Sunday, December 10, 2006

Bizarre Love Triangle, Chapter 20!!!
WATCH OUT!! This is a long one! And I've finally decided on an ending for it! YAY! And if I decide to, you're going to be getting a follow-up epilogue to this! So, ENJOY!

Chapter 20

Reikoku stood still confident in her student standing in to help him. Moroi did just that. She flung two needles and hit the kunai, bringing both types of weapons to the ground. A smile crept across her face, mainly of relief. This was her big chance; Rei-sensei was going to let her try again to prove herself. Facing the masked ANBU, she activated her kekkei genkai, her nails sharpening into claws. Without hesitation, she threw herself into the crowd, cutting down several surprised ANBU. Once they’d realized they had an opponent, they began to fight back. Moroi was a sharp kid; none of them was able to land a hit. Of course, she wasn’t really aiming to kill them all. There was only one target. Akuihebi, the man who’d tried to kill Rei-sensei.

Naruto and the other conscious shinobi looked on as Moroi fought the traitorous ANBU. It seemed she’d been holding back when she’d fought them. ‘She is a lot like Haku…’ Naruto thought, disregarding Reikoku’s earlier statement. He figured it was obvious that Moroi was a girl, albeit a vicious one when she needed to be. Then he noticed that Akuihebi was gone. Moroi must have noticed too, because she stopped for a moment. Reikoku and the traitor were fighting, although it was pure taijutsu. However, the snake-like shinobi didn’t seem to be holding true to that. He unsheathed his sword; it felt like slow motion to Moroi. She burst out of the crowd of ANBU, leaping over bodies as Akuihebi swung the weapon. Reikoku didn’t seem to be moving, just making hand seals as the water in the jug began to slosh more violently. Then, before he knew it, he heard sword meet flesh. Blood spattered all over the floor and the three shinobi.

“M-Moroi?” Reikoku stuttered, the sword having cut a large slash along Moroi’s body. It was a deep cut, right across her chest down to her hip. Then, with a loud snap, Moroi’s chest bandages broke, revealing her to be a young woman, rather than a young man. A ragged gasp escaped her as she began to fall, her sensei catching her before she hit the ground. Akuihebi chuckled his hissing laugh, retreating among the ANBU. She coughed loudly, looking up into her sensei’s eyes. He looked shocked and afraid; frankly, she felt exactly the opposite.

“Rei-sensei…” Moroi said raggedly, a weak smile appearing on her face, “you… must escape with your life… I… love… you…” Her eyes closed as the sentence scraped its way from her mouth, a weak smile still playing on her face. A few teardrops fell on her face; Reikoku couldn’t hold them back anymore. Then, he suddenly remembered the healing art he’d taught Moroi. It could even bring her back to life if he went fast enough. The hands signs were made quickly and expertly, the glowing green chakra forming in his hands. He ran the light over the wound, smiling in relief as the wound sealed itself. Once he was finished, he waited expectantly, like a child waiting for Christmas morning. He waited for Moroi to rise up and thank him, waited for her to hug him in relief. He was waiting for anything.

But Moroi didn’t suddenly sit up. She remained on the ground, her purple hair clumping in the blood puddle beneath her. Reikoku’s face fell slowly, as he realized that she wasn’t getting up. In a strangled sort of cry, the young man began to wail and cried into Moroi’s stomach, clutching her green sweater as he did. The other ninja felt pangs of sympathy; even Akuihebi appeared to be upset. However, he righted himself, smiling beneath his mask. Naruto and the others struggled to hold in their own tears, all of them having felt similar loss. Hinata cried quietly into Kiba’s shoulder, the male shinobi trying to keep it together. However, he couldn’t, and he cried quietly with Hinata as well.

“You.” Reikoku said angrily, looking up into the crowd of ANBU, “you’re going to pay for this.” The look in his eyes was of pure hatred and he stood up, livid anger on his face. In a few short hand seals, the water in the jug on his back pushed the cork out of it, the liquid forming large blades around his hands. They were still quite fluid, apparently, as they whipped through the crowd of traitorous shinobi, tearing them to pieces. Akuihebi shouted an order, the remaining ANBU rushing in to attack the charging opponent.

“Why aren’t we doing anything about this?” Kiba said, wiping his eyes, “we should be fighting against those traitors with Reikoku!” Akamaru barked in agreement, growling at the enemies that they hadn’t rushed in to fight. However, as he was about to join him, Hinata’s hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder. The look in her eyes told him all that he needed to know. This was Reikoku’s fight. It wasn’t their business to interfere. Speaking of Reikoku, he roared as he tore his way to Akuihebi, seemingly not noticing the ANBU he swept aside.

“Stop!” Akuihebi screeched, retreating from the enraged shinobi, “it wasn’t my fault the stupid girl got in the way! You didn’t care that your other comrades died!” He was clearly grasping at straws, and made a strange gurgling sound when Reikoku stabbed him through the chest. Reikoku grinned feverishly, tearing the enemy in half with the blades, turning red with blood.

“Well, if you see them, you can apologize to them for me.” Reikoku said, looking into the sockets of Akuihebi’s mask. As he turned around, he realized he wasn’t quite finished. Members of the remaining ANBU stabbed him through the back, swords sticking all the way through his body. Flying into rage once more, he began to slaughter the remaining ANBU, not noticing the swords that were being hilted in his back. Eventually, every ANBU around him was dead. If any survived, they’d fled long ago. By now, he was starting to hallucinate; he thought he’d heard Moroi’s voice and saw her waving from where her body lay.

“Moroi…” Reikoku whispered hoarsely, a smile spreading across his face, “I’m… I’m coming to… join you.” He then fell onto his knees, slumping flat down on his chest in a pile of his own blood. At this point, Naruto and the others intervened. They rushed around him, checking to see if he had died. He coughed and looked up at Naruto, who had been about to poke him in the cheek.

“Take me to her…please…” Reikoku said, the ‘please’ said merely as an afterthought, “I… I want to die… beside her…” He smiled weakly, his eyes already clouding over. Naruto nodded in compliance, removing the swords from Reikoku’s back. After they’d all been removed (Naruto hadn’t been counting, but there’d been at least 7), he lifted up the slightly older shinobi, surprised by how light he was. He carried him over to Moroi, laying him down beside her.

“Thank you, Naruto-kun…” Reikoku said, turning his head to look at Moroi, “look at you… you died, all because of my foolish ambition. Well… when I go… I hope I can go wherever you’ve gone… I loved you like my own child, Moroi… and I always will.” He smiled feebly and began lifting his arm to brush her hair away from her face. It had never seemed so difficult before, but he managed somehow. Tears rolled down his face as he went and kissed her on the cheek, leaving a bloody smear there. Then, his eyes closed, just as hers shot open.

The other shinobi jumped in surprise when she sat up, shaking her sensei and crying out his name. Even though she knew in her mind, she refused to believe he was dead. Following in her teacher’s footsteps, she rolled him over and attempted to heal the wounds. However, she couldn’t properly make the hand seals, fingers trembling and not joining properly. She couldn’t perform the healing technique upon her teacher; her body was trembling too much and she couldn’t see properly through her tears. A loud, wailing cry escaped her as she flopped onto her sensei’s stomach, crying into it as the rain began to fall.

Well, hope you enjoyed. Read and review, mes amigos! And I'm sorry it's so sad. I blame the current events of my life. ^__^
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