Ino woke up from her sleep and stretched, walking out of the waiting area to head on towards the lounge and cafeteria. She glanced over toward the others and the chunin that was standing watch over the arrived candidates.
That annoying brown-haired brat was still awake apparently. She felt a chill as the boy turned to stare at her and wondered if getting in his face earlier had been a wise move.
Whatever, it was too late to change that.
Someone had come into her village and...and...mutilated the mind of... someone she knew. This had stopped being a game two days ago. It was time to get serious about being Shinobi and protecting the village.
She'd always grown up hearing about her father's stories, but it had never hit her just how dangerous the world was until now.
The blonde walked up to the vending machine, currently rigged not to need money, and pushed a button. Reaching down to pick up the can that came out, she felt the irritating feeling of something scratching along the side of her skin.
She batted at it and found herself surrounded by motes of sand.
"What the..."
"Shall we talk about existing," a voice said behind her.
Ino froze and turned slowly around to look into the dull eyes of the creepy sand genin she'd shouted at earlier. She felt like running away, now alone in front of those eyes, but she'd just promised herself to grow up and stop treating this thing as a sort of hobby she'd inherited from her father.
"You're not going to scare me into shutting up," she snapped, thrusting out her chin.
"Because then you won't exist, right?" Gaara asked, sand swirling around him. "Suppose I fill your mouth with sand, perhaps then you won't exist or be noisy. And if I end your existence, then I'll definitely know I exist."
Ino flinched back against the machine and looked over the scratchless body of the genin, well aware that meant that he could probably drive her into a smear in the pavement given how skilled she was right now.
"Then you better do it now," Ino said. "Before I get strong enough to reach into your head and wipe your mind off the face of the map! Because I might be a loud-mouthed self-centered bitch, but from now on, my self is centered on making sure bastards like you have to find some other way to exist than to torture people."
Gaara snarled and reached out toward Ino, his eyes narrowing dangerously as sand reached up around the blonde leaf genin, pulling her against the vending machine behind her.
Ino gasped as she was pulled back harshly and the sand started scratch into her skin. But she held her mouth closed tightly in pride.
"Do it if you're going to do it!" Ino snapped, closing her eyes.
Gaara's eyes narrowed again and he pulled his hand back in consideration.
"Gaara!" a voice declared in a commanding tone. "Control yourself!"
Ino opened her eyes cautiously and looked to see a Sunagakure jonin standing in the doorway.
"I suppose you still exist then," Gaara said as he walked away and the sand pulled away from Ino.
She waited for the pair of Suna shinobi to leave before she let herself stumble to her knees and took a deep, steadying breath.
"Okay, Ino..." she said. "What did you just do?"
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(Posted Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:35)
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