A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

"Kimina!" Kiba yells.

There was no answer.

The smoke finally cleared, and the building was in complete ruin. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Kimina anywhere.

Kiba dashes to the charred rubble, and begins immediately searching through the debris, tossing aside piles of wood and upholstery. The smoke was still thick in the air, so Kiba nor Akamaru could really distinguish Kimina's smell.

The other chunin and jounin also start to search, but it was turning out to be a wasted effort.

Akamaru barks into Kiba's ear, and he nods understandingly.

"You're right, Akamaru, we should be finding something." He shakes his head. "But there's nothing here. Its almost as if she disappeared."

Kiba then hears the same thing he thought by Kotetsu. "How come we're not finding anything? If... if she was crushed, we should be finding a body by now."

Kiba involuntarily flinches.

"Hey, what's this?" someone calls out from the far back.

Kiba and the others rush over. Kiba's eyebrows pull together. The earth seemed to be raised up in a wide oval, almost as if protecting something underneath.

Akamaru sniffs the air and barks twice.

Kotetsu looks at them both. "What is it?"

Kiba glances back. "Kimina is..."

The earth begins to break apart, and two passed out figures were underneath.

"Kimina!" Kiba kneels down beside her and slowly pushes her body off from atop the man's.

Izumo kneels next to him. "Kiba, take Kimina to the hospital now." He inspects the man.

Kiba notices her burned back and legs and grabs her arms delicately to pick her up.

The darkness clears from my vision and I see Kiba leaning over me. He was pulling on my arms and I wince in pain.

"Wait... Kiba..." I manage to say.

"Kimina, you're awake," he says.

"Wait, Kiba... I need to..."

"I'm going to take you to the hospital."

I shake my head back and forth. I feel the green chakra stir and it swirls over my body, healing my burned and bloody skin. I notice everyone had stepped back when I began doing so.

I sit up and exhale in relief, glad the pain and my wounds were all gone. I look over to the man and crawl next to him. I place my ear on his battered chest, and barely make out a faint heartbeat. I had to make this quick.

I put my hands out inches above his figure and the healing chakra flows over him. His skin patches itself back together. Even where he lost his arm, the skin grows back over the empty socket, stopping the blood loss. Both of his eyes open up, and they both had a clear look to them.

I hear many gasps around me, and I knew many of the civilians had joined in watching this spectacle.

His breathing regulates and each of his wounds heal up completely.

A woman them pushes past me, her eyes full of tears, and buries her head on his chest in alleviation. The man smiles at her, and then says to me, "Thank you."

I nod back, and stand to my feet.

"Hey, Kimina?" I look back at Kotetsu. "Um, nice job. But next time don't just charge in."

"Yeah... okay," I respond.

Akamaru grabs my attention next, barking happily close to my ear.

"Glad you got out of there okay. But I didn't know you knew earth style?" Kiba says with an eyebrow raised.

"That's the thing, I don't. I don't know who did that. All I remember is that right before the ceiling crushed us, the earth shifted and covered us over."

"I wonder who it was then...?"

"I don't know." I look around and notice a silhouette standing atop of the building behind me, but before I could get a good look, it was gone.

"That's one hell of a power, you know that?" Kiba says. "Where did it come from because you never knew how to do... this before?"

I avert my eyes. "I don't want to talk about it yet."

"So when will you? Because of the looks of it, a lot of people are going to want some answers," he tells me softly.

I get the meaning of his words and obscurely glance around us. Many people were staring at me, some of their expressions curious and other a bit frightened. A couple even had their eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Um, I need to go, Kiba. I'll see you later." He nods, and I quickly get away from then scene.

~~*~~

When I get back home, my mom was already asleep, so I just go straight up to my room. I walk in and see Rakuyo sitting on the edge of my bed. He gets up when I close the door behind me.

"Hey," I say. He half smiles back.

I walk closer to him.

"so... how was training... this morning?"

I smile, glad that Rakuyo was back to talking to me. "Lloyd and I mostly trained. Naria sensei got there really late, so we're just going to start tomorrow."

"Why was sensei late?"

I clear my throat. "Well, turns out that Yasu is alive and he is in the village, along with some partner of his. But Naria sensei just told us to watch our backs and stay on guard." Rakuyo's eyes widen a bit, but his expressions stays impassive.

I continue. "So, what did you do today? I haven't seen you since breakfast early this morning."

He averts his eyes from mine, and I regret asking.

"I'm sorry, Rakuyo. It's not my business..."

"I was... at my mother's grave," he tentatively answers.

"Oh..." I look down towards the floor, unable to say anything. He then sits back on the bed and I step a little closer.

I decide to change the subject to clear some of the remorse. "Did you see the explosion a few blocks down, at the curry restaurant?"

He nods. "Yeah, on my way back I noticed it and went to check it out..."

"Humph. Yeah, I was a little reckless and went into the burning building to see if I could rescue the man."

Rakuyo glances at me. "I know..."

"Yeah, I..." I falter, taking in his words. I then remember that Rakuyo was an earth user, and I gasp. "It was you. You moved the earth over the both of us before the building crushed us."

He nods. "That was really reckless,: he surprises me in saying. "You shouldn't... do stuff like that. You can't rely on that... healing power..."

Anger suddenly courses though me. How could he say that? He had no idea what I was capable of. Wait, what was I saying? This was Rakuyo, my teammate, and he was just worried about me.

I sit down next to him on the bed. We both look out the window at the full moon. I then glance over at him, at his saddened features.

I hesitantly lean my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Rakuyo..." He only nods.

We stay like that for a long while, sitting next to each other in silence...