Kiyomi has one year. She never thought her life could be cut so short when she spent so long wasting time. She wanted to go to her death with no regrets, but how could she possibly die with peace when her family is being torn apart and her father wo...
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KIYOMI DIDN'T WANT TO GO HOME and face yet another awkward dinner where everyone avoided the topic on everyone's minds. That being said, when Gaara excused her, she had been in a moment of loss as she tried to remember what she normally did in this sort of situation. She came back without answer, leaving her to sink her feet into the warm sand as she wasted yet another moment of silence upon the swing. She watched the sun disappear past the buildings, underneath the Rocky mountains that separated the rock country in the east.
She closed her eyes, picturing with perfect clarity a small boy beside her. Kota had loved the playground. He would bury himself in the sand, covered until all that was visible was his brown head and say, "I am the Sand Guardian! Guardian of the Sand!"
Kiyomi felt her lips curl up. "You were an idiot," she said with that same grin that she used for when he made those dumb comments. He always managed to get bit by one bug or another, but would always say it was worth it to make her smile.
Kiyomi leaned her head back, running her feet further into the sand. She could picture the way the light had ran across the buildings, near where Kota had been caught fighting after school. It was lucky for him that it had been Kiyomi who saw the scene, and not her mother who had beat ass for a lot less than a thrown punch. "Why were you fighting?" Kiyomi had asked.
"He called you a dirty puppeteer bitch!" Kota had screamed back, wiping the blood off his nose. It wasn't the first time he got in a fight over the Shiragane name, but it was the first time she saw him get a bloody nose from it.
She had been furious, not at the ridiculing, since that was ridiculous. She didn't even fight with puppets! No, she had been furious that he got hit. So, she dedicated her time to training him how to throw a proper punch, laughing because there was no way Kota could ever become a great Shinobi at the rate he trained.
Kiyomi opened her eyes to the empty playground.
She wasn't certain how long she sat there, and she glanced down, wondering why she could no longer dangle upon the swing. She saw the sand had crystallized against her feet, trapping her in a casing of glass. Kiyomi let out a curse. Standing up and attempting to free herself. Still, she was trapped in the glass, and even worse was she hadn't realized she released the Jutsu. She leaned down, careful to turn the glass back into sand so she didn't cut herself trying to get her dumbass out from her own trap.
She sighed, stepping back into her sandals and glanced back towards the setting sun. She wasn't certain how many more she would be able to see, so she placed that sun into her memory, embracing it closely to her heart. It was only until she could see the first star clearly in the sky that she began to consider heading back. Her eyes closed shut, basking in the beautiful night air that felt so right on her skin.
