KEIKO UCHIHA : the uchiha sister.

42 | To Gaara

| Warning: long chapter! I also want to say, this is the end of the chunin exams arc. Can you guys believe it? It's been so long since I started writing this arc, I'm wowed on how far I've gone. When I first wrote the chunin arc- it was before quarantine even started. It's been so long. This series will be in my heart, forever and ever. But stay tuned! Just because this arc is over, doesn't mean there isn't another one ;)

. . .

Cutting her out of her thoughts, the boy whom Kankuro was meant to fight jumped out of the trees.

"You're quite persistent on me, aren't you?" Keiko said jokingly, getting into a Taijutsu position. "Need me to sign an autograph?"

He let his hands float by his sides. "You're a Sand shinobi. Your ninja have attacked my village. And as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, it's my job to stop you."

She sneered, watching as black bugs began to crawl towards her. "The only thing you're doing is getting in my way. "

Keiko felt a chakra rise around her, and almost immediately she watched the bugs retreat. She smirked. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. She couldn't see Shino's expression, but she was sure that this wasn't a normal things his bug did. Only then did she realize why they had retreated. Lizards eat beetles. And at the moment, she had the attributes of one with wings.

She charged at Shino, but a small barricade of bugs formed in front of him. The bug problem had caught him off guard, and he only had enough time to defend himself. Keiko slashed her hand at the wall of bugs - causing them to scatter.

' Her movements.. they're faster. ' Shino observed her as he jumped further away, building up another protective shield. ' And her skin. It looks.. rough. '

"This would be easier for you if you let me through. I've got somewhere I need to be."

Shino landed on his feet, throwing paper-bombed kunai's towards Keiko. "Not a chance."

She jumped into the air, dodging the explosion, flipping around and landing on the branch Shino was on.

"Fine." she got into a fighting stance again, but this time it looked familiar. "Let's finish what we started over there."

He didn't even notice her eyes had changed color until she ran up to him, and he saw a flash of crimson before she slashed her kunai at him, giving him only seconds to jump out of the way. He knew better than to let himself get hit by one of her weapons. Even if it was a little scratch, it would've caused a deadly impact. He had witnessed her back in the forest of death, watching her tactics. She was a tricky one. Which is why he had been wanting to fight her since.

Keiko stayed on her feet, her heels not moving even two inches above the ground. Her hands stayed in a pointed position, and she kept going for the most unpredictable spots. There was a pattern to it.. a pattern he had seen before. Shino managed to slip out of her path once his back hit the tree, dissolving into bugs and reforming on the bottom of the branch. He sent another trail of bugs flying at her, but she was able to block them from hitting her by using her arm as a shield. The bugs wouldn't even move near her.

He grunted, pulling the bugs back. She threw shurikens at him, but he was able to form hand signs fast enough to do a substitution. Keiko looked around, teeth gritting. She debated on just running away then and there, but leaving a battle unfinished was bad news (she learned from experience). Gaara's cries got more painful to hear by the moment, almost like a baby crying. It was like running away was the only option. She was caught off guard when Shino threw a paper bomb at her, and she dodged it, only for it to land on the ground behind her. It exploded, and a big cloud of smoke appeared. He couldn't see anything for a split second, until he felt someone tap on his shoulder. It felt like time had stopped. He couldn't move. He could've sworn he saw crimson from the corner of his eye.