Blood of a Lost Girl (Book 1, Naruto)

Chapter 37

Kai suddenly chuckled, scaring me half to death. "Scared of the dark?" I glared at the spot where he previously stood. My heart was beating extremely fast and my palms were sweaty. I couldn't help my fear started kicking in- I suddenly realised my mind was wide open for him to read. I grimaced and focused on a loud, white noise – it was mix between the sound of nails scratching a black board and the screeching of a girl in a horror movie. I heard him groan. "Gahh! What was that!?" He whisper-yelled.

My eyes started to get accustomed to the dark so I could now see him standing right in front of me, clutching his head. "That's what you get when you read my mind."

He groaned. "It's not like I do it on purpose!"

The grumbling sound came again. "You heard that, right?"

"Heard what?"

I shook my head. Right, I forgot my ears were much sharper than his. I grabbed his wrist and moved the way the sound came from. "C'mon." I don't know if he noticed how sweaty my hands were, but if he did, he didn't mention it. My steps began slow, but steadily sped up the longer I was in the darkness. This fear of mine never left. It started when I was kidnapped and experimented in those caves. It was always dark and I could rarely see anything. The darkness was one of my fears that never left after that and it was affecting the mission I was on right now, which was dangerous. I had to ignore it, but it was easier said than done. The hand that was not clutching Kai's wrist was shaking and my heart beat was fast and loud in my ears. I bit my lip until I tasted blood. I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth, once again focusing on my surroundings. We were getting closer now. We turned another corner before stopping when we saw what was in front of us. I stared at it. "The hell? What's this thing doing here? Is this cliché or what? An alligator in a sewer."

"It's not cliché if it's true." Kai dead-panned.

I gave him a you-can-not-be-serious look. "Smartass." The tension in my muscles slipped away bit by bit when I noticed it was the alligator who was chewing on the rats, but I still held up my guard. The alligator's head swivelled toward us and it made the grumbling sound that I had heard. It hissed, but it was slightly different that it should've been. I frowned. Was this some abnormal alligator? Or was there something that was threatening it? I looked around. We weren't enough of a threat, but there wasn't anything else around here. That I could see at least. As I looked around I noticed the air becoming misty. I actually felt the moist air before I saw it, but the more I watched the thicker it became. Within seconds the mist was so thick I could barely see my feet. This was the Hidden Mist Jutsu, the one Zabuza had used so long ago. I could feel the chakra surrounding us in the mist; it felt like... I suddenly felt a hand grasped mine and Usagi's face popped up in front of mine from out of the mist. So I was right. It was her chakra. "C'mon! We need to get out of here!" She whispered and dragged me. I wanted to protest and ask why she was whispering, but then I felt that feeling again. It was different this time though. Whatever or whoever it was that was watching us couldn't see us at this moment. I silently followed after her, glad to be away from the prying eyes. I felt Kai, Natsumi and Temari's chakra right behind me too so I didn't worry.

When we were far away from the alligator and whatever had been watching us, we stopped. "What was that?" I demanded. Usagi only stared at me. "Only Hidden Mist Shinobi are supposed to be able to do that Jutsu."

She avoided my eyes. "Oh. That..."

"What do you mean 'that'? Are you a spy or something!? I knew I couldn't trust you!" I exclaimed. She could really be a spy and I was not fond of that idea. Deception was supposed to be one of the skills Ninja had, so it should be a breeze to have deceived us.