Infidelis

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Infidelis

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Dark: Ok, my 1st attempt at a Naruto fic ^^ But I’ve a fascination over it, so nya xD hope u like it.

*Disclaimer*: Just own the odd named characters >,>;;

**General Summary**: Infidelis, from the Ancient Latin word, can have many meanings. Betrayal, Unfaithfulness, Deceive. But are all around the same kind of issue. Infidelis is also a perfect word to describe Hyuusuke Iris, her persona and her family. And Naruto is about to learn that the hard way. Naruto/OC, Gaara/OC, Kakashi/OC and Sasuke/Sakura hinted

**Prologue’s Summary**: (
Naruto’s POV) Such a strange girl, nya? And what’s up with the odd aura around her? The more we’re with her, the more regretful she looks. And why do I feel as if I know her anyway? Well, guess we’ll know soon enough. This mission’s gonna take quite a while!

’Italics’ = thoughts

“…” = speech

*“…”*= Kyuubi

*’Italics’* = Kyuubi’s thoughts

*…* = wat was supposed 2 b in bold

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Prologue… Travelling! Problems ahead


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Silvery eyes looked over at Hidden Leaf Village from the top of the Fourth Hokage’s monument.

They flashed in slight annoyance and restlessness; even from the distance she could feel the strange, out of place, powerful presence. ‘The Demon Fox.’ A light growl sounded from her throat. A harsh wind picked up then, making her pitch black hair tousle in front of her face, her several earrings dangling, her clothes clinging. Her long dark lashes dropped to protect her sensitive pupils, ‘Such a bloody stupid hot weather they have here…’

For the untrained eye, she was insensitive. Her eyes were the colour of ice when she was angry and could reach the sky blue tinge if she was happy. Though the latter ever rarely happened anymore.

««Flashback»»
The blood flowed freely from the gash at the neck of her mother. Her father had just taken his last breath, the kunai perforating his stomach finally making him succumb after twenty long, agonizing minutes.

Small feet were covered in the substance, wide, uncomprehending eyes looking up at the stranger sitting absently at the kitchen table.

The headband he wore on his forehead gave away the fact he was a ninja and the kunai he was playing with, just retrieved from her father’s body, was being twirled around in his forefinger.

The man, who couldn’t be older than his early twenties, suddenly caught the hilt of the blade deftly, turning sharp obsidian eyes to her. His hair though, wasn’t nearly as dark as his hues were. Actually, it was light blond, falling over the metal part of the bandanna. The golden eyebrows narrowed as he grunted. His eyes changed to the kunai, examining it, “You’re not worth it, kid.” He placed the object back in his pouch with a metallic sound. Joining his hands in a weird way the girl had never seen before, he was gone.

“Sister?”

“Don’t come in.”

“But-”

“Iie. It’s time. We go.”
««End Flashback»»

With a tilt of her hips, one light silver and black trainer brushed against its twin, the edge of a pearl white sock seen. The slightly developed muscles contracted as she walked, pale skin showing here and there. The usual baggy trousers she usually wore had been replaced by ¾ ones, black in colour. Above that was her sleeveless red top, its collar dipping till right between her breasts. She was well aware this attire was not, at all, what the people of this village were used to seeing. After all, most of them were ninjas or were studying to become ones at the academy. Therefore, they used comfortable clothes, not a top which one had to be careful if it wasn’t showing too much skin every now and then.

But it was necessary. She needed to call the attention anyway. It gave her less work… But an enormous problem: Sharingan Kakashi. The Jounnin was impossibly suspicious of everything and everyone, and, really, she didn’t blame him. After all, it was part of his job. A great ninja, she admitted so, but impossible to judge, to read, to understand. But most of all, impossible to fool. If the copy cat was something, it was smart. She would have to be even more careful with her stealth than usual. She could not fail.

««Flashback»»
“Please, I didn’t mean to-” her head suddenly snapped to the side with the force of the slap she received. Her hand covered her already reddening cheek.

The remaining members on the room shuffled their feet, eyes beneath their masks showing understanding for the girl, anger towards their superior.

But none spoke in her defence.

“You almost killed the hand who feeds you every day with that sword of yours! This is unconceivable, Hyuusuke!” The woman narrowed her amber eyes, white elegant robes swirling around her not so elegant form as she straightened herself. “This must stop.”

“Please… It never happened before-”

“Silence, girl! Tamin-sama almost lost his hand while you were practising and you know he is the one responsible for keeping this Abbey standing.” a long finger was pointed at her, “Either you finally do something useful around here or you’ll pay. In fact, your brother will.”

Her eyes narrowed immediately at the statement, “Do whatever you wish to me, anything. But if you ever lay as much as a finger on Rai-”

“Don’t dare giving me orders, orphan. He is already in the dungeons.” The woman heartlessly ignored her gasp, “And he’ll remain there until you finally decide to do something.”

A thin trail of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth as she bit her lower lip in frustration. With tears brimming her eyes, but refusing to let them fall, she raised her chin defiantly, anger clear in her voice, “What do you wish me to do?”

The Headmistress smiled coldly, “Give your hunting skills and sword some use. Bring me the Kyuubi.”
««End Flashback»»

Her twin brother, Rai, would die if she went back empty handed. She would not allow that to happen. He was everything to her, everything she had still left. She would not lose him. It didn’t matter if he was actually the older of the two for ten whole minutes, she was the one who took control.

In a fluid motion, her hand wrapped around the hilt of her katana, pulling it out and thrusting it into the hard rock below her feet, “Uzumaki Naruto… You’re mine.”

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Some minutes later, the same Uzumaki Naruto was making his way to the bridge, having just eaten his breakfast, stomach full. The young shinobi partially ignored the glares sent his way from everyone around as he yawned quietly, mostly due to the fact he was still half asleep.

Maybe because he really wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, since people normally chose to avoid him anyway, the probability of avoiding what happened next was nearly impossible.

In the next moment, the Leaf-nin found himself smacking straight into a wall, falling backwards in a clumsy way with a surprised yelp. On second thought, the wall was actually soft… And there couldn’t be a wall in the middle of a street either. As his hand rubbed his sore head, he opened one eye, looking across from him.

An impossibly pale girl, no older than him, was now sitting across from him in practically the same position, an annoyed grimace on her flawless features, gently massaging her hip, on top of which she must’ve fallen.

He quickly got to his feet, holding out one hand to her, which looked quite tanned when comparing to her almost snowy white skin, “Ah, gomen… You ok?”

“I’m fine.” She raised her eyes to his, locking them for a moment, before accepting his hand with her gloved one.

The boy pulled her to her feet, though his eyes didn’t leave hers. They weren’t blue… or grey. They were something in between, an eye colour he had never seen.

On the other hand, the young girl could barely keep herself from grinning, since he’d notice that from looking so intently into her eyes, ‘I found him already. Excellent. But first, I need to see the Hokage and explain my… problem. I need to be careful with my timing, though.’ “Is something wrong?”

His sapphire hues blinked, the far away, mesmerized look fading, “Iie, sorry. Umm, are you hurt?”

Her head tilted lightly to the side as the corners of her lips curled up, “I told you, I’m fine.” Her eyelids dropped half way. She could smile in such a way with barely any effort, having trained for it as if it was her most powerful jutsu, if she had chosen to become a ninja in the first place. The effect was that the smile was heightened, charming looking, “But thanks for worrying. I have to get going now. Nice to meet you.” The girl leaned in, placing a hand on top of his, fingertips just brushing over the back of his hand. She heard the sharp intake of breath he took as she pecked his whiskered cheek and walked away.

Once her back was to him, she allowed herself to smirk victoriously, ‘Wonderful. It’s even easier than I first thought. Poor boy. Such innocence… You judge people by their outside many times, Uzumaki. You should never do that. You’re far too trusting for your own good sometimes.’

After a good five minutes long pause, Naruto finally snapped out of his stupor. His skin still tingled where her own had touched it. ‘Who was she? She’s not from the village, I would’ve recognized her. She’s too strange anyway, and her clothes- That’s it! Her bandanna!’ He quickly spun around, though the mysterious girl was no where to be seen. The ninja blinked, ‘Well, she sure is fast.’ He continued with his walk, hands behind his head. He was going to be late anyway… And Kakashi-sensei sometimes decided to get there a bit sooner than the usual 2.30 hours…

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On his way to meet Team 7, Kakashi paused, his visible eye raising from reading Icha, Icha Paradise. A silver eyebrow narrowed partially, ‘We have visitors… Unusual, foreign visitors…’

Whoever it was, he or she wasn’t far. Though their chakra wasn’t really very developed. But something about it… wasn’t right. It was far too troubled.

’Luckily, I’m simply exaggerating.’ The Jounnin reopened his book again, resuming the walk, ‘If not… we’ll soon find out. Something wicked these times bring…’ A gentle wind tousled the silvery hair above his headband as he raised his chin to welcome it, bringing along with it an equally unfamiliar scent. Not that he wasn’t able to recognize it, it just wasn’t usual. Pine, cinnamon and a faint promise of pure snow. ‘Someone must’ve had something really important to do here in Leaf Village to come from so far, huh.’

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“Rank B, Rank B, Rank B…” the blonde hot headed ninja repeated happily, grinning from ear to ear as per usual.

The other two members of his team kept a safe distance from him, making sure to give the idea to whom passed by they had no objective of showing they were even friends. The Hokage had still to make his appearance.

The onyx eyed teen was who spoke first, “Dobe.”

Naruto’s rant stopped immediately, “Urusei! Don’t call me that!”

“Don’t act like one, then.” Sasuke rolled his eyes in boredom. He probably had only dignified him with an answer all together because of that same fact. Fortunately, the Godaime chose that same moment to enter the circular room. Sakura sighed in relief, noting both boys’ attention turn to the woman, who was idly picking up the several scrolls and searching through the missions.

Though she wasn’t the only one entering that same room.

A young woman did the same. Her hair was black as a moonless midnight sky would be, the three, four inches long tips oddly blood red as if it was bleeding. Half of it was held in an impeccable ponytail; the other half, which was at her back, had been put into nine thin braids, four falling over each of her shoulders, and a lone one following the dip of her spine, just reaching the small of her back. On her left ear, there was the usual long earring whispering against her neck, but, right next to it, there was also a ruby coloured stud. In her right one, again the pair of the earring, and, on top of her lobe, two silver loops were held. Her eyes though, contrary to the ebony coloured hair, were crystal clear, but cold. Silvery blue, a tinge darker around the edges. Covering her hands, were black fingerless gloves, which reached her wrist. Her skin was awfully pale and by the way she was dressed, suggested she was not only not from the village, but that she couldn’t even be considered a ninja at all. But the katana held from her hip betrayed that thought. Holding the sheathed weapon was what one would think as the forehead protector all ninjas had upon turning Genins. Wrong. The cloth was black and the metallic part had a hexagram instead, and the drawing of what looked like a wolf inside of the figure. Nope, no ninja. But one thing was for sure.

’It’s that girl from a while ago.’ Naruto blinked, looking her over absently. She was… unusual, to say the least. Not even Sakura-chan was that pale. Or that well developed, another part of him added as his cheeks coloured lightly.

She didn’t seem to notice them as she passed by and walked in front of the Hokage’s desk. Or, at least, that was what it looked like.

The Hokage glanced up at her, one eyebrow raised, “May I ask who you are and what is your business here?”

The girl bowed, hands clasped and fingers intertwined, except for her forefingers, which rested against each other, the tips touching her bottom lip.

“Weird…” Sakura muttered under her breath.

“It’s a sign of respect.” The three shinobis looked up at their sensei. Though he was speaking as leisurely as usual, his eye looked uncommonly cold. Then again, maybe just curious and cautious, who knew? “Religious, if I might add.”

“Oh.”

“My name is Hyuusuke Iris. I’ve come to ask the Hidden Leaf Village assistance in my journey back to Ice Country.”

The kage laced her fingers under her chin, “Is it anything serious?” Maybe Team 7 could go with this one. And till the girl’s country, the trip would take quite a while. Her mind absently conjured a few weeks with no Naruto around. No more baa-chan calling. ‘Oh joy.’

“The issue itself is not, my Lord.” The specification made a few eyebrows rise, “But I need escort. There might be ninjas after me. You see, news have been spread that in my country, it has been found a large quantity of minerals to exploit. That is true, but not so much as to start wars. Organisations think I’ve come here to negotiate with you. And they are angry for us not choosing them instead. The Hidden Sound Village is closer, for example.”

“I see... But then, why did you come here while knowing this? What’s so important for you to take such a risk?”

The foreigner reached to the pouch around her hips. The ANBU members and Jounins present all turned their eyes to her out of habit. But all she did was pull out a book on agriculture, “My services were dismissed for a while to get this. Last winter, we had many problems with floods and the snow. Many workers died and the harvest died with them. Your village is the one who knows best about this, since this is the Fire Country after all.”

Tsunade nodded curtly, “Very well. Rank B it is, then. Please, if you’d be so kind as to wait-”

“Please, my Lord.” Her voice interrupted the elder’s gently, “My people are getting weaker and poorer. I cannot afford to wait much longer. The journey already takes long enough.”

A pair of amber eyes trailed over to a certain dark coloured one, “If you think your team is up to it, Kakashi-san. It’s one of the few that’s here on the village at this moment.”

Before the Jounin could say anything, Naruto jumped to his feel immediately, grinning again, “Please, please, please, sensei!! We did it before with Tazuna-san, we can do it again!”

’Pause! Strategic moment.’ That was what went through a certain copy cat’s mind before anything else. Now, if he refused, Naruto would spend the next few days glaring daggers at him. If he didn’t, he’d probably be happy. Along with himself. Besides, escorting a girl wouldn’t be that bad. He doubted she was being followed by dangerous shinobis that made the Genins need his assistance. Yes, that was probably the wisest choice to do. Even if something about the girl was off. But he’d risk it… For now. “Alright.”

Iris merely allowed herself an inward smirk. ‘Perfect.’ Or, at least, that was what she had said to herself. A certain someone said her plan had some major flaws which needed to be attended to…

««Flashback»»
“Are you sure?”

The silvery eyed teen nodded from her seat on her bed, “I must. Otherwise, the woman will kill my brother. She’s been waiting for a reason to throw me out or to, at least, manipulate me for ages. Now, she got me. And you know that as good as I do, Winter.”

The woman sitting at the windowsill rolled her eyes. No, her name wasn’t particularly Winter. But she was as cold as any rigorous winter. Though her hair said otherwise. It was coloured blood red and it flowed down her back smoothly, the middle of it slowly starting to curl till the tips as her name suggested: Chinatsu Akane. Her eyes were emerald, bright and gleaming. When they were the only ones in the room, of course. In any other situation, she had to be treated as one of the Priestesses of the Abbey, with respect. Her eyes turned dull then, uninterested. Still, Iris considered her as her older sister, and with reason, since she was 25. “Rai knows how to take care of himself. And you are not a murderer, Iris-chan. You only take out blokes, not kill them.”

The younger girl laid down on the soft bed, her back to the other, “I’ve lost my family.” Her voice was unusually calm, but matched her eyes, icy cold, “All I’ve left is him. I won’t leave him. I’ll do whatever it takes to free him. Besides, I won’t be the one killing the guy. I just have to bring him here.”

Akane sighed softly, standing up. The silvery foot length dress she was wearing covered her bare feet as she did, the long sleeves doing the same to her pale hands. The amused glint left her eyes as they turned serious, the several piercings on her left ear the ones gleaming, giving an eerie glow to her skin, “You’re far too innocent.” Out of no where, she pulled out a photo from her sleeve. It showed a sideways pose of her prey’s sensei. “What about this one? Hatake Kakashi. How are you planning on taking the better of him?” she threw the photo at the younger female, the thin material making a clean cut on her right cheek, “He can very well accept the mission alright. Just to find what you are up to and then, kill you for it. Or ask his students to do it, who knows.” Her eyes narrowed, “What the Headmistress will, or try to, do is wrong, very, very wrong. It might lead to a war between countries. Even if no one is fond of the Kyuubi, it belongs to Hidden Leaf and we have nothing to interfere in their business. Not to mention we are peaceful people. There are no ninjas here to protect us.”

Iris looked down. Her voice lowered to a quiet whisper, “That’s a risk I have to go through.”

“I know you’re worried with Rai. I know. But…” the older girl’s head tilted to the side, “Maybe… if you simply told the truth.. They would understand and help you.”
««End Flashback»»

Her eyes closed, ‘No. No one’s to be trusted. Especially not a ninja.’ The girl kept her head down as she heard the soft steps of the Hokage walking up to her.

Tsunade, in response, kissed her forehead in acknowledgement of her respect. “Arise, child. Do not fear. We will help you.”

A pang of guilt was felt somewhere on her chest as she straightened up, but she ignored it immediately. ‘No time for such sentimentalism. I’ve been told the rules. Now, I must play the game.’

Noticing the Hokage glancing over at him and the almost imperceptible nod, Kakashi turned to the younger teens, “You three, start heading for the gates once you have everything you need. Iris-san, please wait outside.”

As soon as the younger ones were out, the kunoichi finally spoke up, “You caught on she was lying, did you not?”

“Hai, Hokage-sama.” The Jounin looked over to the closed doors for a moment, “But you let her and approved the mission.”

“Indeed. I believe no one’s after her, so your students will be in no imminent danger. Whatever you find in your way will be of no problem. And I also think the Uchiha boy noticed something was off.”

“If not, he would’ve complained about the mission as usual, ne.”

The Hokage nodded, “Hai. Besides, books like the one she had are spread over all countries. But give her a certain width. Let her believe she succeeded. But keep a close eye on her, Kakashi.”

“As you wish.”

…Two hours later, Hidden Leaf Gates…
“Yoshi!” Naruto ran a bit ahead of the others as they went on, “This one’s gonna be long!!”

“Not that long really, U-” Iris stopped herself just in time. How weird would it sound that she already knew their names? “Umm, what was your name again?”

The blond didn’t even take notice, “Uzumaki Naruto! And remember it, ‘cause that’s the name of the next Hokage of Leaf Village!!!”

The pink-haired kunoichi just shook her head, “Never mind him. I’m Haruno Sakura, pleasure to meet you.”

“Hatake Kakashi.”

Silence.

Silver eyes turned to the dark haired and last shinobi, a hint of curiosity in them. “And you’re the nameless one, ne?”

Sakura sent her a dark look, ready to snap something not so pleasant, but the mentioned boy beat her to it. Turning his head sideways ever so slightly, he gave her a bored look, “Uchiha Sasuke. Is it that important?”

“Usually, people treat other people by their rightful names. But if you want, I can call you the all mighty rebellious one.”

Surprisingly, the boy smirked, “Maybe. Or for another specific reason.”

Iris decided to keep quiet and not comment on that one, no matter how much she enjoyed verbal spats, ‘If there’s something I really hate is words with double meaning… I’ll have to be careful with this one as well.’ She let out a low whistle. Not soon after, galloping was heard. A black blur passed by, stopping just behind her. The creature nuzzled her shoulder fondly. “This is Onyx. It’ll make the ride faster. You can keep up, right?”

The equine looked over at the strangers, bored. It was a monster of a horse. Probably passed over six feet tall. Its colour was all black, except for the tips of its ears, and the four pointed star on its forehead, which were white. Its equipment changed between blacks, whites, beiges and reds here and there. It looked like Iris was too lazy to carry her own stuff.

“It’s not a stupid horse that’s gonna beat me.” Naruto pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and looking at the pair sideways.

Onyx’s ears perked up for a second, before pulling back, a low neigh coming from him. Iris gave a gentle tug on the reins, “Watch what you say. He can understand you, you know.” She made a quiet sound with her tongue. The horse’s attention turned to her as he kneeled partially so that she could climb on. His eyes didn’t leave Naruto’s form though. “Nevertheless, we can go faster.”

As soon as she had settled on the saddle, Onyx started walking. When passing by the blond, he knocked his head against his shoulder not so gently, making the boy fall over in surprise.

Over her shoulder, Iris looked over at him, “Guess that’ll teach you not to mess with him, ne?”

…Several hours later…
Iris narrowed her eyes, turning them to Onyx’s strong neck and mane as the sun was setting. The bright light was beginning to strain her eyes as it came from right in front of her. They were taking the direction of the Wind Country. The land wasn’t as harsh to pass by, more even. It made the progress faster, even if they were out in the open. Despite not seeing the path correctly, she trusted her ride, even when galloping at the more or less fast stride.

Kakashi and Sakura were at her left, while Sasuke and Naruto guarded her from the right. Those last two didn’t seem to like being stuck together, but they kept to merely glaring at each other once in a while. Good. Silence, galloping and the gentle wind on her skin were just-

“I’m running in front of you!”

An eyebrow rose, “So?”

“I’m faster than you!”

Silence again. For a while. “Baka.”

“Hehe, I know, I know- Nani!?”

At her left, she heard a bad covered snicker from the pink haired teen. Her own lips couldn’t help but curl upwards as she glanced briefly at the now slightly pissed off boy.

The sight of her eyes turning on him suddenly made something click inside Naruto’s mind. Sasuke’s unintentional joke was soon forgotten. Where had he seen that same expression before? As he glanced over at her figure, the more it made sense he had seen her somewhere. ‘Iie, that can’t be right…’ He didn’t even notice he had slowed down his pace while getting lost in his thoughts.

A sudden, and not so gentle, pat on his back made him stumble one or two steps as his sensei passed by him, “Don’t stay behind. Hurry up.”

“Hai, Kakashi-sensei…”

Unknown to him, behind the strong bars of the seal that imprisoned him, Kyuubi lifted his head, furry ears perking up, three of his tails swishing in slight restlessness. *’The boy seriously has no luck, it seems…’* an annoyed growl sounded, echoing in the silence around him, *’If he finds out.. And with such attitude like his… He is well capable of demanding the answers from me. Not that I’m very keen on answering them, that is.’*

It wasn’t long till the group settled down for the night as the sky darkened, almost matching Sasuke’s hair colour.

Now, this brought a slight problem.

Naruto blinked, “We were supposed to bring a tent?”

“Baka…” Sakura muttered under her breath before speaking normally, “Of course! This mission will last for a couple of weeks. Where did you expect us to sleep? Build a tree house?” Out of the corner of her eye, she tried to catch Sasuke’s stare, though, much to her disappointment, the boy had just set his own tent and was looking in the opposite direction. Her inner self submerged, ‘Meh, it’s all Naruto’s fault! Sasuke-kun considers him a rival and annoying, so he ignores him. Moreover, he ignores me!!’

Half in amusement, Iris watched them absently, having already set her own tent not long after the youngest Uchiha. ‘Love triangle…’ Naruto liked Sakura, who liked Sasuke, who… was in love with himself. Not quite true, more of the power he might possess. ‘Typical… Aye…’ But that aura, that spirit, team spirit, was still there. Despite Sasuke’s coldness and distance… Despite Sakura’s bickering with Naruto to impress him… They worried over the third member of the team. And as for the knock-headed ninja… he naturally worried over those two, even with all the rivalry, jealousy and name calling towards the Uchiha brat.

That was really the only reason why she, ever so lightly, regretted what she was about to do. ‘It’s not fair, for any of them. They don’t deserve it. But Rai…’ her eyes closed tightly, before the tears she knew were there brimmed them completely and fell. No. *No.* Not the time to be weak.

From behind her, from the tree his reins were tangled in so that he didn’t run off, Onyx shifted his weight. “Iris-san?” her eyes opened, surprised at hearing someone so close and without her noticing. Her light eyes locked with cerulean ones, “What’s wrong?”

She quickly got up from the large rock she was sitting on, turning away from the blond shinobi, “It’s nothing… Just- family, I guess. Go back to your tent.” She started heading towards her own.

“Yeah, umm, as for that…” Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, “I don’t have one.. And Sakura-chan refused to let me sleep in her tent…”

“I’m sure if you knock out Sasuke, he won’t object too much.”

He gave a foxy smile, chuckling, “As sugoi as that sounds, Kakashi-sensei’s the one sharing with Sasuke-teme… So, I was wondering..”

’No’. That was the word ready to leave her lips. ‘I *don’t* want to get close to them, I *don’t* want to regret what I’ll do.’ But the night was cold. The boy before her didn’t really deserve to be sleeping out in such an atmosphere. Besides, it would be only for a few nights. It couldn’t hurt her, right? “Nya… Fine, as you wish.” she shrugged.

The tent wasn’t big, nor was it small. Just fit enough for, at maximum, two people to rest comfortably, which was just fine.

“Oye, what are you doing?”

The girl opened her left eye, glancing over at him. Naruto had just laid down and had probably been expecting her to do the same. Instead, she had sat on her heels upon her covers. “Be quiet. I was raised in an Abbey ever since I was six. After half a life of praying before sleeping, I find it hard not to do it. Please excuse me.” Her index and middle fingers of her right hand raised to her forehead, to her chest, over her right, then her left breasts, before both her palms rested against each other. Her eyes drifted close, as she muttered under her breath, lips moving too fast for anyone to catch any word.

After a few minutes, her eyes, which looked even lighter due to the dark environment, opened once more. She finally laid back down, her back to him.

It wasn’t long till she heard his breathing become regular, Poor innocent one… her eyes drifted close soon after, features relaxing and finally dropping the cool and controlled act, revealing a seemingly younger girl, scared and alone in a world she did not know. Not that anyone saw it in the silent night.

For once, she was able to have a decent dreamless sleep. No torture. No past things. And no Rai.

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A redhead cursed not so softly under her breath, digging her heels deeper into her ride’s flanks, urging him on to go faster. The large horse, already galloping at a pretty fast stride, neighed indignantly, but complied.

’Kuso, Iris, did you need to be so fast?’ Anya moaned under her breath, her hands hurting from being tensed in one position for so long; the red reins, the main ones, hurt her ring and index fingers, while the black ones doubled the pain. The young girl finally complied to her horse’s, Sunarya, wishes, letting go of the double reins and giving him the slack he was asking for ever since a while ago.

’Hn, this isn’t turning out how I expected it to. I should’ve caught up to her by now.’ The sand lifted by Sunarya’s powerful strides hit her bare calves, tickling and sometimes scratching, which annoyed her. Her crimson, black and whitish hair kept getting into her eyes, which annoyed her immensely. And for the whole three weeks she had been travelling, these last four days that had passed since entering Wind Country had been the worse: unbearably high temperatures during the day, cold at night, *which annoyed her*. Her sarcastic self reminded her, “This is the desert, remember, oh bright one?”

Her unusual eyes narrowed partially. Unusual, because they were oddly coloured. Her left eye was black, at some angles even purplish, whatever people said, just like her father’s had been. But her right wasn’t. Well, it was also black and purplish, but only half of it. It was divided diagonally, the other half a bright emerald tinge. She admitted it was odd, but at least, she was unique. ‘You’re owing me big time, Akane…’

««Flashback»»
“Iris left four days ago.”

The youngest female of the two kept her eyes on the chess board between them, moving her knight two squares onwards and one off to the right while muttering absently, “Good to know.”

She was considered Iris’s best friend, if the cold girl could be thought of as able to feel the bond of friendship, that is. If that wasn’t the case, she was simply considered as a “partner” or “bearable”. But then again, few knew just how jealous she really was of the black haired female. Ever since her parents left for some business in another country, she and her two sisters had been alone.

Before, they were a happy family, the three girls spoiled rotten. Akane was the oldest by practically thirteen years and then… both she and her sister came. Her twin sister, a complete copy of her, except her dual coloured eye was her left and not her right one.

But past is past. ‘And she is dead. Because of me, she is dead.’ After the incident, when she was around eight years old, everything started to fall apart. Her excellent grades, due to her ‘above average intelligence’ in her father’s words, fell, the family separated, their house was destroyed.

Akane had worked, occupying jobs that gave them enough money to live, just to her and Anya. Conversations about their third sibling were soon silenced and she was no longer spoken of. And because of her depression, of Akane working, of the little attention she got, Anya was exposed to all kinds of danger, unknown to her. But being as young as she was, all she saw was her own pain. Which only got worse, after being raped.

It had taken long years and, true, she was never the same again, but she was fine now. But that had even worse consequences than only physical and mental wounds coming from the rapist. The two sisters had never been as close as they had been. Akane blamed herself, Anya’s personality changed drastically from hyper to gloomy and pessimist. Also, when Iris came along, Akane practically adopted her. Maybe she did not want the same to happen to her. Sure, Anya did not either, but, sometimes, she felt more like an outcast than the young adult’s sister. Guess that was why she and Iris understood each other. Their personalities weren’t too different. And, most of all, they acknowledged each other’s pain.

Then again, that one might be the main reason as to why Anya was jealous. Iris, despite it all, had a very, very close relationship with her own twin, Rai. While she couldn’t say the same ever again. ‘And it was all my fault.’

She bit her tongue as hard as she could, drawing blood. Maybe that would stop the tears. She refused to cry any longer.

“I want to ask you to follow her with Sunarya.” Akane moved her king, taking her sister’s knight.

Odd eyes locked with clear emerald ones, “Why should I? She’ll be fine, you know that.” ‘She always is.’

“I know. But just to be sure. Please. You know I can’t leave.” As the one responsible for two whole wings at the Abbey, the older redhead could not leave. But in that sentence, her sister did notice that the envy in her own previous sentence had been discovered.

“Fine. I need to catch some air anyways. I’m sick and tired if the monotony. Just one more thing.” Anya’s stare ran over the board in a blink of an eye. She placed her tower right in front of Akane’s queen, “Checkmate.”
««End Flashback»»

Till the end of the night, she had to get to the Hidden Sand Village to see if she could get some sleep for a few hours. Yes, till the end of the night. For almost three days, she did not sleep other than dozing off for a few minutes. Her sharp vision caught a few buildings’ tops, not too far away. She allowed a small prideful smile to curl the corners of her mouth, ‘Excellent. As usual, I wasn’t mistaken.’

Much to her surprise, her ride dug his hooves deeply into the sand, stopping abruptly and almost making his owner lose her balance and smack face first into the ground, “Shimata, Sunarya- What’s up with you now?” she looked over at the path before them as she slid off his back. No, no snake or scorpion or whatever that would cause the tall equine to stop galloping so suddenly was in sight. The girl knew he was tired, but she had fed him and given him water and even a sugar cube to perk him up. Besides, he was just fine a while ago. She patted his muzzle for a few seconds, before pulling at his double reins, trying to persuade him into coming towards the village, “Come on, it’s not much farther!”

In response, the horse snorted and raised his head, pulling backwards, completely refusing to go on one single inch. And the neigh that followed was… scared, as if something was off. Despite his wild behaviour, like his brother, Onyx, he never failed her. No one else could ride him either, since he’d immediately throw them off, but she. And his instincts were rarely ever wrong either, which left her hesitating. ‘Is something wrong?’ Her eyes couldn’t help, but look around.

But no, nothing seemed out of place. The sand moved gently with the wind, changing the dunes’ forms, but other than that, everything was still and silent. So, what was bothering Sunarya so damn much?

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The moon was full, its shine bathing the desert in front of him, giving the sand a silvery, ethereal glow. The same beautiful moonlight shone down on already pale skin, giving off a ghostly tinge. Black lidded eyes slowly opened, revealing a pair of pale jade hues, much paler than his sister’s forest green ones. His nostrils flared, We are not alone. From his sitting position, one leg stretched out and one bended, he unburied his right hand from the sand.

His eyes ran over the horizon, catching sight of movement. A dark four legged creature, probably a horse, refused to continue on, while its much smaller rider tried to convince him to do it. ‘Guess the horse was able to feel my presence. Though she could not… yet.’ Such a slender being could only be a female, after all. He licked his lips in anticipation, eyes sharpening and glinting. The night wouldn’t have to be so quiet after all. His free hand turned, fingers spreading. It was time to *feed*.

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The dual eyed girl kept trying to make the large horse move, unaware of everything, “Listen, I’m as bloody tired as you are, I want to sleep as much as you do, so the sooner you cooperate, the-” Sunarya gave a loud neigh then, standing up on his back legs, downright fearful. “Whoah, boy, calm down! There’s nothing- huh?” she looked down, feeling an odd pressure on her ankles and calves. Her eyes widened at what she saw, ‘Sand?!’

Slender tendrils of the tiny rocks were trailing up her legs, stopping her from moving, constricting and compressing her muscles each time tighter, making her let out a gasp. Her teeth bit deeply into her lower lip as she fell to the ground, the lack of blood on her legs getting to her. Once on the ground, the sand had less work, easily winding up her arms. Sunarya took a few steps back, fidgeting on the spot; he was loyal to his rider, true, but he wasn’t much of a help here and both of them knew it.

A swirl of wind, dust and sand appeared not too far away from the girl in pain, quickly changing Gaara’s location, not that she noticed; he wasn’t that close. The glint in his eyes was more noticeable, lips parted to take in the scent of her last taken breaths. His fingers curled a bit, now palm up.

The girl’s hands, which, besides her head and neck, were the only parts that weren’t covered by the sand, jolted with the sudden increase of the pain. Her head tilted back, eyes shut tight and lips bleeding from her biting. A few tears sparkled from beneath her lids, a few spilling, wetting the sand around her.

His breath was caught in his throat suddenly. The blood trailing from her lips was making it hard to control and ignore Shukaku’s restlessness, he could feel it at the back of his mind, urging him on. Unconsciously, his hand closed further more. But-

A whimper came from the girl, quiet on the silent night, floating with the wind of the desert. The sand wasn’t tight enough to break her bones yet, but it was far enough to stop the flow of blood to certain parts of her body, which gave her enough pain as it was.

But something was making him hesitate, something… His left hand went up to his head, fisting a few locks of hair tightly, eyes shut, ‘Nani? Why am I hesitating?’ It almost seemed that he could feel her pain. But that was absurd. And ridiculous. Besides, feel pain? ‘I’ve never felt pain, except because of the Uchiha boy. And after that, Uzumaki Naruto.’ Then again, this wasn’t *that* kind of pain. He bit back a moan, memories of Yashamaru resurfacing, much to his annoyance and deepening his pain and confusion. Yes, it felt sort of like that. It wasn’t bleeding, it didn’t particularly hurt, so to say either… But it was there. A suffocating feeling, telling him something was wrong, very, very wrong. Not *that* kind of injury. In response to his increasing anger at the subject, both his hands started to close in a fist. The blood curling scream that followed pulled him out of his dark thoughts. Used to the silence, loneliness and hurting alone, he had not expected such an interruption. For that same reason, his hand slackened, resting by his side, his left one just holding his temple, massaging out of instinct more than anything else, eyes reopening.

The effect was immediate. The sand copied his hand’s state, pooling all around the girl or on top of her, due to her developing curves. Anya took deep breaths, pulling in as much oxygen into her lungs as possible, ignoring the sharp pain that motion alone brought because of the blood flowing again over her muscles. She got up on shaky legs, coughing and spitting blood every few seconds. Wrong move. Just the motion made her head feel light and her world dizzy, enough to make her fall back down on her face. All around her, everything tilted and spun a few more times until she gave in to the darkness, no longer able to fight it.

Sabaku no Gaara took his time on approaching the unconscious girl, since she wasn’t going anywhere. Her horse neighed once or twice at him, but when he raised his eyes to it, it backed off a few steps, even if not many. The creature was loyal. Light pupils changed to the girl now at his feet. She should be around his age, he estimated. Her hair would reach past the middle of her back, had it not been made of perfectly natural ringlets that looked as if they would fall apart with a mere touch. It reached her shoulder blades, but a thin lock of it was in a braid, off to the left side, which went till the small of her back, one part black, the other dark red and the last one reddish brown. Most of her curls though were blood red, just a tinge below his own, a few slenderer locks black and even fewer whitish ones here and there. Her skin was pale and her body slim and giving the first clues of fully maturing.

On her feet, there were silver and red trainers. Bluish black trousers hugged her legs till half her calves and her white and red top stopped a few inches below her breasts, its ends going around her front twice till they were knotted together. Its sleeves went till her elbow, till the material flared out, see-through. There was a necklace around her neck, with the design of a hexagram and the head on a wolf inside of it; several bracelets adorned her wrists and a pair of black gloves were on her hands, fingerless on her thumb, index and middle fingers. She clearly wasn’t a ninja.

The boy tilted his head, partially curious. He squatted next to her, still keeping his distance so that his personal space was conserved; the sand gathered under the girl, turning her around according to his will. Her long dark lashes whispered against high cheek bones. The lower part of her eyes were lined in black, the curve going till almost her temples. Her full lips glinted, bloody from her possible biting. Her right ear held three studs, purple, white and red coloured respectively, and her left one three loops at the top of her ear and two black studs. The collar of the top could be seen now, reaching till half of her cleavage, enough to suggest, but leaving some for the imagination. There was a scar at her neck. Either the cut had been treated on time or it hadn’t been deep enough and was recent, since she was still alive. His eyes narrowed; even someone as weak and mundane as she felt the normal pain of cutting and bleeding. Leave it to the sand to protect him when he most needed to feel alive.

Speaking of which, he wondered. It was the full moon. The time when he was most unstable. The time when he most felt he needed to prove his existence due to his instincts and memories constantly assaulting him. And he did it by using his own gift in other people, making them pay for everything he went through in his childhood. It was all he knew.

He lived by that own law.

Breathed it.

Obeyed it loyally.

Loved it.

It made no sense that something was able to stop him from killing this one. Why had he felt a sudden weight on his chest when she was practically choking on her own blood, something that would usually spur him on? Why had he stopped when there was nothing to stop him? Why? Why? Why?! His hands went up to his head again, a strangled moan escaping his lips. It took him a few more minutes to calm himself down again.

His features relaxed, becoming blank as they usually were. ‘Iie.’ His now faded jade eyes rested on her face. One hand reached out, picking up a fragile looking curl of red hair. He realized it now. She intrigued him somehow. He wasn’t sure why, but she did. Why else hadn’t he killed her? Like Rock Lee and Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, he wanted answers from this one. “You are lucky.” He whispered quietly, “And because of that, I shall let you live for a while longer.” His hand left her hair, wrapping around her neck, tightening as he continued, “But I will feel your blood run through my fingers once I’m done with you.” A malevolent smirk crossed his lips. He disappeared in a mixture of sand and wind, ignoring the red markings his hand had left on otherwise flawless skin.

She would be his new prey.


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...TBC...


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Dark: 1st chappie. Hope u like it. It'll become interesting, trust me. Plz review? ^^