Status: Done.
Salt in the Wound
Damage.
“I’m coming!” Kankuro yelled loudly, dragging behind him a man who was flailing about and swearing. “Will you shut it!” He turned around and harshly yanked the man forward to keep up with his speed. They skidded to a halt in front of us and Kankuro dropped to his knees in front of me. “Ishiko! Are you alright? I got somebody here to fi-” He stopped, staring in confusion at me. Shifting his line of sight to Gaara he raised an eyebrow. “Where are her injuries?” His hands took me by the shoulders and lifted my sleeve, searching. I managed to slap his hand away before he tried to pull down my shirt beneath the large, torn blood stain.
“About that,” I moaned, pushing him away from me. “I’m still relatively sore so be gentle, but my injuries are fine, taken care of.” Smiling sheepishly I shrugged at the medic, watching him drop his shoulders and mumble under his breath something about wanting to be taken more seriously.
“What? How?!” Kankuro turned towards Gaara, his face twitching. “Since when can you heal?!” Gaara turned his face away from him, tossing his eyes up.
“You idiot, I can’t. Ishiko healed herself.” His mouth gaped open and then closed.
“I don’t believe it. What are you? I’ve never seen a nomad with such intense power as yours. I mean Gaara told me you were strong but healing too…” He trailed off looking away. Nomad? My mind snapped and I turned towards Gaara, grinding my teeth.
“You never told him? Oh be realistic Gaara!” His eyes narrowed as Kankuro perked up, asking about what he didn’t know. I sighed and shrugged, meeting Gaara’s eyes. “May I?” Without warning Gaara stood up, dropping my head from his lap so I met the ground with an unsettling thud.
“I don’t care. If you’ll excuse me I have business to attend to. While you two chat away I will be dealing with the attack we just suffered from.” His voice held a subtle hint of sarcasm, not bothering to display any amount of manners. Rubbing the back of my head I glared dangerously at the retreating Kazekage before pulling myself up and stretching. My wounds might have been treated but I felt as if I had been bruised on every possible inch of skin.
“What did Gaara tell you exactly?” I turned towards Kankuro, his face was covered in the dark smear of ashes and he looked drained of all energy. But know that he knew I had a secret, his face brightened and he leaned towards me.
“All he said was that you had come wandering in from some far off place and that you harnessed some kind of rare power that he wanted to learn more about.” I frowned and dropped my shoulders.
“Ok well, walk with me to my room and I will tell you on the way there.” I took less than three steps forward before my legs gave in and I fell towards the ground. As if on cue Kankuro wrapped his arms from behind me, catching my fall. “Damn, I can’t even walk!” I hung my head and scowled, angry tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. Being this weak was something I just couldn’t come to accept. Even with the demon inside of me, my energy level lowered at a rate that astounded me. I swore, tomorrow I train extensively even if it kills me. His arms swooped under me and lifted me, he looked almost pleased that I couldn’t walk. “You don’t need to carry me.” I said defiantly, earning a head shake in return.
“Stop talking, like you said, you can’t walk. Am I supposed to drag you there?” I didn’t bother saying anything, my head finding a place to rest on his shoulder. “Now tell me, what are you Ishiko? Are you an angel?” I could feel the smirk on his face and laughed lightly.
“You have no idea how wrong you are.”
-----
I turned away awkwardly, as if his eyes could see right through my clothes. “Will you stop looking at me like that?” I frowned as he promptly ignore me.
“I’m…confused.” He said finally, closing his mouth. He hadn’t exactly taken what I said seriously. In fact, he called me a down right liar. “What you said…isn’t even…possible, right?” I shook my head and threw myself backwards, landing in the soft feather pillow. We had been discussing this for over an hour, all I really wanted to do was sleep now.
“I suppose normally it wouldn’t be. But this time I guess it is.” He crossed his arms and eyed me suspiciously.
“So this demon…is it like Gaara’s?” I shook my head and rolled my eyes. No matter how many times I tried to explain it he didn’t get it. Not that I blamed him, it was a lot of overwhelming information.
“No wonder he didn’t tell you anything.” I mumbled. “No, I’m not a jinjuriki. My demon is set apart entirely from those demons and considerably weaker. But I guess it works generally the same. If I die, he dies and therefore he’s apart of me. He is the only thing keeping me alive.” He nodded and looked up at me with more questions on his tongue.
“So where is your soul?” I shrugged nonchalantly.
“Who knows. Walking around somewhere without a vessel I would assume. Hitsuchi is my life force and so to speak, he is my soul. But really, I’m just guessing at most of this. It’s not like I woke up with an instruction booklet in my hand. This is as new to me as it was to anyone else.” He asked about Roka’s soul and I wasn’t quite sure on where Roka stood even. “I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that he shares a body with his demon. He never died but in fact offered his body as a storage unit for Hihouka. His demon keeps him alive. I would guess that if the demon ever left him, his body would catch up with the age of his soul and he would ultimately perish too.” I smiled sheepishly at the look on Kankuro’s face. “But like I said, I really don’t know.” My smile was interrupted with a rather wide yawn and I turned over to bury my face in the pillow. “Look, I would be glad to answer all of your questions tomorrow, but I’m kind of beat.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” He looked rather down himself. He gave me quick pat on the leg and stood up. “Thanks for clearing this up with me. It’s nice to know someone thinks me worthy to know about this.“ He shot a quick dirty look at the opposite wall where Gaara’s office would have been and I laughed. “Not to mention, my view points haven‘t changed. Even if you are some kind of soulless dragon girl.”
“It’s no problem. I trust you more than anyone here nearly. I think you deserve to know. And I guess I love you too Kankuro? That‘s a definite question.” We exchanged hugs and I settled myself in the depths of my blankets trying hard to block out the smell of blood around me. As much as I wanted to sleep I found myself staring at my balcony doors, waiting for Roka to return. I finally fell asleep when the peaking of the sun over the sand was visible.
-----
My legs were weak but I wouldn’t stop, couldn’t. Roka would come for me and when that time came I wouldn’t be as easy to beat as I was last night. The sun was setting and I had been training for a full on eleven hours, taking only five minutes to eat some food pills Temari had given me. I had stumbled upon twin Tanto knives at the store market when I had gotten up to find the training grounds. They were weapons I had trained with back in my village at home and had at one point gotten quite skilled with. The ones I purchased were straight and expertly made and with them over the course of the day I had managed to remember everything I once had learned.
Fast swipe to the left, bring other hand down in a slashing motion and single back around with a jab. Slice, jab, slice and block. I stopped for a minute and examined my damage on the tree. If someone had been standing in that place they would have died from definite blood loss. My cuts were thick and deep, straight and even. Smiling, I tucked my Tanto away in their scabbard around my hips. I would move immediately into my jutsu strength now. “You’re still here.” I recognized that cool voice and didn’t bother turning around to face my new guest.
“Obviously.” I didn’t want anybody breaking my concentration right now. I made a couple of hand signs and let my hands tingle, turning towards Gaara I slapped my hand on the ground watching with interest as a blade of lightening tore towards him. His eyes turned up in amusement and he dodged quickly, his sand trailing behind him. “Hm. Apparently I’m not fast enough.”
“Are you looking for someone to fight?” He asked suddenly, crossing his arms and staring at me with a calm face.
“Might as well be. It’s rather difficult to see the damage done when your opponent is a tree. Would you like to join me?” He nodded curtly and wasted no time, his sand slithered out of the gourd and around his feet. He was waiting for me to strike first. I unsheathed my Tanto and ran towards him, jumping before I reached him and sliced downwards through the air. Unsurprisingly his sand blocked my target. I rolled off and dodged left, slice and jab I told myself. My speed increased greatly as I tapped into Hitsuchi’s chakra and once again I jumped above him. Before his sand could block I lashed to the side, sending my momentum to the left. Fall, slice, and roll. I snagged his arm and a shocked look crossed his face. No sooner did it retreat was it replaced with an impressed sort of half smile. Blood faintly trickled out and I smiled, I didn’t want to cut him too deep.
“Your lucky you have that chakra to steal away from.” I nodded and agreed, making hand signs faster than his eyes could catch up. My hand tingled and as they did I jumped up, throwing my Tanto down so that it stuck in the ground. He crouched and drew his sand upwards, sending it in my direction. Faster than him I slammed my body towards the ground, this time bringing my fist in connection with the concrete. A bright blue bolt jumped from the ground and split itself around the Tanto, creating two different streams of light.
“You’re getting careless!” I yelled as I darted towards him, swiftly leaping over the light and throwing a punch. Thud, my hand hit the sand hard, scratching the skin a top my knuckles. Shift, shift, I was to his left and to his right. As his eyes tried to keep up he stepped to his left and my bolt slithered up his leg. Before it crawl up his body any further and burn him to the point where it seriously caused damage, I canceled my jutsu and skidded backwards. With a tilt of my head I smiled through narrowed eyes. “You are going easy on me Gaara-kun.” He lifted his eyes at the nickname and parted his mouth.
“I wouldn’t want to hurt you.” He said as if it was obvious.
“Trust me, I’ll be fine.” As soon as my sentence finished his sand came at me catching me by surprise. Narrowly missing its target I dashed and rolled. It followed automatically. My eyes caught his hands guiding the sand and I took that distraction to throw a spare kunai in his direction.
Blocked easily. This was the training I had needed. His sand caught my leg and I felt it tighten. Not hard enough to injure me like it was capable of but hard enough to scratch the my skin and make me bleed. The sand whipped off of me as I dispelled my chakra and I skidded back. This was my moment to show him the progress I had made. “Want to see my new trick?” I asked with a smirk, he glared at me in confusion as I closed my eyes and held my hands together. A thick red aura surrounded me as his sand inched closer, keeping it at bay. “We’re not hurting him, this is simply a showcase.” I said to the dragon, he eyed my curiously before grunting and returning.
“Understood.”
I opened my eyes, revealing the red orbs behind my lids. My teeth grew sharp and I could feel my arms bristle with newly formed scales. In a rush I headed towards Gaara, a light laugh on my lips at the look of sheer shock on his face. My speed had once increased and within a shake of my body I landed behind him. Immediately, he turned on his heel and dashed backwards sending a wave of sand at me. Easily dismissed with a wave of my hand. Step, step I was in front him again before he could see me run. I stood face to face with him, my eyes returning to their silver state. It took him a minute to register my speed and now where I stood and I took that moment to lean forward and kiss him quickly on the lips. I couldn’t help but laugh as he stood there staring at me.
“What was that?” He finally said, returning to his calm posture. I could see that he had been shaken by the experience.
“That is what I have been working on for months now. The bond between Hitsuchi and I is finally there to use to my advantage. Instead of turning to my demon form when I’m angry, he will do it whenever I will him to.” I smiled brightly before turning my head, letting my hair spill over one eye. Almost, he nearly almost smiled at me.
“I’m impressed.”
“About that,” I moaned, pushing him away from me. “I’m still relatively sore so be gentle, but my injuries are fine, taken care of.” Smiling sheepishly I shrugged at the medic, watching him drop his shoulders and mumble under his breath something about wanting to be taken more seriously.
“What? How?!” Kankuro turned towards Gaara, his face twitching. “Since when can you heal?!” Gaara turned his face away from him, tossing his eyes up.
“You idiot, I can’t. Ishiko healed herself.” His mouth gaped open and then closed.
“I don’t believe it. What are you? I’ve never seen a nomad with such intense power as yours. I mean Gaara told me you were strong but healing too…” He trailed off looking away. Nomad? My mind snapped and I turned towards Gaara, grinding my teeth.
“You never told him? Oh be realistic Gaara!” His eyes narrowed as Kankuro perked up, asking about what he didn’t know. I sighed and shrugged, meeting Gaara’s eyes. “May I?” Without warning Gaara stood up, dropping my head from his lap so I met the ground with an unsettling thud.
“I don’t care. If you’ll excuse me I have business to attend to. While you two chat away I will be dealing with the attack we just suffered from.” His voice held a subtle hint of sarcasm, not bothering to display any amount of manners. Rubbing the back of my head I glared dangerously at the retreating Kazekage before pulling myself up and stretching. My wounds might have been treated but I felt as if I had been bruised on every possible inch of skin.
“What did Gaara tell you exactly?” I turned towards Kankuro, his face was covered in the dark smear of ashes and he looked drained of all energy. But know that he knew I had a secret, his face brightened and he leaned towards me.
“All he said was that you had come wandering in from some far off place and that you harnessed some kind of rare power that he wanted to learn more about.” I frowned and dropped my shoulders.
“Ok well, walk with me to my room and I will tell you on the way there.” I took less than three steps forward before my legs gave in and I fell towards the ground. As if on cue Kankuro wrapped his arms from behind me, catching my fall. “Damn, I can’t even walk!” I hung my head and scowled, angry tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. Being this weak was something I just couldn’t come to accept. Even with the demon inside of me, my energy level lowered at a rate that astounded me. I swore, tomorrow I train extensively even if it kills me. His arms swooped under me and lifted me, he looked almost pleased that I couldn’t walk. “You don’t need to carry me.” I said defiantly, earning a head shake in return.
“Stop talking, like you said, you can’t walk. Am I supposed to drag you there?” I didn’t bother saying anything, my head finding a place to rest on his shoulder. “Now tell me, what are you Ishiko? Are you an angel?” I could feel the smirk on his face and laughed lightly.
“You have no idea how wrong you are.”
-----
I turned away awkwardly, as if his eyes could see right through my clothes. “Will you stop looking at me like that?” I frowned as he promptly ignore me.
“I’m…confused.” He said finally, closing his mouth. He hadn’t exactly taken what I said seriously. In fact, he called me a down right liar. “What you said…isn’t even…possible, right?” I shook my head and threw myself backwards, landing in the soft feather pillow. We had been discussing this for over an hour, all I really wanted to do was sleep now.
“I suppose normally it wouldn’t be. But this time I guess it is.” He crossed his arms and eyed me suspiciously.
“So this demon…is it like Gaara’s?” I shook my head and rolled my eyes. No matter how many times I tried to explain it he didn’t get it. Not that I blamed him, it was a lot of overwhelming information.
“No wonder he didn’t tell you anything.” I mumbled. “No, I’m not a jinjuriki. My demon is set apart entirely from those demons and considerably weaker. But I guess it works generally the same. If I die, he dies and therefore he’s apart of me. He is the only thing keeping me alive.” He nodded and looked up at me with more questions on his tongue.
“So where is your soul?” I shrugged nonchalantly.
“Who knows. Walking around somewhere without a vessel I would assume. Hitsuchi is my life force and so to speak, he is my soul. But really, I’m just guessing at most of this. It’s not like I woke up with an instruction booklet in my hand. This is as new to me as it was to anyone else.” He asked about Roka’s soul and I wasn’t quite sure on where Roka stood even. “I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that he shares a body with his demon. He never died but in fact offered his body as a storage unit for Hihouka. His demon keeps him alive. I would guess that if the demon ever left him, his body would catch up with the age of his soul and he would ultimately perish too.” I smiled sheepishly at the look on Kankuro’s face. “But like I said, I really don’t know.” My smile was interrupted with a rather wide yawn and I turned over to bury my face in the pillow. “Look, I would be glad to answer all of your questions tomorrow, but I’m kind of beat.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” He looked rather down himself. He gave me quick pat on the leg and stood up. “Thanks for clearing this up with me. It’s nice to know someone thinks me worthy to know about this.“ He shot a quick dirty look at the opposite wall where Gaara’s office would have been and I laughed. “Not to mention, my view points haven‘t changed. Even if you are some kind of soulless dragon girl.”
“It’s no problem. I trust you more than anyone here nearly. I think you deserve to know. And I guess I love you too Kankuro? That‘s a definite question.” We exchanged hugs and I settled myself in the depths of my blankets trying hard to block out the smell of blood around me. As much as I wanted to sleep I found myself staring at my balcony doors, waiting for Roka to return. I finally fell asleep when the peaking of the sun over the sand was visible.
-----
My legs were weak but I wouldn’t stop, couldn’t. Roka would come for me and when that time came I wouldn’t be as easy to beat as I was last night. The sun was setting and I had been training for a full on eleven hours, taking only five minutes to eat some food pills Temari had given me. I had stumbled upon twin Tanto knives at the store market when I had gotten up to find the training grounds. They were weapons I had trained with back in my village at home and had at one point gotten quite skilled with. The ones I purchased were straight and expertly made and with them over the course of the day I had managed to remember everything I once had learned.
Fast swipe to the left, bring other hand down in a slashing motion and single back around with a jab. Slice, jab, slice and block. I stopped for a minute and examined my damage on the tree. If someone had been standing in that place they would have died from definite blood loss. My cuts were thick and deep, straight and even. Smiling, I tucked my Tanto away in their scabbard around my hips. I would move immediately into my jutsu strength now. “You’re still here.” I recognized that cool voice and didn’t bother turning around to face my new guest.
“Obviously.” I didn’t want anybody breaking my concentration right now. I made a couple of hand signs and let my hands tingle, turning towards Gaara I slapped my hand on the ground watching with interest as a blade of lightening tore towards him. His eyes turned up in amusement and he dodged quickly, his sand trailing behind him. “Hm. Apparently I’m not fast enough.”
“Are you looking for someone to fight?” He asked suddenly, crossing his arms and staring at me with a calm face.
“Might as well be. It’s rather difficult to see the damage done when your opponent is a tree. Would you like to join me?” He nodded curtly and wasted no time, his sand slithered out of the gourd and around his feet. He was waiting for me to strike first. I unsheathed my Tanto and ran towards him, jumping before I reached him and sliced downwards through the air. Unsurprisingly his sand blocked my target. I rolled off and dodged left, slice and jab I told myself. My speed increased greatly as I tapped into Hitsuchi’s chakra and once again I jumped above him. Before his sand could block I lashed to the side, sending my momentum to the left. Fall, slice, and roll. I snagged his arm and a shocked look crossed his face. No sooner did it retreat was it replaced with an impressed sort of half smile. Blood faintly trickled out and I smiled, I didn’t want to cut him too deep.
“Your lucky you have that chakra to steal away from.” I nodded and agreed, making hand signs faster than his eyes could catch up. My hand tingled and as they did I jumped up, throwing my Tanto down so that it stuck in the ground. He crouched and drew his sand upwards, sending it in my direction. Faster than him I slammed my body towards the ground, this time bringing my fist in connection with the concrete. A bright blue bolt jumped from the ground and split itself around the Tanto, creating two different streams of light.
“You’re getting careless!” I yelled as I darted towards him, swiftly leaping over the light and throwing a punch. Thud, my hand hit the sand hard, scratching the skin a top my knuckles. Shift, shift, I was to his left and to his right. As his eyes tried to keep up he stepped to his left and my bolt slithered up his leg. Before it crawl up his body any further and burn him to the point where it seriously caused damage, I canceled my jutsu and skidded backwards. With a tilt of my head I smiled through narrowed eyes. “You are going easy on me Gaara-kun.” He lifted his eyes at the nickname and parted his mouth.
“I wouldn’t want to hurt you.” He said as if it was obvious.
“Trust me, I’ll be fine.” As soon as my sentence finished his sand came at me catching me by surprise. Narrowly missing its target I dashed and rolled. It followed automatically. My eyes caught his hands guiding the sand and I took that distraction to throw a spare kunai in his direction.
Blocked easily. This was the training I had needed. His sand caught my leg and I felt it tighten. Not hard enough to injure me like it was capable of but hard enough to scratch the my skin and make me bleed. The sand whipped off of me as I dispelled my chakra and I skidded back. This was my moment to show him the progress I had made. “Want to see my new trick?” I asked with a smirk, he glared at me in confusion as I closed my eyes and held my hands together. A thick red aura surrounded me as his sand inched closer, keeping it at bay. “We’re not hurting him, this is simply a showcase.” I said to the dragon, he eyed my curiously before grunting and returning.
“Understood.”
I opened my eyes, revealing the red orbs behind my lids. My teeth grew sharp and I could feel my arms bristle with newly formed scales. In a rush I headed towards Gaara, a light laugh on my lips at the look of sheer shock on his face. My speed had once increased and within a shake of my body I landed behind him. Immediately, he turned on his heel and dashed backwards sending a wave of sand at me. Easily dismissed with a wave of my hand. Step, step I was in front him again before he could see me run. I stood face to face with him, my eyes returning to their silver state. It took him a minute to register my speed and now where I stood and I took that moment to lean forward and kiss him quickly on the lips. I couldn’t help but laugh as he stood there staring at me.
“What was that?” He finally said, returning to his calm posture. I could see that he had been shaken by the experience.
“That is what I have been working on for months now. The bond between Hitsuchi and I is finally there to use to my advantage. Instead of turning to my demon form when I’m angry, he will do it whenever I will him to.” I smiled brightly before turning my head, letting my hair spill over one eye. Almost, he nearly almost smiled at me.
“I’m impressed.”