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It was only ten o’clock in the morning and already it was too damn hot.
Naruto was not in a good mood. Not only had he been awake for almost 24 hours, had his family insulted, and was going to have to take this stupid test in a few hours, but he had been shoved inside a room that felt like a sauna and left to roast all day. He was exhausted and all he really wanted was to wrap his arms around Hinata, bury his face in her hair, and go to sleep. Instead, he was staring out the window of the small white-walled room they have been given to use until the test, watching the heat rise in waves off the pavement and tiled roof of the Lady’s tower. He groaned. It was the first time he had Hinata alone in private in weeks; in fact, it was really the first time since he had asked her to be his girlfriend, and it was TOO DAMN HOT!
He stared at her lying on the floor on her stomach, fast asleep. They had been given white Kaze uniforms to wear until the test. She had opted to take off the jacket and sleep in just the pants and blouse. His eyes drifted over the bare midriff of her back. He wanted to run his hand along it, but they were both already sticky and he was worried it would wake her up.
He realized what he had just been thinking.
Aack! No! He was NOT a pervert! He shook his head violently, as if trying to shake the thoughts free. He let himself fall backwards and look up at the ceiling.
Damn it, nowhere should be this hot. He shifted uncomfortably on the thin straw mats laid out on the floor. He stared at the ceiling and groaned.
Hinata sighed and opened her eyes, propping her head up with one hand. Pretending to sleep just wasn’t working for her. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
He jerked his head over to look at her. “You’re awake?”
She nodded. “What’s wrong?” she asked again.
He looked back up at the ceiling again. “It’s too hot.”
When she didn’t say anything, he looked over at her. A year ago, he wouldn’t have been able to read the expression on her face, but now he could tell that she didn’t believe him.
“It IS hot,” he grumbled.
She smiled slightly. It was so like him, she realized, to blow the minor inconvenience out of proportion and completely ignore the larger, much worse issues at hand. “You’re worried about the test, aren’t you?”
He waved his hand frantically in a dismissive gesture. “That? Nah, nah; that’ll be a piece of cake. We go in, win the fight, and all walk out free. Easy.”
She lay her head back down on the mat. “It’s to the death.”
He swallowed hard. “I know,” he said.
They were silent for a long time; Hinata staring at Naruto, Naruto staring at the ceiling.
“Do you think we’ll make it?” Hinata whispered.
“Huh?” Naruto asked, turning to look at her. “Of course we’ll make it!”
She looked at him uncertainly. “Naruto...”
“Aw come on! You saw how those guys fought outside the hotel; we can take them easy!”
Hinata bit her bottom lip. “But that stuff that Sora said they could do; slowing people down, practically flying...”
“Eh,” he said shrugging. “She said they can’t do it anymore, so why worry?”
She sat up and looked down at him. “If you’re not scared about losing, then what’s wrong?”
He looked up at her, and his eyes that were so rarely serious were suddenly deadly calm.
“Haku asked me to kill him,” Naruto said quietly.
Hinata’s eyes widened slightly. He had told her about the incident at the bridge in Wave Country before; about thinking that Sasuke was dead, about the partial blackout that came with the uncontrolled tapping of Kyuubi’s chakra. But he hadn’t told her this before. Every time she thought that she had reached the last of the burdens he carried, there was another one.
She moved closer to his side, still not touching, but just a few inches away from him.
He continued to stare past her at the ceiling. “He wanted to die because he didn’t think he was useful to a man who I thought was a monster.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill someone who was standing there asking me to kill him, especially not for a monster.”
“I don’t think that whoever we fight tonight will be asking us to kill them,” Hinata said softly.
“That woman is a monster!” Naruto spat angrily. “And in order to prove to her that they’re worthy of their rank, they’re ready to kill their comrades or die at their hands. But...” his voice trailed off.
“But what?” she whispered.
His eyes started to dampen at the corners. “I thought Zabuza was a monster too. But then, once Haku had killed himself...” He looked at her, confusion clear on his face. “What if she isn’t the heartless monster that I think she is? What if she honestly thinks that this is the right way to do things? And what if the people who we are going to fight tomorrow really do want to die if they aren’t strong enough to serve her?”
“That’s not right,” said a voice from the doorway.
Naruto immediately sat up and looked at the door. Shivani stood in front of the closed door carrying a tray, a sad, almost regretful look on her face.
“What are you doing here?” Naruto asked, rather loudly.
Shivani winced. “Shhhh! If anyone hears that I’m here, I’m going to get in deep trouble.” She moved quickly and quietly into the room, her lanagha flowing around her feet, and set the tray down next to them. Her dark hair had been released from its bun and shimmered in waves down her back. She tucked some behind one ear, revealing the typical heavy gold earrings of the Kaze.
“I brought you something to eat. You’re going to need your strength for the test tonight. I wasn’t sure whether you liked spicy food or not, so I got things that weren’t too hot. There’s rice in that pot and that’s chicken tikki masala. I put lassi in the pitcher and there’s naan in the basket and-”She stopped when she realized they were staring at her. “What?”
Hinata looked at the huge spread of food piled up on the tray. “Why are you doing this?” she asked. “You said yourself that you’re going to be in deep trouble if anyone catches you here.”
The girl smiled softly. “Because you need to win.”
“Eh? Why would you say that?” Naruto asked suspiciously.
She sighed and looked out the open window. “I’m too young to really remember what life was like before the Lady came to power. But I know this isn’t the way things are supposed to be.”
“What do you mean?”
She shook her head. “My brother and I were members of the line of the head of the guards. Our whole family has been killed; we’re the only two left. Some mysteriously wasted away, some were executed for treason, and some died in the tests.” She looked at them hard. “There was something wrong with the tests.”
Hinata swallowed. “What do you mean wrong?”
“It’s happened occasionally over the years. All of a sudden warriors will just choke. People who have been fighting all their lives will suddenly just stand there as someone kills them. The Lady says that it is the fates who were striking down the wicked.”
Naruto snorted. “But you think she’s screwing around with the warriors.”
“These were my aunts, uncles, cousins! I knew them, and they were no more wicked than the next person!” she cried.
“How have you escaped?” Hinata asked.
“Raoul made sure that I was partnered as soon as possible and that the partner I received was from one of the Lady’s staunchest supporters. In order for him to pass, I must pass my tests as well.”
“You mean, if one partner dies, the other one automatically fails? So only one person dies per test?” Naruto asked.
Shivani shook her head. “They are expected to lay down their life as penance for failing their Lady and their partner. You only need to kill one, but both will die.”
Hinata shook her head. This was getting worse and worse with every fact they learned. “How can she do that to her own people?”
“Very little of what the Lady does has to do with concern for her own people. Raoul thinks that perhaps in the beginning she was at least concerned with her own legend. Apparently she always wanted to be the greatest leader the Kaze had ever known. But beyond that ambition all she knew was that she jealous of the last Lady. So when she began to show signs of weakness, when she tried to introduce jutsu to the Kaze, the Lady seized her time to strike. Many people were afraid of what jutsu might bring to the Kaze, so they backed her.”
“We’ve become exactly what we’ve feared: a people lost in evil, unable to do the things that made us respected in the first place. We’re no better than a street gang in a fancy house.”
“But all that is going to change now that Sora has returned!”
“What do you mean?” asked Hinata.
“Don’t you see? She’s finally returned after all of these years to come and save us! For years she has traveled around the West, ridding people of the Klesha. She became one of the greatest legends in the world! We were all worried that she was dead, but now I see that she was in fact just waiting to come back to where it all began; the place where she first started to train. It all comes full circle! Sora will vanquish the Lady and restore the Kaze to the glory it had at the time of her departure!”
Naruto and Hinata just stared at her. Sora as savior was not a concept that they were getting their minds around easily. Plus, Shivani has a couple of key points wrong. The Kaze was not the first place she had trained; she had been training her whole life. And Sora had definitely not been waiting around to rise and strike down the evil Lady. She had made it clear that her Klesha hunting days had ended when Yasu and Nori decided to settle down and get married. And Sora hadn’t been expressing any intention to try and cause a revolution within the Kaze.
Naruto and Hinata looked at each other. Naruto rolled his eyes and turned back to Shivani, opening his mouth to speak. Hinata realized that if she didn’t jump in quick, Naruto was going to deal with the issue in his typically direct, and sometimes completely insensitive, manner.
“Shivani,” she started to say, and then realized that the girl was looking at Naruto with the same adoration that had previously been directed towards Sora.
“And she brought you!” Shivani said with so much worship in her voice that it stopped Hinata dead in her tracks.
“Huh?” Naruto said, taking a step back as Shivani was now leaning in rather close, stars in her eyes.
“Your Nanashi’s son! You don’t have to be shy about it, the whole palace knows about it now! Of course, a lot of people don’t believe it, but I do!”
“Ah, well...” Naruto laughed awkwardly, sticking one hand behind his head. What was wrong with this girl?
Hinata knew exactly what was wrong. Suddenly she noticed that not only was Shivani’s hair unbound, but she was wearing makeup as well, her eyes large dark and smudged. The fact that she was wearing a lanagha instead of her normal Kaze uniform went from an interesting side note to a key piece of information.
She could practically see the little hearts dancing around Shivani’s head as the girl continued. “Even since I was a little girl, I’ve always known that Sora was part of my destiny. I’ve read everything I ever could about her, but somehow I missed the fact that she had a brother, one just a few years older than me!”
“Well, you know, we just met up again a few months ago,” Naruto said, taking another step back.
“I saw the way you stood up to the Lady. It was wonderful!” She stepped forward
Naruto shrugged and took a step back. “She insulted my mother.”
“She has done far worse and yet no one has stopped her.” She stepped forward, eyes shimmering.
He nervously took another step back. What was WRONG with this girl? She started to take another step forward, but he waved his hands in front of him like a shield before leaping backwards. He pointed to a point on the ground in front of him. “Hey, hey, you stay back there!” he yelled. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was stopping it right now.
Shivani’s face fell as she stepped back. “I’m sorry, I just...” Her voice trailed off and she looked out the window towards the Lady’s tower. “I wish...” All of a sudden she collapsed to her knees crying, tears flowing down the sides of her cheeks.
Naruto looked at Hinata, panicking. What did he DO?
Hinata was just as lost as he was. She could understand being a little upset by Naruto telling her to stay back, but not the wide-mouthed sobbing that Shivani was doing on the floor.
They looked at each other. “You’re the girl,” Naruto mouthed.
Hesitantly, Hinata headed over to the girl’s side, kneeling down next to her and putting her arms around her shoulders. “It’s okay. He didn’t mean to sound so...harsh,” she said. A second later, Shivani had latched herself onto Hinata and was crying into her shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto said, crouching down in front of her. “I just couldn’t figure out what the hell you were doing.”
Shivani looked up at him through teary lashes. Her makeup had started to run, leaving dark streaks down her face. She hiccupped.
Hinata rubbed her back. The girl hiccupped again and then started to pull away, moving to sit cross-legged across from Hinata. She rubbed her eyes and nose with the back of her hand.
“I’m sorry, it’s been a rough day,” she said, sniffling slightly.
Hinata looked at her worriedly. She still wasn’t convinced that all of these tears were just about Naruto. She reached across to cover one of Shivani’s hands with her own. “What’s wrong?” she asked, in the kind but firm voice that she had heard Yasu use with Miki.
Shivani took a deep breath. “It’s not that I don’t believe this is the right thing. I just wish things were different.”
“What do you mean?” Hinata asked.
“I wish she had never become the Lady, I wish mother hadn’t died, I wish she hadn’t set things up the way they are, but...” she shook her head. “In the end, I suppose that the only thing that matters is that everything come out all right in the end.”
Hinata smiled at her. “That’s right.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s the way to look at it,” Naruto added.
Shivani smiled awkwardly at both of them. “Sora and my brother used to be friends when she lived here. Did you know that?”
They both shook their heads. There was something about the tone of her voice that was causing unease in both of their stomachs.
Shivani nodded. “They were. Nori was older then them, so they didn’t hang out as much, but they were friends too. She said that you both know all your sets, so you should be able to pass that part of the test.”
They nodded uneasily. They could pass the first part no problem, but they weren’t sure about the second part.
Shivani sniffed and gave them a watery, forced smile. “Then everything is in place.” She rose to her feet as if getting ready to leave.
“Huh? Ready for what?” Naruto asked.
She looked over her shoulder at him. “For the fall of the Lady and the rebirth of the Kaze. Sora has returned and the circle of fate is closing. Once all of you are members of the Kaze, everything will go back to the way it’s supposed to be.”
Naruto and Hinata looked at each other uneasily. This was definitely not what Sora had in mind. “We still have to pass the test,” Hinata said uneasily.
“You will. You said you know all the sets.”
“Well, there’s still the fight to pass,” Hinata reminded her.
But Shivani hadn’t forgot. She smiled weakly at them. “Just remember that you only have to kill one of them. Once one is dead, the match is lost.” She started to back towards the door. “Remember, you have to win. Once you do, everything will fall into place.” They could see tears running down the sides of her face as she started to cry again, but before they could stop her she had run out the door.
Naruto stared after her blankly for a second, then growled in frustration. “What the hell is WRONG with that girl?” he yelled.
Hinata reached out to grab his hand. “I’m
afraid that I know.”
Naruto banged the back of his head against the stone wall. “Shit!” he swore.
Although less inclined to express it that way, Hinata was feeling similarly. They thought they had the whole situation pieced together at this point.
At midnight they were going to start testing for their blacks. If they lost, they were executed. If they won, they were members of the Kaze, free to leave with Sora. However, in order to win, they were not only going to have to potentially reveal that Nori was alive, but also kill Shivani, who was convinced that they were saviors of some type, sent to save her clan. Her belief that she had everything worked out was so strong that she would let them kill her easily. However, her belief was based on an ideal about Sora that was completely off; their teacher had not come here to liberate the Kaze. If they killed her, chances were it wasn’t going to do any good.
It looked hopeless. Lose and get killed, or essentially execute a young girl on false pretenses.
Damned if they did, damned if they didn’t.
“What are we going to do?” Hinata whispered.
Naruto rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Are you sure she’s the one we’re going to fight?” he asked.
“Pretty sure.” She shook her head. “The way she was crying...”
“She doesn’t want to die,” Naruto finished.
Hinata looked out at the shadow-less tower. “I think we have about 12 hours until the test. That gives us time to come up with a plan.” She sighed. “If there IS a plan that can get us out of this.”
Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. “No,” he said.
She looked up at him. “No what?”
“I refuse to believe that we’re in some sort of dead end. There is a way out of this,” he “stated stubbornly” stubbornly.
Hinata stared at him in awe for a second, and then smiled very slightly.
“You think so?” she asked, knowing what his answer would be, but needing the reassurance anyway.
“Of course! Come on, we’ll have it figured out and still have time to get some sleep.”
They started working on a plan.
Sora’s plan was to run for it. She would wait, let them get through the sets and such, and then, in the middle of the fight when no one was expecting it, she would swoop down, pull them out of the fight, and they could all run. They would head up to the mountains; maybe stay at the monastery for a while and figure out where to go from there.
She stood next to Raoul in a small room overlooking the main courtyard. Her hands and feet were supposedly shackled, but she had put them on herself, allowing for her to easily open the locks. She looked around at the people sitting and standing both on the outer wall and around the edges of the courtyard below. She frowned; when she had been here, there had been at least three times as many warriors. The bitch had depleted her own numbers.
Sora wondered what it would have been like if all of this had never happened; if Nori’s mother had stayed in power and she herself had stayed here, growing up to be a Kaze warrior instead of one half of the dGra Klesha.
She stopped herself. Hadn’t she herself told Naruto not to think that way? It was just as easy to ask what would have happened if the clan she had been born into had never been killed, or if the son of a bitch who called himself her father had never taken her in. You can’t change life once it happens.
But that didn’t mean she couldn’t wish that this hadn’t happened to the Kaze.
Raoul leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You’re going to wait until the middle of the fight?”
She nodded. “Hopefully at a point where they’re winning; that way no one will be anticipating it.”
“What changed your mind about escaping?”
“They might be willing to kill someone they think of as evil, but Shivani?” Sora shook her head. “Shivani’s just too sweet. They know her as something more than an enemy at this point. They’d never be able to kill her.”
“What if you’re wrong?” he asked uncomfortably.
She shook her head. “Don’t worry, those two would never kill just to pass some test.”
Unspoken, the possibility neither of them
wanted to think about floated through the air between them. No,
they wouldn’t kill to pass the test. But to save each other or
to save her? That she wasn’t certain of.
Naruto and Hinata stood staring at the huge wood and iron doors that lead out into the courtyard.
In just a few minutes the doors would open and they would step out into the night to take the test. They had overheard the guards saying that every available member of the clan had come out to watch.
They looked at each other, and Naruto reached out to take her hand. She nodded, and looked away. They had a plan, but the chances of it working were slim to none. One slight change and people were going to start dying. One misstep, and everything could go horribly wrong.
Plus there was a very strong possibly that they simply weren’t skilled enough to pull this off. There were ANBU level skills that they were going to have to use, and they were still genin.
Naruto looked down at his and Hinata’s joined hands. Was this what it felt like to be acknowledged? To have people’s lives in your hands because they trusted you?
And Naruto suddenly found that this was one of the few times in his life when he was actually afraid.
Hinata felt him stiffen, and squeezed his hand.
The doors began to open.
Author’s Notes: Sorry for all of ya’ll who expected the fight. Next chapter I promise.
TimeShifter suggested I put in a little about where I was coming up with the stuff for the Kaze. Basically, they are in India at this point. Unfortunately, I had my Naruto geography a little mixed up when I visualized it, but basically you can think of a huge mountain range that runs from Stone Country, down through the westernmost part of Sand. Think Himalayas, not Alps. Its like a huge buffer between the two lands and there isn’t much contact between the two. Someone asked me why there were two such distinct languages between the East and West, and basically that’s why.
Here’s a key to a few terms I use.
Langha: the dress of a young woman, a long skit with a midriff baring blouse and a scarf of some sort, generally tucked into one side of the waist and then draped across the opposite shoulder.
Saree (also can be spelled sari): more of a married woman’s dress. The same skirt and top, but this time a huge piece of material is pleated in front, draped around the body and over the shoulder. A lot of older Indian woman still wear these every day, even in the US.
Lassi: Not a dog, but a truly fabulous yogert drink, frequently made with mango.
Everything else is just more food. I’m going to put a few links to things in my profile, if you want to look at pictures.
Oh, and I forgot to thank those who pointed
out that the Reifujin no Kaze does not mean Lady of the Wind,
but rather the wife of the lord’s cold. I really should have
known better and if will be changed when I edit this darn thing.
This site is published by Samizdat Express, Orange, CT info@seltzerbooks.com
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