A tryst with destiny (Tales of a Gutsy Ninja - 2)

Chapter 38 : Core feelings

Gaara P.O.V

On a second's notice, Aira had given up her citizenship at Konoha to protect me and Suna. Certainly it had been a long, long time since then...but nothing could have prepared me for the sight that greeted me.

I ran a finger across the small cut on my cheek. As expected, my finger was slightly smeared with blood.

An injury that I sustained past my absolute sand barrier...

And this injury was the very reason things turned out this way.

"Kakeru..."

 It sounded more like an infernal growl. Aira's skin, which had been peeling off before, was now a dark, dark grey. 

I'd heard from Haruno Sakura that when Naruto lost control of the tailed beast before, boiling red chakra had leaked out of him creating a cloak of the nine-tails around him. The chakra also seared and burned away at his skin. 

The same thing was happening to Aira...just that grey skin replaced her corroded cells. But the hand that had Zetsu's cells was pure white, unaffected by Isobu's chakra. 

It was an unsettling feeling. The realization that even Aira wasn't immune to hatred. This wasn't the usual her - the usual Aira would use her strategy, skill, determination and luck to turn things around - all with a proud, cheeky smile on her face. 

The current Aira looked more like a ferocious beast that had its territory encroached upon...but Kakeru wasn't perturbed in the slightest. In fact, he was reveling in thrill of the situation.

Is this because he loves her?

NO.

The answer was simple. I don't know what he was looking at, but he certainly wasn't looking at her with love. If he truly loved her, he wouldn't have been able to bear the state she was currently in.

Aira: Secret technique : Moonlight reflection.

Kakeru: Water style : All seeing rain. It's no use, Aira. I'll always find you no matter how much you try to hide-

The rain misted the surroundings. I used my sand to rise above the pseudo clouds created by Kakeru's jutsu. He was using the rain water to scour for her location, but all I saw was a smirk on her face before disappeared from view.

I found it weird that Kakeru didn't react to it at all...moments later, I realized why. Ah...having experienced it first hand, I knew exactly why Kakeru fell victim to it. In the past, under its effects, I had hallucinated and seen Uzumaki Naruto as Uchiha Itachi, the one who I had thought of as Aira's killer.

Isobu's mist.

I wonder what Kakeru was seeing...me? But then, wouldn't he react when he sees the actual me and the one created by the hallucination?

Aira: He won't.

Aira?

Aira was standing right next to me, a wind jutsu was making her float in the air. The crazed look on her face made me realize that while her rational thinking  was back, her rational behavior was not.

Kakeru was fighting against...thin air, but the look of hatred, now etched on his face, was unmistakable. 

Gaara: What do you mean?

Aira: It seems the one Kakeru absolutely loathes...is not you, but my father.

Aira has a family?

Scratch that. Of course she would have had parents. Living or dead aside, they would surely exist. I've never heard her mention them before...but Kakeru, who she met way after she met me, knows them?