The Path A Ninja Walks...
Chapter Thirteen
The Rift Between Them...
A/N: WARNING-The character known as Sage Amesawa uses a lot of profanity and colorful language as part of his "colorful" personality. Be prepared if you are sensitive to that. Please note it is not because I condone such manner of speech, and also the character does not mean to use it as a way to be harmful, it is just his personality.
"Wooah...Kuro...Kunai?" Sage gaped in astonishment, slowly circling the very large Black Kunai shoved into the ground by Saseme's own hand.
"What the hell...is that thing!?" Hana gasped, trying not to show her shaky discomfort about a girl smaller than herself being able to wield a weapon almost as big as their Sensei.
"Just a little congratulatory gift we got for Saseme to celebrate her making Genin." Kankuro explained,"She still struggles with handling it sometimes...but she's getting the hang of it." he shrugged,"With enough practice...she'll be a force to be reckoned with~" he smirked.
Of course she struggles handling it...
Kokoua thought to herself.
Look at that thing...it's bigger than she is!
That's probably why she uses it as more of an attention grabber...
Her deep garnet colored eyes seemed to darken as she drilled them into the small frame of this young Uchiha survivor.
Still...It's only a matter of time until she uses it like second nature...
You're just full if all sorts of surprises...aren't you, Saseme Uchiha?
She blinked.
I bet the same could be said about her twin brother Sasuke, as well...hmm...
She pondered.
...Uchiha, huh...?
The clan itself, as well as the two young surviving members were still a mystery to be unraveled...
xxx
"Uuuugh I don't see the point in this!" Hana huffed in frustration as she fell in the creek in the woods once again during their training session"We already learned about teamwork why are we retaking the lesson?"
"While it's true we learned about it..." said Saseme as she and Gaara were linked hand in hand to keep balance on a single rock through the water. With one pretty much being enveloped in sand and the other relaying on her internal flames for her power source, neither one of them could really get wet. This made this sort of training task a bit more difficult for them. Saseme had assigned each of her members to a member of the sand for training practice. Hana was with Temari, Sage with Kankuro, and Saseme with Gaara.
It seemed she was the only one he'd be willing to tolerate...
Plus with similar limits it was at the same time, the more difficult option. Saseme sighed at the mess being made with their cooperation.
"However we still seem to fail to apply it." she stated.
"Sometimes on missions, you will be placed in teams with other people you won't always be used to." said Kokoua,"It won't always just be you, Saseme and Sage all the time, Hana." she stated,"That's what this mission can help us with." she blinked."We were hired to cooperate with our sand ninja allies for this task." she stated,"They need help, we answered the call."
Hana huffed with a pout.
"According to the intel we got from Temari, in about a week the bandits and rouges who have been sneaking their way into the the Land of Wind so far are planning to band together in a massive group for a total looting of the Hidden Sand Village." said Saseme,"That gives us a week to band together with our team of seven against their possible seventy or more." she blinked,"Now for shinobi that isn't much of a difficult situation however for shinobi who don't work well together...that's just asking for trouble." she sighed.
They had a week to pull themselves together and weren't showing much progress. Saseme and Gaara worked in silence with little to no conversation between them. Sage and Kankuro seemed to be getting used to each other...at the very least they can talk on the same wavelength sometimes. With Hana an Temari the task was far more difficult as both were rather stubborn and prideful.
"We're almost done..." Gaara stated firmly as the two made it to the randevouz point first. The goal was to rock hop across the creek and climb the cliff ahead of them while working together to do managed to make it across the creek just fine, with the goal being not to let either one of them fall into the water. Kankuro and Sage came in second, meanwhile the remaining girls seemed to bicker. With Temari and Hana being about the same level in stubborness...it was rather entertaining to watch.
"Damn...Sure glad I ain't a braud..." Sage sighed.
"Tell me about it..." Kankuro sighed in agreement,"We may be waiting here a while..."
As the two sat at the cliff side, in semi comfort with eachother's company, Sage eye balled Saseme in his perifreal. Watching her making conversation with the scariest man of the group...
He wasn't sure if she was brave or foolish. He glanced over at Kankuro who paid little to no attention, other than a couple side glances, as though making sure nothing happened to her.
Even this guy seems uneasy around that sand man...
Sage blinked as he thought to himself.
But why? I mean...That's his little brother, right?
"...Hey...Kankuro, right?" Sage blinked.
"Yeah, that's right." he huffed, not ripping his eyes away from Saseme and Gaara.
"...Can I ask you something?" Sage blinked.
"...What is it?" said Kankuro, acknowledging his partner with a side ways glance.
"Saseme...she calls that guy...Gaa-chan...?"
"Yeah?" he blinked,"What about it?"
"Well..."Sage scratched at his cheek, "I dunno I was just wondering..." he gulped, afraid he may have been over stepping his bounds...
But these sand ninja seemed to know Saseme. At least...a lot more than he did...and he felt out of the loop being kept at a further distace from his own team mate than ninja from another land-
Here goes...something.
He thought to himself.
"I was just wondering if...maybe you could tell me...you know..." he blinked,"...What's the deal with them?"
Kankuro twitched as Sage getured toward Saseme and Gaara. They stood close together, but the atmoshere between them was hard to read.
From what Sage could tell, it didn't seem that Gaara had any wish to harm her...Still the air between them was the furthest thing from "warm and fuzzy".
"W-Well, uh..." Kankuro pondered for a while. He seemed rather hesitant to answer before finally heaving a big sigh.
"We've, uh...known Saseme for a while, see..." he blinked,"She was actually pretty little when we first met her." he chuckled,"I remember..." he began to think back,"Her dad met with mine..."he blinked,"I don't know what it was about...I didn't really pay attention...nor did I really care in that matter." he huffed,"But...I remember he had his oldest son with him too..."
"Oldest son?" Sage blinked,"You mean...Sasuke? Saseme's twin brother?" he asked as he pondered for a bit.
"Oh no- not him." he stated, "The other one..."
"The other one?" Sage blinked, "So...Saseme has another older brother? I thought she only had a twin from what I heard..." he blinked, "She never talked about another brother aside from him..."
Come to think of it...she never really mentions her twin brother either...
He thought to himself, as his gaze hung heavily on the girl. So close yet as a person she seemed to keep everyone but a chosen few at arm's length...
...I wonder if they have bad blood...?
"Yeah well..." Kankuro gruffed,"Maybe there's a good reason for that..." He quickly tried to brush off the topic. It seemed to discomfort him and Sage thought better not to push it further for the moment...
"Anyway..." Kankuro said as he cleared his throat,"I remember the two of them...the old man put down his pack, he seemed to be reaching in search of something to give my father at that moment...only...out popped little Saseme instead." he laughed,"We were all in shock, I mean...it's a three day trek between your village and mine right?" he chuckled,"Yet little Saseme didn't feel like staying home...so she decided to hitch a ride in her father's knapsack...and he was none the wiser." he chuckled.
"No way!" Sage laughed,"That's insane...and no one even noticed!?"
Kankuro shook his head.
"Needless to say...we were a bit impressed." he chuckled,"A basic ninja tactic is to conceal one's presence...and she was showing skills of that at age 6." he said,"Her father wasn't thrilled, but I remember that brother of hers couldn't have been more proud." he stated,"Eventually even the old man had to cave..."
Saseme stood quietly in the distance, stealing glances of Sage and Kankuro's closeness, listening to the story as Gaara leaned in the shaded hood with his arms crossed and eyes closed. He never slept so...perhaps he was thinking.
Who knows?
Maybe he's listening too...
She thought to herself.
I wonder, Gaa-chan...do you remember too?
Does the scene play the same way for me...as it does for you?
Kankuro's voice faded into an echo as she recalled the memory of the day...
"Gaara was awe-stricken..." he said.
xxx
"Hey...what's your name?" the young Uchiha girl had big dark eyes that...ironicly, seemed to shine with a warmth and light that only he could see...
"Um...I..." He was so young...so timid,"It's...Gaara..."
"Gaara?" She blinked,"...What a pretty name..." She blinked once more and suddenly pointed directly at him,"Well now...you're Gaa-chan~! Okay?" She said this so boldly...with a smile, a mile wide.
xxx
"I see..." Sage blinked as he tried to visualize himself into the imagery that seemed to play in Kankuro's mind as he spoke,"So, they were friends when they were little?"
If that's true...then...
His eyes shifted to the two. Whatever friendship they may have once had, it seemed to be so distant now...
...I wonder what changed?
"Yeah...you could say that." Kankuro snickered with a shrug,"Even Gaara used to smile back then..."
It was at this moment the silent brunette opened his eyes, and before Sage could press for more, they were brought back to the reality the two shrieking girls as both fell in the water. The boys would snicker, trying not to make it apparent that they were laughing. Saseme heaved a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose while Gaara hissed a whisper of the word "Idiots..." followed by some other mutterings she couldn't desipher.
"All right that's it!" Saseme huffed after having heard enough of the arguing,"Clearly this is the wrong exercise for the two of you..."
"It wouldn't be such an issue if she would just follow my lead!" Temari huffed.
"And what gives you all rights to lead!?" Hana retaliated.
"You both...are incredibly stubborn..." Saseme sighed," And...highly competitive...hmm..." she pondered a moment before a smirk slowly creased her lips,"...I think...I have the perfect solution."
To Be Continued