Naruto Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Stains of the Heart ❯ Chapter Ten ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter Ten

 

His eyes watched her closely, wondering why she'd suddenly went from killing those Iwagakure shinobi to twisting in circles around the forest. He'd never seen such a cold blooded killer do such a thing, which made him think that perhaps she wasn't a killer, but simply insane. Way worse than Gaara had been during the chuunin exams, which now seemed to long ago. Then, after she'd twisted a few times, she made a few moves almost like she was dancing to her own beat, as if music was flooding from the forest and into her ears. He wouldn't doubt it, considering the way she'd simply killed without hesitation.

 

Sasuke allowed his eyes to narrow a bit when she seemed to bounce back toward them, her eyes glittering, yet dark. They held surfacing malice, but he felt that it wasn't directed at them, but something that was bubbling beneath the surface of her mind. Something that killing her opponents had pushed into the background until her strange personality switch reverted itself. She almost seemed like a carefree child who'd eaten one to many sweets just to defy her parents.

 

“Uchiha-san!”

 

He twitched, though he was glad she wasn't hanging on him like one of his fan girls and asking him over and over again to go on a date with her. Plus, she didn't go any further than to call him by his last name, instead of calling him “Sasuke-kun” like most of the girls in Konohagakure did, even when he told them to never speak with him again. Yes, it did make him feel strange, almost like his father when younger, but he had gotten used to it over time.

 

“Did you know your hair sticks out in the back?” she asked. “Its very strange, since it almost reminds me of a bird!”

 

He twitched again, wondering why she wasn't directing any of her words at the silent Kazekage. Her giggling wasn't as irritating as most of the women he knew, but it was still annoying that she didn't have one thing to say to the Sunagakure leader. No, everything she'd said so far had been directed toward him, almost like she was ignoring Gaara completely. That caused him to twitch again, wondering if she was like all his fan girls.

 

“But not just any bird,” she said. “The back of a chicken!” She laughed again. She brought her hands up and ran them through her hair, almost like she was trying to make her hair go into the same style that his was in. However, she stopped after a moment, dropped her hands, and giggled again.

 

Gaara's eyes shifted to her from the path ahead of them, wondering faintly what had happened to her. His first guess would be the demon sealed inside of her had calmed enough from her killing that her true personality was rising to the surface, but he didn't wish to lean too much onto that one. His second guess would be that the demon inside of her, if he was correct in his assumption, was very satisfied, almost to the point that it seemed drunk, and those were reflected on its vessel. Strange, though, he didn't quite know what to make of that guess. Shukaku had always seemed like a drunk, even if he had been very intelligent, and it would have been very annoying to find another demon that was similar to that blasted tanuki. If that were the case, though, the dark rings around her eyes, though gone now, would have meant she had insomnia, but he knew from watching her sleep that she did not.

 

Sasuke visibly twitched. No one had ever dared to mention anything about his appearance, or compare it to such an animal.

 

“It's almost pretty, too!” She turned again, and then caught his eye. “But it's not the right color.”

 

“What's the right color then?” Sasuke asked mockingly.

 

She gripped the red locks in front of her eyes and began to pull them apart, before braiding them lightly. “Onyx is nice,” she smiled, “but I like red! Like Gaara-sama's!” She giggled again, a blush covering her cheeks almost like she'd gotten her hand caught inside her mother's cookie jar. She turned and raced a short distance from them, before turning back, only to giggle again.

 

“Definitely insane,” Sasuke mumbled.

 

Gaara shook his head, his hair falling just a bit over his eyes. “She is obsessed with blood. It is only natural she would like the color,” he stated.

 

“Did you not hear what I just heard?” Sasuke asked. “Her voice is lighter, and she's acting like a child.”

 

“She appears to be drunk,” Gaara replied, turning his eyes toward the Uchiha. “Somewhat.”

 

“Somewhat? More like down to the very bone from how she acted when I first met her,” Sasuke grunted. He lowered his eyes, and then glowered at the ground. Kicking the dirt, he muttered, “My hair doesn't look like the back of a chicken.”

 

A small smirk formed onto Gaara's lips when he heard the words.

 

“Yes it does!”

 

Eyes widening only a fraction, Sasuke asked, “How did she hear that?”

 

She turned toward them, her face still slightly red, and even at the distance she seemed to be able to make out everything. “My ears are better trained than yours, Uchiha-san!”

 

Sasuke twitched again at the nearly chipper tone. Plus, it was grating on his nerves that she continued to address him, and insult him, when she only had a comment on how she liked Gaara's hair. He blamed it on the fact that he was so used to women simply falling at his feet and begging him to acknowledge their presence since he could remember. He twitched again, pushing that thought away as fast as he could, since it irked him that he might actually like their attention, just a little bit.

 

For a moment, he feared he'd been hanging around Naruto and Kakashi way too long, and way too often. Mostly Kakashi, though, that bastard and his dirty books that he insisted on reading were going to be the death of his sanity. Now that he thought about it, for a length of time, and sometimes even now, Naruto did hang out with that perverted Sannin that wrote those dirty books Kakashi was always seen reading. Naruto had to be just as bad after all that time with him, so that meant he needed to stop hanging around his former teammate, especially whenever he came jumping along only to beg for him to go on a mission with him. He needed to stop going with him, break all ties that he had to him, which would hopefully break all ties he had to that pervert named Jiraiya. Thinking about it, he'd have to break all ties with Kakashi as well, not something hard to do, since he read Jiraiya's books like a little child would inhale candy.

 

She twirled again, her hands stretching out at her sides as her smile dimmed a bit on her lips. Her hands came up as her spinning slowed, and she grabbed ahold of her red strands, twirling it between her fingers in hopes of calming herself. Something told her that she was not well, something told her that she was not right, though she could not pinpoint what that meant. Something, though, something told her to snap out of the strange bit of happiness she'd found and to go back to the way she had been. Her smile did not completely fade, but her giggling died, and her eyes turned toward the clouds rolling across the sky.

 

“You'll never escape, you're my daughter.”

 

“I am nothing to you. Die.”

 

Her own voice echoed into her thoughts, and she knew it was her own, even though it was more controlled. More closed off from the world than she felt right now—almost like she had changed somehow.

 

“Monster, I knew I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

 

Laughter filled her head, flashes of memories going through her mind at an increasing rate. Her eyes closed for a moment, blood streaking across the back of her eyes into her vision. When they opened again, a tear fell from her eye, for she hated the fact that she could not keep herself from remembering those things. She knew that was what she was, a monster. She knew that, for she had always been one, but at times she knew that she became more open and more cheerful, but at those times she remembered more than she wanted to. She remembered all the things she blocked away, that melted together into scenes that made no sense. Damn you.

 

The laughter increased. “It is not my fault you gave into your weakness.”

 

It is your fault I feel this way, she hissed.

 

“Perhaps,” the voice replied. “You'll just have to deal with it then, won't you?”

 

I hate you.

 

“I feel flattered that you think of me in such a way. Especially since you haven't shown that emotion except to one other.” The voice laughed again.

 

Images of her father flashed through her mind. His dark hair, and deep brown eyes—the insanity those eyes showed whenever he looked at her. The sickening smile he sent her whenever she managed to master another jutsu. The pat on the head she'd gotten when she did as he asked, and the laughter that would bellow from his throat whenever she did it instantly. The lean body he had, and the way he moved whenever he showed her another jutsu that he wanted her to learn. The way his blood rose into the air when she split his throat in two, his head flying into the air and hitting the ground rolling.

 

Pushing the memories away, another tear cascaded down her cheek. The memories were fresh, all of them, because she couldn't forget any of them. She didn't wish to go back into her guarded state so quickly, but she did not know how else to make the thickening images to leave her be. The way her hand twitched whenever she saw herself slash a kunai through another throat, or her fan opening and flying through the air, the steel tips embedding themselves into another body. She managed to stop herself from crying, and nearly bounced from one foot to the other, trying to make the images go away, instead of getting rid of the happiness she actually felt.

 

“You alright?”

 

Kagome turned her head toward the Uchiha now standing at her side, and noticed that the Kazekage was standing at her other side. Apparently she had slowed to a pace that they had easily caught up with her. However, the strange look the Uchiha was giving her caused her lips to twitch upward, though her happy feeling was still dissipating with each passing second. She nodded, and then turned her attention toward the forest in front of her, wondering which one of the two caused her emotions to calm.

 

The growling in her head increased, and she didn't catch most of the words the voice said. “…Shukaku… stupid girl.”

 

Sasuke's raised an eyebrow, noticing the way she tensed just a bit more. Yes, he was leaning more and more toward his idea that she was insane. Watching her turn her head back to him and stick her tongue out at his stare, he twitched again. Yes, she was insane. No woman would be foolish enough to stick her tongue out at him, Uchiha Sasuke, especially not one that the Kazekage might find interesting. Something was wrong with that woman.

 

Gaara watched silently, as the Uchiha stiffened and his eyes widened in horror. Shaking his head lightly, he turned his attention back to the woman standing at his side, with the Uchiha on her other. She was once again moving as if she heard a soft beat echoing into her ears from the forest around them. Her eyes were closed, and he sensed that she was beginning to calm. Blinking once, he looked at the blood still covering her body, and decided it would be best to get her to the hot springs before taking her back to the tower. That and making sure to get it into the Uchiha's head that she killed shinobi from his village's enemy, which meant that she'd done the village a favor. Not to simply tell his Hokage that she had murdered nine shinobi, which would most likely put her on permanent lockdown in a cell where he could not fill his curiosity of her.

 

She was an interesting creature whose mystery continued to gnaw at his consciousness. For a moment, the Kazekage almost noticed that no woman had ever managed to snare his curiosity so easily, but he ignored that piece of him. She was simply something that would lose its appeal after so long, and then he would go back to his village in order to live life as he had ever since Shukaku was extracted from him. Or, perhaps, he might be able to convince Tsunade to allow him to take her from Konohagakure to Suna, so that she would not have to worry about her every second of the day. He was sure the Hokage would wonder about his reason for it, but she would probably do it in order to make her life a little easier for a while.

 

OoO

 

The pile was getting bigger and bigger with each passing second. Tsunade's eye twitched madly, she did not like where this was going. Pretty soon, she was positive, that pile was going to topple over and bury her. She was going to die a slow death and no one would notice because Shizune would be too busy trying to find her more paperwork to do, and everyone else would not be able to hear her screams through the mound that would be on top of her. Then, after a few hours, they would finally go searching for their precious Hokage and find her buried underneath the stack of paperwork that did her in. Maybe, just maybe, they'd be kind enough to burn the paperwork that killed her, or maybe make the next sap that took this job do it in her memory within a day.

 

She could remember exactly how that killer stack had gotten onto her desk, too. She'd finally finished the paperwork for that day and then suddenly Shizune came rushing in with a stack so high that she'd nearly felt her eyes pop out of her skull. Then, once it had been put onto her desk, Shizune said that there was still left over paperwork from when that blasted old man had been Hokage. She swore up one side of that gigantic stack and down the other, cursing that old man for not doing it when he was supposed to. She could have sworn she heard his laughter in her ears, and she would have killed him herself if Orochimaru hadn't already done it so long ago. So, so long it would seem, because she could barely remember most of what she signed and what day she began, only that there had been so much paperwork waiting for her when she agreed to take this stupid, stupid job.

 

Turning her head up, after signing her name to another piece, and setting it to the side with the Hokage seal, she narrowed her eyes at the door. She could have sworn… yes, those were footsteps coming toward her door and she was going to kill Shizune if she was bringing her more paperwork. Watching the door closely, having already been in a bad mood from when Naruto came in screaming that he'd lost the woman he was supposed to watch, she narrowed her eyes further. Her entire body twitched for a few moments, matching the beat of the footsteps coming toward her.

 

As the door began to open, she growled, “I swear, Shizune, if you're bringing me anymore paperwo—Oh, Uchiha.”

 

“Hokage-sama,” Sasuke smirked, tilting his head to one side in order to see the Godaime's face beyond the stack of paperwork on her desk. He could just bet that her bad mood was not caused by Naruto, but possibly the fact that she hadn't gotten any type of alcohol to drink, nor been able to go out and gamble for a while. Not that it would do her any good, she wasn't good at gambling in the first place and losing usually got her into a worse mood than she'd been in to start with.

 

“Well, what do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?” Tsunade growled. “I swear, you and Naruto are going to be the death of me—”

 

“So, he's already told you?” Sasuke asked.

 

“Told me that he lost a possibly dangerous woman, yes,” Tsunade nodded. “Was that what you were speaking of, because I can't read your mind. Not that I would want to, either, who knows what's going on in there. You were Kakashi's student, after all.”

 

Frowning at the insult, Sasuke straightened himself. “I came to inform you of where the woman, as you liked to call her, went while out of Naruto's sight, Hokage-sama.”

 

“Really? And you know this how?” Tsunade questioned. She really needed something to drink. Preferably something alcoholic, since she wasn't going to get drunk on water—though, she had no doubt her mind could tell her she was if someone else told her it was alcohol.

 

“Kazekage-sama and I followed her into the forest,” Sasuke replied.

 

“Mhm,” Tsunade nodded. “And what, pray tell, did she do out in the forest? Because, at this moment, I'm pretty sure she wasn't going out there to talk to the cute woodland animals.” Seeing Sasuke's shake his head, she narrowed her eyes further. “Spit it out, Uchiha. I am not in the mood to play games with you little twits today. Can't you see I'm a very busy wom—?”

 

“We followed her quite some distance, she is quite fast to have traveled there quicker than we did—not to mention her head start. When we came upon her, she used a jutsu which she called `Death Circle', which created a barrier around the clearing she was facing.” Sasuke paused for a moment, allowing the information to sink in.

 

“Tell me, Uchiha, what was in this clearing?” Tsunade asked.

 

“Iwagakure shinobi,” Sasuke replied.

 

Tsunade's eyes widened, and her hand clenched. “How far away is this clearing?”

 

“About a mile and a half from the eastern wall,” Sasuke said.

 

Tsunade nodded, cursing the squad she'd sent out to patrol that area for not finding them. “What exactly did she do? I take it the name `Death Circle' is not used lightly,” she demanded, her tone becoming more serious. If there were Iwagakure shinobi around the eastern wall then there could be more just waiting to ambush them, or at least try.

 

“No, it is not, Hokage-sama. She mentioned that inside the circle she could kill them in any way, which was true. She did not need to use any type of hand seal while inside in order for her jutsu to work, and she killed most of them before noticing us. Then, she said something about needing to kill them quicker and the kanji in the barrier changed in response, before fire burst from the ground, killing the remaining few.” Sasuke's eyes sharpened a bit, “Before she began, white chakra, visible to the eye, swept out from her body, and her eyes changed so that the iris was completely black and there were black markings around her eyes.”

 

Tsunade nodded. “And?”

 

“Kazekage-sama mentioned something about her possibly being a jinchuuriki, and asked me to stress the fact that though she killed,” Sasuke sighed, “she did kill Iwagakure shinobi. She went out into the forest possibly in hopes to find someone other than people of this village to kill, for whatever reason she may have.”

 

Tsunade nodded again, knowing that was true. Her eyes darkened a bit, sensing something just wasn't right. Something bad was going to happen, and if she could bet on it, that girl was going to be right in the center of everything when it did. “Very well. Where is she now?”

 

“Kazekage-sama insisted on taking her to the local hot spring in order to wash the blood that covered her,” Sasuke replied.

 

Tsunade sighed. Again with the blood—something was very wrong with that girl. Really, couldn't that girl keep herself from being covered in blood of all things?

 

OoO

 

The sound of splashing water and her giggles entered his ears again. His eyes cast over the women that obviously knew that he did not wish for them to come any closer. Especially when he was leaning against the entrance to the local bathhouse for women. Some would giggle when they saw him, but quickly back away and turn to leave. Others would blush, stutter while trying to ask him what he was doing there, before rushing in the opposite direction. The most entertaining ones were probably the ones that did both, but none of them were truly remembered for anything other than the actions they showed while coming toward the bathhouse.

 

Turning his head, Gaara blinked at the sight of Shikamaru and Ino walking by, while Lee and TenTen were close behind them, saying something about dango. Shaking his head, he turned so that he was facing in straight ahead, but stiffened when he heard the noise inside the bathhouse cease completely. Either she was done, since her clothing did need to be washed as well, or there was a problem. Turning his head, he heard the slight movement of water, and knew that she was still inside.

 

“YOU PERVERT!”

 

Gaara blinked, turning his head again, listening as something very large hit the water. Moving so that he could see inside, he noticed that the woman he'd left to wash was standing on the platform to the right of the spring in nothing but a towel. It wouldn't have bothered him so much if her towel wasn't beginning to slip down, or the white-haired Sannin came up out of the water coughing, hitting his chest with his left fist.

 

“I do not see how that was necessary,” he coughed.

 

“HOW DARE YOU!” Kagome roared, her eyes flashing. “I should kill you where you stand, old man!”

 

“Now, now, there's no need for violence,” he laughed.

 

Kagome snarled dangerously. “Tell me, pervert, who the hell you think you are?”

 

“Why,” he smiled, doing a pose in the water. “I am one of the Sannin, the white-haired frog tamer, Jiraiya!”

 

“Sannin? Don't make me laugh, pervert,” Kagome snarled. Her lips twitched upward into a smile though, and her eyes glinted dangerously. “You're nothing but an old pervert who obviously can't keep himself from looking into the women's bath. Makes me wonder if you have any brains at all, since I'm sure you get hit a lot.”

 

“I am offended!” Jiraiya gasp. “I was merely doing research.”

 

“Research my ass,” Kagome barked. “Get the fuck out of here before I rip out your throat and allow the entire spring to turn red with your life's essence!”

 

Jiraiya laughed nervously, and quickly moved to the side, keeping a hesitant eye on the raging woman. However, as he began to exit, he said, “Did you know that your towel is falling? Not that I mind—”

 

“Agh!”

 

Jiraiya yelped as a black sandal hit him in the back of the head, causing him to fall completely out of the entrance. As he began to stand, his hand coming up to rub at the back of his head, he sniffled. “Someone remind me to avoid that crazy woman like the plague,” he whimpered.

 

“With pleasure.”

 

Jiraiya stiffened and turned his head up to see the Kazekage glaring down at him. Laughing nervously, he stood to full height, towering over the young leader. “Oh, Kazekage-sama, what are you doing here?” his eyes gleamed, wondering what answer he would get from the young man. The former jinchuuriki glared at him, his eyes darkening a shade or two. “Um,” Jiraiya gulped, “don't mind me, Kazekage-sama. I wasn't trying to cause trouble, nor was I looking at your woman, I swear!”

 

Gaara blinked at the words, his eyes widening a bit at the realization that must have popped into Jiraiya's head. No doubt this would end up in his next novel. Glaring harder, he silently told the man to run, and watched as the white-haired old man did just that, rushing off into the distance. His fingers twitched, before he crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the woman to get done. Still, the woman was not his in any way, she was merely something that interested him for the time being—the pervert could think what he wanted, he wasn't going to stop him.

 

“Stupid old pervert,” he heard, his eyes turning once more to notice that she was beginning to allow the towel to fall completely from her body. Blinking, he turned his head rather quickly, and heard the sound of her sinking into the water. Cursing his traitorous eyes, he saw the image of her backside enter his head, and growled. There was no way he was going to end up like that pervert Jiraiya.

 

OoO

 

He sobbed into his hands. “I can't believe I-I lost her! How am I going to become Hokage now!”

 

Tsunade was never going to forgive him.

 

Glancing over his book, he sighed. Closing it, he gently placed it into his vest, before turning his head to the younger shinobi. “I'm sure it's not that bad, Naruto.”

 

“But, Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto whined. “Tsunade-baa-chan gave me that mission! She's never going to forgive me for losing her! Never! I'll never be Hokage now!”

 

“There will be other missions, Naruto,” Kakashi sighed.

 

“But this one was big, Kakashi-sensei! Big!” Naruto cried. “Really, really, really, big! I was supposed to watch her!” Sniffling, he turned his head to the masked jounin, and narrowed his eyes. “This is all your fault!”

 

Blinking, Kakashi asked, “How, may I ask, is this my fault?”

 

“You got me talking to you because you refused to clean my apartment as Tsunade-baa-chan told you to!” Naruto shouted, jumping up to shove his face into that of his former sensei. “You distracted me from my mission! I blame you, Kakashi-sensei!”

 

“Calm down, Naruto—”

 

“Uzumaki Naruto,” a voice said.

 

They turned to see an ANBU standing a few feet away from them.

 

“The Hokage wishes to see you,” the ANBU finished.

 

Naruto huffed, and nodded, watching the ANBU disappear in a cloud of smoke. Turning his head back around, he expected to see Kakashi still sitting on the bench, and found him gone. Yelling, he threw his hands into the air, and looked around. “This is still your fault, Kakashi-sensei! You can't run away from that fact!” With those words, he quickly transported himself to the Hokage Tower, hoping to make Tsunade see the logic behind his explanation.

 

Kakashi giggled, his face buried back inside his book as he sat behind a bush very close to the bench he'd originally been on. Naruto's words did not reach his ears as he continued to soak in Jiraiya's beautiful masterpiece.