[X] It is not art, but heart, that wins the wide world over
"Oh, that's simple," you say with a grin. "Art is all about the looks on their faces when you pull it off."
Deidara is stunned. Kuyo blinks, and looks back and forth between the two of you, frowning.
And you join Ami at the railing.
"Why didn't you stop him?" you demand.
"He was already over the side before I realized he was actually that big an idiot!" She looks even more worried than you feel. "What does he think is going to happen here?"
"Kiba, what the hell?!" you call down to him.
"Well, I can't let you hog all the fun, can I?" he calls back up.
Holy shit, there is no way he's this stupid! What the hell is he planning?
Aw, hell. He's trying to take one for the team.
What? What for? Shit, if I meet Gaara in the finals I'm resigning!
Not Team 5, Konoha in general. He thinks he has a shot at crippling Gaara enough that someone will be able to defeat him later on.
... oh, shit, this is about what I said about the sand, isn't it?
=
"It's like he has no weaknesses," Ami says with a frown, examining your intel on the Kazekage's youngest child.
"Well, that unconscious sand-shield of his only moves at jounin-standard speed, and I'm betting it's where these rumours of 'speed-healing' are coming from; second skin of hardened sand, he can just shrug injuries off." You shrug. "Still, who cares if the sand isn't faster than us? He still is, and so is the sand when he's actually manipulating it."
"Not you," Kiba points out. "Or Neji and Lee, maybe."
Tenten frowns, but doesn't bother arguing.
"Look, Kiba, we don't know that for sure. If it were an ambush with all of us, then maybe we could pull something off," you say with a sigh. "But no one's going to surprise him in an open arena without one of those underground Doton techniques, so unless you can pull an Earth affinity out of your ass in the next three days, we're SOL."
=
... that dumb bastard.
Lupin catches the drift of your thoughts and facepalms. If it doesn't work, there goes any chance of us pulling the same surprise.
What about the consequences if it does work? Suna will go ballistic. And Gaara could die! I mean, for some kind of sand-monster he seems like a pretty all right guy.
Well, go ahead and tell Kiba all that, as long as you don't mind telling Gaara too and ruining any chance of it working.
You grit your teeth.
"Cute dog," Gaara says.
Akamaru whimpers.
Kiba just stares, hard-eyed, waiting.
"Begin!"
-BANGBANG-
The shots come hot on each other's heels.
Kiba screams in pain, clutching his right thigh, and drops to the ground. Akamaru barks in distress, hopping around him and sniffing.
"Huh," you hear Gaara say over Lupin swearing violently in your head, "wasn't expecting that. Excellent strategy, kid; if I were anyone else that would almost definitely have worked."
Kiba's bullet pops out of the gash it tore in Gaara's gut, and falls to the floor.
"It's just your bad luck that I'm me."
Whispers, everywhere at once. The fear rolling off of everyone in this room almost makes you want to throw up.
"What does he mean?" you hear Kuyo say. "Sensei, what just happened?"
Where the flying fuck did Suna get a customized M1911?!
The sand, you think numbly. He made it out of the sand.
Sure enough, the gun dissolves out of the boy's hand and arcs over his shoulder, into the gourd on his back.
"... winner, Sabaku no Gaara," the proctor says belatedly, still staring.
"Kiba!"
You all rush down to your teammate's side.
"I'll be fine!" he hollers, gasping for breath. "I can feel it, it went right through, I'll be fine."
"He's right," the chief medic just arriving says, lifting Kiba's thigh to examine it. "He won't be getting out of bed for a while, though."
"You dumbass!" you and Ami declare in unison.
Kiba grits his teeth, and intentionally lowers his voice. "Worth. it. Ino, find the bullet."
"Excuse me," one of the other medics says, pushing you aside to get your friend on the stretcher.
[X] Follow the medics so he doesn't have to be alone. Gunshot wounds are in no way fun.
[X] Look for the bullet that hit Kiba.
[X] Ask Gaara for the bullet that hit him.
[X] Go back up to the catwalk and wait until the fights are over to look for both bullets.
-----
Hand Vin the phone bill, because he totally called it.
