight as the match was called to begin, they clashed together, kunai and sword, both charged with lightning a battle of strength and strategy.
They jumped back and Skylar created shadow clones to attack while one slipped away to gather natural chakra for sage mode. They started matching jutsu for jutsu when her clones had been dispersed and close quarters battle, kunai against her blade and sneak attacks by her scythe. She saw red eyes and jumped back onto the wall of the arena but he was just to damn fast and came up behind her and kicked her down… That's when things went wrong.
Kabuto arrived in a giant puff of purple smoke in the middle of the arena as Seiku, Akino and Yusei joined him with Kyo carrying an unconscious Skylar as their transformations ended, revealing the three girls Gin, Kuro and Kiiro. Naruto was the first to attack with Sasuke and Kakashi with Gaara and the other Kage's following behind when seven coffins appeared… The former jinchuuriki, including Killer Bee and they made their escape.
Kiba, Hinata and Shino began tracking while everyone held back the jinchuuriki. It was a complete failure as a space-time jutsu was used and they were no longer in the area. The jinchuuriki returned to their coffins to leave Konoha in some destruction. Everyone was silent in the Hokage's meeting room with Naruto pacing the length of the room, his killing intent shining through even when he was trying to hold it back.
Kakashi and Sasuke were explaining everything surprisingly calmly but the Kage's weren't taking it too well. Naruto had already sent out thousands of clones to look everywhere but were coming back negative, he even tried throwing her senbon a few times but nothing happened. The meeting was over and teams had been sent out to search as Tsunade slumped in her chair.
"What now Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked.
"We search and hope to god we find her before Kabuto completes his plans." Tsunade said, rubbing her temples.
It was dark, cold and lonely. Being chained up by your wrists and ankles is painful, especially when you're chained up in a star shape and have a giant spider like chakra suppressor on your stomach. She knew Kabuto, Yusei, Gin, Kuro and Kiiro had captured her. She heard a noise behind her and tried to look to see who or what it was.
"It's me… Kiiro." A girl's voice said.
"What do you want, it's not like I'm going anywhere." Skylar said with a slightly rough and dry voice. How long had she been there for?
"I'm suppose to keep watch on you but watching you sleep isn't very interesting… Would you like some water?" She asked with slight amusement to her voice.
"Sure, it's not like you need to drug me or anything, having your chakra sucked from you is enough to make you feel high." Skylar said as she heard water being poured and a glass held up to her lips. She got a better look at the blonde. She was exactly like Naruto's sexy jutsu but without the whisker marks. Her blonde hair was tied back in a loose plat this time. "So, how old are you?" Skylar asked, making conversation as the girl sat down in front of her.
"I'm sixteen, so are my sisters." She said.
"Are you blood related or just very close?" Skylar asked shifting on the chains a little.
"Both I guess… Kabuto-sama said he created us using three girls who were triplets but gave us each our own DNA… He said they would have died if he didn't do this and we accepted it." Kiiro explained and Skylar could see somehow in her blue eyes, exactly like Naruto's that she was telling the truth.
"Did you agree to the bijuu, curse seal and sharingan?" Skylar asked, rubbing her chin against an itchy spot on her chest.
"Gin said it would make us better people to complete Kabuto-sama's ambition." Kiiro said a bit timidly.
"You should decide for yourself, you may have been sisters but you're individuals with their own fears, likes, dislikes and such and I'm sure you feel obliged to give Kabuto everything you have after he saved you." Skylar said and she could see the hope rising in those familiar blue eyes.
"That's enough Sky." A voice said coldly from behind her and she saw Kiiro block herself in again and stand up, eyes dulled and stance rigid. Yusei came to stand behind Kiiro with a smirk as he began caressing her, Kiiro avoiding anyone's eyes.
"Leave her alone Yusei, you have me to play with." Skylar sneered at him.
"Still got some fight in you huh?" He said with a smirk as his hand travelled up Kiiro's shirt and down her pants. Skylar closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying to think of something, anything. "Don't look away Skylar, she wants this." He said as a small whimper was heard from Kiiro. Skylar got angry as her little bit of chakra flared with the wind and used all of her concentration to push him back with it as he stumbled away and nearly fell into the darkness. Skylar gestured with her eyes at Kiiro to go and she ran.
"See, this is why prisoners shouldn't talk to their jailors, they pull them over to the dark side." Yusei said, licking his fingers as he emerged again from where he stumbled.
"You're a sick bastard Yu, that's why you were put into the psychiatric jail… When did you stop taking your meds?" She asked back harshly.
"You learn the tricks of the trade, I've never taken those damn pills… You never came to visit, seeing you would have been my medicine enough." He said pathetically as he played with the hair falling around her face, caressing her cheek at the same time. She head butted him and he stumbled back, holding his bleeding forehead, his dark purple eyes snapped up to her and he was back at her like a flash, squeezing her neck as her vision became red and hazy.
"Enough Yusei, I need her for my experiments then you can play with her." Kabuto said appearing out of the shadows in front of her.
"Oh great, it's you." Skylar choked as Yusei let her throat go and left the room. "So what experiment am I going to take today Professor Yakushi?" Skylar asked sarcastically and she was slapped across the face.
"Your spirit will be broken soon enough." He said calmly as the frame tilted and she was hanging with her back towards the ground now, looking up into the bright white light. Her clothes were cut off of her and the hum of machinery starting up was heard and she swallowed and bit her lips so she didn't scream as the blazing hot instrument seared into her stomach and tears fell from her eyes, blood falling from her forehead and lips as she refused to cry out as he worked around the chakra suppressor already making her skin hypersensitive.
She woke up in the same position as the first time with a numb pulling feeling on her stomach. She opened her sore and glued eyes and looked down to see Kiiro stitching her up and cleaning her skin.
"Why are you helping me?" Skylar asked tiredly.
"I want to think for myself and you'll die if we left it open for too long." Kiiro answered and Skylar slumped again, feeling the dried blood pulling at her skin on her back and around her mouth. She still had her necklace on and began reciting everything so no matter how broken she could become, she will remember she had people looking for her. She began humming with her sore and tired voice her song that was used to break the Tsukuyomi as it always made her remember her friend's lives and hardships. Kiiro continued to clean her up and also hummed an alternate tune that ran perfectly along side her tune and Skylar smiled softly.