Truth: She pitied him for the life he must lead.
They got to the tower with little trouble.
"We did awesome." Kiyomi was grinning wearily at the dark sky. They'd started at about eleven, so it had only taken them seven hours out of five whole days.
"Here we go," Miyako said, gesturing to the door with a seal on it. "Do we go on in, do you think?"
"I suppose," Sayuri grunted as she pushed on the doors. The seal split and they stepped inside. The room was empty and made of tan stone slabs. There was a balcony running along the walls to the left and right, lined by iron bars. In the wall directly in front of them hung a tapestry.
"What's it say?" Miyako asked.
"What does what say?" Sayuri questioned impatiently.
"There's a tapestry," Kiyomi explained. "'If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are open together, the pairless path will become righteous forever. This – something – is the secret way that guides us from this place today.'" She blinked. "Well that was nice and Zen, don't you think?"
"It's a riddle," Miyako mused.
"It's an obvious riddle," Sayuri said. "Why else would we need those scrolls?"
"You think we're supposed to open them now," Kiyomi nodded. "I was thinking the same thing."
She knelt down on the ground and pulled out her Earth scroll, setting it on the ground. Miyako passed her the Heaven scroll and she laid it by the first one. With a quick flick of her wrist, Kiyomi unrolled both of them at the same time and stepped back.
There was a symbol of a man on the paper, and as they watched, it bulged and smoked. The cloud grew thick. A familiar shape appeared in the fog.
"Kotetsu!" Sayuri said in surprise.
"Hey, Lily-girl!" he greeted jovially. "And company," he added, winking at Kiyomi and Miyako, who giggled and blushed, respectively.
"What are you doing here?" she asked in confusion. "And don't call me Lily-girl!"
"Us chunin are supposed to greet you at the end of this section of the exam and tell you that you passed and impart some wisdom."
"And what would this wisdom be?" Kiyomi asked. She pointed to the tapestry. "I'm guessing it's got something to do with that?"
"Lord Hokage recorded them as principles for chunin to follow," Kotetsu nodded. "Heaven is your mind, earth is your body. If you're maybe not so smart, you should push to learn more. And if you're kind of weak, you should build up your strength. But if they're in harmony, then you're pretty much doing it right."
Kiyomi blinked. "Well, no offense to Lord Hokage, but… duh! You don't want super-strong idiots or wimpy geniuses running around."
Kotetsu chuckled. "You're a blunt little thing, aren't you?"
"So I've been told," Kiyomi shrugged casually, not the least bit offended.
"Well, you guys finished pretty quickly," Kotetsu said. "There's only a few groups back already. Your team has a room here for you to stay in. I think Ayano's there now." He looked them over. "And you might want to hit up the infirmary, too. No offense, but you guys look like crap."
"We feel that way too," Miyako admitted shyly.
"Well, I've got other things to do. You guys got everything?" Kotetsu asked.
"Mind and body, hit the infirmary," Kiyomi nodded.
"Alright then," Kotetsu chuckled. "I'll be off. See you Lily-girl!"
"Don't call me that!" Sayuri snapped as he vanished from sight in a puff of smoke. She sighed, rubbing her nose. "That guy…"
"He's kind of cute," Kiyomi shrugged. "Just take the attention. Come on, I seriously want to see this infirmary he told us about."
It didn't take them long to find the place. There was no one inside but a couple med-nin, but there were a couple rumpled beds showing someone had at least been in for basic treatment lately.
"On a bed," ordered one of the med-nin. Each of the girls picked a bed and sat down.
"You look rough," Sayuri's med-nin said in surprise as Sayuri shrugged her shirt off. "Are those claw marks?"
"Summoning Jutsu," Sayuri growled in irritation, remembering Aya. "Several," she said, holding up her forearm as well.
There was a curse from the next bed as the med-nin popped Kiyomi's nose back into place. Sayuri kept quiet as her own was popped back into place. Miyako winced from her bed as the med-nin ran glowing hands across her cheek. Her only injury was a cut across her cheekbone from running through the trees frantically. A branch had whipped her across the face.
"Who'd you tick off, kid?" Kiyomi's medic asked in amusement as he looked at her bruised forearms and started healing them.
"No one important," Kiyomi growled.
They sat quietly as their many cuts and bruises were addressed, Sayuri's claw marks and the bite from the eagle's beak being the worst. They left faint scars in their wake.
"I could maybe do something about the one on your back?" the medic offered, pointing to the long scar crossing Sayuri's back. The stitches were gone and it had healed well, but there was still a long, ropy scar. Sayuri shook her head and shrugged her tattered shirt back on.
"Take this," Sayuri's med-nin said, handing her a cup. Inside were a few pills. She recognized a plasma pill and a standard pain killer. She took the plasma pill, but handed the painkiller back. The med-nin blinked.
"Uh… you really should…"
"She won't take it," Kiyomi called as she stood, waving off the med-nin as he tried to heal a bruise on her chest from one of Toshiro's kicks. "Just leave her."
"O-Okay," the med-nin said, startled.
"Are you guys ready?" Miyako asked, waiting patiently beside their beds. She'd only taken a second to patch up.
"Yeah," Kiyomi said, getting to her feet with a grunt.
"You've still got a couple more-"
"I'm fine," Kiyomi cut him off. Miyako and Sayuri blinked at her harsh tone and followed her out of the infirmary.
"What was that about?" Sayuri asked.
"He was getting handsy," Kiyomi grumbled. "Pervert."
Miyako and Sayuri exchanged glances, sure that wasn't it, but didn't comment.
"I think I see our room," Miyako said, pointing down the hall. Sure enough, there was a door with a little card on it. It had the Konoha symbol and Ayano's name. Miyako pushed the door open and they stepped inside.
The room was simple. It was just a pair of bunk beds with a bathroom attached. There was a chest by the foot of each bed.
"You guys are here!" Ayano grinned, sitting up from one of the bottom bunks. She swung her legs over the side and walked over to them, wrapping her arms around the three of them. Sayuri and Kiyomi winced. "You made it! And so fast!" she praised. "I told you guys you were ready! Now you've just got one stage left."
"There's more?" Kiyomi groaned, pulling away in favor of falling onto one of the beds.
"Yeah, but it's pretty straightforward," Ayano said, waving a hand absently. "You've totally got this from here on out."
"What's the next stage?" Miyako asked nervously.
"Can't say," Ayano admitted. "But it's simple, trust me. And hey, Kiyomi, quit bleeding on the bed sheets!"
"Sorry," Kiyomi apologized, standing up. She was no longer bleeding, but her clothes were somewhat less than fresh. She looked at the bathroom. "Is there a shower in there?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah," Ayano nodded. She pointed to the chests. "I grabbed some of your clothes so you'd have something to change into. Feel free to get cleaned up. You look like crap," she snorted.
"So we've heard," Sayuri said, finding a ladder and climbing up carefully. She perched on the footboard so she wouldn't get the sheets dirty and waited for Kiyomi to finish before claiming the next shower. She jumped down and eagerly took her turn before surrendering the last of the hot water to Miyako. They all stretched out on their beds to sleep after that.
The next morning, Miyako was the first awake. She crept carefully to the bathroom, trying not to wake anyone else, to brush her teeth and fix her hair. The others woke soon after though to the noise of Miyako getting ready. Sayuri threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She'd forgotten a very important thing though, and ended up falling several feet and smacking her face into the floor.
"Ow!" Sayuri yelped as she pushed herself to her knees. "Who put that there?"
"I think that time it was gravity," Kiyomi chuckled as she too climbed out of bed, but with considerably more grace. "And you just got your nose fixed too."
Sayuri grunted, wincing as she touched her nose. It was definitely broken again. She cursed under her breath and picked herself up. She quickly changed clothes, yanked her hair into something vaguely presentable, and gingerly brushed her teeth and washed her face.
"Off to the infirmary?" Ayano asked as she passed Sayuri on the way into the bathroom. She nodded irritably, pulling the towel she was clutching to her face away. She touched her nose in distaste. It was still bleeding.
"Kiyomi and I are going to explore," Miyako said. She looked her over worriedly. "Or do you want us to come too?"
"It's just a broken nose, I've had them before," Sayuri said dismissively. "Go on. I'll find you somewhere and if I don't, I'll be here."
"Very recently," Kiyomi snorted. "Seriously, two broken noses in two days?"
"Shut up," Sayuri grumbled as she pushed the door open. She followed the path back to the infirmary and pushed the door open. There was somebody resting in one of the beds, but otherwise it was still pretty empty. Sayuri wasn't surprised. It was only the beginning of the second day, after all. There was still a lot of time for people to show up.
"What happened?" asked the surprised voice of the same med-nin who had treated her yesterday.
"I don't want to talk about it," Sayuri grunted as she sat down on a bed. "Just fix it, please."
"'You should see the other guy,' right?" the med-nin said with a small smile. Sayuri's lips quirked.
"Seeing as 'the other guy' is an inanimate object, he's fine."
"Ah," the med-nin nodded. There was a pop as Sayuri's nose clicked back into place. A quick application of chakra healed the break and removed the bruising.
"Thanks. Again," Sayuri said as she stood, bloody towel clutched casually in hand.
"You're welcome," the med-nin replied, drifting over to check on the occupant of the bed. Sayuri didn't know who it was. She slipped out of the infirmary and considered heading out to find Kiyomi and Miyako, but decided she'd rather look at a few of those Summoning contracts with Ayano. They hadn't told her about them yet.
Sayuri was just getting lost in dreams of her team suddenly able to summon dozens of animals between them like Aya when she felt three chakra sources around the corner up ahead. They entered the same hallway and Sayuri realized it was Gaara, Kankuro, and that girl whose name she'd never gotten. Sayuri quirked her head to the side at an odd rustling sound, but disregarded it.
Kankuro knew they were in trouble the moment he saw that Konoha girl rounding the corner with a blood-stained towel in hand. Sure enough, Gaara's eyes had immediately locked on it and widened hungrily.
"No," Temari had tried to stop him feebly as the sand rushed towards her. Oddly enough, she didn't seem to notice, even though it was coming straight at her. Served her right for covering her eyes, Kankuro thought.
Something caught her around the ankle. Sayuri gasped and tried to rip free. Gaara and his group had stopped and were watching as she fought whatever it was. It was grainy and rough. It felt almost like sand. She recalled the gourd on Gaara's back. What that what he carried around in it?
Whatever it was, it grabbed her and flung her back into the wall, pressing her against it painfully. Sayuri quickly created her bone membrane, fighting off some of the crushing force of the sand.
"I want your name," Gaara rasped, standing in front of her.
"We don't always get what we want," Sayuri grunted in response. She gasped as the sand tightened its grip around her.
"I want your name," Gaara repeated. "And I want your blood!"
"Sorry," Sayuri replied. "I'm rather attached to my name, and my blood too. You can't have either."
"Why didn't you even try to dodge?" Kankuro asked out of curiosity, trying to diffuse the tension. It didn't seem to work. Gaara was still staring at her hungrily.
"I didn't see it," Sayuri bit out.
The girl chuckled. "That's what you get for wandering around with your eyes covered. Idiot."
"Temari," Kankuro hissed warningly, nodding at Gaara. The message was clear. This wasn't the time to poke fun. They had bigger problems.
Sayuri's long-suffering sigh was somewhat ruined by her wince. "Everyone assumes I'm just an idiot trying to look cool. Putting that aside, there's another rather obvious option that no one ever seems to pick."
"And what's that?" Gaara asked. She turned to face him.
"I'm blind."
A tendril of the sand worked up her face and Sayuri tensed. It worked under her hitai-ate and tugged it off. The headband hit the ground with a clatter, exposing her face.
"Whoa, she really is!" Temari said in surprise when her eyes didn't react at all to the sudden influx of light. "How'd you become a shinobi?"
"You know, oddly enough, I don't really feel like sharing my life's story with you three." Sayuri cursed as the sand compressed further. She was heedless of the pain as the sand scraped away a layer of skin on the side of her arm. It hurt like hell, but it didn't start bleeding.
Sayuri ripped one limb free and fired bones towards their general direction. She heard a scuffle and each one drilling into the opposite wall. Kankuro had no idea what she'd thrown or even where it had come from, so he went to one of the holes, carefully plucking it out. It was a white, vaguely hourglass shaped piece of-
"Is this bone?" Kankuro demanded, looking ill.
She smiled maliciously. "Distal phalanx, to be precise." She held up her hand and wiggled her fingers. The sand grabbed her wrist and yanked it back against the wall.
"Let me feel your blood," Gaara hissed, stepping closer. "Let me feel alive!"
A prong of bone slid from Sayuri's palm. Temari made a retching sound as it squelched free. Sayuri leaned forwards against her bonds as well as she was able and whispered intensely, "You do not scare me, Sabaku no Gaara. You cannot crush me!"
Gaara narrowed his eyes at the girl. She was a scant few inches from him, pinned to the wall by his sand, and yet still she was pulling out weapons, still wasn't afraid. It wasn't in her eyes like it was in all the others when they beheld him. Then again, she couldn't see him, but she could certainly feel what he was doing. Did that make a difference? No, it didn't. He was right in thinking she was a threat.
"Stop!" boomed a voice.
The Hokage stood at the end of the hall, looking incredibly stern.
"Release her," he ordered.
Even Gaara wouldn't defy a Kage. The sand let her go and Sayuri dropped to the ground with a gasp, finally able to get a deep breath. She picked herself up. She swung her arm angrily and bones shot from her fingers. There were soft 'pff' sounds and she assumed the sand had blocked it. She growled softly in annoyance. He did that to her, and she couldn't even get in one good hit?
"Stop," the Hokage said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I will kill you," Gaara swore as the Hokage held her in place and he and the others walked away.
Gaara looked back at her, and even though she couldn't see his face, Sayuri could feel the bloodlust rolling off of him. The last time she'd felt something like this, the entirety of the Kaguya clan was preparing for battle, and it still wasn't this intense.
In a fit of rage, Sayuri reached down and scooped up the towel she'd been carrying and flung it at him furiously. "You want my blood so badly? Take it!" she snarled. Gaara caught the towel in one hand and kept walking. She let out a disgusted noise under her breath.
"That doesn't look good," the Hokage said, lifting her arm gently.
"I've already made one trip to the infirmary today, I'm not making another," Sayuri huffed. She shook her head. "I usually hate this word, but that little freak!" she spat angrily. She was shaking with rage and also shock. How could someone so young be so… damaged?
"It's not something for you to worry about," the Hokage assured her. "Return to your room and rest."
Sayuri nodded and did as she was told, re-entering her room. Miyako and Kiyomi were still there, sitting on the beds and talking with Ayano.
"Whoa, what happened to you?" Ayano demanded, rising and walking over to her. She raised Sayuri's arm, touching the reddened skin. Sayuri winced. "Whoa. You really hided yourself there kid."
"Who did that?" Miyako asked angrily as she and Kiyomi walked over.
"Gaara," Sayuri spat out. "He pinned me to a wall with the sand from his gourd and kept demanding my name and my blood."
"That's sick!" Miyako exclaimed, looking horrified.
"The Hokage made him let me go," Sayuri explained. "He was trying to crush me with the sand." She placed a hand on her torso. "I'm going to have a monster bruise tomorrow."
"That makes me want to use Saiketsu," Miyako said with a startling snarl in her voice.
"Whoa, calm down there tiger," Kiyomi said, voice weak with surprise. "Uh… let's not go that far, huh?"
Miyako dipped her head, looking embarrassed by her outburst. She was fiercely protective, what could she say? Usually nothing in the world could persuade her to use Saiketsu in any kind of violent way, but right that moment, looking at Sayuri's arm, she wanted to go find Gaara and tear him apart.
Ayano looked murderous, and Kiyomi was furious, while Miyako looked horrified. They spent about an hour commiserating with Sayuri about the incident before Ayano quietly excused herself. The whole time Sayuri was thinking that she wasn't just livid at Gaara for attacking her out of nowhere like that. The truth was, she pitied him for the life he must lead.
Ayano knocked firmly on the door bearing the Suna mark, the name Baki written under it. The door was opened by a man with the top of his head wrapped in white, the end of the fabric covering the left half of his face. He was tanned and stern-faced and he looked at the Konoha kunoichi with surprise and a bit of disdain.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah. You've got a redheaded midget on your team, right?" Ayano demanded. Baki's eyebrows shot up and inside the room Temari and Kankuro gaped. Gaara himself looked up, glaring at the opposite wall. No one had ever dared to refer to Gaara as anything that insulting before. Then again, this woman looked like she was ready to rip someone's throat out with her fingers. Somehow, he thought he knew where this was going.
"I do," Baki nodded slowly.
"Okay then," Ayano snarled, letting out a deep breath. "You may not be aware of this, but that kid of yours attacked one of my girls in the hallway. I love all three of them like they were my own kids, so I'm a bit pissed about that. And the next time he so much as gives them a dirty look, never mind attacks one of them, he'll be dealing with me. I don't care if he is the Kazekage's son and it causes an international incident."
Baki looked at her, completely startled. "Who are you?" he asked, shocked that anyone would talk that way about Gaara. She had to know who he was, what he was, his reputation, and she was here threatening him.
In response, Ayano turned and drew a leg through the air, lightning lancing off of it and leaving a deep black scorch mark on the opposite wall.
"You're the famous Lightning Bolt of Konoha!" Baki realized. "'Izazuma' Ayano."
"Yeah, I am," Ayano nodded sharply. "You know what happens to sand when it's struck by lightning? It turns to glass. Let's see the kid play with that."
That night Sayuri lay in bed thinking. This would be one of the nights when she got little sleep, she could already tell. She blamed Gaara, for making her feel like Nigate for the first time in a long time. Her mind would not stop drifting from topic to topic, denying her rest.
Sayuri curled onto her side, holding her stomach and dipping her head as she got into her usual sleeping position. She basked in the presence of her team around her. She was so lucky to have these women in her life, and Satoru as well. They cared about her, something that for so long in her life had come from only one source, if at all.
Kimimaro….
The thought was never very far from her mind even if she didn't really give it a good thinking over often now. There were some times, though, when she'd be reminded of him by even the littlest of things and suddenly she could neither move nor breathe for grief. Even now, years later, the hole in her heart was still raw and gaping. She doubted it would ever heal, but she could soothe it with memories.
She remembered the shape of his face under her fingertips, the first time she could remember laughing, huddled there with him in the dark, whispered promises made in the flickering light of torches. Those little moments had been wonderful, the glowing bright spots of her life before she had to go and face the darkness of orders and mockery and fists.
She had changed a lot from knowing Kimimaro. He was the one who got her to stop using less formal language she'd always spoken in to keep from offending any of the Kaguya. He got her to smile and laugh. She remembered the first time she had ever complained about the Kaguya, whispering her anger and irritation to him in the dark, feeling at any moment she would be caught and beaten. Then he would shamelessly hiss back how he hated them for locking away and she'd gape at him, in awe of his bravery.
She had changed even more since coming here. It perhaps would be more accurate to say she'd become more like herself. She was free to express her irritation, her joy, her sadness, and her fears without any kind of retribution or mockery. Before she could do that only in the safe, stolen moments with Kimimaro.
Sayuri rolled onto her other side with a huff, curling tighter.
"I clearly need sleep," she whispered to herself. "I am becoming entirely too melancholy."
She didn't even realize she'd fallen into her old, formal way of speaking for a moment before she drifted off.
Character design time! So way down the road, I'm going to need three Academy students with kekkei genkai from Suna. Leave me a review with a character design and a kekkei genkai. Feel free to come up with more than one character if the desire strikes you. I don't want any Hyuugas or Uchihas crawling out of the woodwork though, guys, and no Rinnegans appearing out of nowhere. Try and contain yourselves. Feel free to get creative though. Use a lesser-known kekkei genkai from the show if you want, or make up your own. However, if you design a character with, say, Haku's Ice Release, please include an explanation of how they made it to Suna. I want details! Names, personalities, how they look, how they dress (realistic please, no platform boots and fishnets) The winners of the five best designs will be announced in a couple chapter's time.