Grasping at the Sky

Chapter 28: Declaration

Unfiltered, unprocessed terror. It was something Kira normally didn't let herself feel so heavily. Fear wasn't something to ignore, but to use in her line of work, to push one forward and to win in a battle, but to let it cripple you was another story entirely. She'd felt a bit like a ghost, detached and numb, as Kakashi had agreed with Gaara about letting her leave. The red head knew basically everything she did and if something came up, they could ask her later, hopeful after she was done having a panic attack. So she'd left, trying to give her boyfriend a small smile when he gave her a worried glance.

She honestly wasn't sure how she'd kept her prosthetic working all that time and nearly lost her footing as she tripped out the door to the street outside. Her mind kept reeling, kept repeating the memories of how she'd found Korin's body. She had never thought it could be a fake. By the time the body was found, it and half decayed, and the fact that it had been mutilated before death was hardly odd considering ANBU were supposed to destroy their bodies if they knew they were going to die. Kira herself had a sealed jutsu that would act like a bomb if her heart stopped for longer than ten minutes.

The woman's words came back to her like a hissing ghost. Stray. Scavenger. Those were names used only by one person, a taunting, cruel way of reminding her she was an outsider. He'd been dead, and for years she'd worked to put him behind her and now... her hands wouldn't stop shaking.

She couldn't understand why he'd show up now of all times. If he'd been alive all this time, why wait three years? Had he been looking for weaknesses? She didn't even understand why he would do any of this. Korin had always seemed loyal to the Sand, and despite his cruelty she'd always known he did it to keep his home safe. Kira leaned against the wall of the building a pressed a hand over her eyes. None of this made sense and all of it was terrifying.

Calm down. Calm down. Think rationally about this.

Right. Because that was so simple to do when your personal demon comes back from the dead.

"You alright?" The calm male voice had her almost jumping out of her skin. In fact, she almost fell if it wasn't for the wall behind her as her control on the prosthetic faltered and almost slipped out from under her. She winced, hand dropping as her head jerked to the side, her hands braced against the building. Shikamaru was leaning on the door frame with his shoulder, hands in his pockets as he surveyed her calmly. Even with that nearly bored expression, Kira saw the traces of concern in his dark eyes, which kind of surprised her. They didn't know each other that well and honestly the only real connection they had was Temari. It was nice either way, but she was starting to get tired of hearing that question. She sighed and shook her head, looking across the street and eyeing a shop there.

"Would you be?" she asked finally and watched as he too sighed, nodding his head.

"Yeah, I guess I see your point. Must be a drag," he relented. "I don't really know the story but I can tell it's something bad. Won't push for you to tell me though. Just know you've got friends here okay?" It was an unexpected kind gesture from him and Kira felt her brows go up in surprise.

"Thank you..." she murmured looking down. It was nice that he didn't push for answers.

"No problem," he replied and pushed off from the door frame to walk completely outside. "I know you've got a lot on your mind, but did you still want to know what I found out?" His question took her a moment to really understand, mind reeling backwards. Somehow this morning, a few hours ago, seemed so distant after everything. He had wanted to talk, about what he'd found about her - her family, her history. Another heavy subject she supposed, which was why he was giving her the option to back out.