So I found this today. It's bits and pieces I wrote for later in the story, parts I never got to, Some of them are just vague ideas and kind of disjointed, but I've had several questions about what Kiyomi got up to and other things. Anyway, for those who are curious, here's the random bits I wrote but never used, for anyone who's interested.
"Cool it Uchiha, I'm not here on behalf of the village," Kiyomi said coolly.
"And how do I know that?" Sasuke challenged.
"You've got those pretty pinwheel eyes. Use 'em," she smirked.
"You've marked out the symbol," Sasuke noted, eyes on the forehead protector she had tied around her upper arm. There was a deep gouge across the leaf, marking her as a missing-nin.
"Huh, no kidding?" Kiyome grinned.
"So, why are you here?"
"I heard you were forming a basketball team and wondered if you needed an extra player," she replied sweetly.
Sasuke scoffed. "You want to join me?"
"People say you're the best," she shrugged. "I just want to watch and learn. I don't particularly care what I have to do. I just want to get stronger, and you people tend to come up against some pretty heavy hitters."
"And why do you want to get stronger so badly that you're willing to betray the village and join a group of criminals?" Sasuke pressed. "Here I thought you were one of the good guys."
Kiyomi's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms, sucking in her cheeks in irritation. "Because you would not believe how damn tired I am of hearing how amazing Sayuri Kaguya is," she said bluntly. "'Oh, what a success story, she's had such a tough time and she's overcome it!'" Kiyomi scoffed. "She's had people holding her hand every step of the way and I got left in the dust. I want to walk into the village one day and knock that Kaguya bitch on her ass," she spat.
"Those are pretty strong words. I didn't know you had so much hate in you, Arita," Sasuke smirked.
"And you wonder why I never got along well with the Emotionless Wonder," she snorted.
"You know, you're not really on our level," Sasuke said, brushing her aside.
"I'll fight anyone you want to prove I'm no slouch, from ginger over there to shark face," Kiyomi snapped. Her expression suddenly turned sly and she reached into her hip pouch. Instantly, the three being Sasuke tensed. Kiyomi snorted. "Breathe, kids, I'm not about to make a move against the Uchiha. I just thought it might interest him to know that I know some who can help him find his brother Itachi."
Sasuke turned the full intense force of his sharinan-red eyes on her. Kiyomi didn't so much as blink.
"Who?" he demanded.
"My sister."
Sasuke scoffed. "And what would your runaway sister know about my brother?"
Kiyomi shrugged. "Beats the hell out of me. But," she pulled a piece of paper from her pouch and held it up, grinning slightly at the illustrations on it, "I think it says a lot that she was doodling your brother's eyes and ANBU mask, don't you?"
Sasuke's eyes drifted to the paper and back to Kiyomi, who smirked.
"Welcome to the team," he said. Her smirk widened.
"Pleasure."
As you can see, I planned for Kiyomi to eventually join up with Sasuke, and here's where she first encounters Sasuke and his team.
"I'll even give you an opening," Sayuri invited, spreading her arms wide and exposing her torso.
"Right," Kiyomi scoffed. "I know how fast those bones of yours respond, remember? You've got a membrane, don't you?" she accused, eyes narrowed.
Sayuri brought down her kunai carelessly, opening a cut on her arm. Blood and pink flesh, but no glint of bone under the desert sun.
"Fine," Kiyomi allowed, "but you'll make one the second I move!"
"No, I won't," Sayuri disagreed, shaking her head.
"Why would you even try something like this?" Kiyomi demanded, grip shifting on her kunai. The opening was there and everything in her was screaming to take it, to drive the knife home and end it, but caution made her restrain herself.
"I don't think you'll do it, Kiyomi," Sayuri said, shaking her head. "I don't think you have it in you to hurt me, no matter what you sa-"
Sayuri gasped and arched as the kunai slid under her ribs. Her knees weakened and Kiyomi guided her to the ground, their eyes locked together.
Sayuri had never felt so betrayed. She knew Kiyomi was touchy. They'd never been the best of friends, certainly not as close as she and Miyako were, but they'd been teammates, comrades, companions. She hadn't realized that Kiyomi truly hated her. The thought was like a punch in the gut. She'd believed they got along fairly well. She knew Kiyomi was jealous of her power and reputation, but she hadn't realized how deep it went.
"Guess you thought wrong," Kiyomi whispered, pulling the kunai out. "Tell Miyako I said hi."
When they found her later on, she was just lying in the sand bleeding, saying over and over, "I didn't think she'd do it."
I had the idea of Kiyomi coming after Sayuri once she was trained with a sword and tracking her to Suna with Sasuke's team. This would be their fight.
Miyako winced as Sayuri dug her fingers into the sheets. She'd never seen Sayuri so enraged. She knew it was covering a deep sadness, but Sayuri actually looked ready to kill.
"Fine then," Sayuri finally said. "This is clearly how she wants it. She's no longer a teammate. She's no longer a friend. She's no longer anything to me but a disposable missing-nin criminal. If I see her again, I'll kill her and keep her name from cluttering up the bingo books."
And this would be part of the aftermath of that fight.
"I'll be sending a squad out into the desert to track them," Gaara explained. "They can't have gotten far after that fight. They're all injured, I believe."
"I'm going," Sayuri said, flinging off the thin sheets and swinging her legs out of bed.
"No," Gaara ordered firmly. "You will rest. This was an attack on Suna, Suna shinobi will handle it."
"Don't make the mistake of thinking this is just about Suna," Sayuri said, narrowing her eyes sharply. "This is my fight as well, and you will not keep me from it."
She made to stand and Miyako rushed forwards, pushing her back, injecting a little bit of chakra into her bloodstream.
"Rest," she begged as she forced Sayuri's legs back in the bed despite her struggles.
"Miyako…" Sayuri growled warningly and Miyako's pale, stressed face made it clear she was about as happy manipulating Sayuri as Sayuri was being manipulated.
"Just wait until you're a little better before you do something rash," Miyako pleaded, yanking the sheet across Sayuri's chest and using it to hold her down. Sayuri cried out in pain as the sheet pressed on her wound. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Miyako babbled immediately, tears in her eyes. She felt horrible for hurting Sayuri, but she knew it was better than letting her go out and get in another fight with Kiyomi in this condition.
"Maybe you're right," Sayuri said, voice tight with pain. "I'll give it a day," she allowed. "One day, and I'm gone." She gave Gaara a look daring him to argue.
"Lord Kazekage, may I speak to you for a moment please?" Miyako asked softly, sliding off the bed. He nodded sharply, still glaring at Sayuri, who was lying in her bed staring blankly at the ceiling. Miyako grabbed his sleeve and gently tugged him towards the door. They stepped into the hall outside of Sayuri's hospital room, the door shutting behind them.
"This way," Miyako said, pulling him a way down the hall. "She'll hear us through the door. She's sneaky like that," she added with a small smile. She turned to face Gaara, very hesitant to speak to him. He was on a level so far above her and knowing he could crush her if she said something wrong made her nerves skyrocket. But she also knew that Sayuri had a soft spot for him despite the vicious beginning to their relationship, so he couldn't be all bad.
"You have to understand Sayuri and Kiyomi's side of things," she began. "I'm not defending the way Sayuri spoke to you, because that wasn't okay," she added hastily as his face clouded, "but in her mind you're getting involved in a fight that's her business. Sayuri is a bit territorial."
"So I am to allow a visiting diplomat to wander off into the desert after only a day's recuperation from a major stab wound? That would be inviting political tension."
"No no no!" Miyako jumped in. "I know you have to worry about the politics but… I can keep Sayuri on lockdown… for a while," she said semi-confidently. "But you can't tell her how to handle the situation. I mean you can, but it's just going to make her angry and angry Sayuri is very scary and things could get violent and-"
"Breathe."
"-would be awkward if one of you hurt… What?" She looked up at him in surprise. Gaara shrugged.
"It's what Sayuri says when you ramble," he explained.
"R-right," Miyako stammered, still surprised Gaara had noticed anything about her. He really had changed. "What I'm saying is this is personal for them. It's a matter of what they want that someone else has."
"Like Sasuke and Naruto?" Gaara tried to compare.
"Sort of," Miyako said, taking that idea and going with it. "Naruto is so good at making friends and Sasuke envies that, but at the same time he threw away his friends, the thing Naruto values most. Kiyomi wants to be the strongest of us, to best Sayuri, but Sayuri sees her as unwilling to put in the work to get stronger and therefore undeserving. Kiyomi thinks Sayuri doesn't appreciate all the advantages Sayuri had in her training, but she does, and she went beyond those advantages. It's envious on Kiyomi's part and almost… patronizing on Sayuri's. She told Kiyomi time and time again to put the work in to get stronger, to go the extra mile. And I think… I think in a way Sayuri believes that by saying that she encouraged Kiyomi to run off and betray us and the village."
Miyako was working through this as she spoke. After a point she even forgot Gaara was there to talk to. But the moment she remembered she fell silent and blushed under his intense teal stare.
"Sorry, you probably don't care about our personal problems," she said shyly, wringing her hands. "I just thought you should know why Sayuri snapped at you as all."
Gaara looked her over calculatingly as she all but trembled in front of him.
"You notice more than people give you credit for," Gaara noted. Miyako flushed.
"Well I suppose… in a way… maybe…"
This would also be the aftermath of that fight. I had most of this scene planned but no real idea of a way to join them together.
"He's a Hyuga jonin! I'm a nobody chunin!" Miyako said weakly. "He can't!"
"He can!" Sayuri insisted, holding her shoulders tightly. "You know when we first became a team, and we went to that restaurant for the first time, and you said you wanted someone to look at you like Satoru looks at Ayano."
"Yes…" Miyako said slowly, unsure where she was going with this.
"He looks at you that way. There's at least a little bit of puppy love there," Sayuri said surely.
"No offense Sayuri, but how would you know?" Miyako asked pointedly.
"I can't see it, but I can feel it when I stand near him. If you're around him, it's obvious to anyone around. He likes you Miyako," Sayuri insisted, cupping her friend's cheeks. "I refuse to let you tear yourself apart about this. If he does or doesn't, so what? If he does, good, I wish you two happiness. If he doesn't, fine, his loss, and he's an idiot."
As I said, I was going to put Miyako and Neji together. You'll notice that Miyako is talking about not having a noble family. This was before I decided her family would be as important as it was.
At first glance Sayuri just looked adorable, sleeping like that. Her arms were crossed in front of her stomach, hands holding her waist. Her legs were folded up, acutely bent at the knee and hip. Her chin was tucked against her chest, lips lightly parted and eyelids fluttering. Her hair was tucked to the side of her face and under her chin. She looked like a child curled up there in the sheets.
But the closer he looked, the more the dark truth came to dawn on him. She wasn't just holding herself to keep warm, she was blocking all vital organs in her torso with her arm. She always slept with her back facing the wall. Her head was tucked to protect her face. Her hair was pulled between her head and the pillow to keep it from being gripped. She was curled up, presenting as small a target as possible.
In this position, she was about as protected as it was possible to be while sleeping, something she'd developed over years of abuse and never quite gotten out of. It was imprinted in her mind as 'safe.'
I had an idea of this being a fluffy moment between Sayuri and Gaara, but no idea where I would have put it in.
Akane leaned forwards and placed a hand on Sai's chest, forcing him back to the bed. She went with him, mouth at his ear.
"Stay in this bed," she whispered through clenched teeth. "Or I will pin you down and drug you until you can't even think about leaving the hospital early."
I had the idea of some kind of side thing with Akane basically torturing Sai that would probably never make it into the story. Why? Because I like torturing Sai
She was nearly nude, clothes torn and hanging from her frame thanks to dozens of grasping hands. Gaara felt ill looking at her. A minute or two later, and they would have found a very difference scene.
He averted his eyes respectfully as she clutched the tatters of her clothes around her, tears silently rolling down her cheeks. Kimimaro stepped forwards, and Gaara could see the tightness in his jaw, the blazing fury in his eyes. There was no need to ask if there were any survivors.
The Kaguya yanked off his shirt and draped it over her shoulders. She turned into his chest, sobbing slightly. "Kimimaro…" she whimpered. "What… What does the sky look like?"
Kimimaro's eyes blazed. "The sun's rising red this morning."
"Good."
For anyone who questioned the sudden arrival of Haru when I clearly said I was going to pair Sayuri and Gaara… yeah, this is where that was going. I had the idea of him being a traitor and kidnapping her, leading to recovery and hospital those who don't know, the bit at the end about the sky being red refers to an old wives' tale that says 'if the sun rises red it means blood has been spilled.'