Light My Fire ((Kankuro X Reader))

Chapter Ten: What Are We

Your feet carried you to the training grounds, only stopping when you were out of breath and fell upon the fence, your arms being used just to keep yourself propped up.
Neji simply scowled in your direction before he huffed, pushing himself up off the ground.
"You're late."
"I know," You attempted to wave it off. "I'm sorry, I lost track of time. I didn't realize-"
"Are you serious about this?" The boy stepped closer, eyes glistening beneath the sun. "Should I continue helping a student who won't help themselves? Can you succeed if you can't even be on time?"

Through all his scolding, you stood up once more and kept your head bowed in respect. Neji was tough but it was true that he was the best teacher you'd ever had. Kasai mentors were as weak as their students. Never learning more, only passing on what they practiced when they were children. Kasai weren't fighters, but you had to be.
It would be crippling to lose Neji now that you were finally improving.
"I'm sorry." You apologized again. "I was busy but it was no excuse, I should have watched the clock and timed my errands better."

The boy fell silent as though taken aback, then hummed, sounding pleased.
"Very well. Head into the ring and begin practice. I'll teach you defense today."


Before you knew it, Neji's hand was tightly around your wrist, pulling your arm over your chest.
"You're protecting this spot." He announced before pulling your arm once more to hold in front of you. "Enemies will go for the head or heart. Fists up, shield your heart, and keep your head low. If you ever lose your weapon, your last resort is defense."

You gave a nod, holding your arms in place of where he moved them as Neji moved around you to stand in front.
"Pretend you're disarmed and your chakra is low. What are you doing?"

"What about a bluff?" You suggested carefully. "If I fake an attack, it may throw the enemy off guard long enough to get close with my fists."

The boy didn't answer, simply giving a nod to allow you to make an attempt.
You inhaled, moving to act like you were going to do a fire whip again.
Neji remained still as you intended to fake a whip, yet as your hand came down, a sudden surge of heat shook across your body and before you could stop it, your chakra exploded through your fingertips.
You could only catch a glimpse of electricity coming down on Neji before the force threw you back to the sandy ground and smoke rose from the air.
Your body was in pain from the force, and it became difficult to breathe from the shock and the smoke now in the air, but you found the will to pull yourself up.
"Neji!" You called, and felt relief wash over your body as the boy pulled himself up. "You're okay, thank God."
As you made your way over, Neji grunted in pain, but seemed otherwise okay. It looked as though he jumped out of the way in time, leaving him unharmed.
"Yes, I'm fine."
You expected anger when he met your eyes, but you could only catch confusion.
"What happened?"
"I'm..." You shook your head, "I'm not sure. That was only supposed to be an acting move, I swear. It did it on its own."

Neji took a step away and hummed quietly, the tip of his thumb upon his lips in thought.
The longer he remained thinking, the more nervous you found yourself becoming. Finally, he closed his metallic eyes.
"You're losing control of yourself, this is not the first time, is it? Go home for now and be sure you are well-rested. Avoid using your chakra in the meantime if you can. I will consult the library until we meet next on Monday."


While not the most comforting thing to hear, Neji was right.
Making your way back to the sibling's house, it was nearly impossible to pull your gaze from your hand. What was going on with you? Such a thing had never happened before.

Meeting on Monday... That's right, it was already Friday. You were losing track of time with everything happening at once.

By the time you made it back, you had no energy to eat dinner with the others or even offer a hello.
All you could do was collapse upon the bed you had been given and sleep. There was nothing you could even offer to aid their search, it was such a waste of a day.
Luckily, it wasn't entirely the worst.

Before you drifted off, Kankuro's face flashed in your mind, and you couldn't help a smile.
Damn it.


Feeling a familiar tug on your leg, a groan escaped your lips.
Was it morning already?
You tried to pretend to be asleep in the hope Gaara would think it wasn't working, but after a minute of the tugging becoming more aggressive, you were suddenly yanked from your bed.

Your scream only cut off by realizing you weren't falling, but rather your blood rushing to your head and opening your eyes to Gaara upside down in front of you.
No, actually you were the one upside down and he was holding you up with sand.

"I'm guessing it's time to wake up," Your arms went limp and you relaxed your weight like a rag doll, although it made no difference to him.

The redhead remained quiet, not budging an inch, urging you to attempt to twist your body around and pull yourself free, but it didn't take long to accept that wasn't going to happen.

"When are you going to let me sleep in?" You finally questioned the boy.
"When you learn not to sleep in until almost noon." He suddenly released and you dropped to the floor, all your weight hitting the ground at once.

If you weren't awake before, you were certainly awake now.
A pained groan escaped your lips as you pulled yourself to your feet to meet the youngest brother.

"I'm starting to think you just like waking me up," You attempted to joke but got no response.

He turned his back to you, arms crossed with the sand gravitating back to the gourd he wore.
"Breakfast is ready, get dressed and join us."