I May Have Deserved That (P)

Well... He might as well have given up right there... He had spent most of his time before the Jounin exams had started looking for Kira and now that the first couple of rounds were over, he didn't have the energy to keep searching every last nook and cranny for her. He was surprised he hadn't picked up on her scent by now, especially since he was tuning all the others out. He was simply drawing blanks everywhere he looked and the fact Suna's streets were so busy didn't help much either! Frustrated, exasperated, Salzem flopped himself down on the bench just inside Suna's gates, the one he and Kira had spent a good bit of their time together, his stomach a mix of fear and disgust. If he found out another one of his friends had died... Too many of them had died.... too many... Everyone associated with him were dropping like flies, grave-stones popping up where good people once stood. What he hated the most was how they all seemed to go the moment he's not around, as if taunting how he couldn't help them... How he couldn't save them.

The lycanthrope took a swig of water from his bottle as he stared out through Suna's open gates, out across the rolling golden dunes that the sun seared day in and day out. He watched as the wind severed their heads, sending them rolling and scattering down their round bodies, soon growing a new head and the cycle starting over. Perhaps he should stop making friends... stop just being around people in general... Might save more than a few lives and he could die happily... One might wonder why he didn't take solace in missions, why just beating up bad-guys to enforce the safety of entire civilizations didn't alleviate any of the pressure. The answer was simple: It wasn't personal. Anyone can save a group of people and do it again without feeling anymore accomplished than when they started. Its different when one save's their friends because... you care more... You're there, in the moment, doing what you can to help them survive and even if you fail... you know you tried... Salzem never had the chance to try. He never had the chance to help... He was always off somewhere else when the people he chose to love drops dead... He never went to the graveyard anymore. Never. Not Suna's, not Konoha's. He can't do it. If he found Kira Uzumaki's name engraved on one of those...

Salzem took another drink from his bottle as he looked out across the desert's dunes. He tossed a rock ahead of him with a flick of the rist, only to reach out with a faster arm and catch the stone mid air before crushing it into dust and adding it to the sand around them. He sighed softly in some effort to block out some less than encouraging thoughts. What would he do now?

“My triumphant return!”

Those are the words that left Kira’s fatigue lips as she could see the village gates in the distance. She had been asked to go to the Moon Country where some criminals had fled Suna’s Prison and had headed in that direction. She had stopped them with ease but not before they killed themselves, not wanting to return back to the system. With their tags in hands, Kira walked through the desert walking in Kakhi shorts and a burgundy tank top; a head scarf wrapped around her head. While she had stopped the criminals effortlessly, they were pretty good at hiding their tracks, taking her months to locate their position. Because of the unfortunate timing and the lengthy process, she had missed the sign ups for the Jonin exams that were currently taking place in Sunagakure. She was tired, upset, and cranky. She better receive a promotion for this dreaded mission since she was sure she would have blown everyone out of the water with her Fuuinjutsu! Nonetheless, all she wanted to do now was soak in the bath and hibernate for the next six months until the following exams came around.

Kira approached the gates, showing the guards her papers. One of them seemed particularly frightened by her arrival. If she could recall correctly, it was the same guy she had threaten to rip off his testicles so long ago when she was bringing Salzem to Suna for safe haven. Oh memories... She hadn’t seen the boy in so long. She wondered if he had been doing okay, and if he was in fact safe in Konoha since being welcomed back. She had wanted to go visit the boy on countless occasions, but Being a Chunin didn’t provide the same amount of free time as being a Genin did so she could never really find the time to go.

The girl was approved and walked through the village gates. She didn’t know what possessed her to look, but her heterochromatic eyes turned to the bench that she had brought Sal all that time ago for when they waited for the Kazekage, and there he was, the boy who she hadn’t seen in a long time. Her old friend, sitting there looking rather defeated. “Sal?” She questioned, not sure if it ws him for a brief moment. She removed her aviator sunglasses to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. After all, she had been on little to no sleep and rather dehydrated. Once she realized it was actually him, She leaped forward and threw her arms around his neck. “Sal!” She exclaimed, hugging the big old teddy dog.

"Yes...?" He responded automatically, without even looking up. At first, he didn't recognize Kira's voice all at once. It had been so long and so much had happened, old memories all blurred together, voices getting garbled and filed as the "correct" voice. When nothing was said a seconds later, feeling eyes burrowing into his head, he sighed, looking up before immediately jolting completely straight as prodded by an electric stick. He couldn't believe it... there she was... Kira, standing there before him, almost in as much awe of seeing him as he was of her.... His sanguine eyes peered into her bi-chromatic ones both blue and green, trying to place whether or not this was an illusion and, if so... whether or not he should beat the piss out of this person for imitating his dear friend... But it wasn't an illusion... too many things were right and made sense... The color of her eyes were perfect, the shape of her face as she removed her sunglasses, bringing it all together... The shape of her body (as if he could forget), as just as, if not more increadible, toned and eye-catching as before. Hell, he could even smell her sweat from being out in Suna's desert for an extended period... It was all Kira and she was there, in the flesh... standing before him. He had found her at last....

"Oh my god..." He whispered as he got to his feet, only for Kira to wrap her arms around his beck and force him back down in the bench as he yelped in surprise. Kira was hugging him so hard, he thought she might accidentally crack his neck! Nevertheless, he smiled wider than he had in a LONG time, wrapping his arms around the badass uzumaki's back, holding her for as long as she wanted before pulling away, grinning like an idiot.

"Hey, Kira..." He whispered endearingly, happy beyond description. "Believe it or not, I just had to come back and see you." Perhaps not 100 percent his motivation for being there, it was about 85 percent his motivation for showing up for the exams.

The girl had tucked the boy with much success, squeezing her hold over the wolf boy as tightly as she could. She could feel the tears bottling up within her but she tried her best to keep them locked up. She didn’t like for people to see her get emotional. She was a strong independent white woman after all. “Oh you liar!” Kira said in response, slapping the boy with all her might, probably just leaving a slight sting across the boy’s face as her hand print would be momentarily imbued on his pale white skin. Her shaky voice turned into a laugh as she was overjoyed to see her friend again. It must have been at last a year since she saw him last. A year too long.

The girl got up from atop of him, wiping at her eyes to remove the ‘dust’ that had gotten into them. “Why didn’t you tell you were leaving?” Kira asked, remembering the last time she had seen the boy was when she had come across her sister. She had been so overjoyed at that time to find her sibling that she had almost forgotten Sal was there at the time. Still, it was no excuse for the boy to make like Houdini and disappear!

“Oh, you must be here for the exams aren’t you!? Come! you have to tell me all about it!” Kira grabbed Sal’s forearm and tried to pull him along until he finally complied (he was stronger after all). It was reminiscent to the first time they met, and the Red head had pulled the boy along through the village to get him a makeover. It’s like all the olden memories were coming back. It had been all about work for the Uzumaki as of late so getting the opportunity to catch up with an old friend was a moment that she is definitely going to cherish as it took place.

The Uzumaki dragged the boy to one of her favourite little restaurants. The inside was coated with tropical colors and built in fountains, letting one almost forget they were in the middle of the forest. It was rather empty at this time; peculiar since it was one of Suna’s busiest establishments. Thought, Kira didn’t mind. She’d prefer peace and quiet over the sounds of noisy ass kids any day. The two would take a seat somewhere near the middle of the establishment under a ceiling fan before a waitress would pass by and leave them with some menus. “So tell me all about it, from the beginning! What Happened in Konoha?” she asked, placing her elbows on the table and locking her hands in order to use them as a head rest.

Salzem's eyes went wide as Kira's hand smacked across his cheek so hard, he thought he saw a start or two there. In fact, she hit him so hard, he was stunned by the force of her surprise attack, the stinging not becoming noticable until a moment later when it grew to the point of piecing his shock... and it hurt.... Granted, not for long as his natural lycan healing cleaned up the pain rather nicely, reducing it to a dull throb that rested beneath his cheek but still! This was only evidence (even if it wasn't) that Kira had gotten stronger over the time, something Salzem hadn't been able to do enough of in his own time. When she asked where he had been all this time, why he had disappeared, why he didn't tell her he was leaving... He didn't know what to say... Salzem had a long history of just leaving without saying goodbye... He also had a bad memory of saying goodbye too early. It seemed to be a habit of his to not pay attention to these kinds of little things... he was only glad it all didn't come crashing down...

"I got taken back to Konoha... I wasn't allowed time for goodbyes..." He remembered that frightful day, almost as intimidating to remember as Koroshi beating the ever-loving christ out of him to prove he wouldn't give up Konoha's secrets. It was near-death experiences like these the lycan needed to stop approaching for his own jubilation or one day, he would be caught and that would be that. "I couldn't find you before I was taken so... they just took me." It really was the best explanation he could give for that's all there was to explain...

Suddenly, with Kira's face glowing with realization, she quickly nabbed Salzem's arm, tugging him with all her might, realizing that he was in the jounin exams and just HAD to know what was going on.

"O-okay..." He responded, getting up and following her through the streets as she led them not unlike the days where they first met, when she tried to get him a hair-cut by some weird guy.... Ah, the memories... Before he even knew it, Salzem would find himself and Kira seated in the middle of a restaurant, the read-haired beauty staring at him intently as her chin rested in her hands, waiting for a detailed report as to what happened when he got back. And so... with a mental shovel to dig up the corpses, Salzem began.

"Well... The man I was looking for...? Turns out he's dead so... there's that. I found that out the moment I got back. I don't know how, I don't know why, he's just dead and that leaves my first friend Isshin avenged and my whole quest pointless but... you know... circumstances and whatnot. Well... maybe not completely pointless." He smiled at Kira attempted to make light of the situation. "The Hokage and I worked everything out. I'm an official member of the hidden leaf once again.." He flicked the headband that hung around his neck. "...and I guess on that front, everything's just fine." This was where things really started to go down hill. "I found out that the vast majority of my friends I had left died while I was gone. I think upwards of 6 good people just... died... 2 of them were my teachers, 2 more my students and best friends... I still can't believe it..." His voice became hushed, edged, but not angry or hostile. "I was angry for the longest time and... well.. I disappeared from them too to work it all out through training and... well... I decided to join the jounin exams the moment i heard about it." He quickly changed the subject.

"I'm sorry you weren't there to see my fight because, according to what I've been told, it was on of the most interesting and 'dramatic' fights so far. You know a guy named Kyson? Well... I couldn't hit him because he kept turning himself to water so I couldn't beat him by conventional means so I managed to evade him enough to fight him to a standstill. Double-Knock-out from our energy being drained. It's better than a loss, I suppose... but I'm not going to let it happen again." Pulling himself out of memory lane, he smiled at Kira once more, a gentle grin to be sure. "I wasn't lying when I said you were the reason I came. When I heard the exams were being held here, I couldn't help but sign up. Maybe the offering of moving up in the world was appealing, but you, Kira Uzumaki are why I chose to come here at all."

Kira listened to the boy’s words. About the day that he was taken to Konoha. After hearing that he had tried looking for her, she couldn’t possibly stay mad at the boy. After all, it must have all happened so suddenly. Hell, Kira couldn’t recall where exactly she was that exact day he disappeared but she knew she could take his word for it. Thought, the red haired girl almost felt guilty that she hadn’t said her goodbyes. Last time Sal had found his way to Konoha’s borders, he was locked up like an animal (no pun intended), with the possibility of being executed. If it hadn’t been for her paranoia and her summoning him at the borders, Sal could have been dead.Having to return to a place where you weren’t sure if you were wanted back... must have been tough. slight shivers momentarily went down her spine to the thought. Everything must have turned out okay though if he was here now competing in the exams.

With that, Kira led the boy into the restaurant at the table, listening to his updated story. The story took a quick turn of the worst as their wasn’t much hope left. It seemed everything that Sal worked so hard to protect was misplaced and arguably pointless, as so many of the people he held dear were nothing more than corpses now. If Kira were talking to anyone else but Sal, this would be the moment where she found an excuse to leave because it was such a buzz kill. Though since it was Sal, she listened intently, trying to understand where he was coming from. Kira still had some loose ends that she had to tie up and that was her family. There whereabouts of her father and mother were still unknown and while she was still hell bent on finding them, she really hadn’t had the time to spare as she did when she was a Genin. On the brighter side of things though, Sal was welcomed back into the village. That had to count for something, right?

The Suna Chunin remained rather silent until Sal brought up the Jonin exams once more. her eyes lit up as he began talking about his first fight, and how it was probably the most exciting one by far. “Kyson? Yeah, I know em!” She recalled the boy she had done a mission with once upon a time. Him and his buddy Roy. Jeez, that seemed like such a long time ago. The Heterochromatic eyed girl began to envision the battle within her head, instead it was two little chibi ninja fighting it out with one constantly turning into water. She was almost mad at herself for missing it. “Dammit Sal!” She said full on energy, loud enough for the few patrons of the restaurant to hear. “That fight was yours!” Her competitive spirit unleashing. Kira didn’t like fighting per say, but boy did she love competition. She could still feel the jolts from the tournament that gave her the rank up to Chunin.

The words that left Sal’s lips took her by surprise. Her eyes widen subtly as she stared into his ruby ones. The discolouration of her cheeks was in full bloom as a reddish tint covered them. If they had been outside, it could have just been the sun burn that she would surely have by the next morning. Her eyes drifted away momentarily to the left, catching a glimpse of the waitress coming towards their direction. Kira was typically the biggest flirt around. She found amusement in playing with people’s emotions who she had no attachments to. But with Sal it was different. Something was there and she wasn’t sure whether to latch onto it or not.

“What would you two love birds like to order?” The waitress asked, smiling kindly to the two. Kira’s menacing grin sparked a scare in the waitress who avoided eye contact with the Uzumaki. Was it getting hot in here or was it just her? “Just some dumplings and an iced pineapple juice for me.” The Red haired beauty demanded, about five second away from killing someone. She would wait until the waitress took Sal’s order and she was off before responding once more. “Well, I’m glad your back.” She finally said. “Things haven’t been the same without you! Can you believe they have me teaching those little pip-squeaks at the academy! I swear those kids don’t listen to a word I say!” She ranted, furrowing her eyebrows and pouting her lips as she recalled the little boy who called her a twat. She pulled on his hair until he apologized right after but it was still infuriating to think about.

A moment of silence would pass between them unless Sal spoke before Kira would say something else. “How come you decided to go back? Why did you just stay here. y’know, and start over?” Her voice was rather somber, unusual for the high beat girl that typically had a lot of energy. One thing that the Uzumaki could never understand was why he wanted to go back to a place where he was despised or seen as a traitor when Sungakure offered him safe Haven. Surely Koroshi would have allowed him to have his fresh start here. And deep down subconsciously, she felt like Sal had left her just like her family had all those years ago. It brought back some undesired emotions.

Salzem couldn't help but laugh as Kira cursed out loud and so spontainously too, stating that he ALMOST had it. That was EXACTLY how he felt! If he only could've lasted a little longer, he WOULD have won! UGH! It seemed that the fiery uzumaki was the only one that understood, who GOT what unending amounts of frustration that stemmed from his loss! She had the competitive drive to get that losing just WASN'T acceptable! He couldn't help but keep on smiling like an idiot, even while he made his confession that she really WAS the reason he bothered coming here again. He was surprised when a soft pink and then red bloomed across her cheeks, caught off guard by the reaction. He knew what he said and he got that maybe some other girl might react in this way but... this was Kira Uzumaki! She was so strong, so... loud and up-front, tough and joking, he was surprised his little tsudo-flirt even fazed her at all! He heard stronger stuff come out of her mouth that would put his statement to shame and yet... there she was, as pink as a peach and... for some reason... he couldn't break his gaze from her blue/green eyes...

The lycanthrope flinched when a sudden, unexpected voice rang out from behind them, asking what these 'love-birds' would like to order. As if a bomb had went off under his skin, Salzem's face immediately went red with embarrassment while Kira smiled at her with a grin that would make a lycathrope frightened. The lycan hadn't, in fact, looked a the menu at all, leaving him without an answer as to what his order was... a great tragedy indeed.

"I'll just have what she's having." He responded, almost too quickly, eager for the woman to leave them alone and let them get back into their groove. Kira broke the awkward air by stating that she was glad he was back, something he was never more happy to hear... He smiled, then his jaw dropped, blinking in surprise as the uzumaki told him she, Kira Uzumaki, was teaching at the academy! KIRA!? OF ALL PEOPLE!? It didn't seem to suit her at all.

"What!? You? TEACHING!? You've got to joking..." He just couldn't believe it... It was so... Un-Kira... It was like dressing Salzem in a bow, curling his lycan fur and putting him in a dog-show! What a nightmare it must be! And a nightmare it was as she described how no one shuts up and listens in there, already telling him how much more patience she had as opposed to him. Were he in there.... well... it wouldn't good... Suffice it to say, Salzem couldn't teach in a class-room. After a moment of silence between them, Kira asked why he didn't just stay here, start over as she suggested. The melancholy in her voice was unmistakable, almost heartbreaking...

"It's my home..." He sighed, growing a little despondent himself. "I couldn't just leave everyone behind..." He'd then raise his gaze to meet hers once more. "Believe me, I missed you... I really did... Sometimes, I even wondered what it'd be like if I stayed here with you..." A small smile grew on his lips once more. "But I'm here now... And I'm glad I finally got to see you again..." ....At the risk of sounding sappy as hell.

Salzem and Kira shared another grin as they gazed at one-another from across the table, the lycanthrope only breaking his gaze when their food finally arrived. Honestly, he was never the biggest fan of dumplings... While the chewy doughyness of it was definitely appealing, it was the flavor that drove him up the wall, more or less. It was just so.... bland... But in this case, Salzem wasn't at the liberty to care about such things fore he was too hungry to give the slightest care about something as inconsequential as taste. Like a pair of ravenous dogs, the two ninja dug into their dumplings, finishing it off in a matter of seconds even before the waitress got back around the corner to her station. It was no surprise that Kira had beaten him by a hefty second or two THEN consuming her drink while he was still eating! Who could blame her though...? Underneath all that natural beauty and eye-catching smile, Kira looked like she had been through the wringer. Whatever she had came back from before they found each-other must've equated to hell or something... But now, she looked as colorful and bouncy as the fire-red hair that fell down her back. He couldn't help but laugh as his good friend suddenly obtained a napkin from kage-knows-where, dabbing her lips all lady-like as if she wasn't eating her dinner like she was starving a moment ago. He couldn't help it! It was just so funny how she could be just like him one second, and then act like a proper lady the next! It made him wonder why he didn't open himself up more to her before... why he didn't let himself enjoy her presence this much. He'd go back in time and do it over if that didn't mean he'd have to leave this moment right now...

Before another word could be shared between them, a pigeon flew into the restaurant, much to the chagrin of the waitress. As she angrily attempted to force it out of the establishment at the end of a broom, the bird ducked below and fluttered above each blow before landing on the table of the the lycan and Uzumaki, a tiny scroll attached to it's leg. Both knowing what it meant, they both reached out for the bird to undo the scroll, but seeing that she was going for it as well, he immediately retracted his hand and let her check out it's contents as it was probably for her anyway. He smiled oddly at Kira's exasperation, muttering about how she lost her promised week's worth of days off before she turned to him, her hetero-chromatic eyes locking onto his once more. She stated that there was some trouble in the desert, that some thugs were stirring it up and asked if he wanted to tag along.

"Beating up bad guys? Do you even need to ask?" The lycan chuckled before standing up from the table and leaving a few bills to pay for their lunch. "Well! You have the instructions, Kira! Lead the way!"