I do not own Naruto. That should be obvious. Why would I be writing fanfiction if I did?
Instructions to get character art on profile if curious!
Akuma. That is all I am. An evil demon yet why do I live? I have no family anymore, not that I'd know if I did. The leaf village found me when I was six years old with no memory. I'm hated by this very village. All because I house one of the many things they fear.
I house a demon, not unlike a tailed beast. She slumbers, awakening most often under the full moon or should I lose consciousness and my brain functions should slow. I raise my onyx eyes to the moon-less sky. Kasumi has started to become more active as of late. Why? Does she sense some change coming in the near future? Whatever is causing it does not concern me.
Without a sound I stand up and start my dash for the cemetery, the dragon on my kimono flowing gracefully. I must see him. The one man who cared for me since I came to this village. Watashi. The shinobi I owed my life to yet could never repay. He fell to the hands of an assassin sent after me in an effort to protect the one he considered his own child.
I arrive to his grave, just a plain stone with his name. I bow my head and say a few prayers for his soul. I may be the Demon of the Black Sand but Watashi had earned my respect in the short time I had spent with him. The ex-shinobi was old but wise, frail yet strong and he burned with the will of fire. His desire to protect the people of this village, including me, is what had led him here.
It has been three years since his death. In those three years I have forgotten how his voiced sounded, the way he laughed or the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled but I will never forget what he has done for me.
I slowly rise to my feet and look at the wilting lilies. I will need search through the forest for more soon because no shop in the village would accept my money. "I will return before the Chunin exams begin Watashi-Oji. I must go and meet with my squad now." I said with a gentle whisper as the sun started to rise.
I couldn't help but let the small smile grace my lips. My team consisted myself, Shiro Karasu, Kuro and Moriko Sarutobi*, daughter of the great third Hokage. Kuro and Shiro were both abnormal in their own rights. We were a team of outcasts and the unwanted. Shiro holds a unique chakra feared in his clan and Kuro was born with the ears and tail of a cat .
The Karasu clan was known for it's use of crows and ravens however Shiro was feared from an age old legend about the boy with the feathers of a bird would bring their destruction. Such a silly reason to shun someone with his abilities.
Kuro was a fellow orphan in Watashi's care. He and his nekomata* partner, Aki, resented me for a year after the incident of his death, blaming me. Kuro realized shortly after that I was not at fault for Watashi's own decision to try and save me.
I land in the clearing of Training field three, where Shiro and Kuro were already waiting. We weren't close but we all functioned well as a team. Yet they were the closest people I had to friends.
At a single glance you could tell each of my teammates were handsome. Kuro with his jet black hair, teal eyes, beauty mark below his lip and scar over his eye. Shiro and his flowing purple hair falling into his own lavender eyes, his clans facial tattoos jutting out from the sides of his face in the same lavender tone, as was his clans custom.
I was average in looks compared to them. Pale skin, no matter how long I spent in the sun, dark eyes engulfed in the dark circles around them. My dark crimson pulled up and secured with chopsticks.
"Good morning Akuma-San. Was your night eventful?" Shiro greeted with a smile and only one eye peeking out of his purple fringe.
Kuro bounced up from his place against the tree excitedly. "Akuma-Chan! We're going to enter the Chunin exams three days from now, nya!"
None of us really know where Kuro's energy came from but I had an idea that is because he was part cat. In his life as a cat he would be a kitten, easily excited and full of energy.
"Good morning Shiro-San, Kuro-Kun." I said with a small, almost undetectable smile. They may not be the closest but to her they were what little people in the village who accepted her. "I visited Watashi-Oji's grave. He will need some new Lilies soon. As for the Chunin exams Kuro-Kun how could I forget? You've been giving me updates every day."
His tail swished agitatedly. "Kuro. Just Kuro, nya. I don't need any of those honorifics!"
I couldn't help smiling, no matter how small, in the presence of my team. Kuro is just so accepting and warm hearted while Shiro is calmer and quieter. I guess black and white would describe them. Different yet blend together in perfect sync. You wouldn't think a bird and a cat could get along so well.
We all turn our attention to our sensei as she appears in the clearing in a poof of smoke. Moriko holds a huge smile on her face and three paper slips in her hands, her bow casually slung across her back.
"You must bring these slips to register for the Chunin exams. If one of you feel you aren't ready to take the exam you may back out before the registration date. However should one of you choose to pass this round of exams and wait for the next one, the two remaining must wait as well." Our caramel haired sensei says in dead seriousness. "Do not let your teammates pressure you into something you do not feel ready for. In this exam you may die if you are not prepared. Good luck."
"Yes Moriko-Sensei." We all say in unison.
I look at Kuro to see he is looking at Aki, deep in thought. Shiro looked cool and calm like usual, and I? Well I knew this exam would be no sweat. Even if it could cause one of us to die, the chances of that occurring were slim to none.
"Now then. Enough with the doom and gloom. You are all free to do anything you please for the next three days. I recommend you train if you wish to participate in the exams." Moriko says with her usual happy grin. "Akuma-Chan has your seal you have been working on gained any progress?"
"Yes Sensei. I am now able to store chakra in case I fall unconscious." Moriko and I have been working on a seal to prevent Kasumi from gaining control, as is why I do not sleep. Sleeping gives her the chance to take control of my body, and using it to reek havoc on others. The seal prevents that by keeping my mind active like if I was awake.
"With that working I believe you three will have no problems with the exams." She says with a smile before disappearing. As of late we have seen little of our sensei, busy with making preparations for the exams and her father's protection. That must be what is like to have a family.
Will I have a family some day? No, a family life is difficult and ends in ruin for a shinobi. To raise a family for what, for a enemy with an old grudge to rip it away and shatter it until nothing remains? No, I could do no such thing to any family I could have.
"Would you two care to join me in a training session?" Shiro asks politely, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Thank you for the offer but I have something I need to do." I look at Kuro, who was already bouncing in excitement. I didn't really have anywhere to go or something to do but Kuro and Shiro need a little bit of time to their selves without me. "Have fun you two and don't bang each other up too much. Play nice with the little birdy okay Kuro?"
"Of course Akuma-chan, nya!" Kuro's grin grew and I could easily tell that the prospect of alone time with Shiro pleased him. With a simple wave in farewell I start to head towards the village, hoping to scope out the competition that has already arrived.
I raise one of my delicate eyebrows as I look at the scene below me. Konohamaru was being held up into the air by a boy, who looked like a cat in my opinion. Must be the pointed corners of his hood, I muse to myself. A blonde girl, who appears to be older than the cat boy, stood a few feet behind him, a smug look adorning her face.
From the looks of them, the girl must be a wind user and the boy a puppet user of the sand, judging from the weapons on their backs. However it is only a guess from what I know of the sand village and the looks of the device wrapped up in bandages on his back.
Opposing them I can see Moegi and Udon, two of Konohamaru's friends, along with a pink haired girl and a blond boy. If my memory serves the boy is Naruto, troublemaker from the class below me. Always going on about how someday he will become the Hokage. Well future kage let's see what you can do shall we?
Time just ticks by and I suppress a sigh. Future Hokage my butt. I gather my sensei's young nephew up in my sand and pull him away from the troublesome sand nin. I see what I can only guess is fear flash across the kitty boy's face before it's gone. Replaced only by my appearance and his own cocky grin.
"My sensei will not be too pleased with a guest in our village attacking her nephew and grandson of the Hokage, maybe even enough to pardon me should I kill you. However if you wish to fight then I will be your opponent, though I can promise you it will end in your death." Every ounce of cruelty I have leaks into the words. My lips twitch up in a smile, one of malicious intend. The sand from my scroll swirls in violent waves around me.
However before either of the sand nin could speak, a rock flies from the tree I was once in, and smacks the boy in the head. There stood the one and only surviving Uchiha, except for his brother that is.
"Get lost." He crushes a large clump of dirt, that of course looks like another rock. By the look on the two leaf kunoichis' faces, he must be another heart throb of the leaf. To me at least he wasn't anything special, just the survivor of a dead clan.
"Hey punk get down here! You're the kind of pesky little snot I hate the most! All attitude and nothing to back it up." Cat man growls, completely ignoring me. He slides the puppet of his shoulder, much to the surprise of the blond girl.
I feel Kasumi start to stir more and shake my head to clear my thoughts. Her cold and dangerous voice only whispers a single word, "Shukaku." I only catch a few words of what the girl says. Something about him using the Crow.
"Kankuro. Back off." A raspy monotone came from the tree. A boy stood their upside-down on the branch. His hair was a deep red and his eyes were engulfed in his own signs of sleepless nights. "You're an embarrassment to our village."
"Uh. Hey Gaara."
Could this be why? Could he be what is making Kasumi stir? I swirl my sand around me without a conscious thought. Maybe I can shorten the competition a little bit, but where would the fun in that be?
"Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here." Gaara said, more as a statement than question to the boy. The fear evident in his eyes.
"I know. I mean they uh challenged us." Kankuro lied. "See here is what happened…"
"Shut up or I'll kill you." Interrupting him, Gaara threatened in a dull monotone. Kankuro started to stammer out apologies and all I could think was I must be wary of the red head in the exam coming up.
"I'm sorry for any trouble he caused." The boy vanished into a swirl of ordinary sand, causing me to gasp quietly in surprise. I wasn't aware of another Shinobi wielding a jutsu like mine. "Let's go. We didn't come here to play games."
Despite the pink haired girl asking stupid questions I couldn't help but take a step towards the retreating red head. Something, I don't know what, draw me to him. Why? What is so special about it?
"Hey! You! Identify yourself." Sasuke commanded.
The blond girl, rather young woman turned. "Hm? You mean me?"
"No. Him. The guy with the gourd on his back."
"My name is Gaara, of the Desert. I'm curious about you too. Who are you?" He introduces himself before asking who he is. Surprisingly he looks towards me as well. "And the red haired girl?"
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha."
"Akuma, Demon of the Black Sand. Let your team cause anymore trouble and you'll learn how I got my name." I growl out, low and dangerously. With the introduction and warning out the way I disappeared, only a little bit of black dust betraying I was ever there.
*Moriko Sarutobi- Now before anyone tells me Asuma doesn't have a sister I must say she is obviously an OC. We do not know how many siblings he has, all we know for sure is that he has one. The parent of Konohamaru. (As far as I'm aware) We do not know what had happened to his parents, as they are never mentioned. I am not saying she is his mother. She's his aunt. (If you missed it.)
*Nekomata- A larger than average cat with two tails. I have read a few conflicting stories about these however so I may be wrong. Aki, since she is still young, is about the size of a lion cub and will be the size of a full grown male lion when she is fully grown.
As you can see (From the people who read this before I changed it) I changed Akuma's personality quite a bit and added in Moriko, Kuro, Aki and Shiro. I thought I made her too much like Gaara and writing both of them like that would probably kill me. I can't just have Naruto Therapy no jutsu her too. Plus the no true team thing made her seem kinda op to me.