Aisha's POV
"GAH!" Naruto yelled as he fell onto the ground with me sitting in his back where I sat with white smoke around me. I grinned exposing my sharp wolf-like teeth.
"Hiya Blondie!" I giggled.
"Get off of me Aisha," he grunted, though he too was smiling. I hopped off him and helped him get up from the balcony floor. By then Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke like I had, only he leant against the wall rather than crushing Naruto.
"Hi."
Beside me Sakura spoke, "What do you mean 'hi' where's Sasuke? Is he okay?!"
"Oh he's fine, sleeping soundly in the infirmary. Although he might have a bump on his head..."
I smirked devilishly. Naruto saw this and laughed knowingly. He gave me a fist bump. Kakashi shook his head.
"Hey look," Sakura pointed to the black screen flashing names, "The next match is going to start."
I barely glanced at the board. Although I was acting cheery I didn't quite feel it inside me. My heads still spinning from all the flashbacks I've had in the last hour. I dunno maybe I should take a break for a bit.
"Oi Kakashi, I'm gonna see Team Gai, later," he waved me off and I walked away from my team who were peering over the edge, watching Kitty's match.
I nodded my head in hello to Neji who noticed me approach first. He narrowed his eyes. Man that guy ticks me off. So I stuck my tongue out at him and made moose antlers with my hands. He scowled.
Tenten saw me, "Oh hey Aisha, what's u—"
"AISHA MY BEAUTIFUL LOTUS, HOW ARE YOU? YOU FOUGHT WONDROUSLY IN YOUR MATCH EARLIER! BUT WHERE DID YOU GO AFTER IT MY LOVE? I SEARCHED FOR YOU UP UNTIL I HEARD YOUR BEAUTIFUL VOICE TALKING AMONG YOUR TEAMMATES! BUT THANKFULLY WE ARE FINALLY TOGETHER AGAIN!!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP LEE OR I'LL SHOVE A DICTIONARY SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOU'LL BE RECITING DEFINITIONS FOR A MONTH!" I screamed flipping him over by twisting his outstretched hand, judo-style. He crashed against the ground and cracked the cement upon impact. I breathed furiously.
Stars spun in Lee's big, round eyes, "How the fuck do you put up with this guy?" I ask Tenten. She shrugs with a funny look on her face.
"Your eyes are sweet by the way, you should pull your bangs up more often."
"..Oh.....um yeah I er..kinda forgot it was pulled back heheh but um yeah th-thanks I guess.." I hate compliments (which is why I'm glad I don't get them often.)
I watched the rest of Kankuros match with them until I remembered to go check on something. I excuse myself and walk away down an almost empty hallway. Gaara walks pass me without even acknowledging me. I frown.
I grab the back of his gourd and tip it back so he momentarily loses his balance. He regains his footing and turns around deadly slow to face me. I huff.
"Ya know panda, if you ever wanna make friends I suggest you stop looking at them like your trying to saw them in half with your mind. There's this thing called smiling ya know."
He narrows his sea foam green eyes, "Don't talk to me or touch me ever again. Or I'll kill you."
"I'd like to see you try," we stare at each other with a challenging aura surrounding us. The lights flicker twice then shut off completely, so only the light from either sides entrance lit it up dimly. The starring match is broken up when he clutched his head with a hand. He groans and starts breathing furiously.
I'm quick to act. I bring up my hands and form a quick, unusual hand sign. Through the midst of his pain, Gaara steps back and brings out his sand in large spear-like shapes. I almost don't notice them. Except for the fact that, ya know, big pointy spears are hard to miss.
My right index finger glows a shimmering crystal blue colour in the dark hallway. "Gaara listen to me, this'll help you...trust me."
If anything he becomes even more on guard. He hisses, "Why should I trust you?"
I smile genuinely,"Because I'm just like you."
Silence fills the hall. Even Gaara just stood there squinting, but his eyes never leaving me.
I take this as a good sign and walk over to him carefully. I outstretched my right hand and pushed back his choppy hair with the other. Using the wavering blue tip of my one finger, I draw a circle with two smaller rings inside it on his forehead. I crossed a line horizontally through it making sure to focus my natural energy into the seal. I finished the glowing design by adding two dots on top of the outer ring and one at the bottom of it in between his nonexistent eyebrows.
I step back and extinguished the blue flame from my finger. "Better?"
Gaara looked bewildered and dropped his hand, "H-How did you do that....what did you do?"
"It's a healing seal my clan had made. They made thousands that by far pass the ones from other clans. Only the Uzumaki clan could challenge us. This one in particular was called Chiheisen Ringu which means 'The Horizon Ring' pretty neat eh? It uses the users Natural Energry rather than chakra because they found it's more efficient for these kind of things. It'll disappear in a minute or so but it should free you of the One Tails wrath for a few hours."
Gaara looked like he couldn't believe it, "How do you know about him? And what did you mean you just like me? Are you saying your also—"
"I believe that is what I've been saying, Captain Obvious," I say with a snarky grin.
"Do you use this also? I mean on you when you get uh, headaches."
I sigh and shake my head, "Sadly I can't cast the jutsu on myself only other jinchuriki's. Otherwise I'd do it all the time. Naruto doesn't get any for some reason so I haven't needed to do it."
Gaara processes this. His sand spears break apart to individual grains of sand and float back inside the gourd. He breaks eye contact with me, "...How many tails?"
He looks back up to see and empty spot. Well almost. The hallway lights flicker back on as he uses a trail of sand to bring up a series of cards stabbed into the floor. The sand drops the sharp edged cards in his hand. Gaara frowns at the ten cards while the glowing seal fades off his face. His eyes widen when he finally understands what they mean.
I deactivated my Ookamisensu and pulled my hoodie over my head, shoved my hands in my shorts pockets, and walked through a hospital rooms door.
Sasuke's POV
She came through the door quietly with a small smile on her face. Both eyes were shining, reminding me of something Iruka once said; about how the moon controls the waters tides and pulls them to make waves. Her eyes are like that. The gray hood of her hoodie-vest was pulled up so her clan symbol was fully exposed on her back. She may not be the prettiest girl ever, even Sakura and Ino look better. Her hair is spiked and wild, her body isn't the ideal shape. But she's different and unfortunately, that catches my attention.
"Sup shit-fuck?" Aisha says cooly.
"Go away," I say even though part of me wants her to stay. I push away that part.
"Awe, don't be so mean Uchiha. After all, I'm the one who gave you that lovely gift on your head. By the way, very macho." She does a little finger gun pointing to my forehead. The doctors ran out of normal, plain band aids to place on my bump so they had to improvise with a big, very pink, and very sparkly bandaid. It's so pink, Sakuras hair would be jealous. So now I lay in the bed with a huge neon pink patch.
"Hn. Did you come here just to mock me or is there an actual reason why you decided to pain my with you presence?"
She looked around the room. It was a small standard room. Even more so because this was only a hospital wing rather than the full thing. Blue curtains and bedsheets decorated the room. But they don't hide the fact that the monitors and needles are within arms reach.
"This is depressing." She says this in a dry voice as her eyes linger on the needles filled with serums. Her jaw tightens before she shakes her head, "Actually there are reasons why I came here. One: you're a dick, two: wanted to see if you were dying or something, and three: the mark."
I look away from Aisha, "What about it?"
"No matter what you think Sasuke this curse mark isn't a gift okay? Get that through your head before it's too late. The seal is only as strong as you are, so if you seek to use the curse marks power, the seal will break. And if it does....just don't break it."
She looked deadly serious but for some reason her words don't fully process in my head. "Then how am I supposed to get stronger and defeat him?"
"Oh no, boy I dibs killing Orochimaru. He's my kill," she makes and 'X' formation with her arms while shaking her head.
"Not him, idiot. My...my brother,"
She practically leaps into the bed. She squatted on the end board of the bed and rested her head in her hands childishly, "Ooooooh backstory time! Yes I love those, tell me! Tell me your ever so traumatic past emo boy!"
I scowl at her, "I don't have to, I don't owe you anything so why should I?"
"Excuse me? Who the fuck do you think saved your skimpy ass in the Forest of Death? Without me you'd be dead child," she chewed on pride.
For some reason, I snapped, "Well you obviously didn't do a good job seeing as you couldn't stop Orochimaru from giving me the curse mark anyways. Pathetic."
I didn't know why I said it but I did. And now seeing the darkened look on her face with hallow eyes, I regret it.
"Tch. That's the last time I even try to do anything for you Sasuke." she then hopped off the bed quietly, took a few steps forward and punched me hard in the face. She stalked off through the door, slamming it.
The sound echoed in the lonely room. I touched my bruised cheek. I grit my teeth together and scream at myself for being so stupid.
Aisha's POV
"Uzumaki Barrage!" I raced up to the railing and almost fell right over if it had not been for Kakashi grabbing the back of my shirt. I was trying to hurry because I over heard someone say Naruto was fighting against the mutt. So I ran over here as fast as I could.
"Cough cough....The winner is, Naruto Uzumaki!" Hayate wheezed.
I banged my head on the metal railing hard, "DAMNIT TO HELL I MISSED IT! WHYY!"
Sakura laughed while I practically pulled out my long hair. Kakashi sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"NICE JOB NARUTO WAY TO GO!!" Sakura cheered pumping her fist in the air. I watched the medics pull Kiba and Akamaru on a stretcher. I hear some of the other genin marvel at Naruto's win.
"Who would've thought he'd win?" Ino screeched.
I smirk to myself, 'Of course he'd win, without a doubt. Heh, he's grown a lot since I left him tied up to that stump when I first met him. As any Uzumaki should.'
"Aye, Naruto!" I grabbed him in a headlock when he joined the team. I ruffled his messy hair, "Nice job defeating that annoying mutt!"
"Ow! Hey lemme go!" He laughed. I grinned at him, keeping my arm swung around his neck. I grab Sakura with the other, together we watch the screen flicker names.
Hinata Huga v.s. Neji Huga
We watch in silence as the two walk down to the centre of the match grounds.
"I never thought that you and I would have to face each other, Hinata."
"Nor I cousin.."
"What did she just say? They're cousins?" Sakura wailed.
Kakashi nods, "Both a decedents of the Huga clan, one of the most honourable families of the Hidden Leaf. So yeah basically."
Lee buts in, "Hinata belongs to the main household, directly descended from the head of the clan. While Neji's family is just a side branch of the clan."
"Look," said Kakashi, "They're starting."
They exchanged words. Words more like insults on Neji's part. I want to smack that pretentious look right off his face with a rock. The things he's saying to Hinata make my blood boil. I feel Naruto tense up.
"Byakugan!" Nejis pale eyes are surrounded by veins and their intensity sharpens. He reads out Hinata's body language all the while lowering her confidence further.
"That does it!" Naruto snaps. He runs out of my hold and leans over the railing. Sakura and I follow behind, "WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO TELL HER WHAT SHE CAN OR CANT DO?! GO ON HINATA SHOW THIS GUY HE'S WRONG!"
He growls, "Grrrr—HINATA! Are you just gonna stand there and take that?! Do something your driving me crazy!"
Hinata pauses. She lowers her head. When it comes up her eyes are sparking with determination and her stance strengthens. I nod respectfully. Here we have a girl so timid and shy she can't stand up for herself, but with a little push and she'll burn down a forest. Even if it's her own family.
She closes her eyes and makes hand signs, I lean forward against the rail, "Byakugan!"
Together the go into the Huga's fighting stance. Neji narrows his eyes, "Very well."
The fight begins and the lurch forward, jabbing fists at each other and blocking. I activate my Sharingan to keep up with the attacks. I notice that they infuse chakra in their hands and focus on hitting certain points.
Gai nearby explains the Huga's fighting methods. I've researched the clan before so I understand everything already. Like how they hit certain points in the chakra network to block the flow. They're able to know where to hit because of their Byakugan.
Neji finally lands a hit on Hinata. She coughs up blood. Sakura gasps. Hinata moves forward to strike Neji but because of that hit, she's only a bit slower but even that can be fatal in a match. Neji repeatedly gets her. I wince each time.
He hits her in the gut and she falls, "Last warning, Hinata, forfeit this match."
More blood drips out of Hinata's mouth as she struggles to get up, "..I....never...go back....on my word,"
She's fully up now and Naruto grips the metal bars tightly, recognizing his own words, "Because that too is my nindo.....my ninja way!"
I smile sadly when she coughs up more blood, she's reached her limit, yet she continues. Just like Naruto.
"This isn't fair. The difference in strength is too much," Sakura says sadly.
I look at her shocked then back to Hinata. I pull down my hood and shout, "GO HINATA, YOU CAN DO IT!"
Hinata pauses not expecting my confidence in her, but she runs back into battle, swinging blows and hits.
Naruto and I grin proudly as she keeps on attacking.
Suddenly Neji hits her at the throat, sending her up. She barely regains her footing. She barely holds it in but she coughs up more clots of blood.
"Hinata!" Naruto screams.
As best as she could, she runs to attack Neji, but Neji strikes her heart and she crumbles to the ground.
"You don't get it do you? Your hits were defected from the start. Your finished," Neji walks away.
Hayate walks up to Hinata's unmoving body, "Since she's no longer able to—"
"NO!" Naruto bursts, "Don't stop this match!"
"Naruto what are you doing? You can see she's done can't y—" Sakura stops talking when I tap her on the shoulder and point.
Weak and slow, Hinata trembles to her feet.
"What do you think your doing? If you continue your going to die," Neji turns to her.
"I'm far...from finished!"
This sets Neji off. The long haired boy runs at Hinata angrily. Hayate runs, "Neji no! The match is over!"
I run down to the pit forming hand signs, "Wood Style: Tree Limb Technique!"
Pillars of wood run up out of the ground and bind themselves around both of Neji's arms before he could strike Hinata.
"Get a hold of yourself!" I scream at his face. Kurenai, Kakashi, and Gai run up to us.
"Why are you butting in? The head family gets a special treatment huh?!"
"Agh!" Hinata chokes. She falls to the ground. Kurenai runs up to her as well as my team and Lee.
"Hinata! Are you okay? Hey!" Naruto asks crouching over her. Hinata closes her eyes falling unconscious.
"Hey you two," Neji refers to Naruto and I,"Stop that cheering it's disgraceful. And second, once a failure always a failure. You can't change that."
"We'll see about that, asshole!" I scream wrathfully, "From where I'm standing your the failure! And like you said, you can't change that."
"Agh!" Hinata coughs up more blood. I end my argument with Neji and run over to her. I unzip her jacket and check her pulse, keeping a hand on her heart. Oh no.
"She's going into cardiac arrest!" I inform everyone, "Where the fuck are the medics? Someone go get them!"
"We're here!" They laid out a stretcher and I carefully lifted Hinata onto it.
"She has no pulse anymore!" I say worriedly, "She has ten minutes at best."
They look at me surprised that I'm able to know that, "I know shit okay? Now hurry up and let's get her to the emergency room!"
I go with them to the hospital wing so I can help. I look back at Naruto and nod at him. Then we disappear behind the doors.
After writing this I low key hate Neji right now... Anyways, the picture of Aisha I used one of _picolo 's drawings as a reference so credit to him. Byeee (\(*^*)/)