Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto.
(WARNING - A lot of cursing going on)
Chapter 9 - Yondaime's seal
Kankuro stared at the girl, every chance he could. He glared at her from behind, at the corner of his eye, or even straight forward when she talked. He tried to figure out if she had some kind of injury.
Two days ago he would swear it was her arms and hands, but after seeing that she was only hiding some seals, his reason seemed to lose its way. It wasn't like she looked hurt. In fact she looked perfectly fine, like always.
Kaoru was laughing about something Kiba said. The puppet master never saw Kaoru laughing like that. Only when they were kids. He hated the fact Kiba was having some kind of relationship with her, but she looked so happy... Kaoru never laughed or smiled liked that to or with him. Instead she was always cold. Maybe he should be out of this. Keep the feelings buried deep inside of his soul, like he promised himself.
They arrived at Kiba's house. Kankuro decided to lock himself in Kiba's room and continue to work on his puppet again. He didn't want to see them. He needed his space, to be alone, to think through things.
The day passed by fast. Kaoru prepared herself mentally for the mission, next day. Not that she knew what was about it, but since the Hokage asked Suna for an expert in sealing, it was obvious that the mission was about sealing or unsealing something.
Kaoru was always nervous before missions, and that showed through her OCD. It seemed to intensify a thousand times. Of course Kaoru didn't even realize that. Her mind only focused on the Hokage, and what her mission was supposed to be. She tried not to think about it before, and Kiba definitely helped her forget about the mission.
But now all the worries were coming at once. Maybe she shouldn't have been so unpreocuppied about it. Panick started to burn inside her. As she frantically gathered her things ready for the next day, she recited the seals she knew in her head.
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Kiba came to his room still wet from his bath. Kankuro was still working in his red-haired puppet. The dog boy sighed.
"Man, don't you get tired of playing with that? You've been here all day around that thing," Kiba said dressing some black loose pants.
"No," the sand nin, simply answered, without looking and the younger boy.
"At least go eat something, you've been here all day..."
"He almost killed me."
"What?" Kiba asked confused about Kankuro's randomness.
"Him," Kankuro said picking his puppet, "He almost killed me. It's funny that now I own him. He left me in desert to die from his poison and now I have his lifeless body in my hands... I think that this is what some people call poetic justice."
Kiba stood there still confused. He forgot how Kankuro was a strange guy. He was strong true, and he was a good ally, but he was really weird. 'I mean he talks to his puppets...'
Suddenly, realization came to his mind.
"Wait! That's the Akatsuki guy that attacked you and your brother?" Kiba asked a little disgusted.
"Well, he didn't attack physically Gaara, but yeah."
"And now you have his body as your puppet? That's freaky," Kiba said looking closer to the puppet.
"He destroyed my other puppets, so now I took over him to replace. It's not like I'm taking from him something that doesn't belong to me," Kankuro said with his sarcastic tone. Kiba raised an eyebrow, but didn't follow what the Jonin was saying. Quite the opposite.
"Hmm...Ok... Kankuro?"
"What?"
"Can you help me make myself good in front of Kaoru-chan?" Kiba asked innocently.
"Why would I do that?" Kankuro said trying to hide his angry state.
"Well, I'm kinda clumsy in what comes to girls, and I really don't want to mess up things with her, and you are the only one that knows her enough to help me! So... Please, please, please!" Kiba asked making puppy sad eyes. Kankuro glared at him. Did the dog-boy just begged him? Did the cockiest leaf shinobi he knew just begged him because of Kaoru? Kankuro just wanted to punch the damn chunin. What the hell did he think he was doing.
"Yeah, whatever..." Kankuro forcefully said.
"Nice! Just help me look good in front of her," Kiba said.
"Like the fact that you pretend to be the one that makes the pancakes she loves at breakfast?" Kankuro asked coldly.
"Yeah! You didn't say anything, so I continued to play along. Are you mad I stole your credits?" Kiba grinned. Kankuro felt like he was being mocked, but he knew the dog-boy didn't mean it that way.
"No, she probably wouldn't eat them if she knew I was the one that made them." Kankuro felt his heart tightened. He had felt that a lot lately, and it should be used to it by now, but the pain seemed to be worse by the minute.
"I'm gonna go eat something," the puppet master said. Not that he was hungry he just wanted to get away from Kiba.
Kankuro left the room closing the door behind him. He wanted to explode, to beat up someone so badly that wouldn't be recognized, to scream so loud he wouldn't be able to speak after... He wanted to let it all out. He passed by Kaoru's room, and the door was slightly opened. He stopped and peaked inside. He saw Kaoru folding what it seemed to be clothes. She folded once and then unfolded, and then folded again. She repeated that at least three times with each piece of clothing. A small bark came from inside, and Kankuro saw Akamaru, that was on the floor next to Kaoru looking at him. The girl also looked at him.
'Crap she caught me looking.'
Kaoru didn't say anything. Kankuro just stood there for a few seconds, then walked away. Kaoru was confused about what happened, but her mind was so occupied, she didn't really pay attention. It was late and she had to sleep. Next day her mission would start.
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Early mornings in Konoha were similar to Suna's. The gentle and slightly colder breeze awakened every sense of Kaoru's body. She wasn't a morning person, but she loved to feel that wonderful wind in her face while in an empty street. And being able to watch the sunrise from another country was amazing. The sunrise in Konoha was gigantic compared to Suna's, and Suna was well known for its big sun.
Kiba also looked good at morning. He told Kaoru how he usually wakes up early to walk Akamaru and make some exercise. He was definitely a morning person.
Kankuro however, looked tired, and even with his face paint, the signs of lack of sleep were shown. He couldn't care less about being a morning or afternoon person. In fact he was very chameleonic about it. If he had to wake up early he would do it, if he had to stay up all night, he would do it too. It was simple, if he had to, he would do it. So, the reason why Kankuro looked so messed up, was the two shinobis in front of him, specially the boy. Back in Suna he never felt so uneasy about Kaoru. He only started to have strange thoughts when Kiba came to the scene.
Kiba brought all the emotions Kankuro always tried to hide, to the surface... At least now he had the mission, something to occupy his mind from the dog-boy... or Kaoru.
They soon arrived at the Hokage's mansion, and they were right away received by the Hokage herself.
"Kiba you can go now," Tsunade said.
"What?" Kiba asked surprised.
"You're not part of their mission, you are just their host. Now go home," Tsunade said with her bossy tone. Kiba grunted and left.
"I hope you guys are enjoying being here," she said. Both sand nins nodded.
They followed the blonde woman, to a distant room in the last floor. Tsunade stopped in front of the door and made handseals, then concentrated her chackra and put her hand in the middle of the door. Seals took over the door, and Kaoru smirked.
'Konoha security seals are so weak...'
Tsunade entered the room and the sand nins followed. The room had a huge desk in the middle with some chairs around. The walls were covered by books and scrolls. It resembled a library. Tsunade closed the door and turned to the two shinobis.
"First of all, I think I don't have to say that this mission is confidential. If there's a breach of information or any kind of betrayal, the peace treaty between Konoha and Suna can be jeopardized. We got that clear?"
Kaoru and Kankuro said yes.
"Now for the mission. We have been doing research about cancelling a kinjutsu. Well, not really cancel, but undo the forbidden jutsu."
"Is the kinjutsu a fuin jutsu?" Kaoru asked.
"Yes."
"Well, when something is sealed, the user of the jutsu can unsealed it," Kaoru said.
"Yes, however this is different. Because this jutsu seals the user's soul along whatever the user wants to seal. Which results in the user's death," Tsunade explained.
"That's more complicated. If the user is dead, the chances to reopen the seal are scarce. And to unseal a soul, it's impossible," Kaoru said. Kankuro agreed with the last part.
"We don't want to unseal a soul. We want to unseal what the person sealed with him."
"And what is that?" Kankuro asked.
"The Yin half of the Kyuubi," Tsunade said smirking. Kankuro frowned and Kaoru was simply shocked, even though she made her face expressionless as always.
"I thought the Kyuubi was inside of a host," Kaoru said.
"And it is. 16 years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, the Yondaime Hokage defeated the Bijuu, by sealing it inside of a child. However, Kyuubi's power was so immense, Yondaime had to weaken it. And the only way was to use the Shiki Fujin, the Dead demon consuming seal. He died from this act."
"Why didn't he seal the whole Kyuubi? It could have saved some trouble for Naruto," Kankuro said. Kaoru glared at Kankuro.
"Naruto, the blondy? He's the host of the nine-tailed fox?" she asked.
"Yes," Tsunade answered, "The original idea was to seal the whole Kyuubi, but even such a powerful seal, wasn't enough to hold, the bijuu's power. So Minato decided to seal the Yang half on Naruto and the other with Kinjutsu."
"So you want to us... well Kaoru, find a way to unseal the Yin half of Kyuubi's chackra?" Kankuro asked, making sure he understood everything.
"Yes. That and then there's a second part," she paused.
"There's a reason why we want to do this. Since the Kazegake was kidnapped by the Akatsuki, we are trying to find a way to take off the bijuu inside Naruto."
"Wouldn't that kill him?" Kankuro asked remembering about his brother.
"Yes, that's why we asked you for your help. Our researches showed us that maybe there's a way to remove a bijuu from the Jinchuriki. But for that we need the Yin half." Tsunade sighed, "This could protect Naruto, the Akatsuki would leave him alone."
The Hokage stood silent for a while.
"Hokage-sama?" Kaoru asked.
"Yes?"
"Did anyone tried to unseal the kinjutsu?"
"No, but I trust you will find a way." Tsunade smiled, "We will do this by parts. First find a way to recover the goods, then we take care about Kyuubi. Ah, please don't tell Naruto about this, like I said earlier, it's only between us three and the Kazekage. No counselors or advisers. Just us. You can work here all day, I prepared this room myself, all the information about the matter is on those books and scrolls around. I'll make sure to bring you lunch. Take as much time as you need, don't need to rush things."
And with that she left. Kankuro took off his scrolls and put them on the side of the table.
"You think you can handle this?" Kankuro asked at the Kunoichi.
"I don't know... You think you can read all the this?" she asked pointing at the thousands of books and scrolls.
"Fuck... we are going to stay here for the rest of our lives...", Kankuro sighed. Kaoru sat down and took of an empty scroll from her bag. She wrote and drew a huge seal. Then she gave it to Kankuro.
"What's this?" the puppet master asked.
"A seal."
"No shit..." he answered sarcastically.
"Search for that seal," she said ignoring the rude tone of Kankuro.
And so they started to go through Tsunade's research. They spent the whole morning and afternoon in it. Tsunade came only to bring them lunch, which was the only pause they did. The afternoon soon started to fade away into night.
"Argh... This is so fucking exhausting. My head can't handle much more," Kankuro complained.
"It's surprising that it can handle something at all..." Kaoru replied reading a book.
Kankuro smirked to himself. That was the typical Kaoru answer, maybe things hadn't changed after all...
To be continued...
Reviews are welcomed^^