A/N: I wanted to get this chapter out sooner since you guys had to wait so long for the next chapter. Let's dive in!
Thank you very much for the favorite and/or follow: Kr1ssy, kikibee22, HACKMia, MeTheDaydreamer, Sparrowhawk8.20, Modblue, hikari-hime 01, DeniseRenee and Ko-neko Yokai
Guest: I'm elated your enjoying it so far! Thank you very much for your review lovely guest!
Guest: I'm ecstatic that you're enjoying Kabocha! She's only going to get more complex as the story goes on! Stay tuned!
Deviliciouskitty: Always great to hear from you! Kabocha and her squad are definitely worth their salt. I am also going through some Shikoba withdrawals with so much fighting and so little romance! We've got three chapters (at the most) before we get to the real meat and potatoes of their relationship. ):
Sanura Bey: Thank you so much for the review! I'm literally everywhere with ideas lol stay tuned to see more of them!
Crazy Devil Girl: Omg thank you so much; I really love seeing your reviews! Multiple methods to my madness regarding Kabocha and Gaara, but we all know who Kabocha is gushing over. (;
Dani66: I think...you just gave me an idea…(;
Guest: Thank you so much for the review! I'm happy you're enjoying everything so far! Stick around for more!
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*Kabocha POV*
"Excuse me." Shosha crossed his arms looking at our uncle Hikari. He had been away for quite some time on a mission unknown to even us. It was a big surprise to see him...and here no less.
"You're excused." Hikari said with a grin that, for once, met his icy blue eyes. Shosha rolled his eyes making Kina giggle and me smile. "The hell are you doing here?" Shosha's clipped speech didn't phase uncle Hikari who just shrugged.
"Once a team has reached this tower the two scrolls that were retrieved summon a higher ranked shinobi. I requested to be the higher ranked summons for you three." Uncle Hikari said in a bored manner furthering Shosha's scowl. "What he means to say, before he explodes, is why did you request us?" Kina asked in a calm manner.
"Isn't it obvious?" Uncle Hikari snorted. "I didn't want to walk back to see the final matches; being summoned made my life so much easier. I've been gone for almost a month so more traveling wasn't something that appealed to me." All three of us deadpanned.
I looked at his tired face with a concerned look. "I see you guys aren't too worse for ware." Uncle Hikari's eyes scanned over us, but stayed on me for a moment longer. "What's that look for?"
"You look exhausted." I said almost reaching for him. He stopped looking rested the day my momma died, the only difference now is that he looked...beat up. He looked ruffled and more than a little weary. "I'll be fine." He waved me off making my face match Shosha's.
"It's time for you all to head out to hear the Hokage's speech. I heard there are a lot of teams left, so I'm sure there is something else going on." Uncle Hikari said motioning for us to follow after him out of the private room we had been placed in to summon him. We followed after him without anymore conversation and into an arena. Team began filing in, more teams than I liked to see considering the four teams we had gotten rid of.
'Looks like we didn't do enough to the competition.' I thought darkly to myself looking around to make sure my Maru-kun made it, along with my lovable adopted brother Naruto. I stood in the front with Shosha behind me and Kina behind him. I breathed a sigh of relief when Naruto and Shikamaru came to stand on either side of me. Sasuke tried to take Naruto's place, but of course Naruto was oblivious to that fact. Gaara tried to take Shikamaru's spot, but Shikamaru leisurely (what seemed like leisurely) took the spot by my side where he belonged.
I purposely brushed my hand against his before all the teams could settle and the Hokage began to speak. Shikamaru's fingers twitched along with a ghost of a smirk on his face. He definitely looked like he had been in a fight...maybe even two just by looking at his clothing. I glanced back to observe Ino and Choji, whom looked just as bad as he did.
"You're looking good." He mumbled to me, and I couldn't even fight the smirk off my face. "...in more ways than one I hope." I winked at him and his ghost of a smirk turned into an embarrassed grin. I definitely couldn't miss the chance to flirt with him. It was going to be awhile before we got any alone time, so I was taking what I could get.
"You know what I meant, but now that you mention it…" Shikamaru's blushed lightened as his eyes darkened slightly. "I wish we had gotten here sooner just to make sure you were all good." Shikamaru's brown eyes trailed from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet, his eyes taking their time over my breast plate, ass, and crotch. Now, it was my turn to blush. A flirting Shikamaru was one of my favorite Shikamaru's
"Is my Maru-kun flirting with me?" I fake gasped putting one of my clawed hands to my chest. "I'll do a lot more than that when this is all over." Shikamaru's posture wasn't slouched, he was leaning slightly towards me and towering. I was admiring his teenage boy hormones so much right now. A shiver rocked my body to the core, even more so than when Gaara touches me and I feel a surge of power.
"Are you two done!? My ears are bleeding and now I'm scared for life." Shosha hissed in a whisper behind us. I had completely forgotten about his heightened hearing...to be honest I had completely forgotten where we were. I blushed in raw embarrassment as Shikamaru returned to his relaxed posture with a shrug and a roll of his eyes.
I glanced over to see everyone was finally in place. My eyes caught Gin's since he was standing on the opposite end from where I was. He had a shit eating grin on his face flailing his arms slightly to make sure he had our attention. Our as in my, Shikamaru, and Shosha's attention. Gin moaned loud enough for us to hear as he made a fist with his hand going towards his mouth, his thumb tucked in his hand but still out enough to resemble…
I scowled at Gin ready to scream across the room. He was making obscene gestures and noises while Shosha groaned and gagged from a fake illness. I could feel my whole body heat up in anger and embarrassment. I opened my mouth to yell at him, but a spool of ninja wire hit him in the back of the head. "Hey!" He rubbed the back of his head looking behind him. All of us looked behind us to see and innocent looking Kina with an angel smile.
A throat cleared making all of us snap to attention. It seems goofing around was over. I looked over to where the noise came from to see the Hokage ready to speak. He began to explain the point of the chunin exams, but my attention was taken away as two figures joined the other leaf shinobi in the background. I made no mistake at recognizing the two individuals.
Father and uncle Gorudo had come to see the matches. They took spots on either side of uncle Hikari. Uncle Gorudo had been disappearing periodically and now I could see why. He looked...stronger. The tired, wary expression that made a home on his face for the past year was still there, but he was out of his pajamas and even his official diplomatic leader robes. He stood tall in a long sleeve fishnet shirt, traditional lava village shinobi pants adorn his legs along with traditional shinobi shoes. He was dressed in all black minus his deep red pants. A sword strapped to his back along with ninja pouches on his thighs. It was an outfit I hadn't seen him in...ever.
His face was blank as he watched the Hokage speak. I watched him watch the Hokage, my hearing just focusing on him breathe. The muscles were new and he wasn't lean like uncle Hikari. He was almost as bulky as father. The thought of my loving uncle fighting put fear in my heart. The outfit alone was scary to me. I had never even seen him raise a hand to harm anyone...he only used words to do so. He used to train me in speed and wearing my armor but it didn't extend beyond that. He passed me to my mother to further my training.
My attention was taken away from my uncle as soon as everyone began making their way upstairs. I felt my hand being grasped and then pulled gently by Shikamaru. "Are you okay?" He asked gently, but his gaze was looking over at my uncles and father. I nodded at him with a small smile, squeezing his hand to reassure him. He led me upstairs and we leaned against the wall behind Asuma, Ino, and Choji. Mae, Zu, Gin, Kina, and Shosha took up residence beside them. The other ninjas passing us to find somewhere to stand to watch the matches.
"I see you kids made it." Shosha said as Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke stopped by us. "Who you calling kids!?" Naruto shouted at him making me sigh. Shosha loved pushing his buttons; it was in our blood to tussle and argue I suppose.
"I think he means you three. You guys were really struggling." Gin said cackling as all three of Kakashi's genin glared heatedly at him. "Hopefully you won't be dragon fodder during these preliminaries because I know if you get me...your dead." Gin's cackling came to halt as he grinned at them. Everyone minus the lava shinobi shuddered at his malicious words.
"H-hey! I-it's only a tournament. What's y-your problem!?" Sakura shouted and stuttered in fear. Gin only shrugged, the grin never leaving his slim face. "Gin…" I said in a normal voice catching everyone's attention.
"Relax." I smiled at him knowing that no one understood him unless they were from the lava village. Our shinobis personalities were born from a hostile training environment and ruthless missions. I wanted him to be himself...but I just didn't know how to tell him to turn it down. Kina, Shosha, and Zu frowned at me. Gin's grin also left and he shrugged at me.
"What is Gorudo-sama doing here?" Zu's timber voice made an appearance. Everyone turned to look over to Gorudo conversing quietly with Hikari. "Such beautiful men, not as beautiful as Sasuke though." Ino said with a dreamy sigh making Shosha and I cringe.
"Why is the entire Kasai family so attractive! It's not fair!" Lee cried from beside Naruto. "Thank you." I giggled at the indirect comment towards my looks.
"You're right about that, Lee. Lady Kireina was just as beautiful...like you Kabocha." Sakura told me with a gentle smile making me smile back at her. My heart was hurting a little, but the way she spoke about my momma made me happy even through the pain.
"Mom was way prettier than you, pumpkin head." Shosha said in a joking voice with a small smile. "Your no Shikamaru, Shosha." I stuck my tongue out at him, I caught Shikamaru blushing while Shosha made a disgusted face. Sasuke rolled his eyes with an annoyed look on his face. Gin cried out in laughter with Ino and Choji.
"Hey, look the first match is up!" Naruto said excitedly. The names went rapidly and finally came to a stop on Sasuke. I glanced back at Sasuke's beat up, exhausted state. Sasuke smirked, "about time." Sasuke went into the ring no problem.
"Is your friend going to make it out of this?" Mae asked me quietly. "He's an Uchiha...he'll be fine." I told her with a smirk. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder briefly to smirk at me. I stuck my tongue out at him, he turned back to Yoroi. I had a lot of faith in Sasuke, I had been training with him for the past year. He was good, but got better with every single session.
"Let's Sasuke!" Ino, Sakura, and Naruto cheered. I rolled my eyes in amusement. "BEGIN!" The match officiator semi-yelled through his sickness. I frowned as Sasuke was taken down quickly, he still didn't have my concern...yet. Yoroi began to suck up his chakra making me cringe at Sasuke's lack of power.
"It's not looking good." Gin tsk'd through his teeth with a smile. I ignored him, my fang clipped my lip as I bit down. He was making me nervous until he disappeared and reappeared, kicking Yoroi under his chin and sending him into the air. Sasuke followed after him but from behind. He hesitated when that same mark from before began to take over his body. I let out a breath when he shook it off and took Yoroi down, and landing a devastating blow to his abdomen. Sasuke flipped and landed on his stomach, he pulled up onto his ass while breathing heavily.
"Yeah Sasuke!" Ino and Sakura cheered for him. My smirk turned into a smile at his victory...even though he had me a bit worried in the beginning. Kakashi went down to retrieve him and take him away.
"Let the next match begin!" The names began to go by rapidly once again. My eyes widened as my name came up...against Zu. I hardened my features not wanting to look taken aback by having to go against a fellow lava shinobi. "Zu Moritora and Kabocha Kasai." I pulled out my summoning scroll to get my scythe. Aisuru Kaze poofed into my hand.
"Come on Kabocha! You can do it! That mopey kid doesn't have anything on you!" Naruto cheered for me loudly as I pushed off of the wall. "Try not to get hurt." Shikamaru said in a nonchalant manner. I looked him in the eye to see his concern.
I winked at him, "don't worry Maru-kun, we can play doctor if I get hurt." I grinned at his bright red face. "Would you be serious-" I cut him off with a brief kiss. Everyone looked at us in shock except for the lava shinobi and Asuma. I could feel my father's gaze burning into the side of my head.
"I'm a big, strong woman, Maru-kun. Don't insult me by underestimating me." My grin was gone as I made my way down the stairs to the waiting Zu. "Watch yourself. You know what he'll do...and what they'll do if you lose yourself." Shosha warned as I passed by him. I glared at him from the corner of my eye, and continued on walking. I finally made it to the bottom, twirling Aisuru Kaze at my side.
"You want to use weapons for this?" Zu asked me calmly. He also pulled out a scroll and I nodded in confirmation. A spiked ball and chain appeared in his grasp. "Are you two finally ready?" We both nodded to the instructor.
"Alright begin!" The words barely left his mouth as Zu kicked the spiked ball up and sung it around at an impressive speed. He shot it out towards me, I frowned at the basic attack. I swung my scythe with one hand, deflecting the ball with ease. He sprinted forward as the ball went behind him. He used momentum to swing it back at me. I sighed deflecting it again, and got ready for his direct attack that never came.
I frowned in confusion as a smirk actually touched his face as he jumped back. He retrieved the ball, and I never noticed the chain coming around behind me. It wrapped around my body starting at my throat. I felt the cracks in my bones before anyone else heard it. I winced internally as he yanked my body towards him. "Ninja art: dragon scales jutsu." I screamed, the chains stopped getting tighter since the dragon scales were too hard to crack. He swung me into the air and back down. My head smacking against the ground before the rest of my body. He dragged me across the ground towards himself.
"Kabocha!" I heard Naruto yell my names through my headache. The scales didn't cover my head so I had to applaud his thinking. "I think that's enough." I felt my emotions leave, I didn't want to keep making Naruto and Maru-kun worry for me. "Wind style: wind scythe jutsu." I spoke calmly as wind covered the blade of Aisuru Kaze. I flicked my wrist and broke the chains using the wind on Aisuru Kaze.
"You're truly a mockery of our village." Zu said as he collected the chains with ease. The chain was kept together by his chakra. The pieces of the broken chain came back together in his hand. "What was that?" I asked him, giving him a chance to take back what he said. I had no intentions of forgetting it though.
"I said...you are a mockery to our village. You let me swing you around like a ragdoll and all for what...because you didn't want to hurt me. I've seen you burn entire villages to the ground in a fit of-?" I was on him before he could even finish his little speech. I was tired of people talking ill of me. Strangers was one thing, but this teenager from my own village struck a chord deep in my soul. I swung my scythe for a lethal blow. He ducked with ease, swinging his ball up and into my stomach. I didn't even flinch as it clinked uselessly against my armor.
"Mockery…" I said in a dead voice. "...odd you would say such things since you know what I'm capable of." I growled out quietly as I swung my scythe down to split him right in half.
"You've forgotten that your nothing but a girl trying to fill armor that was never meant for you." Zu's voice was making my anger creep up faster. I could feel my movements becoming faster, but sloppier. His chain shot past my ear, the speed burning my ear and distorting my hearing on that side. It came around again to wrap around my throat. He yanked me so we were face to face. I bared my fangs at him, snapping my teeth like a rabid animal.
"See...you can barely control yourself. That's alright I'll be rid of you...just like your doesn't have to deal with your mother anymore." He whispered in my ear. I felt my body tense up completely. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. The thud making my headache even worse. I didn't even notice that Gin and Shosha had heard what he said with their enhance hearing. My scythe poofed back into my summoning scroll at my demand. I grit my teeth, hearing them grin together in my mouth.
"I'm going...TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" I roared snatching his weak chain from around my neck. He jumped back with a satisfied smile. M vision had become nothing short of tunnel vision. He was my target. There was no way he was getting away from me...alive.
I gave chase, keeping low to the ground as I brought my fists up for a hand to hand brawl. He let go of his chain to meet me blow for blow. He was faster, but by no means was he stronger than I am. "Ninja art: dragon fists!" Chakra covered my hands as I swung towards his head and caught the bottom half of his jaw. A sickening crack could be heard throughout the arena. He flew to the side, but caught himself. He landed unsteadily, barely being able to spit out the blood pooling in his mouth. I could feel my fiery chakra blazing through my body at my anger.
I loosened my armor on my wrists quickly, followed by my shins, and last my breast plate. "Your a dead man." I called out dropping the heavy armor to the ground and barreling straight for him fangs bared. He did a backbend to avoid my fist, but I wasn't having it. I clasped both hands above my head and brought them down into his stomach. He gave a cry as blood flew from his mouth. His body hit the ground hard and disappeared in a thick cloud of black smoke.
I growled as the smoke threw off my sense of smell, with my one barely working ear I heard him come up from underground behind me. I spun around catching him by the throat and grinning at him. "Sneaky...but not quite." I whispered to him through my grin realizing that he must have switched out when I took my armor off.
"Don't underestimate me...little girl." He hissed at me bringing his spiked ball at a speed my eyes barely caught. I dodged to the left, releasing him, but still getting cut on my cheek. I reached my hand out to grab his chain, his raw chakra burning my hands but it didn't matter to me. It was his turn to be yanked as I yanked him towards me, he was going to fast to dodge my attack. "Ninja art: lava wave jutsu." I took a deep breathe and let the lava spill from my lips. His eyes widened in shock as the large waves of lava came at him. He was going to melted in seconds had it not been for him throwing the other end of his chain towards the statue and pulling himself off course. The wave crashed down melting into the ground and turning into dirt.
Zu looked slightly shaken as he stood on top of the statue, the chain of his weapon looking slightly thinner. The chain was draining him faster than I expected. "Should I come to you." I asked in a bored tone. I was calming myself down so I wouldn't make anymore anger driven mistakes. I didn't need father butting into this fight because I couldn't control myself. He glared at me, but I didn't give him the chance to answer. I held up two fingers, letting the flames swallow my body. I reappeared in front of him startling him.
I clasped both of my hands above my head and slammed them down into his skull before he could even react. I propelled myself down with his twisting body, making sure to rear my fist back. "Fire style: fire palm!" I roared swinging my fist forward into his stomach. Saliva and blood flew from his mouth. He hit the ground with a sickening crack, I landed on him feet first. He let out an another anguished cry.
My head pounding even more as my chakra kept draining because of all the jutsus I was using. Especially the dragon scales jutsu that too constant chakra. I called forth Aisuru Kaze, stepping off of him as I did so. "Release." I whispered making the scales fade away.
"I'll be sure to leave your headband behind...I don't need such a disgraceful ninja's headband to add to my collection." I spun my scythe behind me, raising it above my head with a swift, effortless motion.
"Do you yield...are you unable to continue?" I heard the instructor call out to Zu. "We don't yield." Zu and I answered back except Zu's voice was nothing but a whisper.
"...to be killed by the woman I despise the most...how ironic." Zu whispered in the dead quiet stadium. I gripped the handle a little tighter, I could feel my body prickle from the looks I was getting. I glanced up and caught my father's eyes, his cold golden eyes telling me what to do. I glanced to my right to look at my Maru's face. He was shocked? His expression left me confused.
My body felt hyper vigilant, my senses heightened. My claws were longer, I could feel my fangs cutting into my lip more prominently, and my whole body was shaking with barely contained power. There was a shift in my body that I wasn't aware of...a physical shift. I looked down at Zu making sure to meet his eyes.
"Are you going to be disgraced in our village just to show a foreign village that you're not a monster...we are all monsters. What we have trained to do...what we have done in the name of our village. I hate you because of your multiple personalities...choose one whether it's your Konoha persona or the merciless lava village general. Don't disgrace me...get this over with." It was the most I had ever heard him speak, but I understood him on a deeper level now. I was a lot less angry, and I also knew what I had to do.
"I understand you now...I will also be taking your headband." I steeled my resolve and brought my scythe down towards his throat.
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Let me know how I did on the fight scene! I'll see you all in two weeks! Stay tuned! (;