Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Nothing's Shadow ❯ Chapter 2

Yoshi: And welcome back to the `Let's Watch Uchiha Sasuke Walk Around Without Eyes Show'!!

Gaara: … Since when has this been a show?

Neji: Since I poked out his eyes, duh.

Gaara: Omaiwa kokode owari da.

Neji: O.O What do you mean this is my end?!?!?!?

Gaara: Sabaku Sousou. *crunch*

Neji: ow…..>.<

Naruto: Yoshi doesn't own any copyrighted material in this fic.

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Chapter 2

Halting before the door, Kage took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She leaned against the cool stone wall, a knot in her stomach making her queasy. For a moment, the girl wondered what she would face beyond the door, but drove her mind away from that line of thought. It would do her no good.

What's taking you, girl? The voice asked, curious and insulting at the same time. I DO get bored, you know.

I don't care if you get a bee sting on your behind, much less if you're just bored. Kage retorted silently without even pausing to think about how. She was too nervous to care about manners.

The voice was quiet for a time. He, the voice sounded masculine, seemed to be thinking. I suppose he was right, he finally said. You do pick up things fast. Now get into that room before I push you in.

The tone of his voice startled a laugh out of her. It was just a playful threat, but a threat none the less. She walked in.

The room was plain, the whitewashed walls and cold tile floor not adding any color to help. The teacher sat at his desk, shifting through some papers he picked up.

Kage waited nervously, expecting the worst. When the teacher quizzed her, she slipped into a numb calm; she felt like someone was pulling her. Her body routinely answered his questions and performed all of the necessary operations.

Her eyes didn't see the drab classroom anymore. They registered a sandy plane that didn't have any end to it. Huge curving walls ensured that nobody could get out. Where was this place?

`It won't do you any good to worry about the test.' The voice didn't come from within her; rather there was a glowing form to her left.

`Who are you anyway? I feel like I know you.' She asked, a faint expression of confusion coming over her face. She wanted to know who this person was and where they were, not to mention how he got them there.

Kage got the sense of him smiling before the figure burst into laughter. `You know me. You'll see me in a physical form soon enough. Sooner than he'd ever think.'

She began to ask who `he' was, but her body was pulling her back. She was sucked back into her body with a rush of air. Kage smiled uncertainly at her teacher who held out a hitai-ate to her.

The girl took the forehead protector and tied it around her neck. Once she knew her teacher, she would put it over her forehead. Kage walked out the door, fighting the urge to jump up and crow her success to the skies.

As she reached for the sliding door's handle to go back into the other classroom, she heard the soft buzz of voices. One sentence stood out clearly:

“Sabaku no Gaara went on another mission.”

The room went quiet at that. Kage held her breath and listened carefully.

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Sut sat in Kage's favorite seat next to the window. He glanced back with total and utter disinterest that would make a stone 5,000 years old scream, then snorted. What did these people care about one of the best ninja in the village going on a mission? The boy returned to his dilemma. Kage said he was her friend. Had she meant it? Or was it just a cruel joke?

“How many bets that he killed the person he was supposed to help, or he killed someone he wasn't supposed to?” Jamel asked, a mocking smile on his face.

There was a huge rustle of clothes as the students wordlessly raised their hands. Suterusu turned around. Two hands out of the 26 in the room weren't raised. His own hand, (nobody expected or wanted him to participate) and Zessen's hand, as the owner was busy nervously eyeing the door. Sut was not surprised to sense a great amount of anger flooding from the other side of the door.

“I'd get away from the door.” He calmly suggested, knowing that they wouldn't listen and laughing silently at the damage they would receive because of that fact, “There are people who would protect Sabaku no Gaara in this class.” Sut gave a pointed look at the door as he said this.

“Get away from the door!” Zessen shouted, seeing the point that Suterusu made. Everybody gave him startled looks, before complying.

Almost as soon as they got out of the way, the door slammed open.

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Kage listened to every word with growing anger. How dare they speak that way about him! Finally she gave to her fury. She ripped the door open and glared at everyone in the room. Suterusu looked at her impassively before smirking at the remainder of the class like a cat that got into the cream.

“How dare you,” She grated, speaking through clenched teeth. “How DARE you!”

Zessen flinched, “Kage, we…”

If looks could kill, Zessen would be 18 feet under, forget just 6. “We what?” Kage managed to get out. “You don't even know him! How can you say that about him?”

“You don't know him anymore than we do,” Jamel told her, a vastly superior look on his face, “How do you know he didn't kill anyone?”

Kage looked at the floor, quite seriously thinking about the question. How DID she know? Simply put… “I don't. I don't know that he didn't kill anybody, but that doesn't mean he did. And I DO know him better than you. Better than you EVER would!”

Zessen looked past Kage into the hall and took a step back from shock. He gulped, then made a weird squeaking noise. Kage straightened, fearing what, or who, she would face if she turned around. Taking a deep breath, she turned around to glimpse exotic blue eyes. Embarrassment made her want to run, facing the very person she was defending. A blush was working its way up her neck.

“Kage, where's he?” Sabaku no Gaara asked, his face betraying nothing of his feelings.

“Down the hall, in the next room, Firehair.” She mumbled, lowering her head. When Gaara's hand gently touched her chin, Kage looked up. A wordless thanks was in his eyes. He left, his hand unconsciously tracing a path up her cheek. The blush overtook her entire face. Kage turned around, hands on hips.

“See? He's not mean at all!” She exclaimed, wishing she could run away like the last time that he had witnessed her defending him.

“He didn't kill you. Wow.” Jamel said. Others nodded.

“He didn't kill you either, Jamel.” Sut replied for Kage.

Jamel shot him a hate filled glance, “Why he didn't kill you is beyond me.”

“Because I'M beyond wonton killing, thank you very much, goodbye.” Gaara said as he was walking past the door. Everyone stared after him.

“What?” Zessen asked bemused.

“You never get it, do you?” Sut shot like lightning, picking up a book and flipping through a few pages, easily keeping a straight face.

Kage bit the inside of her lip, feeling like she was going to cry. She didn't think she would ever live up to his standards. The Firehair's disappointment was obvious. She closed her eyes as tears slipped out.

“You know you can leave now, right?” Their teacher looked in the room, startled by the tension in the air.

As if the words were a release, Kage broke for the window. Sut nimbly sprung out of her way as she jumped out of the opening.

Sut leaned out to look after her as she fell, “What was that about?”

Kage landed with a thump on a soft surface. A calm voice greeted her.

“I was wondering when you were going to make your exit.” Gaara told her, looking over his shoulder. She had landed on his gourd.

“Ah…sorry…” she muttered, trying to stop feeling so embarrassed.

“For what?”

The simple question startled her. “What do you mean, `for what'?”

He shrugged. She didn't have to see the motion as she felt it when the gourd rose and fell. “Just what I said.” Gaara answered shortly, walking out into the street. “Temari wants you.” He continued, seamlessly changing subjects in an instant.

“Ehhh, you're getting called by Temari-sama!” The rest of her class had filtered out in time to hear the last sentence. “You're lucky!”

Kage looked at them, not sure if this was good. She instinctively moved closer to Gaara as he walked indifferently to Temari's office.

“I see you got your hitai-ate.” Gaara murmured to her, dropping to a whisper when they went inside the huge building.

“Yeah.” She replied just as soft. Temari-Okasan's workplace always inspired quiet in even the noisiest people.

“Good birthday present, ne?” The voice came from farther down the hall. A tall man waved to them. The face paint he wore made him look foxier than usual, even if the paint was purple.

“Kankuro-oniisan! Hi.” She smiled at her `brother'.

“The workaholic's down in `the Room'. She's been waiting for you.” Kankuro grinned at his younger brother. “How ya been?” he asked innocently, slinging an arm around what he could reach of Gaara's shoulders.

“Fine.” Gaara tonelessly answered, shrugging his brother's arm off, before walking down to the room Kankuro had indicated.

Kage hopped off Gaara's gourd, “Thanks, BlueEyes.”

“For what?” He asked, his tone indicating slight surprise in her choice of words. Only she could hear it and then because she knew what to look for.

“Everything, I suppose.” Kage walked through the door, Gaara right behind her.

“Temari. She's here.” Gaara always got closed-mouthed around other people. Some of the kids she used to hang around had said she was the same way.

There was no response from the form that sat at the desk, back to them.

“Temari-Okasan? Are you alright?” Kage leaned around to look her surrogate mother in the face. She let out a helpless grin.

“She fell asleep working again. Should we take her home?” She asked looking at her two `brothers' who had come over to see too.

“Temari…” Gaara shook his head and gently lifted the sleeping woman. “Let's go. She been working to hard.”

“Should we give it to her then?” Kankuro asked Gaara, flicking his eyes over at Kage. ~What was `it'?~, she wondered, knitting her eyebrows together.

Gaara shook his head, “No. Temari wanted to give it to Kage herself.”

Kage frowned. She hated being talked about as if she wasn't there. It made her feel… useless. Kage shook herself out of her musings and ran to catch up to her `siblings'. They had started out of the building without her.

Kankuro grimaced. “Should we even take Temari outside like this?” he asked, squinting at the crowded streets.

Gaara looked as well. “Probably not. I don't want to be mobbed by people asking if she's okay.”

Kankuro nodded his agreement. No matter HOW much he liked popularity, he DIDN'T like mobs.

“Kankuro, I'll warp us home.”

Kage found it strange that the trio not calling each other by the honorific of `Brother' or `Sister' unnerved people. She had been living with the self-named `Siblings of Sand' for as long as she could remember. Only the reason that she was not part of their family kept her from calling them by their first names only (Heck, no one even knows if they have a last name, so that one goes out the window!).

Temari stirred a little, moaning slightly. Kankuro looked worriedly at his older sister, and nodded shortly, placing his hand on Gaara's shoulder. Kage did the same as she prepared herself for the wrenching effect of the type of warps people had preformed on her before.

She was not, however, prepared for the smooth transfer she had felt only once before. A soft rush of sand filled her ears and she could have sworn she heard laughter in the background.

Not at all what you were expecting, was it girl? The voice asked, teasing laughter filling his voice.

`Kaku? Who are you talking to? Kage started as she heard that voice. ~Firehair? What was he doing here? How did he hear the voice?~ Questions rushed through her mind and Kage sorted through them franticly until she found one that made sense. ~Who was 'Kaku?~

No one. No one that can hear me anyway. `Kaku answered and Kage knew he was grinning at her. Don't answer that.

Kage couldn't tell if he was talking to her or Gaara. She found she didn't want to know either.

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Yoshi: I love `Kaku's attitude. And anyone who can't figure out who he is and watches the latest anime episodes is either extremely name horrible, like I was (Heck, I didn't know Kabuto's name for a LONG time. I just called him the guy with glasses) or is trying to pretend that they do watch the episodes after about… oh about episode number 60-something.

Kabuto: *horrified* You didn't know my name?? *sarcastic* I feel SO loved.

Gaara: You should.

Kaku: Meheheheheh, I love my job.

Naruto: You don't even have one.

Kaku: Shhhhh, don't tell them that.

Everyone: We already know, DUH!!

Kaku: *grins* Riiiiight, sure ya do….