Chapter 2: Uneasy Feelings

AN: Hi peoples! :D new chapter for you guys! I hope you enjoy, the plot begins to thicken in this one...O_O...oh yeah...lol. Anywho, I'll possibly be posting a new one-shot, specifically Itachi-based, soon and a new chapter as well...:) I hope everyone is enjoying this Fall weather! :D

...

"One more night, I wanna be with you

Where I want to hold you tight-it feels so right

Tonight, I'll give it up to you

Cause I think the time is right, to stop the fight

For the night, I wanna be with you

Where I want to hold you tight-it feels so right

Tonight, I'll give it up to you

Cause I think the time is right, to stop the fighting now..."

-Kiame's Prov. -

I woke the next morning later than usual. I sighed and swept my hair away from my eyes, drowsy and groggy from the sunlight, when a sudden eerie feeling hit me. I couldn't feel Ayame's presence.

In spite of the fact that my sister was a light sleeper, she had this singular ability to sleep for days (sometimes even weeks), then go for about the same amount of time awake. It was as though her body could store the sleep for times when it was really needed, almost like hibernation, then stay awake when it felt fully restored or healed— a useful talent for a shinobi, a curse for anyone trying to live a normal life. I suppose that also contributes to her status as ANBU as well...However, Ayame's time asleep was almost always plagued with nightmares or sleepwalking, making her time awake all the harder on her.

I kicked off my blankets and rolled out of bed, trying to listen for Ayame—when I got no response, I grabbed my daggers from my nightstand and snuck down the hallway to her bedroom. The only reasons I could possibly conjure up as to why I couldn't feel her presence were this:

1.) she sleepwalked out of the house, likely but not entirely so.

2.) She was still asleep, less likely because she wasn't in the house. So, no.

Or 3.) she was in trouble.

My grip on my daggers tightened when I saw that her door was cracked open, further so than the night before. I took in a deep breath and shoved my way through the door, blades poised to strike.

Her room was empty.

Her blankets were thrown in a pile beside her bed, and her sheets were tangled up around her pillows. I sighed and walked over to her window, which was flung open, and touched it lightly with my fingertips. It was covered in ice-just as I expected.
I slipped my knives into my back pocket and ducked through the window, beginning my long walk to our families training ground. For some reason Ayame always went there, even when she was little, to clear her head or get away.

I looked up at the sky and smiled; it had been so peaceful these past few years with my sister. She and I had been working so hard, both in our work and home lives, to achieve a state where we could be happy; be together. In fact, in these past few months, Ayame and I had both been promoted-me to Jonin, and her to an ANBU Captain. It was probably one of the happiest days in my life—my sister was happy, overjoyed in fact, and I was as well. We were both together, with no one to stand in our way and say we couldn't do what we wanted, and we were both at peace.

A sudden drop in temperature warned me of my approach to our training ground. I pulled my daggers back out of my pockets and took in a deep breath, preparing for the worst. When I broke through the last of the tree line, I could only see frost and lonely little icicles hanging from branches and vines, almost as if they were some sort of winter decoration, and as I continued inward, I could see an eerie looking snowflake-like pattern carved into the ground; but still no sign of my sister.

"Ayame?! Ayame where are you!?" I paused when I seen a limp figure resting at the base of a huge, frozen oak tree. Panic started to set in. "There!"

I immediately ran across the grounds to her side, half expecting her to be dead…or worse. "Ayame, are you okay?" I shook her shoulders gently, afraid to hurt her.

My sister covered her face with her forearm, annoyed. "Go away, Kiame."

I couldn't help but chuckle a little. She was fine, yeah she lost control of her kekkei genkei and froze our training ground, but she was fine, and that was all that mattered to me. "You do realize that you're lying out on our practice field?"

Ayame opened one of her icy blue eyes, glanced around, and promptly closed it again. "Yes."

"Well then," I smirked, "I suppose you realize that you've frozen over half of it and destroyed what was left of our big oak tree, right?"

Ayame sat up slowly, "What do you…oh." She glanced around at the damage she had caused, and scowled. "That's what you mean…"

I laughed, "You're the only person I know in Konoha that can be this silly."

She raised an eyebrow, "In all of Konoha, hunh?"

"Yeap."

Ayame rolled her eyes and punched me in the leg, "Whatever, just help me up."

I stopped laughing and sighed, pulling a very weak and fragile looking Aya to her feet. "You had another nightmare, didn't you?"

My sister looked at me for a moment then looked back at the ground, averting my gaze. "No, Kiame. I just wanted to come out and train...I was bored."

I snorted. "Likely story... Aya, you know I know you better than that. Now tell me, what is it?"

"I'm hungry, and dirty. We'll talk about this after I eat and take a shower." She answered, starting off toward our house.

I knew this was Ayame's way of changing the subject and trying to keep me out of her business. I could've called her out on it and forced the subject out of her-but I didn't, she'd had a long enough night.

"Okay…"

I stood at the stove, watching over the food I'd just fried, when Ayame came walking into the kitchen. "What're you making?" She asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Fried bacon, some toast, and eggs. Is that okay?" I answered, pouring the food from their skillets to their plates.

Ayame smiled and took her place at our dining table. "Fine with me."

It was then that I noticed she'd changed into her normal attire; a navy blue, cut-off zip top over a black camisole, with an armless fishnet jumpsuit underneath. Her legs were covered with a pair of black cargo bermudas, ANBU boots, and matching shin guards. "What's with that look?" She asked, putting her bandage wrapped elbows on the table.

I shook my head and set the food down in front of me. "Oh…well, you're not wearing your ANBU stuff."

Ayame nodded, "Indeed."

"Why?" I asked, taking my seat.

She laughed, "Because I'm not on duty today, baka. The Division asked that I take a few days off after my team and I just finished that Kumogakure assignment, remember?"

"Oh, that's right."

"Hmm," Ayame lifted up a few of the trays and started scraping food onto her plate. "Well, what about you? You're not in your Jonin garb either."

I glanced down at my clothes and frowned; I was still in my pajamas. "Well, I had to go get my sister this morning; I mean you know how she is with all her running off and such."

-"Really now? Sounds troublesome."

I nodded, "You have no idea. Plus she's mean to me too, always calling me stupid and silly."

Ayame faked a gasp, "I couldn't imagine!"

"Yes," I continued, "It's horrible."

My sister rolled her eyes and stuck a forkful of bacon in her mouth, "Whatever."

I smiled and poured some food over into my plate. It was nice being with my sister on days like this, when we could just joke around and relax; it was the perfect way to pass the time, in my opinion anyway. We could train, rest, eat, talk; in fact, we would even go into town together sometimes, just to chill or hang with some friends. I glanced up from my plate, surprised to see the exhausted look Ayame's face had taken on. Something about it stuck with me, like how it did in my dream. This now brought me to the fact that I hadn't discussed it with her. "Uhm…you know, I had the weirdest dream last night."

Ayame paused mid-bite. "Really?" Her whole body tensed, "What was it about?"

"Well," I closed my eyes, trying to recall what had happened. "I dreamed that I had one of my phoenix scouts flying over some forest somewhere…and then I saw you and this dark-haired man in a clearing." She paused when she took a sip of water, but played it off as nothing. "I told my scout to fly down over where you two were, and I'm pretty sure you saw it, but before I could say anything to you it was extinguished." I shook my head, "It was weird…it felt like I hadn't seen you in ages."

My sister nodded, taking in the information I'd just told her. "I see…"

-"Well, how about you? I know you had a dream-you wouldn't have run out to the training field if you hadn't."

"Kiame, it was nothing. I just wanted to train."

"Ayame..."

"Kia."

"AYA."

"Looks like you caught me." She sighed, "Well, it was different, but nothing really; just another stupid dream."

"Dreams are important windows into the inner workings of our subconscious mind." I stated, sticking my fork in her face. "No dream is 'stupid', now tell."

Ayame sent me her infamous "you-silly-baka-glare", "No, Kiame."

I then tapped into my best weapon-my puppy dog eyes, a look I knew my twin sister couldn't refuse. "Pleeeease, sissy?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair, "You know, the more you use that look, the less effective it is."

"So," I retorted, "It still works, doesn't it?"

"For now, imouto-chan." She smiled, but I could tell that she wasn't too amused. "Well, anyway…I dreamed that, like you, I was in some forest…at first it was really nice and calm, surprising for me, but then these ravens appeared and formed together into this man who-"

"OHHH!" I interrupted, "Ayame was dreaming about a boy?! Who is he?! Do I know him!? Is he cuuute?!"

"KIAME," Ayame cast me a stern glare, trying to hide the faint blush now forming on her cheeks. Boys had always been a sensitive subject with my sister, but it was one of my best weapons for her too. "Calm down. No, you don't know him, and neither do I…And as for your last question-it's irrelevant."

I pouted a little, "Sorry..."

-"It's alright."

"So," I leaned forward and propped my chin on my hand. "What did he look like?"

My sister rolled her eyes, "Still on that, hunh?"

"Yes." I smirked.

-"Well… he was tall, with cropped black hair that was tied back in this ponytail, he had some fairly pale skin. Uhm...He wore an odd cloak though, black with red and white clouds. I'd never seen anything like it before."

"Interesting, anything else?"

Ayame rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Uhm, I think he had on a Konohagurke head protector, but I'm not entirely sure. It's somewhat hard to remember now."

"Well," I picked up my fork and crammed a serving of eggs in my mouth. "I fink he sthounds…nithe."

"I suppose," She answered, yawning. "But that's not all."

I swallowed, "What else?"

Ayame looked me dead in the eye, her face suddenly serious. "Just as I started to wake up, the man told me he was coming for us."

"Are you sure?" I asked, putting down my fork. At first the idea of it all crossed me as a joke, but the longer I looked at my sister the severity of what she meant suddenly began to sink in.

"Positive."

"Well, what do you suppose he meant by that?" I asked.

My sister sighed, "I don't know…that's why I told you."

"Well," I pushed myself up from the table, "I think it means that you need a vacation. You work too much as it is, and didn't you just come home from a mission? You're probably exhausted, and your mind was just playing games with you."

"I AM taking a break, Kiame." She growled and shook her head, "I'd be out there right now, working, if it weren't for the fact that I was sentenced to home arrest by the fucking ANBU division; and second of all, my mind was not-wait." Ayame suddenly stood up, her eyes drifting off to our window. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?" I asked, walking over to her.

"Those chakra signatures; there's two of them, one in the forest and one over at the training field." She answered, "They're very strong, unlike anything I've felt before..."

It took me a moment, but after she brought them to my attention, I could feel the signatures as well. And just like she said, they were strong. And they were on the move. "Who do you suppose it is?"

Ayame ran out of the kitchen and down the hall to her room, after a moment, she came back with her katana's and ANBU garb. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

I grabbed my jonin vest from the back of my chair and slipped it over my arms, "I'll go with you."

-"No. It's too dangerous, Kiame."

"If that's the case," I stepped up in front of her, "Then why are you going?"

Ayame looked at me for a moment, trying to think of a way to get around the subject, but she finally just sighed, irritated. "Fine." She answered, slipping her ANBU mask down over her hair. "But be careful."

"Always am." I grinned.

"Wait," Ayame stopped at the threshold and smirked, "You might want to change first."

I glanced down at my clothes and growled; I was still in my pajamas.

"Damn it!"

-Ayame-

"Still worrying?" Kiame asked, joining me on our porch. She had since changed from her pajamas to her normal ninja attire; a dark emerald tank-top, khaki shorts, black knee-high combat boots with matching bodysuit fishnet, and a pair of arm guards and fingerless gloves.

I clutched the hilts of my katana's and slipped them into the sheath on my back. "This is no joke, Kiame. This could be a serious threat."

She sighed and pulled out a pair of her poison-dipped kunai, "I know, but we can handle it. We are the Azikuria twins after all."

I rolled my eyes, the name was overrated. "I mean it, Kiame."

"Sheesh," She laughed and pointed to her temple, "I'll keep in touch, okay?"

I tightened the red scarf around my neck and took off into the forest, Kiame following close behind. Ever since my sister and I were little, we've always had this…"twin-link", as Kiame called it. We could hear each other's thoughts, emotions, and sometimes physical pains, but only to a certain range. We didn't really understand WHY we had this bizarre connection, maybe it was our opposing kekkei genkei, we didn't know. But...yeah, it is pretty strange.

I bit my lower lip and closed my eyes, attempting to form the mental connection with my sister. 'Kiame?'

I felt her presence within my mind almost instantly, 'What is it, Ayame?'

'I don't like this…'

She chuckled, 'Neither do I. Running through the woods…not very fun, is it?'

'That's not what I meant,' I growled, and glanced back over my shoulder to see her grinning like an idiot. 'These chakra signatures…there's something…ominous, about them. They're more than just powerful, Kiame. They're…threatening.'

She fell silent. 'Maybe…we should turn back then?'

I shook my head, 'No…odds are, they've already spotted our own signatures and I have the feeling that if we turned back now, they'd only follow. I don't want to bring anyone else into this. Especially the Hokage or anyone else, we don't need the trouble. '

'Hmm, good point.' She answered.

I cut off our mental connection and stopped at the nearest tree branch. "There's only one thing to do then."

Kiame came to a hault alongside of me and sighed, clearly not happy with the idea. "Fight?"

I nodded, "Fight."

AN: Thanks for reading you guys! :D I hope you like...There should be a new chapter within the next month or so. :D So...yay :) lol
Uhm, Reviews are warranted. ;D

~Aria