Blood of a Lost Girl (Book 1, Naruto)

Chapter 23

Damn, what was that? My head is still throbbing, but it's much better now. I woke up in my own bed, alone in my apartment, but nothing seemed different to me. Except, of course, for all the loud noises around me. They were much too loud and it hurt my ears. I had to go to a shop to get earmuffs just to muffle the sounds. Luckily, it worked and through the earmuffs, everything sounded as it normally would. And my headache had lessened considerably as well.

Today we're going to be going through the second exam, but it was still a few hours before I'd have to go so I decided to walk around the village. I sighed, mulling over all the strange things that have been happening to me lately. First – according to Naruto – my eyes turn red, then my skin colour makes a drastic change and now my hearing has been upped. I looked up, spotting Ichiraku's. I haven't eaten Ramen there for some time. My stomach rumbled, signalling me that it needed food. I grinned. Well looks like I came right in time too. I went in and ordered a pork ramen. The old man, Tseuchi, made the ramen and gave it to me. I thanked him and ate the ramen, savouring its taste. I've had instant ramen, I've had ramen at the Land of the Waves, I even had it the short time we were in the Hidden Sand village, but none of those could even come close to Tseuchi's ramen. It just wasn't possible. His ramen had no competition. "Thanks Tseuchi. Your ramen's the best."

He laughed. "You're too kind, Miyuki. Come back soon." He said. I turned and walked out of the shop, lifting my hand in greeting.

I sighed as I once again walked around the village. Something was up with me and I still had no idea what it was. I was looking at the ground as I walked so when I bumped into someone I was surprised. I glanced up and took a step back. I had walked into Gaara. I had a bad feeling about this. I shouldn't have walked into him. I took another step back to get some distance between us. "Hey Gaara." I eyed him cautiously. He was unpredictable; I never knew what he was going to do. One minute he was trying to kill me, the next he was completely calmed down. He stayed silent and eyed me with something familiar in his eyes. I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew instinctively that it wasn't good news. He slowly lifted his hand and then I knew what I had seen in his eyes: Killing intent, bloodlust. He still wanted to kill me. I jumped onto a roof to get away from him. I've barely gotten through the first exam; I couldn't die before I at least finished the second one. That'd just be unfair. Gaara suddenly grabbed his head. "No mother, you'll get more blood this time. I promise." I frowned. Mother? That was all I heard before Gaara's eyes was trained on me again. "You'll get more than just a few drops this time, this time you'll get all of it." Oh God. He's talking about my blood, isn't he? When he broke my hand, his sand had penetrated my skin and drew blood. This time he wants all of it. I blinked and suddenly Gaara was standing in front of me with his hand raised and the sand was already clutching me in its grainy grip. I looked at him with a calculating look in my eyes. I wasn't afraid. I was calm. How will I get out of it this time? I can't go for my kunai because, well simply put, I can't move any of my muscles. I can't use water or lightening Jutsu's to weaken his sand and even if I could it'd be useless since, and I've said this before, I can't move my hands to make the hand signs. So that only left one option. Gaara started closing his hand, but before it got to tight I had teleported to the gates of the training ground we'd be using for the second exam. I got here just in time too because Anko appeared from behind a tree. "You're early, maggot."

I stared at her. "I don't like being called a maggot, Anko-san. Please refrain from doing so." I said, politely.

She smirked. "What are you going to do about it, maggot?" She was challenging me.

I shrugged a smirk of my own tugging at my lips. "Well let's see. If I were anyone else I'd just take it and not say anything about it. But then, I'm not anyone else so I'd rather want to fight it out with you, even if you're a Jounin."