Grasping at the Sky

Chapter 5: Power

Ground. Scroll. Ground. Scroll.

Kira's eyes nearly rolled in her head as she glanced repeatedly from the old worn scroll in her hands to the image she'd tried to duplicate on the ground. Every Shinobi could draw simple sigils, but it had never been one of her strengths.

She couldn't even draw a straight line.

It had taken her over an hour, and her fingers were sore from where she had nearly rubbed them raw when scrubbing away her mistakes.

It was a good thing this was a one-time thing, or else Kira would have been doomed.

Either way, it was done. Well, mostly. All that was left was the final piece, and then all of that work would dissolve away. Kira felt her eye twitch at the thought. Nice! Settling back on her haunches, she rested her arms on her thighs and gave her work a nice, long look over. The complicated circle, swirls, and kanji spanned a two-foot radius, the only blank spot being a smaller empty circle for her hand.

Her eyes wandered over to the scroll now sitting on the ground, its worn, yellow edges nearly blending in with the color of the sandstone. She wasn't sure why she bothered to look at it. She'd spent the last two hours memorizing every inch of readable information left on it, and had been able to fill in some of the blanks. She hoped the rest wasn't too important.

She wished she'd invited Aya now; her friend and teammate was better than Kira ever could be at these things. She shook the thought from her head quick as it came. She needed to do this herself. This was her job, her challenge, and her opportunity.

She needed more options in battle, needed to be stronger so she could prove herself to Gaara, and this, if it worked, would do just that. Thinking about the red haired leader instantly brought back every thought she'd been having for the past two days, ever since he'd spoken to her.

She still couldn't believe she'd been able to say all that; her past had been locked away such a long time ago. He'd taken the information well, though that didn't surprise Kira in the least. There was so much more, though, and she wondered, if he ever found out, how he would react to just what his father had been doing, what he'd had her trained for.

At some point, the truth would have to come out. It would need to if Gaara were to ever really trust her.

"Small steps," Kira muttered to herself, shaking the thoughts away for now. Thinking too far ahead like that would get her nowhere; there were too many things that could change. Slipping a kunai from a pouch at her waist she flipped the handle around in her hand and easily sliced open the pad of her left thumb. Wincing slightly she quickly dabbed the freshly surfacing blood onto each finger of her left hand, making bloody fingerprints.

It didn't hurt as much as she had thought, though she was sure she'd still wince every time she saw Aya bite her own thumb to summon her friend. Biting seemed so much more brutal.

Taking a deep breath she turned her attention to the circle once more and then quickly gathered chakra into her hands before shifting them into the pattern of signs she'd memorized from the scroll. When she finished the final hand seal, she slammed her left hand into the open space of the summoning rune with more force than was needed.

"Summon Justu, Earth Familiar Bonding Ritual!"

There was no smoke, no brilliant light like what came when she watched other ninja summon ninja animals, not even a bit of steam rose from the ground. Kira waited, and waited, staring at her own hand and the lines around it not sure what to do.

Had it failed then? The scroll had said the spirits didn't always take to the person, but she had been so sure... Sighing, Kira slowly and dejectedly pulled her hand away, rubbing at her sore thumb.