❝Family? Let me tell you what kind of link I have with them. They are lumps of meat linked by hatred and murderous intentions.❞ ㅡ Gaara

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

MINE TO KILL

                      Naruto stifled a yawn as he dragged his feet up the stairs. An eager grin stretched on his lips at the thought of sleeping in his own, comfortable bed. After spending countless days in that forest, lying over amounts of fallen leaves when exhaustion took over, he was ridiculously impatient to take a well-deserved nap.

Wounds and bloodied gashes covered his face and body, but he worried about them no more and walked into his house before heading towards his bedroom. Perhaps, he should have taken a shower first; he reeked of sweat and poo — that stupid squirrel thought his face would be a nice place to defecate. Thanks to it, Sakura had hit him on the head when he had dared to approach her.

A scowl adorned his features as he threw his sandals away without a second glance; he would look for them later. He stretched his arms, yawned loudly and pushed the door to his room open with an unnecessary kick.

And he stopped dead in his tracks, appalled at the unexpected sight.

His good friend, Rei, was sleeping on his bed. Sprawled without a care in the world — and mind you, taking up all the available space —, she had sunk into the mattress and was snoring quietly. Tears formed in his eyes, and he tried his best not to throw a tantrum there and then.

He could almost hear Kakashi-sensei laughing at him in the background.

Unable to deal with such unfair situation, he sat down on the messy floor — clothes and scrolls were scattered all over it — and pulled a thoughtful face: his lips pursed, his eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms while sitting Indian style.

And it was probably a miracle that the girl suddenly stirred, as though she was feeling his pain.

"Stop whimpering."

Nope, definitely not a miracle.

Naruto glared at the brunette as she took her precious time to sit up, slowly stretching and yawning.

"Why do you look so tired?" he asked out of the blue, after noticing the bags underneath her eyes.

"Been thinking," was her short reply.

"About?"

"Stuff."

Naruto frowned at her vague responses, but he didn't press on the matter and shrugged instead. Then, she turned towards him.

"What's that?!" he exclaimed, alarmed, as her face came into sight.

Subconsciously, she reached up and traced a finger along her wound.

"A scar," she stated in a duh voice.

Tilting his head, Naruto examined her closely with narrowed eyes. Overall...

"You look like shit," he concluded.

Rei rolled her eyes. "Geez, thank you."

"Also, you snore."

The girl gritted her teeth in annoyance. She was trying her best not to kick him out of the window. "I always do when I'm exhausted. You know that."

He was supposed to, at least; they had had many sleepovers when they were kids. But Naruto gave her a blank stare, looking completely lost.

"Do I? Heh, guess I forgot." Suddenly, he let out a frustrated scream and stomped his foot. "Ah, I won't be able to sleep now! Get up. We're going to Ichiraku's."

Lips twitching in amusement, Rei did quite the opposite: she flopped back on the bed and closed her eyes.

"What are you doing, Rei?!" he whined.

"You stink," she responded with a loud yawn. "Wake me up when you've taken a shower."

Naruto was about to throw a sandal at her smirking face, but he suddenly realised he had taken them off and had no idea about their current whereabouts. Sticking his tongue out at her was his mature comeback, before he slammed the door shut and stumped away.

An hour and thousands of whines later, the two friends were sitting at Ichiraku's.

"Now that I think about it," Rei began and grimaced as she watched Naruto devour his ramen, "you almost didn't make it. What took you so long?"

The boy paused, gulped down the food and scowled.

"Sasuke," he grunted. "You see, Rei. We had just gotten the scroll we needed from some odd-looking ninjas. And we were heading towards the tower, and we knew it was the right direction because Sakura had traced a panther!"

"You mean a pattern."

"Yeah, a panther!" He nodded vigorously, and she just had to laugh. "Right. So we were there, running towards the tower — which was very far away, by the way. And suddenly, Sasuke said, 'we would have already arrived had Naruto not stopped'. But Rei, I really couldn't hold it anymore. I had to pee!"

Rei snorted, unable to believe her ears.

"Let me guess," she piped in. "You jumped down his throat."

Evidently, the boy didn't understand the metaphor, for he pulled a face and turned pale.

"That would've been so disgusting." He grimaced, then shook her comment off and added, "He got angry at my wise words, and we started fighting. Sakura also hit me on the head, but it wasn't her fault — I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

I don't even know where to start with him: by calling off his so wise words, or insulting him for defending pinkie for hitting him.

In the end, Rei resigned to saying nothing; it would have been pointless, anyway.

"So by the time Sasuke stopped arguing with me... we got lost."

"I see," she trailed; she really didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Also, Sakura got a haircut."

"I couldn't care less."

Naruto pouted, but then shrugged it off and continued eating his delicious ramen. "Oh! But, what about you? When did you finish the exam?"

"A couple of days ago," she replied in an aloof voice that gave away the impression she wasn't really into the conversation.

He hummed and frowned; the image of Rei sleeping on his bed, stating her exhaustion didn't make sense anymore. "And how come you're so tired?"

Sighing, Rei placed the chopsticks on the table and pushed the empty bowl away.

"I've been training, but haven't made any progress," she admitted; her voice held a defeated hint. "I even asked Tora-sensei to help me improve — she was the one who told me about my abilities —, but she almost spat at me for not taking a day off. Said I was trying too hard."

They fell silent then, neither dared to express their opinion any further. Fortunately, the awkward silence was broken by a loud, familiar voice calling for her. Rei rounded on the stool and couldn't fight off the smile that formed on her lips at the sight of the Inuzuka boy approaching her with a wide grin on his face.

"It's been a while, Kiba," she greeted, and he chuckled before casually throwing an arm over her shoulders.

"It sure has!" he exclaimed. "How have you been? I trust you passed the second phase with flying colours?"

A smirk of feigned arrogance formed on her lips as Rei shrugged nonchalantly. "Of course."

"Oi, Kiba!" Naruto chimed in. "What are you doing here?!"

Kiba narrowed his eyes at him and retorted, "What are you doing here?"

"I live here!"

"What, in the street?"

Rolling her eyes, Rei detached herself from the boys and decided to leave them to their fights. She was not in the mood to be dealing with their childish argument, and they were so immersed in it that she was certain they wouldn't notice her absence.

--

It was late in the afternoon by the time Temari's patience reached its limit and she decided to leave her idiot-for-a brother screaming his frustration away. Ever since they had made it back from the Forest of Death after spending just one day in it, the puppeteer had been in a bad mood and taken his aggravation out on her. As the irascible woman she was, it was truly an accomplishment to have endured such situation for so many days.

Her lips were pursed into a snarl, her green eyes sparkled in utter vexation; she could almost feel her blood boiling, calling for a fight to push the anger out of her body.

Walking down one of the main streets of Konoha, Temari was tempted to blow her fan at some children who dared to look at her. But the rational side of her mind — the weighty one, thankfully — stopped her from making a mess; she couldn't let her emotions drag her down.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance and glared at them instead, and they went back to their card games without sparing the mysterious woman another glance.

In a place as ebullient as that village, Temari stood out; a dangerous, lonely aura surrounded her and kept the priers away. She was a proud — sometimes even arrogant — shinobi, but a strong one nonetheless. Under normal circumstances, she would rarely be approached by those she crossed paths with.

So it was safe to believe that the frightening expression darkening her face would only decrease said probabilities.

Silence was her best friend at times like that; she truly adored its company. As she found herself in the middle of a large field, Temari was glad to see no one was there to break her deserved moment of peace.

Night had finally fallen upon the village, carrying a soft breeze that was much appreciated by the genin of Suna. Gently, it blew over the leaves and tall grass that surrounded her and caressed her face in a soothing way. She breathed out, then in.

A peaceful sensation spread throughout her body and made her troubled thoughts melt away. Truth be told, it had taken her by surprise to stumble upon such a quiet place.

Even loud villages need a break sometimes, I guess, she thought with a small smirk.

"Didn't expect to find you here."

At once, her muscles tensed and she looked up towards the owner of the familiar voice. Her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of her childhood friend casually sitting on the branch of a thick tree.

Rei stared down at her, orange gaze almost intimidating. Then, she closed her eyes and lay down — as if she was getting ready to take a nap.

"Have you been following me?" Temari barked in annoyance, but she received a snort in return.

"No offense, but you're not that interesting."

Temari was taken aback by her bluntness, by her sudden uncaring demeanour.

"Don't mind me," Rei kept on, yawning afterwards. "You can keep enjoying the view."

Her eyebrows furrowed at that as the older girl noticed the mocking hint in her bored voice. She gripped the huge fan she carried on her back in her hand. "Actually, you came at the right time."

"I've been here for hours."

Her teeth gritted in annoyance, but Temari decided to ignore her remark and sank her fan in the grassy ground. "Fight me."

At the unexpected demand, Rei glanced down at her from the corner of her eye. Shock was written all over her face as she seemed to consider her suggestion... before she yawned again.

"I'll pass," she uttered. 

Unable to suppress her intense emotions anymore, and ignoring the wise voice in her head telling her not to do something reckless, the blond swiftly took her fan and swung it towards the careless girl. The reaction was immediate, too fast for someone about to fall into slumber. Rei was suddenly on her feet and cutting the vortex in two with her bare arm.

Both shinobi regarded one another with frowning expressions, confused because of different reasons. While Temari was having a hard time accepting the fact that her attack had been dissipated so effortlessly, Rei couldn't believe her arm had been damaged by wind — something she was supposed to be immune against. 

However, before either of them could express their astonishment, someone spoke from underneath the branch on which Rei was still perched.

"Temari, stop making a fool out of yourself."

Moonlight shone upon his face as he stepped out of the shade provided by the deep woods. His feet made no sound as he moved, arms crossed in his signature posture. As he drifted his attention towards her and his aquamarine gaze stared her down, Rei felt something she hadn't experienced in years: pure and utter fright. Something about him seemed unnatural — inhuman, even.

His pale face held no expression whatsoever; his eyes were emotionless and unblinking. But she knew she hadn't imagined it: the wicked glint crossing them in the span of a second; an unmistakable desire to slaughter her, to see her blood taint the grass.

For a fleeting moment, she had feared for her life but had been unable to move; her hands felt numb, her heart beat at an alarming pace. Her muscles were tense, however; her primal instincts were wide awake and ready for her to fight or flee.

But then, Gaara turned around and glared at his sister. "Don't get in my way ever again."

His lips twitched slightly then, and Temari took a subconscious step back as they tugged into an unfamiliar, sinister grin. Without sparing a second glance at Rei, he began to walk away.

Before his body was engulfed by darkness, however, his menacing voice gifted Rei with one last surprise.

"She's mine to kill."