Chapter Seventeen: The Kazekage and the Snake Sage
"Hey whatsup Temari?" Kankuro asked stepping up next to his sister. He looked down at what Temari was inspecting.
"So you've come to watch the show too," he snickered. They were on one of the lower tiers of the valley walls. Underneath them stood Gaara, arms folded, shouting commands at Ayumi who was jogging around the parcour. The girl was sweating and panting, her muscles ached with every step she took. Kankuro nodded approvingly. For chakra training, boosting stamina was needed. Chakra is molded from physical energy and for that stamina is a prerequisite.
"Can we - can we take a break?" Ayumi asked in between her breaths when she finished another round.
"Five more laps, Ayumi," Gaara told her monotonously.
"Owh please, I've run thirty of them," she pleaded.
"Why have you stopped moving? Did I give you permission to stop?" Gaara continued, "you'll run laps until I'm back. I'm taking a break. And if I return and you're not nearly crawling on all fours I know you haven't done enough and you can continue until nightfall."
"Gosh, you're mean," Ayumi complained sticking her tongue out playfully as she jogged past him. She wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"Ayumi?" Gaara said.
She stopped and turned around, jogging on one place. "What?"
"What Gaara-sensei," he corrected her with a small smirk, "you've got dust on your face."
He walked over to her and pulled out a napkin and a tin flask from his pocket. He moistened the napkin with some water.
"Here, wipe your face," he offered. She gratefully took it from him. The wet and cool napkin was refreshing. She shielded her face from the sun and wondered what time it was. Surely it was already three o'clock and they had done nothing but condition training.
"See you soon," Gaara said and turned around to leave. Ayumi took a moment to stretch and then continued jogging. As Gaara walked out of sight and Ayumi almost finished another quarter of the parcour she nearly stumbled over a loose rock, but managed to regain herself just in time.
"Ouch!" Temari grinned, "by the looks of it she's dying for a time-out."
"He's disciplining her to follow commands until her limit. A ninja always has to place unconditional faith in the decisions of their squad leader after all. If a ninja wavers in their resolve, it could mean the death of the entire squad."
Temari nodded in agreement, "pushing her passed her limit will teach her a valuable lesson. The only limit to our potential, are limits we place on ourselves with our mind. If we believe, we can succeed at anything!"
In the meantime Gaara was strolling through Suna's marketplace, scanning the shops he passed and nodding politely at some people. He came upon a bar at the corner of the street. A tall thin man with a white cap and white apron was scooping up ice-cream outside of the shop. He also had a cooler with drinks lying in chunks of ice. He stopped before the stall and looked through the glass top at the different beverages.
'What would Ayumi like...'
"Kazekage-sama!" a female voice exclaimed enthusiastically. The voice was familiar. Gaara turned around and watched Matsuri rush towards him. She gave him the familiar smile of shy adoration and folded her hands behind her back.
"Oh! I'm surprised to meet you here," she gushed with a laugh, "I heard you are training Ayumi. I guess I am her senpai now. Where is she?"
"On the training field," Gaara replied.
"Lemon-cactus juice and peach flavored iced tea..." Matsuri mumbled when she noticed what he was holding. Gaara gave change to the man to pay for the drinks.
'That one must be for Ayumi,' she thought a little jealous.
"How are the patrols in the East?" Gaara said to make small talk.
"All well, no signs of illegal trespassing," she replied, inwardly hoping he would buy her a drink too. Gaara didn't notice her eyes were almost burning holes through the bag he was holding.
"I'm looking forward reading your full report. You did good work setting the alarm traps last time," he complimented her with a small smile of acknowledgement and brushed past her. Her eyes sparkled when she watched him distance himself from her. Before long, he disappeared amidst the other shopping folk.
"Lady? You're going to order? You're holding up the line," the shop owner complained in annoyance. She turned and saw five people were waiting irritably for her to make her choice.
"Oh, uhh, lemon-cactus juice," she stammered absent-mindedly.
Temari was throwing worried glances at Kankuro. He replied her with a nod and swallowed. Their tensed eyes followed the tiny figure. Would she make it? It was clear from her face she could fall any moment. The way swayed left and right across the tracks, it was obvious she was about to give up.
"Tsk," Kankuro spat and balled his fist. This was the last round Gaara told her to complete. Suddenly he pumped his arm in the air.
"Just 300 yards Ayumi! Victory is within your grasp!" he shouted to Temari's surprise. But he was right, Ayumi needed encouragement. She got up from her squatting position and placed her hands around her mouth.
"Don't give up Ayumi! We're rooting for you!" she yelled. Ayumi lifted her chin a little. She was panting profoundly and could barely lift one foot before the other.
"Repeat after me," Kankuro told his sister earnestly, "we're gonna send her Sabaku sibling power."
Temari nodded, wondering what she agreed to.
"Ayumi is a ninja fine! She gon' make it to the finish line! Though she ain't got much of a chest! Her thighs are among Suna's best!"
"Ayumi is a ninja – what?" Temari hissed stopping abruptly before she could continue. She slapped the back of Kankuro's head ",are you looking to motivate her or give her a complex? Idiot!"
"Military cheers need to rhyme," he pouted with a shrug, rubbing the sore spot where Temari karate chopped him, "I'm not good at rhyming."
"Look!" Temari gasped and pointed. Ayumi straightened her back and was going for it.
'Only a little further,' she thought. The sun was hot. Her mouth was dry. Her face felt red and pearls of sweat were rolling down the back of her legs. She felt the thick marks of the finish line under her soles and dropped down to the ground.
"Uuhhh... I made it," she mumbled dizzy from the exertion. Kankuro and Temari high-fived each other. Gaara was just coming back when he saw his siblings happy as proud parents and Ayumi sprawled face down on the earth.
"Cheerleaders," he smirked and stopped next to the bundle of misery that was Ayumi.
"Gaara-sensei I did what you asked, please tell me what to do next," she robotically droned, too tired to pick herself up. Gaara squatted down and grabbed the iced tea from the bag. He pressed it against her upper arm and Ayumi gasped at the sudden cold.
"Hey, get up..." he told her. "Drink, you deserved it."
She sat up and Gaara popped open the lid with a sizzle before handing it over. She held the can with both hands to get the most of the icy coolness.
"Whew! That's nice, thanks Gaara," she smiled.
"Glad you like it," he replied. He remained silent while they drank and he calmly observed their surroundings. He didn't often come on the genin training grounds anymore. If Gaara trained himself, he usually did so a little ways outside of the village. His level of techniques were sometimes too extreme to safely train with within the village perimeters. Just looking at the running parcour, the practice range, the obstacle course... it made him nostalgic. He remembered coming with his siblings here. Baki, screaming you worthless dogs, get your asses going at Temari and Kankuro, then turning to Gaara would you please consider running a few laps. If Gaara was in a good mood, Baki would get an annoyed glare that barely acknowledged his existence. If he was in a bad mood... well, Baki was good at dodging. Gaara got to train his ranged ninjutsu skills, not so much his stamina. On nights of the full moon they didn't even invite him to train to begin with. Not that he cared back then. He was thankful they had the sense to evade him. He was lethal. Right now, he couldn't possibly imagine a life without Temari, Kankuro and Baki anymore. He was thankful they somehow managed to develop a system to deal with him. After his genin days were over, the next time he entered these training grounds was when he had volunteered to become a teacher. The night before the picking he and his siblings got together around the dining table.
"Gaara, how to put this," Temari had started, visibly dropping a sweat as she looked at Kankuro for support. "Tomorrow the fresh greens from the ninja academy will pick their sensei, and you want to take someone under your wing, right?"
"Yes," a cold reply.
"Then, how about smiling a little?" Temari continued meekly.
"Smiling?" he replied, squinting his eyes. Temari cringed and Kankuro shook his head to signal Temari was on thin ice. He tried to avert his eyes inconspicuously towards the window, to check if it was open. If Gaara felt insulted, that'd be the nearest exit!
"Why?" Gaara asked, his dark circled eyes staring at them questioningly.
"Well..." Temari gulped, "it makes you look open... inviting! It makes people... comfortable."
Gaara slowly nodded as if he was presented with a revelation.
"So, people don't always smile when they are happy..." he thought aloud, "you're telling me they smile to make others comfortable."
"Yes! Yes! Sometimes it's like that!" Kankuro chimed in, glad Gaara was reaching an understanding.
"And my expression is lacking..." Gaara continued.
"Lacking? I wouldn't use that word," Kankuro gushed, "you've got a bitchy resting face, that's all- OW!" Temari kicked him under the table. 'Bitchy resting face?' she mouthed at him, he shrugged as if to say 'it's true', but did throw a glance at Gaara to see if he had crossed the line. Gaara thought about it. It was true he usually received fearful responses whenever he entered a room or shop, and he didn't usually make an effort to smile. If he wanted acknowledgement from the village, this wasn't a hard way to start.
"So... like this?" Gaara asked dryly. Kankuro and Temari blinked at him and watched for his face to transform intently.A few seconds passed.
"Uhh..." Temari awkwardly replied, "maybe you should curl up your mouth-corners a little."
He did as he was told, lifting the corners of his lips, exposing his teeth, but his eyes didn't match the emotion. He ended up looking more murderous than before. Kankuro and Temari were visibly appalled.
"Was that fine?" he asked, relaxing his muscles again. Kankuro and Temari didn't know what to say.
"You know what Gaara. It's also important to be yourself," Temari decided.
Of course the next day Kankuro and Temari were obviously favored compared to Gaara. There was only one girl who had the guts to go for him. Insecurely she stepped forward. Her steps terribly slow, but pace after pace, she ended up standing beside Gaara, curiously peaking up at his stoic complexion, probably wondering herself how her feet led her this way.
'I was so awkward and stiff around Matsuri,' he remembered. 'I was new to socializing. I've changed, although I know I'm not a completely different person. Still, I've improved greatly I reckon...' he thought with a hint of humor.
He watched the straight canyon walls in front of him. From its base to the top, the wall was divided by different colored layers. Each layer signalled a different era in time. The ice age, when half of Suna was covered in sea. A short period of lush green. And then the searing heat. Dark sandstone... muav limestone... streaks of red, of orange, of grey. It contrasted with the underwater river that gurgled to the surface in the village; a milkish azure blue due to high levels of minerals picked up while travelling miles underground. This view had become so plain to him that normally he would never think twice about it. But in that moment he realized Ayumi was unable to witness anything of the simple beauty his village offered.
"Have you always been blind?" he asked flatly, not moving.
"Oh... um, no," Ayumi answered, a little surprised at his inquiry. "I turned blind when I was six."
"Do you have any visual memories of that time?"
"Not really... If I try to recall my parents' faces, or my own face for that matter, it's so blurry and hazy, I can hardly grasp a shape."
"A fogged mirror..."
"I wouldn't know what that looks like," she breathed with a cynical laugh. He nodded. She scooted closer to him and he casually glanced over to her side. She was leaning forward with her face slightly tilted up, exposing her neckline to him and if he glanced lower a piece of cleavage that made something stir, but it was her face that truly caught his eye. She was getting so excited over something. He felt his body react. Her sudden joyousness was contagious.
"But I have dreams Gaara! Sometimes I wake up, and the colours were so vivid! I dream of birds of paradise circling me, fields of flowers," she marvelled, clutching her tanktop as she recalled, "it's like my mind fills the shapes I touch in real life with colour. I'm never sure afterwards if I even get their names right, but in my dreams I glide over mountains and look out over the ocean, and it's as if I know exactly how it should be. Which is red, which is green, which is purple. But maybe if I'd ever see again, I would find out I got them all mixed up."
It was likely a callous question, but seeing Ayumi this happy over her dreams made him wonder. "Do you want to see again?"
She fell silent, crossed her arms and turned pensive.
"Yes... but at the same time, I'm afraid. It would be a big change. I've gotten used to how it is... and I am able to see now. I can sense you sitting there. In what place your hand is resting on your upright knee. It's funny right, but I know it. And yet... People say that the eyes are the portal to the soul. I would like to look into someone's soul," she finished in a melancholic half-whisper. He instantly regretted ruining her excitement. A moment of silence fell between them again.
"You see people's soul in different ways, Ayumi..." Gaara finally replied. He became quiet again, but he could feel she waited for him to explain his thoughts. "You listen to the tone of their voice, you read their body language with your bloodline limit... I bet you understand people's moods better than most."
She smiled broadly and giggled. Hearing these words from Gaara, it made her glad! How did he always have a way to lift her spirits?
"And so do you! I feel energetic again," she replied. He raised his eyebrows a little. He wasn't told that very often.
"Yes, I think this was enough of a break. It's time to teach you the basics of chakra molding."
Nana looked at the stone ledge that seperated the field she was standing in from the town beyond. It wasn't a high thing, just a little over the knee, build from mounted cobblestones. It was more of an esthetic object than a true wall really, but nonetheless it symbolized a divide. A chasm she always felt within. That feeling of being an outsider to the normal world. People were watching her, wondering what a strange dirty girl was spacing out in the rice paddy for. She snapped out of her blank staring and climbed over it.
'Let's see... I'm looking for a large building on the other side of town...' she mused walking on. 'So this is the town where Heero grew up... looks like large portions of it have been rebuild.'
It felt strangely alienating, walking through the city that used to belong to her ancestors. The old structures seemed caught in time while the modern buildings crowded them. To Nana's delight some traditional ornaments were still kept intact! She was so busy admiring the town she was hardly conscious of all the stares she got.
"What's that gypsy doing here?" an old man drinking a beer on his porch asked out loud. Quite a lot of people shared his thoughts. The villagers of Otagakure were especially sensitive to receive guests of her kind due to the past wars. It wasn't as if it was totally uncommon though, to have gypsy's in town. A few Tabigarasu as her people called themselves were living there, too. Quietly in the background, earning the respect of the other people by being visible least as possible. Except for one shop that was blatantly screaming gypsy. A technical gadgets and gunnery store all dressed up with an original mosaic frame in blue, green and gold around the shop window. Ninja's rarely used guns.
'Oh, I'd love to see what gadgets they have,' Nana's inner wizkid crowed squirming. She ignored the craving to step inside and headed on. Suddenly she felt something hard hit her upper arm.
"Ow!" she yelped and rubbed her arm reflexively.
"You missed, moron! That's only twenty points. Fifty points for her head!" a young voice sneered. A boy was tossing a pebble up in his hand and took aim. His friends snickered expectantly.
"Hey! What you do that for, brat!" Nana shouted out and turned her face away to avoid being hit.
"Blehhh gypsy!" he mocked her, sticking out his tongue, "what you gonna do? Throw tarot cards at me?"
Her heart skipped a beat at the venom. Clearly his parents had not really nurtured tolerance and understanding for foreigners. Ancient prejudices prevailed.
"Ah... yes..." Nana nodded at his taunts. "I can see your future, you know!"
"Can you?" the boy laughed.
"Yes, I can clearly see the color blue in your future," she continued slowly. He looked a little confused and stared at his friend, who shrugged in response. How was he supposed to know what she was getting on to.
"So? And that's supposed to mean...?" the boy defiantly replied.
"That's the color of your bottom when I'm done with you!" Nana said threateningly, rolling up her sleeve and walking over to them. She didn't really plan on smacking the boy, but she did mean to scare them off.
"Now, now..." another voice sighed, "don't be nasty to each other. We all bleed the same color red."
"Kabuto!" the boy uttered and spun around to run away. Nana widened her eyes and felt her chest tighten. The Kabuto she was trying to locate... she didn't expect to find him on the streets like this! He was coming out of the grocery store with a flock of children in his wake. He smiled kindly at her.
"Welcome to this town, stranger. Don't mind the boys, they don't know any better."
"Th-thanks..." she stammered. He was tall, nearing the end of his twenties, pale with grey hair and dark eyes, and he wore round black spectacles. But that was nothing out of the ordinary. The weird thing was that his skin was strangely scaly and four horns poked out of his head. She shuddered, but at the same time she was in awe. Hearing the stories was one thing, seeing for yourself another. This man had... genetically altered himself!
"Yes, I'm quite different, especially upon first sight, aren't I?" he conceded, the light reflecting from his glasses.
"Well..." Nana mumbled a bit flustered as she didn't want come off rude. She wasn't scared of him, even if he looked frightening. But she couldn't help staring. He was a chimaera, like herself.
'Grandpa, Heero and his brothers helped Orochimaru in the early years with cell fusion, after he successfully transplanted the Hashirama cells into a boy. But due to the war Heero and Orochimaru each further developed the technique on different pathways...'
"Well?" he grinned, "how come a young woman like you travels to this town alone." He is smart and cunning, she saw it from the look in his eyes. She had to gulp and ready herself. It was time to start her act. She let her eyes drift to the ground, feigning sadness, and hugged herself.
"I'm alone..." she whimpered, "I heard of the orphanage... I know I'm maybe old enough to fend for myself, so, I've come to offer myself up for work."
"Work?" Kabuto repeated in surprise. He seized her up for a few seconds. "You can see how many kids I have with me, maybe I could do with a pair of extra hands. Why don't you follow me?"
The children hobbled after Kabuto like chicks clinging to a hen. Nana saw some of them smiled shyly at her, which encouraged her to come along. She walked next to Kabuto and the orphanage soon came into view past the trees. It lay in a clearing of the woods, surrounded by a large vegetable and flower garden. The light buzzing of insects and children's laughter drifted from the terrain. A bee flew past Nana's eyes and headed towards one of the hives used to collect honey. The orphanage had its own water well and a small playground in the back. It looked the idyllic place for children to grow up. The thought occurred that Kabuto was somewhat a saint for arranging all of this.
"Yeah, its great isn't it," Kabuto remarked seeing her eyes scanning everything, "wait till' you get inside though..."
He opened the door and a cacophony of voices met them like a unconducted orchestra. Screaming, laughing, wailing... children pulling each other's hair and playing tag, drawing on the walls with crayons and knocking things over.
"And this is the reason why I accepted you without asking for a résumé," Kabuto admitted with a sigh.
"Damn, you got your hands full," Nana replied baffled.
"I'm not alone of course, as I cannot be here all the time. You'll meet the other staff soon. First I got a job for you in the baby-room." He gestured for her to follow him and after crossing a corridor walked through a door opening. There were ten cribs in the room. Wafts of a nasty odor met them when they set foot inside.
"Eww, someone did a number two," Nana coughed and waved her hand in front of her nose.
"Guess who is going to fix that..." Kabuto laughed.
"No way!" she exclaimed shaking her head. She wasn't even used to holding babies. Sure, there were babies inside the hidden city, but she never babysitted on any of them. The rare moments she ever held a baby she was always nervous to drop them.
"Yes way! You wanted work. In exchange you get your own room and all meals covered. Go on, these kids need their diapers changed."
She walked over to a boy that was quietly sucking his thumb and kicking his chubby legs up and down. He looked up at her with cute big brown eyes.
'By the Gods, what did I sign up for?' she gulped experiencing cold feet. She lowered her hands to the fasteners of his diaper all the while amazed at the stink such a tiny human being could produce.
"You've never done this, have you?" Kabuto commented at her back.
"No..." she admitted turning around with a sheepish smile, "maybe you can show me the best way?"
"Oh, I've never done this before either," he smiled slyly, making his face truly resemble a snake, "that's why I got nurses around. Goodluck!" He burst into gleeful laughter and exited the room with a casual wave of his hand.
'Great...' Nana thought watching his back with a blank stare, 'he's a sadistic saint.'
After changing everyone's diaper, she washed the dirty linen, mopped the floors, helped another nurse with feeding, played a few games with the children, and dried the dishes. By nightfall Nana plopped down on her bed. Her room was small, but it was cosy and she didn't have to share it with anyone.
'Finally some time for myself...' she sighed. Even though she was tired, the frustration build up within her body after a hard day of work needed release. She quickly made up her mind and stood up with a jerk.
Kabuto was meditating on his sage jutsu. As he absorbed energy snakes naturally came towards him. They lay sprawled out over his crossed legs or curled up near him. He released a deep breath and felt the energy build inside. He always kept his sage-reserves full. Second to his work at the orphanage, Kabuto was an important researcher and advisor to the Hidden Sound. Since Orochimaru relinquished his hold on the Hidden Sound ninja and disappeared, the Five Kage Council had been working on realizing a stable governance of the Land of Sound. In effect the village remained small, as it lost its power to rival the big nations. They earned their wages mostly by keeping internal peace and commissions by the Land of Hot Water in the East and clan disputes in the fragmented West. Their links to Konoha were tighter than compared to that with the other countries on the Council. Konoha was their direct neighbour in the South. Kabuto took another deep breath. Through his closed eyelids he took note of the fading light. The crickets in the garden were chirping louder and louder greeting the night before even they would venture to sleep. The orphanage was quiet. But then his ear perked up from a sound to his left. Heavy panting, followed by loud thuds. He opened his eyes and stood up, shaking the dozen of snakes off him. He quietly made his way towards the sound. Kabuto pushed away a branch and raised his eyebrows when he saw Nana practicing her hand-combat techniques on a young oaktree. She had linens wrapped around her lower legs and hands to protect against the blows, but even so, with the intensity she was training she was bound to hurt herself.
"Hyaa!" Nana screamed each time a new blow landed. Kabuto saw her face contort with pain. He understood what type of training she forced upon herself. Because of the impact of her kicks miniscule splinters of bone set loose from her shins inside her leg. The tight bandages served to keep down the swelling that surely followed. Once the bone healed, it would be stronger than before. The downside was that the senses in the leg became dulled. It impressed him that the girl was able to keep up training with such pain. She jumped up and rotated 180 degrees in the air before landing a blow. But she was too tired to catch her own fall. She landed with her back on the ground. Instead of getting up she allowed herself to lie in the cool grass and catch her breath. Kabuto stepped out of his hiding.
"My, my, I'm starting to think you're holding a grudge at someone, training this hard," he drawled with a lopsided grin. She turned her head over and pushed herself up in a sitting position.
"Kabuto-san... I didn't realize you were here..."
"As you should. I would be ashamed of myself as a ninja if you knew I was watching."
She giggled a bit at his joke.
"Can you stand?" he asked, stretching his pale hand out to her. She nodded and he pulled her up with ease. Nana didn't anticipatehow far she had pushed herself and flinched at the pain of standing. She fell forward into Kabuto's chest. He caught her by her shoulders.
"I guess I have to support you," he remarked. "You came to the village, a helpless girl. But now I reckon you are a foolish girl. I'll have to give you the day off tomorrow to recover."
"I'm sorry Kabuto-san," she murmured guiltily. He said nothing and wrapped his tail that ended in a live snake's head around her waist as they walked. It was cold, grey scaled, hard and pretty horrifying due to the snake head. It did make walking a lot lighter. Kabuto looked at Nana from the corner of his eye in thought. She did her best today, but maybe his first judgement was wrong about her. She looked so frail and beat up when she arrived. But judging from the absence of bark on that tree, she was one tough cookie. He walked her up to her room.
"Don't strain yourself, silly girl," he said as he helped her enter. She winced when she sat down on the bed. Kabuto crouched and held his hands over her shins. They emitted a green glow. Warmth seeped through her skin and into the bones. It burned as Kabuto healed her.
"There," he said, standing up and smiling down on her. The shadows cast across his face by the faint light made him look a tad creepy. She couldn't see his eyes due the reflection on his glasses.
"Thank you, Kabuto-san. Sorry for the trouble," she replied and tried to smile back. Kabuto looked at her for another second and walked out of the room, shutting the door. Nana let her head fall back on the pillow. Now she was truly deadbeat. She wriggled herself out of her clothes and threw them on the floor, not giving a damn about the mess. Then she turned around and fell into a deep sleep. Kabuto returned to his own bedroom after he dropped Nana off.
'She is different from the other gypsies in town...' he realized. He squinted his eyes and the tongue danced out of the snake's head attached to the long 'tail' that grew from his abdomen. He focused a moment to retract it and the tail was gone. 'She isn't completely honest with me... But with her heritage, she must've been through a lot. Should I be surprised? There are certainly a lot of gypsies in the wilderness still... I bet they all long to return to their former home.'
He decided to think about what to do with Nana the coming days.
Gaara and Ayumi were walking together. It was late and he knew Kankuro would take care of ordering take away for tonight's diner. He thought back to Ayumi's chakra training. After they finished working on her stamina he gave her the classic exercises for training chakra. She had to mold chakra and transport it to her feet. Usually running up against a solid material, like a tree or the canyon, was easier than balancing on water. For Ayumi it was the other way around. Ayumi's control on top of the water wasn't perfect though. When she tried walking, the water clung to her feet like glue. It took her a while to learn how to walk on water without transforming the water's shape. She was manipulating the water directly to be able to stand. That power had incredible potential but it didn't require any chakra. After confirming his ideas about Ayumi's gift with water, he commanded her to meditate and run up the canyon wall afterwards. This was an excercise on a whole different level for the lavender-head. Many ninja needed at least two weeks to gain such control over their chakra that they were able to run up and down the rock walls as they pleased. In Ayumi's case, she leaned naturally towards the abilities of her bloodline limit, which formed a barrier for her to learn chakra molding. Even now the highly sensitive chakra paper was not responding. As they walked she kept it pressed between her thumb and index finger. She was biting on the tip of her tongue again. A sign of her concentration.
"I'm going to know my chakra type before we arrive!" she declared.
"Alright," Gaara replied monotone, "but if you fail don't worry. You are tired. Tomorrow is new day."
She shook her head. "Nope, I absolutely have to know today."
This was the last test she had to take for her ninja assessment. She didn't want to wait for it any longer. Deep inside, she could feel something gurgle. Was this the sensation of molding chakra? She focused on her stomach area.
'Mix physical and spiritual energy... right below the belly button...' she kept repeating to herself like a mantra, as if it would then happen by itself. Ayumi didn't even realize she stopped walking. Gaara said nothing and simply turned around with arms crossed, waiting patiently for her to finish. The street was empty. Apart from the blowing of the wind it was quiet. She remained silent for several seconds. Until... her stomach growled loudly, clearly audible to both of them. She was startled from her concentration. Gaara lightly raised his eyebrows and smirked at her.
"So that was the big thing we were waiting for?" he couldn't resist but jest. She started giggling so much she couldn't walk anymore and rested her arm on her knee.
"That was – that was pretty - lame!" she managed to utter in between her laughter. Her stomach churned again.
"Training makes you hungry," Gaara shrugged with a small smile. He turned around to continue. She followed him muffling her last giggles. After a few streets they arrived at the house. Gaara stepped up the low stairs to the front door and twisted his keys in the lock.
"Ohh! They're back!" he heard Temari holler at Kankuro from inside. He opened the door and stepped into the hallway. But, Ayumi wasn't following. When he turned around she was holding the chakra paper between her fingers.
"Gaara..." she murmured, "look!"
He stared at the chakra paper. It was soaking wet, apart from a corner that was crumpled in vertical lines. He took the paper from Ayumi's hands as Kankuro and Temari appeared in the hallway.
"What's taking you guys so long!" Kankuro complained with an annoyed look on his face. He changed his attitude when he saw what Gaara was holding.
"Is that... Ayumi's?" he asked. Gaara nodded in reply.
"That's a tiny corner, but its clear. Her nature transformation types are water and lightning!" Temari exclaimed and walked over to her pulling Ayumi in a one-armed embrace, "way to go girl!"
Kankuro and Temari pulled Gaara and Ayumi further into the house and closed the door.
"This calls for celebration! And guess what, we've got the special take away menu!" Kankuro half-sung dramatically and ended in chuckles. The four of them ate, joking at one another. Gaara then disappeared to train by himself for another 1,5 hours. Ayumi ascended the stairs recalling Kankuro's words.
'I do feel every muscle in my body burn right now,' she acknowledged with a grin as she hoisted herself up using the railing every step of the way. After taking a satisfying shower she changed into her pyjamas and stepped into bed. Another day in Sunagakure came to an end.
A/N: Whew! That was a long chapter :) About "bitchy resting face", I came upon this because a friend posted a youtube video about this on facebook. And suddenly I realized... that's the name for what I got. I have bitchy resting face too ;) I would be chilling, reading a book, and my mom asks "why you look so sour?". Or people in shops give me stares like "what the...!" after I pay. Sorry! I have a dissatisfied pout when my face is relaxed xD I mean no offense! Look up the video if you want to know more. I realize Kabuto's career move is quite a twist from his former plan to help destroy the world. I was inspired after the manga chapter where he realized what was the happiest time of his life. Hope characters in this chapter were not too much OOC.
Thanks for the comments on last chapters and the faves/follows. As much as I enjoy writing, it makes me especially glad you enjoy reading as well!
Cheers, Demiyah