Naruto (Kira's Story)

New Chapter! Do enjoy! ^^

***Oh Shit!***

She ran in a burst of speed and arrived by his side in a second, startling the people grouped around him already. She knelt down beside him and gently turned him over. His onyx eye was unfocused causing Kira to narrow her own eyes. She looked him over quickly and found no injuries other than a cut on one of his hands.
“What happened?” she asked the others.
They looked between each other and shrugged.
“We don’t know,” Sakura stated sadly.
“He fought Zabuza and then that kid showed up. He killed Zabuza and carried off his body. Then he just fell over,” Naruto stated angrily.
“So, a kid showed up, killed Zabuza, and carried off the body. And then Kakashi just fell over?” she asked for confirmation.
“Yup,” Naruto answered.
“Hmm,” she thought. “It sounds like he just used the Sharingan too much.”
“HUH? THERE’S A TIME LIMIT ON THAT THING?!!” Naruto yelled.
Kira cringed as he was yelling in her ear. She started to lift a hand to rub it but stopped herself just in time.
“Yes. Even an Uchiha will have limits until he completely masters every aspect of it. When he does, he will be able to use it practically limitlessly, though not entirely. For everyone else, it exerts a great strain on the body and mind and thus can only be used for short periods of time. Is that right Sasuke?”
He stared at her in shock. No one outside the Uchiha clan was supposed to know that information. He nodded.
“He’ll be fine after some rest, but he’ll have to take it easy for a while,” she reassured the others. “Well, we should take him to your house, Mr. Tazuna. We need to finish the mission anyway even if our sensei is unable to assist us.”
They nodded and readied their equipment quickly. Kira and Sakura speedily built a makeshift stretcher and placed Kakashi on it with the help of Tazuna. When Naruto and Sasuke returned, Kira grabbed their packs from them and told them to take one end of the stretcher. They looked ready to argue until they saw her glare and reluctantly picked up the stretcher between them. Kira nodded in satisfaction before handing one of the boy’s packs to Sakura. She glared before noticing Kira swing the other one onto her own shoulders. Determined not to be outdone once again by the newcomer, she put on the extra bag without a complaint. Mr. Tazuna grabbed Kakashi’s pack without Kira saying anything, for which she was grateful.
Preparations taken care of, they took off down the path after Tazuna. They moved swiftly and silently, stealthily jogging through the wooded trail. After no more than a few minutes, Tazuna told them that they were halfway there. They nodded back in reply, happy that they would be able to relax soon.
Kira kept her senses open for enemies and was relieved that she sensed none as the house came into sight. It was on the waterfront with a dock built into it. The whole house was practically built on top of the water. She grimaced at having to live so close to her hated element as long as she was on this mission. A cool wind blew across her face with the scent of fresh rain and she groaned aloud.
“What’s wrong, Kira?” Sakura asked her, concerned.
“Nothing. It’s just going to rain,” she replied gloomily.
The others looked up and noticed the cloud covered sky. Without a word, they all increased their pace until they were practically running. Their feet thumped up the wooden walkway with Tazuna in the lead. He slid open the door and entered first after removing his shoes.
“I’m hoooome,” he yelled joyously.
A young woman in her late twenties ran out of the kitchen and happily enfolded him in a hug with tears in her eyes. He dropped Kakashi’s pack and wrapped his arms around her in turn. Kira took this opportunity to silently close the door behind them.

When the woman and Tazuna separated from their reunion, she noticed the young ninja standing behind him.
“Father, who are they?” she questioned, looked between the genin and the bridge builder. “You didn’t!” she exclaimed. “How could you hire them? They’re just kids and we can’t possibly afford to pay them,” she scolded the older man.
“Don’t worry about it,” Kira spoke from the back with a blank face, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “He paid for an escort of ‘C’ rank: a relatively cheap expense. You should have no trouble.”
“But…” she stuttered. “That couldn’t possibly…..You don’t…..”
“We know exactly what’s going on. We will continue with our mission regardless,” she told her emotionlessly. “Now, if you don’t mind, we’d like a place to put our sensei,” she told the woman, gesturing to Kakashi on the stretcher.
“Oh my, what happened?” she gasped, noticing him for the first time.
“We had a run in with a powerful ninja-for-hire on the way here. He’ll be fine after some rest.”
She nodded and gave Tazuna a very pointed look that spoke volumes. He smiled disarmingly and shrugged. She ‘hmphed’ in return, passing by him without a word, and leading the four genin to a spare bedroom where they placed Kakashi in a warm futon.
“We don’t have many spare rooms. I’m afraid that you will have to share.”
Kira nodded and the others gave various other forms of affirmation while following her down the hallway.
“Oh, by the way, my name is Tsunami. I’m Tazuna’s daughter.”
“My name’s Uzumaki Naruto and I’m destined to become the next Hokage!”
“Hmpf,” Sasuke scoffed in disbelief. “Uchiha Sasuke.”
Kira glared at him. He would introduce himself to a random woman but not to her.
“I’m Haruno Sakura,” she said politely.
“…..Kira,” she said after a slight pause. “This is my partner, Miko,” she added gesturing to the cat on her shoulders.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all, but aren’t you a little young to be ninja?” she asked stopping next to a door.
“Are you kidding?!” yelled Naruto.
“Of course not,” Sakura said a little more maturely.
Kira and Sasuke remained silent.
“Here’s one room. The boys can have this one,” she said and opened the door on her right.
They nodded and entered the room with glares at each other after grabbing their bags from the girls.
“That wasn’t the smartest idea,” Kira sighed.
“Hm?” Sakura and Tsunami asked.
“They hate each other,” she replied, emotionless once again.
“Oh, will they be alright?”
Kira shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”
With one more worried look, Tsunami lead the girls further down the hallway. She stopped at a door on her left and opened it.
“This is the last spare bedroom,” she explained.
“Thank you,” Kira said simply, walking into the room without a pause.
She ignored the actions of Sakura and Tsunami and set her bag and weapons by the futon against the window in the plain room. Without a word, she sat on the floor and leaned against the wall. She stared out the window, lost in thought and unaware of the world around her for a short time as she watched the rain fall down. She was snapped out of it by Sakura calling her name.
“Earth to Kira! Is anybody home?”
She turned to look at her. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m going to go check on Kakashi, you coming?”
“No, he won’t wake up until tomorrow at the earliest,” she replied, turning back to the window.
“How do you know?” she challenged.
“Because I’ve seen it before,” Kira said indifferently.
“Oh. Where?” she asked curiously.
“Somewhere far from here,” Kira replied cryptically.
“Then when?” she tried again to get some information from her.
“A long time ago,” she replied somewhat sadly.
“That doesn’t tell me anything!” she said in annoyance. “At least tell me who!”
“I’m going to sleep,” Kira told her, ignoring the question completely, and climbed into her futon.
She was asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow. Sakura huffed in exasperation before walking out of the room. Miko watched her go. When she was gone, he looked at the sleeping face of his sister and remembered a time not too long ago when that person had still been alive.
{With Sakura}
She fumed as she walked. Eventually her anger dissipated and was replaced with curiosity. Why didn’t she want to talk about her experiences? For that matter, why wouldn’t she tell them her real name? How come she didn’t want them to know who she was? And how did she know so much about the Sharingan: a secret held tightly by the Uchiha clan? Nothing about her added up.
“I wonder what happened to her family,” she wondered aloud.
“What’s that, Sakura?” a loud voice behind her said suddenly.
“Ack!” she yelled, jumping in surprise. “Oh, Naruto it’s just you,” she said relieved. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!” she screamed at him suddenly.
He ducked. “Sorry!”
She sighed. “Just don’t do it again.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, just thinking about Kira. Nothing makes sense about her.”
“Huh?” he asked, clueless.
She sweatdropped. “Don’t you pay attention to anything?”
“’Course, but what’s that got to do with Kira?” he asked with folded arms and tilted head.
“Haven’t you noticed that even though we’ve been traveling with her for three days, we know almost nothing about her?”
Naruto just stared at her dumbly and she sighed again.
“For one thing, we don’t know who she is. She calls herself Kira, but that’s obviously not her real name. We know that she’s a skilled ninja, but not as good as Sasuke,” she added quickly with a dreamy sigh. “But we don’t know what clan style or special abilities she might have.”
Naruto looked like he was deep in thought, hanging onto her every word and nodding constantly.
“She obviously knows the Hokage pretty well, but she won’t tell us anything about it. She also has a lot of knowledge about techniques and ninja from many different places which, again, she won’t explain.” She paused to take a breath before continuing. Something also happened to her family or clan because she said she was recently orphaned, but I can’t get her to open up about it. Now do you understand?”
He continued to nod.
“You don’t have a clue do you?” she asked with a sweatdrop.
“Of course I do!” he cried indignantly.
“Then explain,” she urged him.
He immediately started stuttering, obviously having not followed a single part of her explanation.
“She’s a complete mystery,” she said simply, crossing her arms in annoyance.
“Why didn’t you say so at the beginning?” he asked.
“I did, stupid!” she yelled an irk mark appearing on her forehead.
“Oh,” he said dumbly.
“Dunce,” came the smooth tones of Sasuke.
“Oh, Sasuke,” she gasped. “I didn’t see you there.”
{With Sasuke}
He grunted in response to Sakura’s statement. He wasn’t surprised in the slightest that she hadn’t seen him.
“You’re blocking the hallway,” he said emotionlessly.
“Oh, sorry,” she apologized sweetly. “Naruto! Get out of Sasuke’s way!” she yelled angrily at the blonde.
He narrowed his eyes in annoyance. He found the both of them irritating, especially together. Sakura was always hanging all over him and Naruto was just a pain that was always in the way.
“How long have you been waiting Sasuke?” she asked him, preventing a quick escape.
“Long enough to hear most of your rather loud conversation,” he said back, slightly irritated.
“Well what do you think, Sasuke?” she asked.
“About Kira?”
She nodded.
“Leave her alone. She’ll tell us when she’s ready, not before.”
With that, he walked away, deep in thought about a certain red and black clad kunoichi no matter what he’d said.
{With Kira}
Dawn light filtered through the window and Kira opened her eyes, refreshed from her long sleep. Light snoring next to her, caught her attention and she turned her head to see Sakura in the futon next to her. As she watched, Sakura muttered ‘Sasuke’ in her sleep and began to drool onto her pillow. Kira grimaced in disgust and got up.
“Gross,” she whispered.
She noticed Miko next to her and smiled before quietly getting out of bed and wrapping the blankets around his sleeping figure.
‘I will get your body back, big brother. Somehow,’ she vowed silently.
Then, careful not to make a sound or let Sakura wake up and see anything she shouldn’t, she changed her clothes. Now in a clean version of her fighting outfit, she opened the door and left the room, closing the door again behind her without a sound. She walked confidently down the hallway, her bare feet making no sound on the wooden floor. She listened to the deep breathing from each room and determined that she was the only one awake.
Without a second thought, she opened one of the side doors and walked onto the dock. She just stood there for a bit, letting the soft sweet-smelling breeze soothe her frayed nerves from the past few weeks. The water was beautiful she had to admit, as the dawn sun glowed on the small waves in multicolored splotches that moved in an entrancing dance. It was enough to almost cure her of her hatred of water. Almost.
She walked to the end and sat down, letting her feet dangle over the edge to dab her toes daintily in the surface. She didn’t mind water this way. She was safe on dry ‘land’ and she controlled how much it touched her. Eventually she let her legs submerge in the calm surf to mid-shin. She rested her hands on the wooden planks beside her legs and stared, spellbound, into the sunlit depths of the ocean below her feet, allowing her thoughts to take over and sweep her away from reality.
It was much brighter when she came back from the places her thoughts had swept her. The sun had moved to midmorning position in the sky and the ocean was a clear sparkling blue. She looked up at the house to the right and behind her. The noisy voices of Naruto and Sakura reached her clearly from her far away position. She sighed, wanting more time for herself and lay back on the dock to stare at the sparse white clouds that floated lazily by on the air current. She squinted as the sun shone directly into her eyes and sat up, pulling her legs out of the ocean. Somehow, they had managed to keep from getting pruney despite their long stay in the water. She turned so she was lying on her stomach and rested the side of her face on one of her forearms. The other hand, she allowed to dangle over the end of the dock and lightly trace patterns on the relatively smooth surface of the water. She watched, fascinated, as the ripples spread from her gentle touch, the voices fading from her mind.
The loud thumping of feet on the wooden beams cast her violently from her thoughts and, had she been less disciplined, she might have jumped in surprise. Instead, she lay as if she hadn’t heard and continued to trace patterns with her fingertips. Whoever was behind her panted for breath before moving closer at a slower pace.
“There you are, Kira!” the loud voice of Naruto yelled. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
“I’ve been right here since dawn,” she calmly replied, not looking up from the water.
“Huh?”
She could almost see his mouth drop without turning to look. Eventually, he shook off his shock.
“Why are you out here?” he asked looking around.
“To think.”
“About what?” he questioned, squatting down beside her.
“My past,” she answered honestly, still staring at the ripples.
“How come?” he asked, tilting his head to the side like an animal.
“Because….” She trailed off, unwilling to talk about it.
“NARUTO!” screeched a female voice.
Naruto turned around so fast he lost his balance and fell into the water with a splash. Kira vanished from her spot in an instant to avoid the droplets of water sent her way from his fall. As soon as the water hit the dock, she returned to stand in the spot she had previously been laying. She watched as Naruto sputtered to the surface and turned to glare at Sakura. He looked about ready to yell at her until he saw the hand extended to him from Kira. He stared uncomprehendingly at her as if shocked by the simple gesture. She smiled reassuringly at him and allowed it to widen as he grinned back. He confidently took her hand and allowed her to haul him out of the water with ease, single-handedly.
“Let’s go inside. You need to change clothes,” she stated matter-of-factly.
He nodded and took a step towards the house. His foot slipped on a puddle of water and he fell backwards into an unsuspecting Kira. Unprepared for his sudden weight, she tried to catch herself only to fail. A wave of fear washed over her as she was dragged inexorably towards the dark surface of the ocean by gravity and the weight of the boy on top of her.
The water knocked the breath from her body as Naruto fell on top of her stomach and chest, squeezing the air from her lungs. She fell down into the deeper layers of water with Naruto’s water-heavy mass pushed her down. The water surrounded and pressed in on her from all sides, filling her ears, nose, and mouth, confusing and dulling her senses with its insistent pressure. Somehow, Naruto’s body left its place and disappeared in the watery murk. She became lost as a cloud covered the sun and darkened the surrounding saltwater further. She twisted around desperately searching for the surface as the old panic began to set in. The memories of that long ago incident invaded and filled her mind, amplifying the terror she felt now with the fright of a five-year-old child. It paralyzed her and she found herself sinking deeper and deeper into the cold ocean her arms outstretched as if begging for help. Her eyes closed until they were nearly slits and a thin stream of bubbles floated to the surface, dancing through her yearning fingers. But she knew that this time, no one would jump in to save her until it was too late.