Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Glimpses of Fire ❯ Konoha Clans ( Chapter 8 )

Glimpses of Fire
Author: shattered-words

 

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it'd be called `Gaara'. So, isn't it a shame that I don't own it?

Summary: There were many things that shaped the plans of a certain Nukenin, and one was a shinobi that was as destructive as fire. AU/Mentions of Shounen-ai/Yaoi/Yuri

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Chapter Eight: Konoha Clans~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The young girl fought off the groan that wanted to escape her lips as she sat up. Eizan placed a hand against her body and frowned. `Broken?' she wondered, but hoped that wasn't so. She didn't want to think that her ribs were broken so close to the exam.

 

She rose from her futon and headed toward the restroom without waking her teammates. When she closed the door she removed the white cotton nightgown she was wearing. It was obvious that she hadn't put it on and so she assumed that it had been Amane and Iwane that had changed her.

 

As she did remove it she paused as she noticed the bandages that covered her abdomen and sighed. She carefully removed them and cleaned herself off in the shower as the tub filled with warm water. While she soaked in the bath she thought back to the conversation that she'd had with Gaara before they had left.

 

She had sensed that day that something was off about him, and not only because of his sudden use of her name. There was something going on. Eizan just wished she understood him better to know what was bothering him.

 

She left the bathroom a few minutes later and saw that both girls had already woken up and they were at her side almost immediately. A smirk spread over her features as she realized that they were trying to baby her about being up so soon. When she held up her hands they were silent.

 

“I'm fine,” she insisted as she walked to her pack and pulled out a comb. She passed it through her short and still damp ebony hair. “Now, I believe that yesterday's reconnaissance report is a bit overdue, wouldn't you say?”

They stepped forward and Amane was the first to start. “I scouted toward the woods on the western side. In the woods I overhead a conversation of a Genin team, and they were speaking of a rookies from their village joining the Chunin exam this year.” She continued on when the younger girl nodded.

 

The Itagaki had always thought of the shorter sand-nin as their unofficial leader because she was more skilled then they were, despite being younger. That's why she reported to her and followed her orders. They were shinobi and thus were to be commanded by those that were stronger.

 

“Apparently one of the teams has Hatake Kakashi as its' Jonin instructor.”

 

Eizan's hand paused as she was about to put down the comb and she straightened to looked at her. “Hatake Kakashi, the `Copy Ninja'?” she muttered and frowned as she replaced the comb in her pack. She turned her back on them and removed the Yukata that was provided to them by the Inn.

She was only wearing boxers and the girls saw that the smoothness of her back was only marred by a long jagged scar across her upper left side. During the Chunin exam that her brother had participated in she had accompanied him on one of his training sessions. Her abilities had manifested and she'd burnt down a few trees but one of them had fallen on her.

 

The jagged end of a broken branch had impaled her through the back and come out of her shoulder just missing her heart. It was a miracle that she hadn't been killed, and the young Arisa had never seen him as scared as he rushed her to the Konoha hospital.

Iwane leaned against the wall next to the restroom as she spoke up. “Isn't it said that he's copied over a thousand jutsu?” she asked as she yawned. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes before bending down to pick up her pack.

 

“Dibs on the shower, Ake-kun.” Amane gave her a glare as she used the old nickname, but she only smirked. “Also, I discovered that it was true what Enoki-sensei said about there being a clan of beetle users in this village.”

Eizan sat on the bed after she had pulled on her pants and her chain mail shirt, protective vest and top shirt. She leaned back on her arms as she rested her hands on either side of her on the bed, crossing one leg over the other. “I have some information on the five main villages. When I found out Konoha was announced as the host for this years' exam I searched through what I had on the leaf,” she commented as she let her gaze drift to the ceiling. “Apparently there is quite a bit of famous clans in this village alone and among them the Aburame clan, which is said to be a clan that uses bugs.”

She grinned at them suddenly. “Another clan is the Uchiha, and sole possessors of the Sharingan,” she said and held up a hand when the girls were surprised. They had most likely remembered that Sasuke had the same surname. “Also, it seems this is also the home of one of the most prestigious families, the Hyuuga and natural born heirs to the Byakugan.”

“The Byakugan?” Amane spoke up and she recalled hearing about the Hyuuga clan from their instructor when she had been training with him on the side to develop her skills as a silent assassin. “Isn't that the type of eye that is said to have an unmatched field of vision?”

Eizan sighed and let her body fall on the bed. They hadn't used it since they didn't want to become accustomed to sleeping on it because constant missions forced them to sleep on the ground most of the time. That's another reason she slept in the wall of her home or in the living room in a futon.

 

Although right now she was feeling dizzy and didn't care about anything than stopping the room from spinning. She regretted having returned to the ryokan so soon last night, but knew that it might have been worse if she hadn't done so. “Hai, and I hear the eyes can see the tenketsu,” she commented.

Iwane frowned. “The tenketsu?” she mumbled to herself, thinking back to her Academy days before she brought her fist against her left palm as she remembered. “Oh, the 361 chakra holes located all over your Keirakukei?”

Amane crossed her arms over her chest and glanced at Eizan. “What I want to know is how you know all this,” she said. A frown crossed her face as she watched the short haired girl fall back onto the bed. They had both realized that she'd be in pain for a while, and that she might not be able to lift her arms to a certain height without experiencing pain.

Eizan smirked since she knew that the other would realize that she knew a bit too much for someone at her level, despite being skilled. She folded her arms behind her head with only a slight grimace as she let her legs hand over the side of the bed.

 

“You remember the Nukenin that attacked the village?” she asked them and when they nodded she turned her gaze back to the ceiling. “When my fire takes something, I get all the memory from it.”

Amane and Iwane were dumbstruck for a moment and the wind user was the first to respond. “You mean all it experiences goes into your mind?” Eizan nodded. “Wouldn't it be too much information?” Eizan took that time to sit up since her sight had stabilized.

“No because the information is absorbed into my mind so fast that I am able to eliminate anything that isn't useful.” She quickly put on her black sandals and stood. “Of course, that's a bit hard when dealing with a ninja since they know a lot of jutsu that could be useful. Anyway, the Nukenin that I killed fought against a Hyuuga once.”

“His teammate fought against him and it's the reason he wasn't killed as well. The Hyuuga pressed all of his tenketsu and stopped the flow of his chakra.” She glanced toward the window as a bit of sunlight started to spill into the room.

“Anything else?” When they shook their heads she nodded and put on her hitai-ate. “Then I'm off to report to Gaara-dono. We'll meet in an hour on the same roof as yesterday. Ja!” She faded in the fire that surrounded her.

The two girls looked at each other and started their morning routine as Iwane took the shower first while Amane gathered her stuff and contemplated how to get breakfast. However, her mind was on Eizan and the fact that she could return to Gaara as if nothing had happened. It infuriated her but knew that Eizan would never let herself be convinced to be parted from him. For now she could do nothing but only wished that she wouldn't regret her lack of action in the future.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gaara didn't turn to look at Eizan as she appeared behind him and kneeled. The sun had started to rise in the eastern sky and light up the roof and so the bruises would be more visible, but he didn't want to look. Most likely she was here to report yesterdays' events since he had knocked her out last night.

He held back a grimace as he thought of that and merely listened as she spoke. The information gathered was interesting, especially the part about that Uchiha Sasuke they had met the other day. `A Kekkei Genkai? Sounds interesting.'

The red head knew quite a bit of them since Eizan had one, and she also spent a lot of her time trying to learn anything she could about others with such abilities. Also, he knew the abilities that she possessed and knew that most likely she had attained some of this information from someone she had killed. He wondered if it had been the Nukenin.

After the report he never said anything to her and only dismissed her with a nod, but this time he only stared off ahead of him. He thought back the last few years and realized that he'd hardly ever spoken to her in all the time that they had been together. Mostly, she was the one that had always done the talking and he listened.

 

He turned to study her kneeling figure for a moment as he noticed that her face was directed toward the ground. Gaara frowned and wondered when their relationship had taken this turn.

 

Then he realized that they had never really had a relationship. He told her what to do and she did it. It was almost like she was a puppet that he controlled and when he pulled a string she moved.

 

Gaara frowned darkly. He didn't like that example very much.

The Suna-nin moved to stand just in front of her and he saw as she tensed her whole body. Again, a frown twisted his normally scowling features and wondered what she expected him to do. `Does she see me now as a monster as everyone else?' he wondered. For some reason it caused his chest to hurt. It was the same pain he had experienced when Yashamaru had betrayed him.

 

He wouldn't blame her if she did. It's most likely what she expected of him just as he treated her as nothing but a mere tool that killed whom he told her to and strike where he instructed. “Go,” he said as he turned his back on her.

Eizan hesitated a moment and then nodded. “Hai!” She left as quickly as she had arrived and he turned his face toward the western sky that was still dark, but as the sun rose it would lighten more.

 

During his youth he had wanted someone to be able to light up his dark heart as the sun lights up the sky. He realized that only two times had that happened, when Yashamaru had told him he was someone important to him and when Eizan had asked him to come into her home. Her house had been empty and dark then as it was then.

When Yashamaru had betrayed him he had come to the conclusion that he couldn't trust anyone, especially her. He had been fully prepared to kill her that night and had enveloped her within the sand, but the image of her jumping in front of that attack had made him stop.

 

The sight of the kunai sticking out of her back had almost made him believe that she truly wanted to be his friend, but he had blocked it from his mind. At the time, he had decided to let her remain at his side simply because she might become useful to him in the future.

 

As time progressed, he had merely thought of her as something that was always there, but the night she had shown up late for the report, he had snapped. Even now, he couldn't understand what had driven him to hurt her like that, or the events that had happened afterwards as she had been unconscious.

He had awoken to find her passed out at his side again and he could tell that she had done the binding spell on him so he could regain some form of control over Shukaku. Then he'd lifted her off the ground and taken her inside and cleaned and dressed his wounds. He had actually looked away as he had dressed her.

 

She was doing strange things to him that he didn't want to delve into too deeply, but knew he had to put a stop to it, especially after what had happened yesterday. He had been able to tell that she had been ignoring the blonde, but all he had seen was the way he had been chattering away to her in that friendly manner.

It had made his blood boil and did the only thing he could do, and that was to hurt her. Since it would jeopardize the mission and his plans, he couldn't attack a Konoha ninja. No matter how badly he had wanted to break his neck.

 

Then neither had seen his face go slack with shock as Eizan had jumped in to protect him even after what he'd done. `Dosh'te?' he wondered. This went beyond that pledge of loyalty she had made all those years ago that meant nothing to him. Her oath of fidelity had endured years of silence, coldness, and now abuse. `Why is she still at my side?'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When she had left the roof, she hadn't returned to the room and walked along the street. Many often confused her for a boy and so she didn't get any stares for having her face banged up.

 

She ambled along with her hands stuffed into her pockets and realized that she found this street familiar. A quick glance around made her realize that she'd never been here before and so concluded that it most likely had to do with her brother's memories.

 

Eizan had already learned that she could only take the memories of a living body and certain inanimate objects. So, most likely he had been alive even after he had been crushed as the roof came down. The thought made her shudder before she pushed it out of her mind.

His were the only memories that she had kept completely and that was one of the reasons that she had remembered meeting Sasuke and Itachi. The memories she had gotten from him had made her recall hers. She hadn't reviewed most of his memories and those that she had were all after he had graduated from the Academy.

 

She had gotten to where she had experienced most of the exam he had taken, and even if she knew that keeping all this information would damage her mind, she didn't care. It was the only thing she had left of him. Besides, her chakra was strange and besides a few headaches, she didn't seem too affected by the information taken in.

The Ashikaga slipped into a nearby restaurant to eat and ordered something. As she waited for her meal she contemplated on what was to come. It was obvious that she would struggle with her injury when the exam started, but she knew she had to enter it.

 

From her brother's memory, she had been able to observe a lot of ninja but mostly Uchiha Itachi. Her nii-san had watched Itachi closer than any other shinobi, and it was no wonder since he had been skilled far beyond his years. That was how she'd been able to perfect the Housenka no Jutsu, and then teach herself the Gokakyu no Jutsu just by reviewing his memories of the exam. There were other techniques that she had learned from observing the exam, but she hadn't used them in combat yet.

When her parents and her brother had died then she had convinced herself that she had nothing more to live for. She sought death but had always been too much of a coward to do it herself. That had all changed when Gaara had come into her life and while the first years had been the happiest for her, she realized that they were gone now. He wasn't the same person anymore, and gradually he had started to get worse so that he was turning more into the monster that was living inside of him.

Once she had asked him why he relied so much on his sand, but he'd become angered and so she hadn't brought it up again. When he'd lost control and he had attacked her she had told him not to tell the biju control him before losing herself in unconsciousness.

 

It might have been almost amusing to realize that she passed out a lot when around him. However, it was due to using too much chakra since she always wanted to train her body past its limit or used a lot when binding Shukaku. As time went by, she knew that it would require less of her energy, but she only hoped that he learned how to control it better by that time.

She hadn't realized she had finished eating until she looked down into an empty rice bowl, and then she quickly paid and left the shop. Her thoughts were still troubled but there was nothing she could do at the moment to resolve them. It seemed that love was complicated that way, but she wasn't sure since she'd never been in love until now. She only hoped it didn't get more complicated than it already was. However, she knew that fate always seemed to go against her wishes at times.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Amane and Iwane left the room and arrived at the roof to find that Eizan was already there. Her back was to them and she was looking off as she had been yesterday, but she was strangely quiet. They let her have her moment since she was their friend, and they had made an oath to protect one another with their lives. Besides, both of them considered her as the one to take charge of their cell when Enoki wasn't around.

 

“Did you know that my brother took his Chunin Exam in this very same village?” she asked them but didn't wait for them to respond. They wouldn't have said anything since she hardly ever revealed her past to them and so wanted to hear more. “In the same exam there was a Genin that participated by the name of Uchiha Itachi. They never fought against one another but he watched him through the entire exam.”

 

Her hands clenched into fists at her side, closing her eyes to keep tears from rolling down her face. “He promised that one day he'd fight against him before becoming a Jonin.” A laugh left her lips but it was bitter and seemed to shake her lithe figure as if she were sobbing. “Then I killed him and took away his dreams.”

Iwane and Amane glanced at one another. They were sure how to respond to that, and were worried since they had never heard her voice take on that tone before. She had never really of the night her family had perished in the fire. It was evident that Gaara had become more unstable over the last few months and so she had as well.

 

Now they were in the village that her brother had taken his Chunin exam and it was having a strong effect on her emotions. It had been clear to the kunoichi that her family and her brother especially were a taboo subject, and so they didn't know how to respond to her words.

They found that they didn't need to say anything as she turned and grinned at them in that rare show of emotion. However, they could tell that she was holding back tears and clinging to that last bit of sanity that still existed somewhere in her mind. The girls knew from experience that Gaara had most likely already lost his somewhere in the last few years, and they could only imagine the circumstances.

 

Both girls wondered how one dealt with the knowledge that they were in love with a deranged killer. And that no matter what the outcome or his actions you had to follow him, even if he were to march straight into the bowels of hell.

“I guess there's nothing more we can do but train until the exam starts. Let's go,” she said. She jumped off the roof and they didn't hesitate before going after her. If indeed she were to follow Gaara straight into hell, then they would be right by her side until the end.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Enoki was resting against the wall outside of Baki's room when the older man exited into the hall but he didn't glance at him as he turned to look down the hall where the stairs would lead down to the first floor. While the two men had never seen eye to eye, they knew that for now they had no choice but to cooperate. This Chunin Exam would change everything for Sunagakure.

 

“She's in top shape,” Enoki told him. He didn't know too much of the plan beyond the invasion or he might have been one of the ones that would have objected.

Baki had one side of his face covered so when he smirked the other man wasn't able to see it since his view was of the covered half. “Nothing has changed,” he said.

 

Enoki nodded slightly. The curtain of a nearby window fluttered in as the wind picked up, and when it came back down the hall was empty.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Translations:
1. Yukata: a light cotton kimono which is usually worn in summer, but is often provided by hotels in lieu of a bathrobe.
2. Sharingan: lit. Copy Wheel Eye; can copy anything that isn't derived from a Kekkei Genkai.
4. Byakugan: lit. “White Eyes”; occurs naturally in all Hyuuga clan members and has a 360 degree field of vision, except for a tiny blind spot behind the first thoracic vertebra and said to be the only weakness of the Byakugan.
5. tenketsu: 361 points located in the Keirakukei, their width is as small as a needle; if hit accurately you can stop or increase the enemy's flow of chakra; only the Byakugan can see them.
6. Keirakukei: chakra circulatory system; it's a bundle of pipes that circulate chakra through the body like blood vessels; it's closely intertwined with the internal organs that mold chakra; so if it's attacked you will take damage to internal organs as well.
7. Ja: short for Ja ne, which an informal way to say goodbye, “see ya” or “see you later”.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
End Chapter Eight