Book One: Captured Kunoichi

Book One: Captured Kunoichi

Chapter 3:
Fright

Whoot! Check out this Chapter, for we get to take a quick? peak at Temari’s past. : 3

Itachi had been acting quite weird, Temari decided. Almost every day, he would try to make a deal with her. She never agreed to anything, which, to put it quite frankly, pissed him off. Itachi never really hit her, but she had some noticeable bruiseson her wrists because he would squeeze the joints and they would glare at each other for quite some time.

One night though. . . the Uchiha had come in trying a different approach. The tension became very palpable once he entered the room. Temari stood up, but just as quickly backed away.

“Temari.” she heard Itachi say in a very low voice. He sounded like he was talking to a child who had just misbehaved. He moved closer. “Let me ask you a question. Mind you it’s somewhat personal.”

Temari scoffed at him. Did he really expect her to answer a ‘personal’ question for him? There was definitely something wrong with the Uchiha.

It all happened so fast. Temari felt herself backed up against the wall, Itachi standing over her. “Now tell me, what is it you fear most?”

This sent Temari into deep thought. What was she afraid of? Oh, she clearly knew the answer to that. . . but the Uchiha was never to find out.

“I’ll never tell you.” he said under her breath, avoiding all eye contact.

“So. . . there is something you’re afraid of.” Shit. She could feel his smirk. Well, she had to give the Uchiha some credit, he had already gotten her to blab about something and it had been, what? Five seconds?

“I won’t tell. You’re. . . you’re not allowed to know!” Temari felt like she was a toddler trying to lie to their parent. She even put her hands to her ears. She heard it again. . . that voice! That monster’s voice!

“Oh, I’m not, am I? And what makes you so sure I won’t figure it out.” Itachi spoke, but noticed she clearly wasn’t listening. Her body was shaking, and her hands were on her ears. Yes. She was definitely thinking about the thing that scared her most. This was starting to become a problem. If she was thinking about it, then she’d be sitting here in this position all night and he’d never know.

On the other hand. . . it was quite fun to watch her break down. Soon, Itachi noticed tears leaking from her eyes. Muffled sobs could be heard and every once in a while, she hiccupped. “He’d never let it out now. . . he would never let it out now!”

Itachi pondered. Who’d never let what out? Then it hit him. He was certain it had something to do with Gaara. Itachi spoke in a comforting voice. “Who would never let what out, Temari?”

Temari didn’t answer him, but spoke to herself as though he weren’t there. “No, Gaara. Please. . . stop. . .”

Now it was obvious. . . Temari still feared Shukaku. Wonderful. “Tell me what Gaara did.” Itachi requested.

“I-I’ve never seen him like this. Stop it!” The Uchiha loved watching Temari break down. It was pretty new to him, seeing as how she always stood her ground when he came in.

Itachi could feel her breathing on his collarbone. It was very unsteady. Still, he moved ever closer. “What is it. What is Gaara doing? Tell me.”

Temari shook her head, seemingly oblivious to the information she had just leaked to him. Itachi was getting tired of this, for he wanted to know the story now. Firmly, he gripped her wrists and pulled them away from her ears. “Is it Shukaku?”

Finally, without answering his question, Temari opened her eyes, but did not make eye contact. She stared at the Uchiha’s feet. The tears had stopped, but the trembling had not. “He wouldn’t stop.” was all Temari said.

“What was he doing?” Itachi asked, trying not to sound forceful.

“We. . . we were on a B-Rank mission. Gaara was around nine. Kankuro, eleven, and I had just turned thirteen. The enemy, the masked marauder was stronger than we had thought and Kankuro and I didn’t stand a chance. I could see Gaara smirking, and his body started to shake. The marauder realized who he was up against and panicked. . . Gaara licked his lips when he saw the fear in the enemy’s eyes. The sand. . . the sand slowly started to seep out of his gourd like snakes. Next thing I knew, he and the Marauder were battling while Kankuro and I watched from the sidelines.” Temari stopped speaking.

The Uchiha’s grip on her wrists had loosened quite a bit. “Yes, go on. What happened to Gaara?”

“He. . . he didn’t get hurt at all but. . . Kankuro and I knew what was happening. His body started to shape shift and the next thing I knew. . . half of his face didn’t belong to him. He had allowed Shukaku to possess the right side of his body. After that he. . .”

Temari paused for a moment. Though she probably would have stopped talking if Itachi hadn’t urged her to finish the story.

“The marauder was easily defeated. I saw Gaara. . . covered in blood. But that blood wasn’t his. Kankuro was staring at the tree and I was looking at Gaara in fear. Like he wasn’t my little brother anymore. So. . . he smirked at me and said ‘What’s the matter, Temari? You don’t like me this way?’. And then. . .no!” Her eyes closed once more.

“Go on, Temari. What happened?”

Itachi heard a loud sniff before she continued. “He made me hug him. And the next thing I knew, his possessed arm grabbed my arm! I fell on my knees and I could feel sand all over me. Especially. . . on my neck. I could feel Shukaku’s claws there just. . . fingering my neck.” Temari continued, her voice gradually adding disgust to the fear. “And he told me, ‘This is how I am, Temari. I’m a monster.’ And I couldn’t look at him. I asked Gaara to stop, so he pushed me off the tree. I was lucky enough to land on my feet in another one, but he jumped down and we made eye contact. He had a twisted smirk on his face and Shukaku’s arm reached out to touch me. I don’t know. . . what he would have done, but Baki showed up and managed to calm him down.”

“Is that all?” Itachi asked

“He was like that during the Chuunin exams, too. But he pushed me away and went after. . .” she looked up at Itachi’s face, realizing what an awkward moment she had just created. "He went after somebody else, instead.”

Luckily, she noticed that the Uchiha didn’t care about who Gaara went after. She looked down to his feet once again and realized:

She had just told the man she hated most what she feared more than anything.

She heard it; Itachi’s mocking voice caught her attention. “Oh, Temari.”

Reluctantly, she looked up. “What.” her voice was frigid again as she made eye contact.

“Tonight. . . you lose.”

Temari saw the unmistakable Mangekyou Sharingan.

The Konoha Gang

“Ew, EW!!! Get it off me!” Ino yelled swatting a few beetles on her arm. “Shino, can’t you keep those things to yourself?”

“They won’t hurt you.” Shino stated

Ino shook her head a bit. “Still, I would feel a lot better if you didn’t plant bugs on me.” she shuddered, “I can’t stand that tickley feeling.” She walked ahead of him for a bit.

Shino caught up and put an arm in front of her. “Don’t move.” he said, “We’re about to be ambushed.”

Ino shrieked inside. Who could possibly ambush them out here?

Gaara and Kankuro

Before Gaara and Kankuro had even left the village, a Konoha jounin had stopped them, and convinced Gaara to return to his office. Apparently, Tsunade sent her to keep watch over him to make sure he do anything rash.

“Um... hey little bro, you want some tea?” Kankuro offered.

Gaara didn’t respond. Kankuro took his deadly silence as a ‘No’.

Kankuro looked over at the Konoha girl. “So. . . you’re a jounin? You a little, well. . . little.” he pointed out her height. She couldn’t have even reach 5"3'.

Her face turned bright red, but not from embarrassment. “It’s a family curse! Just like these stupid eyes!” she pointed at her eyes, which were a bright pink.

Gaara looked out the window. If this girl didn’t leave soon he could probably just kill her. She was a nuisance anyway. All he wanted to do was find Temari. Was that too much to ask?

“Gaara-sama, the village is being attacked!” he heard Konoha’s jounin yell.

“What?” he ran outside to find a strange blonde man attacking Suna.

Temari and Itachi

The Uchiha was right: Temari had lost. So this was why he asked her what she feared most. And as long as he had the knowledge, he was free to taunt her with the Mangekyou Sharingan. Temari felt shorter. She looked down to find that she was thirteen again.

Uh oh. Gaara had defeated the marauder and he was making his way toward Temari and Kankuro, half of his body possessed by Shukaku. Temari’s face twisted in disgust unintentionally, while Kankuro turned his head toward the tree trunk. As soon as Gaara saw Temari’s face, he smirked, drool pouring from his mouth.

“What’s the matter, Temari? Don’t like what you see?” he mocked, letting out a chuckle. The Shukaku arm reached up to grab her, but Temari backed away. “Aw, Temari, your little brother just wants a hug. Don’t you want to give me a hug?” he taunted

Temari felt herself shaking uncontrollably. Before she knew it, Gaara’s possessed arm pulled her down to her knees and her head was pressed against his chest. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

“G-Gaara. Please. . . Please stop.” This was it. When Shukaku’s claws were running across her neck. The sand crawled up her thirteen year old body.

“Temari!” she heard Kankuro scream as he reached out to assist her.

Gaara pointed his human finger at Kankuro. “Don’t you dare try to help her! I’ll kill you!” Kankuro was hesitant, but he backed off, giving Temari a desperate look.

Temari winced as she felt drool on the top of her head. It was coming. . .

“This is how I am Temari.” there it was, “I’m a monster.”

Temari couldn’t take it anymore. “Oh, God, Gaara, just stop, please!” she yelled at him, immediately fearing her consequence.

“How dare you order me around!” Gaara’s Shukaku arm pushed her off the thick branch, but luckily, Temari reacted in time, using her chakra to cling to another tree branch. She looked up to see Gaara, who had now pinned eleven-year-old Kankuro up against the tree with his Shukaku arm. Tears rolled down her face as she watched him struggle for breath.

“Put him down!” Temari ordered. She slapped her hands to her mouth, but it was too late. Gaara had already jumped from his branch, and was now face-to-face with Temari, thanks to his Shukaku tail.

“I’m sorry, what was that? Did you just tell me what to do?” Gaara wasn’t smirking anymore. He was merely pissed off.

Temari noticed a figure behind Gaara. The smirking Uchiha bastard. He was enjoying this!

No matter. Baki would come any second and calm Gaara, who would then walk away like nothing happened. But there was just one problem with this:

Baki wasn’t showing up. And Gaara had now had her ensnared within his possessed hand. She was trapped against the tree by her neck. “Aren’t you going to answer me, Temari? Did you just tell me what to do?”

“Unnh. . .” Temari couldn’t answer, but she shook her head.

“Oh I think you did. Now tell me. . .” his grip grew more painful as he squeezed harder, “Did you really think I would listen to you? Just because you’re older? I’m afraid that’s not the way it works.”

Gaara, you’re not a monster! Temari thought. But somehow, her voice couldn’t say it, and not because Gaara was seconds away from choking her.

“Why don’t you look up, Temari? Why don’t you take a nice, long look.”

Kankuro was dead. His throat had obviously suffered a Sand Coffin attack. His body was collapsed on the tree trunk and Temari sobbed when she saw his dilated pupils.

She couldn’t take this anymore. She screamed. Temari’s throat hurt with intense pain, but she didn’t care. Kankuro was dead.

She blinked hard, and suddenly she was back in the normal world. It had been, yes, a second. She glared at Itachi. “You bastard!” she threw a punch at him, but he easily dodged it and had her pinned to the ground.

“Did you enjoy that? Living out your worst fear once again?” he was mocking her again. Temari flailed so much it hurt.

“Shut up! I’ll kill you!” she screamed at him.

“Ah, yes, I know somebody else who says that whenever he sees me. The two of you have quite a lot in common.”

“Please. . . let me go.” Temari begged.

“Are you willing to make a deal with me?” Itachi asked

“Never!”

“Then I can’t get off of you just yet. In fact, I could stay like this all night. What’s say we keep each other company?” his voice teased her to no end and she was getting sick of it.

“I said get off! Now move your ass or I’ll kill you!” Temari wiggled under his foot in vain.

“If you did get the chance to kill me, would you take advantage of it?”

What? This certainly was a random, and quite obvious question for the Uchiha to ask her. “Of course I would!”

“Hmm, you’re sure you wouldn’t hesitate at all? You would just take my life away, just like that?” Itachi’s voice was quite sincere.

“I hate repeating myself.” was all Temari said.

“Then go ahead.” Itachi removed himself from Temari, allowing her to jump up and tackle him to the ground. Her body was now on top of his and her hands were around his throat but they weren’t squeezing as hard as she would have liked.

“Just as I thought.” Itachi smirked at her. “You’re doing it all wrong, by the way.”

Temari blushed furiously. Doing what all wrong? She was very confused. That is, until Itachi had turned the tables by easily flipping her over onto her and putting himself in the exact same position she was in with one difference. His elbows her painfully pressing onto her forearms. “You gave me full access to my hands. Who knows what I could have done.”

“Alright, Uchiha. What are you going to do?” Temari’s voice came out a lot more alluring then she had expected it to, but she kind of like the way it sounded.

“Well, I wasn’t going to do anything at first. But. . .” he smirked once more and his elbows loosened up, as well as his grip on her neck. Quickly, his hands were gripping her wrists once more and his knees were pressed onto hers. “Temari. . .”

Temari realized what was going on and quickly came to her senses. “Get off me!” she yelled at him.

Itachi’s head quickly turned towards the door, and in a heartbeat, he was no longer on top of her. But it wasn’t because she yelled at him (or because he wanted to for that matter). Kisame walked into the room.

“Itachi. You’ve been in here for hours. Give up on her, she’s too stubborn.” After that he simply walked away.

Before Itachi walked out Temari could have sworn she heard a ‘I’m not even close to being through with you.’ before he left.

And Temari concluded, that now was the time to worry a little bit.