Every muscle in my body felt heavy, the two swords on my back not helping my predicament. I had swam up the coast of the land of Fire, only leaving the serene atmosphere of the ocean once I reach the land of Whirlpools. Then, I left the relative safety of the water to travel the land to get back to the Leaf village, which I was now close to. I could have been back in the village days ago, but for some reason I decided to travel from one village to another all around the land of Fire on the off chance Hidan and Kakuzu managed to find me. Kakuzu seemed serious about collecting my bounty, I still wonder how much that is exactly, but I'm not curious enough to figure it out. In my need to stay on the move and not risk being found by the two Akatsuki members, I haven't slept. I never sleep when I travel by myself anyway, and I'll admit that I could have taken a nap in a tree somewhere just for a little bit of rest, only like I said I didn't want to risk it. My journey up the coast was four days while my journey on land was another seven days. It's hard for me to keep my eyes open or to keep moving, but I'm so close, I can see the gates to the village up ahead.
I quickened my pace so that I could get back to the apartment I'm sharing with the rest of my team and sleep. The check in desk then came into view and that was when I realized my identification papers got wet a week ago when I evaded Hidan and Kakuzu. I was disheartened until I saw the ninja's at the desk were the ones that were keeping watch when I left, Kotetsu and Izumo.
"Hi guys," I started, I took my bag off and looked through it for the papers. "I have my identification papers and my pass, but I kind of got them all wet…"
"Normally we wouldn't let you through, but I remember you, you're here for the chunin exams." Kotetsu said.
"Right, I am." I said.
"You can go right on in." Izumo continued.
"Thanks guys, I promise my papers won't be damaged the next time I come through." I began to walk towards the gates, I was still within hearing distance of Izumo and Kotetsu when they started whispering to each other.
"Is that really the girl from a week ago?" Kotetsu wondered. "Her chakra is different."
"It's still the same chakra though, don't you feel that?" Izumo said. I was tired and didn't think about what that could mean as I walked through the village.
Many people stared me down as I walked passed. Some even shied away from me with looks of fear in their eyes. This was definitely a different reception from the first time I walked through this village and no one seemed to care that I was here. I didn't even think any of them realized I was from a different village, but now they all seemed to notice me.
I was occupied with my thoughts of the villagers behavior so when Emon appeared on the path in front of me it took me a moment to realize uncle Yagura must be here, Emon always accompanies him when he goes to other nations. I continued walking towards him, now ignoring the stares of the villagers.
"You took longer than expected to get back to the village, the Mizukage thought we would arrive after you returned." Emon said.
"There was an unexpected deterrent." I said. "I had to take extra measures to ensure I wasn't followed."
"I assume you were successful?" he questioned.
"I think so." I said. I couldn't think of a way that they would have been able to keep up with my random travels across the land of Fire. I also might have been a bit excessive in my evasion of them too.
"Then come with me, the Mizukage is waiting for you." Emon turned and started leading me to my uncle.
"How does he know I'm here already?" I wondered.
"You mean you can't tell?" he questioned, though he didn't turn to face me.
"Tell what?" I fell into step beside him even though my muscles were screaming at me to walk slower.
"Your chakra." he said.
I stumbled a little bit, surprised that he could sense my chakra through the seals placed on my body. That must mean my bond with Isobu is stronger. "Oh, I see."
Emon took me to the Hokage tower, where I assumed my uncle was staying during his visit. I was escorted through the building and brought to a more residential area of the tower much like the Mizukage's tower back in Kirigakure. Emon stopped in front of a door and knocked.
"Who is it?" I heard my uncles voice through the door.
"Emon, I have Lady Ketto with me." the anbu said.
"Send her in."
Emon opened the door and gestured for me to enter. I walked through the doorway to have Emon close the door behind me. I looked around the room to see my uncle out of his Mizukage's robes. Despite him being significantly younger than the other kages and currently being in his early thirties, uncle Yagura is very mature in his position. He always wears his kage robes when in public, he only wears his normal attire when he's alone with me. Right now, instead of his robes he was wearing the green scarf around his neck and wrap around his waist over his black ninja attire. His wheat colored hair wasn't covered like it would be when he is wearing his robes. It's as if we were back in Kirigakure in the Mizukages tower were we live.
Uncle Yagura's light pink purple eyes watched me from across the room, I couldn't place the look he had, but his muscular arms were crossed over his chest. Now that I actually look at him, he seems to be angry.
"Are you mad?" I asked.
He sighed, "I'm not mad, I'm just concerned. I could feel your chakra before you entered the village." he face softened like when he is usually around me. "We'll need to place another seal and quickly before someone discovers this development."
"Where would we put it? I already have one on my stomach, forearms, hands, shins."
His arms fell to his sides and he circled around me once before placing his hands on my biceps. "The most available skin left is on your back and your biceps, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to cover seals if they were on your back, so we'll do your biceps. Take a seat."
I sat on ground with my knees to my chest able to finally rest for a moment. Uncle Yagura grabbed a kunai and sliced his left palm open, blood pooled for him to use. He dipped his finger into the blood and got down on one knee to start drawing symbols on me with the blood. He drew the symbols on my biceps and down to the floor. Then he kneeled behind me forming several hand signs for the sealing jutsu before he placed a hand on either bicep.
I could feel something moving over my skin and I knew the sealing jutsu was working. When uncle Yagura took his hands off of my biceps I glanced to see new black tribal markings that match the ones already placed on my body. Uncle Yagura got up from his kneeling position and gave me a hand up.
"You seem tired." he said. "Does it have anything to do with why it took you longer to get back here?"
"Yes, I had a run in with the Akatsuki and I didn't want to be followed so I went all over the land of Fire to try and lose them." I said. My eyes started to become harder to keep open. "It's been awhile since I've been able to sleep."
"How did you come about the Akatsuki?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"Two of them were tracking me, Hidan and Kakuzu. They said they wanted me for my bounty."
"For your bounty?" he muttered. "I don't want you to worry about them. You can stay here and rest."
"Are you sure? I can go find my team." I said.
"You'll stay here where I can watch over you and you look like you're struggling to stay awake as it is. Just lay down and sleep." he pointed over to the bed that looked inviting and comfortable.
"Okay." I yawned. He didn't have to tell me twice. I shrugged my bag off of my shoulder and unlatched my belt for my swords. My arms felt heavy as I lifted them to take my hair out of its ponytail, the blue hair was wavy and floated around me, it wasn't washed properly after I was swimming in the ocean so it was all over the place.
"Sleep well." uncle said.
I didn't respond, sleep was already creeping up on me before my head fully hit the pillow.
My eyes opened to a semi dark room, uncle Yagura was seated in a cozy looking chair reading a book with the light on. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, dried salt fell from my face reminding me that I'm still filthy.
"You've been asleep for two days." uncle said casually without looking up from his book. "It's about midday."
"Two days, why didn't you wake me?" I asked. I was shocked that I slept for two days, but I was exhausted and I felt so relaxed now.
"You seemed so peaceful, I didn't want to wake you up." he said. He flipped a page of the book and looked up to me. "The Hokage asked me about the uncharacteristically large chakra. He wouldn't leave to topic alone, so I told him my niece has come back stronger from her time away training but I believe he is still suspicious. He may have people watching you now so be careful of what abilities you use."
I nodded my understanding. "I will, you don't have to worry."
"Also your teammates have been wondering about you. It seems that Naruto saw you the day you came back into the village, but you disappeared with Emon before he could get close to you." he added.
Naruto saw me? "My team?" I asked. I was a bit surprised, why would they care to ask about me? I guess I did leave without telling them, but I shouldn't have to. It's not like I'm required to tell them where I'm going and what I'm doing all the time.
"Yes, Shozouki Hozuki was the one to request an audience with me to confirm that you were back in the village and that you were well." he said. "You should get cleaned up and then go and see them. You can use the bathroom."
"I don't have anything to change into." I said. Everything that I brought with me was dirty from my trip back from the land of Waves. Mainly from the time I spent in the ocean, I bet there's dried salt on all of it.
"You can wear my clothes, they may be a bit big but they'll stay on you." he placed a bookmark on the page he left off on before he got up and rifled around his things for a pair of his clothes. I got out of the bed to take the black ninja pants and black top with mesh on the shoulders from him. He also handed me a fresh roll of bandages. "I always carry some with me just incase."
"Thanks, I'll be right back." I walked into the adjoining bathroom and got to work on removing the bandages. Then, I turned on the water to the shower and got in. I scrubbed hard with lots of soap to make sure I got all of the salt off my skin. When I was sure I got all of it I moved to my hair. I scrubbed with shampoo and rinsed twice before adding conditioner and getting out of the shower. I dried off before wrapping my abdomen, and my hands up my forearms and stopping at the top of my biceps so the skin on my shoulders was still showing. I pulled on uncle Yagura's clothes, the top was a bit flowy but I kind of liked it. The pants didn't quite fit in the waist, so I took an extra length of bandages to tie around my waist a few times like a belt, the legs of the pants were baggy too but I wrapped bandages around my feet and up to just below my knees so no one would risk seeing the seals on my shins. I put my kunai pouch back on my left thigh before deeming myself ready. I was finally finished getting dressed and I felt good because I was clean. I decided to leave my blue hair down from it's ponytail so it could dry. As I walked out of the bathroom and into uncle Yagura's room I could feel my hair brushing against the backs of my shins, once its dry I know it won't touch that far and it will probably go to my knees without it up in a ponytail.
"There, does it feel good to be clean?" uncle asked. He was pulling on his Mizukage's robes. He must be needed somewhere.
"It does," I said.
He turned to me and paused before grabbing his veil. "It's been awhile since I've seen you with your hair down." Usually I'm always training so it's always up, I only ever have it down when I don't intend on using my swords. I was always afraid that I would accidentally cut it one day.
"Yeah, I thought I would relax a bit leading up to the final exam." I said.
"Hn, good idea. You don't want to over work yourself." he said. He picked up his veil and placed it over his wheat colored hair. Now only his face was visible, his pink purple eyes and scar on his left eye are his most striking features.
"Can I leave my swords here?" I asked, I didn't have any intention of needing them. If I do for some reason get into a fight I can always use a kunai.
"Of course." he said. "Now let's go, you have to see your teammates and I have a meeting with the Hokage." He walked over to the door and waited for me to join him.
Together, we walked through the Hokage tower before we had to go separate ways. Uncle Yagura went deeper into the building while I left it. I went straight to the apartment I shared with Shozouki, Jiro and Mitsuru when we first arrived in the Leaf village. On the way there I didn't have to worry about people staring at me and reacting the way they did when I came back two days ago, so my walk was pleasant.
Eventually, I appeared outside of the apartment door. I raised my left arm and knocked my knuckles against the wood of the door. There wasn't any noise on the other side of the door but I recognized the chakra, it was Shozouki's.
He opened the door, a look of shock crossing his features."You've finally come." he said. He looked me up and down. "What happened to your clothes?"
"They were dirty." I said nonchalantly. "My uncle says you were worried about me."
"Come in, you have some explaining to do." he said. Then he called out into the room, "Lady Ketto's back!"
I could hear someone scrambling around and in came Jiro. His dark brown hair was mused and his eyes were hard. Mitsuru came into the room more subtly. "You!" Jiro shouted. He pointed a finger at me. "How could you leave after everything I said! I told you we were a team!" He dashed to me and raised his fist. I let him hit me on the top of my head, I figured it's the least I could do for making them worry about me, so I took the hit. Jiro clutched his hand and slouched over. "Why do you have such a hard head!?"
"Jiro you can't go hitting Lady Ketto!" Mitsuru grabbed Jiro by the front of his shirt. "I know that she shouldn't have left us without saying anything, but she doesn't owe us anything." Shozouki leaned against the wall with his arms crossed as he watched us choosing to let us settle things.
"I thought about telling you I was going." I said. Both Jiro and Mitsuru turned to me, Mitsuru's grip loosening. "I just didn't want any of you coming with me. It wasn't a big deal."
"Oh yeah? Where did you go then?" Jiro asked. He was rubbing the fist he punched me with.
"I went to the land of Waves and made arrangements to have my brothers body moved to Kirigakure to be buried along with his friend." I explained. Jiro's eyes softened, but before he could say anything I added. "It was just like when your brother died, I didn't feel anything about his death. I only felt as if I should have cared more. I didn't want any of you to think of me as being less human than I am." I didn't mention that I did cry, it just wasn't for the right reason so I would rather they didn't know.
"Still you shouldn't have been alone." Jiro muttered. "How can we learn to trust you if you don't trust us?"
"Honestly, I don't care if you trust me. I trust in my ability to read your personalities so that I can predict your actions. I don't trust anyone that isn't myself or the Mizukage." I said. Once I think about it though, I also trust Emon even though there isn't a reason for me too. I trust that he will help keep my uncle safe when I can't.
"I told you about that too! You can rely on me and Mitsuru, right Mitsuru?" he turned to the black haired boy for his response.
"Yeah, Ketto, we want to get to know you as teammates. We're putting in effort to try and get closer to you, slowly but we have to get used to you after knowing you as the Demon of the Bloody Mist. You can at least understand that can't you?" Mitsuru said.
"I understand." I replied. "I promise I'll try to be a better teammate. I'm not used to people not being terrified of me."
"As long as we're all trying." Mitsuru said. He turned to Shozouki who was still watching us. "That goes for you too Shozouki sensei. Stop being so distant."
"It's hard for me too, Ketto is basically Kirigakure's weapon of mass destruction. It'll take me some time to get used to her as a normal person rather than hear about her missions." Shozouki said.
"If it helps at all, I never kill for pleasure. I only kill who the Mizukage tells me too." I said. I was getting looks of disbelief from everyone so I continued, "I'll admit that my bloodlust gets out of hand sometimes, but I don't intentionally kill people."
"I guess I can accept that." Jiro said. "Sometimes when I'm fighting with my katana my need to spill blood is so great that I do it." It seems as if he understands to some extent.
"So, how has everything been here?" I wondered about all of the people in the hospital, mainly Temari because I was the one to put her there.
"We've been training like crazy." Jiro said. "Mitsuru and I have been helping each other out and we've learned a few tricks."
"Have either of you talked to Naruto? I told him I would help him train for the chunin exams and I did a little bit before I left to go to the land of Waves, but he must have done some training on his own?"
Shozouki stepped away from the wall he was leaning on. "Actually, one of the legendary sannin of the village has been training him. I'm not sure what he's been teaching Naruto, but they've spent a lot of time together."
"Wait a minute, why were you helping Naruto?" Mitsuru asked.
"He's my friend. I wanted to make sure he would make it to the final round of matches so we could battle each other." I said. I didn't mention that technically Naruto was my first friend. They don't need to know that. "What about Rock Lee, he's the one with the weird haircut. I told him I would teach him some of my taijutsu."
"I think he's still in the hospital." Jiro said. "We can go visit him if you want?"
"That's okay, I can go on my own." I said.
I turned to make my way out of the apartment when Jiro spoke again. "I'm going with you. I'm not letting you walk around by yourself. What if you decide to leave without telling us again?"
I sighed, it looks like that is going to be something that will bother them for awhile. "Fine, you can come with."
"I was coming with anyway, but thank you for being understanding." Jiro said. He followed me out of the apartment.
Together we walked to the hospital, on the way there we crossed paths with Sakura who was holding two daffodil's. With her was the annoying blonde girl that she faced during her preliminary match, I think her name was Ino.
"Ketto, it's nice to see you! Where are you heading?" Sakura asked.
"We were going to see Lee in the hospital. I promised to teach him some taijutsu. Maybe when he's healed I could show him a thing or two." I replied.
"Ino and I were on our way to the hospital too. We even brought flowers." Sakura lifted the daffodil's for me to see.
"What exactly are the flowers for?" I wondered. Is it apart of some Leaf village custom?
"They're for Lee and Sasuke, they're get well flowers." Sakura said. "Haven't you ever given anyone flowers to make them feel better?"
"No," I said, "how do flowers make someone feel better?" I looked to Jiro, "Have you ever heard of doing this?"
"I think you only give flowers to someone you care about, but in this kind of situation I think it's just the thought that someone cares enough to get them flowers and visit that give it meaning." he said.
"I guess you can think of it that way." Sakura said looking thoughtful.
"Have the two of you really never given anyone flowers before?" Ino asked. I nodded my head to confirm her question. "Kirigakure seems like a place for cold hearted people." She seemed to realize what she said before abruptly saying, "I'm not saying that you're not pleasant to be around or anything, just that you could do with some emotion."
Jiro nudged my arm, "Well are you going to get him some flowers?" he whispered.
"I only just met him for the preliminaries, we are hardly friends. You get him some flowers." I whispered back.
"I'm not buying another dude flowers!" he whisper shouted.
"Then we won't get any. We'll just visit, it's not like it's expected of us to bring flowers. Something tells me it's just a girl thing." I whispered back.
We walked side by side with Sakura and Ino the rest of the way to the hospital. When we entered the building and went to the nurses station to find out the room numbers Sakura spoke. "Do you want to come with us to see Sasuke?"
At first I was going to say no, but I was curious about his performance in the preliminaries. I wanted to know what was going on with his shoulder. "I guess we could go with you. I was wondering about that mark on his shoulder, is he doing better?"
"Uh, what mark on his shoulder?" she asked sheepishly.
"The three tomoe's." I stated. "I was wondering what it was."
"Just a second," she said. She turned away from us and asked the nurse where Sasuke's room was. The nurse gave us the room number and pointed us down the right hallway. When we were out of earshot of the nurse Sakura said more. "It's called a curse mark. Orochimaru put it there, I don't know why either or what it does."
"Who's Orochimaru?" Ino questioned. She looked confused, as if this is the first time she's hearing any of this just like me and Jiro.
"He's one of the legendary sannin." Sakura explained. "Only he hates the village because they cast him out when they found out he was doing experiments on people."
Of all the people that I've encountered I don't think any of them experimented on people. What was really the point of that? "So this Orochimaru targeted Sasuke?" I asked.
"Yeah, and we don't know why." Sakura said sadly. "That mark is making it hard for Sasuke to use his chakra."
"I'm sure he can figure it out. He's an Uchiha, even Jiro and I have heard of their kekkei genkai in Kirigakure." I said.
"Yeah, I heard that their sharingan is one of the more advanced bloodlines. In Kirigakure there was the Shikotsumyaku of the Kaguya clan and the ice release of the Yuki clan, but they don't exist anymore." Jiro added.
"What do you mean they don't exist anymore?" Ino asked. She looked to us confused.
"In Kirigakure those with special bloodline traits were hunted, because the elders didn't want there to be a time when they would rise up and try to overtake the village." I explained. I suppose I understand the elders thinking, but still, why kill them all? There could have been other things in place to prevent an uprising or a rebellion. Instead, the Mizukage sent me to deal with issues like this. I remember the night I single handedly killed all of the Kaguya clan, well almost all of the Kaguya clan. There was one that I couldn't bring myself to kill.
"That's terrible!" Ino exclaimed.
"You mean no one has ever tried to test the power of the Hokage before?" Jiro asked.
"They've only ever been verbal disputes." Sakura answered. She stopped outside of a room. "This is Sasuke's room."
"Where is he?" Ino asked. There wasn't anything left in the room to suggest someone was currently staying here. The sheets were ruffled but other than that there wasn't any clothes laying around and there was no sign of Sasuke himself.
"It looks like you just missed him." I said. I didn't see a point of waiting around here. If Sasuke was released from the hospital I doubt he would come back willingly. "Let just go to Lee's room instead."
"Okay, I think it's just a couple rooms this way." Sakura said. She led the way again with the rest of us following behind her. "Lee's gone too?"
"Wait." Ino said. She walked over to the window and looked out to the grassy landscape. "He's outside."
I walked over to the window to stand by Ino. "He's doing pushups." I said. I could faintly hear him counting each push up,he was in the high one-hundreds.
"Ketto we didn't tell you before, but the doctors say that while Lee will recover with time he won't be able to be a ninja." Ino said solemnly.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Look at him, that doesn't look like someone who won't ever be a ninja again."
"That's just how Lee is." Sakura said. "He never gives up. I actually don't think anyone told him the news yet."
"That's messed up." Jiro scoffed. He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes. "Someone needs to tell him. That's something that should have already been done. He doesn't know that anything is wrong."
"No one wants to crush his dreams." Sakura said. "I wouldn't want to tell him."
"If no one tells him then I will." I said. "He deserves to know." I had every intention of going out there and telling Lee right away, but then I saw him collapse and lose consciousness on his one-hundred-ninety-ninth push up. "I'll tell him tomorrow when he's conscious."
"Someone should bring him in." Jiro commented. He looked to me, "Will you help me?"
"Yeah, let's go." I left the room with Jiro following behind me. We wandered down the hall before we managed to find a door to go outside.
"You know, I can't imagine ever being told I couldn't be a ninja." Jiro muttered. "Do you know anyone that's ever been hurt that badly before?"
"No, they've always been able to heal and continue missions as a ninja after. I wonder what kind of damage Gaara's sand attack did to Lee's bones." I replied. Up until today I've never even heard mention of a doctor telling someone they couldn't be a ninja anymore.
We slowly approached Lee's unconscious form. I rolled him onto his back and placed my arms under his armpits. Jiro went around to the front of Lee and grabbed his legs. Together we hoisted Lee up and carried him back to his room. We were met with Lee's sensei.
"H-hi, we were just bringing Lee in. He collapsed outside and we thought we should bring him in." Jiro stuttered. I noticed that Sakura and Ino were gone, it was just Lee's sensei.
"I know, I was watching the two of you." he said. Then his face broke out into a smile. "I'm Guy Might, Lee's sensei! Thank you for bringing him in."
"Jiro move, we should get Lee back in bed." I said. Lee wasn't heavy, but it was uncomfortable holding him like this.
"Oh right!" Jiro moved over to the bed and I moved with him. Gently we put Lee back in bed.
Without the weight of Lee, I could move my arms around freely. I looked to Guy, "Sakura said you haven't told Lee about the extent of his injures, why not?"
His smile slipped from his face. "I don't have the heart to tell my student that he can no longer live his dream." he said.
"Lee is sure to ask why he isn't healing as fast as he should." I said. "You should tell him soon. It's better if he knows, otherwise he'll just get really confused and frustrated."
"Right, I understand." he said.
"Come on Jiro, let's go." I started to walk out of the hospital room. I could hear Jiro following me.
We walked a few streets before Jiro said anything. "Wanna find Naruto now?" he asked.
"No, it's getting later." I said. "I still need to go to see uncle Yagura, he has my swords in his room."
"Swords, I thought you only had that big black one?" he sounded confused.
"The black one is Kukoshibyo, up until recently it was my only sword." I replied. "But when I went to the land of Waves I recovered my brothers executioner's blade."
"You mean one of the seven ninja swords, that executioner's blade!?" he stumbled in his stride. He recovered and quickened his pace to catch up with me. "I guess it would make sense that you could wield one of the seven ninja swords. That is so cool! I know one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the Mist! Well swordswoman." he finished sheepishly.
"It's not that big of a deal." I muttered.
"Of course it is!" Jiro exclaimed. "All of the ninja swordsmen defected from the village and took their swords with them. This is the first sword of the seven to return to Kirigakure!"
"Fine, I guess it's a big deal." I agreed. If I didn't agree who knows how long Jiro could rant on about it. I didn't even bother to correct him and say that Chojuro has his Hiramekarei and that he's still in the village.
We appeared in front of the Hokage tower. I entered the building first, Jiro kept looking all over as he followed me. "You know where we are going right?" Jiro asked.
"Yes, it's this way." I said while walking down the hall the same way I came from earlier today. "We'll just go to his room."
"We can't go straight to the Mizukages room!" Jiro whisper shouted. "That's totally inappropriate!"
"I definitely can, you can always wait here if you want?" I offered.
"No, I'll come with. I just don't feel right about it." he said. I turned down the correct hallway to go to uncle Yagura's room when I saw Emon walking towards us from that direction. "A kiri anbu?"
"Emon is the anbu that protects my uncle and runs out on errands for him." I said.
Emon stopped in front of us, his white and purple mask was illuminated by the lights in the hallway. "Lady Ketto, your uncle would like for you to dine with him tonight."
"It has been awhile." I said. The last time we ate together was before I came to the land of Fire for the chunin exams. I'm still curious about my being here. I turned to Jiro, "You can go back to the apartment. I'll be there later."
"But I told you-" he started.
"I won't leave again, it's just a family dinner." I butt in.
He looked uncertain, but sighed. "Fine, I'll see you back at the apartment." He turned to retrace his steps out of the building.
I looked to Emon, "Was there anything my uncle wanted to talk with me about?" I asked.
"He just wanted to eat with you, though he seemed to be distracted with the executioner's blade in his room." the anbu said. He directed me to a small dining area. There was a small table with four chairs and only two places set. There was a bowl full of rice, one with various sauteed vegetables and another with beef cubes in a savory looking sauce. There was also a blue teapot with matching cups. The tea was probably for me, I prefer tea to water and uncle Yagura doesn't really care about what he drinks. Uncle Yagura was sitting at one of the places set for us to eat. He was wearing his Mizukage robe and veil. He seemed to be lost in thought. "Lord Mizukage, I've brought Lady Ketto."
"Very well, you may go now." uncle said. Emon bowed before using the transportation jutsu to disappear. "Come join me Ketto." He took off his veil and placed it on an empty seat at the table.
I sat down in the other seat that had tableware set out. "Emon said the executioner's blade was bothering you." I said.
"It's more the meaning behind it." he said. "Zabuza is dead, I wasn't able to protect both of my sisters children. You're still well, but sometimes I wonder if I raised you like how a parent should have. I was nineteen when you were born. My sister didn't live and your father was already deceased, so I decided to take you and your brother in. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had turned away from the two of you."
"If it's any consolation, I believe you did an amazing job." I said. He looked over to me, his pink purple eyes meeting my grey ones. "Compared to other parents in Kirigakure I say you did better than amazing. You made sure I could protect myself and you always push me to my limits to make me a better ninja. Most parents at home are not as involved with their children as you are and you're busy with your Mizukage duties all the time. Don't forget that you're not even my parent, you're my uncle which makes you that much more involved than any other kid who are lucky just to have their parents care about them."
"Actually Ketto, I've been thinking about that." he said. He reached across the table for the rice and gave himself a spoonful before passing it to me.
"About what?" I wondered. I took the bowl from him and gave myself a spoonful too. I placed the bowl back on the table and then received the vegetables from my uncle.
"I've raised you since the day you were born and the thought of adopting you never crossed my mind." he said. "Though now that it's been more than a decade later and I have no heirs of my own, I find myself thinking about it."
"Adopting me?" I was confused, why would he want to adopt me? Does he feel as if it's expected of him to have and heir and adopt me being that he's raised me? "You don't have to feel as if you need to adopt me, it's okay."
"No, I feel as if I should." he said. "You are technically my daughter anyway, maybe it's time we made it legal. Would you like me to adopt you?" He looked to me trying to gauge my reaction.
"But then the Momochi name will disappear." I said. My heart felt heavy when he mentioned adopting me. It would mean so much to me if he did adopt me, but I would feel as if I'm betraying my father's family.
"Either way both the Momochi family and the Karatachi family will disappear. Being that you're a girl you'll take on your husbands name once you get married." he said. "I don't care about passing on my name, I just want you to officially be my child. Wouldn't that sound nice to you, to be Ketto Karatachi?"
"Ketto Karatachi…" I'll admit it sounded nice and I shouldn't have to feel bad about wanting to change it. I never knew my parents while Zabuza was always more distant towards me. I know he would have understood my want to be adopted by uncle Yagura. I remembered Zabuza's hatred of uncle Yagura in the last couple of years. Maybe he wouldn't have fully understood, but he would have a sense of understanding. "I think I would like to be adopted." After being rejected nearly my whole life I wanted to belong somewhere and fully be accepted. Uncle Yagura was always there for me, but it's hard to predict his emotions and if he actually cares about me as Ketto or me as Kirigakure's Demon of the Mist. Now that he wants to officially adopt me I know he cares about me as Ketto and not as a weapon he can use.
"Then I'll take care of it as soon as I return to Kirigakure." he said. He poured us some tea and then grabbed his fork. "Your fifteenth birthday is coming up, this can be an early birthday present for you."
I don't remember ever getting anything for my birthday other than extra training. Honestly, I try not to think about that day as being my birthday, to me it's just another day. It's also the anniversary of the day Zabuza and I became orphans, so I really try not to think about it unless if I want to be reminded of what my life could have been like if at least my mother lived.
We ate in silence for awhile, just enjoying each others company. Until I remembered a question for my uncle. "I was wondering," I started. "What is the reason for having Kirigakure participate in the chunin exams this year?" The topic has been on my mind for some time. When Konohamaru asked us for the academy newspaper it got me thinking about it again.
"There is a bit of an unrest between the nations." he said. "The Hokage has reason to believe that the land of Fire's relations with the land of Wind are strained enough for there to be a possible conflict during the chunin exams. As an ally of the land of Fire, I agreed that we would help prevent any such thing from happening and that if it did we would assist the shinobi of Konohagakure."
I was a bit surprised, that wasn't anything that I was thinking of. I thought he wanted to better our relations with the other nations or to start ranking our ninja, but truthfully the allied nations are not as connected as I thought. I should have put that into consideration, just because we are now allied doesn't mean that our bonds are strong or even fully established. Also, it's been years since that treaty was put into place, we could have drifted from one another since then.
"Why just one team? And why didn't you tell me that this was a mission instead of telling me you wanted me to participate in the exams?" I asked.
"I wanted to send just you, but the chunin exams require a team of three and a sensei." he said. "As for not telling you, I didn't want you to accidentally give away that you were here participating in the exams for any other reason than that."
"I understand." I said. Just as he said, I would have probably given myself away. I would have been watching everyone closer and probably made false assumptions before I did some reconnaissance. "A couple of Suna ninja squads came after my team in the Forest of Death and I was pitted against another Suna ninja for the preliminaries. I just thought it was a coincidence at the time, but maybe they were targeting us."
"They might not have anticipated that we would be here so they're trying to get rid of the uncontrolled variable." he said. "It seems as if that backfired on them, all of your team is continuing to the final round. Being that nothing has happened yet, the Hokage and I think that if Suna was to attack they would do it during the final round when there is a bigger audience."
"Should I tell my teammates about this?" I asked.
"No, they believe they really are taking the chunin exam. They were the only two genin I could find that were willing to work in a team for you to participate."
"I see, does Shozouki at least know?" I asked. I understand why he would want Jiro and Mitsuru to remain in the dark about it, but I think I'm going to tell them to stay alert. That way if something does happen they won't be as shocked.
"He does, it was too much trouble trying to convince him that he was the sensei of your team for the chunin exams when he's never met you or trained you. He would have had too many questions for me to care to counter." he said. "It was better that he knew."
I nodded my head, agreeing with him. "You're right. He didn't seem to put up much of a fuss about it." Together we finished eating and I enjoyed the rest of my tea. I felt as if it was later than I expected from the time I spent with uncle Yagura, but I didn't see a clock anywhere or a window so that I could gauge the sunset. "I should be getting back to my teammates, I really just came here to pick up my swords but if you want to hold onto the executioner's blade for a while yet then that's fine. I'll just pick them up tomorrow sometime."
"Yes, do that." he said. "I haven't had the time to overlook the executioner's blade since you brought it back from the land of Waves. It seems to be in the same condition it was in before Zabuza defected."
"I'll come for them tomorrow then." I stood from my place at the table and pushed in my chair. "Good night."
"Good night Ketto." he said off handedly. He must have been lost in his thoughts again.
I left him to himself and followed the hallways to leave the building. Just as I was leaving the Hokage tower I realized I forgot to ask uncle Yagura if my clothes were clean. I chose to worry about it tomorrow, I can wear these clothes another day.
The sun must have set some time ago because it was dark outside. There were only a few street lights throughout the village for people making their way home. I made it halfway to the apartment when I felt like I was being watched. I didn't want to give away that I knew I was being watched so I didn't actively search for who it was. I just had a feeling that they were somewhere to the left of me, but it was too dark to actually see who it was.
I took a few more paces and I could feel their chakra. It felt heavy with malicious intent and it was familiar, not that I could ever forget this chakra. Gaara was watching me from the shadows. As long as he doesn't try anything there won't be a problem.
Just as I thought that I could hear a slight sound of something and feel something moving up my shins. I looked down and saw sand, it looks as if I spoke to soon. The sand tightened on my legs and then pulled me upwards into the air. My hair wasn't tied back so I couldn't clearly see what was happening, but it felt like I was being taken up high.
The sand let go of me and I was dropped on a hard surface, I was able to get my arms in front of me to brace for the impact. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I growled. I pushed myself up and got back on my feet. I looked around to see I was now on the roof of a building, that's why it felt like I was going up high. I looked to Gaara to see him with his sand still out of his gourd.
"My orders are to kill you." he said.
"Oh?" My posture straightened, I should have figured as much when he didn't put his sand away. "I don't think you will."
"I've killed before." he said. He got into a defensive position before continuing, "It will be as easy as breathing."
"I didn't mean that you won't have the heart to kill me. I meant that I don't think you physically can." my voice sounded cold, but I didn't mean it as a taunt. I really don't think he can kill me. "But you can try." I smirked.
I quickly grabbed a kunai and lunged at him only to have his sand block me. I palmed another kunai to have one in each hand and went at him again. I used the kunai to slash my way through his sand, it took longer than I would like but I was making slow progress. I really wanted to just get close enough to him so that I could use some taijutsu on him and smack him around a bit. It bothers me that people think they can just easily kill me for their own means without having me put up a fight against them. Though Gaara did say he was ordered to kill me. I wonder by who, his sensei, the Kazekage even? Does this mean Gaara wouldn't have picked a fight with me if he wasn't ordered to?
Finally, I was close enough to Gaara so I pulled back my arm and elbowed him in the face. He flew across the rooftop and landed on a pile of sand on his back just before the edge. I ran towards him again, zigzagging my way to him as I tried to avoid the smaller piles of sand that were grabbing for me. When I dodged away from the last small pile of sand I felt some sand on my legs. I just dodged, how could I have missed? No, I didn't miss. I looked behind me to see that all of the smaller piles of sand were gone and they all conjoined together to pursue me. The few seconds I lost trying to dodge the last pile of sand was just enough time for the larger mass of sand to get me.
The sand held me in place and crawled up to my waist. I tried cutting it away from me but more sand would take the place of what I managed to cut away. Suddenly, Gaara said, "Sand coffin." The sand surrounding my waist and legs compressed itself. I'm sure if I was a normal person all of my bones would have shattered. For a second I remembered that this is what happened to Lee's arm and leg. Now it makes sense that Sakura and Ino said Lee couldn't be a ninja anymore. He probably has bone fragments everywhere.
Gaara's sand released its hold on me, falling to the rooftop. "What, how could you survive that? No one has ever been left unmarked before."
I looked down to my legs seeing that there were various cuts here and there, but uncle Yagura's pants were thicker than my leggings would have been so all of my seals were still covered. "I told you it wasn't going to be easy killing me." I used Isobu's speed to run around him and his sand and got a hold of him from behind. My right arm was wrapped around his arms and chest while my left held a kunai to his neck. Remembering his sand armor, I dug the blade of the kunai into his neck until the sand crumbled away and I drew blood. "You know, I like you. I find you intriguing. Why would you be so distant from your brother and sister, you were even willing to kill them." I said, I remembered that Gaara once threatened to kill Kankuro for the way he was acting. "In fact, it seems to me that you just kill whoever you want. I want to know why that is."
"The mark on my forehead for love reminds me that you can only love yourself. My father, the kazekage sealed the Shukaku spirit inside of me before I was born to use me as a weapon for the village. Upon my birth I killed my mother and as I grew I became more of a burden than a weapon. That was when my father started sending anbu to kill me. Even my uncle who took care of me tried to kill me, so I can only love myself." he explained. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see some of his sand moving towards me so I pressed a little harder on the kunai on his neck.
"Your sand, I don't want it to touch me. I can see it coming." I said. The sand slowly fell to the rooftop and I no longer had to worry about it. "Just because you haven't had the best life so far doesn't mean someone won't care about you. Give Temari and Kankuro a chance."
"They won't care about a jinchuriki, I'm a demon." he said.
"Who cares if you're a jinchuriki? My uncle is one too. People of our village fear him, but they respect him because he's the Mizukage." I said. At least everyone believes uncle Yagura is still the three tails jinchuriki. "And I'm known as the Demon of the Mist, but somehow my teammates seem to care about me. Actually, I still can't believe that." I added offhandedly. "Even Naruto who was a complete stranger to me wanted to be my friend, so I believe there's still hope for you too." I pulled my kunai away from his neck and let go of him. "You should at least try to be closer to Temari and Kankuro. Siblings are always there for you. Even my brother who was known to be demonic tried to be a good brother to me." Now that I think about it, being demonic may be a family trait.
"Why do you care?" he asked. He turned to face me and asked once again. "Why do you care about me?!"
I could feel my face soften a bit from the look of indifference that usually adorns my face. "Because, no one should have to feel as if they are alone in this world. If I hadn't been willing to give Naruto a chance of creating a friendship, I would have still been alone." I contemplated what I was going to say next. I'm not one to even suggest such a thing because it's not like me to care, but lately I've had a change of heart. Isobu also said to make many allies. "Gaara, would you like to be friends?"
His eyes widened a bit before they narrowed at me. "I only need myself." he growled. He raised his arm and suddenly his sand was coming at me from all angles.
I quickly did the hand signs for the transportation jutsu and disappeared in a flurry of black coral dust. I reappeared in front of the apartment complex I was staying in with my team. My feet carried me into the building and up a few flights of stairs, I did think about using the transportation jutsu to appear in the apartment because I knew Jiro would have been startled out of his mind.
As I was walking I thought of Gaara, his feeling of being alone is the same one I've felt for years. We were both outcasts in our own villages. Both of us jinchuriki who have experienced not being wanted. Honestly, if I was him I would have brushed off a friendship too. It's just when Naruto asked me to be his friend I was so shocked that I couldn't think of a reason not to be.
When I reached our door, I didn't bother knocking, I just let myself in. Mitsuru looked to be lounging about on the couch in the living room area. Jiro was polishing his sword on the floor. While Shozouki, who was reading some book, noticed me first. "What happened to you?"
"I was attacked on my way back from the Hokage building." I said.
"You didn't kill them did you? The Mizukage specifically said we weren't allowed to let you kill anyone during the chunin exams." Shozouki narrowed his lavender eyes at me.
"No, I didn't kill him." I said. Shozouki looked back to his book having lost interest in me.
"Lady Ketto, you can't provoke people into a fight!" Jiro scolded. He set his katana to the side and got up from his cross legged position on the floor. He walked over to me and crossed his arms as he stopped a short distance away. "Sometimes you just have to leave it be."
"I didn't provoke him." I said. "I just said that I was the one who was attacked."
Jiro sighed, "Whatever, just go change. Your pants are all ripped up."
"I don't have any extra pants, they're all at the Hokage building and they're dirty. Would it be possible to borrow a pair from one of you?" I asked. I figured it was a long shot, but I might as well ask.
Mitsuru sat up on the couch and pushed himself up. "You can have a pair of mine." He walked over to his shared room with Jiro and Shozouki only to emerge with a new pair of black ninja pants. They looked smaller than the ones I was already wearing, so hopefully they would fit better too. Mitsuru handed them to me, "Here, now go change."
"Thanks." I said. I left the three of them to go change in my room. I was a bit surprised that Mitsuru was the one to offer me a change of pants when he was the one that's been trying to distance himself from all of us.
I shut the door to my room behind me and went straight to the bathroom. I grabbed the scissors I knew were in there and started to cut away the rest of the bandages on my shins. Most of them fell off without any problems so it didn't take long to get them off. Then I took off my kunai pouch and the ripped pants so I could throw them away along with the old bandages before pulling on the pair of pants Mitsuru gave me. I was right, they did fit better than the ones uncle Yagura gave me. I put on some new bandages too and decided to turn in for the night.
My shoes were kicked onto the floor at the end of the bed as I crawled under the blankets. I had every intention of going to sleep, but something kept bothering me. Or rather someone, Gaara. I know that I'll have to do something about him. I don't think I can accept that he just wants to be alone, that he can only rely on himself. For years, I was always alone, I didn't want to be even though I was. I just wanted people to accept me. The seven ninja swordsmen did accept me, but sometimes I feel as if they only cared because we were similar. The swords accepted our chakra because there was something exceptional about it and the holders of the swords had a certain respect for anyone that was compatible with the swords. Did they care about me because I was like them? Or did they care about me because the Mizukage was my uncle? Girls would never receive the special training I did. Maybe that's why they tolerated me.
As for everyone else, it's hard to move past other people's fear of you and accept that they care. I'll admit that I'm still struggling with it. Jiro saw what I did to his brother and despite that he still wants to be my friend and help me excel in life. Even Mitsuru has heard about the things I did for the Mizukage as the Demon of the Mist and he said that he wanted to get to know me better as a teammate.
Thinking about people accepting me I think Utakata accepted me, but then again he was stuck with me by the order of uncle Yagura. Still, he didn't treat me like I was an inconvenience like I've seen him do with other people. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he liked me. I still didn't really have anyone to care about me other than uncle Yagura. It made me fully make up my mind. I thought that it might be an inconvenience to try and continue befriending Gaara, but for someone to want to be alone forever just seemed so depressing. Even I want someone to care for me.
There is no going around it, I will befriend Gaara. I will make him feel as if he can trust me, because he can. I don't care if there is a whole nation in between us, I will be his friend even if I have to fight him on the matter. I will travel from Kirigakure to Sunagakure, I don't care. I already like his sister, I feel as if Temari and I could be good friends. As for Gaara, no one should want to be alone and I'm not going to let him. How would I even go about that though? The only real friend I have is Naruto and that is still a relatively new friendship. Naruto just makes it so easy to be his friend. How can I be friends with Gaara if he is so against having them?
