A/N: Hey, everyone! Not really much of an author's note. I really want to jump right in!
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*Kabocha POV*
I watched the leaf ninja freak out at the sight of Gin, Zu, and Mae since they didn't recognize them right away. "Calm down for kami sake! Boss called us, although, we were on our way here anyway." Gin said holding his hands up in surrender, but a sharp fang filled grin covered his face. I rolled my eyes and made my way back to the group.
"Why were you on your way here?" Kina took the words right out of my mouth. "All of you are picking up a lot of attention with how much fighting and fluctuating chakra is going on around here." Mae whispered from behind her curtain of burgundy hair making everyone lean in to hear her. She hid behind her hair since none of us can see her face.
"Oh my God! You're worse than Hinata with how quiet you talk!" I smacked Naruto in the back of the neck as I returned to Shikamaru's side. "OW!" Naruto howled and turned to me ready to pounce.
"Don't even think about it." Shikamaru said and I turned just in time to catch a scowl on his handsome features. "Well, well, well I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it." Gin cackled along with Shosha.
"For once...I actually know what you guys are talking about." I giggled with Ino and Kina. Shikamaru's scowl worsened at the sight of us laughing. "What is happening?" Lee asked, a little closer than he used to be.
"Shikamaru is protecting boss." Mae whispered making Naruto start up again about how quiet she was. "Awwwww, Shikamaru!" Ino gushed attempting to pinch his cheek. I caught Sasuke's irritated look out of the corner of my eye and chose to ignore it. I didn't want to waste anymore time on his weird misguided affection for me.
"I think it's sweet." I made sure to turn and look Shikamaru in his soft brown eyes. He blushed and looked away from me. "However, we will talk later about the rough housing relationship I have with Naruto. Now, we have business to attend to, and I'm sure all of you do too. How many of you have found your scrolls?" All of them chose to avoid looking at me, I sighed at their blatant physical answer.
"We have two earth scrolls, boss." Gin said reaching into his standard lava village military robes. "Do you have an earth or heaven scroll?" Mae whispered tilting her head slightly.
"We have two heaven scrolls." I said motioning for Shosha to trade with Gin. I kept our original heaven scroll inside of my mesh top. The two of them swapped scrolls and the hairs on my arms stood to attention with how tense the leaf ninja stood around watching the exchange.
"I'll fight you for your heaven scroll." Sasuke declared looking straight at Gin, Zu, and Mae. A malicious grin took over Gin's angular face. "Do you really want to go against all of us, boy?" Mae and Zu tensed up even further at his sides.
"Sasuke, no! We aren't in any condition to fight. This isn't the time for that!" Sakura begged Sasuke and pulled on his sleeve. "I say bring it on!" Naruto cheered with a determined grin.
"You are actually stupid if you think you can take them down with the condition your all in." Kina scolded Naruto and Sasuke making them flinch at her tone. Kina was such a soft, motherly teenager, I had to keep myself from shuddering at her tone.
"No, no. If they want to battle us, by all means please do." Gina said pulling out his twin sai. "Just a little warning...I killed three leaf genin for a scroll I didn't even need. I'm willing to kill three more just to make a point." Everyone froze at what he said so casually. My insides were terrified, but I showed a strong, angry face. I wasn't terrified that he had killed anyone, or terrified that he would kill me and my team. I was terrified for the three missing leaf genin that frequented our little group. I clutched Shikamaru's hand in my own. I was more than positive he could feel my hand shake.
"Gin...I'm only going to ask once...did you kill Kiba, Hinata, and Shino?" I asked in an even voice, and it seemed it everyone was holding their breath waiting for this psycho's answer. Gin had the same personality as Shosha...maybe a little rougher and bloodthirsty and that's saying something. I loved Gin, he is Shosha's best friend, but I prayed to the dragons at Shi that he didn't do anything to them.
"Kiba, Shino, and Hinata! Are you kidding me!? Killing someone, anyone, is bad! Killing them would be worse, but killing anyone in general is-"
"Pipe down, thickness! I didn't kill the shy girl, dog boy, and weird one!" Gin said flippantly. I didn't breathe a sigh of relief because of what Choji was saying about killing someone. I had killed someone before...I had killed someone not even eight hours ago. I was a cold-blooded killer, and now I got insight of what he thought of killers. I was sure all of them thought the same about killers.
"Kabocha…" Sasuke said softly to my left. I turned my head away from Gin towards him. He was giving me the 'are you okay' look. I smiled reassuringly at me and he shook his head at me. I turned back to Gin, Zu, and Mae.
"Would you mind heading back to the tour with us?" I asked confusing everyone. "Why? Yeah, of course we'll go with you, but why?" Gin asked putting away his sai.
"She wants to chaperone you, just to make sure you don't kill anyone else." Shosha crossed his arms with a knowing frown. I scowled at him, turning my attention back to the blonde in front of me. "True." I didn't see the point in denying it, but my confirmation made the leaf shinobi finally take a breath. The lava shinobi, however, were annoyed...even Kina.
"He did what he had to do. We do the same thing, Bocha." Kina scolded me this time, and I understood where she was coming from. I was pretending for the leaf. I was pretending I wasn't this warped person from killing. I was pretending that I never killed someone just so that they wouldn't see me differently. She was annoyed with me because I was shaming Gin for something I do too.
"Yeah…" I whispered hesitantly. I felt a tug on my hand and looked up at Shikamaru. The most beautiful smile covered his kissable mouth. My eyes flickered down to his soft, reassuring smile. I blinked slowly and took a deep breath to remember that we weren't alone. I smiled back at my tamer as my heart picked up to an unhealthy level at just seeing his smile.
"Let's get a move on then." Everyone jumped at the new baritone voice in the clearing. Gin, Shosha, and Kina laughed while Mae giggled at a mouse volume. I shook my head with a smile. Zu actually spoke for once. He literally only spoke when he found it absolutely necessary.
"There's no way that hot sound came out of you!" Tenten screamed from next to Lee and Neji. All I did was grin, I kissed Shikamaru's cheek...lingering longer than necessary. "Those two are sickening." Shosha grumbled to Gin, I scowled at them both and they pretended to talk about something else.
"We're heading to the tower. We'll see the rest of you there...hopefully." Kina said smiling at everyone which all of the returned.
"Be safe, Maru-kun." I put emphasis on his nickname, I made eye contact as I backed away from him to join my team and fellow comrades. "You too." He smirked lazily at me making me blush.
"For the love of-!" Shosha cried out only to be elbowed by Kina. "You be safe Naruto. Don't be reckless. Work smarter and not harder." I glared at Naruto who stuck his tongue out at me making me laugh.
"It was nice meeting you all." Mae bowed before joining us. "See you all soon!" I called out as we disappeared into the treetops and headed for the tower. There were a lot of teams trailing below us, but none of them were headed for the tower.
"It doesn't look like there's a lot of squads that have their scrolls." Gin noted, eyes darting around to look at every squad. I also looked around as well, but only to see if we had been followed. Our speed made reaching the tower in less than a day child's play, but of course there is no such thing as smooth sailing in the life of a shinobi.
The tower was in our sights, and we had to stop right before a booby trap. "GET BACK!" Shosha roared startling all of us. Every single one of us flipped backwards to keep from getting caught in the net and having some odd leech like creatures fall on us.
I scowled, bringing out my summoning scroll. Aisuru Kaze poofed into my grasp as soon as my blood hit the scroll. "I suggest you come out and fight...or we will come find you." I growled smelling the air. Shosha stood completely still, barely breathing, just so he could pinpoint their location my smell.
"You got' em?" Gin asked not taking his golden eyes away from the treetops just in case those leeches decided to rain down on us. Gin couldn't pinpoint them exactly with his hearing or smell yet since his dragon abilities were new. There was no way we were going to get hit with the six of us standing at attention. "Yeah…" Both Shosha and I answered together.
"Only one click to the east..." I said. "...and then go straight up." Shosha finished for me. Everyone nodded in understanding.
"They're headed this way. They think they caught us, but I'm more than positive that they are our catch." Gin grinned looking at the rustling treetops as nine ninja came raining down on us. I didn't expect ninja to be hanging out in groups as big as nine. It didn't make too much of a difference to thee six of us. Nine, nineteen, or ninety never made a difference to lava shinobi especially two elite squads. I looked at the sand headbands tied in various places on their bodies.
"We're in luck, boys! They've got an abundance of scrolls for the taking and all we need are two heaven and an earth!" The 'leader' bellowed and all of us comrades laughed with him. "Did he just reveal his whole dynamic?" Gin asked annoyed with the whole evil villain traits.
"Yeah...but he doesn't know that we're the evil-" Kina started but was cut off by an intense gust of wind. She was thrown back a ways, Shosha and Mae taking off after her. "Too much talking. Give us your scroll-" I didn't even let this arrogant dragon fotter finish his sentence. A personal courtesy for Kina.
"You could have lived." I growled as my mood began shifting from furious to blank and cold. I shifted my weight behind Aisuru kaze, making a wide arc to hit all of them in one swing. "Wind style: wind scythe jutsu!" I cried out, all of the sand scrambling in a frightened frenzy. I caught three arms and a leg from various bodies. My balde didn't have to touch them. My scythe passing by them made the wind surrounding the blade reach out to cut them if they were close enough, and some of them were definitely close enough.
A lot of "you bitch" was going around amongst them since some of them were missing a limb or two...or maybe three depending on who got hit the most. "How dare you get started without us!" Gin fake cried in a singsong voice and coming up from behind to back me up. I rolled my neck and spun Aisuru Kaze above me.
"Sorry. You can help me clear them out." I answered in a flat voice. "Earth style: dirt drill jutsu!" I slammed my scythe down, the earth splitting on impact. "Earth style: mole jutsu!" Gin disappeared into the hole I created confusing and scaring some of the sand shinobi.
"Get that lizard bitch, and watch out for that grey eyed freak!" The leader shouted and all of the sand shinobi scrambled to get to me. "We're always forgotten." Kina let out a sigh, appearing in front me unharmed. Zu, Mae, and Shosha following behind her.
She threw her staff, completely throwing off the enemy since they thought she was going to swing it. "Water style: water wave jutsu." She gracefully stepped on her staff and let water bellow out from her mouth. "Lightning style: lightning strands!" Shosha called out in a flash of hand signs. Lightning escaped from his fingertips and joined Kina's wave. A chorus of screams rang out as some of the sand shinobi that were missing limbs were too slow to dodge the large scale attack.
I disappeared and reappeared behind the remaining six sand shinobi in a swirl of flames. "Ninja art: dragon breath jutsu!" I let the fire flow freely from my lungs. Fire being my natural element right before earth style. "Wind style-" The foolish sand shinobi didn't even get to finish his jutsu before being singed instead of burned to a crisp.
"You're getting slow." Shosha said with a senbon in his mouth. "Just hungry...and tired." I excused my sluggish mannerisms and he snorted.
"She's not slow. I think they're just a little better than we anticipated." Mae murmured flashing hand signs in front of her chest. "Ninja art: voodoo jutsu." I heard the jutsu just in time to grasp Shosha and drop him off in front of the leader of the sand shinobi. He snatched the senbond from his mouth and began jabbing at the dirty blonde ninja.
"Damn you're fast." Just as he said that Shosha nicked his cheek. "Gotcha." Shosha grinned maliciously. Gin made a sudden appearance and yanked two of the remaining six sand ninjas under the ground. The ground rumbling beneath our feet followed by battle cries and screams. Shosha returned to Mae's side and handed her the senbon.
"He's all yours." I heard him whisper to her, he took out another senbon and dashed off to get more blood. "Thank you." She raised the senbon to her face, her tongue coming out to take the blood onto her tongue. Mae's skin turned black instantly.
"W-wait! Wait, please! I know that technique! You worship the God Jashin-"
"Wrong." I said stooping low and leaving Mae for Zu to protect on his own. I dashed past the now paralyzed dirty blonde to get to the rest of his comrades with Shosha. I swung Aisuru Kaza low cutting off a man's feet starting from the ankles, as soon as his bloody nubs hit the ground he screeched in pain. He fell to his knees and I spun in a circle, liberating his head from his shoulders. I snatched the head from the air by its hair. I took the headband in one fluid motion before tossing it to Kina. She swung her staff, hitting the head into the person she was fighting.
Mae held a kunai to her throat and slit it with ease. The dirty blonde began to gargle on his own blood. She lowered her head back to its regular height and looked at the dying sand leader. "She is correct. I am not a Jashin follower. I just studied the notorious Hidan's sacrificial methods and turned this methods into my own personalized jutsu." Mae explained to the dying man. "It still has a lot of kinks to work out, like how it leaves me vulnerable, but I'm only telling you this because you deserve to know how you died." Mae said in a slightly louder voice. Zu still standing to protect her as she collected the dying blonde's headband.
"KOBA!" The last three sand shinobi standing called out to their leader. Kina flipped her staff around and let the blade escape the end. She stabbed right through one of the sand shinobi's shoulder. I came up behind him as Kina held him in place. I swung Aisuru Kaze and performed a hemicorporectomy, cutting him in half at the waist. I collected his headband as well.
Gin reappeared from the hole that I created for him. I looked over my shoulder at him. "You spent all that time down there and only got two?" I questioned in a flat tone. Gin smacked his lips and flashed his fangs at me. "You took two down too! I took two down there in the dark with me, and it was hard to breath!" Gin waved one of his bloody sai at me.
"Tch." I clicked my tongue as Shosha finished taking down the last two on his own. Poison dripping down his chin as he straightened from his personal fighting stance. "Seems to me that I won our little contest." Shosha grinned at all of us.
"I'm sorry you had to protect me and couldn't participate Zu." Mae whispered, and all of us could tell she was sad. "It's fine." Zu's baritone voice assured her and she tilted her head in a happy manner.
"I'm starving." Kina said with a slight pout making Shosha drool over her. "I can give you some-" I used the butt end of Aisuru Kaze to hit him in the stomach...hard.
"Never speak like that in front of me again, and never complain about Maru-kun and I ever again. We are never that graphic." I shuddered at what Shosha almost said, I felt my personality returning quickly.
"I'm sure those two are worse behind closed doors." I heard Gin whisper to Zu and Mae making me turn my glare on him. He looked away and whistled to the treetops. Mae giggled quietly behind her hair while Zu stayed quiet. "Still hungry." Kina said walking past all of us and straight to the tower.
"W-wait for us!" Shosha shouted after her while Zu, Mae, and I followed after him. We stepped into the dark building and immediately looked around. "Doesn't look like anyone is here." Gin said looking doing a three hundred and sixty degree turn.
"Wrong." I answered with Shosha. There are only two other teams here from what we could hear and smell. "Food." Kina whined lightly leaning into Shosha and then shoving him, letting him know that she wanted him to lead her to some food. He complied easily and began leading her away from the four of us. She obviously was getting angry from lack of good food, a symptom she didn't acquire often since we made frequent stops or I cooked for her.
"You guys should go eat and relax too. I'll catch up in a minute." I told them and they easily agreed. The three of them followed after Kina and Shosha to get food. I made sure they were gone before I wandered off to find the source of the heartbeats. I didn't get far before running into a solid and slightly itchy body.
"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was…" I trailed off looking at the wide eyed redhead in front of me. I frowned at his unusual stare. "Your hair…" I finally noticed his weird stare was directed towards my hair. He actually raised his hand and ran it through my hair, stopping at the nape of my neck. His gentle grip became bruising instantly. He yanked my head back slightly ripping a deep growl from my throat. One of my hands went up to grasp his wrist while the other went into my weapons pouch to get the summoning scroll. His unoccupied hand snatched my other wrist in a crushing grip, I bit back a cry as he scented my throat.
"Who hurt you?" I shuddered as the Shukaku made an appearance. "I cut it myself. Two other girls also cut their hair. Release me now." I growled through sharp teeth making him rumble in what sounded like approval. I could feel my chakra spike and lash out wildly like a caged animal.
"That's right little pumpkin...fight me." The nickname made the shudder in my body halt as power flooded my veins at his touch. "Don't think I don't know what we do to you." He rumbled scenting my neck once more making me cringe in embarrassment. The only chant going through my mind was that I loved Shikamaru and no amount of power increase was going to change...that. Love. I loved Shikamaru.
"Unhand me now or loose both of your Shi forsaken arms." I spoke calmly, but the smoke coming from my mouth told another story. The shukaku cackled but released me upon my request. I scowled at Gaara as he returned to consciousness.
"You won't get a second chance to put your hands on me, Gaara of the Desert. I will kill you both before it happens again." I stepped closer just to be sure my message was heard. He opened his mouth to respond to me, I whipped around not caring what he had to say. I marched to where I could hear Zu, Kina, Shosha, and Mae chatting. The red headed troll was going to be the death of me.
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Woah, that ending though! Stay tuned for the preliminaries...you're going to want to see them. (;
P.s. I'm planning something very special for when we hit 100 reviews!