A/N: I'm gonna cry, y'all. Your feedback really means the world to me! I received five reviews the same day I posted chapter thirteen. Also, Sosuke Aizen is from the anime Bleach. I kind of think him and Gorudo look the same...maybe even sound the same. I'm thinking about it lol. Let me know your thoughts about it in the form of a beautiful review!
Thank you for the new follow and/or favorite: Rianna1969254, ThePhantom998, Hyper Brute, Rawrawrainbows, Pein's Kid, and SurplusMermaid5
SabineGerhart07: Thank you for the review, and you were the first! I actually tried to study the Shukaku as much as possible. I hope I did a good job portraying his personality. We're going to be seeing a lot more of him. (;
Toreh: I'm very happy you're enjoying Shikoba so far! I was wondering when someone would ask more about Gorudo, Kiriena, and Jun's extremely weird dynamic. There are a few things I let the readers know before Kabocha, Shosha, and Tsuyoi. However, there is a handful of information that the readers will find out the same time as Kabocha. SPOILER ALERT: I have one chapter that actually has a title, and it is dedicated to the Kasai family history. I hope you're ready! (;
Guest: Welcome, lovely guest! I'm so happy you're enjoying the story and Shikoba. Shukaku is definitely a perv! There will be a lot more Kabocha and Gaara. Stick around!
Deviliciouskitty: Always good to hear from my most frequent reviewer! I also their new ship name, I was too excited to announce it to everyone. It was created by SabineGerhart07. Ino certainly is a force to be reckoned with lol.
ThePhantom998: Thank you for the review! I'm very happy you're enjoying everything so far. Stay tuned for more adorable interactions!
Dani66: Thank you very much for the review! Ask and you shall receive! (;
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*Kabocha POV*
"I'll see you at the next exam. I have to go back to meet up with Ino, Choji, and Asuma-sensei." Shikamaru sighed, dropping me off in front of...my apartment? It was uncle Gorudo's apartment, but I lived there most of the time. "I wish I could stick around." My thought process came to a screeching halt.
"W-what!" I stuttered out, fighting a blush. "Nothing, beautiful." Shikamaru smirking at me. 'Hmmm...I see that flirtatious Shikamaru is out to play!' My blush flared even more, but I definitely wanted to play a little before he-
"Later, Kabocha-chan." He pecked my lips and slipped away from me leaving me stunned. He was wearing a grin as he breezed past me. I was enjoying his toying with me a little too much. I internally screamed, wanting him to stay with me. I bit my tongue and let him go not wanting to beg. Begging has never been in my nature, it was instilled in me by my momma. I didn't realize how deep that philosophy went until my father stood in front of me after momma's funeral.
I sighed bringing my hand up to touch my scar through the armor. I dropped my hand down and turned to go inside of the apartment. I stopped with my hand on the door. I only heard two heartbeats instead of the usual three. I could tell that uncle Gorudo wasn't inside, but judging by the two accelerated heartbeats, I could definitely tell what Shosha and Kina were doing. I cringed and turned away to go to Naruto's for the night only to stop once again.
I looked up to see a red-headed figure with a gourd. I held two fingers up in front of my chest, lava swirled around. The image before me disappeared only to change into a close up of Gaara of the Desert. "What are you doing up here?" I asked him quietly, not wanting to startle him.
"Waiting." The short response made me furrow my eyebrows. "For…" I motioned with my hand for him to continue.
"You." The rumble in his voice made me shudder from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. "But, why!?" I whispered shouted at him, my voice quivering. I was angry...angry at the problem he unknowingly caused me and Shikamaru just by touching me. He touched me and I abhorred how I felt while he was touching me. I didn't feel like that when Shikamaru touched me and it made me even more furious.
"We want you." He simply said making my anger deflate. "What?" I asked him quietly. I was confused by the 'we' in his statement.
""What are you?" My confusion was on the rise as his cynan colored eyes met my golden ones. I pursed my lips, slowly making my way to him. It was an invisible pull that I just stopped fighting. I walked over to him and sat down about an arms length away. I watched his body tense up a little bit, I made sure he could see me and my hands the whole time so he wouldn't be as tense.
"I know I'm asking a lot of 'why', but why are you asking what I am. I'm human just like you." He was looking at me differently now. The eyeballing wasn't getting to me...yet.
"We are far from that, little girl, and so are you." I jumped at how deep his voice got. The grin on his face was stretching too far to be natural. "My, my beautiful...you truly are impressive! You didn't flinch or cower, not even a little bit scared of me, pumpkin!" Gaara cackled loudly making my ears ring a little bit.
"You must be a bijuu. My oldest brother gave us lessons on all of you. You must be the sand spirit, shukaku. Your mannerisms and personality are the exact same as he explained." I smiled at him, astounded that I was meeting a bijuu. A trapped bijuu, but a bijuu nonetheless. That meant Gaara is a jinchuuriki. The first jinchuuriki that I have met outside of Naruto. I could always sense that Naruto was different because of the whiskers and immense chakra. Tsuyoi explained to me exactly what he was.
Gaara started gripping his head, moaning and withering in pain. I reached out to him, but stopped myself not wanting him to lash out. "My momma died last year." I blurted out, ceased all movement.
"S-She was r-raped and m-murdered. She was the general before me, and an advisor for our council." I explained, motining with my hands. I was ripping off a scab and reopening my mother's memory like an old wound just to distract him. Just to distract a boy a didn't even know.
"I was thirteen going on fourteen when she d-died. I was fourteen when I was instated as the next general. I couldn't even hold up my scythe, and I was made general." Gaara snorted, but looked calm overall. I smiled softly at him, happy he was alright and not fighting the shukaku anymore.
"My father is the leader of our village...much like your father is of yours. What's your mom like?" I asked, crossing my legs. He looked up at the moon before answering me. "I wouldn't know...I killed her when I was born. My father and siblings despise me for it." My eyes widened at how calm he was.
"It's not your fault, Gaara." I stated matter of factly. He snapped his head around to look me in the eyes. "I was born a monster. A monster that killed his own mother...his own uncle. I have killed dozens of people to prove my existence. All of those deaths are because I wanted to...including my mother." Gaara was now on his feet making me jump to my own.
"No, Gaara-" I reached out to him, but he disappeared in a swirl of sand. I pulled my hand back, looking down at my palm to see sand. I sighed and closed my hand. The anger I felt when Gaara was around was replaced with an understanding. I wasn't any closer to why Gaara affected me the way he did, but I definitely had a better understanding of who Gaara of the Desert is...and all of the things we had in common. Dead mothers and evil fathers.
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Today was the day. The second part of the chunin exams is under way this morning. I sat up in bed, yanking both of my hands through my tangled curls. I rolled out of bed to shower, brush my teeth, and decided to change up my hair. I braided it down to my lower back and ruffled my bangs a little, smiling at myself in the mirror I left to get dressed.
I put on my armored, mesh crop top and skin tight black pants. I put on my pouches and strapped on my summoning scroll on my other side. I heard Kina and Shosha in the kitchen, but I walked out of my room making a b-line for my uncle's room. I knocked on the door and stepped inside. He was in his usual position, resting against his headboard looking at them same picture.
"Uncle?" I called out gently. He looked up at me with a ghost of a smile. He patted the spot next to him, and I made my way over. I sat down beside him and rested my head against his shoulder. "Something is wrong." I nodded in confirmation.
"There's this boy…" I said unsure if I wanted to tell him about Gaara. He is from a village that we're not too friendly with. "Just talk Kabocha. You should know by now that I am not going to hurt nor judge. All I can do is be honest with you." I nodded with a soft smile trying my best to not look at that same picture he was always staring at.
"This boy...he's a...jinchuuriki." I said, uncle immediately tensed up under me. "What has happened?" Uncle asked, his voice was cold as ice. A tone that I hadn't heard in some time.
"Nothing...there's just this feeling. My senses go haywire, and my emotions hit me tenfold. I'm just tired of not knowing what's going on." I told him with a sigh. Uncle sighed as well. "I was hoping you would never run into your singer. Before you even ask, a singer is a person that calls to you. They are extremely different from a tamer. Where as Shikamaru calms you, this boy...your singer….riles you up in every way possible. It isn't exactly a bad thing, but it is something to be worried about when your tamer is around." My eyes widened at what he was saying about Gaara. This feeling was way deeper for Gaara then I had initially thought.
"Is...is Shikamaru going to be affected by this?" I asked, but not really wanting to know the answer. Especially, after the way he acted when all Gaara did was grab my wrist. "No he should be fine. The only other time a singer was recorded is when your grandfather was alive. He went looking for his singer because of the power they give you. Singers make you stronger. I'm sure you've felt it." Uncle stated matter of factly. I frowned, deep in thought about what this would mean for Shikamaru and I. Shikamaru still didn't even know he was my tamer. Now, there was even more crap to unload on him.
"Don't think so much about it. There will come a time to tell him everything; including your singer. For now, just go take your exams. Everything will play out just fine." Uncle smiled softly at me and shooed my away. I sighed and got up and left his room, shutting the door softly behind me.
"Yo, your ready or what?" I jumped and turned to look at a grinning Shosha. Kina was giggling slightly behind her hand. I glared at them both for startling me before grinning. "Let's go kick some ass." I said making a move to put on my armor, it was going to be a long few days.
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"Well, this looks right up our alley." Shosha whistled from my right. "I'm inclined to concur. This doesn't look too different from one of the training grounds back home." Kina said also observing the forest of death. The lava villagers didn't even flinch at the name. The Shi volcano made this forest look like a five star restaurant.
"Are you kidding me! This place is a death trap!" Naruto shouted next to us. Sasuke looked indifferent yet slightly nervous. Sakura looked plain terrified. I rolled my eyes at their incompetence.
"We've got plenty of those in our village. You should be scared, boy." Gin said leaning over my shoulder to grin eerily at Naruto. Naruto shuddered and then glared. Shosha and Gin leaned against each other cackling wildly.
"Alright pipe down, you maggots!" Anko, our next instructor, shouted at us. I furrowed my eyebrows slightly offended. I was a general...not a maggot.
"Now, this exam should be completed within five days, but this isn't called the forest of death for nothing-"
"This isn't called the forest of death for nothing! Yeah right, I'm not afraid, do your worst!" Naruto shouted beside me making me slap my forehead. "Oh looks like we have a tough guy." Anko said flinging a kunai at him. I took out a kunai out of instinct, deflecting it away from Naruto's face. Anko disappeared and reappeared in between Naruto and I. She had one hand gripping my braid, and her other hand caressing Naruto's face.
"Tough guys like you two leave their blood all over this forest floor." Anko said with a grin, giving my braid a tug for enfeces. I could practically feel Gin, Shosha, and Kina's body tense up like a coil ready to snap.
Anko also tensed up, pulling another kunai from her pocket and looking over her shoulder. "Sorry, I was just returning this." A tongue slithered by both Naruto and I's cheek making my cringe while Naruto looked positively petrified. I was more than a little angry with being manhandled, and with this nasty grass ninja bitch's tongue so close to my damn face. I missed Anko and the grass ninja's exchange as Anko released Naruto and I.
Naruto started stuck out his tongue and began to wiggle it around. I smacked him in the back of the head making him bite his tongue. "Before we begin this test. I have a consent form for all of you. Some of you may not come back from this test, so I have to get your consent otherwise it would be my responsibility." She laughed and handed the papers to Naruto to pass out. Chatter erupted amongst everyone.
"Now, the first thing you need to know is that this test will tax every one of your survival skills-" I split my attention four different ways. I saw Shikamaru out of the corner of my eye. I grinned slightly to myself then looked over to Gaara who didn't seem fazed at all, in fact, he was looking at me the whole time. I quickly read over the forms and all of my focus returned to Anko as soon as the statement I've always wanted to hear left her mouth.
"-this is any anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls." More murmuring burst throughout the room. Anko raised her hand to show off the scrolls. "You need both the heaven scroll and the earth scroll. Half of you will have the heaven scroll and the other half will have the earth scroll. You need both scrolls in order to return to the tower and pass this test."
"That means half of us will fail, if not more than that if more teams aren't able to get the scrolls they need." Sakura said out loud making me roll my eyes. "Then you better watch yourself, darlin." Gin said grinning at her like he did with Naruto. "We're not going to hold back just because your friends with our general. She's not gonna save you this time." Gin said and I saw some of the other lava shinobi nod. I nodded back at them, knowing in my heart that they would do whatever they needed to do to pass this test, and that meant going after leaf shinobi.
"That's not reassuring." Sasuke scoffed making Kina look him in the eye. "It's not supposed to be." She said matter of factly. Anko went on to explain the disqualifications and then we were finally getting to the end.
"Each team pick a gate and then you will be let inside. One more word of advice...just don't die." Anko said with a serious face and everyone returned her serious expression except the lava shinobi, whom were goofing around with each other. I just hope they know this isn't going to be sunshine and rainbows. Everyone is an enemy in their so I really hoped they'd stop playing around.
"Alright everyone go and get a scroll!" Anko shouted and everyone began to leave to get a scroll. We stepped behind the curtain and handed in our forms. We were handed a heaven scroll, I took of my breast plate and tucked the scroll in between my breasts. I put my armor back on, and we all headed to our respective gate. I stopped in front of Shikamaru, looking over my shoulder to Kina and Shosha. "Go ahead, I'll catch up in a minute." They nodded and walked around us with knowing smiles.
"Be careful...I know you're an almighty general. Hell, you've even made a name for yourself, but keep your-" I stopped him with a quick peck to the lips. He looked slightly stunned and then shook his head with a smile. "Troublesome woman." He grumbled.
"I promise I'll be careful. You, Ino, and Choji need to be careful." I said with a small grin. "Seriously watch out for lava shinobi...we're not ones to be taken lightly." I told him, my grin slipping away.
"Well, I already know that. My girlfriend is proof enough that lava shinobi are no joke." I blushed bright red at the title. "G-girlfriend." I stuttered and he chuckled.
"Yeah, we'll talk after the exams, but you are my girlfriend. Maybe I'll see you in there." He smirked at me before walking off leaving me stunned. That jerk totally threw off my thought process. I shook my head and jogged to my team's gate.
"How was your conversation with lover boy?" Shosha made kissy face at me. "Shut up." I said glaring at him.
"Hey...focus you guys. Our mission is to get an earth scroll. When that gate opens your heads better be focused." Kina scolded us and we shrank away from her blood red stare.
"Let's do this." Shosha grinned lovingly at her, she blushed and roller her eyes making me gag. "We won't shy away from any fight no matter the scroll. We aren't the wrecking crew for nothing. I wasn't given my title for fun. Let's go in there and show them exactly why lava shinovi should not be trifled with." I grinned maliciously at them at the thought of a fight. We are magnificent shinobi apart, but together we are a well oiled machine when we fight together and I could feel my blood lust boil to the surface.
"Enter!" Anko shouted and our gate opened. We sprinted right in heading straight for the center. We were definitely on the hunt for everyone else. The game is find them before they find us.
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Here ya' go everyone! I'm so sorry for the wait, but at least in the next chapter there's going to be a lot of action. Let me know what you guys think of Gorudo's look alike Sosuke Aizen. See you guys in five reviews...you guys are so fast!