Chapter 21: Naruto : Fate : Chapter 21
Alvarcus's House, Later that Night
I am standing outside my front door. I don't want to go inside. I don't want to face my parents.
After five minutes of mustering my courage, I open the door. I walk into the living room and see my parents on the couch.
"Kaa-san, tou-san." I greet them.
"Alvarcus." Tou-san replies, acknowledging my existence. Kaa-san says nothing at all.
No one says anything. After standing in the doorway awkwardly for another five minutes, I head to my room. My parents don't want to talk to me.
That night the nightmares were bad. I looked on as I killed the Demon Brother again, only this time there was an audience. My parents watched me kill him, and then they walked away in silence. It was the worst nightmare yet.
...
A week flies by when you keep yourself busy. Especially if you have an awesome new power to learn how to use! All week I have been practicing my string leaping. After the first day I stopped slamming into trees.
After the second day I perfected my landings. On the third day, I added another string to launch me in a direction instead of at an object. The fourth day I had the crazy idea to use 3 strings to make myself hang suspended in the air.
That was by far the coolest thing ever. I took the fifth and sixth days to practice everything else in my shinobi toolkit, it wouldn't be a good idea to work on one skill so much my others deteriorate.
Now it is the seventh day, my rest day. The day before the Chunin Exams. I am nervous as hell. So much could go wrong, so much could change from cannon. I can't rely on my knowledge. It could be wrong and acting like I know what will happen will only get me killed.
I can't even trust that the exams will be the same. That is why I researched past exams. Konoha favors team based exams, and usually has three exams. A form of a mental test, a form of a physical test, and a tournament.
I need to unwind, so I wander around Konoha by myself. I don't want to be at home, not with my parents being so hostile to me. I can't train either, I need to rest and recuperate for tomorrow. I could use some ice cream. With a new goal in mind, I start heading to a small store that specializes in cold foods. What kind should I get? Chocolate? Vanilla? Fudge Volcano Explosions Version Three?
"You do not belong here."
I freeze in the middle of the street.
"This is not your home."
Someone knows my secret. Someone knows my secret!
Slowly, I turn to the voice. It can't be, that's Gaara. Red hair. Gourd. Kanji of love on his forehead. How the hell would Gaara know I'm not of this world?
"Explain." I demand.
"Not here." A new voice, a female voice, interjects. I glance over to the source and see blonde hair in double pigtails and a giant fan. Temari?
"Take us somewhere we can talk alone." A third voice adds. Kankuro. Even Kankuro knows? Does the Kazekage know? When does Orochimaru replace the Kazekage?
I collect my thoughts. Freaking out now won't change anything. I need more information.
"I know a place." I lead the Sand Siblings through the village to an empty training ground. I'm confident that I can run away if they start something, especially since I have strings set up to pull me to safety at a moments notice. "No one will disturb us here. Explain. Now!"
"Whoa, calm down dude." Kankuro replies, "We ain't gonna hurt ya. I'm Kankuro. "
"Forgive me if I don't believe you. Three on one is not the most peaceful way to start talking." I make sure to keep a healthy distance away from them, just in case.
"Don't be daft!" Temari snaps. "You're safe. I'm Temari, and we're not here to kill you."
"Then explain why you sought me out! Why you said those things! TELL ME! NOW!"
In Gaara's monotonous voice I hear, "You are family. A half brother. We are to bring you home to Suna after the Chunin Exams."
My jaw hits the floor. "I'm what?"
Temari takes over talking. "It's like Gaara said. You're family. We want you to come to Suna with us."
"What drugs are you three on? I am not your family." This is ridiculous. How could I possibly be their family? What gave them that crazy idea?
"Now you listen here pipsqueak!" Oh my Kami, is Temari going all big sister on me? Today is supposes to be stress free! Not spiral out of control in some freaky way! "Only our family has the magnet release!"
"No shit? I didn't realize that was a bloodline, I just thought it was a weird mutation of chakra." Actually that does make sense. If Gaara has traits of that bloodline, it could explain how natural his command over sand is. "Good for you, but what does that have to do with me?"
"You have the magnet release." Gaara drones out.
"Uh... no I don't." All three Sand Siblings fall still.
"Yes, you do." Temari states bluntly.
"Nope. I have no bloodlines, least of all the magnet release." So they don't know about my origins. Good. "Who told you I have the magnet release? If they are part of Suna's information gathering network you need to fire that guy."
Kankuro speaks up, "We have multiple eye witness reports of you moving multiple kunai without touching them in the Land of Waves. Rumors travel fast, especially yours.
A jonin and three gennin save a country from a business tyrant? When I first heard that I didn't believe it. Then I heard that it was the Copy Nin, one of Konoha's best, that was the jonin. And the gennin? They weren't just any gennin.
The last of the Uchiha, a pink haired kunoichi, and a pale black haired kid with the magnet release. Suddenly a jonin and three gennin saving a country sounds doable, with a stacked team like that you could do a lot more than save a third rate country."
"Oh. Wow. Rumors sure travel quickly." That wasn't very long ago. I'm surprised news of it has reached Suna already.
"Don't stall." Dammit Temari! "You're family. Accept it. Our father had an affair, and the woman settled in Konoha. You belong in Suna. With us."
"No I don't. I truly don't have the magnet release. If anything you'd have better luck saying I am your best puppet master's kid. I use chakra strings."
All three siblings twitch.
"Chakra strings? Bullshit." Kankuro steps forward. "I'm a puppet user, I know chakra strings. They don't work like that."
"I'll prove it." I offer.
"How?" Gaara barks out. A small amount of bloodlust starts flowing off him. Uh oh. That's not good.
"Well, I could move a kunai, to prove that the stories were true, then I can move something non metal. Like a stick. There's plenty of those around here."
"How do we know you didn't rig this up?" Temari demands.
"When would I have had the time? You sought me out! Remember? I just wanted to get some ice cream, but no! It's national 'let's fuck with Alvarcus' day!" Gaara's bloodlust spikes. Oops, cursing around Gaara is not healthy for my survival.
"You know what? You have a kunai on you right? I'll move yours. Then pick something nonmetal you brought with you. I'll move them both."
With a shrug, Kankuro draws a kunai and... a sock out of his pack.
"Dude. Gross. A sock?"
Kankuro shrugs again. "It was the first thing I could grab."
"Fine. Whatever. If I use chakra is the redhead going to kill me?" I glance at Gaara. "Cuz that is some serious killing intent you have there. Not as good as Zabuza, mind you he was a monster. You're more like a disgruntled puppy. You try to look intimidating and menacing, but all I see when I look at you is 'awww soooo cute!'"
Temari and Kankuro recoil away from me like they were punched.
"You're not afraid of me?" Gaara sounds so confused.
"Uh no?" Lies. Total lies. Afraid isn't a strong enough descriptor for how scared I am of Gaara. I just don't want him to have a reason to kill me later on. I want to take the neutral path, the one that let's me fly under his radar. "If I was scared of people stronger than me I would shit myself whenever I saw my sensei. Your killer intent is like a refreshing breeze compared to his."
"What is your name?" Gaara demands. Oh goodie, my plan backfired. My plan severely backfired.
"Alvarcus Mar." I boldly say. I need to act confident even if I am secretly planning my escape if things turn sour.
"I will remember that name. I look forward to making you fear me." I've become interesting to Gaara. That is not good.
Temari interrupts, "Weren't you going to prove something Mr. I-don't-have-the-magnet-release?" Gesturing at the kunai and the sock, "Move them. If you move both we will leave you alone."
"Deal." I stretch a string out from my finger and pick up the kunai. "See? Looks like the magnet release right?" I send the kunai flying over my shoulder into a tree. I pick up the sock with the same string. "It's not."
Silence. Kankuro and Temari go pale. Gaara is staring at me with... a curious look on his face?
Finally Kankuro speaks up. "Well this is embarrassing. It could be chakra strings. I've never seen them used for something so... mundane before." He just insulted me. Prick.
With a sigh I say, "I vote we never speak of this day again."
"I agree." Temari says.
"Seconded." Kankuro adds.
"Agreed. We will see you in the Chunin Exams." Gaara is fixating on me. I messed up big time.
"Yeah, yeah." Suddenly a crazy thought occurs to me. "Say, when you are not insisting I'm your family you guys are pretty nice. I was heading to get some ice cream before you decided to confront me. Want to get some together after the Chunin Exams? I doubt you have many cold things in Suna." I pause. "Well, if we all survive. If we do I can take you all to the best ice cream shop in Konoha!"
The Sand Siblings look very confused.
"Ice cream? What is ice cream?" Temari asks in confusion.
"No. I refuse. I can't believe it. Do all three of you not know the glory that is ice cream?" They all shake their heads. "It's settled! After the Chunin Exams we are getting ice cream. I'll even bring my team along, you'll like them! Sasuke is quiet and broody like Gaara, Sakura is obnoxious and loud like Temari and I... uh... Am nothing like Kankuro. Sorry buddy."
"Whatever." Kankuro waves off my comment. "You don't know me. I'm sure we will find something in common over this... Ice cream."
"I am NOT OBNOXIOUS!" Temari yells.
I snicker.
"I'm not!" Temari huffs.
"You are." Gaara states.
"Cool. On that note, I'm leaving." I exit the training field.
Today was supposed to be a stress free day. Why did it all go wrong? I just wanted some ice cream!
...
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