Tales of Konoha: Chapter 1: The Demon Sisters of Konoha

Chapter I: The Demon Sisters of Konoha

Kiriko, Gaara’s half-sister, propped her dusty feet up on the desk of the gate sentry booth at the entrance to Konoha Village, known to the Shinobi nations as the Village hidden in the leaves. A bored expression crossed the face of the 27 year old kunoichi as she folded her hands over her midsection. She chuckled to herself as she thought of what her good friend Shikamaru would probably say given the same duties. She looked up as she saw her sister Mari walk up with a take out tote from Ichiraku. Mari tossed her sister a pair of chopsticks.

“Old man Ichiraku give you too much trouble?”
Mari shook her head, causing her buttlength raven mane to fly about her face. “No. I told him you sent me to go get lunch.”
Kiriko pulled the bowls out of the tote and and sat her sisters bowl in front of her. “Good, I’m glad. I know the townspeople give you shit, and I know they do it because of the way you look.”
Mari shrugged and popped her chopsticks apart. “I cant help the fact that I look like my father.”

At first glance most people mistook Mari for her infamously evil father, Orochimaru. At twenty-five she stood at nearly six feet and had pale skin, raven black hair and Orochimaru’s golden serpentine eyes. Another reason could be that by the age of 19 she had mastered most of her fathers jutsu, making her the single most skilled kunoichi in the village. Tsunade saw Mari as an invaluable asset, and also skilled the girl in medical ninjutsu because like Sakura, Naruto’s teammate, she had insanely precise chakra control.  Sakura was one of Mari’s best friends. Two of the male shinobi that worked on the guard detail approached the booth as the girls finished their lunch of hardboiled eggs and Ichiraku ramen. They handed Kiriko a sheet of paper.

“Kiriko, Mari, Lady Tsunade would like to see you in her office A.S.A.P.”
Kiriko coughed slightly, her cheeks full of half chewed egg.  She swallowed hard. “I didn’t do it!”
The younger of the two chuckled. “I don’t think you’re in trouble, but you better go see what she wants. You know she’s not a patient woman.”
Kiriko hurriedly picked up her dishes from lunch, setting them neatly in the tote. She looked at Mari. “Mari, you go on ahead, I’ll catch up. I’m going to go drop of these dishes to old man Ichiraku.”

Mari nodded and leapt onto the roof of the sentry shack, her sandaled foot not making as sound as she landed, and she used the roof as a springboard, hopping up into the tall tree next to her. Mari scanned the ground as she watched her sister, who had been raised in the Village hidden in the sand run down the dusty side road to Ichiraku, one arm clutching the ramen tote, while the other one was held rigidly behind her as she ran. She careened into the shop, thanking old man Ichiraku for the delicious lunch before emerging. Mari shook her head as she kept hopping from point to point, joined by her sister near the bridge that crossed the stream that ran through the town. The two girls crisscrossed each other, hopping from vantage point to vantage point before the reached the office of the fifth Hokage, Lady Tsunade.
 
Shizune gestured towards the door with the arm that wasn’t holding Ton-ton, her pet pig. “Lady Tsunade, the girls are here.”
Tsunade smiled up at her assistant. “Thank you, Shizune, would you mind getting them some tea? I’m sure they’d like something to drink.”
Kiriko and Mari stood at full attention as they stood before the Hokage. “Jonins Kiriko and Mari reporting for duty!”
Tsunade chuckled. “Relax you two, you guys take your duties way to seriously. I wanted to tell you two that your applications into the ANBU Black Ops have been accepted and your on my own person ANBU detail, so you’ll be charged with my protection.”
Kiriko’s jaw dropped. “We’ve been assigned as your security detail?! That’s wonderful, Lady Tsunade!”
Tsunade chuckled. “Also, a certain perverted book-toting someone came back this morning from a mission and he’s outside.”

Kiriko ran to the window and flung it open and poked her head out, her crimson hair flying in the breeze. She recognized the elegant profile of her shinobi lover, Kakashi Hatake, with his shining silver hair, and the lithe athletic build. She leapt out the window and pulled down his book, hooking her finger in his mask and pulling it down, pressing her soft lips against his. He responded by wrapping his strong arms around the smaller kunoichi and squeezing her tightly as they shared their tender moment. Kakashi swiftly pulled his mask back up after kissing Kiriko, and he hugged her again, pressing his lips against her ear as his crushed her to his slender frame.

“We’ll celebrate later, Kiri-chan. I’m happy for you though.”
Kiriko blushed, her pale face turning a bright pink and her green eyes flashing. “Kakashi…I couldn’t have done it without your help. I know Mari could have, but I never would have been able to do it.”
Kakashi put a finger to her lips, slightly dragging his finger across the soft skin. “Shush. I knew you were good enough, love.  And I missed you very much when I was out on that mission. We’ll go out tonight.”
Kirkiko smiled sweetly. “I’d like that. Any word on your team, Kakashi? Mari is worried sick about Naruto….she wants to see him return safely.”
Kakashi smiled. “They’re back too. Naruto was a bit grubby upon returning, so he went to the bathhouse to clean up before presenting the teams report to Tsunade.”

Kakashi followed Kiriko through the window as the kunoichi crawled back into Tsunade’s office, causing her to squeak as he gave her soft rear a quick pinch. Everyone in the office chuckled at the noise and Kiriko almost losing her balance. Mari rolled her golden eyes as she watched her older sister try to regain some semblance of composure as Tsunade gave the girls orders on where to pick up their gear and go get their Anbu tattoos. Kakashi took her to the tattoo parlor that he had gone to, his single exposed eye staring at her hungrily as Kiriko grimaced through the pain of the tattoo, a modified version of the leaf symbol on her headband. After she received her tattoo and received her uniform, Kakashi and her walked to the dessert shop to go get Kiriko’s favorite snack, mochi cakes with azuki black bean paste inside. He got her some iced coffee to go with the cakes as he sat next to her, his slender fingers running through her blazing red hair.

Kiriko sighed happily. “That feels really good.”
Kakashi chuckled. “Good, I’m glad. I had a question though, you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to, but I am just curious…..why does the bingo book have you and Mari listed as the ‘Demon Sisters of Konoha’?”
Kiriko’s green eyes went wide as she looked at him quizzically. “Well…It started about the time Deidara and Sasori of the Akatsuki kidnapped my younger brother…”

Kiriko sat there, beginning to tell the tale of how she had pursued the pair through the woods, after tracking them across the desert. She had followed swiftly and silently, hiding her chakra as she ran. She had used her water-style jutsu to slip under the door after the two entered, reemerging in the shadows. She hugged the wall as she watched them begin the extraction. When the leader became occupied with sending Itachi and Kisame to deal with the encroaching leaf ninja, she took the opportunity to sneak closer to the apparatus that was draining her younger brother of the Jinchuuriki. When all seemed lost and she noticed that they had drained the last of the power from Gaara, she called out to Shukaku, screaming for the beast to take her as a host instead. The Akatsuki were poised to attack her when Sakura destroyed the barrier, as Kiriko was slammed with the beasts power, her body wracked with painful spasms as Shukaku invaded her young frame, overwhelming her.

Kakashi blinked his exposed eye in surprise. “You mean to tell me you’re the Jinchuuriki host for the Sand Village’s demon now?”
Kiriko nodded. “Hard to believe, I know, and I risked my life doing it. But I did it not only to save my little brother, but to save the power of my fathers village as well.”
Kakashi stroked the side of your face. “My brave woman…you worried me so much when I found you unconcious in the Jinchuuriki shrine. I had no idea that you had pulled such an act of bravery to keep the Akatsuki from getting their hands on Shukaku.”
Kiriko smiled. “I may be a Shinobi of the Leaf Village, but my father was the late fourth Kazekage, and I have my allegiances to my family, even though Im only a half-sibling.”
Kakashi nodded. “Still that doesn’t explain why you and Mari are listed as the ‘Demon Sisters’.”
Kiriko swirled her iced coffee, watching the liquid swirl in her cup. “Mari….was born after I was…when Orochimaru was still in the village. Orochimaru….was her father. Don’t ask me what my mother was thinking…I still to this day have no explanation for it.”
Kakashi nodded. “That would explain why she’s able to summon Manda and why she can pull off many of the same jutsu I’ve seen him use…with the only difference being that she isn’t evil.”
Kiriko chuckled, her green eyes squinching up. “Hence why Lady Tsunade considers her a valuable asset. Mari would fight to the death for Konoha, and she hates her father with a passion only rivaled by her boyfriends desire to bring down the Akatsuki and become Hokage.”
Kakashi started fumbling around in his pouch where he normally kept his copy of Makeout Tactics. He chuckled as he pulled his hand, tightly closed around a small object as he motioned for Kiriko to close her eyes. When he told her to open them, he was kneeling before her. “Kiriko, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and…..”
Kiriko tackled him to the ground, crying tears of joy and peppering Kakashi’s face with kisses. “Yes Kakashi, I will!! Oh you have no idea how happy you’ve made me!!”