𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐊𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐊𝐀𝐆𝐄'𝐒 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐑 | gaara

Part 13

Your eyes started to drift open. What the hell...? You didn't remember going to sleep in the first place. What happened?

"She's awake," came a male voice. I'm confused. Whaaaaaat...? You felt something move on top of you, and looked up with a scowl.

"Hey! Get your fat ass off me before I blow it off!" you snapped, seeing a blonde haired guy sitting on your hips. He smirked and refused to budge, infuriating you further. You looked around at your surroundings. You were in a little stone room, a basement probably, and a fire flickered a few feet away from your face, with two other men sitting around it.

"Nice to see you haven't changed, Risa," said the man with the mask. You instantly recognised him.

"Hey! You were supposed to help me move my things! What the hell are you playing at?!" you exclaimed, taken aback by this sudden situation. The man exchanged a look with the blonde haired bimbo on top of you, and smirked. He lowered himself beside you and sat by your head. You tried to shove the blonde guy off you, but couldn't move.

Damn it!

You glared right at the masked man, hoping that your anger could pierce his eyes like laser lights and fry him from the inside out. He merely chuckled at your fury and ran a hand through his dark hair, clucking his tongue in disappointment.

"Why, Risa-chan, I'm surprised you don't recognise me," he said lightly, looking down on you.

"Didn't I just say you're the guys who were supposed to help me move out?" you snapped with impatience. He let out a small "tsk!" and gave you a cold look.

"As hot headed as ever, too. I see you haven't changed a bit." You scowled at him again, but this time, angrier than before.

"I don't know you. I've never met you before, losers," you said sourly, prompting the group to titter with light laughter.

"Oh yes you have. Don't you remember our younger brother Azuma?" 

Now you were really confused. You couldn't remember Risa having anything to do with anyone named Azuma.

"Would you care to enlighten me as to what happened? I have a really bad memory," you said cautiously. They tittered again, and you couldn't help but roll your eyes. The blond sitting on you cleared his throat, and the laughs ceased.

"Well, Risa-chan... once upon a time, there was a boy named Azuma. His one and only ambition was to become a great shinobi, a feared and respected one, same as his brothers. But Azuma and his brothers came from a lowly village, a village that had no experience whatsoever with the ability to train their children to become great shinobi and kunoichi. So they travelled. They travelled to the Village Hidden in the Sand, in the hopes that they'd all be able to find their necessary training here. By this age, Azuma was already nearing his fourteenth year, and he knew that by the time he got to the village, he'd be far behind the youngest ones in training."

"Now Azuma here was a strong headed boy. He'd committed ten years of his life to the dream of becoming a great shinobi, and now, he was ready to put his skills to the test. He had the, ah, misfortune, to end up fighting an eight year old. He felt as if this were an attempt by the village to shame him. He made the mistake of underestimating her, though, and the battle was over in minutes. Azuma was broken. He had dedicated ten years of his life in bettering himself for the art of being a ninja, and those ten years of his life had just been shattered by a mere eight year old. That would be enough to cripple anyone's self esteem, wouldn't it?"

Your brow furrowed as you tried to remember anything Risa would've told you about this incident. She either never told you or you were too young to remember anything. By now, all three men were scowling at you, but you were still none the wiser as to what they were talking about.

"So Azuma left the Sand, dejected and hurt and spent the few years without a village, without any support, with out any family, friends, or even other people to give him any form of comfort. It was just by chance that we ran into him a few years after we'd become ninja in our own right, on the brink of madness. All he could do was curse this girl named Risa [Surname],  talk about how much she'd ruined him and how much he hated her. That's all we got out of him. Because the day after we found him wandering around in between villages, his body lay mangled at the bottom of a cliff."

"You see, Risa-chan, when you're someone like Azuma, being beaten by an eight year old girl has its negative effects, and never ever goes away."

"And when you're like us, watching someone you loved for so long kill themselves over a girl who shattered their dreams... well, obviously, you're not going to be very happy about it."

As the seriousness of your predicament dawned on you, you internally groaned.

I still have no fucking idea what they're talking about.