Salt in the Wound

I woke up promptly at seven, a smile already plastered on my face. Last night, after my startling experience with Gaara, I fell asleep with ease. No sign of nightmares either. I still wasn’t quite able to understand the feeling Gaara had given me. I have never looked at him the way I did last night, he had always been, I guess what would be called a mentor to me. What happened last night was little, and even that small gesture had my sexual tension tingling and over the edge. I couldn’t get him out of my head the whole time I prepared myself to get ready for the day. I figured it must have been a thrill to me simply because emotion was not something Gaara usually wore on his sleeve. Granted, it wasn’t as if he admitted his undying love to me and then ravished me all night until the morning light broke, not that I would have minded I smirked.

I left my room, feeling a little hot and bothered and came straight to face with a Jounin I had never seen. “Lady Hitomi, by order of the Kazekage you are to come with us to the training grounds.” I opened my mouth to protest but decided it wasn’t worth my time. I’m not going to lie, I was slightly disappointed not to be met with familiar eyes.

We walked in awkward silence until we reached the training grounds. Inside the gates there were five elite Jounin lined up horizontally, staring straight ahead without even a flicker of emotion. “What’s this?” I turned to ask the man who had escorted me here, but he was already stalking off without even a glance back. I stood around for maybe twenty minutes until the doors re-opened and in strutted Gaara, gourd and all. My heart skipped a beat, that familiar burning on my cheeks as his eyes met mine. He took his time walking over to me, slowly taking in the arena. When his eyes found mine again, he spoke.

“Your lesson today is this.” He pointed towards the line of men in the middle of the arena. “Kill them, or try to at least.” He gave a small smirk, waiting for me to protest like he knew I would.

“I won’t be killing anyone.” His eyes narrowed at my blatant honesty.

“You asked for my help, is this not true?” His face got colder as he took a step closer to me. “I won’t hesitate to condemn you from this village. You act like a child, expecting everything handed to you. If you want to be here then you will do as I say.” his words were sharp and angry, biting deep within my chest.

“That’s not how I see it at all.” I whispered darkly. “I asked for your help in keeping Hitsuchi at bay, not in letting him loose.” I couldn’t help but growl and crouch defensively. I wouldn’t willingly let that monster take over my body. Who knows the extent of his thirst? If I killed one, what stopped him from going into a frenzy and wiping out this village too?

“Then feel free to leave.” He said coldly. He crossed his arms and his eyes, daring me to say something smart. My face fell and I focused on the dirt that clouded around my shoes.

“What happened to you?” I whispered to the ground. “Yesterday, you were so…different.” He smirked at me mockingly.

“What of it? I haven’t the time to watch you pity yourself. You can either do as I say or leave here immediately.” I bit into my lip and looked over at the men who stood there waiting.

“Where do I start?” I asked flatly.

He told me to try and tap into Hitsuchi’s powers, that without it my attacks would be mostly wasted on these Jounin. Of course, I thought, five against one was hardly a fair ratio. I grimaced to myself, preparing myself for utmost pain. I wasn’t going to tap into any powers that weren’t my own. Even if it killed me. Gaara sat himself in the closest chair to the edge of the arena.

I positioned myself in the middle of the arena, slowly being circled by the five Jounin. I pulled out my shuriken and held them between my fingers in both hands. To act as a distraction I threw them with as much force as I could, they dodged them easily and charged for my jumping figure. As I landed outside the ring of the skilled nin, I clasped my hands together performing the signs for my binds of light jutsu. The rings appeared out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around one of the nin, his eyes widening in fear as smoke floated above his searing flesh. Suddenly, my jutsu was interrupted as I was struck in the back of my head with the blunt edge of a weapon. Falling forward, I closed my jittering eyes. Intuition told me to move and as I dodged to the side I could feel the breeze from a falling object hit to the right of my head with unbelievable force. I opened my eyes suddenly, going blind for a minute and jumping out of the way again to avoid being maimed.

These nin were fast, faster than I expected, and so far I could claim one without another two attacking me from all sides. I sped to the side attempting to pull into another hand sign but was fiercely met with the ground as my legs had been pulled out from under me with an invisible hand. I was pulled up by the collar and swiftly hit in the face, hard.

I smiled as the blood ran down my chin, knowing all too well I was making a fool of myself. But I wasn’t going to cave in to that gnawing hunger at my brain that was Hitsuchi.

I was struck again, this time my face was forced to stare into Gaara’s direction. His eyes were wide and he was sitting on the edge of his seat, a startled look on his face. He knew all too well what I was doing. Slowly killing myself to keep the little dignity I had left.

The man who struck me dropped me and scooted back, giving me a fair chance to get up. Slowly, I pushed my shaking form up and looked around me into the eyes of the still remaining five ninja. “I apologize if this seems too easy, I swear I’m trying.” I told them quietly.

It would have been an easy battle if I could have done a jutsu, but whenever I tried I was interrupted by the outweighing ratio. I was kicked again but this time in the spine from behind, my eyes opened and a silent scream erupted from my lips. My face hit the ground, tearing open the wounds even wider than before. Again, I stood up, more and more blood dripping from my face and body. It was a shame my ribs hadn’t fully healed, the pain in them was almost unbearable.

I was exhausted. The amount of dodging and running that I had done, not even counting the energy that had literally been beaten out of me, had really started to take a toll on my body. I laughed lowly, seeing the change of heart everyone seemed to have just overnight. Ruthless people, I was almost ashamed to have felt so admiring towards someone who saw my life as nothing more than a potential weapon. It seemed to be that I had been circled once more, ending right where it had started. I looked into the eyes of the closest nin, a smirk graced his dry mouth and his eyes held so much hate it nearly made me drop dead right there. He held his hands out towards the other Jounin, signaling to let them take his chance with me, alone. He began to charge, grinning wider as he watched me make no effort to move.

This was it. Maybe that death wish that had been hanging above my head from the start would finally be granted. I closed my eyes, seeking out inner peace before I was beat senseless once more. A small smile fell upon my lips as I continued to wait.

A small wail brought me out of my mind. I watched the flailing nin fall backwards towards the wall at an alarming rate. His head hit the wall, knocking him out immediately. The nin looked around for the cause, their eyes falling on me as they assumed it must have been a mind trick of sorts. The remaining four charged towards me, malice in their eyes.

I concentrated on dodging their attacks more than fighting back. Another ninja was yanked backwards, taking out a third in the process. The remaining two took a step back, feeling slightly threatened. Feeling a force of energy unknown to me, I charged forwards, fists clenched and angry. The first of the Jounin’s face collided with my fist and I could feel the cracking of bone beneath my knuckles. In that same instant the second tried to grab me but a swift roundhouse kick stopped him in his tracks, his body hitting the ground at an alarming rate. I had managed to hit them hard enough to knock them unconscious.

Sheer luck on my part.

Pain came crashing down my body and I collapsed into a shuddering pile. I had enough strength in me to raise my head, my eyes connecting with Gaara’s. I could see the twitching rage on his face, he broke contact and looked upwards searching for someone. I didn’t have time to wonder any further about who he was looking for, I slipped into emptiness, my energy officially dying out.

This whole passing out thing was seriously getting old.