ˢᵖʳⁱⁿᵍ ᵈʳᵃᵍᵒⁿ :|: 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘰

11: Fire Doesn't Burn

    Kaida carefully undos her hairdo, sitting next to the fire. Her hair cascades down, ending at her lower-back. She grabs her brush and starts her nightly hair routine.

  "The fire will burn your hair if you sit too close," Tazuna comments, leaning back with a bottle of alcohol. Kaida smiles tightly, not glancing at the old man.

  She brushes through her hair to get rid of the non-existent tangles. "The fire won't burn me."

  Kaida sections off her hair and starts to braid it from her hairline. Her fingers were quick and skilled, finishing the braid in only two minutes. She was working on the second braid when Naruto sits in front of her.

  "Healing?" She asks, glancing at her blonde friend with her uninjured eye. He nods his head with a bright smile. Kaida nods her head and quickly finishes the braid before crossing her legs and leaning forward. Naruto crouches down as his hand glows bright orange.

  "He's the demon boy. Why do you let him so close to you?" Inner Kaida hisses angrily. Kaida winces at the burning pain, but stays relatively calm while she glares at Inner.

  "He is just a boy with a demon–a lonely, misunderstood demon–inside of him. Can you be any less open-minded?" The pink haired girl snarks back.

  "A demon's who's killed dozens–hundreds of people."

  "A demon who is immortal, technically pure Chakra with a strong sentience, and who will outlive us all, so it doesn't necessarily matter, now does it?" Kaida shoots down the argument before blocking out her Inner and focusing back on reality.

  "Kur–I don't think there'll be any permanent damage, but don't strain your eye too much until it's completely healed. And I mean it, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaims, giving his best friend a small look. Kaida nods her head with a soft smile as Naruto pulls back his hand. She slowly opens her left eye and sighs in relief when she could still see out of it.

  "That scar's so badass." The pink haired girl gives her Inner a small glare at the language before she starts to put her braids back into buns.

  "Thank you, Naru," Kaida says sincerely as she starts to elegantly push the silver pins into her hair.

  "Ino-san will have a riot when she sees the scar..." Hinata points out softly, walking into the campsite with Kakashi. She carried multiple dead rabbits by wire in both of her hands.

  "She'll bitch and moan about it, saying Kai's chances of marriage are completely ruined," Naruto snorts with a small eye roll.

  "Naruto!" Kaida exclaims, giving her blonde friend a glare. Naruto blushes and gives her a sheepish smile.

  Kaida glares at him for a bit longer before sighing. "Ino means well, you know. She is partially right too, if Sofu-sama had followed tradition."

  "Can you still see?" Hinata asks worriedly while she sits down across from the fire. Kaida smiles and nods once, gently touching the raised skin she hasn't seen yet.

  "Yes. Perfectly, it seems, but I will still visit Junjī-san to make sure. The Demon Brothers had drenched their weapons in poison," Kaida answers, nose scrunching when she remembers the smell of poison.

  "P-poison?" Tazuna pales slightly at the new knowledge. The pink haired girl nods as she taps her nose.

  "I could smell it. It is a particularly deadly poison, but Naru-kun had quickly flushed it all, or most of it, out of my system before it could do any lasting damage to my eye, or my leg." Kaida doesn't admit how much she was currently enjoying watching the old man squirm, but both Naruto and Hinata roll their eyes at her antics.

  "Naruto-kun, can you help me cook?" Hinata changes the subject as she takes out one of her scrolls.

  Naruto grins brightly and bounds over. "'course, dattebayo!"

-----

    "My insufferable little Genin, who's going to take first watch," Kakashi asks cheerfully after Kaida helps pack up the remaining food in a stasis scroll. She raises an eyebrow before glancing at Hinata and Naruto.

  "I will." Kaida quickly puts up the stasis scroll. "Naruto?"

  "Yeah, I'll go next," Naruto says with a small sigh. The pink haired girl nods her head and gives him a small smile before standing up.

  "Goodnight. Oh, and Naruto, I suggest you stay on alert." Naruto pales at that statement and stares at an innocent looking Kaida.

  "Kai, what do you mean by that?" He pales even further when Kaida just walks away. "Kai?"

  Hinata sighs softly and pats the blonde's shoulder in sympathy. "I told you she wouldn't forget you waking her up."

  "E-eh? K-Kai! I–you know I only wanted us to be on time!" Naruto states nervously. Kaida hums, still not looking at her best friend.

  "Mm." Kaida leaps up and lands on a high branch at the edge of the camp.

  "Mah, mah. Don't torment your teammate, Kaida-chan~! It's too much paperwork for one of my Genin to go insane from paranoia," Kakashi states from his bedroll. Kaida gives a wave of acknowledgement, unsheathing her ōdachi to clean it.

  "He won't go insane... here." The old man shivers in fear and quickly rushes to one of the bedrolls. Hinata giggles at Kaida's dramatics and at Naruto's suffering before laying down in one of the remaining bedrolls. Naruto makes a small whimper before crawling into his bedroll and curling into a ball.

  "Such a fucking coward," Inner Kaida sneers angrily, making Kaida sigh.

  "You know he's not. You also know I'm only messing with him," Kaida points out tiredly, too irritated for her Inner's antics. She scoffs loudly before fading back a bit.

  "Eyes are on us. Don't kill us." Inner Kaida goes quiet and leaves the pink haired girl to get thoughts.

  "I know."

-----

Hey! Hope you all like the new chapter!

Sorry about the short chapter too. I wanted to get this out and hopefully write a better, longer, chapter for the next update.

I still hope you all are enjoying the story so far! Bye.

WhovianWhoudini