Being Joined At The Neck Connected Us In More Ways Than One (A Sasuke Story) .Chapter 22.

All the nerves they had felt before starting to fight instantly fell away the moment they leapt at each other. Whatever they had been fearing would happen was forgotten, and all that mattered was the fight that was going on. Their focus was on each other, and their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, like they had been trained to look for. Well, at least that was partly the reason. Interest and curiosity filled up mostly all of the space.

It was almost like it was natural.

Now the apprehension was gone, excitement took over for both of them. They'd worked together many times before against the ninja that were chasing them when their necklaces were still attached, and when they'd been fighting to free themselves from the building.

But never before had they fought each other.

While they had hated each other, it had been a very probable possibility, but somehow never actually became reality. So with nothing getting in the way of them seeing what each other could do, they continued fighting with relish, noting everything that was going on, whether it was important or not. The adrenalin from the excitement as well as the fight meant their minds were on overdrive.

But Sasuke was getting a little pissed off with Kimiko.

Though she was fighting well, like she always did, with no exception for it being him, he could still tell she was holding back. She was a high level ninja, he could see that, and if she was in full health, he considered the fact that she might be able to beat him. But only by a little bit. At least, only a little if she used her normal abilities. He'd asked her to start mixing in her normal abilities with the powers of the gem, but he knew she was keeping them back because she was afraid of using them. Partly because of him, partly because of something else, he didn't know.

But he wanted her to be okay with using them.

So calling a halt to the sparring, Sasuke waited until she alighted stationary on the ground, and then jogged over to her, only to be met with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, as he finally stood in front of her, to taunt,

"Don't tell me you're getting tired already, Sasuke!"

Rolling his eyes playfully in return to her comment, he paused for a moment with his smirk, looking at her for a split-second and wondering if he should mention it or not, but remembering her promise, he shook it off, and replied,

"Actually, I want to talk about your gem."

Instantly Kimiko's face fell, unsure emotions passing through her mind as well as flashing up in her eyes. Though she knew she had made a promise, and nodding slowly with a expressionless face, she agreed to show him some things that the gem could do. As she walked past him, Sasuke felt a twinge of guilt for having asked her about something she clearly disliked bringing to the surface, but knew he could no longer take it back, merely watching as she began.

And his concerns quickly dissipated with the start of her demonstration.

There were so many amazing abilities that would have been impossible without the gem, while vastly improving her normal ninja talents at the same time. Why the gem was called legendary was something that was clearly evident as Kimiko darted around the clearing, showing what it could do.

A small portion of what it could do, anyway. There was a lot of things that Kimiko would not be able to reveal, unless destroying a large part of the training grounds was on her agenda. But she didn't have to do so to impress him.

She'd pretty much done that from the word 'go'.

Though eventually she came to a halt, walking over to Sasuke with a half-hearted nod and heavy breathing, avoiding his gaze as she stood there, looking anywhere but his eyes. Affected by her silence and her lack of eye contact, Sasuke decided to break the silence, saying carefully,

"Kimiko...that was amazing. I knew the gem had powers, but I never imagined they'd be like that..."

Kimiko responded with a soft thank you and another sharp nod, leaving Sasuke to wait for a moment, before choosing to speak up once again, more gently this time,

"I'm sorry, Kimiko."

Her head snapping up to now look directly into Sasuke's eyes, Kimiko stared on in confusion, wondering what he was exactly apologised for, only for him to go on with his statement before she could ask what was going on.

"I know you don't like showing the power of your gem. But...I guess...I just wanted to see. I should have waited, I know. But..."

Without understanding how to explain what he wanted, he let it be, falling into silence and looking down at his feet. Kimiko now felt bad for what she in turn had done, and responded,

"No, Sasuke, I'm not....I just....I don't like the powers of my gem not because I don't like what they can do, but because of it I've lost people. I've been chased. Attacked. Had other people attacked because of it. So I kept it hidden."

Now truly understanding the truth, Sasuke nodded at her revelation, and stepping forward slightly more, he laid both his hands on her shoulders, causing her to look up at him in confusion, where he breathed softly,

"With what I've just seen, Kimiko, and with what I think the gem can do...there's no point hiding it. You'll be able to protect everyone you care about, dead or otherwise, with the power that gem holds."

Blinking in shock at his words, what he was saying finally hit her, and she knew he was right. Why it had never occurred to her before, she didn't know, but she understood that she could use it. The whole point of those ninjas wanting the gem was to use the power to become stronger--the strongest--so why not use the power to get rid of them? Killing them with the very power they had wanted in the first place.

Dying from irony is always a painful experience, that was for sure.

And an even better idea suddenly came with that one; and idea that made a smirk pop up on her face...

She could get revenge with it.

Knowing this, and loving this, Kimiko nodded at this idea, Sasuke mirroring it, her lightened mood catching onto him, and becoming ever more so, as she eventually glanced up at him, a glint in her eyes, to state simply,

"Let's train."