Book 2: Chapter 5: I Hate Sand Part I

A/N: Heyo! (￣▽￣)/ T.K.月狐 here. I totally didn't miss yesterday's chapter. That was intended as we're catching up quite fast to where I am now. So there will only be two parts this week. Haha, not my fault blame Yukino. It took a month to finish her chapter simply because I wasn't satisfied. I'm still not completely satisfied, but who is? Though note aside, let me not stand in your way any further!

Book 2 Land of Sand

Chapter 5: I Hate Sand Part I

The next day we said goodbye to the rivers and hello to the sand. Where it took approximately 5 seconds of getting sand in my eyes for the realization to kick in that I really hated sand. It’s rough, coarse, and gets everywhere. (Sorry, I had to). Nothing but desert for as far as the eye could see without a tree in sight. Note to self: If I were to leave the Leaf Village, I’m not calling the Land of Wind my home.

“Are we there yet?” I asked, shielding my head from the beaming sun. Did I mention there’s no shade in the desert? Simply imagining if we had come just a month later, I probably would have died from a heat stroke.

“No,” Kai said, leading the group with Kasai and Sui beside him. How he knew where we were going was beyond me. It all looked the same, smelled the same, and felt the same.

“Fuck.” Tayuya muttered, calling the attention of Kurai, who was walking beside me.

“What’s wrong, cousin?”

“Don’t call me that shitter.”

“What’s wrong, Sis?” Sui called out.

“It's the sand.” Tayuya shook her flute next to her ear. “I think some of it got into my flute.”

“Wait, she gets to call you sister, but I can’t call you cousin? You’re not even from the same clan!”

“Fuck you.”

Ignoring Kurai’s teary eyes, I pointed at Tayuya’s flute. “Shouldn’t that be in a case?”

“Last time I did that, it was stolen from me.”

I scratched my cheek. “Right…”

“Two ninja useless without their tools.” Kasai sighed.

“Want to say that to my face!” Tayuya yelled as Kasai chuckled.

“Nah, I already got what I wanted.”

Now either I had sand in my ears, or Kasai just let out a genuine laugh. It was short and at Tayuya’s expense, but it was definitely a lot more chummy than he was with me.

“That’s what I thought Hyūga trash.”

“Ooo, that’s a new one.” Kasai turned around, walking backwards with a smirk. “Never thought Hyūga and trash could go together.”

“I didn’t think so either until I met you.”

“Then you should explore the village more. Need a tour guide?”

“As if. I already got Yuki.” Tayuya said, slapping me on the back.

“That’s right!” Then the realization clicked. “Did I just agree to being a tour guide?”

Hiruzen started laughing, which soon enough led to the rest of us joining in. I had no idea how we did it with all the rocky starts and the lingering grievances, but we somehow managed to laugh.

Of course, it was all a lie, or at least I thought it was because our views were so impossibly different. To the point that when we heard a cry for help. I was the only one to rush out as a girl who had to be no older than 7 cried out:

“Someone! Anyone! Help! My sister, she’s fighting—”

“Yuki wait!”

I heard Sui call my name as I passed her, my body cloaked in blue. I wasn’t going to let it happen again, not to anyone else! Yet the moment I reached her, I noticed three things. Her cyan-colored hair which reminded me of the sky. The black stars that proliferated her skin slowly trying to escape the night of her clothes, almost like—

“Gotcha!” The little girl screamed, bringing me to the last thing: the barrelling sandstorm that swept me, the girl, and the guy who seemed intent on being my most hated friend.

“You really are a joke,” Kasai muttered as a rotating barrier colored in white formed around the three of us. Sadly when the barrier went down, the rest of our team was nowhere to be found.

2

With the ensuing sandstorm outside, the three of us had no choice but to take shelter in a nearby cave. It was thanks to Kasai’s Byakugan that we even found the little safe haven, and with some use of my earth style, the entrance was no longer flooding with sand as I walled a part of it off.

There I stared at the little girl as I laid her down in an open spot. She was unconscious, her breathing ragged, yet even with the cave lit up thanks to our torches, I couldn’t see the stars on her body. They were gone. Confirming my suspicion, but I didn’t show my surprise, not when a fox was waiting, watching for a single opening. Damn it, why did it have to be him.

“I don’t suppose you know any medical ninjutsu?” I said, trying to make conversation as Kasai simply stared past me.

“Enough to treat myself, not others.”

“Wow, that’s selfish. What about your team?”

Kasai crossed his arms. “What’s selfish is leading us to a trap, loser.”

“You know that’s the second time you’ve called me a loser.”

“Yeah, and you’ve lost to me twice now.”

I let out a sigh and took the scroll off my back, hoping for a section with medical ninjutsu. When I found it, I selectively glossed over the part where Hiruzen states that it takes mastery over anatomy, it’s extremely dangerous, and should only be used once confidence has been established using an actual medical textbook. Yeah, I didn’t have years. I doubt I had a day as the little girl’s body felt hot when I held her. Thankfully the scroll did outline some basic medical treatments and diagnoses, none of which involved the use of hand seals or chakra.

I lifted my headband and placed one hand on my forehead and the other on the little girl’s. She was definitely running a fever, at the very least. Holding her hand, I felt it tremble. I clicked my tongue before lowering my ear to her chest. Like a set of overused drums, her heart was beating fast, and paired with harsh breaths, I felt the world slow down.

The chills kept me calm, focused on the task at hand as I quickly went through our survival packs. For once, I was happy that Kai was such a stick in the mud during the mission because I found a small hand towel and a couple of water bottles in our packed bags. Dousing the towel, I placed it on her forehead, ignoring the grunt I heard from Kasai. Then I opened the top of her blouse, which for some reason, she wore a chain mesh underneath it. Tch! Not even I left the village for missions this young.

I pulled out my kunai and sliced it open, where I immediately noticed her breathing improve simply because she coughed. I had tried to cover her with my body, but I guessed she still breathed in quite a bit of sand. I probably could have cleared out her airwaves using wind style, but that would most likely make things worse. I just wasn’t good enough at controlling it. If I had an x-ray, I could try to be more accurate, but with one look at Kasai, he wasn’t going to help me. In fact, he even asked:

“Are you done saving the enemy, again?”

“She’s a child.” I pointed out.

“Orochimaru’s child.” He pointed out.

“How’d you—”

“You think I can’t tell the difference between a normal chakra network and one that’s being influenced by a Curse Mark.”

“So what? I thought you guys were all buddy-buddy anyway.”

Kasai shrugged his shoulders. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and right now she’s not my friend. She was clearly here to separate us.”

“Forced to separate us,” I added.

“Does it matter?”

“It should.”

I turned my back on Kasai and checked on the little girl again, still in the same state. Feeling her pulse, I noticed that the trembling had slowed down. My shoulders sagged as I felt relieved. I don’t think I could ever be a medical ninja. It was way too stressful. Especially when you were powerless to do anything but watch and hope.

“So, did that scroll teach you how to do that?” Kasai asked, crouching down to look at my training scroll, which was already rolled up.

“Yeah. Some of it was from experience with Sasuke, but most of it was thanks to the scroll.” I said, giving the scroll a pat for a job well done. “Besides the obvious sand issue, I think she has Acute Chakra Exhaustion. Judging by the symptoms.”

“I could have told you that.”

“Then why didn’t you.”

“Because saving her now won’t change the end result.”

“And how do you know that?”

Kasai chuckled almost as if it didn’t surprise him that he knew something that I didn’t. “Have you ever heard of destiny?”

“You believe in that stuff?” I said with a chuckle of my own.

“It’s not about belief.” Kasai shook his head. “It just is. Some are born unlucky like her. Simply fated to die. Others are like you where they’re lucky to be alive.”

“Very funny, and let me guess, you’re destined for greatness.”

Kasai smirked. “How’d you know.”

“Sorry, but I couldn’t care less about things like fate or destiny. If I did, it would mean I have control over nothing.” And I simply couldn’t live that way. Knowing that my clan was meant to die.

“That right there is the difference between you and I. The power to control. The power to dictate what happens. You Uchiha only see the world that way because you were born with everything, yet all you have to show for it is death.”

I sighed as I could have fought him over it. Tell him that it wasn’t true. That the Uchiha were more than death and destruction, but I was so sick of fighting him. It wasn’t any fun fighting a comrade, especially when it was Sui’s brother. Knowing her, she probably dreams of the day we get along, so all I wanted to do was try to understand him.

“Is that why you don’t want me around your sister?”

Kasai stared at me, and it was the first time I noticed how much he resembled Sui simply due to his mismatched colored eyes. One white, the other red. “Yes, because it’s how I know she’ll—”

“Die!”

We both tilted our heads out of the way of the lunging strike from the little girl watching as she ate the dirt from the miss. Both of our eyes were red, so there wasn’t a chance in the world she’d catch us off guard.

“See what I mean. No point in saving her when I’m simply going to do this.” Kasai threw a kunai at the little girl, who was still dazed from her “surprise attack.” And it would have killed her too if I didn’t stand in front of the little girl deflecting the blade with my own kunai.

I raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“She tried to kill me.”

“With what? Her bare hands?”

“It’s all about the intent.” Kasai shrugged. “Besides thanks to you, she has a weapon now.”

The little girl once again lunged forward, this time using a kunai to stab me in the back, yet instead, she hit a rock. Or more specifically, I used a simple Substitution Jutsu and replaced myself with a rock causing the kunai to clang off it, flying out of her grip.

“Wow, don’t tell me that actually worked.” Kasai’s eyes were wide as I’m sure he saw me move. The Substitution Jutsu was only used against really weak opponents comparatively, of course. So to the little girl, I was sure she saw me just turn into a rock, while to Kasai, he saw me run away, pick up the rock, then place it where I was only to run away again. It was a fairly disrespectful technique that teachers used in the academy all the time to mess with us.

“I told you she’s just a kid.”

“Yeah, but it still doesn’t change the fact she is trying to kill us,” Kasai said, pointing at the little girl who began to do hand signs.

“Onee-chan… I know I shouldn’t use this, but….” The little girl stared at us with teary eyes as black stars started to cover her body. Then she touched the ground, her Jutsu complete. “Wind Style: Sand Burial—”

I appeared in front of the little girl and flicked her forehead. It wasn’t hard enough to send her flying and certainly not enough to leave a mark. Just enough for her to say ouch, break her concentration, and thankfully nullify her Jutsu.

“That hurt!” The little girl cried out, rubbing her forehead.

I crouched down to her eye level and tilted my head. “Does it now?”

“Yes…”

“Well, imagine if you went through with that technique, you could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

“I know… but-but-I’ll do anything to save my sister!”

Looking at the little girl’s resolve, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Sorry for myself. From how Tayuya described it, the Curse Mark would kill me, so for this girl to have one and still talk, still be willing to fight through that pain. The bond she shares with her older sister must have been great. So great that I couldn’t help but place my hand on her head as my eyes lost their red gaze.

“I get it. Trust me, I do. But what will your sister do if you’re dead? Would she even be happy?”

“No…”

“Exactly, so relax and put this on,” I said, handing her one of my spare shirts as she really wasn’t supposed to do all that moving around after I damaged her clothes.

“Why do I….” As the realization kicked in, her face became red, and the stars on her body receded towards her back. “Onii-chan, you pervert!”

Kasai scratched his head. “Onii-chan?”

“Pervert—wait, not the face!”